“Danka Shane, Baby, Danka Shane.”

October 25, 2007, 12:30

Vosselaar, Belgium,

Wow, we have arrived in the Dinuba of Belgium. This town is small and quaint. And the skies remind me of an October Midwestern gray haze. Poor Gary is having a hard time negotiating a left turn in this town, because the roads are so small. We, finally, arrive at the Beibob, which will undoubtedly be the smallest club the band play on this tour, or any tour past or future, for that matter. This place holds about three hundred people and the stage is pretty small. There is graffiti everywhere, and evidently, has become part of the décor. None the less, the staff is very friendly and Cindy, the bartender, makes us a great chicken and boiled potato (which she calls fries) dinner. When I ask her the type of seasoning she uses, she says, “Chicken seasoning.” Of course, what was I thinking.

The club was packed tonight and the crowd was enthusiastically chanting the band on throughout the night. In between songs the Belgians would chant “Ay, Ay, Ay,” while simultaneously thrusting their fists in the air. This got the band, and the crew, joining in on occasion. So, at times, the only sound in the whole club was this continuous and frenetic roar of “Ay, Ay, Ay.” It was an American/Belgian detente.

Once again, after much troubleshooting, Brian’s bass was still on the fritz, tonight. So, the only thing I can gather is that the pickups have died. That will require replacements, which I will have to search out in the next town. Also, Dave’s 2nd guitar, which he calls Zebra (for the Zebra patterned strap that is attached) was intermittently cutting out. During the show, I shot a bit of contact cleaner on the guitar pots (potentiometers) and spun the knobs. Problem fixed.

But the biggy of the night was that right before going on, I tested Brian’s basses, as always. However, no sound was coming out of the Hartke amp that is used for the T-Birds. And this is a brand new amp. After some quick troubleshooting, and thanks to the assistance of Static, he discovers that the wall English wall plugs that were provided with the amps have small fuses in them. This is something completely foreign to us. But, Static, accustom to calmly troubleshooting impossible situations, quickly swapped out the cord with one of our spares and the band hit the stage on time.



We are now back on the bus, and after a quick towel off with a damp towel, I’m as refreshed as I can be and ready for bed. The bus ships out tonight for a nine hour drive to to Hamburg. Yes, Hamburg. I guess I was not up to date with the itinerary so, instead of being in Copenhagen as I was informed, next stop is Hamburg, Germany.