Once more into the breach
What a long strange trip it's been this weekend.
Friday night Pale Horse was supposed to play at a show in Hoboken with a two other bands and a solo acoustic act. The show started 1.5 hours late, and being that it was a bit disorganized, the bands that were in front of Pale Horse dragged their sets out a bit long, leaving very little time for the guys to play. Even the band before theirs said that they would play a shorter set, and speed things up a bit. They didn't. In the end, after Andy and the boys played one song, they were told to shut it down. One freaking song!!! So, the snuck in two more, then turned it off. The crowd was quite upset, but there was nothing to do about it. Needless to say, the boys were a might be upset by it. At least the beer was free.
More bad things started Saturday morning when I came out of Andy's to find that we had some more woes to deal with on the truck. The strange noises that we heard in the back, a broken leaf spring. Not just any spring mind you, main the spring. This is the one that does the important job of holding the axle to the truck. Bad news. I spent a little bit of time under the truck, looking to see how bad it was a determined that if we take it easy on the pot holes, which is very impossible in New York, we should be fine for our three hour trip to Atlantic City. It was a bit of a nervous ride, since we had a full load of band gear with us, but we held together.
The drive down was rather uneventful. Andy and I got to the stadium a bit early, figured out what was going on, and waited for the others to arrive. There were some cover bands, some garage bands that sucked, but everyone seemed to be having a good time. The only problem was that they were running late. This is looking familiar.
The others finally got there, we unloaded the gear and waited some more. There was a group on stage that were "older rockers", but they were kicking pretty good. Then some hardcore punk band that wasn't overly good, but they did smash a really nice guitar on the stage. Finally, Pale Horses turn. The guys quickly set up, I got the camera out and started shooting. The boys cranked out "Common Martyr", I quickly started adjusting for the poor lighting, and the crowd started getting into it. It was Paul's last show with the band, he is leaving to spend more time with family and wife, and work and stuff. So, he really got into it. It was fun watching the guys rock, they seemed to be onto a good show. The next song, "Once more into the breach" (one of my favs) got the crowd going, Chris was kicking ass on the guitar, and Barry seemed to just be doing excellent. Andy started hopping of the stage, climbing on the speakers, etc. Good front man stuff.
Then, came the kicker. Once again, the organizers pulled the plug. "One more song, that's it boys." Shit. They played "Downfall", another of my favs, and in my mind, the boys kicked some serious ass up there. Although it was a short set, it was a powerful set.
So, the next band came out, some hardcore punk screamer band. With the nearly naked gyrating dancer on stage. This is were things started to go very wrong. I was up front, shooting photos, having fun when I noticed that the mosh pit was getting a bit violent. Some guy had a axe handle and was cruising the crowd with an very angry look on his face, another guy was wearing an executioners hood, slamming into people, and another had a football helmet on and was headbutting people. I started to make a hasty retreat when a big shin head sucker punched some random guy, knocking him out cold. I grouped up with the band and our group of people, and started to get the hell out. Police were arriving everywhere, police dogs were going at it, and fights were breaking out all over. Not a good way to end a concert.
We all got out alive, no one got touched, but we were all in a little bit of shock. A few bands weren't able to play, since the show got shut down, so they were a bit upset, but at least we got a bit of time for Paul's last show.
After finding our motel, we headed out for a very late (and expensive) dinner at one of the casinos. Each dish could feed a family of five, but because I wasn't that hungry, I just watched everyone getting stuffed. Then we headed into the casino to find Barry's friends, but Andy, Kathleen and I wander off to find our own adventure. We ended up at the penny slots, and since I don't like gambling, I figured that penny slots wouldn't break me. After spending a couple of bucks, and coming out with nothing, I moved to a pirate slot to try my last buck in. Moments after I started, a "Cougar" came over, sat beside me and asked if I had a buck for her to play with. I said no, I was done to my last one. Moments later, her friend arrived to watch over my shoulder. I kinda figured that they were looking for a trick, just the way they were talking, but I stayed polite and kept playing. Then, a strange thing happened, I started to win at the slot games. Suddenly, I was up $.49 over what I had spent so far in my gambling. I was screwing the casino!!! The first Cougar told me I should cash out, take my money and run. I did take her advice, and came out almost fifty cents in the black! Look out Vegas! The first Cougar said that she had brought me luck, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then the second one asked if I would like some "companionship" for the evening. I told her now, I was with my friends, and the first one then asked if I was interested in a threesome. Money never was mentioned, but it was implied, so I turned them down. I got a little wink and they ran off. Gave me a little chuckle too, and of course Andy and Kathleen thought it was quite funny that I was getting picked up in the casino.
In the end, I got to bed about 3:30AM, but only got a couple of hours of sleep because of all the partying going on around the motel. Come morning, we all got together for a farewell breakfast for Paul, then went down to the beach to take some photos of the band.
The last thing before I left Atlantic City was to hobble over to the ocean, and stick my hand in it. First time touching the Atlantic ocean. Silly, I know, but it had to be done.
We have made it back to Calder, now just catching up on laundry, and playing a little Guitar Hero. Not sure what I plan on doing this week, but I am sure there will be more stories to come!
Friday night Pale Horse was supposed to play at a show in Hoboken with a two other bands and a solo acoustic act. The show started 1.5 hours late, and being that it was a bit disorganized, the bands that were in front of Pale Horse dragged their sets out a bit long, leaving very little time for the guys to play. Even the band before theirs said that they would play a shorter set, and speed things up a bit. They didn't. In the end, after Andy and the boys played one song, they were told to shut it down. One freaking song!!! So, the snuck in two more, then turned it off. The crowd was quite upset, but there was nothing to do about it. Needless to say, the boys were a might be upset by it. At least the beer was free.
More bad things started Saturday morning when I came out of Andy's to find that we had some more woes to deal with on the truck. The strange noises that we heard in the back, a broken leaf spring. Not just any spring mind you, main the spring. This is the one that does the important job of holding the axle to the truck. Bad news. I spent a little bit of time under the truck, looking to see how bad it was a determined that if we take it easy on the pot holes, which is very impossible in New York, we should be fine for our three hour trip to Atlantic City. It was a bit of a nervous ride, since we had a full load of band gear with us, but we held together.
The drive down was rather uneventful. Andy and I got to the stadium a bit early, figured out what was going on, and waited for the others to arrive. There were some cover bands, some garage bands that sucked, but everyone seemed to be having a good time. The only problem was that they were running late. This is looking familiar.
The others finally got there, we unloaded the gear and waited some more. There was a group on stage that were "older rockers", but they were kicking pretty good. Then some hardcore punk band that wasn't overly good, but they did smash a really nice guitar on the stage. Finally, Pale Horses turn. The guys quickly set up, I got the camera out and started shooting. The boys cranked out "Common Martyr", I quickly started adjusting for the poor lighting, and the crowd started getting into it. It was Paul's last show with the band, he is leaving to spend more time with family and wife, and work and stuff. So, he really got into it. It was fun watching the guys rock, they seemed to be onto a good show. The next song, "Once more into the breach" (one of my favs) got the crowd going, Chris was kicking ass on the guitar, and Barry seemed to just be doing excellent. Andy started hopping of the stage, climbing on the speakers, etc. Good front man stuff.
Then, came the kicker. Once again, the organizers pulled the plug. "One more song, that's it boys." Shit. They played "Downfall", another of my favs, and in my mind, the boys kicked some serious ass up there. Although it was a short set, it was a powerful set.
So, the next band came out, some hardcore punk screamer band. With the nearly naked gyrating dancer on stage. This is were things started to go very wrong. I was up front, shooting photos, having fun when I noticed that the mosh pit was getting a bit violent. Some guy had a axe handle and was cruising the crowd with an very angry look on his face, another guy was wearing an executioners hood, slamming into people, and another had a football helmet on and was headbutting people. I started to make a hasty retreat when a big shin head sucker punched some random guy, knocking him out cold. I grouped up with the band and our group of people, and started to get the hell out. Police were arriving everywhere, police dogs were going at it, and fights were breaking out all over. Not a good way to end a concert.
We all got out alive, no one got touched, but we were all in a little bit of shock. A few bands weren't able to play, since the show got shut down, so they were a bit upset, but at least we got a bit of time for Paul's last show.
After finding our motel, we headed out for a very late (and expensive) dinner at one of the casinos. Each dish could feed a family of five, but because I wasn't that hungry, I just watched everyone getting stuffed. Then we headed into the casino to find Barry's friends, but Andy, Kathleen and I wander off to find our own adventure. We ended up at the penny slots, and since I don't like gambling, I figured that penny slots wouldn't break me. After spending a couple of bucks, and coming out with nothing, I moved to a pirate slot to try my last buck in. Moments after I started, a "Cougar" came over, sat beside me and asked if I had a buck for her to play with. I said no, I was done to my last one. Moments later, her friend arrived to watch over my shoulder. I kinda figured that they were looking for a trick, just the way they were talking, but I stayed polite and kept playing. Then, a strange thing happened, I started to win at the slot games. Suddenly, I was up $.49 over what I had spent so far in my gambling. I was screwing the casino!!! The first Cougar told me I should cash out, take my money and run. I did take her advice, and came out almost fifty cents in the black! Look out Vegas! The first Cougar said that she had brought me luck, and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Then the second one asked if I would like some "companionship" for the evening. I told her now, I was with my friends, and the first one then asked if I was interested in a threesome. Money never was mentioned, but it was implied, so I turned them down. I got a little wink and they ran off. Gave me a little chuckle too, and of course Andy and Kathleen thought it was quite funny that I was getting picked up in the casino.
In the end, I got to bed about 3:30AM, but only got a couple of hours of sleep because of all the partying going on around the motel. Come morning, we all got together for a farewell breakfast for Paul, then went down to the beach to take some photos of the band.
The last thing before I left Atlantic City was to hobble over to the ocean, and stick my hand in it. First time touching the Atlantic ocean. Silly, I know, but it had to be done.
We have made it back to Calder, now just catching up on laundry, and playing a little Guitar Hero. Not sure what I plan on doing this week, but I am sure there will be more stories to come!
posted by Travelcedric at 19:29
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