The events around the show in our fine nations capital was stressful and exhausting, involved but it’s true, at least there were cookies.
But before DC we had stayed the night in Philadelphia…
Ok, so we started off in Philadelphia where we had stayed at M’ris’s place the night before, a good nights sleep really did us all, and ESPECIALLY me very well. The idea was to get an authentic philly cheesesteak, see the local prison (which is supposed to be both haunted AND badass) and then head into Washington DC for the show.
We got a bit of a later start and did not have time for the Prison, but the cheesesteaks, the cheesesteaks were pretty, pretty, pretty good!
First time i’ve had one with cheez whiz, which is apparantly the “official way” to do it. As healthy as a punch in the face but mighty tasty.
The line was pretty long though
Jim’s Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia
Although Todd isn’t nearly as displeased as he seems in that picture, just hungry.
We ate at a fountain in Pennsylvania where the truly obnoxious Duck Tours passed close by.
The sunset was kind of nice on the way in.
We got to the venue, just in time to see a gigantic tour bus and trailer at the 9:30 club around the corner… apparantly the Rentals are playing that venue the same time we’re playing Velvet Lounge. Apparantly the Rentals are still PLAYING!
Hey everybody, let’s party like it’s 1997!!
Ok, catty comments aside, the Velvet Lounge is a smallish place, that’s not so bad, the thing that is so bad is the HUGE rickety stairway that leads up to the performance room.
Now think of the old movies when they have the horror hotel stairway that creaks and moans with every step and gives you the impression that at any given moment you can be pitched down the rest of the stairs and out the front door with every bone in your body broken, as somebody like Michael Myers chases you with a large butcher knife.
Now, imagine getting all your extremely heavy, numerous and usually bulky pieces of equipment up this narrow ass stair case.
Yeah, kind of a drag.
Oh yeah and did I mention that a guy that just got out of prison was casing the van.
“it sure would be a shame if somebody stole all that valuable equipment” he said.
“Yeah sure would be a shame when I caught them and ripped their throat out.” I said staring at him directly in the eyes and not saying a word for 10 seconds afterwards.
Yeah, stressful.
The sound guy was in rare form too, demanding first that we stack all of our equipment in a 4′ by 4′ square in the back of the venue (as if that is even POSSIBLE!), then deciding that we should load the amps on stage after we meet his demands about half way.
ARGH!
Our old friend from the internets Catherine came out, and she made cookies!:
needless to say this is super awesome, she is a sweetheart.
It also would turn out to be one of the nicest things about this show over all.
Anywho! We played:
Chris with a stick twirl.
Ghosts
Conan is intense
And here is WHAT we played:
setlist:
Fashionably Latent
Assloads of Unrespect
Delicious Fornicake
The Tiny Machines are (still) Out for Revenge
Happy Loyalty Day!
Login With My Fist
Artsy Chris.
Todd, Chris and Conan
Replicator
Blurtastic
Ben Rocks out!
Conan Neutron.
How’d we play? Ok I guess, it’s the first show on the tour since I can’t remember that didn’t really seem to just “go off”. It was definitely good, it was a good Replicator show, but not as great as it could have been, I rate it about a B. We’re really good about being self contained, but when you are playing a show that is just that exhausting and stressful you are already working at an operational capacity.
The power strip kept powering off randomly and crashing the sample computer and depowering my pedals, that really sucked a nut. And the sound guy seemed determined to be gruff and aloof unless you wanted to chat about gear (shoot me!) But we did our best under the situation.
I was PISSED after the show, and all of the crap elements around the situation for the most part, so I calmed down for a bit in the supernaut, then headed back inside.
There was a rad guy named Matthew at the show that had actually just cruised the listings for shows, found us online and decided that he liked what he had heard, so came by.
We were relieved to see a rocker guy in a Melvins shirt, and yes indeedy, he did enjoy the set too… Matt from Portland, we salute you!
Thanks for coming to see us in a city we have never played before and rocking out up front.
Conan and Nathan from the Electrical Audio forums, Conan, Nathan and M’ris had a fascinating discussion about the concept and culture of Juggalos and the Insane Clown Possee.
We are some white dudes.
After we played, we waited around for the promoter guy Scott, who had actually played that same night with Spectrum across town, so he hadn’t even seen our show. Kind of a drag, but he did live super close by, so we wanted to get some food and stay there. An easy thing to accomplish on paper, not so much in reality.
A panhandler/homeless guy/junk collector dude named “Cowboy”, who I quickly nicknamed “Trader Joe” due to his propensity for handing out items of various types, ilks and stripes to us whether we wanted them or not. I humored him and even egged him on a bit, thinking that Scott would just be right out in a few minutes. Here are some of the items that Trader Joe foisted upon us.
- a set of cassette tapes, including both U2 and Tracy Chapman
- a pair of ceramic salt and pepper shakers
- a truly hideous jacket
- a truly hideous sequined change purse
- a, presumably scabies or lice infested, tasselled pillow(!)
- a rusty ass screwdriver that looks like it could have been used as a murder weapon!
- teddy bear(!)
- some hinky looking bracelet
- weird butter toffee candy
he attempted to foist all of these things on us, all the while chatting it up as if there was nothing we would rather do then shoot the breeze at 1:30 in the morning, as our increasingly desperate eyes kept turning to the venue and for Scott to come out and take us the hell out of here. As it turns out it was mostly a leadup for Trader Joe to sell us a recordable walkman and an am/fm flashlight, of course!
As annoying as he was, he really seemed to take a shine to M’ris, which meant that I was ready at any given time to punch him in the throat. If needed.
An EXCEPTIONALLY drunk dude, broke a bottle and punched a wall a bunch until his hand bled, apparantly because the chick he wanted to hook it up with went home with somebody else that night. He proceeded to follow this up by shitting his pants, and then swerving off on his bike, narrowly missing getting nailed head on by oncoming traffic. YIKES!
Needless to say after Scott finally got the bar closed we hightailed it out of there and promptly ditched all of Trader Joe’s “gifts”, it’s not that we aren’t grateful, we just don’t want or need the extra junk.
Trader Joe’s goods, including the scewdriver in question.
Food at the all night diner we went to afterward was great, but I was seriously spent at that point, and more then a little cranky.
Afterwards we headed back to Scott’s place, where, since it wasn’t in the best of neighborhoods I stayed in the van.
Trust it from a band that has been ripped off before, take no chances, ever, at any time.
Whoo, perfect end to the day.
Next up NYC, NY.
8 Comments »
Ok I can not wait for us to go on tour together… as I will by a bottle of everclear, and crazy things will happen, as they always do on a hi-fi tour…
It can’t rain all the time…
Ah, that sounds exactly like the D.C. that I remember!
Now imagine living there for TWO YEARS.
dude what the eff that sounds nuts. i woulda been cranky too.
also, be careful sleeping in the van! what if they decide to break in anyway!
/mom
NYC photos are up! And you should link me, dicks.
If they break into the van whlie i’m in it, they get thranged by the angry scottish bulldog.
I was in a piss poor mood that night, I would have taken them apart with my bare hands!!
but thanks for thinking of my safety.
Chandler, i’ll link ‘em tomorrow on the new entry
glad that you liked the cookies– sorry that you had to deal with the real DC culture outside the club!
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Comment by jamie — August 27, 2007 @ 2:16 pm
An EXCEPTIONALLY drunk dude, broke a bottle and punched a wall a bunch until his hand bled, apparantly because the chick he wanted to hook it up with went home with somebody else that night. He proceeded to follow this up by shitting his pants, and then swerving off on his bike, narrowly missing getting nailed head on by oncoming traffic.
um, your tour wins.