April 18 - No Sleep Til White Castle

My time with Lauren was over as soon as it started. But we squeezed every possible drop of quality out of the sweaty, bloody sock that was my vacation. She dropped me off at the airport in the darkness of morning. Next time I see her will be at O'Hare on June 3. I'll have to pace myself like the picante sauce.

The cowboys at security mistook my drum tuner for a time bomb.

They ran it through some tests with machines and handheld devices. Unfortunately for them, it did not explode as they had secretly hoped, and begrudgingly had to allow me to legally board the airplane.

The plane landed in Chicago at 11:20am, just in time to retrieve the van by the Blue Line and drive it immediately to Second City for Rush Limbaugh! The Musical. Between bites of Jimmy John's we ran vocal warmups for the cast and slopped through two J Geils songs and "Somebody's Baby" by Jackson Browne. The theme for warmups was 1982.

After the show I went straight to Studio Greg Studios II, where Tom and Thea had been working on The Nurse Novels record all weekend. Even with Thea's cold, they got a lot done. Guitar and Korg overdubs plus Tom's vocals. I crashed on the couch until it was time for me to play tambourine, shaker, piano, and washing machine for a few numbers. One of these items gave me several bruises on my thighs.

At 1am I decided to eat my second meal of the day: White Castle. I think I spotted some celebrities there, but maybe it was just sleep-dep.

Verdict: Win