Friday, January 06, 2006
MIDNIGHT IN VERNON
Practice began a little later yesterday…by the time we finished discussing details of the show and of the new website and Myspace site, it was after 9pm before we started rehearsing. Because of the show tonight, our plan last night was to run through the set a couple of times just for good measure, pack up all the gear, and be out of there by 11 or 11:30. But little did we know the unforeseeable events beyond our control that were about to occur. We finished up the first set around 10pm, and Dave had brought some beer to practice so we were taking a break and all having a beer and talking about the future of music and of our band and it’s place in that future. About 10:30 my phone started ringing but it was a blocked number. Since I always screen calls when I don’t know who the caller is, I didn’t pick up. The person left a voice mail. I started to listen to it. “Hi, this is Chris from TK Productions. Someone bought the building where you are rehearsing and we need you out of there ASAP…”
While I was listening to this, Dave’s phone started ringing and since he’s the other contact on the lease we signed, I knew this had to be Chris calling him so I said, “Dave…Dave…pick up your phone…”
And that’s when we got the bad news. Someone bought the building and we had to be out of there by Sunday night. What the fuck? We just moved in a month ago…the space was perfect and quiet and there were rarely other bands rehearsing there when we were there…now, what were we going to do? From searching for this place, we knew that it was tough to find a lock-out in this area…most of the places had waiting lists a mile long…we were on a few over a month ago…and no one ever called us…and all of this on the eve of the first show…we didn’t want to deal with this right now…
While Dave was on the phone with Chris, I heard some banging going on out in the hallway…I thought maybe these were the people that were buying the building…I was in a blind rage at this point and I went out there to get some answers…
But it was just Sergio (the building manager) and his band. “How you doing?” he asked.
“Not good…” I said.
“I guess you just got your call, then…huh? This fucking sucks.” Sergio told me, from what he knew, there was a guy who had come down to the studio about 3 weeks ago, pretending like he was in a band and was looking to rent one of the studios. I remember this guy because he made me show him our room while he was waiting for Sergio and he was all deceptive and being nice to me and pumping me for information…which I gave him because I thought he was just another musician like us. Sergio said that he did the same to him. But really, this guy was a business man. And he was looking to buy this building and kick all the musicians out.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” I said, “and we’ve got this show tomorrow night.”
It was then that Sergio told me that his band had actually just found a new studio about a mile away. Usually, it had a huge waiting list, but miraculously, there were three spaces that had just become available that very night. They had already signed the lease and taken one of them. There were two left. He gave me all the info and said we should go down immediately that very night if we wanted one of them. In the morning, they could be gone. So, I went back to our room and told the guys what I had found out. Ryan got on the phone and tried this new studio, but he only got someone’s voice mail.
I went back out in the hall and Sergio said that the people who were buying the building were coming down this very night and that his band was being asked to leave right then and there. They were not happy. He asked if we had gotten a hold of the other studio. I told him we left a message. He told me that we should just drive down there right that very moment because the manager down there lived on the premises and if we asked for him (his name is Yule), someone would direct us to him and he would show the spaces.
“Seriously, go now,” he said, “these spaces will not be available for very long.”
So, the four of us got in Ryan’s car and drove down to this place.
Everything that our current space was, this place was not. Whereas there were only 4 studios in our building, this one had 104. Ours was quiet…this one was fucking loud. We found the back door unlocked and began wandering the halls looking for Yule. There was guttural screaming coming from somewhere in the building, which freaked Ryan out a little until we realized that it was a coming from a singer in some band and not some crazy deranged poltergeist.
We were finally able to find Yule who agreed to show us the two spaces. We get in this huge freight elevator which takes us to the second floor. There is a big brass band playing down the hall. The first room is about the size of ours right now, but $135 cheaper. It is okay. The second room is on the third floor. It is $35 cheaper than our current room and about twice as big. You could seriously put all the gear, a couch, and a refrigerator in there and you still might have room for a pool table. There is a mariachi band playing down the hall, but when you close the door, the room is pretty well sound-proofed and you can’t hear them too terribly bad. We decide to take it. The room will be ours when we put down one month’s rent and the $200 security deposit (which needs to be in a money order). I ask if we can bring it down on Saturday morning. Yule tells me we can. But Jeff is worried that we may lose this room. What if someone comes down here tomorrow and just puts the money right on down? We need to get the money tonight. So, I tell Yule that we’ll be back in 20 minutes.
