Hello Europe!
Well, I am installed in my hotel in historic Salzburg, comfortably a day early so that I can have a bit of a wander about tomorrow prior to the first of the Birfdee Bashes. I was asked about why I drove over here, rather than just simply flying in and arriving without any tiredness or stresses. It's not due to flying jitters (remember - I am flying to the Amsterdam Bash and back) as I do enjoy flying. I like to drive when I can, as I get to see more of Europe when I do, and the Autoroute/Autobahn systems are excellent when compared to our iffy motorways! And the scary overpasses into Austria are a sort of dare with myself, as I am somewhat frightened of heights!
Also, too much flying costs a lot of money, whereas grabbing a big van, chucking all the stuff in, filling the thing with diesel and rumbling away on a thousand mile odyssey costs much much less. Since I am not exactly brimming with "chart success", keeping an eye on where savings can be made is a pre-occupation of a couple of the AEGRE staff. And I like to humour them, since they are responsible for getting the CDs and DVDs produced - I would much rather live cheap and keep the CD/DVD costs to the punter in the record shop as low as possible. Billy Bragg, a hero of my youth, did the same and made sure that the records and tapes he made were affordable to the average impoverished teen of the 80s. Thus I embrace the Internet delivery and cheap media over the counter philosophy, and some of the countries who like my music are pretty poor themselves. I usually end up giving a lot of stuff away, especially in ex-Soviet or still-Soviet states, as these kids don't have too much disposable income. I wouldn't for a second want to insult their countries' policies or whatever, but if I can give stuff away, I usually do. Then, more people can hear the music, which is what really matters. I can't see me ever living like a multi-millionaire, and don't think I really want to. I'm hoping to get to Ukraine and Belorus later this year, and the same principle will apply.
I know this will terrify some at the AEGRE record company, but I WANT you to copy my CDs and DVDs. Pass them around. I hope some kids will be recording these four dates - get them out there circulating. My only caveat is that you all don't enrich yourselves TOO MUCH at my expense. Yeah, pass them around, upload them to the Internet, download them to your computers. There are NO copyright warnings on ANY of my products - this was my one and only real stipulation when I signed with AEGRE.
So before this turns into yet another epic posting, I shall end here and look forward to seeing you all tomorrow at Voss Schlagen, before I burn up the tarmac to Transnistria.
Take care, Blessings upon you all, and here's hoping for a successful four nights of fun!
Love as always,
mv
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