APRIL 21 1988

Hi, it's quite a few days later. April 21. 1988. Happy birthday, Jennifer. And let's see...I'm in Frankfurt again, although, as of the last recording, I hadn't been in Frankfurt yet, but since that recording I have been to Frankfurt twice, including today. And, um, let me tell you what happened in Berlin.

Shortly after the last recording I went back into the catering room, where I saw the album covers for "Guitar" and the "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore" sampler. And had a good time looking at those. And then we had dinner and got the set list and huddled, and then went out and played the show, which was..."Black Page," "Packard Goose," "Any Kind Of Pain," "Baritone Women," "Eric Dolphy," "Walrus," "No Heart," "Andy," "Inca" and "Bolero." We had an intermission, then set two began with Frank trying to explain what the Jimmy Swaggart business was all about, then we did the Beatles medley, then "Torture/Lonesome," "Tiny Lites," "Pound For A Brown" and "Stairway." And the first encore was "Bobby Brown" and "Whipping Post," the second was "Joe's Garage" and "Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?," and the final encore was "Strictly Genteel." And that was the show in Berlin. And, um, after the first set in Berlin, Vivian came backstage to say goodbye because she had to catch the last bus back to the train station in Berlin, so she could catch the train to Frankfurt, where she would meet me the following morning because we had a long, all-night bus ride ahead of us after the show.

(1998 comment: For insurance reasons, Frank didn't allow band members' wives/girlfriends/whatever to travel on the bus with the band. So Viv had to make her own way across Europe.)

When the show was over we got on the bus for eight hours until we arrived in Frankfurt. And Scott and I sat in the back of the bus listening to Spot 1019, his favorite new band, and other things, and I played him some more of my stuff, including the recorded version of "Airport" which he quite enjoyed...

(1998 comment: This wasn't the piano solo version of "Airport" which is on the Tar Tapes CD, this was an electric ensemble version recorded in 1983 or 1984.)

...and also "There Have Been Bad Moments" which he said was massive and huge and Wagnerian, and while we back there listening to a bunch of hard-driving punk music, some Communists came back to check out our passports, but they were not at all taken aback by us having such a good time. They had given some trouble to the people on the other bus, and maybe to some of the people on our bus, but they were fine with us. Maybe we scared them.

On we went to Frankfurt. Got up to the room, watched some TV, ordered "the breakfast for the traveller," which consisted of a huge amount of food, so I was able to save an egg and some bread and a bunch of fruit for when Vivian showed up. Which she did, noonish, and she had some of the food. And we were both very tired so we slept for awhile, until it was time to leave for soundcheck.

Soundcheck on April 13 consisted of "Sofa," "Bolero," "4 Synths & Plastic," which would come to be known as "The Dessicated Number" and/or "The New Song"...

(1998 comment: ...and eventually came to be known as "When Yuppies Go To Hell.")

...which today got switched to a 3/4 time signature, "Black Napkins," "The Closer You Are," "Jesus Thinks You're A Jerk," "Zomby Woof," "Disco Boy," "Dancin' Fool," "Chana In The Bushwop" and "Heavy Duty Judy." And then we probably ate or something, and then we played the show - this was a no-break show: "Stink Foot," "No Heart," "Love Of My Life," "Heavy Duty Judy," "Disco Boy," "Teenage Wind," "Truck Driver Divorce," "Orange County," "Advance Romance," "Bobby Brown," "Bolero," "Big Swifty," "Bamboozled By Love," "Chana In The Bushwop," "Sharleena" and "Sofa." Killer! Very good set, nice show. Then "Stairway" as the first encore, "Walrus" and "Bandit" as the second encore and "Easter Hay" as the final encore, always a lovely way to end the evening. So; beautiful show, BUT...Vivian's pass was stolen, her laminated pass was torn right off of her by some ruffians. I got very pissed and ran around making sure that things would get taken care of, which they did the next day.

We went back to the hotel and watched "Beneath The Waves," or "The Deep" or "The Deadly Deep," or "Beneath The Water," some kind of seriously odd mermaid type of movie that Rankin/Bass did. Viv was watching it but I kept falling asleep, and eventually we both fell asleep watching this very strange movie with Connie Selleca.

