date: 11/19/99
Petneu, Austria
Petneu is a small town of 1200 people in the Tyrol mountains, just next to St. Anton where next year's World Championships in skiing will be held. It's our second trip to the Tyrol this tour. The first concert was sponsored by the Woody's Folk Club in Landeck, a small factory town of 20,000, where we played at the City Pub. Last night we were the monthly event sponsored by Petneu's Frauensache - a brand new women's group that is trying to help break down traditional gender roles in this very traditional part of Austria. Besides monthly cultural events, they run English classes and other educational programs.
On my third tour in Europe I've brought percussionist Shane Shanahan. It's his first trip here, though he has toured in Turkey. Shane, soon to become a member of the music faculty at the Hartt School of Music, specializes in middle-Eastern and African percussion and he uses a small Egyptian hand drum, a slightly larger Brazilian pandero, a silver Turkish darbouka, a djembe and a bodhran, along with crash, splash and high-hat cymbals. With a foot pedal, the bodhran becomes a kick drum and with a pair of hot rods, the pandero becomes a good snare substitute. So we can go Eastern or Western at will.
Thanks to the founders of Cafe Balzac in Germany, S'Golb in Switzerland, and groups like Woody's Folk Club here in the Tyrol, there is something of a folk circuit here. Two weeks ago, Scottish songwriter Jim Hunter was on tour. A few weeks before that, the Robert Ross Band, an American blues group. Blues and Celtic music are popular everywhere these days, especially in Germany. And lately, bluegrass seems to be a national obsession.
Even though I've done it before, being an American songwriter in places where your audience speaks German still takes some getting used to. Although almost everyone speaks some English, especially those who go to American folk concerts, it's always hard to understand songs, and much of the literal meaning gets lost. You have to depend on slowly spoken introductions and your delivery to get the message across. I try to remember how much I enjoyed going to concerts by French songwriter Gabriel Yacoub. The difference is, nobody laughed at him when he spoke English. I'm learning German little by little and can now carry on basic conversations with concierges, vendors, and concert organizers. But for the stage, it looks like I'll have to wait until next trip before my German is anything but the comic relief part of my show.
After the show, I call home. It's 2:30 AM here but at home it's still just 8:30 in the evening. Which reminds me of the three rules of the road for travelers who are married or in long-term relationships, carved for me years ago on stone tablets by veteran touring songwriter, Pierce Pettis:
1) Call home every night. No matter what. Your honey needs to know where you are, whether you're still alive, how you are feeling, and most important, that you miss being home.
2) Always bring a present home with you. And not one of those t-shirts, either.
3) Never believe your partner when he/she says "It's OK." It's never OK. You are absent, traveling, seeing amazing places, meeting interesting people, staying out late playing music. No matter how resourceful your partner is, he/she is suddenly halved, wondering where you are and what you're doing and whether you are still alive. At first, it's hard to prepare for this; later, some partners learn to begin separating emotionally even before a trip starts and even learn to enjoy being on their own. Experienced or not, the trip can lead to fights and arguments both before you leave and after you come back - fights that make no sense unless you remember that there has to be emotional upheaval, perhaps even resentment, that it is justified, and that one way or the other, you're going to have to take your lumps. Don't be fooled by the brave, the busy, or the blustery.
Keep your love alive,
Hugh Blumenfeld, Editor
hugh@balladtree.com
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