France (it's Tim's fault that this is just going up now)

OK. This is a blog post written by our good friend Britt Haraway. He sent this weeks ago when we were still in France. I am an idiot and didn't realized that this blog entry was attached to the email. So without further ado......

First, I have to admit that I am a big Tim Regan fan. He is the kind of friend you have that, no matter how long you’ve been away from him, you can pick it right back up, using the old jokes and making new ones.
This became clear when I got to L’ecole Polytechnique, an engineering school in Nantes, France. Tim met me out front of a building somewhere in between the Jetsons and some of the Pentecostal churches I’ve seen with all the glass and the multifunctional gym room, which is where the guys played. We shook hands—he’s got some new fangled routine of hand explosions and hand taps—and passed some kids dancing to the pre-show music. Tim said, “Those kids look like they are on acid.” But further down the hall, I suggested they were “special” and he felt bad.
Tim is a nice mix of energy and heart. I like it. He took me up to meet the other members of Oh No, Oh My, all good lads. Daniel loves Europe, takes pictures of everything, but I think he is wondering how he will survive as the only morning person in the band. Joel is sleeping well, verging on Narcolepsy. When he is not melting faces with his drumming, he is in the loft, a small dangerous bed above the equipment in their Mercedes Benz stretch van. That’s right ladies, a Benz.
Greg can be seen tilting a MacBook in some European Wifi Zone Skyping his girlfriend. I found him quiet and observant, perhaps walking the streets with his own soundtrack playing. The commercial for Ipod actually got this right. An Ipod creates space around you, and you walk a little more confidently because you have this secret, a great playlist that makes the city less oppressive, the anonymity a choice; it coats the old buildings and trees with a fine sheen where the world is narrated through your eyes, through your “I”, in your own voice or one that you like very much.
So, although I didn’t get to chat with Greg as much, I have a feeling that he is enjoying the place through a secret lens. I know for a fact that they all got a kick out of signing autographs after the show in Nantes. Daniel takes up a good third of the poster, and Greg has the doctor problem where it would take the FBI to read his name.
During a pepped up number, a man dressed as Big Bird made an appearance and got a small crowd surf. When they played the song bought by the cell phone company Orange, that’s two syllables en Francaise, the crowd got out their cell phones. Anyone who thinks that advertising “doesn’t work” is a fool.
Tom has done good work managing the tour. They get free meals and he gives them nifty handouts of their schedules, and I believe they’ll be in an upcoming Dairy Queen commercial, which is, for my dollar, good dairy.
The other folks that rode with us were Celine and Dema. Celine helps with the management, especially the French—I for one saw her stand her ground when telling a sweaty French mover to quit blocking the Rue. Demas is the driver; he’s a Czech and has a way getting the huge van down cobbled, medieval streets. He also introduces the band saying, “What up, Dog?” No one but the band understands this phrase (you can guess who taught it to him).
Celine is trying to teach the guys some French and to negotiate the various cultural differences. For instance at dinner in Nantes, Demas was told that he was “taking too much cheese.” The place we stayed after the show was very cool. It was a converted barn twenty minutes from town where Julie and her husband-type man live. He paints and she is into music and design. It is the kind of setup you’d want if you ever get married, where creativity is still the focus, but it is supposed to happen in the same place every night.
Next was Bordeaux. It was a solid set, perhaps better than the first night because of the intimate venue. It was in a basement cave with low ceilings and good sound. Although Tim bumped his head a few times when he jumped, I preferred this show because the guys really fed off the heat and the almost mandatory participation that such a small club inspires.
The highlight of Bordeaux was walking down to the river after the sound check. We all had some free wine (from Spain for some reason), and the weather was great, about sixty degrees, and the moon was big and had just cleared the bridge, which was lit up too, these medals engraved on the arches that Tim said looked like the Grateful Dead Steal your Face. We had a smoke on the quay, and everyone was in a good mood: Daniel taking weird-angled pictures resting the camera on your shoulder, Tom asking people to feel the soft material of his new jacket, Joel skipping a rock, Tim talking about the historical importance of water, and Greg saying he was “just glad we came.” I was envious at that moment that I had no band. Certainly bands hate each and back bite and try to destroy each other, but there are also moments when you can see “the bond,” an envelope that surrounds four people, eight arms to hold you, or to keep you at a safe distance.

Brighton, England

We are finally in England. Last nights show was kind of a disaster but turned out really cool. We blew up all the power at Freebutt and ended up playing a somewhat acoustic somewhat not acoustic show. But I really enjoyed it and thanks to everybody who came out even if you didnt think we were going to make it! We were really really late thanks to a very lame ferry from France!

