Good morning sunshine! Europe likes to rock the free breakfast included with the hotel and I try and get down there in time whenever I remember and face the morning choice between greasy eggy meaty world and fruity crunchy yogurt world. Strange how once I pattern with one, the conversion is tough to the other though I always feel better when I follow the tree-hugger option.

And I ran back up to my room really quick to find

which made me ponder the fluid malleable nature of religious beliefs. So in my analytical sarcastic way, lets take a gander in that direction. First, we few amongst us have not played that game where all the kids get in a circle and you whisper something in the ear of the next person. Then, by the time that something makes it around the circle it has been embellished and altered to the point where it has little if anything to do with the original words. We know this, we can show this, this is not in question and is readily demonstratable indicating that humans in general tend not to be very good carriers of accurate information. Now have a story pass from ear to ear and hand to pen for thousands of years. What are the odds that it bears much resemblance to the original? What are the odds that over time various entities have injected bits of self serving spin? Hmmm. Just a thought to consider and in a reversal, I have heard that the red jolly Santa we have today was an invention of Coco Cola corporation. Being the curious roadie I am, I decided to take a quick look and found that to be at least debatable and Santa may be a bit more authentic in that his current form was most likely created by a greeting card company. I feel much better now.

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/santa.asp

And check out this cool place that Santa's people built

I wonder what this piratey looking guy has to say

I enjoy the contrasts in life. They seem to illuminate the betwixt and unbeknownst to me, candidly Scotty took this picture of two humans focused on what currently was of importance to them. Each immersed in separate realities yet separated by just a few feet.

Uh oh, it's getting late, better head over to the rock show. When we have really long bus drives, they bring in a 'double driver' for each bus. That way they can tag team and take turns driving to get us to our next city. Well, I would like you to meet bus 2's double driver and temporary pirate

We call him Nasty B'stard. Why do we call him that you may well ask? Well, not really sure, we just do.

The contemplating changing my name to the sound of pirate saying 'Aaargh,'

Dave Rat

Day 194 - Dec 3 - Zurich Show 1

**** eBay Auction Update ****

Check this article out as it is about the auction winner, George

http://www.sootoday.com/content/arts/details.asp?c=16539

We have not forgotten about the our eBay
auction responsibilities and the advertising will happen at some show yet
to be determined on the upcoming Jan/Feb US tour leg. George has opted to send
shirts he had specially printed for us to wear and I heard that they are currently
sitting in my office at Rat Sound.

**** End eBay Auction Update ****

I forgot to mention yesterday that roadie Leif found this place called , 17
Neumarkt Street that is the coolest interior home design setup we have ever
seen. All the floors were metal gratings that hung by chains. The very bottom
floor was a swimmable pool and the skylight flooded sunshine throughout. I will
dub this recommended stop # 63.

**** Ponderamblings ****

I was 20 years old and I worked at Hughes
Aircraft in Culver City where they built the not so flighty Spruce
Goose airplane. I was the youngest guy in an engineering department that
performed environmental testing on TOW
missle systems. It was right at the front end of the Regan era US military
expansion fueling the Second
Cold War and there were rumors of a draft. I was working mandatory overtime
polishing the US war machine and after work, my childhood friend Brian and I
could make between $100 and $200 a night for all of our gear and both of us
working from the tiny PA company we owned. Faced with losing my job at Hughes
for missing work for punk shows or letting the sound company go stagnant, I
did what seemed to be the scariest thing in the world but had to be done and
quite my job. When I arrived home I still remember the moment when I took off
the watch I was wearing and released myself from the clutches of regimented
time. My desire was to let time fly by when excitement came my way and bcome
entrenched in slow motion time if I was miserable. Bye bye job, bye bye time.

Twenty years later while in Berlin on the By The Way Peppers tour, I bought
myself a really nice self winding watch. My aim was not to be attached to time
as I am long free of that. My attraction was toward the precision of the small
and so finely crafted machine that gains its life from motion. Like a friend
or a mechanical pet, dependant yet useful and a weighty arm reminder for me
to follow the goals I set and dreams I have. For the first time in my life I
understood the allure the fine timepiece and for the first time I realized the
diference between being controlled by, or taking control of, time.

