Sick practice, dude!

Friday-Saturday, February 3rd-4th, 2006

Akron trip #3 for the new year.

I dully pushed myself out of the chair, dragged my feet across the hall, and flopped my shoulder against the frame of Tom’s door, informing him that I felt like septic sludge that morning.
“No, it’s just a normal cold. I dunno, I just have no energy at all...”
“Well, if you feel that bad, why don’t you take off?”
“I was thinking of heading out after lunch. I’ve gotta do the potable report and the turbidity, but once those are finished—they’re the only things that really need to be done today.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. And if you’re feeling too bad, just leave, that’s fine.”

1:30pm that afternoon. I had indeed finished the few requirements of that day, eaten a bowl of soup after everyone else had left for lunch at the Midway, and gotten in the car and headed West, bound for Akron. Now Pepsi Blue sat between yellow stripes outside McDonalds as I returned from my pit stop. I flopped in, leaned the seat back, tried to somehow bend my arm around in a comfortable position that covered my eyes, eventually gave up, laid back, and put myself into pure neutral. Songs and scenarios drifted through my head as I enjoyed letting my eyelids stay shut, and eventually I remember slowly waking up and having no idea where I was, and not caring, and being very still and comfortable, and finally remembering the car, and Akron, and being sick, and the fact that I was halfway there and sitting in my car at a random rest stop. The sleep had been sweet by its mere spontaneity, and by the need for it that had been tugging at my eyelids all morning. Needless to say, the rest of the drive proceeded in a much less risky manner.

“Hey Jahn” said Steve groggily from under the blanket on the den floor.
“Hey Steve!”
So Mrs. H had been right :-) He was supposed to have been helping set things up for the rummage sale since 11 that morning, but when I got there at 2:20 he was nowhere to be found, and she bet I’d find him sleeping at home.
“Recovering from the English paper?”
“Yeah, man…”
Well, I didn’t honestly feel a whole lot better myself. I had been hanging around the building where the dance ministry’s fundraiser was to be held on Saturday, sorta helping carry some stuff in, saying hey to friends, and continuing my copious nose-blowing. I can’t remember any other illness that has made my nose run so much! Eeesh. Eventually I headed back home, promising to probably return around 6 or something.
So, after a brief exchange with the sleepy Stephen and much petting of the excited dogs, I grabbed a blanket and deposited my drooping limbs and pounding head on the Hoffman’s basement couch. Brandy apparently loves that particular blanket, so she jumped up, found a beagle-sized nook, and the Hoffman’s house lapsed into silence. I remember thinking it was odd to drive out to Ohio, to this special city full of special people, and crash with a cold. But oh well. Practice must go on, and I would get what rest I could on Friday, and heck, I’m pretty much a part of the Hoffman family anyway, so whatever. It’s cool to come here so often that I can do this….Sleep took me, and it was sweet, and Brandy was warm, and time ceased to matter.

“Ohh, dude, this is amazing. I’m so dizzy it’s nuts! I don’t even have to turn my head, just move my eyes, and it’s like everything goes crazy.”
Steve and I were walking back from re-setting-up tables and chairs in an auxiliary building where dance lessons had been held during the afternoon. It was about 8:30 at night, but I felt like about 3am. We had woken up around 5, finally kickstarted our engines, and drove over to the rummage sale to bum some dinner off the setup crew who were pricing and sorting like feinds. Such we had done, and then hung around with the Murphys, Tuminos and others who were helping with the setup (“helping” is generous. The work was going pretty scatterdly at that time!). Most of the fun centered around pawing over the tables of clothes brought in by rummage donators. We pretty much got the cream of the crop, and cleaned out the few clothes that were mildly cool or useful. Steve got a sweet suit, I found some sweet shirts (heheheheheh) and stuff, and judging by the periodic bursts of laughs and giggles coming from the girls tables, I think they had fun too. The “I <3 BOYS” shirt was a big hit. But eventually I did take it off. And then me and Steve tore it up so no girl would buy it :-P Good times :-)

“Sorry Jess, we can’t stick around for Starbucks. I’m sick, and it’s later than I wanted to stay, and I’ve gotta rest for practice tomorrow. Ugh, I still can’t imagine you guys getting jacked on caffeine at 10 at night! Don’t hurt yourself, ok? Oy.”

“Duude. The pictures are rattling!”
“Is it too loud?”
“No man, it’s sweet! . . well, we’ll see.”
We didn’t end up turning the sub down as Episode III rocked the Hoffman’s den that night, and it definitely added physical power to the movie, which is already pretty hard core, especially for Star Wars. It was cool to see it again, being only my second time, and cool to chill with Steve-O while everybody else was gone (Philip was with his Grandma for the weekend and Scott and Mom #2 were at the rummage sale till 4 or 5am). I laid back on the couch and let the screen fill my eyes and the sub fill my ears, and I enjoyed once again how the movie got better and better as the galaxy went further and further to pot :-) Hayden does a much better job as a limbless wreck burning in lava then as a wavy-haired hunk making sweet talk to Padme. “This is a happy time now.” Ahhhhh, you’re TERRIBLE man! Heh.

