The Bear Incident

I wrote this entry a few days ago, but am just now getting to post it b/c we have been traveling this weekend and I didn't have an internet connection to post through.  So, this is a few days later than originally planned, but here you are.  

Let’s get right to it.  We definitely had some ‘issues’ at our show last Saturday.  Hmm, where to begin?  I should start by saying that I don’t want it to sound like I am being negative about the venue, or the owner or staff; the people there were great to us, and the venue was fun as well.  I would definitely like to go back and give it another shot.  It was an outdoor show at a resort right on a lake; gorgeous view, fun and appreciative crowd.  Here, I’ll just tell the story and hopefully that will explain what I mean.

We got to the resort right at 4pm, thinking that we were going to start at 8.  That was completely my fault; I had the contract that had the start time and all that.  Well, when we got there at 4, the poster promoting the show said we started at 5, an hour from when we arrived.  Uh oh.  We were definitely not prepared for that.  So, we started rushing to get set up in time.  While we were setting up I asked the owner where we’d be staying that night (b/c most of the time lodging is part of the agreement as well), and she kind of looked at me strange and just said, “I don’t know where you guys are staying”.  Again, if I would have read the contract more closely I would have known lodging wasn’t part of this particular arrangement.  So, we have less than an hour to set up at this point and were out in the middle of nowhere God knows how far from a hotel without time to search for one.  At that point we really couldn’t focus on that, we just had to finish getting set up so we could play. 

We were scheduled to play from 5 to 9, which in the summer meant it would still be light out when we finished.  Thinking about that, with the fact that we were on a time crunch, I made the decision to NOT put up any sort of lighting.  Although we were under a tent, there should still be plenty of light when we finish.  This was to be my third mistake.  More on that in a minute though.

We got set up pretty quickly and were ready to sound check just a few minutes after 5, and when Kevin went to turn on all the power amps, nothing happened.  No power.  Hmm, can’t play music without electricity.  So, the electrician was called, and after about 40 minutes of trying several different things, something worked and we had the power we needed.  I don't know what all was done to figure it out, but what ever they did, we finally got electricity to the stage.  But, because of that, our show time had been pushed back to approximately 5:50 to 9:50.   This is when I realized that not putting up any lights at all might have been a bad idea on my part. 

Oh, the other thing about playing outside in the summer in Northern Wisconsin: tons of mosquitoes and other bugs.  We really should start carrying some bug repellent spray.  Luckily for us they had some on hand, so we all sprayed ourselves down and started the show. 

Everything went well throughout most of the show.  Like I said, I hope this doesn’t come across as a negative reaction to the venue, staff, or patrons.  All those things were great.  It was just the circumstances (most of which were my fault) that made it a rough evening.  So, our last set started a little after 9.  If we would have been finishing up at this time, everything would have been fine.  But with one set to go, playing under a tent as the sun has basically set is now an issue.  It got dark very quickly under there.  And while we were able to keep the mosquitoes at bay with just the bug spray before, now they were out and in full attack mode.  At the start of our last set, the patrons could no longer really see the band, the band could no longer see their instruments, and everyone was getting eaten alive by the bugs.  We had to call the show after 3 or 4 songs into the last set because we couldn’t see and were getting assaulted by the bugs.  I actually think the people there listening to us were relieved; they jumped right up and went inside the resort for respite. 

We now had to as quickly as possible tear down the gear and throw it in the van while trying not to get tore up too bad by the mosquitoes.  Then, from out of nowhere, the skies opened up and a torrential downpour came.  We scrambled to get everything under the tent at least and away from the edge, but some lids and boxes and things definitely got soaked quickly.  It was crazy how fast and hard the rain came; just dealing with darkness and bugs one minute, the next minute boom, a flash flood.  We put up one light so we could see to tear everything down and pack it up.  But the rain just wouldn’t let up.  We were basically stuck under this tent by ourselves (everyone else was inside enjoying the benefits of having a roof and walls), and it just kept raining harder and harder. Then water started flowing into the tent where all our stuff was sitting, so we had to get everything up on stage to keep it from getting soaked.  We were all so miserable that it was funny.  The four of us just sat out there under the tent with all our stuff waiting for the rain to let up so we could load it back in the trailer.  Surprisingly we were all in pretty good spirits, and were able to laugh at the absurdity of the whole thing.  That helped.  After about an hour and a half (I’m guessing on the time here) the rain finally let up just enough in spurts so that we were able to get everything out from under the tent and loaded back into the van and trailer.  Our only issue at that point was figuring out where we were going to stay that night.  I was really hoping it wasn’t going to be in the van.

