Day 2
This was when
I found out that seemingly everyone was looking for Morgan. Everywhere I
went in the hotel people were calling out his name but it seems they couldn't
find him. I hope he´s okay.
Funnily enough,
this apparent search stopped at noon.
My dear friend
Uwe Mamminga spent a large part of today driving me around and back and forth to
his venue which we know as The Downtown Blues Club but which is actually part of
a larger complex called Landhaus Walter, situated right in the city centre and
in a lovely park
Uwe has a
great reputation amongst us musicians because he is a music lover, has been
involved in music all of his life and cares about the people who work at his
venue. He also has a great kitchen!!!
Hamburg has a
fantastic network of musical people with a lot of experience and they are all
connected by their combined history as part of Hamburg's incredible musical
heritage.
Some grew up
in the era of the Star Club, the Beatles and the early, so-called, "beat"
generation and others later, but somehow they all became ¨networked¨ and now
they work together, largely informally, but in a very powerful way.
During this
visit to Hamburg I had the full force of this team at my disposal and it made
things a lot easier and my entire visit a lot more fun.
I can't think
of another city anywhere in which you can experience this teamwork, experience
and absolute passion for music so completely.
Ticket sales
were good, lunch was great and sound check was long but fun. Maks and the guys
were determined to get their part right so we spent a little extra time there
and then I ran back to the hotel to chill for a bit before the show.
Back stage was
alive, the club was pretty much full, everyone had bought their song books (this
year the money will go to Esperanza Street) so we were all ready!
Songs followed
stories and questions were answered, Maks and the Minors helped bring it to a
storming close and everyone had a great time!
As always I
went out to sign stuff and was there for over an hour. The comments were very
positive and it seems like people really like this format so I´ll keep doing it,
at least for a while.
But my flight
is early and it's already late so I had better run.
This was a
great night.
Thanks
Hamburg and thanks Uwe!
