Kentucky was AMAZING! The soft Southern accent was a pleasure to listen to and the fried chicken and turtle were spectacular. We played a dive bar... again... called The Pour Haus in German Town. While the gig wasn't our most lucrative, we did get a bunch of free beer, a place to stay the night, and five free tickets to a Beatles cover band festival right on the Ohio River! My favorite part of the festival was definitely the 1.5 foot long corn dog, though playing in the fountain came in a close second. Notice the sign that says "Pork Butt on a Stick"? I was going to go for it, but it turns out pork butt on a stick is just a huge piece of ham on a stick. Go figure...
The night after the festival, we ended up camping at some random lake in Tennessee and were definitely the only campers there that didn't have a pickup truck, a trailer, and what seemed like endless coolers of beer. We befriended a couple great guys who asked us to come over and jam. They served us up some deep fried turtle they caught themselves, and we finished the night off around the campfire playing banjo, mandolin, lap guitar and singing.
Chicago was definitely my favorite big city so far. There was so much to see that we spent all day walking around in the frigid, windy city. From eating hamburgers, to licking the giant metal jelly bean, we hit it hard. Unfortunately, the night before we didn't rest mostly due to smoke and roaches, so we did our best to sleep where we could. We were kicked off the pier for sleeping, kicked out of the library for sleeping, etc. The video is of the delirious antics the night before, followed by a few pictures from our cold day Chicago.
So much happened in Chicago... Our first show in Chicago was at Reggie's Music Joint. It looked to be a heavy metal bar so we felt right at home. The venue was located in a very rough, very poor neighborhood so every time we needed something from the van, we were ambushed by people asking for money. As you can imagine, there isn't much for camping in Chicago, so we were a little worried about where we would lay our heads that night. Turns out the owners "apartment" was in the basement and we were free to crash there. Aside from the roaches, drug deals, smoke saturated chairs, ash stained floors and constant screaming from the horror movies playing above, we had a great night's sleep. Below is a movie leading from the venue, through the kitchen and into our living quarters for the night.
I have more to say about Chicago, but will be saving for my next blogging session when I have more time. We're in Louisville, Kentucky about to go to a huge Beatles tribute festival.
I'll be perfectly honest, Minnesota was a little bit like falling into a soap opera. Three sisters, ex-boyfriends, new boyfriends, tornado storm, etc. all seasoned our stay in The State of 10,000 Lakes. Despite what my music may imply, I'm not much for drama so this wasn't our most restful stop on the journey so far. However, this is a great group of friends traveling with me and we know how to have fun under any circumstance. From the fierce bean bag competitions, to jumping gorges in Duluth, it was another great stop in our drive East. However, it's time to move! Tonight we have a show in Chicago (7 hour drive away). Here is a video of Addy and Eric celebrating with a musical dance-off celebration.
The stage was set for an epic battle of courage an wit. Would Eric's previous Karate training be enough to thwart his rival Addy, or was her elusive nature enough to escape his grips for the win? With partly cloudy skies and a strong Westward wind, the playing conditions were challenging, but nothing was going to stop these two athletes from seeing who knew how to handle a bag of beans the best. Throw after throw, the score was tight, with little room for error. Eric seemed to fall into the zone with his newly discover "burrito style" throw, while Addy stuck to he guns with the "huck-n-chuck". While neither method seemed very effective, Addy began to run away with it, so it was no surprise that Eric decided it was time to get down to business.Unfortunately, it started to rain and the beans began to sprout in their bags. The competition will have to live on another day. For everyone who is hoping to pick up a few tips, here is yet another instructional video provided by Eric "The Dragon Slayer" White.
Eric is a wildman, skateboarding, hair brading, fassion icon, fitness proffesional, wilderness surviver and more. You all could learn a thing or two from his videos below.
How do you make any moment greater than before? Find a good reason to play some frisbee, smile and JUMP! Duluth didn't need any help in being fun, but we could help ourselves.
