Day 3 - April 9th - Review of TR's show at "Prager Frühling" in Munich with The Havana Affairs

Back in the van again. Last night was great...again. We had 2 more encores, signed more autographs, and they seemed to like the RAWK. The promoter was cool, a little bit strange, but just sort of withdrawn. His name was Andy and he booked local support called The Havana Affairs. Those guys were great and very easy to get along with. They had a very cool, garage-like sound, and just seemed to "get it". They are also on the Ramones compilation with us, so it was great to play with them. I was worried that nobody would come, but alas, just like in Sonthofen, over 100 were there by the time it was all said and done. The club, Prager Frühling, was small but perfect for our first time in Munich. It used to be a strip club and apparently Louie Armstrong played there long ago when it was a jazz club.

  
1. Loading into Prager Frühling.
2. Joe is happy at the merch booth.
3. Mark and a drunken fan who drove 3 hours from last night's show.

I'm surprised by how excited people get when we play. We seem to be engaging the crowd, and there were some true fans there, including a group who drove the 3 hours from Sonthofen from last night's gig. What a shock that was...Joe started talking about Sonthofen during the set and all these people started cheering. That's when we realized that these people were road tripping to follow us across Germany! At this particular club, it was like playing "in the round" as we were on a small stage, but people could sit all around us 360 degrees...very cool. It was weird to turn around to grab your beer or adjust your amp and instead of a wall, there were more people, watching you play from every angle. Joe hooked up with some new friends and ended up talking to them with Mark until the wee hours. (Side story: Joe showed them his groin scar from his horrific ATV accident and one of the Germans reached out and grabbed his junk! Turns out they were medical students, but it sure was funny) I went to a club with our driver Franz and his friend Axel. (I highly recommend partying with anyone named Franz and Axel if you ever get the chance). We were going to see Franz's brother Nick DJ at this club - it was the coolest, weird experience. Maybe it's because I was a little drunk, but it seemed very surreal. The place was called REGISTRATOR. The entrance was in a back alley, and it used to be an old office that they turned into a club. The music was very progressive dancey stuff and the black lights and new-fangled vibe really set a cool atmosphere.

We stayed in a hostel called "Easy Palace." The next morning, our receptionist bought our CD and had us sign their "book of fame," a cool little scrapbook that all the travelers passing through add to. Now we're on the way to Mannheim to pick up a bass amp that works, and then we're off to Giessen. I was supposed to meet up with Michael Schurr from the record label Modern Noise today, but we woke up too late. Bogus, because I really wanted to see him. He's helped me out a lot in the past and with some contacts for this tour.

  
1. Our hostel in Munich.
2. Franz loads the van...
3. ...it's a Mercedes! But, it's a total clunker.

Last night: our gig in Giessen at "Irish Pub" was very interesting. It was as small of a gig as it sounds, but we met some great people. The owner/talent buyer of the bar, Rainer, liked us immediately because we were interacting with the crowd and didn't care if there weren't that many people there. It was a Sunday and we had to play 3 :45 minute sets - acoustic. It really wasn't acoustic since we had no acoustic guitar (had to leave it at the airport when they demanded it be checked into baggage, in its soft case, and would have never survived the trip.) It turns out Joe really didn't even need the mic; he truly is a great performer who can execute in any kind of conditions.

  
1. Irish Pub in Giessen, Germany.
2. Irish pubs always have cool doors.
3. Team Rockit Tonite!

Fiona, the bar manager, was born in Germany but her parents (now divorced) were Irish-American and Iranian - an interesting, cool mix. We could almost name everyone in the bar before the end of the night! Licher Bier/Pils was one of the local beers in Giessen - it tasted very good. A guy named Andreas requested Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side," which we actually ended up playing for him (to huge applause and appreciation) despite none of us ever playing it before. Another example of TEAM ROCKIT's kick ass ability to handle anything people throw at us! We gave out a lot of CDs last night too, in appreciation for the audience's enjoyment of the music. There is an American army base in Giessen with about 2000 solders. We met a soldier from Ohio that had been in the Iraq war for 15 months. I really can't imagine what he's been through. We also learned that Giessen is a college town with 75,000 people, with about 1/3 of them being students - CRAZY.

  
1. Our mini-acoustic stage setup.
2. Joe relaxes before the gig.
3. Mark and Matt in the bar's sleeping quarters.

Rainer, the club owner, said he would like to have us back in Giessen, and also in his new pub 180 km away. We'd definitely love to come back for that. Oh I almost forgot, we slept in the basement catacombs of the pub. What an experience. It looked just like the places The Beatles stayed in when they toured Germany in 1962. Rainier locked us in the pub for the night and then came back in the morning and made us coffee. He also owns a small electrical supply store, and he sold Mark a converter to charge camera betteries with. Today is Monday, it should be interesting in Duisburg. I checked the club's website today, which seems to not have been updated in 6 months! - shit.

  
1. Mark, Matt, & Joe with Ranier the promoter in his electric supply store.
2. Joe drinks original Czech Budweiser
3. This was in the pub's bathroom stall. Stryper lives!