Stockholm

No show and no couch lined up so I had to get a hostel. Some people do
this all the time but it's not a patch on CSing. At least I have nice
roommates. Three Japanese travellers and their monopoly set. But there
are no windows and it's getting steamy already.

Gothenburg

A house concert in Sweden but only three Swedes. Mostly international
students from all four corners.

Cologne - festival

The Go! Team rock the house.

I hosted Steini's festival, Stereo Summerland in Gebaude 9, playing
and chatting during the changeovers. It was a big party with all
English bands he brought over especially, and it went on all night.

After three days here with Steini I need a rest. I don't know how he
does it, every night until 5am. I'm waiting to catch the night train
to Copenhagen and then on to Gothenberg.

Cologne

Back with Steini (he drove me across Canada) on college radio to
promote his festival which I'm MCing tomorrow.

Tonight I played the Couchsurfing meetup in the Todtalbar. About 40
people in the sweaty backroom, a nice show.

Apart from that I've played golf with Steini and cleaned his apartment
as it's the only way I could stay in it. Even then he won't let me in
his bamboo bed.

The night train

11 hours from Aalborg to Cologne. Better to be (semi-)unconscious so I
took the night train rather than lose a day. I slept with four Swedish
girls, though not in the Biblical sense.

Aalborg

Another night another couch. At least they warmed it up for me. It was
a friendly group who braved the rain to come to the house of Michael,
a student activist and Cartographer, on a Monday night.

Copenhagen

Shooing with friends for dinner.

9 hours, 4 trains and a ferry to get to the Copenhagen songwriters
festival. I only just made it. There were only about 15 people in the
audience but they were nice Danes and it paid well. Swings and
roundabouts. I stayed with my friends Runen and Camila and we had a
deliscious Thai curry. Good times.

Kiel

Post-gig fortune telling from Suse my host.

Another nice house concert. A much older crowd so it was a quieter
night. My liver needed a rest.

I stayed on an extra day because I didn't have a show and I had a nice
room there. One day is enough to see Kiel. I'm heading north on the
train past the fishing villages and then across to Copenhagen

Hamburg

First show. Great success. A house concert in Hamburg just off the
Reeperbahn. There were over 40 people in a tiny living room, and
spilled into the hall and onto the balcony, with a view high up over
the harbour lit up. Afterwards we went on mass to the Hasenschaukel,
where I'm playing at the Reeperbahn festival next month.

The bare essentials

€1200 so far

The fire sale is going well. It feels great to be free of everything,
but bad to see 10 years or purchases go for a fraction of what I paid
for it. On the brightside, I'm cured of every buying anything non-
essential again. I'm now officially a tight-wad.

Amsterdam

I played at the last Bos&Lommer Beach party Sunday night (there is a
beach in the back garden). Great to be back with the Amsterdam crowd.
Nothing much has changed.

Everything must go

Yard sale

I'm selling the rest of my stuff. Come down for a beer and a chit-chat even if you don't want my clutter.


What?
- Lots of English books
- CDs and vinyl
- Clothes
- Assorted items

When?
This Friday, Saturday and Sunday (13th-15th Aug) - from 1pm until 7pm daily.

Where?
In the shop, Vijzelstraat 67, Amsterdam.

Europe part 1

off again. Scandinavia and Eastern Europe first. 

I'm delighted to have so many house concerts (the best shows by far) and want to thank all the couchsurfing people who are hosting (almost all of) them. What an amazing group of people. Learn more and join atwww.couchsurfing.org 

If I was planning the tour again I'd take a year to do the same route. It's going to be too fast. But booking is such a difficult task that I stuck to the capital cities to make it easier. I only thought of the CSing concerts to fill in the gaps later once I'd already nailed down the route. Nevermind. It will be a whirlwind trip. I think this will be the last time I book like this though: nailing everything down months in advance takes a lot of the fun and freedom out of it. Some places you want to stay longer and some you can't wait to leave. 

As well as booking, I've been busy writing and memorising new songs (the latter takes 10 times longer than the former) and have a whole new set of songs so I can put to bed all the songs I've recorded so far and play fresh ones. It takes a month of playing a song live before it's polished enough to record. So once I have a new batch perfected I'll find a studio for an afternoon and record another album of acoustic tracks. 

