April 7, 2010 - Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Arabic poster for concert at King Fahd Cultural Hall

Well, I guess this is where the wheels started to fall off the cart.  We were so jubilant with the success of our show at the King Fahd Cultural Hall we stopped paying attention. After we left Billy and the embassy staff we struck out on our own, passed through security and headed for the gate and the flight to Jeddah.

 
Band with Riyadh Embassy staff - Time to go to Jeddah!

We were all very hungry so we stopped at a fast food chicken fingers counter near the gate to grab a bite.  Maybe it was the military time that added to our confusion but when we reached the gate we found we had missed our flight. All the guys looked at me with that "This is another fine mess you've gotten us into" look in their eyes.  The next flight to Jeddah wasn't until 7AM and now we were separated from our luggage.  I called Ben at the Riyadh Embassy in hopes of getting word to the staff in Jeddah and save them a trip to the airport.  We chased all over that airport trying to find our gear then had to rebook our flight and get seats on the 7AM flight.  We had to kill the next 6 hours sitting in the airport looking like a bunch of goofs.   I hope Billy Banks is reading this because I know he will be laughing out loud.  He had so many great stories about riding herd on all the jazzbos in Wynton's band but this tops it all.  By the time we finally boarded the next flight to Jeddah I had been up for 26 hours straight

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The Band is getting a little punchy after a night in the airport.

I fell asleep on the plane for about for about 15 minutes keeping one eye open in fear that one of the guys, Joe in particular, might try to strangle me.  We landed in Jeddah looking like a bunch of zombies.  By then everyone accept the fact that we all had a copy of the schedule in our pocket and a ticket in our hand so it wasn't all Pop's fault.
 
We were met at the Jeddah airport by embassy staffer Ali Ghadban.  He and his drivers loaded the gear into a van then drove us along the Red Sea to the Inter-continental Hotel.   Secretary of State Hilary Clinton had stayed there a few weeks earlier.   All along the way I marveled at the public art on display at every turn.  The consensus is the Intercontinental is the nicest hotel yet.  We all went straight to bed.

David, Ronnie and Little Joe in the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel - Jeddah

Our first performance was scheduled that evening at Hero's Hall on the Embassy grounds.  They provided a fantastic meal at the Sheikh & Bake, the embassy commissary adjacent to Hero's Hall.  It was quite a meal and seemed to be Saudi  Arabian home cooking.   Our direct contact, Cultural Affairs Officer Dina Badawy, had made the arrangements.

Sound check at Hero's Hall - Lots of flags   

Ali Ghahban

We had a standing room only crowd of academics, journalists, reporters, artists, students and Consuls General of other missions in Jeddah.  Again it was a mixed audience of westerners and Middle Eastern men and women.  As we played I had a good view on a fully veiled woman a few rows back from the stage.  Her toes were tapping!  Afterward we were mobbed for photos and autographs.  This thing is just unbelievable.

After the concert we crossed the street and retired to the Marine's honky tonk for a couple of beers.  It was the first beer I'd had since leaving Bahrain. It seems nothing is legal in Saudi Arabia.

April 5 & 6, 2010 - Riyadh, the Kindom of Saudi Arabia

 We left our hotel in Dhahran at 7AM on April 5 and drove to the King Fahd International Airport in Damman.   That took about 45min.  We had been up late the night before and everyone was a little groggy at that hour.   We said goodbye to our friends from the embassy that had driven us, got through security and each of us got a nice hot cup of American coffee. As we went through the gate to board the plane we were told we couldn't bring our coffees on board.  We obligingly chucked the coffees in the trash and walked toward the gangplank to board the plane.  Just before we boarded we noticed an Arabian dude approaching the gate with a hooded falcon on his arm.  It was hard to imagine how the guy got through security with that bird and we figured his chances of getting the bird on the plane were slim to none.   We were in our seats buckling up when the felloe with the bird on his arm walks in and takes the seat across the aisle from Ronnie.  We were all stunned.  They wouldn't let us board with a cup of coffee but they would let the guy board with a full grown falcon on his arm.  Billy Banks said the bird must be a frequent flyer.  We just love that Billy Banks.
It took an hour to fly to Riyadh where we were met by Ben Peracchio and Ahmad Al-Masri from the Riyadh Embassy.  They drove us to the Riyadh Marriott, much nicer than any Marriott I've seen in the US, and we checked in.  We found our only obligation that day was to visit the King Fahd Cultural Center, the venue where a concert was scheduled for the next day. We had a few hours to kill so we settled into our rooms and relaxed.

Riyadh is the capitol of Saudi Arabia and home of the King and his family.  The city is very modern and construction cranes are so abundant they are referred to as the National Flower.  Since the playing of music is forbidden in Saudi Arabia we have doubts as to what we are supposed to do.  For example, in Dhahran our jam session had to be behind closed doors in a café that was closed.  Our only gig was a concert on the Embassy grounds.  Go figure??

