Paul Bielatowicz

After less than 2 hours sleep it hardly feels like another day, but…
We met up in the lobby, went to the airport, said goodbye to Harry and got on the plane. The VERY, VERY, VERY nice lady at the check-in desk (did I mention that she was VERY nice?!) decided not to charge us for [...]

Our last gig was in a beautiful modern theatre on what appeared to be a college campus.
All the staff were really, really friendly and helpful.

Both Stuart and myself were SO excited about this being our last gig.
I can’t believe that we’ve actually been away for over 6 weeks! Thinking back to our first gig, it [...]

Again, another great venue. The crew were really friendly and helpful.
The gig was great.

We met some people who had seen us at previous shows on the tour and, having enjoyed it so much, they’d decided to travel to see us before the tour ended. One guy in particular had got a flight from Chicago [...]

Another day of driving. We stayed the night at a motel in the middle of nowhere - I have no idea of the name of the town. There was a MacDonald’s next to the hotel and I called in for some fries. I was immediately reminded of why I haven’t touched MacDonald’s in years!

Whilst sat [...]

In the morning we stopped at a Gas station / place to get some food. On the food counter was a large jar of pickled eggs. In England it is commonplace to find jars of pickled eggs, however, it is NOT commonplace to find jars of ‘pickled PIGS FEET’!!!!!!!… Mmmm, yummy!

The venue was great. [...]

In the U.K. petrol stations (gas stations) make a REALLY big deal about you not being able to talk on a mobile phone (cell phone) - it’s meant to be some sort of fire hazard. I remember one tour of Scotland had the constant theme of Carl getting shouted at through the loud speaker in [...]

Again, this ‘day off’ was actually just a ‘day with no show’!
We were travelling from Scottsdale to Austin, stopping to spend the night in a small town called Van Horn.
More desert!

In the middle of the desert we passed what appeared to be a giant aeroplane graveyard - miles and miles of planes just parked in [...]

On the way to Scottsdale we drove through some great desert landscape. Amazing vast stretches of rock piles and sand. Very beautiful.

The venue was a nice rock club (is ‘nice’ really a good word to describe a rock club?).
When I got on stage to set up my pedal board there was a set list taped [...]

Another great response from another great audience.
I remember being hungry before I went on stage. There was a guy standing in front of me in the audience with a large plate of nachos resting on the edge of the stage. I was SSSOOOOO tempted to reach down and grab a handful (maybe whilst he was [...]

A day off in Vegas!!!
I looked into visiting the Grand Canyon but, after speaking to Vanessa (my lovely girl friend :o) ) I discovered that it would be an intense all day trip… I really wanted more of a relaxing day. So, I decided that I’d go for a stroll down the famous Strip and [...]

On the way to Vegas we made our usual stop at Starbucks. This time it was Stuart’s turn to get the comedy quote on his cup…
‘There’s been a time for war,
a time for strife,
a time set aside for everything under the sun.
We must now set aside a time for love.
…This is the author’s opinion, [...]

Another great gig. Had a great time tonight. The audience was very enthusiastic.

There were two acoustic acts on before us. I don’t know what either of them were called, but they sounded great. Being acoustic acts, they were a complete contrast to us, which I always really enjoy.

After their first attempt of trying to scare us off with their ‘Dangerous Chemicals’ sign on the hotel wall (see previous diary entry), our friendly hotel’s staff tried to get rid of us once more at breakfast.  Next to all the food at the breakfast buffet table of our hotel in San Francisco was the [...]

I got up and had breakfast, which I shared with the birds who were trusting enough to hop onto my table and eat the crumbs from my plate. They had made the hotel courtyard their sanctuary, bathing and drinking from the swimming pool whilst perched on the dividing rope that stretched its width.

After breakfast I [...]

Today we drove from Eugene to San Francisco.

We got to our hotel late in the evening and found it was quite a well-known place for bands to stay. It consisted of a courtyard surrounded by two floors of rooms. In the courtyard there were plenty of palm trees, wooden sheltered platforms and a good sized [...]

