End of the Line...

Tuesday June 8, Houston. Sticky Little Flowers.

A few days rest seems to pay off as Rob and I are able to work out some material and recharge our batteries (literally). Make our way to Walther's on Washington and meet up with a rather friendly sound guy. I guess we're going on first so we get to load in, set up, and sound check before we split for dinner.

The current plan of staying well fed and not miserably hungry for most of the day seems to be working wonders. Back at the club we meet up with Dave and Frank of PLF and the SFN crew. Rob's friend Megs, who we are staying with that night, also shows up shortly thereafter.

Rob and I also learn a lesson from a new local that you should never have a benefit show thrown for you if you only have an inoperable spinal-tumor. Apparently, his friends in DC weren't too pleased to find out that this wasn't killing him. And I always thought that DC was an anti-tumor town. Live and learn.

We played pretty well and traded some tapes and records. I unexpectedly got my foot stomped on by the only person in the circle pit during the second band's set. PLF played a great set as well as SFN. The show ends and we say goodbye to PLF and SFN. Back at Megs' home, we fall asleep to the Bill Pullman/ Madonna classic, A League of Their Own.
_____________________________
Wednesday June 9th, Houston. Last Day off, hopefully.

Get up early because Megs couldn't get time off to hang out. Shortly after leaving, the van is pulled over for "someone calling in a suspicious vehicle." In all fairness to the police and concerned citizens, the van was wearing a black and white striped shirt and a little robbers mask.

Rob and I hop around a few record shops as well as an instrument shop to see if we can get one of the drum-machine amps fixed/replaced--turns out we can't. We pick up some groceries for dinner at a few local stores before heading back to Cypress Creek. Go swimming. Eat dinner. Watch the Blackhawks win the Stanley cup. Go to sleep.
_____________________________
Thursday June 10th, Little Rock. Good Cat to Train-Hopper Ratios.

Wake up. Send off from the Ciriglianos. Lots of driving.

Arrive in Little Rock and are greeted by Baby Huey and Tara. I make time to play with the house cat while we do the awkward how long were you in prison/ what did you study in college introductions. Wait around a little bit before load in. Bit of a small room but we play pretty well and a few people take notice.

Odd thing about the turnout, a lot of train hoppers. I really wasn't aware that Little Rock was a hotbed of hobo-culture . Also, we were in attendance for Baby Huey's wedding to (should have taken better notes). No champagne but there was Mountain Dew. Sadly, I tied the tin cans to the wrong train--how embarrassing.

Outstanding local, Dan, was kind enough to feed and house us for the evening. I'm still kicking myself for not taking home one of his adorable kittens--but I wasn't sure how or if a kitten would be able to survive a week on tour with us. I'm starting to wonder how I've made it this far.
_____________________________
Friday 6/11 Birmingham. It's a lot like the last town except there's a lot bugs instead of cats.

Wake up refreshed. Start the day off with a stack of pancakes and hash-browns followed by some more wholesome kitty attention. Dan takes me on a scenic tour of downtown Lil Rock before Rob and I head off.

Long drive to Birmingham. After finding the venue Rob and I head off in search of dinner. We end up settling on a hamburger joint named the Purple Onion. My order is screwed up but I take a "roll with it" approach and enjoy my meal the same. I think I overhear someone order a burger with no onion--I, too, let this slide.

Show gets off to a slow start but we eventually go on followed by us not playing. Kind of a diverse bill--metal, us, instrumental indie, and pop-punk. Whatever. The venue we played in used to be a fire-station. I feel there was a missed opportunity by not having a fire-pole for bands to use to get to the stage--it would have been a nice chance to rekindle my past dreams of the career I wanted before settling on this rock and roll lifestyle--being a Ghostbuster.

Post show we take off for Tampa. Long drive ahead. Sleep eventually found near Florida border.

_____________________________

Saturday June 12th. Tampa. BIRTHDAY! Wrong Tour.

We want to get to Tampa at a decent hour so we get up early and drive quickly. Roll up to Carson's house where we're met with a hot meal and large grasshoppers. Feels like home. We mix with the good folks of Slavescene/Neon Blud/ and MLU before heading over to the show.

Storage space show where we headline. Tomorrow also happens to be Carson's birthday so a nice party atmosphere seeps into the crowd. Rob capitalizes on this by busting out the pinata he bought in Chicago--he ends on breaking it and his guitar during Feel the Same. Also, injures Carson's foot in the process. We end the night with Exhibition and head back to the house to continue celebrating.

I fall asleep after the late night to the sound of Rob watching classic Simpsons episodes too loudly.