The next day it was on to Koln. Oh, my, no, there's something else I must tell you...after the show in Frankfurt I got on the bus, Viv was sitting there with me and I got a message that there was somebody with a letter for me. I thought it was from the people who I'd gotten in to see the show that night, but it was actually my very own David Bowie letter! Which I knew hadn't come from Frank, it was evidently not his work, but it was a not bad facsimile of a letter which David Bowie might well have written to me if he'd seen me play and wanted me in his band. It ended up being from Ed and Chad. On the bus to Koln the next day I showed the letter to Frank and he was wildly amused by it, and everyone began hatching a plot to get Albert in on the game; we were talking about sending telexes and all kinds of elaborate things to make Albert think that David Bowie wanted to hire him, but to this date it hasn't yet happened. I think Ed was a little bit disappointed when he found out that I didn't believe the letter for a second, he didn't realize I'd already been aware of the tradition. But it was a lot of fun.

And then we arrived at Koln. At the soundcheck we practiced "Sofa," "Baltimore," the Bartok section of "Packard," "The Dessicated Number" which that day contained some 12-tone row experimentation, which I thought sounded all right but Frank "wasn't too entranced" as he put it, "Sinister Footwear," "Joe's Garage," "Paperback Writer" very briefly - couldn't remember the words - and "Lucy In The Sky" to make sure that the intro was still cool.

And then the show, which was "Black Page,""Inca Roads," "When The Lie's So Big," "Baritone Women," "Any Kind Of Pain," and then the show which consisted of "Black Page," "Inca Roads," "When The Lie's So Big," "Baritone Women," "Any Kind Of Pain," "Jesus Thinks You're A Jerk," "Tiny Lights," "Pound," "The New Song" - its world premiere - "Packard Goose," "The Meek," "Torture," "Disco Boy," "Teen Wind," "Bamboozled" and "Sofa". The first encore was "Bolero", second encore "Walrus" and "Bandit," third encore "Genteel," fourth encore "Easter Hay." I think we might have foregone "Genteel" and gone straight for "Easter Hay" - in fact, I'm pretty sure we did. And from all memory, heh heh, it was a fine show, and instead of taking the bus from Koln to London like we were originally planning on doing we were able to sleep and fly the next day, thank goodness. It made things a lot easier. But Vivian ended up having a very long journey the following day. Let's see, am I about to run out of tape? I am about to. Let me go get another one so I can be able to replace tapes without breaking my train of thought when it gets to that point.

If I remember correctly, when we got back to the Hotel in Koln from the show, I called home, but Mom and Dad weren't there, I spoke to Marty. And the next morning, Vivian got up early and started her very long journey to England and a little while later I got on the bus to the airport, took the plane to England, arrived in England. British Airways, where they served us the most adorable little meal with a variety of meats and breads and stuff and a beautiful little chocolate, and it was just really nice, and then I arrived in England and sat around watching television and stuff and waiting for Vivian to arrive. And that's the first day in England pretty much. I see the tape's about to run out. Instead of babbling until it does, I'm just going to turn it off and start the other tape now.

>beep!< April 15, 1988, in London waiting for Vivian. Whilst waiting for Vivian, I went walking around the Marble Arch area where the hotel was and found Virgin Records Marble Arch and also the HMV store on Oxford St. where they had the most incredible thing: CDs of Tinseltown Rebellion, and Sheik Yerbouti, and Man From Utopia and Ship Arriving Too Late on one CD, all stuff not available in the states, of course. I was soon to find out that also You Are What You Is was available. Although neither of those stores had them and I didn't have the wherewithal to buy anything right then, espeically since CD's are so damned expensive in England: average of $24 dollars American money a piece, and that's a good deal, and albums on sale for $12. So, that was very shocking. Extraordinarily shocking. But, of course, I would have gladly paid the money if I had it on me at that moment to buy those CD's, and also, of course, I eventually would, but didn't buy them just then. I went back to the hotel like a good boy, and uh, let's see what did I do for food that day...

Oh, I ordered room service, the most horrible cannelone imaginable and it just made me feel...it reminded me of the beginning of "Strictly Genteel" where, the lyric version, where it goes, "Lord have mercy on the people of England for the terrible food these people must eat." Because, ugh, it was really unbelievable. So, I put my about ¾ uneaten portion of cannelone out in the hallway across the hall from my room so that Vivian wouldn't see it sitting in front of the door, and figure that I had already eaten, and therefore go without because if she doesn't think I want to eat, then she might say that she doesn't want to eat even though she's starving. So, if I let her think that I was hungry, then she would be hungry, and we could go out and eat. Which was indeed the case when she finally arrived.

