July 27, 2013-September 15, 2013
Though our trip started in Hong Kong, we had to leave so quickly that we didn’t get to spend much time making anything but haste. It was a great show outside at the Cultural Center where we are slated to return for the 2013 Christmas. We didn’t stay long and crossed over to Europe.
Our German summer was full of beer, blasen, and music…oh, and a wedding. We were invited back to Europa Park in SW Germany near Freiburg to sing on a grind. Four performances per day for over a month and a half with a day off each week. BRING IT ON!
BEER: The final show of every night was in a bar, and our great friend Ramino made sure we had beer before and after the show. They say that there are vitamins in beer, that it has healthy benefits for the body, and the more you drink, the better we sound. So drink up baby. Back at home, we found that Lidl has a 6 pack of (pretty shite) beer for $3.50, and you can return the bottles for $0.50 each–that’s a 6-pack for 50 cents! Truth is, we worked out most days and sweat off pretty much any alcohol we drank, so somehow we didn’t end up with beer guts! Win-Win!
BLASEN: This story starts off with our hotel situation. We had to share not just a room but a bed with another guy in the group. This was a little surprise to us to say the least. Alfredo and I shared a room (and a bed) probably because the other guys don’t like our snoring and sequestered us away from their slumber. With no A/C, we had the window open to keep the room cool. At some point a note-pad came flying through the window. I picked it up and read the hand-written offer to pay me 100 EUR to give me a blasen…wtf? I mean a 100 EUR? I passed and never went outside (and closed the window for the rest of the tour).
MUSIC: We sang 4 times a day and worked in new arrangements. We even had Tat Tong back in town to help us write more and remix the Europa Park anthem. We performed on German live television Immer Wieder Sonntags (coining our now infamous phrases “Hallo Stefan!” and “Aber, nur mit der mund.” We also got to meet Franz Beckenbauer at his dinner, and the FC Freiburg team at the opening for Breuninger. There was even an after party with Snoop Lion/Dogg. We went Berlin, Mallorca, Hinterzarten, Hochzeit, Medebach, Freiburg, Florence, and a few big shows at Europa Park. We recorded music and put together a music video with Katja. We even put together a surprise set for Katja and Thomas’s wedding. Just making tons of music, dancing to it, and working harder than I ever have.
WEDDING: It was a secret. Katja, during our last visit, asked us to surprise her then Fianceé (now hubby). We hid out in the Pension Chloé with the help of Ramino and Sarah. For a week we laid low and stayed away from the park (where Thomas or his friends would see us). The day-of, we jumped in during the reception and sang for the newly-weds. The whole night was the most elaborate wedding I’ve ever seen, and their friends put on a huge show with song and dance and video and wine. There are photos of us all dancing and drinking somewhere until the wee hours of the morning…actually until the late hours of the morning. It was the biggest party I could imagine and all for our good friends.
After the wedding we left town and headed back to the US hoping to return soon.