Yesterday At 3:10PM.
Doug texts me a GPS pin. I grab my camera bag and run out the door. When I get there, there are about twenty people playing volleyball and absolutely no sign of a show. I text Doug to make sure I’m in the right place. He tells me they’re around the block scouting another spot.
A few minutes later another set of cords come through, a couple streets over and on the other side of the tracks. I find a hole in the fence, cut across that way, push through some bushes and suddenly pop out in front of a bunch of familiar faces.
Things are already starting to assemble themselves. Cables are being run to generators. Fif is doing sound out of the trunk of a car. People are carrying things back and forth trying to turn a dead-end street into a venue before anybody really has time to think about it.
At some point we realize Emily left her pedals and bass strap somewhere. I realized the strap had almost perfect little notches at each end. Good enough, My camera bag became a strap.
I asked Doug if he cared if I climbed onto the roof of the van once everything started to kick off so I could shoot a composite from up there.
He said he didn’t care, just don’t let anybody else up. Fair enough.
Eventually I abandoned the van. Next door there was a lot full of old garbage trucks, so I wandered over there and climbed on top of one of those instead. It was a great view from up there, A few hundred people packed into the end of a street, train tracks behind them, generators humming, everyone gathered around.
Maybe forty minutes later the music stopped.
Walking back from the parking lot next door, I found a kid’s school ID on the ground. I carried it back into the crowd, holding it up next to random faces until eventually I found him and handed it back to him. As people started disappearing, Olivia came over and gave me a hug. We talked for a little bit and I made her photo before everyone scattered.
Before leaving, I grabbed everyone to walk over to the tracks for a few group photos.
A show had appeared out of almost nothing and disappeared about as quickly. I hugged everyone and went on my way.
