Ponce and Beyond

The bus rolled out around 10:30 Monday morning for Ponce. Ponce is the 2nd largest city on the island located on the coast in SW PR. The diversity of the landscape really revealed itself as wound our way around the island. It's only about 35 miles top to bottom and 145ish across but has such an incredible smorgasbord of Mountains, Ocean, rolling hills, rain forest, caves, and plains.

It seemed like around every corner there was a collective gasp of "Whhaaaaat? Whoooaaahhhh!" from most of the bus.

On the edge of the Ponce city limits there were these 'uuuuge stand alone letters stretched across the road spelling out P-O-N-C-E. Pretty neat.

The hotel in Ponce was infinitely cleaner, more comfortable, and WIFI equipped than the Shit Palace. The unfortunately thing was that we weren't near anything.

Well, except for the 'Chicken Shack' outside the hotel which provided some awesome food



Our proximity to civilization problem was rather easily remedied by renting a car for the week. We split it 4 ways so it was totally affordable and as we were to discover over the next few days.....a very FUN decision.

We got the car Tuesday and headed down in search of a beach. What we found I suppose could technically be classified as a "beach" but there was def no swimming. Very rocky and had the 'Syringe Beach' feel to it. A boardwalk area "La Guancha" was rumored to be right next to said beach so we went in search of it.....and ended up driving through some random neighborhood avoiding roaming stray dogs and getting plenty of odd looks from the residents. Eventually we headed back to the huuuuuuge parking lot by the beach after realizing there was no way all of that parking was just for the beach. Sure enough the row of buildings next to the beach we dismissed as 'private harbor area' was most definitely 'La Guancha'. Oops.

It was completely dead being Tuesday night but I did see one of the most incredible sunsets ever:



Not bad.

The next day Steve and I made our way into downtown to a'splore a bit. Very cool architecture but def a very teeeeny town compared to San Juan. We checked out the Ponce History Museum and I realized I can read and comprehend quite a bit of Spanish but conversing without sounding like a complete fool is a different story.

B and I went to a local watering hole down the street a bit from the hotel for 'College Night'. One thing I had not experienced up until that point was being a complete minority in a bar. I mean the record player didn't scratch and stop as everyone slowly turned their heads toward us but we were definitely observed. The gals in the place seemed approachable even with the potential language barrier but the dudes (who greatly outnumbered the gals) stared right through us daring us to approach anyone and make it back to our car at the end of the night without being followed. So we abstained. A local band was setting up so we stayed for a bit and were treated to some shitty ass rock. Good to see crappy bands exist everywhere....made me feel more at home.

The real adventure started the next morning as we set out for Fajardo and some Snorkeling radness. $70 bought us a 5 hour Snorkelfest complete with free drinks, lunch, and an awesome crew. Very cool experience and chance to bro-down.

The next morning (I think?) we were off in search of a waterfall in the middle of the island. Davie was stuck at Tiger practice so we unfortunately had to leave him behind. Even in the tiny-ass rental car we feared for our lives on more than one occasion careening up and around the twisty-est, steepest, scariest ass mountain roads ever. Seriously, this shit made Pittsburgh's Dirty Dozen look like freakin' Kansas.

We never got completely lost but ended up in some interesting places. We took one side road that was even steeper and more narrow than the 'main' road where we eventually had to pull a U-Turn and noticed on the way back down the couple of overturned cars in ditches off to the side.

We continued on our journey through some moderately shady neighborhoods. Eventually when we were beginning to lose hope Grooms says "that looks like a waterfall through those trees there". There were two pseudo-pull off spots on either side of the road so it was decided an investigation was in order. After trekking down some very steep natural steps we found what we were looking for. The water fall wasn't huge but was still super bad-ass. It emptied into this little pool that was deep enough to swim in the spilled over the edge emptying into this lagoon type area with some large cliffs on the opposite side.

The way to get across was to utilize the vine someone had attached to a tree off to the side and lower yourself down. After that you battled some slippery ass rocks and swam across the channel. There was no way we were leaving without partaking in some cliff-jumpin'. Holy crap. What a freaking rush. The water was plenty deep and freezing cold. After a couple jumps I swam back over, scaled the slippy rocks and grabbed my camera to capture one my my Comrade's leaps. Unfortunately there was no way to get any footage of myself jumping off but B's jump sums up the radness:



On the way back, we stopped at a little side of the road joint and chowed on some super authentic PR specialities.

The rest of the week included a trip to La Guancha on the weekend and an unsuccessful attempt to find another bar ending in yet another scary ass drive through some rather unflattering parts of Ponce.

While San Juan was fun for the swank nightlife Ponce was much more enjoyable thanks to the awesome adventures and predicaments we got ourselves into.

Off to Arecibo....the city that made Ponce look like San Juan. Woot.

Puerto Rico Tour Week 1: San Juan

Things I've learned about Puerto Rico:

1. If you don't specifically order 'Black Coffee' you get a cup of milk with some coffee splashed around in it.
   
2. It's a good idea to ask for your check as soon as you order food
   
3. Jumping off a waterfall cliff is awesome
   
4. Cheating death over and over on scary ass rocks with waves crashing everywhere is dangerous awesome
   
5. Snorkeling is awesome
   
6. Cuba Libres are awesome
   
7. Puerto Rican Drivers have watched Death Race 2000 waaaaay too many times
   
8. After midnight traffic lights and stop signs are optional
   
9. 4 years of High School Spanish didn't help all that much
   
10. Don't mess with Larry's Flambé or his Discoveries
    
11. I hate Reggaetone
    
12. I hate Reggaetone
    
13. I hate Reggaetone
    
14. I hate Reggaetone
    
15. I hate Reggaetone
    
16. I hate Reggaetone
    

I was stoked to go to Puerto Rico having never been across an ocean before. My anticipation grew even more upon boarding our flight out of Pittsburgh: "Uhhhh Ladies and Gentlemen this is your Captain speaking uhhhh........we're going to be on the runway here for about an extra half hour as we wait for the plane to be de-iced to allow for a safe flight." Yeah buddy, some tropical weather was most definitely in order.

We landed in Atlanta, met up up with the show, hopped on the plane and after about three hours this is what we were treated to looking out the window:



Hellllls yes.

Upon landing we hopped on our bus to the 5 Star Resort cheapest hotel in San Juan; The Diamond Cockroach Palace. Oh yeah, we travel in STYLE!

Luckily, I scored a room on the top floor where apparently the roaches were too lazy to climb. We were right on one of the main drags so I wasn't planning on spending too much time in the room anyway.

The beach was only a couple blocks away from the Diamond Shithole and there were plenty of plush hotels we could pretend we were staying at if asked so it was all good.

We arrived a few weeks ahead of the hordes of Spring Breakers so most places were filled with locals. There was a general consensus between a few of us after scoping the scene that first night:



Enough said aboot that.

The waves on the beach were freaking ginormous and excessively salty. I entered the water with an earning......and exited sans said earring and a scraped up knee from being slammed and dragged ashore by a particularly redonkulous wave. Yeesh. Good fun though.

We unfortunately only managed to make ONE trip into Old San Juan but twas a cool experience regardless. We meandered around one of the old ass forts for a while before setting out in search of a cabbie recommended local place a bit off the beaten path. The dude wasn't bullshitting us; t'was a great recommendation.

After dinner we wandered around by the port for a while then once we were touristed-out, we took a walk to find some of the local bars up a steep ass hill. We found a coconut on the way and it only seemed appropriate that B roll it back down the hill once we reached the crest. How could it possibly go wrong?

The first thing that popped in my head when the rollination commenced was a bit from Mitch Hedberg (which I think I may have used on here already so apologies for the potential 'bloggy foul'):

"I played golf, I'm not good at golf, I never got good at it. I never got a hole in one, but I did hit a guy in one. And that's way more satisfying. You're supposed to yell "fore." But I was too busy mumbling, "there ain't no way that's gonna hit him.""

