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Subtle's For Hero : For Fool Tour Diary Part Four
By Dose One | 3 February 2008
>Read Part One: 9/8 - 9/17
>Read Part Two: 9/18 - 9/25
>Read Part Three: 9/26 - 10/2
*****
10/3 cleveland ohio…
Yeeeee haw…it's our release date…
Jeff and I always seem to be somewhere not so megalopolis when our release date hits…
Spoke to tom brown yesterday.and from what he says, the new boss at caroline's new rule of thumb is…any record that can clear 1000 sales in the first week, is something to focus on…
So hopefully that's us…one never knows…or put more plainly, I seem to have lost all gauge for the size of our appreciating audience…and it may have as well…but with a little luck our art will make the desks some money.and the number crunching concerns of the world will not impede the forward progress of our songs a sung…
I went to my senior year of high school not far from where we will soon be…in shaker heights ohio… It was an interesting place…my father got a job at what was then cap toy's.they made stretch Armstrong and the spin pop.which as a side note was invented by two retired mailmen…and we had to leave philadelphia…which pretty much sucked for the young me.however all things break to later fit…in cleveland I met sam skeist, who was pretty much the catalyst for me beginning to freestyle all the time…we were without doubt birds of a feather.he transplanted from Chicago.and me from philly…together we wrote graffiti on rich peoples things and freestyled and listened to saafir on repeat… And if it weren't for the time we spent removed from major metropolitan areas.our boredom would not have driven us to our creativity.same goes for the time I spent in cincinnatti…
Today at an Einstein brothers bagel shop an hour outside Toledo, I was walking out the exit…i paused by the dailynews rack to gleen the death from the front page of today's paper, you never know it could have eaten my home town off the face of the earth…and suddenly someone bumps me…full on…just shy of a shoulder check in fact…i look up, and it is none other than sean lennon…so I say, "oh excuse me"…and he says. "yeah sure you're sorry, you fucking sod"…i shit you not.so I turn around and look at jeff.and before I know it.Patrick our peaceful and vegan-minded soundman, leaps out of line and smashes sean lennon over the head with a stout bottle of martenelli's apple juice.as sean's body falls to the floor.Patrick cries out, "that's for your inadvertent influence on the gradual dissolve of steve albini's talent and relevance to the progression of home recording and music in general".
Alarmed to say the least…we all shuffle off quickly making for the rental vans, as sean's entourage and many managers blow past us, rushing to the side of their fallen angel.laying in good apple juice and broken glass by the daily news rack and yesterday's death in fine print…
Well we hit Cleveland hts…early.and jeff and I went to do laundry.since our tour outfits were rancid.mine especially…and all our socks were soiled… It was nice cause they also had tanning booths at the Laundromat.
Meanwhile the rest of the gang went to the rock and roll hall of fame..to see mick jagger's jump suit, and pete townsend's goldened and gone cochlea mounted on a rose stem and sealed in a plexiglass box..
We walked the strip.which I walked as a 17 year old rap loving fire freestyling footballin paintmarkering highschooler…
It was oddly depressing for one reason or another.
Jeff and I bought patrick a "bonus"…it was a ten inch rocky IV pin.like the old n.k.o.t.b. pins.…depicting a russian flag spangled boxing glove and a stars and stripes spangled glove colliding in an explosion…and it reads "rocky IV…the war"…
There was a great article in the local paper…but we were sort of sure there would be no one at the show…
The grog shop had a great juke box.everything form my bloody valentine to the second ghetto boys record…
So the night rolled on…and people actually showed up…who would have thunk it.and many of them were down right pure appreciators, who made for quite the nice audience…
Some hour or so before the show…jeff was digging around in a beer-coated file cabinet, and found the venue's box of demos.