Well, we got lucky here.  The owner helped us out by finding someone with an open cabin for us to stay at (for a relatively small fee).  So we were able to crash in beds for the night, which was a relief.  This is one of those few times we definitely could have used the perks of having a bus with bunks in it.  But we ended up with a roof over our head, none of our gear was ruined by the flood, and just maybe the four of us got a little closer from the whole ordeal.  Either way, that is the dreaded story of how last Saturday night went for us. 

Here’s a funny question someone asked me the other day: I was sitting at the bar of a restaurant and there was a local phone book lying on the bar nearby.  One of the staff walked up and asked, “Is that your phone book?”  In her defense, I guess it could have been my phone book, but the question just seemed so random and obscure to me at that moment.  If I would have been quick on my feet I should have said, “yeah, that’s my phone book; I like to travel the country and pick up a phone book of every town I’m in just in case I need to look up somebody’s phone number while I’m there.”  But at that moment I was feeling too polite for that kind of sarcasm, so I just told her it was not mine.  It just struck me as such a funny and odd question; I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that before.  Let me rephrase: I’m sure no one has ever asked me that before. 

So, I saw a bear the other day. By that I mean: OH GOD I SAW A BEAR!!! Here’s what happened: We were staying at this house right on the lake outside Hayward, WI for a couple days.  I was on a business call (that point becomes important in a moment), and was in the back room with the door closed so I could concentrate on the conversation.  I was kind of glancing out the window during the conversation looking over at the neighbor’s yard, when I saw some furry legs walking on the other side of a tree (what I mean is that I could only see the legs of the animal).  I remember thinking, ‘bear? No way, must be a dog’.  Then immediately thinking that has to be one large dog.  As it passed behind the tree and I could see the legs again on the other side, I realized the paws and legs were definitely larger than what a dog would have.   Now remember I’m on a business call during this; at this point I say to the person on the phone, “holy sh%#, I think there’s a F*$@ing bear outside”.  Totally professional, right?  So I run from the back room I’m in out to the living room which has these huge bay windows, and sure enough, there’s a black bear walking right across the front yard about 30 feet away.  At this point I’m yelling to get the other guys’ attention; Steve gets up from where he is to check it out and starts yelling for Josh to get in there; Josh runs out from his room to check it out. The three of us are loudly exclaiming that a bear is outside, all the while I still have a person on the phone just listening to us basically screaming about a bear. 

So the black bear just walked through the front yard and kept on going.  Josh wanted to get a picture, so in his infinite wisdom decided to go out in the yard to try to snap a couple shots before the bear was out of sight (he was unsuccessful in this).  My question: why are you going outside to get closer to a wild bear??? Are you crazy? I can just imagine the call I would have had to make to his wife: “So, do you by chance have a life insurance policy for Josh?  Because he just got eaten by a bear”.   Not a conversation I ever want to have with his wife. 

Oh, and Kevin wasn’t there at the time either; he was out running errands, and didn’t have his phone with him.  What if the bear stuck around?  There was no way to get in touch with Kevin to warn him.  We were trying to devise ways to get a message to Kevin as he pulled back up.  Luckily, that was not necessary, as the bear had moved on.  But wow, how cool to see a big black bear walk right through the front yard.  That was definitely a new experience for me.  I guess that’s just northern Wisconsin though.

Well I know this is a shorter entry, but I wanted to try to get this one out in a timely manner, and I didn’t have a lot to discuss this week.  I’m thinking about appropriate song quotes now for this entry.  Something from “Singing in the Rain” or even “The Super Bowl Shuffle” would work.  Ha.  But that would be cheesy.  I haven’t really heard anything that caught my attention as a great song quote in the past couple days, so maybe I’ll just skip that part this week.  What I will not skip is my shameless self promotion to end this week’s entry. 

So, as always, make sure you check out our website www.themichaeldband.com for tour dates and all sorts of other fun stuff.  Since I’m sure everyone reading this is already following us on TWITTER and likes our FACEBOOK fan page, let me switch it up this time by asking you to invite all of your friends on TWITTER and FACEBOOK to ‘Follow’ and ‘Like’ us as well.  Also be sure to pick up our music on I-TUNES.  And lastly, if there’s anything you’d like to hear more about from our travels, EMAIL me and let me know.  I always enjoy getting suggestions and hearing from our fan base.  Until next time, be safe out there.  We hope to see you at a show very soon!