ONCE, TWICE, THREE TIMES THE NAILS…

So here I am in one of the most modern countries I've ever visited, and it's harder than hell to find an internet cafe that's open 24 hours, let alone the time to actually type emails.

Ironic?

We're in Melbourne, capital of Victoria. Land of fires raging and burning all around. There actually isn't any smoke here (though yesterday it was almost 100, and today its 70...sweet). However the fires prevented me from heading up to the foothills today (that and the debacle of finding a rental car when there is a motorcycle grand prix going on). So the fires are very real. Most folks here have brought it up when I've talked to them, so any donations or prayers you have to send this way will be greatly appreciated. (And yes, I have been inspired for my next feature film after this years shoot).

We finally got out of the water, and into the cities. And honestly, I prefer the water. The cities here (Sydney and Melbourne) are both beautiful, modern, filled with great buildings, gardens, parks, people walking all about, harbours and rivers, cafe's and opera houses. Art museums (VERY cool here in Melbourne. The building was awesome, with a waterfall over glass across teh front. You will likely see some of that in the sequel to "Lady CarLove" which we are filming...sort of). Cities great, people nice, but I'm ready for some adventure again. We're heading out on teh great Ocean road for 2 days, so I'll let you know how that is going later.

On Tuesday, after a day of Bondi Beach in Sydney, (amazing waves, beautiful scenery, and some fantastic views of some beach bunnies indeed!). We got ready, and headed off to the HORDERN PAVILLION on the Fox Studios Sydney lot for a little bit of NINE INCH NAILS! It was a great show, with the band only a 4 piece now. Hot as hell, but the people here are so damn nice, even the mosh pits are friendly!. The power went out for about 40 minutes right as Trent started pushing buttons for BURN to start. He said "Let's see what this does?" and out goes the power! So we all sang "Bohemian Rhapsody" and other songs. It was fun.

The next day we fly to Melbourne, get into a hotel a bit outside the city proper but on a very regular tram line (man I wish LA had trams like this). And then off to NINE INCH NAILS! We had to stop at Hungry Jacks, which is a fast food place that looks just like burger king, but has a different name. they sell almost the same things, but this time it has an AUSSIE BURGER. With ham and egg on it!

The show tonight had no power problems, and during the Good Soldier, Trent was playing his tamborine (yes, a tamborine in industrial music!), and I thought "He's going to throw it right to me".

He finished his playing, tossed it in the air and I watched it sail up, and over, and down... and right into my hands!. And NO ONE FOUGHT ME FOR IT! Everyone said "nice job!" "Sweet mate!". Even there they are friendly. In the USA that would have been a fight and a half for that thing.

The next few days were touring around Melbourne and seeing museums and sights. And on Thursday night we hit an AFL game (as in AUSSIE FOOTABALL LEAGUE). It was really fun, big big BIG field, about the size of 3 of our Football fields. And 18 people on each side. We were sitting near some super fans of COLLINGWOOD and some players from another team. So we learned the rules (which are pretty simple) and enjoyed the game. Afterwards everyone cruised back to the hotel but me and I went out and found some KARAOKE!!!! I did a little "Baby Got BacK" and then, because I'd made some new Australian friends at the bar, I had to do "Down Under" by Men at Work. It was silly, but they love it. After all it's almost the national anthem. Some of the folks were from a country band called BOSTOCK, I haven't gotten a chance to check em out, but will when I return. (yes, I said country band:)

Friday ended up with us all doing different things, Tom working on his show he'll be doing tonight, and the others shopping. And as evening came I decided "Screw it, I'm going to the NIN show tonight as well!" They were playing in a festival with Alice IN Chains and other bands. Unfortunatly due to naps and train delays I missed them. But fortunately I ended up with a couple blokes from Melbourne Sky Diving who had free tickets waiting for them... and not all their friends were going. :) They offered me a ticket, as long as I could pretend to be "Sally Baker". I said "It happens all the time. My name's Sal Baker and they call me Sally." A little bit later were heading into the festival for FREEEEEEEEE! NIN had just started, they were on song 3 or 4, and I headed in! During THE FRAIL, this mighty wind picked up and was blowing like crazy. It was really fun. This tour (which may be the last for a long time...or forever, yikes!) they're playins some unusual songs. They've rocked THE FRAGILE all three shows. It stirs up some emotions from back when mom was sick, as that entire CD is about him dealing with the cancer and death of his grandma (who raised him like his mom), so that's been a very powerful and unsual experience to have in a crowd like that. But a good one.

