Day Seven, The Maison and FOOD!:
Interesting fact. The bridge over lake Pontchartrian is the longest bridge over water in the entire world, and is located between New Orleans and Covington, Louisiana where we stayed, and measures about 23 miles across.
Anyways, after crossing the longest bridge in the world... we were back to the birthplace of jazz. Needless to say, we love it in New Orleans. Great city, hip people, AMAZING food, and even better music. We stopped into a small restaurant for lunch and had easily the best food of the entire trip. Granted they were competing with hot dogs and canned soup, but none the less it was incredible. After stuffing our guts, we went parked Suzy (the van) at The Maison where we were playing that night and walked around the town. Since it was Saint Patties day, we knew that there had to be something cool to see. But as always, we gravitated towards music shops and met the owner of Peaches, an awesome record shop near the end of the French Quarter. We talked to her for a good little bit, and got our CD in the store! Not only that but she agreed to play our stuff over the speakers for a while! Keep your fingers crossed, because she seemed to dig us, and she books bands on the board for the New Orleans Jazz Festival :) Needless to say, we are hoping to hear back from her...
But anyways, we went back to the Maison, played for a few hours, met some new fans, and had a great time. After we packed up for the night and were headed back to good ole Suzy, we caught ourselves. It was only 2 o'clock in a city that plays music ALL NIGHT LONG! So we thought better of the situation, and turned around and found the first club that had a live band. Much to our pleasure, a mostly instrumental gospel band without a name was jamming inside. We couldn't believe it when the saw the guitar player for T.I. take the stage and rip and absolutely unbelievable solo! After a little bit of star struck war off, we had to take off because at that point in the week, all four of us had come down with a sinus infection and major congestion and we all needed the sleep.
Back across the worlds longest bridge...
Day Eight- The Banks Street Bar
The triumphant return to The Banks! Well after a few games of pool, the keg ran out of our free beer :( But we had a blast seeing some old friends and played an early set before a face punching metal tour took the stage. We took the night off and hung out at the pool at the hotel and ate soup...
Day Nine- Up to Mobile
Back to the Hopjacks in Mobile, and some of the greatest pizza! After an incredible pie, we played for a few hours and saw some friends from the show earlier that week in Gulf Shores! After a far too brief chill sesh, we headed back to Big Lagoon to reclaim our camp spot in Pensacola. Tent up, beers down, lights out.
Day Ten- Last Show
For the first time all week, we bought an official bundle of fire wood. I say bundle, but for six dollars we got THIRTY logs delivered to our spot! So now we had a day and a half to burn off thirty logs... so we wasted no time cooking up some dogs and brats. After a satisfying meal we headed off to the other Hopjacks in Pensacola, and played a fun filled set. Little did we know the owner was sleeping upstairs and complaining about the noise all night long :) Sorry dude. That night at the camp grounds, we slept through an INTENSE rainstorm the likes of which hasn't been seen since Noah's Arc was commissioned.
Day Eleven- The Day of Damage
We awoke in the morning to our tent blowing over. Bummer. And everything outside was soaked. Blain and Matt slept in the van, so they were dry and happy. Brian and I on the other hand... not so much. But either way, we took it as an excuse to get an early start on the day and packed everything up. I went to the Winn-Dixie up the road to buy lighter fluid, because we surely weren't going to leave our six dollar wood pile unburned. After an ENTIRE bottle of lighter fluid, we had a roaring fire. We burned all remaining 25 pieces of wood down to nothing but ash in less than four hours, a feat no environmentalist would be proud of.
