TheyâÂÂre hard to miss.

Hefty luxury buses regularly line the streets of downtown Lawrence. These road-weathered machines act as a portable household for musicians and crew, who share tour quarters for months at a time.

Equipped with beds, TVs, refrigerators, video games and other goods – both legal and contraband – the buses are one of the staples of the recording industry. ItâÂÂs an unwieldy, expensive tool that implies an artist is commercially taking it to the next level.

Talk about heavy metal.

Many in Lawrence view these vehicles as a tangible example of the cityâÂÂs music scene being so vibrant. Others consider them an eyesore, a traffic hazard and, in some cases, a detriment to local businesses.

âÂÂThe bus tends to be the primary mode of transportation for musicians who come to our community for one day at a time,â says independent music promoter Jacki Becker. âÂÂThe other day we had Beck, Sigur Ros, Tony Furtado and a couple other shows for a total of four buses in town.âÂÂ

With that much tonnage vying for room in a bustling retail area of only a few blocks, certain problems arise.

âÂÂDue to the massive size of the vehicles, they take up a lot of parking spaces,â she says. âÂÂThere is such a limited amount of parking, anyway, but because these are the bandsâ homes they need to be close to the venues where they perform.âÂÂ

Which means, more often than not, they need to park near the half dozen or so clubs/halls that span between the 600 and 1100 blocks of Massachusetts and New Hampshire Streets.

âÂÂAesthetically, I donâÂÂt like it,â says Pat Kehde, an owner of The Raven Bookstore (8 E. Seventh). âÂÂAnd noise-wise itâÂÂs difficult. But the most difficult thing is when they leave their buses idling to keep their air-conditioning or heating going. Then we have these diesel fumes.âÂÂ

KehdeâÂÂs Raven resides next to Liberty Hall (642 Mass.) – an establishment that is also her landlord – and is habitually the recipient of buses parked in front of her storefront. Occasionally, they screen the business entirely.

âÂÂI would never know if somebody came down the street, saw the buses and decided to move on, because they never would have come in to tell me that,â Kehde explains. âÂÂThe customers that do come in and take the trouble to get by the buses ask, âÂÂ’What are the buses doing here?â I say, âÂÂ’ItâÂÂs a band at Liberty Hall.â Then theyâÂÂre pretty understanding. This IS downtown and thereâÂÂs a lot happening. I think people roll with it pretty well.âÂÂ

The stinky diesel situation is occasionally averted thanks to âÂÂshore power,â when a venue such as Liberty Hall will lend their acts a generator that allows them to draw from an outside source. But the whiff of irritation is often still endured, sometimes by the general public more than the neighboring tenants.

âÂÂI actually get more complaints from the citizens, for the number of spaces that a bus might take up because of their length,â says Sgt. Doug Bell, supervisor of downtown parking for the Community Services Division of the Lawrence Police Department. âÂÂRarely do the businesses complain. Usually, theyâÂÂre a benefit to the business.âÂÂ

âÂÂI think people sometimes forget that these musicians walk off the bus and have money to spend,â says Becker. âÂÂThey usually come from New York City or Europe âÂÂ:quot; some place where things are 10 times the price. They come to Lawrence and they spend money. They buy a coffee, they get breakfast at Paradise Cafe, they shop at Arizona Trading Co. and RichardâÂÂs Music, they walk into the bookstores, they buy antiques from the Antique Mall. Then they toss the stuff on their bus.âÂÂ

Business owner Kehde concurs.

âÂÂThat Icelandic group (Sigur Ros) was here the other day, and we had four or five of them in here all speaking Icelandic,â she remembers.

Although Kehde doesnâÂÂt exactly have an Icelandic section in her bookstore, the roving ensemble found plenty of other goods to purchase there.

âÂÂThey bought little Kansas tchotchkes,â she says. âÂÂIt was very cute. They left with Kansas postcards and little sunflowers.âÂÂ

WhoâÂÂs driving this bus?

Also shopping around the city that same weekend were the Flaming Lips, an experimental act from Oklahoma who performed with Beck at the Lied Center on Nov. 16.

âÂÂI usually take them to the venue then go straight to bed, because my days are nights and my nights are days,â relates Mark âÂÂSpiderâ Frazer, who is the current bus driver for the Lips. âÂÂI normally donâÂÂt see much of the town when I get there.âÂÂ

Over his past seven years as a full-time driver for touring artists, Spider has spent months on the road with bands as diverse as Fleetwood Mac, Sevendust, Lone Star and Steel Pulse. He took up the career when his brother retired after 17 years and let him slide into the position.

âÂÂLast year, I did seven consecutive tours right in a row,â he recalls. âÂÂI left May 28 and didnâÂÂt come home until Dec. 24.âÂÂ

As one might guess, SpiderâÂÂs workday is usually consumed by multiple hours of driving – especially when traversing the Midwest, where the distances between major cities are so substantial. HeâÂÂs the only person on the crew who is contractually guaranteed a hotel room in each city, since itâÂÂs implausible for him to get a good sleep otherwise. HeâÂÂs also in charge of the upkeep of the vehicle. (âÂÂThe bus is our toolbox,â he says. âÂÂIf it breaks down, then our tools fall out and we donâÂÂt make any money.âÂÂ)

And because of his insider duty of manning a moving hotel for musicians and their entourage, heâÂÂs often privy to the underbelly of rock and roll. So whatâÂÂs the weirdest thing heâÂÂs ever seen happen on one of the buses?

âÂÂI better not say,â he laughs. âÂÂBut I have seen some pretty crude sex acts.

âÂÂActually, a funny âÂÂ’cleanâ thing happened recently,â he elaborates. âÂÂ(Pop singer) Michelle Branch walked up to the drive-thru window at WendyâÂÂs, and they wouldnâÂÂt serve her. So she made us take the bus through the drive-thru … That was a real pain in the butt.âÂÂ

Spider (who received his nickname over a period of tours: âÂÂFirst it was Night Rider, then that went to Spider Biter, then that just became SpiderâÂÂ) hasnâÂÂt faced much in the way of conflict when attempting to drive or park in numerous cities.

âÂÂCertainly, we have people get angry all the time about a generator blocking the storefronts,â he says. âÂÂBut I havenâÂÂt had any fistfights – not with store owners anyway.âÂÂ

While Beck and the Flaming Lips managed to take in many of the sites when in Lawrence, Spider confesses, âÂÂI slept through most of it. Honestly, all the towns start looking the same.âÂÂ

Seen it all

âÂÂ(A tour bus) is like the circus coming to town,â says Becker, whose job has been to deal with bands, venues, city officials and concertgoers for the better part of a decade.

She believes the most entertainment vehicles that ever converged in Lawrence on one day happened a few years back during the Warped Tour at Liberty Hall, when seven wrestled for metered space.

BeckerâÂÂs witnessed many things happen on tour buses in town for the evening. SheâÂÂs seen keg parties. SheâÂÂs observed a bus accidentally rupture a gas line while backing up. And, disturbingly, she recalls having a driver point out that Blind Melon vocalist Shannon Hoon had committed suicide in the very same vehicle mere weeks before.

But one simple image sticks in her head.

âÂÂMy favorite moment was watching Mark Ibold from Pavement backing the bus out of an alley by (The Bottleneck). Usually band members donâÂÂt even attempt to drive buses … but they were really late for a (departure) curfew. ItâÂÂs an amazing feat to see a guy turn one of these really large vehicles in these tiny Lawrence alleys.âÂÂ

Becker adds, âÂÂIâÂÂm sure there are a lot of bent street signs in downtown Lawrence.âÂÂ