(STOP THE TRUCK- L to R Brian Lee Sebastian-drums, Alan “Moe” Monserrat-bass/vocals, Steve Carter-guitar/vocals, Boomer Norman-Lead Guitar…not pictured, Mike Koetting-soundman and picture taker)
STOP THE TRUCK had a tour planned for Holland and Spain, on September 12-2001.
The attack on the World Trade Center terrified us all. We talked about canceling the tour but Moe said….”If we DO, they win.” So we dubbed it the “TOO STUPID TO STAY HOME TOUR” and went out on the 1st available flight on 9/13, a day after we were scheduled to depart, originally.
Well, there was lots of room to lay across seats, on the flight over. We flew from Austin to Newark. Arriving in Newark, Manhattan was still a smoldering horror. Everybody on the plane crammed up against the windows to see what was left of the Twin Towers. I’m surprised the pilot didn’t have to compensate for the weight shift, he may have. I was really terrifying.
On the flight from Newark to Amsterdam, we all laughed because we noticed the GIANT Flight Attendant looked like we had never worn shoes before, flat-top blonde haircut and couldn’t pour a Coke to work the cart to save his life. Regardless, we were glad to have our “Plainclothes” Air Marshall along for the trip.
As Ameicans, who had enjoyed legal weed, in Holland before, we went straight to the pot shops. 
What was different, this time, was…. there were Arabs celebrating at the TV, shaking their fist and cheering as the footage of the Towers collapsing played over and over. It freaked me, pretty well, out. I asked Moe if we should leave and, in his fashion, he said “They bleed like anyone else.” so we stayed and smoked our pot..
People were very consoling and it was quite heartrending to feel the love and support of the European people. They cried, they raged..it was really something.
We had fun, along the way, in places…paying a street harmonica player to go away, in Amsterdam, was worth every penny and drinking FLAMING drinks in Madrid was fun.
In Halland we played Amsterdam, Poeldijke, Steenwijk and Gouda. We were based in Gouda, which was a very cool town, with cheese everywhere carried by men and women on big, flat boards, suspended by ropes, stacked with big wheels of cheese.
In Spain, we took a quick flight to Menorca and played our second time at Akelare (center-right of the waterfront pic-palm tree), a great club with a great host. There are ancient tombs (5000 yr old) on that small island, where they buried the kings of Mallorca back in the day. We love that island.
We, then, met our host from Spain, a cool, tough little ex-boxer named Evilio. He took us around Spain. We played in El Mosou (Barcelona), Girona, Lleida, Zaragosa, Madrid and Arranda de Duero, his village. Now, all along Evilio would say “You haven’t had good wine until you’ve been to my village and we’re, like, “Yeah, whatever” because all of the wine, we had, in Spain was awesome. So, when we got to his village, he took us 4 flights of stone steps, down into the “Cave-Bodega” where giant barrels were stored. Our meal was Medieval, 4 legs of lamb, 5 big flat breads and one crockery pitcher of wine. We ate lamb, with our hands until they were greasy, wiped them with the bread, as we ate it, and all drank out of this one pitcher of wine. Whoever drank the last drop of wine had to go to the barrel and fill it back up. Tradition…y’know? It was, probably, the coolest meal I have ever had in my life.
By the end of lunch we were all pretty toasted but I asked our host if I could have the crock pitcher. He only slightly misunderstood me because he went to the barrel and filled it up before he gave it to me. I cradled that pitcher to sound check at the venue where our concert would take place, waaaaaay to far along, on wine, to even take another sip. I just set it down on my amp.
About 5 hours later it was showtime. The whole town seemed to be there, people for 8 to 80. In the middle of our set Moe was thirsty and he noticed that full pitcher of wine, still sitting on my amp. He motioned for me to give it to him. When I did, we noticed a gasp and everyone in the crown leaning forward, after all, this was THEIR crock. (They all look the same and are sold in shops as souvenirs)
Moe took a drink from the pitcher and when he handed the crock to me, I drank next, they all went ballistic!! They KNEW we had been in the Bodega and shared a crock. I still have that pitcher, here at home. 
We spent a lovely afternoon in Segovia The Alcazar is the castle of Queen Isabela. It is one of the most beautiful castles in the world and, running through the center of town is an amazing 2000 year old Roman aqueduct. (Below-Boomer Norman at bottom in cowboy hat)
One of the scariest moments of my life happened on this tour. As you know, we were there within a week of the 911 attacks.
While walking home, in Gouda, one night, I saw a cool looking red motor scooter in front a of a red trimmed bar front. I asked Boomer to take my photo with it, which he did.
See the guy in the white leather jacket inside?
As we walked a way, the band was ahead of me, this little guy in a white leather jacket came running behind me saying..”Hey, hey. Why you took my picture?” I was facing him and noticed his right hand was in his pocket. I told him I took the photo of the red bike, not him but be just kept repeating “Why you took my picture?” I told him, if I was CIA, I would not take his photo, at night, with a flash. (As I was doing this, I was thinking “I hope 8 years of Tai Chi-Kung-Fu works, because if he moves his right hand, I’m going to hit him in the throat”–seriously) He didn’t take his hand out of his pocket and as the band came back around the corner, 5 of them, giant Moe and 1 with a cowboy hat, he demurred
and decided to go back into the bar. To this day, it frightens me because…what was he so concerned about and how close did I come to getting killed?
My Entertaining Life-Steve Carter 