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TWO TIMERS TOUR DIARY 2001

 
INCLUDINGS
Jan. 2001 - Switzerland

© Copyright all texts on this page by Sarah James, Two Timers
 

Now armed with my BRAND NEW HANDHELD I can bring you the action AS IT HAPPENS instead of waiting till I get home, forgetting everything, then putting off the job for the next 2 months...

So after another KILLER gig at Spirit of 66 (Verviers, Belgium) we head on to Basel (CH), blissfully unaware of the impending fiasco which awaits us there. Having got through the border (always a nervous moment), we spend an hour driving round Basel's one way system and narrowly miss being crushed by a tram before I abandon the car (with Gordon seething in it) and go off on foot in search of the gig. When I finally get there I'm met with bemused faces. "Gig? What gig??" After an hour and a half of phone calls to agents and the like, it transpires that the former manager signed our contract then promptly left without telling any of the staff about it.
People have been phoning in for info and getting "Two Timers?? Der, never 'erd of 'em mate". Ouch. Anyway a contract is a contract so we do the gig. However, next hitch, the new boss claims all the hotels are fully booked and wants us to sleep in an "appartment". Now in our experience this always means a cheesy dosshouse with no sheets or hot water, and, yes indeed, this was no exception. By this time it's 1am and we're considering driving back into France for the relative sanctuary of a Mister Bed or one of those other prefabricated roadside McHotels.
Enter off duty barmaid SUSAN, our little Irish Angel of Destiny (yes a real life Sister of Murphys!! Sadly not clad in a black catsuit but just as efficient nonetheless), who gets right on the phone and finds us amazing rooms in the Hotel Munchnerhof - in fact, as fate would have it, I'm in a suite so vast that it takes me ten minutes to close all the blinds and I get lost looking for the loo in the night. (Oh joy, crisp white sheets, TV's in every room, lashings of hot water...) Every cloud has a silver lining. Also got a chance to catch up with Lou and Dale, maniac drum & keys twopiece, previously known by the demure and highly ironic moniker of Tea for Two...

Fast forward to Hohemems, Austria, where our favourite nutcase Joachim Schwarz has now opened his well funky concert room next to the BAR VERRÜCKT (Email). Sort of Arian god crossed with Billy Connolly, this guy is a one in a million and we love him to death for his boundless energy and chaotic sense of fun. The gig was just a makeshift barn when we got there but by about ten minutes before we were on he'd glammed it all up and relocated the reverb unit etc etc. Thanks to the rather more orderly skills of Hans Peter on the sound and Kristoff's resourceful light show the whole thing was as near as dammit a pro affair, and it can only get better. Good luck to ya Jo...
Sursee was another chance to chat to diehard fans (or gluttons for punishment!) Edy Muller and Wolfgang Niklaus, winners handsdown of the Two Timers Diamond Fan Award (T-shirts in the post fellas)...
We round off the tour with a couple of very civilised lakeside days as only Switzerland has to offer - the first in Zug where we gave the local yuppies a much needed dose of rock'n'roll (big HI to Mateus and Katrin and thanks for coming), and the second in Bischofzell, where thanks to another cock-up in the accommodation department we end up in luxury rooms overlooking Lake Konstanz.. Somebody up there likes us...

To be continued…

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