sunny side up

Sunday May 23 2004

Well, we have found ourselves once again in a paradise of sorts. The sun is out everyday and the slow rumble of the little beach town we are in is gradually accelerating as the summer entices more people to the sea. We are in a town called tirrenia which is about ten kilometres west of pisa. We have two weeks here before the shows start again and have been making full use of them. Or deliberately wasting them by doing nothing… After the madness of the US tour it’s so nice to be still for a time and let things fall away before embarking on the next run. Our time on the west coast was a lot of fun.. we ate lots of mexican food in San Francisco, climbed roofs, stocked up on pirate supplies while still making time to sit on the stoop having quiet beers in the sun. what a town it is and what a time we had so thanks drew, jamie, birdy and all the others who we met up with and who took such good care of us. After that was Los Angeles. Something of a different pace to San Francisco but we had a grand old time all the same. I was a little disappointed there were no bodybuilders pumping iron when we strolled down Venice beach but we sat and watched basketball pretending we were seeing wesley snipes and woody harrelson and that almost made up for it. Later on that night we walked down Hollywood boulevard to the chinese theatre where i put my hands in Paul Newman’s imprint. That alone was worth the trip and after i felt as though i knew him well enough to call and see if he wanted to catch up for a coffee. His secretary assured me that he didn’t know me that well and it was inappropriate that i had called. The show. although pretty quiet, was fun and the next day it was time to leave. We said our goodbyes and got on the plane to london. Once in london we had to duel with the lord of all stopovers until after 20 hours he finally set us free, battered and bruised, and we were safely on our way to rome, our spirits all but broken but holiday thoughts keeping us going. After a three or four hour drive we both fell in a heap here at the house and got lost in a haze of jetlag for a few days. Our next show is not till friday so until then we’ll be swanning around on the italian coast looking completely out of place. k