Albuquerque, Nm. at The Launch Pad on Wednesday October 10, 2001 - the Glasspack, Bad Wizard, Witch Mountain, & Spiritu
Leaving Austin, I thought to myself about how I would not sleep. Due to Bucky`s accident in Arkansas, I (Dirty) developed a serious case of road insomnia. I stayed up the whole ride from Austin to Albuquerque and that is a long one. It seemed like a drive that lasted forever. By the time we got to Albuquerque, I noticed I was getting very ill and loosing my voice. I bummed some cough syrup from Rico. As usual, we arrived at the bar several hours before load in. I was really impressed by the Launch Pad and it`s artwork. I enjoyed every piece of decoration in and on that bar. I especially remember gazing at the tile art behind the bar that made a spectacular picture of a rocketship. The Launch Pad was a magnificent place. After we loaded in, Rico and I headed out to find a cheap hotel and some more cough syrup so I could try and get some rest before the show. Rico has a way with talking shit and got us a very nice hotel for a very cheap price. I hit the bed with no hesitation. I have no idea what happened to the Captain and Bucky. It is hard writing about this time period. I can`t remember most of it due to extreme sickness, fatigue, and smoking. I do remember waking up in the hotel and heading down the street to get something to eat but I don`t remember what it was that I had eaten. Finally, I made it to the bar and had my usual seat at our merchandise table. I was so sick. I remember seeing Spiritu on the stage, hearing that Bad Wizard had cancelled due to van problems, and then seeing Witch Mountain take the stage. It was all a flash. Next thing I know, it was the Glasspack`s turn to rock and we had to headline. I drug my sorry ass to the stage. To tell you the truth, I dont really even remember our set, except that I had climbed some stage props and got signaled by the soundman to get down. I also remember having some technical difficulties. After the set, I was ready to drop. After loading up, I talked with Jadd and Aaron of Meteor City for a while. They were very flattering interesting guys to talk to. Jadd is also in Spiritu and, unfortunately, I really didn`t give them a fair listening due to my condition. I wish I had not have been so sick, Albuquerque was one of the best places we played. We sold lots of merchandise and everyone enjoyed the Glasspack. After everyone had cleared out, I had a smoke with some of the Launch Pad peoples and the rest of the guys went to a party with Witch Mountain. Then, I returned to a quiet peaceful hotel room to die.
Mesa, Az. at The Hollywood Alley on Thursday October 11, 2001 - the Glasspack, Witch Mountain, & Sons of Serro
I remember waking sick as a dog in the Albuquerque hotel to the sounds of Rob banging on the door. Apparently, Rico had given some of the Mountain guys and Dan the wrong room number. They didin`t figure it out until the morning. I took a look around and all the guys, including Nate were layed out everywhere. Must have been some party, huh Nate? Anyway, we gave some dirty Witch Mountain guys the opportunity to take a shower and clean up. The Glasspack did the same. We then checked out and traveled down the street to some cafteria style mexican restaurant. I had a burrito and then noticed something funny going on downstairs. Oh no, I had the shits. I must have used the bathroom three times before I left the restaurant to go down to the gas station with Danno and Dave to get some smokes. I walked in, got some smokes and coffee, and headed to the bathroom again. Yep, you guessed it, I had to take a shit again. After doing my duty, no pun intended, I washed my hands and walked out the bathroom door. As it shut, I realized I had just locked the key, my backpack, and my coffee in the bathroom. I figured no problem, I`ll just ask the cashier for another key. She was such a bitch, she told me she had no key and there would maybe be a key when the next shift person came in. I hated my life by this time. I went back down to the restaurant and told the guys, Rob figiured he might be able to open it with a credit card. I have never seen that work and it didn`t that time. I was pissed. Everyone was ready to leave and my shit, no pun intended, was locked in the fucking bathroom. I hung around the counter in the gas station for about 10 minutes, and then the bitch cashier was telling me to hold on cause there might be another key. Where was I gonna go? Why the hell did she not look for it a half an hour before that, I`ll never know. She eventually opened the first drawer she checked and behold, an extra key. Imagine that, an extra key. So I took the key and yes, you guessed it, I took another shit and gathered my belongings. I