Tour Diary: 1996 > Page 1

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Eugene, Marianne Faithfull and Niko in Dublin after recording Insylum for
their 1997 release, Serenade In Red



  Music Is Murder: Oxbow's 1996 Serenade in Red Tour in One Act

I tried to keep a diary but the bone-numbing cold, the nut-numbing 14 hour drives, and the advanced case of bronchial pneumonia interfered. There were fun/funny times that were left out in the brief following account, to wit:

1) The following exchange with our intrepid tour manager and sound man, Manuel:

"What's this body of water we're driving by?"
"What?"
"What's it called?"
"What?"
"This body of water, what's wrong with you? What the hell is it called?"
"A river."
"You know I can see that it is a fucking river. Does it have a name?"
"The river?"
"No, that dog over there...of course, the river, what else are we talking about?"
"I don't know."
"Okay...what do people who live around here call that big river we are driving by?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"I'm not from around here."

This was repeated several times over several different things. Manuel was, I had figured out, trying to drive me insane.



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2) There was also the dog I almost murdered in Dresden at The StarClub. The bar back's dog was wandering around the club (a recurrent motif in europe it seems...from a porno store to various clubs to a bakery we went to...savage, growling, menacing dogs wandering around...their conception of retail leaves a lot to be desired as I usually buy a lot more withOUT large dogs sniffing my crotch) I said "Guten Tag Hund," missing my dogs and thinking that I had some universal dog skill that transcended national borders. The dog IMMEDIATELY began attacking me. However, being a long time dogowner I Immediately retaliated with the stark boot of reprisal kicking his little dog ass under the soundboard while reaching for my knife. All of the stage hands started screaming at me in german before the owner came over laughing and said, "hohoh, did she tried to bites you?" I said, "if she HAD bitten me I would have stabbed her to death." This quieted him a bit but for the rest of the evening I kept following the dog around to give her another chance so I'd have another chance but she wisely stayed away and eventually got tired of being shadowed by me and left. Bucket of laughs.

3) The guy we stayed with in Wuppertal...a great guy with the completely great name of Frank Bolz. This was pronounced Frank BALL-Z. My puerile sense of humor caused to enjoy this beyond all reason.

4) The woman who cooked for us in Diksmuide, Belgium telling Manuel after seeing us play "he does something only blacks can do."

5) Finally getting Belgian Waffles despite a nation's attempt to thwart my desire the previous year.

6) Yoshida from The Ruins singing with me in Hannover.

7) The light guy in some place in The Netherlands who after talking to me for a few minutes, paused and looking deeply into my eyes said, "It's a shame about what's happening in Somalia, no?"

8) The place we played in Arnhem called Goudveshal where the entire support staff took an immediate dislike to us at first glance and spent the rest of our time there being really rude to us. We still have never figured this one out. We asked the guy if he had some blankets, he gave us dusty curtains. We asked for dinner (per the contract) and they brought us french fries. We asked for breakfast (per the contract) and they brought us a single loaf of bread to be shared between 5 of us.



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