New York

Thursday morning, October 11, 16 Bingtones boarded the jet at SFO, destination Buffalo, via JFK. You know something's up when your plane begins going in circles over Lake Michigan. At first we were early, but we doubled back between Detroit and Chicago and the truth came out. There was a giant rainstorm and JFK was closed. We circled some more over Lake Erie, tantalizingly close to Buffalo, then we landed at Pittsburgh to refuel. We got to JFK a couple of hours after our connecting flight was canceled, and no one at Delta (Don't-Ever-Leave-The-Airport) knew what to do with us. Our luggage was located, and we ended up boarding a bus (!) at 11pm. As luck would have it, the bus had no heater, so we drove all night huddled in our seats while trumpeter Ken Landreth wiped the inside of the windshield and kept the driver awake.
We arrived in Buffalo at 7am Friday morning, some of us grabbed breakfast, and most everyone slept until mid-afternoon. Road manager Mike, sound engineer Alan, Bing, Jerry, Mark, and Bob started setup while some of us were still sleeping. Things began to improve at "Club Infinity." The sound check was smooth since they have a permanent setup there with monitor board on stage, main mix in a raised booth off to one side, large dance floor, permanent lighting. We even had our horn riser for the brass, and before too long sound check was completed and we boarded our two vans and headed to "Bing's," their family restaurant (named after Bing's late father).
The trip was a reunion for Bing. His sister Debbie treated us all to a classic Italian dinner: salad with a lovely vinaigrette, pizza squares (gourmet style) and plates of scrumptiously prepared steaming hot clams for appetizers. The main course was mouth-watering pasta with the most subtly flavored meat balls, man it was great! A bittersweet reunion, for Bing's sister Edna had lost her husband 6 months before, and the purpose of our journey was to play a benefit. After a truly warm and exceptional time at the restaurant, we went back to the Holiday Inn and prepared for the evening.