 Mon., May 11, Jazz Galerie, Bonn, Germany-- It was about four hours to the former capitol of West Germany, again under the threatening sunny skies of Deutschland. It was a last-minute booking as Petra's friend, Nina, the club owner of the Jazz Galerie, had hemmed and hawed about booking the band on a Monday, after not wanting to commit to a weekend night. Petra was miffed by the ambiguity and predicted a poor turnout for the show.  The saving grace was that Nina paid the best of all the clubs, hence our long voyage had at least a financial purpose. By the time we got to Bonn we were starving, so Joanna, Baby, Petra, Dede and I trucked over to a traditional German restaurant--our first this trip--for a bite of late lunch.  I had some scrumptuous "potato pie" which was basically eggs scrambled with potatoes served with a side of sauerkraut and mixed veggies...very satisfying.  Tony realized he was in the city of his dream store: Neumann Electronics (sic), and was practically jumping up and down in anticipation. "Plugs and switches and gadgets, oh my!"...as he sprinted off in the opposite direction. Vic took off aimlessly, probably for a music store where he could drop a few names to increase his stature. Over lunch we discussed further the Vic problem and filled Joanna and Petra in on Randy's background. The last time Dede and I had talked to Randy, he was having a problem with his 16-year old daughter in school, and didn't feel he would be a responsible parent by taking the gig. But, school was nearly over for the summer, so we had high hopes he would agree to join the tour when we returned from Europe. Baby Maryam finally had enough of the pipe smoke and stuffy air in the restaurant, so we departed, stopping in at the health food store across the street. I was looking for something specific for my cold and found a great remedy with camphor and wintergreen oils in a 50% alchohol tincture. It was a bit much to take straight on the tongue, but was fine with warm water, and it really cut through the mucous which was now building in my lungs. We also picked up some Taheebo Tea for general band anti-viral protection--Joanna was getting a sore throat now, so we needed to do something fast. We met back at the van and then all checked in to a lovely hotel. Big problem was getting momentarily stuck in the elevator with two hyper-claustrophics: Dede and Joanna. It was only about 60 seconds when the door refused to open despite our repeated button-pushing and even sounding the emergency bell, but in that time both Dede and Joanna were turning colors and panting, leaping out of the elevator car like there was a fire when the doors opened at last. We ended up taking the stairs up two floors. I opted for another power nap before soundcheck, and in due time we were at the Jazz Galerie. It's a basement club with a cool layout and hip decor. There was a nice green room, and Dede was really itching to come to a show, so it was decided she would do her nannying there tonight. We strolled down a side street in search of yet another Italian restaurant Joanna had remembered from her last visit to Bonn,  when suddenly I looked up at a building on which was inscribed "The Birth House of Ludwig von Beethovan". It was just another humble building front, with the date of 1641. I had a sudden rush of history, almost like deja vu, like I'd been there before. Right. I was Beethoven in a past life...actually, come to think of it, I owned a music store on that street. Yeah, that's it... Cryin Shame opened again for us to a very small and half-hearted audience. The sound really sucked--I couldn't hear a thing, and it seemed to me the drums were completely out of the mains and monitors. This made my job doubly hard...
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