First Germany Tour update: Katie learns German at lightning speed, Oberursel Bierwagen and 1000 tour posters, Dreihausen Andre’s birthday Sekt toast, Tim’s jokes, Marburg castle, Brother’s Grimm fairy tales, and Luther/Zwingli debates and walking into organ practice in an empty church magic, Hannover New Rathaus, Turkish restaurant and Zwiebelkuchen surprise, driving to Eckernforde taking the ferry across the Elbe river, cool venue in the harbor of the Baltic sea as the sun goes down, post gig Whiskey around the table and hearing Shetland Fiddle song so beautiful it brought tears after midnight, walk in the country, apartment in Kiel, laundry drying on the balcony and having to go back to the market after realizing the coffee I purchased was “EntKoffeineiert” (decaffeinated). Not OK. And now on to the topic at hand:
Everyone. Now hear this: Play shows, go places, meet new people.
Of course, I’m bias because I dig playing shows, going places and meeting new people. I confess I’m better at new than I am at consistancy which is something I’ve been working on in my adult years- improve on my longevity skills. But also. I just naturally fall into new so easily that it feels like coming home. You would feel that same way too if you cut your teeth on new things like I did- new people to host at your house all the time, new people to meet on vacation in the campgrounds and in the church pews, new places to go and new languages to learn in other countries, new states to move to, new everything was the running theme that I picked up on early and ran with so of course new and undiscovered has a homey quality to it.
But I digress. Play shows, go places, meet new people.
Photo by Christoph Barnbrock, Oberursel, September 19, 2023
Play shows. I kid you not. Being in the mix is one million times more glorious than thinking about it. If you’re a musician you may read the words ‘play shows’ literally, but if you’re not, how would you articulate the equivalent in your neck of the world? How do you define the highwire act? Where is it that life really feels like living for you? Do that, my friend. Thank God I was reminded about how much I love playing shows on this tour. I just love it. I love getting up there on the highwire where it feels like home and connecting and trying stuff and getting so present in the moment you can neither think back to the previous moment or lose the present by consider the next. The playing shows vibe is so in the moment and wow, doesn’t in the moment feel so good? When you give yourself the gift of living without the weight of the past or the anticipation of the future to hang over your head? Do it. Play the shows.
Moving in the moment Tim Grimm and Sergio Webb, Spieker, September 23, 2023
Go places. I have never once in one thousand trips ever regretted investing in exploration. Never was there a dime I wished I could get back from the decision of getting in that car or boarding that flying machine to parts unknown. This is how I feel about this trip too. Oh, by the way, I’m writing you from an apartment in Kiel, Germany while the washing machine spins round and round with a load of darks. Pre-departure always has me second guessing and asking myself why in hell did I disrupt everything and think this was a good idea, but getting here and doing the thing it is crystal clear to me that this is a totally good go. This is a good go. Of course, I’m bias having grown up in the realm of newness and exploration and meeting people from all over the world and talking about going all over the world since I was a kid. But for reals, you guys, wanna make life feel more like living? Trust that this is good money well spent on the kind of adventure that keeps paying out over and over again. One night is all it takes to turn your world upside down or, better yet, put the world all back in order after having been jumbled by obstacles, set backs and disruption. Put your world back together by stepping out into it. I guarantee magic will find you. It found me, that’s for sure, on the floor, sitting at the foot of the stage beside my friend Katie, in a packed house venue looking up at our friends Tim and Sergio playing their show beneath the stage lights with a glass of red in my hand in a venue on the Baltic like a gosh dang sailor back from sea. I looked at Katie and I looked up at the stage, and all around the room and I was like, “Yeah man. This. This is it.” And it was. And it is. And however you imagine that moment for yourself? Do that, man.
Meet new people. Of course, I’m bias. I grew up among new people. New friends always coming through town staying at our house. I’d bunk in with my brothers while they got settled in my room. Nothing more fascinating than sitting around that kitchen table over coffee getting to know the new person- maybe a friend, a distant relative, a coach come to scout players, a new player waiting for his apartment to open up, a foreign exchange student come to meet their new host family. So many new people. Meet them all. First, because I said and second because it’s a wonderful door into the human experience that is both so varied and so so similar. We share so much in common, we are curious by nature, we have hurt that we can identify in each other, we have celebration that only savors sweeter when we share it. We can offer understanding, we can receive it, we can offer newness and we can enjoy it as something lovely and light and not something to be feared. Why do I say this? Because our tour in Germany this time has been made beautiful by the people we’ve met. I’ve seen familiar faces, of course, but Katie is getting all new all the time. We’ve been lucky enough to stay in homes, share meals, take walks, see beehives, drink whiskey, saddle up to the Bierwagon and always among people who have added to. the delight and tapestry of this tour. I’m always pro-meet people. Maybe because my whole life has been about that. I’m always pro-talk to a stranger. Sometimes I’ve been known to love strangers more than my friends…..
Katie and I in Hannover twenty years after being there the first time. Crazy.
Tour in Germany 2023. I can’t believe this is my life. I can’t believe dreams come true like this. During one show I was telling everyone 2023 is the 20th anniversary of my living here (with Jon and Sammy once upon a time). I’m 20 years older than the first time I walked around here and learned German word by word, bird by bird.
Twenty years later here I am still playing and exploring and allowing things to play out. How lovely it is to simply follow the thread and see where it leads. How lovely it is to look back and give thanks for all those shows and moments and places and people. Stay tuned for more. Stay attuned with your antennae picking up signals re: MORE. High five.