The day began in London’s Primrose Hill, where our hotel is. woke up around 10:30 and peeked out the window. the sun was out and it looked gorgeous with the snow melting. i walked down Primrose road to Swiss Cottage and made a right. found an internet cafe in McDonald’s (no lie) and sat down for a bit. after that, I made my way back to the hotel, as a car was hired to pick me up for an interview with a whiskey magazine. the two writers, Jim and Dave, were LOVE fans and read THE DIAIRES and knew how the Diary really enjoys a good single malt, aged of course. Fritz in Ohio would have been in heaven! so i get to this whiskey bar around 1pm. i was hungry and didn’t know if we were gonna eat so i picked up some KFC for the taxi ride. but the driver was making me motion sick n all so when we arrived i gave him the unopened box of wings. he said thanks. inside there were hundreds of aged whiskey and scotch bottles. we sampled a few before ordering lunch. i had the swordfish with lemon and it was a picture of perfection. we tried out some more whiskey as the interview went along, in addition to several photos. around 3pm i announced that soundcheck would be soon and that i would have to start thinking of a taxi back to the hotel. another whiskey arrived. we were now on our 6th whiskey. but i felt fine. see, when you drink good whiskey it’s a whole different experience. i thanked the guys and said i’d see them at the show, making sure they had afterparty passes n all… got back to hotel and then we got the venue and sound checked. my amp made a wierd noise. see, we’d had some problems with our gear so Troels went and got us 3 amps and took back 3 others. but he then realized i had a bad cable. see kids, it is the cable sometimes. so after that, the rock was once again in full effect. we finished up and then Rusty, Chap and i went to nando’s for dinner. ran into our friends, Stu and Janey on the street and they joined us. later on so did Bent. i drank loads of water and was peeing like 40 times before the show. i cought part of the SEEDS show, which was fun. they could have done n encore but they waited too long and the DJ started playing a DOORS song (did i ever mention one of my all-time fave records is the SOFT PARADE? very underated record, that) and the Seeds left the stage. My friend Scott knows the drummer, Norman, and i am supposed to say hi to Norman. we hit the stage about 9:30 and play a really fun gig. Glenn says that Bobby Gellespie (primal scream) and the Mercury Rev guys are up in the balcony, along with Liam from oasis. we rock to no end. 2200 people. completely sold out. after the show i saw the whiskey boys, Jim and Dave and wanted to make sure they were at the after party. a guy came up to me (he always finds me in london) and hands me his mobile. it’s EDGAR IN NEW YORK on the other line. can we EVER get rid of edgar! so, at the after party there were a lot of nice people hanging about. Lizzy B and Tina and LOVE MASCOT, Martyn were there as well. I saw Bobby G and went over and got him cause the singer was looking for him. The whiskey boys brought us some nice “gifts” and so we took some band photos for the magazine and all had a jolly good time. Jim even slipped me a small bottle from his private stash! Glenn Max (the man who put the SMILE! shows on at RFH) came over and we chatted about the Smile shows and also how much he dug the LOVE show. it was around this time that something completely hilarious happened. in order to FULLY comprehend the unbelievable nature of what i am going to relate to you, you must first go back and check a few old diaires. first, the KNITTING FACTORY show in May 2002 and Don Conca’s comment about the sound guy. secondly, the incident after the Bimbo’s show in SF in 2002 where the soundguy got fired the next day. put them together. now read on, dearies. THE SINGER pulls me over. he’s chatting to (SEEDS singer) Sky Saxon. he tells em “tell Mike what you just told me”. So Sky looks at me – no trace of humor anywhere – and says that we should let Kose go hire the best enginneer in LA…..get this…drum roll please……..rattta-tat-tat-tat-tat…..GARY STERN! yes, THAT gary stern!!!!! yep, the guy who rammed his RV into the Knitting factory garage park…yep the same guy who missed soundcheck his first gig…yep the same fellow who got let go less than 12 hours after the first show of the 2002 summer USA tour (he got to the gig at 7:30 and Gene fired him 7:25am the next morning, officially making it less than 12 hours). i turned away cause i didn’t want Sky to know i was laughing. but it got me thinking, as i saw him in the 3rd row enjoying the show. i could HEAR the sound myself. i KNOW it was good cause Kose is “the man”. but i know what would happen if we took Sky’s advise! and that ain’t gonna happen! so after the party our lot (the band, singer and Antony!) went back to the hotel and the Seeds had already turned it into a mini party! we went and got ourselves a side table and Troels busted out the 18 year old Glenlivet…then us boys enjoyed one of the finer things in life. I tried to text Rita cause i know how much she loves good whiskey but my airtime balance was ziltch. Chapple and i headed of to bed, eating tuna sandwhiches and watching a nature channel show on dinosaurs before crashing out. it was SO un-rock n roll!

Mike Randle