nicely returned the key. We then gased up, gave Witch Mountain a walkie-talkie, and headed on our way to Mesa. By this time, I was averaging about two hours of sleep a night and talking like froggie on the Little Rascals. I still felt very much like shit. We managed to have a little fun with Witch Mountain on the way to Mesa. We had walkie-talkies and c.b.s. Beavis and Butthead would have died in amusement. We fucked with every driver between Albuquerque and Mesa. It was great childish fun! We eventually arrived at The Hollywood Alley in Mesa and loaded in. The Hollywood Alley was very kind to us and gave both bands free drinks and food. Long live the Hollywood Alley and Fun Bobby! We had not even dipped into the free Subway sandwich cards before leaving the south. I noticed on the floor, in the Hollywood Alley, the borderline between Tempe and Mesa in a painted line. I was in two cities at once, very amusing. About that time I had to leave one of the cities to take a shit, imagine that. I know I shit at least seven times in The Hollywood Alley. I managed to invite an early childhood friend that I had not seen in years. I hung out with him for a while, but you know how that childhood friend thing goes. You try to be cool as long as you can but you know sooner or later you are gonna remember why you stopped hanging out with that friend. Anyway, it was still great to see the guy. It was great to see someone from Kentucky. About this time, the Sons of Serro guys arrived and loaded in. I probably forgot to mention that I met these cool mother fuckers at the ShoD festival in Dallas. No sooner than that, I had to take a shit. My arse was starting to feel irritated from bar toilet paper. I also met a cool guy named Micha (DAMNATION GULCH from the forums) in Mesa, it`s always cool to meet an internet buddy in person. He was wearing the coolest MC5 shirt! he also had a broken leg. As the bar started to livin up, Sons of Serro started their sonic punk rock desert assault on my ears. They were loud and rocking like fuckin mad. They are a great band and some very nice guys. After their set, the Glasspack was up. I remember gathering every bit of energy I had left and rocking the fuck out of Mesa. I had done the same thing in Albuquerque. You Mesa and Albuquerque guys got me on ill nights. I would probably scare you in my full throttle mode. We finished our set witch was dedicated to Bitch Mountain and then they, Witch Mountain, took the stage. This was the first night of the Bitch Mountain/Asspack/BonerRock.com tour that I got to see them with their other guitar player, Johnny. They freakin rocked my world that night. It was an excellent show. After the show, I told my childhood buddy goodbye and we loaded up with plans to stay at the Sons of Serro house. At this time, I noticed Micha being carried out of The Hollywood Alley by his buddies. Man he was fucked up and had a broken leg. Poor guy. He`s got some great friends. The SOS (Sons of Serro) house is rumored to be owned by George Lynch, yeah that pansy-ass that was in Dokken. God I hate hair bands of the 80s. We got to the SOS house and had a bit of a smoke. Then, Witch Mountain and Danno started on their way to Los Angeles to see High On Fire. I later found out that they got kicked out, hehe. The Glasspack is starting rub off on them. I dont know where the other guys slept, but I found my sorry sick ass a quiet place in the basement of the SOS house and went to sleep in their practice area. Oh yeah, by this time we had nicknamed John, one of the SOS guitar players, Strawberry.
Mesa, Az. on Friday Ocotber 12, 2001
I woke up in a strange place. Then, I remembered where I was, the SOS house. I went upstairs and found Strawberry and Clint hanging out and watching the show from the night before. The Captain had been taped the show on his camera and plugged it into Strawberry`s vcr. Rico, Bucky, and Brett had already woke up and washed some of their clothes. Then, Strawberry told me, they had rode their bikes to a bank to try and replace the bank card the Captain had lost somewhere along the way. Starwberry, Clint, and i walked to the nearest 711 and got some junk food. Then we walked back to the SOS house and soon after the other Glasspack guys came back. Rico came back with a couple limes he had snagged out of somebodies yard in amazement. Bucky came back with one of the biggest patches of roadburn I have ever seen on his leg. And the Captain came back with no bankcard. Then we loaded up, said goodbye and thank you to our new Arizona friends, and headed to California. We were to play twice the next day in San Francisco. The ride through Arizona and Nevada was beautiful and lasted a long time. We stopped a few times to eat and gas up, in more ways than one.