We had a show in Duluth a day or two ago so we drove through our first tornado scare to kick out the tasty jams. It was too stormy to camp we we got a room at Motel 6 and hoped that no one woke up with any weird rashes.
The following morning it was party time! We hit the road to check out the town and drive North to comb the beaches of Lake Superior. We all fell asleep on the rocks, and woke up itching to go for a swim. It turns out the water in Lake Superior is about 40 degrees so our "swim" was more like a quick plunge followed by a frantic escape from the water.
We've been bouncing around for a couple weeks now, but it feels like it's been months. Today we finally have a day off to do whatever we want, so we'll be hitting the town to get into some trouble. I just thought I'd give you a few pictures that missed the cut in my race to keep the blog going. The pictures below are our preshow vocal warm up and post show slouch in Ft. Collins, Colorado.
Colorado was blistering cold. It was snowing the night before and everyone was feeling a little sick, so we bundled up, hit the streets, and were never so happy to have a warm cup o' noodles.On our way out of Ft. Collins, we drove through the night in hopes to get out of the cold as soon as possible. We stopped at a random liquor store break the night up and get some sweet key chains. Check out Orion getting touchy-feely with his shake. I wish I could share his enthusiasm about my Chex Mix.When we got into Minnesota, it was hot for the first time so the first thing we did was stop and get some cold tasty beverages. As illustrated below, it didn't take long for the Gatorade to work its magic! Last but not least, here are a few post show pictures of the boys of the group getting in some Q.T. after our Romantica show at The Nomad in Minneapolis, MN over some Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Just when we thought life on the road was going to get monotonous, John and I discovered "Buck Hunter"... After being thoroughly mesmerized by the performance of two other hunters, we decided we must test our might. Notice the speed of the two players above!?! Also, there is a quick change of hands articulating the fluidity of his ambidextrous skills! After we popped the collars on our flannels, stretched our trigger fingers, and grabbed a cold one, the game was on...
After another long stretch of driving, we arrived in St. Paul, Minnesota. There was a birthday BBQ in progress for our friend Eric's birthday. The whole band took a much needed load off... relaxing in the warm breeze, with brats and beers!
After dinner, we had enough time to fit in a couple games of bean bags.
We were having so much fun that the neighborhood kids had to come check out the game for themselves. They caught on fast! Here I am with my new St. Paul bean bag buddies.
Sorry for the delay in blog posts, but the last few days have been cold, tiresome, long drives without much chance to get on the computer.
While we thought we were going to have a day off in Colorado, the brakes lights stopped working and there was a hole in the exhaust. As a result, we spent the day chasing down parts and fixing the van. My brake switch was bad so we stopped at a auto parts store to fix it. They couldn't seem to find the right switch so I pulled mine out to take into the store. What I didn't realise was that when you pull it out, brake fluid starts shooting everywhere!?! While I held my finger on the leak, John ran in to try to match parts, but came up empty handed. In the end, we got it fixed, but I had to hold that leak for a long enough time that I thought I should write about it!
After a couple very fun, very cold shows in Colorado, everyone was feeling a little sick and worn out. While this would be a good time to get out of the cold, get a hotel and rest, we hit the road right after our show in Fort Collins and decided we'd drive through the night to cut down on the seven hour drive we had ahead of us to Omaha.
There's a very special brew of "road cologne" that one can only achieve by getting really sweaty at a show, packing six people into a small space, then sitting and driving for 7 hours. It starts to feel like someone rubbed butter all over your face while you were sleeping... if you were lucky enough to sleep at all. I drove until I couldn't keep my head up anymore (two or three-ish?), then let John jump behind the wheel for the first time on the trip. After a short 3am breakfast with coffee, we all piled back in and drove through to the morning. John hardly seemed phased, but it was only moments after his head hit the pillow that he assumed to the all to common "jaw-drop" pose.
John and I were lucky enough to catch a surreal sunrise as an end to a long night of driving in what felt like a vaccuum.