“Dude, come on! It’s eleven-thirty, Brian’s gonna be here in half an hour, and we’ve got the set everything up for practice!”
Ugh, waking Stephen up is not easy. And then when he finally got up, 20 minutes later, he took a shower! Geez dude.
Yes, my alarm did go off at 10, and yes I had wanted to get up in time to go over to the rummage sale before Brian came at noon and practice started... but I just shut it off, laid back in still, rested comfort, and wondered if I’d fall back asleep again. I guess the answer was yes :-)
Brian ended up coming later, and I wasn’t done setting up until after Steve got back with the bass amp from church, so it all worked out.

“That was swEET, guys!”
“Yeah man! We could almost do those four songs just like that for the concert!”
America Blue, Regular Basis, Straight from the Nails, and Walking Dust in quick succession had kicked our practice off to a rockin’ start. This is one of the predominant images or memories in my mind from this trip: the joy and togetherness of playing with Brian and Stephen. Steve really echoed my thoughts (brainwaves, man!) when he was talking about how our lack of practice last semester would either break the band or make it much stronger. When we clicked off the first song on December 30th and blasted right back in after 3 months apart, I knew we were stronger, not weaker, for the absence. Each of our practices this year have been marked by new innovations with old songs, finishing and arranging and modifying new songs, and in general playing very well together, remembering stuff well, and enjoying the sweet tones of Philip’s new bass and the church’s kickin’ bass amp. I really can’t describe how it feels to sit behind the drums and play with two guys who know exactly what to do, what to play, and play it well, and to have the three of us make music—low pounding bass, guitar filling in all the chords and leads, drums and fills and kick beats, vocals and harmonies….. it’s what makes people be in bands! I’m excited for our new songs, and I’ve been thinking perhaps God is leading towards starting work on our second album. We may end up being more of a studio band, since it’s tough to find concert contexts for a band of Christian minors (well, 2 minors anyway). I’m excited for the new songs, and I’m excited that all of us are writing, and getting into the process, and coming up with good stuff, and then getting together and working it out with the band, and working over ideas, and being willing to give up our preferences, and coming out with some sweet music. God, Thy will be done, as I keep praying! Brian and Stephen, I love you guys!

“Oh, of course.”
Such was Brian’s response when I mentioned the “Taco Bell Break” we’d be taking Saturday afternoon. I mean, seriously…how could we not?? Spicy chicken crunchwrap supreme, baby! And with one brief primer question (What’s God been doing in your life lately?) we all jumped in to an hour or so of real conversation and discussion—infinitely more satisfying than an hour of banal blabber :-) Brian’s cell phone / mp3 player is sweet, too. And we rung the bell, and didn’t care if they thought we were lame, ‘cause we’d had a blast, and the food was good, and we love Taco Bell!

“Hey Dad, it’s John! Hi! Well, let’s see…we had a sweet practice, and then Mrs. Hoffman came home around 7 and told us Mr. H was stuck in the mud outside the rummage sale. Heh. So we finished up and went over and got him out. And then we were like, ‘aw, we can’t let this be the end of the day!’ So we stopped at Burger King for Brian, and then just decided to go to the Murphys. So.. we randomly showed up on the Murphy’s porch, and rang the doorbell, and Justin let us in, so we stood inside and talked for like 15 minutes, and finally Mr. Murphy invited us to sit down, and we ended up hanging out for like 2 hours! Heh, it was pretty sweet! We helped him think of a worship song for the morning, and played guitar and stuff…it was a pretty cool Akron thing to do :-) So, I really don’t feel like driving home right now, I just…I dunno, can’t picture driving back now. I’m thinking of staying the night here, and then driving to church in the morning and getting there at the normal time. ‘Cause then I wouldn’t need to leave till 7:30 or so, and I’ve been wanting a week off from the worship team anyway, and this would be more efficient sleep-wise. So, yeah, that’s what I’m thinkin’. Heh. Aight. Well, have a good night! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

"Duuude, I'm so excited! Oh my gash! I've had this in my head for so long, and to hear the guitar and piano together is just amazing!"
Steve had been trying to work his song out for months, playing me bits and pieces of sweet-sounding chords and melodies on guitar and piano, and claiming it was the best song he'd ever written. The time was finally right that night, with practice over, parents asleep upstairs, and a keyboard and an electric guitar plugged into a sweet 15" bass amp in the post-practice dance room, half below ground on a snowy night in Akron. I was in a post-caffeine, post-practice tiredness stupor, flopping in front of the amp, letting every strum of my strat fill me with joy (it sounded SO good through that amp!!), and sinking deeper and deeper into Steve's song. We got the arrangement nailed down, and I learned the guitar parts and got the feel for how it goes. Great great time sharing some deep music. And then we watched "Conspiracy Theory," and talked a bunch, and finally went to bed. And I was more rested than I expected the next morning, and it was cool to wake up in Akron and go to church in Pittsburgh :-)

I love Pure Boss :-) Thank You Lord for every time we've been able to play together, and every song You've given us, and all the enjoyment you pour out through this marvelous thing called music!

--Clear Ambassador