And I don't know whether the world knows this or not, but I have recently become obsessed with the bad demo…
So we pillaged looking for the best titles band names and songs…
It's sort of like picking cantaloupe.you just get that feeling or you don't…
Here are some of the names that made us stop dead and steal…
Steve Dracula
Dudes of hazard
Al & the coholics
Bob's country bunker
Money for gyros
crazyspoon
Utterless cows
Mother jugs and speed
Needles to say tomorrow's long drive day will be entertaining…
The show itself was great.we dug in our cleats and kicked teeth.the sound was a bit f.u.b.a.r.'d for the first few songs, but it quickly picked up…i think our much neglected ohio faithful audience was fulfilled…and I was quite grateful to not be playing an empty house.so we spent our sweat.
And then all convened at the bar for our "release day" shots…and poof.
Fool's was drunk…
We did have a tragedy at the end of the night…
While I was talking with a loud half drunk nice man at the bar about the paris & chuck d record… Jeff dropped whitey, our bust and skull center piece, outside the venue…smashing him to about twenty pieces.
When I found him smashed, I was pretty heart broken…
I truly love whitey, he survived the crash,
and speaks volumes to me as our center piece.
So jeff and I got in a fight right quick.
And later made up…
And I quickly broke out my secret crazyglue stash and began glueing whitey back together…
And of course.it began to look much cooler half smashed than it did whole…
So tomorrow I will hit wall mart and get some proper epoxy, and red paint.and make "A new whitey"…
Alex passed out in the backseat of the car…and refused to get up.we debated carrying him like a toddler…and decided instead to…just lock him in the car.and went to bed.
It was only for four hours anyway.
10/4 knoxville Tennessee
well another three hour night of sleep…
Always not so good for my tour-worn throat…
But what can you do…
Old Knoxville ain't getting any closer.
We got in the van and drovededed.
Patrick seems to think tonight might be alright…like Cleveland this is one of the "first time" cities on the tour…so anything is possible.
We will remain optimistic after last evening…
Well, never a dull moment on tour…
Unfortunately, while the audience was great: virgin,and happy, the sound was way under subtle spec…and my voice took the brunt of it…pretty much ran it down to a stump ..which sucks…makes me a big old stress ball when I can't go 110 percent, cause my throat is down to 20…
We got to see kai which was nice and I also got to meet a nice guy named mike, who has a cat named cisca that has no tail…
I find it interesting how I am always referring to my throat in percentages of a whole…like I have a diabetes voice quality pricker that I jab in the side of my throat…
The other big bummer.was some fuck stole our "merch bitch"…my painting that hangs behind the merch booth.that everyone wants to buy, or steal, apparently.after three tours.it was officially stolen…
So I would like to say, in all earnest…to he/she who stole it…
Fuck you.and skull fuck you beyond that…
You are not welcome at our concerts…
you steal from me…
I pity your parents and anticipate your grave…
May the maggots run you to the quick…and soon.
. And to all those other folks at the show, thank you, cause it was without doubt, a wonderful and unprecedented reception…and we felt very welcome at the pilot light…as the band we are…
The jacking of the merch bitch was an unfortunate end to an otherwise great night.
Hopefully my toy voice will make it, in some semblance to the next off day, some four more downsouth shows from now…
And to bed we went.
