About a week into the 'The Cost of Living' tour I was on the phone with a friend in Seattle.

I was complaining a bit. The first day we were out of the Northwest, there was a major family emergency and I really wished I was home. Attendance on the tour had been frustratingly low for a lot of the gigs from Missoula to Phoenix. And our El Paso show had been cancelled on us at the last minute. I was seriously wondering if I really even should be out touring.

"At least the van hasn't broken down," my friend offered.

"That is because we aren't yet at the farther point from home. We'll be there in two days," I joked.

Two days later on the drive from Albuquerque to Phoenix, the van suddenly, violently overheated and lost power. We pulled over as white smoke poured out from under the hood and the semis kept speeding by us.




We were about a mile outside of Gallup, New Mexico. I called Triple A and we got a tow. Our driver wasn't very impressed by us. He had chiseled features, dark sunglasses and refused to respond to our attempts at small talk. His answer to pretty much anything we asked was "not a problem."

He took us to a local shop called Automotive Industrial that I had found after a few phone calls. We drove along a few miles of historic Route 66, before pulling into the shop in a semi-industrial part of town. The folks there were very kind and quick to help us figure out what went wrong. They must have known a lot about engines, otherwise there wouldn't have been hundreds of car engines in various states of dismantled-ness all over the property.

We had blown our head gasket and some other gasket. And some mysterious things had gone wrong with the way the car was idling. It was going to be about $1000 and a couple days labor to get the van going again, and then there was still the question of whether it would just overheat and break down again.



It was about 3 in the afternoon and there was a 5 hour drive still to Phoenix for an 8 pm show. We had to decide what to do quickly. Alex (violist in my band) got on the phone and started calling rental companies. I made myself useful by pacing around a lot and shaking my head.

We decided it was best to rent something and keep going to our shows. We were within walking distance of the Gallup airport, where we were rented the smallest vehicle to ever be classified as a 'van'. We loaded up about half of our gear and drove to Phoenix just in time to play the show an hour late.

The next part is where it all gets totally ridiculous.

The band made me go to sleep so I could drive the next day, while they went to the airport to rent a second, slightly larger van. In the middle of the night(with the help of a very kind Phoenician named Joseph) they drove both vans 5 hours back to Gallup to return the first rental van and get the rest of our stuff from the big, broken van. We had to do this for two reasons. First, we needed to return the first rental van to avoid a $500 penalty for bringing it to a different location. Second, we needed to get the rest of our stuff somehow.

They then drove another 5 hours back to Phoenix to get me and the rest of the gear. We had to store some things and mail some things from Phoenix (thank you so much to Jay from Trunk Space!).

Then I drove us to LA just in time for soundcheck.

I still can't believe we made all of the shows.

I had thought I might get the van fixed and come back to get it somehow. But once you factor the cost of the repair, the cost of me getting out there and the gas to bring it home... it just doesn't seem worth it. It would be about what I paid for the thing.

So, I'm going to just mail the title to one of the mechanics who seemed interested in it. I'll miss that van. I didn't have it long... but I had gotten rather attached. We never even named it. If I'd had time to paint it red, maybe it could have been a Beefsteak Tomato.

Farewell big nameless van! I hope you get resurrected and lives a happy, colorful life in the Southwest.

Here is a photo of my last time with the van. In order to access it in the night, we had to move it to a parking lot across the street from Automotive Industrial. One of the friendly mechanics gave us a push with his truck. This and all of the other photos were taken by Michael McQuilken (our drummer).



So the moral is, don't complain about things when you are talking to my friend on the phone.

Between the loss of the van and the cost of the rental car, our afternoon in Gallup cost about $2,500. I guess this is the sort of thing that happens when you put out an album called, 'The Cost of Living.'

A few folks have suggested I set up a fund and take donations to replace the van. If I were scraping the bottom of the barrel, I might do that, but this setback thankfully did not break the bank. If you feel like helping out, I encourage you to just buy some of my merchandise. Especially the new album. You know, 'The Cost of Living.'

You can order it here.

I hear it is pretty good.

-jason