Tender Moments In The Van

A: Marconi took the first driving shift, and Elle was riding shotgun, so Lioux and I made ourselves as comfortable as possible in the back seatal area for the first long leg of the ride. We have two captain’s chair type seats, with a assload of gear directly behind our heads, and two guitars on the floor between us. (See diagram)




Essentially, I get very fidgety in the van after a while, so I started bustling and moving around. My Treo’s battery was going low because I was using it constantly (thank God for wireless Internet on my phone) and I needed to charge up. After shifting my weight about a million times, I decided to reach behind me and grab my charger. I notice Lioux is napping, or at least making an attempt to enjoy a peaceful moment’s slumber, so I am trying to be super quiet next to his head as I unzip my bag near his ear… I fumble for the plug I need, still quiet, he is apparently unfazed by my movement. Then I’m about to stealthily slip back into my seat when the van lurches sideways about an inch, and I elbow him squarely in the temple. Apologizing, I giggle, because it was freaking funny, and sneak back to my post.

L: *sigh*

THAT was sooo annoying AND obnoxious, but I think I was giggling just as hard as you, Alienwhere. After that, I realized I wasn’t going back to sleep. Elle, I and the others started swapping funny stories, experiences and conversation.

Elle began to tell me about a bicycle accident she witnessed by one of her neighbors. She described it as if it were something out of a cartoon. Apparently this guy had wiped out face first and ass end up, with the back tire still in the air and spinning. The more all of us visualized this and started added our own sound effects, I was on the floor in absolute hysterics. This is one of those times when the band gets me going and I just can’t stop.

According to Elle, this neighbor now wears a helmet.

The Load-In

A: Having gotten the van secured, it was time to pack that puppy up. We generally don’t go overboard carrying equipment we don’t need, but even still, between the gear we can’t perform without and our belongings for a week and change, we’ve got a lot of crap to carry. There’s no getting around it. So we laid everything out on the studio driveway and stared at it for a while, quietly thinking how this was going to happen. I actually experienced a moment of sheer panic, when I thought to myself “there’s no goddamned way all of this is getting in this crapbox”, but quickly allayed my own fears when we started putting stuff in right places. Nevertheless, this pack job was akin to putting a game of Jenga back together. There’s a ton of pieces, and there’s really only one good way to put them in order, so figure it out. You can see the results of our Herculean effort here: