The Time Is Drawing Near - But This Is About Something Else

This is it…the last big weekend of the summer coming up!  We just played our last Fire Island show of the year this past Sunday and have the tan (or in my case in particular, the burn) lines to prove it.  Ya know, when we first started playing that venue we weren’t sure what to make of it – it was SUCH a pain-in-the-ass to get the gear over to the island, up to the stage from the dock, and then get it all back again…and it still is!!  But, from day one, the shows have always been SO fun and we’ve met so many WONDERFUL people…it really has become a favorite of ours.  Hey, speaking of moving gear on and off the island…funny story; As Dave and a member of our crew (who shall remain nameless…but he has the same name as me) are pushing a cart-full of gear down the ramp from the ferry to the dock at the end of the night, we all hear a commotion followed by a loud splash and then…silence.  The rest of us tear-ass over to their location…absolutely giddy with the hope of getting a picture of a gangly-armed bass player trying to tread water between the boat and shoreline…I mean, we all ran over with concern for Dave’s safety and to see if we could lend a hand fishing him out of the water (whatever…you decide).  Anyway, to our dismay (er uh…relief), it was not Dave that had taken the plunge…it wasn’t even Justin (I mean “nameless crew member”)…it was one of the keyboard stands – and it sunk all the way to the bottom of the bay.  We all stood there looking at each other…and then laaaaughed.  Of course my vote was to give Dave some goggles and a flashlight and send him in after it…but the rest voted that we just buy a new one – which I was okay with too until I realized that they meant a new stand…not a new bass player (p*ssies).  Despite his claim that the stand accidentally slid off the top of one of the carts before he could catch it (and, given his fingers of butter and fists of ham, this would seem to make some sense), the working theory is that Dave actually did this on purpose in hopes that we’ll never ask him to help move gear again…and since he hardly ever helps move stuff now, I guess we wouldn’t much miss his input.  So, if anyone fishing off the Davis Park pier catches a funny-looking, 4 foot long, black fish made of aluminum…that’s ours.