Driving in a snow storm.

I hadn’t been with the band more than a month or two, and we were scheduled to play, I believe, somewhere in South Dakota. Luck being my middle name, and being the youngest member of the band I got the job of driving the gold van with the trailer.

At first all seemed well as the sun set in front of me heading west. No sooner than it got dark as pitch that snow began to fall, slowly at first, then within the hour I could barely see the end of the headlights. I did have one member riding shotgun that remained awake, (I think more out of fear than to be of any help). The rest of the crew slept all snug in the bunks at the rear of the van.

As the snow storm became a blizzard and the highway became nothing more than a white desert, I began to have my doubts of making this journey. The wind had started drifting across the freeway and the tracks in the snow I was following were slowly but steadily disappearing. I swear some of the drifts I hit had to be 3 feet high and the trailer, loaded with our livelihood swaying from side to side.

I remember my shotgun rider telling me not to rely too much on the tracks in the snow because if they drove off the freeway and so would we. This white knuckled 19 year old Punk somehow made it to wherever the heck we were going, and I swore I would never drive in conditions like that again. But I did… many times. When you’re on the road with a bunch of guys counting on you to get you through, something takes over, (I think it’s stupidity).

I was so worried about ditching the van, the trailer and ruining all the gear, but somehow I made it. I loved being on the road with Silver Laughter and wasn’t going to do anything to screw it up. I think I had a Guardian Angel on my shoulder, I don’t know but something was guiding me that dark night.

Glenn

Note from Mick: We drove through many a Midwest snow storm during the days of Silver Laughter, as well as The Contents Are:. So it’s easy to believe that this was no big deal to the rest of the band. I can imagine two of us asleep in the back of the van while Glenn drove; one on the floor and one on the bed (probably Carl!). I can also guess that Ken was the nervous one on the front seat (he still is) while Jon and another band member followed the van in his Ford Pinto. After all, we were a convoy with CB radios and everything!

Categories: History

Tags: 60's music, 70's music, davenport, garage band, Glenn Stone, Independent, iowa, Jon Ludtke, Ken Wiles, Kim Ludtke, live music, Mick Orton, Midwest snow storm, Mike Orton, original music, Paul Staack, Quad Cities, rock and roll, Silver Laughter