US Fall 2002

(Please read from bottom to top)

HOME [Mon Nov 11 21:01:04 2002]

We've made it home alive. Considering the time spent on the road and the statisitics, to make it home alive is actually no small feat. As Jeff and I passed the Boston city limit signs, (Farina already at home in Rhode Island) I asked him how long he thought it would take to feel like we'd never left. He said Wednesday morning. I laughed and replied that it was probably about the same for me. I've been in my room, drinking Bordeuax and eating sub par sushi for a few hours and already the last 6 or so weeks are fading; starting to feel as if they were a part of some extended dream that will mostly be forgotten until I end up on the same streets when we do it all again. I sit in front of the computer and the silence is loud. Actually, that's my ears ringing. Its the most quiet its been in weeks. No loud rock club, no humming van. I put on some early Leonard Cohen to act as white noise. His voice got deeper as he aged apparently. I was suprised to hear how high it was on this 60's record.
Anyway, last night in DC was great. Many of the old friends came out and that really means a lot to us. A lot of those folks have been to every show we've ever played in DC, either as audience members or active participants in the music. Big thanks to them.
Also, a big thanks to you, the reader. I was actually shocked to find out that people were reading this rant and seemingly entertained by it. The book version should be out in, I don't know, ten years maybe. Thanks again. Also thanks to everyone who came to the shows. A bigger thanks to those of you who came to the shows and did not yell ' Sever!' or 'Gasoline!' A big special thanks to those of you who drove many miles to see the show because we weren't playing in your state or your state is too damn big to play every city in it. Thanks to everyone who let us stay in their domiciles. And of course, thanks to the after hours concierges who let us convince them that we were AARP members and deserved the discounts.
What next? Karate plays a few more shows--next week in NYC at the Knitting Factory and in Cambridge, Mass. Then we practice new songs for a few weeks, take half of December and all of January off before going to Europe in February. As for me, I'm gonna try and set a few goals for myself in terms of projects (musical and non musical alike) that I hope to keep occupied with. One of them will be to try and add a bit to this web site. For now, I'll leave the tour diary somewhere where you can find it and update the 'updates' page with new rants and raves.
As for the last weeks, most of the shows were great and just being out of town was like a complete coolant flush, oil change and new set of spark plugs for the mind and soul. The body has softened a bit, but I'll take care of that. The weird thing about tour is that you feel both directly in the moment yet at the same time realizing that you can easily get wrapped up in 'tomorrow'. The sense of 'tomorrow' can really carry you through if your 'now' seems to be lacking. Where do we go tomorrow? what will the show be like? who will we stay with? It feels very anti-Zen, taking comfort in the fact that everyday, you've got 'somewhere to go' . Yet somehow, all tomorrows will be just like the todays- drive, show, drive, show. The challenge is to be unburdened by memory and expectation and just get into what you're doing, what road your on, and the song in the set that you're screwing up....Me, I take comfort in the factoids, the history of the the land, the people, the sublime and (more importantly, the useless and rediculous). I should do this every day waking up in the same place. Easier said than done, of course. As sages like Buckaroo Banzai have said, 'wherever you go, there you are'. You know it's true.
What's up with you?
EAST COAST [Sun Nov 10 14:07:30 2002]
So we've been on the home stretch for the last few days and tonight is our grand finale in DC. A week ago I felt like I could go for another 5 weeks but the last week has beaten me down a bit. The shows have been well attended all in all. We've done Atlanta, Knoxville, Durham, and Richmond. They've been late nights with terrible stage sound, lousy beer and sound men who to call 'distant' would be an understatement, the PA called a 'sound system'-- an overstatement.
One highlight has been meeting up with our friends in the band Helms from Boston. Despite their tendency to deface the bumpers of vans with the most heinous stickers available, they are lots of fun, make great music and have loads of funny stories to pass the time with.
I saw some of the funniest bathroom grafitti I can remember. It was at Duke University which may have had something to do with it. Or maybe its just my sense of humor. On the stall there was this giant pot leaf in green magic marker. Someone with a fair amount of drawing talent had spent some considerable time rendering this image. Over it where the words "Larry King Live" in big green letters. Non sensical in and of itself as far as I could tell. Next to this drawing was another drawing obviously made by someone with far less artistic talent and far less time to spare drawing on the bathroom walls but with a considerable amount of wit. It was an unassuming, black line drawing of a smoking bong with small black letters above it that read "Mclaughlin News Group" In and of it self-also nonsensical. Yet next to 'Larry King Live' it struck me as hilarious. Sort of a marijuana/news media surrealism. Cypress Hill meets....the Mclaughlin Group? BYE BYE! I guess you had to see it.
Well this tour is wrapping up just in time. I think we're feeling a bit beat and I don't have much to say despite that its been a number of days since I wrote here. Let's see.....We played some rest-stop Frisbee for an hour or so. Probably the only excercise I've had in 5.5 weeks....Looking forward to seeing lots of old friends from DC tonight.....
I'm gonna wrap this up in Boston in a few days.
Stay tuned, dear reader!
