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The Family Ghost tour #1
May. 10th, 2011 08:23 pmThe show on Thursday went pretty well. Quite a few people turned out, which was nice. Our set went something like (okay, exactly like) this:
A Series of False Starts
Taken
Histrionics
Like Clockwork
Doctorate
Our first show with a non-band member filling in. We sounded pretty great with Todd though. The fucking drum synth just wouldn't power on, that was the only bad thing. Pretty annoying though, I've been choosing not to think about it, however. I left and loaded gear back as soon as we were done as I had to work in the morning (up at the chipper hour of 5:30 am). What little of Whose Army?'s set I heard as we were packing was good. Anyway, I get back and lay down and am still full of adrenaline and had trouble getting to sleep right away. I was in a good mood on Friday in spite of being tired. I ran off for home as soon as I could to get ready for the BIG (i.e. small) tour. Jacques arrived a little later than planned due to hangups at the van rental place. At least with Todd backing out we were able to save a ton of money on which van we rented.
So off it was, driving to St. Louis. While driving, we saw a LOT of water. The Mississippi's obviously a lot higher than it was last week or whenever, when we went downtown. Of course the other side of the river just fucking goes and goes. It's apparently 3 miles wide (a sextuple increase of its typical 1/2). I'm just thankful for that ol' bluff we're on. Anyway, all along the way to St. Louis is a whole lot more flooding. One point we crossed had been flooded on the interstate and there were crews and pumps and shit and you could tell they were just holding the water back. The one exit we took for lunch was flooded over on the offramp (not horribly, but we had to drive over some water). We got to the venue without any problems, a little late but not terribly so. The local band played first and their group of fans left. We did have some turnout. Someone Jacques and The Bismarck know from online and his friends were there. The Bismarck played first and we were last. We had to shorten the set as we ran into some problems setting up (this time my Boss delay/sampler box of extreme awesomeness decided to break). This show went like this:
A Series of False Starts
Taken
Like Clockwork
Doctorate
The Bismarck's drummer, Dan, filled in as our replacement. This show was the only time he's ever played with us and he was great. He pretty much nailed everything with some details that even surprised me. On the road, my Taurus seemed to impress a lot of people (at home too, I guess). Afterwards, we went and hung out with Carlin (the local dude I mentioned that came out and brought friends), who was giving Jacques and me a place to crash. He took us to this pinball bar and we played a little pinball, but we weren't there long 'cuz Jacques and I'd had some trouble finding it. Then we went to this Italian place that was apparently open late 'cuz everyone wasn't done with the nightlife and drinkin' and such. There did happen to be this really good jazz combo playing: Dave Stone Jazz Trio. The drummer was pretty mindblowing. We finally went back to his place and I got to sleep in a bed and, in spite of the relatively short duration of sleep given the severe lack accumulated from previous nights, I slept great! I was super refreshed and the shower was nice too.
So, back to the road again. I drove this leg of the trip. Nothing too eventful except for seeing more flooded shit. We get to the venue and we're apprently a bit early. The Bismarck had already arrived and the venue wasn't open yet and we sat around and stuff. The Bismarck dudes were a lot of fun to hang out with. Then, uh, yeah, the venue opens and blah blah things seem kinda weird in there. It doen't look like any sort of show is happening. One of the dudes checks his phone and apparently the show had been cancelled the night before (while they were playing) and his phone didn't inform him of his messages etcetera. Well, this was Derby Day in Louisville, KY. The fucking venue (Cahoots, by the way, if you're ever there please scorn this place) didn't realize it had booked a show on Derby Day and decided it didn't actually want a show on Derby Day so they cancelled it out from under us. It would've been nice to know before unnecessarily driving to this city, but oh well. We had a nice run of one out of town show, anyway. Well, so we just start walking down the street and end up at some bar. Someone recognized Dan from his Police Teeth shirt and moustache. But he was working at this pizza place. I think he told us the bar to go to. The guy who'd set up the show for us ended up meeting us there eventually. The Bismarck, due to weird circumstances of one of their girlfriend's grandmother's funeral, ended up driving back to St. Louis. As we were all breaking up I asked the guy who met us there if he had any recommendations for something to do or somewhere to eat. He then replied something like, "oh, you're not leaving too?" and ignored my question. Thanks, dildo face. Anyway, Jacques and I faired alright. We just started driving down the street again and saw this one place that seemed interesting, kept going, and then went back to it when there was nothing else. This place was Spinelli's Pizzeria. We got a ton of delicious pizza and crab fries (that were amazing fries though not as crablike as the name led me to believe). There was a mural painted of Burt Reynolds's classic Cosmo bearskin rug pose. One of their t-shirts was a nod to Public Enemy with their logo and saying "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" on the back so I bought it. We eventually made it out of Lousville's clusterfuck of the hip section of town where our show was supposed to be (this was Derby Day, after all). The Bismarck let us use their motel that was paid for (the one dude apparently gets rooms for super super cheap). So that was nice, this was about 50 miles outside of the city back towards Memphis.
