Report from the UK

So far, soooo freaking good. First I’ll run you through what I thought
would happen on this tour…  I would get caught trying to smuggle my
CD’s and tshirts into the country and have to pay hundreds of pounds
in tax, I would rent a tiny piece of sh*t car, get it all scraped up
driving on the wrong side of the road, show up to shows with 500 drunk
chatty teenagers, blend in to the backgroud, get frustrated and lose a
lot of money to boot.

Here’s what’s happened so far… got through customs in a flash, slept
13 hours at Jimmy Napes‘ house, went to a Fall Out Boy concert at Wembley
Arena, courtesy of my lovely booking agent Marnie at Primary (who also
apparently book Fall Out Boy), played a sold out show in London in a
giant old church with 50 foot ceilings and craaaazy reverb to a
superlatively courteous crowd of 600 sitting in the pews and in the
rafters, sold and signed almost 100 CD’s  and 1 shirt right after my
set, saw Beth Rowley play, who is literally one of the greatest voices
of my generation, went to a great late night Indian dinner with Vashti
and her family and friends (she was the other opener in London), wrote
and recorded a new song with Jimmy Napes which has hit written all
over it, rented a tiny but not piece of shit car and made it safely
all the way to Manchester, checked in to my hotel, got them to switch
my room to one that wasn’t directly beneath their nightclub, played
another sold out show in the Opera Hall at the Royal Northern College
of Music to another exceptionally quiet and responsive crowd sitting
in 50 or so ascending rows of theater seats in a perfectly
acoustically engineered hall, sold about 85 more CD’s and one shirt to
the mass of people that swarmed the merch table after my set, watched
an even more amazing performance by Beth Rowley, and found out that
most of the rest of the shows are in concert halls and theaters
similar to this one. I’ve sent home for more CD’s to be shipped
because I sold out of my two older albums already (I was figuring on
about 5-8 CD sales per night). My coat is warm and has a hood that
keeps my coiffure in order in this rain, my car has bluetooth so I can
talk on the phone, my new guitar sounds amazing, and tomorrow I get to
see Amber Rubarth and Jay Nash and play a house concert with them.

Complaints: I’m a tad bit hungry at the moment but will eat this here
banana, my bed is a twin, the pound crashed against the dollar, the
hotel parking is across the street and is 20 pounds but they told me
it would be 7, I’m on the 6th floor and the elevator goes up to 5.

Pretty damn good overall, although I miss YOU!

joey