7-29-04 Thursday
Austin - Lubbock

Day 1 of the tour. The old '93 VW Eurovan seemed totally fine. We bought a roof luggage rack and a clamshell to store our camping gear, clothes, etc. Our musical instruments were stuffed tightly into the back and in the middle of the van (we removed the middle passenger seat). 2 guys in front, 3 in back. We met in north Austin and headed out on 183 around noon. About the time we reached Cedar Park, the van's A/C went out.

Since the rear windows didn't open, we stopped in Brownwood to buy a fan to plug into the cigarette lighter. This is where we found the sticker that became the theme for the whole trip. Pulling out of the parking lot near us was a big pick-up truck with a sticker in the rear window. The sticker took up most of the rear window as they usually do in Texas. But instead of "No Fear" or "Guerrero" (in Old English text), sticker simply read, "Dammit, Boy!" in huge cursive letters. Though many more hilarious things were said, heard, and seen, this sticker was the pinnacle and we referred to it on stage (usually right at the beginning of songs) throughout the entire trip.

The venue (Klusoz) expected bands to play for 3 hours. Since we didn't have that much material, we invited Warren Jackson Hearne and his Merry Murdre of Gloomadeers to drive out from Denton and share the bill with us. On the road, we recieved an indecipherable message from Warren and we assumed the worst ---> that we'd be alone on the bill that night.

We arrived in Lubbock around 8 PM and went directly to the booking guy's house. After we figured out what had happened (wrong address) we went to Klusoz and set up our gear. We were glad to see Warren arrive about and hour after us.

The Gloomadeers set up in front of our stuff onstage and opened the night with over and hour of eerie sadness a la Nick Cave. The sound was decent but Warren's deep baritone was often lost due to the clinking of glasses and such. Warren's music is perfect for drinking and the Lubbock audience listened lazily and consumed mass quantities.

We took the stage and opened the show with "Forty Bucks" as we have been lately. The audience seemed moderately engaged. We played on and the room reacted unexpectedly to each song. We learned afterwards that it was because they didn't really know what to make of us. Rock songs, metal song, polka song, klezmer song, metal song, mathy song, polka... we lacked the consistency in genre that most of the people in Lubbock wanted to hear. As a result, the room slowly dwindled from about 40 people down to 15 or 20 who stayed for the rest of the show. We knew we'd really lost them when they didn't know whether to clap or not at the end of "Doctor's Excuse". This boded badly until one audience member actually requested that we play something that sounded Russian and we obliged. We ended the night (as at every show on the tour) with our version of Metallica's "Blackened" which seemed to grab and keep the attention of everyone in the room.

After the show, we talked to most of the people and staff. One particularly drunk hippie-frat-jamband type told us that he appreciated our tightness but that we were a little silly. "Tight and Silly" took the status of secondary theme on for the rest of the trip. The bar and staff liked us quite well. Most reactions were simply, "I've never heard anything like that."

Klusoz features some fine barbeque in back and after loading up and eating some tasty brisket burritos we made our way to our hotel and crashed.

7/30 Friday
Lubbock - Albuquerque, NM

There was very little memorable about the drive from Lubbock to Albuquerque other than the fact that we were finally out of Texas and into the mountains by the end of the day. It was also the only drive under 8 hours for the first week of the tour. We chose to camp in NM about 20 miles east of Albuqueque right off of I-40. The place was nice enough. It's important to mention that Adam was attacked by a tree and a miniature Wolverine within the first 30 minutes of our arrival.

We drove into town, found the Atomic Cantina and then went on a search for cheap food. We found an empty little tacqueria called Al Instante (meaning "in an instant") and ordered food. The food was good and they served big portions. AFter eating we went back to the club and began unloading our equipment. Adam became quite fussy and short with everyone at this time and we learned later that this was because his burrito had passed through his digestive system "in an instant" and he was anxious to let loose in the Atomic Cantina's throne-room.

The AC was a decent enough place but the bartender was the worst we experienced on the tour. It was difficult to tell if this guy was just really sarcastic or if he was truly a jerk. As the night rolled on, he leaned closer and closer to the latter. It was most likely because he had really long hair. Many times guys with really long hair become bitter dickheads because they've made this committment to their hair and now they're sick of it. Also, he was a pretty ugly, hulkish dude with bad acne probably in his late 30s.

The soundman finally showed up about an hour late and soundchecked the first band who were a group of clean cut early 20s guys that informed us that they sound like Matchbox 20. Two of them had attended TCU and they informed us, rather ashamedly, that most of the people who liked them were girls. This is the first time we've heard a band be ashamed that they could attract girls. They also mentioned that they were going to open for Rod Stewart the next weekend. They played and did sound like Matchbox 20. They were a tight group playing poppy tunes with well performed vocal arrangements. The room was full of girls that seemed a bit too preppy for the Atomic Cantina.