10/5 atlanta GA
well, we left the motel6 and crossed the street to partake in the cracker barreling. uncle hershall's fool…
I actually won the peg game too…playing all grumpy and voiceless…
I will be gargling with salt water at every truck stop…
At least I get to hit up the good soul food place tonight.and whole foods…two of the finer things in life…greens and toothpaste without sodium laurel sulfate…
Health corner: to those folks out there who get canker sores on a regular basis.it could very well be your toothpaste.a lot of people are allergic to sodium laurel sulfate, and don't know it…dax hipped me to it…over 90 percent of todays toothpaste contains it…
Rembrant makes a sodium laurel sulfate free toothpaste that I recommend…
The other options are the non-commercial healthfood one's that generally taste like a burlap sack.or have strange over-developed natural foaming properties…
So if this sounds like you, give it a shot…from dax and adam…
Got a text message from Baillie while slanted in stopped tennessee traffic…
Pitchfork review is in.and we got recommended music…and an 8 out of 10…and I would like to humbly say, fuck yes…and all praises due to "the fork".we truly appreciate your listening in…
After the accident and before I sort of re-constituted myself, to be able to begin doing music full time again, I had a long hard look in the mirror/skull, regarding press and critics…and truly felt like, if we are not selling a million records, or selling out shows…and only making music for those who seek it out…then we should have critical acclaim.in an honest to goodness sense…it is the least we deserve and the most in line with our type of music making things could be…i.e. if you're not working at the hit factory, you should at least be something for critics and appreciators to dig into…
And with this in mind I mustered a lot of the "focus" I used to finish for hero : for fool..so it's nice to be regarded by the houses of good and constructive criticism…CMG…the fork…the wire.. So here's to symmetry amongst parts, however different their die-cuts may be. Twisting the night away…
Thank you good/interested listeners of the world…
So I get a call from Christian our booking agent…and he says, "are you ready for this"…and I say. "sure"…and he says "primus would like you to open for them"…and I said "you have to say that three more times before I think your not kidding"…and he wasn't …unfortunately we will be on tour in Europe for exactly the duration of their tour.so it's a no go…but the idea of it was very entertaining…i will send them a nice thank you letter.never know, could be fun…at least I'd have good monitors… Jeff kept singing "big fat beaver" all night…
So we arrived in the ATL…and quickly made our way to the whole foods…
I got some nice sea salt to gargle with…and my toothpaste…i also though it wise to eat matzo ball soup in the fever hot Atlanta sun…which proved to be unwise…
Eminem's mom was outside the venue, and she kept yelling "hey white boy" at jeff.she was a hope smoker for sure.
We did a massive email checking…and then went to EATS…this great soul food spot right down the street from the drunken unicorn.best jerked chicken in town.or at least close to the venue…great greens…they also have a pasta line for the white people…
So then we sound checked…and boy was it crappy.but we knew it would be…but we didn't know how bad it would be…dead monitors.dead mixboard channels…ahhhh the romance of our finite popularity…
That being said we were prepared for this…last time the sound was less than spectacular…so I drank a lot of tea, and we danced and sang…
In fact, the only known cure for bad sound is a great crowd…and luckily we had one…just like last time only twice the size…really amazing folks there…young and old alike…there are some especially nice folks…who drive all the way from florida..and I must say they made the night worth it…
In fact this was the first time the audience began to bring "tale of apes I" to life…responding at the crowd- cueing portions…and spelling "everything is empty" back at me…the song was always meant to be played live…
And that is that…we packed as quick as possible, since tomorrow we have one of those 9 hour drives…which also means we get four hours sleep.
Fortunately the folks in baton rouge are the homies.so it should be a great night…no matter the sleeplessness…
10/6 Batonrouge LA
ahhhh waffle house…the juke box stuffed with wafflehouse propaganda…the waffles…the air conditioning.
and fyi.if you ask for a waffle house "fry cook" hat they have to give it to you…
We passed taladega speed way.and there were thousands of motor homes crammed in the lot.awaiting cars in a circle at high speeds…looks like cowshawitz in california…which one must drive through in order to get from sf to la…
Where is my clear skull…i keep seeing hopi Indian heads and abe Lincoln busts, and pewter teddy bears.but no fucking clear skulls…
We stopped in laurel mississippi.for an oil change...wow a truly burnt out town…made me wonder what the fuck sufjan stevens is writing about…i haven't heard his states records.but it would sure be cool if he was writing from the space some of these states lost towns are in…but he probably isn't… Anyway.the downtown was like any old downtown…except everything was closed…or half closed…all that was missing was tumble weeds…even the promenade and all its grass and plants were dead.brown before brick and busted window.dead neon lights half hung off ate-out facades…the ghost of a woolworths sign shown in slightly cleaner brick on the towns largest and most empty building… Jeff and I also saw the same woman beat the shit out of her kids in two different stores… So heavy it sung…
Well we arrived into the arms of our wonderful louisiana promoters…
Probably the nicest staff and humans we have that host us on tour…
Spanish moon for president.
