A Firkin Disaster

Saturday Nov 5th
What should have been the biggest stage we've even played on turned into a nightmare. A nightmare I won't soon forget. It was like that commercial "Wanna get away"?
A series of events prevented The Firkins from performing at this years San Diego Brewers Guild Festival, an event that we had played the last 3 years. An event I look forward too all year long. From our humble beginning in the outside parking lot tucked away in the corner at the Balboa World Beat Center 2 years in a row to last year where we played on the stage for the VIP session. This year was set to be the biggest yet. We got a nice mention in the Brewing News (Southwest) magazine and we were to play on the main stage in front of hundreds of craft beer enthusiasts. The type of crowd that understands the language I sing about "Craft Beer".
When Gloria and I arrived we learned that we wouldn't be playing on the side stage because of a equipment problem but instead we would be performing on the main stage, a 50 X 30 ft stage with speakers as big as our car and a sound system that rumbled the floor like no ones business. We unloaded our equipment and headed to the main stage. On the way I called my band mates to let them know where to enter so they can unload their equipment. That is when the sinking feeling took over my body. That is when I learned that half of the band was still 30 minutes away on the 5 fwy in traffic. It was 10:30am and we were to go on at 11. I was hoping Jesse and Charles were playing the same old trick on me as they did on April Fools day where they told me they were still on the road to the gig but they were already unloading the equipment. This time it was real and they were still on the freeway stuck in traffic. The guy in charge of the main stage gave us a very generous 20 minute grace period. These guys are professionals on a schedule and yet they gave us every opportunity to get setup on the stage. With 10 minutes till they open the doors they asked me what are we "The Firkins" gonna do. He says if you get your equipment on the stage right now you can still perform. I made another call and found out it wasn't in the cards. I told the stage manager I guess it isn't going to happen and he informed the Stone Foxes that they can put their equipment on the stage. That was that. No Firkins at this year's San Diego Brewers Guild.
I hung out behind the stage trying to hide for a while and then decided to drown my sorrows in some Ballast Point Victory at Sea. How ironic, there was no victory for the Firkins. Gloria, Mark Jr and I walked around for a while looking for some tasty beers but it was hard seeing our friends and having to explain every five minutes what happened. It was like a never ending walk of shame. So after a couple hours or so I needed to get away, no amount of beer was going to make it better. So what did we do? We headed over to the beloved Hamilton's Tavern for a few pints. The awesome Danger Abbey (Dennis Borlek) provided the highlight of the day for me when he put my favorite band on the loud speakers. While drinking a Green Flash Plead the 5th @ Hamilton's, I hear the opening line to "Soul Happy Hour", A Jazz Butcher song, a song that is always part of The Firkins set. It was a bitter sweet moment. "The best things in life are free".
At this point my only concern is that we didn't burn any bridges. The San Diego Brewers Guild is filled with some of the nicest people I've ever met and the last thing I want to do is let them down. They have given us "The Firkins" a great opportunity to expose San Diego craft beer drinkers to our music. What else could we ask for...
Our song San Diego is an homage to all the wonderful beer festivals in San Diego especially the SDBG Festival. Hope you enjoy.