Retro-active Schwervon!/B&S Tour Diary: DAY 1

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Just got back last night from my week in Europe with Schwervon! opening up for Belle and Sebastian. It was nice to see Nan and some old friends. Here's my typical retroactive blog account of the experience.

4/11/11
The plan was for me to fly into Zurich and crash at our friend Caro's place for a day and then meet up with Nan and Klaus (friend/driver/bass player exrodinaire from Regensburg) at the Venue in Zurich for the first show on the 13th. For what seemed about 80% of the fight there was a steady amount of turbulence that was putting me in a nauseaus state of mind. There was an empty seat next to me. (Yes!) But a little girl on the other side of the seat decided to lay between both seats and push her head up against me for half of the flight. (No!) Of course the guy in front of me reclined his seat back for the whole flight. This basically put my little video screen about 2 inches from my face so I had to twist my neck back to keep from frying my eyes out. Let me just put it this way. I've have better plane rides to Europe. But it wasn't the worst. I bought The Atlantic Magzine at a kiosk at the airport and I was really enjoying it. There was a great artice on North Korea. I read it pretty much cover to cover. I think I might look into a subscripiton.

I arrived in Zurich in the early afternoon. The guy at customs commented on how my last name means "red" in german (Roth not Mason). Caro was at work but she explained that she had left a key in the mail box for me. I found Caro's place with no problem. When I went to open up her mail box I found nothing but a small piece of tape attached to the roof of the box. "Someone nicked the key," I immediately thought to myself. Soe, here I am on the steps of an apartment building in a Zurich suburb (after being bounced around in a tin can for about 7 hours) with my bag and guitar, no phone and it's starting to sprinkle. Luckily, a nice lady came out of the building and let me store my bag and guitar inside. She didn't speak english but she manage to point me in a direction of a pay phone. I rustle up a number for Caro but of course it was a home number and she wasn't home. I discovered, the hard way, that unlike Germany, not everyone in Switzerland speaks incredible English. After a bit of walking around I managed to find an internet cafe run by some Spanish speaking folks. It was funny how I found hearing Spanish slightly comforting. I don't really understand Spanish either but you sure hear a hell of a lot more of it than German in New York. Anyway, I managed to email Nan who had Caro's mobile number and she explained that the key was stuck up in the box and it would require a little futzing. I managed to figure it out and got into the apartment. Whew. I passed out for a while then I went out again and bought a sandwich: Gorganzola and egg, not bad. Caro's apartment is really nice with a very realaxing back deck. Here is a pic I took from it.

When Caro got home she made this great veggie diner with quinoa and white asparagus. It made me feel better. I never had white asparagus before. In German it's called spargel. I heard later that it's Spargel season in the region, which lasts only about a month, so it was cool that I mangaged to catch a little. Tomorrow will start the tour! I needed to rest up.

This is an excerpt from my regular blog: Rock 'n Rollers Don't Bathe