Some notes from a few days ago:

Today brings back a little reality, we're in an airport waiting area for an airline flght. We've had a wonderful week or so traveling to Siberia and back to Moscow in a Tupelov 134. In the last notes I wrote about the flight attendant sternly saying 'ticofi' to let you know that you are being offered tea or coffee. This time she came up to me and said 'nowcockpit', which is something I always enjoy, as long as I feel like I'm not distracting the guys up front from flying. They were very warm and friendly, and even though we had very few words in common, they more or less understood my general comments. They more or less insisted that I sit down in the first officer's seat and get some photos. It was very warm and smoky up there since there were always several cigarettes going. Without getting anyone in trouble, I can only say that now I have a much better idea of what it would be like to do a takeoff and climbout in a plane exactly like that. After af while when the autopilot was on, I asked if I could see the navigator's station. You see, the Tu-134 has a glass nose, made up of lots of small windshield pieces in the very front part of the nose, about where we would expect the weather radar and radome to be. People instantly assume that the glass nose (on an airliner!) is for a bombardier or something like that, since the flying fortress of WWII looked that way for the nose gunner. But the navigator is a dedicated crew member that does nothing but navigation, like on a submarine. So he can look down for deduced reckoning ("ded" reckoning........not dead reckoning) waypoints, look up for basic celestial navigation, and he has a dedicated workstation down there with access to all the controls, as well as the 1st officer's directional gyro, as I found out!

Anyway, I had a blast, they gave me a gift of a "Russian GPS" which was the time/speed sliderule that the navigator used, and one of pilots gave me his flight officer's uniform hat. All Russian uniform hats are huge, and I hope this one makes if home looking similar after being bounced around in my suitcase for 100 or so handlings. I sure do feel right at home with most every crew we have ever had the pleasure of hanging around with.

These russian gigs have really been going well. Last night was a sold out show in the garguntuan arena, so big that there is a wall dividing the arena in to two halves. One side is the backstage area, which you could play soccer in, and the other side is the gig. As you look at the audience, there are tiers that go up so high and so steep, that it requires leaning back a little to see them all. Amazing stuff, and a very energetic audience in the perfect arrangement of standing in front, seated in back along raised tiers. That way the ones that want to endure the conditions in front can, and the ones that want to sit there with their arms folded and simply watch the show, can also do it without having their view blocked. Most of our shows here have had the front rows seated, (obviously premium priced tickets) and the absolutely energetic fans back in the distance, nearly out of view. Problem was, the people in front would just sit there with arms folded....which is no problem, but 100 yards behind them were the rabid fans, waving, jumping up and down, cheering, applauding, whistling. So, for a classical guitar concert, seated works great, but for a rock concert,.....uh.....well.....er, uh....it sure is nice to get some signs of life from the crowd. In reality, they were very successful gigs, it just turns out to be a lot more fun to play with people in your field of view who are bursting with energy to have a good time. I've heard critics put down performers who were 'playing to the fans in the front rows' as if that's a bad thing. When you're up there with spotlights in your eyes, that's what you can mainly see, so it's just a natural thing, that's all.

This is a long tour leg, and it's hard to believe that we have an entire german tour coming up following all this. I heard that Pyro's (photographer who died suddenly) family will be coming to Frankfurt, and I look forward to telling them what an enjoyable personality he had, as well as turning out great photos. Time after time of seeing a family's grief has made me savor each day of life that I have left. More and more, I ponder the finite moments of life, especially at my age, which most men used to not live to see, until modern medicine and advancements. I wish I had figured out at a very young age how precious every minute of life is. Not sure what I would have ended up as, but it probably wouldn't have changed much of what I like to do..........just changed the importance that I attached to little problems that shouldn't have had much impact on my life.

We're driving in the pouring rain, coming back from the gig. On the way here from our hotel, the 2 hour drive took almost 4.5 hours...You never know! Although we have had some flights that are technically charter flights, it's really an airline that is adding some unusual routes just for us, in exchange for $$$. We still check in at the desk, wait through all the security etc., get boarding passes, and wait for the bus to take us, but there's usually only a few strangers on the plane, the rest are from our tour entourage.

I had the distinct and very grateful pleasure of being able to watch one of my favorite shows, "Junkyard Wars" in English while we were in Kiev. They get clever people on two teams and give them an assignment to make some sort of machine from the junk they can find in this salvage yard....then they later have a contest to see which team's machine performed the best. Most people I know wouldn't like it and would be bored, but to me it's fascinating watching the design ideas and compromises that must be constantly made to get some functionality in the relatively short time limit. I wonder why nobody else has the Discovery channel in English on the entire continent...........

Anyway, the shows are going pretty well, since we have all our own equipment, with a little different sound system, but I have my familiar guitars and Engl amps, and it's pretty easy for me to enjoy the show.

