Two Twerps in Antwerp

Antwerp, Belgium, Sunday, March 26 - Very, very tired.

There's no good reason to be getting so little sleep, to be sitting and waiting around so much. It's silly, really.

The first gig on Friday was an adventure: 6 miles out of Antwerp, the exhaust pipe broke off in our road manager Jan's van. The engine still worked but it would have been dangerous to drive 200 miles to Paris under those conditions. Jan thouht we might have to rent a van since the amps were too big to fit in his wifes' car. Fortunately, however, the club in Paris had a couple of serviceable amps, so we were able to travel light. We drove back to the Crossroads Bar, traded cars with Jan's wife Suzi, and took off again.

We got to Paris after dark, following the printed directions turn by turn until we found ourselves in what some might call a "low place." It was actually a flea market by day, but more of a flea hotel by night. A narrow, ramshackle street lined with little storefronts covered with graffiti. I spied a shaft of light on our left that marked en entrance to the One-Way Cafe. The whole club was like the dressing room at the Channel, if any old Boston scene-makers recall. Beautiful photos of musicians taken at European blues festivals lined the walls, and there was a cool sign behind the stage. Other than that, the club was in somewhat rough shape. However, the people more than made up for it. Christine, the owner, spoke almost no English but was as helpful as she could be. The room filled up with what Jan called "the elite of Paris," blues promoters, die-hard blues fans, friends from England and even friends of the family. I was surprised there were so many familiar faces in the crowd as we had never played in paris befrore. The crowd was wonderful, attentive, sociable, exuberant. All we had to do was cut loose and play. They made it easy for us to do a good job beacuse we felt that they were really listening.

Next stop: Oudenaarde