We packed up and hit the road headed towards Nashville to see our buddies from Tax Brandywine.... that's when the real shit show started. We were at mile 76 on 65 North (which is NOT very far from where we started) when Blain noticed the engine temp gauge had blasted all the way up as high as it would go! We quickly pulled over to find that we were leaking coolant profusely, and our fan belt had come off completely. Of course it was 5:30 on a Sunday. Not a mechanic in the miles (which in the backwoods area of Alabama, you really have to travel miles to find anything in the first place) was open or would answer the phone. We finally called the Advance Auto Parts out of desperation to see if they knew of anyone who could help us. We were told quickly to look up Greg Allen in the phone book. WHAT? Seriously? What the hell does that even mean? After a half hour of google searches and yellowpages.com, we couldn't find the elusive Greg Allen anywhere. Finally we called the auto parts store back and begged them to just tell us his number. He finally agreed. After we got ahold of Greg (who took about an hour to get to our spot from his home- which is actually making good time for the distance he traveled) and immediately told us we had blown out our water pump :( Wha wha wha... we had to pull up to a truck stop/gas station and camp out inside the van. Of course, this was the coldest night of the whole trip. But after a few left over beers, we all learned how to play Euchre again. That held us over for the rest of the night.
Final Day- Greg Allen
Greg came and picked us up and took us back to his hillbilly heaven in his back yard. With probably about 60 rusted out cars, and a small shelter, we really weren't sure if this was going to turn into a scene from Deliverance. But at the end of the day he ended up fixing us up and doing a hell of a job.
14 hour drive home.
The end.
The Post Script
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Tour Updates After Day Six...
Ok, so we left almost a week ago, and have plenty of tales to tell...
Day One, The Acoustic CoffeeHouse- Johnson City TN:
We spent a long afternoon driving through a made for TV horror movie in the hills of Tennessee. After we were sure that our poor van was going to break down after climbing the massive hills of eastern Tennessee, and rolling through almost impenetrable fog, our headlights decided to stop working for thirty seconds; thoroughly scarring us to death... we arrived at the Acoustic Coffeehouse to find real music lovers who were ready to listen to something new :) We had a great time with our new friends and played some more chilled acoustic music. Afterward, we enjoyed a free stay at the venue where we were slightly freaked out by the lack of privacy, but extremely grateful for a successful first night of the tour.
Day Two, No Show- Driving:
Driving ALLLLLLLL day. We arrive at The Travel Lodge in Pensacola. We load all of our equipment into our very small smokers room that we got stuck with because the hotel overbooked and gave our non-smoking room away to someone else. This should have been our first clue that something was wrong.
Day Three, Beach Experience Number 1 and The Islander:
After waking up after a long nights rest, we packed all of our stuff back into the trailer and warmed up some cans of soup. Our room certainly smelled like a sewage plant, but for $40 a night, we couldn't complain... at least not too loudly, even though management would not allow us to have fresh towels. At about noon we were distraught to find that our show that night might be in jeopardy because IT TOO had been double booked! As we were waiting to find out what our fate held in store for us that night, we decided we needed to relax on the beach and soak in some sun. We were bummed to find that the wind was blowing far too intensely for us to enjoy any time on the sand. While we were getting sand blown into our ears, we got the call back to find that our gig was moved to a club up the street that was inside. This was good news as it was about 50 degrees and was only going to get colder.
That night at the show, we met another interested crowd of party goers that really dug the music. After the first two sets, the band was really heating up, and had saved some of the best gem's for last. At the conclusion of the night, we had another success on our hands. Glad for a good first electric show, we took it as a good omen and went back to the hotel at about four.
Day Four, Out of HERE, to The Office Lounge:
We woke shortly before 11 to check out, and packed everything up all too happy to be leaving the stink hole we had been sleeping in. Because of the smell, the room mix up, and the completely incompetent staff, we were all too happy to be leaving the Travel Lodge in Pensacola, never to return. We decided to give the beach a second try, but to no avail. So we went to go see our buddy Jimmy at The Hang Out. HI JIMMY!!!! After some good catching up, we went to The Office Lounge to prepare early for the gig that night. When we got there, we decided a quick nap in the van was needed. We are lazy like that! After turning a few heads by sleeping on the roof of a van with lightning bolts on the sides at two in the afternoon, we were ready to set up, and rock faces. After the early show, we set up camp at the Big Lagoon campground.
Day Five, The Hang Out:
After waking up at the camp ground much refreshed, we enjoyed the freshly cleaned bathrooms and showers. We headed straight over to our favorite beach front venue, The Hang Out. We set up and enjoyed some Shaka-Shaka chicken wraps. As the temperature began to fall, we warmed up with our first set. By the end of the night, we had made plenty of new friends and fans from all over the country.