Now, it's a few days later, and we've just completed our flight to Siberia. The Russian lady on the plane had the perfect, low pitched, accent. She would come up to each person in a strict posture and say "Ticofi". All syllables with the same accent, and a very guttoral 'O' vowel sound. What she was asking was, "Would you like tea or coffee?". It brought a gentle smile to each band member that heard it, and illustrates the little differences in culture regarding delivery of a simple offering. Very few of the people my age seem to speak English outside of the bigger cities here, but they are all friendly, like pretty much everywhere in the World. People tend to be pretty easy to deal with for anybody that tries. Having said that, we don't actually go into active war zones where we might get shot simply for looking like foreigners. I should have said we don't 'yet' go into those areas, because DP is always trying new places to play to music lovers.

I heard a disturbing report last night that one of only a few photographers that consistently take good shots of us died recently. He was known by his nickname of "Pyro" and he was a warm and friendly man who was always generous with his work, as well. If this is true that he suddenly died, we will miss him, but his work will live on.

Here's one that I meant to send on the last long trip, but it got overlooked until now! This was written during the amazing tour leg where we had the fantastic luxury of the charter plane.........

We're doing a night flight after the show, on our way to Finland. The airline quality service is incredible. Who am I kidding, it's way better than the airline service we normally get. Here in Scandanavia they've not put us through the futile exercise of going all the way through the terminal, printing boarding passes, passport control, x raying everything, taking away all our bottles of water, and waiting for a bus to get out to the plane..........No, it's just like the USA, where we drive up to the plane and walk on. This is the reason business aircraft are selling better than ever in a down economy. Businesses would rather make a little less money than to stand in line for an hour barefoot waiting to get on a plane.

Great shows this trip. A couple of nights ago the band called Europe opened for us. They sounded very good and the guitar player, John, sat in with us on Smoke. He's got a very polished rock and roll feel with the guitar. I recently got my signature ENGL amps in absolute stock, production form, delivered from the factory. Now I can truly say that I love the amps, since they are straight off the factory assembly line and really sound fantastic. Looks like we are doing lots of jumping around from here on out, so I'm glad we're flying charter as much as we are.

Tonight Ian Gillan finally told me about this one note in a song that he wished I would play differently. Since I was totally unaware of this, it was the easiest thing in the world to change. So, when I played the note straight instead of bending it, he fell on his knees in a mock bowing position, as if to thank me. I was laughing out loud, and could only wonder why it took so long to remember to bring this up. I think I was doing it the previous way for over a decade! There's always something to change and improve, and here's a toast to letting the people you work with know what you think might need looking at.

Now, I'm jumping ahead to our last, shorter leg. It started with an outdoor gig that a region in Russia was celebrating a milestone of their production of a commodity in high demand, and put on an outdoor show, with bands, fireworks, and some cold rain. Luckily, the rain stopped when we went on, but it was plenty cool with some wind. The crowd was fairly tired, since we played late and they had been rained on, so it went pretty well, considering. Afterward, I was upset to learn that some bloggers had chosen to politicize, or criticise the band's show being in Russia, forgetting that we play pretty much everywhere in the World for people. Generally, we just like music lovers, that's all we ask for, doesn't much matter geographically where, just as long as there are human beings who want to hear our music.

Then, we went to Israel for 2 shows, where I got so sick from some kind of food poisoning, which may have come from the quick trip from Russia, or locally there in Israel, I don't know. A kind doctor gave me some pills and medicine that allowed me to get through the 2nd show in Israel. The people that we worked with were very nice, and we had great crowds at all the shows there, eventually playing 4 shows in all. Our opening band was very good, and sang rock and regionally flavored music in Hebrew, even.

In between the first 2 shows and the last 2 shows there, we went to Spain. It doesn't really seem like it when you're looking at a globe, but it's a long way to Spain from where we were, especially with long connections in a major city. Two 14 hour travel days....oops, I mean days off......got us to and from the always loveable Spanish gigs. It's almost not necessary to learn any Spanish now, I notice so many English tourists and expats that it's sort of like going to California: beautiful topography and everyone understands some English.

Well, we just finished playing at the 42nd, I think, Montreux Jazz Festival. It was a very intense show, not just because the stage temperature was in the triple digits. As all Montreux gigs, the crowd was there to enjoy the music, and always with us. Claude (Funky Claude, as he signs some autographs, referring to the 'smoke on the water' lyrics) got up and sat in on our very last tune on his harmonica.