We went to Deep Pan Pizza down the street and it revived my appetite completely because it was wonderful, and she was very pleased with her pizza once she finally got it because the service for her wasn't amazing. They got her order wrong and all kinds of stuff, but eventually, uh, coo-coo-ca-choo, everything was really happening and cool, and then we got back to the room and watched some television including the thing called Friday Night Live, because this was indeed a Friday.

And the next day was a Saturday where we were going to a show in Brighton, and Vivian decided, probably wisely, even though it was a fine show, to stay around and relax because she'd had a very busy few days there. So, she hung out and took in some sights, and didn't go to Brighton, and I did. And the Brighton soundcheck consisted of yet another new horn chart, this one sat rather "RDNZL"-esque, but taken through many permutations of speed and time signature and etc., etc., and the usual "Sofa," and "The Dessicated Number," and the first new horn chart which I have dubbed "Igor's Boogie, Phase 3," and the bridge from "Sharleena," and "Easy Meat" (which was disastrous), and "Trouble Every Day," and "Alien."

And then we had food in Brighton, and then we had show in Brighton which consisted of "Stinkfoot," "Packard," "Alien," "Disco Boy," "Teen Wind," "Bamboozled," "Orange County," "The New Song," and "Walrus." And then one of those darned intervals in which Frank informed the audience that we were going to take a break now so that everybody could go out and buy beer, and, heh, that was pretty funny. Then the second set consisted of "Zoot Allures," "When The Lie's So Big," "Baritone Women" (during which someone threw a beer can up on the stage and Frank stopped the band and looked out at the guy who had thrown it and said, "Nooo," and started up the band again), and then "Any Kind Of Pain," and the part of "Any Kind Of Pain" that goes, "When she's in a bold mood, 'something' sounds good," Frank inserted the word, "Nooo." And then "Jesus," "Tiny Lites," "Pound For A Brown," and "Sharleena." The encore was the "Beatles Medley" and "Stairway," and the second encore was "Bolero." And Frank heard from the British record company that they are interested in releasing a CD single of "Bolero," so he was trying very hard at these English shows to get a really good version of Bolero on tape, and this one wasn't it. There was some really horrible stuff going on in the one section with [name deleted] particularly (I hope he never hears this, I'm sure he won't.).

Then it was back to London, which was, I guess was a pretty long bus trip, wudn't it? (Flips through pages). Yup! Not horrifically long, but long enough. And we got yet another day off, it was pretty cool. We had a show day surrounded by two days off, and this day off we made the most of it. We went to, first we adventured around quite a bit on the Underground before finally arriving at Camdentown which is where the Camden market is which is where Jim, who is the representative for Music For Nations who is distrubuting all the new Frank Zappa product informed me would be a good place to look for Prince's Black Album on cassette, which is a very high priority black market type-of item. And indeed, we didn't have to go into the flea market-type area itself. Directly across the street from it were a number of record stores, and a number of people out in front with little shelves and stuff hawking all kinds of illicit tapes and stuff including some Zappa stuff, which I of course picked up on. And also including the Brighton show from the night before, shockingly enough, and amusingly enough because here I've got a copy of the set list which is where the guy got the song titles for to put on the tape and he couldn't read "Any Pain." Frank's "Y" here looks kind-of funny, he thought it said "Ant Pain," and what else? "Sharleena," there was a little bit of a printing error here, and he wrote "Shareen." So, it was pretty darn funny to see that. And I found the Black Album, of course, I found Prince's Black Album, and looked in a bunch of other record stores and met some guys who had been at the show and wanted to go to Wembley and I got them in. I got their names and saw to it that they could get in, as I had done in Brighton with two guys that had traveled all the way from Glasgow. They were standing out by the stage door looking very miserable because they had traveled hundreds and hundreds of miles and some guy had told them that he would get them tickets to get into Brighton, and he hadn't done it, and so I told them that they should slap him next time they see him, and one of the guys says [MK imitates a Glasgowian], "Slap him, I'll break his freaking legs!" in a very nice Scottish lilt.

Brighton, by the way, is very Quadrophenia-like, it looks just like you would expect it to look from the movies, and we had a fun time there, but I digress yet again!

