o/~ ...man my ass is swollen, rawhiiiide... o/~
(yes, that's right..what other blog brings you obscure "City Slickers" references?)
When last we left our intrepid hero, I was taming the savage beast upon his reentry to the greater DC area. And despite my pleasure with my success of the night previous, there were miles to go after I slept...so I couldn't sleep for long. I'd instructed Chris to wake me at the bright-n-early hour of 8:30 to ensure I got on the road by 9:30. Since he had to get up anyway to walk Jack, he was more than happy to oblige. And so up and at 'em I was by 9, out the door closer to 10, headed north. WAY north.
Google maps puts the trip from Alexandria to South Burlington at a whopping 546 miles. Now, 546 miles is a long trip any way you cut it. It's even longer when it's fucking RAINING the entire way, and longer still when you have a passenger-side wiper that is bleating like a tasered sheep every time it drags across the windshield. Got from Virginia, around DC, up into Maryland (got my first and only speeding ticket of the trip thanks to a speed trap just over the Tydings bridge, before the toll plaza), through Delaware, New Jersey, and then the long haul up the New York thruway.
The weather finally broke for a bit and I pick up a bit of time, but then realize that I need to, in three consecutive rest areas, fill up my tank (stop 1), stop to plug in my phone so I can call home (stop 2) and get some lunch (stop 3). Very poorly planned for a family that prides itself on stopping a MAXIMUM of once per trip. I am ashamed. I will make one note though - before you put your $1.75 (ehighway erobbery) into a vending machine clearly labeled as a Pepsi machine, make sure it actually sells...wait for it...wait for it...PEPSI. No, I ended up spending a buck seventy-five on a bottle of Dowser Spring water - the only thing this godforsaken machine sold.
Another interesting subplot to my dead cell phone - I was supposed to either stay at a hotel in Burlington with friends who had rented a room, or stay with a guy from the BT mailing list who had offered a place to stay. I'd emailed both of them but never heard back from either one before my trip started so I was starting to think I'd have to scrounge for a room...when that morning I got an email from one and a phone message from the other. So fully expecting to call them once I was in town, I set off armed with their phone numbers, and a cell phone that was apparently hemorrhaging battery power at an alarming rate, which promptly died within an hour. Oh, and I don't own a car charger. Gah.
Doors were at 6pm and it was becoming increasingly obvious that I was not going to make it in time. I ended up rolling into Burlington at 7pm, but the venue was maddeningly difficult to find. After several trips up and down US2 - this despite Mapquest informing me that the place was less than a quarter-mile from the exit - I finally stopped at a 7-11 whose clerk took pity on me. Turns out the place is almost impossible to see from the road (a four-lane highway in both directions, so you can't exactly poke along and inspect every tiny sign) - it's behind a Dunkin' Donuts and attached to a Chinese food place called the Silver Palace. Sounds like a total oddball place but it's actually a pretty nice venue - they just moved into the location less than a year ago, there's plenty of free parking, and there are actually two rooms in the place.
Still, I was a bit panicked about being late for the opener...except there was no opener. Word eventually filtered down that their van had melted down somewhere in Delaware - I may have just blown by them in my rush northward. Apparently they weren't due to go on until 8 anyway, so I would have been ok. Now, because they weren't coming at all, BT moved up their set time and played at 9 rather than 9:30 or 10, which gave me the crazy idea of just going home. Of course, my phone was still dead, so I couldn't call either of my housing benefactors, but I'd done the drive home from Burlington before, and I was surprisingly awake for someone who'd just driven 546 miles plus a few laps on Route 2. I figured I'd wait to see how I felt after the show.
Good decision, as the show was quite energizing, and I got to exchange pleasantries with the other two tapers who were there. One was running what I'm hoping to make my newest toy - the MicroTrack 24/96 - so we chatted about the contraption for a while, about the sound in the room (good, as it turned out, despite our position), and general regional taping. The show ended up selling out, and the guys played well off the crowd despite a bit of a low-energy vibe in the room. John continues to have fun on-stage, and they even pulled out a little Canadian Rose tease in honor of the Burlington shout-out in the lyrics. The best part of the evening was John stopping right around the 2-hour mark thanking the crowd for being fucking excellent - usually the sign that there's one more tune left before the encore break. Except there was a 6-minute NY Prophesie...followed by a 7 minute Slow Change...followed by an 11-minute Brother John. An excellent old-school way to really blow out the end of the set and make it a good solid 2.5-hour show.
After a quick post-show chat with the friends I was supposed to hit the hotel with - they managed to find me; not sure what happened to the other guy - it was back to the 7-11 for the largest Pepsi they had, and then into the car for the 3-hour drive home. So if you're counting at home...that's 12 hours in the car, 5 hours at the venue. Bitchin'.
Yeah, good luck getting that new toy.