So here in the land of the Swiss I decided to reward myself and purchase another
watch while also stumbling upon recommended stop # 64 of the Dave Rat Euro tour,
Zett
Meyer watch shop. Full of very cool people and if you do stop by, look for
Pia, Laura or Sandro and tell them you are a friend of the Peppers and you need
the 'Special Discount' and tell them hello from me!

**** End Ponderamblings ****

Ahhh, the glorious gig

And an honor and a smile and a memory caputered with The Missing Men, Raul
and Tom with me and Mike Watt.

I highly recommend that the curious go check out Mike Watt's web site http://www.hootpage.com/
and if you are super curious then request to get on his cool mailing list.

Here is our piratey picture of the day with honorary roadie Peter joining us.
You may remember him as the Big Cheese.

Very often a certain city or region will have a charictaristic soccer chant
or some sort of odity that is interesting. Here in this area there is this thing
where the crowd raises there arms and go "OooohOooohOooooh" while
wiggling their hands. It is really a strange sensation when 12,000 people all
do it in unison.

Ok, enough for today,

Dave Rat

SIDNCYIWCYS!

At exactly 10:24 AM Zurich time I turned on a television This is the first time I have voluntarily attempted a TV watching adventure. I must admit I was a bit apprehensive and being that it has been many months since I have been in a room one on one with a lit television, I was uncertain as to whether I was up for the task. At exactly 10:32 AM Zurich time I turned off the television as I had completely and utterly failed in my attempt to gather useful information without being bombarded with aggravation in the form of commercials and mind bending watered down garbage that insults the very concept of thought and thinking. I won't be trying that again and will have to stick to acquiring news from the internet. At least that way I can pick through the garbage bin of world info looking for tidbits of curiosity without being force fed entire meals built from whatever ulterior motive controls that particular story.

Another day off makes two in a row and another day of wandering with curious big eyes to seek out the uniqueness and intricacies of this far away city. What became readily apparent as it so often does is that even though I thought I knew her, there is still more to discover. While enjoying this Swiss Miss named Zurich with her huge bank account, sweet chocolaty ways, gorgeous mountainous Alps and flawless timing we must not forget that she is quite skilled with knives. Where better to seek out a cool pocket knife? "Excuse me miss, I am looking for the ultimate roadie pocket knife, do you have any recommendations?"

"Wow, this look really useful. Compact and convenient too! What all does it do?"

"Hmmm, I think I need something a bit more piratey, thank you."

**** Esoteric Knucklehead Babbling ****

It is probably best to look at the cool pictures and ignore the rest and I am just doing a bit of mind spill here that would normally never see any home beyond my journal which lays dormant now that blog world has devoured it's time.

Everywhere I look in life I see the same patterns repeating. Construction is an inverted accelerated opposite to deterioration. Destruction an inverted accelerated opposite to anything assembled or lacking chaos. Life force is the essence that has the power to unpredictably defy gravity. Gravity applies a predictability to all things except those with life force. As humans we savor the past as much as we slough it off for the future. We embrace the dualities of life and find beauty in both. Balance resonates in every life description from all corners of the earth and all belief systems, Yin and yang, heaven and hell, life and death and old and new and within 30 steps of each other

Completely unrelated but perfectly positioned. Perhaps ever molecule of pollution that one creates the other would save if they were both powered by some middle ground propulsion. Both are beautiful to me, both are creations of much labor in a precise direction and purpose and both are too extreme to be much more than novelty in the life I currently have chosen to lead but I love that they both exist. Oh, have I mentioned that I slowly lose my mind while touring?

**** End Esoteric Knucklehead Babbling ****

Hey everyone, say hello to roadie Amir Butt. Yes that is his name and he is cool beyond description. A unique merchandise roadie that has been working Peppers European tours since 1991.

Now he needs to be a roadie card!!

The sometimes forgetting to pretend to be a normal human being,

Dave Rat

Day 188 - Nov 27 - Stuttgart Show

**** Pondering's ****

Rats! I totally spaced something about yesterday's gig. The place is called Festhalle and though it has been home to many awesome rock shows over the years, it also has a much darker past. See if you can spot any similarities in the two photos below,

Humans can be unbelievable stupid as clarity in hindsight so often reveals. Majority populations of whole countries sometimes run full bore into a direction that is nothing but a really bad idea. It happens over and over again throughout history and one could easily look at our world today and spot plenty of bad ideas in full swing. How cool would it be if someone made a 'bad idea detector' and we could just meter the concept and if it reads negative go "hmmm, says here that this is a really bad idea, maybe we should re think the plan." Oh wait, I guess we have two tools that do that already and they are called common sense and logic. Unfortunately those two tools are bit too complex for the masses to conceptualize and instead large groups of mindless minds often follow the alternate method known as "follow the biggest asshole like a bunch of idiot sheep."

