Ladies and Gents, here is a classic tale of touring fortune and misfortune.
We left from Dallas, Texas on Tuesday afternoon, with a plan to get to Austin for dinner. Our van broke down en route, about 30 minutes outside of Dallas. Transmission went. Tow truck from AAA arrived within the hour with room for only 2 passengers. "Ben and Graham go with the truck, Jocie and I will wait at this Mexican restaurant." 2 hours, 3 hours, 6 hours passed. The UHaul center in Dallas was closed, so they tried the car rental services at Dallas-Fort Worth international Airport. But none of the rental vans they suggested could fit the gear. Tow truck guy was getting frustrated, he had other calls to take care of. "I've got places to be, boys, I'm about to drop y'all off in this Wal-Mart parking lot." Ben paid him off with a free cd and $50. They found a U-Haul center outside of town, but the guy who ran the place was stoned and drunk and was fumbling as he hooked up the dolly to the back of the truck. "You boys want a beer from the cooler? On me." Was the tour van secure on this tow dolly? Who the hell knew. Just get the van on it and we'll take our chances. Jocie and I were kicked out of the Mexican restaurant as it closed at 10 PM. We went walking down the highway service road stopping in gas stations for as long as we could before they kicked us out for vagrancy. Ben and Graham finally arrived at the Valero station at 11:30 PM. "God, it's good to see your face, Graham. What do you say we get to Austin?" The four of us squashed in the front of this giant UHaul towing our van behind us, going 50 mph, the whole way pounding energy drinks and checking the rear-view mirrors to make damn sure that the van's flashers were still blinking behind us. "We can't park this thing around Austin. Anyone know where we could borrow a van for the week?" We pulled down this narrowing dirt road, the tree branches hitting the windshield of the U-Haul as we passed through. At the end of the road, at a cul de sac, was the van we were to borrow from Jocie's grandparents. "Okay, the UHaul can't turn around on this road. We've got to try to back it up, or we're stuck here. Back her up slowly, slowly. Shit, what's that sound?" The tires were deflating on the dolly. We dumped the old tour van on the side of the road, transfered our gear to the new tour van, a Ford Explorer with handicapped plates, and continued to Austin. We arrived at 4 AM, and our first SXSW gig, of seven that week, was at 7:30 AM. Welcome to Austin, Low Anthem. We came to play, and we're still here waiting on the van.
~jeff
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