kindness of friends

Ann Arbor and Canada?!?

Tonight we were planning on playing in Toledo, OH but we got a call mid-afternoon today saying that the show had been canceled. Seems to be the story of the tour thus far. But as usual we decided to take advantage of the situation. Jordan’s friend from college Nick lives in Ann Arbor and just happened to be throwing a house party. So it just made sense that we would stick around an extra night and play at the house party. The party started with a DJ and a lot of dancing then at about midnight we went on and played until about 2. It was a blast. Turns out law students know how to party!  We even pulled out a Rage Against the Machine cover…. It’s been a while since I’ve played Rage! So after the party we have a long drive to Providence, Rhode Island so we leave Ann Arbor at 4 AM. This part of the story has been told in Jordan’s post but I suppose I will hit the big points from my point of view. Basically I set up Garmin for Providence and didn’t take the time to look at the route (or check the settings on Garmin to see if you we would go international) and well we are about an hour and a half into our drive and we see a sign that says Canada 7 miles… Awesome. So after doing some mapping it turns out we basically have to travel through Canada or go 4 hours out of our way around Lake Erie. So we get to Customs and we have to answer some questions and they look through the van briefly and we are on our way into Canada without passports… So that was easy right? Well yes getting into Canada is easy…. Getting back into the US is not easy. Crossing back into the US we basically had everything but a body cavity search. They just couldn’t believe that the Canadians let us into their country without passports. So after an hour and a half of interrogation we are back in the US… On the plus side we did get to see Niagra Falls. What a day/night…..

San Jose

We played at a small club called Johnny V’s downtown San Jose. Dave and Confused from San Francisico played the show with us along with a couple other bands from the bay area. It was definitely a night of rock.

Jordan got totally over involved with watching ‘The Departed’ without sound at the bar. So basically I ended up explaining the whole movie to him while he tried to watch…. After the show we to Los Osos to stay for two nights with some of Greenblatt’s family friends. Les and Nancy were awesome. They cooked up some great food and were very hospitable.

Monday we had a day off so Greenblatt and I got to hang out in San Jose and get some much needed rest. It’s really nice to just kick back every once in a while when we are on tour. Now we are off to Sacramento!

OK in review: better than OK

Achachay! with Dominic in Enid

- Two great shows: lots of people, good pay, awesome playing
- Debuted a new song and a new cover; everyone dug
- Should call the place Smokelahoma; my clothes reeked all weekend
- Met and listened to Dominic McClenny, one of Hooch’s best friends; he is awesome
- Got Dom to sing a couple songs with us!
- Met a ton of Hooch’s friends; all good people
- Went to Spiderdome – a bar that is probably a couple miles down a dirt road
- Spiderdome was playing hardcore porn on the main big screen LCD TV by the end of the night
- Met and ate great food w/ Autumn’s fam (shout-out to Barak, Louis, mom, Gunner, Rand) *ed note: 1/23/10 Rand’s real name is “Rayann”
- Oklahoma has the most ridiculous laws concerning drinking. For example:
- only 3.2% beers
- no liquor on Sundays (too bad for Ell’s, our second venue which is a MARTINI LOUNGE forced to only serve 3.2% beer)
- Accidentally rechristened a girl named “Andie” to “Amy”
- Got the tour of famous Hooch incidents such as “This is the highway where someone hit me head on at 70 mph. Now I always have un-insured auto insurance,” and “This is where I outran the cops after street racing”

Bottom line: We had a hell of a time and we’ll definitely be back

The Carolinas were fun

The first thing I do when we get to a club or bar, especially one we have never played at, is assess whether I get the feeling that this will be a good show or a bad show. You might wonder, what makes a show good or bad? There are several criteria. First, in my opinion, the most important thing necessary for a good show is the amount of people present. The more people the better because we feed off the crowd’s energy and it makes us play better. Also more people mean more potential new fans and sales on merchandise after the show.  Other factors include the amount of money we make from the show whether it be from the club and/or sales, impressing the staff of the club so that even if there isn’t a huge crowd they want us to come back and will make the effort to get us on a good bill next time, and also just the opportunity to tweak our live-set. This last one can be a good factor if it’s an off night before a more important show.

