The Life and Times of an Indie Band- Part 3

We arrive at Spice, a Thai restaurant. During a sit down meal, the band usually turns off their smart phones and puts them into the center of the table, to ensure that everyone is paying attention. Food is quickly ordered and served. Before we eat, grace is said. Eating is an activity everyone involved enjoys and the food is often shared around the table. Tonight is no exception.
There's no time to tarry, so we quickly walk back to Webster Hall as the doors have started to open as it's already 6:30 PM. The Vespers announce themselves as band members so they can be let in at the stage door.

At some point, it's made known that there are 2 other "local" acts will be performing as well tonight. This does not go over well with the group, as it means they will performing last after 4 other acts. It's felt that the crowd will be burnt out by then. According to all, it's best to go on second, if there are three acts, and second if there are two. Going last with a five act lineup is to avoided at all costs. But, there is no changing things at this juncture.

The set list of what will be played tonight is handled by Callie . Taylor used to perform this important task, but says that the band realized that Callie had the better knack for knowing what was best for the crowd and the venue. Placement of new songs is also critical.

The "dressing room" is a tiny, barely furnished room off of the stage. The only amenity provided is bottled water. Demands for M&M's with the green ones removed  will not be honored tonight.
There's a real camaraderie among the musical acts and they are very gracious and friendly.


The manager of the venue lets everyone know that the show will be starting 10 minutes late. A pretty good crowd has gathered by 7:15 and there's well over a 100 people at one point. Most of them are there to see one of the local acts who has sold many tickets to their fellow students. The record company executive does show up to hear the Vespers play. By the time they do, it's almost 10 PM and the crowd has thinned out . Undaunted by the small crowd, The Vespers give it their all. They know that there might be (and in this case is) someone in the crowd that could be an important industry type.  Just as importantly, there are some in the crowd that came just to see them. They will not be let down.

Then, in what seems like mere minutes, the Vespers are playing their last song. In what will turn out to be over a 12 hour day, the actual performance is probably a little over a half an hour. Before you know it, the load out has been started up.

The Vespers and their partner band for this tour, Caleb, stand outside the venue, in the cold February night, say their goodbyes and wish each other a safe ride to the  venue they'll be playing together the next night in Virginia. Everyone settles back into the van. Bruno announces the meager payout to everyone. This night's check will cover expenses ,but not much more . There's more talk about being the last of 5 acts to play and how that is less than ideal. Pretty soon, the chatter dies down as we head back to New Jersey.Everyone is quickly back on their smart phones.

Later that evening, The Vespers find out that the van Caleb had been driving to Philadelphia has broken down on an interstate in Philadelphia. They do not know if they will be able to make the scheduled gig or not. If they don't what will the Vespers do without the shared drum kit that was in Caleb's van? That's another tale, for another day, on the road. 

Life and Times of an Indie Band- Part Two

With a great parking spot secured, The Vespers headed off to lunch with the recording industry executive. Caitie and I grabbed a cup of coffee at the nearest Starbucks and then headed back to the van where we discussed the future of the world....well maybe not the world but we did cover a lot of topics. Caitie had branched out from being the merch person, and she now handles the lights and audio when no audio technician is provided by the club. On this tour, the other band, Caleb has their own audio guy and this venue has  pretty sophisticated stage lighting. So there will be a lot less gear to unload as a result.

The Vespers are at a crossroads in their life as a band. The two sisters, Callie and Phoebe, are getting married in the spring. How this will exactly affect the band is uncertain.  The touring is fun, but is tiring and can be a grind. Can they attract attention of a record label and a subsequent larger audience? They need the backing of a label to appear on the late night talk shows. and to get the radio and internet play they would need to take them to the next level. For an independent band, they have done a lot on their own, including the release of 2 albums and with the publication of  two big articles on them in the Huffington Post. But the organic growth and their own drive will only take them so far.

Bruno, Taylor, Callie and Phoebe return from their meeting with the record executive. He will be attending tonight's show as he has never seen them live. His young daughter made The Vespers a cute card with some drawings representing some of their songs. While the meeting went well, no specific deal has been offered at this point.

