Latest Tour Diaries
A Started 15 FEB 2011 – Italy tour w/Ruben Minuto
day 1
Another Long flight. The big negative of this job is the Flight. Sure would be nice to be in first class. Left Tampa at 7 pm to Atlanta then to Amsterdam then to Milan, The overseas flight was packed on KLM. Schnipol airport is huge in Holland. Ruben on time as always was at Malpensa to pick me up. No customs since I flew from Amsterdam. Ruben still ad some more errands ti do and pick up a modem at the electronic store. We picked up some Pasta and cheese at the large grocery store IPer then went to the house. By the time we got to his house at 6 pm I was beat. since i had no sleep on the plane. Opened up my guitar case and both guitars were broken.
All the great work by Rick Fass on my guitars were now ruined by a fatal drop or massive amount of baggage crushing my guitars. What does “Fragile Handle with Care” mean? I was too tired from Ruben’s great meal to try to fix anything. I was out by 9 pm.
Day 2.
Woke up at 10 pm to more rain. Non-stop rain for 2 days since I got here. Rain and cold. We went over to get our morning espresso from the Meatloaf looking guy. then I put the guitars back together the best I could. The Rainsong is ripped at an edge. I never thought carbon -fiber could get ripped. The Telecatser’s neck got ripped off the body. so I bolted it back to the Body but now the action is way off and wont stay in tune.
Rehearsed at 1:30 with Gio and Ruben and now we are on our way to Torino after picking up copies of the new Cd “Tuttu Benni” to sell on the road.
First Show tonight in Torino at the Gigalmesh.
Guitars were ruined just running to tune up all night. Like a fuckin nightmare.
Frustration as I have no wireless at this frigid hotel and no control over my gigs or destiny.
Shit
day 3
not a good night of sleep.
tried to get some wireless service at the hotel and it sucked.
had a 11 am show to a large group of liberal arts students from a high school.
Blues In the Schools. Now I can put Turin Italy on my worldwide list of places that I have done this program.
The Show was a struggle last night with The Strings on the Telecaster way off the Neck. The Rain Song just died on the Soundcheck with The Electronics being fried from the drop of the Airlnes. Thank God I brought the Cigar Box Guitar. It has been a salvation. Funny how a cheap 3 string instrument can bring a house down. Started Electric the first set should have never taken a break cause we lost a lot iof the house. The Second Set was real good and intimate with the Acoustic Guitars and the brushes. Great Harmonica playing by Andreas who sat in just blowing acoustic harp on my song Hurry Down sundown. That was the best song of the night in my opinion.
On the road back to Milan so we can fly to Calabria. I am going to just abandon my guitars and take the Cigar Box. Whatever I can find or Borrow will be my fate. Let’s see what the Universe brings me. Five Days of shows so I need to pack iight to avoid airline fees.
Further on down the road:
Back to Malpensa airport for a flight to Calabria so we can do 5 days of shows in that region. It just would have been to long of a drive to make it worthwhile. I am assured by Ruben that the local promoter in Calabria will have every thing that I will need and not to worry about guitars or equipment.
The flight was uneventful with a real packed flight. No need to worry about a lot of baggage just 5 days of clothes and CD’s.
The promoter Vincenzo picks us up at the airport promptly to give us a drive directly to our gig at the Giovedi Blues Festival. It is a Thursday night and the crowd was not bad for a Thursday. The Promoter Vincenzo has a 1952 Telecasetr Reissue and a 62 reissue Stratocaster. Some pretty nice guitars and I got to play through a Twin Reverb Fender amp.
Woke up to Rain at Vincenzo’s apartment. All 3 of us have our own rooms in hi splice and he has wireless!
Youtube
We walk down to the local Coffee House
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Walking down the street we run into Vincenzo and he shows us his 1968 Chevy Impala.
Youtube.
What a great car this is. We pack up the Trunk with the Stratocaster and The Gibson ES-335 for the trip to the gig for Friday Night. All Amps and Drums will be at the club
Back to Malpensa airport for a flight to Calabria so we can do 5 days of shows in that region. It just would have been to long of a drive to make it worthwhile. I am assured by Ruben that the local promoter in Calabria will have every thing that I will need and not to worry about guitars or equipment.
The flight was uneventful with a real packed flight. No need to worry about a lot of baggage just 5 days of clothes and CD’s.
The promoter Vincenzo picks us up at the airport promptly to give us a drive directly to our gig at the Giovedi Blues Festival. It is a Thursday night and the crowd was not bad for a Thursday. The Promoter Vincenzo has a 1952 Telecasetr Reissue and a 62 reissue Stratocaster. Some pretty nice guitars and I got to play through a Twin Reverb Fender amp.
Woke up to Rain at Vincenzo’s apartment. All 3 of us have our own rooms in hi splice and he has wireless!
Youtube
We walk down to the local Coffee House
Youtube
Walking down the street we run into Vincenzo and he shows us his 1968 Chevy Impala.
What a great car this is. We pack up the Trunk with the Stratocaster and The Gibson ES-335 for the trip to the gig for Friday Night. All Amps and Drums will be at the club
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Played at The Jazzmin club in San Giovanni which is a nice seaside town in the Calbria Region. Meal of Octopus, Swordfish and local small lobster.