Case in point:



Luckily the girl was a good sport about it and the dude didn't kick our asses.

We found the strip of local bars.....which were all empty....so it was back to the Casino at the port where we lost even more $$$. Very eventful evening, ha.

The next night (night after that? who knows?), plans were made to head to this club we thought was in 'Old' San Juan. Perfect. We were all about checking out the Old City on a hoppin' Thursday night.

Unfortunately, through some garbled phone miscommunication, we didn't realize the club was in the 'El' San Juan hotel.....by the airport. Gah.

So....we roll up with about 20 people from the show. It sounded like a pretty swank club so I wore the rare collared shirt just in case. Sure enough we walk up to the gay-ass velvet rope and see the 'no tennis shoes & collared shirts only" sign which disqualified more than half of our group. Luckily Joel the Magic Man was there and his big movie star TV Actor friend rolled up and got everyone in (after cutting in line with his harem of course).

Brava was about as far from what I consider a comfortable place to have a good time as I've ever experienced.

On the plus side, the women there were some of the hottest I've seen anywhere (go Puerto Rico!) but the vibe just wasn't my thing (and the $20 cover didn't help things). Oh yeah, and Deion Sanders and Terrell Owens were there hanging out to maintain the unprecedented level of Doucheness that permeated the joint. Phef.

The post-Brava story is one that is extremely funny in retrospect....but at the time......not so much. And it shall be left at that......yeesh.

While the resort are where our hotel lodging roach-infested accommodation abomination was located was pretty nice (besides our hotel I mean.....have I mentioned that yet?), downtown San Juan by the arena was a very different story. The arena was huge and really nice but the business district was just crumbling all around it. The crowds were consistently packed to the rafters. A couple of the shows far surpassed the largest number of people I have ever performed for:



Past acts who had played the arena included Sting, Dream Theater, Korn, Elton John, and most impressive:



Michael F'n Bolton.

San Juan was a sweet town to hang in. It just would've been ideal to CLOSE the 3 week tour in San Juan and not OPEN there. As predicted, numerous shows were canceled in both Ponce and Arecibo. Whoever made the original show schedule was out of their freakin' gourd and apparently expected the entire island to show up and see the show at least twice...yeesh. I'm all for being ambitious but C'Mon!

So yeah, if we would've had the San Juan sched mirror Ponce & Arecibo and if we would've closed there, we would've had a TON more time to explore AND we would've been in San Juan right smack in the middle of Spring Break! Gah. Par for the course with this tour, haha. At least we didn't have a hurricane follow us again. Off to Ponce.....

Full Pic Set from San Juan

Post PR

I'm trying to organize all my thoughts, reflections, and experiences from our 3 weeks in Puerto Rico into some sort of viable entry. Hopefully coming soon....

In the interim here there be Pics:

San Juan

Ponce/Waterfall Hunt

Arecibo

Arecibo/Isabela

Original Diameter Preserved

Phew. Things worked out and we didn't get royally screwed. My Pittsburgh visit was frigid but welcoming and I was able to experience two things I had never before experienced: Checking out all of the Mattress Factory and seeing Sproulman play in a band from the audience's perspective.

San Juan is pretty amazing....more to come on that at a later date when there isn't all this radness to absorb.

Bend over and take it.

Hopefully that is not going to be the case when we arrive across the water next week without our "homes" but it's not looking good.

Vsegda Gotov

My ongoing nostalgia for colder temperatures (in a familiar setting mind you) is being pacified although after a week of it I'm sure I'll be more than ready for Puerto Rico). I'm back in Pittsburgh and couldn't be happier. So, now that I'm finally comfortable I can recap the adventures (or complete lack thereof) of the last few cities.

Savannah, GA

The people on this tour have proved yet again that the Circus freakin' knows how to party. There was a birthday celebration for Stas, Denis (he's finally 18 so no more "you have cig'rate? you have cig'rate? you have cig'rate? you have cig'rate? you have cig'rate? you have cig'rate?" every two seconds), Diana, and Vicenta early in the wee. It was a theme party....a Russian theme party.....a Russian Pioneer Scout themed party. It was...well...moderately unsettling upon walking in until things got going. Russian marches pumping out of the system, red.....everywhere, Pioneer ceremony videos playing on the big screen, call and response chants from the podium, etc. Unfortunately my camera battery died before things kicked in to high gear (which some people should be very thankful for haha). It was probably for the best that my camera died as no one EVER needs to see Micah prancing about drunk and shirtless humping everything in sight. I'm sure the two photographer gals from SCAD that showed up got plenty of compromising shots.

Some highlights:

Tug of War (Team Russian won....but the balance was a bit unfair to say the least):


Sack Race (Woot. American Redemption)


Massive "3 Legged Race" (Camera battery died but you kind of get a sense of the hilarity that is aboot to unfold)




Background on the Young Pioneer Organization

My Pictures

Savannah is a great town to find yourself in for a week. The arena we played was right in the heart of downtown so everything was completely walkable. Looking back on our stay however, I wish I would've spent less time trying to find a cool bar to hang out at and more time documenting all the haunted historical radness that is abundant all over the city. I'm not sure if it was just apathy, laziness, or both but I definitely missed out on some great pictures and experiences.

The Spanish Moss growing on all of the trees was awesome. I found out there a few squares in the city where the moss just doesn't grow at all. Apparently these squares were the setting for numerous hangings back in the day. The moss hasn't grown there since. There was also a historic cemetery with a haunted past. There are certain graves there that if you were to dig down a few feet you would find yourself in a series of interwoven crypts. During Civil War times soldiers were know to dig their way down there, toss out all the bodies and use the space as a bunker and to keep warm. There is one house in town that is considered the most haunted house in the country and a favorite spot for the 'Ghost Hunters' to run amok in. Not only did I miss out on checking all that stuff out, I failed to hop into one of the hearses for the 'Haunted Savannah Tour'.

Oh well, on the plus side, the building invited the show to stay over Sunday evening at check out Steelerbowl in the theater adjacent to the arena.....on a h-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-g-e ass screen and booming sound system. T'was grand. Emotions ran high as there were an equal number of fans on both sides. I stayed the night and headed out to Florence, SC the next day.


Steeler Bowl Pics

------------

Florence, SC

Florence........was NOT Savannah. And that's about all that needs to be said. I made a cool new friend that made our stay bearable but man, that town was lame.

------------

Fayetteville, NC

After Florence, we went to a town that made Florence look like Savannah...Fayetteville, NC (which in my opinion may steal the title of 'Armpit of the Universe' away from New Jersey.....no small feat.

Fayetteville is a huge military town. Pretty much any military personnel who finds themselves in Fayetteville is more or less on their way overseas. The town lived up to it's seedy "Fayettenam" reputation to say the least.

We smashed out the 6 hr drive to Tifton, GA, crashed for a few hours and drove 14.5 hours to Pittsburgh. And now I'm here. The end.

Fort Myers/Knoxville/Savannah

Two cool things that happened in Fort Myers were that Kate came to visit and the Steelers stomped the Ravens.....

Our trip to downtown Fort Myers was uneventful. We did take a trip to check out Sanibel Island and managed to hit the bridge right at sunset. By the time we got to the beach though t'was dark. It was still cool though as I saw more stars then I've ever seen before. We also tracked a couple satellites (not sure what else they could have been) making their way across the sky.

PICS

---------------

On the exceptionally long drive to Knoxville from Fort Myers I managed to hit a few chunks of wood that were conveniently located in the middle of my lane. I heard them slam up under what I thought was the truck and thought nothing of it.