When I was envisioning what this tour would be like, I imagined scorching drives in the van without air conditioning while we all held slurpies between our legs in hopes we'd keep cool. While my vision of the tour menu has been mostly correct, there have been a few surprises that have left us in better circumstances that I would have ever imagined. First off, instead of scorching heat, it's snowing right now?! I love rain and snow, but when you make plans to camp, rain and snow quickly lose their charm.
Today we played a show in Cheyenne, Wyoming at Synergy Cafe. While we were hoping to camp tonight in order to save money, the icy rain and howling winds made it very clear my poor little $50 tent wouldn't stand a chance in the fowl weather. I mentioned our predicament during our show and joked about how we wished Motel 6 had a hot tub. To our surprise, a local supporter insisted on getting us a room at a hotel?! What the fuck right? No catch. Out of the kindness in her heart, she just straight up got us a room at a hotel that has a gym, hot tub, free breakfast and two beds? While we were all a little shocked at the overwhelmingly kind gesture, it didn't take us long to realise we should take full advantage of her generosity and have a good time at our luxurious accommodations.What does one do when someone gets you a hotel room with a hot tub and pool? Go buy a huge bottle of wine and start a water noodle fight! Banzai! John was brave enough to film a little of the fun before he dropped the camera and showed us his belly flop of death!
Today, we drove along Happy Jack's Road in Wyoming and saw some amazing rock formations, did some hiking, and got into as much trouble as we could as usual. In an attempt to hurdle a barbed wire fence, my leg and hand got snarled. Never fret! No silly tetanus is going to get my spirits down...What's the best medicine for a couple gaping wounds and a severely bruised arm? Jumping pictures of course! Here are John, Addy and I showing the condors how it's done!
Of all the countless hours we've spent on the road already, every time I look in the rear view mirror, everyone is either eating or sleeping. Feel like you're missing out on an adventure? Hopefully this pictures of all the action will make you feel better!
Even though we've only been on the road for 10 days or so, it already feels like it's been a month... One very long, very fun, very chaotic month. After countless frisbee games, late night camping infiltrations, overheating and breaking down in the desert, and eating so much tuna we've started to seriously consider mercurypoisoning, we finally picked up the rest of the crew. Looking at the picture below, the crew is as follows: Me, Orion, Eric, Victor, Addy and John.
As mentioned above, we stopped in the middle of nowhere... actually it was in the middle of Wyoming... and decided to make some tuna sandwiches. After some tasty, Tapatillo drenched dry tuna sandwiches, we got ready to jump back in the van and hit the road, only to find out the van's battery was dead! Lucky for me, I watched a ton of McGyver back in the day, so with one coat hanger, and catchup packet and a cactus needle, we were back on the road.
Okay, so with so much going on, I can't really remember when things happened. I do know that we went through Utah after Arizona. I'm pretty sure we played two show in Utah... Yes, we definitely did. The first show in Utah was n Ceder City. We rocked the socks off an older couple (around 75 years old) who loved our style and slapped us some five. After the show, we lacked accommodations so we ended up staying in an RV park called "Campoland". After the desert, things got really cold and really windy in a hurry. More about that later.... After our cold wet night at "Campoland", we hit the road towards Salt Lake City. Our daily play date was at a lake we just happened to be passing. The water was freezing, but I'll do anything I can to get my butt from going numb from all the driving we've been doing. We ended up playing a great show with some great people at a Vegan Cafe called Addicted Cafe. Good food, good high fives, and a warm crowd with nothing but love. If you're ever in the area look 'em up. Below is a picture of us coming into the city with The Rockies in the background.
We didn't see any road runners, but our short stay in Arizona was beautiful. We got out to play at some silty creek that looked like coffee with too much cream. While I wasn't sure if the water was clean, it was too hot not to go in. Despite my fears of getting "the duck itch", the frisbee game was on. Here are a few pictures followed by a short video of what the drive looked like. Awesome.
