The guys had the next day off, which was probably a good thing, as they were about embark on an odd little journey… on a boat.

Day 2 – NYC

Yep, they’re playing a boat – a little cruise around Manhattan. It’s a first for me, and I’d be willing to guess for them too.

I hopped on one of those free NY Waterway busses that run from various places in the city to their pier on the west side. In theory you’re expected to get on one of their boats after the shuttle ride, but I planned to hop off at 38th and walk back up to 41st to catch my boat. Well, as soon as I hop off I start feeling a little guilty – I know, I’m a pushover – so I went ahead and bought a ticket for the ferry. I ended up using it the next day to get home after work.

After my guilt purchase I headed up to my boat. Inside I ran into several people I had meet on previous outings – it was fun, a family reunion of sorts. The boat was rocking pretty hard and we hadn’t even left port yet – so I availed myself of some motion-sickness medicine a friend’s friend was offering. At some point the guys came on and started rocking out for everyone… but it was an odd setup, they were playing in an alcove kind of stage, very minimal headroom. So, unless you were right up front, you couldn’t see them. I floated away from the stage to get a drink and never really went back. After getting a few more whiskeys in me, I became Mr. Social Butterfly and made my rounds, talking to people. I actually had a really good time, talking to the fans, the friends, etc. I sat with the tour manager/board operator for part of the night, he’s a great guy – very friendly. I also talked to the drummer’s girlfriend again – she’s a sweetheart. It was fun to be a little drunk at the show (usually I drive, so drinks are a no-no).

Afterwards the bassist motioned to myself and another fan/friend Kari. “Bus? Beer?” Why yes, yes I think we will. Out on the bus we indulged in beer (not a big beer fan, but somehow it tastes pretty good sitting on a tour bus), and chatted. I met the bus driver – neat guy, a lot younger than others they’ve had. At some point we drove over towards the hotel. On the way the bassist gave me a lesson on the Tour de France – he’s a big fan. It was interesting. Once we parked the bus the three of us headed over to a deli for food. Everyone was starved. The grill at the deli was off, so the choices for food were a little slimmer than usual. I ended up with the best grilled chicken sandwich I’d ever had – marinated chicken, roast red peppers, lettuce, tomato and Italian dressing on a hero – better known as the #28! We sat and talked like three old friends and ate our sandwiches. We got back to the bus and the two of them headed off souvenir shopping. I hung out with the drummer and the girlfriend and waited for the rain to stop. It finally let up, and I headed back home in a cab. Another great night.

Next up, Delaware…

Here we go again… the band has been playing the states, off and on, for the better part of the year. They typically do 4-6 weeks on, then a month off, then back out again, give or take. They’ve finally gotten around to hitting the northeast, so I decided to do another little road trip. This time I usually returned home after each show, unlike two legs ago when I stayed out on the road the whole time. I took three days off from work, and I’m proud to say I didn’t look at any work-related correspondence during my time off. While I was gone, my cell died and several people I haven’t heard from in ages called said phone just to say “hi.” I’ll get back to them on the new phone. Let’s dive in.

Day 1 – Providence

The drive to Rhode Island normally takes three hours – I did it in just a hair under five. All that really needs to be said is: I95 northbound sucks. Once I got into town, it didn’t actually get much better. The directions to the club were a little convoluted. The place ended up being down what looked like two alleys. I parked a couple of blocks away on the street, and was convinced that my car wouldn’t be there when I got back (but it was).

The venue was fairly cool. There was a nice big bar that took up a giant triangle near the back of the bar. While I was sitting there enjoying my whiskey I noticed an odd couple talking next to me. The man looked like an older businessman, maybe not too successful, but doing okay – gray hair, fair suit. The “lady in red” with him looked like she had been drinking a long time, and I don’t just mean that day. She would be the stereotypical floozy in bad 80s sitcoms. They ended up walking out together, rather he was walking and she was kind of being drug along.

The opening act was this really nice guy on acoustic who kind of had a Hank Williams (Sr. not Jr.) thing going on part of the time, but on other sounds he was more folksy. He was great with audience and really seemed to enjoy himself. The next act up was the band’s roadie who was out on the last tour. He kind of does this raspy singer-songwriter thing with the acoustic, with an almost reggae vibe to it (might help that he has dreads). He’s the kind of guy that if you talk to him first, and then hear him sing, it just doesn’t make sense… the talking voice is nowhere near the sing voice. He’s really good.

