Grand Canyon from the air.
April 21, 2002
Grand Canyon from the air. That’s what I just saw. Big ol’ jet airliner carrying me home to see my kin. So long St. Louis and thanks for the hard rocking good times. We did a two show night at the Pageant Theater. The venue was licensed so the heckling and retorting was off the scale. The troupe was punchy by show#2 and that is my favourite variety of KITHall show...both as an audience member and a performer. I switched my song in the back half of the show without telling the boys or the crew. Heh...if they can screw around 100 times then maybe I should be allowed to do it once? On a whim I sang “Someone Who’s Cool” (Odds song). I know they all liked that. The Odds never made it to St.Louis for some reason so this couldn’t have been a bad idea. I forgot to figure out an ending because it was on impulse. I have to edit down my songs in the show so, in this case, I just stopped halfway. Last night’s award winning quip went to Mark. During “Chicken Lady” there was a guy just trying to agitate by singing the opening riff to “Smoke on the Water” over and over. Dave (as Max the gentleman caller) asked the Chicken Lady (Mark) if she lived next door to Deep Purple. Mark’s reply was:
“No that’s just one of the Siamese Twins from the freak show. He does that when he has diarrhea. They share one asshole you know. Sometimes one asshole is enough for two people. Sometimes one asshole is enough for a whole group of people”. It was a three part quip with a laugh at each level.
Very excited to see my family today. Breaking the rhythm of the road has its pluses & minuses. The three hours of sleep have enhanced the feeling that I am heading into a different plane of reality. Floating gently out of the road cocoon to be dropped onto the glorious trampoline that is my household. I can’t wait. Its a pretty egocentric life when you are touring. I liken it to suspended animation. You begin to separate your reality from the networks and ties that predominate in your home life. Eventually you do this with the other people you are touring with. Your routines and obligations are simplified until they fall away. They become things that just happen to you. You think mostly about what you need at any given moment to make the situation right. You begin to forget that this is an indulgence. If you don’t pay close attention to these trends you can develop the “thousand yard stare”. This happens when the suspended animation of road head combines with constant personal reassessment. You have then taken the final step into constantly reviewing your life and your life goals and the cocoon truly forms around you. Coming home can have the effect of repeated slaps to the face decreasing in frequency. It is consistently pointed out to you by the reactions of others that you are stumbling through the routines you had left behind -- constantly tripping up and breaking the flow. Your exotic tales of travel and conquest will have to wait because there are dishes to do, bills to pay and emotional reconnections to nurture in the few moments left at the end of a day. The worlds collide first and then hopefully the pieces merge into a better planet. It takes awhile but you eventually reintegrate yourself in time to leave again. I will spend the rest of this flight meditating on my significance (or insignificance) in relation to the grand scheme of things. It suppose it would have been better if I had just seen the Grand Canyon from the bottom rather than from the air. Bliss. I’m just a boy who’s intentions are good...