Friday, May 2nd at Redlight Redlight

The first Friday of each month, at a bar called Redlight Redlight in Winter Park there is held an event called The Sabbath Sessions. Organized by Jordan and Heather Lee Wynn, it is an opportunity for musicians and other artists to come together and perform/produce their art side-by-side. Usually a few bands play 30 minute sets, while a painter paints something, a sculptor sculpts something, a filmmaker projects a film on a wall, or whatever. Artists being exposed to other types of artists and hopefully everyone enjoying everyone else.

MakeSoundGood played there last month and Lindsey talked a lot about how much fun it was, and I think she helped put a good word in for me. I played this month’s Sabbath Session. I believe this one was kind of thrown together last-minute because RedlightRedlight is moving locations so there were some questions about whether or not a Sabbath Session could be held this month. But, obviously, it happened.

There was no visual artist this month, but myself, The Holden Boys, and 22Blaac played music.

I played first to a crowd that was mediocre by Redlight standards, but large by mine. However, a large crowd does not a good show make, and after I played my first song and only about 4 people in attendance stopped talking to watch me, I knew it was going to be another one of those bar shows. meh. Well, I played my songs to whomever listened. I really couldn’t hear myself very well, and my friends standing directly in front of me couldn’t hear my between-song-banter, but I played through it and I just hope that a few people took copies of my CD that were sitting by the door. Seems like every show I’ve played in Orlando, except the one in Lindseys living room and the one at Dandelion, have been excused as “Well, lets just hope that a couple people heard it and liked it, and MAYBE they’ll come to another show.”

The Holden Boys played after me. The singer and I spoke a bit before the show. He seemed like a nice guy. Their music was pretty good. Kind of a folksy, honky-tonk sound. Very minimal drums and upright bass with acoustic guitar and mouth harp. It was fun.

22Blaac was the last band. Cover band from somewhere outside the city. I talked to the singer a bit before the show and he was mildly responsive to my attempts at conversation, but all in all seemed way more interested in talking to Heather Lee Wynn. They opened with a lifeless cover of “Whipping Post” and after that I just kind of tuned them out. They were of a volume, and had drawn enough baggy-jeaned, goateed boys and sparkly-shirted girls, that I didn’t feel bad turning my attention to my friends and talking with them.

So, this performance was chalked up to “I hope Jordan and Heather Lee Wynn liked my stuff. And if the Holden Boys want me to play with them sometime, that would be cool.” There are so many reminders here of why this is all so much easier in Richmond. And…I’m not trying to whine. Richmond is still not easy if you’re just moving there and don’t know anyone. But I feel confident that if someone spent the amount of time in Richmond that I have spend in Orlando, doing just what I’ve been doing, the Richmonder would have gotten much farther and met many more like-minded musicians.

Now, what was I talking about before?? Oh yeh, movies I’ve recently seen. Anchors Aweigh - Manhattan Murder Mystery - The Simpsons Movie - Great World of Sound - Dr. Strangelove (or how I….) - Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Killer Shrews - 30 Days Of Night - 13 Conversations About One Thing - and Juno

Juno is the film about which I want to say something. I didn’t bother seeing this in the theaters because, though it looked funny, I am very picky about what I pay to see in a theater. So I pretty much forgot about it until it came out on video. Then all of a sudden I keep hearing all this talk about how ‘pretentious’ and ’scenester’ and ‘cool’ it tries to be. Making reference to all this semi-obscure music and movies and stuff in a pathetic attempt to seem hip and underground and to earn some sort of cred, even though it won an Oscar. So I sort of lost interest in it, I mean, it was never a movie I was dying to see, so if it sucks anyway, then thats all well and good for me. One less movie to put on my queue.

But my girlfriend saw it a while ago and, although she sometimes likes really TERRIBLE movies, she knows what I like, so if she says I’ll enjoy something, I will usually give it a shot. Shes not always correct, but I am a patient boyfriend who can look past her faults.