We played second and as the room cleared out in between bands we were certain that the first band's audience would not stick around after a couple of tunes by us. The low end of the keyboard was particularly loud on stage to our delight and amusement. During the set up we met the gentelemen of Rakes of Mallow, the headliners, who told us that they played Eastern Euro influenced weirdo rock. How ironic! We began playing and the room became fairly full of a mix of people. Though the capacity fluxuated as our set progressed, the room stayed closer to full than empty. A couple even slow danced to our version of "Lamento Gitano". The projections were especially spooky on this night due to smallness of the room (altough Tom never stopped complaining about them blinding him). AFter we played "...Ghost Town" Adam introduced our new keyboardist as Willie Poland and the name stuck. At the end of the set, someone tripped and broke Rick's music lamp.

The Rakes of Mallow were next and QUITE eclectic. They are a three-piece consisting of of clean electric guitar, classical guitar and a drummer with a set full of interesting percussive instruments. Their performance was quite a workout for themselves and the audience: everyone danced. The Rakes were hilarious but obviously good musicians. Their guitarist's name is Zoltan and he has a nice mohawk. How can you argue witha guy named Zoltan? You can't because he's the DM, man!

After the show the people who were there for us were very enthusiastic. Albuquerque was one of the best spots we played on this tour. We went back to our tents but didn't go immediately to sleep. It's difficult to wind down quickly from a good show where the people are into it.

7/31 Saturday
Albuquerque - Denver

Our only real entertainment on the drive from Albuquerque to Denver was the place we ate for breakfast. It was one of those kitchy, old west kind of places seen only in the four corners area complete with southwestern colors, decor and wooden everything. The food was pretty good but the entertainment was the waitresses. They were all young ladies wearing T-shirts and jeans but we could stop laughing at the one who's thong underwear was on display for the whole eatery. Adam and Bill were going to ask if we could eat for free if we could guess the color of her undies... but then they chickened out.

We also learned that were cancelled at the Starlight in Ft. Collins for Sunday 8/1. The reason was that no local bands would do the show. We found this surprising as this was one of the first confirmed shows on the tour. We mulled over the fact that there had been at least 2 months time to find other bands for the bill. We surmised that the club never had any intention of us actually playing and learned later from sound man in Denver that this place is known for screwing bands around. "You would've been lucky if you'd played and gotten $15 bucks and 2 free beers at that place," he said.

Adam finally got a chance to drive the VW van about 3 hours out of Denver and just in time to hit traffic leaving some race near Colorado Springs that slowed us down by more than an hour. What should've been a 7 hour ride turned into about a 9 hour ordeal and we were all ready to be there for the last 3 hours of it.

Once we finally reached Denver we went directly to the High Dive. It was decent club and the enthusiastic owner informed us that he also owned the posh bar right next door. This place was full what we came to realize embodied the typical night-life crowd in Denver: bored, boring and very well dressed. This place stayed full all night. MOst of us ate at a Chinese restaurant across the way... except Josh who was horrified by the sight of the kitchen when he visited the restroom. The smell was also an odd mix of bleach and perfume... not very appetizing.

We went back to the high dive and learned that the bill for the night had been reversed so the big drawing band played first. The audience was very sedate. No one stood and people barely clapped. When the first band finished, most of them left. This is not what we're used to seeing in Austin. People may leave after their band plays, but they're usually pretty enthusiastic WHILE they're playing. This place was just deadpan the whole time.

We took the stage and Rick realized that we'd never replaced his broken lightbulb for his music stand. The sound on stage was decent and we played about 5 songs confidently to the most indifferent audience that grew smaller and smaller as we played. MOst of the people seemed totally perplexed and probably went next door where they could listen to N SYNC and hang out with sorority/fraternity types. Then Tom started grumbling from behind his drums. He was irritated that his stage sound wasn't perfect. We advised him to tell the soundman but he didn't. We pressed forward, now a little shaken. Tom continued complaining and whining about the sound and everyone else's playing after every song (in spite of the fact that this was also HIS own personal worst show on the whole tour). At the midpoint of the set, we were all visibly and aurully unhappy about being onstage. Our performance took a nose dive with Rick unable to see his music, Bill surprised by Tom's Benedict Arnold style yakking and Adam and Josh looking with a mix of embarrassment and anger into the void created by the bright stage lights and virtually empty room. Immediately after the show Josh, laughing, remarked, "I don't think they liked us too much." Tom's response was, "I don't like us too much, either..."

We rolled into Salt Lake City around 8 PM, ate dinner with Josh's family and screened Weird Al's UHF. This is when we learned that Willie graduated from Cal-Poly, the same college as Weird Al.

8/3 Tuesday
Salt Lake City

Another day off in SLC spent swimming.

8/4 Wednesday
Salt Lake City

We finally replaced Rick's music stand lamp after driving all over downtown Salt Lake. Rick, Bill, Josh and Adam Visited the capital building and the Heavy Metal Shoppe where we learned that our show was recommended in the paper. Whaddayaknow? Willie cooked a fantastic dinner.

