Hey, it's time for the Bagus Update. I'm writing today from San Sebastian, Spain where the clouds are heavy and the surf is light. Let's see I think I was in London...

July 3: moved down from Cindy's place in Willesdon to meet my brother Tom and Sue Wenzler, an old friend from Milwaukee, in Wimbledon. It was during the height of the tennis tournament and the town was pretty lively. Sue took us out to lunch for a couple of pints of bitter and some decent burgers. We hung out at Sue's place for the afternoon and jammed for a long time before getting some curry and crashing.

July 4: Took the tube back in to Waterloo and hooked up with Pat's (the groom) friend Badu, Sopie and their lovely young daughter. After having to change cars and go to a different rent a car place and change cars again, we finally ended up in a citroen station wagon with me driving on the left side of the road in hectic London traffic. I guess I found it pretty easy because you just had to follow the person in front of you and Tom was being a great navigator. We got out of town and drove the two hours to Cerne Abbas and checked into our pension and hit the bar hopping trail. It was a short trail in this town of about 200 people and only 3 establishments, but we studied them all in detail and hooked up with the rest of the wedding attendees. It was great to see people from back home and from along the well worn trail of Pat's life. The whole bash ended up in the pension bar with Tom and I cranking out tunes on his guitar. Somewhere on me I have the set list, but I'll just post it on the web site. I remember it starting with a rousing Jack Straw for the Fourth of July. We made those innkeepers stay up pretty late for their little town and then went and watched Tom kick the shit out of Pat back in the hotel room for thowin water on his bed. After that I remember something about sleeping in the car...

July 5: a mellow day of hanging around in Cerne Abbas and heading out to Dorchester for some lunch and seeing the 180 meter tall Cerne Abbas Giant...http://www.sacredsites.com/1st30/cerne.html Dinner was some pork chops and beer. I found my room just fine and woke up for the wedding.

July 6: The wedding was right in the tiny town at the 800 year old church and Jemimah's family and friends mixed with Pat's. The ceremony was pretty traditional and perfect for the setting. Pat and Jemimah took off in a antique roadster and we all followed them in busses and vans to the reception which was at the house of the Earl of Sandwich. It was a wonderful estate with an Italian garden and beautiful rolling hills. We listened to the toasts and Tom's made us all cry. Then we got it back together and took over the stage during the main band's set break. With Tom and Jan Pace on Guitars, Pat's Dad on drums and me on keys, we were Tom Scotty and we kicked out a sympathy for the devil, dancin days, i know you rider, hard to handle and then had the main band upstage us with their version of hard to handle. It was a great pleasure and priviledge to play. It was a good thing we all had rides back to town because the wine was plentiful. We all stayed up in Tom's room til I couldn't keep my eyes open.

July 7: After a nice lunch at Jemima's parent's house, we were back on the road. We had to go all the way north of London to Luton airport to drop off Badu and Sophie and then all the way to the south to get some stuff out of Sue's place. Then we had an hour to make it to our train and the traffic in the 10 miles into town was rediculous for a Sunday evening. So I busted loose and was driving on parts of the sidewalk at times. We made it to Waterloo with 10 minutes to spare and got the TGV thru the Chunnel to Paris. In Paris we took a cab to Pat's place near Tur San Jac and the Pompidau Art museum and found some crepes and ate them in a beautiful square with tons of people sitting outside at midnight. It was nice to be in the Latin world again after 4 years.

July 8. Watching the Tour de France was probably the biggest achievement of the day. I did take a walk for an hour or so down past the Hotel de Ville and Notre Dame and into the Latin Quarter. That was it for site seeing in Paris. Badu and Bernard from the wedding came over and took us to this amazing Senegalese restaurant in Monte Martes. Incredible food and really nice people and a guy playing this 50 stringed instrument from Senegal.

July 9: Hung out at Pat's amazing apartment again all day and went out with Badu and Sophie and Bernard for Thai food and a bit of decent rock and roll at the Guiness Pub. The 9 Euro beers were drunk slowly.

