North America Guitar Tour - spin off
Spin Off #2 "EU Tour in 2008 / Until Departure"
~July 17, 2008
The travelogue from here on is based on the contents uploaded to "Monologue" that was published in 2008.
The 2008 European tour started with a message from England at the end of 2007 asking "Would you like to play at our club?" I had received similar messages several times before, but they naturally died down after a few exchanges, so I thought this time would be the same and replied "I'll do it" as usual. I immediately received a reply saying that they wanted to decide on a date. This was a pattern that had never happened before. It was a specific message saying, "I'm going to CAAS (Chet Atkins Appreciation Society) in Nashville at the beginning of July, so it would be more convenient for me after that, how about July 23rd, for example?" At this point, I had no idea what the club was like, and thought it was some kind of nightclub, but when I asked, I found out that it was a club in Chesham, a town on the outskirts of London, where fingerpickers gather regularly, and that they invite guest performers several times a year. I was surprised to hear the names of the guest performers. They were a lineup of impressive names, including Tommy Emmanuel, who is also a hot topic in Japan, Muriel Anderson, who has visited Japan many times, and Ton Van Bergeyk, who is known among music enthusiasts. I casually replied, "I'll do it," but the names of guitarists was so high-level that I wondered, "Are you sure I'm the right person?"
It may seem ridiculous to go to the other side of the world to perform a live show when only a few people come to my local Yokohama live show, but depending on the situation, this kind of behavior is necessary. Of course, there was no talk of travel expenses, so if the turnout was poor, I would have a deficit dozens of times greater than if I had performed at a local show. Still, there were reasons and circumstances that made me decide to go. Since I resumed my activities in 2002, I have not been recognized, let alone been able to enter the ring, except for the finals of Fingerpicking Day in 2003. If the number of customers had increased year by year, I would have had hope, but the numbers were low and flat, or even declining. I tried to ignore the voices around me that told me "The world is not so easy that you can make a living doing what you love" and "Get a permanent job", but the little confidence I had was crumbling. I was in such a situation at the end of the year (2007) when I received this invitation. In England, they had no idea about my situation, and they simply listened to my performance on YouTube and invited me. This is nothing but recognition. Moreover, I have another weapon, English. I'm not good at reading and writing English because I didn't study it, but I can speak to people and tell a joke or two. Originally, I believe that the solo guitar style has the advantage of being universal and can be enjoyed regardless of country or language, so this is a good opportunity to prove that.
However, it would be a waste to go all the way to England and only have one live performance. Now that it's easy to travel within the EU, I would like to visit as many countries as possible. So I called out to my guitar friends in each country via YouTube to see if there were any other places I could go, and I received messages one after another from the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and other countries. However, most of them were the kind that were enthusiastic at first and gradually fade away. I continued to call out without giving up, and then I received a specific message from the city of Lemgo in Germany saying that they would come to Cologne on the 24th or 25th to pick me up. Their enthusiasm didn't cool down after that, and by mid-April it was almost decided. Then I received a message from Cadiz, a city near the Strait of Gibraltar in Spain, saying, "If you're in England on July 23rd, you can get there by train in two days, so how about around the 19th?" Since it is the southwestern edge of the EU, the travel distance will be quite long, but they will provide a fee for my visiting. Then I received a message from Florence, Italy saying, "How about around July 30th, considering the travel date from Germany?" Spain was ultimately canceled due to the venue we were counting on, but they tried their best until the end, so I will ask them if I have another opportunity to go to Europe. Italy was decided on surprisingly easily, and by mid-May, I had a rough route across Europe from the UK to Italy via Germany. At this point, there are two months until departure, and it was the time when I should have reserved my plane ticket, but as far as I can tell from my online search, there are relatively cheap flights up to July 17th, but after that, it will be quite expensive because it is the busy season. My first plan is to go to the UK on the 23rd, so if I arrive in the UK on the 17th, I will have to think about accommodation costs, etc.
