Yesterday the PBBB headed out of town to play at a music festival in a great little town south of Buffalo called Gowanda for the Gowanda Moose Fest; a charity event made to raise some much-needed dollars for a much-needed cause. Sometimes things just go wrong and lemme tell you, yesterday was a story that could never be made up...you had to be there to believe it!
The band was heading toward our destination, having a good time and enjoying laughs. We had the gear in a trailer and many of the guys were driving out to meet us there. As we entered the Buffalo area, all of the sudden, the tire on the trailer exploded...literally exploded. We were on a pretty busy stretch of the NY State Thruway and there was really no place to pull over. We had to make an immediate stop on the median between the 4-lane highway.
With cars wizzing by at ludicrous speed in close proximity, Chris Teal, Mike Frederick and I went to work like a NASCAR pit crew trying to fix the situation. We realized this would be a difficult task since we had no car jack, and apparently none of my wrenches fit the actual size of the tire's lug nut. CRAP.
Thus began a 45-minute endeavor to find help...either by a tow service or AAA. I had to call the festival and let them know we'd be late getting there. In the chaos of the situation I ended up slamming a car door on the trailer's lock, thus lodging a key inside the lock and making it impossible to open.
And then it began to rain...
Well after quite a tribulation we were able to get a tow service out to help us put on the tire (never felt like less of a man before) and we were on our way to the show!
After getting a little lost, we finally manage to make the festival...but couldn't get into the trailer because of the broken lock and lodged key. So after several firefighters and a few hacksaws and cable cutters, we were able to get into the trailer and play the show...45 minutes late, agh!
Well the good news was that the people in Gowanda were truly understanding of the situation and were very sympathetic. I have to give props to Delaney Peters, the man running the show, and his great attitude toward the whole thing.
We managed to rock out the house and the people were definitely feeling the groove. We made lots of new friends in Gowanda and will be coming back soon!
We'll be out in Geneseo next Saturday, hopefully a little wiser after this weekend, and will definitely come ready to rock!
Thanks for all the love and support, Gowanda! Keep it good and funky!
-ej
