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Monday 3-26-07
First day of rehearsal with the band, had dinner with Louie last night in a cool trendy restaurant. Yesterday went over the songs with Erwin, the weather is beautiful, our hotel in on a big lake. We have two rehearsals with the band in a studio and then it's Wednesday and Thursday in a theater with full sound and lights. Friday we're off so we can check into the American hotel in Amsterdam, Rookies!!! The first show is in Amsterdam on Sunday, it's a biggie for Julya & Erwin because all their musician friends will be there also the critics will be at that show. Today will be the first movie shoot for the new documentary. We miss you all.
Love,
B&B


Tuesday 3-27-07, 8:26 AM Dutch time.
Hello everyone, or as they say here, Docht dush komptme shasjh umpt ke, means hi! We don't have a wireless connection for free any more so we're writing off line and paying 5 euros for 1 hour of Internet to send the emails. The only time we get to try to hook up in when you are asleep. Friday we should have a better chance of connecting because we'll be in Amsterdam.Yesterday was the first day with the band and they are amazing musicians and so well fitted for our music, real nice guys too. Erwin did a good job choosing but we're not surprised. Julya adds the perfect third harmony part to our songs. We're rehearsing in a 200-year-old farmhouse in the middle of hundreds of acres on grassland, probably miles. The studio is well equipped so it sounds great. We sit outside in the sun for lunch in a setting that looks like it should be in the movies and we found out yesterday that there was a famous Dutch movie shot there. Erwin has the cutest, smartest little dog named Ziggy. He found her on the highway. She follows Erwin everywhere and goes to all the rehearsals and meetings. She looks just like the dog Eddy on the TV show Frasier. She fell in love with Billy and when they dropped us off at our hotel last night she wanted to go with him. We'll send photos of her. We did an interview after rehearsal with one of the largest publications and when we took the photo with the interviewer, Ziggy made sure she was in it. Our hotel is in Loosetricht, which is the equivalent of Montauk. It's a resort area where the wealthy Dutch keep their boats and vacation homes. Lots of great restaurants, but otherwise deserted. We feel like we're the only ones in the hotel but you can tell by the amount on hotels, motels and Inns that this place will be jammed in the summer. The weather has been beautiful, tomorrow we're moving to a theater for rehearsal and we're also doing one of the biggest TV shows in Europe that will be exciting. Monday night we had dinner by ourselves in the most beautiful cozy place right near the hotel. The people are so friendly and helpful with the Dutch menus. We had a braised pork dish and a beef dish that was so tender it fell apart. On the other hand, lunch yesterday was sandwiches made on tasty bread but had either celery or ONE SLICE of some kind of meat. Yummy. Ziggy loved it! The days are moving very quickly, today is Wedensday and we are moving into the theater to rehearse with the lighting guys and the sound crew to find the optimum stage set up that will be the same through out the tour. We also get to meet our personal chef that will be traveling with us. I Hope he can make Arrabiata. (HOT!) Missing home is the hardest thing to get past but with almost every minute planned out for us it keeps your minds busy. That's about it for now; we get picked up at 10:30 for rehearsal. We miss you all and will keep you posted on our adventure.
Love,
b&b

Friday 3-30-07

Hi everybody,       

              How's everything at home? We've been so busy, we can't believe it's been almost a week already since we left but at the same time, we were trying to remember something from the day we arrived and it seems like it was so long ago. Today's the first day we're not getting picked up early for rehearsals. Last night we got back here a 11PM and today we get picked up at 2PM for a TV appearance, an interview and a radio show in Anhem.
Yesterday was a great day, we spent the whole day in a theater rehearsing with full sound and lighting. The crew are the nicest guys and have all the state of the art equipment. We never sounded or looked so good. There is also a caterer on tour with us and the food is sinful. For lunch, it's usually sandwiches which is OK, they have all kinds of cheeses, meats, cucumbers, tomatoes and spreads etc..not to mention chocolates and cookies for desert, but dinner is a different story they set up a long dining table and we all sit down together like a big family and there is a selection of different dishes. Last night we were served chicken breasts in a mushroom sauce steamed veggies, roasted potatoes, tortellini in cream cheese sauce, there was a beautiful white fish dish that looked so good I had to try it and it was fantastic. There's always fresh French bread and of course sinful deserts. Last night was chocolate éclairs, the night before there was beautiful fresh strawberries with an amazing vanilla sauce.

