Doppler, A Roadies View

What is that ringing in my ears.....

After all these years, like most people involved in live music, my hearing isn't what it was. I wear ear plugs but I still have a slight buzzing.

Last night I had a dream the phone was ringing. No wait...it was ringing. I'm barely awake and think I'm in a hotel. I look at the clock it's 4:37am. I then realize I'm actually at home.

I get up thinking it must be a family emergency. I have a grandmother who just turned 100 years old this past Thursday. So I wake up thinking the worst. I check the caller ID, "unknown caller".

I check the voice mail and the person says call them back and leave their number. No name mind you and I don't recognize the voice. I have no idea who this is.

Ok, when I'm on the road it is not uncommon to get that late night call. It's usually a musician who went out and got themselves in a fight or something. Yes it has happened more times than I can remember. I've even had to take someone to the hospital because of it.

I won't mention the band but on one occasion I was awoken roughly around the same time as last night. One of the bands guitar players was hanging out with some people after a show. We had a very early morning flight. The guy was extremely drunk when he came back to the hotel and was also badly beaten. His tongue was split in half the length of it.

Fortunately there was a hospital a few blocks from the hotel. He had sustained a concussion. We got him patched up and were able to make the flight.

Do to the injuries we had to cancel a bunch of shows.

It's no wonder I hate the phone.

posted by Doppler at 8:30 PM