Infiltrated by Rock stars

"You can't park here," A woman in a brown parka and a bright yellow cap tapped on my car window. "You'll have to move over there." Her gloved hand pointed to some arbitrary point in the snow covered parking lot.

It was 12:30 am Saturday night/Sunday morning. My car was stopped just outside front doors of the "bathroom building" of a CT roadside pit stop. I was only about 10 miles from home, even living in Minnesota for as long as I did, the snow in CT was enough to scare me. It's not really the snow, it's the lack of good plowing techniques and the idiot drivers.

As I mumbled something about other cars being parked there, my son started to giggle in the back seat. I was surprised he was still awake. I put my car into drive and circled around the parking lot a couple of times, and then pulled up next to the side walk just a little further down.

I sent a text to the guys in Epicurean, "Roads aren't bad, but the blowing snow and lack of plowing makes it hard to see. Be careful! -MetalRose"

Earlier on Saturday morning, Epicurean's tour bus pulled onto my street and parked in front of my house. I went outside to meet them and saw someone get out of the drivers side of the bus. It was Laramy, the singer. When I moved closer I noticed his stance. I apologized and turned around to head back to the other side of the bus to greet the rest of the band.

Gensmer, the drummer, got off the bus first and gave me a huge hug and introduced me to the remainder of the band. Their line up had changed quite a bit since I left Minnesota, but it was great to see both Johns- Gensmer and Laramy. The new line up was very gracious and the fill in guitarist was on the same label as the last band that stayed at my place. Brian from Luna Mortis was filling in, Eli and Jeremy rounded out the band.. and of course the merch girl, Hanna- who was very much like me. I later found out she loved Asian horror and made a lot of her own clothes. I offered to make her a corset after I found out she'd been looking at $300 custom made ones.

After introductions, I invited the guys and girl inside and we cracked a couple of beers. Laramy offered to leave money for the booze, but I declined. We settled where everyone was going to sleep and set up air mattresses and folded out the futon. Just after 6 am we decided to turn in for the night, well morning. I told the boys that if they got up before I did, there were clean towels on the washing machine and the coffee pot was ready to go.

At 9 am, I woke up to use the bathroom, I had left the living room door unlocked for those who needed to come back into the house. A couple of the guys felt more secure sleeping in the van/bus, I offered a space heater and after they objected. I put it next to the door and told them to grab it if they needed it.

While I sauntered to the bathroom, I saw a figure standing in my living room. We smiled and groggily waved. By the time I came back out, he was gone. Sleep came so easily.

An hour later, I heard Brian talking on the phone. I got up and started the coffee. I had toyed with going to the bus to see if the boys were up yet. I know I had seen Jeremy up earlier, the dilemma was to accidently wake them with coffee or not.

I brought Brian over a cup of coffee, but he said he was good. I dumped it back into the coffee pot and started to put away the dishes while jumping over the air mattress laying the middle of my kitchen floor. I didn't mind them lying there as it was right next to the heater, but I had hoped that the coffee would wake them up.

The hot brew didn't wake them the commotion got them to arise; Laramy opened his eyes and thanked me. He said the club they played at last night was so cold that when they were at the merch booth, you could see the steam rolling off the lips of the people as they spoke. He was so grateful to be warm. Gensmer walked in and headed toward the bathroom. He opened the door and asked where the towels they could use were. I told him they were on the washing machine, he turned around and saw the stack and hit himself in the forehead.

While the griddle warmed up for some home cooked pancakes, Eli ran into the kitchen while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, "Did I hear that right? Pancakes? I heard Brian talking to his girlfriend on the phone and he said, the girl we are staying with is making pancakes! That woke me up! I was like, pancakes SWEET!"

As fast as I could make them they were gone, pancakes, coffee and a couple of glasses of milk. It seemed like chaos in the house as all 5 guys and one girl tripped over each other for the bathroom and to make sure all their stuff was packed. Brian had asked if I would mind hosting Luna Mortis should they be in the area. I told him that as long as I knew at least one person in the band, then my place was open. We exchanged phone numbers for a later time.

I stepped outside to get out of the bands way as they packed. Jeremy, who had turned in early last night and missed the festivities was standing out side. It was nice to finally get to chat with him for at least a few minutes. He thanked me up and down, I told him it's my way of saying thanks for putting us on the guest list.

As fast as they came, they left. I gave them all a hug goodbye and told them I'd see them in a couple of hours. My heart sank as I went back downstairs to my apartment, I half expected to see it looking like a tornado hit it. When I opened the door, the place was just as it was before they came. That always makes me so happy. The worst of it was a pile of towels and a pile of dishes. I sighed and rested on the couch.

After my son's basketball came, we came home, showered and took off. It had lightly started to snow. Driving in CT was very slow and it took almost 20 minutes longer than I thought to get out of there. Once I hit MA, the roads were perfectly clear. It was like night and day. I drove like a bat out of hell to get to the Palladium as fast as possible. The venue was an hour away, and with the roads being crappy, we were behind.

At the Palladium, we walked to the box office, "Hi, we should be on Epicurean's guest list." The woman there shook her head. "Only one band gave me a guest list, and they only had one person on it... and they are in already..." My heart sank, I asked where the merch area is and left Joey Sky as a lien while I grabbed Hanna. She came out and vouched for us, just as we hit the middle of the last song. *sigh*

We stuck around for half of Rotting Christ's set. I peeked out and could tell the roads were getting bad. I told Gensmer that if they didn't think they'd make it to come back to my place. I'd rather see them safe and warm then cold and at the side of the road.

Joey Sky and I followed Gensmer backstage to say our goodbyes. It was really really good to see some home town faces. On our way to the car, we ran into Brian and Jeremy, the last two in the band. Their grinders from Woosta Pizza were exposed to the falling snow and becoming more and more soggy. They didn't seem to mind as we chatted for a few minutes about touring and hanging out. They gave me another hug, shook Joey Sky's hand and told us to drive safe. I turned on my car the clock read 10:30.

The drive from Mass wasn't bad. About half way in, we stopped and grabbed something to eat and a fresh tank of gas. We followed behind snow plows which made the driving go so smooth. Just before the CT border, the snow plows turned off and the roads turned ugly. Cars passed me doing 90 miles an hour on unplowed and untreated roads. The blowing snow made the visibility almost nothing. I couldn't tell where the hills were or where the turns were, after hitting the rumble strips a couple of times, I knew I had to get off the road for a little while. Besides, my bladder was screaming at me.

I pulled off at the first rest stop I could find. I saw three cars parked along the walk way just a head of me. I pulled up behind the last one, it was covered in snow and had been there a while. I figured we'd be ok for a quick pee break. I had just put the car in park when I got a knock at the window. "You can't park here."

-MetalRose