My first reaction to the Festhalle was negative based on my knowledge of it's past but it did not feel negative. Quite the opposite, the grandiose, beautiful and majestic building built in 1909 was unique and curious and complex. So I pondered, as I so often do and what I came up with was it feels like an artificial reef now filled with life and sound and colors that was once powerful warship, now sunken and helplessly over run with the opposite of a bad idea.

**** End Pondering's ****

I would like to announce a breakthrough in touring roadie bloggery! I am sure y'all are astutely aware of touring rule number one; 'always carry your tour laminate' which also includes not losing it. Rule number one of blogging, Dave Rat style, is 'never go anywhere without a camera.' So looky at what I made,

With the camera in my pocket and the laminate hanging out with the bus key, I not only have my laminate and camera but I also have the added benefit of reducing the likelihood of donating either of them to the ether world.

**** Issue of the Day ****

The issue of the day is actually a derivative of a mathematical equation that I am very familiar with from past experience.

Water + Cell phone = Bad

Last time when my cell tried to commit suicide by jumping in the lake, I fetched it very quickly in hopes it would survive the 2 second rule. You know like when you drop food on the floor, if you fetch it up super quick, it is still edible. Well, it did not do so well and I think with camera's and water it may be the .0000001 second rule, anyway, this time it was different. You see, me, my cell and Chad were at a bar having a drink and my cell was 'allegedly' the designated driver. Unbeknownst to me though, my cell phone decided to have a little drink after all, hence the corollary to the formula is,

Beer + Cell phone = Bad

Luckily I was able to catch it drinking rather quickly and it only had a small sip. Not enough to destroy it completely but clearly plenty enough to give it a lasting hangover. The main issue is that

"my cll phn no longr will typ th lttr btwn D and F and th numbrs two and svn, nor th last lttr of th alphabt and th first lttr of th propr splling of kwick ar also not working."

**** End Issue of the Day/Week/Month? ****

The place we played is pretty much a squashed version of a Euro Hockey squared off arena. Straight forward stuff and I don't mind the acoustics in these places at all.

And finally, lets all pile inside my bus bunk, come on in!

Th doing my bst to liv my lif whil avoiding bad idas,

Dav Rat

**** Random Pondering ****

In my rambling travels I occasionally stumble in to a thought or observation that fills me with great annoyance. Usually, if I ponder it long enough I can unravel the essence of the imbalance causing the ripple. My most current mental puzzle came while reading a series of comments about an artist heart felt creative work on a message board. The seemingly endless stream of scathing negativity peppered with occasional "I don't care what you say, I love it/them." I felt this fury inside me increasing as I know full well that the comments were a mixture of senseless babble and mindlessly shooting of opinion-pellets. Useless opinions, spoken with fierceness and conviction, demeaning stabs as if somehow the spitting spite in a public area at 'people that following their life dream' elevates spitter them above the person whose back they spat upon. I realized that what bothered me is not the opinions, as I fully feel that humans are justified to form and speak their opinion, but what is missing the credibility quotient and the requirement that the opinionated accept public rebuttal to their statements. What is the credibility level of someone verbally attacking while remaining anonymous? The words of an insecure and jealous couch potato sits along side a bright eyed energetic dreamer following their passion, both are regarded by the onlooker with little to differentiate other than the knowing that the humans that tend to be most forcibly vocal about their opinions also tend be the most confused.

**** End Random Pondering ****

For this European leg we are using the Rat PA system that we left over here last time we were in Europe. While Peppers were in the States, Pearl Jam used it and now we have it back with a few small changes. The most significant difference is that the side clusters are now L'Acoustics Kudo's rather than the L'Acoustics V-Dosc/dV-Dosc. I am good either way but the Kudo system is more versatile and is faster to set up and pack up. Here you can see six of the ten per side we are carrying.