True gentleman…puts the romance back in rapping for peanuts…
In fact it is thanks to them and their good people radar, that we are becoming friends with tvotr…it's always nice to add another wing of good people to the fold…
And things were well and fine…my voice was pretty haggard all day…three hours sleep and hoarse throat.just don't mix…
But somehow it seemed to make it…i actually used both in-ears for the first time…and it was a saving grace for my low level voice.but I felt like I was inside a vagina all night…or bubblewrap around my head…for the most part I could ignore it and still zone out up there…but doing the banter, I just felt like my voice was following me around.like I was paging myself in an airport…but two more shows and I get to rest my throat like a ton of bricks.
Blah blah…
Show was great.rip roaring…there were some funny folks in the front row.almost grumpy.three dudes.and I somehow kept picking them out in my banter…and they would try and straightface me…they must have been artists or record store employees…or both…
All in all it was a pretty full house and everyone was quite into the moment…
About a half hour before I went on, a really nice woman came up to me, and said "hi, I saw you last time.and I brought a friend, she is deaf…so I was wondering if you could really act things out tonight…"
Which was rather intense, and set me thinking off into the distance…luckily, I am a pretty hand gesture-ish human being as is…
I did not get to see them later, but I hope she enjoyed it…
And I kept trying to work out this primus opener gig thing all day.crunching tour dates and flight re-scheduling fees…and it's still up in the air…it looks like it would be pretty tuff for us to do it, and not sort of de-rail what we already have going on.but I'll give it another day's worth of managerial umpf.and see what happens…
And then when all was said done and loaded out…we fell asleep with a moment's notice.at our Louisiana motel 6…
10/7 austin texas
well we did waffle house again…and I could shit, just typing about it… But man is that jukebox great…
And into texas we go…cops, cops cops…texas cops…they are like the raremeat of all police, no fat, no bone. and they will give you the hard time you have been avoiding your whole life…
Hopefully we won't meet any today…
It will be nice to eat well in austin, patrick has a lock on the good vegan spots.and I lost one of my old school rap leather bracelets.so I will go into one of the 8 goth apparel spots on the cum-guttered streets of Austin…
Dirty city, but good folks.and it has one of my favorite record stores.waterloo…where I bought all my Daniel Johnston tapes…
That now collect dust in a box because of my currently tapedeckless existence…
Well I got hit by writing lightning today.first time in a while…i was getting the feeling I should crack open the next subtle record…and sure enough.the dyke burst…wrote a good three pages.in various portions of the piece…really had a breakthrough with the long vein of the law's legend, and relationship to YES and the great nothing much…also fired off some great odd-heavy lesser lore…
And so, in light of this writing…
It was an irreplaceable day…
In a car stretching across highway.
We loaded in swiftly after the endless drive…much to our surprise, emo's has a new room.and it has real monitors…whoooohooo…we rejoiced.it was actually a pleasure to play the new room.the feng shui of the joint is not so perfect yet…some weird bench placement, and ex'danceclub walls in the wrong place…but the vibe was much better.and considerably less dingy.
The crowd was one of the best so far.well numbered and opener-proof.they stayed with us all night…
I used both in ears again.and it was a bit more tuned in than the first time I did it…we put it down, big city style…and had a blast…
I stole plastic forks from the club…about seven swollen handfuls…there I said it…
Look at me calling lightning to strike he/or she who stole my merch bitch painting…and then stealing forks the next night…i suppose it's caddy to steal plastic forks and be on a major label…or indie.one of the two.or both.
The back stage smelled of sewer flowers…and incense used liberally like whiteout.
We had another sort of dickhead appreciator innovation…a gentleman ran on stage and tagged my Corinthian column…he wrote… "L V T".in a rather pathetic un-graffiti font …and for some reason it didn't bother me…must have been the Austin air…i will white it out soon enough…
At least he did something destructively different…
The bartender tara was very nice, as was max the soundguy…both made it a cordial and welcome emos experience.for a change…it's usually pretty punk rock bouncer outta-my-way-kid-kind of vibe…
All of us spoke to folks, and met quite a few really cool and down to ground people…it was a pleasure of a night.
