Well, I had a great weekend. I worked with the Sound Elevation boys on a sound gig at the Park Tavern all day Saturday. Five tribute bands, a packed house, and a long day for the sound crew. Money is money though, folks!
I completed the fastest pack up of a huge PA ever, goading my fellow crew into packing up the van as fast as possible so I wouldn’t miss the end of the Sam Thacker show. I had to pull the van and trailer into place to get all the PA gear packed into its home in the trailer. To do this, I needed the driver of a blue minivan to move his car. I ran up to the window and hurriedly asked the driver if he would move so I could pull the van up.
The driver was an off duty Atlanta police officer who not only refused to move his van, but screamed at me for putting my problems on him.
“I’m sorry, sir, I’ve just had a long day… ” I began to explain.
“Well I’ve had a long day too!” he said.
“I believe you. I made a mistake. I’m very sorry, sir.”
“Don’t you approach me like that. Don’t EVER run up on me and put your frustrations on me! It’s not MY problem you need to move that van and trailer!”
“Yes sir,” I continued. “I’m very sorry sir. I made a mistake, sir.”
Finally, after apologizing about 50 more times, he moved his van. I pulled up, and the boys and I packed up the trailer. Once it was full and the door was locked, I pulled it out of the parking lot and onto the street, trying to drive quickly but not wreck, which is hard with a heavy trailer. Then, almost home, the van’s transmission went out. I began to wonder what the universe had against me. It just wouldn’t get up the last hill to its parking place, and the engine was screaming.
I roared “MOTHER FUCKER” at the steering wheel. This didn’t help, so I rolled it and the trailer into something like a parking place, and ran the last few hundred yards.
I took the fastest shower in the recorded history of mankind, jumped into some clean clothes, and hopped into my car, breaking my favorite sunglasses in the process. I screamed MOTHERFUCKER a few more times, dropped the handbrake and sped off like a shot. I made it to the show for the last chords of the last song. HAH! TAKE THAT, UNIVERSE!
Whew!
Now I’m relaxing and typing about it all, but I’m still mad at that cop. This makes the only bad experience I have ever had with Atlanta police, and they have a reputation of not being very nice. Up until now I have defended them because I had a great experience with one officer a few years back. He was very helpful to me and my sister and he really didn’t have to be.
I guess you just have to grovel in the presence of local cops to get what you need some times.
Looking forward to a good mountain bike ride with my brother in law tomorrow morning, as I am back in Birmingham until Thursday or so. I’ll see you on the mountain at 7:30, fuckers!
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