July 10: Got up and out of Pat's place and took a train to the town of Chateau Thierry (N.E. Of Paris.) to sit at the finish line of the team time trials in the Tour De France. The Postal Service dudes lost 15 seconds in the first 50k and couldn't make it up in the end. They finished second to the Spanish Once team. It was a pretty fun outting and those dudes were haulin. Back to Paris then we struggled to switch Train stations from Gare du Nord to Gare Austerlitz. You know we wanted to try to catch a train between the two, but we couldn't get Tom up and down the stairs, so after schlepping our way around for an hour, we ended up in a cab. Then we had a night train down to Albertville.

July 11: I vaguely remember passing through Chamberry and then finally waking up in Albertville after sitting in the station for 10 minutes.We had to wait a half hour for it to be 7am and to have Vincent come pick us up. He took us up to his place in this little town of Eugene where once we got Tom upstairs, we didn't move for the rest of the day. We did get a nice jam in out on the porch that looked up at a massive wall of an alp that was really really big. And Tall. And it was good.

July 12: Tom rolled down into Albertville and I took off on Vincent's bike. They told me to take this nice road towards Annecy, but after heading a few k down the road, I decided that I'd rather be climbing. So I turned around and took this mamoth hill18k up into the mountain behind Vincent's. I found a even steeper way back and in the end I was flying down this la la land of bicycle heaven for about about a half hour, watching Ugine come closer and closer. That night we went and watched Vincent rehearse with his band and we jammed out a few tunes with them at the end.

July 13: Drove with Vincent and Kathy to pick up his mom at the Chamberry train station (where I got robbed back in 1990...) to pick up their mom who was coming in from Reunion and then to Vincent's sister Cecile's house in Les Avenieres. Tom went out with her for a bit back in the days when he lived there for 4 years, but now she has 2 cool kids. We spent the afternoon munching and drinking pastisse and finally slept in the barn! It wasn't too bad.

July 14: For Bastille day, this was pretty quiet. We had some extended lunch and then headed back to Vincent's place in Ugine wishing we had been able to play a concert in the bar in Les Avenieres.

July 15: Woke up checked my email. Got a letter from my housemate in New Orleans. Here's some of it. ''Some of you may know that we just spent a week at the beach with our

family. am very sad to inform you that Tad was attacked by a shark while he was

out in the ocean on his catamaran. It blows me away that this has

happened right during the time that we are planning our wedding. Of

course, I still love him very much and plan to stand by his side despite

his injuries. Right now we are busy dealing with the emotional trauma of

Tad losing most of his right leg, but I can tell you that he is conscious

and attempting to deal with the situation as best as could be expected''

I was destroyed and spent the day in tears. Tad's been one of my best friends for a dozen years now and it was just too much to take. We took a ride from Vincent to Annecy and met some more of Tom's friends there. They took us up to their beautiful apartment with the awesome backyard overlooking the mountains and the lake. We watched the tour there and hung out being called stinky butt by the two girls. I chased them and they screamed and it was all pretty fun. Then more of Tom's friends, his french Parents, came by and picked us up and took us to Annemass, near the Swiss border. More long dinners and staring off because I really don't speak any French and everyone's English was kind of lacking. Of course everyone was amazed and blown away by the news of my friend losing his leg to a shark.

July 16: Got up and hot tubbed and around one or so Tom and I headed in to Geneva. Tom was trying to switch his ticket so he could stay for Vincent's big party in the mountains. I just wanted to see the city. I climbed the towers of the Cathedral and what can you say. Geneva is a vibrant cosmopolitan city on a beautiful lake. We make a point of finding a cyber caf' and I checked the email only to find this

''

OK, we are so sorry to have freaked everybody out! Apparently the

picture was not attached with the email that we (Tad and myself) sent out

last night. If it would have been, you would have seen that it was a

joke. Not a very good one without the picture. Please forgive me (and

Tad -- he's the one who wrote it!!!) It was just fun with ketchup.

