San Antonio - This was a BAD venue. I thought the crowd at El Paso was bad but San Antonio was THE WORST!!! It was just me, Elena and Cathy standing up and dancing. The band recognized us and was either giving us flying kisses, nods or waves. It was a nice feeling. I went in front with Elena and Oh boy were we chased around. The security was cool but the crowd kept yelling at us to sit down. Then the security guy who was a nice guy said he had no choice but to ask us to go back to our seats as the people were complaining. At one stage this security BITCH (sorry guys, I HAVE To say that) told me that if I moved from my seat, she'll lock me up!!! WHAT!!! I come all the way just to be seated??? NO WAY! I thought the crowd would pick up in the second half but they WERE bad to the point that PASCAL had to come up and motion the crowd to stand. NOW, is that bad or what??? Pascal kept his word, he came over and gave me 5 backstage passes, one of which I gave to this gal behind me. The GKs, although played a great set, it was a short one. I really don't blame them. We went backstage, I gave the guys the pictures I had taken with them earlier. I made copies and while looking for the backup band, I bumped into Pascal and he said, 'Hey come get your passes for tomorrow's concert'...WOW, that was so cool of him. He told this guy called Sparkey to give me 4 passes for the Houston show. We had a great night (I'll keep Cathy's version for her to tell) But it was so nice to be given to VIP treatment. Way to go MC GKSM:)))

Ze CHIEF
Bennnnnnnnn

Hi gang... I know I need to post, but my head is still reeling from the Texas Tour 2000 and since home I've been a working fool.

But..... I'll share some of my fun in bits and pieces. My Favorite Nicholas encounter....

Going to the San Antonio show with our back stage passes already in hand, I decided to bring the "damn book" I'd been dragging around the whole trip. I'd thrown it in my luggage at the last minute on the long shot that I'd get a chance to go back stage and would have the nerve to actually ask for an autograph. I'd cursed this book each morning as I carefully jammed it in my bag... it is oversize and old and getting frail so took extra care. Now I was dragging it through the streets of San Antonio, determined I'd get an autograph or 2 in it. Austin, the night before, had broken down a lot of my self conscious fears around the guys. I mean.... good grief!!!..... Canut had sung to me and Benn and played and laughed with us. Later he had even stopped me and motioned me to sit with him. Who, me??? ...... so after that, an autograph would be easy. The Damn Book is my favorite book of 25 years, a pictograph of the horses of the Camargue. What better thing to have my favorite musicians sign?

Anyway..... we get backstage, up the stairs. There at a long table is Andre and Nicholas, signing. Nicholas has just finished signing for someone, so I take a big breath and go up to him. Magic time....

He looks at me, shows recognition.... ah yes, I was that silly woman dancing the whole night long, being chased from location to location, but always dancing. hahaha.... he pulls me to him for the sweetest hug, then gently, slowly, and deliberately gives me a kiss on each cheek. It felt like coming home. :) I then open the book telling him it is of the Camargue... he turns a few pages and then what he is seeing registers. He stops, looks at me with wonder and whispers... " The Camargue"... For the next 25 minutes or so he spends looking at the book, page by page, telling me about the Camargue, stroking the pages, touching his heart, going back over the pages. I was mesmerized. He was totally touched by it. We looked at a series of pictures of a baby horse being born, wobbling to its feet and finally galloping off. He kept going back over them. I told him "Le Gallop", that these horses make me think of that old Los Reyes song. He says, "Ah, oui!" and starts singing it to me, very quietly, pure magic. He adds palmas. He wins my heart forever. What else can I say....... He made a beautiful show of signing the book, with date, his name, etc. He also told me to fix the book... I'm looking for a rebinder now. THe damn book has become the sacred book.... it has Nicholas's blessings on every page. He even went to the pages of text in the front, scanned each one and picked out St Marie de la Mer, and the copyright, and some other things. He is not totally illiterate. He told me that the Camargue is still beautiful, but not like this book showed from 25 years ago. I left soaring high, with the echoes of the horses running through my head.

Ole ya'lll...... Cathy