Crimbus Of Bumpiness And Terror, Bumping Towards Prague.
The Crimbus left the Warsaw hotel at 01.15. I woke at 04.55 to a trio of astonishing rattles in the back lounge, which is immediately behind my (lower) bunk, got up, and managed to eliminate one of the three. The second emanated from the television set (which we have yet to use) and the third from below a seat, presumably in the engine (which is being serviced tomorrow). We were woken around 07.05 to go through the border crossing from Poland into the Czech Republic. A border guard came on to examine us in our bunks. This could not have been a happy sight.
Then I rose, volitionally as-it-were, at 09.05. Did I mention this ride is bumpy? Have I mentioned in this diary that I have had too much enough already of being bumped and thrown about? This ride is bumpy and I am being thrown about.
The sun is shining. The sky is blue with grey clouds.
A new eruption of bumpiness has now erupted to a degree greater than I have yet known on this tour. Bump bump bump bump bump bump bump. Bump bump bump bump.
Bump bump bump bump fucking bump.
Bump bump bump bump.
The bumping continues. The road is built in slabs. Each slab is separated by a bumping groove. Bump bump bump. Hooray! and now it's back to normal bumpiness.
The day sheet - our memo of the day's schedule - indicates that tomorrow we have a day off in Prague. Well, actually not quite.
A day off in Prague - what a treat! One of the finer cities of Europe, and a must-see visit for the a la mode jet-setter of the 1980s. Nowadays, Prague is available to the ordinary kind of person, even the Happy Gigster, and continues to be worth seeing. The cancellation of our show in Vienna (the fact that the hall was too small for our production somehow escaped the planning stage) has given us an overnight in Prague, replacing an overnight drive to Vienna. So, the Prague hotel is not booked with a view to us having a day off, but to provide a place to shower & shave, play a show, and get back on the bus for an overnight drive. Consequently our day off in Prague is most-of-a-day-off in a Holiday Inn one mile from the city centre. Then we get back on the Crimbus at midnight for a 12-hour overnight crippler to Milan.
Bum bump bump bump bump bump fucking bump.
13.43 The Crimbus is now on a modern motorway. And - excitement! - with the help of Trey & Pat I have made my first transfer of digital photos from camera to Powerbook and downloaded Bill Munyon's disc of official KC photos in Russia (and Helsinki).
In England, David Singleton is meeting with EMI today. We are discussing the possible re-licensing of the historic KC/EG catalogue. This is prejudiced by EMI's download policy - some of the catalogue has been made available online but without any consultation with us. There are aspects of this that may be legal but disturb our relationship, and aspects that have no legal basis at all. The manner of implementing this new online strategy has also been heavy-handed and, for any artist or licensee nervous that a major might be heavy-handed & act autocratically in their own interest, EMI has acted autocratically and in their own interest. I note that the Stones catalogue, among others, has not been downloaded.
"Life is too short to take on the unnecessary."