To say that Burt's Tiki Lounge SLC is a dive is an understatement. The restrooms are about on par with the guys' restroom at Emo's. The bar is also on par with the guys' restroom at Emo's. The stage is a rickety old pile of 2x4s with a thick pole standing front and center of the stage (probably to make the musicians feel like someone is watching them on dead nights). Josh's entire vocal delivery was aimed at this pole.

As showtime drew near, it became clear that there was no soundman. Luckily, the headlining band, the Pagan Love Gods, brought their own P/A and ran sound. The place was pretty empty at first but was QUITE full for a Wednesday night by the time we started playing. This was the kind of show musicians live to play: every tune was greeted with enthusiastic yelps from the audience. We sold more stuff here than anywhere else on the road, except Fresno, CA. The highlight of the performance was when Jeremy, the club's booker, sang every lyric to our version of Metallica's "Blackened". He finished the final verse and chorus for us solo.

After the show, everyone but Tom was interviewed for Salt Lake City underground rag SLUG by violinist Sarah Pendleton, who was must surely be in the top 10 hottest girls we saw on the whole trip and probalby the top 1 who actually spoke to us.

Arriving home, Josh hastily threw his clothes into the laundry without checking the pockets thoroughly. Though Willie tried to save it, Josh's cell phone didn't work anymore after it's bath.

8/5 Thursday
Salt Lake City - Reno, NV

The drive from Salt Lake to Reno was what we thought the drive from El Paso to Austin would be ---> rough, orange and brown desert terrain at 100+ degree temperatures. Gas prices began looking noticeably higher in Nevada. After 8 hours of driving, Willie pulled over to a rest stop and the van never started again. We were approximately 25 miles outside of Reno.

Fortunately, we had hosts in Reno: Fellow Immersion Composer Jen Scaffidi had offered to help us with our stay in Reno. More truthfully, the only reason we were even able to play Reno was because of Jen. We called her and she immediately sent her boyfriend to give us a hand. After a long frisbee session, Tom, Willie and Adam rode into Reno with Jen's boyfriend while Josh and Rick waited for the tow truck. We had the van towed directly to the Zephyr and rendezvoused at a Chinese restaurant across from the club.

The show went well enough, though the Wax Models' audience wasn't exactly our crowd. The Wax Models was one of about 3 bands whose songs stuck in our heads during the tour. The bartender was excited about the "first Mr. Bungle cover I've ever heard!" and bought us shots at the end of night. In light of our transportation problem, the Zephyr allowed us to store our gear in the club onstage as long as we could have it out of there by 2 PM the next day.

Jen was kind enough to let us take all of the door money, which was not an incredible sum, but we certainly appreciated it. We bedded down for the night on her floor. Adam and Willie lost some money at Circus-Circus first, though.

8/6 Friday
Reno, NV - San Francisco

Very busy day. We woke up (Josh with a sore throat and congested) and tried to find an auto repair shop that would fix our Eurovan. We just happened to be in Reno during their "Hot August Nights" car extravanganza. Apparently most of the shops in town get completely booked during this city wide car show. The only place that was willing to take a look was Sierra AutoSport by Reno's airport. Jen gave Willie, Josh and Rick a ride to the van on her way to work while Adam was forced to baby-sit Tom. This turned out to be a bad idea because there was only enough room for 2 passengers in the tow truck when it arrived. Willie opted to walk back to Jen's.

At Sierra Autosport, the van underwent a diagnosis alongside a Ferrari and a Lambourghini. Just our luck --> the only place in town available was the most expensive. Starving, Rick and Josh ate at Emilia's (as in Earhardt) at the airport. Josh made himself sick on all-you-can-eat clam chowder (New England).

Time began to run out for us. We knew that we'd need to leave town by 4 PM in order to reach SF in time to eat and play the show. The guys at Sierra began taking staggered lunch breaks so when 3 PM rolled around, we knew we'd have to rent a vehicle if we were going to make it to the Bay Area and our most important dates on the tour.

The next hour was quite an excerice in time management. We learned that the van had blown it's headgasket and that the engine was full of water. Now that the diagnosis was done, Sierra wanted to know if we wanted to fix the problem or junk the van. We didn't have time to deal with this. We told them our situation and with the manager gone, they agreed to keep the van over the weekend at no charge until we could return to Reno on Monday and make a decision. They also drove Rick and Josh to the other side of the airport where Rick rented a Suburban for the weekend.

Tom, Bill and Adam took a cab and met Rick and Josh at the Zephyr around 3:30 where we hastily packed the Suburban full of all our gear. We raced over to Sierra and removed only the bare neccesities from the VW Van. Ironically, the manager returned from his lunch break and wanted to know what we wanted to do. Fortunately, the crew told him they'd already agreed to let us store the van for three days and he was fine with it. We had everything loaded and were on the road at 4 PM on the money.

