The Eagle Has Landed

Back to the road I went. My boss in from Asheville needed some help, and as it turned out, I needed some work, so the plan was set forth to go on the road for four dates with The Eagles. Yes, the very same Eagles of Hotel California, Desperado, and that one song that mentions Winslow, AZ and a girl in a flatbed Ford. How bad could this be? I've done it all before, and thought I knew exactly what to expect. The work was all the same, and the hours were ridiculously long (as usual), but what I didn't expect was the level of jerkdom that came from the Eagles camp. Yes, I said jerkdom. If it's not a word, it should be, and right next to the dictionary entry should be a big picture of the Eagles. Of all the bands that I've worked for (and I've worked for quite a few), The Eagles take the proverbial, asshole cake. They were rude, arrogant and extremely demanding, as well as completely unappreciative.

People sometimes ask me, "What sort of weird things do bands want on their riders?" Yes, I know, the rider is sacred, confidential material, but I just have to tell you about the bananas. Yes, bananas. The humble, starchy, yellow fruit (it's actually not a fruit, but that's a different story) that both kids and adults love. Some people like them more on the green side, and some like them a little sweeter, with a few brown spots. Well, the Eagles, according to their rider, and their catering coordinator (who shall remain nameless, but just think "Little House on the...") insisted that the bananas that went to their dressing rooms be in bunches of five - not four, not six - and they had to be perfectly uniform yellow, without a single brown spot, and absolutely no green. This was so strictly enforced that the catering coordinator had to inspect each bunch before it was released to the dressing room tables. You may ask, "What's the big deal?", but have you ever searched through a pile of bananas for not only one, but six bunches such as this? Thankfully, this was not something that I had to undertake, but I did have to insure their safe transport back to the coliseums. As I'm sure you know, bananas are fragile. This was merely the icing on the cake. So be it. Moving onward and upward. The Boys of Summer, indeed.

Of course coming back to Raleigh meant a few things needed to be taken care of. First of all, birthday festivities were in order. The plan was made to meet everyone at Abysynnia (an Ethiopian restaurant here in Raleigh), and then to go to the mighty Slim's. First, I had to make my way into the city from Charlotte via train, which is always a pleasurable trip. Seriously! I love the train trip between Charlotte and Raleigh. It's quick, easy, and affordable, plus, nine times out of ten you get your own seat! So here it was, I had been awake for approximately thirty hours, and then on top of it, I drank Jameson's into the wee hours with my co-worker to insure that my birthday would start in the most ridiculous fashion. I made my way to the train station in Charlotte, went up to the booth to claim my ticket, and the train arrived right on schedule to whisk me away to Raleigh. I of course went right to sleep on the train, and suddenly was awakened by the conductor. He informed me that we were just about to get into Raleigh, and that I should make tracks up to the car that was in front of us. Who was I to argue? I collected my belongings, and tracks I did make to the next car. As I was pulling my bags together, I look out the window, and all I could see was a completely snow covered terrain. Wait. Where was I? I shook the sleep off, and realized that yes, indeed, that was snow on the ground in Raleigh, NC! My birthday wish had come true! Well, at least one of them.

The train came to a halt at the Raleigh train station on Cabarrus Ave. I gingerly stepped off the train and just marveled at all of the beautifully, pristine snow. All of the branches of the trees were covered in that very romantic New England sort of way, and not even one speck of it was close to being gray! I thought of New York and how when it would snow there, the seven million vehicles and nine million tromping people could stain the beautiful white ground with such immediacy. Whatever was just moments ago, fluffy, white and immaculate, would suddenly be a gray, slushy mess. Okay, enough on snow.

Sheri came to pick me up at the train station. Since it was Raleigh, of course virtually every business shut their doors because of the "inclement weather". Sheri and I, being from the North, of course were laughing at this. We ran a few errands, we went to my house so I could clean up and change my clothes, and then we made our way to the Raleigh Times to start the birthday thing off in a proper fashion. Granted, it was no longer my birthday (it was really the day before) but since the Eagles had to have their bananas, it had to wait until Tuesday the 20th of January. Yes, it was inauguration day. The Raleigh Times was packed with inauguration viewers, but Sheri and I luckily found a table in the back. HBomb was on her way, as well as a few other people. Dinner reservations were at 7:30, so we had time for a few drinks along with a few smokes and a few laughs as well. Suddenly, at about 5:30, I was presented with my first birthday shot of Jameson, and I knew it would all be going downhill from there. The shot was consumed, a few more beers, and then John whisked me and the ladies off to Abysynnia for our Ethiopian feast.

Abysynnia is the only Ethiopian restaurant in town. They were kind enough to open the doors for us that day to accommodate the party that once was fifteen, but had dwindled to nine because of that pesky snow. I had a great time, we ate plenty of food, drank plenty of wine, had great conversation, then made our way down to Slim's. Serino was bartending, and it wasn't busy, which is always an ideal situation. I was trying to keep my alcohol consumption down to a dull roar, and frankly I was somewhat burned out from my work trip, but I still had a great time. It was low key, until we all decided to make our way down to the Landmark. What had once been sparkling, white snow, now was very slick ice. I of course was the first one to slip and fall on the ice, and then I believe I heard that some others in the group fell as well. Yay! Birthday party on ice! I could be mistaken on this, though. This is merely hearsay. We made our way to Landmark where Gary was working, had a couple of drinks and then suddenly we were on our way to Mike and Allison's house. The dull roar of alcohol consumption had now turned into a hyena's cackle...

...to be continued.