"A Few Of My Favourite Things'"
Have you ever
noticed how people wearing backpacks walk differently?
Have you ever
noticed how good female airline pilots are? (I hope that´s behind me now!)
Alicante
airport has introduced a fun new addition to the human obstacle course that it
has become.
As you may
know, airports became shopping malls during the times when people had money and
a lot of major shop names moved in to sell their stuff at ridiculous prices. Why
not? People are willing to pay silly money for a name brand scarf so ....
Problem is,
people don´t have money anymore and so these shops are struggling and many of
them are closing as a result.
It is those
that remain open that have come up with this brilliant idea of having their
salespeople meander around outside the store (this means the area where people
are walking to catch their flights) trying to lure shoppers in with silly flyers.
Kind of
¨pimping¨ Burberry and Mango ..... I rather see it as detrimental to the brand
image but who ever listens to me?
Most of the
shop staff are completely bored anyway, so their meandering is an alternative
way of passing time until they can go home. So the aimlessly meandering,
on-time-a-year flyers are now joined by people being paid to do the same thing
..... get in my way!
Alas, alas,
such has become the wonderful world of flying.
I am in the
Stuttgart area now, staying at the Nestor hotel in Ludwigsburg. If you look it
up on the internet, it has all the visual trappings of a 5-star hotel but, in
real life, it´s closer to 3. Disappointing, but the staff are nice, everything
works and I will manage.
In spite of
the rain and cold, these days were very enjoyable.
Sawubona is a
special project designed to benefit children in townships in South Africa. You
can Google ¨Sawubona¨ and learn more if you want to.
Backed by IBM
Germany, the first idea is to produce a CD of songs that will be sold and the
proceeds will go to these townships and orphanages in an effort to provide
relief from hunger and to offer hope and education to children in desperate
situations. The plan is to launch it at the World Cup in May 2010 and I will be
involved at many levels.
I will keep
you all posted on this.
I was also
invited to speak at The Creativity World Forum, an international conference
which, in this case focussed on the ¨marriage¨ of technology and creativity.
This was a
fascinating moment for me, especially as the panel included Professor Karl-Heinz
Brandenburg, the inventor of the mp3 file and especially as I have a profound
interest in the protection of composers rights when it comes to the internet
delivery of music!
I feel
strongly about what I call ¨ethernet shoplifting¨. Writing is work and writers
should be paid for that, so I urged these brilliant scientists to come up with a
way to make music accessible (I´d be okay with a reasonable price) and ensure
that composers get their share of that revenue.
This is an
on-going project and a powerful challenge.
All in all
though, the forum and my mini-jams with the Sawubona band were very enjoyable.
Swiss Airlines
then flew me to Zurich. This flight took 25 minutes and, during that time I
received a sandwich, coffee, water and chocolate, all free and more than some
airlines can manage on long-haul flights!
I was met
there by Christine Aebischer who is one of the hardest working people I have
ever met. Not only is she a principal singer in the concerts but she is also
organising everything and, in a show that involves a lot of different acts of
many different kinds, that´s a LOT of work.
We arrived in
Fribourg safely and after checking into the hotel I went to rehearsals.
This was when
I realised what a pleasure these 2 shows were going to be.
I had a
seven-piece band, three main backing singers and a 20-piece girls choir (also
trained by Christine) to play with and they had all rehearsed well enough that
we were able to run through my four songs in no time. Amazing!
But I was
tired now so the hotel was a welcome sight. I also had just a trace of a cold so
I decided to forego the invitations for sightseeing tomorrow and rest. This was
a good decision.
First thing
this morning I went to get another pillow. This little (1 - star) bed is
uncomfortable enough!
I was still
tired because I didn´t sleep well so I was happy to have the day to rest, relax
and catch up on some ¨office work¨.
When the time
came to go to the venue I was ready but I did make one mistake ... I was at the
venue for nearly 4 hours before it was my turn to play!
The horn
section was warming up in the corridor outside my dressing room and so I spent
some time signing things and taking pictures with some of the sponsors.
This show is
very family-oriented, really entertaining and a lot of fun. The audience was
really enthusiastic and a good time was had by all.
My four songs
came and went quite quickly and the audience wanted an encore but we hadn´t
prepared one so we´ll have to make a change for tomorrow.
The show
closed with everyone on stage singing Hey Jude.
This night I
slept a lot better and felt better.
Christoph
picked me up for lunch and we enjoyed delicious fondue in the old part of
Fribourg. And there was an ash tray on the table!
Fribourg had
just celebrated its 700th birthday and I heard the story but I won´t recount it
here. You can Google that too if you are interested.
Switzerland is
a unique country and I can´t find anything about it to criticize, even here, so
close to the border with France. If you haven´t visited, you should because it´s
impossible to have an opinion if you haven´t.
After lunch I
found a cheese shop and bought some cheese for when Monica and I make fondue at
home.
Then I enjoyed
a 60-minute siesta and woke up slowly, in time to prepare for the show.
I left a
little later this time but, just like all of man´s best laid plans, they had
moved my set to later in the show so I still had to hang around for a while.
Tonight
sounded better and, by all accounts, it was better but I needed to hit the road
fast as I had to get up early for my flights home.
This had been
a very enjoyable time and I quickly accepted Jean-Marie´s invitation to return
next year.
Again, the Air
Berlin experience from Zurich to Alicante, via Palma, Mallorca was quick,
punctual and easy but boy is this year ever catching up on me now?
For the first
time in a long time I can honestly say I need a vacation!
I wonder why
some far Eastern people are so short ....
Bye for now,
Ken
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