San Francisco, Ca. at Mission Record Store on Saturday October 13, 2001 - the Glasspack, Totimoshi, Sixteen, and Happytime Junction
I continued to stay awake with Rico as we road from Arizona to California. I saw a lot of sights on this trip and my geography is very bad so you`ll have to bare with me. It must have been around three in the morning when we drove threw the dessert. I remember seeing a woman walking alone and hearing the truck drivers on the c.b. explain about how it was a bitch to pick her up with no shoulder on the road. I really remember mostly the stars in the dessert. It blew my mind when I stuck my head out the window and felt like I was in a planetarium. It was great. I can see the stars really well in Kentucky but not without a treeline. I also remember passing what seem to be a lot of maximum security prisons. Holy shit, and then there was the California border. Rico and I saw this and freaked. We thought we were gonna get so busted so I had all the goods in my hands. One hand for Rico to eat and one hand for me to eat. We pulled up and the guard asked if we had any plants or produce. I breathed a deep breath of relief and said no. He told us to "carry on." Then I remembered Rico had two limes from Arizona and started laughing my ass off. Bucky and the Captain were asleep the whole time in the bed of the truck. Eventually Rico and I had to sleep and we woke Bucky up and let him drive. As soon as I got comfortable, I knew I was not gonna go to sleep so I just hopped back up front and watched Bucky. I surely didn`t want him to fall sleep again and kill us. I really don`t know how he could have, he had slept the whole damn trip. Well, I actually ended up falling asleep and I woke to find us in a rest stop and Bucky once again in the back, asleep. We were about 200 miles from San Fran in a rest stop. The sun was out and as I was walking to the toilet, I noticed how much different the landscape looked compared to the last time I saw it in light. We were traveling many miles in short times. I was still feeling a little ill but for the most part better. My sleep patterns were definitly screwed though. I got some coffee and the Captain finally woke up. The Captain took the wheel for the first time to get us to San Fran and shit was that a mistake. The Captain barely watched the road, almost got us killed on the highway, and almost killed a dozen or more pedestrians in downtown San Fran. He doesn`t watch the road. Finally, we made it to the Mission Record Store and parked the truck. That was an interesting story in itself. We saw a place to park in front of the record store but we had a trailor. Us Kentucky boys figured we would just unhook the trailor and manually parallel park it. And it worked too! Then Rico parked the truck in a few spots ahead. As people left their parking spots, Rico would back the truck up another spot till the truck was in front of the trailor. Crafty, huh? We loaded in the equipment and this is usually when the Captain has chosen to go sight-seeing, bastard. We loaded into a back room in the record store witch was completely filled with junk. I was wondering what kinda show this was gonna be with no room for anybody to stand. We hooked up and set up everything and decided to get some food. I had to get some cheap sunglasses too cause the light was hurtin my head. Rico, Bucky, and I went and found some cool cheap pizza joint down the street. The Captain was still nowhere to be found, which is usually normal. At this point I was getting ready to kick his ass. He is not a very good team player. After this I went back to the record store and noticed a music shop a couple doors down. I picked up a couple of harmonicas there. When Bucky and Rico came back we hopped in the truck and had a smoke while listening to the Misfits/Legacy of Brutality. We have always made it priority to play the Misfits/Halloween during October so we listened to it several times to freshin up. We hung around a little longer in the record store and watched a Misfits video bootleg. I love the Misfits. I am totally obsessed with the Misfits (Danzig line-ups). Eventually kids started showing up and we hopped on the punkrock piece of plywood of a stage. It was at this time that I noticed Witch Mountain and Danno filing in to see the show. I was happy they made it. I feel that set at the record store was one of the best on the tour. I also felt the stage caving in! After our set, we loaded up and sold a few c.d.s and headed to the Covered Wagon. We took Rob (WM) with us. Unfortunately, we didn`t get to see Totimoshi or any of the other bands cause we had to open at the Covered Wagon in less than a couple hours.
San Francisco, Ca. at the Covered Wagon on Saturday October 13 (Part II) - the Glasspack, The Sleaze Band, Blessing the Hogs, Witch Mountain, and Gammera.
We got to the Covered Wagon and some asshole bum would not stop harassing us. I thought we were gonna have to kick his ass. We worried about getting something to eat in fear that this bum was gonna steal some shit out of the truck. We went to a pizza joint anyway. That was a very fun journey to get something to eat. We were a gang of hoodlums. It was the Glasspack, Rob, Dave, and Johnny of Witch Mountian. We got some pizza and headed back to meat the Nate and Danno at the Covered Wagon. We loaded in and met the assholes who work at the Covered Wagon. These people, mostly bitches, were very unkind and cheap. we got one drink ticket each and the dumbasses booked a show with five bands and made us, the out-of-town-band, play first at nine o`clock. They also told me I had to tip with or without a drink ticket. I was fuckin breathing fire by the time we did sound check. I didn`t and still dont think we should have even played. The only thing cool about it was the nice guys of the other bands told us they really enjoyed it. I wanted to leave San Fran, fuckin hippy town. I did not enjoy that city at all and firmly belive that all the good bands should leave so I can burn it down. Gammera was really great as was Blessing the Hogs and Witch Mountain. I also got another chance to see a Kentucky buddy, James Levan of Metal Bikes. He was staying in San Fran and missed our set exactly. We drank a few and hung out. After the show, we wished everyone fairwell and headed on our way to the Redwood Forest. And for the record, the Golden Gate bridge is over-rated.
