I'm a Steamroller, Baby

This past weekend is the stuff of which dreams are made. In fact, I believe that last night’s sleep was haunted with Apples running carefree in and out of my consciousness. So, I probably won’t do the story justice (and I’m not even sure if you really care) but I have to tell someone about what a wonderful time I had.

My Saturday arrived early: 8am, to be exact. With adrenaline rushing through my veins like a steamroller, I couldn’t force myself to lie there any longer. So, I rose and proceeded to throw a load of laundry in the wash, and when I stepped outside to have my first cigarette of the day I was greeted with miniature snowballs falling from the sky. It only snowed for a few minutes, that first fifteen minutes of my day, but I knew that it was a sign for the beauty I was to experience over the next 48 hours.

Chica showed up at my door around 11, still drunk from her Friday night of drink and debauchery. All in all it was pretty funny (although, truthfully I would have been annoyed if I weren’t high with anxiety.) We went back to her place so that she could wash away the strong odour she had accumulated and get packed for weekend. Here’s where things start getting fuzzy. After a peaceful drive to Cincinnati we arrived at Bruce Lachey’s Brothel to be greeted by it’s (temporary) tenants: Becky, Brandon, Libby, Lara, Janelle and, of course, Bruce Lachey himself.

This wasn’t the first time I had met people from the Orchard, but I was still filled with that awkward unease I get when meeting new people. By the time we said our hellos to everyone staying with Bruce and changed clothes it was time to head to Arnold’s. Luckily there wasn’t too much time to oust myself with silence. The first thing I remember about the restaurant is the intermingling of laughter and chatter that grew in volume as I made my way up the stairs. We must have been right on time (or possibly a few minutes late) as there were already three rooms filled to the brim with Orchardites. This was the beginning of the whirlwind, as we filled the minutes with hellos and hugs in between imbibing Guiness and ordering our food. It was such a joy to put faces with the people that I’ve grown to know and love over the last nine months. There are so many. . .Trudy, Keith, Zayne, The Drew™ and his wife Wendy, Di, James (that’s with a dollar sign), Dan and his lovely wife Margarita, Stiv, Amanda, Christina, Troy, Russ, Kimberly, Jason, Mark and his wife and so many more that I had been fortunate enough to meet at Canal St. two months prior: Bill, Mariesa, Michelle, Kylie Jo, Scotty (and his wife Paula), Kevin, Jeanne, Anna Belle (and Belly brought her wonderful daughter Clancy and her friend), and Dave. See, now I feel like I’m missing someone that I’m going to say ‘doh!’ about later. But I digress. Dinner was over before I even had time to think about it and it was time for the concert.

The Taft Theatre looked amazing, as always. And the show – well it was an Over the Rhine show, at the Taft, on the Darkest Night of the Year. The Taft shows are always pretty special for me, mostly because it’s the venue where I first heard OtR play live. Every time I go back I’m reminded of Leo Kottke doing Jack’s Valentine during the encore and Karin dancing like no one’s looking as she sang My Love is a Fever (that song, on that particular night, is the moment that I was hooked for life – a Rhinelander – and years later what would draw me to become a member of this Imaginary Apple Orchard.) And, this year’s show was no less fantastic. Some of my favorite numbers were All I Want for Christmas is Blue, Drunkard’s Prayer, Poughkeepsie, and of course, My Love is a Fever. The entire experience was surreal, to say the least.

And afterwards, the drunken fun was to begin. A good majority of the Apples decided that they wanted to go some place to do karaoke, and so Bruce led us (astray) back towards his house to a little bar where we could sing. Not that it surprised me much, but a lot of people did sing. Becky and Steve did a great rendition of Paradise by the Dashboard Lights. Bruce and Lara both tore up the mic all night long. James had some rockin’ renditions of popular country songs. KJ and her siblings sang Achy Breaky Heart. Even yours truly got up and sang a James Taylor song. Heh. The most fun was probably had by a big group of Apples singing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

That was a lot of fun for me. Mostly because every one there seemed to think that I’m really shy, and singing a song in front the group (seemed) to change a few people’s opinion about that. I’m not really shy; I’m just anti-social. There happens to be a big difference -- mostly being that I’m one of the most extraverted people you’ll ever meet, if I already know you. heh. I’m just not outspoken when I’m not in a comfortable situation. Fortunately, putting myself on stage makes me a pretty comfortable person. The bar in general was a great time to really start to get to know the people who were there. Facades tend to fade away as the night grows older and the people become more and more inebriated. We ended up closing down the place, and the eight of us made our way back to casa, Lachey. We stayed up and talked nonsense until nearly 5am when everyone agreed that sleep could be fought no longer.

And the next day we all got together and had brunch at the Dubliner. In my opinion, a much better restaurant than Arnold’s with more reasonable prices as well. The food was excellent, even though my mood was tainted with the knowledge that I would have to say goodbye to all the lovely Apples. It was wonderful to meet Paige (Stiv and Amanda’s sweet baby girl) after seeing so many pictures. You don’t know how adorable a baby can be until you see them face to face. And then we left.

The car ride home was fairly quite. I had an entire gamut of emotions coursing through me, and spent much of the ride thinking about all the little moments that I don’t have space to write about here. There was so very much packed into a few hours that the whole experience left me feeling exhausted. And even when I made my way to the Lazyboy for the night, I couldn’t help but smiling (and sighing every once in a while) as the remembrance of the past day ran through my head.

My only regret is that the weekend weren’t longer, and that there were so many Apples that I did not have the fortune to meet (yet.) I suppose that I’ll have to leave those to another show, another night.