TWO WEEK TO WEEK TOO WEEK
Whereas I cannot say that there has been much news of a Ken Stringfellow content-bearing variety, I can say that the REM tour has been marvelous...I think every show has been sold out so far--and the audiences being as enthusiastic as they have been have made playing at a very high level not very difficult to achieve. They act like a kind of safety net...you know you could fall and be forgiven, so you relax enough that falling doesn't occur. But 'falling' musically is generally not as dramatic as someone slipping off the high wire...generally mediocrity is a fungus that grows on some moldering psyche, by the time you've discovered it you've already been consumed. No threat of it taking hold on the 6 of us in the REM band anytime that I can imagine.
We visited Marseille, the second largest city in my adopted country, where I had never been before...we wound thru many mountains in Italy and Switzerland...Milan was a fabulous show, and I have to give a shout out to Roberto and Roberta, for providing enough hospitality to kill any man, and for making sure I didn't end up face down in the gutter as a result...I revisted the venue from the KS tour, La Casa 139, two nights in a row (the aforementioned Roberto is the proprietor) and on weekend nights as it turns out it is a roiling scene with DJs and sweaty walls...and an excellent, helpful staff. Argh!
And now we face the uncharted (for me) lands of eastern europe...I am sure to be discovering many sights and faces...and avoiding grappa-like beverages at all costs. Eastward, ye!
Love
KS
Ljubjana
