Sept. 22: After crashing at Hellmistress�s place again, we got up early for a long drive to West Virginia. We got to the 812 club a little early, loaded in our gear, and went to get some grub. The night sounded promising, as the other band had Porn in their name as well. Something Porn Circus. Sounded like fun. We had a little entourage going now, with the three of us, Clementine, and Lisa, Jason�s girlfriend. We ate some really shitty food at some bar next door to the club, and as we were leaving, about 15 beautiful young women stroll in. We were trying to get them to come to the show, but no dice. I was hoping this would reflect on the crowd we would have, and it actually wasn�t too bad. We played a good set to a decent crowd, all the while downing the free beer the most gracious bartenders were feeding us. As we�re taking our gear off stage, I get a little taste of what we were in for the rest of the night. This guy with bright orange spikey hair, some bondage outfit, a serious limp and a cane gets up on the stage while the band was setting up. The rest of the band are straight out of the S&M club as well. They start playing some pretty bad industrial stuff - electronic drums, gothy keyboards, and shrieking - grinding - shrill guitars. The leather, chains, boas, cod-pieces, and flesh abounded. Then the real fun starts. They have two dancers, � naked women, walking around, making out, setting each other on fire, etc. It was fun to watch, but I couldn�t stand it for very long. Definitely not my kind of music. We packed up and headed out with Jason pulling yet another all nighter to get us to Washington DC. I was sleeping on the bench seat, and at some point I woke up freezing my ass off because Jason had his window down all the way trying to stay awake. I felt bad, but I had to wake up Clementine and steal my sleeping bag, which she was sleeping on in the loft. Hypothermia would probably have ruined the tour though�
Sept. 23 - 25: I woke up at Jason�s parent�s house in DC. They have a huge 4 or 5 story brownstone in a swanky part of town. Our shows in Baltimore, New Brunswick, and Richmond were either canceled or didn�t work out, so we had a few days to kick back, get some rest, and see the sights. We each got our own rooms and crashed for a few hours. We woke up and went out, and were treated to a nice dinner by Jason�s parents. I had a computer in my room, so I wrote Part 1 of the tour diary that night. The bad luck was following us as the next night there was the first tornado there in something like 70 years. Over the next few days we walked around DC and went to a few museums at the Smithsonian. My favorite was the Air and Space museum. We only got to spend a couple hours there, but I could have spent 2 days checking it out. It was so fucking cool - actual lunar modules, space suits, historic planes, educational movies, etc. I highly recommend it to everyone. The only bad part about those few days, for me anyway, was it was like some fucking Disney movie with the two happy couples sightseeing, going to dinner, having a jolly old time, and me, the single lonely guy, tagging along. Oh well� Probably the funniest thing of the whole tour occurred when we went to check out the White House. We looked at the back side with the rose garden and stuff, then walked around the front to get a better view. While we�re hanging around checking stuff out, Moss sat down on the concrete base of the wrought-iron fence. He just happened to sit where there was a gap between the concrete slabs, and his wallet chain got stuck in it. He tried to rip it out, which only lodged it in there tighter. Jason, Lisa, Clem, and I figure out what�s happening and start laughing our asses off. There�s the heightened security everywhere because of the attacks, and here�s Moss stuck to the front of the White House gates. Jason set his bag down and pulled out his camera to get some pictures of Moss�s struggle, and in a matter of about 5 seconds, we�re surrounded by 8 cops. They were not very happy about Jason leaving his bag unattended and yelled at him for that, then they were trying to figure out what the fuck Moss was doing. He finally just broke the chain so we could get the fuck out of there. The tourists had witnessed the commotion and had started circling us like vultures. As we were walking away, we saw some homeless guy being lead out of the White House gates in handcuffs. I�m still wondering what was up with that. We ate like kings the whole time we were there. Jason is a bad-ass chef when he�s not being a rock and roll star, and he cooked us some killer grub. It couldn�t last forever though, and we had to forge on with the tour, so after 3 days of the good life, it was back on the road.