             

4-5-07
Dear Friends,  
Just an update to anyone who's listening over there across the pond. We've been very busy with a concert every day in a different city as you might suspect. Yesterday, being Tuesday, we checked out of The American Hotel and came to Wagengen, and we will be staying here for about a week and just commuting to different points of Germany and Holland. Louie says it will be cost effective to stay in this hotel and just travel from there. I know what that means, a lot of time on highways. Bobby got carsick the other day because he was using the laptop. The shows have been great. The band is the best we've ever worked with. Real pro talent behind us and they seem to really enjoy playing with us. The first concert the people were so polite that at the end of the hour and 50 minutes, Billy said to the audience that we weren't going to do the bullshit thing where we walk off so you can bring us back for an encore and then we played our closer "Atlantis" (which is amazing).    When we walked off the people started stomping their feet until we came back and played 2 more songs that we already played in the first set. So now we make sure we do the encore thing and still close with Atlantis. Monday night was a big show in a beautiful Theater. A lot of important people were there so you can imagine, our back stage area was like a crowded subway in rush hour. We've gotten some great reviews in the newspapers. There's a real buzz happening and the promoter, Hans Kick is very happy and had Champagne waiting for us when got off stage. I only hope they all go as well as these first three. Hans Kik has four beautiful girls that work for him, he's very handsome, they call his girls, 'his angels'.   Sometimes people bring our first Alessi LP to be autographed and the tell us,"(this LP came out 30 years ago)" and then they start doing the math. We just say Oh we were very young then,mabe 11 or twelve and while they are laughing we either change the subject or start talking to someone else. It's a fun little game.
Today we go to Belgium. We're staying in a different hotel for one night with the whole band, that should be fun.
We're off to search for a hot spot so we can send this off because some cities are a little scarce in the internet department.   Hope to make contact soon, it feels like we're on a desert. We're gonna Try to keep you posted and hope you enjoy our little foot notes along the way.
-b&b
check out the photos, there is a picture of bobby in front of a town water well pump that was used in the 1500s. and there is a picture of Ann Frank's hideout house during the war. And some others that are labled. Enjoy.

4-7-07
Howdie! We've actually reached the half way point! We sent home our dirty laundry so we have just enough underwear to get us through Paris. The tour is going great. We are getting great reviews which surprises Erwin because he says that they are usually very tough on the artists. He is very excited and is showing us every one, even though they are all in Dutch. We are busy now with shows every night in a different city. It's really nice to see so many people out there who really love our music and are Genuinlly excited, Every city is different but the feeling is very much the same. In one word, flattering.
Our record, 'Just Like That' was on the charts here and made it to #60 so it was a minor hit which is better than nothing plus if you remember the French guy that did a cover of 'Oh Lori', his album is #1 on the charts right now. That's good for us!
This tour has tour caterer so every show after the sound check we sit down to a 3 course meal. We won't be loosing any weight on this tour.
We'll keep you posted, thanks for the good wishes.
Bye for now,b&b

4-13-07
It's Friday, which means one week from today we'll be doing our last show in Paris. It's been a great experience playing with such an amazing band. The show gets better with each performance.


4-20-07
Bonjour everyone,
We can't believe it's been almost a month and at the same time the show we did last night seems like days ago, we're definitely in a time warp. The trip to Paris on the bullet train was beautiful, so smooth and quiet it felt like we were floating at the same time flying 300 kilometers an hour with the magical French countryside all around. The weather is like summer. The minute we arrived in Paris it was like we just had a hit record. It was star treatment all the way. Nice way to end up the tour. There's a lot of excitement about our show, we've done so many interviews and press that you can feel the buzz, it doesn't hurt that "Oh Lori' is the #1 album on the charts right now recorded by a talented French artist named Lauren..something. When they asked what's next for us and we talk about the new Barnaby Bye release, Thrice, and they seem very interested.
Our show has gotten tighter and more dynamic with each performance, the jokes and banter have also been fine tuned, Billy gets some pretty big laughs from the audience.
Last night we took the band out for a delicious dinner at a restaurant where we sat outside on a beautiful, what felt like, summer night, with the Eiffel Tower right there. It's been a wonderful experience we will never forget but now that it's almost over, we can't wait to get back home, we miss home. Thanks to all of our friends who came along on this journey with us. We'll see you all on the other side of the pond.
Love,
Billy and Bobby