For now, the immediate concern is unloading the van and getting all the gear down the flight of stairs of Webster Hall to the stage area. There is no elevator and the venue does not provide any assistance as is the case at most shows. The Vespers have done "the load out" hundreds of times and have it down to a science. Everyone pitches in . It is really cold and rather dark in the stage area. The other band, Caleb, is also unloading, and there is a  constant flow of young people lugging equipment. instruments, and hard cases down the stairs.

The load out is also a little easier today, because both bands are sharing a drum kit. It's now about 4pm, and I am getting hungry, as I haven't eaten since breakfast. The Vespers are used to it, as they rarely have three meals a day. When they first toured, they would rarely order an entree for each of them, as things were so tight financially.

The stage is soon filled with the drum kit, various other instruments, and sound equipment of all sorts. Caleb's sound guy begins the somewhat lengthy process of doing the sound check. He gets some info from Summer, the sound gal from Webster Hall, and then proceeds to have the Vespers play a few bars from every instrument. Once that is complete, he asks them to sing into their individual  microphones. Phoebe and Callie belt out some spiritual tunes, which sound wonderful. There's a lot of standing and waiting as the sound check goes thru it's arduous process.Yawns abound.

After what seems a cold eternity, the Vesper sound check is complete! A few of the band members are hungry. Taylor gets a tip on a good Thai restaurant that's just down the street, and the six of us are on our way for some much needed sustenance. Show time is still 4 hours away! To be continued.......

The Life and Times of an Indie Band

I've have developed a close relationship with the members of an independent musical band called The Vespers. These four young people, sisters Callie and Phoebe Cryar as well as brothers (not related to the sisters), Bruno and Taylor Jones , are a touring , singer-songwriter band who drive their sturdy van and trailer to venues coast to coast from their home base in Nashville, Tennessee.


Accompanying  them is Caitie Merz,  merch (merchandise) seller, roadie, and assistant to Bruno, who doubles as the band's manager.

They were recently booked to do a gig in Webster Hall, in New York City. When they play close to my home in Jersey, my wife and I open up what we now call The Chornomaz Inn, to them and let them know they are welcome to stay with us while they are in the area where we will feed and house them. When the  NYC gig came up and they asked if they could stay with us for two nights, I said of course, but texted Bruno  back to see if I could drive in with them, in the Vesper van, to get a real taste of what their touring musician life was like.  His one word text reply made my day: "Absolutely!"

We left my house about noon time as the band had a luncheon meeting with a record executive around one thirty, and the venue , Webster Hall, wanted them to set up around three in the afternoon  as the show started at 7 PM. On this tour, The Vespers were performing along with some other Nashville performers, Jillian Edwards, and a band called Caleb. Since the Vespers were going on last ,they might not be performing until after nine. So it was already apparent to me that it was going to be a long day.

I got to ride shotgun with Bruno, who does almost all of the driving. Once we all got settled in the van , Bruno hit the go button the GPS and we were off to New York City. I soon found out that we couldn't take the Holland Tunnel, as trailers are prohibited there...good thing Bruno was aware of the restriction. I was surprised at the lack of talking in the van as we started our journey. Everyone has an I Phone and was either emailing, phoning,tweeting, texting, web browsing or listening to music. There is a DVD player in the van, and many movies and television series have been watched by those not driving.

I asked Bruno if he listened to the radio while driving, and he said no, as he wanted to pay attention to the van's performance at all times. As you can imagine, gasoline is a big expense, as the van gets less than 10 miles a gallon. There is talk of getting a more fuel efficient van once there are funds to do so. The van has a lot of miles on it, and there have many breakdowns along the way, but they have always occurred on a day off, and the band has never missed a gig as a result of transportation issues.

Bruno's biggest concern today is parking, as the van with trailer takes up almost 3 parking spaces and NYC isn't exactly an easy place to park in the first place.
We are lucky today, as traffic is pretty light this Tuesday, and by 1:30 or so we pull up to the venue which is in the East Village area of downtown Manhattan. Bruno is delighted to see that the "loading only" parking space right in front of the venue is available and he deftly maneuvers the van in the spot. He feels we will be able to leave the van there the whole day, as he is certain that the traffic enforcement types will see the trailer and not ticket us. This is a glorious start to the day!
To be continued......

