Full Service regrets to inform our fansaws that on October 23rd, 2008, our beloved generator, “Genny,” was laid to rest in Amherst, Massachusetts. The circumstances of her passing are somewhat mysterious. The story goes like this…
On October 21st, we staged a Takeover on Boston Commons. Genny did wonderfully, powering us for 5 songs before a policeman on horseback ordered us to stop. We packed her into the Whale and went to the “The Middle East Club” for our official show that night.
On our way out of Boston after the club show, somewhere on Interstate 90, we noticed the smell of gas coming from the back of the Whale. When we arrived at our hotel, Twink and Smell unloaded Genny to see what was wrong.
Nobody was prepared for what came next. A tube connecting the gas to the engine had been severed, and poor Genny had become a victim of the generator equivalent of “bleeding to death.”
We rode with Genny to our show in Amherst, where we took a closer look at our options. After this follow-up inspection, however, it became clear that Genny’s time had come. Repair was not a feasible option. We would have to move on and purchase a new one when we returned to Austin.
It seems callous, we know, to simply have left her on the side of a random road in Amherst, Massachusetts. Genny is surely deserving of a proper burial, but touring leaves little room for doing anything “properly” (eating, showering, etc.)
Genny’s life was one of dedicated service. I can still remember the day Smell brought her home from the hardware store. In anticipation of doing a Takeover during the 2006 Austin City Limits Festival, Bonesaw had given Smell the job of finding an affordable generator in the next week or so. We didn’t expect Smell to find one so quickly, and at such a bargain price of $250. Bone and I were sitting in the living room of FS headquarters when we saw Smell walk through the front yard with a big box in his arms. I ran over to open the door for him and he carefully set it on the ground. He popped back up, his hands on his hips; the stance of a proud parent. “Look what I got!” he exclaimed.
Since that day, Genny has been the MVP of such historic FS Takeovers as Austin City Limits (2006 and 2008,) the Barton Creek Greenbelt, NC-State, Auburn, Providence, Boston Commons, and of course the entire Takeover Tour.
She wasn’t perfect. She blew a spark plug at our first Takeover Tour stop in Philly, and a few weeks ago her gas meter became permanently stuck at half full. While she was alive, these failures were annoying; her blown spark plug in Philly cut our set short and made for a rough start to the tour, and her broken gas-meter was an obvious inconvenience (how were we ever supposed to know if we were running low on juice??) but in her passing we can look back on these shortcomings with a laugh. And honestly, her deficiencies probably had more to do with improper management on our part. We pushed her to the limits of what she was able to handle, and considering her demanding schedule, it’s hard to remember her as anything but a true warrior and a role model for young generators everywhere.
Though we will soon replace her, she will forever be remembered as The Original Generator of Full Service Takeovers. Rest in Peace, Genny.
