oasis played on the ipod, tour diary #9

Okay, so this will be from memory since I stopped writing in the notebook at this point. This is also the last date of the tour before Chicago. After 12 hours in the car and a few missed turns and wrong turns in Cincinnati, after we finally arrived at the venue. The drive here was long but we drove through some beautiful mountains in West Virginia. There was no cell phone reception here and we got separated from Jeremy and the others but we eventually stopped at some grocery store to meet up and get food and snacks and stuff.
The Comet Bar was cool. If it was in Chicago, I would go there all the time. Chris said it was like Club Foot here in Chicago, just that Castle Grayskull was replaced by a trout on the wall. There were two rooms, the bar and the live music room. As part of our deal, we got drinks and food. They had these giant burritos that I coudn't finish but were really damn good. Saucy staff and a cool laid back crowd were hanging around all night.
Hartfield rocked, Jeremy's friend Lisa was very cool and hung out with us, then we played our set. It went well, and I rocked the Rainbow Shit over the store front windows. After the show, I think it was Chris (thanks dude!) who said the magic words "hey, why don't we just drive home tonight!" and after we all talked about it we decided that we would. Right after the show. This other band from Chicago called Lesser Birds of Paradise played too and were fucking amazing. The music reminded me of the Mermaid Avenue CD by Billy Bragg and WIlco that I have. The lyrics were fantastic, with really pretty and mellow and intricate guitar work. It didn't make much sense to follow the loud ass rock bands with this but I was glued to my chair, front and center. This never happens with me, so let that be a testament to how good these guys were. I can't wait to see them again.
We all piled in the cars and set out for the 5-6 hour drive to Chicago. At some point I drove Jeremy's Volvo and I was feeling ducky and awake, okay maybe a bit delirious from being in the van for 12 hours, then playing a show, and now driving again and Oasis was playing (we had no music in the van since NYC where John lost the face plate to the stereo), but still I was feeling ducky and Jeremy needed a nap. We switched off again soon and we made our way to Chicago as the sun was rising. I couldn't wait to take a shower in my own house and sleep in my own bed. A real bed.
We actually drove past Chicago and straight into suburbia to drop off the gear and Cory then back to my house where Chris was going to stay and sleep and John was on his way home. After we got settled, Chris slept for like 5 hours or something and I slept for 2-3. I swear, that kid can sleep through anything and anywhere. By mid afternoon we got up, and got some food at Penny's before driving him back home on the far south west side. Oak Lawn to be precise. One thing of note, is that we passed by Bobak's at Archer and Cicero. I had seen this place on Check Please and little did we know that it would become known as Meat Fest. Oh yes. Meat Fest. More on Meat Fest later. Perhaps a Meat Fest blog entry....or TWO Meat Fest blog entries! Wow, how many times did I just say Meat Fest? See, there I go again. Meat Fest!
So after dropping Chris off I got home and relaxed, my head still spinning from the past week and realized that I didn't have to do anything till Tuesday at Double Door. I'd have to get there on my own too. How weird. I will end this by saying that I woke up the next morning running straight for the window to see if they were loading up the cars, expecting to see John next to an open van door and Jeremy and Cory hauling some amps to the van and Taka taking guitar cases to the Volvo. I saw none of this and went about my morning.

one week, tour diary #8

9-24-05, 6:44pm
It's been a week on the road now. We toasted our plastic Pepsi and water bottles somewhere in VA earlier today for the occasion. So far it's been great, except for the wicked blisters on my feet and insanity brought on by 3-4 hours of sleep every night.
----
Jump to today, 10-20-05. 5:46pm.
That must have been written in Kentucky. I think we were in KY at that time. More later on Cincinnati, Chicago, and our first post tour show at Darkroom.

big rock. norfolk part 2

I forgot to mention that at the end of the Hartfield set, Yukari bless her rock n roll soul, threw her flying-v guitar off and stepped on the neck in a fit of rock rage. I looked over and Jeremy, Yuka, and Chris who were watching at the back by the cash registers as all of our jaws dropped as we saw this. Big rock, indeed.

