It’s a good thing I had that nap in the car. The wake-up call came at sixty-thirty in the morning for me, meaning I got about four hours sleep after J. and I got out of the shower. Ziggy and I went to a radio station in midtown by limousine. In the back seat I […]
I needn’t have worried, I guess. When we got to the hotel, a party was in full swing, and before I could even start to make some kind of a plan, Ziggy corralled me just outside the suite door.
J. hit the next exit. When he rolled down the window to toss a quarter in the ramp toll basket the air smelled swampy. We rolled on up the road toward something that looked lit up about a half mile away. A diner. A real, honest-to-god diner. They made me sit down and have a […]
Ziggy was true to his word. He didn’t make me sit through listening to any of the others. He swigged down the Shirley Temple, coughing a little as if he went too fast, and then we got out of there. On the sidewalk he stumbled a little and leaned against me. “Ahhhahaha, that was fun. […]
We pulled into downtown not long after that. Okay, in case you are thinking the words “downtown” and “New Jersey suburbs” don’t go together, let me assure you, they do. Most people have the image of the Jersey ‘burbs being all these half and one-acre plots with ticky-tacky houses all over them. That’s true, but […]
I was so on edge that moment before we stepped on the stage. And then we went out into the lights and… I know it’s a cliche to say it’s a different world. But it is. It’s like going into an aquarium, I think. From the outside everyone can see you, but as far as […]
The Garden State Arts Center. Of all the places we played, this was the one I’d been to the most. When I was growing up, we lived so close, and there were always people with tickets, and when I was in high school there really wasn’t anything else to do besides go to the Shore […]
At one point I broke a string, right at the end of a song, at the end of “Wonderland” actually, and it took a little longer to swap to the backup guitar than usual, because I’d picked up some of the stuffed bears and cats and whatever that people were throwing at me and tucked […]
We ended up convening in the back around J.’s little gray tape recorder. “Okay, first thing, my usual thing. If there’s something you don’t want to answer, just say so, or wave your hand like you’re passing your turn,” Jonathan said. I didn’t remember him ever saying that before, but Bart and Ziggy nodded like […]
I caught Jonathan by the rest room in the Denny’s before we got back in the bus. “So, how long are you along for the ride?” He gave a regretful shrug. “I have to catch a plane from Charlotte back.” “So you’ll see the Durham show?” “Yeah. And then I’ll get out of your hair.”