"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
1.12.2009
12.10.2008
Chains, Flames and Automobiles: Part III The Conclusion
During the change over from Gojira to In Flames, the crowd started to chant in anticipation. For as bad of a rap that In Flames has gotten recently, the concert goers didn't seem to pay much mind. When I turned to look at R, there was a guy standing next to her. I had noticed him during the Gojira set; he looked young and looked like he was right up against her. I only recalled him as he had joined in our conversation about the guitar that was being used during Gojira's set.
My son was looking forward to seeing a band that he has played many times on Guitar Hero III. Tired during the change over, he sat on the stoop by the rails and rested his head for a few minutes. I took the Momma Bear stance and stood over him protecting him in case anyone tried to fly into that spot at the last minute.
R was in the mood for a drink, but didn't get her wrist band. Our friend Jacques from Belgium offered to get her a drink with his wrist band. He asked if I wanted one as well. When I have my son with me and I am driving, I refuse to drink. But the thought of a beer toyed in my head. I weighed my options and declined. He asked if Joey Sky wanted anything to drink, and my son declined as well.
A few minutes later, he returned and handed R her drink. I could smell the Jack Daniels from where I was and was glad I had declined anything. She sipped on her drink as the 3 of us chatted. After finishing his coke, our friend excused himself for a smoke.
R and I talked about what a cool guy he was, "And he smells sooo good!" she commented. I had to agree. He held our spots, gave us insider information and even got us drinks (or offered to in the least). When we turned back to the stage in anticipation, our friend approached from the back of the venue. "How is it that they don't allow smoking in here, but they won't let people out to have one? That's bullshit..." R and I agreed and mentioned we had just been talking about the lack of control on the underage drinking at that venue.
You see, most show I go to have a separate area for those 21 and over. And you can't bring drinks in or out of that area. Our friend agreed that that was odd as well.
The dimming lights and the noise of the people packed into the venue interrupted our conversation. I turned around to see In Flames coming out on stage. The crowd went wild... Hands were thrown in the air and started clapping in unison. Joey Sky remained seated, which I thought was a little sad.
I watched as Anders Fridén took the stage. He is the former singer of Dark Tranquillity. (Who is another band that performs flawlessly live, even if I did see them with Mikael Stanne. How I ended up calling Mikael on the phone is a story for a different day.) In Flames performed wonderfully live. I could hear Jacques behind me singing word for word. Since he was on key I didn't mind.
A few songs in Joey Sky stood up and starting throwing the horns. Between throwing the horns and banging his head, he asked, "Can we go home now?" I knew he was tired and could tell he was coming down with a cold. I wanted to stay until the end, but also wanted to look at merch. I knew that since the headliner was on, there would be no lines at the merch table and also realized that with 1300 other people trying to get out of the venue, it would be a night mare.
Sadly, it was time to go. I turned to Jacques and told him it was nice meeting him. I made sure he had my email address for when he travelled in the states again. He shook my hand and told my son, "Make sure you only listen to good music. No rap, no country..." My son nodded his head in agreement. I told him to take care and turned to R to tell her that we were going to head to the merch table. She decided to join along.
Joey Sky found an In Flames shirt he wanted and I saw the Gojira table. Checking the cash I had in my pocket, I noticed we could only buy one shirt... but then salvation- The In Flames table had a credit card machine! I told Joey Sky he could pick one shirt and as I paid for that one, I asked the guy at the merch table which Gojira shirt would look the hottest on me. "The blue one" he said. I bought it as we chatted about the tour. After that, we decided to call it a night.
In the parking lot, R made a comment about her "boyfriend" as we passed a car with a "parent" waiting. The drive home was uneventful except for the light dusting of snow. We talked about the concert, the people and R's Underage Make A Wish Boyfriend as he kept coughing on her all night.