The taboo is a great rock club in Eugene.
The gig, however, was not the triumph it could have been. The attendance was the worst we’ve experienced so far.
We all played well. A couple of things that stand out about this gig are me stopping mid solo spot in the instrumental ‘My Romance’ to tell [...]

The Triple door (presumably named after its 3 door entrance) is a great club / food venue in Seattle.

Another great gig. During the show Carl made his usual joke about me only being 16 and so, when we came off stage and I opened a beer, the security guy charged with looking after us had [...]

A great gig in a great venue.
The Aladdin is a beautiful small theatre.

The audience was very, very enthusiastic and gave us standing ovations after every song - starting with the first song of the night. Thanks to the many great audiences we’ve had on this tour, this has actually become common practice at the vast [...]

Our second day off in Portland. I wrote more of my tour diary, went shopping for a phone card and then Stuart, Carl and myself met up in the evening for an Italian meal. Before the meal we made a quick stop in a Boarder’s bookstore where I bought the latest Dream Theater CD ‘Octavarium’. [...]

With the prospect of 2 days between Denver and our next gig, Portland OR, it was arranged for the band to fly to Portland and enjoy 2 days off whilst the poor crew endure the gruelling drive.
The flight was good. On the plane I read the in-flight magazine and came across some aerial photos taken [...]

Travelled from Hays to Denver.
The club had just had a fire in the dressing room area so we had our dressing room in a building close by.
Good gig, good venue :o)

Today we travelled from Springfield to Hays, Kansas.

Starbucks has been a constant throughout this tour… my personal favourite being a Chai Latte with and extra squirt of chai (it seems my chai dependency has increased the further we’ve got into the tour)… VENTI of course (for those of you who are not well versed, Venti [...]

The Warehouse looked uncannily like… well… a warehouse!

Apparently there had just been a tornado there. When we were driving to the venue we saw chimneys lying destroyed on the roofs of houses and other general signs of destruction.
The sound at this gig was pretty bad! We played ok but, due to the fact that we [...]

This morning we realised how our hotel got its name… daylight is a wonderful thing!

Spinal Tap obviously got to the club before us… When we arrived there was a mini Stonehenge suspended above the stage! :o)

On closer inspection, I also saw that another one of my favourite bands had played here… Spock’s Beard…

The gig [...]

This morning we went to pick up the new amp from the guitar centre. In the shop there was an amazing triple neck guitar - one 6 string, one 7 string and one 12 string neck… very cool! It was for sale for $299!!! Would have loved to have bought it for a laugh but [...]

Another good gig.

As I walked on stage I noticed a guy about 4 rows back in a Steve Vai T-shirt. I figured he was a guitar player so I spent the next 2 hours playing to him!

Pittsburgh - Kate’s hometown.

The sound check revealed more amp problems. The same problem I’d had in Troy had returned. We managed to get the amp serviced before the show at a local guitar shop (where I bought a gig bag which holds 2 guitars - so now I can get the sitar back to the [...]

Again, superstitious numbers not withstanding (this being our 13th gig), another great gig…
On the way to the club we passed the Pentagon… another photo opportunity… didn’t manage to see where the plane “ALEGIDLY” hit (very, very, VERY dubious if you ask me).

We must have been coming in to town in an election period as there [...]

In the morning I decided to take a walk up to central park via some churches / cathedrals. I have a habit of trying to spend some time in big old churches when I’m away on tour and I managed to get my fix this morning! After the churches I had time to walk through [...]

We arrived in New York in the early afternoon. Once we’d checked in to our hotel, me and Stuart went straight out to do some sight seeing. With one day in New York the obvious choice for me was to go straight up the Empire State building.

It was great so be a tourist for a [...]

On the drive from Annapolis to Glenside we made our customary stop at a road-side diner; this one was definitely all-American… right out of the 50’s…

Great, great venue!

The gig was good from what I remember.

After the show Carl did a meet and greet… one of the guys came up to me and started talking about [...]

