The craziest weekend
a road story
August 16, 2019: an ordinary weekend of touring, you would say. Business booming. and new frontiers on the horizon. Yes, our first time in Alabama. It seemed like a perfect weekend ahead... but little we knew what was lying ahead! The road story begin.
Strike one. The road story is starting to turn into a rocky road
As usual, we show up at the airport pretty early... and here's the first issue: 3 hours of lineup at customs, because of a systemic computer database failure. Oh well, I guessed the worst had passed for the next 3 days... NOT! In a twist of fate I missed the flight because of the delay. In addition to that I also was late because I couldn't find the rest of my musicians ... well, you guessed it: they were already on the plane. STRIKE ONE!
Accidents happen to the best, unfortunately. There were no available seats on any flight that day, so I had to get a new reservation for the day after: the day of the show.
Strike two. Hmmmmmm ...
Road story, day two. I show up at Pearson Airport the morning of the 17th... and the booking that the airline made the previous day results null. STRIKE TWO! I get re-booked on a flight that arrives 2 hours before the start of the show.
My comrades are true professionals and I didn't have any doubt that they would have been able to set up the show on their own. However the question was: would I arrive on time? One slight delay and I was toast. As a business owner I like leaping into the unknown, but I don't take chances when it's time to deliver. Needless to say, I was pretty tense.
Thankfully the plane arrived on time. Also, thank you, Chief of Police Hargett (on my right in the photo)! He picked me up at the airport, accompanied by our resourceful photographer Jill Maxwell (on my left on photo). After that and a crazy fast police-chase-style commute to the venue, I managed to have enough time to set up and warm up my voice.
The show was memorable, in the best tradition of Absolute Journey. The crowd loved the tunes, the antics and the looks. We made magic that night. Proud of it.
Strike three. Ouch! That hurt!
Galvanized by the great reception, we felt more than ready to get back home the next day. A quick pit stop to fill up the tank of the rental car and.... wait a minute! Our keyboardist Dan realized that the day before they stole his pouch with the cash and his passport! STRIKE THREE!
Poor Dan had to get back to the police precinct in town to denounce the theft and we had to leave without him. Later on that night he had to fly to Buffalo, NY and cross the border to Canada by land. That is the only way allowed if you only possess your drivers license.
Strike ... four ???
Since there's no three without STRIKE FOUR (I made this one up LOL), our flight back had a considerable delay.
Moral of the road story.
August 18, 2019. It's dusk and I just got home. The road story ends. My brain and body feel the exhaustion of 3 days from hell... but still, it's all right. We had a great show in a new State we never played before. Moreover we made good money and had lots of fun... and life is good!
Is it really necessary to be disgruntled in the face of adversity, when the outcome always outweighs the hardships? Definitely not. Onward and upward!
We really enjoyed playing at the 2019 edition of the Franklin County Watermelon Festival in Russellville, Alabama! You can enjoy the photo gallery and a video montage from the show at the link below. After the Covid19 emergency we look forward to visiting this and many more beautiful places... and their wonderful people.
Wishing you a marvelous weekend! Signing off.
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Ron
13/08/20
Wow! That was a wild ride! I hope that’s not the norm LOL
Absolute Journey Tribute
13/08/20
Luckily not, Ron 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to drop a line.
Please check out our up and coming streaming shows if interest. You can get info by signing up at http://absolutejourneytribute.com/streaming
Have a great day!
Lisa M. Martin
13/08/20
I remember the flight delay but this, I had no idea, how unreal it must have felt, after returning home, you must have been thankful, you had made it ! Whew can’t imagine! Glad it all how a great ending! Love the pic of you, the Chief of Police and Jill! 💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜🌈💜
Riccardo Curzi
13/08/20
It felt pretty surreal… though being in this business you experience such a great deal of frustration that things like these at a certain point become routine. I’m pretty grateful that the job isn’t easy at all. It keeps you grounded. It puts the egos in check. Thanks for caring, Lisa 🙂 🙂 🙂