Uploaded July 2008 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Tim Eriksen's website:
timeriksenmusic.com
I've done a lot of outdoor shows over the years and found that I can take 110 volts just fine, but 220 is a bit of a challenge. At the Porta Festival in Usti nad Labem the weather was clear until ten seconds into my first song, at which point a large thunderstorm broke out and lasted exactly the length of my set. I was nominally on a covered stage, but was far enough to the front that I was almost fully exposed. Fortunately the PA was well enough grounded that I survived with nothing worse than soaked instruments.
At the Ostrava station on my way from Namest to Krakow via Brno and Katowice the phrase "worst rail disaster in Czech history" played on my mind until I dismissed it with other thoughts. Somewhere between Ostrava and Katowice I was looking out the left side of the train when lightning struck a huge locust tree, notoriously prone to getting knocked down in thunderstorms, which hit and derailed us just as another train was coming full speed westbound. We ground to a halt and narrowly missed hitting it head on. Fortunately the restaurant car didn't skip a beat, and my gulasz was only slightly delayed. The army came, then a service train full of guys with chain saws and other useful devices. After several hours we were back on our way, fortunately precluding a descent into cannibalism, though it was extremely hot inside and the WC got a little scary. I played some music for an array of terminally intoxicated college students from Spain, Ireland, the US and Germany, and "jammed" with a nice man from Holland despite years of avoiding the whole idea of jamming.
One of the main sources of sustenance in the Czech Republic is deep fried edam cheese. It sounds heavy, but it comes with a palate-cleansing mound of hranolky (french fry-shaped pieces of deep fried potato) and tartar sauce. For the very curious, the other dish featured is vepro-knedlo-zelo.
P.S. 8-9-2008
youtube.com/watch?v=BL6G4Zje0-8
Studenka is the station just west of Ostrava.
Tim Eriksen's website:
timeriksenmusic.com
I've done a lot of outdoor shows over the years and found that I can take 110 volts just fine, but 220 is a bit of a challenge. At the Porta Festival in Usti nad Labem the weather was clear until ten seconds into my first song, at which point a large thunderstorm broke out and lasted exactly the length of my set. I was nominally on a covered stage, but was far enough to the front that I was almost fully exposed. Fortunately the PA was well enough grounded that I survived with nothing worse than soaked instruments.
At the Ostrava station on my way from Namest to Krakow via Brno and Katowice the phrase "worst rail disaster in Czech history" played on my mind until I dismissed it with other thoughts. Somewhere between Ostrava and Katowice I was looking out the left side of the train when lightning struck a huge locust tree, notoriously prone to getting knocked down in thunderstorms, which hit and derailed us just as another train was coming full speed westbound. We ground to a halt and narrowly missed hitting it head on. Fortunately the restaurant car didn't skip a beat, and my gulasz was only slightly delayed. The army came, then a service train full of guys with chain saws and other useful devices. After several hours we were back on our way, fortunately precluding a descent into cannibalism, though it was extremely hot inside and the WC got a little scary. I played some music for an array of terminally intoxicated college students from Spain, Ireland, the US and Germany, and "jammed" with a nice man from Holland despite years of avoiding the whole idea of jamming.
One of the main sources of sustenance in the Czech Republic is deep fried edam cheese. It sounds heavy, but it comes with a palate-cleansing mound of hranolky (french fry-shaped pieces of deep fried potato) and tartar sauce. For the very curious, the other dish featured is vepro-knedlo-zelo.
P.S. 8-9-2008
youtube.com/watch?v=BL6G4Zje0-8
Studenka is the station just west of Ostrava.