i was so mad, tour diary #7

We're on our way to Norfolk, driving, everybody goofy and having fun. Chris is at the driver's seat. John is sitting behind him and tries to break his concentration by waving his hands around Chris' head. It doesn't phase him. I start up with a way to phase him, and boy did he get phased. I said "okay, how about this..." and rub Chris' arm. He FREAKS OUT and starts giggling like a school girl! Maybe he's ticklish or something but wow. Cory cried from laughing so hard. The video is hysterical.
So we arrive in Norfolk, in time to get set up and have a quick bite to eat. It's a music store on the 2nd floor on apparently the yuppy strip of Norfolk. It reminded me of Lincoln Ave. here, between Fullerton and Webster. Hartfield rocked.......the second band started out promising then turned into a hippy jam band that listens to way too much Coldplay. Ugh. That tinkling piano and that guitar is so boring. Seriously. The small group of people who came out started to trickle out and Airiel played. It went well until that girl in the asian outfit with way over done pixie haircut unplugs my cable. My screen goes blue and I freak out and follow the cables to the projector and back and the barrel connector joining 2 S-video cables that I TAPED DOWN was loose. She must have been playing with it or something or kicked it or whatever the fuck because as soon as I squeezed both ends together it came back on. I was furious. NEVER has this happened to me. I've had bad shows but never have I been unplugged. She then giggles in an "oops, did I do that?" way as I walk back to my gear and finish the set. I'm furious and snappy to everybody and rage on loudly every time somebody asks me what happens.
I calmed down and we make it to Abel and Mickey-Anne's house. Okay, we finally arrive because we got really lost and they had to guide us there on the pone. Everybody was let down because of poor attendance but Hartfield sold CD's and shirts and the store bought some so at least somebody won something. So at the house, I get the first bed I've slept on since I left home a week before. It felt good but we only slept for 4 hours before we had to leave for Cincinnati at 8am the next morning. My old friends made us breakfast and were great and so nice to everybody. It's always nice to see them.
Next time, a long ass day of driving, a show, then a long ass night of driving. Also back to typing up what I wrote in the notebook. Right now, I'm finally digitizing what I recorded on mini-disc. it's going to need a lot of post work. I've never done this before....

take it in the ass for art, tour diary #6

After we eventualy left New York, we were stuck on one of the bridges and we still had the 3lb bag of peanut butter filled pretzel nuggets that Chris bought. Naturally we thought it would be a great idea to throw them at Jeremy through his open car window as we were sitting there in traffic not moving. John yelled "take it in the ass for art!" and he threw a pretzel that hit Jeremy square in the head and shattered. The other pretzel bites went in his car and all over the seats. As retaliation, he caught one and threw it but i went backwards and hit the car behind him. This was funny, but was made funnier because of the driver of this car. It was some luxury sedan driven by this old woman with wrist braces on both arms and she looked like somebody's grandmother or something. Van: 1 , Volvo: -0.
I ended up driving us into Washington DC and damn, is there a lot of traffic there. Jeez. We found the venue, a small room sort of like half the size of Beat Kitchen with a cool cafe next door that's part of the same place. We hung out there for like 5 hours and almost left the venue ditching the show altogether because of frayed nerves and nobody showing up work the venue or to play with us. Finally people did show up and the other band, Alcian Blue who were very good and nice people too, played a good set. Lots of Airiel fans showed up and I had a nice big video projection going there. I recorded audio onto mini disc too, but I have yet to hear it.
Some drama after the show led us back to Kyle's place, a lovely beach house half a block away from the beach in Maryland. This was about an hour away from DC. We stood on the beach at 4am under the moonlight and it was one of those special moments that not many of us will forget anytime soon. Jeremy and I had to pee so Kyle told us to do what the fishermen did, and that was to go "over there" and pee into the water. We walked a bit away from the group, did our business and I felt close to the ocean and nature for a bit. Well it was that, but I think it was the draft and the relief I got from peeing, combined with the exhaustion and pain of my feet from the giant bilsters that were surely popped now thanks to the broken shells and the coarse sand. Whatever it was, I felt good and lucky to be with these people, at this time, and at this place.
The next morning Cory, John and I went down to the beach, where I shot more video and did something I've never done before in my 29 years. I went swimming in the ocean. Okay, Chesapeke Bay, but as far as I'm concerned it was the ocean. That was so amazing to be in the water with 2 of my good friends, and knowing why we got there and how we got there and what we went through the past few days it was really a nice moment to share and be a part of. It's so peaceful and so calming I wish I could have stayed there a week. I shot some video and took some pictures and we ended up leaving for Norfolk saying our goodbyes to Kyle with an overall mood of happiness and good vibes.
Next stop, Norfolk, me getting furiously angry, and watching the magic that happens when you touch Chris' arm...

