If you’ve been following along with the previous five installments, then you’ve heard plenty of nuts and bolts facts about places, events, and experiences. But what I’ve failed to communicate thus far, is the intangible side of things – my thoughts and feelings. After reading my posts, several friends have commented about how much fun this experience must have been. They don’t know the half of it. There were so many of my life’s interests converging in one galactic occasion, that it’s hard to relate in words. This was a gumbo of all things dear to me – music, photography, a pinch of travel, a dash of show business, a sprinkling of gracious band and crew guys, and most importantly, the opportunity to witness my amazing son in the early stages of building a career in a field he clearly loves. It was amazing how much more relaxed and positive I was throughout these 5 days. Of course, a great deal of stress was removed by having most things taken care of for us – meals, travel, scheduling, to name a few. But beyond that, I was able to “go to a place” mentally that I hadn’t been in some time. I had read some interesting theories about what is referred to as “a state of play”. This occurs when one is involved in activities where logical thinking is no longer needed, and the spirit of “play” takes over. One’s brain waves actually change, endorphins are released, and time seems to be accelerated. Everyone has heard the phrase, “time flies when you’re having fun”, and now you know why its true.
Well, that’s probably enough philosophizing for now. But just in case you didn’t get it yet, I had a freaking blast! OK?
So when we left off in Part 5, we were leaving Minnesota in the wee hours of September 2, beginning our eleven hour drive to Detroit for the next show. As usual, many of the guys were hanging out in the lounge area of the bus, watching satellite TV or surfing the web on laptops or iPhones. One by one, they headed to the bunks to sleep through a good chunk of the overnight drive. For some reason, I was a bit wired up that night, and ended up being the last to call it a night (after watching some lousy B-movie and consuming an entire container of Pringles.) I had a small moment of confusion as I was heading off to the bunk – I had no idea how to shut off the TVs, entertainment system, and the dozens of various lights in the lounge area. After fumbling with some dimmer switches, remote controls, and light switches, I had things satisfactorily shut down for the night. Although, as I headed into the bunk compartment, it was apparent the floor level strip of lights along the corridor must have been on the same switch as some other lights that I had shut off up front, because it was awfully dark back there now. Oh well.
It was about 2:30am by the time my head hit the pillow. And the next thing I remember is waking up around 8:30. I really wasn’t tired anymore, so I thought I’d get up and go see who else was already up and where we were. To my surprise, I was the first one up, except for the driver, of course. Judging by the clock, I figured we were in central Michigan somewhere.
But a quick check of the Maps app on my iPhone showed otherwise. We were just leaving Illinois on I-94 and heading through Indiana into Michigan. (I found out later that heavy traffic in the Chicago area earlier that morning was responsible for our delays.) In a similar but inverse way as the night before, each of the band and crew members emerged one by one, from the bunk compartment with sleepy faces and “bed hair”. The first thing out of nearly everyone’s mouth was “how far out are we?” After realizing they had some time to kill before arriving at the next venue, most of the guys settled in to watch “Men of Honor” on the satellite TV, while sipping their morning coffee, or enjoying the favorite road breakfast – cereal and milk in a plastic cup.
We finally rolled into the Michigan State Fairgrounds at Woodward and 8 Mile, around 2pm (about 2 hours behind schedule.) The venue was a stark contrast to the newer, cleaner Minnesota fairgrounds from the night before. This place reflected the general blight that was evident throughout much of Detroit. But as they say, the show must go on. Chris, Josh, and Taylor began unloading the equipment trailer, and with the help of the stagehands, began rolling all the cases out to the stage area. Setup began immediately after, and within about 90 minutes, everything was ready to go. The band members began filtering onto the stage and making final adjustments in preparation for sound check.
Once again, I spent much of the soundcheck roaming around the venue, looking for good vantage points for shooting the show. This location had a similar “pit” area between the audience seating and the stage, only much smaller than the Minnesota stage. I also brought my camera and various lenses to the soundcheck to verify what type of view I would get with each lens. This proved to be helpful later in preparing for certain shots. The sound check wrapped up and the crew for opening act, Chuck Wicks, took to the stage like ants at a picnic, moving their band’s gear into position in front of Joe’s setup, in preparation for their soundcheck.
By now, it was about 4:30. Since the guys were mostly free until 7pm, Chris decided to take me up on one of my earlier suggestions – visiting the Motown Historical Museum about 7 miles away. He and I had been there before and thought some of the other guys would enjoy it, also. Chris said he was going to talk to someone about transportation, and I figured they would call a shuttle or a taxi, like they had earlier that day for the guys that went to work out at the gym. A few minutes later, Chris returned and said, “Follow me.” After walking about 30 yards, he got into the passenger seat of a Lincoln MKX parked near the tour bus. Curious, the rest of us followed suit and started to get in the back seat, when he looked at me and said, “No, you’re driving.” Huh? After a split second of confusion, I had the sense to ask him whose car we were commandeering. It belonged to the show’s promoter, and somehow, Chris had sweet-talked her into letting us take it. So here I am in the heart of Detroit at rush hour, driving a total stranger’s new car, with the lives of 4 key members of Joe’s band and crew in my hands, and I’m clueless how to even get out of the parking lot, let alone get safely to our destination.
But with the help of a couple iPhones’ navigation and Googling abilities, we managed to make it to the museum safe and sound. (BTW, you really should check this place out sometime, if you ever wanted to know anything about the Motown music making machine.) After our tour of Hitsville, and a safe return to the fairgrounds, we headed to the dining hall to get what was left of dinner.
After dinner, the band headed for the showers and began getting ready for the show. However, I had another important objective to carry out before the show started – securing a ride home that night.
(Link to Part 7 below)