THURSDAY, APRIL 16TH – FRIDAY, APRIL 17TH – GAVIN DEGRAW TO OKINAWA FOR CAMP COURTNEY FESTIVAL – WITHOUT ME!
Thought I would do a “Road Report” to at least put on my website for this event. I had an accident in Zurich and am in a wheelchair for many weeks to come – fractured 3 bones and snapped a tendon in my left foot. Then came home and fell again and broke my left wrist and fractured a finger. Had two separate surgeries on both and everything will be fine … eventually. It’s just going to take a while!
Gavin has a tour manager and 4 musicians – all flying from different cities include one from Canada and one from the UK! None of them were scheduled to arrive Okinawa at the same time — which definitely stressed me out.
All flights departed on time and Gavin was the first one to arrive Okinawa. He called me at midnight my time right after he arrived. He was asking who was supposed to be meeting him. Since everyone arrived at different times of the day with the last one arriving at 7:30 pm, pickup could not be scheduled until everyone arrived since they needed to be escorted onto the base. The tour manager had booked a hotel room for Gavin so he could rest until the others arrived. Guess there was a breakdown in communication and the tour manager was on the flight to Japan with no WiFi. It got sorted out pretty quickly though. Their Military escort let me know when everyone arrived and were safely on base. The group is staying on Camp Foster – where we always stay – since there is not lodging for them at Camp Courtney.
SATURDAY, APRIL 18TH – PERFORMANCE AT CAMP COURTNEY FESTIVAL:
Lobby call for sound check was 9 am but evidently the electricity went out at lodging and the restaurant next door where everyone was supposed to have breakfast. As far as I know sound check happened close to on time and the group had several hours after sound check before they had to go back for the performance. The POC contacted me a few minutes before they were supposed to depart for sound check to let me know someone had forgotten their “orders” and the base security at the gate wouldn’t let them back on base. They Meet and Greet had to be delayed at Camp Courtney by about 30 minutes but everything else ran smoothly. From the reports I received, Gavin was so nice to everyone and very easy to work with. They had a huge crowd attending his performance that evening.
SUNDAY, APRIL 19TH – DAY OFF IN OKINAWA:
The group had a day off today because it is mandatory that they stay over on Sunday in case the performance was rained out on Saturday. I gave them some suggestions about shopping on base as well as going to American Village and HamaShushi. Not sure what everyone did but think they enjoyed their time off.
MONDAY, APRIL 20TH – FLIGHTS BACK TO THE USA:
Everyone went to the airport together and had flights out within an hour of each other – except of one musician who didn’t depart until late that night. I think he stored his luggage and went sightseeing in Okinawa but not sure. I know everyone made it home safely and MCCS was happy with their visit. In years past, the Camp Courtney festival was a two day event but this year they went down to a one day event. I was told that they had more people attend their one day event as they did on two days in the past.
Hope I get out of this wheelchair for my next tour which takes place on June 2nd to Alaska for The Gary Sinise Foundation.
Jude