Those Were The Days My friends

Last night, I had dinner with five childhood friends of mine. I went to kindergarten with most of them (there was an AM and PM session) and then we grew up together until we graduated high school . They were all at our 30th high school reunion dinner in 2001. A chance meeting with one of them as I was boarding a plane from Memphis back to Newark a few years ago, got the two of us to try and organize a mini reunion once a year and we've pretty successful in doing that the last few years.
It's really weird to think that we've known each other almost 55 years! 55 years!
 What strikes me about our get togethers is first of all, the deep feelings that abound. Handshakes don't cut it anymore. Hugs are in. No one brags about what they do, or how much they make, or how pretty their wife and/or grand kids are. There are at any time, multiple  and loud conversations going on . The topics go from " is so and so dead?", to "when's the last time you saw her?', quickly followed by "and how does she look?".
Funny stories about how on one wonderful lunchtime on the playground one of them forever dispatched the bully that was bothering us all are followed by the recollection that one of our eighth grade classmates , Doug, ate his breakfast under the fire escape every morning. It consisted of 2 robust ham and cheese sandwiches on a roll washed down by a quart or two of Boller cola .
That tale was tempered by the fact that Doug had a bastard for a father, which lead to a life of crime, followed by a very early death. The conversation quickly switches to the next memory.
This year's get together is  dampened by the fact that one of our little group has stage 4 lung cancer. It's discussed, but not dwelt on. We know we're getting old. We know each of us is celebrating our 60th birthday sometime this year. We know most of our teachers have passed away. We're aware many classmates are also no longer with us.
But the five of us are committed to meeting annually . Until.

"Trust No One"

Right after graduating college, my first job was in a department store warehouse which was on the fourth floor of a old fashioned department store in Newark, NJ. Here, I supervised 30 women in a checking and ticketing operation of ready to wear goods. All the items for all of their 6 stores came to this combination store/warehouse and were processed and then transported to the other stores.

At the same time I was working at Hahnes ,my younger brother was attending my alma mater, Rutgers, on the Newark campus. When his class schedule matched my going into work schedule, I intermittently drove him to school and he would take the bus back home. Rutgers and Hahnes were no more than a mile apart.

 This area of Newark was rough, but not dangerous. Although, I can tell you that I would practically run to my car when it was dark, ever vigilant for would be muggers. The area had it's share of wacky people, like the older woman who would stand outside of her apartment , smoking a cigar, while constantly spewing forth an obscenity laced diatribe at some imaginary enemy. All this while dressed in a pink sweater, all year round.


On this day, my brother and I arrived pretty early in the morning to snag a precious parking spot. There were parking lots for a dollar, but that was way more than I had to spend most days.
So they were are, in my parked car with the windows rolled down, on a sunny fall day, waiting until it was time for us to go to  class and work respectively. A guy walking down the street comes up to the passenger side window and greets us in a most friendly manner. But alas, he needs our help! It seems that he is on his way to work, but has no money for gas that day. Is there any way we can "lend" him $5 for the gas.

How will he repay us? While, he'll be sure to meet us right back here tomorrow, same time! I stole a glance at my brother to get his reaction, which was non committal.
The guy seemed so trustworthy and  repeated his vow to repay me the next day.
So, I handed him over the five dollar bill and he profusely thanked us. He reminded me to meet him right on the same spot the next morning.
Like a moron, I waited for him the next morning for over a half hour.
Of course, he never showed up.

Leave Them Hangin'

My parents had a lot of weird friends while we were growing up and back then, their odd friends and representatives from various organizations they belonged to, would show up at our doorstep unannounced. My two brothers and I, one older, one younger, developed a complete introverted approach to all these visitors and avoided interacting with them at all costs. If the doorbell rang, we ran and hid. It didn't help that our house was usually in a shambles and that my older brother's wardrobe usually consisted of tattered pajamas which were unfortunately ripped in a very delicate region. If the phone rang, we didn't pick it up. Someone who only knew how to speak Ukrainian might be on the line!