I watched Juno last week and I did enjoy it. I enjoyed it a lot. Its cute. I didnt think that the music references were too over-the-top. They were believable. Like it or not, we are getting to (or have passed) the age where movies are trying to appeal to us by touching on what we know. It is totally believable that Jason Bateman’s character played in a band that once opened up for the Melvins. I remember being a teenager and owning that If I Were A Carpenter tribute album with the Sonic Youth version of ‘Superstar’ on it, and I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever heard! And that was probably 8 years ago. AND OF COURSE Ellen Page’s character loves late 70s punk and Dario Argento movies and talks about her tastes as if they are the be-all-end-all of coolness. She’s a TEENAGER. Teenagers are supposed to be obnoxious and think they are smarter than everyone. They’re SUPPOSED to walk around (especially the ones who are ‘outcasts’ and ‘wierdos’ who might be able to grow into reasonably interesting people) thinking that adults are all stupid squares who don’t know anything about anything. Thats how I was when I was a teenager. I was a little twerp. I thought I was so rebellious and interesting, and free-thinking. Luckily, most of us grow out of that so that we can now look back on ourselves and laugh.

I thought Juno was cute. I especially liked the Moldy Peaches songs on it, first because they fit really well, and secondly because, several years ago, my then-girlfriend put “Anyone Else But You” on a mixtape for me early on in our relationship, so that song bears pleasant memories anytime I hear it.

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note to Tracy: This whole Juno rant is not just based on your brief Juno post. I wouldn’t want you to think that I’m lashing out at you just because you have the job I would love….and a record collection for which I would kill….and a life that makes me salivate…..and a husband for whom I pine through every dream……no no no…..its nothing like that….

Last Thursday April 17th, I played at Taste in Orlando.

This was another of the Preacher Bill Presents: Acoustic Appreciation shows, which happen every Thursday at Taste.
I know that these are just a tiny step away from an open-mic, but at this point I have not ruled out playing some open-mics around here just for the sake of playing out. And, I’ve done three of these so far, and it’s not that bad. Preacher Bill is a nice guy, at least a few people in the audience compliment me and enjoy what I’m doing. And sometimes there are only 2 or 3 people IN the audience, so to win an entire crowd feels good.
This time, I played 3rd of 4.
A kid named Patrick Bell played first. He was pretty good, but several of his songs were about suicide and similar topics. My problem is not that they were addressed, it just felt like the lyrics relating to these (and most other) topics were a bit ….”immature”? “Young”? Understand?
After him was a two piece called Chris With A ‘Z.’ I’m not sure if this was their real name or not. One guy playing guitar and singing, another on drums. I don’t remember much about this band. I sort of lost interest and went inside my head after a couple songs, so I can’t tell you much, other than the fact that I wasn’t impressed.
I played a short set. It was fine.
After me was Stephen Rock, who played at Lindsey’s party back in March with myself, POOPS, MakeSoundGood, and Birdie And Her Girly Nerves. I enjoyed him more this time. He’s a nice guy, we chatted a bit before he played. And I like his music. Some of the lyrics still feel kind-of contrived, but the delivery is pleasing.
I need to write some new songs. I’ve a lot on my mind…it just isn’t coming out.

And for anyone who lives down here, I’m not alone in thinking that Orlando Weekly is an unreadable piece of garbage, right? It’s very unfortunate that there exists in Orlando no other free, easily-accessible paper from which I can get information about upcoming shows. Because, even though it is free and I don’t have to read the whole thing, I pick it up and after checking the music section, I find myself thumbing through the rest and lingering on articles which might interest me. These articles have consistently proven to be very poorly written and usually so over-saturated with whatever ridiculously childish bias Orlando Weekly thinks it’s cool to push this week from their textbook left-wing lets-hate-on-everything-but-never-offer-improvements-or-reasonable -arguments writers that making it through an entire article becomes harder than being green. Richmond can relate with Style Weekly. I’m sure every city has one.

