Tour 1: Lowering the Drinking Age (summer 2009)

Day 9: Reflection on time

 “But at my back I always hear
Time’s winged chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.”

Last night I realized before we stopped at a 24 hour diner that we had eaten 1 meal in 26 hours. Today before we ate lunch we were at two meals in 40 hours. We’ve got to get better about that. I’m going to buy a Sam’s sized container of spinach and eat it raw. 

I wrote this yesterday: ”I thought [the day before] yesterday, “Man I’m going to have the full day to catch up on blog post, send out our delinquent newsletter, upload our new CD to be sold online, see if AAA will tow the Ho Bus without my presence, and take care of all sorts of these little details.

Now I’m 20 minutes from Fayetteville and we’re playing our Hot Topic in store promotion in an hour, followed by a show at the Rock Shop in three hours. I haven’t completed any of these little aforementioned tasks.

Instead we caught up on sleep, went running for the first time of the trip (essential, and something that wil hopefully hapopen more often), started the 100 pushup challenge that I found out about from my sister (also blogging about it). Driving the day before I stuffed CD inserts and tray cards, stamped CDs while Ryan and I reworked some lyrics. This must sound familiar to everyone whose mental to do lists grow like hair. Regardless of how often you trim and how much supposed “free time” you have, they continue to grow.”

And it’s only now getting online. 

It’s crazy to have so much time and yet so little. I suppose we always do. The only difference is our perception of how much we have and what needs to be done with it.

Driving through sunrise

Day 8: A Great Crowd and the Crippling Departure of Roni

“We killed it” Ryan reminisces about last night’s show (in Ryan lingo that is a very good thing, similar to “rocking your face off”)
“That was the best one yet” Michael heartily agrees.
I concur; naturally we tighten up every show, especially as michael familiarizes himself with the songs.  The club provided each of us with two monitors so we could actually hear individual instruments and sound man Sean mixed the crisp sound well.

I honestly did not expect much. The bill Monday nights as an “open mic,” but it’s actually just an excuse not to pay bands. The upshot – they don’t charge a cover -therefore about 50 people milled about in the bar when we kicked off around 10P. We did rock it, and the crowd felt it. People came up to the stage and grooved. The energy flowed high and wide. We sold CDs; we made friends. Michael and I conversed deeply about solipsism with John, the pensive and kind psy-ops specialist out at Fort Bragg. His wife Jaime hooked us up with a contact for some internet radio program. Bennie from Oregon supports us heart and soul and plans on passing on the CD to a friend on the SXSW selection committee. Carissa and her friends invited us to an afterparty in the park with the last band Salvacion and suggested we play at the Soap Box in Wilmington, NC. As a bartendress there she assures they’ll love our kind of music.

The only thing missing from the fantastic Fayetteville show was Roni.

With tears in our eyes (dramatization) we dropped Roni off at the airport earlier that day. He got an interview for a good job in Houston which guarantees a higher short term salary than Achachay’s road manager, so he headed back home. We will dearly miss his organizational skills, level headed temperament, merch selling prowess, and ability to embarrass Ryan at any given second with a childhood story. Did you know that in the third grade . . . wait I shouldn’t put that online for anyone to see. Who knows, maybe if they don’t want to hire him for a couple of weeks he’ll meet back up with us for the last week of the tour.  Either way we miss him.

Day 7: The Busy Bee in Raleigh, NC

Items left behind:

Opened 2 months ago, our friend Meeker built the place out over six months after 10 years of condemnation

- Pillow
- Deodorant
- Bag of Shirts
- Headphones
- Ryan’s Mind
- The Ho Bus

Highlights of Raleigh:

- Chilling with David Meeker (whom I haven’t seen in three years)
- FREE RANGE CHICKEN at the Busy Bee Cafe
- The food in general at Busy Bee is awesome; If you’re in Raleigh it’s really good food for around $8-$12
- The large troupe of professional ballerinas who came for the last few songs
- The beer selection – aside from High Life it’s all smaller companies, microbrews, rare beers, and generally a haven for “beer nerds” My coffee stout was the best I’ve had
- Kristian’s apartment

Kristian’s apartment:

Kristian is a friend from Rice. What’s really amazing about her providing us with a place to crash is (1) neither she nor her roommate were home the entire weekend (2) We’re not super close friends. Her kindness blows me away because she let an entire band crash at her pad without knowing three of the guys and not being around to meet them. Her place was quite comfortable. Thanks Kristian!
busybeeraleigh.com

Day 6: FLORIDA! My name is Florida!