FLORIDA [Tue Nov 5 22:39:15 2002]
The drive from Texas was a long one through tropical downpours that nearly brought traffic to a complete stop. I was sure the van would stall with all that water getting under the hood and onto the spark plugs and whatnot. We stopped at a truckstop in Louisiana for dinner which was filled with truckers in cowboy boots, flannel shirts and camoflage baseball caps. They all sat in the 'truckers only' section and jawed about the heirarchy of the the local police station with the cops who sat there undisturbed. It was like some Norman Rockwell painting but whose subjects had suffered years of limited exercise and multiple packs of Marlboros--Norman Rockwell on his most depressed days. Yet, there was something about all these Grizzly Adams types who sat just beneath the ceiling of cigarette smoke and talked on the phones that are in each booth at truckstops like these that made me want to snap a picture of the whole scene. Of course, I didn't out of concern for my safety. Ain't that America.
As we made our way east through the Florida panhandle, eventually turning south, the weather cleared and warmed up and the flora appeared to change with the introduction of a sandier soil and year round warmer temperatures. Man, was it humid. We played Gainseville first and it was good as Gainseville always seems to be. I love playing this town. I always end up at some party or other or just having a good time after the show. On this night I drank a cheap beer and had my first taste of boiled peanuts with our gracious hosts of the evening. Boiled peanuts are common in the south I'm told. They don't taste like peanuts as I know them, but more like a very salty pea or bean. Not bad all in all, but I wouldn't have too many at once.
The next night was Orlando at the Social. Again, Florida was good to us. It was an early show that was well attended despite Wilco playing down the street. Before the show, I sat on a restaurant patio and overheard some women talking about our band. I wasn't sure what they were saying but the jist of it was that they were debating what show to go to that night. The group must of been composed of about 7 or 8 of them, seeminly in their late 20's and all quite attractive. I couldn't help but think, hmmm, I fit that criteria too :) There was one in particular that I would've like to have introduced myself to but they seemed to be celebrating one's birthday and I didn't want to appear too....'forward'. By the way, I'm not a player I just crush a lot. So I finally got my sushi after about 45 frickin minutes of sitting there while my glucose levels plummeted, trying not to stare at this group of attractive, literate, well dressed women. I ate in a fraction of the time which I had actually waited for the food and went back to the club thinking I needed be more....'forward'. Lo and behold, this group of ladies showed up at the show. I started to talk to one of them at the bar 'Weren't you at the resturant', I asked. 'Yeah, its our friends birthday', she replied. I knew that. She paused, 'We're going to Wilco!' she happily informed me and then walked out. You win some you lose some. I guess I could blame the opening band at our show for not piqueing their interest enough to hang around a boring old Karate show but that wouldn't be fair to those guys who sounded good to me. Wilco was nearly $30! too. What evah!
I got into the end of the Wilco show later that night,(no I didn't have to pay, are you kidding?) and their encore was longer than our entire set. They sounded like a bland Rolling Stones. I saw the party of ladies from earlier in the evening there and they appeared drunk and less appealing. I had forgotten about them as soon as we started our show anyway. That's the great thing about playing. I am usually thinking about nothing but the sound in the moment...and the fact that I wish I didn't sweat so much.
Favorite rivers in Florida : the Chattahootchie and the Withlacootchie.
Favorite tour song: Turn the Page, by Bob Seeger. Except change lyrics to fit a Karate style tour. For instance, 'As you walk into a restaurant, strung out from the road/ya can't find an internet cafe or an espresso....'
Enter horrible sax line....
The library is closing here in Atlanta.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
MORE TEXAS [Sun Nov 3 01:50:08 2002]
So we've finished up with Texas tonight. We're in Austin at Emo's, which is located in the bar/nightclub district. It reminds me of Ybor City in Tampa or Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Its pretty much a zoo of drunken people walking around being fools. Strangely enough, Emo's manages to be a decent rock club with decent people.
Like 75% of the places we play, Emo's has a Galaga video game machine and when a clubs got Galaga, I usually play it once or twice. Galaga has recently been 'reissued' by its maker, Namco, as a half Ms. Pacman, half Galaga machine with the title The Class of '81. I guess it was a 20 year celebration of the classic video games. Unfortunately, this new version sucks because its too easy. Somehow, it just lets you keep playing and playing. The old machine, of which there are plenty still around at these clubs, is much more challenging. Its no fun to play a game that you get bored of before you lose. I basically get into the hundreds of thousands in points and am just like 'uh, I'm bored' . I was thinking about inquiring about this issue with Namco but then realized it won't be on 'til I'm on tour again in the States that I'll see another Galaga machine and thankfully, don't really care.
The funny thing about Galaga for me is that I've been playing it for a good part of my life. When I was a kid, I had to spend most of my Saturdays at a music conservatory studying piano and theory and other stuff that I had little interest in at the time. In between classes though, I would bolt down to this conservatory's sorry excuse for a student union and play Galaga and occasionally the pinball game, Black Knight until minutes before I would have to race off to some other master class or lesson. I have many more fond memories of the hours of Galaga than I do of the the hours of dictatorial piano instructors, I can tell you that. I realized recently that, to some extent, I'm still doing more or less the same thing though---killing time playing Galaga before some sort of musical endevour. Only now the music is radically different and I enjoy it much more than I did the music then and I seem to be enjoying the Galaga less and less.....That's what they say is the first to go: One's enjoyment of Galaga starts to fade and its all down hill from there. Then you start forgeting who your family members are and stuff like that. It gets ugly.