proving

Its 11pm on a Saturday night and I’m sitting alone in my apartment. I’ve nothing specific to do tonight and the four people whom I know in this town are unavailable. But its okay. I don’t really feel like doing much tonight anyway. I got off work at 3, fell asleep on the couch watching The Powerpuff Girls Movie, which is a very good movie. When I woke up, I rewound it and watched the parts I missed. I used to own it, but it was stolen and probably sold for drugs. About an hour ago I rode my bike to Blockbuster and turned in The Powerpuff Girls and La Vie En Rose (which was excellent. I think the girl who played Edith Piaf won an Oscar for this, and she deserves it.), and got the first disc of this show called Tin Man, which is a mini-series on the Sci-Fi Channel. Its supposed to be a take on The Wizard Of Oz. Sticking to the original Frank Baum books. And although most shows on The Sci-Fi Channel suck, this one has quality actors like Alan Cummings and Richard Dreyfus, and it has gotten some good press, so I’m going to give it a shot.

Orlando has proven itself to be a completely bike UN-friendly town. And not for the sake of all the bike lanes and such. But for the pricks who drive around here. After moving here, it was less than a week before I was yelled at by a motorist, while doing nothing wrong. And I have been honked at more times than I can count, only in the past 9 months. (sigh) One more reason, I suppose.

I was thinking the other day about how many movies I’ve watched since coming back to Orlando. In the past 3 or 4 weeks I’ve watched: -No Country For Old Men - La Vie En Rose - The Powerpuff Girls Movie - Alien VS Predator: Requiem - Northfork - Walk Hard - Manhattan - A Midsummer Nights Sex Comedy - Nacho Libre - Love And Death - Once - Marathon Man….. and I know there have been some that Courtney has rented which I can not remember. But its been a lot. I seem to get tired a lot easier these days. I know that I have just not yet built up my energy and stamina to the level at which it used to be. And I know that it will just take time to get there again. But I’m getting frustrated. I want to want to leave the house more often. But I spend way too much time on the couch because I am just too tired to do much of anything else.

I changed the ‘appearance’ of my blog today. As I’m sure a lot of my long-time readers have noticed, every year or so I tend to change up my blog. Keeps things interesting. And, frankly, I get bored of one appearance, so I try another.

Oh, and of the above listed movies in my “recently viewed” file, the only one that I would NOT recommend is Alien VS Predator: Requiem. That movie was way too dark. And not in a thematic way. It was just dark, so I couldn’t see a lot of what was going on. And what I could see wasn’t that interesting.

Mouthbreather - 2 song 7″

“The worst day on tour is better than the best day at work.”

If you’ve ever been on tour, you agree. If you’ve never been on tour, open this record, read the lyrics and listen to these two songs and you’ll wish you were on tour right now. Two songs, “Forgainst The Kids” and “I Don’t Work In Restaurants For The Food,” that remind you of how much fun is available. And the churning, hollering type of post-hardcore that has come from Richmond, VA for years. For a band of dudes who, I’m sure, would never NEVER describe themselves as “posi,” these songs make me feel better than any songs have in a long time.

In twenty years, most of you will listen to this 7″ and remember how much you loved lip-sweating onto the mouth of your 40 with thirty other smelly people in someone’s dirty basement on a miserably hot summer night, watching great bands like Mouthbreather. Lots of the rest of you will remember how much you loved being the band. These two songs are important because of the nostalgia, longing, and smile-to-yourself satisfaction that they do, and will continue to inspire. And they’re also just a lot of fun.

www.myspace.com/mouthbreatherrva

Chris Cornell - Carry On

I know this is debatable, but Chris Cornell used to matter.  And, although not many people heard it, his first solo album, Euphoria Morning, was pretty good (despite having a really bad title).  This one, however, is just terrible.  Like, Boggy Depot-terrible.  One might try to excuse this by saying “Well, he was in a band with Tom Morello for a while.”  But that’s not enough.
This is the kind of album that young people can use as proof that old people are lame.

