IN NORTHERN GERMANY

The first gig of the night was with "The Nightstars" at the Koralle in Plön. Werner watched the show while Ernst-Günther waited to drive them to Gasthaus Schröder for Teddy's first set with The Vampiros. Then, on the way back to Plön for his second set with The Nightstars, Werner said he was convinced Teddy was a super talent, but equally convinced he needed a manager. Under the circumstances, Teddy could hardly argue that. Werner asked which band Teddy preferred. Teddy said both had good players. Then Werner asked who Teddy would choose form each band, if he was putting together a group of his own, arguing that with a top-notch band behind him, he could land Teddy a recording contract with either Polydor or Phillips, and book him all over Europe. It all sounded great, but there was a hitch. Teddy was on active duty in the U.S. Navy and his availablity was necessarily local and uncertain at best.

Undaunted, Werner proposed to book the band independently, with Teddy as the guest star whenever he was available. That way, they could start getting ready to record right away. Teddy would need permission from the Navy to sign a recording contract, but by the time he got to the second set at the Koralle, Travis was mentally auditioning the players in "The Nightstars." And by the time that last show ended, close to three in the morning at Gasthaus Schröder, he told Werner he'd choose Enriko Lombardi, lead singer/bass player, and the singing drummer, Norbert Wechselbaum, from "The Nightstars.".

The Koralle had a low ceiling and no stage.  The band was elevated slightly by a single riser podium that barely separated them from the dense crowd of dancers, and left no room for the "Twistsensation" to twist, but he could leap, if he was careful, and when he did, he could see and be seen by the folks not dancing, but sitting, watching and listening at the tables at the back of the room.Crowded as they were, this wasn't a Boston crowd. No gangs were there, or if they were, they hadn't come to rumble, and to Travis' delight, no fights broke out. The room was full of well-behaved people. In all, it turned out to be a great gig!

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