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Henning says: Driving around Cambridge at night while looking for a parking spot in the rain. Around and around and around.

Underneath an umbrella, I strolled from my parked car to the building that houses WMBR, M.I.T.'s radio station. It was tropical and windy and students were rushing by and riding bikes everywhere. Wet leaves littered the sidewalk. It felt like I was back at school.

I found Tony and Brian out in front of the building and we loaded the equipment into the small basement studio. Max walked in seconds later. Geoff Breeze strolled in, too, and we all said hello and thanked him for having us on his radio show, "The Pipeline" in which we were about to play live.

We set up our stuff and four (count 'em) guys came in and started miking everything up for recording and broadcast. Tony and I worked on a set list while they spouted off directions to one another about different microphones and the correct placement for them. I felt like I was back at school.

We did a soundcheck. When you play in the studio like this, you all wear headphones. These particular headphones were comfortable and incredibly solid. They blocked out almost all external noise, so when you put them on your were submerged into a whole different world. Like when you were 10 and you put a plastic cup over each ear.

It's a strange way to play. There is no room noise at all. Even though I was standing yards away from Tony's amp or Brian's snare drum, the sound in my ears was coming from a microphone inches away from them. My vision and hearing didn't match up. It's something that I am fairly used to from recording but it is a different experience playing as a full band that way, especially for a full 45 minute set.

We played fairly well. I messed up some verses here and there because I was thinking too much about what was going on around me, and the guitars detuned quickly in since the temperature in the room kept rising. But for the most part, I think it was pretty good (I haven't heard the cd of it yet). I've heard from a few folks who listened that it was difficult to hear us talking between songs. That might be for the better. It wasn't easy to fill that space without seeing an audience.

After our set, we left the hot, hot, hot performance room and met Geoff in his DJ booth, where we had a small interview with him. It was really fun. Can't wait to hear it, I can't remember a thing that I said.

Yay, radio. I love doing stuff like this.

The ride home was dark and wet and long. I listened to AM radio but it was crackly almost the whole way.

Brian says: We're minutes away from the Great Debate, so I'll be short (5'7").
Some would say that "Geoff" hosts Pipe Line. But we all know that Jeff Breeze hosts "Pipeline!"

I'd had a gross rainy day of driving the library van (anyone catch the 5 page article in Hampshire Life all about my job last week?). At my last stop, the van decided not to start anymore (diagnosis: a starter). After the necessary calls, I envisioned having to miss Pipeline because I was stuck in Chesterfield on a rainy day. But help arrived in time, so I could eventually go home, change and get in my car and drive 2 more hours in the rain to Cambridge.
Tony in tow.
Prior to our set, we all eyed Tony's burger from the upstairs place, and we had enough time. So Jeff gave me money to get him a burger. Ning gave me money because I had not enough to get myself a hoagie and a Merlot (in 2 different places).
Max and I avoided the Contra Dance and found the bar. In 5 minutes, I'd had my merlot and he, his (Anchor Steam? Sierra Nevada?). What drove us to drink so fast was a) we had to be on the air soon and b) a man who said he' dnever read The DaVinci Code talking non stop about all the conspiracy theories he'd read on the internet surrounding the book.

Ok, we did the show. I had lots of fun drumming. Very loose. This was my third time on Pipeline--consult the archives on their site and you'll see 12/98--The Aloha Steamtrain, and last year was Lo Fine.

Going home, we found that the Red Sox were tied and in extra innings. Before you could say "Mass Pike Entrance", they'd won.

No pictures, sorry.