Brown Bird - Such Unrest

Choose one word to describe this album.

I choose “humility.”

I’ve heard of albums being “airy” or “hollow” or having a “silence in the spaces between the lyrics and the music where the listener can lay back their head onto a soft pillow of a peaceful emptiness.”  What does any of that even mean?

Such Unrest is very laid-back, and leaves one feeling…. not quite sad, but something like it that is less dreary. Overall, this album is full of romance and possibilities, but the music is so quiet that one could easily mistake it for sadness.  David Lamb’s whispered vocals are complimented well by his sparse guitar lines.  Jerusha Robinson lends to the sad feeling, as it often sounds as though her cello is actually moaning and weeping.  Jeremy Robinson restrains himself to the point of near anxiety for his banjo, accordian, toy piano, and other instruments.

Stated simply, this album is wonderful.  The songs are beautiful.

www.myspace.com/brownbird

The Breeders - Mountain Battles

This is a good album. I want to start with that because nothing else I write should detract from the fact that this is a good album. The problems arise when The Breeders put out two amazing, nearly perfect albums, 9 years apart, and then take 6 years to drop this. it’s a little disappointing.
Last Splash is, among other things, a road-trip essential due to its beginning-to-end excellence. Title TK excels in the same way, but with a totally different feel. There is not a song on either record over which you want to skip.
The first two tracks of Mountain Battles will reassure you that Kim Deal hasn’t spent the past 6 years writing lyrics. And I agree that one of the most winning attributes of The Breeders has been their ability to write freakishly great songs while obviously lacking in technical proficiency, but the guitar solo on “It’s The Love” does not sound like sloppy pop brilliance, or even a loving tribute to the songs original authors. It sounds like a 12 year old, who’s been playing guitar for a week, showing off to his parents. There are places on this album where the not-trying-too-hard sounds a lot like they’re trying too hard.
There are, however, several songs on here that are good and sound like The Breeders that we know. I would actually say that the majority of these songs sound like familiar Breeders. But I think that’s why I’m bored with them. This album doesn’t sound like it’s own entity. Songs like “Istanbul” and “German Studies” stand out as interesting, and “Regalame Esta Noche” can’t help but sound different with the Spanish lyrics and a guest guitarist.
Fans of The Breeder’s first album, Pod, will probably like this album a lot more. But I have been let down. It’s still good. Its just not as good as I hoped it would be.

Saturday, March 15th - last of a 9 day tour

45 minutes after the end of Day 8, I woke to begin Day 9. The Road Home. Not a very long road. Only a couple of hours back to Richmond. But if we lived 200 years ago it would probably be at least a day’s journey.

So it was 8am and others were beginning to stir. Jameson woke up on the bench seat behind me. Michael came out from wherever he had been invited to crash (probably even more tired after all that Duke-smoochin). Lindsey awoke from her couch annoyed because evidently Matt and I kept her awake with our all-night rap sesh.

MikeSoundGood tried one last time to contact a coworker to get his shift covered for Sunday. No luck. He was going back to Florida. This sucks. We were all sad to see him go. But glad that Lindsey was still coming to Richmond with us. At I-95 our van went north while Mike’s car turned south.

Nearing Richmond I felt an energy. An excitement. I’m not going to paint a romantically stylized vision of Richmond having some kind of special powers that draw the weary traveler back to her cobblestone shores. Any city for which one feels love can be a welcome sight upon return. And, to be honest, I had such a great time on this trip that I was more than ready to keep going. I would have loved to play another week and then come home. But I know the Pedals dudes were ready to be home. And the excitement that I felt was all for the sake of Lindsey. Since she and I met, I have been talking constantly about how much better Richmond is than Orlando. She never believes me; repping Florida harder than anyone else I’ve met. So now, even though we’ve only got one day, I’m going to get to show her what she’s been missing. I’m excited about this.

