Fell down a sewer and came up smelling like New England Boiled Dinner! That’s an expression my former accountant used to use at tax time every year, when at the end of hours of number crunching, he found I’d be okay. Having grown up in New England, I did not think of that dish as smelling good (it’s cabbage and brisket!) So I always had mixed feelings about what he meant.

But, here on tour in Europe, I find the expression somehow appropriate. I’ve been increasingly unhappy with my wide angle lens - for most shots it’s in focus, but the most important ones to me are those of the audience at the end of the show, and it’s become just not sharp enough. (Since… well, since it fell off an amp at the Rochester show last April!!)

So I finally decided that it would no longer focus reliably… and I got a different lense here in Essen. And it’s great - not only a wider angle lens, but sharper than the 20mm was at it’s best.

So I guess I’m smelling like New England Boiled Dinner… maybe a veggie version of it. And I’ll get the other lens repaired when I’m off tour.

Dave Salt, our tour mgr, took my camera to grab a shot that includes me, before we go onstage.

And, the following day and night at the same theater, I got more comfortable with the new lense and took lots more pictures

Excellent shows, and we were all happy with our stay here in Essen. (And, for my part, I’m feeling great about the new lens becoming part of my bag of photo options!)

Usually I finish up with pictures at this point (having a glass of wine or Fernet Branca up in the dressing room to celebrate a good show) but the work goes on, in fact the hardest work of the day is our crew, with help of local crew, packing everything up.

Tonight, I’ll put the wine down, to grab a couple of shots:

More soon, from Vienna.