Around the time of his set, I ran into an old friend who I saw at Killington & Boston on my last adventure. He brought along a couple of friends, and ended up introducing me to a couple of guys I had corresponded with a few times, but had never met. We had a really good time chatting and talking in between acts.

By the time the band went on, I was in a great mood, the horrors of the commute purged from my memory by cheap booze and brilliant conversation. They did a killer set, and the crowd really seemed to be into it. In fact there was a superfan there that none of us “regulars” recognized. He knew the words to every song and was dancing like a man possessed. At first I thought he was annoying, but then I got to really appreciate how much fun he was having. Plus there were these people doing some kind of interpretive dance next to him… no way to explain their gyrations with my words. And that wasn’t entertainment enough, the venue was kind of set into the ground, like a basement, so it had those windows at the top of the walls facing out at street level. You’d see people cruise by, and stop to listen. It was fun to watch. We even got a young “hip” kid smoking a corncob pipe and mooning us.

I hung out after the show to talk to the guys. I still get nervous the first time I see them again. The bassist invited me on the bus but I can’t remember the exact details. I do remember getting introduced to the drummer’s girlfriend, which was funny because during the show we had kind of spotted her alone there – she was a little too pretty to be at a concert by herself, so at the time I joked to the guys around me, “must be a guitar girl” — I was close. I also met the new merch guy, but I had yet to meet the new tour manager.

It was getting late, so I decided to hit the road. On the ride home, I started getting tired, so I pulled off at exit after exit trying to find a cheap motel to catch a good night’s sleep, but they were all booked with families headed for beaches near and far. In the end I drove straight home, this time in three hours. When I hit the Cross Bronx Expressway, I caught my second wind… which was a good thing because it was a pain in the ass to find parking.

Next – NYC…

This post concludes this part of the tour for me. The guys had another few nights on the road in this leg, but I was done. And also, I was home…

Day 6 – New York City

After the Philly show, the tour made its way to Delaware, but I chose to break off at that point and head home. A really great friend was in town for only a couple days and I really wanted to see her. It was a good a decision, we had a blast, plus I kind of left the road on a high note – the Philly show was phenomenal.

So, fast-forward a day to the NYC gig. I went for drinks with a friend before the show, and we were running a bit late, so I missed the opening number. The gig was fairly good, not the best I had seen them though. It was probably my least favorite stop on the tour.

Afterwards I hung out ran into some more old friends and road acquaintances. We all chatted for a long time afterwards, with ourselves and with the band. It was a good night, low-key – a good way to wind down an exciting road trip. The band loaded out onto the bus. We said our farewells and then I turned to walk home and their bus pulled out into the night.

Day 5 – Philadelphia

The drive from Boston to Philadelphia takes you within a stone’s throw of NYC, so I made a quick pit stop at my apartment. I decided to lighten my load a bit, so I dropped off a little bag of dirty laundry. But the real reason I stopped was to use my own bathroom – there’s nothing quite like using your own toilet after a few days away.

I get to Philly and promptly get lost. It seems the hotel isn’t where it is supposed to be. I start to get a little frantic – how the hell do I find this place without an Internet connection. Then suddenly I realized, “Hey, I have a phone.” So after quick call to 411, I get the true address for the hotel. It’s about 20 blocks from where I thought it was. I get there, and the place is gorgeous, but it’s nowhere near the gig in Germantown. Now I had been staying at the same hotels as the band, because I asked the road manager if he could hook me up with recommendations, so I didn’t have to scout my own places. So, it seemed odd that they would pick this really nice place, 45 minutes away from the gig. Turns out the hotel booking was a goof, and they were staying a lot closer. Oh well.

At this point I have a confession to make: I didn’t have a cheese steak while I was in Philly. Ugh, I know.

