Corey Balsamo

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

It’s 1:54 A.M. ..

We are on the road to Pennsylvania. But where to begin? On Thursday morning, I woke up anticipating these next few days. My neighbor, Bill, kindly agreed to let my band and I use his 1999 Chevy AstroVan for tour. It has well over 250,000 miles on it, a passenger seat window that doesn’t roll down, a door that doesn’t open, a dented sliding door that needs some extra lovin’ shoulder push to open, no right side view mirror, a cracked windshield, a radio that doesn’t technically work, a broken fuel gauge and hardly enough room for five 18 year old guys to cram guitars, amps, drums, merch, two cases of Arnold Palmer and themselves into. I brought Ross along to sell our merchandise at the venues. Our first stop was Cafe Arabica in Hackensack, NJ. The show was so-so. But the night was incredible. We had the chance to meet up with some old friends we had made in June when we played with Ryan Cabrera in Allentown, PA. Joey D’anna and Jon Gambino were the two guys who we met there. They wound up coming back to the hotel room 20 minutes from the venue in Wayne, NJ. We sang and laughed and played guitar ‘til 4 A.M. The guys and I planned on making a 9 A.M. ETD so we could make it up to our next show at Knapp’s Underground in Bennington, VT with time to kill. I knew before I opened my eyes this morning that we had missed that early morning goal when I heard Mike Romano roll over in bed and say, “Well, so much for leaving at 9.” It was almost 11. We rushed around, crammed into the van again and started the 225+ mile trek to Bennington. I had been driving this whole tour thus far. The miles went fast. Ross was my co-pilot. We got up there at about 3:30. Immediately, Ross and I saw what others may see as a dusty used book store as a treasure chest filled with hours of fun possibilities only sent from the heavens above. Bennington is a small town. Essentially, everything the town offered was located on Main St. - from the venue to where we ate lunch to where the hotels we were planning on checking out. After a hearty hoagie lunch at the local brewery, Ross and I ventured over to that used bookstore. Inside, we split up for a good hour, panning rows of dusty shelves and cranking our necks so we could read the vertical titles. I wound up leaving with a copy of selected pieces by Earnest Hemingway. The show wound up being fun and we made some new friends. Our set sounded tight. But the small town lifestyle was not cutting it for us. We decided not to stay in Bennington and we hit the road by 11:30 P.M., but not before we had a run in with a local police officer. One thing you ought to know about Bennington is that they LOVE moose. There were moose statues EVERYWHERE in Bennington. On our way out, the band and I hopped on top of one and posed while Ross snapped a picture. A local police officer pulled up, got out of his car and kindly said, “Can’t have you sittin’ on the moose, boys.” We apologized and he clarified that he didn’t think we were any trouble once he saw that it was just a photo op. He also proceeded to point out that I was far too clean cut looking to be any real trouble. Thanks, officer. So, we packed into the van and began heading to Albany. The streets of downtown Albany were desolate by 1 A.M. with the exception of a few bars. We didn’t spend much time in Albany at all. By 1:30, we all agreed that it was best to begin driving straight through the night to Bloomsburg, PA, where we’ll be playing in about 16 hours. Ross took over driving. I’m sitting co-pilot. Mike Curley’s feet smell. Everyone’s quiet or sleeping. It’s now 3:30 and we’re about to hit the PA border. I love music. I love my band. I love my best bud. I love life on the road.

Cor

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