Day 14: Charlotte, NC
Nau mai,
Yesterday we played our first ever show in Charlotte, the Queen City (rival city to the other Queen City, Auckland, New Zealand).
The recent aquisition by The Beths of a brand new Hamilton Beach two-slice toaster has enabled our bus cuisine to reach new heights. My breakfast yesterday was two pieces of some kind of seeded brown bread, toasted, buttered, and spread with Marmite (UK) and natural peanut butter.
We were parked in a lot outside the venue in what felt like a little post-industrial corner just north of Charlotte’s downtown. Immediately north of us was the tangle of overpasses that was the interchange of Interstates 77 and 277, and we were hemmed in on the other side by a railway line making walking anywhere a long and difficult prospect.
It was a low-slung brick building that housed both the larger venue (The Filmore, Charlotte) and the smaller room we were in called Underground, despite the building’s lack of any subterranean features. Perhaps it is a reference to underground music culture, or to the building’s foundations and utilities which are hidden in the depths beneath the performance space.
Inside were the classic trappings of a factory come music venue, polished concrete floors (a bit dinged up), industrial themed stainless steel hardware for the drinks bars, pipes, ducts, and open wiring running along the ceiling, and a complete lack of any decoration or character.
The venue staff were some of the nicest we have come across and they were ruthlessly helpful and efficient. They swarmed over the trailer with handcarts and once everything was on stage they pestered us continuously for tasks they could assist with.
In her downtime Liz got to work altering a piece of newly acquired clothing. She begins here by carefully ironing the shirt and marking out the cut line. Sharp scissors are produced and used to cut off the excess fabric from the bottom of the shirt.
Finally the bottom is hemmed, a slow process without the aid of a sewing machine. Look at those tidy stitches though!
The author watches his colleague Jonathan troubleshooting a problem with his speaker cabinet. (It was a loose wire).
We received this excellent artwork from a young fan named Elise.
Watching Squirrel Flower from behind the stage.