Couch Surfing

The 9^th through 11^th days of the tour were all in South and North Carolina. Two of those shows were at places we had never played before. We all hoped that Friday and Saturday would be big shows because they were weekend nights, but things don’t always go that way and you have to find the silver-lining. Both weekend shows did not have a ton of people in attendance, but this didn’t deter us from having some great shows, and furthermore great nights. In Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina we played at a place called The Village Tavern. The Village Tavern has a reputation as a cool venue, and the room sounded amazing. As part of our pay we got dinner (bonus!) and some of my family friends who live in SC came out to the show. There wasn’t a huge crowd, but we met some really good people and we sold a good amount of merch. One person we met before the show was actually really cool—he happened to be the father of the lead singer for the band Band of Horses, Ben Bridwell. He thought it was so great that we were on the road and doing our thing. He told us about traveling with his son’s band and how he wanted to sell t-shirts (I instantly recalled the thousands of times my dad jokingly (half-serious though) said he would sell t-shirts on my tour). It was cool meeting him, and making some new fans out of the people who were at the bar. The real fun began when we met up with our couch-surf hosts for the night in Charleston. We stayed with two girls, Kayla and Billie-Joe, and their amazing friends who were all chefs. They first fed us these gourmet tomato pies that tasted remarkable, and then we proceeded to play card games and Taboo into the wee-hours of the night. The game of Taboo was exceptionally funny with Hooch and his partner Kevin being the two worst Taboo players I have ever witnessed. They brought tears to my eyes and pain to my abs because I was laughing so hard. The night in SC was an example of a show that on paper was not so awesome, but which turned into a great night.

The next night we played in Asheville, North Carolina and stayed with more couch-surfers. By the way I love couch surfing now, it’s fucking amazing—the people you meet are great and so generous. After our hosts made us dinner, we headed over to the show at a place called The Root Bar. The Root Bar is a pretty cool bar that has its own backyard game named after it called ‘Root Ball’ which is a combination of horseshoes and bocce ball. Once again the crowd was relatively small (we later found out that the entire town was at a concert put on by local rock-star Warren Haynes of Allman Bros and Gov’t Mule fame), but we made the best of the situation. The people at the bar were all really into our grooves, and we played what I thought might have been one of our best shows on the tour. We sold a bunch of CDs and made some new friends with people who are immersed in the local scene. Also the venue loved us and decided to take care of us by giving us all of the bar sales for the night—the bar actually lost money but because they are good people and felt bad for the small crowd on a Saturday night they took care of us. It’s things like that which redeem a seemingly shitty night, and even gives me a little more faith in people.

Mayor Meeker at the Bee

Sunday night we played at The Busy Bee Café in Raleigh, which is part-owned by one of Jordan’s friends from Rice, David Meeker (who’s dad is the fucking mayor of Raleigh! The funny thing was, that not even Jordan knew about that little tidbit of info and he and his wife came to watch the show—the mayor at our show!). We played here on our last tour, and just like last time it was a nice show for a Sunday. You can’t expect too much from a Sunday crowd wise, so the comped gourmet food and the pay from the bar make it all good. We did play for a few people who are very in touch with the bar scene in Raleigh, however, and they all enjoyed us so that was also a bonus. We capped off the night sampling fine beers at Meeker’s apartment, one of which was a Belgian beer that weighed in at 8.5% alcohol content (cheers!).

Over all these shows weren’t the best ever, but between the people and the connections we made in each city and at each venue they were all pretty great. The last week of the tour is upon us now and I am especially psyched for the last two shows in Boston and New York!

Days 23-24: How Losing a Key Became a 3 Day Ordeal

Jen, Jane, and Ryan loving that coffee

I have no idea how I lost the key – that’s the nature of something being lost isn’t it? I went to the van to get my running shoes, and then played some frisbee with Suzanne (Jane’s sister) and Michael. Innocent enough, right? Next thing I know the band and the whole Sundermann family is tearing up the house, the street and the park, looking for some scintillating grey metal.

OoooKKK. We can still make it to the show with all our equipment by borrowing two cars. The next morning if we haven’t located the missing key we’ll get Enterprise to make us a new one. Easy enough, right?

