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Really great trip with Mary Beth this weekend. Let's get into it! Backing up to Friday, I had some interesting news from my director (my manager's manager), but I'll get into that more when I actually know more (hopefully). There was some lip syncing contest after lunch. I didn't stick around but they had Mempops there so I grabbed an arnold palmer popsicle on my way out. Got home and Mary Beth and I were off to the eastern side of Tennessee. Weather was pretty crappy on the drive up. Lots of rain. Then there was as really bad traffic backup a little before the Tennessee River (actually its source was a bit after the river, but we got into it a few miles back). When we first hit it, we were dead stopped for a good while. Eventually it slowly started to move. The whole thing set us back over an hour. But we eventually made it. We stopped for dinner at Culver's in Murfreesboro. There was a clown there and that was weird. We made it to our hotel not too late. I thought where we were staying was in the Eastern time zone because I thought of it as near Chattanooga which I know is, but I guess it's just on this side of the line.
We stayed at this place called the Smokehouse Lodge. We even had a cabin. Sort of by luck. Mary Beth was looking for a place with a bathtub 'cuz she's been longing to take a bath since we can't in our apartment. Their website said they had tubs, but she asked to make sure after booking the room. They said only their cabins have the tubs and not the regular rooms, but since there was a mistake on the site they'd upgraded us to a cabin for no extra! It was pretty nice. I mean, the tub was the central feature. It was nice sized with whirlpool jets. We made up for lost time and spent a lot of the time this weekend in it. That's what we did the night we got in. Mary Beth even brought bubble bars and bath bombs. It was pretty swank. The next morning we walked over to the restaurant next to the hotel (the actual smokehouse it gets its name from). The meats in the breakfast were really good and flavorful, some of the other stuff was just okay but not bad all in all. I'd brought Georgia Peach Coke up from home for my drinking pleasure and then they had it in their gift store so I got some MORE! After that it was just spending the day until the show in the bath with the jets and the bubbles. We spent I think close to like four hours in there. Then out and back up to the restaurant for the lunch/dinner meal. I got a brisket sandwich and it was really good. I was pleasantly surprised by the brisket. Maybe the best I've had outside Texas (which, it wasn't anywhere near THAT, but much better than the dry stuff you tend to avoid most everywhere else, I figured it was a reasonably safe bet since it's a smokehouse and all and they might actually give the meat proper time and they already had a good track record with their breakfast meats). Anyway, good lunch, off to the show!
We get out of the restaurant and it's gone from drizzly to just ominously foggy. Mary Beth joked that Sunn O))) went all out with their stage/lighting show. We took a nice winding drive through the country and mountains looking at the fog around. After getting to Pelham, the town that the venue is in, it's a good drive down a series of small gravel roads to get there. We were there just a little early but we got our tickets and waited in line to be let in, on a path down to the cave! It's a pretty cool experience. And then, yeah, Sunn O))) in a fucking cave. It was obviously too perfect to miss. Saw tons and tons of friends from home (and other parts of the state) at the show. It's in the middle of nowhere, but the people came out in droves for it. It eventually filled the cave (which is a pretty good sized venue, not an endless series of caverns as I'd kinda imagined, but a nice-sized hole in the mountain). I'd guesstimate about 500 people just going by looks, at least, maybe more? I don't know I'm not good at that kind of guessing. They were playing Scott Walker on the overhead, The Drift and the Tilt. Papa M was supposed to open but he'd made an announcement on show day that he just checked himself into a hospital and couldn't make it. Hope he's alright, I know he's had a tough time these past years. So it was just Sunn O))) playing. They did their thing and came out in the robes and it was in a fucking cave so it was all pretty perfect. They had a wall of amps (Sunn and Ampeg, a couple Twin Reverbs almost hidden behind the synths). It was absolutely the platonic form of what you would hope a Sunn O))) show would be. It was loud and forceful and totally Earth 2: "Like Gold and Faceted"-ed up. Just droning out heavy fucking chords. It was one continuous piece for an hour with chords changing so slowly. Then they did like a thirty minute encore. It was the two regular dudes on guitar, Tim Midyett on bass, and two other guys I don't know on synths (one on trombone sometimes). It was a force. It was totally like the voice of the mountain or some shit. Anyway, I'm blathering and that won't help describe the experience, but yeah, great show. Picked up some merch afterwards, a couple shirts and a few cds: Sunn O))): Life Metal, Sunn O))) & Ulver: Terrestrials, and Sunn O))): The GrimmRobe Demos.
After we got back to the hotel, it was a couple more hours in the hottub before bed! Then we got up today and had breakfast (though I had a "lunch" of a brisket plate) before heading out. Decided to make a stop in Nashville on the (sort of) way home. Okay, I wanted to do some record shopping at Grimey's like the pathetic nerd I am. It was my first time at their new location. Okay, so here's what I got: AC/DC: For Those about to Rock We Salute You; Jlin: Autobiography; Cose Fanni Tutti: Tutti; Rachel's: Handwriting LP; Venetian Snares: The Chocolate Wheelchair Album; v/a: Venezuela 70 Volume 2; v/a: Switched-On Eugene; v/a: Unusual Sounds; v/a: Habibi Funk; Betty Davis: s/t; John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies: Halloween soundtrack; and Bardo Pond: Volume 8. Then we got ice cream at Jeni's and it was heavenly! Then we stopped and grabbed burgers at Grillshack, though we were too full to eat them then, couldn't just pass up the chance at their awesome burgers while right there. I didn't have mine til we got back home. The drive in was uneventful (which was nice, weather nice too, much different from the drive in). We stopped by Fresh Market to pick up some groceries and now we're home. Really good trip! Great show and relaxing times. Woo.
