misadventures

Day 14: Party like a rockstar, pedal board fiasco, and a last minute show in Northampton

“What is this place?” Amanda asks one of the hosts of the four story warehouse where we partied Saturday night. People danced to live DJs on the second floor while bands played on the fourth. Original artwork decked the frames and studs awaiting sheetrock. “The Rugg,” the host responds with a coy smile. “I mean, what is it during the day?” she retorts. “NOTHING!” He smiles again and walks away. 

We became body art

Our friend Adam had connected us up with this highly illegal underground warehouse party. Within minutes of arriving he and I both became body canvasses. Michael got in on the live party painting as well, on the artist side of things. Themed elemental, a decent percentage of the party goers represented fire, water, or earth. Not many represented wind, although I suggested some dress only in saran wrap.

The real crux of the party, what enthralled us until sunrise, was the plethora of fantastic live music on the third floor, including the standout Benedict Arnold - jazzed up underground hip hop, highly skilled musicians. Check it out, it’s good shiza. Needless to say, the party was possibly the best way to celebrate Ryan’s birthday in a foreign city, simply because it was so crazy.

Pedal Board Fiasco:

this art looked really cool about halfway through the party . . .

Somehow I left my pedal board in Springfield MA. Fortunately, we added a gig in Northampton – only 45 minutes away – for Sunday. Unfortunately the bar wasn’t open and owner Joe had a baptism to go to so he cou

ldn’t let us in. Fortunately he had the bright idea to leave it in a restaurant down the street. Unfortunately when we arrived that restaurant was closed. In fact it doesn’t open on Sundays either. I did my best to find a way to break in without breaking anything, but we eventually had to leave empty handed. Faces red with frustration. Would we have to drive an hour and half out of our way to get it before we headed to the Cape? Joe, why did you leave our pedal board in a closed restaurant?

Note from the future: We added a last minute Worcester gig, only about an hour from Springfield, and grabbed the pedal board without incident.

A last minute show in Northampton:

About a week and a half ago we jumped on a last minute bill with Our Mothers Are Gods at “The Elevens” in Northampton. It felt like a couple days ago with the way time flies as we play and drive. Anyway we show up and grab some pizza and calzones down the street from the venue and happen to run into a bunch of Canadians wearing matching Tibetan shi

rt-smocks (They had just bought them at the local flea market-mall). Naturally they were in a band (Oman Ra) playing at the Elevens with us, so we made friends. Bunch of nice guys. 

The show was short and solid. We jammed out the end of existential funk with a new take on an old part, and the other, non Canadian bands were friendly and supportive.

Day 4: RIP Ho Bus + the kindness of friends + Nick’s Ice House

RIP HO BUS

It pains me to write this, but we will not be touring in the Ho Bus. 

We spent a day at the mechanics and $300 only to be told that they had no clue what was wrong with it and have no idea how much money we’d have to spend to fix it, much less how much time. And we still had 15 gigs to get to.

Ryan hid behind his dark sunglasses in deep depression all day. Michael on the other hand, had a blast walking around the French Quarter and getting more of a feel for his first time in New Orleans. I was both dejected and determined to make the most of the day anyway, and spent my time making copies for the CD inserts and continuously brainstormed alternative solutions. 

After considering the direst alternatives including getting my Prius from Austin and attempting to borrow a drum set at EVERY SINGLE GIG (Ryan flat out refused) we settled on renting a cargo van from Enterprise for three weeks. Even after a 5% AAA discount and 10% Corporate discount (we are a business after all), the rental and the lack of veggie oil savings are going to take deep cuts into our profit margins.

Ho Bus (cons) vs. Rental Van (pros)

CONS:

- No veggie oil

- Not nearly as much room

- Can’t invite everyone to come with us

- Not nearly as flashy

- Isn’t called the Ho Bus

- Can’t be painted to advertise the band

- As ryan says “basically we’ve been forced into exactly what we were trying to avoid”

PROS:

- A/C

- No worries of breakdowns

- A/C

- Full speed all the time

- Better handling

- Can talk on the phone while riding/driving

Despite the fact that our T-shirts feature the HO Bus, despite the fact that we and all of our fans were emotionally attached, despite the fact the the veggie oil makes a social and economic statement, we had to figure out the best way for the tour to continue.

THE KINDNESS OF LEA AND TESSA

Achachay! stays with Lea and Tessa

Lea and I studied abroad together in Ghana during the summer of 2006. I’ve since seen her once since then, in Lou-A-Vull KY for about three hours. She’s an awesome person – and by the way check out http://www.neighborhoodstoryproject.org/ her organization which is badass – they preserve New Orleans history and rebuild the vitality of communities while empowering disenfranchised citizens through publishing their stories, and letting them sell the books.

ANYWAY she saved the day. Even after we realized we needed to rent a van, none were available for that night. Without me even asking she and her girlfriend Tessa offered to drive the band and all of our equipment up to Hattiesburg and back for our gig, to let us crash in a bed and on futons, and to cook us delectable free range sausage and pancakes in the morning. It was so fun to really get some time to catch up on life, and to make it to Nick’s.

We are so grateful to Lea, Tessa, and people who open their homes for us, embrace the spontaneity and impossibility of having a plan that sticks. That is our life – embracing the moment while working towards to best future.

Nick’s Ice House:

So very fun. If you’re in Hattiesburg you’ve got to stop by. I’ll have to come back and write more about the show in a bit because it’s dinner time. Suffice it say that instead of bar stools you sit on old toilets, and I set up the PA on an old washing machine. The names and phrases etched in the bars look like they have been there since the fifties, and the bartender Ralph is the life of the party. He got out and danced on a stripper pole, even swinging upside down at one point. 

Things I’ll have to come back to: Nick’s enthusiast Bill came through in the clutch with a microphone when I had forgotten mine on the bus – and then just gave it to us! Thanks Bill! 

He and someone else whose name I am loathe to forget also paid for us to play that night. Thanks guys; we will be back.

Finally although we didn’t get to end up couchsurfing, our would-be hosts came to the show with a bunch of friends and were awesome people. Matt and crew – we will be back and we’ll stay with you.

Day 3: Bus troubles and canceling the Starkville show

one of our first attempts to assess the issue

Morale was at an all time low at 6:15 P this afternoon. We were initially scheduled to play in Starkville for a happy hour set at 630, and again from 10 – midnight, but instead we were at a diesel mechanic shop 45 minutes outside of New Orleans in Slidell. Something went terrible awry with the Ho Bus. She won’t accelerate faster than 45 mph and almost didn’t make it across Lake Pontchartrain. 

The mechanic we worked with had already finished a 32 oz. Miller Light when his buddy brought him a tallboy. In the hour or so we worked with him I think he drank the equivalent of five beers. Which might help explain why we couldn’t get our bus fixed quick enough to make it to Starkville. The nice thing was that he didn’t charge us. Pay it forward, what goes around comes around he said.

The venue was quite surprisingly understanding when we had to cancel the show, but we were all bummed. Dejected. Ryan was pissed. We were all sweating. My right arm itched slightly from burning it on mysterious car parts. What was supposed to be an acoustic gig had gotten upgraded to the main stage – where small but recognized bands like Papa Grows Funk and Groupo Fantasma play. I had blackened my hands with oil taking apart the radiator hose, only to be told by the mechanic that the HO BUS has been riding dirty without a thermostat, and later to uncover via Howstuffworks.com that he probably didn’t know what he was talking about.

Touring is the musician’s life skills classroom. We learn to be mechanics and electricians, promoters and salesmen. We learn to be spontaneous, improvise, and seek alternative solutions to immediate problems. Today we learned to cope with disappointment.