By Anne

We were so sad to leave the Hotel Sternen that we kept forgetting things and had to keep going back. First, someone hung on to a room key, so we had to drop that off. Then, someone left a coat in a closet; we went back the next day for that one, at which time Marcel gave us four of those big Swiss beers, Bügel-Spez, and told us to show the Germans what real beer tasted like. Did you know that the German beer purity law is the oldest commerce law on any books? I wasn’t about to get my tuckus kicked, so we kept them for ourselves.

After a very brief drive, we found ourselves in the resort village of Lachen, CH. And we had great directions to the promoter’s, um, house. So we turned around and went back to where I had seen a poster for the show. There were also flIers posted with the address of the club, and so we made it to Theater Fasson with ½ hour to spare.

While debating on whether we should go to the hotel, for which we also had no directions, we noticed a nice little park area with art and lighting rigs and flooring down below the parking lot. Turns out that in the summer, they have an under-the-parking-lot bar with tables and sofas and music and such. There they stage performances and events. After the gig, the owner of the place took me down there and showed me around, very fancy and fun although it looked like one big potential litter box, being open-air.

The Theater Fasson was itself just that — a theater. They normally have readings and performances there. Chairs are set up in theater fashion, and the stage is a large floor space in front of them. An interesting note: all the risers and the bar and the tables and lighting structure and even a trash can and spiral staircase are built from this modular coated aluminum piping stuff. This is what Tony the club-owner’s business is. It was very modern and stylish. Loads of indirect lighting that changed colors gradually.

The concert as well was attended by Lachen’s finest, also very modern and stylish.  The harbor on the lake there won an architecture award, and the architect was none other than the doorman. And our promoter, Peter, is a lawyer who is from this village, and his brother owns the only noncorporate brewery in Switzerland. We discovered that later when he insisted that we take a walk down to see the Lachen Harbor at night — it is all underlit and very lovely –

and then have a “last beer” at an English type pub, which turned out to be his brother’s beer. “Last beer” is a euphemism in this case.

I have jumped ahead of myself because I had a baby meltdown at the Theater. I had a baby meltdown because though they provided a fine Mackie sound system, there was no sound man to go with it. The onerous task of trying to figure out that board fell on Andy, bless his heart. We all tweaked what we could, but at the end we were still sounding as if we were coming through a tube. This mainly because there was no way to turn the effects off on the board, so we had to turn them down and futz with the EQ and leave it at that. It was a bit harrowing.

After we futzed all we could, the lovely Bridget who met us at the club then showed us the way to her home, where her husband had made a rosti and a traditional Swiss meat-in-a-sauce dish. Very tasty. I am detecting a rosti theme here. I wish we could have lingered a bit there because they were lovely people and quite hospitable.

When we came back to the Theater, we also had the chance to see Adrian and Marliese, at whose wedding Andy and John had played in the One Fell Swoop days. They came 2½ hours from Interlachen to see the show. Andy also gave Adrian a little guitar lesson when it was over. A wonderful reunion, conducive of most of our reunions here as we are all a little older and wiser and mellower. It is a great thing to see old friends and share our respective progress.

What could have been a disastrous evening was successfully diverted and at the end turned into a fine throwdown. Hotel Baren, where we stayed, seemed to be host to a youthful birthday party that night, so it was just as well that we made our way to the pub via the harbor. We did enjoy many of the schutzengarten biers and some more fine company in the most crowded and smoky simulation of an English pub that we have ever seen. The smoky factor was on par with that of the former Fredrick’s Music Lounge. Any night that Fred’s gets evoked, for whatever reason, must be good.

(marie’s note - Lachen also had some swell store window displays. If you are looking for your prom dress from the ’80s, we may have found it)