At 3:00 we meet Will Owen, Cultural Attaché for the US Embassy, and we all drive to the Cultural Center for a visit.  I have never seen anything quite like this place.  It is a totally modern, state of the art 3000 seat theater.  Will explains that there has never been a performance of music in the hall and the gig could be canceled but he is doing everything he can to make it happen. He says if the deal falls through and the Saudi government pulls the plug he promises we will play somewhere.  It sounds sort of iffy.
We go back to the hotel and I retire to my room hoping to work on my journal.  The WIFI internet connection is poor and I end up erasing the entire journal trying to upload my latest entry.  I don't find this out until I wake up the next morning, April 6.  When I wake up and realize what I have done I hook up a router loaned to me by the embassy and re-upload the stuff from the night before and restore the journal.
At 9AM the embassy driver picked us up and we drove to the Saudi TV Channel 2 for an interview on “Good Morning KBS”, a local morning show.  On the way to the station we learn the Saudi Cultural Minister has approved our concert for that evening at the Cultural Hall.  The embassy staff is ecstatic and they tell us this will be a historical event.  We will be breaking a century old tradition of outlawed public performance of music but the performance could still be canceled at the last minute.  At the TV station we set up and played a few songs acoustically, answered a few questions about the blues asked by the two women hosts and high tailed it back to the hotel.

Later that day we traveled back to the cultural hall and did an extensive sound check. The sound crew was somewhat inexperienced but Billy Banks kept on them and we got the stage set for the performance.  We weren't sure if we would have a crowd or not with the decision only made that morning that the show would go on.  By show time we had over 1000 people and played to a very enthusiastic crowd.  The crowd was very responsive to the blues and we all had a great time.  Little Joe made history!
We rushed to the airport where we said goodbye to Billy Banks.  Billy had to fly back to New York and manage a show at Lincoln Center and we had to fly to Jeddah in western Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea.

Band outside the King Fahd Cultural Hall

King Fahd Lobby

King Fahd Mural

Moon Phase

The Kings Box

April 4, 2010 - Dhahran, the Kindom of Saudi Arabia

I had a great night sleep.  When I woke up I headed downstairs for my “routine breakfast”.  Surprise!  Breakfast isn't included with the room at Le Meridiun so the buffet ended up costing me $25US.  Ouch!! I didn't think it was as good as the buffet served at the Golden Turnip.

Our day's schedule started with a jam session with some local players at the café Desert Design.  I asked Cynthia, our embassy PAO (public affairs officer) how that will work if the performance of music is outlawed in Saudi Arabia.  Can you believe that? Music is outlawed!   Cynthia explained the only way we can do it is if the restaurant remains closed while we play.  Sounded strange to me but it seems to be getting a little stranger every day since arriving in Saudi Arabia. 

When the fully armored embassy SUV arrives to take us to the jam session I notice a large desert camouflage tent off to the side of the hotel entrance.  Inside the tent is a huge air conditioned plexiglas box.  Inside the plexiglas box is an armored vehicle with machine guns bristling.  I start to take a picture of the tent but I'm advised it is best not to take that picture.  “Security you know”, I'm told.

The doors of the SUVs (they always travel in pairs) feel like you are opening or closing a bank vault door.  The glass is an inch and a half thick.  These babies are armored.  Our caravan leaves the hotel and heads for the Desert Design Café.  Little Joe asks to stop at an ATM machine to draw out some cash and Cynthia walks him up to the machine to help translate the machine functions and buttons.  Cynthia is tall, blond haired and fair skinned. As Joe pushed the ATM buttons a car full of Saudi men pulled up and suggested, referring to her western dress, that she cover up.  Joe couldn't believe.

We arrived at the Desert Design Café at noon and met owners Farid and Nadeem (Freddie and Kim, their assumed western names).  Their café is actually a three story shop with rugs, art, jewery, furniture, clothing and food.  There we met the two Mohameds, an oud player and a guitar player.  We had a discussion about the blues and taught them the basic 12 bar form.  They in turn showed us one of their original songs, a traditional Saudi sound.  We asked to have them join us on stage at our concert that evening for an on stage cultural exchange.

The concert that evening was held on the US Embassy compound in the theater of the International Study Group.  We had a room full and very mixed culture audience.  Many in traditional dress and a few of the women were veiled.  It is quite I sight to see from the stage, I guarantee you.  The gentleman who made the Arabic band introduction to the crowd, Ibrahim Y Bin Omar, had lived in Tulsa for several years while attending Spartan School of Aeronautics.

Robbie, Ibraham, David, David, unknown, Ronnie and Little Joe

About two thirds of the way through the show we were joined by the two Mohameds and their friend Ali on piano.  They struggled through our blues song and we struggledthrough theirs' but the audience loved it.  

Ali (piano), Mohamad (oud), Little Joe (with new oud) and Mohamad (guitar)

Again the crown went crazy for Little Joe's Blues. We actually had them dancing in the aisles.  When we were done Mohamed #1 gave little Joe an oud of his own.  Joe promised to use it on his next record.

Little Joe McLerran Quartet with new friends

Street in Khobar, Dhahran
Tea and coffee shop - Dhahran
*Dhahran is the site of the original oil well in Saudi Arabia 50 years ago.