Saturday, May 14, 2011

Perhaps it was sleeping on a hard floor next to an open window or perhaps it was some nameless person in my band who plays bass, but Saturday was the day I officially started losing my voice. By the end of Saturday, it had turned into a shredded, hoarse, crackle, incapable of singing backup vocals beyond a squeak.

Saturday was also laundry day and exactly one week before the supposed Rapture and the end of the world. Seriously, I'm not making this up. Check out this story from NPR: http://www.npr.org/2011/05/07/136053462/is-the-end-nigh-well-know-soon-enough

Fun at the Laundry Mat

While Nic and Eric were heating up some soup with a propane stove in the laundry mat parking lot in Williamsport, a local kid in his early teens wandered up to Eric and asked what he was doing. Eric explained that he was in a band traveling from city to city. Eric asked the kid if he was waiting for someone to which the kid replied 'Yeah, my foster family'. Eric asked if the kid had lived in Williamsport long and the kid replied that he had only lived here for about a year. His foster family was nice, but he was originally from West Philadelphia.

For anyone reading this blog who doesn't know where I'm going with this, West Philadelphia was where Will Smith's character on 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' had moved from before relocating to Bel-Air. For anyone living under a rock or possibly not conscious during the early 90's, this show was a pop-culture icon.

Needless to say, the mention of 'West Philadelphia' was enough to start playing the 'Fresh Prince' theme song in Eric's head. Eric jokingly asked if the kid lived with his aunt and uncle and if he knew Carlton (another character from the show). Not surprisingly, the kid didn't seem to get the joke (he's only 13). Then strangest detail was that right around that time, a few of the kid's peers suddenly rolled up on bicycles. Per Eric, the kid suddenly switched into 'gansta' mode, outrageously posturing to the other kids with hard street talk and gestures. After the kids rode off, the kid went back to talking to Eric nonchalantly as if nothing had happened.

The Ruddy Duck

After a several hour drive, we arrived at The Ruddy Duck in Maryland. Similar to but slightly larger than the Bullfrog Brewery, The Ruddy Duck has a family dining atmosphere with segregated dining area from the bar. Even though we arrived late, we set up within a half hour and rock the venue. We start with some slow covers to appease the dinner crowd before working our way into our actually set, including covers that we've never played at all. Van Morrison's 'Brown Eyed Girl'? Sure, we know that one. We'll even rock a Bob Dylan cover we just learned maybe two days earlier.

The food and beer were delicious but my cold symptoms prevented me from drinking more than half of my porter.

The best part of the evening came when Carlos, who booked the gig for us, hooked us up with a free room at the Hilton. Were it not for Carlos, we would have been camping out in the rain. I should explain, the Hilton is actually located in the same parking lot as The Ruddy Duck and his family apparently owns the hotel. Regardless, it was an incredibly compassionate gesture on his part and can not thank Carlos enough for supplying us with comfortable beds, air-conditioning, and a shower. Sleeping on a real mattress seems like such a luxury now. 

The Ruddy Duck - Ruddy means Red, but we're in New England, so it's 'Ruddy'