Over the past week I had been trying to gauge how much my vision had improved; trying to figure out if I would feel safe driving again. At this point I feel confident that I can. So after Lindsey and I each got showers and clean clothes at my parent’s house, I borrowed a car and took Lindsey on an abridged automobile tour of Richmond. From Southside we head up Powhite and get off in Carytown, wind through the Fan, down Meadow into Cracktown, past Maymont, through Byrd Park, across the Nickel Bridge, down Forest Hill, back up Belvidere, downtown past Belle Isle, Shokoe Slip, Shokoe Bottom, the Business District, Broad Street, VCU, Orgen Hill and ending up at Mojos for food. Obviously, I didnt get to show her everything that I wanted, but I think she got a decent introduction. She seemed to enjoy it.

Matt, Jameson, and Michael met us at Mojos, and after I finished my hot wings (for which I had been jonesin’), they took Lindsey for more fun in the city, while I went to Chris Carroll’s house so that the two of us could practice some songs for the show that night. Almost more exciting for me than showing Lindsey around, was the fact that Chris would be playing cello with me. I met Chris when I started playing bass for his band, Homemade Knives a year ago. He and I have a lot of mutual friends, but we’d never officially met each other. But in the past year he has been a great friend, and an invaluable musical accomplice. He has played every Richmond show with me since July and everyone who has seen us play together has raved about the incredible other layer that the cello adds to my songs. I agree. So since I’ve yet to come across a downside to Chris Carroll, I’m going to keep talking to him, playing with him, and caring about him.

At his house, we ran through a few songs and hung out for a minute, then went to Rumors, the clothing boutique that would be hosting tonight’s show. After dropping off equipment, we went next door to Harrison Street Coffee Shop for some beer. Talked to some folks there. Eventually headed back to Rumors to see Shannon Cleary play.

Shannon is a guy who I’ve known for a couple of years. He has an energy for playing and hosting shows that is refreshing. It was Shannon who put together most of the shows I played in 2006. I talked to him a bit before he played tonight and he told me that he was going to play his guitar differently. Kind of a more strumming thing. More use of the pick. It definitely made the songs sound fuller. Shannon’s solo acoustic songs remind me a little bit of Chris Terry’s solo acoustic songs. Just a little.

After Shannon was Horn & Tusk, which was a solo acoustic dude named Harris. New to me. It was great. Good voice. Solid songs. Kind of folk-punky, but not in that “chunka-chunka-chunka ‘we’re gonna fight for whats right!’” generic punk way.

After Harris, since one-half of MakeSoundGood was missing, Matt Seymour joined Lindsey on stage for one song by “MattSoundGood”. A little tune that the two of them had written earlier that day called “Thats my Otley,” a tribute to the drunken fun of our friend Michael. Lindsey then performed several of her solo ukulele songs. I heard lots of people complimenting her afterwards, which is great.

Chris and I played next. I had a good time. I feel like we played well. There were several people there who had not heard me play with Chris and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Lindsey and Matt, especially, had been hearing me play these songs for the past week, so I was glad for them to hear the two of us together.

Pedals On Our Pirate Ships played last. It was fun. It was a good time. I knew it would be. They’re a great band. I have had an incredible week with them.

After the show, Lindsey went with Pedals. They volunteered to take her to the Greyhound station at 2 am to catch a bus back to Orlando. Lame that she had to leave so soon, and doubly lame that she had a to ride a bus for 18 hours to get home, but we were all glad that she got to come at all. I went to Empire for my friend, Jet’s, birthday dance party. I was tired, so i didn’t stay long or drink anything. I went home and finished up this incredible week.

I have had such a great time over the past 9 days. I cannot thank POOPS and MakeSoundGood enough, along with all the people we’ve met, the floors that have been shared, the houses and places we’ve played, and the bands with whom we have played. It has been great. As I said before, I would love to just keep going for another few weeks. But maybe later on this year.