Day Six, Leaving the Campground for New Orleans:
A rather uneventful day of driving, campfire hot dogs, and checking in to our New Orleans head quarters. After having a few drinks and taking a well deserved night off we are about to go to sleep and head out for a long day of in stores, street performances, and the show tomorrow at the Maison that we cannot wait to play. We are optimistic and can only hope that it will go as well as the shows prior to it.
More stories to come.
For now, Goodnight.
Day One, The Acoustic CoffeeHouse- Johnson City TN:
We spent a long afternoon driving through a made for TV horror movie in the hills of Tennessee. After we were sure that our poor van was going to break down after climbing the massive hills of eastern Tennessee, and rolling through almost impenetrable fog, our headlights decided to stop working for thirty seconds; thoroughly scarring us to death... we arrived at the Acoustic Coffeehouse to find real music lovers who were ready to listen to something new :) We had a great time with our new friends and played some more chilled acoustic music. Afterward, we enjoyed a free stay at the venue where we were slightly freaked out by the lack of privacy, but extremely grateful for a successful first night of the tour.
Day Two, No Show- Driving:
Driving ALLLLLLLL day. We arrive at The Travel Lodge in Pensacola. We load all of our equipment into our very small smokers room that we got stuck with because the hotel overbooked and gave our non-smoking room away to someone else. This should have been our first clue that something was wrong.
Day Three, Beach Experience Number 1 and The Islander:
After waking up after a long nights rest, we packed all of our stuff back into the trailer and warmed up some cans of soup. Our room certainly smelled like a sewage plant, but for $40 a night, we couldn't complain... at least not too loudly, even though management would not allow us to have fresh towels. At about noon we were distraught to find that our show that night might be in jeopardy because IT TOO had been double booked! As we were waiting to find out what our fate held in store for us that night, we decided we needed to relax on the beach and soak in some sun. We were bummed to find that the wind was blowing far too intensely for us to enjoy any time on the sand. While we were getting sand blown into our ears, we got the call back to find that our gig was moved to a club up the street that was inside. This was good news as it was about 50 degrees and was only going to get colder.
That night at the show, we met another interested crowd of party goers that really dug the music. After the first two sets, the band was really heating up, and had saved some of the best gem's for last. At the conclusion of the night, we had another success on our hands. Glad for a good first electric show, we took it as a good omen and went back to the hotel at about four.
Day Four, Out of HERE, to The Office Lounge:
We woke shortly before 11 to check out, and packed everything up all too happy to be leaving the stink hole we had been sleeping in. Because of the smell, the room mix up, and the completely incompetent staff, we were all too happy to be leaving the Travel Lodge in Pensacola, never to return. We decided to give the beach a second try, but to no avail. So we went to go see our buddy Jimmy at The Hang Out. HI JIMMY!!!! After some good catching up, we went to The Office Lounge to prepare early for the gig that night. When we got there, we decided a quick nap in the van was needed. We are lazy like that! After turning a few heads by sleeping on the roof of a van with lightning bolts on the sides at two in the afternoon, we were ready to set up, and rock faces. After the early show, we set up camp at the Big Lagoon campground.
Day Five, The Hang Out:
After waking up at the camp ground much refreshed, we enjoyed the freshly cleaned bathrooms and showers. We headed straight over to our favorite beach front venue, The Hang Out. We set up and enjoyed some Shaka-Shaka chicken wraps. As the temperature began to fall, we warmed up with our first set. By the end of the night, we had made plenty of new friends and fans from all over the country.
Day Six, Leaving the Campground for New Orleans:
A rather uneventful day of driving, campfire hot dogs, and checking in to our New Orleans head quarters. After having a few drinks and taking a well deserved night off we are about to go to sleep and head out for a long day of in stores, street performances, and the show tomorrow at the Maison that we cannot wait to play. We are optimistic and can only hope that it will go as well as the shows prior to it.
More stories to come.
For now, Goodnight.
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