Anyway, I get to the gig and parking of course is a pain in the ass. After leaving the car on a scary side-street, I hustled toward the bus. I wanted to make sure that the tour manager had put me on the list – he kept forgetting. I went on the bus and it ended up being a really interesting half-hour or so just chatting with the road manager. He’s been doing this kind of gig for years, and we was just shooting the shit with me while he was half-assed watching TV. It was a neat little education – I got to watch him work the phones, and handle the venue people. I then got to hear the story about what had happened that morning. The guys had agreed to do an in-store that day before the show. They were running late getting to Philly, so consequently they were late to the store, which was going to make them even later for sound check at the real venue that night. After the performance at the store, the roadie and merch guy loaded up the U-Haul behind the bus, and they take off to find the venue. About two minutes into the drive they hear all this honking behind them. The roadie jumps out of the moving bus and starts jamming down the street. Turns out the merch guy didn’t put the lock on the U-Haul and the gates popped opening, spilling gear and merchandise all over the streets of Philadelphia. Luckly the only thing they lost was a box of posters that got ruined.

The show that night was phenomenal. The place was packed two hours before the show even started. I ended up meeting some old friends, and made a ton of new ones, and the guys went on stage and promptly blew everyone away. At the end of the show, when they’re walking offstage, the bassist grabs my hand, pulls it open, shoves something in it and walks backstage. It was his pick… sounds corny, but oh-so-cool. My night was completely made.

I made my way back to the hotel and slept very well.

Interesting side-note, when I received my credit card bill, I was only charged for the parking, the room charge never came in.

Next stop – NYC

Man, I really wish I had written these road trip entries closer to the time it had happened, because I’m scratching my head when it comes to remembering Boston details – which maybe isn’t a bad thing. Perhaps I’ll be brief.

Day 4 – Boston
So, Killington (Vermont, New Hampshire – take your pick) to Boston – there were some roads involved as I remember. Actually the trip out of Killington was beautiful – mountains in the rearview, icy stream to the right. Hmmmm… that’s all I’ve got on the road part of this trip.

Boston was fairly easy to navigate. I scoped out the venue first, and then motored over to the hotel. It wasn’t nearly as nice as the Inn at Six Mountains, but it was still a step up from the ass hotel in Buffalo. I settled into my room, and unpacked a bit. There might have been a nap in there somewhere. At some point, I decided to dial-up and check some e-mail. First I spun thru the day-job mails… nothing significant. Then it was time for personal correspondence – about as expected. Then off to check the band related e-mail.

*BAM*

“Hey Lance, looks like the site was hacked. If you need any help, lemme know.” — a fanboy

Well fuck. Turns out some bored German kids decided to take down my message board. Blech. I tried taking a peek through the database to see if I could fix the problem, but I’m no DBA, so no luck. Next I called my friend who is a bit more MySQL-versed than myself, plus he has the same message board software. He logged in and found the problem, but the fix would be manual, and take me a while… plus I’m on a dial-up. I had to get it fixed, we’re in the middle of tour, and traffic has been heavy lately… so I called my hosting company and had the run an old back-up tape, which they did in less time than it took me to send the e-mail over the god awful 22kbps connection. Only problem was, that the backup was about 2 weeks old. We lost a few hundred messages, but better than nothing. In the long-run I ended up moving over to a different piece of software and have great support with it now.

At the show, I ended up running into a lot of people I knew – good crowd, but I was so fried, from the drive, from the hack, ugh. So for a lot of the set, I sat in the back by the merch counter, just hanging out and chatting with people who stopped by to say hi. I did end up finally meeting the managers and label people, they were cool. The band did mention the hack from the stage, which was funny. Everyone seemed to take pride in the fact we were hacked. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that it was a random attack, that angry Germans were taking down every message board they could find that used this type of software – yeah I kept that to myself.

Next – Philly.

Got some time to kill…

Day 3 – Killington
So let’s see – at this point of the trip I’ve only gotten lost once and that was on the way to a health food store, in a town that issues house numbers not sequentially, but randomly. By the time I got to Killington, the tally was at two. It happened somewhere in New York, but at this point I’m not sure exactly where. Suffice to say after talking to the band’s driver I felt better, as he got turned around at the exact same place as I had. So, if this whole Internet thing goes belly-up I might be able to get a job driving a bus. Sweet.

Remember the ass-smelling motel in Buffalo? Yeah well, thank god for the Inn at Six Mountains. I had a gorgeous room in this ski resort, lodge-type place. The bed was wonderful… and no ass smell to be found.

