So, I am home from tour. Oregon spring time is unbeatable. Went up to Mt Hood for the last day of the 2006-2007 season. Warm, and snowing. 3″. 2 spectacular wipe outs.
This site will be pretty quiet until summer season kicks into gear.
Here are some candids from the past while.
We played Seattle last night. The McCaw Hall is great room and we had a ok show. Bart, our driver suggested we stop by Dicks Drive In on our way out of town. He was met with little opposition.
I have devised a system to compare the subtlties between In-n-Our Burger and Dicks.
Either buger gets one point for each item listed. I could go into more detail to weight the patty more that say the tomatoe, but won’t do it.
Bun:Dicks
Sauce: In n Out
Patty: In n Out
Cheese: Dicks
Toppings: In n Out (Dicks only has chopped iceberg)
Presentation: Dicks
Fries: Dicks for sure.
Freshness: In n Out
Total: In n Out 4
Total: Dicks 4
TIE GAME
When Sara heard we were going to Dicks, she sprouted Justin’s legs.
So, when on tour, waking up on the bus, it is needed to ASAP wash yo mouf. This is a multi step process. The bus has two sinks usually, each supplied by a water tank filled at either Flying J Truckstops or maybe a Pilot, delending on driver choice and preference. Brushing your tooth with this water can result in god knows what. Giardia maybe? The trick is to grab a bottle of water. Then go at it. Justin Tamplin is showing the proper technique here.
Also helpful is a sattelite shit kit on the bus, not in your bag in the bay. FYI.
Allrighty then. Rock it.
This has been a blur of activity since we saw the Dbacks spank the padres in the 9th.
Coachella: NC played at the 8th (?) Coachella Valley Music Festival last weekend. LA Festival in the desert. Everyone looked clean and cool. In the 100 degree heat. Even Ron Jeremy looked in place there. We played the Outdoor Theatre opposite Perry Ferrell’s new attempt. We had a good set. The event is a bit loose ont he front end but everything worked out. The NC crew has adopted a needed and successful approach to festivals which is to go in realizing that we will most likely be on our own, and the schedule preset is shit. Seems to work for the day. The guys really nailed it though, and the band played well because of it. I saw The Jesus and Mary Chain, who were great, and Stephen Marley was also good during the Sunset.
The real suprise was having Pete Orwin there who was mixing Gillian Welch. He lives in London and rarely is here. Good to see you Pete, you geezer!
The Warfield was the following day. One of the best places to play ever. We had Jerry’s room as our dressing room. Teh band had a good set, but afterwards, my friend Matt Lawsky took me on a tour of the bowels of the warfield which was a real blast. There was an old speakeasy down there… CHEERS! As it was late night, and I was drinking vodka, I forgot the camera… arrgh. Steve and my father were int he house as well.
So, about the Warfield, we have all been there when we were suprised to see the room breathing, or excited to see it… The warfield has a venilation system where in the deeps of the building is this 1000 sq foot room. Enclosed in it is a steel octopus looking mahcine the size of a bus, with arms and tentacles going every which way in and out of the room. Along the ceiling are all these 6″ holes shooting up into the theatre. Turns out that this is a temerature and humidity control system from the 40’s. The octopus is a real venilation system, that pulls air into the large room, the the air goes through the holes. The room is the lung of the warfield, and there are little vents int he floor and the seats. The warfield does in fact breathe, help or no help!
From there, Reno. Lost $100.
We returned to San Francisco for a day off where I spent the day with my folks, had lunch at Yank Sing, and went south to see my grandmother for the afternoon and night. She is 93! it was nice to hang with the fam on tour.
From there Redding. we got shorted on crew. Sucked.
Now I am San Luis Obispo.
Tom Poston, George from Newhart died yesterday.
I have been in Arizona for 3 days. Flagstaff was a nice town, although I could not get away from the Orpheum Theatre long enough to check it out. I do know that we were on a street parralel to Rt. 66.