the gravy that is New York.....tour diary part 5

The next official entry in the notebook is from 9-24 on our way to Cincinatti so the rest of this will be from memory.
John made one of the best quotes ever while walking around Brooklyn: "Soak up the gravy that is New York with the biscuit that is your eye." Only a genius madman drummer can say such amazing things.
The show in NYC was great. We played after If When who were quiet albiet a bit Stereolabby. I dunno, didn't do much for me. There, I said it. I was bored, and I don't care what big shoegaze band they were in before. Hartfield then made their NYC debut which was thunderous and amazing, then Airiel came and showed the NYC people and their "half hour attention span" how we do it Chicago style. We threw down. A Place to Bury Strangers came and threw down themselves. Okay, they tore the roof off the place. I'm glad we played before them. Chris calls them a sonic assault. I do too. BRMC who? wha? ehh? I can't hear over the wall of sound from a 3 piece who sounds like the best of Jesus and Mary Chain and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club all turned up to 11. They had visuals too. This cool british dude named Spencer did some amazing 16mm film loops with 2 projectors and he'd flap cardboard or something over each projector to make a rapid fire cutting visual assault. Being 16mm the film was scratchy and gritty and amazing. The best part for me was when a frame burned in the projector with fire footage behind it from the other projector and Spencer just pulled it down one frame to burn the next one and it was such an amazing thing to see with the music fitting in so well at that very moment. Magic, I tell you. It was magic.
After the gig, we dropped off our stuff in Brooklyn and went back to some bar in Manhattan for the after party. I should mention that my dear friend Susan came out to the show and after party, and I haven't seen her in like a year. It was so great to see her again, yet a bit weird to be outside of Chicago and on her home turf which made it all the more special. She, like always looked lovely that night. Chris made a comment how one of the defining moments of the tour came when we had 13 half drunk or half stoned people in the back of the APTBS van blasting Ministry speeding over the Williamsburgh bridge with what we later found out was a flat tire. This my dear reader, well okay both of you, is ROCK AND ROLL.
The after party kinda sucked but the booze was good. Isn't it always? I guess the shoegaze night got mixed up with the metal night at this bar and there was a lot of metal, no metal heads and a handful of shoegazers, and a couple of bands. Did I mention how great it was to see Susan? A few drunk texts were sent from and to Chicago to the Panic crew who were bored and drunk themselves. I swear, whenever I'm away, my cell phone is my umbillical cord back to Chicago. We found out the van had a flat tire and Oliver in all his laid-backness was like "whatever man" and we filled it back up with air and drove our happy asses back to Brooklyn for our last night's sleep in NYC. I think Ministry was still playing on the stereo.

a picture is worth a thousand words

and these are the photos I took on the tour....

