NYC (I...I...I Believe I Was Here?)

I couldn't wait to get to the City. 1 because we were playing a show with Villa Vina and 2 because we were going back to Philly afterwards. We only had a couple hours drive from EJ's friend's place so we weren't in too much of a rush waking up. we got on the road at the comfortable hour of 2PM. It was a nice drive until we got to the city limits. then traffic, lots, but not too bad.

we got lost for a while because there were two streets with the same name that threw us off a bit. but then we realized that it was actually the same street just separated by about 20 blocks, it made perfect sense. the ride was nice, i sat in the back and took in all the monumental billboards. i think i was getting hungry.

we made it to the Cake Shop and parked in a spot that provided a few inches of extra space. the venue was downstairs below the coffee shop/reading area so we hauled all our stuff down the steps. It was chill downstairs; it was a narrow hall with a bar on the side and a sound booth in the back. oh, and of course a stage that required a very tight setup with all our stuff.

we met up with Steve Hennig who was meandering around the streets. then we went and got some pizza again, probably the 10th time in 6 days. I went back to the coffee shop and fell asleep for a little while. I met up with Chris from Villa Vina again and watched some of his gear while he moved his drums downstairs. the show got started and there was a very full crowd for a tuesday night.

the first band who had a girl vocalist was a good opener and by the end of their set, everyone seemed to loosen up a bit. it took us a bit of time to get all our stuff out of the back room and onto the stage but it happened just fine. we played a solid set and once again i was dead tired afterwards. we cleared our stuff out of there becasue there was absolutely no room and we knew that the audience would most likely want to be as close to the stage as possible.

Villa Vina started as we finished loading up the Hank. I grabbed a whiskey and coke and watched the show and took some pictures too. they did a lot of cool work with the lights. the drums and bass were very clear but the guitar and vocals were uncontrollable in that space. there were a lot of effects going on too and they sounded cool when you could hear them.

afterwards we exchanged our congratulations and thank yous and hit the road with 10 of us crammed in the Hankey (us 7 Bears + Jill, Steve(scott), and Lindsey). I could not wait to get back home.

Albany

we arrived as the sun was coming up and there were cots and mattresses all set up ready to accomodate us. there was a lot to choose from for breakfast. i made a bacon egg and chee sandwhich on a toasted everything bagel. delicious. we hung around lazily for a while and eventually decided to go up to the lake to go swimming and drink some bierce.

at that point it was pretty evident that the show we were promised wasn't really going to happen so we tried to stop feeling like gullible morons and tried to enjoy ourselves since there wasn't anything we could do to change the situation. when we arrived at the lake, it reminded me of lake dunmore vt and i suddenly missed it very much. we got to watch the sun go down over the mountains across the lake. i jumped in and swam for a bit.

we drank some beers and skip rocks across the surface. it was getting dark and the mosquitoes were becoming unbearable. we made our way back to the van and drove back to the house for some dinner barbeque. i had some chicken and a couple burgers. i also made some garlic pasta and cheese.

a few people went over to check out the 'haunted' house next door but i stayed behind to rest some.

Allston, Boston

We were a little late getting in to the venue but we were scheduled to play last so we weren't overly concerned with it. We parked out back and brought all our gear into the game room next to the stage. it was a pretty nice venue and for a Sunday night there was a decent amount of people there. I got a couple drinks and hung around the merch table. Julian Peterson's set was especially impressive. it was obvious that he studied at Berklee.

we opened with Life in Hell which i thought was a very good choice and the stage really sounded good. some of the crowd at left by the time we started playing but those who remained seemed to enjoy theirselves. "sailors" got some 'whoooos' it was a fun set. afterwards, we had to decided if we were going to make the 6 hour drive back to philly and relax for a day or if we were going to head over to albany to Ej's friend's house and play a garage show the following night.

I had my doubts about the show but EJ had successfully convinced everyone that it was going to happen so we drove west instead of south. we arrived as thesun was coming up.

Montreal!

after we left Toronto, we had a few hundred miles to get to montreal. about halfway there, the majority of the signs had become french. i knew i was closer to the part of canada i was more familiar with. i ended up driving for the last part. between the frustrated canadians and the french signs, it was very stressful to find out where we were supposed to go and to then get us there. we eventually found the general area of where l'absynthe was located and found a parking spot on saint catherine.

it was getting dark so we decided to go meet up with Jill who had met a few people at the hostel. we had a nice 30 minute walk to meet her

we got to meet the travellers she had met and went out to get some food in an expensive area of the city a few blocks away. afterwards, we drank some wine by the river by the same dock i was fairly certain the river boat from my 8th grade canada trip took off from. we were trying to figure out where we were staying for the night.

we had left a message for Sergio from the Trigger Effect who had said months ago that because hehad to cancel our show at the Turbo Haus that he had no problem hooking us up with a place to stay while we were in the city. he had left me a message back and gave us the number of a friend of his who would be more than cool for us to stay at his place.

