Best...

Best venue: Eddie's Attic in Decatur (Georgia)... www.eddiesattic.com. That's the place where John Mayer 'grew up' and where Sarah Bettens is going to perform this month.

Best host: pipe smoking Eddie from Eddie's Attic... he actually answered my mails, made us feel welcome, he gave us food & drinks and promoted our show really well.

Best audience: (it gets boring...) Eddie's Attic... 150 people, really listening.

Best show: Difficult...you probably expect me to say 'Eddie's Attic'. But maybe it was the last show of the tour, at the VoxPop in Brooklyn. They announced us on their website as 'Band from Germany' (not 'Markowski', no link, nothing), they did not use the posters I sent weeks before our show, we didn't get free food (had to fight for a free drink), there was nobody, the owner left without saying goodbye...we were so pissed (see worst venue) that we played with lots of aggression...worked really well :-)

Best hotel: Maybe the 'Place d'Armes' in New Orleans...huge room, in a courtyard with swimming pool, in the middle of French Quarter

Best highway: Highways in Arizona (for example the one between Grand Canyon & Flagstaff...mountains, canyons, very high temperatures and then all of a sudden: temperature drops 20 degrees & lots of rain...great views!)

Best food: Magnolia Café in Austin... their Mexican food is amazing and love the atmosphere

Best coffee: El Diablo Coffee in Seattle...honestly the best Latte I ever had (strong flavor but still 'round' and not too roasted)...and Jan loved his 'Cuban' (double espresso with brown sugar)

Nicest people: It was so nice meeting bass player Susan Holmes, her husband James and one of Susan's bands, the Santa Fe All Stars ... they gave us such a warm welcome, we loved their music, Susan let us stay at her house. One of the band members is mandolin player Sharon Gilchrist who grew up with the Dixie Chicks sisters. An amazing amazing musician. An honor to meet her.
And of course... the Stringers, my brother's former host family in Flagstaff, Arizona. Sweet, loving people.

Weirdest moment: The Santa Fe All Stars concert in an old 1930's football arena at Madrid, New Mexico. Hippies dancing with hula hoops while the music is playing...a thunderstorm was coming closer and closer, the sky got darker and darker, lightning everywhere. But not one drop of rain in the arena...

Greatest moment: Watching my brother Matti running 10.000m at the European Junior Championships in Hengelo from behind my laptop computer, live on the Internet, in a coffeehouse in Olympia (Washington). I went crazy (and the people around me, too...). He won the silver medal :-)

Coolest town: Difficult. Loved Portland (nice neighborhoods, hills, green), loved San Francisco (hey, it's San Francisco!), loved Flagstaff (nice, little town, great landscape), loved Santa Fe (good music!), loved Austin (great neighborhoods, looooots of music)

Best concert we've been to: Bob Dylan in Costa Mesa, California! No thrills, just music. So wonderful.