A Hard Day's Night
I think it was 2004, but I’m not certain.We were on our way to sound check Quito, Ecuador. We had an agreement with the other act on the bill that we would alternate going on first and closing. Thenight before, we closed the show in Caracas. In South America, it’s always a late night. Everything there works out much later than it’s supposed to. Wenever figured out why; it’s just that way. We were looking forward to opening the following evening so we could get some sleep, as we had an early fight thenext day back to the United States.
I will not name the other act, but he was from Venezuela and his initials were F.L. He was nice enough when we met and agreed to flip-flop the bill, as we say. When we arrived for sound check, there was a strange feeling in the air, but we couldn’t put a handle on it. There were more security personnel around than usual, and they were heavily armed fora rock and roll concert. There were machine guns, hand grenades, all kinds of batons and pistols. Everyone, it seemed, was carrying weapons. F.L. had finished his sound check and Sparky, our tour manager, began arranging ourequipment in front of the other acts so we could open. Suddenly, an armed guard tried to stop him. Sparky tried to explain that we were opening and needed our gear set up straight away, but the guard refused to move. So Sparky pushed him aside to carry on with his duties. In an instant, Sparky was slapped in handcuffs and dragged to the side of the stage. I heard about this immediately and went to F.L. to remind him of our agreement, which he denied.
This really got my feathers flapping, and I went for him. About six armed guards grabbed hold of me as I cursed everyone in the room.
I was carried to a waiting van and bundled inside to find four other armed soldiers, all with machine guns pointed straight at me. I decided to be quiet, but I was furious and wanted to strangle every one of them. Though, I decided not to.
Next, the van took us back to the hotel. As soon as I got to my room, I called the American Embassy and spoke to a very calm gentleman. I told him my story and he sounded unsurprised. I said it felt as if something were going to explode that night and that there were U.S. citizens in our band and crew. He told me that they were aware of the situation at the venue and that there would be several dozen armed agents in the audience at the show to respond if anything erupts.
I felt a lot better after hearing that, even though, at that time, I was not a U.S. citizen. After an hour or so, I was told that Sparky had been released but that we would close the show. I was still in shock at the whole fiasco and decided not to push my luck. We agreed to go on last again, knowing we wouldn’t get out of the arena till after 2 a.m. At this point, we just wanted to get out of the country; something was really wrong.
We played the show and the left as planned the next day. When we arrived back in the United States, the headlines were: “Military takeover in Quito has left dozens dead and hundreds homeless; the government has been over thrown.”
We got out just in time. As it happens, we have not been back to Quito since then and have not had the misfortune of playing again with our opening act.
中文译文：
此事大概发生于2004年，不过我不是很确定。我们要去厄瓜多尔首都基多，做最后的校音工作。在我们的演艺协议清单中，我们将要轮流做开场和闭幕的演出。此前，我们刚刚结束了在加拉加斯的演出。在南美，演出总是搞到很晚。那里所有的工作都会比我们设想的要晚许多。我们始终不知道这是为啥，好像这就是那里的行事风格。我们期望接下去晚上的演出能够结束地早一点，这样我们多少能睡一会，第二天赶早班飞机回美国。
我不想提该艺人的名字，他来自委内瑞拉，我们简称他为“F.L.”。如我之前所述，在协议初始，我们一拍即合，他非常友善。当我们抵达场地准备开始校音时，我感受到空气中有一丝紧张和奇怪，但当时我们谁都没有放在心上。周围的安保人员比平时多了许多，而且竟然全部都重装上阵，有轻机枪，手雷，各种警棍以及手枪，仅仅是为了一场摇滚音乐会的安防。看上去，每个人都有武器。F.L.已经完成了校音工作，我们的巡演经理人Sparky正在安排把我们的乐器排在其它艺人之前，由我们来做开场演出。突然，有一个警卫想要阻止他做些什么，Sparky尝试简单直白的告诉他我们的开幕演出需求需要这样做。这个警卫显然挡住了我们摆放乐器的位置，而他也不听解释，拒绝挪动。所以Sparky推开了他，想要继续完成他的工作。可是一眨眼，Sparky被铐住，并且拽到了舞台的边上。我听到后立即告诉F.L.，并且提醒他这样的设置要求是在协议里事先说好的，而他竟然否认了。
这让我异常恼火，所以我破口大骂，并且走向他，大约6名警卫这时上来拽住我，并且控制我。
我被绑着带上了一辆面包车，而周围竟然有4名警卫拿着轻机枪指着我。我怂了，想让自己尽量冷静下来。即便我内心想要掐死他们每一个人，我还是没有这样做。
然后，面包车把我送回了酒店。我一进房间就打电话给当地的美国大使馆。一位声音冷静的男士接了我的电话。我把所有的事儿都一股脑儿告诉了他，而他的反应竟然毫不惊讶。我告诉他，感觉好像我们这些搞音乐的美国人正试图发起一场恐怖爆炸袭击。他告诉我，由于当地的局势，政府高度紧张，认为群体聚集的活动存在很高的风险，所以会派许多的警卫队在现场来应对突发的任何事件。
听了他的解释后，我感觉稍微好一点了。因为当时我的冲动，我大概不被认为是一个理智的美国公民。也许过了有一个小时，我被告知已经释放但是今晚的演出是泡汤了。我依然震惊于整件事的惨败，而且我也不想与他们继续碰碰运气，只能认怂。我们妥协了，我们同意明晚做闭幕场演出，并且在凌晨点前不被允许离开舞台。此时此刻，我只想快点演完，离开这个哪儿哪儿都不对的鬼地方。
按照计划，我们第二天演完了闭幕场并且按规定离开。当我们回到美国时，头条显示军队全面推翻政府控制了基多，有许多人死伤以及上百人流离失所。
我们离开的真及时。因为这件事，我们直到现在都没再去过基多。在后来的演出生涯，也幸运的再也没有遇见过此类事件。
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发表于 2018-12-25 16:59
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