Jordan and JP reunite

It was 3AM by the time we had loaded up and pulled out of the Celtic’s lawn parking lot. At least seven hours from Atlantic City Florida and one broken headlight still waiting to be replaced, it would seem as if we had quite the night ahead of us. Surprisingly, the 330AM-1130AM drive passed without incident. I felt electrified the whole time until about 7 when I decided to drink a Red Bull. I felt absolutely no increase in awareness, concentration or energy. Instead after about 20 minutes I felt an intense crash and had to pull over to switch drivers. Ryan and I flopped into the aft cabin while Roni and Michael dutifully moved into the front seats. Unbeknownst to sleeping Ryan and Jordan, Michael fell immediately back asleep and left Roni driving at 730 by himself. Fortunately, and despite our best efforts to the contrary, Roni still hasn’t shaken the corporate lifestyle and remains an early riser.

Ryan cools his head

Florida was a dream. It was so awesome catching up with JP, my friend from studying abroad in Spain who I hadn’t seen in almost three years. His band Saltwater Grass was also incredible. They’re a six piece in the vein of String Cheese Incident and Widespread Panic – but a little funkier. Great energy, great jams, I just had to dance to the music. Plus they’re all a bunch of really nice guys. In fact all of JP’s crew was really cool. From the moment we arrived rubbing sleep from our eyes they welcomed us, hung out at the beach with us, throwing frisbees, running around like fools, and guiding us to the best fish tacos I’ve ever had. Atomic Flying Fish Tacos in Atlantic Beach Florida are a must – upon mentioning them right now Ryan erupted “those were awesome!”

What could be better? Catching up with old friends, going to the beach, eating delectable food, playing music, dancing to another great live act, and going to a hilarious after-party. Yeah after the show we all headed over to a house and got rowdy. And by rowdy I mean we sat around telling ridiculous stories and making up songs about people at the party. Hoff from Indiana – we’ll never forget what you do with baseball bats. 

I can only speak for myself, but hanging out with JP made me realize that I am living my dream. Not just because we’re getting to showcase our brilliant Achachay! compositions in front of new people every single night, but because I get to travel around the country catching up with old friends and meeting the people they love. From Aaron and Evan and Anna and Darren and Clory and Beth and the whole Houston crew to Julie and Lea in New Orleans, to JP in Florida and Meeker in Raleigh, and all the people in the Northeast and Midwest that I can’t wait to spend an afternoon with, this lifestyle is indeed exactly how I want to spend my time. 

Two more interesting tidbits. 

(1): We got in the paper!!!

(2) The Fly’s Tie specifically asked us not to mention lowering the drinking age. Crazy right? I understand that they get a lot of pressure from the local fuzz and have to be really hard on IDs and whatnot, but we’re not supporting illegal behavior. We support changing the legal rights of adults. So we kept mum about it. I mentioned that there was something we normally talk about that we couldn’t and people should check out website to find out more. Barely anyone even asks us about it. More on that soon.

Regardless we’ll definitely be back to the Fly’s Tie, and we’ll definitely be playing with Saltwater Grass again.

Day 7: The Busy Bee

Day 8: Fayetteville

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.

Day 2: Becoming electricians + Joy in New Orleans

messing with fuses

Today we got up, ate breakfast and went straight to O’Reilly’s Autoparts. I worked on fixing our portable veggie oil filtration pump, while Michael and Ryan jimmy-rigged a system to get power on the bus (The cigarette lighter doesn’t work, of course). 