Sept. 26: Early that morning, Moss and Jason took Clem and Lisa to the airport so they could fly home. I had forgotten the spacecakes that Space had given me in San Fransisco, so before they left, I told Clem that she could have them when she got home. More on that later� We were a trio again, but Jason�s parents gave him a Jeep which he had to drive back to LA, so we now had two busses. We drove down to South Carolina to play at Ground Zero. Again we were there early and no one was at the club, so we hit a Denny�s and ate. When we got back, there was still no one at the club. So we sat around drinking and playing a Sega Dreamcast they had at the club. They�ve got this really weird law in South Carolina where the bars can�t have big bottles of liquor. So all they had were those little ones like you get on the airplane. I guess it works out in the end, because those bottles are actually 1 and � shots, so you get more liquor for your money, which is always a good thing. Of course we weren�t paying though :-) Only two people ended up coming to the show, so we played for them and the three people working there. We played our D set for the second time, but we played it for 45 minutes this time. It went MUCH better than the first time. It was actually really fun. We were still spoiled from DC, so we got a hotel and crashed.
Sept. 27: We got on the road and had a leisurely drive to Athens, GA. On the way there, we stopped in some tiny town with tons of antique shops. Moss ended up getting a stuffed bobcat for $35 which he stuck in the back of Jason�s Jeep. It was hilarious, for the rest of the tour you could see this thing growling out the back window of the Jeep. We got to the Caledonia really early, so we walked around and checked stuff out. It�s a college town, so there were scantily clad southern belles everywhere. Yee haw. We hit a nearby bar that had six pinball machines, played a little of that, and some pool. When we got back to the club, the other band was there loading in. I started talking to one of the band members who said he was the lead puppeteer. Interesting. We hung around drinking and shooting the shit while the other band, Zombie Soundtrack, set up. Along with the several amps, guitars, and keyboards, they also set up a grave on the stage. Again, interesting. The time for them to play comes, and the place COMPLETELY fills up with smoke from their fog machine. They�re all dressed up like zombies, except for the puppeteers. That�s right, their lead singer was a fucking PUPPET! There�s one guy inside the grave working the arms, and another behind the gravestone working the mouth and talking through a mic with all kinds of effects on it. They played weird jam-space rock. Throughout the show, the bass player would grab a mannequin head and eat a brain like substance out of it. Then the drummer shot the bass player with a cap gun in an effort to rid the world of the brain eating zombies. Fucking weird. It was thoroughly entertaining though. We got some pictures of it, but they didn�t come out very well because of all the smoke. So we hit the stage and play a solid set to a pretty good crowd. In the crowd was Vic Chesnutt, the singer/songwriter, who Moss had been friends with for years. After the show, we loaded up and headed over to his place to crash. We ended up staying up most of the morning bullshitting outside on his back porch, where we experienced the coldest night of the tour. In Athens, GA. More weirdness.
Sept. 28: We woke up the next morning and hung out with Vic and his wife, Tina, for a while, then hit the road. We got to the Nick in Birmingham, Alabama at about 6pm, and found out we weren�t playing until 2am. Needless to say, many hours of drinking ensued. We went to the Garage nearby and got some killer sandwiches. Shortly after returning to the club, a friend of mine from Alaska showed up and we got to catch up for a few hours. The other bands and the bartenders were all really cool, and we had a good time. We finally went on at about 2:30, and played a good show. I don�t know about the other guys, but I was completely shitfaced after 8 hours of drinking. There were actually quite a few people still there too. After the show, a very cool couple invited us over to crash. The guy took off, and the woman led us back to their place. Soon after, the guy shows up with pizza and calzones for us. Kick ass!! We stayed up late into the night, eating pizza, drinking, smoking out, and listening to the James Gang on vinyl. That was a great night.