However, when we got to Knoxville not only were they experiencing record low temperatures (which we felt all the more having been in Florida since Dec 16th), one of the wood chunks managed to smash right in to the trailer below the front storage compartment and left a nice gaping hole in its wake. The OTHER chunk I found stuck between some metal cross bars under the trailer where it became lodged after smacking the corner of my black tank leaving a slight crack in ITS wake. Perfect. Of all the places.....

I kind of fixed the hole in the trailer using some silicone repair stuff and a caulking gun. The black tank I refrained from repairing in Knoxville since it was freaking freezing. I bought a fiberglass repair kit and am planning to patch it up after the sewage crew comes through this week. NOT what I singed up for but a problem that needs to be addressed nonetheless. Yeehaw.

Knoxville is a really neat city but the frigid conditions prevented me from exploring too much. The rents drove down from Pittsburgh to catch the show and hang since Knoxville is probably as close to the burgh that we are going get this year. T'was loverly to see them and catch up a bit.

We still don't have a confirmed time frame for Puerto Rico with regards to when we fly out and when we fly back.....and some of the hotel reviews are....well ATROCIOUS. Gems like "we smelled the place before we saw it" and "this hotel isn't bad........if you don't have any money". Can't Wait!!!

We're supposed to have 10 days off upon our return before heading to Augusta. Brian and I were really hoping to use that time off for a trip to Brazil to hang in Rio and see Iron Maiden. B used to run sound for the drummer's solo band and there's a good chance that we would be able to hang ON the stage during the show. I'm hesitant to drop the $$$ for the flights as even though we have 10 days off, we have no info as to where the 10 days are going to be spent. The trailers are staying in Tifton, GA but we don't know if we're there the whole time or if we get a few days off in Tifton then have to move the trailers to Augusta for the remaining time off. Gah. Details.....

On the plus side, Savannah is a suepr rad town. Much fun has been had thus far and much more is to follow I'm sure. Full update upon our departure.


Savannah pics

Hipster Bingo in Tallahassee

So a recurring trend of this tour is to send us to what could potentially be really cool towns for....like 3 days.....and stick us in towns that are horrendously lame....for a week plus. Gah.

Tallahassee had a lot of potential to be bad-ass. A 24 hour local coffeeshop and dirty dive hipster bar right next to the arena, Kool Benaz Cafe (stiff competition with Prejeans for best restaurant ever), and very scenic college campus = cool town.

However, we weren't allowed on the lot until Tuesday coming from Sarasota. That evening, we were treated to a (way) late night rehearsal to get the music for the Magic Act together. The next day was 9-4 rehearsal with opening night following right after. One show Thursday, one Friday and we peaced out after the show Friday night for Sarastoa (arriving around 4am). The show stayed there Satarday and left for Fort Myers on Sunday. Gah. Would've been nice to just stay in Sarasota since we don't open here until Thursday, but so it goes.

Annnnnnywaaayyyy.....Tallahassee:

We rolled into to the tiny area the arena decided to pack us all into without any problems. Steve and lucked out with pretty easy spots to get in and out of. We got our laundry did at the most reasonably priced place yet. 60 cents a pound! Not too shabby.

The late night rehearsal went well enough. I never dreamed (well maybe had nightmares) that I would have to play 'Harder to Breathe' by freaking Maroon 5 for this show. Oh well. The Act is coming along well enough and the dude's a really nice guy so that helps.

Nonetheless, all I can picture ever time the Act comes along in the show is this.

Back to Tallahassee radness....

All Saint's Cafe is a rockin' Green cafe that stays open 24 hrs. Highly recommended should you find yourself in the area.

And that Kool Beanz place.....holy schnikies. Go there every day 3 times a day. N'uff said.

Based on a recommendation, we headed out to this dirty little dive next to the coffeeshop that was having a DJ night. Now, I was expecting a Hipster Parade.....but holy shit. Really? This place made the Brillobox look like....I dunno....Jack's or something. We were nearly choked from the hovering cloud of irony hanging in the air. Free PBR cans after paying the cover. Enough said.

Seriously. It's a good thing we didn't play hipster bingo....since everyone would've won within 30 seconds:



The place was loud, the DJ was not very good (although you could never tell by the ironic 'rocking out' face he was making every time he pressed the spacebar on his laptop), and the people were.....just.....well irritating. Oh well.

I planned on writing more about the Tallahassee experience but based on the potential of what could've been...tis best to leave it in the past and look forward to the sweet ass town we get to visit: Knoxville, TN. Rock.

.....

For those understand this summation of recent events, I'mapologize:






That is all

Nine Packs and New Year's

I imagine there are quite a few really neat places tucked away in West Palm Beach that are worth exploring. Unfortunately, with the exception of a great Cuban restaurant, I'll never know.

You see, the show opened in West Palm on Christmas Day at 3pm. Then, for the next three days in a row, we had scheduled shows at 11am, 3pm, and 7pm.....hence the 'nine pack'. Granted I could've sucked it up and driven the 10 miles to downtown and done some exploring but c'mon.....I'm getting old now and 6hrs of hard drumming a day takes a little bit of the wind out of the 'ole sails.

One of the saving graces of a schedule like that was we the addition of a new act in the show. The High-Wire was out and the Urias Family Globe of Death Act was in. 3 Motorcycles + Tiny Globe Cage + Rocking Charts = Total Badass-ness.



After the nine pack, we still had two more one shows days to knock out.

The other saving grace was the fact the promoter for that string of shows delivered a pretty decent crowd for every single performance. That was a welcome surprise that that many people consistently came out to catch the show.

The night before the final performance, I received a phone call from my friend Measly who I had met in Atlanta. She had just made a move from there to Jacksonville, FL. That night however, she was calling from Boca Raton where she was visiting family.....which is like 20 miles away from West Palm. Very odd but very cool coincidence. She came and checked out the show closing night and we were able to catch up which was awesome. The other coincidence was that this is the second time she hung out the night of one of those "mysterious wind storms" like we had in Duluth, GA that only hit our lot, blowing over some things, but not affecting the trailers at all.

After the show, I took Measly back home then drove back to the lot. Steve had gone ahead and left so Ollie took me up on an offer of a ride to keep me awake since we didn't leave the lot until after midnight.

------------------

NYE

We rolled back onto the lot in Sarasota around 3:30 or so in the morning. The timing actually worked out really well as the generator showed up as I was setting up my trailer, and power was ready to go right after I was done. Most excellent.

My new friend Kate who recently moved to FL from Baltimore came to hang out for the NYE festivus. And holy schnikies it was quite a festivus to behold. A ginormous spread of food was laid out including quite a few interesting homemade Russian dishes and lots of libations.

I can't decide if I was just uninspired to play my usual photographer role or if I just wanted to chill and soak up the scene without being "that dude with the camera" for once.

I did managed to get some good video (some of which I'll post....some of which I won't to protect the "innocent" (and by "innocent" I mean "not at all innocent")).

There were a ton of new Russians there who are performers with the Red Unit. The one dude had this glorious mullet that he kept pulled back in a pony tail. We were all hoping and praying that at some point he would unleash that beast in all of it's feathery glory....but it wasn't meant to be.

He did live up to the "mullet guy with a Napoleon Complex" stereotype by getting up in some of the concession guys' faces and stumbling around a lot. He eventually staggered over to the bleachers where our group had converged. Robbie was smoking a pretty quality cigar that had been a Christmas gift. Mulletofsky comes right up to Robbie, mutters something or other while gesturing at his cigar. The dude then takes it out of Robbies mouth and take 3 or 4 puffs on it failing to realize that you aren't supposed to inhale a cigar. After hacking his lungs out for a couple minutes, he hand the cigar back and mutters something about "this not good for you health". He stares for a moment, grabs the cigar a second time, and whips it over Robbie's head behind the bleachers. Uh...WTF, mate? I think everyone kind of stood there trying to figure out if that had really just happened. Luckily, the cigar was retrieved relatively unscathed and Mulletofsky was escorted out of the party (unfortunately not dragged backwards by his ponytail).

