A three day weekend. A flurry of activity. Hardly slept. Hardly ate. Powered by adrenaline. Not sure if that is healthy or not. Yesterday, still hustling, cleaning up, putting large black boxes back in their usual places.
"Rock music is mostly about moving big black boxes from one side of town to the other in the back of your car." - David Thomas, Pere Ubu
It is funny. The pre & post show hustle is just as important as the time you spend on stage in front of an audience. The preparation, the rehearsals, the getting gear sorted out. It can be a Zen thing. Pick up the box, carry it down the stairs, hustle it back to the rehearsal space.
Then there is the post-show assessment. What went right? What went wrong? I broke a string on Sunday. It happens. Sometimes I play with a bit too much enthusiasm, but then there is the normal wear and tear, the humidity, all the up and down tuning. My backup guitar is a gorgeous-looking Epiphone guitar, but it just doesn't have the same gravity that my old 1979 Japanese-made Hohner possesses.
And it just doesn't feel the same. I am so married to that old, clunky Hohner. I am now on the search for another one. Same model, same year. Another mad quest. Just to make the show, and our performances a little better. It's the day after, the day after.