Thursday, November 4, 2010

Nov. 3 - Balm vs. The Pyrenees - Chapter 2

6:30pm - We are in Spain. The sun is down. It looks like the middle of night. The van is quiet. We're all tired or dazed or bored or something.

7:00 we reach the edge of Lleida! We are baffled by civilization. Other people. Lights. Buildings. Flatland.

7:30 - we pull up to the venue, over two hours late. Set up, soundcheck, walk to dinner with our promoter, who doesn't seem to care about our existence at all. "What can you make in 5 minutes?" he asks the cafe owner. The guy laughs, and points to his watch and says not much. "Is bread with Tuna okay?" the promoter asks us. A couple of us explain that we don't really like tuna. "Fine. Bread with Ham then?? What about bread with Ham?" He's speaking urgently. "Is there a menu we could look at?" Andrew asked. "WE DON'T HAVE TIME! There is NO TIME!" He snaps back.

It's 9:20. The show is scheduled to start at 10. Doors supposedly opened at 9, however, there was absolutely no one waiting to get in when we left. This guy is uptight and angry for no valid reason. He's already told us that the don't expect many people. WE were the ones stuck in a van, lost in the twists and turns of the mountains. Surely, someone knew that tunnel was closed...At any rate, we tried to be polite. He tried to rush us every step of the way. "They are slow. So we must eat very fast," he says. "We're not in a hurry," Travis murmurs. "We have to eat some food, just for our sanity," Michael says kindly. An unsympathetic face. "Seven hours in the mountains..." I grumble, grabbing my "dinner," wondering how I'm going to make myself eat this ham."Well, it's very important the show starts on time," angry promoter man snaps. He sits for a minute more, then gets up and walks away. Leaving us to pay for a "dinner" we were led to believe would be paid for. What a sweetheart.

And that's where I'll stop talking about him. He doesn't care. He is pissed off. We play the show, and play it well. Never, have we worked with someone so disinterested, so disgruntled, so supremely rude.

But--in complete contrast with the rest of the evening, we pull into what must've been at least a three or four star hotel. And it's allll free. The boys give me a room to myself. I can't tell if sharing a room with a girl really makes them that uncomfortable or if they're just trying to be nice. I always assume it's the former. They like to shove me off into girl island sometimes, which I typically don't enjoy. I was momentarily perturbed, but then decided to enjoy the alone time. I watched 5 minutes of Hook on the Disney Channel in Spanish (I'm not sure why). took a glorious shower, and for the first time in three nights, slept in my real pajamas.

What a day.

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