So, now the 4 of us are out driving around the streets of Vernon at 11:30 trying to find a 7-11 or something that is open where we can get the money orders. We find one, but they will only take cash. So, now Jeff, Ryan, and I are pulling wads of cash out of the ATM and Dave is walking around the store eating Funnions. I can’t even imagine what the woman behind the counter must have thought was going on…but I’m sure we were a sight.
We get the money orders, drive back to the space, sign the lease…and the keys are ours. Even Stevens. You get evicted from one space and an hour later you’ve got another one. How is this possible?…somebody must really be watching out for us.
We decide to forgo running through the set another time because by now it’s almost midnight. We drive back to the old space to get the gear…and they’re already in there gutting the building…at MIDNIGHT. What in the hell is going on here? I chase down the shifty little bastard that talked to me that night…pretending to be in a band…
“Chris said we can stay here til Sunday. Is that true? I see you’re gutting the building…will our stuff still be here on Sunday?” He tells me that it will. They won’t get to our room until next week.
So, we start packing up the gear we need for the show. Jeff goes out in the hall to talk to the guy…”what are you guys doing with the building?”
“Office space,” the guy tells him.
Yeah...and that’s why you’re here gutting the building at midnight…they’re probably turning it into a meth lab or a phone sex call center or something…
Finally, the gear is packed up and the cars are ready to roll…
The four of us are standing in the virtually empty room now. All that is left there is a couple of lamps, our dart board, the P.A., and some posters…Jeff pulls out a fifth of Jack…
“I got this so we could toast the eve of the first show…” he says.
And so we say a toast to our crazy night…the future…this empty room…the new space…and a bright future…it was a perfect moment…
And definitely one that when we’re famous, they can include on “Behind the Music.”
Rock out…
Practice began a little later yesterday…by the time we finished discussing details of the show and of the new website and Myspace site, it was after 9pm before we started rehearsing. Because of the show tonight, our plan last night was to run through the set a couple of times just for good measure, pack up all the gear, and be out of there by 11 or 11:30. But little did we know the unforeseeable events beyond our control that were about to occur. We finished up the first set around 10pm, and Dave had brought some beer to practice so we were taking a break and all having a beer and talking about the future of music and of our band and it’s place in that future. About 10:30 my phone started ringing but it was a blocked number. Since I always screen calls when I don’t know who the caller is, I didn’t pick up. The person left a voice mail. I started to listen to it. “Hi, this is Chris from TK Productions. Someone bought the building where you are rehearsing and we need you out of there ASAP…”
While I was listening to this, Dave’s phone started ringing and since he’s the other contact on the lease we signed, I knew this had to be Chris calling him so I said, “Dave…Dave…pick up your phone…”
And that’s when we got the bad news. Someone bought the building and we had to be out of there by Sunday night. What the fuck? We just moved in a month ago…the space was perfect and quiet and there were rarely other bands rehearsing there when we were there…now, what were we going to do? From searching for this place, we knew that it was tough to find a lock-out in this area…most of the places had waiting lists a mile long…we were on a few over a month ago…and no one ever called us…and all of this on the eve of the first show…we didn’t want to deal with this right now…
While Dave was on the phone with Chris, I heard some banging going on out in the hallway…I thought maybe these were the people that were buying the building…I was in a blind rage at this point and I went out there to get some answers…
But it was just Sergio (the building manager) and his band. “How you doing?” he asked.
“Not good…” I said.
“I guess you just got your call, then…huh? This fucking sucks.” Sergio told me, from what he knew, there was a guy who had come down to the studio about 3 weeks ago, pretending like he was in a band and was looking to rent one of the studios. I remember this guy because he made me show him our room while he was waiting for Sergio and he was all deceptive and being nice to me and pumping me for information…which I gave him because I thought he was just another musician like us. Sergio said that he did the same to him. But really, this guy was a business man. And he was looking to buy this building and kick all the musicians out.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” I said, “and we’ve got this show tomorrow night.”
