 Sat., May 9, Star Club, Oberhausen, Germany-- As we continued west, the beautiful bustling city of Oberhausen was next on the list. We continued to be "plagued" by summerlike--practically tropical--weather; a concern to every clubowner so far who didn't want to end up with a dismal turnout because of the beergardens. I woke up in the morning with a definite sore throat and the beginnings of a cold. The travel stress and Vic's blow up and the fallout was taking a toll on my immune system. I dosed heavily with everything in my bag of supplements and decided to fast for the day, following the old axiom, "Starve a cold, feed a fever". I had to talk Petra into not being concerned because I didn't want to eat--she just had never heard about not eating when a cold comes on. I upped my liquids intake and ate only echinachea caps with Vitamin C every couple of hours. The Star Club is a basic long-time fixture for rock clubs in Oberhausen, and in the central region of Germany. Bands of all genres and statures have performed here. The club is a great example of how a music venue can be done right with a big stage and lights, kickin' sound system, and plenty of room to dance and/or crowd the stage. We were met by three men in their 40's, one of whom was the owner, and the two others helped us unload the equipment. Cryin Shame was to open for us again, and I had befriended Bernard, the drummer, who took pity on me by letting me use his extra cymbal stands and better functioning snare stand. He's a very nice guy, and an excellent drummer with chops to die for. We all did the individual sound checks, and were waiting around for Joanna.  She was hot and heavy on the phone again to her mother, doing a gnashing-of-teeth scenario for the umpteenth time. Joanna calls home every day to check on things, not trusting that her mother (who lives in the same apartment building) isn't screwing up things back home. Joanna has decided to move out of Chicago to Portland, and was having quite the emotional donnybrook about it with her mom. She finally asked me to ask Tony to soundcheck her mike and guitar for her, and we split at last for the hotel. I was tired and in the midst of coming down with a medium-sized cold. The club put us up at a four-star Best Western hotel, which was welcome, and I took the opportunity for a long nap while everyone else headed to the Greek restaurant a couple of blocks away. After the nap I felt better and was looking forward to the show. As we arrived at the club, it was apparent the weather had taken its toll. There were about 150 people there, but the club can hold up to 400, so it looked a bit empty.  Cryin Shame was doing the SRV version of "Superstitious", as I grabbed a big bottle of orange juice to calm my sore throat. Joanna was in good form tonight, and the show went very well. I had decided to put Vic above everything else in my monitor mix instead of taking him out of it altogether, and that worked better. I've never known a bass player to be so detached from the groove and so unwilling to lock in with any member of the band. So with him loud in my monitor, I could at least catch him here and there to make it seem like we were grooving, but it was an illusion at best. I sweated my butt off, and it really helped the cold, although at break I was shakey and tired, not helped by the fact I thought Petra said it was to be one 90-minute set, not two 50's...  More orange juice and some delicious banana juice drink got my electrolytes up enough to be ready for the second set, and we burned through it to good effect. By the end of the show I felt like I'd lost at least five pounds, but was feeling good. As loadout arrived, Vic had now latched on to some 40-something blonde and was schmoozing her instead of helping with the equipment...
|