Earlier in the day, as we just arrived, I had a phone call from Steve Howe. Yes, THAT Steve Howe from 'Yes' and 'Asia'. We got to hang out and talk, and went together to Claude Nob's Chateau, way up the mountain that flanks Montreux. I am a fan of great views, and most of them seem to come from an airplane cockpit, or high on a hill. But Claude's place has the most incredible picture-postcard view I've ever seen from a private property, (Not including the Grand Canyon in this comparison, since it's not privately owned). Anyway, this is the place where he invites the performers, local friends, and dignitaries to visit before the nightime show begins. Steve Howe and I got to renew our acquaintance of several decades ago, and both got to try out Claude's guitar that was just sent to him by John McLaughlin. It was John's original Shakti guitar, with sympathetic strings mounted across the soundboard at an angle, a little bit like a sitar. It was acoustic, with heavily scalloped frets, to give a similar feel to the sitar.

Claude presented us with a book of the history of Montreux, filled with previously unpublished pictures of artists, candid shots, descriptions, etc. It is the heaviest book I've ever looked at, literally. It's in 4 volumes, weighing a total of 22 pounds, they said!

The shows have really been going good, we're trying some new things in the set list, and morale is very high. A few days ago, I met one of my long-known, very interesting guitarists, named Tommy Emmanuel. A wonderful guy, and hopefully, we'll get together sometime in the future, since I didn't make it in time for us to play together. Another old friend, that just keeps getting better, played right before us with an amazing performance, Andy Timmons. He's a very likeable, great player from Texas, (via Indiana, I think), doing a trio performance.

A couple of nights ago, I was able to hear Steve Lukather play with his solo band. He apparently decided to get the best players in town (L.A.) to tour with! Really good playing, from everyone. Steve is the master of building a solo, and every single thing he plays is musical, so it's a treat to hear him do his own thing. Wow, what a week this has been as far as hearing great players!

Well, I've got to get ready to pick up and travel, so I'll try to write some more later.

Well, it's always an adventure. Starting with my 3 flights to get to our first gig in Spain at the Monsters of Rock festival. The 2nd, overwater flight was delayed due to weather....they said it was because of lightning. Being from the lightning capital of North America (really), I wouldn't have judged distant lightning a threat while working around structures much taller than myself in all directions, but they sure did. Some time after the rain had gone, they finally opened up our ramp for a pushback, and we joined the ridiculously long conga line to wait for takeoff. In Madrid the fun really began. My bags were already lost, and the next plane that they could put me on the waiting list for was 36 hours away........but if I stayed at the airport for 10 more hours, I could see if there were massive cancellations or no-shows and get on the standby list for that one.

At the rental car counter, they suggested the train as a possibility. In the USA, train travel is almost always slower than car, except in big cities, because of the stops and limited schedules. Here, if I could get to the station in the city center from the airport, I could travel on a new train that cruises at 186 mph. I wondered why anyone would wait around at this airport for 10 to 36 hours when this option exists. I bought a ticket and noted that it is a reserved seat that you get. The taxi to town was more than my kid's college fund, and I had a limited number of Euros coming from the States, so the subway was the deal. After 2 trains, I was in the general vicinity of the high speed train, realizing that I still would be beating the drive time by an hour! The high speed train was fast, comfortable, and really did cruise at 186mph (300 kmh). I always prefer being in the air, but this was the best choice for this leg of the trip!

Arriving without luggage is always a bad feeling, knowing that you're soon leaving the hotel address that you gave the lost baggage office....and the possibility of your luggage chasing you around Europe, never quite catching up, (ask me how I know). Luckily, (or unluckily), I got my bags 29 hours later, right before we left for the show. Ted Nugent was on, and he was great. Our friends from Thin Lizzy had just played earlier, and Saxxon, Pretty Maids, and Twisted Sister and others were there. The wind was howling from an approaching shower, and pretty soon it became a gale. The backdrops were pulled down as the wind threatened, the light trusses and sound cabinets that were hung were swaying like kids on a swing. Then, the rain came. Any covers over the equipment was blown away, the audience disappeared, the stage crews abandoned any hope of keeping things dry as the rain came down in torrents completely sideways. Our monitor man saw an empty mike stand topple over from the wind. There is no table of reference for that amount of wind officially, but it was really bad.

As the sky cleared, the sad news came. We were dressed and literally waiting to play, but none of the equipment such as the lights and sound could be operated, having been deluged with water. We played one time in a monsoon until our guitars shorted out, then switched to other guitars until we had nothing left to play, but we had no choice on this one. We and the other groups were told that nobody is going on. Ironically, there was no sound system to tell the remaining audience of that, so I can't imagine that everyone understood the problem. From their standpoint, dripping wet, seeing the moon above after the rain, they were probably thinking, "Why don't they just play?". It was so devastating to load up and leave. Roger reminded me that our last show in Zaragoza was cancelled due to floods and rain! By the way, rain is just not normally a problem in this arid climate!