Nice Club with many people out for meal and to listen to music. the house amp a mesa boogie had it’s speaker fried out so we had to find someone to bring an amp to the gig so I had to play through a marshall. The owner Mimo was a complete nut who would play sporadic Saxophone anytime he felt like it at the gig. He would also get up on stage and bang these baking pans together to make a lot of noise.
day 5
Got up at 10 am to get ready for the trip to Sicily. I must say. The Promoter in Calabria and Sicily Vincenzo is a Saint. Thank God he drove us to all the gigs in the past few days. Also real nice that he had a great guitar collection. Not only that he helped me all the time with amp settings and his pedal board. Setting up and tearing down equipment. All in all he was the highlight of the southern part of this tour. He is well known for his love of music, cars and guitars. I could have never kept my sanity without him.
So the game plan today is to drive to San Giovanni from his house that is 2 hours away and take the ferry to the Island of Sicily.
When we arrive on the ferry we have a 3 hour trip up into the hills to a Club called Muddy Waters Ballroom.
At this gig I broke out the ES-335. Lot of frustration as Ruben’s Bass Amp fell over three times fro vibrations and we had to stop and start. Technical issues were putting a damper on the show. It was a very young crowd and the people really did not know any of my songs or blues covers. The second show mid-way through we lit into Sweet Home Alabama and Ruben sang it and the crowd went nuts. Then I did a very bluesy version of “It’s been a While” By Stained then Some Surf stuff from the Movie Pulp Fiction then we encored with Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys.
We had to sleep in some abandoned apartment after the gig. Cold and Army Cots that were used by the Italian Army in WW2.
Sunday we had another long trip but before hand we had to have some Coffee then look at the incredible car collection. By Putto Patttitinni. His collection is worth more then 30 Million Dollars and is a big friend of the Kennedy family in the United States.
Had to pick up the equipment at the club and just more doodling. Ruben Informed me that it was only an hour away to the next gig but Behold!! It was a 3 hour drive. Listened to some great music aon the way. Govt Mule’s Blood and Wine just was riveting.
The gig was had an older crowd on a Sunday night and I played a lot of mellower older blues. A lady wanted me to sing Goodnight Irene. People again were amazed at the Cigar Box Guitar.
Again we had to sleep in some abandoned apartment after the gig. Bunk beds that were modern but very cold. Vincenzo Slept on the Floor!! When Vincenzo comes to America I will make sure he sleeps on a Cloud!!
At Airport 2 hours early in Palermo for my flight to Bologna. Sicily seemed nice. Honestly just raced through the whole Island seeing the Main roads but not really spending time enjoying the lifestyle. Just 2 gigs in Sicily, Saturday and Sunday. Had 2 get up at 6 am for a two hour trip to the Airport in Palermo. Sleep is something that is a luxury.
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On the Train to Milan from Prato. Have to Change in Bologna. Took the local train which only cost 19 Euros. If I would have gone on-line it would have been 55 Euro. Thank Marco the Bass player for that. Very nice of him to pick me up from my hotel and bring me to the station.
Two days in Tuscany with the Mr Banana Band. Monday at the Wallace Pub in Prato and Tuesday at the Sei Divino wine Gallery acoustic with Mr Banana and Marco on bass. Mr Banana is my General in RV’s Army for The Tuscany Region. He handles bookings of gigs and Promotion. Great Guitar player and a wonderful guy. He also puts together a backing band for me.
Mr Banana picked me up at the Airport Monday at 2 pm after the Fight From Palermo Sicily. Really nice to see the Sun and no rain. I was tired but knew I was in for a big day. We went straight to his Girlfriends parents house where they fixed me a Tuscan Style Lunch with an incredible Celery Dish.
The Hotel I stayed at was a converted Villa in a large park that was outstanding. It is called Via Fiorelli.
Got to take a Nap On Monday for 1 hour and that did refresh me.
Monday night was a packed house at the Wallace Pub in Prato it was great to see all my fans in that region. The band was awesome as usual and the Great Harmonica Player Kellie Rucker came to town to sit in with us.
Tuesday Night we headed to Florence to perform in Florence. It was an acoustic show and a very mixed crowd of people from all over the world.
It was nice to talk to people about all the places I have travelled and I felt good that I could relate with people. Watched a whole bunch of young college students from the USA experience the Pit-Fulls of Alcohol getting blitzed and passing out and throwing up all over the place.
Again as I started this chapter. On the way back to Milan to play again with Ruben. 5 More gigs left.
This is so cool! Thanks for bringing us along on your tour Steve! I just don’t know how you fit keeping up with all you do in your busy schedule! You are one amazing guy, and could probably go in the Guiness book of records for multi tasking! Stay well and stay amazing over there in Italy! Luv ya! K-Sue
Gotta love family guy!
I was searching aol for more information on guitars, since I’m a newbie, but so far I found some stuff on discount guitar equipment and some other stuff. I really like this site though. Good information. Once I buy myself a guitar – I’ll start searching around for instructions to play.
I’ve bookmarked, Dugg, and I joined the RSS subscription. Thanks! .