Oklahoma

Q Spot Good Times Rock n’ Rooooooooollllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rockin' "Choice" at the Q Spot

In our last week on the past tour we played our favorite bar in Enid AMERICA, the Q Spot. We love the Q Spot because David, the owner, and his family take great care of us every time we play there. He also has a really nice, large stage for us to tear up, and we always have an excited and attentive crowd.

The show itself was great and well attended. We played a good long set and rocked out as usual. The night progressed to our new favorite hangout: the Lounge located in the Ramada Inn in Enid. The Lounge also has these sweet koozies (not sweeter than ours though!) that feature a “lounge lizard” in a martini glass….with a martini in hand. I really enjoy those koozies, and for those of you who know me, koozies in general. On this night, though, we found out that the bar only intends for you to use their koozies in the bar, and not actually take them with you when they give you a beer with one on. This is stupefying to me as they are the perfect way to promote a MOTHER-F’ING BAR, but as they say: to each his own.

We will be back and rockin’ the Q Spot again in the near future!

Ye Old College Bar: A Love Story

On Monday we played the College Bar on the legendary strip in Stillwater.

Us switching it up for "Fight for Your Right"

Friends at the College Bar

I can’t stress enough how awesome it is to have a good gig on a Monday, and this one was great.

Though we left the venue a little after 2 am, the night continued for six more hours (at least for a few of us). We all went to hang out with some friends at a small gathering which was fun. Hooch and Jordan got rocked in beer-pong, but in their defense, the cups were huge Joe’s cups (of Eskimo Joe’s etc) and had I not been the DD, I think I would have wrecked. The night ended back at Jared and Megan’s with us sitting on the front porch, waxing on the topics of the day. I decided to head to bed with day break, but Hooch and Jared chatted until around 8:30!

That’s Oklahoma for yah! Next stop, Enid. Round II

Tilapia at IHOP?!?

Enid is where Hooch grew up. Fugly’s is one of his best friend’s brother’s bars – so when he heard we didn’t have Saturday booked he offered us the night. Even with only one day’s worth of time to promote, we got a decent crowd digging our grooves. We tried out some experimental new songs. They were received well. We also really enjoyed the high quality PA. It was possibly too loud because the room is a brick and tin box, but man the vocals sounded awesome.

Tilapia at iHOP?

For months, I’ve been saying I’d get the tilapia at either iHop or Denny’s. Everyone looks at me like I’m crazy. They assume I’ll have gastrointestinal issues for days. But it actually looks good to me, and its probably the healthiest thing on the menu. I like to eat healthily, finding protein on the road can be difficult since I only consume free range meat, and if I extend that to cage free eggs there’s almost nothing I will put in my belly at those all hours diners. Friday night, I finally ordered it!

The waitress gave me a horrified look. I immediately doubted my choice. “What – is it bad?” I asked. “I don’t know, no one’s ever ordered that before” she responded. The rest of the guys laugh maniacally. I mention something about fish and the waitress responds, “Tilapia – that’s a fish?”
OK i think, she really just doesn’t know what she’s talking about. My resolve is bolstered, and I stand by my decision.

Turns out, the Tilapia at iHop is good. I recommend it to anyone. Not only is it tasty, but it’s been over 48 hours and I’ve had completely normal bowel movements.

Enid, which is “DINE” backwards, I’ll always remember my for my first fishy late night diner experience.

The Q Spot

(Thanks to Cassie Himes for the pics!)

On Tuesday we played a show in Enid at the Q Spot, a bar/billiard hall. The place is really big and has a great stage that gave us plenty of space. Space on stage becomes a luxury on the road when many places have really small stages that cramp even a band as small as ours. Before the show we hung out at our favorite local coffee shop Da Vinci’s and they even bought us a coffee! When we arrived at the venue it was starting to fill up, and I already had low expectations since it was Tuesday, so this was a very pleasant surprise. By the time we started playing, I’d say there was at least 80 people or so watching us and we later found out that just under 100 people came out.

What a great show! We ripped through 18 songs without a break and played for two hours straight. The energy was high, and we were all playing very well. The performance was caught on video as well, so hopefully we will be able to release to our fans in the future. The response was extremely positive after the show and we also sold a ton of CDs and shirts. Our new merchandise, namely the flame-spitting-weiner-dog shirts are going fast! Right now I vote this the best show of the tour so far and I can’t wait to come back and play the Q spot again!

BLATT

Perkins America

Last night we played our second show of the tour at a VFW in Perkins, Oklahoma, or as the Oklahomans call it: “Perkins, America”. The show was not exactly incredible, but still very enjoyable. For instance, I didn’t know you can line-dance to every one of our songs, but apparently, you can! (and what a relief to know that, too) The show wasn’t as bad as that scene in Spinal Tap when they play the Air Force Base and there is air-traffic controllers coming through the speakers, but it had that feel because there was only a small (but enthusiastic) crowd, and we were at a VFW. Anyways, we sold some merch and got to play a few new songs at the request of our patrons (average age 60+) including “Proud Mary” and “Sangria Wine” which both came off surprisingly well. It’s another 5 days in OK for the Achachay! boys and I’m lovin’ every minute of it.

BLATT

Enid Musings

Our second show of the tour was at Hooch’s hometown in Enid, OK. This was the third time we had played there, and it was a great show as usual. It’s always great seeing Hooch’s old friends, some of his family, and we always have a good crowd. We sold a ton of merch, which makes it an even better show.

Shows like this are a good reminder that you can never judge a town, or how a show will be in that town, by your expectations. The life lesson could be said many ways, including, “judge not, because you’re not very good at it.”  (As a side note, a wise quote once mentioned that ‘judge not that you not be judged’ assumes that you’ve screwed up and have something to be judged for, so its not the ideal reason to not judge others). For example, if you didn’t know better you might think that Enid wouldn’t enjoy a funk band like ourselves, or that it might not pay well, or that a tiny metal barn with no beer on tap and no liquor wouldn’t be a great place for us to play. You’d be dead wrong. Even looking at it monetarily – it’s always one of our highest grossing nights. Somehow, we also often end up quite inebriated. This time, we ended up at iHOP instead. I would have gone for the $4.95 neverending pancakes, but having eaten earlier that day at Sirloin Stockade (which I absolutely do not recommend to anyone).

I’d like to thank all of Hooch’s friends for giving us great food, shelter, and friendship during our time in Oklahoma. They always treat us well. I like to make fun of it for being “smokelahoma,” and I might have a warrant out for my arrest since I have an unpaid traffic violation, but it now has a special place in my heart.

Roller Derby Gig!

Our last show this time around in Oklahoma was playing at the Stillwater roller derby. It was an experience to say the least, and it was very fun and quite entertaining. We played for an hour before the bout began as people came in and we played a shorter set during half time. The match itself was definitely something to see. I thoroughly enjoyed watching these women beat each other up in the name of sport. It was awesome people watching as well, with some very excited and loud fans who were really into it. I was disappointed, however, in the lack of mullets present; I just thought there would be more. We played well and the crowd seemed to dig on our sound, so over all it was a great success and a fun way to cap off the trip to Oklahoma.

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

Oklahoma!

We just crossed the border and are now in Oklahoma. Apparenty there are some mountains here, but hooch calls it a hill range. Anyway just wanted to let everyone know our sched:
tonight, sat jan 16: the hog trough in Enid, OK at 10p
sun, jan 17: ell’s in stillwater, ok, 9pm.

we are pumped and ready to bring the funk.

[i]Hooch here… It’s great to be headin’ back home to play some shows! Can’t wait to see my friends and family! Hooch over and out.