Kiwifolk.com
Folk and Acoustic Music in New Zealand
Folk and Acoustic Music in New Zealand
Eichstaed was something different. In the middle of seemingly nowhere is this small town with huge, austere, beautifully decorated old buildings on cobbled streets. It seemed so incongruous with the surrounding countryside. That it is a Catholic University town goes some way to explain its feature and form. Even the bergers are quiet and neatly dressed. There is a delightful ceramic market in the street with many beautiful items we covet but could not possibly carry.
Elements of the Chaps past are converging here in a special way. An old friend of John has travelled from Switzerland to be here. An acquaintance made by Marcus in Dunedin has travelled from Berlin to see us tonight, as have another couple of friends from Munich. The gig is in (yet another) old building, the back of which is actually hewn into the rock hillside. It has been organised by our old friend Mark, the Welsh half of a comedy duo who lives in Munich - some may remember Mark and Simon in New Zealand about 4 years ago. This is their crowd who come to see us; they must have given us a good write-up because the small venue is fairly full, interestingly, with a higher than usual percentage of rather well-presented women! We got two encores and an enthusiastic response but the pretty women all went home without buying CD's.
We sat outside in the balmy night air with our friends who had come so far just to see this unknown Kiwi band, chatting quietly and watching the gathering electrical storm light up the night sky. Our accommodation was 30km away in the town of Ingolstaed. After our good-byes we travelled back through the countryside. By now the wildfire was spectacular and we stopped the car to watch. By pure chance we pulled over by a crossroads where there were three large dark crosses arranged Calvary style, stunningly silhouetted by the almost contiguous lightning like something from a Hitchcock classic. We searched the intersection for someone to trade our souls for better chops but to no avail.
I use the word accommodation in its loosest sense; it was in fact a luxury hotel we'd been booked into. Obviously the comedy circuit is just higher class all around! Individual rooms and a swimming pool. Hyram and I spent the afternoon drinking beer and swimming in the hot sun, which never seems to burn here. This was just what we needed after so many days on the road.
On the road now to Munich where are to stay with Mark and play the Tollwood Festival.
The Chaps are Hyram Ballard, John Dodd, Marcus Turner and Mike Moroney (the author of these pages), an acoustic string band featuring original songs and odd material from last century. Find out more about The Chaps here and listen to some of their music on their MySpace site here