Okay, so we've been to four states in four days so I'm goign to try to compartmentalize what I can remember! After our show at The Hotel Cafe in LA (which was a blast by the way), we hit the road immediately and headed for Vegas! I had never been to Vegas so I really wanted all the action and lights to blow at least one article of clothing off my body. While we did see a fight, a lot of really drunk people, and a tremendous amount of porn littered on the sidewalks, all my clothing stayed on for our Vegas adventure. It's become a common sight to look in the rear view mirror and see my travel companions either eating or sleeping...
We had yesterday off, so when someone urged us to come play a show at a wine bar in the middle of the desert, it was hard to resist. The gig was in the town of Tehachapi. Never head of it? No surprise. The drive was peppered with Joshua Trees, wind, and more wind... The townspeople of Tehachapi said they wanted to keep their location private, but we all learned it's best to share, so here are the directions:
- Drive out into the Mojave desert - Turn left at the only road you'll see (a little ways past the cactus) - Go straight at the pool hall that is miles from anything or anyone - Keep going... - Start questioning your rational of driving to Tahachapi - Grip the wheel to insure you're not thrown from the road due to high winds - Enter Tahachapi, population 9,000
It was a pretty long drive, so staying true to the A.D.D. nature of the group, we made sure to get out of the van and play a couple games... Actually, it was more like I tried to start a game of frisby while everyone else watched the wind grab the frisby and throw it 50 yards down the road... Here is a little video!
Our drummer Eric is from this cozy little town so it actually turned out to be a great show. While we all felt a little under dressed at the wine bar, to our surprise, the crowd was clapping, hooting and hollering more than any other show we've played thus far?! There will always be a little warm prickly place in my heart for Tahachapi, CA.
Tonight is our final California show! Yee haw! I've been eager to leave the state and start seeing some new places so it will be great to finally head East! The show will be at the infamous Hotel Cafe tonight at 7pm, then we leave immediately to Las Vegas! I figure we'll be rolling in around 1am or so. I'm told this is the perfect time to start the party when you're in Vegas...
My cousin Keefe will be joining us on bass tonight so it's going to be a blast! Apparently, when I asked Keefe if he'd like to play with us, he decided he needed to up his stage presence, and as a result, hasn't shaved in about 6 months!?! I guess you'd have to see before and after pictures to really appreciate how awesome this beard is, but the after photo will have to do for now
It was time to break out the tequilla, slap some five, and celebrate the good things in life. Need I point out that Eric (The Duckman) was making margaritas with a butcher knife?
After our first show in San Louis Obispo, Eric let us know that while we were in Ventura, we were welcome to stay at his mom's place. What he failed to mention was that his mom's place is a beach house right in front of a fantastic surf spot just north of the pier!?! You could literally throw a frisby onto the beach from the balcony... though you'd have to be pretty good at frisby... While I, myself, could not throw a frisby onto the beach from the balcony, I'm certain it could be done by someone with sufficient skills...
Since the new group and I have only been playing together for a few days, we've spent a fair amount of time rehearsing... and napping... All of our shows have been great, but The Gypsy Den has definitely been my favorite so far. It was a mellow show, but they gave us a huge meal as well as a huge bag of pastries when we left. After eating trailmix for the last week, every pastry was like a little slice of heaven! :) Below are a couple pics from Ryan Johnson (super fan) from the show. You have to admit Addy and Eric are pretty damn cute. Look at Eric giving me the puppy dog eyes! Ha ha... I love it.
While I thought it would take me atleast a couple weeks to have some fun stories, my first tour shows promise already. After spending two hours of playing "Packing Tetris", we finally were satisfied that no windows would break, no doors were bulging, and everyone had fit a sufficient number of underwear into the van. I had never packed my van to capacity... or beyond capacity... and it became eident that stopping and going may be a problem. After a few close calls, we drove off into the fog for my first national tour!
