We spent the previous months working to make BioTour a reality. Through the winter, Alan, Cat and I spent our days working out of the Hall of Justice (Cat’s apartment in Cambridge). Time of day was nearly irrelevant. We slept when we were too tired to continue working. When we woke, someone would make coffee and breakfast. We would eat, watch Democracy Now, and stumble into a philosophical conversation for an hour. When someone needed a break, we’d walk to Harvard Square, sample some fine cheeses at a shop across the street, run up along the banks of the Charles the river, or play some capoeira, and then return to continue working from our computers. Networking and outreach, building our website and blog, booking schools, researching, refining our program…the tasks were many. We would find time at night to read for pleasure or party with friends and explore Boston.

As the snow melted and spring arrived, we spent more time working on the bus in my parents’ driveway, installing components to our vegetable oil burning engine and remaking the interior of the bus for more space and comfort.

As we got closer to launch, leisure time dwindled and vanished. We spent countless hours on our kickoff party alone—finding a venue, making posters, publicizing, laying out the space, finding musical act; food; drinks; speakers; cups; stamps; attendees, it didn’t end. Cat was feeling drained and overworked and we all were on edge with little time to ourselves. The day of the party was no different, sprinting from one task to the next, but once again pulled it off just in time.

I parked the bus in front of the Community Church on Copley Square, putting an old parking ticket on the window. A few friends showed up to help, and we went to work setting up. We posted my uncles at the door, Alan’s friend Ryan behind the bar, and Cat’s friend Alex inside the bus manning the hookah. We displayed the work of local artists upstairs and mounted our own photos from the road. The open mic and drum circles were rocking all night, while people painted together on the big cloth we’d mounted on the wall. Downstairs, Iyeoka, gave a powerful spoken word performance, followed by the Press, jamming with their 7 piece hip hop sound. The Foundation Movement came on to close the night. Their CD wouldn’t play on our computers, so did their set old school, flowing unplugged in front of an old boom-box we found.

I was running around so much attending to the details of the party, I only caught moments of the incredible musical lineup Brian had put together. But our guests had fun and we made some money. We cleaned up the space, packed everything into the bus, dropped people off at TEP, and finally got the bus back my house just before sunrise.

Share This