Then we took to load out, on the apeshit going Saturday night on 6th ave…
I would later call it "retardi gras"…i did see a midget showing off with his stripper girlfriend… strutting in the wileout air…
We got hotdogs from a cardboardbox, and crept to sleepcomas in the motel6…
>Read Part Five
>Read Part Two: 9/18 - 9/25
>Read Part Three: 9/26 - 10/2
*****
10/3 cleveland ohio…
Yeeeee haw…it's our release date…
Jeff and I always seem to be somewhere not so megalopolis when our release date hits…
Spoke to tom brown yesterday.and from what he says, the new boss at caroline's new rule of thumb is…any record that can clear 1000 sales in the first week, is something to focus on…
So hopefully that's us…one never knows…or put more plainly, I seem to have lost all gauge for the size of our appreciating audience…and it may have as well…but with a little luck our art will make the desks some money.and the number crunching concerns of the world will not impede the forward progress of our songs a sung…
I went to my senior year of high school not far from where we will soon be…in shaker heights ohio… It was an interesting place…my father got a job at what was then cap toy's.they made stretch Armstrong and the spin pop.which as a side note was invented by two retired mailmen…and we had to leave philadelphia…which pretty much sucked for the young me.however all things break to later fit…in cleveland I met sam skeist, who was pretty much the catalyst for me beginning to freestyle all the time…we were without doubt birds of a feather.he transplanted from Chicago.and me from philly…together we wrote graffiti on rich peoples things and freestyled and listened to saafir on repeat… And if it weren't for the time we spent removed from major metropolitan areas.our boredom would not have driven us to our creativity.same goes for the time I spent in cincinnatti…
Today at an Einstein brothers bagel shop an hour outside Toledo, I was walking out the exit…i paused by the dailynews rack to gleen the death from the front page of today's paper, you never know it could have eaten my home town off the face of the earth…and suddenly someone bumps me…full on…just shy of a shoulder check in fact…i look up, and it is none other than sean lennon…so I say, "oh excuse me"…and he says. "yeah sure you're sorry, you fucking sod"…i shit you not.so I turn around and look at jeff.and before I know it.Patrick our peaceful and vegan-minded soundman, leaps out of line and smashes sean lennon over the head with a stout bottle of martenelli's apple juice.as sean's body falls to the floor.Patrick cries out, "that's for your inadvertent influence on the gradual dissolve of steve albini's talent and relevance to the progression of home recording and music in general".
Alarmed to say the least…we all shuffle off quickly making for the rental vans, as sean's entourage and many managers blow past us, rushing to the side of their fallen angel.laying in good apple juice and broken glass by the daily news rack and yesterday's death in fine print…
Well we hit Cleveland hts…early.and jeff and I went to do laundry.since our tour outfits were rancid.mine especially…and all our socks were soiled… It was nice cause they also had tanning booths at the Laundromat.
Meanwhile the rest of the gang went to the rock and roll hall of fame..to see mick jagger's jump suit, and pete townsend's goldened and gone cochlea mounted on a rose stem and sealed in a plexiglass box..
We walked the strip.which I walked as a 17 year old rap loving fire freestyling footballin paintmarkering highschooler…
It was oddly depressing for one reason or another.
Jeff and I bought patrick a "bonus"…it was a ten inch rocky IV pin.like the old n.k.o.t.b. pins.…depicting a russian flag spangled boxing glove and a stars and stripes spangled glove colliding in an explosion…and it reads "rocky IV…the war"…
There was a great article in the local paper…but we were sort of sure there would be no one at the show…
The grog shop had a great juke box.everything form my bloody valentine to the second ghetto boys record…
So the night rolled on…and people actually showed up…who would have thunk it.and many of them were down right pure appreciators, who made for quite the nice audience…
Some hour or so before the show…jeff was digging around in a beer-coated file cabinet, and found the venue's box of demos.
And I don't know whether the world knows this or not, but I have recently become obsessed with the bad demo…
So we pillaged looking for the best titles band names and songs…
It's sort of like picking cantaloupe.you just get that feeling or you don't…
Here are some of the names that made us stop dead and steal…
Steve Dracula
Dudes of hazard
Al & the coholics
Bob's country bunker
Money for gyros
crazyspoon
Utterless cows
Mother jugs and speed
Needles to say tomorrow's long drive day will be entertaining…
The show itself was great.we dug in our cleats and kicked teeth.the sound was a bit f.u.b.a.r.'d for the first few songs, but it quickly picked up…i think our much neglected ohio faithful audience was fulfilled…and I was quite grateful to not be playing an empty house.so we spent our sweat.
