Doane Perry's Diary - November 1998

The U.S. legs went well and afforded us the opportunity to play some smaller venues in certain areas, particularly some of the different “House of Blues” gigs around the U.S., which were fun for the band and the audiences. We were also fortunate to have a couple of very good opening acts like Gov’t Mule, Nils Lofgren and Mike Keneally’s Beer for Dolphins.

Sandwiched in between the US dates were two European Festivals in Switzerland and Lichtenstein both of which were outdoors and COLD. Not surprising as we were in the middle of the Alps! By contrast, Spain, even in the middle of November was beautiful and for the most part sunny and warm. Madrid, Barcelona and Murcia, although interesting and colorful cities, afforded us little opportunity to sightsee due to the tightness of our schedule. However, in the beautiful old Spanish cities of Jerez, Malaga and Santiago de Compostela we did have a little time to explore and all splintered off in various directions.

On our day off in Malaga, Martin and I decided to visit nearby Grenada which was home to the Alhambra, an absolutely amazing Moorish palace. After negotiating the labyrinthine one way street system of Grenada we arrived at the Alhambra in early afternoon and spent all day wandering the grounds and visiting the extraordinary detailed buildings on the palace grounds. Like ghostly apparitions we kept catching sight of people who looked like Ian, Shona and Jon Noyce disappearing around corners and into dark passageways, but we were never able to make contact. It wasn’t until later that night that we discovered that they too had decided to spend their day off there. I believe Andy spent his day off in beautiful, historic Malaga landing aircraft at every major International Airport on his PC Flight Control Program.

We all decided to meet that night for dinner. After endless debating about where we should eat it was decided we would go to a local and very reputable fish restaurant. Arriving there we discovered that the restaurant was completely empty, which wasn’t entirely odd as no one eats dinner in Spain until 11pm anyway. The menu was COMPLTELY incomprehensible and there seemed not even the remotest chance of getting an accurate translation anyway. Besides, the food on display was as scary as the totally surreal decor, which looked like a bad Disney “Pirates of the Caribbean” theme coupled with a Tijuana Liquor store/Andy Warhol art gallery so we decided to move on to our second choice. We discovered most restaurants in this part of Spain have a tendency to be smoking bars that serve food as an afterthought. Their fare is usually heavily fried meat and potato dishes unimaginatively served and this second place proved to be no exception. I have to say that the food, which is usually renowned in Spain, was the single biggest disappointment of the tour.

I did however hold out a glimmer of hope for at least one successful meal. Coming back from the gig the night before I noticed an Indian Restaurant in a small side street simply called “Delhi”. Excellent. I mentioned my fortuitous sighting to the others who greeted the news with remarkable indifference and frank disbelief. Well tough, you Bozos, I’m going off for a fantastic meal! Ian and Shona defected back to the hotel for overpriced sandwiches, Andy went to McDonalds (what a surprise) and Martin and Jon went to some ridiculous Baguette shop. I strode away secure in the knowledge that I was going to have a proper sit down dinner of Dall Soup, King Prawn Dansak, Sag Paneer, Garlic Naan and a Taj Mahal Beer.

Yes indeed, I had certainly made the right choice. As I got closer to the restaurant I noticed ,somewhat predictably that it seemed to be a little quiet. Well of course, it was only 9pm and things don’t really heat up until around 11 or so. Anyway, I’ll have a nice quiet meal with the full attention of the staff. As I got to the restaurant I was shocked to discover that it was CLOSED !!! WHAT?! Why in the world would the one Indian Restaurant in all of Malaga be closed on a Thursday night? As I examined the “restaurant” a little more closely I discovered that the sign said “ DELHI” in huge letters and in tiny little letters underneath it said “arts and crafts jewelry shop”. I was so livid I considered leaving an extremely insulting note under the owner’s door, as if that would have done the slightest bit of good. They probably wouldn’t have understood a word of it and if they had, they would have laughed at me anyway. To save face I thought of concocting an outrageous story about the best curry house I had ever been to in Western Europe. How would the band know? When are WE going to back in Malaga?

Unfortunately as I was walking back, sulking and brooding about my bad luck, I passed by the Baguette shop where Jon and Martin were enjoying a delicious baguette. Do I try to slink by unnoticed and risk getting caught or go in and tell them I just changed my mind and was in the mood for something else? Like they would believe that! Well, I just strolled in and started to make up some ridiculous story and then started laughing so hard I couldn’t get it out anyway. I ultimately had to cop to the fact that I NEED GLASSES. Well in the end I am happy to say that I had one of the tastiest pizzas I have ever enjoyed.

The End