Turkish Night: We were in Istanbul for the first time. The band had flown in for a private party performance. In addition, one friend of mine had arrived from Cologne, Germany, to hang out with us. Another, who had become a TV journalist stationed in the capital of Turkey, had come to Istanbul as well. We viewed the amazing sites in Istanbul, I recorded a call at 4am in the morning (you can hear it on the CD Leaning into the Night), we played at the private party, and on the last evening we found ourselves at the hotel bar of the Hotel Kempinski, the Ciragan Palace.

At 10pm the hotel bar ran out of orange juice for our screw-drivers and we were wondering what to do. The journalist suggested that cherry juice was the favorite juice-drink of the Turkish people. The band, crew and my friends then proceeded to drink cherry juice with vodka until the bar ran out of vodka… And, in case you are wondering, cherry juice gives you a bigger headache than orange juice – because it is sweeter, I reckon.