Show Journal 2001-08-27
Day 4 – Nothing says good morning like a truck stop shower. Thankfully I brought flip flops this year. Another scorching hot day in the van. I-5 through California is so boring it’s painful. Nothing to see and lots of traffic. We no longer ask Dave to hand us anything in the van since he has developed a nasty habit of rubbing everything on his balls before giving it to you. I slept a bunch in the van today which is unusual because usually I can’t sleep while we are moving. We ate at a truck stop where the waitresses thought Justin was a celebrity. Probably Tony from ‘Blossom’. At another stop Kevin made the mistake of using an outdoor port-o-let. As soon as the door closed Dave and Justin ran over to shake it violently while Kevin hung on for the ride. Kevin was not amused. The drive from Sacto to Reno was incredible. Very cool rocks and lots of neat landscape. I had another In and Out burger and am in love. Upon arrival in Reno Dave and Justin decided to try the lucky quarters they had been keeping in their shoes. No luck for them and I feel satisfied knowing that I resisted the urge to put a coin in my shoe. The show situation looked bad tonight. The Reno Jazz Club didn’t have a PA, there was no promotion or flyers, the promoter was sick and didn’t show up and to top it off no one showed up to the show. The club owners were really cool so we weren’t too upset about it. Let me rephrase that … we were very dejected … just not pissed off. Anyway we were about ready to pack it up and drive back to Sacramento but at the last minute we decided to stop at a club called the Zephyr across town which was having an open mic night. We talked to the promoter (Georgia) explained the situation and asked if we could play. She said sure and we signed the list for the show. Since almost every other act was solo and/or acoustic we decided to play an acoustic set! Let me rephrase that we begged and pleaded Dave to let us play an acoustic set. It’s easy to hide behind a guitar or drum set on stage but Dave was just going to sing without the masking of distortion and noise. He resisted the idea from the get go. Eventually I pitched a temper tantrum until I got my way. Dave agreed and finally we were ready to rock acoustically. Before we played there was a female stand up comedian. I’ll spare you the full story but during her act Jim confessed to everyone that he fantasized about Duran Duran in bed with him and the comedian approached Kevin with a 6 pack of beer and a corndog in hopes of luring him into bed. Both tales are true. So finally we played our first unplugged set. Dave was in rare form tonight and was probably more entertaining that the comedian. He introduced us by our MRE names and accidentally confessed that a trucker gave him a shower today. Never mind. We had a hat for tips on the stage and at one point Dave looked in the bag to discover that someone had thrown us a bag of pot! What does the world’s most boring band do with pot? We gave it away of course. We played a few songs and even a Misfits cover that would surely upset any hardcore fan of theirs. We got to hang out with some local Reno girls who seemed to like our music. What do I know about that though, because I am a fucking mute. On the way out of town we gave a ride home to 2 skaters known as OG Dog Nuts and White Lightening who came to the show. By dumb luck it turns out we were driving behind the girls from the show. Jim hassled them on the PA and I’m not sure exactly what he said but we were awarded the honor of being flashed by the girl in the passenger seat. God bless Reno and the United States of America. The skaters were impressed and thought we were the biggest rock stars on Earth because we all got to see boobs! Thanks to Georgia for letting us play and thanks to the Reno girls who will remain in our hearts forever. On the way home we saw a lot lizard complete with a prom dress servicing the truckers. Creepy. We got lost for an hour on the way to Kathy’s house and were not happy about it. We also decided during that time that the driver’s seat is now referred to as “The Hot Seat” because of the verbal abuse you will endure while driving.
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