And then all convened at the bar for our "release day" shots…and poof.
Fool's was drunk…
We did have a tragedy at the end of the night…
While I was talking with a loud half drunk nice man at the bar about the paris & chuck d record… Jeff dropped whitey, our bust and skull center piece, outside the venue…smashing him to about twenty pieces.
When I found him smashed, I was pretty heart broken…
I truly love whitey, he survived the crash,
and speaks volumes to me as our center piece.
So jeff and I got in a fight right quick.
And later made up…
And I quickly broke out my secret crazyglue stash and began glueing whitey back together…
And of course.it began to look much cooler half smashed than it did whole…
So tomorrow I will hit wall mart and get some proper epoxy, and red paint.and make "A new whitey"…
Alex passed out in the backseat of the car…and refused to get up.we debated carrying him like a toddler…and decided instead to…just lock him in the car.and went to bed.
It was only for four hours anyway.
10/4 knoxville Tennessee
well another three hour night of sleep…
Always not so good for my tour-worn throat…
But what can you do…
Old Knoxville ain't getting any closer.
We got in the van and drovededed.
Patrick seems to think tonight might be alright…like Cleveland this is one of the "first time" cities on the tour…so anything is possible.
We will remain optimistic after last evening…
Well, never a dull moment on tour…
Unfortunately, while the audience was great: virgin,and happy, the sound was way under subtle spec…and my voice took the brunt of it…pretty much ran it down to a stump ..which sucks…makes me a big old stress ball when I can't go 110 percent, cause my throat is down to 20…
We got to see kai which was nice and I also got to meet a nice guy named mike, who has a cat named cisca that has no tail…
I find it interesting how I am always referring to my throat in percentages of a whole…like I have a diabetes voice quality pricker that I jab in the side of my throat…
The other big bummer.was some fuck stole our "merch bitch"…my painting that hangs behind the merch booth.that everyone wants to buy, or steal, apparently.after three tours.it was officially stolen…
So I would like to say, in all earnest…to he/she who stole it…
Fuck you.and skull fuck you beyond that…
You are not welcome at our concerts…
you steal from me…
I pity your parents and anticipate your grave…
May the maggots run you to the quick…and soon.
. And to all those other folks at the show, thank you, cause it was without doubt, a wonderful and unprecedented reception…and we felt very welcome at the pilot light…as the band we are…
The jacking of the merch bitch was an unfortunate end to an otherwise great night.
Hopefully my toy voice will make it, in some semblance to the next off day, some four more downsouth shows from now…
And to bed we went.
10/5 atlanta GA
well, we left the motel6 and crossed the street to partake in the cracker barreling. uncle hershall's fool…
I actually won the peg game too…playing all grumpy and voiceless…
I will be gargling with salt water at every truck stop…
At least I get to hit up the good soul food place tonight.and whole foods…two of the finer things in life…greens and toothpaste without sodium laurel sulfate…
Health corner: to those folks out there who get canker sores on a regular basis.it could very well be your toothpaste.a lot of people are allergic to sodium laurel sulfate, and don't know it…dax hipped me to it…over 90 percent of todays toothpaste contains it…
Rembrant makes a sodium laurel sulfate free toothpaste that I recommend…
The other options are the non-commercial healthfood one's that generally taste like a burlap sack.or have strange over-developed natural foaming properties…
So if this sounds like you, give it a shot…from dax and adam…
Got a text message from Baillie while slanted in stopped tennessee traffic…
Pitchfork review is in.and we got recommended music…and an 8 out of 10…and I would like to humbly say, fuck yes…and all praises due to "the fork".we truly appreciate your listening in…
