Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Pictures From Peter Gabriel & The New Blood Orchestra; Arena Leipzig; 14 September, 2010










A lovely German gentleman named Uwe sent me these images of the soundcheck and concert in Leipzig. Enjoy. And yes, the dork in the green shirt is me. In the photo next to it, you can see how overwhelmed PG was after meeting all 11 of us at the soundcheck. Made his day, I'm sure.

I'm also going to ask if you copy these images to please give photographic credit to Uwe. Vielen dank.

Friday, September 17, 2010

OK. I Give Up and Now Believe in God



So I went to Leipzig, Germany just to see a Peter Gabriel concert and rehearsal. I spent a lot of money on it so I'm now broke. So I take the trouble and effort to get from Philadelphia to Leipzig and the night before the concert I realize I left behind the email with the conformation code I need in order to attend said rehearsal and concert.

I don't have a smart phone, laptop or PDA. I did not have Internet access. Hell, I couldn't even find a public phone in Leipzig.

Now, anyone going through this situation will of course be upset but they get over it. Either that or they have a 12 hour panic attack.

Guess what I did?

Yeah, that's right. 12 hour panic attack. During the attack, I did the inevitable getting down on my knees and praying through gritted teeth, "God, if you exist -- GET ME INTO THAT ARENA."

A few seconds after that I realized that the hotel staff had Internet access. Heck, earlier that day they let me send an email to my Mom to let her know I was okay. Unlike Berlin, which I visited in March, I could not find an Internet cafe. By 11 am I had a copy of the email.

I not only got into the soundcheck but during the soundcheck I got to meet PG again. We even had a short private conversation, which is a significant step forward in our non-relationship. He still has that beautiful laugh he does through his nose which makes his chest shake. He was a sweetheart and golden-skinned as usual and several pictures were taken of us together, including the two at the top of this post.

Later that night I discovered that I sprained a toe during the concert. I don't know exactly when because I was so full of adrenaline. The toe didn't begin to hurt until about an hour after the concert ended. I was then lying in bed and thinking about the roller-coaster of a day that had just passed.

This was my thought process:

"Wow. I guess there might actually be a G -- OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!!"

Says it all, really.

The two photos of PG and myself are courtsey of a lovely lady named Melanie Witrin. I'm also putting up a video of a song a fellow audience member recorded during that night's show. Enjoy:

Friday, September 10, 2010

Update on Personal and Peter Gabriel News


It seems I'm doing most of my blogging-style pieces over at Associated Content because, quite frankly, I get a few pennies for the posts and get nothing here. This is my charity blog. Something in my life should be free of Google Ads, even though they are one of my clients and God bless 'em.

News About Me

Health still continues going downhill despite an ultrasound in my privates stating that I'm fine. Fortunatley, my ultra-Catholic gynecologist believes that ultrasounds do not give conclusive diagnosis when it comes to female naughty bits. Tomorrow, September 11, I board a plane bound for Germany to see Peter Gabriel and the New Blood Orchestra for a third and, sadly, final time. That is, unless PG has any plans for me (HA!)Read about the gory details here.

News About Peter Gabriel

Peter's had what was probably a normal summer for him but it seemed kinda weird to fans. May was spent recovering from New Blood North America, taping a show for "Guitar Sessions" (where PG played piano) and campaigning to stop construction near Bath. He also announced that he was headlining a concert in celebration of the Melbourne Cup's 150th anniversary. It turns out that PG has a thing for gambling on horse races.

Ouch. I'd still take a bullet for him, but supporting the abusive "sport" of Thoroughbred racing? Ugh!

June was spent working on the orchestrated verion of his songs and doing some promotion for the Melbourne Cup gig.

July was spent still working, goofing off, hosting WOMAD at Charlton Park and then running off with the family to his hotel in Sardinia. There, he had a belated 60th birthday party.

August saw Peter abrupty cancelling the Melbourne Cup gig. His website has stated nothing about the affair. Read more in Peter Gabriel and the Melbourne Cup Fiasco.

On September 1, PG's fan liason Tina left. Tina's managed to keep her last name secret, which is probably a good thing considering what some of PG's fans are like. She did not give a coherent explanation as to why she resigned, but posted a long goodbye letter on her bit of petergabriel.com stating how she enjoyed her 20 (or was it 30?) year stint for Peter and how she was going to miss everyone. Read more here.

That's it for now. Off to get my full amount of panic time in before heading off to Leipzig.