from Mr Phil’s blog

THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 1999 / HAMBURG > HANNOVER — After a tasty breakfast and a pleasant hang chez Heinen I was now aboard the Patmobile, with Hartmut at the wheel. Goodwin was a bit highway-shy by now. He had spent five hours lost in Hamburg the day before — some sort of instant karmic payback for having ditched me in Amsterdam, I reckoned. Completely disoriented, Pat had required the services of some friendly Russians (probably Reeperbahn gangsters), who literally led him in a two-car caravan to the Grunspan. “Follow us, Amerikanischer Dummkopf.”

Only an Indiana corncob could take five hours to find the fucking Red Light District in Hamburg! Well, at least he arrived in time to tape the shows. On today’s drive to Hannover we listened to Pat’s Hamburg playback. The performances were catching fire.

We went to Harmut’s lovely pad in Hannover, stashed our bags. Others beside Pat and me who would be staying there included Arne and Anneliese, who drove from Hamburg separately; Matt Butterweck, a photographer friend of Harmut’s; and, Stacey Gates, Bill Mixon and Jeff “Sequoia” McClean, American taper/tourheads who were traveling together. In the late afternoon I took a cab to an Internet café and posted to my site.

Then I cabbed to the Panic gig at the Musiktheater Bad. It was a very small venue in a park, far from the main road. The bucolic entertainment complex included an empty swimming pool with a stage at one end — for grander concerts, apparently, than tonight’s Widespread Panic performance — plus an al fresco movie theater. For us, however, the action was indoors in the tiny club.

Another smokin’ show. Not as many natives in the audience as there had been in Hamburg, but still a strong contingent of locals. All the Spreadheads agreed that the shows were getting hotter night by night.

In between sets in Hannover I introduced Capricorn’s Mike Bone to Hanno Bunjes, the young guy who had created the Widespread Panic European Tour 1999 website. In the weeks leading up to the tour Hanno’s page, loaded with travel info and contributions from local fans in each city, had proved invaluable to tourheads on both continents. Mike thanked Hanno, then asked if he had met the band. When Hanno replied that he hadn’t, Mike invited him to the aftershow. Hanno told me later that he couldn’t believe his good fortune!

The post-show hang was held in a small room in the back of the club. Dave Schools was melting under the manipulations of a Stacey Gates massage, but that didn’t prevent him from holding court for the benefit of his adoring fans. He really is a funny guy. Dave and Spreadhead Eliza McCall traded Richmond, Virginia high school memories. Dave was teasing a nasty Jerry Garcia joke, which he claimed was not suitable for reverent Deadhead ears. Since I’m in no way a reverent Deadhead, Schools finally told me the joke. I swore not to attribute to him.

Here goes. “Know why they had to cremate Jerry Garcia? Because they couldn’t fit his fat ass in the coffin.”

I don’t recall where I heard that awful joke.

Hanno got to meet everyone in the band; each musician in turn graciously thanked him for his cyber efforts on their behalf. The kid was beaming with joy; it was fun to see. Meanwhile, our Hannover host Hartmut Weissbrodt informed J.B. that the next night in Berlin would be his last show for this tour. (Harmut had been on loan from his wife and daughter, who granted him a reprieve from the family vacation so that he could catch a few shows.) So to Harmut, a hardcore “Rusthead” sporting a More Barn teeshirt, it was imperative that we get a Neil Young cover in Berlin.

As soon as Harmut walked off, J.B. turned to Mikey and said, “I guess we’d better take care of this guy.”