As I'm typing this, I am enraptured by the unspeakable luxury of not having to endure all of the commercial flying obstacles. We have another beautiful charter jet to travel in. The pleasant crew is Danish, and we are living "high on the hog" to coin an American phrase. I have a sneaking suspicion that once the fuel bills are added up after this trip, it may be back to reality........but, the fuel cost per seat of this very efficient plane compares well with large commercial jets, so no need to feel guilty.

Tonight we're in Italy, and we'll try a few changes in the set list. Everybody's looking forward to playing, especially after being shut down last night.

This trip was supposed to be all in Central and South America, which would be the first time a Deep Purple trip would begin for me with less than the usual 15-25 hours of travel. I was, therefore, not too surprised to find out that a gig IN Moscow was added to the front of this trip. Oh well........... Many hours later, I arrived in Moscow and we ended up going to the Kremlin for the gig! This was unusual to do a televised show at the Kremlin, I thought, with all the security that was involved, but that's exactly the way it came down. Since the backstage was actually way offstage, I only got to hear Tina Turner sing through the monitors in the dressing room, but she still sounds great.

The first time I met the majority of Deep Purple, I was in Mexico, shaking hands in the dressing room before we did a quick run through of the set before my first gig with them. 14 years ago, and many, many tours ago, it still brings back memories to go there. As an American who doesn't live in a bordering state to Mexico, I find the food is quite a bit different in the heart of Mexico than what we normally get in America at a Mexican food restaurant. It's good, though! Everything was very pleasant in Mexico, with the usual gracious people that we would find all through Central and South America.

On our arrival to one of the Brazilian shows, we found out that our equipment didn't make the long journey with layover that we had taken. It wouldn't be there in time for the show, so we got try some more rental stuff. They even found a local Brazilian player that had a whammy bar version of my signature guitar for me to borrow. That was something I sure wasn't expecting, so the gig was different but not bad at all, although we found that the Hammond organ was in a slightly different tuning as the generator outside had a subtley different frequency, just enough to make for some grimacing moments between Don and I. We were relieved to get back to our own equipment with a phase regulator for the organ, also.

Our rides to and from the airport and the gig assured me, once again, that there's a better chance of me kicking the bucket on a wild airport drive than of old age at home. Although the drives were very exciting, there proved to be a lot of patience by the public in general for all sorts of things. Things like: never, ever signalling a lane change, passing from the shoulder of the road, going completely off road to get around a slowdown, cutting people off, blocking, running lights, and more. The bottom line is that amidst chaos, the people remain civil to one another, during driving events that would be perceived as punishable by justifiable homicide on an L.A. freeway.

Also, while I was struggling to find some Spanish or Portugese words, the folks in the town shops consistently showed patience and gracious hospitality. Most everything I tried to eat tasted good, except for one incredibly salty pizza, but I once again watched as my overly generous supply of Imodium began to get used up throughout the tour. Not as bad as the first time through, but it still does happen to me and some of the group....

Flights in some Countries have been delayed in a very scary, relaxed way for multiple hours, but as I'm typing this, we're on a LAN Chile flight that is right on time. Flight attendants are universally patient, also, even when accidentally showing up in the wrong boarding group when it is called out in a distorted speaker in Spanish. I know most of the numbers when they speak it slow and clear, but not when it's spoken 100 miles per hour through a distortion pedal.

We have to have passports to work. In the USA, I apply for considerable dollars extra, an expedited passport with extra pages. I have seen ALL of my empty pages used up on this trip, as they literally thumb through the entire book to find an empty page to put a stamp on, bypassing all of the partially used pages that could easily fit that stamp. The rest of this trip still has some more visas to be put in, and I have to get a new passport now. Problem is, if a gig comes up while my passport is being processed in government land, I can't go. I still don't know why I can't have a duplicate to cover me while the replacement is being slowly processed by the government. Imagine if whenever you drove your car, every state you pass into could remove part of your drivers license, until at some point that you can't predict, you can't drive anymore and have to sit for 2 weeks after spending a day in line at some government office. If it affected more people, enough to have a big voting presence, it would definitely be different. End of rant.

The land is beautiful below me, and I see the attraction of this part of Argentina, especially for ranching and farming. We have a show tonight, our second one in Buenos Aires, so I better start filling out the endless forms for entering the Country, including a special form for having a cell phone, asking for it's year, model, and description, including accessories in order to not be guilty of smuggling!

One last thing....this should be understood without saying, but I'll say it. Deep Purple plays music to people that want to hear us. As a group, we all agree that there should be no political message or endorsement of the band, expressed or implied. I personally will take the ever unpopular pro-American stance, but there are different opinions within the band and crew. In other words, if we play some place, we're playing for the fans and whoever wants to hear it, not for any strategic publicity or political end.

Enough of this. It's soon time to head for Ecuador! Volcanoes? Check! Floods? Check! Brink of war? Check! But the real question is, "When do we start?" See you soon!