We're in London now, and more specifically in Camdentown, and I am buying Prince's tape and making a deal for a free ticket for a Smiths tape, and just having a grand old time out on the sidewalk. And we went in and got these crepes, these very rich crapes that were totally wonderful. I got a Malibu crape which was a banana kind-of thing and Viv got something called a Bell Hellain which was a pear-based crepe item, and it was all wonderful.

I went in several basement-type record stores which were real fun and saw the Todd Rundgren Anthology album, the 2-record set which I had never seen before. All stuff I have of course, but in a configuration I have not noticed. Not noticed because I have never seen, hey hey, ho ho! And then we decided that we were going to try and catch a bus to Tralfalgar Square and to Parliament, and those types of things, and we stood at one bus stop thinking that this would be the one, and it should have been but the proper bus never showed up, and we stood there for nearly an hour, I think, waiting. Finally, we walked around and almost by accident found the right bus. It took us to Tralfalgar Square where we walked around, and a lovely young British girl selling candies asked us in a lovely young British voice "Would you like to buy a sweetie?," and we went into a museum and looked at the architecture and the paintings there for a little while. It was very nice. Then, we went for a walk from Tralfagar Square up to where the Parliament buildings are and we saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey and a very nice park where we walked around and I got an ice cream with a chocolate thing stuck in it, and that was delicious, and we strolled by the Thames and looked at the spires and it was very nice. Very sweet afternoon.

Then we got back to the hotel and walked around trying to decide where we were going to eat and we ended up eating at the hotel cafe-type thing which was slightly more trouble than it was worth, and the food was all right but not killer, but it was still early and I was thinking that maybe later we could go out and get a pizza, but as it turns out, we didn't. We ended up turning in fairly early, and I listened to some of my tapes while Vivian slept and stuff. It was a very peaceful and enjoyable evening. Eventually, we just kind of fell asleep.

The next day was Monday the 18th...is that correct? Could that be? Yeah, I guess it is. Monday the 18th. The day of the first show at Wembley, and Vivian set out during the day. She, I guess she went to, I don't think this is the day she went to The Royal Mews, no, I know it wasn't. But, for whatever reason, she went out and I stayed in the hotel room and listened to tapes until it was time to go. And we went to Wembley.

Here is what we did at soundcheck: It sounded horrible, by the way, and I did an ugly little jagged abstract drawing here, on the, uh, on my rehearsal paper that I can't describe, but it's entitled, "The Way It Sounded At Wembley." Frank saw it from several yards away and before I told him what it was called, he said that he could tell just from looking at it that it was a visual depiction of the sound of the room. Then Scott showed it to him again the next day, and even though he had already seen it he looked at it some more and also looked at the rest of the stuff on the page because he didn't realize I had been keeping a log of rehearsals, and he said that was a very wise thing to do, and I tend to agree.

The soundcheck at Wembley was a lot of stuff. We did "Sofa," of course, Royal March, Closer You Are, Irish Eyes (briefly), Greasey, Bolero, The New Song, Cruisin' For Burgers, Stolen Moments, Dancin' Fool, Torture Never Stops, The Dangerous Kitchen (kind-of...as Frank was testing the new vocal mike, but it was a very funny good version of Dangerous Kitchen which would have been perfectly well-placed in any show), Black Napkins, Green Genes, Monde, Untouchables, Eat That Question, and Alien Orifice. A good, long rehearsal. A lot of important stuff in it. Then, we went and ate.

Before the Wembley show, Mr. Jim from Music for Nations on the bus was totally kind enough to give everybody in the band CDs of "Guitar" and "You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore." What a heck of a gesture! Really, really, nice thing to do. And, so, that made me feel good. And we ate, and then the first show at Wembley during which Vivian sat out by the soundboard with Robert Plant next to her, and Roland Orzabal from Tears For Fears was there, and Bill Bruford was also there, and we talked to him at the party backstage after the show.

But, I'm jumping ahead. Here is what we played: Black Page, Packard Goose, Green Genes, Pogen, Andy, Inca, Disco Boy, Teen Wind, and Tiny Lites. That was set one...heck of a set there. And then set two: No Heart, Monde, Bamboozled, Swifty, Peace Corps, Peaches, and Stairway. Another heck of a set. On balance, it was a heck of a show, but the sound didn't do it justice. Apparently, there was very little bass out there which Robert Plant mentioned to Vivian. Vivian had already noticed. Encore #1 was Bolero, still not the perfect version for a CD single. Encore #2 Walrus and Bandit. Encore #3 was scheduled to be Joe and Pee but we didn't do it. Instead, we went right to Encore #4, which became Encore #3, which was Genteel. Good version of that.

