Show Journal 1998-10-07
Day 13 – Today’s MRE was actually pretty good. I’m actually starting to enjoy them. I finished two books in the van today and got a splitting headache. Tonight we played at some guy’s house. It was a total crusty punk house with a crappy PA (a home stereo with a mic). REO Speed Dealer was supposed to play but cancelled. Bummer … however the opening band was way rad. They were called Wednesday and they were awesome. It amazed me not more people wanted to see them. When we started playing a bunch of people showed up and the place went nuts. Every time we would try to stop they kept making us play more. We played 5 or 6 extra songs. We played a Misfits cover and they went ballistic. At one point there was 6 or 7 people of the stage (which was tiny to begin with), people in the crowd slamming and jumping around. Some dude even took a header into my amp and guitar. Ouch. Anyway, I can’t say enough good things about this show. Chris, the guy who put it on even cooked for us. How cool is that? We stayed with one of Nate’s friends from school named Eli. He was a really nice guy. Thanks Eli.
Show Journal 1998-10-06
Day 12 – We drove around Beale street for a bit and carried on to OK City. We ended up driving through a big storm which spawned a few tornados in that part of the state. It was pretty hairy for a while driving through that stuff. Tonight we stay with Lisa (the Amazing Lisa to you). We are all getting nasty colds. Dave referred to the van as “the rolling petri dish.” Surprise … another show fell through. The PA got broken by Peter and Test Tube Babies last week and the night before some gangsters broke out the club windows last night. Amazingly the club owner (who also owns a record store) insisted on paying us anyway. We refused some of the money, but that was an awfully nice gesture. Instead of playing we hung out with Lisa and went to meet her friend Mike at work. Mike works at the National Severe Storms Lab where they monitor severe weather and issue warnings. Later on we went to check out the site of the Oklahoma City bombing. There is a big chain link fence around it that everyone leaves items on in remembrance: pictures, poems, shirts, toys, etc. I didn’t think it would be as emotional as it was. Afterwards we watched Mike and Lisa do bike tricks and also watched in shock as Bryan immersed himself in their Beanie Baby collection. We are all getting very sick (except Nate) so I want to apologize to Lisa and Mike if we made them ill. Thanks for the places to stay and also the entertainment!
Show Journal 1998-10-05
Day 11 – The show in Memphis fell through, but it was an ok day to have off, because we were staying next to the king. We put up the cash and took the full Graceland tour. We had seen it before, but it’s always fun. They give you headphones which kinda sucks, because part of the charm was being led around by some gum chewing girl with a thick southern accent describing how Elvis once ate meatloaf for six months straight and other useless facts. We had an interesting experience at Jiffy Lube today. The guys working there (Step and Mack) thought we were cool and gave up a stack of Jiffy Lube cups. Weird.
Show Journal 1998-10-04
Day 10 – Back to reality again. More driving, more MRE’s. The drive today was particularly dull. Nashville turned out to be a kinda weird town. It seemed much different than we anticipated. It was kind of like a ghost town in some respects and a lot dirtier too. We did get to see the Grand Old Opry and Museum which was pretty cool. The show tonight was in record store. There were 3 other bands all of which were pretty darn good. A lot of people came out to the show tonight which was a real surprise. We had heard stories about how dead it was in Nashville and they ended up having the best all ages crowd I’ve seen in a long time. A bunch of people left when we played because it was bloody hot, but even the people who sat outside said we sounded pretty good and bought some stuff. The ones who stayed inside seemed to have a ball. We’ve gotten so used to playing in bars where people just stand still and slowly bob their heads that it was cool to see kids going off to our music. Afterwards we drove on to Memphis and camped out beside Graceland. At one point along the way we got to sign autographs in a truck stop. After a week of good health I’m starting to get sick.
Show Journal 1998-10-01
Day 7, 8, 9 – The excitement was building all day today. After 2 years we finally got to make our big return to Boone. We kind of anticipated not too many people being there (after all it had been two years) but we were pleasantly surprised to see well over 100 people there. A lot of people came out to the show and we saw a lot of old friends. I can’t even mention everyone here or I would type all day. We played with the Karloffs and the Sick 66 both of which are pretty darn rad. Rob even took his shirt off for us (and of course for the ladies). Our show went well, we got to play a lot of extra songs … well more so than in a place like Spokane. The other thing we are thankful for is that not one person used the “H” word to us. This whole weekend was a blast for all of us. We got to catch up with so many of our friends and see people that we never thought we would ever see again. Heck, even Paul came! Thank you to everyone who came to the show and or to see us over the weekend, especially the ones who had to drive far and skip work! Also, thanks to Bryan’s mom for putting us up for the weekend.