''

So I had Tom write them and tell them that they needed to pick me up at the airport in New Orleans at 5:30 the next morning. They are still in deep deep trouble with me. Anyway back to Annemass and we chilled out and ate. I got a few tunes in on Tom's guitar for the evening entertainment.

July 17-18. Hmm... am I losing it? There must have been another day in Annemass and Ugine that we just relaxed.

July 19. Went with Jackie back to Annecy and met with yet even more of Tom's friends from Les Avenieres. Annie and Kati and they had brought a bunch of other friends with them for a festival that was winding it's way through this most beautiful of French Alp cities. We caught up with the cart full of musicians that was being pulled by two giant oxen and listened to them play an assortment of French folk music. There were also these people in costume playing cowbells and others up on a few different stages through the city dancing. The night was capped by a long kind of ... show and then a hour drive back to L.A.

July 20: Ate for most of the day. Actually this day Tom and I got to play the infamous gig at the Platan, which was the bar that he and a couple dozen other ex pats invaded for 4 years. We found a drummer named Pascal and some amps and we played three sets in three hours and had everyone talking about the old days and Tom's legendary status. It was pretty awesome. Set lists to follow. My French wasn't getting any better.

July 21: Borrowed Annie's car and drove up thru Aix Les Bains and into the huge mountains. I caught my first glimpse of Mount Blanc. We found Vincent's party in the middle of nowhere and were asked to open the night of music. With another borrowed drummer, we cranked out a few of Tom and my original tunes and an Althea that had em goin. Not too bad for no bass player and another new drummer. I tried juggling fire for the first time ever and had a little success. It's hard to see the dang things cuz it's so dark out. I also brought out the frisbee and was kicking a ball around for a while on this lovely mountainside. We closed the night too with a five song acoustic set that had a sugaree that had people cheering.

July 22: Got up after everyone had left and packed up the tent into the car that was running out of gas. We drove to this town and a woman pumped our gas for us. She put the wrong kind of gas in. It was a diesel car. We didn't know. We left and made it back to L.A. But when we got there, Annie noticed something was wrong. We had to have the car towed the next day. We all were pretty sad and angry about the woman putting the wrong gas in. I left em 100 euros. We played baseball and ate and drank late into the night at Annie's spread out french country house.

July 23: Yeah, I guess it was time to go. Tom had to get back to Geneva for his plane and I had to start my own adventure and try to get away from all these French speaking people. Tom's friend Pascal the actor gave me a ride to the Leon airport and I got myself onto a train to the town of Carcassone. Pascal has kind of a wierd friend named Fafi in Carcassone who said she'd put me up. Carcassone is a small little town that has had fortifications in it since the Roman times. It was Visigoth for a while and then was a bordre town when the Moors were at their height of power in Spain. I got in kinda late and just crashed on Fafi's couch.

July 24: Had some coffee with Fafi in the morning... it was fun being on my own in France and having to work through conversations with people without having Tom their to translate. I went and bought a camera since the one I originally brought over was Toms and I left it with him. It's a nice compact little thingie with zoom and panorama capabilities. 100 Euro. Then I walked up to the Cite... the walled castle area and I spent the day there wandering around the outrageous towers and walls and churches and feeling like I had gone back 1000 years. Quite very amazing. Fafi was gone in the evening, so I got some pizza on my own and hit this funky cave bar for some acid jazz and cool people. I had noticed that the Mingus Big Band was playing the next day inside the Cite and since my welcome at Fafi's was only for two days, a dude at the pub made a reservation for me to stay in a hostle (what! me pay to sleep?) I finished the night off at the Guiness Pub talking to some nice Americans and listening to a band play a bunch of bluegrass. Mississippi River, so big and wide...