Then, after the show it was backstage to hang out with the hoy paloy and Bill Bruford who is a sweetheart of a guy, not at all the ogre I've been led to expect by various articles, and I had a nice time talking to him. He remarked that Ike and I seem to have a good time on stage together, which is true. Oh, one funny thing that happened today when I started my Peace Corps monologue...for some reason, Scott and Ike had congregated on stage directly in front of me totally blocking me from the audience. So I told them to get out of my way, and Frank said, "Yeah, this is the big Keneally moment," or something along those lines, and it was an amusing little bit.

Then, after the party, it was onto the bus, but the back of the bus, where me and Vivian and Scott and two of Scott's friends, Kent and this other girl whose name I can't remember. Kent is a girl, by the way. And Ike was back there, and Paul. And we watched some of this horrible, horrible movie called "The Deadly Spawn." A really disgusting, gross bit of horrible mess. And funny, of course.

I'm thinking now, and in fact it's true, that those tapes, those CDs rather, "Guitar" and "Stage," were actually given to us before Brighton. In fact, I know it is because I remember coming back and Vivian being asleep and me saying, "Look what I got!" because I was so pleased with my recent acquisition. So, just for the record, we got those CD's in Brighton and not on the way to Wembley, [growling] as I had originally claimed.

So, what a good time that was at Wembley!

The next day was another show in Wembley. Did we do anything that day? Uh, the 19th was a Tuesday...I think this might have been the day I went out and got two of those Zappa CD's. I had hoped to get three, of course, I had hoped to get...budda-dup! Let me turn off the tape while I think for a second, OK? Don't mind me.

What it comes down to is on 4/17 or 4/18, probably 4/18. No, it was 4/17. What am I thinking? It was obviously 4/17, which was the day I got the first two of those Zappa CD's, those being Man From Utopia/Ship Arriving Too Late, and the other one, heh heh heh, Sheik Yerbouti. Actually, now that I think about it, I got them on 4/18, the day of the first Wembley show. That's pretty relevant.

But the day of the second Wembley show we went for a walk to the farther HMV Store on Oxford so I could get the other two. You Are What You Is and Tinseltown Rebellion which I called and reserved in advance so I knew that they would be there when I got there. First, we stopped and got pizza after not being waited on at Linda's Sandwiches and then we went and got more pizza at that wonderful deep pan pizza place and then walked over and had a nice long walk and I found my CD's and I was very happy. I also found a book called "Zappa" by Julian Colbeck. I was really pleased with my acquisitions and we were ambling back and I looked down at my watch and saw that it was 2:59 and the bus was leaving in one minute.

So we ran about a mile to the hotel, and then, just as we were arriving at about 3:07, I saw that the buses were leaving. So I asked Vivian to get my pass and bring it to the soundcheck, and I ran off after the buses, and about 4 or 5 blocks later I finally caught up to the bus with the Fowlers in it and banged on the side of the bus until they let me in. I'm still feeling the after-effects of that little jaunt. But it was pretty exciting and everyone on the bus was mightily amused.

Then, we got to soundcheck and Wembley #2 started out with a third new horn chart. Starting out, there was a bass chart also, it started out in 3/4 with the low register instruments playing very ominously and going into 4/4. A very kind-of the more disturbing moments of Pedro's Dowry or something trumpet melody type-of thing. Interesting. Then on to In France, T'Mershi Duween, Burgers, The New Song, Chunga (with Dweezil about), Crew Slut, Green Hotel (oh, by the way, Dweezil was there that day, heh heh, and Bill Bruford was also around for the soundcheck), Crew Slut, Green Hotel, Dumb All Over, Turning Again, Outside Now, and King Kong. Trying to play that part which [name deleted] never gets right, and still didn't get it right when we practiced it, and Frank waved it to a stop, and I'd say it was likely that we will never attempt to play it again because it was hopeless. And supposedly, Pete Townshend was going to come to the show, but I don't know if he ever materialized. And Robert Plant didn't make any motion to come up on stage for Stairway on the first night. In fact, he left during the break which was kind-of sad because Ike dedicated Stairway to him and he wasn't anywhere to be dedicated at.

