It’s my day off and I’m in Berlin typing on one of these seriously complicated German keyboards that make no sense! Gene and I went on a really fun, Long bike ride around berlin while the other guys went on a boat ride around the city (they love them boat rides, Huh?). let’s see…ok…the show in Malmö was a really good show even though I had technical problems with the equipment. the KB is a big club and we filled it about 70% of the way. We had a good time and the opening acts we’re quite good. we hung out with fans and several people who like the diary (yay!!!) bought me a couple of beers (god, i’m such a lush…), including (but not limited to) a nice bloke named Peter. And sevaral fans who were at either Göteberg and/or Malmö and/or Copenhagen were there…including a very tall Helena Ohllson who seems to be at every show!

Since we didn’t go on till around midnight and played for over an hour and a half, you can imagine what it was like recieving a wake up call from gene at 5:30am to go to berlin!!!! But still, it was word it! i got to hang out with Mark Cox, our friend from Santa Monica who flew into malmo (he actaully lives in berlin but has to go to china on business and couldn’t make that show), and also the lighting technician, Lisa (from Finland of all places…)…it was her day off but she tried to challenge us with her beer skills but she was no match for Mark, who was singing iron Maiden songs by 3am…somehow the club turned speedmetal when i wasn’t looking… but, all in all, it was a fun night and thanks again to all…malmö rocks…it’s official…

So on to Berlin…after soundcheck, which was really sounding good, we went went out to dinner and then headed to the club. The club was packed and we stepped onstage around 10pm i think. It was a really fun, rocking (but loud) show. Lots of people took pix and it was just neat hanging out afterwards. there was a german woman, “Janna”, who danced the whole time up front and an american who’d just moved there after falling in love with a german guy and she usedto live in the same neighborhood as Dave Chapple (Echo park in east hollywood). But the coolest thing was hanging with a bloke named Bernd…a german fellow who’d seen us play with Arthur at the palomino in los angeles in 94. He has a very interesting story which I plan to go into details about (because it#s so funny!) in the next diary (sorry, but i gotta run soon…). Also, Frank, a guy from manchester, who now lives in San Fransisco, bought Chapp, Rusty and i a beck’s. that was nice. thanks frank. and to top it off, my “x”, Rita, offered to pay for massages for everyone in the band! ah…she called all the way from LA to do something so sweet and thoughtful…thanks rita.

SOOOOOOOOOO:::AFTER THE SHOW; Gene tells us that it’s Lenny Kravitz’s Birthday and he’s having a party at some club and we’re invited so we cab it over to the club and he’s just gotten on his tour bus but Rusty and I know lenny’s road manager, Aric, and we said hello to him and then went in the party. macy gray was hanging out all night and it turned out we new some of the musicians in her band, as they were from los angeles. her guitar player, Arik, is a friend of mine who used to play in the RedHot Chili Peppers. There were so many LA people in this club in Berlin, you almost thought it was Los Angeles. And that was what was so scary! get me outta here! So we hung till about close to 4am and then caught taxis back to the hotel.

When I woke up around noon…I headed down to the hotel bar for a little “hair of the dog” bloody mary but decided on a wheat beer. It was nice. Our hotel is in the “teargarden” and sits next to the Spree river, in teh heart of Berlin. It was a nice day and gene and i took advantage of it and rented some bikes. tomorrow I believe we play Utrecht, which is in Holland. I e-mailed Ed “the doors bootleg guy!” and asked if he can pick us up some maracas. So now it’s on to the Netherlands and then Spain. I can’t believe how many people come up to me saying they read the diary! Someone mentioned it to Arthur last night about my diary.. I told her…”shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”…but he said he knows about it. And was quite supportive. So, it’s time for this diary to end. Thanks. Berlin.

Mike Randle