The night wore one as did people's entertaining behavior. While things were happening I know I was constantly laughing my ass off. Unfortunately, I was more than a bit blurry with everyone so all of the details of the hilariousness are a bit fuzzy.....

I do know the night ended with a few of us sitting on the bleachers, listening to a couple dudes giving very heartfelt speeches passing a big ass baton thing back and forth and slamming it down on the bleachers every time they made a point in the style of Gandalf preventing the passage of the Balrog. Nothing short of spectacular.

It was definitely a quite enjoyable NYE and I'm really lucky to have scored this gig and met some of these people. Props to Panda Steve for dropping my name back in June.

I forgot my camera tonight so I'll have upload pics/vids some other time.

West Palm Beach, FL

So last night we rented a stretch hummer limo and went to the hockey game.

Hilarity ensued

Sarasota, FL

I have come to the conclusion that Georgia by far has the greatest rest areas in the country. Not only did it not reek of pee like the one in Alabama, this place had a lounge, nice couches, and free Wifi. Go Georgia.

Anyway, we made it to Sarasota without any major issues and settled right at the Robarts Sports Arena. With an entire week to kill you think I would've sketched out some sort of plan and tried to see lots of cool stuff. Not quite the case. I've been having a good time thus far, but it's been largely improvisatory with regards to what I've gotten into.

I got my hurrr did at a neat little salon on Tuesday and had a cool convo with the dude who cut my hair. He's a bass player/DJ from Chicago and he kind of gave me the low-down on the scene (or complete lack thereof) in Sarasota. Just down the street from the salon was a great little spot called the Sarasota Olive Oil Company. I found out that there having a show there that night. Kind of an 'invite open mic' with a ton of local acoustic acts. I guess it was the first time they were trying something like that out and they had a really good crowd. It seemed like the beginning of a somewhat large scale effort to get a scene going. No one really blew me away save this girl Harper with a gorgeous voice and some Mandolin skills and her dude Toby.

Since I was there by myself among everyone else who knew each other I had to step it up and initiate some conversation. I approached a cool looking girl and dude and started talking with them. Miranda plays with this group Villanova Junction (who gets to open for a Motley Crue tribute band this Saturday haha) and her dude Scott freelances doing 3D modeling and animation work. They were super rad. One of the highlights of the evening was when the Paddy Wagon rolled up and the officer leaned out the window and asked everyone "Did any of you see a man in a hospital gown run by here? He's a mental patient that's running loose. If you see him, don't give him any beer." Awesome. I met a few other performers and called it an early night.

Wednesday I met someone at the Whole Foods Cafe and while we were talking a group of biker kids had assembled around this one bike that was locked up. Eventually, a cop rolled up. After overhearing the conversation for a while it seems that the bike belonged to one of the dudes and had recently been stolen. The sad part is that whoever stole the bike obviously didn't steal it to ride it. He probably sold to someone else who bought it without realizing it was stolen. Now that poor kid is going to come out eventually to find that "his" bike was stolen. It would've been entertaining to stick around and see if they ended up calling the police as well. Oh well. Later, I grabbed sushi and hung out and jammed with one of the guitarists from the Tuesday night show.

Thursday was much more eventful. I spent a good 3 hours checking out the Ringling Estate, Art Museum, and Circus Museum. Ringling was quite the art collector and had tons of museum worthy pieces. Nothing modern or anything but still pretty cool. There were two special exhibits. One Japanese themed and one Egyptian.

Art Museum/Estate Pics

After the art museum, it was off to tour the Ringling Estate and Gardens. Bad-ass. There were tons and tons of these awesome Banyard trees all over the place and this huge flower garden.



The estate itself was rather impressive as well. That was all well and good, but the main thing I was interested in was the Circus Museum...and I wasn't disappointed.

There's not much detail to go into but all the exhibits were totally rad....especially the miniature circus which took up an entire floor and was the most intricately crafted....thing....I have ever seen.



It was really fun to be in a museum dedicated to what I do now.

Circus Museum Pics



Later on, I met up with Kathryn's sister Stephanie who lives down here. Every Thursday her and a few of her friends meet at the one dudes house for a percussion/meditative jam session....I guess it could've been considered a drum circle but I hesitate to use that term as it conjures up a mass of rhythm-less hippies and college dorks flailing away on djembes making the "look us mannnn...we're realllly groooooovinn'" face. P-U. These people were the real deal. There were different Udus, a kind of Bata drum with a Tabla head on one end (this was given to me to play), a log drum, lots of Tar Frame Drums, this instrument that was like an accordion, only it was set up and looked like a tiny piano....not sure what it was called, and Stephanie and a couple others sang. It was really really amazing to improvise and create these....pieces...with these people. I got there at 7:30 and before I knew it, it was 10:00. The whole circle was just really tuned in with each other and things swelled, climaxed, and released beautifully together. A couple of us really dug into create these amazing cross rhythms and killer killer groves with hypnotic drones coming from the accordion/piano and the voices. It felt great to actually create something again with musicians. I'm hoping to sit in with them again on our return trip to Sarasota after the string of (RIDICULOUS) shows in West Palm.

After the session was over, I headed back down to the Olive Oil Company to hear Miranda spin. She has a great collection of 60s Psychedelia. Brian (the dude who cut my hair), Scott, and some other people I had met were there as well. It really didn't feel far from getting together with some friends in Pittsburgh....don't get me wrong...NOTHING compares with hanging with friends back home, but it was nice to be in the company of awesome people.

The night ended there around 12:30 and I met up with Scott and Miranda at this place called the Cabana Inn where Thursday night Karaoke was in full swing. The bar was the huge dive and the clientele was like picking up Gooskis and the Brillobox, shaking them like a hipsterpunk snow globe, and dumping the contents into this bar. People dig their karaoke out here ha.

I met a really cool girl who was friends with Scott and Miranda and keep with the trend of my miraculous luck.....she was moving to Boston the next morning....of course, haha. T'was an amazing day regardless. Now I'm at a different coffeeshop downtown trying to figure out what to do with my night. Prospects look rather slim but I'm sure something will pop up.

Woot.

Charlottesville, VA

So there are two well known people that made their home in Charlottesville, VA. One who everyone should know about.....and one that most people probably do know about.



and



I tried not to think too hard about the results if I surveyed 100 people asking them "What famous person do you know who is associated with Charlottesville?" being terrified of what the results may be.

That said, Charlottesville was a pretty cool town.

As previously mentioned, we were not allowed to arrive on the lot until 7am Tuesday since Neil Diamond had played the night before.

This particular lot provided me with the most interesting parking experience to date (well....parking experiences of a non-near disastrous nature anyway).

Robbie's bus was parked against a downward slope in front of and perpendicular to one row of trailers. To back into my spot, I had to pull almost alongside him and attempt to back my trailer (to the left) in between two others with little to no maneuvering room. It's amazing how what appears to be physically impossible can actually be accomplished with minimal maneuvering. I tucked it right in the spot and felt rather pleased with myself. I'm sure it looked like this.

We didn't really venture out until Wednesday when we went to check out the downtown pedestrian mall which housed a respectable number of coffeeshops, cool shops, and good restaurants.

We met two girls outside a Gelato shop who seemed cool. Turned out one of the gals was a photographer and we made plans to hang out. Unfortunately scheduling conflicts arose and it didn't happen. Her portfolio site is still worth checking out though.

The weather was shitty and cold most nights so from Tuesday-Thursday night I watched the super-duper extended extra long LOTR trilogy since I hadn't seen them since the theater. Uber rockstar, I know......

A highlight of the trip was an excursion to Monticello. Really really fascinating and highly recommended to any TJ fans. There was no photography allowed inside the house but I think there's a virtual tour on the website.