Thanks again, to everyone.

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I have several more pictures from this show, but all the links are coming up broken. So, if anyone is wondering, there’s your explanation.

Friday, March 14th

Awake at 8am! Day 8 began early. The restroom is used. No one else is awake. I don’t want to be either. I lay back down and Day 8 is paused for a while…

Okay. By 11am it felt a little more reasonable to begin Day 8. I talked to Luke a bit. Everyone woke up and loaded out. Said our thanks and goodbyes. Garret, whom Jameson met at the Nut House, bought us all breakfast at Gillie’s. Solid dude. Another example of a great person who’s kindness is the reason people like us have such a good time touring.

By 1pm we were on the road. 5 hours to Greenville, North Carolina.

I’ve noticed more on this trip than in the past how many run down buildings and crumbling shacks are located beside the highway. Particularly around Blacksburg and along I-81 and I-77 in Virginia and North Carolina. They look very cool, though their decrepit beauty is assuredly wasted on their owners. I want to take photos of them. Many look like they were once barns. Wood aged gray.

MikeSoundGood always drives. POOPS are in their van and I’m riding in Mike’s surprisingly roomy Element. He is even taller than me and he loves his car, so you know those things must be a lot bigger inside than they look. I’m not sure if Mike always drives because he likes driving, or if he’s got control issues and needs to drive, not unlike some other Mikes I know. Either way, “who’s driving?” is never a question asked. Which is fine with me. Unfortunately it turns out that Mike may have to be at work at 7am on Sunday in Orlando, which would mean MakeSoundGood would have to drive back on Saturday and could not play the Richmond show. He’s been trying to get his shift covered, but so far no luck. We’ll see…

Greenville is reached. Then, the Turducken House is found. We’ve arrived well ahead of Pedals. There is a Sheetz across the street, so we buy beer. There are some kids hanging around outside the House, but we’re about half an hour early, so we stay in our car. But after a minute, one of the guys approaches and asks if we’re a band. This guy is Jeff, the organizer of tonight’s show. He invites us over to hang with everyone and subsequently proves to be an incredibly nice dude. Really friendly and helpful. POOPS got to the House and so did more and more kids. We asked Jeff when the show would start?

“Whenever.” was the answer.

Cool with us. We were having a fine time drinking and hanging out.

A door was laid on a table outside and many rounds of flip-cup were played. I talked to several people and was consistently impressed with how easy-going and talkative were these natives of Greenville. I’m not a terribly talkative person, but on this trip, in the interest of meeting new people, networking, making friends, etc, I have been trying to be more outgoing than normal. Not sure how well I’ve done with this so far, but these folks at the Turducken House made it easy. Thanks to all of them.

Apparently there is a law in Greenville that no more than 3 unrelated persons may live in one residence. This was put in place to reduce the number of cars parked out front of apartments on the narrow streets around East Carolina University. Landlords get around this by having duplex houses, split into two side-by-side apartments, open in between. So 6 people can live in one good-sized house. Because of this, in the Turducken House, there are two living rooms. Tonight these two rooms would alternately host 2 noise bands, myself, another noise band, MakeSoundGood, a 4th noise band, and Pedals On Our Pirate Ships. The first noise band was a bass and drum duo called Snowstorm who played in front of a 9-foot inflatable light-up snowman. They were fairly interesting to watch and they only played for about 10 minutes. After that Dave Smollen set up a table on which he hit a microphone and amplified cymbal, all run through several effects pedals. He did this for about 15 minutes. I feel like these short sets are important to mention because, with noise music, I think there is a very palpable point where it goes from ‘interesting’ to ‘too much’ and not long after that it becomes ‘annoying.’ Neither of these two went too far. At least not for me. Others would probably disagree, in one direction or another.