So I’m in the middle of a mountain town. A relatively small band is playing. I’m thinking the turnout is gonna be poor, much like the previous night in Buffalo, but to my surprise, the place is packed. It probably helped that Jack Daniels was sponsoring that whole week in Killington. The place was crawling with “Jack Daniels Girls” – blondes with strategically-placed tattoos and tight, skimpy outfits. A shame really.

I kinda hung back again at this venue, just people-watching (I averted my eyes whenever the JD Girls cruised through – honest). Before the guys came out, the roadie hit the stage and taped down the set lists at which point, a bunch of fans ran up to take a peek. A couple of guys hung back, so I decided to ask why. It seemed they like surprises and it turns out we’d get one with the opening number. We talked a few minutes more and then introduce ourselves, and it turns out we had been in contact online for a couple of years – so it was good to finally have a non-virtual encounter. As we’re standing there, the guys come out and open with a song they hadn’t played in forever. The three of us were totally blown away – and stayed that way for the rest of the show. It was an amazing gig, the band was on and the crowd was really into it. After an encore the band is trickling off stage one-by-one. The bass player grabs my shoulder and says “make sure you come on the bus.” WOW. Then the guitarist comes through a couple minutes later, and mouths to me “you gotta come on the bus.” That made the whole trip for me. Right there.

I went out to the bus and just hung out for an hour or so. I don’t really like beer, but the one I was drinking tasted great – but probably solely based on the atmosphere. It was really cool, everyone was just chilling out, talking, eating, drinking. The bassist put some old Clapton on the stereo and we’re all grooving along. It’s weird to watch a band listening to someone else’s music and totally getting off on it. Not sure why, but I guess you just realize that they’re fans too. It’s kind of like the great equalizer, everyone enjoys a good riff. At one point the drummer disappeared in the back of the bus with a fan girl for a half-hour or so… rock n’ roll!

I got to drive the guys a little that night too. I made a run up to the cabin so they could all take showers. I ended up falling asleep on a couch waiting for them. Ran ’em back to the bus, and then to my hotel at which point it was 4am, and I needed sleep.

Next stop – Boston.

I didn’t get much done this weekend, or at least not as much as I had planned. I’m still fighting this cold/cough combo that grabbed me in the temperature battle royale last week. I should actually be in the other room finishing up some concert photos, but when I walked into the kitchen to toss out the Chinese food I saw a few stars peaking out from behind the clouds, so I decided to settle down and crank out some thoughts in my “cafe.” So… back to the tour.

Day 2: Buffalo
The booking agent – I want to beat him senseless. That was one of thoughts drifting through my head while driving the 4.5 hours from Albany to Buffalo. Not so much because of the Albany – Buffalo leg, but because of the Buffalo – Vermont leg which would take me through Albany again. Kind of like going from NYC to Chicago by way of Los Angeles. Not exactly… but kinda…

I can’t remember much of the drive anymore and that’s probably a good thing. It’s probably worth clarifying at this point, that the show wasn’t actually in Buffalo, but in Williamsville, which isn’t much more than a couple of strip malls and crap load of car dealerships. I drove down to the venue first, which I passed by twice. I was looking for the band’s name on the marquee, but it wasn’t there, so I kept missing it. It seemed a little odd.

After locating the club, I drove to the motel which was a straight shot up the road. I found the tour bus, so I knew I was in the right place. Now at this point, only the tour manager knows I’m following them around so when I spot the bassist walking down the hall, I decided to hang back a bit (I don’t want them to think I’m stalking). I got the little key card for my room. After some fumbling with the lock the door swung open, and I was greeted with a smell, that can best be described as “ass.” Not the good kind, as in “I’m getting some ass later.” It was the bad kind, as in “geez dude, your room smells like ass.” Ugh. I noticed the ass smell all over the hotel as I walked around, so I decided not to try and get an assless room. I dropped the bags off, locked up the camera and laptop, grabbed my Rolling Stone and decided to make for a cafe to kill a few hours before the show. On my way out, I run into the drummer who gives me the “what the hell are you doing here” look. I just shot him a quick remark, something along the lines of “swanky pad huh?” Then I bolted.