The drive from Reno to Sacramento was the most beautiful trip on the tour. It seems that the decisive factor in where to draw the line between the two states was beauty: anything brown and dead is on the Nevada side and immediately across the line is lush, green, forested California. We listened to more Weird Al on this trip and even Tom cracked a smile... though Al did start getting on Tom's nerves after a couple of hours. In an obnoxious repeat of our Ft. Collins experience, we also received a call to cancel our show in Aptos/Santa Cruz set for 2 days later at the Mediterranean. Though this was irritating, it almost didn't phase us due to the previous 24 hours' events. However, we were still annoyed that we'd only received 48 hours notice on cancellation.

In spite of all the negative things that had happened in Reno, the worst was surely behind us and everyone but Tom was in good spirits. Afterall, losing the van was about the worst thing that could happen (other than having our gear stolen or getting in an accident) and now it had happened so there wasn't much else to fear. Everyone was too excited about playing in San Francisco for that to bug us. Our host for the night was Willie's friend Forest who owns the Speakeasy Brewery in south SF and we were to sleep IN the brewery.

As we entered the Bay Area, the temperature dropped from the 100s down into the 70s and by the time we got out of the Suburban, our Texan summerwear had become quite inadequate to shelter us from the chilly San Fransisco summer night. It was fantastic. We knew we were close to the venue (Kimo's) when we saw our pal and bill-mate Brian Kenney Fresno eating a burrito on a corner of Polk Street. We parked, unloaded our gear and then ate some dinner at Grubstakes, which holds a candle to Austin's Magnolia and Kerbey Lane Cafes, but not much more.

Brian Kenney Fresno has the single heaviest box of gear that we've ever experienced. In helping Brian lug it up the stairs, Josh noted that he almost passed out from shear exertion of strength on the first lift.

The opening band for the night was the I.V. League. They are a 70s style punk band made up of 3 white collar gentlemen from SF. The bass player was quite proud of the fact that everyone in the band was either an investment banker or a highly paid salesperson. He was also delighted to inform us (for no reason whatsoever) that his brother had founded Lookout! Records and sold it before it made a fortune on bands like Green Day. Though their music was forgettable, the band was able to pack the club full of well dressed 30 somethings who immediately left when the I.V. League was done playing.

Brian Kenney Fresno took the stage to a nearly empty room and performed like he was playing packed house. However, even Brian got a bit frustrated with the ambivalence of the almost non-existent audience. Though he proclaimed that San Fransisco audiences were the best in the nation, the people at Kimo's that night were certainly not indicative of this fact.

We put our gear on stage while Brian was setting up, so when he was done, we simply got onstage and started playing. After such a tough day we didn't really care that virtually no one was there when we played, we hit the strings, skins, keys and blew through the set. About midway through, however, the room had become noticeably less empty. Rather, the back of it had become less empty. All the wall flowers and indifferent regulars had left their comfy barstools and were standing close to the stage. We were astonished that they remained there for the duration of the set. Unlike any other place we've ever played, as soon as we we said goodnight, all of these interested on-lookers, turned sharply for the door and split after breifly applauding. One drunken fellow did offer to buy a CD after he could visit the ATM but was seen later lying in the street.

The final band for the night was a terrible outfit from Olympia, WA whose name escapes us all. They were quite loud and crusty but they had a lot of spirit and armpit hair for a bunch of 21 year old girls.

Willie rode to the brewery with his pal Forest and the rest of us loaded the Suburban and attempted to follow his directions. On the way down Polk St. we saw a group of about 40 people suddenly errupt into a street fight which pushed it's way within about 10 feet of the Suburban.

We arrived at the Brewery and took the tour. There was nothing to eat but plenty to drink.

8/7 Saturday
SF/Berkeley

With the Reno debacle and the tough crowd at Kimo's behind us, not much else on the rest of the tour really phased us. Tom spent the day practicing his drums in the Brewery while the rest of us set out to see San Francisco. Another tenant of the Speakeasy building went in to work that day and pulled the alarm when he heard Tom practicing. The police showed up and didn't know what to make of the middle-aged man in pajamas playing drums all by himself in the middle of beer brewery.

Though Adam dropped some serious cash at Bob's Deli in North Salt Lake, he nearly drained his entire bank account at record stores in SF. The weather and fruit were quite delightful. AFter wandering and driving about aimlessly for the afternoon, the band met with several of WIllie's college buddies for dinner at a Mexican restaurant next door to the Starry Plough in Berkeley. This was a great time and great meal. Even Tom was in a good mood.

The Starry Plough is an excellent venue with good sound and good soundman who made sure that none of us forgot that he'd written songs for and with the Circle Jerks. He was the most professional soundman on the trip using diagrams and giving specific advice about the sound on stage and what he found worked best for certain instruments.

The place was quite full when the first band, Enac Enac, began playing. This was a group of more Immersion Composers who played nothing but songs written by the bass player for various ICS sessions. They were a lot of fun to watch and hear. The audience was calm but enthusiastic and we were especially thrilled when the singer first showed his nearly bare behind and then later wiped it with an American Flag.

