Travel Day / More Backstory

Yeah, we packed light!

Turns out the summer solstice is the shortest day of the year for us. Tony, Danny, Stuart and Mel boarded their plane at 8 this morning. Karen and I left at 2pm, though amazingly, our plane lands an hour after theirs. I think they make stops in Akron, Fiji, Reykjavik, and Capetown. Karen and I are flying direct to Frankfurt, and continuing to Florence. We tried to pack light, but have about 170 lbs between us. Her keyboard case is more like a coffin and will need a team of bearers to haul it around.

(**Reminder to self-- never get in a line with only one agent and a large family moving all their household appliances to Mumbai, and have not booked flights yet.) Resolution, Karen got out of our line, went to the end of another, and got to an agent before I moved an inch. The man in front of Karen told her we looked familiar. Yeah, he's a surf music fan and had been going to Pollo shows since '98. Small world. He's on his way to Greece, but has friends in Greece who are going to the festival. Smaller world.

Anyway, we are on the plane, but not sitting next to each other. I got a seat in an exit row with more leg room. We both have large, talkative German men sitting next to us. A tiny Asian woman runs through her tai-chi routine in the space in front of the emergency exit to keep her blood circulating. I wonder if the movies are better on Air France.

 

So, how did we get to this point? After the meeting in the restaurant with Lorenzo and Luca... Woah, massive derail! Ever see the movie Buckaroo Banzai? Dr. Banzai is a scientist, media sweetheart with a trusted fan club that he occasionally calls on to assist him with his many adventures. Of course, he's also the lead singer in his band, and if I recall he can play a killer pocket trumpet. The other members of his band are all specialists, nuclear physicists, theoretical mathematicians, you get the idea. While Lorenzo's band was staying with us, he told me that all the guys were involved in the restaurant. Luca plays keys and is his business partner, the drummer is the chef, and the bass player is the contractor. So maybe they aren't rocket scientists, but it was so cool that they were on tour and planning the restaurant.

Back to the meeting, after I told the plan to Lorenzo, and he translated to Luca, the ball very slowly started rolling. The Boss Combo went back to Italy, and while could not hold my enthusiasm, the only person I told was Karen, partly out of a superstitious belief that there was only a slight chance of it happening. Why get everyone's hopes up? The Valdambrinis went to work opening a restaurant, which is no easier in Italy than here-- building permits, architects, local bureaucracy (gotta grease the palms before you can grease the food.) I couldn't believe the time frame he was shooting for, everything had to go perfectly.

Location? They found a place right next to the Mediterranean, and right next to a large aquarium owned by a cruise line. The place could have an indoor stage and... a huge outdoor space for hosting the festival. There's also room for an outdoor tiki bar, which just opened last week. Surfer Joe's would be a 50s style diner, with checkerboard floor and milkshakes. Ther are lots of these diners all across Italy, Pollo Del Mar played in a few of them in 2009. These diners aren't just a novelty like in America, but centers for retro culture, and usually where the vintage car and motorcycle clubs have their Friday night rallies.

We kept in touch through the fall, just talking about general ideas, and the most important issue: $. Would it be possible to take seven people on a relatively short tour and break even. At some point I sent out a letter to all involved. The problem was that so few concrete plans had been made that all I could do is ask for a vote of confidence. The guys entusiastically agreed to forward motion.

The first draft would start us in Germany for a few shows, then fly or drive down to Livorno for the festival. Ralf from The Kilaueas was eager for us to play in Berlin, and that would have been incredible. One show was booked, but we had to cancel because it was obvious that there was no way we could pay for the travel from Germany to Italy. So, an all Italian tour was planned.

Lorenzo started booking the tour, starting with each band headlining a night at the festival. Frankie is going on Sunday night so we have three days to rehearse with our new drummer. Then it's into the van and all around Italy.

 

I started out this entry by saying that this solstice is our shortest day of the year as we are flying east, losing hours. I expected we'd hit nightfall, but as we are flying north over Greenland, and given our altitude of 37,000 ft, the sun is still high. Midpoint of the flight, halfway through the year. My friends in Finland and Norway are not going to the Surfer Joe festival because they head to the Arctic Circle to celebrate and watch the sun complete a perfect circle in the sky. Meanwhile in Marin, our transplanted Danish friends keep the viking traditions alive with a BBQ on the beach. As we flew above New England, I thought about friends and family figuring out ways to beat the heatwave. From this altitude, you can't quite see the curvature of the Earth, but it's easier to see it as a whole rather than parts.