Tonight was our last night of the tour at a venue called the Acoustic Routes in Cambridge. Cambridge lies about 2.5 hrs down the road from our home base in Basingtoke – in the border between East and West Anglia.
We left early so we could go by Windsor Castle. Robert dropped me at the base of the castle and he and Briana met me there and hour later. I walked all around the Castle – it’s pretty damn huge! He told me that the “Royals” split their time between Buckingham Palace and the Windsor Castle.
I began my walk on a pedestrian only street that funneled over a stone bridge, across the River Thames. It then wound its way up hill and around small cobblestone streets to the base of the castle. It as an interesting confluence of modern western society outside of the walls and what looked to be still quite medieval in appearance (except the guards with ear pieces and machine guns) inside the walls. The streets were filled with tourists, quaint shops and McDonalds – a far cry from what it must have looked outside that castle “back in the day”. We also got to see the very exclusive boarding school called the “Eton School”. Evidently the princes attended along with other VIPS – looked like “Dead Poet’s Society” vibe to me.
We arrived at the venue and were able to sound check early. The Acoustic Routes was located in the basement of a Bistro – really reminded me of all the church basement folk clubs I’ve played with its big walls and assorted chairs and pews for seating.
After sound check Briana and Rob settled in for tea upstairs and I headed out to see the town center of Cambridge and to see if I could find the little river I went “punting on” (pole and boat - not football) some 25 years ago. I walked along some quaint side streets and across some beautiful gardens and playing fields to the town center. I never found the damn river but was told later that I was close, just at the point where I turned back for the venue.
The manager of the venue (The Acoustic Routes) name is Bernard Hoskins and was a really nice guy. These types of long running venues always require at least 1 (and most often more than 1) passionate music person to keep them going – and Bernard fits that bill. He is a good singer-songwriter in his own right and opened the night with 3 of his original songs. We also had another opening act named Rebecca (I’ll remember her last name) and she was also very good.
The night was sold out and included some standing room only. This was every passionate, listening folk audience I’ve eve played for and was a perfect way to end the tour. Although I’m feeling a little better, the cough and the throat kept me from singing as much as I wanted to. I was able to sing a few more tonight and beg for their help in singing along. It was a thrill to hear English accents singing back the chorus of “Stars In Their Eyes” to me. As my voiced waned on the song – they took over and it was pretty cool.
Briana remained in great voice for the whole tour and continued that tonight. We got an encore and a great reception afterward – had the best CD’s sales of the tour - again, a nice way to go out.
We got back to our Basingstoke base late tonight, about 3am and have an 8am call for Heathrow in the morning. I will write again from Newark, NJ.
Thanks again for following along.
Peace,
Mark
No comments:
Post a Comment