Brad's Blog
Brad Webb - when he's not sitting behind the drums providing crazy jazz rhythms for Jamie on tour he's quietly taking note of everything going on behind the scenes and telling it to you here. These are Brad's tour tales...Jet Lag Experiment
Hello from various places.
I have received a number of complaints from crotchety friends and family that I have become rather tardy lately in the posting of blogs. Apologies if you agree with them- and you should, because it's true- but I would ask you to consider that, since my last blog, I have been involved in a sadistic jet lag experiment.
Jet lag is defined as 'a temporary disruption of the body's normal biological rhythms after high-speed air travel through several time zones'. The last few weeks have revealed a new form of jet lag to us, in which the body is not temporarily, but constantly disrupted. Starting in San Francisco, we flew for eleven hours to Japan (crossing the International Date Line), spent two days at the mind-blowing Fuji Rock festival, flew thirteen hours to New York (crossing the Date Line again) and several days later flew for six hours back England. Clearly, there was no time to adjust properly to any of the time zones visited, so I was resigned to just stumbling around and enjoying the ride.
The tiredness felt on arrival in Japan quickly morphed into a deep-seated delirium in which working out who was talking to you and for what reason was essentially impossible. This is a particularly unhelpful state to be in when encountering Japanese customs officials, who were already predictably suspicious of a long-haired musician arriving from California. Happily, everyone else in our party seemed to be struggling similarly at this point. Everyone apart from Jamie that is, who apart from being a travel ironman, turned out to be the spitting image of several of the Japanese clothing models whose images fortuitously adorned the walls of the airport.
As always, the flying marathons have been entirely worth it. Listening to Norwegian orchestral space-prog (the wonderful Jaga Jazzist) in the valley of a misty, off-season Japanese ski-resort was positively life-changing, as was playing a set overlooking the bay at the Newport Jazz Festival after the Chick Corea Freedom
Band. We take a two month break from the rigours and delights of touring at the end of this month. In the meantime, we press on to the next gig somewhere in Europe... after I return to the airport, where, in a jet lagged stupor, I left my suitcase on the reclaim belt.
Comments
Thanks for your posting!
Submitted by jacklunar on April 28, 2012 - 07:46Thanks for your posting! 70-528//70-529//70-536//70-540//
I actually enjoyed reading it, you will be a great author.I will ensure that I bookmark your blog and will come back in the foreseeable future. I want to encourage that you continue your great job, have a nice weekend!think you’ve made some truly interesting points.
Space-prog
Submitted by Gerg on November 3, 2010 - 11:35"Jet Lag Experiment" also sounds like new Norweigian orchestral space-prog. I look forward to their next album.
Ask and ye shall receive
Submitted by jazcan on September 11, 2010 - 01:44I'm so excited! Cannot believe we will (Shanna & I) be seeing you guys twice while over in England/France. One time in Margate and then at Le Zénith. Thank You! This is going to be a trip a a lifetime. I can't wait!!!
The Wonders of Pharmaceutical Science
Submitted by DisRespecca on August 25, 2010 - 00:04I highly recommend taking Ambien on airplanes. I took one in Dallas once and woke up in Paris. It was like magic.
Luggage
Submitted by rdg1983 on August 23, 2010 - 18:09I'm not surprised you left your luggage at the baggage claim. I would've too.
No profound message here, just sympathy. Rock on Brad! Or better yet, just keep walking... up right.
Jet lag
Submitted by jazcan on August 23, 2010 - 17:34You are all ironmen in my books. I don't know how you guys manage to put on such great shows night after night with little or no sleep. What's your secret?....oh yeah, YOU clearly LOVE what you do. Thanks for keeping us posted. We are all enjoying the videos and photos posted from around the world.
Enjoy your time off, soon enough December will be here and we (Shanna & I) want you to be well rested for your Paris show. Since you never came back to Canada I decided to fly over there to see you again and Shanna graciously agreed to come along and hold my hand on the plane (actually, she has ulterior motives...she just can't get enough of you guys having already seen you a zillion times this year (lol)). A six hour flight may seem like nothing to you but for this gal it's a HUGE step...I haven't flown for over 19 years. So if you guys wanted to throw in another show in December in London or surrounding area (let's say around the 8th) you wouldn't hear us complaining since we'll be spending time there too ;-)