The hottest gig so far. The Georgia Theater, a former movie theater in town, is the prime venue here. The seats have been ripped out and there are 2 or 3 bars squeezed in. The place is packed to the gills; standing room only. It was a hot day to begin with, but the air conditioner in this place is woefully overwhelmed and I head for the stage with some trepidation, wondering if I'll faint or pass out.
I don't, though the air supply is pretty limited. I sweat until pretty much every inch of my clothing is soaked, but my energy holds up. I can barely hold on to my slippery guitar. The string players have fingering problems but we get though it all and feel pretty ecstatic.
During load out, a kid calmly walks away with Fred's bike. A security guy sees him and corals him about a block away and brings him back in a headlock. The cops arrive and Daniel decides not to prosecute; it would be too much hassle.
According to those who saw it, the cops who arrived were really giving this drunken kid a hard time - twisting his arms, handcuffing him, pushing him down on a car and duct taping his legs. The kid began to resist, which may have been a natural survival instinct but in this case it made the cops more determined. In the end, he was brought in not for theft, but for resisting arrest. - which could have been avoided had it been handled in a calmer fashion.
As the night went on I could see lots of drunken college boys (and girls) lurching all over the streets. Many of these are not little guys, either. Even drunk, they'd be a handful, and I could imagine facing a belligerent drunken hulk the cops here would usually take no chances.
