God was pissed, and he was taking it out on Carbon Leaf. That's the only explanation I can come up with. This was the beginning of our bad-luck weekend...We left Richmond about 10:45 in the am, same time we always leave for our NY trips. And the first couple of hours were trouble free. It looked like smooth sailing. It was not to be so. Just north of DC, there had been an accident (I believe it was a chemical spill). Whatever it was, it was bad enough to warrant the CLOSING of I-95 (both directions). Traffic was stop n' go, except without the go. During two solid hours, we crept about a mile. Finally, we made it to the exit and proceeded to circumnavigate I-95. By this time, we were running LATE - really late. We made a quick food/gas stop at the Maryland House (stale burgers for all my friends) and continued on….. OK - it's a bit before 7 pm (show time is at 8) and we're exiting for the Holland Tunnel - we can still make it. Or not. Traffic, Traffic - New York style. It's gridlock for as far as the eye can see. We figure this is it - our first missed show. And what a show to miss. First time in a new club, the Mercury Lounge to boot. We all laugh, but it's really not that funny. So we wait. Little by little, we make our way through. By this time it's 7:30. And Barry's driving... scary stuff. We make it to the club at 7:45. We haul ass. We set up, and we manage to squeeze in a 30 minute set (we were allotted 45 min.). It was a whirlwind, but we made it through. We had an amazing turn out (our best yet in NY) and the club was happy. Thanks so much to Butch and Jen (and my Dad!) for rallying. We packed up, caught our breath, and hung out for a while. We met some really great people and got a really good response. Of course we missed a third of our set as well. The trip was bittersweet, in a word. The ride home was essentially trouble free. We were back in Richmond by 5:30 Friday morning. Two hours sleep and it was off to work. Here's to hoping the rest of the weekend's gigs are better than this one.