PICS

Friday, B and I ventured out to scope out the bar scene. We went into one place and I ordered the usual Manhattan. The bartender kind of looked at me in disbelief, then excitedly grabbed the only (as he explained while serving it) cocktail glass they had in the place...not a good sign. The upstairs was filled with people and the only thing we could conclude from the crowd was that Dave Matthew's demon seed had somehow seeped into the water and created a legion of stereotypical versions of "that Dave Matthews cover band dumb-ass college dude". Only these creatures were bred to perfection....kind of like Douchebag Uruk-kai.....

Quickly realizing we would have nil success at meeting anyone interesting, we retreated to a bar down the street which looked much more promising.

The unfortunate twist was the fact that while the place was very long.....it was only wide enough to accommodate booths on either side, and a extremely narrow walkway leading to the back.....and the place was packed. We managed to squeeze back to the bar but from there we were stuck. After what seemed like an eternity of stuckness, we joined a table of seemingly cool people.

I sat next to a very short....rather plump Asian girl who was sitting next to some dude. B was on the opposite side of the table. General conversation ensued and eventually the "so how old are you guys?" question crept up.

"Well I just turned 29"

....no sooner had the "ine" of "nine" left my lips when the oompa loompa next to me who had asked blurted out:

"EW!!"

Uh.....what? She was 23. And not that I was even remotely interested in her but C'MON!. Seriously?

She then broke into.

"Uh, this is like a college town....most of the people here are like undergrads....you should be settled down by now...not like out at bars and stuff".

Uhhh.....what? While there were soooooo many retorts I could have laid on this....unfortunate looking young lady, I just laughed it off. I think it pissed B off more than it did me.

Unaffected, we ducked out and manage to spy a booth that was opening. Two other gals saw the same opening, and since they had three and it was the two of us, it made perfect sense to share the booth. Finally...potential real conversation.

The two that hung around we're super cool....and pretty hot too. One Asian girl, and one from Turkey. They had just come from spending alllll day in the library and alternated between hanging out and talking...and getting up to dance fervently around the bar. The pulled off what they referred to as "the worst dance move ever" and I was able to catch it on video:



Apparently earlier, there was an impromptu Flashmob rave in the library that we had missed out on.

Seriously: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_BgOlpy2ZY Not bad at all.

Unfortunately again, their Saturday night was to be spent studying so no dice on hanging again. Even worse, a party was planned for Sunday with all sorts of cool people, but I'd be well on my way from Charlottesville to Sarasota. Such wonderous luck :).

All in all though, Charlottesville was a good time.

One of the other highlights came after one of the shows. Robbie came in to the dressing and said "Jeremy, there's some old guy wearing a Zildjian jacket back by the sound booth that wants to talk to you. He said 'Neil Peart ain't got NUTTHIN' on that boy!'".

So I went out to the sound board and sure enough this dude wearing said jacket and a big grey mustache was hanging around with his wife and little daughter. I've never been good at taking compliments but was determined to be grateful and not say anything to the effect of: "Yeah but did you here when this part fell apart and when I screwed up THAT part" like I always do.

He was super nice. He said their seats didn't allow them to see me at all and his wife asked:

"So do they just have a drum machine then?"
"I think so, but it's too varied and there's too much 'feel' to be preprogrammed. I'm not sure though"

Wow. That made me feel pretty good. He then said "Man, I've been playing drums here for 30 years and I ain't ever heard nothing like you. People say Neil Peart's good but he ain't never heard you play." Obviously the guy hasn't heard that many drummers but it was still really nice of him to say.

He capped the conversation by kind of starting at me for a second then saying:

"Awwwwww.....giiimmmmeeee a huuggggg!"

::super bear hug::

Wow....again. T'was a new experience for sure.

Regardless, I still wasn't looking forward to the 14 hour drive to Sarasota.

Little Rock, AR

Little wasn't a bad city considering it was in Arkansas. The arena we played at was pretty nice and the architectural landscape drew eerie similarities to Pittsburgh. We played on the North shore....where there were two arena/stadiums, a Science Center, a submarine docked in the water, an nice apartment complex providing commuters close access to downtown, and a series of 6 bridges connecting to downtown. Weird.

There was a Flying Saucer in Little Rock so I got re-live some Memphis memories of great beer and the most amazing pretzels ever served.

Other than that, nothing exciting really happened (see why I haven't been updating?)

From Little rock, we had a nice 900 mile drive to Charlottesville, VA where we weren't allowed on the lot until Tuesday morning thanks to the Neil Diamond concert.

We made from Little Rock to Knoxville, TN on the first night and stayed in Flying J parking lot.

The only campground choices were a KOA 3.5 hours before Charlottesville and one that was 45minutes past Charlotesville. We settled on the former. It ended up being me, Steve, Robbie, and Jason who all ended up at the same campground. I have to admit it was nice to stay somewhere where there was no loud hum of a generator or idling diesel trucks like at a Flying J.

The bad thing was they didn't have water at the campground so we used our fresh water stash and the septic system was busted so there was no dumping....unless we wanted to be subject to a black water geyser. Robbie's buddy who had played both bass and drums on previous tours came and hung out at the campground so that was cool.

Off to Charlottesville, VA.....

Alexandria, LA

Alexandria came and went. I went grocery shopping, hung out at home with a couple new friends, and played the show. The air conditioning in the arena caught fire...or it was one of the dressing rooms or something so that was interesting. It was also all general admission seating which I haven't experienced yet. I was disappointed that no fights broke out over seats

Woot. Little Rock was next.....

Houma & New Orleans

After Bossier city, it was time for a trip deep into the Bayou....Houma, Louisiana. 60 miles South of New Orleans.

Houma was interesting insomuch as a lot of the house we're pseudo shack-like structures up on stilts. The main streets were separated by these tiny bridges that crossed over the swamp.

There really isn't much of a bustling "downtown" as a good majority of the residents make their living much like relatives of previous generations. They are shrimpers, trappers oyster and fishermen. I also found out Houma is where the 'Swamp Thing' series is based....which is pretty rad.



We found one bar that served as home for our time there: Monterey's (I think that's what is was called). Great international beer list and less clubby douchebaggery than many of the other (many as in 3) places in the two blocks that made up downtown.

We hung out there the night before I took off to New Orleans for my birthday.

------------

New Orleans

Despite an overwhelming response from Couchsurfing.com, no potential hosts were going to be in New Orleans the day I was there....that whole 'Thanksgiving' thing I guess. With that option shot down, I booked a bed at the India House Hostel, which I would recommend to anyone passing through NOLA. I briefly spoke with this Indian dude staying there then started the 2 mile walk to the Quarter.

The first place I struck out for upon arrival was Coop's Place, home of the best Jambalaya in existence.

As soon as I walked in, some started calling my name. It was my new Indian friend who had coincidentally ended up there as well.

We shared a table and starting talking. He was on his first visit ever to the states making his way to Florida to see (I think) his brother's family who he had not seen in 20 years if I remember correctly.

New Orleans is a great place to land if it's your fist time in States. We got on the topic of my job I walked away with a great recommendation for both a movie and book to check out. The movie was a great Indian Film called Mera Naam Joker. It's one of those films that a director pours all he has (emotionally, allegorically, and financially) only to have it flop at the box office. The film took 6 years to make and nearly put Raj Kapoor, the director, into bankruptcy. I'm currently trying to find the full version somewhere.

When I explained to him how we traveled and approximately how many people are directly involved with the show, he drew the comparison to 'The Tipping Point' where one idea discussed is how once a population tops 150, you start to see more corruption, crime, and generally breakdown of society. It seems that we are currently traveling with the perfect number to create an ideal society.

