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Diary: Buffalo, NY – August 9 2008 Hello one and all, Well here we go again. Thanks for asking about the diary. What would a Bruce tour be without me telling lies;-) Let’s start with the flight from L.A. to Buffalo with a short stop in Chicago (or so we thought). I knew it was not going to be a fun travel day. Before I departed for the airport I got a call from Peter our tour manager telling me that my original flight leaving Burbank airport (a 15 minute ride from my house by the way) is cancelled. And we are now flying out of LAX (30 minutes). But, JT come to my house and scoops me up for the airport in good spirits. We check in on American with just a slight problem. Because JT name is John Thomas, there are always security issues with his check in. But, nothing major , and we are on to the gate. At the gate we find that our flight to Chicago is going to leave L.A. almost one hour late (there goes our connecting flight). I am not worried because, this is Chicago after all, there must be a million flights to Buffalo right? Wrong! We get to Chicago and American has booked us on a flight that does not leave until the next morning. Now, I’m okay with this, but not JT. He wants to get in tonight, and ask American to check other airlines. American finds us a flight on United leaving within the hour, and book us on that flight. Then they call down and get out bags moved to the United. At this point a little bell starts going off in my head. I don’t really want to mess with the bags. But, JT says it all is well. Check this out. As soon as we start walking to the gate where our United flight is, JT looks at a monitor and sees that our new flight is now cancelled(Yikes!!). What the hell? We also notice that there is an earlier United flight leaving for Buffalo in 10 minutes. But if we are going to make this flight we have to run like hell for what seem like 4 miles. Of course by the time we get to the gate, the flight is gone. And now we have to go back to United to get a new flight (remember, our luggage is headed to a United flight that no longer exist). And on top of all of this JT is now starting to go to a dark place. We get back to the ticket counter and explain our situation ( Oh! Did I mention that the United flight was not even going to Buffalo, JT had got us a flight to Rochester, NY) We need to go to Buffalo, JT!) The person at the ticket counter finds us a flight to Buffalo, leaving in the morning. (we were already on that flight). And now we need a hotel room. Did you know that the Airlines will not get you a room anymore. They get you a discount :( I don’t like flying anymore. Peter steps in and we get a nice room 10 minutes from the Chicago airport. Our flight leaves at 8 AM and we get to Buffalo at 10. But of course, there is no luggage. And even better. No one knows where our luggage is. United tells us to check with American, American wants to blame United. I just want some clean panties :) Everyone assures us that the bags will be here in Buffalo today. It is now time for soundcheck and there are no bags. I can’t shave, my socks are starting to walk by themselves. And I don’t even want to tell you what my underwear is doing(after all, this is a family site :) ). I’m gonna make this story short. Because there is so much more to it. Our bags went to Rochester, and then was sent to Buffalo on US Air (a 3rd airline), where they were then sent to our hotel and put in a closet by the bellman(despite the fact that we informed the staff that we were expecting luggage) where they sat until I ask the bellman if any bags had been delivered. I had already went out a mall and bought socks, toiletries and underwear. And also went to the airport searching for the luggage. It was at the hotel sitting in a closet (perfect!!!) And now to the show! We played a pretty funky club in Buffalo. It was mostly standing room only. It has been a while since we played a real show and everyone in the band was a little nervous. We have played a few private events but, it is not the same. I spent most of the morning trying to remember the songs. We have a master set list that is approaching 140 songs or more. And with no rehearsals, we are going to play a tour. (I guess Bruce has a lot of confidence in us!) But, we were excited about being back together. From the first note. The band was on. We came out slamming. It is so great hearing Bobby, JT, Sonny, Doug and of course Bruce. We played with so much passion and energy. The good thing about being off for so long is that we all came back with a fresh approach to the music. Bruce was of course, Bruce! He work the songs and the band into what ever shape he was hearing and feeling. We played that first show for 2 hours and 45 minutes. As we left the stage all of us were surprised that the show was so long. On the bus it was all smiles and huggs. We are excited abut the next day. The only bummer in all of this. My brother Si Twining is not here to see and hear us this year. We miss his spirit and his smile. But, it is great seeing a lot of our friends and family. Thanks for welcoming us back. The mighty Buffalo audience was great. Smiles, dancing and a lot of request. The Noisemakers are back!!!!!
Peace! |