It was then that Sergio told me that his band had actually just found a new studio about a mile away. Usually, it had a huge waiting list, but miraculously, there were three spaces that had just become available that very night. They had already signed the lease and taken one of them. There were two left. He gave me all the info and said we should go down immediately that very night if we wanted one of them. In the morning, they could be gone. So, I went back to our room and told the guys what I had found out. Ryan got on the phone and tried this new studio, but he only got someone’s voice mail.
I went back out in the hall and Sergio said that the people who were buying the building were coming down this very night and that his band was being asked to leave right then and there. They were not happy. He asked if we had gotten a hold of the other studio. I told him we left a message. He told me that we should just drive down there right that very moment because the manager down there lived on the premises and if we asked for him (his name is Yule), someone would direct us to him and he would show the spaces.
“Seriously, go now,” he said, “these spaces will not be available for very long.”
So, the four of us got in Ryan’s car and drove down to this place.
Everything that our current space was, this place was not. Whereas there were only 4 studios in our building, this one had 104. Ours was quiet…this one was fucking loud. We found the back door unlocked and began wandering the halls looking for Yule. There was guttural screaming coming from somewhere in the building, which freaked Ryan out a little until we realized that it was a coming from a singer in some band and not some crazy deranged poltergeist.
We were finally able to find Yule who agreed to show us the two spaces. We get in this huge freight elevator which takes us to the second floor. There is a big brass band playing down the hall. The first room is about the size of ours right now, but $135 cheaper. It is okay. The second room is on the third floor. It is $35 cheaper than our current room and about twice as big. You could seriously put all the gear, a couch, and a refrigerator in there and you still might have room for a pool table. There is a mariachi band playing down the hall, but when you close the door, the room is pretty well sound-proofed and you can’t hear them too terribly bad. We decide to take it. The room will be ours when we put down one month’s rent and the $200 security deposit (which needs to be in a money order). I ask if we can bring it down on Saturday morning. Yule tells me we can. But Jeff is worried that we may lose this room. What if someone comes down here tomorrow and just puts the money right on down? We need to get the money tonight. So, I tell Yule that we’ll be back in 20 minutes.
So, now the 4 of us are out driving around the streets of Vernon at 11:30 trying to find a 7-11 or something that is open where we can get the money orders. We find one, but they will only take cash. So, now Jeff, Ryan, and I are pulling wads of cash out of the ATM and Dave is walking around the store eating Funnions. I can’t even imagine what the woman behind the counter must have thought was going on…but I’m sure we were a sight.
We get the money orders, drive back to the space, sign the lease…and the keys are ours. Even Stevens. You get evicted from one space and an hour later you’ve got another one. How is this possible?…somebody must really be watching out for us.
We decide to forgo running through the set another time because by now it’s almost midnight. We drive back to the old space to get the gear…and they’re already in there gutting the building…at MIDNIGHT. What in the hell is going on here? I chase down the shifty little bastard that talked to me that night…pretending to be in a band…
“Chris said we can stay here til Sunday. Is that true? I see you’re gutting the building…will our stuff still be here on Sunday?” He tells me that it will. They won’t get to our room until next week.
So, we start packing up the gear we need for the show. Jeff goes out in the hall to talk to the guy…”what are you guys doing with the building?”
“Office space,” the guy tells him.
Yeah...and that’s why you’re here gutting the building at midnight…they’re probably turning it into a meth lab or a phone sex call center or something…
Finally, the gear is packed up and the cars are ready to roll…
The four of us are standing in the virtually empty room now. All that is left there is a couple of lamps, our dart board, the P.A., and some posters…Jeff pulls out a fifth of Jack…
“I got this so we could toast the eve of the first show…” he says.
And so we say a toast to our crazy night…the future…this empty room…the new space…and a bright future…it was a perfect moment…
And definitely one that when we’re famous, they can include on “Behind the Music.”
Rock out…
Comments:
Post a Comment