Anyway, the set consisted of Stinkfoot with me doing the guitar soloettes for the first time, Dickie (during which Ed made a mistake on the diddle-uh-dit- dit diddle-uh-dit-dit, and Frank didn't let him get away with it. He made him do it three times total until it was at least reasonably accurate, and then we went on...much to the horror of several people in the band. But, it was actually fairly amusing), and then Lie's So Big, Baritone Women, Any Kind Of Pain (where the magic word was "accuracy") - oh. At one of these shows, Brighton, I believe...it was Brighton, where Mossimo was, by the way. There was somebody out in the audience, a few people holding up a big sign saying, "What's the secret word for tonight?" and Frank had told us a joke at the huddle which was: "What do you call a New Zealander with many wives?" and the answer is: "A shepherd." So, when they asked Frank what the secret word was, he said, "Let me think about that for 15 minutes" and it eventually became the word "sheep" and the word "sheep" figured very prominently in Brighton. But, at Wembley, it was "accuracy." During Any Kind Of Pain when it was, "When she's in a bold mood, accuracy sounds good." Turns out later that several members of the band thought that Frank was in a really bad mood and I just thought that he wanted to hear the songs played right. Seemed to make sense to me! After Any Pain we continued on with Jesus, Cruisin' For Burgers, Outside Now and Orange County, and then one of those gald-durnked intervals. Set two began with the Beatle Medley, with no kind-of explanation. We just did it. Torture, Stick Together, My Guitar, Willie, Montana, and Stairway. This was all going very well, by the way. The audience at this Wembley second show was really responsive, really happening, and really enjoying themselves a lot. Encore One was Joe's Garage and Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?, and the second encore was Chunga's Revenge featuring Dweezil, who did a wonderful job, and Bolero. And after the show I was talking to Dweezil in his little room backstage and Frank came in and gave Dweezil a big hug and told him that he was a musician now, boy, because he uh, it was the most demanding backing that he had ever had to play a solo over. At least with Frank and he pulled it off real well. Frank said it was great. It was a nice moment.

And then at the Wembley party, I talked to a couple of guys from The New Musical Express who actually liked the show, which was shocking considering Frank's usual relationship with British journalists. They really liked it, which was fine by me because it was a good show and it deserved to be liked.

And then it was the next day, we had another ride home. Thank God with didn't watch "Deadly Spawn" on it this time. But we had a good time nonetheless.

Then it was April 20th, also known as yesterday, and I'm going to turn this off and think about how yesterday started. Excuse me.

This was the day that Vivian was going to go and look at the Royal Mews! So, I got my stuff together and headed off because it was a fairly long ride to Birmingham. And went to Linda's Sandwiches where we had not been waited on several days before, and I got a Chicken Supreme which was really good. Worth the wait. Heh heh. And then, arrived back around 12 or so. We've got a new guy. A new Jim Moore, who was the new Bobby Ward, and that is Doug Locke, and so far he has demonstrated to have not too much agility at figuring out when we should be going places. We always end up leaving too early. So we left for Birmingham way too early. Even having to wait an extra half-hour for Scott because he was doing his things that he's had to do since losing his passport. So we were gonna leave at 12:30. We ended up leaving at 1, and even at that we arrived way early.

And got into the place and I went backstage where there was a room with a SynthAxe set up in it, and a guy from the SynthAxe company and Ike was in there playing it, and then I sat down and played with it for awhile and had a lot of fun with it. Very strange, but very enjoyable, and a lot of potential. And then, I heard the strains of Sofa and realized that oops, I'd better get on stage. And got on stage as Sofa was finishing, put my guitar on and Frank said he wanted to work on Trouble Every Day, and we did, and then he wanted to put something new in the middle because he was thinking of using it as an opening song. So we tried it with The New Song, The Dessicated Song, in the middle of it. That didn't quite work, so Frank just started making up a new thing. Just wrote it on the spot there, and it ended up going sort-of like [sings a cute little melody going, "Diddle-yet diddle-yet," etc.] That's the bass line and the guitar comes in with everyone else, diddle-it, diddle-it, up the scale, did diddle-yee-da-dot, doot-doodle-doo-doo doot-doo-doo. So he just made a composition there, it was very enjoyable.