Another change made on this run is that we are running a cleaner stage by eliminating all wiring crossing front to back. Here we can see Dave Lee enjoying some relaxation while running John's pedal cables.

Since it has been a while since I have posted a band shot, here is pretty much what it looks like from the pirate ship

The forgot to be funny today,

Dave Rat

eBay Auction Alert!!!!!, just in. there are issues with the Tiki decorational theme! Last minute changes still unraveling, will update you as soon as we know more.

**** Random Pondering ****

In my life, my experience has been that if I desire to achieve something and I stay focused on it, that inevitably over time, it will come to be. Though I do not always remember to do so myself, this concept somehow makes natural sense in a logical way, to me.

This morning I awoke pondering, slightly more clearly than before, that the world is filled with entities and organizations everywhere that offer or sell this exact concept in so many forms. Some offer a hand in guidance, while others choose to describe the methods so individuals can achieve their desired outcomes and yet others take on the form of powerful organizations that have hi-jacked it, branded it and and use fear to extort money from their believers. Regardless, the story remains the same. Pure, heartfelt focus on a direction or achievement will bring results over time, that is a given, in my opinion, like a natural law, like gravity. And just like with sound systems, anyone that claims that their way is the only way, is leading you their way not your way

People often ask me what type of sound system they should buy, even my dad, and invariably I give the wrong answer. Somehow the concept of "right" has crawled into the perceptions of sound when actually sound systems only come in forms of more and less desirable to each individual. Buy your sound systems just as you would buy your art. Buy something that you find aesthetically pleasing, buy something that fills the desired space. Spend according to your budget and desired quality, buy what makes you happy. The music that you choose to immerse your mind and the hardware chosen to reproduce it are as diverse as the clothes we choose to wear. Clothes is a good analogy. Most people are fine with the threads they purchase from a large chain store and add in a small bit of individuality with a mix and match. Others derive pleasure from seeking out the uncommon. Neither is better or worse and great music collection will be stunning through all, as beauty shines through. So when I said "wrong answer" I guess what I meant was that I do not give the answer that they want to hear.

Where as when it comes to putting systems big huge complicated rock shows, it is so much easier. Rather than being faced with tailoring sound to the complexities and demands of a perfectly unique individual, I am in the fairly straight forward position of pleasing the average. I can focus on the essentials rather than the idiosyncrasies and I shoot as high as I can at the clear 'window of sonic acceptability.'

Oh, do I sound like I miss road?

**** End Random Pondering ****

Adventure highlight.

If you are ever in Rio de Janeiro, I highly recommend jumping off of this cliff, with a hang glider of course and a local Brazilian in tandem helps too!

And when you land and look back up, wow!

The love to fly,

Dave Rat

On on this day of we chose to wander. Seeking food the roadies set out on foot. Each new hunting grounds presents it's own dangers and challenges.

Many sights were seen and none worthy of sharing other than perhaps these non edibles.

**** Highlight of the Day ****

Roadie feast. One of our roadies, Little G we call him, arranged a dinner for all at Chikie's and Pete's. Feast we did till we could feast no more. Crab, lobster, shrimp and more and more and more in a seemingly endless foray of food. Truly fun and filling, unfortunately I only captured about 1/2 of the roadies in pics and even our beloved drummer Chad made it down and hung out with the troops. Very cool, very fun and large roadie gatherings outside of the gig are rare indeed.

Clockwise from Back of head around is: Nick Lampi, Walt Production Assist, Scott Lampi, Salim Chef Assist, Chad Lampi, Cliff Lampi, Leif Lampi, James Lampi

And here clockwise is Kim Camera Op, Joe Lampi, Rusty Video Tubes, Rodrigo Video Screens, Mike Bus Driver, Chuck Rigger, Dave Lee Guitar Tech, Tim the Thumb Stage Manager.

**** End Highlight of the Day ****

**** Begin laying down with full belly ****

**** Begin Sound Pondering ****

There are always going to be those humans that desire to quantify or pigeon hole the challenge at hand and relegate it to a predictable and repeatable set of methods, taming, perfecting and eventually reaching the goal of making it right. I am definitely one of those humans and though there is significant and clear validity to that scientific approach, to apply it while overlooking one of the most fundamental aspects of music, relegates the outcome to a tail chase. I believe that to truly gain any traction on the pathway leading in the general direction of achieving excellence in sound quality, one must must first realize, accept and embrace the reality that the quality of sound is merely an opinion.

