Date: Friday, October 13
Place: Oldfield's on Fourth, Columbus, Ohio
Jeff picked me up at around nine o'clock Friday morning. Columbus is a good 5 hours from Chicago plus you lose an hour to the time change, so we proceeded to Barret and Aoife's to get them and get on the road.
Two things: 1) Our touring vehicle was a Dodge Grand Caravan, and 2) Jeff and Barret have a history of... "disagreeing" over the best way to pack equipment.
So I decided to just stand back and let them wrestle with how to get all our instruments, amps, and suitcases into the van. Within 30 minutes, we were ready to roll with little controversy.
After a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts for coffee and breakfast, we were off and... sitting in mid-morning traffic on the Dan Ryan.
Oh joy.
This turned out to be an omen for the tour.
But once we got out of the city, we started making good time through Indiana,
Most of riding in a van packed with a lot of gear and four people involves keeping yourself amused. I did this by 1) reading, and 2) snacking.
I read The Progress Paradox by Gregg Easterbrook.
I snacked on granola bars.
We decided to stop at a Cracker Barrel in middle-Indiana for lunch.
Actual exchange at lunch:
Waiter: Can I get you something to drink?
Jeff (looking over menu, then looking at Joe): They don't have beer here?
Joe: Doesn't look like it.
Jeff: Then why did we come here?
Waiter (under breath): That's a good question.
After lunch, the final two hours or so flew by and we were rolling into Columbus.
We weren't sure what to expect at the venue, but things seemed a bit grim as we pulled up in front of what appeared to be a complete dive in a more than seedy neighborhood. We did a drive by and circled around back and saw... graffiti that read "I 'heart' crack." And next to it, some sort of swastika.
Not kidding.
An inauspicious start.
The inside of the bar wasn't much more promising. The bartender was nice, but he revealed that the venue had a PA system, but no microphone or stand.
That's right.
We managed to contact the owner of the bar who directed us to another bar where we made contact with a sound guy who promised to meet us a little later with a microphone and stand.
Crisis averted.
Now, there was the question of whether or not there would be anyone at the bar to listen to us. The bartender said that the crowd was usually college kids and was late arriving so we set up our gear and got some food and beverages. Jeff and I ran out and met the sound guy and the PA was complete, although a little lean.
Around 10 or so, the bar started to get busier and the atmosphere improved by leaps and bounds.
Actual exchange:
Jeff: I saw Rod Stewart on Leno the other night, and he was lurching around the stage like he had lost a hip.
Barret: Didn't you hear? He gave his hip to Barry Manilow.
Around 11:00, we got up and started playing and the crowd was positive and attentive. We played for about an hour and half, hitting almost every song we knew. After a half an hour break, we got back up (at this point, the bar was pretty full) and rocked through a few more tunes including impromptu versions of a couple of covers.
I thought we sounded really good and really showed that we can play well in less-than-ideal circumstances (the PA had no monitor, so I couldn't hear my vocals very well).
All in all a good show and a good recovery from what seemed like it could be a disaster. Additionally, we made contacts with other venues that might suit us a little bit better when we return to Columbus.
After selling a couple of CDs, we had the van all loaded up and were ready to get on the road by a little after two o'clock.
We kicked around driving the three hours to Lexington, but settled on driving an hour and trying to find a cheap motel. This proved harder than one would think. It seemed like every hotel between Columbus and Cincinnati was booked.
When we did find a vacancy, it was at a "Budget Motel" (no shit) that had (I kid you not) what appeared to be gallows out front.
We continued on. At this point it was nearly four o'clock in the morning and we were beat. We finally found a suitable and inexpensive room about 20 minutes north of Cincinnati.
My head hit the pillow and I was asleep instantaneously after a long, somewhat harried, but ultimately successful first day on the road.
jbg
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