Getting into Phoenix early was nice. We swapped drivers today. So long Sharon, and hello Bart. I sepnt the day getting some work done, and the band recorded an interview for Tift’s radio show. Marfa is a town in Texas that has a hotel called El Cosmico. I think that this is where we should all meet when the world comes to an end. I saw our president on the TV this morning dancing on stage. I could not find the organ grinder.
The day got much better when The Arizona Diamondbacks invited us all to Chase Field to see them play the San Diego Padres. Even better was being able to go the game with Jeff and Mandy. Jeff has been reading these posts and has demanded more hyperbole. SOon young Jedi. The game was a pitcher’s duel, and a low scoring affair, unitl the bottom of the 9th, 2 outs the Diamondbacks won it with a two run homer. That, the Kosher dog, 3 budweisers and alot of yelling made for a good evening. The Patron at jeff’s after was even better.
Been here in Santa Fe for a couple days. We had a nice day off at the eldorado hotel, and are now at the lensic theatre. Been an ok day so far. Not feeling very verbose today. More later. Left my camera on the bus.
So, Helotes Texas. A jewel of a community. A jewel of a venue. We are at Floore’s Country Store. What a turn around from yesterday. We all really like this place. They have (now) a full time kitchen that serves up some of the best tamales, and queso ever. Everyone is pro, and excited to be doing shows here. The gig is a 3,500 capacity back yard, and is famous because John T Floore got Willie Nelson his start. The dressing room was actaully Willie’s bedrom for 5 or so years.
It is 87 degrees, hot and humid.
$100 Fine for Fighting: Back in the 70’s when this place was a through and through honky tonk, there plenty of fights. There was a $100 fine. Soon enough, if it was going to go down, you would slap a benjamin on the bar and let it rip!
I asked the band and crew to come up with one good thing about Houston, TX
Sara: The crowd, best we’ve had in a while.
Justin: It was “ehh day”
Jono: No comment.
Tift: I always feel like someone is trying to kill me when I am in Houston”
Sean: Is it supposed to be funny? Is this some kind of joke?
Eric: The only part of the day that was on time, and as it was advanced was the catering.
Chief: Great crowd, I wish is wasn’t a club.
Mark: The mockingbirds sing sweetly on my aftershow stroll (through a neighborhood that I was petrified to be in).
Chris: The crowd does not seem like they are from Houston.
Mandy: I’d rather be giving birth than be in Houston, TX.
We have been in NOLA for the past 2 days. Yesterday for a day off, and today we are at House of Blues. I had a really nice day yesterday. Woke up feeling the effect of the scotch. A brief nap and I was back to 99%. I walked from the French Quarter to the Lower Warehouse district and had a fabulous lunch at Cochon. Jono and I started with a great gumbo, finished off with nothing less that a floating Deviled Egg. I held back the tears of joy just long enough to have a pulled pork sandwich finished with mint and pickled jalapenos and from scratch tater tots. Again, tears were in the rise when at the last minute a cloud like bread pudding arrives, was polished and I walked back to the hotel. I got some work done, and met up with some of the band and crew and got a couple drinks at the pirate bar, and oldest bar in America (I think) Lefitte’s. An old pirate / blacksmith’s place. Very dark. Very perfect. I split the rest of the team and walked down Royal Street looking at the myriad of antique and art galleries. I crewaled in to NOLA. Up until I searched for the restaurant website I had been hoping that Emeril was a lucky coincidence. Turns out that I did give my hard earned per diem to none other than the TV chef Emeril. What a shame. I would have never even thought of it. Anthony Bourdain would be ashamed. I am deeply sorry. That being said the Amberjack steak and julienned steamed squash with a tomato vinagrette was delicious.
Show Day:
Another day HoB NOLA. Working with Rob Z is always a total bummer. He has gone soft, and no longer has the edge that was once known for. Avoid working with him at all costs.