Now in this little “city” there are basically two roads, so I decided to try going left. After about 15 minutes I found a Starbucks in one of the many, many strip malls. So there I sat, with my Rolling Stone and my mocha frappe. I sat and read. And sat and sipped. And sat. And sat.

Yeah. Weeeee.

I finally decided to head back to the motel. My hope was that the ass smell as gone, or at least less concentrated. On my way, I spied an Arby’s and just had to have a Beef N’ Cheddar. I used to be ashamed of my Arby’s love, but after talking to a couple of “normal” people who shared my little food fetish, I’m proud to admit that I enjoyed my Beef N’ Cheddar, and the curly fries that came with it. So there.

So I’m now, finally returning to the EconoAss. As I’m walking through the lobby my cell rings. I can’t place the area code on the display, but I answered anyway. Turns out it’s the bassist. I’m not exactly sure how he got my number but there are some theories. At any rate, he’s wondering if I can help them out with a little errand and so about fifteen minutes later, my SUV is packed with a guitarist, a bassist and a guitar tech, and we’re in search of a health food store. We had the address so we started driving down the road. We cruised for about 20 minutes and we seemed to be heading in the right direction – the numbers were going the direction we wanted them to. We were looking for 5415. We ended up stopping at 5417 or something like that, but there was no health food store in sight. What the hell? We call the store and they inform us, “Yeah, you can’t count on the numbers in this town. They don’t mean anything. You’re about 20 minutes away in the opposite direction.” Doh.

We finally get to the store and everyone proceeds to shop. I’m so stoked right now. I’m running errands with the band. A band I really love. How cool is that. Maybe a little pathetic, but still pretty cool. There’s another stop to be made at the Williamsville equivalent of a Rite Aid. The bass player heads into the store. The guitar tech is on his cell, which leaves me and the guitarist, who I always act like a dumb ass around. Except, something has happened. I’m having an actual conversation. We’re talking about the state of radio. I’m explaining what I do for a living. He’s telling me about a new project he’s working on. We’re just chatting. And it’s good. And I’m not a dumb ass. I guess there’s something about getting lost with someone else in Williamsville that kind of bonds you. Or at least gives you the ability to carry on a conversation.

I drop them back off at the bus which is now at the venue and I park around front. I made a couple of phone calls and then went inside. The venue was great, great sound, decent lighting, nice bar. However… by the time the guys come on, there are maybe 8 fans standing right in front of the stage, and maybe another 15 in the rest of the venue. The promoter dropped the ball. The guys put on a fantastic show as always. And, I got a song dedicated to me – “Folsom Prison Blues” – Johnny Cash, very cool. But also a little strange. During the quest for the health food store, I told the guys about this dream I had the night before that involved Johnny Cash & Soundgarden… but I didn’t tell the guy who dedicated the song, and neither had they… spooky.

After the show they invited me on the bus for a beer. I tried not to overstay my welcome, so I took off after a few minutes.

Next leg… Vermont.

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Sonic Youth – “100%”

Yeah… it snowed. And of course I’m sick. I’m sitting here with a belly full of burrito & chips, topped off with NyQuil and a cup of tea with honey. There’s a good chance I’ll doze off before I finish this… but here goes.

So the first week of March, I decided to finally take a vacation and hit the road. This wasn’t a random road trip – it had a purpose and a destination (several of them in fact). I was following one of my favorite bands around. I just happen to do some work for them on the side, so all the shows were free admission, I just had to provide the transportation and board.

Day 1: Albany
Albany isn’t much of a haul from here, so I didn’t pickup the car till midday. Even though I was to be the only one in the car, I decided to get an SUV – which came in handy later in the trip. I printed out multiple directions from Mapquest, grabbed my road atlas, loaded the car with my two bags, aimed it north and hit the gas. The drive was entirely uneventful but I was bouncing the whole time listening to Rage Against the Machine & System of a Down… which is very bouncy music to drive to. My directions took me right to the club. I decided to try and park so I could scope the venue and surrounding area out. It was surprisingly easy to get a spot, so I hopped out of the car with my laptop bag (no way I was leaving it on the street) and walked across the street to the show. I was pretty early, but I spotted the guys’ bus, so I decided to lurk around for a second. While I was on my cell phone checking messages (there were none) I scoped the bass player in the laundromat adjacent to the club. I couldn’t decide whether to approach him or not. We had met several times before, but I get shy in these situations. I finally decided to walk up and say “hi.” We exchanged pleasantries for a second, but he seemed to be concentrating on his laundry, and I was feeling awkward, so I bolted with a “I’ll see you at the show – gonna grab food.”