My friend was very well versed in the realm of mathematics and finance and I got his seal of approval for my plan with this tour regarding investment and payoff. So that made me feel yet again like I'm doing the right thing.

After wandering around the quarter buying myself a few birthday gifts (Among them a new wallet! No more George Castanza!) I heading downtown to meet Nathan and his friends at a brewery/restaurant. The brewmaster had rolled out something new so it was free sample night. And 'free sample' we did quite well.

After hanging there for a bit, we were off to Frenchman street, which unlike Bourbon Street, has real bars the locals will visit devoid of trashed 19 year olds and green beer that comes in long plastic tubes.

We checked out this sushi bar and had some amazing sake and sashimi. One dude walked by us and heading down the street and after a second I realized it was Stanton Moore, a favorite drummer of mine.

I was able to catch him outside and we chatted for a while. Turns out 15 years earlier he had sat in playing percussion when the the Circus rolled through town (back when they would hire local musicians in each town they visited). It was pretty cool. For the first time I was able to have a peer style discussion with a musician I was really into instead of the typical fanboy (duh...you play real good...duh) talk that I used to find myself in after shows. That again made me feel good about what I'm doing.

After THAT, it was off to the Maple Leaf to see the Rebirth Brass Band again and they rocked it even harder than the first time I saw them. Nathan was crashing with his friend a few blocks away so instead of stumbling to a train car and maybe finding my way back to the hostel, I just crashed on his couch. The next day (complete with a pristine hangover), I decided it would do me good to walk the 3.5 miles back to the hostel. Ha....oops. It was interesting to walk past a lot of buildings that were still trashed from the hurricane. Seeing that stuff up close and in person really hits a lot harder then watching recycled news reels.

I gathered my things and headed back to Houma.

I met an awesome woman who kind of ran things at the building we were playing at and was in charge of the Arts Council in Houma. Hopefully paths will cross again.

Steve and I decided to stay over Sunday night so we could watch the Steeler game. Turned out to be a good decision since we found out we couldn't park at the arena in Alexandria until the next day. A lot of people had to turn around and come back to Houma. Apparently the place was run by some 80 year dude who wouldn't sell tickets online (box office only) and didn't use email (just fax). Very nice.

Onto Alexandria.....the hopefully last time we are in a city for one show only.

Things and Stuff

So I have next week off. I promise to do some major updating here. It's not that I haven't had the time, I just haven't been very motivated to update. This will be remedied soon.

The Results Are In!

Final Result:

52ft. 68,000lbs

Winner = Big Mitko

Entertainment on the Lot

The rest of the drive was no problem. Sure, Louisiana has some shitty highways, but it felt good to be back in what is becoming one of my favorite states.

We're back on a nice flat parking lot and I think I broke my own personal record for backing myself into a space, unhitching, and setting up the trailer. A much welcome change from the debacle in Pikeville.

There's not a whole lot of cool things to check out here but it'll be good to take a week off since I'm hoping to spend a few days in New Orleans next week around my birthday.

The plan today was to head out and explore a bit to see what was here. However, as we were setting up our water today, Kat came over and let us know that if we weren't busy this afternoon there was going to be a little show:

Big Mitko the Bulgarian is known for dragging things....namely two Semi Trucks across a parking lot in Texas.

Today, he wants to pull a fully loaded semi with trailer (about 56,000 lbs or something).

Just him, a harness, and a rope. Strongman competition style. 3pm today.

Check back for the video.....

'Sweet Home' My Ass

Pikeville, KY to Bossier City, LA: 900 miles. Not the longest jaunt on the tour thus far but certainly one of the more 'let's just get this over with ones'.

We stopped for the night at some random Rest Area somewhere in Alabama. It smells like pee. Everywhere.

And apparently we haven't traveled far enough South to escape the frigid night air. Looks like a repeat of our arrival in Springfield, MA will be in order tonight.

I have to admit I kind of liked Pikeville. We played the only arena for at least 100 miles. The crowds were strong and responsive. The Circus is a Big Ticket Item for these folks. Not much (anything) in the way of night life though. There was 'a' bar in town. As in one singular tiny bar.

The landscape was quite impressive considering they had to basically plow through a mountain to make the city.

I visited the Dils Cemetery which houses the graves of some of the McCoy's. Yup...THOSE McCoy's.

PICTURES

Bossier City should be fun. Larry owes us a BBQ outside his trailer for always being late. And think there's a collective birthday party for a lot of the show kids at Chuck E Cheese. Woot.

Off to bed I suppose. It will be much colder out in the trailer but it least it won't smell like pee.

Night.

Striving for Chillaxination

The after effects from last night's incident are lingering. I'd like to blame my pseudo-odd behavior today on that....but I'm not sure dropping my trailer is totally to blame.

The obvious solution was eloquently stated in a text message from a good friend:

"Yeah sounds like you need to chillax bro!"

Truer words were never spoken.

I'm not used to being in print. I'm not used to revealing myself at all. Ever since it went to press I've been super paranoid and nervous that I said/did something wrong with regards to the article although I know that's not the case. It's not a plea for reassurance/fishing for compliments....it's just....a complex I guess haha.

I dunno. It's similar to the way I used to be after almost every gig I played with any given band (I think I wrote about this in an earlier post so forgive the repeat).

"Hey great show!"

"Yeah but the one tune was too fast. I screwed this part off. We really didn't play well at all...blah blah blah blah"

"Um....well I thought it was good so....."

I don't know if it's residual perfectionism or just plain paranoia.

So apologies to anyone I've annoyed/inconvenienced with my ramblings on. The trailer drop thing just really put me on edge. I'm starting to realize just how lucky I was.

Cheers again to Aaron for writing such a great article and to Chris for having an interest in the story. I miss not being able to pick up a CP every week. Seriously, have you BEEN to Pikeville, KY? It's pretty from a scenic standpoint.....but there ain't much here to do.

Ok. Feeling slightly calmer. T'would be much easier with a certain Queen of Hearts around....


Anyway, the truck goes in for its 15000 mile check up tomorrow after our 10:30am show. It seems like a lifetime ago when I watched the odometer hit 1000 miles.


Taking this gig was such a good decision.

Never a dull moment, right?

The first vehicle that was "officially" mine to drive was a dark blue 1985 Ford Ranger stick shift that had belonged to my Grandpa on my Mom's side before he passed. I have memories of riding alongside him both grossed out by the Styrofoam cup full of Mail Pouch Tobacco spit but also comforted by it since I associated the smell with him.

The cup was removed before I took ownership but hints of the scent still lingered which while should be gross I found rather pleasant.

Even if it did gross me out, I didn't mind, I finally had the freedom to drive to school instead of taking the bus. Obviously I was on top of the world. During the winter months the defroster would clear the entire windshield except for the driver's side. I spent many frigid mornings driving to school Ace Ventura style with my head out the window so I could see the road.

The time eventually came to sell the truck which was at that point worth less than the cost of maintenance.

One weekend my parents were preparing for a trip to Ohio to see family. I had taken the truck to the high school to stop by the band room and pick up some music. One way to enter is through the student parking lot. Just passed the crest of the lot you had to turn right which put you in front of the little island separating some of the spots from the drive. The road then curved left up a hill which brought you to the band room entrance. I pulled half up on the sidewalk, turned on the 4-ways, threw it in gear (first instead of reverse for some unknown reason) and went inside. About 30ft behind the truck was a fence that ended where the sidewalk became the drive.

I was inside the school no more than 3 minutes to grab whatever chart I needed to pick up. When I came back out, something caught my eye.

"Who the hell would be backing their truck down the drive towards the student parking lot" I started to ask myself.

I got as far a "truck" in that thought before I realized the person backing their truck down the drive also had a blue 1985 Ford Ranger with their 4-ways on. An instant after that thought entered my head, I realized no one was in the driver's seat and I was looking at my truck flying backwards down the hill heading straight for a Mercedes parked just over the little island.