We stayed at this place called the Smokehouse Lodge. We even had a cabin. Sort of by luck. Mary Beth was looking for a place with a bathtub 'cuz she's been longing to take a bath since we can't in our apartment. Their website said they had tubs, but she asked to make sure after booking the room. They said only their cabins have the tubs and not the regular rooms, but since there was a mistake on the site they'd upgraded us to a cabin for no extra! It was pretty nice. I mean, the tub was the central feature. It was nice sized with whirlpool jets. We made up for lost time and spent a lot of the time this weekend in it. That's what we did the night we got in. Mary Beth even brought bubble bars and bath bombs. It was pretty swank. The next morning we walked over to the restaurant next to the hotel (the actual smokehouse it gets its name from). The meats in the breakfast were really good and flavorful, some of the other stuff was just okay but not bad all in all. I'd brought Georgia Peach Coke up from home for my drinking pleasure and then they had it in their gift store so I got some MORE! After that it was just spending the day until the show in the bath with the jets and the bubbles. We spent I think close to like four hours in there. Then out and back up to the restaurant for the lunch/dinner meal. I got a brisket sandwich and it was really good. I was pleasantly surprised by the brisket. Maybe the best I've had outside Texas (which, it wasn't anywhere near THAT, but much better than the dry stuff you tend to avoid most everywhere else, I figured it was a reasonably safe bet since it's a smokehouse and all and they might actually give the meat proper time and they already had a good track record with their breakfast meats). Anyway, good lunch, off to the show!
We get out of the restaurant and it's gone from drizzly to just ominously foggy. Mary Beth joked that Sunn O))) went all out with their stage/lighting show. We took a nice winding drive through the country and mountains looking at the fog around. After getting to Pelham, the town that the venue is in, it's a good drive down a series of small gravel roads to get there. We were there just a little early but we got our tickets and waited in line to be let in, on a path down to the cave! It's a pretty cool experience. And then, yeah, Sunn O))) in a fucking cave. It was obviously too perfect to miss. Saw tons and tons of friends from home (and other parts of the state) at the show. It's in the middle of nowhere, but the people came out in droves for it. It eventually filled the cave (which is a pretty good sized venue, not an endless series of caverns as I'd kinda imagined, but a nice-sized hole in the mountain). I'd guesstimate about 500 people just going by looks, at least, maybe more? I don't know I'm not good at that kind of guessing. They were playing Scott Walker on the overhead, The Drift and the Tilt. Papa M was supposed to open but he'd made an announcement on show day that he just checked himself into a hospital and couldn't make it. Hope he's alright, I know he's had a tough time these past years. So it was just Sunn O))) playing. They did their thing and came out in the robes and it was in a fucking cave so it was all pretty perfect. They had a wall of amps (Sunn and Ampeg, a couple Twin Reverbs almost hidden behind the synths). It was absolutely the platonic form of what you would hope a Sunn O))) show would be. It was loud and forceful and totally Earth 2: "Like Gold and Faceted"-ed up. Just droning out heavy fucking chords. It was one continuous piece for an hour with chords changing so slowly. Then they did like a thirty minute encore. It was the two regular dudes on guitar, Tim Midyett on bass, and two other guys I don't know on synths (one on trombone sometimes). It was a force. It was totally like the voice of the mountain or some shit. Anyway, I'm blathering and that won't help describe the experience, but yeah, great show. Picked up some merch afterwards, a couple shirts and a few cds: Sunn O))): Life Metal, Sunn O))) & Ulver: Terrestrials, and Sunn O))): The GrimmRobe Demos.
After we got back to the hotel, it was a couple more hours in the hottub before bed! Then we got up today and had breakfast (though I had a "lunch" of a brisket plate) before heading out. Decided to make a stop in Nashville on the (sort of) way home. Okay, I wanted to do some record shopping at Grimey's like the pathetic nerd I am. It was my first time at their new location. Okay, so here's what I got: AC/DC: For Those about to Rock We Salute You; Jlin: Autobiography; Cose Fanni Tutti: Tutti; Rachel's: Handwriting LP; Venetian Snares: The Chocolate Wheelchair Album; v/a: Venezuela 70 Volume 2; v/a: Switched-On Eugene; v/a: Unusual Sounds; v/a: Habibi Funk; Betty Davis: s/t; John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies: Halloween soundtrack; and Bardo Pond: Volume 8. Then we got ice cream at Jeni's and it was heavenly! Then we stopped and grabbed burgers at Grillshack, though we were too full to eat them then, couldn't just pass up the chance at their awesome burgers while right there. I didn't have mine til we got back home. The drive in was uneventful (which was nice, weather nice too, much different from the drive in). We stopped by Fresh Market to pick up some groceries and now we're home. Really good trip! Great show and relaxing times. Woo.