The Jersey Shore, and NYC, tour report #4

9-23-05 3:24pm, Arturo
This notebook has been in the car since we unloaded in NJ. The show there was great. We got to Long Branch early so we headed out to the beach that was only 2 blocks away. I didn't go in but it was great to stand there on the edge of the deep green sea, as our dear friend Robert Smith would say. Hartfield and Airiel were followed by the unstoppable force that is known to the world as Mau Mau Tsunami. They were fronted by the Brighton Bar's Jacko really loved my visuals and I was honored to get such a compliment. Basically, Airiel and I rocked, then we got rocked. Some other band played between Airiel and Mau Mau Tsunami but they were very forgettable. Mau Mau Tsunami plays old school hardcore, and they do it well. Very well. Cory and I got drunk and skanked up front in our own little mosh pit. Then the screaming started. Jacko yelled a call and response of "Bullshit!!" into the mic passing it back to us one by one to respond "BULLSHIT!!!!". It was only the third date but damn did we need to get rocked like that.
We drove into NYC at like 3am, while I drunk texted people in Chicago. I'm sure I made them smile as much as they made me smile. When we got to Brooklyn, we arrived at the space of A Place To Bury Strangers. Oliver their singer, guitarist, custom pedal maker (death by audio) was our host. He was awesome, friendly, and always smiling. He promptly took us out for a beer after our arrival.
The next day we met with some new friends who we met through Yuka (Jeremy's girlfriend who is joining us the rest of the way on tour). BJ, Dave, and John were great tour guides and took us to Ground Zero, which was very impressive and intense once you get to think of what actually happened there. It looked like a big construction site now. After that we got drinks at a cute small bar in the Lower East Side. To get there, we walked through Chinatown and Little Italy which was having the San Gennaro Festival seen in the movie Mean Streeets. Chris and I wanted a snack so we went over to Ray's Pizza for a snack. NYC pizza has weird sliced sausage not the small chunks typically known as sausage. This was cut like pepperoni. Weirdos. Either way, it's hard to meet a slice of pizza I don't like. We then walked (everybody walks in NYC) to get Japanese food in St. Marks which is an awesome neighborhood and it was a really good restaurant. We then walked to another bar where my old friend Scott came to visit us. As always it was so nice to see him and we laughed about how we're seeing each other all over the country. Since March, we've hung out together in San Francisco, Chicago, and now NYC. Where next??
The next bar we went to was Lit. They had a great britpop DJ who played Airiel and Hartfield to the joy of each band's members who were there. Taka gave him a sticker and John went over to say hello and thank him. We bonded over Panic and britpop and he played my requests.
To end the night, we took a cab back to Brooklyn and Cory, Chris and I went on to 2 more with the guys from A Place To Bury Strangers. I was so tired I left my camera behind at the first bar, Iona. I recovered the bag the next day after the bartender saw it and placed it in the basement for safe keeping. At the second and final bar of the night, we met a Polish immigrant who's been here in the states for 6 years named Darius. He loves Duran Duran and music in Poland in the 80's was beautiful. It had heart and feeling. He overstayed his welcome after we folded up his chair and placed it against the wall. We were outside. He didn't even notice the obvious gesture and came back and opened the chair and sat down. One of the guys, a photographer, took his picture. Darius' lady friend asked if I was a Chicago cop because of the shirt I was wearing and I gave the best drunken, exhausted run-around comment I could. I wonder if she bought it. Maybe she thought I'd bust her for doing business. She had a cowboy hat, a body like mine in a way-too-tight dress and had a Polish immigrant on her lap on a Wednesday at a Brooklyn bar at 3:30am. They met earlier that night. I love NYC.

Woke up one morning, got yourself a gun; tour diary part 3

9-19-05 7:36pm, in New Jersey
Getting from Lancaster to NJ has been tough. Lots of wrong turns and missed exits or exits we thought we missed. We're still on time, which is good. Nice sunny afternoon to be driving and exploring a new state.
7:39pm , in New Jersey
Beef Jerky is the unofficial food of this tour. Cory and I are eating so much of it. Tip: Avoid the Black Pepper Flavored Kippered Beef. It's way too strong and peppery. Unless that's your thing. Do however eat Utz crab/Old bay Seasoning Chips whilst in PA. And that's the food report from PineCone4 right now. Back to finding Long Branch, NJ.