Before this morning if you’d of shown me a flat fuse versus a round one, and told me to wire it in to something, I’d have stared at you with consternation and asked for more directions. Now I can be the one directing. The pump works. 

Michael and Ryan devised a clever system for accessing the battery – necessary for the inverter- using jumper cables and duct tape. It just reminds me that musicians, at least the kind trying to get famous the way we are, cannot just be musicians. You can’t just play your instrument and walk off stage. You have to don gloves, grab a screwdriver, and start splitting some wires. You’ve got to get a copy of Photoshop and Illustrator, download new fonts and watch videos about how to make the old T-shirt effect. You don’t just see a flyer; you see layers, you see opacity, you see hours at Kinko’s, you start calculating costs, you wonder if you could utilize the same color scheme, you critique the size and readability of fonts and laud simplicity.

I keep forgetting to take pictures, so here's a stock photo

Yeah so the show was great. The other two bands, Fallen Trees and Dirty Bourbon River Show, were all nice guys and great musicians. I’m sure we’ll be playing with them again. The show went crazy late – and no one cared cause that’s how it goes in New Orleans apparently. When we were setting up at 10 (the time the show was supposed to start) the sound guy complained that he shouldn’t have taken that bong hit right before work. He also told us about how he had to bail to Mexico because some people tried to kidnap him to get to his landlord a couple of years ago. 

 Anyway . . . Julie, my girlfriend’s older sister, brought a posse to the HI HO ready to party. They felt the groove and started the dance party before we even finished “I Feel Fine.” They catch on quick and were singing along as we played. Eventually the whole crew ended up crammed together in this cage right by the stage. Ryan’s buddies seemed pretty impressed too. It was awesome meeting them, meeting Julie’s friends, catching up with my old friend and meeting her girlfriend. I love that about playing – I love the people. I love seeing my friends in a such a positive space, meeting their friends, and sharing my feelings and passion with them.

Another positive side note – the booking agent who made this show far and away the most difficult and time consuming one to nail down wasn’t there to sour the mood. He should be happy because I guarantee you they made money at the bar. Hell I even paid for a couple whiskey cokes.

Also – got to see another sunrise.

Help us promote the tour!

We need everyone’s help in making the “Tour for Lowering the Drinking Age” as successful and well attended as possible. Please share the word with any and all of your friends living in our destination cities, and if you are in one we encourage you to put up a flyer at your favorite coffee shop/ community center.

These flyers come in two variations – size and color – therefore there are four total flyers. The big ones will need to be printed out a some company that has printers for 11×17 paper. We can also mail you copies; it saves us a bunch of money to just get you to do it online. Plus you can print out only as many copies as you want to put up, that way we don’t send you to many or too few.

Like we’ve said before, if you bring fans to our shows we’ll reward you. Pass these cards out and put your name on the back, and tell your friends to give them to us at the show. We’ll give you something for each fan – a free song, an exclusive live recording, a free bumper sticker. You can also just tell us, we trust you.

Thanks so much for helping us out! We couldn’t and wouldn’t do it without you – our fans!

Flyers:

Click on the pic to get the pdf file in high resolution

letter sized b&w

letter sized color

11x17 b&w

11x17 color

Show cards:

 Print them out on card stock and cut ‘em using a paper cutter 

Houston:
5_25cards

New Orleans:
5_26cards

Starkville:
5_27cards

Hattiesburg:
5_28cards

Pascagoula:
5_29cards

Atlantic Beach:
5_30cards

Raleigh:
5_31cards

Fayetteville:
6_01cards

Baltimore:
6_02cards

Springfield:
6_04cards

Cambridge (Boston):
6_05cards

Jamaica Plain:
6_08cards

Long Island:
6_12cards

Coming soon:
New York
St. Louis
Chicago

I think you can buy little business card paper with perforated lines for easy card making- at Office Depot or Office Max or something but we always just go to Kinko’s cause they’ll give you the card stock for free if you make the copies there. Yeah, we spend a lot of time at Fedex/Kinko’s or whatever it’s called.