So I decided to use the Czech Republic, which I have been to before and think I will be able to manage my accommodation, as my destination for the round trip to Japan. It is located right between Germany and Italy, so it is convenient in terms of location. It will also help with jet lag. Recently, I received a message from Germany saying that she had been listening to my performances every day since she heard them during her treatment for breast cancer, and that it had encouraged her. I replied that she would like to come to Germany for a live performance if possible, but she said that she couldn't go to Lemgo, which is in the north, because it is a village near the Czech border. If it is near the Czech border, it is a 2-3 hour drive from Prague. I explored various possibilities to stop by during my stay in Prague before going to England, or on the way from Germany to Italy, but in the end, her mother fell ill and I had to pass on it this time. Meanwhile, I received a message from Ingolstadt, a town not far from Lemgo, asking if I would like to play at a barbecue party, so I thought about making a detour from there, but I don't know the railway situation in Germany, so I couldn't do it. Meanwhile, a colleague of the Lemgo person lives in Bregenz, Austria, so I decided that if I was to take the train, I could stop by there as well. It wasn't until July that all the dates were decided.
Thus, the itinerary was decided as follows: Czech Republic → UK → Germany → Austria → Italy → Czech Republic. All of these countries were new to me, except for the Czech Republic. I had to change trains in Brussels, Belgium when going from the UK to Germany, and the train to Italy departed from Zurich, Switzerland, so even excluding the UK and Czech Republic, which are not covered by the Eurorail Pass, I would be traveling by train through five countries. So I decided to buy a pass that would take me to five countries in six days. There was a cheap flight from Prague to London, but the last flight from Florence to Prague was already ridiculously expensive. So, although it would probably take only about two hours if I went directly, I booked a long flight from Pisa (famous for its leaning tower), which is about an hour by train from Florence, to London, where I would have to wait five hours including the transfer between the airports (Gatwick to Heathrow), and then head to Prague, which was a total of 12 hours. At that point, this was the cheapest option. I also considered taking the train from Florence to Prague, but the pass was only valid for six days from the 24th, so it was already invalid on the 31st. I was heading to Japan the next day, August 1st, so I needed to arrive in Prague by the evening of the 31st at the latest. I wish I had booked this route at least a month in advance, but it's too late now.
I was able to communicate with the people in the Czech Republic, Germany, and Italy by voice over Skype. In Germany and Italy, the other party couldn't use a camera, so it was a bit unfair that they could see me but I could only hear them, but it was much smoother than communicating through messages in English, which we were both unfamiliar with.
I also practiced a lot in preparation for the tour. I usually practice by arranging new songs, but I put off starting new arrangements for a while and focused on practicing only to become more stable at playing songs I can already play. Since I'm not going for sightseeing, I'll regret it if my performance is only so-so. I believed that I would only be able to see the next path once I'd given my best, so I just played the same song over and over again.
*The people mentioned in the text are listed by their initials until I can confirm their identity.
Contents
Introduction
Until Departure
Seattle
To California
Day Off
Sunnyvale
To La
LA 2 Days
To Tucson
Albuquerque
To Colorado (beginning of Miracle)
Berthoud
Denver
to Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City 2 days
To Texas
San Antonio
Georgetown
Dallas
Houston 2 Days
Benton
Nashville (CAAS)
Roswell
Tampa 2 Days
Miami
Orland 2 Days
Myrtle Beach
Chapel Hill 3 Days
Kingsport
To Indiana
Indiana State Fingerstyle Guitar Festival
To Staten Island
Manhattan
Phillipsburg
Nazareth (Martin Guitar Factory)
To Massachusetts (end of Miracle)
Methuen
To Montreal
To Buffalo
Meadvill A Day Before
Meadvill Ghost Hotel
Detroit
Chicago
Minneapolice
Spin Off #1
Spin Off #2 "EU Tour IN 2008 / Until Departure
Czech 1
Czech 2
London
Liverpool
Chesham
To Germany
Lemgo
Ingolstadt
Bregenz
To Italy
Florence
The Last Gig
Going Home