NEWS . SHOWS . CONTACT . BIOGRAPHY . AUDIO . MERCH . STUDIO . LABEL . BANDCAMP . FACEBOOK . TWITTER Tuesday, August 13, 2002 Interstate 84 in Eastern CT We've embarked on what we plan to be our longest drive - Eastern Connecticut to Cleveland, OH. The goal is to make it to Thad's parent's place before they leave to work. That's unlikely, as we're really just getting underway now and it's almost 1:30 AM. We're counting on a 9 hour drive. Tonight's show was probably the most fun show that we've ever played (out of something like 6 shows). Brass City records (in Waterbury, CT) is a cool record store that carries all kinds of old vinyl and Frank Zappa posters. The place is run by Walter, a fella who looks to be in his mid 40's. They put on shows in the back room, with a small stage and enough room for about 40 people. We shared the bill with local kids Light is the Language as well as the proficient and varied Biartz. There were about 20 or so folks still around by the time that we went on, including Jill's sister Beth. I got a big kick out of seeing the friendly and warm Beth in the room with tattooed kids and white guys with dreadlocks (2). We began our set and got about 1 minute into the first song before stopping. We couldn't hear a thing, as the drum machine was just washing out. We had two choices, and we put it to the crowd: either we turn way down or a bunch of us all go out to the van and lug the 200 pound subwoofer up the flight of stairs. They opted for the subwoofer. All right. We stopped playing for about five minutes as about a half dozen of us got the big speaker out of the car, up the stairs and hooked up. The bass that thing puts out dominated our set, much to the enjoyment of a few people in the crowd. We were a sweaty and rougher contrast to the other two more technical bands, relying on volume and the drum machine to carry us through. Put shortly, we were really out of tune by the last song; Thad mainly because I crashed into his bass at one point. We've got to work on keeping it together, but we're having a better and better time with each show. Things wrapped up and a few folks helped us get the big speaker back down the stairs and into the van. I was a totally sweaty mess, as the show room at Brass City ain't that well ventilated. A quick change in the parking lot and I was as good as new. We hung out for a few minutes with Beth, Hydra Head adjunct Jason and Ashton from Biartz before heading out. Big highlight outside of the show - we've been playing this impossible car game. It goes like this - look out the window and try to find a sign, license plate or anything with letters on it. Try to find a combination double letter A. Could be on a sign for aardvarks, could be on a license plate, just so long as it's the letter A next to itself. Once you've gotten that, it's time to look for double B. This game goes reasonably quickly until you get to QQ. Jill and I have been looking for QQ for a month, and she spotted one tonight on a Quality Inn. That's wonderful. We're just speeding down the highway now, passing sleeping truckers as rest stops and miles of unlit darkness. I'm going to try to take a quick nap and pick it up from Big Daddy Thaddy in a few hours. He asks that I remind you of this: If you smoke crack, you will be homeless. [ next ] [ main journal ] [ back ]