Part 84. Amsterdam 09-11-2010
When I heard Jerry was sick and cancelled the summer tour I was happy, I previous decided to take a roundtrip to Scandinavia and visit the Nordkaap while touring thru Germany-Sweden, Finland and Norway just when Jerry was visiting Europe again and gladly they changed the dates for November so I went on that long trip of 8000 km in those beautiful countries, something we’ve always wanted to do once we both were retired. When I came back I had to go to the doctor who send me directly to the hospital because of heart failure-problems, something I didn’t expect myself, I was just tired, too tired to walk for only 100meters. The cardiologist decided to keep me in the hospital to make sure they could watch me day and night, this was a new experience for me as I never been hospitalized before and they kept me for a week before they send me home with a lot of medication. When the tour was going to start off I still was wondering if I would go as the spirit was gone, my illness had more impact then I suspected and I was afraid that, seeing Jerry, Phoebe and all those others again would be another attack on my heart again and I didn’t want go there again but as Wim started to call, the itch came back and maybe this was the last time I could see my friends again, we all get older and all kinds of things could happen, so I agreed and while Wim had been to Antwerp and didn’t succeed to get back-stage to have a talk with Jerry I was more convinced I had to step in and make sure this would not happen in Amsterdam , it would be a shame that the man who runs the Jerry Lee Lewis fanclub for over 47 years wouldn’t be allowed to have a little conversation with Jerry. When it was the day of the show, Tuesday 9th November 2010 Wim and Freddy came over to my house to pick me up and we arrived at the venue around 16.00hr. just before the tour bus did the same and we could shake hands with Kenny, B.B, Buck and Robert and together we went to their dressing room, as they had to do the sound-check right away we all went to the hall to find more fans waiting there, Peter Haymen and Pam of course and Martin and Monica came walking in a little later. After the sound check it was time for some food and we all went to a nice restaurant just across the hall and while we were eating we saw the line-up getting longer and longer by the minute, a by the time we finished the doors had opened and we could mix between the fans but most of them had already taken their places in front of the stage, we’ve met Niek and his father with some friends and just as they told me that Inigo from Spain stayed over at their house for some nights and he had to be around somewhere he rushed over and a warm welcome followed. When we decided to go and see if Jerry had arrived we saw J.W. walking around and the first thing he said was:”Hey Piet, Phoebe will be so happy to see you, come on” and we started our way to the dressing rooms again and after a knock on the door the three of us entered Jerry’s room, Wim first, followed by Freddy and I was the last, Jerry was sitting on the couch next to a woman and Phoebe was on the other side, looking on her laptop but when she noticed me she jumped up and hugged me if there wasn’t no tomorrow, she wanted to know all about me and after 5 minutes I realized I still hadn’t said hello to Jerry, I went over and shook his hand and excused me for being not so polite but he laughed and said he understood because Phoebe had talked about me for a while with him because she was afraid she wouldn’t see me at all. The lady next to Jerry stood up and introduced herself as Judith, she had heard so much about Els and me and she was happy to meet me, it turned out this was the wife of Rusty Brown and an aunt from Phoebe, she helps Jerry and Phoebe a lot at the ranch, giving Phoebe a little more time to handle the business and she came with them on this short tour. After a while we left the room so Jerry could prepare himself and because Phoebe wanted to smoke we went to the smoking area where we had the time for our private conversation, mostly about Els and, as she told me, there wasn’t a day gone by without thinking of Els but she also wanted to know about our children and grandchildren, I had to promise to send the newest photo’s of them. Then it was time for Jerry to do his show, after he started Phoebe came down the stage and stood by me and we walked into the audience to get an impression of the crowd and she wanted to take some pictures afterwards we went back to the side of the stage where we did some fooling around of making pictures from ourselves. To soon Jerry started with his last two numbers and she went on stage to get a shot of Jerry kickin’ the stool back as she didn’t had one yet. After Jerry left the stage I walked with them to the limo that was waiting inside and after I told Jerry goodbye I had to say goodbye to my good friend Phoebe also, she’s indeed my friend for the rest of our life, she carries Els still in her heart as I could tell from all the lovely words she’d spoken about this wonderful fan of her father but most important, this very precious friend of her…….
To be continued....???
My life will never be the same.
by Logan » Tue Nov 09, 2010 12:07 am 