Ryan in the new rental van. Where did that Obi Wan tie come from?

We play the show at Felix’s (which was badass, by the way). Tons of fans, almost all friends of Jane, who seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves, and a hazy “afterparty” in a STL basement with the booking agent, sound guy, and some of their friends. Great night, ready to rock our last show in Chicago. Call Enterprise the next morning and they send over AAA to make a new key. Simple enough, right?

Jane and Sasha with the new van

This AAA guy tells me that you can’t just make a new key, despite the fact that the van doesn’t even have power locks or power windows. There’s a little chip in the key that sync’s up with the van’s computer, and it takes 30 minutes to do so. Intended to reduce theft, it apparently has just increased the number of straight up car jackings. Anyway Mr. AAA locksmith can’t get it to work. Chicago is 5 1/2 hours away and our show isn’t until 1130 so I’m not worried. Time enough, right?

After two and a half hours he tells me he can’t do it and peaces out. That’s it. No word of help, no advice. So I call Enterprise and they say no prob, tow it to a dealership and they’ll be able to make a new key. Fine. But now it’s 3 and I’m starting to realize that if it takes the alloted 75 minutes for the tow-truck, 20 minutes to get towed, and another 30 to get a key made, we’re cutting it really close. And that’s assuming everything is copacetic. As you can imagine, it wasn’t. Fortunately Joanie, Jane’s mom, had the brilliant idea of getting a loaner van from Enterprise. So I called.

Next thing I know I’m coordinating SIX separate entities

which have little to do with each other and little regard for how quickly this issue gets resolved. I have nothing but gratitude towards Enterprise – they really helped us out and were very kind. The scene was just hilarious – six disparate companies.

I’m on the phone with (1) Enterprise central office, and they have to call (2) Enterprise in New Orleans to OK the van switch. Then, they call (3) Enterprise St. Louis to OK the deal. Next they call (4) AAA to get the tow truck, and AAA calls (5) a local towing company. Finally, there’s (6) the dealership we get the vehicle towed to. At one point I’m on a four way conference call with Enterprise Central, Enterprise New Orleans, and Enterprise St. Louis. Ridic.

Somehow the beauracracy is well oiled and we manage to slip through a pile of paperwork into a loaner van for the Chicago show. We end up making it with about thirty minutes to spare, and play a killer last show. Big shout out to Ryan’s friend Elissa for bringing a crowd. Plus I got to catch up with two amazing people from study abroad, Sasha and Montana, and party balls with old Rice friends Kirby and Darren. Awesome hosts. But I digress.

The next morning we drive back to St. Louis with the intention of a quick pick-up-the-van stop on our way to Arkansas. We’ve got to get back to Austin for a wedding on Saturday and it’s already Thursday at this point. I call Enterprise to find out where the van is. They don’t know.

What? So I start calling Chevy/GMC/Buick dealerships and asking around. No one knows where this van is. What the hell?

Enterprise figures it out and calls me back, so I call back the dealerships I’ve been asking and let them know I found our van. Turns out the tow company just dropped off the van without a word and the service guys at the dealership had no clue who owned the van or what to do with it.

I tell them what’s up and they say it should only take a half hour. Yeah right.

We show up at three hours later at 6 and the service guys have all gone home. No one knows what’s up with the van and they’re trying to jump it because it “won’t start.” That’s because the key doesn’t work.

OK, we’ll show up first thing in the morning. We all wanted to watch “The Hangover” anyway. We’ll just have to drive the 18 hours from STL to Austin all on Friday.

We call Friday morning and they say it should only take a half hour. Sure….

I don’t believe them, but know that we have to be ready anyway. Jane and I head down to the dealership and whaddayaknow, we wait two hours! Finally, the guy comes out and tells us that the key they’ve been trying to program for the past two days, the one made by the original AAA locksmith that couldn’t do it, doesn’t work. I know, gasp in mock surprise. All they have to do is make a new key and it will take a half hour!

This time, that’s all it takes. Three days later, we have a replacement for our lost key.

There are so many freaking Dunkin' Donuts in the NE (and Chicago) it's ridiculous

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 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.