a day off… i wake up on the bus in front of the hotel in Atlanta… i find Bondo in the hotel lobby, his hair ascew (aka “bushead”), wearing black shorts and one of his three Oakland Raiders “Hostetler” shirts… he sits in the lobby, waiting for our rooms to be ready, drinking coffee and reading McNews (USA Today)… i ask him how he always gets our rooms so early – often between 8 and 9 am!!! “A good Production Manager has lotsa tricks”, he says, sipping coffee, “I saw this guy on a tour once who was waiting for his room at a very nice hotel in New York. The receptionist had told him his room wasn’t ready yet and he waited a while and then, when the rooms were still not ready, he walked up to the reception, took his shoe of and put it on the desk. The receptionist looked up and the guy asked wether the room was ready. The answer was no, and he then took off the other shoe and placed it next to the first one. Next the socks came off one by one and the guy declared that the rest would come off as well, if he didn’t get his room key right away.” wow, that’s determination…what happened, Bondo? “Take a wild guess” Bondo says and unfolds the sports section of McNews…

it’s our first cold fall day here in Atlanta… i practise guitar and work on a couple of new pieces for tomorrow night, since we have done the “Opium” show in Atlanta already in April…