After an hour I dropped her off at the hotel and headed home. The farther south I went the harder it snowed. It wasn't a blizzard by any means, but it was distracting, especially with my very dim "brights". The way they were situated it made it worse. I couldn't see the road well and the flurries were blurring the rest of my vision. With my one regular beam, I had no other choice but to go back to the dim light just to see the road. (As a disclaimer, the snow was NOT bad at all to drive in it was a matter of my lights acting wonky while driving).
With just two miles left to getting home, I passed a small strip mall. Even at 2 am, I was surprised when I passed a car in the parking lot. And then it dawned on me, the only reason the car would be there for. D'OH! Of course, the cherries went on. I flipped my blinker and pulled over. I prayed Joey Sky didn't wake up as I pulled out my license and registration.
"Where you coming from tonight?"
"Worchester, Ma."
"Oh yeah? What was going on up there tonight?"
"A concert..."
"Been drinking at all?"
"Not a drop." I was so glad I kept to my rule of no drinking if I'm driving, especially with my son in the car.
"Good. Do you know why I pulled you over?"
"No."
"Well you were driving way too slow. You need to speed it up."
"Uh, oh, really?" I said as I started blankly out my window. I bit my tongue before I said admitted I may have been speeding.
"I'm just teasing, I pulled you over because your headlight is out. Did you know that? Also, you have two break lights out and your license plate light out. Do you have any warrants for your arrest out? I'm going to run your license and I'll be right back."
-MetalRose
My son was looking forward to seeing a band that he has played many times on Guitar Hero III. Tired during the change over, he sat on the stoop by the rails and rested his head for a few minutes. I took the Momma Bear stance and stood over him protecting him in case anyone tried to fly into that spot at the last minute.
R was in the mood for a drink, but didn't get her wrist band. Our friend Jacques from Belgium offered to get her a drink with his wrist band. He asked if I wanted one as well. When I have my son with me and I am driving, I refuse to drink. But the thought of a beer toyed in my head. I weighed my options and declined. He asked if Joey Sky wanted anything to drink, and my son declined as well.
A few minutes later, he returned and handed R her drink. I could smell the Jack Daniels from where I was and was glad I had declined anything. She sipped on her drink as the 3 of us chatted. After finishing his coke, our friend excused himself for a smoke.
R and I talked about what a cool guy he was, "And he smells sooo good!" she commented. I had to agree. He held our spots, gave us insider information and even got us drinks (or offered to in the least). When we turned back to the stage in anticipation, our friend approached from the back of the venue. "How is it that they don't allow smoking in here, but they won't let people out to have one? That's bullshit..." R and I agreed and mentioned we had just been talking about the lack of control on the underage drinking at that venue.
You see, most show I go to have a separate area for those 21 and over. And you can't bring drinks in or out of that area. Our friend agreed that that was odd as well.
The dimming lights and the noise of the people packed into the venue interrupted our conversation. I turned around to see In Flames coming out on stage. The crowd went wild... Hands were thrown in the air and started clapping in unison. Joey Sky remained seated, which I thought was a little sad.
I watched as Anders Fridén took the stage. He is the former singer of Dark Tranquillity. (Who is another band that performs flawlessly live, even if I did see them with Mikael Stanne. How I ended up calling Mikael on the phone is a story for a different day.) In Flames performed wonderfully live. I could hear Jacques behind me singing word for word. Since he was on key I didn't mind.
A few songs in Joey Sky stood up and starting throwing the horns. Between throwing the horns and banging his head, he asked, "Can we go home now?" I knew he was tired and could tell he was coming down with a cold. I wanted to stay until the end, but also wanted to look at merch. I knew that since the headliner was on, there would be no lines at the merch table and also realized that with 1300 other people trying to get out of the venue, it would be a night mare.
Sadly, it was time to go. I turned to Jacques and told him it was nice meeting him. I made sure he had my email address for when he travelled in the states again. He shook my hand and told my son, "Make sure you only listen to good music. No rap, no country..." My son nodded his head in agreement. I told him to take care and turned to R to tell her that we were going to head to the merch table. She decided to join along.