The route:


SCHEDULE:
Date, City, Country, Venue 
15-8-2010, Amsterdam, NL, Bos&LommerBeach
19-8-2010, Hamburg, DE, House Concert
20-8-2010, Kiel, DE, House Concert
21-8-2010, Copenhagen, DK
22-8-2010, Copenhagen, DK, Songwriter Festival, Raahuset, Stuen Feature Stage
23-8-2010, Aalborg, DK, House Concert
24-8-2010, Vejle, DK, House Concert
25-8-2010, Cologne, DE
26-8-2010, Cologne, DE, Todtalbar 
27-8-2010, Cologne, DE, Stereowonderland festival - Gebaude 9
28-8-2010, [Train]
29-8-2010, Gothenburg, SE, House Concert
30-8-2010, Stockholm, SE
31-8-2010, Stockholm, SE, House Concert
1-9-2010, [Boat], FI
2-9-2010, Finland, FI, Old Town Pub
3-9-2010, Nokia, FI
4-9-2010, Helsinki, FI
5-9-2010, Helsinki, FI, Bar Llamas
6-9-2010, Tallinn, EO 
7-9-2010, Tallinn, EO, House concert
8-9-2010, Tallinn, EO
9-9-2010, Riga, LA
10-9-2010, Riga, LA, House concert
11-9-2010, Kaunus, LT
12-9-2010, Vilnius, LT, House concert
13-9-2010, Vilnius, LT
14-9-2010, Warsaw, PL, House concert
15-9-2010, Warsaw, PL
16-9-2010, Krakow, PL
17-9-2010, Prague, CZ, House concert
18-9-2010, Berlin, BE, House concert
19-9-2010, Berlin, BE, House concert
20-9-2010, Berlin, BE
21-9-2010, Berlin, BE
22-9-2010, Berlin, DE, Ä
23-9-2010, Hamburg, DE, House Concert
24-9-2010, Hamburg, DE, Reeperbahn festival
25-9-2010, Unna, DE, Spatz and Wal



If you would like to attend a house concert please email me for the address. 

Tour de France time

I just saw the start in Rotterdam today. Ce fantastique! That's me
sorted for the next three weeks. To fully appreciate the 'Grande
Boucle', the world's greatest sporting event, requires complete
concentration.

Holland is a happy place tonight

European conquest

It's going well with planning the next tour (all 50 European countries in 4 months starting in August). I've been posting on community pages and emailing friends of friends to get Living Room concerts so I can be sure of an audience and I'm getting a lot of interest.

The biggest headache is the logistics. How long it takes to get from Minsk to Vilnius and back to Riga and whether to do Latvia before St. Petersburg or come back to Kaunas after Kiev and whether I need a Visa for Belarus and if I have to get an overnight train from Moscow or the day train arrives in time to do an evening show and come back to Moldova after Romania or whether I should just take some sedatives and sit in a very dark room for a month.

Noorderlicht after show bonfire

Last gig and now I rest for a month. Man I'm beat.

13

Only 13 people downloaded my new album. 13! It took a good two weeks to make, cost around $2000, I'm giving it away free and I emailed it out to 6301 'fans' of which 1134 opened the email and yet only 13 downloaded it. 13! How disappointing. I mean.... 13. That's very low. Just 13. Jeez. 13? Do I need to write better music or better emails?

Be the 14th.... http://thejackstaffordfoundation.com/fr_music.cfm

Homecoming

A real nice show in De Nieuwe Anita last night. They're such lovely
people there.

Tomorrow I'm in Cafe Noorderlicht in the North of Amsterdam. An
outdoor show of two or three sets between the DJ. Should be nice.

(Sort of) home

Couchsurfing in my own shop.
Good to be back in the Dam.
I play at De Nieuwe Anita tonight which is always a great show.

That was Iceland

I had a great week in Iceland. Four shows and many more friends.
Svavar Knutur was a fantastic performer. The best I've seen. He showed
me around his homeland with such enthusiasm. It ended on a sad note
with a visit to his village and I saw where his father died in an
avalanche. I got a real insight into a truly genuine guy.

Goodnight to the locals

Skimming

Neither sunrise nor sunset

2.30am rainbow

All thanks to YouTube

Karaoke after party crazy Icelandic style

Show in the North of Iceland

In Isafjordur. The 'real' Iceland

Driver

He sang all the way. 8 hours of gibberish

7km long tunnel

The view

A beautiful (but long drive) 8 hour drive.

Local celebrity

Svavar is a big star in the Fjords

The bride sings

To an Icelandic wedding

Driving

To the Western Fjords

My crew

You make fast friends on the road and I feel like I've known these
guys for a while. In the summmertime more than half the people in
Iceland are foreigners.

Seabear

I saw a good Icelandicband last night after my show. Check em out www.seabearia.com
The local equivalent of the Arcade Fire. The singer looks like a
young Christopher Walken which is never a bad thing. That's not makeup
baby, that's life. On the whole I've been disappointed with the
appearance. I expected everyone to look like Bjork but they just look
Danish. I'm heading up North today. Maybe that's where the pixies hide.

Blue Lagoon

I made it to the Blue Lagoon. Thats me behind the camera. Definitely
worth it Pablo. Travel tip: go on your way too or from the airport,
because you have to pay for that bus anyway and it saves a bit. It
would have been extra good after the long flight.

Too many options

I've mostly seen the World Cup in the English Pub