Sprinting down the hill yelling at a teacher in the lot to watch out the truck hit and jumped the island Dukes of Hazzard style and somehow shifted to the right (from my perspective) just enough to miss the Mercedes.

"Well that was close" I thought as I continued to yell.

Then I noticed there were only a couple cars parked in the rest of the lot. Beyond the lot was a little hill that ran into the road where the entrance was. Beyond that was another steeper hill. Just beyond that was a baseball field where the girls softball team was practicing directly in the path of my wayward truck.

There was one beat up old car in the lot parked in a spot just before the hill leading to the hill leading to a soon-to-be-very-surprised Girls Softball Team.

Somehow the truck managed to align itself with the old junker and just SMASHED right into the side of it. It totaled the other car but the truck only received very minor damage to the tailgate. Some serious shit would have went down had that car not been parked there.

I first called my parents and the police to report the incident.

The owner of the car and his dad arrived before the cop.

The dad simply said "well, we were trying to get rid of this thing anyway. You probably did us a favor."

The cop showed up and in his Cop-ly fashion went to the dad for the story. When I tried to interject he both cut me off and did the whole "are you looking for trouble blah blah." Total douche.

Anyway, insurance took care of everything and I was able to drive the truck home. My parents were able to still head into Ohio.

Even if the truck did slip out of gear on its own the fence was right behind it. It's hard to believe it turned itself off the sidewalk and then straightened itself back up to start it's jaunt down the hill. We were convinced it was just my Grandpa protesting sending us the message of "This truck lived in the family, it dies in the family. No one else is getting this thing".

......
Flash forward some 10 odd years.

On the drive from Pittsburgh to Pikeville, I listened to several installments of the 'Stuff You Should Know' podcast. Cool stuff. Highly recommended. One theme they constantly arrive at time and time again intentionally or not is the whole "Fight or Flight" deal when you're faced with some kind of danger.

Once it dawned on me what was happening with the truck, that response kicked in hardcore for me. After the ordeal I was shaking for quite a long time.

So...getting to the point after a long winded lead-up:

We arrived around 11:40 and scoped out where to park. After finding two spots, I backed the trailer into my spot. The ground here slopes downhill to the left so I had to drive up on my levelers. Two for the base, one in the middle on top. That didn't quite cut it. Could still be a little more level. So, it was two for the base, and two high in the middle. I pulled forward and managed to roll up on them. Perfectly level. Awesome.

I chocked the wheels on the other side, dropped the front legs, opened the tailgate, and prepared to un-hitch. Totally routine.

The latch would come out as is sometimes the case. This is solved by putting the truck in reverse and nudging it back (still hitched) very very slightly and the arm should come smoothly out. It did.

The one sound that you never ever ever want to hear after completing that step is . c-c-c-c-C-C-C-C-R-R-R-R-R-E-E-E-E-E-A-A-A-A-K-K-K-K-KABOOOOOOMMMMMMSSSSMMMHASHGRINDBANG!!!!!!!!!!!

The sound got as far as c-c-c-c-c-c- before I knew what was coming and re-lived the possessed truck episode from my past over again only this time exponentially worse. The trailer legs slipped off the wood and SLAMMMED into the ground. Since I was on a hill only one leg was on the ground holding the trailer up. The tires had slipped off the levelers and the other side wheel backed right over the wheel chocks.

I slipped a piece of wood under the leg hanging in the air and lowered the legs to stabilize the trailer. The tailgate was still up but somehow the way the trailer fell there's just one teeny nick in it. My only guess is that driving up on the levers twisted the hitch just enough so that while the trailer was level, it was hitched to the truck which wasn't. I still can't figure out how it happened.

I owe Steve a few beers for making him stand out there with me as I hitched back up and unhitched again still in shock of what happened. It took forever when usually I get it on the first try.

I re-rolled up on the levels, this time two for the base and only ONE in the middle. I can deal with a slightly slanted trailer. It's a milder version of the 'Mystery Spot' in Santa Cruz, CA.

I had to take a break before lowering the rear stabilizers, hooking up power, etc. as my hands were shaking so bad I couldn't keep the flashlight focused on anything.

By far one of the scariest experiences I've had to date. I'm still a little bit shaken. But I'm sitting here typing this from the kitchen table with power plugged in and slides out so it seems everything is in order.

I was quite looking forward to sleep after the trip but something tells me with the excitement of the City Paper cover story coming out today combined with this whole.....episode.....I'll be up for a while yet.

The lot here in Pikeville, KY is know for being very unpleasant. We are on all dirt and grass so If it rains hard, this place will turn into Elbonia (as in nothing but mud). If you leave your cables/hoses on the ground they will sink into said mud. If it gets really cold overnight, said mud will freeze leaving said cables stuck in the ground. I've heard stories of people with shovels digging out their cables before leaving for the next city.

:knocks on wood:

Oh, and Steve informed me that there's a goddamn rooster that will crow at the crack of dawn every day.

The main tourist attraction here from what I can gather is a cemetery where a lot of the actual Hatfields and McCoys are buried. Woot.

G'night.

No really, I am on tour, I swear!

Of course, that may not be obvious since I've been back home to visit like six times already. It's not my fault we tour the Northeast sometimes! I promise though you Pittsburgh people won't see me again for a while after tomorrow night.

The City Paper story comes out this week and I'm really hoping I only sound like a moderately incompetent ass. I've never really been interviewed nor written about so I wasn't quite sure how to handle it. Whatever, I'm sure people will just be looking at my fun socks anyway.

Hopefully hanging with the usual crew at the usual place tomorrow. I'm extra excited to see one person in particluar I haven't been able to see on my last several visits. Damn conflicting Tour Schedules!

G'night.

Catch Up: The Short-Short Version

MINISTER
Okay. Here we go, the short-short version. (to LONE STARR} Do you?

LS
Yes.

MINISTER
Do you?

VESPA
Yes.

MINISTER
Good. You're married. Kiss her.

---------

That's the way I'm attempting (and probably failing) to handle this round of catch up: The short-short version. Remember to use my voice recorded while traveling is a new priority. It's tough keeping all the memories and details of transpired events fresh in my mind.

The recollection is there but the essence of the emotions/humor of the past moments have faded a bit and hasn't been coming across quite as sharp in print.

Anyway......

PITTSBURGH VISIT

So after leaving Portland (and avoiding sideswiping any more campground trees) the show was off to Binghamton, NY (the one time home of David Sedaris). Steve and I arrived in the wee hours in the morning, unhitched, caught a few hours sleep, and headed home to Pittsburgh. Before this tour, the thought "Well, we're only 6 hours away from home....let's do it" would've never crossed my mind.

While hanging out in Monroeville browsing through the CP listings, I caught myself in the midst of a cartoonish double take. I figured I had read something wrong but sure enough The Slip was playing Club Cafe the Tuesday I was in town. Seriously, there's a weensy bit of history with that band (a ten year history of countless road trips including a train ride to California and drive down the coast following their tour). I hadn't seen them play in at least 3 years. I first caught them at CMU in 1998.

They were backing this young "blues" artist Sonya Kitchell. Although it wasn't going to be Slip material per say, I figured it was worth checking out. I mean, what were the chances they were in town the same night I was back home?

T'was a very interesting night. Brad Barr (vox/guitar for The Slip) did a solo set to open the night. Very cool stuff. I think AJ may have gotten a few ideas for how to approach his solo stuff when it debuts.

The Slip definitely wasn't the best choice for a backing band as they are just too good. Soyna was OK, but nothing special at all. It's never good when your backing band blows you away even though they're not trying to.

I re-lived the past 10 years of my life during that performance which was both nostalgic, cheesy, re-assuring, and educational all at once.

