In Between
Here's another "road" story - about one particularly long day in the fall of 2013 as one tour ended and another began. I just wrapped up a series of European dates with miRthkon. The day in question started with me waking up as the van arrived at the airport in Milan at 3am shortly after a major rain/lightning storm passed through.
We allotted ourselves lots of time for the epic drive from Würzburg in case of any border/automotive problems, and thus ended up at the airport 7 hours early for the flight. Yay! Very little in the terminal was open yet, so we parked ourselves and our mountain of gear at a cafe and snacked and half snoozed with our heads down on the tables. I successfully whined enough about the shitty wifi that Wally finally caved and let me use his data plan so I could chat with Jenya back home.
Once the airline desk was staffed we hurried over to check in. The people at the counter were confused and overwhelmed with our large party and our weird baggage. It took two people an hour to serve us completely. We were nice and smiley during the procedure and they were ultimately kind in return. The patrons waiting in line behind us were miffed. Fuck those people.
Lugged all our shit to the bulky baggage drop off and went through security. I spent down my euros on some crusty salty bread snacks which would ultimately crumb up the inside of my laptop bag. Took a benedryl just to be sure sleep would happen.
The boarding process was your typical Euro squeeze at the gate, i.e. everybody lining up and cutting in without any regards to order. I pushed in as well to ensure I had overhead space. Once seated I got asked to move by a couple guys who wanted to sit near each other. Easy enough to do them this favor, as I got another aisle seat next to a nice young Italian couple. However the guy had a thick, itchy jacket that kept draping into my area and brushing against my arm.
I closed my eyes before takeoff and eventually came to only to find we were still taxiing. Dammit! And then I realized we were already at altitude. I totally slept through takeoff and ascent. Sweet! I was so drowsy I drifted off a couple more times during the course of the flight. These naps and a couple meals broke up the 8 hour leg to JFK. I've had worse flights.
Given the time zone difference it was still only 12:30pm once we landed in NYC. Back in the USA! I immediately messaged Jenya, and then my iPhone died. The battery was seriously fucking up more and more, despite claimed charge levels. Fine.
Customs was by-the-book but it took us a while to find all our shit at baggage claim. But that was it for me - I said bye to the miRthkoneers as they headed for their flight back to California. And as it happens I was just beginning a tour with Secret Chiefs 3 here in NYC. What fortunate timing and geography! Since miRthkon started/ended the tour in Milan I did the thing where I booked a round trip flight from SFO fairly cheap, knowing full well the return flight stopped at JFK on the way back and I could simply get out and abandon the last leg. This method was much cheaper than buying a one way ticket from SFO to Milan, and then a flight from Milan to JFK.
I got in the epic leaving-the-airport line. I chatted it up with the old Connecticut couple behind me who were bitching about the impossibly slow queue. Suddenly this young woman grumpily approached them and snatched the man's bag. Turns out the old guy took the young woman's bag by accident from the carousel since they looked similar. Luckily for all parties involved this was discovered and sorted out before they left the airport. So I guess for them it was a good thing the line moved so slow. Anyway this is one of my favorite travel nightmares (i.e. some fucking oblivious idiot grabs my bag). Oh how I love having such worries realized and thus confirmed as valid concerns.
Got a taxi to Toby's place. My phone died again en route, but luckily only after I gave the driver the correct address. It was Toby's birthday - as I arrived I found a gang of people already revving up the barbecue grill. Timba was also there, and I knew the Kayo Dot guys already, but I'd have to overcome my travel exhaustion and social anxiety to meet the other people. I dropped off my shit inside and joined the party. Fun hang, beers drunk, meats eaten including some delicious homemade pulled pork.
Plans for the evening formed. John Zorn's Moonchild was performing that night at Le Poisson Rouge. The show cost $35. Toby got on the list, and a few of the others wanted to go too, so I bought a ticket on line. I was fairly toasted, but the idea of staying up late and getting back on the North American rock schedule while catching a very New York City-esque show appealed to me.
But also happening tonight was the series finale of Breaking Bad. Full disclosure: I only saw the first two episodes from the first season and never got into it. At that time I didn't have the bandwidth or desire to live in that world, figuring I'd pick it up again later but never did. But fuck it, I was half brain dead and happily following the wolf pack so I was perfectly willing to tag along and ruin the whole series for myself by taking in the very last episode.
The small group of us got to the Village and started hunting around Le Poisson Rouge for any bar that may be showing Breaking Bad on television. However nobody really knew exactly where to go and the hunt proved difficult. Indeed there were lots of sports bars. Lots and lots of them. But none were planning to stop watching whatever game to turn on Breaking Bad.
It was getting close to 9pm when we finally found a place 10 blocks away that was empty and quiet and had televisions all over. The bartender told us they would totally turn on Breaking Bad for us. Sweet! Meanwhile I ran two blocks away to get cash out of an ATM. I got back in time to see the bar owner trying to turn on AMC, realizing his cable package didn't carry this channel, and then refusing to buy it just so we could watch it. That was so stupid. It would have cost him $10 and we would have bought hella drinks!
Dejected, we split, and headed back towards LPR when we miraculously stumbled on some other bar which was indeed playing it. Yay! It was a few minutes in, but we didn't seem to miss much. Everybody inside attentively watched this final episode which tied up all the loose ends and was strangely predictable yet satisfying. And I say that as somebody who pretty much never saw any of the 6 seasons, but heard enough spoilers to get the gist of what was going on. Now I don't have to bother watching that crazy crap. Just saved myself like 60 hours of life.
That ended at 10:15pm. We briskly walked to LPR and got our will call tix with one minute to spare. The show started as I was getting a much needed $4 coke. Packed house. A short but sweet set. I was glad I attended - it's good to cram in whatever NYC lifestyle whenever you can.
Got back to Toby's after midnight. He still had yet to pack for tour (we're getting the van/trailer and driving down to Atlanta tomorrow). I wanted to be nice and so I did three sinkfuls of dishes made dirty by today's party. Toby set me up to sleep on the couch. And I was pretty much down for the count at 1am.. except where's my wedding ring?
I took it off, probably, to do dishes, but it wasn't in my pockets, or by the sink, or in the couch cushions, or on the floor. I took a deep breath and dug through the garbage in case I dropped it in there. Nope. What a futile, gross exercise that was. I kinda panicked but then I checked my laptop bag and found it rolling around in the altoids canister where I keep my earbuds. Not entirely sure how they got there (I have theories) but in any case: Phew!
Passed out on the couch pretty quick, finally ending a long day in every sense.