Thurs., April 30, K.I.K., Reid, Austria-- Heading east of Salzburg, ended us up in Reid, and shortly at K.I.K., the quirky little club downstairs from an art gallery. We arrived around 6 p.m. for soundcheck. The promoter was already well underway with vodka, but was friendly and very attentive to our needs, laying out some bread, fruit and drinks as we set up. I took the opportunity to add the bottom heads to the toms on the drumset that was now sparkling clean and looking pretty good with new clear kick drum heads. I got the toms positioned finally where I wanted them, and with the cymbals in the right places, I was actually happy with the setup. It sounded and looked professional at last. I was a little apprehensive about the sound in the club because it had low ceilings, and very little acoustic padding of any kind, and it was small with about a 200 person maximum SRO. The system was definitely overkill for the room, but so far that seemed to be the rule here in Europe, which is the exact opposite from the States. We headed over to the charming hotel without an elevator to our rooms. Petra and I had the only rooms on the third floor. They were very small, but extremely clean--no TV, no phone--but quiet. When we arrived at the gig, we attempted to go in the back door as we had loaded in earlier, but it was locked and there was no light coming from any window and no sound coming from anywhere. It looked closed. A young man walked by us and up the staircase to the second level of the building saying, "You can't get in that way." And for some reason we just stood there going, "Yeah, yeah, we're discovering that." I finally figured out we ought to follow him...As we got up the steps and through the door, we heard the familiar sounds of a club downstairs, and as we followed the sounds down the stairs, we entered a packed room. Relief. Despite all the human bodies in the room, it seemed like we were really loud and the monitor mix onstage was pretty bad. I kept telling the soundman to take the guitar out of the monitor, but he thought I was saying I couldn't hear it, so kept turning it up. Ouch. Petra finally straightened him out in his native tongue. By this time, the promoter was pretty soused, and at break time promised to "do a dance for us." I got a beer, and as I drank it, I realized it was probably the best beer I'd ever tasted. It was totally well-balanced and not too heavy or too light. Now for the life of me, I can't remember the name of it, but I do know it was the local beer of Reid. By the second set, the crowd had loosened up a little from that great beer, and we ended up doing a couple of encores. Vic was busy after the gig hitting up on some local girl. He then left with her, without helping with equipment--a definite no-no, and not the first time he'd done that. That pissed both Tony and me off, but we did get some help from the sound guys loading the stuff into the van. The next morning, Dede and I took a nice walk. It was May Day, and we ended up strolling through the city center square where the townspeople were erecting a huge maypole. As we continued our journey, we discovered the city park which runs all the way through the town, following a stream. It was absolutely stunning, and with the sun shining down and mild temps, we felt like heaven, man. After our excursion, everyone loaded into the van, and all Vic could say about his shenanigans the night before, was that he "walked back to the hotel." Duh...