We drove back to Germany to play in Nürnberg. On the way, we got searched by the Bavarian border.
We were scooting along on the highway a few kilometers past the German border when the car ahead of us flashed a message on an led screen through its back window. “Poleizi, follow me.” So, unsure whether or not this was legit, we followed it to the nearest exit. There waiting for us, was a full caravan of officers in a big, official-looking van. They asked us for our passports, driver’s license, and registration. Then, they took me out to the trunk while they inspected pieces of our luggage.
“Do you have any weed on you? Even a small amount? Like one gram? Two grams? Did you smoke weed last night in Vienna?”
They asked me to empty my pockets, gave my package a thorough pat-down, and then chatted about music for a bit. Unfortunately for them, we did not have weed in or on us. They pulled over the only folk band from the states on tour without any contraband. So, they dug through our luggage, and, finding nothing, let us go.
I asked why they had pulled us over - they said, “no reason - this is normal.”
Apparently, in Bavaria, this is indeed normal. We learned this when we talked to folks at the show.
Maike did hospitality and made us feel like the biggest band in the world. Tobi ran sound and lights, hitting a disco ball at the exact right time at the end of our set at the crescendo of Seat 16b.
Jan Bratenstein (The Black Elephant Band) set up the show through the alt/freak/punk folk collective in town, “Folk’s Worst Nightmare.” It sort of feels like that scrappy DIY alt-folk scenes that pop up in towns and cities between Chicago and New York.
The whole show happened because he put our song on a radio show, and I reached out to say thank you. Then, he noticed that we had an off day, and organized a concert in Nürnberg for us. He even got a local TV station to come along to film the show and interview us.
The show at MUZClub itself was lovely - in large part due to the local opener, Julia. She was rehearsing in the backstage area - with the reverb from the long hallway, it sounded magical. Here's a recording.
We saw some familiar faces at the show too - including Andi. He is a former host from our tour in 2018 in Hamburg. He mentioned that Barbara said that I was allowed to eat sweet mustard now that they moved to Bavaria - it’s most definitely not popular in northern Germany
Jan’s friend Jens set up a small pre-show at his guitar shop - BTM Guitars - just down the road. so, we played a tiny acoustic show there to six people, then came back in the morning time to drink coffee, get the guitar looked at, and daydream about a new guitar.
This morning, I went to see Jens again at BTM Guitars. The fellas made me a cup of coffee, fixed a small issue with a tuning peg that kept snapping my strings and let me try a few guitars. Unfortunately, I fell in love with one. It’s an Atkin. They only work with three distributors in the US; the closest is in Chicago.
The one I played is based on the Gibson J45, specifically a model from 1943. Therefore, it’s called “The Forty Three.” I haven't found a larger-bodied guitar that ever spoke to me, but this one did. Jens and they said we could work out a deal, and I wrote down some numbers. I don’t think I’ll follow through on it, but it’s fun to dream a little bit on tour.