Today was a day off that we spent getting all the things we needed for the rest of our shows in England. Power connectors and converters. yippeeee!

Tomorrow. London. Water Rats.

Paris, France

Paris. Paris. Paris.

We got soooo much done in Paris. Eiffel Tower! The Louvre Museum and saw the the Mona Lisa and a bunch of other cool stuff! We went to Notre Dame during mass! How cool is that? Anyway we had a really fun day walking and taking the train around Paris. The town is soo pretty (well parts of it). After all that sightseeing my feet were sooooooooo tired. We went back to the hotel and got some pizza and wine and chilled. Hopefully soon Tim can post something about his time in paris at night :) haha

Haarlem, Netherlands

Last night's show was pretty cool. When we first pulled into town we got lost in this weird Labyrinth neighborhood and then finally made it through to the club. On our itinerary it told us that we would park inside the venue.....and we did. It was awesome! you probably don't know how much of a pain it is for a band to pull into a city they have never been before unload equipment and then find a parking spot for the van and a spot where you wont get a ticket or get towed away. The spot we had last night was actually INSIDE the venue. Safe and sound. AMAZING!

We had some delicious beer called Hoegaarden. It tasted like a LOT better version of blue moon. ( I dont like blue moon) Played a good show on a smalllllll stage. But it was fun!

So after the show we got in the van to head to the hostel for the night and tim went out with his cousin who is in the army and is stationed about 2 or 3 hours from Haarlam. Well we gave tim the paper we had with the address on it and he left. Soon after our GPS froze and we had no idea how to get to the hostel. I was feeling really tired so i climbed up into our loft in the van and fell asleep. Turns out the guys spent 2 hours trying to find the hostel and i had no idea. It felt like a 5 min car ride to me!

Anyway, that was Haarlam. Sorry no pictures. yet :)


Joel

Prague, Czech Republic

Prague was the most beautiful city i have ever seen in my entire life. Our driver is from around here so he showed us to this restaurant and had the best food i have eaten all tour! We went down to the town square and saw some really cool clock and when it hits every hour the 12 disciples come out through the windows. Pretty awesome.

The show went really well. We met a lot of cool people and had a lot of fun playing!! After the show is when the real party started! We went and checked into our hostel and went to a bar called The Blind Eye. Most of the people from the show were there and we danced until around 5 in the morning. It was AWESOME. Dancing is pretty fun!

Hamburg, Germany/ Berlin, Germany

Right now we are all sitting in the club in Prague. Daniel is playing foosball with our driver Dima who is from around here. This is the first time since hamburg i have been able to get online and post. Sorry for the lack of posts lately.

Hamburg was a lot of fun. I mean a LOT of fun. The club was called Hafenklang Exil. The workers there were very nice. It's amazing how different we get treated in Europe than in America. Its much better in Europe! Ha. We stayed in the clubs apartment downstairs which was really cool. We had a really good crowd turnout. Met a lot of nice people and then we went out on the town.

We went down to the Red Light District in Hamburg. It was about a 10 minute walk from the club. We saw the club that The Beatles first started playing music at. Pretty amazing. We went to this bar and played foosball with some locals and OH MY GOSH!!! I have NEVER seen anybody play foosball like that. Made us look REALLY REALLY REALLY bad. The guy did bank shots off the side and right into the goal. Blew my mind.

Berlin. Berlin. Berlin. Wow. I had the time of my life in berlin. My feet hurt the next morning from dancing so much at the After Party for the show. Before the show we walked around the town a bit in the freezing cold looking at museums and big awesome buildings and water and all that sweet stuff. Berlin is just a beautiful city.

Our friend Allison from Nashville, TN who is now living in Dresden, Germany came out to the show and it was so good to see her. It had been too long! All in all Germany was AWESOME!!! Good beer. Good times.

Copenhagen, Denmark

We are in Copenhagen. Finally! The process getting here was very fun, exciting and interesting. Long plane rides, train rides, van rides and boat rides. As soon as we got off the plane in London Tim got his credit card eaten by a machine. But we all felt better when we found out it was Fashion Week in London. We walked into our hostel for the night/day and there were many many many beautiful women in there. WOOEFK AFOEFALDMF AO F$AO FEAWO FKAOFDALSF KALD FA WOO HOOOOOOO


Anyway the sights here are amazing and the people are great! We are very excited to be here and cant wait to meet all of you!

Here are some pictures so far.