Chapter 20 - ROADZILLA RETURNS
Our next
gig was in Houston, Texas and according to the road bible
it was a 416 mile drive from Biloxi. Not only were we in for
another long butt numbing ride, we also had a show that night
with a 7:30 start time and no opening act. Oh, and the concert
was going to be simulcast over the Internet as well. This
all meant that we absolutely had to leave very early that
morning if we were going to make it to Houston with enough
time for an extensive sound check. It also meant that we were
going to be vulnerable to another attack by Roadzilla!
My first
clue to what was going to be another Roadzilla day came quite
early, before the bus even started to roll. After about a
half hour of waiting for the bell hops to bring the luggage
out to the bus, Bernie figured he'd better go back inside
the hotel to investigate. When he returned, Bernie informed
us that our luggage was lost somewhere in the hotel and no
one knew exactly where. We finally figured out that there
was a second entrance that is usually used by buses in the
back of the Beau Rivage. Of course, that's where our luggage
was, along with the bell hops that were on the wrong side
of the building and wondering where we were.
At the
time, it seemed smarter to drive the bus around back to where
the luggage was located than to have the bell hops schlep
the bags all the way back to the front of the hotel. Ah, but
things are not always what they seem. We cranked up the diesel
and cruised around to the bus entrance in back only to find
out that our land yacht was just a few inches too tall to
fit under the roof that covered the entrance. So after all
that, confusion we still ended up having these poor guys schlep
all the bags back to the front of the hotel and out to the
bus but the whole comedy of errors had now caused us to leave
an hour late. I don't recall any specific road rule, although
there must be one, that covers this kind of situation. No,
this was a new one, at least for me. Maybe it's covered under
general road rule #10 , which states; "The less time
you have, the more time it will take."
Well,
we finally got out on the highway, albeit an hour behind schedule,
and headed west. We would be rolling from our last gig in
Biloxi, Mississippi, through Louisiana and then through Texas
to our show in Houston with no time to spare. And of course,
that's when the skies opened up and a massive thunderstorm
began to pour rain on us fools below. However, 'Jeff the Invincible'
remained steadfast, cranked the windshield wiper speed to
high and continued to roll on down the highway in spite of
the foul weather.
Provided
there were no more delays, we figured we'd have just enough
time to go to the hotel for a late check in and then go immediately
to the venue. We figured wrong! This was a Roadzilla day,
cosmic forces were at work and the proof came sooner than
any of us expected.
It was
not long after we finally drove through the thunderstorm and
back into the sunshine when traffic began to slow down and
eventually ground to a complete halt, turning the freeway
into one of the world's biggest two lane parking lots.
Jeff immediately
got on the CB radio and found out that an eighteen wheeler
had flipped over about a mile ahead and was now blocking both
lanes. No one was hurt but by the time the lanes were opened
again, we had lost another hour of precious time. Now, it
was straight to the gig and hope we could make it by show
time.
Well,
we made it with only twenty minutes to spare. That's right,
the show started at 7:30 and we arrived at 7:10, which was
just enough time to change clothes and hit the stage. And
in spite of all the strange events of the day, the show went
off incredibly well but there was still one more surprise
to come. We found out after our performance that the Internet
satellite simulcast failed sometime after the first song because
of a computer glitch. Although, I personally think it was
the work of Roadzilla! I'm sure there must be a road rule
that covers that.