Another pretty good sleep and back towards home. Nothing too eventful on the way back. After Nashville, we took an exit in something like one of its suburbs to eat and switch driving duties. We drove down a little ways and saw a CD Warehouse so stopped in as we were making good time. I got a couple of things: Aphex Twin: 26 Mixes for Cash and Fennesz: Field Recordings 1995:2002. We got in at a pretty decent time and there's our big tour story! I'm sure there's more memorable moments I've forgotten. Maybe I'll remember them later.
What else? More working. This afternoon after I got off Mary Beth and I went downtown to check out the river at its peak. And I'd been looking at pictures and shit, but yeah, pretty fucking insane. It only gets into downtown (not counting the park by the river and shit) right there where Beale St. hits Riverside Dr. and it's only a tiny little corner of the flooding, but it's still a completely unfathomable amount of water (not, of course, in the literal sense of the word). We wandered around and were looking at everything and Mud Island's new form of a few small bumps when a fucking bird shits on Mary Beth (this is her second time of that happening, the last was in Madison, WI). So back home and yeah, that's about it. The mighty Mississippi.
A Series of False Starts
Taken
Histrionics
Like Clockwork
Doctorate
Our first show with a non-band member filling in. We sounded pretty great with Todd though. The fucking drum synth just wouldn't power on, that was the only bad thing. Pretty annoying though, I've been choosing not to think about it, however. I left and loaded gear back as soon as we were done as I had to work in the morning (up at the chipper hour of 5:30 am). What little of Whose Army?'s set I heard as we were packing was good. Anyway, I get back and lay down and am still full of adrenaline and had trouble getting to sleep right away. I was in a good mood on Friday in spite of being tired. I ran off for home as soon as I could to get ready for the BIG (i.e. small) tour. Jacques arrived a little later than planned due to hangups at the van rental place. At least with Todd backing out we were able to save a ton of money on which van we rented.
So off it was, driving to St. Louis. While driving, we saw a LOT of water. The Mississippi's obviously a lot higher than it was last week or whenever, when we went downtown. Of course the other side of the river just fucking goes and goes. It's apparently 3 miles wide (a sextuple increase of its typical 1/2). I'm just thankful for that ol' bluff we're on. Anyway, all along the way to St. Louis is a whole lot more flooding. One point we crossed had been flooded on the interstate and there were crews and pumps and shit and you could tell they were just holding the water back. The one exit we took for lunch was flooded over on the offramp (not horribly, but we had to drive over some water). We got to the venue without any problems, a little late but not terribly so. The local band played first and their group of fans left. We did have some turnout. Someone Jacques and The Bismarck know from online and his friends were there. The Bismarck played first and we were last. We had to shorten the set as we ran into some problems setting up (this time my Boss delay/sampler box of extreme awesomeness decided to break). This show went like this:
A Series of False Starts
Taken
Like Clockwork
Doctorate
The Bismarck's drummer, Dan, filled in as our replacement. This show was the only time he's ever played with us and he was great. He pretty much nailed everything with some details that even surprised me. On the road, my Taurus seemed to impress a lot of people (at home too, I guess). Afterwards, we went and hung out with Carlin (the local dude I mentioned that came out and brought friends), who was giving Jacques and me a place to crash. He took us to this pinball bar and we played a little pinball, but we weren't there long 'cuz Jacques and I'd had some trouble finding it. Then we went to this Italian place that was apparently open late 'cuz everyone wasn't done with the nightlife and drinkin' and such. There did happen to be this really good jazz combo playing: Dave Stone Jazz Trio. The drummer was pretty mindblowing. We finally went back to his place and I got to sleep in a bed and, in spite of the relatively short duration of sleep given the severe lack accumulated from previous nights, I slept great! I was super refreshed and the shower was nice too.
