Tuesday, February 1, 2011

DAY 6: A SONG THAT REMINDS YOU OF SOMEWHERE...

The song would be THE WEIGHT, and the somewhere would be a tour bus. It was the west coast tour with my pals Michael Johns and Benton Paul. It was me and nine other dudes. Needless to say I was outnumbered by these lovely and yet smelly lads. I was the lone lady armed with cans of febreeze and christmas candles trying to de-odorize our house on wheels. There is very little personal space on a bus, the quarters become tighter with each passing day, however if you ever need to get away you can always go hide into the 3x6ish ft bunk bed that becomes your sanctuary. But in the heart of the bus is the main cabin, the living room and the fridge, it's where all the excitement happens, where everyone congregates while we'd drive for hours to the next gig. Most of the time you would find us all piled on the couches, while I would lay in the middle of the floor with my blanket, we would watch concert DVD's like Led Zepplin and Joe Cocker, but the one that got the most airtime was "THE LAST WALTZ" by The band. Mornings were my favorite, they were peaceful and quiet in the main cabin, I'd vacuum and febreeze, lay on the couch with my bowl of cereal and watch the scenery like moving pictures out the open window, while you'd find the dudes passed out in their bunks, sleeping in until as late as sometimes 3 in the afternoon. You'll often times hear touring musicians say that they sleep like a baby on the bus, the hum of the engine, the rumble of the wheels rolling over the uneven pavement, the dark as a coffin bunks a 63 freezing degrees. I on the other hand, have the opposite effect, I become an insomniac as the bus becomes a place of the night life, late after the gigs mike and the band loved to stay up until the early hours of the morning and have a few beverages. My friends tell me that I'm somewhat of a wet blanket ( but a semi-fun wet blanket) cause I like to be in my jammies and snuggled under the covers nice and early. Benton was also a mellow fellow , he had his office in the back. The first three nights of the tour I lied in my bunk wide awake, while "Take a load off Anny, take a load for free" was blaring through the bus over and over and over again, I thought I was going to loose my mind. I hopped out of bunk and groggily opened the door to find the party animals, the guys all stopped in their tracks and the ring leader Michael Johns said "sorry brooke white". Ah well, they were having fun, so I went back to bed and heard "the weight" a least 34 more times, It will always remind me of that stinky awesome tour bus. Levon Rules, and the gal that sings back up is my favorite part.


10 comments:

  1. that is awesome.
    i love that song.
    during the summer of 2009, three of my favorite musicians toured together and they did a cover of this song.
    stellar stuff.

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  2. “So Much In Love” by The Tymes – Has two meanings for me. It was our Wedding Song and just being with someone I truly wanted to be with for the rest of my life somewhere, anywhere. The second meaning was when it was sung by the Tymes themselves at my High School Prom. We wanted the upcoming Beach Boys but they wanted $5,000 at the time which our class could not afford. The Tymes were excellent.

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  3. "Sunshine on my Shoulders", "This Old Guitar", "Rocky Mountain High" are some songs that remind me of the time John Denver sang these songs for my husband, 2 daughters, myself, and friends in the Rocky Mountains outside of Aspen the summer of 1981. It was in the evening around the campfire, he roasted marshmallows with us, also-it was a dream come true! We had our own private concert with John. He also took us out to lunch in Aspen that afternoon. He was a very kind and gracious man.We have lots of photos of that very special time. (Nantucketbreeze/Susie)

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  4. Many songs remind me of many memories, places and people. But the oddest or funniest, but certainly uncanniest, is that 100% of time I cannot pick up after my dogs without Joe Walsh's Ordinary Average Guy playing in my head. Sorry, this isn't so much a place or person, but it is by far the strongest and most frequent connection to a song.

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  5. I had the dvd and loved so many of the preformances and preformers. This with the Staples singers (Pops and 2 daughters) adding vocal power to an awesome band was a great closer. Mavis Staples just released a new album, "You Are Not Alone" 2010.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW0kE6mucFY

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  6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKLX_aj6reA

    Here is some musical history about the Staples Singers and Dr.Martin Luther King from Mavis.

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  7. This is one of my favorite songs! I first heard it in Australia as a cover by Jimmy Barnes and the Badloves. http://www.youtube.com/embed/ceDXBuqn25w

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