And here I am, getting ready for Tom's bad ass show tonight, and off on teh great ocean road tomorrow...

It's been a fast trip, but a mostly good one. In just a few days everyone goes home and I head of to Tasmania to do some rock climbing and stuff.

A few notes on australia:

1. It's a big country.

2. Everyone is super nice.

3. They actually have more rules and restrictions than the USA. (which I never really thought I would encounter).

4. It's pretty and needs more time to visit.

Anyway, off...

OH, I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to email you guys back who have responded to my reports. I really appreciate hearing from you, but It's been a bit hectic with the coordination with 4 other travelers and we haven't really had easy internet access in all of our places. I'll try to get back to you soon though!

Rock on

Craigo

TARZAN BOY LIVES!!!!

Yes team,

I know you were concerned about the legendary hit song "Tarzan Boy",

that our noble boss Kevin Cloutier has tried to bring back for years.

And those who read last years adventures will no doubt remember that I

heard it echoing over a small Guatemalan village at 2:30 in the

morning (along with Eye of the Tiger, and Ghostbusters)...

well...

He Lives on in Estonia!!!!

Tarzan Boy... the one and only. As I was sitting in the calm, warm,

beautiful Baltic Sea, in the resort town of Parnu, i heard a

distinctive yodeling sound coming over the water. And I said to Olga

"Is that... is that Tarzan Boy?" And it was.

So naturally, after a wonderful day swimming in the sea, playing in

the "Curative" muddy sand near the shore and just enjoying the sites

and sounds. Which included a group of four estonian guys singing

"beautiful girls" with thick accents to all of the ladies that walked

past... and yes, we saw those same four hours later sitting at a

restraunt with some of those girls, so it worked. (It reminded me of

something Josh Wetmore would do back in the day! Yep, that's a props

to Josh Wetmore from Estonia! Congratulations, by the way, on your

fantastic baby girl!)

Anyway....

After a day of awesomeness, we went out to a not very crowded dance

club called MIRAGE. They were playing the usual fun trance with some

pop thrown in (like "umbrella" for the umpteenth time). So we

thought, let's ask for "sandstorm" and "tarzan boy". Thinking the

likelyhood of a dj at a club taking requests being slim. Well... he

rocked out sandstorm right away. And then went into some Michael

Jackson and other stuff... all with the one and only intention of

playing...

TARZAN BOY!!!!!

At a fricking dance club!!!!!! So aparently Kevin, it has only to hit

here in the states!!!!

(enjoy the song with bad sing along in the attached .wav file!)

But enough of that...

Onto ESTONIA... more castles, more craters, more medieval madness! It

was a fantastic country. As I said before, Old Town is something you

must see in your life. It really was like stepping back in time. On

top of that, on the island of Saaramaa there is one of the best

preserved castles in north or eastern europe. You could explore the

passages and staircases. There is even a "lions pit" where they would

throw prisoners to the lions and when you stepped onto the bridge over

it a lion would growl from below. Pretty cool.

I was with Olga (from Los Angeles, not to be confused with Olga from

Moscow) for this part of the trip, and we had a blast. We rented

bikes on the island, and I rode out to a very well preserved meteor

crater. Nothing like in Arizona, but this one had the remnants of a

fort built around it.

There was a lot of go go go... but indeed well worth it.

That's all for estonia... one more email to come of Finland Fun!

Rock on

Craigo

THE SUN Don'T SET TILL MIDNITE!!!!

Okay... that's not exactly true. it sets around now... which is 10:30pm, but it isnt' dark until after midnite here in St. Petersburg.

