One of the most tiring things about Barrage is not the performing...it's the traveling. Each of the four non-show days we've had has included an long drive (3-7 hours), and a few of the show days have had long drives as well. [Yesterday, for example, we drove 5 hours from Elizabethtown, KY, to Bartlett, TN, and then played a show.]
Frequently, I'm successful in finding productive things to do during those long drives. Standard car activities include: reading a book (currently, my mind is being blown by David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas), listening to my favorite podcasts or music, working on a blog post, napping, or enjoying the company.
Yesterday, though, was a complete waste of a drive! I basically sat in a comatose state looking out the window the whole time. I napped for a tiny bit, but it wasn't even beneficial because I was too tired to properly nap!
And as proof of just how much time we've spent on interstates, I submit this photo of the bug-speckled van bumper from a few days ago...
In conclusion, sitting in cars can sometimes kill any desire to be remotely productive.
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But, with all of the fatigue off these past 10 days, there have been a handful of very awesome occurrences.
Firstly, 3 of the 4 shows this past week were sold out!
Secondly, at an educational program the other day, some student left his or her bass bow on the stage after the workshop. So, naturally, we picked it up and tried to play violin with it...
And, finally, I had an unexpected visitor at one of the shows in Jupiter, FL.
Back in November, I had an absurd trip home from tour involving delayed flights and three nosebleeds. On the final flight, my neighbor on the plane offered me a clean handkerchief to fight the nosebleeds, a genuine and generous random act of kindness from a stranger. When we left, he said he'd keep an eye out for our performances in Florida. But, just being passing neighbors on a plane, I doubted he actually would.
You can imagine my surprise, then, when I received an e-mail from Mitchell a few days before the performance in Jupiter, telling me that he'd be attending with his wife and good friends!
How incredible is that?!
And, not only did he come and bring friends, but he also brought me a hilarious gift of handkerchiefs for future nosebleeds!
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| A planned act of kindness. |
Here's to showing kindness to strangers and making the world a better place, one more stopped nosebleed at a time!
3 comments:
My goodness! What a kind soul that man is! I always love meeting genuinely nice people like him!
I'd probably shoot myself if I had to drive that much. So kudos to you for being able to do it.
How awesome is Mitchell for first of all just being a kind stranger, but secondly for following through on his comment, AND being cool and thoughtful. Makes me happy that such good people continue to exist in this world. It also helps that you're pretty adorable, and a good conversationalist.
I'm there for most of things that you blog about, but I still love reading them. You are an awesome writer, sir!
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