The Starry Plough was full of members of various ICS lodges and their friends when we began sound checking. Even the founders, Nicholas and Michael showed up dressed as druids. Dan of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum was spotted making out with a lady at the front door. Josh was downing lemon and honey in hot water to battle a now unbarable sore throat. The audience remained for us as they had with the previous band: seated, drinking gingerly, smiling and showing great enthusiasm, but only between songs. For this reason, we dubbed Berkeley "The Houston of the West Coast". They didn't like that title too well. Forest ruined our surprise cover of Mr. Bungle's "Love is a Fist" by blurting out the title before the first note was even struck and despite our calls for dancing druids, the place remained reserved but encouraging.

After our set, E is for Elephant became our new collective favorite band. This is group features our friend Brian Kenney Fresno on guitar and is a prog rock tour de force. They were easily the best band we played with on the road simply because the musicianship was fantastic. Like Brian's solo work, their songs were instantly memorable and likeable yet technically mind boggling. "Clown Song" became one of our many anthems for the rest of the tour. In fact we listened to their double CD "Oops!" over and over again. These guys were fantastic live and the audience was really into them. It was nice to see Brian playing to an appreciative audience after the previous night's doldrums.

After the show we adjourned back to the brewery and practiced our sleeping.

8/8 Sunday
SF... again...

We had announced from the stage at Kimo's on 8/6 that we'd been cancelled in Aptos and were looking for a party or something to play on 8/8 and Boom, the club's booking/soundman had responded that we were welcome to join the bill on Sunday. So we took him up on that and stayed in SF for one more day.

We woke up late and hung out at Forest's house for while. Then we back to down to Polk street as the fog rolled in and had some delicious Greek food before loading back into Kimo's.

There wasn't much of anything memorable about this show except that we played the best set of the whole tour to virtually no one. Oh the irony! Fortunately, Boom taped it. The show was to be all-ages as the headliners were a local punk group. Boom let us start late because that band flaked out on him... only to show up in the middle of our set. The bands after us were both on tour from Oregon and had a nifty tour bus that they shared. It was previously and airport shuttle with the handicapped lift and everything. They informed us that they'd paid $9000 for it a few days earlier and were surprised when the transmission went out...! We did see a little bit of Synesthesia before leaving for Reno but completely missed the other Oregonians and the underage punk rock band. We thanked Boom and our weekend in SF was over.

The drive back to Reno was not as beautiful as the drive out of it mostly because it was dark. It was sort of a calm and almost sad departure from the Bay Area because we knew the rest of the tour was to be downhill: Though our shows at Kimo's mediocre, Boom had done his best to make them worthwhile. The Berkeley show was considered the pinnacle of all the shows we had booked and we knew that it was unlikely that any others would top it. Forest was swell host and the weather and food were incredible. It seemed a shame to leave it all behind and return to Reno to deal with the van and try to make it Fresno the next day in time to play.

Bill played Uli Roth era Scorpions on the drive and Adam navigated through miles of smoke from what smelled to be a forest fire near Donner Pass. Rick had called ahead and booked us a room at a 4 star hotel for ultra-cheap. Ironically it was right next to Circus Circus so Adam and Bill made a return while the rest of us caught the end of 28 Days in the hotel room.

8/9 Monday
Reno... again... and on to FRESNO

Rick woke up EARLY to find a place that carried a tool that we needed to remove the stereo and speakers that he'd bought for the van right before we left. These had been rendered practically useless by the fact that the air conditioner had died on day 1 and we'd been forced to ride with the windows down the whole time. Tom also woke up fairly early and hit the breakfast buffet at the hotel on his own, which was probably for the best because it was becoming more and more evident that there was a rift between everyone else and him. Adam bought breakfast for the rest with winnings from his night at Circus Circus. When Rick returned, we all loaded into the Suburban and rented another vehicle that would cost less per day, allow for unlimited miles and (hopefully) not require us to pay fee for a 1 way trip. This time we took a Crysler Town and Country which the rental company claimed was bit bigger than a mini-van. This is untrue. The Town and Country is the same vehicle as the Dodge Caravan. We took both the Town and Country and the Suburban to Sierra Autosport and told them to scrap the van. After that entire day that they spent working on it, they only charged us for a couple of hours of labor ---> which was still pretty significant considering that they charged about $100 an hour! The employees were quite impressed with our ability to pack that little Chrysler full of our gear. We removed everything of value from the Volkswagen and put it in the Chrysler along with everything from the Suburban. We barely fit it all in there and one of the mechanics said, "Man, Chrsyler ought to know about this...!" Once we were ready to roll one of the mechanics took a picture of the five of us sitting on the roof of the VW.

Once on the road, we headed back out on the beautiful drive between Reno and Sacramento but this time we turned south and headed for Fresno where we were to play Club Fred and stay with Brian Kenney Fresno. The Town and Country had 3 things we really liked: air conditioning, a stereo/CD player and a DVD player! We watched a number of DVDs that Rick and Bill had brought along and this really helped pass the time on long drives for the rest of the trip. This part of California was new to all of us except Bill. The rest of us were surprised to find that the middle of the state is HOTTER THAN HELL in the summertime! This drive was largely uneventful and terribly long.

