Long Train Runnin’ — But Not the Bus

Friday night I went to see my old buddy Ed Toth, who is one of the drummers for the Doobie Brothers.

It was a beautiful night out at Jones Beach so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make this photo of the venue.

The Doobies are currently on tour with Chicago and they always have a great time on stage.

After each band played their set, all of the musicians took the stage together for six classic tunes. It’s quite a sight to see 16 guys on stage (including three drummers!) all playing “25 or 6 to 4.”

I was shooting up front, but I had a hunch that they might do a “curtain call” at the end. I ran as fast as I could to the back of the house and barely got there in time to make this photo.

TRAVEL FUN: Getting to Jones Beach from Manhattan isn’t easy. You take the subway to Penn Station, the Long Island Rail Road to Freeport (with a change at Jamaica), and a bus to the venue. If everything goes smoothly, it should take about 90 minutes.

But this wouldn’t be a normal trip. Everything was fine until the bus ride. At one of the stops along the way, a bunch of teenagers got on and the driver claimed that some of them didn’t pay. The passengers sitting in the front backed the kids up and said they all had paid, but the driver wouldn’t budge. Some of us volunteered to pay the six dollars that she said they owed, but she wouldn’t accept it and proceeded to call the police. Yes, the police. Meanwhile, there were 25 of us who were just trying to get to the show.

Needless to say, we had a near riot on the bus (New Yorkers are not afraid to show their emotions!) as we sat there for over 30 minutes. As the driver continued to argue with the police (who couldn’t do anything to help her), the next bus finally pulled up at the stop. We all got on (this driver even let us in without paying!) and went on our way.

That driver just didn’t want to drive the bus anymore. For all I know, she’s still out there mumbling to herself with the bus idling nearby.

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