July 25: Made my way out of Fafi's in the morning and called my friend Florence who was actually in my path to Spain. We made arrangements to meet at the Gare in her small town of Pau in two days. Then I took a bus up to the Cite and checked into the hostle and bought my tix for the Mingus show. Pretty pricy at 27 Euros, but the setting and awesome show made it worth it. I hung out and talked to the lead sax player and the tour manager and regaled them with tales of the Knitting Factory Tour back in '90. It was pretty cool being the only American around at that point because like during the show, they didn't say a thing.. He had just pointed to the soloists and the crowd would applaud. I think they were happy to have some conversation after 4 weeks on the road. Back at the Hostle, the bar was happening and I stayed up talking Spanish to some Chileans.

July 26: Was on the move pretty early as is the Youth Hostle way. I got a train to Toulouse and was their by noon. I found a nice place to stay for 30 euros and hit the streets. I just wandered. I guess I saw a lot of Toulouse before the end of the day. There were plenty of pedestrian streets, open air cafes and beautiful houses and buildings to look at. I took a nap and went out again at night, but my lack of French and inability to find any live music brought me back pretty early.

July 27: Got a train to Pau in the morning and was met by my friend Florence from New Orleans at the station. She and her mom took me to the most beautiful of the many beautiful countryside estates I had been to yet. It was hot and we immediatly jumped into the 12 meter pool and played frisbee with the kids. Flo and I cruised into town and took the Funiculare up to the castle where King Henry IV was born and where he became the first person to unite France. Caf''s, chillin and back home for freshly caught Trout. Back out to bar hop for the evening... There was a chill techno bar with lots of nice people speaking spanish for me and then we went to the Cubano bar and got into the World Groove. Then the gay bar and we were finished and took a taxi back home. For those of you who know Florence, you'll be glad to hear that she quit her drinking binge and is quite a bit more relaxed than she was in New Orleans. It was really nice to see her and have my own friend and tour guide.

July 28: Just played some piano, sat by the pool and ate til about four when Flo's mom decided we would drive up into the Pyranies for a outdoor theater presentation of Tristan and Isolde. Ok. So we got way the heck up innto the mountains and had to hike about a half an hour towards in this massive circque... a circular area formed by some of the highest mountains of the Pyranies. The setting was in a meadow with an encompassing back drop of 5000 feet of glaciers, crags and waterfalls. The story was of impossible love and was done with the aid of horses, music by Wagner and the utilization of the whole meadow. We all had our chins scraping the grass in awe. It was so magnificent. So beautiful. Such a setting with wild horses walking past as the play went on. Truly one of my life's best experiences. I guess England was just a warm up and by the time I got to the mountains I finally felt at home in Europe. Now I'm finding this to be such a fantasic experience and I'm sooo glad I'm here.

July 29: So that's yesterday now. I hung out with Flo for the morning and got train across the border into Spain. Of course the first Spanish I got to say was, Ayudame, Estoy perdido! (Help, I'm lost!). I took this metro train about 15 k too far before realizing it. But when I finally got to San Sebastian, I was met at the train station by a nice dude who offered me a place in his pension. (el me digo que yo hablo Espanol muy bien.. Claro. Es muy muy bien para ser in Espana. Got in there and met up with 5 whole Americans... the most I'd seen in one place since the wedding. We hit the lively streets and stopped in every bar for tapas and Txotle's and beer and to talk with the Basque people about their situation. All the signs are in Basque and Spanish and everything's cheap. I 'love Spain. James Brown played to 1000 people but it was sold out.

July 30: Had to change pensions this morning and decided just to chill and pray for better weather. The rain is light and warm, but the beach here would be nicer in the sun. Alright, I've probably wrung up quite a bill here at the old Juegos en Red internet caf'. Time to get onto the evening. Hopefully I'll get to see Radiohead tonight!

I'm glad I got to take some time to put this all down before the excitement of Spain puts this too far back. Also hope you are all doin well and don't get eaten by a shark. Happy summer to all. The big plan is to tour Spain for another week or two and then get to Barcelona with enough time to try a job search. If I can stay there, that would be the best.

Addios Amigos!!!