Friday, January 2, 2009

Home again

Survived three rehearsals, two concerts, one snow storm and a van that refused to start.

The van thing was enough to make you want to tear out your hair.

It was fully loaded, ready to transport the concert gear to the theater in Pittsfield - and it refused to start. Turned the ignition and - click! That was all. There was a wild exchange of phone calls between us and the concert promoter. We finally tracked down a drummer whose friend had a 'van'. The van turned out to be a Dodge Caravan - a small one. Somehow we got the harpsichord, the stand and music desk into the thing. I still have no idea how we got that 8' long instrument into it! We got to the theater with an hour and fifteen minutes till curtain. Yes, the show went on!

Afterwards, we stowed the instrument and gear backstage. We had no idea how long it would be there, but at least it would be safe. This morning, we called a mechanic. He checked it out, tried to start it - still nothing. Then he put it in neutral and turned the ignition! VOILA! It worked! So we drove to Pittsfield, got the instrument, then drove the three hours home.

No comments: