Living in Astoria

Sunday, June 26th we spent most of the day driving to Camden, NJ. We arrived to discover there was a Puerto Rican parade taking place in the streets surrounding the Susquehanna Bank Center Amphitheater. Women hung out of car windows, horns beeped, flags waived and music from every radio clashed into an undistinguishable mess. Even within the walls of the venue we could hear the ruckus just outside.

Our friends Brian and Lauren attended the show that night and we made plans to spend our few days off that followed with them. Evan again performed with Vivian Campbell (the guitarist from Def Leppard) and covered Bill Wither's "Use me up" sandwiched between "Woodpecker" and "Latitude". After Evan finished, it was nice to drink with friends and enjoy the performances of Heart and Def Leppard before heading out. Those kind of nights help to remind me that it's not just work but that these events are meant to be fun.

We drove to Astoria, Queens that night to settle in Brian and Lauren's place. We didn't have another show until Wednesday, 3 hours west in Scranton, PA so we decided to stay with them until Wednesday morning. They had the most comfortable pull out couch which sounds like two things that don't ever go together like tuna fish and mint chocolate chip ice cream but in this case 'sleeper couch' and 'comfort' were married.

Broadway Street in Astoria, Queens

The next morning we lounged in bed for hours until we decided to have a late lunch at Sanford's Restaurant on Broadway and 30th Street. Great food and a club like atmosphere, I ordered up a beer. This sparked a desire in our entire party to start drinking as soon as we got back to the apartment. At 7 PM we reached our peak and drunkenly ordered up Dominos pizza and wings.

Bohemian Beer Garden
Astoria, Queens

We could have made it a night at that point but instead decided to revive the slum of full bellies and beer soaked brains by going to the Beer Garden across the street. There were many NY musicians meeting over there for the night and Evan wanted to catch up with some of his friends. I didn't last long, at midnight I headed back to the apartment and went to bed. Unfortunately, for the guys they stayed out until 4 AM and they paid for it the next day!