Our first show was in San Louis Obispo at a grill joint called The Clubhouse. Without knowing what to expect, we were pleasantly surprised to find that our first audience would be two very old, very red, very drunk men slightly teetering on their bar stools. Addy had just flown in from Brazil the day before so the show was basically the first time we had run the set with eachother. As people slowly filtered in (three to be exact), we hit them with the honkey tonk love! Wabam! We actually ended up selling a CD to everyone that was there (even to the old drunk guys?!), and were offered a place to sleep that night!
Jack and Kyle brought us home and promtply reveiled their enormous jars filled with weed and proceded to roll a couple "fat dubies". Then it was off to their succulent garden to smoke and talk the night away. After we were all chased in by the cold, it was time to make our "beds". The apartment looked like an exagerated college house in a Hollywood movie with empty beer bottles, bongs, ash stained carpets, and what looked like nachos beneath the stove grill. I had to laugh as I could hear the voices of my over worried mother and aunts gasping at where I was about to lay my head to sleep.
Kentucky was AMAZING! The soft Southern accent was a pleasure to listen to and the fried chicken and turtle were spectacular. We played a dive bar... again... called The Pour Haus in German Town. While the gig wasn't our most lucrative, we did get a bunch of free beer, a place to stay the night, and five free tickets to a Beatles cover band festival right on the Ohio River! My favorite part of the festival was definitely the 1.5 foot long corn dog, though playing in the fountain came in a close second. Notice the sign that says "Pork Butt on a Stick"? I was going to go for it, but it turns out pork butt on a stick is just a huge piece of ham on a stick. Go figure... 
The night after the festival, we ended up camping at some random lake in Tennessee and were definitely the only campers there that didn't have a pickup truck, a trailer, and what seemed like endless coolers of beer. We befriended a couple great guys who asked us to come over and jam. They served us up some deep fried turtle they caught themselves, and we finished the night off around the campfire playing banjo, mandolin, lap guitar and singing.
Chicago was definitely my favorite big city so far. There was so much to see that we spent all day walking around in the frigid, windy city. From eating hamburgers, to licking the giant metal jelly bean, we hit it hard. Unfortunately, the night before we didn't rest mostly due to smoke and roaches, so we did our best to sleep where we could. We were kicked off the pier for sleeping, kicked out of the library for sleeping, etc. The video is of the delirious antics the night before, followed by a few pictures from our cold day Chicago.
Throw after throw, the score was tight, with little room for error. Eric seemed to fall into the zone with his newly discover "burrito style" throw, while Addy stuck to he guns with the "
Unfortunately, it started to rain and the beans began to sprout in their bags. The competition will have to live on another day. For everyone who is hoping to pick up a few tips, here is yet another 
Colorado was blistering cold. It was snowing the night before and everyone was feeling a little sick, so we bundled up, hit the streets, and were never so happy to have a warm cup o' noodles.
On our way out of Ft. Collins, we drove through the night in hopes to get out of the cold as soon as possible. We stopped at a random liquor store break the night up and get some sweet key chains. Check out Orion getting touchy-
When we got into Minnesota, it was hot for the first time so the first thing we did was stop and get some cold tasty beverages. As illustrated below, it didn't take long for the Gatorade to work its magic!
What does one do when someone gets you a hotel room with a hot tub and pool? Go buy a huge bottle of wine and start a water noodle fight! 
What's the best medicine for a couple gaping wounds and a 
As mentioned above, we stopped in the middle of nowhere... actually it was in the middle of Wyoming... and decided to make some tuna 
We had yesterday off, so when someone urged us to come play a show at a wine bar in the middle of the desert, it was hard to resist. The gig was in the town of 
After our first show in San Louis Obispo, Eric let us know that while we were in Ventura, we were welcome to stay at his mom's place. What he failed to mention was that his mom's place is a beach house right in front of a fantastic surf spot just north of the pier!?! You could literally throw a frisby onto the beach from the balcony... though you'd have to be pretty good at frisby... While I, myself, could not throw a frisby onto the beach from the balcony, I'm certain it could be done by someone with sufficient skills... 