Tomorrow starts another 16 hour drive to Florida.
TEXAS [Thu Oct 31 20:24:06 2002]
I'm starting to feel the heat from both sides of the candle. This morning I woke up feeling like I'd not slept at all and had a bit of a sore throat. I fear the worst. There will be no rest for the wicked as I'm sure tonight will be another late one. Halloween in Denton, TX. Should be a real hootnenany.
This tour has found me behind the wheel most of the time again. I vowed before I left to do only half of the driving but I can't seem to give it up. I don't know why. Perhaps its the the state of mind I sink into as the road extends endlessly in front of me. My brain hums as if in sync with sound of the engine, my synapses firing like the pistons a few feet in front of me, though probably not that fast and certainly not that furious. It's comforting in some weird way. I don't have to think deep, just deep enough to keep the van on the road. I also get into what I call 'van fantasy' or shall we say, 'vantasy'. I think about various future projects I'd like to get involved with or uninvolved with ranging in feasability from likely to highly unlikely. It also resembles a mental 'to do' list in some ways.....Sort of like this:
Check bank account
Save more money
Join 10-piece reggae band
Start lifting weights again, get 'ripped'
Start doing Tai-chi or Kung-Fu, choose one
Practice drums and piano two hours a day between this tour and Europe in Feb.
Fix up web site
Become travel writer
Read one book a day
Ask that girl on date, decide on nature of date later
Travel the west on freight trains
Eat better
Learn Spanish
etc etc etc.
Anyway, you get the idea. Its just a lot of daydreaming that doesn't really vary from day to day. In the past, it would include ideas on how I would get 'reacquainted' with my girlfriend when I got home after being away for many weeks but that may be material for a different website. :) I'm single now, so I don't have that to consider.
Anyway, we're at about the one month point and all is well. Unfortunately, tonight we play to pay off the new radiator we got after the old one died yesterday but that's the way it goes. I'm looking forward to seeing the audiences costumes tonight. I was going to suggest that Goddard play a show without his hat for his costume but I don't wanna go there. That's all for now. I'll try and keep you updated.
SNAFU [Wed Oct 30 15:37:30 2002]
We pulled off the road in Tuscon on the way to Texas to see my sister. I've haven't seen her place though she's been out here a few years. We have a 1000 mile drive so didn't plan on staying long. Went to leave and found the radiator coolant on the road. Damn! Luckily, we found a place within a mile that diagnosed that we needed a new radiator and could replace this vital organ within a few hours. Yes! The drive from Arizona to Texas is when Karate breaks down. Last time, we broke down in the middle of nowhere and managed get towed and repaired (in a shop that was going out of buisness the next day)and make it to the show that night with time to spare. So today I felt little or no panic because we've yet to miss a show in our current van. Our luck will probably run out one of these days.
Last few shows: San Diego and Phoenix. Both pretty good. Last night we stayed in an art gallery/alternative book store. It was nice. The books were of the Re Search, Anton LaVey, Boyd Rice, Answer Me! Robert Anton Wilson genres. There was also a book of John S. Hall's work which gave me a few laughs before falling asleep. I gotta run. Next update will include my 'van fantasies' if I have time, and my recent recurrent contact with the subject of eugenics.....
SOCAL [Mon Oct 28 16:36:39 2002]
Played Pomona and LA in the last few nights. Things have been a bit more frenetic (sp?) in the last couple of days. We hadn'tleft the LA area but seem to be driving a lot more. I couldn't help notice that at one point the highway had 7 lanes and they were all full of cars. I guess that's the nature of this beast.
First we played Pomona which went quite well. A lot if good people running that place it seems. We were put up for the night by Perry and Rachael and hung out eating chips and dips well into the night at their place. We fell back to Standard Time from Daylight Savings so the evening was pleasantly prolonged. Props to Pomona.
Spent the first half of the day in LA at Rhino records where we would play an instore performance in the late afternoon. When we arrived, I of course inquired as to the location of the local public computer. I've had great luck with these inquires at record stores. They seem to always know exactly where the computer and coffee combination is. Anyway, I walked (feeling quite conspicuous I might add, because nobody walks in LA) to the cafe and hung out for a bit before returning to play to a handfull of die hard fans and a 4 year old boy on a little push tricycle. He loved it.
The show at the Knitting Factory was pretty much a logistical nightmare which I won't go into because its boring. I will say that once we started playing, everything was fine and the folks that came out and managed to get in were great. Our apologies to those of you who could not get in. I will also say that I hope never to play there again. I wonder how that place can be called the Knitting Factory. Its right in the belly of the infidel, if you know what I'm saying; flashing digital Entertainment Tonight billboards atop the Gap megastore across from the Church of Scientology, McDonalds and the strip club.
Franklin Bruno opened the show and put us up for the night and let us use his computer which we nearly broke. He was with tech support for an hour. sorry! It works now, thankfully.
