Berlin, 2 A.M.

I’ll work backwards. It’s early Sunday morning after a gig in the center of Berlin’s night life. It was good. They were dancing, singing, even demanded an encore. It worked. After getting paid I went to my favorite Berlin all night Asian place and had my usual Duck curry with vegetables and rice. In a few hours I will start the trip home to Nürnberg.

The evening prior, Friday, I played in a more sedate pub. It was ok but they were a hard audience to work with. And last night was bad in another way. I will explain. The problem has it’s roots the previous night. Instead of getting to bed earlier than usual so I could start for Berlin I went to bed later than usual and started the trip to Berlin after a few hours sleep. I arrived tired. I checked into my hotel determined to get some sleep so I could function that evening. I succeeded beyond my expectations. In short, I overslept. I threw my clothes on and walked quickly for the subway. I was on the subway at Potsdammer Platz when I realized I didn’t have my gig bag full of nessessary things like microphones and cables. Did I leave it on the bench at my original station where it was almost surely gone by now or the hotel where I could simply go back and get it? I tried to come up with a plan B where I could get through the evening without these things and buy a new mic plus nessessary cables for the gig tomorrow night during the day. It wasn’t at the station when I got back. That meant it was either stolen or back in the hotel room. It was in the hotel room. My heart slowed down when I opened the door and saw it on my unmade bed where I’d left it. I grabbed it and hurried back to the subway station. It was 2 stops then a change of subway lines to get to the gig. On the train my mobile phone rang. The pub owner was wondering where I was. I assured him all was ok and I would be there soon. Turns out I was wrong. When I left the first subway train to connect to the second I discovered I couldn’t find the second train. After some crazy rushing around I discovered you had to leave the underground, walk half a block and then go downstairs again to catch the second train. I finally found it. By now I should have been sound checked and ready to play, I arrived at the right station. I exited the station at the wrong exit and was lost. I couldn’t find the street the pub was on. Finally someone helped me and I found the street. Then I went a couple blocks in the wrong direction because there were no street numbers on the buildings to figure out whether to go right or left at the corner. I chose right. I should have chosen left. I walked a long way before discovering this. I turned around and walked in the right direction. I arrived at the pub at about the moment I thought I should be starting my first set. Turns out I wasn’t supposed to start for a half hour. I drank a beer, sound checked and played. All turned out ok but it wasn’t a great night. I’m not sure how much of this was me and how much was them. Either way it ended ok and that is the point.

So now I’m killing time in Berlin waiting for my 5 A.M. train home, belly full of duck curry and some Euros in my pocket. What doesn’t kill you makes you strong is what I’m told. I don’t want to get any stronger.

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