It seemed our career paths have ended up coinciding somewhat musically speaking ('somewhat' meaning our respective musical evolutions were similar but The Slip were successful at it all along).

What really hit was my current gig situation compared with theirs. They weren't playing their own material but:

1. They were still playing with each other
2. They music was still pretty good
3. They were making bank. (as was evident by the huge tour bus that rolled up at the end of the night in lieu of the little "Slip Van" I've always seen them crammed into.

It made me feel OK with what I'm doing. I'm not playing my own band material (my parts are my own though) but:

1. I'm making music with Steve
2. The music's not that bad
3. I'm making bank (finally, ha)

Successful visit.

---------------------

BINGHAMTON, NY

So all the nightlife in Binghamton is condensed into about 2 blocks. The place is dead in the daytime and a drunken overly aggressive madhouse at night. Brian and I were treated to fights in the street both nights (observing, not participating).

FIGHT 1: Overweight Bald Bull minus the mustache (who ended up being an usher at the arena, haha) vs. Big Drunk Black Man who kept molesting a mentally retarded girl in the club and was being "thrown out" by the other dude.

Winner: Bald Bull represented. Holy crap. The instant BDBM grabbed for his face, OBB just pulled his hood over his head and went to town looking extremely bored.

:smash smash smash:
"Let go of my shirt and I'll let you go"
:smash smash smash:
"Let go of my shirt and I'll let you go"
(repeat)

Eventually the dude got the hint and was released. And of course, there was the anticipated "pretend I just didn't get my ass handed to me and act like I'm letting him get off easy" song and dance. Very amusing.


Wasn't fast enough to get a picture but Brian and I re-enacted it:





FIGHT 2: Battle Royale with 3 heavier set drunk girls. Need I say more
Winner: All of us in the street who were treated to the spectacle.

I also met a very cool girl (of course with a boyfriend...gah) and her friends. We rocked an 80s night with yet another light up dance floor.

-------------------------
PITTSBURGH/JOHNSTOWN

From Binghamton, the show moved to Johnstown, PA for a one night stand. Steve and I decided to not drive our trailers there (since the lot was going to be way shitty) and went back home again.

I really wish I would've shot some footage from the first time I tried backing my trailer into my parents driveway just to compare it with backing in that night upon arrival. Ha! Rather substantial difference to say the least.

My dad and grandma came to Johnstown to see the show:



-----------------------------
PITTSBUGH/HUNTINGTON, WV/PIITSBURGH

While in Johnstown Steve and I concurred that it would make more sense to leave our trailers at home and just get split a hotel room for the Huntington shows. Two bonuses here: 1. When arrived in Huntington, the lot was so tight it would've been damn near impossible to squeeze us in. 2. We were able to gain an extra day home in Pittsburgh.

There's something about Tuesday nights in Pittsburgh. First The Slip before Binghamtom, and this time around my former bandmates in Thee Adora were playing at Brillobox. Again, what are the odds, right?

I decided not to forewarn them and just showed up. Good times. They may tell you otherwise, but they rocked it out. I've never experienced hearing drum parts I had written played back at me with the new dude's (Ethan) definitive stamp on them. It was pretty cool.

PICS (1st 7)

HUNTINGTON:

So Huntington....well, this sums up Huntington:



That is all.

PITTSBURGH again:
More hanging out as per usual: PICS (last 8)

Fun fun.

------------------

SYRACUSE, NY

Ummm.....I had awesome sushi at one of those rotating Sushi Bars and made a couple new friends.

-----------------

BETHLEHEM, PA

Ummm....I got new glasses (after much deliberation) and went to Sheetz.

-----------------

ERIE, PA

*Too much to write about. Best told in pictures:

*after much (actually very little) persuasion, I'll devote a couple entries to the Shenanigan-ing that transpired.

AJ and Sproul Visit/Rockband Party


Pittsburgh Ladies Visit/Halloween


Mom and Dad visit the Circus

-----------------

SPRINGFIELD, MA

So far: Springfield sucks (except for the Dr. Suess Memorial Sculpture Garden), Northampton and Amherst both rock.

Possibly more to come....

So that's it.

Portland Part II

So after getting the lappy fixed I was set to meet up with a gal who had offered to give a 'Portland Tour'.

The agreed upon destination was a coffee shop, 'Coffee by Design'. She told me what the cross streets were but since I'm a GPS slave, I just plugged the Coffee Shop into the system without regard to checking street names. The thing I didn't account for was that even though it was a local coffee shop, there were two locations.

I waited outside for a good bit. After some correspondence I realized I was at the wrong coffeeshop. Off to a good start.

We met in this city square halfway between the two locations. I was informed our location was known for serving as a venue for impromptu jam sessions with homeless dudes and hipster kids in the middle of the night.

Oh, and they have those goddamn "homeless" punk/hippies playing hackey sack, smelling like a viking diaper, and demanding change from everyone. Not dissimilar to the ones Oakland and the South Side. Pheeuuu.

We wound our way through Old Port which I learned is great spot for fun on Saturday nights. The combination of hilly cobblestone roads and sufficiently wasted girls in ridiculous high heels provides instant entertainment.

I did get one picture of some water since it was Portland and all. Seemed to be the appropriate thing to do. I did not, however, find any fishermen wearing big raincoats with gray beards smoking pipes which was disappointing.

The main goal of the evening was to end up at this one venue for an event titled 'The Clash Of The Titans'.

The concept is this: Starting in July-ish a weekly "Clash" is held between two bands. Sometimes it's most of the members of one local band with an extra person or two; Sometimes a meshing of members of various bands.

The Portland scene is similar to Pittsburgh insomuch that it's totally incestuous. These Clash shows conjured up memories of the Halloween shows that used to happen in Pittsburgh where bands would dress up and perform as some other band. I seem to remember having the homemade 'Donnie Darko Jet Engine' on my porch for the better part of a year.....

A 'Clash' one week may be The Who vs. Led Zep......or The Cars vs. Blondie.....stuff like that. The one we were trying to get to was the grand finale of the season: Prince vs. Michael Jackson. The shows are generally well attended but never really sell out completely......except for this one. The line was wrapped around the block in both directions. Instead of announcing that the show was officially sold out, they just kept everyone in line and let one person come in for ever person that left the venue. Gah.

After about half an hour into waiting, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we most definitely were not getting into the show. Total drag. But the whole 'Clash' concept is a really great one that I think Pittsburgh should adopt. Spice things up a bit.

We ended up at the local "Hipster bar" since we were denied any Princination. I met a couple inebriated Portland breakdancers and the DJ spun both Rush and Steely Dan at one point which was pretty rad even if it was just to be ironic......

The only drag about Portland bars is that they shut down at 1am. Our little party migrated back to my "tour guide's" apartment; a pretty sweet pad. And in my typical fashion, I managed to misread the parking signs that stated 'No Parking between 11pm and 6am' for trash collection or something. There were other cars parked there so I thought I was good, but upon leaving I discovered we were all rewarded with parking tickets for our oversight. Portland does have a first offense forgiveness policy for out of state plates for certain violations. Unfortunately I did not fall under that umbrella. A fun night regardless.

That Friday we ended up at an 80s night at this little dive bar whose name escapes me. Being an 80s night snob, I was a bit skeptical. All my fears were laid to rest though when I saw the entire ceiling was lined with tons of old tin lunch boxes strung out light Christmas lights. And there was a freaking light up dance floor. For real.



They installed a light up dance floor for 80s night. Flippin' awesome. About half of the crowd came dressed in costume too. The dread of the 3 show Saturday that was mere hours in the future melted away after a few drinks and some flailing about. Not a bad end to the week.

In retrospect I most definitely should have taken a ton more pictures than I did especially since I pretty much covered the entire city walking. Oh well. Portland is a pretty sweet town and I'm hoping to return soon and check out some of the local music scene.

Portland Pics here