One highlight of LA was getting to hang with some old friends who've migrated out west and meet some new friends. Brooks Bunting told be about his gig as an underpaid limo driver as we ate Thai food in Thai town and watched a Thai Elvis perform live. Brendan Vitt told me about his escapades as a teacher and recent experience as host to two Taiwanese snowboarders named Fort and Crispy. Sara Grady is still giving me hard time about my 'child molester' jacket. I think she really likes it.
I also hung out with my childhood friend Jon Theodore, now of Royal Trux/Him/Golden/Mars Volta fame. He told me about his recent sweat-lodge experience that nearly cost him his sanity and how Rick Rubin won't let him use the drums he likes on the record he's working on.....
Tonight, we're in San Diego at the Casbah. Goddard tells me that its located at the end of the San Diego International Airport runway. Cool. I'm the kind of guy that would like to hang out at the end of a runway watching planes take off and land so that works out nice for me.
MORE CALIFORNIA [Sat Oct 26 20:27:44 2002]
Last night we played Merced with Eamonn Vitt. It was a fun show put on by some great folks in a big old theatre. I like Merced and didn't get the impression that it was a redneck town like those urban elitists in SF had said. When we arrived, there was a parade going down Main street. Still not sure what the parade was celebrating 'cause when we asked the bystanders about it they sort of shrugged and said 'its the drug free parade' with a hint of a question in their voices. Does that mean the participants can't use 'parade enhancing drugs'? Anyway, the four of us sat and watched while eating some delicious Mexican food which was our sort of 'parade enhancing drug'
The show was well attended by a supportive crowd. Afterword, E.Vitt, our friend Courtney from SF, and I went to a party above the place where we ate mexican food. When I walked in, a girl hugged me and said ' Oh, your the drummer. That's so great that your bald. That's really cute" Huh? Was she implying that up untill now, drumming and baldness were mutually exclusive? Was she consoling me on my baldness? Who knows. Either way, she said it was cute. Bald Brothers unite! We hung out at the party for a while, had a few Pabts', invented some new dances on the empty dance floor and then split. It was fun and 'thanks!' to the Merced crew.
Today we drove through California's central valley. Its very brown and flat with the occasional orange grove or cattle ranch. Very Steinbeck. We amazed Eamonn with our inane conversations that we've had many times before. Ask Eliot Shepard about his theory that states that Karate's longevity is based in part on our inability to remember that we've had the same useless conversations over and over----our lack of memory serves us well on many fronts. Today we had the ' do you shave before or after the shower' conversation though we all know well who shaves when. We also had the 'name Goddards solo album' conversation. Because of the poilitical climate, I want to call it Bassland Security. Other suggestions were Bass Mountain and Bass Camp. Eamonn piped in with 'Goddard, your basslines could very well defend this country' How true.
Its been great hanging with Eamonn for a few shows. Despite the fact he's joined ranks with the medical profession and is no longer a travelling vagrant like us, he can still be heard making profound revelations like 'Most of my earliest sexuall awakenings had a lot to do with Blaire from Facts of Life' Good to know, Eamonn. Since you brought it up, I prefered Jo.
PORTLAND/N.CAlIFORNIA [Fri Oct 25 10:44:12 2002]
Hello from San Fransisco. I'm pressed for time so this will be short.
Portland was a great show. Lots of fun. If you were there, thanks.
The drive to Arcada, California was insane. It started quiet. Then there was a banging noise in the back. There it is again! It turned out to be a flat tire. The tire was actually losing its tread like those big semi truck re-treaded tires you see on the highway. Luckily, we caught it in time before it completely disintegrated. When we were getting it repaired, the guy said we needed new back brakes. Great. I scheduled an appointment for the next day in Eureka cause we were late and still in southern Oregon.
Back on the road and through the wilderness of northern california. Redwoods! Amazing!!! Unfortunately, it was getting dark and we could only get a short look at them before it got completely dark. They're huge! The drive turned out to get more hectic as night fell. We were either driving on winding roads through the redwood forest or on the side of cliffs over looking the Pacific. I was thinking, this is like that time in Sicily on the windswept cliffs in the middle of the night when everybody was sick and the road was 5 feet wide..... Then I almost hit the giant black bear in the road. Actually, it looked like it had been hit already but was still alive. I came up on it really fast and had to slow down fast as there were cars stopped, people outside of their cars (uh, its a BEAR people!) a guy with a flare....a scene. We drive on and come to see a bunch of fire trucks on the side of the road. Someone has gone off the cliff! I can see their headlights about 30 feet down. Thats gotta suck. Still driving. Had to tune radio to 1610 AM for Elk information.!1 Great, more 1500lbs animals in the road! We finally made it to Arcada, in Humboldt county. Good show, Nice Folks
The drive to San Fransico was great. This time we could see the Redwoods in full effect. Absolutely amazing!
Last night we played The Bottom of the Hill in S.F It was rockin if I do say so myself. Today we drive with our friend Eamonn to Merced, California. He's doing two shows with us before he has to go back to NYC and be a doctor. I woke to find him researching the music of Orrin Hatch and alien hand syndrome, (which is a real neurological ailment and not something made up by Sean McCarthy) on the computer. People look at us like we're crazy when I tell them we're playing Merced today. I guess we'll soon find out why.....
Giant animals, cars over cliffs, primordial forest....yeah, now I'm on tour.
