We'll Share the Hide-a-Bed

I’m sitting on the bus now that is daytime home to 42 people. The tour works like this: crew and equipment travel in 4 semis and a 12 person tour bus and cas, orchestra and management travel on a 54 person coach. The crew always load out and leave immediately following the last performance in a city and drive overnight, arriving in time to start unloading the trucks and setting up for a 6pm sound check. We always stay in the hotel in the city of a performance and drive on the day of a performance in the morning, planning for a 2 pm check-in and nap at the next hotel. Today we are in the middle of matinee one-nighters, which is the worst case scenario where you close a city on a Friday night only to have another show in another city at 3 pm the next day. The crew has to be set up for a 12:30pm sound check, leaving only 14 hours between the last bow on Friday and the first note on Saturday, hundreds of miles apart. We hit traffic (stupid bus crash! not our bus, however) this morning between Wakegan and Normal, Ill and are about 2 hours behind schedule. Someone will have to choose between feeding us, allowing us to get dressed, or starting the 3 pm show on time. The show is loaded in, ready to go in Normal, but there is no cast or band yet.

In the front seats behind the driver are the company manager to starboard and the Musical Director to port. The company manager is great fun in Karaoke situations and will entertain at length if required. The musical director sings great too, and is open minded about staying up late.

I find that I'm not tired of cast members reciting lines from funny movies.

I found that laying across two seats with my head in the aisle and feet on the window is the best way to ride the bus. If I could suspend my ipod above my face this would be ideal and strange.