Rollin' to rock

Saturday we played a show at Mississippi Nights in sunny St. Louis.

Traveling with a band, by nature, is always a bit of a trial. You bust your ass to get where you're playing and then for your trouble you get 45 minutes to play music. Then you have to come home. It's exhausting and trying, but ultimately rewarding. Although our load-in in St. Louis wasn't until 6:30 pm, Barret picked me up at 10:00 am. We drove to an Avis downtown to pick up our rented minivan. The woman at the counter seemed baffled because they had no minivan for me, even though I had a piece of paper confirming my reservation.

They offered us a Ford Explorer. Which wasn't going to work.

Luckily, the manager stepped in and drove to another location to get us our promised van. And when he pulled up... he pulled up in a Ford Freestar. This please me greatly. Last summer, we rented a Ford Freestar for our mini-tour, and it suited us perfectly. I was worried we might get stuck with a Ford Windstar, which would have been less agreeable because, well, in the immortal words of Dr. Jeffery M. Bella, "It's better to break Free than to break Wind."

Not only was it a Ford Freestar, it was a 2005 with just 25 miles on it. So we were set. I popped up north to get Jeff and his gear, and we met Barret and Aoife at our rehearsal space, where we (well, Barret) packed all our gear in the Freestar. We hit the road at the drop of noon, as planned (by Barret). The ride to St. Louis down Interstate 55 (the so called Double Nickel) is one of the most boring drives you'll ever take.

Of the 300 miles from our rehearsal space to the club, roughly 290 of them are spent on 55. Which is good for making time, good for looking at flat, flat, farmland, good for boredom. Luckily, BRB is a constant laugh and there was much to be amused by in the way of conversation. We stopped in Springfield for lunch and I resisted the urge to have a Horseshoe, which is apparently some sort of bread, meat, cheese, gravy concoction that is particular to our state capitol.

Then it was back on the road. We hit St. Louis around 5:30, an hour early, and found the club with little problem. Mississippi Nights is a truly great club, right on the river. It looks and feels kind of like Double Door, but has the capacity of Metro. We came in during the headliner's sound check and got our gear inside.

The headliner was local Javier Mendoza, who was extremely cool, as was the rest of his band. Actually, everyone at the club was cool, especially the sound guy, who went out of his way to help clear up a miscommunication about our starting time.

At about 6:30, we got a sound check and then had an hour and half to kill before we played. Doc slept in the van, Barret had a beer, and Aoife and I took a walk to check out the gambling boats. At 8:30, we took the stage and played a sloppy but energetic 45 minute set. The crowd started out small, but built throughout our set, and there were a good number of people there by the time we finished, most of whom seemed into it.

We were loose onstage and had a good rapor with the audience. Afterwards, we handed out about 60 CDs, and although we were giving them away, a bunch of people insisted on paying us for them, which was nice. The cool thing about playing out of town shows for me is that you know the audience has never heard you before. Sure, you've played these songs 200 times each, but these people are hearing them for the first time, so you had better make them good. That adds an element of newness that really helps the energy.

So after our set, we packed up and loaded out down some precarious back stairs. The band after us was okay. A little bit poppy (ala Maroon 5) for my tastes but still very good at what they did. We chatted with the crowd, talked to the Javier Mendoza band for a bit, and then got in the van around 10:30 pm. 

Here's where things get rough. We decided to drive back to Chicago so we could get the van back in the morning, save on a hotel, and because we all had things to do for Mother's Day. Now, I was the only person legally permitted to drive the minivan because it was rented in my name and to save money we didn't add another driver. I had no problem with letting Barret drive for a bit if I got tired, but I figured I'd at least start out driving and see how far I could get.

So we started rolling north and I just kept driving. And driving. And we stopped for food. And I drove. And we stopped for gas. And I drove. Suddenly it was about 2:00 am, Barret had fallen asleep and I was still driving, about an hour from Chicago.

So I pushed through and made it all the way back.

Two moments that stick out: 1) about 45 minutes from Chicago a deer ran across the road about 400 feet in front of the car. Not good. 2) Just as the Chicago skyline came into view, Once in a Lifetime by Talking Heads came on the radio.

Which gave me that last burst of energy to get us into the city, unload our gear, and get back to my house at 4:00 am.

 So... the totals:

Miles driven: 600

Hours driven: 9.5

Minutes playing music: 45

CDs given away to future fans: 60

Money made: $0 (we broke exactly even on the trip)

The chance to do what you love: priceless

jbg