Day 227 - October 25th 2009
I hear a knock on my door. It’s Brian apparently it’s 10 am and we have an hour to get out of the Super 8 in Romulus Michigan so that we can get on the road and head back to the Keystone State. Today we go home. We get dressed and head over to the van. I’m still sick but I don’t feel nearly as bad as I did yesterday. Perhaps the chills were my body telling me to rest. Rob was sweating his balls off last night he was sure to let me know. We hit the road and started rolling. Knocked up was the first movie on our agenda, quality flick.
I’m less of a tight ass about stops along the way and even about the time we left. I’ve been in knots about making sure we got to the gigs on time. I’ll probably loosen up the next go round now that I know how we roll and what the group dynamic is. We rolled into a Bob Evans and ate some food before continuing the trip. My inability to swallow without pain kept me from eating so I boxed it up for later.
Brian’s road rage reached new heights as a truck drove slow and wouldn’t get over so that he could get by. He picks up his phone and actually calls the “How’s My Driving Number” and speaks with someone telling them that this truck is driving too slow and won’t get over. I’ve never seen anyone actually use those phone number so we had a good laugh. If that wasn’t enough someone with Virginia license plates cut him off and he uttered a word that I‘ve never heard be fore and hope to use everyday for the rest of my life he called Mr. Virginia...a cuntsicle! We hit another rest stop and throw on Tropic Thunder.
As we finish with the movies and throw on some music I look out of my window and I have to say there aren’t many more beautiful sights than this stretch of land in the autumn. All the trees are different colors and the leaves still haven’t fallen off yet. Looks like a Bob Ross Painting. As I stare into space I sort of take stock and evaluate this little mini tour. Now that I’ve taken my band out for a little road trip that included long hours in a car, being on top of each other, hotel rooms, and consecutive shows in different cities, there are things I’ve noticed, learned and will take into account the next time we’re out.
Firstly, I have to plan the route better. I sort of had to take what I could get this time around but next time I’ll probably make so that we don’t have to spend more than four hours in a car and can actually see the cities we’re playing in. The long rides meant that we had to get up early which meant little to no sleep for everybody.
Second, this is my preferred touring situation. It’s not inconceivable that I may be on tour with other bands, singing, playing guitar, or managing but if I had a choice of being on the road with someone it would be with these three guys. Jake, Rob. Brian, and I have a really good personal chemistry it’s almost brotherly. I enjoyed the debates and philosophical conversations, the new words and terms developed while out here. It seems like we’ve bonded and I think it transferred over to our playing this weekend. The machine parts are right and now and it ran beautifully despite the few setbacks we had.
Third, traveling gives me a new perspective on how good the band and I actually are. I often feel like the longevity and consistency that I’ve enjoyed often allows the people here at home to take me for granted. There’s always some cool new band that the Philly faithful try to get behind and jump on the bandwagon, the general feeling that I’m not going anywhere sometimes people are a little more lukewarm than I’d like them to be and it’s easy to get down on yourself. Not to mention Philly has a dearth of Funk/Rock acts these days. For the people we played for this week the sound was something fresh and different.
Fourth, this is a group of people comfortable with gas. I’ve smelled more farts in the past few days then I ever did in the van with Camaro, many of them were my own.
Number five, Microtels are the best of the three we stayed in.
Six and most importantly, now I know that this current Boy Wonder lineup can dot he whole touring thing. If something were to happen where we got on the road opening for someone or I got a deal etc. These guys are tough enough to withstand the pounding that can sometimes be associated with living this kind of life. There’s a big difference between a two month tour and 5 days out but I think if something were to happen we could really do the damned thang.
We’ll get the ALCS on the radio and listen to that until we get home. Drop Rob off and unload his stuff, Drop Jake off and then I get to see my house again for the first time in a few days. I can’t believe it’s only been like 4/5 days. Seemed a lot longer than that. I had an awesome time with some awesome people, can’t wait until we get a chance to do this again.
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