After the accident and before I sort of re-constituted myself, to be able to begin doing music full time again, I had a long hard look in the mirror/skull, regarding press and critics…and truly felt like, if we are not selling a million records, or selling out shows…and only making music for those who seek it out…then we should have critical acclaim.in an honest to goodness sense…it is the least we deserve and the most in line with our type of music making things could be…i.e. if you're not working at the hit factory, you should at least be something for critics and appreciators to dig into…
And with this in mind I mustered a lot of the "focus" I used to finish for hero : for fool..so it's nice to be regarded by the houses of good and constructive criticism…CMG…the fork…the wire.. So here's to symmetry amongst parts, however different their die-cuts may be. Twisting the night away…
Thank you good/interested listeners of the world…
So I get a call from Christian our booking agent…and he says, "are you ready for this"…and I say. "sure"…and he says "primus would like you to open for them"…and I said "you have to say that three more times before I think your not kidding"…and he wasn't …unfortunately we will be on tour in Europe for exactly the duration of their tour.so it's a no go…but the idea of it was very entertaining…i will send them a nice thank you letter.never know, could be fun…at least I'd have good monitors… Jeff kept singing "big fat beaver" all night…
So we arrived in the ATL…and quickly made our way to the whole foods…
I got some nice sea salt to gargle with…and my toothpaste…i also though it wise to eat matzo ball soup in the fever hot Atlanta sun…which proved to be unwise…
Eminem's mom was outside the venue, and she kept yelling "hey white boy" at jeff.she was a hope smoker for sure.
We did a massive email checking…and then went to EATS…this great soul food spot right down the street from the drunken unicorn.best jerked chicken in town.or at least close to the venue…great greens…they also have a pasta line for the white people…
So then we sound checked…and boy was it crappy.but we knew it would be…but we didn't know how bad it would be…dead monitors.dead mixboard channels…ahhhh the romance of our finite popularity…
That being said we were prepared for this…last time the sound was less than spectacular…so I drank a lot of tea, and we danced and sang…
In fact, the only known cure for bad sound is a great crowd…and luckily we had one…just like last time only twice the size…really amazing folks there…young and old alike…there are some especially nice folks…who drive all the way from florida..and I must say they made the night worth it…
In fact this was the first time the audience began to bring "tale of apes I" to life…responding at the crowd- cueing portions…and spelling "everything is empty" back at me…the song was always meant to be played live…
And that is that…we packed as quick as possible, since tomorrow we have one of those 9 hour drives…which also means we get four hours sleep.
Fortunately the folks in baton rouge are the homies.so it should be a great night…no matter the sleeplessness…
10/6 Batonrouge LA
ahhhh waffle house…the juke box stuffed with wafflehouse propaganda…the waffles…the air conditioning.
and fyi.if you ask for a waffle house "fry cook" hat they have to give it to you…
We passed taladega speed way.and there were thousands of motor homes crammed in the lot.awaiting cars in a circle at high speeds…looks like cowshawitz in california…which one must drive through in order to get from sf to la…
Where is my clear skull…i keep seeing hopi Indian heads and abe Lincoln busts, and pewter teddy bears.but no fucking clear skulls…
We stopped in laurel mississippi.for an oil change...wow a truly burnt out town…made me wonder what the fuck sufjan stevens is writing about…i haven't heard his states records.but it would sure be cool if he was writing from the space some of these states lost towns are in…but he probably isn't… Anyway.the downtown was like any old downtown…except everything was closed…or half closed…all that was missing was tumble weeds…even the promenade and all its grass and plants were dead.brown before brick and busted window.dead neon lights half hung off ate-out facades…the ghost of a woolworths sign shown in slightly cleaner brick on the towns largest and most empty building… Jeff and I also saw the same woman beat the shit out of her kids in two different stores… So heavy it sung…
Well we arrived into the arms of our wonderful louisiana promoters…
Probably the nicest staff and humans we have that host us on tour…
Spanish moon for president.