_____________________________
Sunday June 13th. Orlando. Don't stand so close to me or play that song.

Wake up to Carson's birthday breakfast plans: Cuban Cafeteria. Been a while since I had fried plantains and yucca. We're able to spend time having fun at the ocean until the beach-cops show up. Time to go. Thanks Zack.

Say goodbye to everyone and take off for Orlando. Told to be there around 7. Get there around 7 and wait for three hours until things get going. To pass time Rob and I grab dinner and do some shopping. I pick up a new pair of sunglasses as the ones I had were accidentally left behind at the beach after having to make a hasty exit. Thanks Zack.

Local cool guy, Mark, from the Teenaged Softies, helped us get on the show and it was nice of him to come out in spite of having the flu. We are informed that we're playing first so we set up in front of the band that was supposed to play first--putting us very close to being in the middle of a small bar-room. We sound check and play all the while getting hassled by a rather drunk local. Don't know why the bar let his stay around since he'd been bothering a lot of people there. Whatever. He eventually gets (literally) thrown out. Thanks Zack.

SFN shows up to play and we're later informed that their band fund had been robbed a few days ago. Sucks to hear how a good tour can turn into a liability at a certain point. The show ends and we say our good-byes to Mark and the SFN crew who we were grateful to see again. Best wishes to all of them.

_____________________________

Monday June 14th. Atlanta. East meets West.

Getting a bit of a late start on the way to Atlanta due to me accidentally locking us out of the bathroom with some of Rob's stuff still in there. Lots of driving but we make our way there with time to kill.

Stop off at a record store where some kid tried to convince us to come to the show we were playing. Joke's on him. Next stop was another record store where the two clerks were discussing how annoying it is to have Fred Schneider as a customer--I cannot imagine the nerve of that guy to think he can go to the same shop twice in the same year! The other inane conversation the folks behind the counter had was about how great Alton Brown is and how great it would be to work for him. No arguments there.

Show up to the WonderRoot and find out that the show had been double booked! I guess there were going to be two competing ska shows in town that night and that shouldn't happen so they were combined. Luckily Dave was there to keep us company while we waited for the madness to stop. We go on and play our two songs, take our cut of the door, and leave to finally eat.

Shop the local Kroeger and cook dinner and chocolate chip cookies back at Dave's place. I fall asleep, upright, while watching the Monks documentary, Transatlantic Feedback.
_____________________________

Tuesday June 15th. Nashville. or as I call it: the Love-nasium.

I get up unreasonably early, possibly due to falling asleep in a chair, and mill about waiting for Rob and Dave to get up. Rob and I hit up a Trader Joe's before making the drive to Nashville.

We arrive mid-day and start looking for and through record stores. I'm not as keen on shopping in music stores as Rob is so I spend a good time analyzing the lyrics of a song overheard on the house PA. "If women ruled the Earth, there would be no more wars..." Still doesn't explain Bride Wars.

After lunch we make our way to Jesse's house. I play with the house cat while Rob makes phone calls. We then mill about a bit before heading out in search of dinner. Before dinner we hit up another record store that had just been flooded. There was a lot of damage to the vinyl selection; luckily, the pornography section survived. A used media superstore was next where I picked up a couple books and old Nintendo cartridges. I can't remember if NHL'95 was one of the good ones or not but I figured it was worth the $.25 to find out--also, could make a good coaster if it isn't.

Dinner at Cinco de Mayo just because we could and then back to Jesse's house. Two stage set up with us in the basement and another band upstairs--not playing at the same time--just to save time between sets. Load in and play second with Jesse joining us on second guitar for our cover of Big Black's Passing Complexion to close the set. Haven't done that one since winter tour but it seemed to go over pretty well with the crowd.

I duck out to the van for a few minutes and end up falling asleep. Rob wakes me up around 1am and I attempt to fall asleep on the couch. Not enough wine to sleep comfortably in a sticky, hot noisy living room.

_____________________________

Wednesday June 16. North Carolina and the states that come after.

Wake up and drive. I get a phone call detailing some bad news. Rob and I decide to cancel the last two shows and make our way to New Brunswick that night. Ending on a high-note in Nashville seems like the right thing to do as the next two shows weren't going to be attended by our friends and our very last show ended up not having a venue. Can't win 'em all. Gotta catch 'em all.

Thanks to everyone that was able to make this happen and made it worthwhile. It was exhausting but still very rewarding. I think we're going to hold off touring until next summer as we have a lot of songs to work on and want to focus more on that now.

Final Countdowns

Cats played with - 11

Toilets clogged - 1

Sunglasses - 5

Nosebleeds - 0

Tornado Alley in June.

Wednesday. June 2nd. Iowa City. Mo merch. Mo problems.

Get a jump on the day by leaving De Kalb with Burritoville in our bellies. Lots of driving. Lots of toll booths. Arrive in Iowa City and take up a table at a local coffee house.

