The Last 72 Hours....Pt. I
Sometimes, things don't go as planned. As I sit in front of my computer and contemplate everything that's happened since Saturday afternoon, it's somewhat mind boggling to even think about where we've been. Well, as Kevin has already documented, the fiasco that ensued following the torrential storm in Atlanta started things off on a disappointing note for all of us. After a fantastic summer tour with STS9, we wanted to finish things off in a monumental way in Atlanta. Unfortunately, mother nature had other plans. As a musician, there's not really a word to describe the feeling of not getting to rock out for some of your most dedicated fans for reasons out of your control. We were all devastated and frustrated that we had absolutely no way to get up on stage and share music with all of the folks that were there on Saturday. The odds of us playing that night decreased with every minute past 7:45, when the power went out (it didn't come back on 2 hours after curfew). We sat on the bus trying to conjure scenarios in which we could return to Atlanta and make this up to the folks who have supported us there for so many years. While we tried, we couldn't completely solidify a deal that night to announce at our recently canceled show. We're almost there with something for you guys as I write, so hang tight.
As the night came to a close for us without live music, we prepared for our next move, which was to leave for the airport at 6 am and board a flight to White Plains, NY (never heard of that airport? Neither had we). Exhausted from 4 shows (should have been 5) in 4 days, and exhilarated to get one more show in, we made our way through the airport at 6:30 am and awaited our flight. Little did we know this would be the smoothest part of the whole process. We arrived in NY without a hitch, hopped into two vans and headed toward Bridgeport, CT for our first appearance at Gathering of the Vibes (which, incidentally, had also suffered through some adverse weather the previous evening). The Merritt/Hutchinson Parkway is a beautiful road to drive in the summer, if you're ever out that way, and we saw some verdant scenery on the side of the road as we approached our destination. Checking into a hotel can occasionally provide for interesting interactions (Spinal Tap viewing required here), and this scenario proved to be one of those. As Don, our tour manager, attempted to check his sleep-deprived band and crew in around noon, he was told there were no rooms ready, even though their mandatory availability had been advanced weeks ago with the hotel and festival. We had about 2 hours to catch up on some sleep, but no place to sleep. So a few of us headed to the local Italian joint for lunch, while Brendan made the further trek to satisfy his craving for a Panchero's Burrito. Coming back to the hotel, we had just enough time to lie down for about 30 minutes before hopping back in a van for another short trek to the venue. The site, a pretty cool city park in the classic albeit somewhat ramshackle downtown area, lies adjacent to the Long Island Sound, providing for excellent views from the stage. We landed a gorgeous summer afternoon and delivered a 90 minute set of music to the festival goers there. My favorite part of the set came during the second half of Wife Soup, where we've recently inserted an open-ended improvisational section where the second piano solo used to be. I recall about eight to ten minutes of some really focused improv, and the cool part was that the audience seemed to really enjoy it as well.
Preceding us were Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, whose performance was both soul-infused and inspiring. Great, great sounds. Equally impressive were the Neville Bros., who concluded the fest with a funky and passionate set.
As the sun descended to the west and the sounds of Jerry Garcia's guitar blasted away (I swear it was as loud if not louder than the Neville Bros. over the PA), we hopped back into our vans and headed to the hotel. We arrived at our rooms around 10 pm, had a little night cap and some conversation, and by midnight, we were all sound asleep. Not particularly impressive for a rock band, I know, but we had a 4 am pick up to take us back to the airport and send most of us home. We awoke to darkness outside, but by the time we'd boarded our plane, the sun was up and it was another beautiful morning on the East coast. We had a 3 hour layover in front of us at Ronald Reagan International Airport in D.C. Not too much pressure to make the connecting flight, which is usually a good thing. Jake, Kris and I, had a side gig on Monday night in Clear Lake, IA, a 7 hour drive from Chicago. As everyone else headed home, our tour continued for one more day. This was certainly on our minds as we began what would be one of the longest travel days I can ever recall. While we landed in DC without incident, a monstrous storm was brewing just west of our beloved home of Chicago. We sat at the gate and watched our connecting flight be delayed in 15 minute increments over the next few hours of time, as a ground stoppage at O'Hare waved its fateful hand in our direction. As our window of opportunity dwindled away, we realized that the side gig in Iowa was in serious jeopardy. Our 10:30 am departure from D.C. finally ended up being a 2 pm departure. (One footnote - Cubs' catcher Henry Blanco was also on our flight, trying to make it back to the game. We didn't want to bother him, but must compliment him on his sweet look, with a semi-mullet rockin in the back.) As the flight became further delayed, we went from being able to have time to sleep at a hotel in Clear Lake before the gig (so needed), to taking our bus and being able to sleep on the way there and back (not a bad option for a little more overhead), to not having time to take our bus (this is starting to suck really bad), to trying to have Vince and Kris' girlfriend drive our cars to the airport and meet us there so that we could depart immediately (seriously?). You're probably wondering, why didn't we just change our flight to a different destination? Great question, great question. Well, we had already checked gear that we needed for the show that night on the Chicago flight, and we had gear we had to pick up at O'Hare (our bus met us there with all of our bags from tour after driving up without us from ATL) and get into our cars. So we had two different sets of gear arriving from two different places. As we accelerated on the tarmac in Washington D.C., we wondered how in the world we would make it to our gig that night, both awake and on time. What happened next? Did we make the gig at the legendary Surf Ballroom? Did we end up at a Motel 6 in rural Brandon IA (home of the world's largest frying pan)? Or did we drive into a tornado and see cows flying around like they did in that terrible movie Twister? What transpired were some of the most implausible and unbelievable things I've ever seen while on the road. To be continued.........
Kris catches up on sleep and tries to make some spare change at Reagan Int'l.
