Hello, Goodbye Manchester

3/5, 5:58am: I’m writing feeling hot (the radiator in my room is in overdrive) and slightly
hungover. The beer here is rated at 5% alcohol and I’m finding it doesn’t take more than 1 or 2 to hit me. I had three. Thank goodness - with my clock being so screwy - that I get sleepy before I can do any further damage.

Pertinent to all that is the fact that we have tomorrow (well, actually today now) off as we travel to Liverpool and, as we had kind of a ragged show last night, I wanted to get a little loose with a few fellows from the band. Felt good and we all agreed to let it go. I decided, as I’m sure my bandmates did, to make ammends at the next show.

We played a beautiful hall in Manchester. It’s the largest one we’ve played so far - over 2500 capacity - and Humpy, as he always seems to do, packed ‘em in. Though the effects of the flu were apparent, he dazzled the audience with his usual charm and I doubt anyone out there knew he was under the weather. A true professional.

Manchester is quite a city. I guess the equivalent in the US would be a city like Detroit or Pittsburgh. Very industrial, but with a strong younger presence of college students and musician/artist types. Also, they love their soccer here. Manchester United is a world- reknowned football club and they take it quite seriously. They also take their drinking quite seriously here. I’ve never seen so many people out in the street - until early hours of the AM - lit up and carousing about. It’s quite a thing to see & hear. Let’s just say they’re very vocal, though I can’t make much out of the bellowing. Though it seems to be mostly in good fun, the parade of intermittent police cars with sirens wailing gave me the impression that things can, and do, get ugly.

During the day, I enjoyed walking about the place. There’s a lot of energy and there was a pretty well-stocked music store down the street for me to explore. A bit more “blue-collar” than London, it offers the same urban experiences but with a different flavor. I like it here and would suggest both cities (London & Manchester), as well as Portsmouth, as destinations to anyone visiting England.

Got to chat with our sax player, John Michalak, in the dressing room yesterday during a lull in the proceedings. In addition to sharing a few laughs as we exchanged high school band memories, I found out he’s worked with an interesting and impressive list of showbiz personalities. Along with Engelbert, he’s worked with Julio Eglesias, KC & The Sunshine Band, and David Lee Roth. John hails from Florida and is a proud papa of a 2 year old boy. He’s also a nice guy and a good musician.

Guess that’s it for now folks. I understand Engelbert’s son, Brad Dorsey, with be singing a few tunes in some upcoing shows with us. I heard a demo of his on the bus the other day and it’s quite apparent the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. I look forward to playing with him.

Thanks for tuning in! Until next time...

--Adam