The Rain Insane
By Myke Rock
I moved to New York City in 1986 and only lived there for about a year. But this recollection is from a 1981 trip to the Big Apple as Screaming Urge made its way to our second gig at CBGB and our first at Max's Kansas City.
As we announced to our friends and fans we'd be making this trip, many people wanted to "come with." At this time, in addition to me, Michael Ravage, Dave Manic, and our dancer Lynn Whitacre, we had added a sax player named Max Flash. So, five of us and our equipment jammed in a van. Not a stretch van or a large van, mind you, but a mid-sized one.
I remember it being cold out, too, though some details are at least a little fuzzy. But, as the departure date neared, we were up to a capacity of 7 people, equipment, and baggage.
We anticipated a great experience in NYC and wanted to share that with as many of our friends and fans as possible, so we didn't want to deny anyone a chance to come with us. With that notion, a couple that had proved to be two of our biggest fans and supporters, Bobb Katt and Jill Hurley, just "Had" to go.
But it's time to leave and get on the road to make our designated arrival time. As we embark on a journey to the greatest city in the world, I do a head count. I see now that we are on a 10-12 hour drive -ONE way- with 10, TEN people in a van that isn't the most spacious at that, and with guitars, amps, and drums. "It's going to be tight," I thought to myself. But I figured, "You only live once," go with it, make the best of it and have fun. And so I did.
The trip, as you may imagine, was a slow one, what with all the pit stops, bathroom breaks, and such, that 10 people would and did request and ultimately were granted. At some point, seemingly everyone wound down and nodded off to sleep. Perhaps something in the air (of the van) helped folks relax.
After some time, the traveling party begins to wake up. I was one of the first to come to with the help of a few drops of some liquid on my head and face. What I saw and felt spooked me for a minute. I couldn't figure it out. At first, I likened it to a scene out of a supernatural type of flick. Except this wasn't thousands of flies on a wall or human-like images floating through solid objects.
I sat up and said, "Hey! it's raining in the van!!" But it couldn't rain. The van had no holes in the roof; if it did, the warm rain would not have dropped from every inch of the ceiling.
Someone said it's condensation. I said, "Condensation? What do you mean?" It turns out that when you have 10 people breathing and exhaling for hours and hours in a small area with virtually nowhere to escape, the van reaches a saturation point, and the collective exhales of said 10 people fall like rain. 10 people were getting rained on by our very own liquified breath. Ummm... Yeah... Yuck!!
