The Gig Up North

The Roadies

We rolled up into the back alley of The Brass Knuckles, which was the bar where they were playin’ at exactly 7:15.  We had barely made it here. They didn’t have much time to get set up or much time to get the sound test completed.  John parked the van and Brian was the first out to open the back doors. The alley was narrow and there wasn’t much room to work. There were trash cans on either side of the alley and the occasional telephone pole with at least ten flyers attached to them.

 “See? It was the luggage causin’ everything to fall out because look! Everything stayed right in it’s place this time.” No sooner than Freddie got his words out, John’s bass slid out of the back of the van along with a drum pedal. “Well, almost.” Freddie added, getting out of the back of the van. Roger followed behind him.

 “Veronica, Lydia…reach down and gather up all of those cords and stuff on the floor in front of you.” John asked of us. We started scooping everything off the floor of the van and into a ball of tangled cable while John walked around the front of the van to knock on the back door of the bar. We each climbed out, our hands absolutely full. We both headed toward the back of the van.

 “Here love, I’ll take those.” Freddie outstretched his arms to me and I handed everything over. Veronica handed the other pile over to Brian. John soon reappeared with the man inside with whom he had checked in. He arrived with three other guys to help them carry all this stuff inside. Brian was pulling things out of the back of the van and throwing them to Roger.

 “Hold on…hold on…” he told Brian lighting another cigarette.

 “Rog! You don’t have time for a cigarette! This is your stuff anyway!” Brian reprimanded him.

 “Just hoooold oooooon….” I was entirely amused as Roger got his cigarette lit. “Okay, throw me somethin’!” Brian did exactly that and Roger headed to the door with it. Veronica and I had retreated to the front of the van as to stay out of the way of this mayhem.

 “Did you bring the list?” I asked of her.

 “Got it in my purse.” Veronica said. I could hear Brian announce that the van had been unloaded.

 “And you’re drivin’ right?” she asked me. I could sense the nervousness in her voice.

 “Yes, yes, I’ll drive.” I reassured her.

“Okay, don’t worry. I make a good co-pilot. Too bad I wasn’t listenin’ when Roger was reading the signs of every business to us. We’ll ask someone where the nearest liquor store is and the nearest grocer.” Veronica said. We leaned up against the front of the van. I could still feel the heat from the engine against us.

 “Yeah, we’ll find somethin’.” I assured her. I breathed in the semi-stale air and looked up to the sky. It was an orange sunset tonight and it was magnificent. The fleeting pale orange stripes chased each other between the buildings.

 “Hey! Hey, are you two with this band?” a voice called to us. It was the man John had met earlier.

 “N…no. No…well sort of…we’re just the roadies.” Veronica called to him. “Here, come here.” Veronica and I walked over to the man at the door.

 “Here. No cover. You drink free.” The man said. He took Veronica’s hand and marked a black “Q” on it with his marker. He took my hand and did the same.

 “Thank you.” I told him as Veronica looked at me. He slipped away again through the door. “I guess it pays to be a roadie.”  She laughed at me. “Let’s get goin’. We need to try and make it back here for at least two songs in their set.”  The door swung open again. It was John.