We thought we'd left in plenty of time to reach Fresno and play and weren't counting on it being the kind of place that rolls up its carpets and shuts down at 8 PM. We arrived at the club around 8:45 to learn that they had already returned cover charges and told people we weren't going to make it because we were so late (?????). However, a quick survery of the 10 people in the room revealed that there were people in the club who'd come specifically to hear us play (even more ??????'s) but had arrived after the club stopped charging cover. The opening band and our friend Brian Kenney Fresno were nowhere to be found. After about 15 minutes of coercing the bartender and the manager, they agreed to let us play but refused to charge a cover and would not ask their soundman to come back to work. That was fine with us. We were allowed to put out a tip jar.

Fresno was full of surprises. At this point morale was low. No one really wanted to play the show, but we decided that we didn't drive hundreds of miles, sacrifice our van and lose tons of money as a result just to cancel the shows we'd booked. While setting up our gear on stage, Brian Kenney Fresno appeared and decide that he would stand near our T-shirts and CDs. As we tuned our instruments, the room began to fill. We were shocked! By the time we hit the strings there were at least 50 people in the club. We opened with "Forty Bucks" and the place errupted. They screamed at us after every song and sang along excitedly to "Blackened". During all of this, Brian Kenney Fresno was out in the audience selling CDs and T-shirts to anyone within shouting distance. As a result, we sold more stuff in Fresno than anywhere else on the entire tour. We also collected more from the tip jar that night than we normally make on a good night in Austin. We were psyched. Even Tom returned to his likable, giddy self one last time before the end of tour while we were there.

We also learned that all of Brian Kenney Fresno's talk about being banned from Fresno really is true. Thought he still has some influence with the places that booked him and still exist, no one at Club Fred that night had ever heard his name or seen him perform, except for a few friends he brought to the show.

After we finished the show, we retired to Brian's house where he lives with his long time lady friend. They fed us and we were also privledged to hear tracks from an advance copy of the latest Sleepytime Gorilla Museum album (which was just released as this will see posting on our web site).

8/10 Tuesday
Downey (LA), CA

The next morning we ate breakfast (including some fantastic figs picked fresh from the trees in Brian's backyard), re-loaded the van and hit the road in the direction of Los Angeles. This drive was relatively uneventful except for the constant rotation of the E is for Elephant CD Brian had given us right before we left. Tom must've played "Clown Music" eight times in a row after we entered the city and drove up the coast from Santa Monica to our campsite in Malibu.

The campsite was located right across the street from the beach on a cliff with a gorgeous view of the Pacific Ocean. Though it was very crowded, we were assigned the best spot overlooking most of the town and beach on the tip of the cliff. We opted to cook our own dinner that night. The full weight of the last several days hit us all at once and we realized were near the end of the tour. Josh proposed skipping the show that night in Downey which was about another forty minutes away and certain to be totally dead. Before this could even be considered, Adam reminded us all that only 24 hours earlier we'd felt the same way about Fresno and what a turn-around it had been. So we ate some steaks and headed to Downey.

Los Angeles really does have traffic problems. At 8 o'clock on a Tuesday night, they were still experiencing full-on rush hour. We arrived at the Anarchy Library in Downey and hopes for another Fresno were quickly dashed. This place was located in a shopping center in a pretty seedy part of town and though there were framed pictures, posters and autographed paraphernailia on the walls, the patrons inside looked like they would've been happier if we'd lugged in DJ equipment. A few well dressed folks were there mingling with a few blue collar types who appeared to just be stopping in for a beer after work. There was one fellow who looked like a punk rocker. He was on stage singing with an acoustic guitar player. He was in full punk regalia with about a foot tall spiked mohawk singing songs about killer penguins. In retrospect, this mixed group sounds more like a night in Austin than LA.

After the acoustic punk duo finished, the club informed us that we were the only other band on the bill for the night. Strangely, if you visit the Anarchy Library's web site, you'll note that they have a strict 30 Minute Sets Only rule. This is a double edged sword: We hadn't expected the luxury of taking our time to set up or to play a full set. However, the place was pretty much dead with no local groups on the bill. So we took our time. Tom had begun to seem a little edgy again. We started playing and it was seemed to us that the people were going to be complacent and indifferent. However, two of the well dressed couples (they looked like they should've been waiting in line at some cheesy "oon-tah" club like Austin's Spiro's) stuck around for the whole show, as did the three tough guys at the bar and the door man. When we finished playing, almost all of them bought stuff. The door man bought our last white T-shirt for his neice and a black one for himself. The whole staff seemed quite into what we were doing and paid a small amount from the bar since they hadn't taken a cover. We actually sold out of our CDs that night. Though it wasn't great, it wasn't a total bust, and overall, we made out financially better than we had in at Kimo's.

We hung around for bit, taking advantage of our free drinks and talking with the drunken listeners. AFter a while, a tall guy in slacks, wingtip shoes and a wife-beater showed up. It was clear that this guy was the owner or a very powerful regular. The guy was like someone right out of mobster movie. We got the creeps and rolled. The campsite was dead by 12:30 AM when we got in, but we tried to be quiet as the place was packed. Our neighbors were only about a foot away from us on each side. They were not as respectful the next morning...