I played next in the opposite living room to a good crowd. Then another noise band. I was outside during this one. I was about as full of noise as I could be. I drank and talked to people. MakeSoundGood were next. I sometimes forget how good of a guitarist MikeSoundGood is. He pulled off some very impressive finger-picking tonight. And he often plays chords that I cannot figure out. Before they began playing Lindsey let everyone know that they were a quiet band so they would appreciate it if everyone would stay silent while they played. And it worked pretty well. People shushed other people. Good idea, Lindsey.

Then another noise band. Outside, I once again joined the drinkers and talkers. MikeSoundGood was going to try one more time, tomorrow morning, to get his shift covered. If it didn’t happen, he would leave Greenville and head back to Orlando and Lindsey would ride with the rest of us to Richmond and find her way back home on Sunday.

Pedals On Our Pirate Ships played last to a great crowd. Lots of kids crammed into a dirty living room with a fun band. Me, standing atop a couch in the back. I was briefly hit with fond memories of The Membrane. About the same time, Michael was hit with the floor…for the second time. He was wasted and it was hilarious.

It was late when the music ended, but there was still much hanging out to be done. Still beer to be drank. Again, I’ll say that the people in Greenville are double plus people. Very friendly, very accommodating. I suppose because it is North Carolina, there were a couple of southern accents that we mistook for cartoonish non-reality, but none of that detracted from them being great.

Its funny how, being from West Virginia and Virginia, I never knew that I could place a lot of southern accents, but I really can tell a difference. People from West Virginia sound different than people from Virginia, and both sound different than people from the Carolinas. Friends from California or Florida will disagree. “All southern twangs are the same.” Not true. But I’m sure its the same as me not being able to tell the difference between a Polish and German accent.

By 4am most people had either gone to sleep or gone home. MikeSoundGood was asleep in this car, Jameson asleep in the van, Lindsey asleep on a couch, Michael asleep…somewhere (perhaps Duke Smooching on a lucky girl. Finally). The Turducken residents had warned us to be very cautious about locking the doors because there were past issues with homeless people and crackheads coming into their home at night. So I figured these were my options:

1. Sleeping bag on the extremely dirty floor (another way in which this house reminded me of the Membrane)

2. Sleep on a couch covered in dog hair and possibly having to wrestle with two rambunctious dogs all night.

3. Sleep sitting in an equally filthy chair.

4. Go out to the van and sleep on the open bench seat, but risk being the next victim of the Night Stalker or whatever crackhead might be wandering around outside.

5. Stay awake all night.

Matt is somewhat of an insomniac. I wasn’t tired. There was beer left. Decision made. Matt and I kept talking and drinking. I kept an eye on the window. I mean, it was already 4.30am when I decided this, so it would only take about 2 hours until the sun was up. Not that bad. Matt and I had some really good conversation. I’m also very glad that he and I have been able to talk a lot during this trip, getting to know each other better than I even hoped.

The windows brightened. Matt was falling asleep mid-sentence. It was about 6.45am. I went out to the van. He locked the door behind me and lay down on the dog couch.

Once outside, I still didn’t feel too tired. I’m not sure if it was just an extended excitement from a fun night, or all the angeldust in my system, but I decided to walk to Sheetz for some breakfast. And then, what did mine eyes behold, but a Krispy Kreme across the street!!!

And the “Hot Now” sign was calling to me!!!

Willingly, I was pulled inside. One dozen delicious melt-in-yr-mouth original glazed doughnuts were purchased, along with a small bottle of milk. I walked back to the van, enjoyed 6 of these “bagels of heaven” and ended Day 8 feeling completely satisfied.

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ps- If anyone in Greenville reads this, you should check out the Turducken House myspace page. They are moving in May so that house will die. But anyone who lives around there should go to their last show on April 25th. Places like that are important.

Thursday, March 13th

I must have had some wicked hot dreams, because when I woke up on Day 6 I was drenched in sweat, my prostitute was dead, and there was cocaine on my upper lip.

