ROD'S DIARY NEW JERSEY MAR 13 -- 14

Up early to get some work done with the clear advantage of a clear head. Then off to airport for a standard noon departure for Newark. Vans straight onto the tarmac by the plane with a more effective police escort cutting through the heavy traffic and put through security checks right there. Fox had come down earlier to interview Bruce on the plane and they did some other stuff after take off. I couldn't bring myself to open the laptop -- it is becoming the enemy! -- and just chatted to various of our gang and cat napped. Flight a bit over 3 hours to Newark and we had ABC News filming our arrival for a news feature next week -- they are also coming to the NJ show. Bruce stayed behind for a while with them and Todd for interviews. We have known the producer Jason for some years from his CNN days -- the last time we were doing something for CNN and Bruce and I were in the car on the way to the studio stuck in traffic when they called to cancel it as a small plane had just crashed into a building in the Bronx, I think it was, and at the time all news staff were of course caught up in this as at first it was naturally treated as a possible terrorism attack. Fortunately it wasn't but sadly it was a well known NY sports star who had apparently lost control flying his single engine plane. Very tragic, a young fit guy with everything going for him.

PRAGUE (AFP) — An express train crashed Friday into a road bridge in the Czech Republic as it collapsed on to the tracks, killing at least six people and injuring 41, rescue services said.

The locomotive and six passenger carriages came off the tracks and were left a mass of twisted metal. Emergency services arrived at the scene to find dead, injured, bags and train seats scattered everywhere.

Woke up at 11am with belting Jameson hangover which will no doubt make me tired and ratty all day!! Thanks Hollywood!! Got in the magnificent Jacuzzi again and then worked as best I could leaving for the venue at about 5 with Steve. Said hello to Patrick from US Rock mag Revolver who is with us thru NY and will do some interviews on the plane tomorrow, though Bruce took the opportunity to do his before the show today as he is flying tomorrow.

"The Air Raid Siren" turns 50 today, MaidenNorway wish him all the best!

ROD'S DIARY - PUERTO RICO MAR 10-11 Pt 1

Its was an almost eight hour flight Santiago to San Juan and we headed North flying just west of the coastline. It was a very clear day at first with maginificent views and I was hoping as we flew along the coastline of Peru we might see the Nascar lines the massive humming bird, eagle, spider etc etched into the ground, some say by aliens!! They werent discovered til the 1920s when man started to take to the air as of course you just cannot make them out from the ground and I think it is true to say that it is still a mystery who did them and why. They are hundreds of metres across, many of them. But it was not to be as the flight plan at that latitude took us too far off the Peruvian coast and flight plans unfortunately cannot be just changed for a bit of sight seeing! We crossed the Andes just north of Lima and sadly it was cloud all the way so we werent able to get another good look at the backbone of south America.

You may have read in the last couple of days that Maiden have been nominated for the Best Live Return Award in the Vodaphone Live Awards.

Adrian's new Jackson guitar was stolen after the show in Athens on Saturday night.

Can all Maiden fans please be on the lookout for the guitar.
It will be extremely hard to get rid of as it's the only one in the world.
There will be a reward of a Maiden tour jacket and I'm sure a hand written letter of thanks from Adrian for anyone with information leading to the recovery of the guitar.

RODS DIARY MAR 9 SANTIAGO Pt 2

Worked most of the day with a 90min break to catch some rays and went to the show about 6 for an 8pm start. The football stadium holds 27,000 and it had been sold out for a long time. Right next door is the 60,000 capacity National Stadium which is where the show would have been moved to but for the last few years it has been undergoing refurbishment. A friend of mine emailed me in January while on holiday here. He went into the main square in Santiago to be confronted by loads of fans in Maiden Ts handing over a petition to the government to get a bigger venue so all our Chilean fans could see the band as obviously where we were playing wasn't big enough!! Hope they finish it soon as it would be great to play there.

Soon we can all enjoy the magnificant movie "Chemical Wedding" on DVD

Due to massive storm damage to the staging and PA and lights in the the last 24 hours or so, today's (Saturday) Zaragoza cannot take place.