8/11 Wednesday
LA, CA

The next morning the whole campsite was awake at the crack of dawn... except for Rick, Adam and Josh! The two ladies and their sons who were next to us were particularly loud, but at least they were gone quickly. Rick and Josh were up by about 10:00 and everyone but Adam went directly down to the beach where we tossed frisbees and lost our sunglasses in the waves. LAter we cooked chorizo and made a tasty sausage-bean burrito concoction.

Since we were out of CDs, we decided we needed more. This became quite an ordeal but at least it was possible since our CDs were hand-made. Unfortunately, despite our attempts to be prepared, we didn't have the neccesary equipment to create new jackets (we had plenty of the CDs themselves). So we wound up spending a few hours in Santa Monica getting making phone calls and printing CD jackets. Everyone but Tom, that is. He stayed behind and when we got back to camp he was there hitting his practice drum pad as he always was when we came back from someplace without him. He'd been doing it the whole time and was sunburned. Truthfully, we all were. There wasn't much shade at our campsite. We'd arrived back just in time to head into LA to the Little Pedro's Blue Bongo.

Side Note: Our Los Angeles shows were booked last minute as a result of a club closing and the fact that other clubs that liked us in the area just happened to have full bills that entire week... the luck of the draw is sometimes not the best. So we were happy to have a places to play in LA at all.

Mark Growden had recommended the Blue Bongo to us and we were excited to play the place based on the booking guy's enthusiasm about us. To us, it was certain to be a good show for those two reasons. We were also riding on a two-day high as a result of unexpectedly good shows in Fresno and Downey and probably let our minds think that this streak would continue.

Our minds, however, were ground back into reality when Rick called for directions and information and the booking guy tried to talk us out of playing because he was catering a party down the street. Huh?? Apparently he thought either we'd draw people away from his party and make it lame or the party would draw people from the restaurant and make our show lame so why not cancel the show? Rick rolled his eyes and informed the guy we'd be there to play shortly and asked if they had any food.

For the bands out there: if you can, always try to have someone in your band who works on computers. They're useful in all sorts of non-computer ways. For example, they're generally pretty matter-of-fact people and are good at acting cold with people they don't know. Rick's demeanor must've really made this guy feel bad that he'd tried to can us at the last minute. We showed up, unloaded, saw that only 1 poster we'd sent had been taped up and ripped in half. We decided food would make us feel better. After grumbling and looking around disappointedly, the booking guy told the waitress to comp all our meals. That made us feel better, but in retrospect, it was probably the least they could do. After making it sound like the show would be be great, there had been no real promotion (except what little we could do from Austin before leaving) and they didn't intend to charge a cover. Again, we were relying only on Bill's and Josh's friends who live in LA to show up.

This was about the time that Tom's attitude took its final nosedive. While we ate (by the way, the food was GREAT!) Tom looked around and congratulated Josh on booking the band at such a posh looking restaurant with good food and good drinks. Not five minutes later he was on-stage motioning impatiently for everyone to get up and start playing. With only about 10 people in the place, the four of us looked around as if to say, "What's the hurry, man?" As you may have guessed, this venue also did NOT feature a soundman so Rick and Bill were running around the place trying to get the P/A and awful mics all set. Tom kept hollering at Rick not worry about the sound and just to get up and play. This seemed TOTALLY inconsistent with his attitude everywhere else on the tour: normally, just like in Denver, Tom's mood was totally determined by how good the sound was from venue to venue, night to night. When Rick turned around and ignored him, Tom threw his sticks down and stormed off the 5 foot tall stage, pushing Adam out of his way. Adam's response was, "What's that all about?!" Tom fired back in slurred, mocking, 5-year-old, copycat voice, "What's that all about?!" This was the last conversation between Adam and Tom beyond simple yes/no question and answers.

Nothing phased Rick on the whole tour after Tom's initial bad behavior in Denver and this incident didn't change his attitude whatsoever. The Van breaking down, the A/C going out, the cancellations... Sure they irritated him, but there was never a question of giving up in his mind. This most recent outburst of Tom's was no exception: Of the four of us, Rick was the only person who continued talking to Tom regularly and in a friendly manner after the night at the Blue Bongo.

After finishing his sound tweaking, Rick got on stage, we hit the strings and played just fine. Although it wasn't a blow out evening, the staff loved us and the few people in the place loved us (we actually were asked to autograph CDs at this show). One grubby looking punker moshed with himself during "Blackened".

When we finished playing we wasted no time in loading up and leaving. Tom was still acting like a 5-year-old and even threw his hardware case down at Adam in the parking area... we still can't figure out why he was taking it all out on Adam that night. We said our goodbyes to Bill's friends and went back to the campsite where we all felt sad for Bill who had wound up sharing a tent with Tom. Rick and Adam slept in their tent and Josh opted to sleep under the stars one last time.