Rob informs me that our shows in Austin and New Orleans aren't happening. Bummer. Was looking to get some good BBQ on our way to Austin--and isn't that really what all this is about?

Get to PS1 around 8. Cool basement venue formerly owned by the university then donated to locals. We wait around after load in and pass the time playing E.R.S. One band we were on the bill with seemed to have a lot of merch--variety of tee shirts, shorts, hooded sweaters, patches, etc--they even brought their own merch guy. Only thing I didn't see for sale was music. I guess they know what they're doing.

We go on second and play to a few folks. Most of whom ended up being on the bill as the rather talented These Needles--whom we end up spending the night hanging out with and crashing at their house. One of the members of Animal Mothers eats a can of olives instead of the food Rob cooked. I try to keep a good mood by playing with the house cat before turning in for the night.
_______________________________
Thursday. June 3rd. Liberty MO. How old am I? old enough to have to ask.

Geddupngo. Lots of driving to do. We end up passing a sign for a "modern" rest area and decide that we'll stop there to stretch our legs/ internet fingers. I hope the sign is "not twenty years old." Modern ends up meaning spotty WiFi and vending machines so we waste an hour or so off the highway.

Our host informs us that some local highways are closed due to construction. Luckily, this doesn't affect us too much and we make it to Liberty with time to spend (at a Panera Bread Co.).

Well fed, we arrive at the Venus Flytrap and are greeted by our host, Deto. Things get started by high-school aged band Trainbow. It's always fun seeing young bands because they're usually made up of kids of different tastes and musical ability and reasons for playing music. There always seems to be at least one member that looks like they'd rather not be in a band at all. They played their fun songs that don't drag out forever, not that I'm complaining.

We follow and play alright as people seem enthused to give us money, and in one instance, a guitar cable, for tapes and records. Jabber Josh played after us and the show was closed out by an acoustic set by a local song-smith (should've taken better notes). After a dinner of hot dogs, we take a bunch of the locals down to the store for cup-cakes as none of them are old enough to drink with us--or vote.

Rob and I don't want to get in trouble with any of their parents so we get to bed at 11PM sharp.
_______________________________
Friday. June 4th. Norman OK. Thanks to all the (box) fan that came out to see us.

Traditional Silent Way breakfast of pasta and peppers to start off the day before heading to Oklahoma. We get to town and are let into the house we're staying at and shown our bed. The house smells of spices--possibly Worcestershire.

House show at the Avery House where we show up and meet Avery. We find out we're the only band on bill before the promoter leaves for work. I don't remember the name of the other band that was supposed to play with us but it was some type of dinosaur thus I will boycott all future dinosaur-named bands until I remember the specific name of the band or forget the boycott. (Drucker Edit: Steogsaur, from Austin)

We play to no fanfare and leave. Spirits are lowered when we get news of another canceled show. Poorly run shows as well as low turnout have us talking of turning around and heading back to NJ. We could make it back to see The Wankys in New Brunswick if we left in the morning.
_______________________________
Saturday. June 5th. Fort Worth TX. Chicken fried unemployment form.

We decide to soldier on for no apparent reason--which is pretty rock and roll if you ask me. We make it to Fort Worth and meet up with local awesome guy, Rick, at his place of employment where we enjoy some local vegan foods (citation given) and beer. Rick gives us a key to his place and we spend the rest of the afternoon watching Simpsons tapes and napping.

Head over to 1919 and load in. Rob and I run to the local convenience store for nourishment--candy and "throwback" Pepsi. We go on second. Third billing was all around great one man act, Smile Full of Ale, who we were supposed to play with last year--but due to his good nature, helped us onto another bill and gave us a drum-kit instead.

The show ends and Rob and I head out to a local diner for some chicken fried whatever. Our waitress was, sadly, a northerner who seemed none too interested in faking southern hospitality--or getting us silverware--or the Texas toast we ordered.

We retire back to Rick's house and watch classic episodes of Futurama. I fall asleep in the jet stream of the air conditioner.
_______________________________
Sun/Monday June 6/7rd. Houston. Days off still get no fancy title.

Woken up by Rick's cat's meow. I think we watched more Matt Groening cartoons before leaving for Cypress. Good byes said, on the road. Thanks again to Rick for keeping our spirits up.

We almost make it to our destination before our trusted van has troubles. We had already scheduled an oil change at a local auto-chain and they're more than happy to fix whatever was wrong with the van--because that's how they make money.

Rob and I spend two days resting up, writing new songs at the Cirigliano homestead. Van is fixed and well fed. Not too much else to tell now but, hopefully, the worst is behind us. Stay tuned to see how wrong that last sentence is.