Yep, we made it. After some interesting adventures in Moscow, we took the overnite train (hogwarts express anyone?) and arrive the next morninig only to have a complete fiasco in trying to find our apartment we had rented. Sure, one might think having an address would get you to where you need to go. Not here, no way. We are staying at 1 Mariskanaya (or something like that). So you think it would be on the corner, before you hit 3 Mariskanaya.... um... well.... it's actually 1/2 way down the block, through a dark, piss smelling tunnel, into a courtyard, turn right, goto the unmarked door on the 4 story building, use your key, go up three flights of stairs with no lights that look a bit run down and walk to the apartement labeled...

you guessed it...

36.

What? WHAT?????

Yep, 36....

inside the apt is fantastic. but it isn't where it said it is. And so we had to try to call the people, goto their office (which is also, not at all where it says it is on the map either....) and the guy couldn't figure out why it took us 3 hours to finally locate them.

Still, worked out and we headed out to see...

NINE INCH NAILS!!!!!

That's right, concert number 2.

Was SUPER AWESOME!!!!! Moscow was good, but this was one of the best. great crowd, great set list, and totally out of control cool. And my camera didn't fall out onto the floor and nearly get destroyed at this one!

Otherwise we've been seeing the sites. The Hermitage (one of the worlds greatest museums... and it is), Peter And Pauls Fortress, St. Isaacs cathedral at sunset. We got to the top of the 275 steps to get to the Collenade as fireworks were shot off right next to it. pretty cool. August 2nd and August 4 are holidays of some sort here in Russia. We haven't found out what. But there was live music everywhere, fireworks, bands playing in Red Square as well as outside the Hermitage, and at 12:30am last night we took a canal cruise, that went out the dancing fountains on the river (which put the Ballagio in Vegas to shame) and saw the draw bridges go up. And there were no less than 100 boats on the river. it was a traffic jam of boats. Awesome!

And for all of you who were worried.... the women in St. Petersburg.... are even MORE GORGEOUS than the ones in Moscow. It's a bit rediculous and seems like a supermodel convention. That being said, the dudes here.... well, they seem more like they got their stuff together. Far fewer Mullets. And though there are lots of smokers, it's nothing like Moscow where 1 in ever 1 person smokes.

That's what I got. 3 more days of Russia, and then off to Estonia (which will be good for the wallet!). Russia rocks though, and I recommend it to anyone.

However, there is this to note.... It is an Advanced Travel country.

I've come up with this rating system (based on English speakers admittedly, but you can apply it to your own language).

0. Traveling in your own country

1. EASY - Traveling in a country with the same language (for USA, such as England, Australia etc) where they have a good tourist services.

2. MODERATE - Traveling in a country with a different language, but good tourist services (see Thailand, or perhaps France)

3. ADVANCED - Traveling in country with a very different laungauge, and not good tourist services (See Russia, or Peru if you didn't know spansih)

4. EXPERT - A country with different language, little to no tourest services, where you have to get local transport, perhaps bribe officals and such. By guess I would say certain African nations like Libya or Nigeria perhaps.

5. INSANE = Going to a war zone like Iraq or Somalia. Enough said.

There you go, all I've got for now. I have to see if Catherines palace is open Monday or we're going to miss it.

Take care,

Hope all is well.

Watch Trespassing On The Lot (www.trespassingonthelot.com) for all sorts of fun shorts.

Buy THE CLOSER SHE GETS (www.theclosershegets.com)

(I have to advertise too, its the new world. How do you think this all works? I couldn't get a Coca=Cola sponsorship!!! :)

Rock on

Craigo

I'm in Frickin Moscow...

But my backpack is somewhere else.

yep team, I made it safely though a bit delayed and without my main backpack. woopie! hopefully it will show up and be delivered tomorrow, but we shall see. i might be traveling REALLY light this trip.

I'm staying at a place called NAPOLEON HOSTEL in Moscow. nice spot. people are freindly and when i heard folks at the airport speaking english i said ""hi"and they were staying at the same spot, so that made getting into town at 1am a little easier.

tomorrow.... let's go see some russian stuff!

Rock on all

If you don't want to get travel emails, let me know. otherwise I'll send them out every few days.

take care

craigo