In trying to zero in on an analogy that meshes, all I seem to be able to find is the parallels between sound and wine making/drinking. Rock shows are like wines except infinitely more complex, fluid and interactive. But other similarities exist in perfecting the processes while accepting the imperfectability of the outcomes. No matter how hard they try, the finest wines vary from year to year, batch to batch and there is a certain amount of unpredictability in the process which creates the uniqueness. Furthermore, there are the opinions. Most, many or at least some humans all can agree on a truly bad wine, yet Mad Dog 20-20 and Boon's Farm still show enough profits to carry on, so someone must like it. The mid quality wines are crap to some palates and pleasing to others while the finest wines are at least moderately liked by most wine drinkers. And humans being as they are, certain ones are especially liked by some if their friend likes it or if they know the exorbitant price it costs. Of course if too many friends like it, a percentage of humans will then be inspired to unlike it, being too cool or rebellious to join the others. And to further spin the opinion wheel, 'many' of us are not 'most' of us and many of us could care less about the main stream tastes and choose to subculture their own preferences to bask in and enjoy. We humans seem to like our music much the same way we like some things in life but unlike many things, live music and wine making share the quality of being an unrepeatable at the upper levels. Hmmm, maybe golf fits too.

Which brings me to the whole point of the ponder. I am often asked , like nearly every show, the questions "How was the show?" and "How did it sound?" Seemingly innocuous enough but I find the queries surprisingly difficult to answer. My gut reaction is to respond by describing the the nuances of the issues I faced at that show. Yet, I realize that my perspective is so totally skewed and what is an issue to me is often irrelevant in the big picture. Plus, having to choose and balance between what feels to be self critical and self complimentary is an awkward position I prefer not navigate More importantly though, as I am the person holding the status of 'man of sound, I feel remiss in being a part of biasing, deflating or elevating another persons opinion of the event. My roadie purpose is to present the music that the band creates. It is the adventure for the humans attending the show is to form an opinion of the experience to carry with them and share with others.

**** End Sound Pondering ****

The going to sleep well,

Dave Rat

Combo clean the house and pack for tour day. One of the mini projects is to toss left over foreign cash in the cash baggie box. Don't under estimate the happiness of showing up in each country with enough money for coffee and some food with out hunting for a cash machine:

**** Begin Mind Spiral ****

In the midst I ran around with a mild mental meltdown for several hours realizing my wallet had escaped me. Starting the tour knocked off balance and wallet-less was not high on my list of adventures. Fortunately, the wallet decided to return on it's own accord and hide in my backpack right where I put it yesterday. Bad wallet, no more hiding from Dave. As a somewhat reformed "lose everything aholic" I am both mentally durable enough to deal with losing just about anything while also fully in tune with the impacts associated with each specific loss.

Anyway, even now with the vanishing wallet gloom cloud illusion lifted, my mind still resonates with echo's of my past mishaps. Looking backwards into my past it still amazes me how my perception is so entirely biased by my present state of mind. And again I think of water. Swimming in a flowing river of water and when thing are going well in my world it is a wonderful day as I float on top and see clearly the sunshine in all directions. The trees on the river banks float by like a movie. Speeding and slowing in the winding current. My work is to swim up or down stream and around the obstacles. Then, when I take the river for granted, snoozing through the rapids or not paying enough attention to swim around a whirlpool. I find myself submersed , struggling for air, vision blurred in the thick panic drown. The cinema of trees is now just silvery flashes of distant light and deeper is darker and everywhere I look into my past and future all I can see is confusion and I become fully connected with all my past traumas and every bad idea I have ever had. As if my life has always been this way as I can see nothing else. And at some point I inadvertently float in the right direction or clear my mind enough to end up at the surface again. With the gasp of fresh air happiness returns and hey, look around, trees and sunshine and furry critters rather than slippery ones and how silly was I to think my life ever was full of blurry confusion.

.**** End Mind Spiral ****

Good night and tomorrow we fly to Boston and start up another three week US tour, hey, lets go do rock shows!

The smiling at the thought of not having to clean up the house while I live in hotel rooms,

Dave Rat