Corey Balsamo

Singer-songwriter from New York. Just trying to figure it all out.

If only you could be amazed by your own life..

I feel really guilty that I haven’t written on here in a few days. It has totally been in the back of my mind, eating at me. The past couple of days have been sort of crazy. It’s a tough balance to get a day in the studio with one of the guys and then try to not break any social commitments. I just graduated high school, so, of course, everyone’s having graduation parties. But I’m finding myself calling early nights more often. Maybe I’m subconsciously disciplining myself. One eventful thing did happen a few days ago that I thought would be fun to write on here.

After Romano & I were done recording some bass tracks last Wednesday, I met up with Ross. We drove around Long Island and met up with some friends, made our rounds and what not. By 2 AM, we found ourselves on Montauk Highway in West Islip, NY passing our old high school. We pulled into the parking lot and scoped out the scene for a while, talked about if we missed it, what did we miss, do you wish you could go back?, etc. From the parking lot, Ross took a sharp turn back onto the highway, in what I thought would be the general direction of home, since it was getting pretty late. Instead, he took an unanswered turn onto the parkway ramp headed south towards the beaches. We found ourselves driving around by the beaches down by Robert Moses’ beaches, pushing his car to 100+ MPH over the bridges with the top down, hair soaked in wind. On the way home, or the way in which we thought was going to bring us home, Ross let me drive. I started taking detours through different highways, ya know, the scenic route home. We reached main street in East Islip a short while later. We both agreed that our dear friend Kristie deserved a 3 AM visit from her two favorite boys. Driving down the cross street, Ross gazed out the passenger seat window and ordered me to pull over and stop. There was this house which had its front lawn “decorated”, if you will, with piles and mountains of just - stuff. Dressers, tables, books, garbage cans, mirrors, bedroom furniture, clothes, magazines, household appliances, among many other things. Ross stepped out of the car to check it out, while I did a once around the block. I pull back up to scoop Ross some thirty to forty seconds later, and there is a silver mini-van pulled up next to him. I can see that they are exchanging conversation and Ross has a smile on his face. I pull up to him and asked what was up. Ross said “I don’t know, this guy has me mistaken for the person who made this mess. He says the cops are looking for me.” Ross got back in the car and I continued to travel down the street, a little more nervous than before, towards Kristie’s housing development. The gentleman in the van immediately turned on his high-beams and proceeded to follow us down the long road. When I accelerated, so did he. Eventually I made a quick turn onto Kristie’s block, attempting to lose him. It was official: I was driving the getaway car. We ducked into Kristie’s driveway, turned the car and its lights off and began to laugh pretty heartily. Suddenly, the van stopped at the top of Kristie’s block. Surprisingly, he didn’t turn down the street to scope for us. Ross has a car that can be easily distinguished from others: A white 1988 Mercedes 560 SL convertible. Still, the van searched no further for us. Kristie came out of her house, reluctantly awoken. She heard the story and proceeded to rant about how this kind of stuff only happens to Ross & I - which has a lot of truth to it. Within a few minutes of hanging out on the roof of Ross’ car, a squad car with it’s spotlight on was patrolling Kristie’s neighborhood. Me a.k.a “chicken” ran behind Kristie’s garage behind several garbage cans, while Ross sat on the hood of his car - unafraid of anything. I knew we didn’t do anything wrong, it was very well obvious. I guess it was just the thrill of feeling like a vigilante on the run - even if for a little bit. The cop did a lap around Kristie’s block, shining the patrol car’s spotlight on pretty much whatever. He shined it directly on Ross but continued to drive, thus leaving us for good. No trouble ever did happen in the end. Ross & I wonder what ever did happen to that gentleman in the silver mini-van, or as I like to call him “Mini-van Dan”. Or as Ross likes to call him, “John Wayne”. However, we do have some theories to what exactly this guy’s deal was. Theory 1: He was kicked out of the police academy and his current goal is to prove to the boys in blue that he is still worth something. Theory 2: He was an extra on an episode of Law & Order and had that one ‘good line". He is still living in the past to this day. Any other theories? Let me know.

Aside from that, the band & I have been trying to settle how things will work on this tour. Valet Parking has told us that they won’t be able to come on the road with us since Chris Capuano left the band just a few weeks ago. That put a damper on a lot of things. My band is a young band. We have a local following that takes many bands sometimes years to acquire. Yet we don’t have a lot of money. I put in for a t-shirt order that is going to cost about $475. I counted the band’s cashbox and we have $521. We have virtually no money for tour. With no van and little money, we may have to resort to playing venues with three acoustic guitars and a small percussion instrument. It does take away from the live performance aspect, but at least we’re traveling. I’m getting together with the guys tonight to finalize what we plan on doing. I’m hoping for the best. Wish me luck.

Cor 

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