True gentleman…puts the romance back in rapping for peanuts…
In fact it is thanks to them and their good people radar, that we are becoming friends with tvotr…it's always nice to add another wing of good people to the fold…
And things were well and fine…my voice was pretty haggard all day…three hours sleep and hoarse throat.just don't mix…
But somehow it seemed to make it…i actually used both in-ears for the first time…and it was a saving grace for my low level voice.but I felt like I was inside a vagina all night…or bubblewrap around my head…for the most part I could ignore it and still zone out up there…but doing the banter, I just felt like my voice was following me around.like I was paging myself in an airport…but two more shows and I get to rest my throat like a ton of bricks.
Blah blah…
Show was great.rip roaring…there were some funny folks in the front row.almost grumpy.three dudes.and I somehow kept picking them out in my banter…and they would try and straightface me…they must have been artists or record store employees…or both…
All in all it was a pretty full house and everyone was quite into the moment…
About a half hour before I went on, a really nice woman came up to me, and said "hi, I saw you last time.and I brought a friend, she is deaf…so I was wondering if you could really act things out tonight…"
Which was rather intense, and set me thinking off into the distance…luckily, I am a pretty hand gesture-ish human being as is…
I did not get to see them later, but I hope she enjoyed it…
And I kept trying to work out this primus opener gig thing all day.crunching tour dates and flight re-scheduling fees…and it's still up in the air…it looks like it would be pretty tuff for us to do it, and not sort of de-rail what we already have going on.but I'll give it another day's worth of managerial umpf.and see what happens…
And then when all was said done and loaded out…we fell asleep with a moment's notice.at our Louisiana motel 6…
10/7 austin texas
well we did waffle house again…and I could shit, just typing about it… But man is that jukebox great…
And into texas we go…cops, cops cops…texas cops…they are like the raremeat of all police, no fat, no bone. and they will give you the hard time you have been avoiding your whole life…
Hopefully we won't meet any today…
It will be nice to eat well in austin, patrick has a lock on the good vegan spots.and I lost one of my old school rap leather bracelets.so I will go into one of the 8 goth apparel spots on the cum-guttered streets of Austin…
Dirty city, but good folks.and it has one of my favorite record stores.waterloo…where I bought all my Daniel Johnston tapes…
That now collect dust in a box because of my currently tapedeckless existence…
Well I got hit by writing lightning today.first time in a while…i was getting the feeling I should crack open the next subtle record…and sure enough.the dyke burst…wrote a good three pages.in various portions of the piece…really had a breakthrough with the long vein of the law's legend, and relationship to YES and the great nothing much…also fired off some great odd-heavy lesser lore…
And so, in light of this writing…
It was an irreplaceable day…
In a car stretching across highway.
We loaded in swiftly after the endless drive…much to our surprise, emo's has a new room.and it has real monitors…whoooohooo…we rejoiced.it was actually a pleasure to play the new room.the feng shui of the joint is not so perfect yet…some weird bench placement, and ex'danceclub walls in the wrong place…but the vibe was much better.and considerably less dingy.
The crowd was one of the best so far.well numbered and opener-proof.they stayed with us all night…
I used both in ears again.and it was a bit more tuned in than the first time I did it…we put it down, big city style…and had a blast…
I stole plastic forks from the club…about seven swollen handfuls…there I said it…
Look at me calling lightning to strike he/or she who stole my merch bitch painting…and then stealing forks the next night…i suppose it's caddy to steal plastic forks and be on a major label…or indie.one of the two.or both.
The back stage smelled of sewer flowers…and incense used liberally like whiteout.
We had another sort of dickhead appreciator innovation…a gentleman ran on stage and tagged my Corinthian column…he wrote… "L V T".in a rather pathetic un-graffiti font …and for some reason it didn't bother me…must have been the Austin air…i will white it out soon enough…
At least he did something destructively different…
The bartender tara was very nice, as was max the soundguy…both made it a cordial and welcome emos experience.for a change…it's usually pretty punk rock bouncer outta-my-way-kid-kind of vibe…
All of us spoke to folks, and met quite a few really cool and down to ground people…it was a pleasure of a night.
Then we took to load out, on the apeshit going Saturday night on 6th ave…
I would later call it "retardi gras"…i did see a midget showing off with his stripper girlfriend… strutting in the wileout air…
We got hotdogs from a cardboardbox, and crept to sleepcomas in the motel6…
>Read Part Five