Joey Sky found an In Flames shirt he wanted and I saw the Gojira table. Checking the cash I had in my pocket, I noticed we could only buy one shirt... but then salvation- The In Flames table had a credit card machine! I told Joey Sky he could pick one shirt and as I paid for that one, I asked the guy at the merch table which Gojira shirt would look the hottest on me. "The blue one" he said. I bought it as we chatted about the tour. After that, we decided to call it a night.
In the parking lot, R made a comment about her "boyfriend" as we passed a car with a "parent" waiting. The drive home was uneventful except for the light dusting of snow. We talked about the concert, the people and R's Underage Make A Wish Boyfriend as he kept coughing on her all night.
After an hour I dropped her off at the hotel and headed home. The farther south I went the harder it snowed. It wasn't a blizzard by any means, but it was distracting, especially with my very dim "brights". The way they were situated it made it worse. I couldn't see the road well and the flurries were blurring the rest of my vision. With my one regular beam, I had no other choice but to go back to the dim light just to see the road. (As a disclaimer, the snow was NOT bad at all to drive in it was a matter of my lights acting wonky while driving).
With just two miles left to getting home, I passed a small strip mall. Even at 2 am, I was surprised when I passed a car in the parking lot. And then it dawned on me, the only reason the car would be there for. D'OH! Of course, the cherries went on. I flipped my blinker and pulled over. I prayed Joey Sky didn't wake up as I pulled out my license and registration.
"Where you coming from tonight?"
"Worchester, Ma."
"Oh yeah? What was going on up there tonight?"
"A concert..."
"Been drinking at all?"
"Not a drop." I was so glad I kept to my rule of no drinking if I'm driving, especially with my son in the car.
"Good. Do you know why I pulled you over?"
"No."
"Well you were driving way too slow. You need to speed it up."
"Uh, oh, really?" I said as I started blankly out my window. I bit my tongue before I said admitted I may have been speeding.
"I'm just teasing, I pulled you over because your headlight is out. Did you know that? Also, you have two break lights out and your license plate light out. Do you have any warrants for your arrest out? I'm going to run your license and I'll be right back."
-MetalRose
12.09.2008
Chains, Flames and Automobiles Part II.
So my new foreign friend let me stand up against the rails along with Joey Sky. I kept asking R if she wanted to get closer, but she declined.
The three of us talked for a while about music. I asked our new friend if Gojira was as good live as they were on the album. His perfect teeth let one word escape, "Better." I hardly believed him as Gojira had very intricate guitar compositions.
Shortly after a few minutes of chatting, the lights went down and the first band went on. I had no idea who they were. I knew is that All That Remains had dropped off the tour, but didn't know who had replaced them. I was kind of looking forward to seeing them, but hearing they dropped off wasn't the end of the world.
I held my hand out to Joey Sky and gave him a thumbs up, a thumbs down or a thumbs in the middle sign. He looked at me shook his head and gave me a thumbs down sign. I agreed. R looked over at me and asked, "Who's playing?" I shrugged my shoulders and told her I didn't know. I asked our exotic friend behind us and he too shrugged his shoulders.
After their set ended the place cheered for them. My group decided they were horrible, flat and very generic. The only saving grace was the last song which was the best... but none of us had any intensions of running out and finding their music. My ten year old son even turned to me at one point and asked, "Who in the world would mosh to this crap? Don't they know what real music is?"
Up next was 36 Crazyfists. I can't say their music ever caught my attention, at least not in the right way. Our new friend said that the drummer always tests his own gear and motioned to the drummer on stage covered in a hoodie. While their music bored me, at least I got a chance to look at the crowd. During the middle of the set they asked if anyone knew who Killswitch Engage was and for the next song Howard Jones joined the 'Fists on stage. Aside from ProgPower (which is a truly unique festival on its own) I have not seen a concert like that in years. The entire show was packed wall to wall to wall.
I watched the crowd sway from one side to the other in a frenzied mosh pit. The cyclone in the middle of the floor swelled with guys as the perimeter of the oval shrank and grew with each song. The rules of the pit were followed. I saw kids being knocked down and others grabbing onto them and helping them right back up.