What a memorable gig!
When we arrived the guy doing monitors for us remarked about my PRS gig bag, telling me that he knew Paul Reed Smith very well. When he saw how impressed I was he said he’d call him and get him to come down to the venue. Sure enough, about an hour later [...]

On the way into Huntington we passed a church with a few signs outside…
One said, ‘Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me”… Join us for Church school, Sundays 9 a.m.’.
Another said, ‘Open for rest and prayer… all welcome’.
The last one said, ‘Church parking ONLY, all others will be towed’.

Now, I’m not [...]

Toad’s place - wow, who hasn’t played there? They’ve had Bob Dylan, the Stones, BB King, Chili Peppers… You name it, they’ve played there.
The gig was great - great audience, great sound (although it was apparently a mono P.A.!).

They had a large “Mr Toad” in the merchandise booth… after the gig we all did the [...]

When we got to the venue, we walked into the dressing room and saw that the theatre had kindly provided us with several copies of a magazine entitled ‘Bridal Guide’. There was a cover feature on ‘Long Distance Love’ - very useful when your girl friend’s 7000 miles away.

Both Stuart and myself played the show [...]

Ah… our first day off :o)

We arrived at the hotel in Boston and were met in the car park by the wife of the head of music at Beachmont School. We had a visit to the school scheduled and so we jumped into her car and she took us there…

We got to the school and [...]

“We’re the Carl Palmer Band from the UK, you must be the U.S.A.”!!!
Our first gig in the U.S.

When we arrived at the venue in Troy we were greeted by 3 guys who Carl introduced as friends of his. Amongst them was one guy who was obviously a little more fanatical than the rest! He had [...]

When we arrived at the theatre we spotted all our usual tour posters, but alongside them was one that wasn’t familiar. The poster was headed with the title of “Carl” (so no surprises so far…) but underneath was a large picture of a semi-naked, over-muscled, male stripper… some pre-show entertainment that Carl hadn’t told us [...]

Had the most artificial chicken product I hope I’ll ever come across - part of a chicken club wrap from Tim Hortons. Stuart was telling me of a chicken burger that contained, “Mechanically reclaimed chicken”… that’s precisely what this was!

However…
The pre-show meal at a local French restraunt was perhaps the best we’ve had all tour! [...]

We had a laugh at lunch time when Carl spotted that he was eligible for the section on the back of the menu entitled, ‘For our guests 55 and older’!

On walking into the club we were told that Nirvana had played here, to which Carl replied something like, “Well, I’m very excited about that”… needless [...]

Another beautiful theatre.

Upstairs, one of the dressing rooms was a room full of mirrors… I took the opportunity to do some arty photography…

The performance on this gig was definitely up a gear - with the first gig under our belts we were able to relax into the show a lot more.

The owner of the theatre [...]

In the morning we left the comfort and familiarity of our hotel in Rochester and climbed into what would be our 2nd home for the next month and a half; Harry, Stuart, Carl and myself would be traveling in a mini-van (or people carrier, as us Brits call them (much to the amusement of Americans!))

… [...]

A nice relaxing day before the day of the first gig…
Bruce showed us around his hometown - 1st stop, the House of Guitars (or HOG)… a shop crammed with vintage and rare guitars.
As soon as I walked in the door I was worried… I knew I had to save for my planned trip to Uganda [...]

Much of today was spent meeting the crew for the tour.
Allow me to introduce them…
Harry - possibly the world’s best tour manager! Also a great sound engineer (he’s wearing both hats on this tour).

Joe - Production / Stage manager. Joe is responsible for all things on stage during the show. He’s a guitar tech, bass [...]

Drove up to Carl’s house in North London - on the way I called in at a guitar tech’s house who’d recently re-fretted my PRS with Jim Dunlop 6100 jumbo frets (a bit of info for the gear heads out there!). Re-frets are brutal on the neck of your guitar (imagine, having all your teeth [...]

Here I am, 3 and a half weeks and 19 gigs into the tour and I’m only just starting to write my tour diary!!!
I’ve decided to write the following as a way of keeping a diary, not only so those interested might be able to catch a glimpse of a passing moment in my life, [...]