SEATTLE [Tue Oct 22 17:25:02 2002]
So we made it to Seattle after two days of relatively easy driving. In the last two or three days we've seen about 4 pretty gnarly traffic accidents all involving cars or trucks that had rolled over. Two of those accidents had occurred only moments before we got on the scene, before the cops and fire trucks could show up. In April, Geoff and I were the first on the scene of a fatal accident. We saw the accident as it happened in front of us and then had to slam on the brakes so as not to become part of it. Anyway, to make a long story short, it was pretty gruesome and quite sad 'cause it involved a whole family and some very young children and that memory comes crashing back (bad pun not intended) whenever we see an accident, especially when it appears that these accidents are happening only minutes before our van could be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The show at the Paradox theatre was a good one although I personally had a rough time of it. I didn't have my best game on and my focus was a bit...out of focus. Then the paranoia and self conciousness start to build and that's no good for music performance if you ask me. 'Why is Jeff looking at me? Am I slowing down?' 'Am I going to remember how to play the next part of this song?'
'Is that Makers Mark an ginger ale really effecting my performance?' Stuff like that just builds until I'm dying for the whole thing to be over. Poor me.
Luckily, this happens a lot less than it used to.
Our gracious hosts in Seattle told us a story about a car that one of them had had stolen and then returned to them with a lot of stuff in it that had not been in it prior to being stolen. Apparently, when the cops found the car, they were not interested in what was inside it. A short list of the new contents: A package of syringes, some cotton balls (presumably for herion use)a variety of bullets (including shotgun shells), a tackle box full of car keys with notes on them that explained each type of car with respect to each key and where these cars could be found, and a bunch of indie-rock CD's (Karate not among them) Now, one would think that the cops would be interested in that kind of stuff. You know, to maybe INVESTIGATE or something! Or stop further criminal activity. Maybe?!!
Today's drive to Portland, Oregon was relatively short and I'm pretty sure I could see Mt. St Helens from the road off in the distance. No volcanic activity as far as I could tell. I've got a few hours to kill so we're again on the local strip with the coffee shops, record stores, and thankfully, the lone internet cafe.
one more Utah thing [Sun Oct 20 12:44:37 2002]
One thing about Utah we've notice that I forgot to mention is the prevalence of soft drinks. Everyone has got a Big Gulp in there hand or car. Someone asked us if we needed to stop for food, gas, or SODA! Goddard tells me he was rooting around in a dumpster and it was filled with nothing but huge soda cups!
Does anyone have any idea what the deal here with soda is?
I digress......
KS/COLO/UTAH [Sun Oct 20 10:11:09 2002]
The show in KC was great. For those of you under 21 that could not get in, our apologies. Hopefully, next year it will be an all-ages affair. Or maybe you'll be 21 by then. That night the three of us had a great time playing, mainly because of the super enthusiastic crowd. At one point I was near tears and another point holding back laughter. The tears because playing can be too much fun and the laughter because of Goddards bass guiterroism. A clear violation of the Patriot Act. Get me Bassland Security.
The following day was a nine hour drive across the the center of Kansas to Denver. Central Kansas appears to be hurting when it comes to tourist revenue. They do offer, however, the following attractions: The musuem of Independent Telephony, the Eisenhower Birthplace Museum and Meditiation Center, The MidAmerican Air Musuem and Science Hall, and of course, the worlds largest Prairie Dog. Or why not visit Russell, KS, home of everyones favorite Republicans, Bob Dole and Arlen Specter? No, thank you. The funniest part of the drive to me was the signs that tout central KS as 'post rock country', Refering to the rocks that are used for fence post. Next time I'm asked by a European magazine writer how I feel about 'post rock', I've got some more material for smartass retorts.
Arrived in Denver tired and hungry and wasn't exactly psyched that the club was in the worst part of town. I was hastled by 3 or 4 people within minutes of arrival. One grizzled fellow growled at me that 'I smelled like a cop'. Maybe because I had showered that day and wasn't wasted at 6 pm. Cop. Please, I don't even have a mustache. The crowd in said bar was equally as rough around the edges, but by showtime, the crowd became a bit more music friendly and we got along just fine. We stayed the night in Boulder, which is a beautiful town north of Denver filled with college students and hippies. (and of course the nice guys who put us up. Thanks, guys!)
The drive to Utah was long, even at a steady 85 MPH. Most of it is through southern Wyoming and there is NOTHING out there! Its a sea of scrubgrass, frozen brown swells as far as the eye can see for mile after mile after mile. We finally got into Salt Lake City and were a bit confused by the directions to the venue and the street names, which mostly have names like 1300 NORTH or 200 SOUTH. The venue was located at 731 West 300 South. Ok.
The venue is called Kilby Court, and despite the lacking of decent sound system, its a great place to play. The crowd was the most quiet, respectful, sober audience we've had in a while. It was pretty strange, frankly. We drove 40 minutes north to crash for the night after the show and we were in the van like 'what's up with that!? A far cry from the babylon that is Denver, that's for sure. Everyone was polite and friendly.....maybe too polite and friendly...hmmm.