The last two aren’t true, but I did sweat a lot during the night. Probably had more to do with my two fine roomies than anything else.

Tim’s bedroom door only locks from the outside. Apparently it was made in Soviet Russia. He used today as an opportunity to lock his sleeping girlfriend inside when he left for work, knowing that the 3 of us sleeping in the living room could let her out. He thought it was funny. I agreed. The three girls did not. Girls don’t get jokes, though, so its okay. At 9am I woke to the sounds of Kate banging on the door, yelling for release. She almost climbed out the window. Hilarious.

We all went, with Pedals On Our Pirate Ships and MakeSoundGood, to a restaurant with vegan options called Zeta Janes. I ate french toast. It was okay. Not bad, really, but soggy in the middle and only three pieces of it. (like the old joke, “Ugh! The food was terrible, and the portions were so small!”) A cool little record store was visited and I found a Riot Before 7″. So, Brett and the rest, you can rest assured that your distro is at least getting as far as Charlotte.

We finished. The musicians loaded into our respective transports. We said goodbye. We headed to Blacksburg.

Lindsey slept.

Jameson played in public restrooms.

And before we knew it, we were there.

Michael knows this town well. His bands have played here many times. He knew where to park. He knew to lead everyone to Gillies for vegan dinner. I left them to that and walked around downtown, stopping to get a sandwich at some place called Billy Bobs, or Jimmy Jons, or Honest Earls, or something. Still hungry, I stopped in a bar and ordered a cheese quesadilla to go and, while waiting, I enjoyed a beer and watched a few minutes of a surprisingly exciting basketball game. I’m not into sports at all (I have the typical “more fun to play with friends than watch on TV” view like many non-athletic people who rarely play them), but during this game the two teams were scoring back and forth in rapid succession, so it stayed interesting until I finished my beer and got my food. I enjoyed my quesadilla in the car on the way to The NutHouse.

A large basement is where we would all play. The NutHouseis a great place for shows. Big, open basement with a door to the backyard so there’s no walking through the house. A table for merch at the back. Some couches. Dudes who are stoked to put on shows. Neighbors who don’t care. Kudos, Nuthouse.

I played first to the best crowd so far. A decent amount of kids and they were quiet! It was terribly exciting. I even got rid of a bunch of CDs. I played standing up for the first time in as long as I can remember. It felt strange. I’ve gotten so used to sitting down when I play. Not a big deal or a funny anecdote involved. I’m just sayin. My two cousins, Luke and Hannah, who are students at VA Tech, came out with their significant others, whom I had not yet met. They said that they enjoyed seeing me play. I’m fairly sure they also enjoyed MakeSoundGood after me. I enjoyed talking with them outside and catching up. We’d not done that in years.

While I was catching up with family, Pedals On Our Pirate Shipsplayed. It sounded good from outside and they sold some CDs so I assume it was a success.

Luke and I made plans for us travelers to sleep at his house that night, and my relatives excused themselves. I went inside and watched Imadethismistake, a two-piece from Tallahassee, FL, put on an entertaining set.

Hostile17, a local 5 person melodic hardcore band, finished the show.

Or so we thought! But then! Without warning!! Just when we thought it was over!!!

Those who did not leave the house meandered outside and gathered around a fire that had been built in the backyard. After some standard fireside small-talk among everyone, Matt got out his guitar. And as his sweet voice lilted around our ears and up into the trees, we all felt the gentle strains in his romantic lyrics…

“If it’s 10 against 2, and it’s just me and you, there’ll be 12 of us in the emergency roooooooom!”

Some other sing-alongs happened. I enjoyed the fire. Eventually everyone got bored and we drove to Lukes house. Two roommates had skipped out recently so there were two empty rooms which we were happy to fill with sleeping bags and sleeping peoples. I stayed up for a little while and talked to Luke and his girlfriend.

Matt stayed up and danced.

I fell asleep listening to Sigur Ros’ “( )” in my headphones.