Pea soup



Historically, during our stays in Chicago over the years, at some time the weather becomes the talking point and today the issue wasn't thunderstorms or high winds but low visibility. After my usual thrash up and down the pool, we set off for Milwaukee. The cars drove up the the plane in the usual, casual manner. This is something that doesn't happen very often in European aerodromes as for some reason security at GA terminals is so much stricter there. We were just about to hop aboard and Steve our new pilot (from the UK) said there was no possibility of landing at Milwaukee airport for the next three hours. There was a discussion between Tim Hook, Steve and PC on the tarmac and the car drivers entered the address of the venue in their GPS sat-navs in preparation for a 92 mile drive. Diane unwrapped up the sushi lunch and split it into 3 for the car journey. Just as we got back into the cars ready for the trip, Steve confirmed that we could fly in to an airport called Waukesha County airport which was about 20 minutes drive due West of Milwaukee so it was all back on board. As we landed there, the visibility was indeed low, we didn't see the runway until we'd practically touched down, then we drove through the mist and murk towards the town. In the end we were only 5 minutes late for sound-check.

The catering at the venue today is well worth a mention as it was rated by all as the best EVER in our history of touring the U.S. There were 2 young local chefs who prepared dishes such as shrimp étouffée and New York strip steaks with mashed potato also an unusual sauteed fiddlehead ferns, only available for 2 weeks in the year. To top it all off there was a young coffee maker, Sam from Alterra coffee, who was preparing coffees to order in a most spectacular way. It was discovered that he competes in coffee making contests, no wonder, it was simply the best coffee I've ever had. Check the froth designs out.





The weather may have had something to do with what happened to me after dinner, a dreaded migraine. Thankfully they are rare (I've never had one on a show day before) and when they strike, I can usually prevent any serious disabling pain by lying down in a dark room for an hour or two. This is what I did and as predicted, the flashing lights slowly receded and I was just left with slight nausea and a mild headache, fine for the show.....and what a great show. Another music loving, excitable crowd who wanted to listen AND dance. When Mark did the band intros, Glenn got a massive roar as his home town is nearby, Madison WI.