Our host for the evening was telling us a bit about the state of Utah and its make up. Factoid: There are more mormons in California. He told us that Provo, Utah is like another planet. There is one dance club that has cameras on the dance floor. They're used to spot people who are dancing too close. Those people get kicked out of the club, I kid you not. If you show up to a test at Brigham Young University without a clean shave, you are not allowed to take the test. See, facial hair is an unfair advantage. Didn't Jesus have a beard?
Today, we have our first day off. We're doing laundry, checking email and will soon head off for Seattle, where we play tomorrow.
NEBRASKA/KANSAS [Thu Oct 17 15:28:58 2002]
Played in Omaha last night to a friendly crowd. A guy brought a few cups of tequila to the stage and told us to 'keep rocking'. We did. After the show he kept trying to buy us drinks. I told him I didn't need another drink so he handed me three bucks. Its not polite to refuse offers of these kinds if you ask me. Plus, arguing with these types is futile. I've learned not to argue with people when they offer me money or food regardless of the current capacity of my stomach or wallet.
Today, we drove to Lawrence, Kansas, where we had a radio interview before the show tonight in Kansas City. We just played records for an hour. Goddard answered incoming calls to the station. The drive was down I 29 which runs the borders between Nebraska and Iowa then Missiouri and Kansas. It is pretty desserted country but quite pretty. Hardly any farms even. Factoid: the word 'boondocks' comes from a filipino word meaning 'mountain'
I'm happy to report that the frequency of one of my least favorite tour rituals has thus far been kept to a minimum. The routine is called 'the drummer changes into his rock outfit in the filthy bathroom' It is a delicate ballet. Kind of Tchikovsky. It happens a lot when the club has no private dressing room or the dressing room is filled with the opening bands girlfriends. I have to change into an outfit that I don't mind sweating profusely in. I have to take off my shoes to get my pants off, obviously and this means somehow not allowing my socks to touch the nasty bathroom floors. I usually have to stand on my shoes. There's something weird about this ritual, especially putting my street clothes back on in the same manner. I usually get to hear fragments of peoples conversations about the show I just played without them knowing I'm naked and sweating in the stall behind them. The experience is just so rediculous as a whole that I can't help but at least laughing at it when it happens. I get to read bathroom grafitti too, which is always bad. What's more, a week into a given tour, that outfit that I'm changing into has developed a powerful odor. Oh god, and when it hasn't dried from the night before....that's the worst....You should be disgusted by now. Sorry.
I've been to Lawrence, Kansas I don't know how many times. Its a nice little place. William Borroughs lived here. Someones always got a story about someone who new him or something. Tomorrow we have a big drive to Denver across the middle of Kansas. Boondocks.
IOWA [Wed Oct 16 09:41:12 2002]
Yes, Karla of the band K is the offspring of PDQ Bach. Pretty cool, though I was more of a Victor Borge kind of guy.
So I'm trying to find out if there's some animosity between Minnesotans and Iowans. A guy in Minnesota told us that Iowa was actually an acronym for 'Idiots Out Walking Around' I didn't know that. In fact, last night the only idiots I could find were not walking but were standing around inside talking loudly. 'ISAITL' ??? Actually, there were no idiots at our show that I could find and we had a good time playing. The folks at Gabes are a friendly bunch, although the bathrooms at Gabes leave something to be desired. Namely sanitary conditions. Plus, call me uptight, but I need a working light and a working stall with a door to make my public bathroom experience tolerable.
We passed a town on the highway called What Cheer, Iowa. These Iowans are an optimistic bunch. Today it's on to Omaha.
How far is that from here?
MINNEAPOLIS [Tue Oct 15 10:04:43 2002]
First off, sorry about the spelling inconsistencies. Factoid: There are 1700 words in English that have no fixed spelling, that is, they show up with different spellings in different dicitionaries (so you can let it slide). Oh, and I'll fix the links page when I get home, i.e the layout and the broken links...
Last night was 7th ST Entry. It was a good show. Andy, the sound guy, is competent and friendly. He admits to being a curmudgeon but I told him that for a sound guy, he's down right congenial. You know how sound people can be, right? I was a bit worried before the show because I was SO tired. We'd gotten up really early in Milwaukee to make it to what turned out to be kind of a lame radio 'interview' at 4 Pm in Minneapolis and despite the Speedball at Fuel, I never woke up. And by the way, the Kevorkian Crush is a quadruple mocha in a regular coffee and the Speedball is espresso in a regular coffee. Anyway, before the show in Minneapolis, I thought I was gonna fall asleep standing. I managed to wake up a bit and ended up having a fine time.
One of the stereotypes of people from the upper midwest (and the south, I guess. And the west, too. ok, everywhere but in the Northeast!) is that they are more friendly than people from other parts of the country. Of course, its just a stereotype, but damn if these folks ain't real friendly like. I have to wonder, are they aware of the stereotype and seek to perpetuate it or is there just something about this place that makes them more mellow. I've gotten more smiles from strangers (like that young lady in the bookstore!) and more helpful assistance from people at the rock clubs than ever. (and belive me that can be hard to find-especially in NYC or other eastern places. I should of course mention that I've found nice people at many venues, NYC or otherwise) Anyway, its really nice here. Plus, I've notice the prevalence of dread locks in Minneapolis. Has anyone noticed this? There are tons of dread heads around here. What's up with that?