I saw the signs of "up" and saw person after person being hoisted in the air. The crowd moved as a chaotic one. Fists pumped in the air in unison. For the lack of talent for their music, at least they knew how to put on a good show.
Up next: The Band I had been waiting for: Gojira. They took the stage late and just before they walked up on the raised floor, I saw their set list. I was beyond happy. It was a mix of old and new songs. I couldn't control the movement of my neck. It started to rock faster and faster on its base. Before I knew it my neon red hair was flying in every direction. Even more young kids were raised onto the arms of the sardine people on the floor.
Fists pumped and hands clapped in unison for the French Metal Band Gojira. I could only watch in amazement as this baguette band amazed me. Their music had that live sound to it, but the songs were flawless. They announced it was their last song and I almost cried. I looked at the set list and saw my favorite song To Sirus. I knew they'd be back for an encore. They thanked the crowd and started off stage. I played along for a minute, and my heart sank as the roadies came out to tear down their gear. I guess I wasn't going to hear the one song I wanted to hear.
-MetalRose
The three of us talked for a while about music. I asked our new friend if Gojira was as good live as they were on the album. His perfect teeth let one word escape, "Better." I hardly believed him as Gojira had very intricate guitar compositions.
Shortly after a few minutes of chatting, the lights went down and the first band went on. I had no idea who they were. I knew is that All That Remains had dropped off the tour, but didn't know who had replaced them. I was kind of looking forward to seeing them, but hearing they dropped off wasn't the end of the world.
I held my hand out to Joey Sky and gave him a thumbs up, a thumbs down or a thumbs in the middle sign. He looked at me shook his head and gave me a thumbs down sign. I agreed. R looked over at me and asked, "Who's playing?" I shrugged my shoulders and told her I didn't know. I asked our exotic friend behind us and he too shrugged his shoulders.
After their set ended the place cheered for them. My group decided they were horrible, flat and very generic. The only saving grace was the last song which was the best... but none of us had any intensions of running out and finding their music. My ten year old son even turned to me at one point and asked, "Who in the world would mosh to this crap? Don't they know what real music is?"
Up next was 36 Crazyfists. I can't say their music ever caught my attention, at least not in the right way. Our new friend said that the drummer always tests his own gear and motioned to the drummer on stage covered in a hoodie. While their music bored me, at least I got a chance to look at the crowd. During the middle of the set they asked if anyone knew who Killswitch Engage was and for the next song Howard Jones joined the 'Fists on stage. Aside from ProgPower (which is a truly unique festival on its own) I have not seen a concert like that in years. The entire show was packed wall to wall to wall.
I watched the crowd sway from one side to the other in a frenzied mosh pit. The cyclone in the middle of the floor swelled with guys as the perimeter of the oval shrank and grew with each song. The rules of the pit were followed. I saw kids being knocked down and others grabbing onto them and helping them right back up.
I saw the signs of "up" and saw person after person being hoisted in the air. The crowd moved as a chaotic one. Fists pumped in the air in unison. For the lack of talent for their music, at least they knew how to put on a good show.
Up next: The Band I had been waiting for: Gojira. They took the stage late and just before they walked up on the raised floor, I saw their set list. I was beyond happy. It was a mix of old and new songs. I couldn't control the movement of my neck. It started to rock faster and faster on its base. Before I knew it my neon red hair was flying in every direction. Even more young kids were raised onto the arms of the sardine people on the floor.
Fists pumped and hands clapped in unison for the French Metal Band Gojira. I could only watch in amazement as this baguette band amazed me. Their music had that live sound to it, but the songs were flawless. They announced it was their last song and I almost cried. I looked at the set list and saw my favorite song To Sirus. I knew they'd be back for an encore. They thanked the crowd and started off stage. I played along for a minute, and my heart sank as the roadies came out to tear down their gear. I guess I wasn't going to hear the one song I wanted to hear.
-MetalRose
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