Fri., May 8, Live Club, Bamberg, Germany-- We made our way to Bamberg, due west of Erfurt, under beautiful blue skies that made the lush green of the countryside look positively psychedelic. Mustard is a popular staple crop here, so there are big patches of bright yellow from the mustard blooms glowing in the sun. We arrived in Bamberg late in the afternoon, checked into the nice hotel, and had a couple of hours to kick back before going to the club to set up. On the way, however, was our first encounter with the Polizei. Petra was very cool, as two officers surrounded the van, peering inside. The driver-side lawman asked for Petra's drivers license, and then asked who we were. Petra spilled the beans about the band from the U.S. The officers then asked Petra to step out of the van, and due to the lack of our comprehension of German, we were sure something was wrong--they were probably going to search the van and grill us all about our destinations and intentions. Suddenly, Petra was laughing and one officer was pointing to something on the front of the van. Finally released to carry on, Petra answered our concerns saying the officers stopped her because her vehicle license plate was expired (two weeks before). She said when she told them about us, they pretended to be serious, questioning her about visas for these renegade Americans. Of course, no visas are required for Americans in Germany, so Petra laughed, and that was it. Ah, for such lightheartedness in the lawmen of the States! We got to the club and I had a choice to use either the house drumset--a five-year old black Tama Rockstar set--or the old Rogers. I gladly opted for the house set with the power toms and deep kick drum. We had an opening band called "Cryin Shame", so they came up and introduced themselves. They were three jazz college dropouts, who all went to the same school and decided to play something more rockin' than traditional jazz--hence the name of the band. A tall, youngish, good looking blonde fellow strolled up the stage with aplombe, dressed in a suit with boistrous hellos to Petra and Joanna--the club owner. This was the type of club owner who directly involved himself in the show productions and the running of the club, so he personally took us all out to a lovely dinner at an Italian restaurant, eating outside on the sidewalk. The club owner (sorry I can't remember his name) was a very personable, confident of a good turnout tonight, but there was definitely a problem with the weather...it was just too damn good--"Everyone will be sitting on their asses in the beergardens," he declared with thick accent. After we related our polizei incident earlier, he told us Bamberg was a very conservative town. There was a 1 a.m. curfew for everyone, and they stop by his club every night to "say hi". Vic sat strategically at the end of the table avoiding contact with Dede and I as much as possible. Tony was the only one talking to him, but the conversations were only about basketball and who's who in music. We arrived at the show shortly before the conclusion of Cryin Shame's set. They were covering a Jimi Hendrix number--not bad at all. The crowd was a bit small by club standards, but they were enthusiastic. We blew through two sets and then Joanna called up an old friend to the stage--a black blues singer with the first name of Carol (all I remember). She'd been living in Germany for the past couple of years, but knew Joanna from when she lived in Chicago. So, of course, and to the crowd's delight, we had to play "Sweet Home Chicago" (I've only played that chestnut about a million times), and another non-descript shuffle.