Factoid: women from South Dakota have the US's longest lifespan. My mom is from South Dakota. Thanks for the genes.
Today, we drive to Iowa City, Iowa, site of my birth and place of residence for the first few years of my life. Karate has not played Iowa City before. Tonight we share the bill with the band K. featuring Karla from Ida and Beekeeper. I haven't heard the K records but I loved that Beekeeper record with the ostrich on it. Great songs and really great drumming too. I think her voice is amazing. Rumor has is her father is PDQ Bach.
I'll find out.
FUEL [Mon Oct 14 07:43:53 2002]
We're up early in Milwuakee and we're on our way to (get some) Fuel. Fuel is my favorite coffee shop in Milwaukee. Its home to the Kevorkian Crush, which is three shots of espresso dropped in a black coffee....or something equally as bad for the heart. Last night we stayed with the owner of Fuel. He's, like, famous! Well, probably not really, but a great guy with a hospitable home and a HUGE dog. He's also got a motorcylce in his living room that goes 160 mph.
On to Minneapolis today. Long drive.
See you there.
WISCONSIN [Sun Oct 13 13:00:02 2002]
I'm in a Cyber-Laundromat near State St in Madison where I've managed to get on the computers without having to pay. It was either 10cents a minute or free if you're doing laundry. I've got the clothes that I wear when I play in my bag and although they do need washing, I'm not going to bother. When they attendant here saw that I was weighing the costs of doing my laundry over speculating how long I'd be on the computer and how much that might cost me, he just said 'don't worry about it'.
Ah, the Midwest, where the people are friendly and they have their vocal chords in their sinus cavities. See, they speak out of their noses and as the air passes through the sinus cavaties and out the nostrils, the chords vibrate producing sounds like 'Go Baadgers!' and 'Jesse, the Bahdy, Venturah'
I got a bit wistful last night while driving around Madison looking for the Red Roof Inn. With Karate, it seems that the longer we go, the less people we know in the little towns. 4 or 5 years back, it seemed we always had a place to stay and didn't need to spend money on hotels. Granted, those places were usually filthy college student flop houses but still, it was cheap and usually a good time. In the Madison/Milwaukee area, we knew lots of people and always had good shows. The shows are still good and the people who haven't moved out of town are still around somewhere I suppose but the vibe is a bit less....festive, I guess.
I still have fond memories of Champions, hanging out with the kids and Garth, the pubs somewhat insane proprietor of recent Scandinavian extraction. It was 'always a pleasure' but since I'm looking forward and not back, it ain't no thing....
So the weather is amazing. A cold front came in yesterday and brought with it some incredibly crisp, refreshing Canadian air. The foliage has turned and "voila!", we have a beautiful fall day. As we drove into Madison, the front was passing over, heading west to east, its western edge visible, revealing what appeared as an inch thick strip of clear sky on the western horizon that was painted orange by the sunset. It was pertty-like. Makes driving better when you can enjoy the scenery. Unfortunately, it also becomes more dangerous because the scenery is never the road itself.
Tonight we play the Cactus Club in Milwaukee, a little out of the way club/bar where we played a few years ago with the band Pele, whom I understand left for Japan today.
My caffeine tolerance has gotten stronger I'm sorry to report. The triple lattes are no longer filling me with boundless energy and the unfailing sense of optimism that they produced a week or so ago. I'll increase dosage and frequency.
CHICAGO...... [Sat Oct 12 09:53:37 2002]
....is my kind of town. Last night we played Schubas, a club we had not played before. Nice place. Usually we're at the Empty Bottle or Lounge Axe or, when things are rough, The Fireside Bowl.
For those of you that don't know, the Fireside is a post-apocalyptic, Planet of the Apes type building with leaky ceilings that used to be a bowling alley that for some reason has shows. The last time we played there, as we were loading out, I noticed some people emerging from the dark recesses of the bowling lanes. They were clearly living down there. They looked like the undead of Omega Man. (I must have dreamt about Charleton Heston or something) ...The gig last night was a blast as was seeing our Chicago friends who faithfully came out early and stayed late. Thanks peeps!
Speaking of late, I went with Mahmood to play some late night Foosball at a friends house. Its been at least 9 months since I've played so I was quickly destroyed by the house players. I did get to meet Zero, the dog that supposedly reacts spastically when you mention the word 'Karate'. I don't know, but he sure didn't react when I was talking to him. 'Karate is his favorite band', they say. The claims of his owner may be exagerated.
We said goodbye to Chris Brokaw last night. It was a lot of fun doing the Karate/Brokaw thing and hope we can do more touring together someday. Go see him when he comes to your town!
Chicago is done and now its on to parts less populated. For the next few days, we'll be doing cirles in the Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa area.
I'll let you know......
ILLINOIS/St. LOUIS [Thu Oct 10 15:07:58 2002]
So we've arrived in St. Louis a few hours early and we've made a bee line for the local strip with the coffee shops, record stores, punk rock supplies, and thankfully, a public library from which I can update the page. Unfortunately, my last updating session include the accidental deleting of a few entries. That's what I get for messing with this stuff at 2 AM.