Sept. 29: We had a leisurely drive to Auburn, Georgia and showed up in the late afternoon. There was a note on our itinerary to call the promoter as soon as we got into town, so we did. He manages a burger joint in town, so we headed over there, and he treated us to some food and beer. After he got off work, he took us back to his place, where we hung out, drank, and watched some college football. We headed to The Big Blue Bagel about an hour before the show started and hung out and drank some more and talked to the other bands. The first band went on and was great. I can�t remember their name again� but they were instrumental metal, kinda like the Fucking Champs or Lachrymator. We were up next, and this was one of my favorite shows of the tour. We were playing on the floor, right next to the front door in front of floor to ceiling windows. We might as well have been playing on the sidewalk. It was great though. There were a lot of people in a very small space, so they were almost on top of us in a half circle around us. I had to try hard not to smack someone with my bass, they were so close. It was VERY loud and intense with all the people so close head-banging and screaming and shit. The Cooters played last, and they were cool too. High energy speedrock - their first song was a cover of Ace of Spades. After the show, we headed back to the promoter�s girlfriend�s place to crash. I was totally shitfaced, but I vaguely remember climbing on one of the concrete tigers they have on every street corner in Auburn, and singing �ride the tiiii-ga! You can see his stripes, but you know he�s clean!� and that�s about as far as I got before Moss yelled at me to get my ass in the van� I slept in the van that night to guard the gear�
Sept. 30: We had the next day off, so we took our time getting on the road, and ate at yet another shitty diner in Auburn. After walking around that morning, I became amazed at how obsessed that town is with their college, especially their football team. Every place there had all kinds of football shit hanging everywhere. Plus the aforementioned mascot tigers on every street corner� weird. We finally got on the road and headed towards New Orleans. It was a beautiful drive along the deltas of southern Mississippi and Louisiana. We pulled into New Orleans, and headed over to Durel from Suplecs� place. We had phoned ahead to make sleeping arrangements, and he had some killer jambalaya waiting for us. I had been waiting to get to NOLA and have some real Cajun food the whole tour, and Durel didn�t disappoint. We shot the shit for a while before heading down to a club to meet up with Danny, also of Suplecs. On the way there, we stopped and got some beer to drink at the club - I love the laws in that state. You can have open beverages just about anywhere, and take your own beer just about anywhere. We pulled up to the club and hung out in the parking lot for a while, drinking and bullshitting, then went in to check out the bands. The Headwoundz were just starting as we went in, and they fucking rocked!!! More good ol� speedrock. I was in and out for the whole show, so I didn�t really catch the other bands. Afterwards, Jason and I went back to Durel�s place to crash and Moss went out with Danny to catch up on old times�
Oct. 1: When we woke up, Durel took Jason and I downtown to show us around. Moss had gotten a ride home sometime early in the morning and was sleeping one off. We checked out the French Quarter, Bourbon St. and all that.. Jason had been there a few times before on other tours, but I never had. It was pretty cool. We sat in a bar for a while and talked to the bartender about some of the infamous local street performers. We headed back to Durel�s place and killed time before heading off to the Dixie Tavern for the show that night. The other band was �66 Hemi, a good, heavy two piece. The guitar player had one hell of a set up - three or four amps, I think mostly powered by Marshall and SVT. We played a good set, and it was fun with lots of friends there. The stage was a little scary though - really rickety and uneven. I thought my SVT was going to either fall over, or fall through the stage at any minute. The promoter had gotten us a big tub of beer which was strategically placed right next to me, so I had a steady supply of beer during the set. We hung around for a long time afterwards, the bars don�t really close there. I talked to Chad, one of the guitar players from the Headwoundz, and he told me about a record shop he was opening. If you�re ever in NOLA, head down to Rocks Off and check it out. We send him some good shit from Meteor City Direct, so his store�s gotta be really cool. We crashed at Durel�s place again, and I slept in the van again. |