8/12 Thursday
Phoenix, AZ

Again, we were awakened at the crack of dawn, but this time it was by squealing kids whose parents had left them alone in the campsite. At one point Rick growled at them from inside his tent but that only shut them up for about 15 minutes. After about another hour of semi-sleep, we rose, packed up and headed out. No one said much to Tom that morning or all day for that matter. We did find his little coffee roaster in the dumpster of the campsite which we found odd since he was such a coffee fiend.

Willie P. drove the van out of Malibu, though Santa Monica and into the desert where beyond San Bernardino where we finally stopped to eat breakfast at a buffet. Tom got talkative for about second when he decided to comment on the music on the radio in the place but then he went back sulking. He also seemed disgusted by the food.

The trip to Phoenix was long, quiet and the hottest on the whole tour. The temperature had been rising ever since we'd turned east in LA and reached an incredible high near the stateline... somewhere around 118 degrees. This was worse than the heat we'd tried to escape by leaving Austin in the summer.

This was certainly the lowest point of the trip. Tom slowly went from annoying to scary, the heat was awful and the venue/show turned out to be the worst on the whole tour. We opened for another band from Texas called Dead Sky. They were the only people in the place to watch us. Right off the bat, Tom got annoyed about something and started playing poorly to match his attitude. The singer from Dead Sky was so drunk that he passed out at his table and had to be roughed up by the bassist in order to get on stage. Josh was so irritated with Tom that he recalled almost jumping over the bass drum and decking him out of fury. No one in the group had ever seen him like that. He even had a visible vein running down his forehead.

Dead Sky was a good band. They played fast punk and were individually very fast on their instruments. They were young guys who recommended that we go hang out at malls the day of our show in El Paso and try to convince teenagers to buy our CD. We didn't do that.

After the show we just left. At the hotel room things were tense and not much happened other than showers and sleep.

8/13 Friday
Flagstaff, AZ

We woke up and heard Tom talking on someone's borrowed cell phone in the bathroom of our suite. We learned later that his house in Austin was being repossesed. We didn't get much more information beyond that. He also told someone in the group later that day that he had run out of marijuana and was giving it up... this didn't make anyone feel much better about his volatility.

We were all glad that the tour was coming to and end after the horrible show the night before. We were sick of wearing the same 3 sets of clothes every day. Even sleeping in a hotel hadn't improved our spirits.

Flagstaff changed all of that. We drove up, up, up into the mountains of Arizona and when we reached Flagstaff, the temperature was great, the town was cool and all the girls were hot.

Flagstaff has a few hip, old hotels that book bands We were booked to play two sets at the Monte Vista Hotel's lounge (another recommendation by Mark Growden). The place had a fashionable, aged atmosphere. They even had a hotel room just for bands that play the lounge. Just from the looks of the place, it was kind of hard to believe that the booking guy had thought our music would work perfectly at the hotel.

Tom spent the whole afternoon and evening napping and practicing rolls on his practice drum pad. He did join us for lunch---> another mediocre breakfast similar to Grubstakes in SF with the exception of Rick's smoked fish which was tasty! We visited eateries, music stores and spent a good while trying to run an ad for a new drummer in the Austin Chronicle via wireless internet. Adam drank a whole lot of coffee because he thought the girl behind the counter at one place was cute. They also had good fruit smoothies.

Willie P. had decided to join us on the road without any official word as to whether or not he was a permanent member... and truthfully, there was really no time to make the decision: We had split up with Shirley, our accordionist, in early July and didn't meet Willie until about 12 days before the tour. We liked practicing with him and he clearly fit in with us, but we're never comfortable telling someone they're "in" after a few practices. Josh had toyed with the idea of asking him to join us on the tour, but who would commit to doing that in a band that hasn't given you a clear idea of your status in that group? Josh posed the question to Willie anyway and he admitted that he was willing and in fact, was going to ask if we'd like him to come on the tour. As a group, we weren't sure if this was a good idea or not... we asked him back for a 3rd "audition" and he sounded great. Surprisingly, even Tom had felt good enough about Willie's performance that night that he was EXCITED about taking him on the tour.

The Monday before the tour began, we played an unannounced, last minute show at Room 710 in Austin (right before their usual new band night) just to try Willie out on stage before hitting the road. It well, but we decided that taking his ripped up accordion on the road for just a few songs was going to be a waste of space (in retrospect, this was a really good call becuase we were VERY crowded once the VW bit the dust). In the next 3 days, Willie crammed and learned the majority of the songs in tour set. At first he only played about 2/3 of it, but by the time we reached California, he was playing on all of them.

It was past time to make him and official Czar.

Willie had really knocked our socks off back in Austin in the brief time we'd known him. His performance on the road was so good that we had forgotten his newness. It was as if he'd been playing with us for a long time.

So that night in Flagstaff, with only one other show left on the trip, we made Willie Poland an official Invincible Czar as we stood under the Hotel Monte Vista's marquee. even though it was totally obvious to everyone that it was the case.

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