Rather than grabbing food, I decided to find a hotel, if nothing else, so I could drop off my laptop bag and the rest of my gear. I wanted to find someplace relatively close to the club. My aim was to be within walking distance, so I could drink… but there didn’t seem to be anything close by. I came to the conclusion that if nothing else, I should at least be someplace that was a pretty straight path to the venue, so I could find my way back and forth. I ended up staying at the Crowne Plaza which of course was expensive, but worth it – it had a WiFi connection in the room. Sweet. I dropped of my crap and headed back to the club.

I was able to park in the same exact spot I had left but a half-hour prior. Nice. There turned out to be a fairly clean looking diner next to the club. I settled into a seat at the bar and ordered a burger. It was heaven. My waitress/bartender was new – it was her second day, but she was doing pretty well. Of course she was wearing low-rise jeans, and a low-cut shirt, so even if she had spilled scalding water in my lap, I probably would have thought she was doing a bang-up job. Of course, the seat I chose was the one closest to the mumbling older gentlemen who kept trying to talk her up all night. She kept coming up to me to talk to escape him, so I obliged her with some mindless chatter. If she hadn’t been desperate to escape mumble-guy, I don’t think I would have been so chatty. Of course she probably wouldn’t have given me the time of day either, so the point is moot.

Oh my, the NyQuil is kicking in. And the tea is pretty good.

While I’m enjoying my burger the guitarist & the road manager come in to eat. There was no way I was going to disturb them during a meal, so I kept my position and finished my food and then slipped out quietly.

At the club I found a comfortable bar stool (keeping a lookout for any potential mumblers) and hit the bartender up for a Jack N’ Coke – just one… to settle down a bit. After all, I was driving later.

The performance space was actually upstairs over the bar, so I made my way upstairs. I walked up to the merch guy and introduced myself. He was a really nice guy. The kind of guy you’d say was “swell.” Very chatty, very into whatever you were saying. The kind of guy who kind of flirts with everyone. With the ladies, it’s flirting, with the guys it’s the kind of flirting you do just to be nice. It’s not a sexual thing, he just wants to be your pal. A genuinely nice guy.

I decided to go ahead and sacrifice my hearing early into this tour, so I scoped out a place near the stage. I was standing there maybe ten minutes, just people-watching when a gentlemen in a goatee and short hair makes eye contact and says. “Lance?” Oh man the guy looked familiar, but I couldn’t place where I knew him from until about 15 minutes into the conversation. Turns out he was one of the guys I got into “business” with a few years back when some of the guys for tonight’s band were in another band. Things started looking shaky, so I jumped ship early into the process with everyone’s blessing. The deals soon fell apart, and I was the only one to survive to go into business with the band the second time around. So there’s a little bit of awkward small talk (at least on my part), but thankfully the band came on and torched the place shortly thereafter. It was a great show, the guys were in fine form and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Afterwards, I went over to hang at the merch table when I spotted the tour manager. I introduced myself and he remembered me from the last tour. I hit him up for hotel info since I hadn’t made any lodging plans yet. He was very gracious, and invited me on the bus to lay out the next few days for me. That was my first time on a tour bus – very nice. I got all the info down on a sheet of paper. Said howdy to the drummer who remembered me from previous encounters and headed back upstairs to say “hi” to the rest of band.

The drummer is super easy to talk to, so we chatted for a while. The bass player is pretty friendly too. Actually they all are… but for some reason whenever I talk to the guitarist, I always feel like a dumb ass. He’s sitting there asking me how it’s going, how’s my life… and he’s really curious, and all I could think to say was “work kinda sucks right now.” Ugh. Hopefully I can redeem myself later in the tour. After doing a ton of autographs and meet n’ greets, everyone piles back outside. The band onto the bus, myself out to the car, and off to the hotel. Tomorrow is a long drive, and I’m exhausted already. A little WiFi session, and I was off to sleep. Buffalo, here I come.

To be continued…

SONG OF THE MOMENT: Air – “Alpha Beta Gaga”