Truth From The Road

By Frank Cosentino

Traveling Through Europe With A Band Encountering the Past and Present.

I have been most blessed to travel the globe because of music. Each country, we travelled to had its own ways and customs you must adapt to. Never forget you are a guest during your time in said country. There is one story that stands out in my memory. It was 2012 we were embarking on our first European Tour in support of my Straight No Chaser album released that year.

We arrived in Hamburg, Germany which became our home base and began travelling from and returning between shows. We arrived a week before rehearsals. Here is where it got interesting. The rehearsal studio was a refurbished WW2 bomb shelter built by Hitler’s armies in 2042. We arrived and the front of the complex was riddled with anti-aircraft shrapnel holes. Promoters told us it was result of Allies fierce onslaught during the advance into Hamburg. Inside was a state-of-the-art recording and rehearsal studio. Even with this, one could feel the ghosts of the past here. For this boy from Toronto, it was an eye opener.

Another story that comes to mind was, we were scheduled for a week of shows through Poland. It was a beautiful country. Our first stop was the hotel. It was something out of the old Bogart movie as the hotel was over a century old.

I was standing on my balcony in my room and noticed Communist symbols on the light posts - a reminder of the country’s dark past. Later in the week, I noticed evidence of the German Army’s time there.

After our second night, we travelled to the next hotel. It turned out that in WW2 that the Gestapo had used it as a headquarters. It still had reliefs on the wall of the Nazi Symbolism. It was disturbing to see it up close and personal. But I kept reminding myself I was a guest in the country. In the end, the tour lasted three months and in 12 countries it was the catalyst for many more tours for the band.

It would become a memory etched in my mind forever. It was a long but fulfilling tour, with great music & great audiences. Along with a few lessons in history - the Good, The Bad &The Ugly. But I can tell you the European audience certainly knows the music I brought. They truly shared my passion of it.

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