A Nice Surprise

3/15, 9am: Folks, England may be a cold, dreary, and sometimes depressing place, but I had my own personal slice of sunshine last Sunday night.

After what was a very low-key birthday for me on Saturday - punctuated by a nice card & cake from Bill our wardrobe man, and a sweet card & gift from Lacey - I settled into the mindset of business-as-usual as we head for the home stretch for the European tour.

I sat quietly in the catering area of the Hippodrome in Birmingham, waiting along with my bandmates & crew for our dinner. It’s a pleasant time where we can relax, talk, share a few laughs, and basically get loose before showtime. To my surprise, a gift bag full of cards was placed before me! I opened each one; the first being a card signed by everyone in the band & crew and with each wonderful sentiment my smile grew bigger. There was also a CD of the top hits of 1963 and a DVD containing news clips of the same year, both appropriately packaged with graphics & images of the time. The last card was a personal card from none other than the man himself wishing me a belated but happy birthday. Incredible! I was then treated to a warm rendition of “Happy Birthday” and gave a very brief speech (I’m sure to everyone’s delight) thanking everybody there for their thoughtfulness and telling them how much it meant to me. If that was all, it would have been enough to keep me walking on a cloud for the rest of the week. But no! During the band introduction spot in the show, Engelbert introduced me and then told the audience it was my birthday, prompting another singing of “Happy Birthday”, this time by Engelbert and the whole audience! It was really exciting and the whole thing was quite touching as well as an evening I’ll not forget.

I am grateful for the warmth and comraderie that pervades this organization. As I mentioned ealry on in my journal, the talent of everyone here is amazing, but not entirely unexpected. The fact that it has the feel of a large family is what makes it special and helps keep the blues away when you’re far away from home.

Today we go to Humpy’s for a party catered by his favorite Indian restaurant. I’m looking forward to a day with everyone together and nothing but good times to share. Then we hop on a bus for Eastbourne to make up an earlier show that was cancelled. We’re in the home stretch, but there will be plenty more to write about as both Belgium and Paris await.

Speaking of which, we watched the Paris Hilton video on the bus the other night. You know what?...big deal. My girlfriend smokes her.

That’s it for now folks!

Stay tuned,
--Adam