and on..

More days on the road, more flights, more hire cars, including dropping one off at Dulles Airport, Washington and watching the National Car guy drive it away and run over our big box of CD’s. The hotel in Grand Rapids was the only hotel I have stayed at in the last 23 years where they offered free food. Between 5pm and 8pm you can get fruit, soup, salad..free!The gig there last night was in Schuller books, a fantastic bookshop and they have a petition going to reform the Patriot Act. One of the new rules is that the FBI can call the store and demand to know what books people have been buying and reading. Louis, who runs the music side of things in this store, introduced me by telling a story of how he first heard me on the radio driving through the desert in Arizona back in 93. He made a ten mile detour to keep the signal strong in his car to learn who the artist was singing the tune he liked. Turned out it was ‘Dolphins’ and 12 years later he books me for a show. That’s a nice story and he is a nice guy. The hotel tonight in Milwaukee is less salubrious and I haven’t even bothered unpacking as we leave for somewhere else in the morning. Kerry seemed to gain a little headway on Bush in the debate last night; there may be hope. I’m wearing a pin badge at the moment that says ‘Gandalf For President’. I played the Irish Centre here tonight. No hate mail on this tour so far; wondering if I’m doing something wrong.