Is It Summertime Yet?

One thing that I’ve tried to do from time to time with this journal is show the ‘not so glamorous’ side of what we do.  That will continue with this story:

We were up in Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota last week playing shows.  More specifically, we were staying in Superior, WI and had a show in Proctor, MN.  To get from one town to the other you have to cross one of two extremely long and very tall bridges across Lake Superior.  As I am not a huge fan of heights anyway, I do not enjoy going over these (or pretty much any) bridges (think about how bad it must be for me to cross the 7 Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys).  But it was so much worse last week.  The day we were scheduled to play it started snowing, and over the course of the afternoon and night there was more than a foot of snow that fell.  It was already snowing and windy on the way to the show, and on the way back after the show it had been snowing for hours and the bridge was incredibly slippery.  I remember thinking that with this much snow and the weather conditions being like they were, my home town would have shut down.  There would have been a ‘no travel advisory’, nothing open that night, etc.  But not here; it was just another night.  I couldn’t believe that anyone at all came out to our show.  Some people told us they even walked to the bar to come see us b/c they knew we’d still be playing, but didn’t want to drive there.   But anyway, the point I was making earlier was that driving over the bridge was terrifying.  But that wasn’t even the worst part of the evening.  Here’s pretty much the rundown of our night, all after the show was over.  First we got the van stuck in the parking lot at the bar.  The roads hadn’t really been plowed; there was no way the parking lot was cleared yet.  So yes, we got stuck; and had to get out and push.  We finally got out to the road and headed back to Superior where we were staying.  Yes, you guessed it, that’s when we had to cross back over the bridge.  But with my head down and lots of praying (no, I was not driving) we made it safely across and back into Wisconsin. 

I guess to tell the next part of this story I should describe our lodging situation, so the story actually makes sense.  We were staying at the band house owned by another club nearby.  They were kind enough to let us stay there for a few days.  The house doesn’t have a driveway or anything like that though; parking is in the alley behind the house.  I give you those details to tell you this: in our infinite wisdom (or lack thereof) we decided that we were going to be able to make it through the alley to the parking space.  Problem: the alley is on a slight incline.  Other problem: there’s a freaking foot of fresh unplowed snow in the alley.  We make the turn into the alley and got stuck within ten feet.  So, Kevin and I get out to push while Josh tries to maneuver the van from the driver’s seat.  Not having any luck whatsoever pushing the van up the incline into the alley, we decide to try to push it back into the street and turn it so we can possibly find some street parking.  So we got it pushed back into the street, just to get it stuck again as Josh was trying to turn the van.  Oh, by the way, it was 1 a.m. at this point; still snowing, and pretty cold.  Well, after a few more unsuccessful attempts at pushing the van out, I’m ready to just leave it in the road and call it a night.  If someone wants it moved badly enough, they’ll tow it.  I think we were all at a point that the tow charge would have been better than the suffering.  But just as we were about to give up, a few neighbors came out and helped us.  I guess maybe my continuous yelling of curse words woke them up or something, who knows.  But these two guys came out, and with their help we were able to get out of the road and back into the alley.  By this time Kevin and Josh had switched places and Kevin was steering while Josh was back with me pushing with the two neighbors.  So, as I was saying, we got the van out of the road and into the alley, and Kevin gunned it to get up the hill and toward the parking space.  But about 10 feet from the parking space the van went sideways and got stuck yet again.  So now we have a van almost sideways in some back alley, I’ve fallen in the snow too many times to count, Josh has somehow hurt his wrist, and I think Steve even fell once.  And each time Kevin tried to move the van from that position it just slid further sideways to where it was pretty much perpendicular to the alley and over in the deep drifts.  At this point I just say screw it. We are out of the road and at least in the alley.  We’re all cold and soaked from the continued snowfall (and from falling in it), as well as tired from pushing a van up a hill.  We decide to leave it there and call it a night.  We thank the two neighbors for their help and go into the house to warm up. 

End of the night, right?  NOPE.  We go inside, get out of our soaked clothes and are all sitting around the table catching our breaths and warming up when there is a knock on the door.  At 1:30ish in the morning.  A different neighbor is at the door telling us that the cops want us to know that we cannot leave our van there; that if it is blocking the alley it will be towed.  Are you kidding me?  TOW IT!!!  But no, Kevin, Josh and I get our wet clothes out of the dryer, put them back on, and head back out to try to get the van unstuck yet again.  With the help of the same two neighbor guys, we all take turns shoveling the snow around the van, and after about 45 more minutes of pushing and falling and lots of cussing, we finally get the van somewhat in the parking space. 