Show Journal 1998-09-30
Day 6 – Today we drove to Pennsylvania to see Dave’s mom. It had been 2 years so it was probably worth the extra miles. We were supposed to have a show, but it had gotten cancelled before we left. We got another fantastic home cooked meal and even got ice cream. Let’s hear it for Dave’s mom.
Show Journal 1998-09-29
Day 5 – We slept in the van somewhere in Wisconsin at a truck stop after the Minneapolis show. Cramped doesn’t even sum up the situation. Today we are going to Chicago to hang out with my parents. They fixed up real food and let us do laundry. My cat was well behaved and didn’t attempt to kill anyone. Thank you mom and dad.
Show Journal 1998-09-28
Day 4 – Today we skipped the MRE and ate Taco Bell underneath a 60 foot tall statue of the Jolly Green Giant located in Blue Earth, MN. Speaking of tall statues we stopped at Wall Drug this morning and played around in the back yard for a while. The back yard truly is a sight to behold. Imagine nearly one hundred bizarre statues and exhibits ranging from a giant jackalope to a singing reindeer. Minneapolis was cool, because none of us had ever spent more than a few minutes there before. It was kinda refreshing to be in a big city again. We played at 7th Ave. Entry which is a pretty famous club. That’s where Husker Du and many other now famous bands started out. We played at about 8:00 in front of about 10 people. We didn’t care though … we were thrilled to be playing at such a famous place. We just pretended it was packed and played our butts off. I guess it paid off because later on the soundguy came up to Dave and took him upstairs to meet the owner of the place. This guy also owns the much larger club called First Avenue located next door. (First Ave. is where they filmed Purple Rain) The soundguy said that we were really good and that we deserve than to be playing to more than 10 people. The owner seemed impressed and pulled out some money and insisted on paying us. This was awesome, because we only stood to make about 5 bucks. The money was more than enough, but he also agreed to let us into the show next door for free. The show next door was the Jesus and Mary Chain who I love and had never seen before. Talk about fringe benefits! The security guy at 7th avenue was real cool too. I can’t remember his name but he was fun to talk to. After the show Nate introduced us to our soon to be theme song for the trip “Fire it Up” by Busta Rhymes.
Show Journal 1998-09-27
Day 3 – Today was the first 12 hour day of many to come. Thanks god, Montana has no speed limit. We got the van up to warp speed on several occasions. We stopped at Devils Tower on the way. We had another round of MRE’s. We also stopped at Mt. Rushmore. It was night time, so it was all lit up. We hung out there for a while and thought about patriotic things. Well, maybe not, but it really is a sight to see. That night we stayed with Kevin in Rapid City who was very nice. I hope our acoustic renditions of Slayer songs didn’t wake him up in the morning. Thanks Kevin.
Show Journal 1998-09-26
Day 2 – Today is the shortest drive of our trip, a mere 200 miles. Today was my first experience with the Army MRE. MRE stands for “meal ready to eat.” Dave acquired them from National Guard. Imagine a fully balanced meal that comes self contained in several air tight green bags with their own water activated heater. MRE’s can last several years without any loss of flavor or nutritional value. They taste bad, but they are saving us money. It was a beautiful day in Missoula, and they had Octoberfest going on. We hung out downtown all day in the park and eventually got in some time on the pool table. We also had really good sandwiches at some liquor store. The show was surprisingly fun. Only a couple of people showed, but the sound was great and the people working there were cool. Dave got a bottle thrown at him by some girl. It wasn’t the hoochie girls though … they preferred throwing their breasts at him instead. The Kevorkian Cannibals were the other band. I figured they would be crusty death metal … but there probably the most unique band I’ve ever seen in my life. Imagine Primus playing at the cantina in Star Wars. I can’t even describe it but they were great to watch and fun to hang out with. That night Bryan and I slept in the van. It was very cold and I had to urinate several times. Every time I got out I had a strange encounter with some sort of weirdo. The first time I got up, there were two rednecks with a prostitute staring in the van. Creepy. The second time was about 3 in the morning and I ran into some drunk Mexican guy who was at our show (and hitting on the hoochies). The third encounter was almost surreal … I relieved myself and when I went to get back in the van there was a weird guy in an orange jumpsuit there staring at me. I get in the van and he’s still looking in the window. Freaky. On the way out of town, we got pulled over for speeding. The cop let us off with the warning that “You don’t ever want to speed in another man’s town.”
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