Day 8: Dallas, TX
Nau mai
Yesterday we played at The Bomb Factory in Dallas, Texas.
The scene late on Sunday night.
Lavonda had spent her day off in Texarkana under the knife, a helpless victim of a fluid leak from a perished gasket that should have been changed during the last servicing. The mechanic was working all afternoon and well into the night but there was only so much that could be achieved in the carpark of a Hampton Inn & Suites, and she would have to be towed to the bus hospital.
Tour manager Annie Tunnicliffe was all over this situation and by the time I awoke in the morning a plan had been hatched to get us and our equipment to Dallas in time for the show. She turned up at 10am in a U-Haul and we set about unpacking our trailer and rolling everything up the ramp into the back of this sizeable cargo truck. We had two rental vehicles to move all the human bodies and Tristan had the honour of driving the Phoebe Rings band in a serious looking Volkswagen SUV while Erin drove the remaining Beths members in one of the most powerfully spacious minivans on the market, the Chrysler Pacifica (I’m sorry Toyota Sienna owners; they are great too!)
The convoy departed the Texarkana Central Mall Megaplex and headed west on Interstate 30, journeying through a terrain of farms, swampland, strip malls, road works, and billboards. Jon kept himself busy by attempting to reason with the stubborn artificial intelligence that masquerades as the controls and settings menu for the Chrysler Pacifica. He did manage to change the equaliser for the stereo but never quite figured out how to adjust the clock to the correct time.
Breakfast was purchased at that great Texas institution known as Buc-ee’s (I only got this spelling correct after the third try even after I had just looked at the word). The sensory experience of entering this extremely jacked gas station is quite overwhelming and I focused on keeping my goals simple, heading straight for the sandwich counter and miraculously purchasing only a single item before rushing for the exit. Outside I stood around a lamppost with my comrades as we ate our food, my mine a sliced brisket sandwich topped with white onions and with sweet pickles on the side.
We arrived in Dallas perfectly on time for load-in and we quickly emptied the U-Haul so it could be returned with the minimum of rental fees. The load was through a large roller door and up an easy ramp to the stage which looked out across a long, brick room, one of the most aggressively air-conditioned spaces I have experienced in a long time. This cooling system was able to maintain what felt like 14°C (-190°F) and we had to get into our winter clothes for soundcheck. In all fairness the room sounded great, something to do with wavelength stability at lower temperatures, and the stage sound was extremely well behaved too.
There was ample to time for dinner and a walk, and we enjoyed the majestic view to the west of sun rays striking the glass colossuses of the Dallas downtown as the horizon began to breathe its orange sunset glow. The neighbourhood of Deep Ellum was an extremely pleasant place to explore with street art lining the alleyways and bars and boutiques occupying every shopfront.
Jon gets to work on an electronics side project to augment my bass pedal board.
We had a terrific time at this show in Dallas. This former munitions plant was a great venue once there were enough bodies inside to bring it close to the ambient outdoor temperature. The crowd were persistent hecklers (but very gentle and respectful with this heckling) and delivered close to twenty requests over the course of the set. Sadly due to the strict venue curfew we had to keep the set list tight, but the requests live on in our hearts.
Right as we finished load out a new bus pulled up, clean and shiny and yellow, like a block of butter that has been in the fridge for too long (I’m aware that some countries have weird pale butter, this reference is not for you). It was no Lavonda, but we were happy to have a set of wheels and a bed for the night.
