Yesterday was a day of firsts. First time draining the sewage from the bus, first time paying a $20.00 highway toll, first time trying to get a vehicle carrying propane into New York City. The bus has a propane tank that fuels the stove, refrigerator, hot water heater, etc. Well apparently vehicles carrying propane aren't allowed in most tunnels in New York, and in our case; the Holland Tunnel. Pulling up to the tunnel, we were 5 miles from Manhattan, then we had to be re-routed to go over the George Washington bridge which is 20 miles north. After our 40 mile detour we were back on track to the packed streets of NYC rush hour traffic.
Back within 5 miles of the venue, it took us another hour to get through the traffic. Nonetheless it was worth it. We found a big enough parking spot right in front of Lit Lounge. The parking gods were on our side today because we were able to stretch a 1 hour parking spot into 3 hours until the meter maids were off duty, without getting a ticket.
Right when we pulled up we were greeted by our good friends and killer NYC band; Akudama. We were playing with them and pumped to be doing it again; they played our Worcester Kick off show at Ralph's. After unloading and finally being able to relax, we cooked some dinner in the bus and had a few cold ones with Blake and Jay from Akudama. Our relaxation time was cut short when we were informed that the band before us didn't show up; so we had to jump on early.
theWANDAS at Lit Lounge in Manhattan NY
There were a few snafu's like Ross was using the house bass amp that was super low-end heavy and it was rumbling the whole stage; which made it hard to hear anything else in the monitors. The DI box that controls Will's sequencer was kicking in and out, so during "The Lady" the horn section was abruptly starting and stopping. Even with the technical difficulties we still had a blast. Akudama put on a sick set and we were pumped to play for all of their fans.
Akudama at Lit Lounge in Manhattan NY
Riding high from the night, we decided to push our luck and stick around in our blessed parking spot. We scoured the street for signs and decided we were cleared to stay until 9am without trouble. Ross woke up at 8:50 am to feed the meter only to find what looked like a scene from "I Am Legend". We were the only vehicle on the entire street as far as the eye could see. Looking over we saw the damage; a big sticker on the window and a violation on the windshield. "Street cleaning between 8:30am-9:00am". Baah.
Oh well on to Baltimore! See you tonight at 8x10.