Burlington, VT – “The Roll-Away” – The Metronome – September 8, 1999
“Where should I put this roll-away bed frame?” I turned to find Soucy, in plaid boxer shorts standing next to a folded, rusty, coiled spring, roll-away frame that looked like a medieval torture device or a bear trap. It was late—Three AM after the Burlington show. Chris had already slid the thin, crispy, mattress out of the metal mouth of its captor onto the floor. despite its newfound freedom, the terrorized bedding refused to lay flat on the ground and instead, sat upright like a pathetic excuse for the letter “L.” The vision of a nearly naked Soucy next to the saluting matrice made me giggle and I looked uneasily around the tiny hospital-like room for a solution to his dilemma. Where to stash this unseemly and slightly dangerous rusty, rolling bed frame?
The lights bleached the Fairfield Inn walls Clorox green. There was so little room in our room already and we’d made use of what lack of space there was. My sink-washed laundry dried over the back of a chair, a computer uploading the latest “Tale” was over here, a disemboweled suitcase was there, loose papers full of song ideas and chicken scratch from my days of silence were scattered on the bolted-down wood-colored table in the corner.
“Should put it in the bathtub?” Asked Soucy, referencing the only immediately obsolete space he could think of. Suddenly a mischievous grin saturated my face. “Put it in Chris’s bed,” I whispered despite the fact Delucchi was nowhere in earshot. My devilish grin spread to Soucy’s face and no sooner had he responded with a slow motion, “Shhhhhhhhhhhhould I?!?!” A cackle erupted from his soul-patched chiny chin chin, and the frame was up and tucked into Delucchi’s bed. I knew it would be a while til our little joke played out. The boys had collected in Brian and Kenny’s room after a VERY UNEVENTFUL, unpublicized Burlington show. Often they gather for what they call a “security meeting,” which is just code for smoking ganja.
I stayed up and watched the last part of “The Wall” while Soucy joined the “security meeting” in room #207. I turned out the lights when I heard the two Chrises approaching. Through the light in the crack of the door, I could hear the smile on Soucy’s face as he said, “I put something in your bed to sleep with,” It was a battle to contain my laughter as I listened to Delucchi, in the dark feeling around his bedding, trying to make out what Chris put in there without turning on the light and potentially waking me. “What did you put in here?” I heard him whisper and squint “A blow-up doll?”
This sent me into hysterical laughter and I switched on the lights to reveal Chris’s rusty rollaway between the sheets. The stoned look of surprise on Delucchi’s face was priceless and he toppled backward, tripping on the loose mattress on the floor. We all rolled around on the ground laughing about the rollaway and marveled at the fact that ½ way into a tour even a rusty bed frame can be mistaken for something romantically provocative.
