THE DAVE EMORY TOUR DIARY,
thus entitled: DOOMSDAY, CAR BOMB, CONTINUING
DAY 16:
Negativland arrives at Theatre of Living Arts to discover that the show is on the verge of cancellation due to... low ticket sales. Somehow the venue lets us go on with the show (healthy amounts of greenbacks, left over from the Nevada state trooper's generous gift, are palmed). At least at this show the group is given actual Philadelphia hoagies and pizza instead of hummus and olives (although the former is not considered a plus by everyone in the crew).
Just before show time, Don discovers that his critically important Effectron unit has been smashed, apparently during or after the previous night's load-in. One knob is completely broken, its mechanism cracked off the internal circuit board. Tom frantically tries soldering the unit back together while the band pleads for more time before the show starts. The venue doesn't budge and Tom can't fix it in time. The show must limp on. The staff of the venue seems to be melting down and take it out on Anne and Tom, who hold their ground. But the show goes well after the brutal start.
The entire crew descends into a nitrous oxide-inspired fog during the first leg's closing night party, held in a hot air balloon which slowly circles the parking lot of the Red Roof Inn motel near the airport (at a height of about 18 feet). Discarded seltzer and whipped cream containers clink to the pavement below as everyone gropes blindly at one another to attempt well-deserved pats on the back for a job well done. Back in the parking lot, the two vaguely-repaired Ford vans patiently await their foamy garnishment, soon to be delivered from the mouths of half-dead and sick Negativland members when they stagger inside to collapse for the short night until their planes leave for home in the morning.
I'll have food for thought and grounds for further research when I report on the next tour leg at some point in the future. Until then, my name's Dave Emory, thanks for listening.
| Intro | |||
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 |
| Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 |
| Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 |
| Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 |