Muffin Man. We rehearsed that for the first time in my memory. Burgers, Cosmik Debris, Layla (just briefly because Frank asked yesterday if anybody knew Layla and Bobby said that he used to play it in bars all the time. He knew all the words, so I don't know exactly what Frank had in mind about Layla, but he said, "Let's try Layla," and then everybody kind-of launched into it half-heartedly, and he waved it to stop, and said, "Gentleman. I just want to hear bass, drums, Evelyn (meaning me), and Bobby." So we went into it, and I hadn't played it before, but I did a credible job of sounding like the guitar part on the record, and Paul Carman really liked it, but Bobby couldn't remember the words, so that was it for Layla), and then we worked on Dinah-Moe Humm a bit. It sounded actually pretty good. And we continued going back to the new bit, after we would do a couple songs, we would go back to the new bit in Trouble to make sure that everyone remembered it. And, miracle of miracles, everyone did and it sounded real good. Diddle-it, diddle- it, diddle-it. And then I went back and played The SynthAxe some more, and this was going to be a big night, by the way.

We went onstage eventually, after I had my nut roast, heh, and Viv was around. She had arrived during soundcheck while we were doing Layla and stuff. And the show for the evening consisted of: Judy, Cosmik Debris (First time we played it, at least on the European leg), No Heart, Love of My Life, Cruisin' For Burgers, Lucille, Stolen Moments, Trouble, Penguin, Green Hotel, and then there was a break. Then, the second set was: Eat That Question, Black Napkins, Tiny Lites, Pound, Peaches, and Stairway. Then we went away and came back and did our encores. Greasey and Sharleena, first encore. Second encore was Dancin' Fool, Whippin' Post, and Walrus. Third encore was Bolero.

And then we went backsta--. Oh! First, there was a guy in the front who was giving me the thumbs up saying, "Great show!" and everything, and he was wearing the coolest purple and green hat. I said, "Great hat!" and he tossed it up on stage and said [dramatically], "It's yours!" So I gave him a guitar pick, and walked back happily wearing my hat, and nabbed one of the big old posters that was up on the wall advertising "Guitar." So I had a hat, and a neat poster, and I was thinking that everything was just about as cool as it could be, and then in walks Scott with Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory. Mere words can't do justice to how neat this was. Suffice it to say that they mentioned to us that they would be in Los Angeles recording when we got back, and Andy suggested that it might be cool for me to come in and do a little guitar work on their album. Uh, this is obviously unbelievably fantastic. So I'm just going to stop talking about it.

And then, on the bus ride home, me and Scott and Vivian talked about it over and over again, as well as a bunch of other stuff. And then, we went to Scott's room, and hung out there and listened to music still not believing it. And then we went, uh. Oh, we met Loverboy in the lobby and tried to make some kind of arrangements to meet, but nothing was open. So we couldn't hang out with Loverboy, unfortunately, but this sort-of paled in comparison to what had already occurred. And after hanging out in Scott's room, we went down to our room, and I called home and spoke to Mom and Dad and Marty, and then we went to sleep. It was very late, about 3:30 our time, and we had to wake up very early the next day to be in today's journey, and this side is about over, I'm going to turn it over now.

That worked out well, Vivian left around 8 AM or so this morning from England to begin the increduably (increduably?) long journey to Frankfurt, where I am. And I, we, left around 10:30, took the bus to the airport, took the airport (Took the airport?), took the airplane to the other airport, British Airways, got another delightful little lunch, and took the bus to the hotel where I am now. Arrived here around 4:30 or so, and I borrowed Scott's CD player and I listened to Sheik Yerbouti and Tinseltown Rebellion and some of the songs on Guitar until the battery went dead. It's now in Scott's room charging.

And then I did this, and I'm waiting for Vivian, and that's what happened! And that's an update up until April 21st, 1988! And if I think of anything else, as always, I'll be back. See you all later! Bye!

I thought of something, before the show in Koln, Merl and I did an interview with a magazine called Fachblatt, German rock magazine. I think the interview was originally going to be with Frank, and Frank was too busy to do it, so he suggested that I do the interview, and we had Merl in there to answer technical questions about Frank's setup, and it was very amusing.

And Peter Gabriel was supposedly at that show also, although he never actually materialized. At least none of the band members ever saw him, although I saw someone lingering off stage that looked like they might have been his cousin. So, that's it! See ya, bye!

Next episode:
APRIL 29 1988

Last episode:
APRIL 12 1988