September 24 New Orleans, Louisiana - La Maison du Musique w/ Silent Cinema

The night before we stayed in another lovely hotel in Tallahassee. I think it was a Comfort Inn. None too shabby. Gone are the days of the Super 8s and the Motel 6s. We have definitely moved up in the world. Thanks, Priceline!

I got up a little earlier then everybody else and went and sat in the lobby drinking the hotel coffee, internetin and watching Fox News. Let me take a second to say that Fox News is fantastic television. Eventually the gang all reconvened at the Waffle House for breakfast/lunch. Then we hit the road for N.O.

It was about a six hour drive so once we arrived it was definitely time to get out of the van. Luckily the place we played was on the border of the French Quarter so there was all kinds of cool stuff to see. The club itself was pretty big and looked like it had some neat history behind it. It was old school music hall style with a balcony wrapping around a huge dance floor leading up to the stage. In the front room a swing band played while we set up and then continued for the next 3 hours or so until we took the stage. It should be noted that this seemed to be the place the kids that took swing dance lessons came to strut their jams because there were quite a few people out there jitterbuggin’ and hootenannyin’. Before I picked up on this and before most of the dancers showed up there was one girl dancing by herself. I was sure she was on meth. Man I wish I had video of that craziness.

We played a great show even though there were no monitors for me and the other band was basically running sound. It felt like a nice solid performance although after we were done the swing dance clinic had beat it, natch. Afterward I wanted to clear my head so I skated up to Bourbon Street which was killer. But then a cop on horse back told me to get off my board and asked me to give it to him. To which I politely declined. I headed back to catch the tail end of Silent Cinema who were like a jazzy, bar bandy, indie rock affair.\
After packing up we all took a shot at the bar and I met a nice guy from Venezuela named Danny. Here is his story: formerly a professional breakdancer with Cirque du Soliel turned cruise ship break dance instructor. He was in N.O. because two girls on one of the ships had convinced him they were going to have a 3-way. Jackpot!? Sadly for Danny it didn’t happen but we kicked it for the better part of the night eventually at another bar. I nearly had a meltdown though when I realized my sleeping bag was missing. Turned out it didn’t get packed when loading up and got left in the street. Low and behold some dude on crack shows up at the bar we are drinking at carrying both mine and CKs bag. What the fuck?

We stayed at the guitarist for Silent Cinema’s house with his ladyfriend. They had a really cool house and I sweet cat. The next morning we were all hankering for an oyster Po Boy so we went to the usual spots (Mothers, Johnny’s, etc…) but they were crowded as fuck. We spied some joint called Commerce just around the corner which turned out to be perfect and I can tell you that my sandwich was the greatest thing I have ever eaten in my life.

Looks like I’m kicking David’s ass in this blog was. Ball’s in your court, Mueller.

snurkin

Tallahassee

What can I say about Tallahassee that hasn't already been said? What has already been said? This show was at Club Down Under in the Florida State University Student Union. We played with an In The Red band called The Intelligence. The whole thing went smoothly, everything was well organized. We were fed and even got Oreos. Actually The Intelligence got Oreos and we got Chips Ahoy. By the next day they tasted like Soft Batch though. I always hated soft batch. Luckily, The Intelligence traded us a couple Oreos for a couple Chips Ahoy. I didn't even care when those went soft the next day because, you know they were Oreos.

After the show we got to hang out with our old friends Malcolm and Sara who have a great little house near the university. Malcolm said he'd take us by the Chi Omega house where Ted Bundy killed several Co-eds (of course that term is only ever used in pornography and true crime stories, otherwise they're just called female students) but we never made it. Got me thinking though. I looked up Ted Bundy's Wikipedia page. I don't recommend it. It gave me a nightmare the next morning about some guy who murders his girlfriend on the way to a Red Fang concert and stuffs her body in a grain car. It was pitch black inside the car and it scared me so bad I woke up but my eyes wouldn't open right away and for a second I thought I was the murdered girlfriend. Chilling. Couldn't go back to sleep. Then we left for New Orleans, which was great and I'd love to tell you about it but instead you'll have to sit through Scott's lackluster, phoned in account cause it's his turn now. Take it away, Nurkin.

Tour Blog Battle - Day 1

Well David and I are going to go head to head in a blog war. Basically we will be switching off each day giving you a play-by-play account of our current tour. I'm gonna kick it off. Here I go. Ready?

Tuesday, September 22 - Athens, Georgia. Caledonia Lounge w/ Dark Meat and Hot Breath

It's been awhile since we've toured. Wait, no it hasn't. We had about a week off from our ATP trip so that was a completely false statement. But none of that matters anymore because I'm talking about the now, dude. From the start: The big white Chef's Hat we call our van picked me up at our usual drop on 40 and we drove the super non-scenic 6.5 hours to Athens, Georgia. It was overcast mostly. Once we arrived we hung out and waited for the place to open. David and I went for American/Mexican at some place called Burrirribetos or something. It wasn't bad. It wasn't good.

Eventually we loaded and settled in for the big wait. We hadn't actually played all together in 10 days or so so I was pretty excited to put a bangin' donk on it. Which we indeed did, although not before the doomish/punk stylings of Hot Breath, who are a three piece with a girl playing blast beats (occasionally) on drums which was a first for me. I enjoyed a lot of it. They reminded me of Schlong.

Next up us. We slayed.

Then came the psychedelic freak show known as Dark Meat. There were some new people on stage. So new in fact that they literally did not know the music. Which frankly didn't matter that much. I will say that as per usual, Dark Meat was impressive and fun as hell to watch. It was very good. Jim is a great battle commander and somehow manages to navigate the chaos surprisingly well. I think I would have a meltdown playing drums for a group that size. The crowd seemed to be in good spirits for a Tuesday and we eventually left with a happy, warm feeling. Also, I'd like to mention that the bartender at the Caledonia was especially nice and anticipatory.

This warm feeling could be due to the fact that we retired to the excellent Microtel which I found to be a great sleep. Incidentally, earlier in the night, a group of construction workers were grilling up right outside the hotel and offered Craig a taco. He brought it back to the van to share. It was the most delicious thing I have ever put in my mouth. Some sort of jalapeno marinated flank steak or something. Holy
crap it was good.

Ok we are in Talahassee right now getting ready to leave the hotel, but I'll let David tell you all about that. Take it away, David!

snurkin