Worst night ever!  Now you know the ‘not so glamorous’ side of this lifestyle.  Oh, and by the way, we got stuck again the next day too.  And yes, I fell in the snow again.  Is it summer time yet?

Here’s another thing that happened the other night (thankfully a different night) that just really irked me.  We started off the show, and before the first song ended I broke a string.   Usually breaking a string isn’t a big deal, it happens.  What pissed me off so much is this: earlier that day I got the guitar out of the case to change the strings; it was about time for new ones.  But in a moment of laziness I looked at the strings, decided that they would hold up for one more show, and put the guitar back in the case.  And what happens?  The first flippin’ song I break a string.  Just my luck.  I spent the rest of that set fuming (at myself) and playing an electric guitar on songs that I normally play with the acoustic.  And while doing that is not all that different, there are changes in strumming pattern and a few other subtle differences.  It was just annoying.  And even worse it was all because I was lazy and didn’t want to do the prep work for the show.  Then I had to take the entire break to change all the strings on the acoustic guitar and get right back up on stage for the next set.  So, is there a lesson to be learned here?  Yes: don’t be lazy!  I had an adviser in college that taught us about the 6 P’s: “previous proper planning prevents poor performance”.  Remember that! 

Wow, just read all that back to myself and realized that this has been a really negative journal entry so far; time to think of something positive.  Well, it is still snowing and below 0 degrees outside.  Wait, that’s not positive.  I had the flu last week.  Nope, not positive either.  Damn!  Here IS the positive for me: I continue to receive amazing feedback from you all about our latest album “Back In Town”.  And that is the best thing I could really hope for right now.  It means so much to me that there are people out there that like and appreciate our music.  So thank you to everyone out there who has written a quick note to tell me that they have our CD in their car and listen to it all the time, or that they played the album for their friends and now those friends want a copy too.  And also to everyone who has taken a moment at a show to say they love this song or that song.  The support you all continue to give us is the positive for me.  When I break strings, or get stuck in the snow, or all the other negative things that can and do happen to us while out here on the road, the continued support and appreciation really is what keeps us going.  It keeps me motivated.  So if you like what we do, or are enjoying our new album, let us know.  We love to hear that our music is having an effect on you in some way.  And keep spreading the word.  Tell your friends about us; play our music for your co-workers; invite new people out to our shows. 

Well, next week we are back at home and I will have plenty of time for writing.  So prepare for a nice long ‘journal entry’ next week.  I have a few questions you have submitted that need answered.  Plus a couple of other things on my mind I’m already looking forward to writing about.  So if you have things you want to know about us, EMAIL me and ask them.  I will answer as much as I can. 

Like the other posts, I want to conclude this one with my usual shameless promoting:

Make sure you check out our FACEBOOK page, and be sure to ‘follow’ us on TWITTER.  Check out our website www.themichaeldband.com to see our schedule and find out when we’re going to be near you.  And don’t forget about our new album “Back In Town” on I-TUNES.  Lastly, below are more lyrics from another song off our new album. 

Thanks for reading and following us.

“Back In Town”

I met a couple of boys who love to make some noise and play the music that I like to do

So we took our band on the road a couple years ago just to see what we could get into

We headed north to Bismarck where after it gets dark they drink whiskey like it’s going out of style

And out in California man I should warn ya those girls know how to drive me wild

Yeah they get the party going everywhere so

I travel ‘cross the land with a guitar in my hand

This bottle never lets me down

But the road leads the way at the end of the day

So I’ll see you all when I get back in town

Yeah we love to raise some hell with them southern bells down in Georgia on the Forth of July

And out in Arizona ooh you should know they got the stuff that really gets me high

And we’ve  done shots off the bodies of them Key West hotties, no I didn’t even need the lime

And I still can’t remember that Friday night in Denver but they say it was a hell of a time

From the east to the west coast, Canada to Mexico

I travel ‘cross the land with a guitar in my hand

This bottle never lets me down

But the road leads the way at the end of the day

So I’ll see you all when I get back in town

I travel ‘cross the land with a guitar in my hand

This bottle never lets me down

But the road leads the way at the end of the day

So I’ll see you all when I get back in town

Yeah I’ll see you all when I get back in town