So, back to the road again. I drove this leg of the trip. Nothing too eventful except for seeing more flooded shit. We get to the venue and we're apprently a bit early. The Bismarck had already arrived and the venue wasn't open yet and we sat around and stuff. The Bismarck dudes were a lot of fun to hang out with. Then, uh, yeah, the venue opens and blah blah things seem kinda weird in there. It doen't look like any sort of show is happening. One of the dudes checks his phone and apparently the show had been cancelled the night before (while they were playing) and his phone didn't inform him of his messages etcetera. Well, this was Derby Day in Louisville, KY. The fucking venue (Cahoots, by the way, if you're ever there please scorn this place) didn't realize it had booked a show on Derby Day and decided it didn't actually want a show on Derby Day so they cancelled it out from under us. It would've been nice to know before unnecessarily driving to this city, but oh well. We had a nice run of one out of town show, anyway. Well, so we just start walking down the street and end up at some bar. Someone recognized Dan from his Police Teeth shirt and moustache. But he was working at this pizza place. I think he told us the bar to go to. The guy who'd set up the show for us ended up meeting us there eventually. The Bismarck, due to weird circumstances of one of their girlfriend's grandmother's funeral, ended up driving back to St. Louis. As we were all breaking up I asked the guy who met us there if he had any recommendations for something to do or somewhere to eat. He then replied something like, "oh, you're not leaving too?" and ignored my question. Thanks, dildo face. Anyway, Jacques and I faired alright. We just started driving down the street again and saw this one place that seemed interesting, kept going, and then went back to it when there was nothing else. This place was Spinelli's Pizzeria. We got a ton of delicious pizza and crab fries (that were amazing fries though not as crablike as the name led me to believe). There was a mural painted of Burt Reynolds's classic Cosmo bearskin rug pose. One of their t-shirts was a nod to Public Enemy with their logo and saying "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" on the back so I bought it. We eventually made it out of Lousville's clusterfuck of the hip section of town where our show was supposed to be (this was Derby Day, after all). The Bismarck let us use their motel that was paid for (the one dude apparently gets rooms for super super cheap). So that was nice, this was about 50 miles outside of the city back towards Memphis.
Another pretty good sleep and back towards home. Nothing too eventful on the way back. After Nashville, we took an exit in something like one of its suburbs to eat and switch driving duties. We drove down a little ways and saw a CD Warehouse so stopped in as we were making good time. I got a couple of things: Aphex Twin: 26 Mixes for Cash and Fennesz: Field Recordings 1995:2002. We got in at a pretty decent time and there's our big tour story! I'm sure there's more memorable moments I've forgotten. Maybe I'll remember them later.
What else? More working. This afternoon after I got off Mary Beth and I went downtown to check out the river at its peak. And I'd been looking at pictures and shit, but yeah, pretty fucking insane. It only gets into downtown (not counting the park by the river and shit) right there where Beale St. hits Riverside Dr. and it's only a tiny little corner of the flooding, but it's still a completely unfathomable amount of water (not, of course, in the literal sense of the word). We wandered around and were looking at everything and Mud Island's new form of a few small bumps when a fucking bird shits on Mary Beth (this is her second time of that happening, the last was in Madison, WI). So back home and yeah, that's about it. The mighty Mississippi.
