Driving in Nu Zealand

..after a gr8 lunch we left auckland this sunday afternoon, february 18th, in a rental mini-van + drove north 4 a couple of hours: stefan, bondo, jon, carl, ron + myself…

we will spend monday + tuesday in a very small town on the shore of new zealand… wednesday morning we will return 2 auckland + in the evening stefan + the band will fly 2 the u.s…. i will fly 2 the sony meeting on hamilton island, australia on thursday morning…

i probably won’t be able 2 send off this message until i get 2 sydney on sunday, a week from 2day…

i’m feeling much better 2day…it was a crazy 2 weeks… over 40 hrs. inflight (15 flights) since the beginning of the month… now i can watch the waves 4 a couple of days… the motel we r staying in is right next 2 a bay + only a couple of minutes by foot from the ocean…

Auckland

we r done w this tour… auckland went gr8 last night… people were dancing in the raised orchestra pit… then carl, stefan + i stayed out until after 3am… what a gr8 city auckland is…

now i gotta get ready 4 our little road trip… btw – here in new zealand opium is @ #27 w a bullet + they expect top 15 next week… i probably won’t get back online until i get 2 sydney on 2/25…

Double Platinum

yesterday we received our 2nd platinum award 4 nouveau flamenco!

2 years ago the little record that keeps going + going went platinum in new zealand + this month it reached platinum in australia…

i still have a cold…
my nose is plugged + now my mouth doubles as food-intake + breathing hole…

woke up after a restless night w a straw-mouth 4 that reason…

thank god we cancelled the publicity 4 2day… instead carl + i went in2 town + found a cool coffee shop 4 lunch… finally summerly weather in melbourne, 4 the 1st time in weeks…

received some very cool swag (free stuff) from the australian distributor of massimo clothing… everybody is looking 4ward 2 a sold-out show in melbourne 2night… 2morrow we have 2 brave another customs, this time new zealand…

Perth 2 Melbourne

thursday, brisbane, over 30C, friday, adelaide, about 15C, saturday, perth over 37C… now we r on a plane on our way 2 melbourne, where it is about 14C… these r temperatur changes of over about 50 degrees fahrenheit!!

since january 31st we have already spent over 28 hours on planes + another 12 hours in airports: waiting 4 flights, waiting 4 luggage… no wonder i have a cold + feel lousy… could also be that the amount of work + lack of sleep is catching up w me… 2morrow is supposed 2 start @ 7am w a morning tv-show, continue throughout the day w more interviews + end around 8:30pm… tuesday calls 4 interviews in the morning, then soundcheck + showtime… b4 the tour stefan had asked sony australia wether we should add some more promotion days so i wouldn’t get worn out by 12-14 hour days… sony said that wasn’t necessary + then added countless hours 2 the schedule @ the last moment…

i think it’s partially my fault… i always think i will b able 2 power through any amount of work… but answering questions is not like making music, it’s actually much, much, much more draining… music will give back 2 u a feeling of elation, of excitment, the sheer happiness of creation, but interviews, more often than not, simply drain u…

what is your favourite music? where were u born? y do u play flamenco? these questions simply reveal the minds of the interviewers… people w/o much imagination, w/o a real interest in music beyond the fact that they make a living off of the musicians they interview… i’m tired…

what has been very wonderful has been the australian audiences in every city we played…supportive + sensitive…

Like incense we have 2 burn 2 b fragrant

2 scent the whole world we have 2 burn 2 the ground…

2 fill the world + become filled by the world…

with every smell, touch, taste, sound or vision, we receive matter + energy: molecules, which r vibrating a certain way… a type of food which comes 2 us from the outside… we all know that some people ‘feed’ us more than others, some places ‘feed’ us more than others, that some objects ‘feed’ us more than others, and some music ‘feeds’ us more than others…

some music + art has fed me better + more completely than any lunch or dinner ever has…

the world passes through us and both we + the world emerge altered…

a scent enters our nose + passes 2 the brain… the most primal of our senses… it might alarm us or seduce us, it might even change our mood w/o us noticing… + the outbreath is different from the inbreath… filtered through us, somehow changed…