One day the three of us were home alone as my parents were out somewhere. This was usually a recipe for something bad to happen and this day would prove to be no exception. The doorbell rang and I made a crucial error at this point. I answered it. There stood, on on our front stairs and sidewalk a contingent of young people from the Ukrainian Boy Scouts, known as Plast.
They were decked out in full uniform and were there to ask for their annual donation for their troop.

I told them to hold on, as I did not know what to do next. I left them outside on our stoop in the chilly air.

I sought out the advice of my older and wiser brother, who was of no help at all. After all, I was the one that had foolishly answered the door and I would have to figure out how to deal with the situation. I pleaded with my brother to go to the front door and let these young men know that our parents weren't home and that they would have to come back. But, my brother refused. I had created this problem and he wasn't going to anything to help solve it. I can't remember if I asked my younger brother to do the same or not. If I did, there was no way he was going to talk to them.

I peeked through  our front window to look at our visitors as several minutes had passed by at this point. They were still there, eagerly awaiting my return. They didn't know it, but I had already made up my mind that I was not going back to talk to them. Call it fear, rudeness, or just plain childish behavior, but I had decided that I would let them stay out there until their patience was exhausted and they would simply leave.

I continued to peek through the front windows and observed them, hoping they would leave quickly. After what seemed an eternity, they just turned away, got in their car and drove off.

My parents eventually came back home and being the generally honest kid I was, I told them what had happened earlier that afternoon. They were appalled at our behavior and ashamed that we had been so rude to our visitors. What would Plast think of our family now?

Well, we never found out. Plast never came to our door again.

Best Christmas Tree Ever

The Best Christmas Tree ?

I'll never forget the year that my Dad got our best Christmas tree ever!

It was Christmas Eve and  we had not gotten a tree that year. I think it was mostly because none of us cared that much and with only one car in the family and one driver at this point, it wasn't the easiest thing to do.
My Dad came home from work after supper time which was unusual as he always worked the night shift and usually came home well after midnight. I guess he got off early because it was Christmas Eve.  He was usually in a good mood and this night was no exception.
My dad did have a twisted sense of humor. When asked one day if got a promotion from his normal janitorial duties, he replied yes, as that day he was asked to clean 8 toilets instead of the usual 4!
I think my brothers and I complained about the lack of a tree to the point where he finally caved in and said okay, let's take a ride to Two Guys, the discount department store, who had a tree lot in their parking area.
Back then, Christmas tree lots were not as numerous as they seem to be today, as we drove about 25 minutes to get to the Two Guys store.

It was late by this time, and although my memory is foggy on the exact time, it had to be like 8:30 or so. We were the only buyers in the lot.There were still a lot of trees left and we started to look around for what would be our tree that year. The most expensive tree back then went for about $12.
Shockingly, my very frugal dad picked out a 10 foot tree marked at $12.00. How frugal was he? Well not to gross you out, but he made soap from partially used bars of soap from the boys locker room at our high school, where he worked for a time.

So my dad brings the tree to the  guy who was running the lot and says basically that we expect a deal on the tree as it's late on Christmas Eve and your prospects of selling even one more tree are bleak. The guy's first offer, whatever it was, was unrealistically high given the circumstances. My father, in  textbook negotiation fashion, offered the guy his first and final offer...one dollar!
The lot owner made the "fritz" face, and said how that was not a bona fide offer and said he would not part with the magnificent tree for such a paltry sum.
Then my Dad uttered the words which I can still recall as plainly today as when they were first spoken over forty plus  years ago:
"Look, it's late..you are closing in 15 minutes or so, so you can go home and be with your family. My sons and I will come back in half an hour and take the tree then, for free."

Faced with my Dad's most logical argument, the lot owner took the dollar
from my Dad's hand and gave us the tree. I cannot recall any bitterness from the lot owner.
But, I can recall the look on my Mom's face when we walked in with the best and biggest tree we ever had!

(Reposted from 12-18-11)