Today was the first of the 'virgin towns' of the tour, by that I mean towns we've never visited before. I woke to bright sunshine but a little voice in my head told me to check the weather forecast, something I'm used to doing EVERY day as a rule. A quick click into wunderground.com tells me that there's a storm a-brewin'. We shall see. Off to the hotel gym once again and I see there's one free treadmill, I hop on and off I go. A brand new Life-fitness, wide-bodied device with an animated running track display..this helps pass the time nicely as I trundle my way to the 2 mile mark. (not bad eh?) A few quick stretches and I spot a bowl of fresh fruit out of the corner of my eye with just one banana left. I sneakily take it out and slip it under my jacket to prevent anyone else half-inching it before I leave. I stretch my legs and all I can think of is that banana and how I shall serve it to myself in approximately 3 minutes, atop a well-earned bowl of Special K.

I accompany my delicious breakfast with a cup of refreshing tea in my new teapot and cup. I whizz through the day's emails, compose the diary and before I know it, it's time to consider getting all this shit back in the suitcase once more. This gets easier as the tour moves on but for now it's still an effort.

I soon hear Pete's knock on the door and he says in an absurdly fake high pitched voice "room service". He and the bellman heave the bags onto the trolley and I close the door. Time to put my trousers on.



On the drive to the airport I ponder, as I always do when leaving this lovely town "another visit to Portland and still I haven't windsurfed the Gorge". Next time eh?

Eugene is an agriculturally oriented college town, the second largest in Oregon and as I mentioned before, this is our first visit. The city is also noted for its natural beauty, activist political leanings, alternative lifestyles, recreational opportunities and focus on the arts. Eugene's motto is "The World's Greatest City of the Arts and Outdoors." It is also referred to as the "Emerald City", and "Track Town, USA." The Nike corporation was founded here and I overheard someone mention that the Simpsons home town, Springfield is nearby.

Tim Hook, Peter Mackay and Paul Crockford aka. the production office......hard at work.



Here's a nice one of Ben and Kevin. Kevin is the newest addition to our crew. He has risen to the challenge admirably, far from an easy gig. In actual fact, I would think Kevin tunes more guitars during the show than even Mr. Saggers. I'll have to find out.



Richard Bennett is crazy for you



Colin Barton was as foxed as I was this soundcheck. Warning - technical geeky paragraph....
I discovered the reason for my sampler's lack of obedience during the last show. The new Yamaha S90xs master keyboard sends midi program change even when selecting banks. This is an issue as I use a Real World Midi program changer and therefore have a need to disable program change on all other devices. Unfortunately, Yamaha in their wisdom have not allowed for this eventuality and it's not possible to disable midi program change without disabling midi control completely. This is utter rubbish and in soundcheck I had a momentary desire to take an axe to it. Quite unprofessional I know. It's something I'm working on. End rant.



Glenn and the big lady



Mike McGoldrick and Mark



I must mention the venue as became obvious as soon as we arrived that this beautiful concert hall is very well maintained and lovingly looked after. The people here are pleasant to a fault and the audience for the show this evening were extremely attentive and generous, although you get the feeling that they'd soon let you know if you weren't performing up to scratch. Luckily we made the grade. A wonderful show and a moment of relief in that during sound check, whilst working on the sampler in my rig, yes, the one that failed on me last night, I managed to erase the click samples. Luckily, Colin dug out a backup disk and I reloaded them.



After show, the runner was a sedate affair, nothing hurried about these limo drivers. Most pleasant. We board the plane and my earlier weather research was proven accurate as Aaron, our pilot announced a one hour delay due to bad weather. Diane immediately sprang into action and served up some chinese hors d'oeuvres. I thought it churlish to resist. Amazing how famished one can be after a show. We were airborne before we knew it and the predicted bumpy flight never really materialized as we glided into SFO intl. airport and up to the GA terminal in the pouring rain. This terminal reminds me of a photo we had taken of the band with their new Briggs and Riley baggage, at this very spot. Ironic as my 'Briggs' is being repaired tomorrow at their warranty and repair center located near Half moon bay. More on that tomorrow. Here's that picture from 2005.