I’m just back from the wilderness of Pennsylvania, with a decent paycheck and free pair of studio monitors to my name. My arrival in Greeley was quiet. I received a brief run-down of the plans for last night and this morning, and the keys to a Ford Expedition that–as it turned out–was completely useless. Not only was the first studio going to serve as the storage space for all the gear, the drums had already been packed into the designated room. That left a quick, forty-five minute workload that was mostly spent joking around while looking for Styrofoam inserts for all the audio gear boxes and the fronts for the pre-amp rack.
Once this was done I found my residence for the night, which was a few miles down Route-6. I had to make a right-turn at a nondescript street sign, and drive what felt like fifteen minutes down a dirt road. Along the path, I watched a family of turkeys cross in front of me, and a doe with her fawn playing in the grass. After a series of forks in the path, I came to a little clearing with a chained-up fence. On the other side of the fence was a large, sprawling horse ranch. I rolled into the gate, trying not to inadvertently strike any horses with my car (they were roaming free) and parked outside another chained-up fence that encircled the little cabin that served as my rest-stop for the night. It was pretty incredible. Despite being out in the middle of nowhere, there was a nice stereo system with iPod adapter and surround speakers, a fridge stocked with Lowenbrau, Heineken, vodka, ice-cream and candy, running water and comfortable overhead fans. I put on Days in the Wake and sat outside, a green haze hanging over my head, watching the horses stampede around the grounds. The full-moon looked scarily close. Fell asleep listening to Sketches of Spain, with chilled air and a chorus of insects and horse hooves seeping through open windows.
This morning I went to get the keys to the Expedition but it was in use, so I was told that I’d have to use my car to transport all the gear at the second studio. There was a paycheck waiting for me. Drove to the second studio, which was a small closet space on the side of a little outdoor amphitheater, and found out that it was actually “in use” at the moment. I apologized and said I needed to take everything apart and move it. A few kids offered to help and we managed to fit the entire studio into my Volvo, with the exception of the kick drum. I was more than impressed with the amount of space in my car. It took about two hours. Then I grabbed a breakfast sandwich from the Exxon station down the road and headed home. Today, without traffic, the drive took about seventy minutes.
