DAY 6: A SONG THAT REMINDS YOU OF SOMEWHERE...

The song would be THE WEIGHT, and the somewhere would be a tour bus. It was the west coast tour with my pals Michael Johns and Benton Paul. It was me and nine other dudes. Needless to say I was outnumbered by these lovely and yet smelly lads. I was the lone lady armed with cans of febreeze and christmas candles trying to de-odorize our house on wheels. There is very little personal space on a bus, the quarters become tighter with each passing day, however if you ever need to get away you can always go hide into the 3x6ish ft bunk bed that becomes your sanctuary. But in the heart of the bus is the main cabin, the living room and the fridge, it's where all the excitement happens, where everyone congregates while we'd drive for hours to the next gig. Most of the time you would find us all piled on the couches, while I would lay in the middle of the floor with my blanket, we would watch concert DVD's like Led Zepplin and Joe Cocker, but the one that got the most airtime was "THE LAST WALTZ" by The band. Mornings were my favorite, they were peaceful and quiet in the main cabin, I'd vacuum and febreeze, lay on the couch with my bowl of cereal and watch the scenery like moving pictures out the open window, while you'd find the dudes passed out in their bunks, sleeping in until as late as sometimes 3 in the afternoon. You'll often times hear touring musicians say that they sleep like a baby on the bus, the hum of the engine, the rumble of the wheels rolling over the uneven pavement, the dark as a coffin bunks a 63 freezing degrees. I on the other hand, have the opposite effect, I become an insomniac as the bus becomes a place of the night life, late after the gigs mike and the band loved to stay up until the early hours of the morning and have a few beverages. My friends tell me that I'm somewhat of a wet blanket ( but a semi-fun wet blanket) cause I like to be in my jammies and snuggled under the covers nice and early. Benton was also a mellow fellow , he had his office in the back. The first three nights of the tour I lied in my bunk wide awake, while "Take a load off Anny, take a load for free" was blaring through the bus over and over and over again, I thought I was going to loose my mind. I hopped out of bunk and groggily opened the door to find the party animals, the guys all stopped in their tracks and the ring leader Michael Johns said "sorry brooke white". Ah well, they were having fun, so I went back to bed and heard "the weight" a least 34 more times, It will always remind me of that stinky awesome tour bus. Levon Rules, and the gal that sings back up is my favorite part.