Last night we played Champaign, Ill. Two shows had been booked for the evening-an early show and ours, the late show. The early show was two guys with acoustic guitars, one opening for the other. They were nice enough guys but I gotta say that the last song of the night was tough to take. They got together on stage and did an extended jam of Dylan's 'Rolling Stone' that was rife with all the unflattering stereotypes of bad middle-american acoustic music. You know, J.C Mellencamp et al. and lyrics which give equal weight to the syllables of the word 'Ohio'. Can you think of a song that says 'oh-HI-o'? Or 'o-hi-O'? I can't. In and of it self, I've no problem there, but jeez, kinda played out, no?. Or so was my impression of the time. Anyhoo, the sizable crowd ate it up as did the blondes dancing in the front row with their Coors Lights raised in the air.
We ended up having a good time playing, luckily. Accompanying Chris Brokaw on some of his tunes has been a blast as has been traveling with him and the neurotic tour dog, Ferdinand.
Today we drove across the heartland of Illnois to St. Louis. Many pickup trucks and Jesus billboards. The lord spends a fortune on advertising in these parts. Question: Why are there so many avaition museums? There's multiple museums in every state. Yesterday we passed the largest--IN ILLINOIS! How many gutted, engine-less jets and bi-winged planes in a hanger does this country need, I ask you?
I gotta say, I've been feeling pretty good on this tour. I'm really enjoying being away from Boston these days and there's only so many trips to NYC I can make without going broke or insane. Tour-wise, I'm getting good sleeps, enjoying not smoking, and living fairly healthy so far with the exception of the numerous shots of espresso I've been downing each morning. Man, that stuff is good medicine! Especially, when you don't kill the caffeine buzz with a smoke.
Some of my tour reading: Fast Food Nation, The Mysticism of Sound and Music, Intro to Sociolinguistics (unfortunately, not a light read for me), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (a little too light)
Some of my tour listening: The Best of Thin Lizzy, The Best of Chet Baker Sings, Why The Sea is Salt, by The Golden Arm Trio, Deceit by This Heat, Intrumentals by Nels Cline Singers.
Hope its good where you are.
MICHIGAN [Tue Oct 8 22:12:46 2002]
Last night, Detroit. Nice club, respectable turnout, Greek food in the middle of the night accompanied by a round of joke telling. One of the jokes told by Chris was told to him by David Yow so you may be able to imagine the color of that joke. Needless to say, I won't relay it to you here.
Tonight was Kalamazoo. Again, nice place, nice turnout. I found myself sneaking away for a beer at one point in the night as there was none served at the club. Somehow, I ended up at a poetry slam. It had quite a range of charaters both in the audience and performing. One of the performers was an elderly woman who relayed a poem called ' My Lords Paintings' . It was sweet. Another performer was this long haired, hippy/Dungeons and Dragons looking guy who wore what looked to be a giant bib. The bib went all the way around though. Basically, it was like circle with a hole for his head to go through. The bib looked like it was made out of Polartec. Like I said, he looked 'out doors-y'. His poem was about over population and his desire for a pestilence to sweep the world and kill everyone....or something. He was the guy that didn't use the microphone and yelled.
There was also the high school jock type guy who was there for the first time, probably at the behest of his girlfriend. He was visibly nervous as he did a barely audible sort of rhyming street poetry thing.
The place was a big room with high ceilings and lots of exposed wood. It felt like a large hunting lodge. Maybe it was the giant moose head on the wall, I don't know.... I drank my beer quickly and got the hell out.
More later.
CLEVELAND [Mon Oct 7 08:34:56 2002]
Yesterday, we arrived in Cleveland. After I talked Farina and Goddard into leaving Oberlin for the city, we headed for the Great Lakes Science Center. While I was the only one interested in going, it ended up a good time for all. Farina managed to hack into the museums wireless network and Goddard managed to sneak into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame which is located next door. Though Jeff had to sneak in as a visitor, I'm sure one day he will walk in the front door as and inductee. I to learn a little about the Great Laked themselves and can now share the following factoids:
The Lakes hold 6 quadrillion gallons of water which account for 20% of the worlds fresh water.
The entire area around the Lakes is rising due to something called isostatic rebound. Basically, after having the giant ice age glaciers sitting on top of the region, the land has litterally been rebounding upwards since the melting of the glaciers ten thousand years ago. For instance, Thunder Bay, Ontario is 2 feet higher than it was 100 years ago. Cool.
Anyhow, the other highlight of the day was the addition of Chris Brokaw to the tour. He'll be doing about 6 shows with us. Karate will be his backing band on a number of his tunes and he will join us for one of our new numbers. He sounds great. I'm really looking forward to the next group of shows.
That's all for now. Gotta go replace my hi hat stand which broke at the beginning of last nights set. That was fun. Then we came out side to find the side view mirror on the van with a massive crack running horizontally through it. Great.
PACKING [Wed Oct 2 19:17:09 2002]
I'm just about packed for this tour. If I had 40 pairs of socks, I'd bring 'em all, a pair for each day. I lost count at around 21 pairs. Most of my socks are white tube socks for which I've been given a hard time lately. "Who wears white socks?" I do. I have only around 5 non-white pairs. Or should I say 'minority cotton foot sheathing'?
Anyway, I'm already tired.