10/27/2004 Eddie's Attic - Atlanta, GA

I have been sick for 5 days now and have begun to act like a dude about it. Will came by at 4pm to load the vangina, but Page didn't meet us until 5:30 because her class ran late. Our sound check was set for 6pm and we showed up around 7:15. This is because we are professionals. Jamie and Deb were already there and had briefed the soundman about how to set up the stage mics. But they weren't exactly right, so I started moving mics around when I got there, and the soundman started to get pissed. Then while we are sound checking I can see he is getting more agitated because the doors are supposed to open at 8pm but Leslie Serpentfly still hasn't sound checked. I suggest that we run through The Police since we haven't played it in about 7 months, and then we also run through Religion. Leslie sets up to sound check and by now the soundman has reached his threshold of patience and becomes infuriated at Leslie's requests and inquiries. While I understand his frustration, as he is in charge of having us all soundchecked and ready for the 8:15 showtime (and it is now 8:30), it would behoove him to bear in mind that WE are paying HIM. Eddie's takes $200 off the top to cover production. This means he probably made about $100. I made $6 (yes, six), as did every member of Hope. And Leslie made $15 (yes, fifteen). Thank God, now her Mom can have that operation. Enough. Page, my dear sister, just arrived at my house with her juicer and a bunch of fruits and veggies. She is bound to make me better. But back to the show. After trading my amp for hers, Leslie plays a good set, but everything felt weird to me. Maybe because I had a fever and an aquaintance gave me a tepid toddy loaded with honey. Jamie is totally in awe of Leslie, as am I. It is fun to watch him watch her. We played what felt ike a very low energy set. Again with the fever. And I was so nervous that at any moment my voice would crack. I still haven't started puberty, see. When I am sick the first thing to go is my sense of timing. And that is lacking to begin with. Consequently, Malt Liqour, Laying Down the Gun, The Police and several others felt totally whack. What made me very happy was this kid in the front row who new the words to a lot of the songs. I think he might be our youngest fan. Page said she talked to his family and that they have been listening to our music on the internerd. That is so cool. Tom ran our merch and rolled his eyes at the sound man. When we were packing up to leave, the soundman approached each of us with his business card so we can call him before our next Eddie's show and "work this out because I am really into sound checks." He also told us we should try to arrive on time and not to sit on our amps on stage. While I would've loved to have hashed it out with him over some red and a stogie, I repeat that I am sick and not in the mood for patronizing. And while appreciate his gesture, it seems to me that he missed the obvious: We are a 5 piece with a ton of instruments that must be mic-ed. Of course we like soundchecks. We fudged this particular one because we were late which has been known to happen. In conclusion, we had nowhere else to sit. We sat on our amps. And through them we could faintly hear the local radio station. Being sick makes me whine. I will go eat noodles. Also, Mom helped us make CDs after soundcheck and for that, and many other reasons, she rules school.