|
LEVY
LOGS
Back
to Levy Logs
Amsterdam
July 2002
Sometimes
things happen that just boggle the imagination.They
are not outside the realm of possibility, just highly
improbable.
In
Winter of 1998 or '99, I was in Amsterdam doing
a cd with an electric bassist for an obscure little
record label. The label got all of the musicians
a little house to stay in out of town, but it was
not right- the beds were too small, it was freezing
cold, crowded, far away from everything, in short,
a nightmare. After one sleepless night all of us
insisted on staying at a hotel in town, so they
moved us to one. Unfortunately, all the hotels were
very busy, so I had to change my room the second
night. And after 2 nights, they had to move us to
another hotel down the street. Meanwhile, we were
recording live to 2-track all day long at a nearby
church, and it was a lot of hard, stressful work.
I
know one person in Amsterdam, a harmonica player
that I thought I should call, but I waited until
the recording was done before I called him. I don't
know this guy that well, and the atmosphere at the
church was too tense to invite a stranger into.
We
finally finished recording, but not before the hotel
made me change my room again. This time, I noticed
a strange poster on the wall. It said "Dr.
Hot and Neon" - I had no idea what it meant.
Most hotel rooms have abstract paintings or touristy
pictures on the wall. It was kind of odd, but I
didn't pay much attention to it or try to figure
out what it was. After all, it was Amsterdam, a
pretty eccentric place, and I was really tired.
So
the next morning I called Steve to come meet me
for lunch. When he came into my room he had an astonished
look on his face.
"That's me!", he shouted, staring in shock
at the poster on the wall. He was "Neon",
part of a juggling/music/comedy act that he used
to do in Amsterdam at least ten years before. After
all the hotels and different rooms, I finally called
the one person I knew in Amsterdam and his picture
was hanging on my wall! I had absolutely no idea
that it was him when I had looked at it, and none
of the other rooms in the hotel had that poster.
We both laughed for a long time.
It falls into the "possible but highly improbable"
category, and was a much-needed dose of humor for
me after a rough week.
|