Binns left him a message but by the time it was getting dark we still had not heard anything back so we didn't know where he lived. so, a few of us had decided to pay the 20 bucks to stay in the hostel for the night and get a shower and wash some clothes. EJ, Curly, Ryan and i had thought about it but decided that we would wait until later to make a decision about it.

a bunch of us went out with Jill and her new friends to a popular club. we waited in line for a while and got to go in and buy pricey pitchers. we hung out for a couple hours and finally got a hold of sergio again. he said that his friend was actually at the same club we were at. he gave us a description of what he was wearing but it was a big place with an upstairs and downstairs neither of which we wanted to pay to gain access to so we didn't see him.

we hung out at the club for a few hours and it was slowly beginning to calm down. we got some pizza slices down the street. we walked back to the van to grab some stuff and i saw a drunk guy peeing on the side of a building as some cops drove by. they backed up and went over and talked to him but nothing too crazy happened.

Beans and I wanted to stay at the hostel so we grabbed all our stuff and walked back. we got in through the back and EJ thought we could get away without paying and i just wanted to go to bed so i didn't make a deal about it. i took a shower which was awesome and went to bed which was also awesome. EJ had gone upstairs to log on the computers they had and the guy at the desk had caught him and made him pay. but i was already in bed so i slept and didn't have any trouble.

we slowly got moving the next day. curly and i and gar too i think cleaned up the messy Hanky and i went to get some more pizza. we started to head over to L'Absynthe by 6 to set up. it was raining while we were loading in. we crammed all our stuff onto the stage and had some time to chill. since the booker at L'absynthe had been replaced some time after he booked our show, we were left as athe only band once again. So, we put together all the songs we could possibly play into two 8-song sets.

most of the local crowd remained outside while we played but there was a video projector that displayed the stage on the wall outside. some of the people we had met had shown up and we sold some shirts and CDs. After we finished theshow, it was late and I was pretty tired. We eventually got EJ to stop drinking fake absynthe and got the Hank loaded up. We were waiting for a call after Trigger Effect finished their show so we could head over and crash for the night. it was gettting later and later and we decided that since we had the address tojust go there and showup. so we did and after a 20 minute drive we got to the house. the people there had no idea we were coming but welcomed us in and set us up with places to sleep. i slept in the van cause i was feeling terrible.

i woke up and it was hot. it was about 11 and i went inside and everyone was still sleeping so i grabbed my computer and started updating my journal. once everyone started stirring, we decided to have a little barbeque and i went with sergio and a couple other guys from the band down to the grocery store and bought some ground beef for burgers. they were in a rush because they had to head to a house wrecking show in ottawa later that night.

EJ was hoping to go but was throwing up when they left so he just stuck around for the night. we played some goldeneye and picked up some beers from the store up the street. the next day we woke up and slowly got ourselves ready to head down to boston a few hours away for the show later that night.

toronto

It was still mid-afternoon as we got to the border. we had all of our licenses and passports/birth certificates handy. the lady asked for how many people were in the car and then asked for all our licenses only. she looked at each one individually i guess to check if they were real and then asked what our reason was for being there and chelsea said we had a show and sightseeing. the lady gave back our licenses and told us to go on thru. easy

so we drove for a bit and ran into some traffic because of an accident and arrive in toronto late afternoon. we took a wrong exit on the free way but eventually found a way back and turned around. we found the big bop and unloaded all of our stuff. we were going second so we just left on the side of the stage.

we parked the Hanks in a parking lot and purchased the overnight pass just in case. the big bop had a nice stage and a lot of floor space with a full sound booth and a bar. it was a bit difficult to see from the outside though, and there wasn't anyone there yet. we had been told that the local band wasn't showing up so we had been bumped up to 1st with a metal band from Maryland playing after us.

so we got our stuff on the stage and did a soundcheck which was pretty decent. then we split up, a few went to find wine and the rest of us went across the street to eat pizza. cheap expensive pizza.

we saw on the way back that the big bop was charging 10bucks for entry to the show and we realized that no one was going to pay that much to see 2 touring bands that they've never heard of. so we played the show to the other band and the bartender, soundguy, and bouncer. that's it. lots of fun and it sounded pretty decent.

the other band was supportive and we had talked to them about their difficulties getting across the border. they drove in a camper and had all their equipment in a trailer. they said that with four of them sometimes that got on their nerves. i found that kind of appalling.

but they said that they were delayed four half of the day at customs and barely made it across in time for the show. and what a great show it was.

we also got to talk to jake the soundguy for a while about all the crazy gigs he'd done in brazil and around the world. we gave him a cd for free because he said he'd play it in the club between bands.

we loaded our stuff out and took it back to the parking spot then we had a band meeting trying to decide where we were going for the night. Beans wanted to stay and get drunk in toronto because it was the first time he was allowed to legally go into a bar and enjoy a drink or two.

so we stayed and walked down the street to a bar and got some pitchers. beans and ryan dueled at guitar hero a few times. curly and i made our way back to the van first where jake and chelsea were sleeping in the back seat. i didn't even feel like cramping in the van and was still sore from that small couch from the night before so i decided that since i hadn't slept in a parking lot yet this would probably be the best time to do it. i knew i would have been disappointed if i wasn't able to say that i slept in a parking lot while on tour. I set up one of the cots grabbed my pillow and borrowed curly's sleeping bag for the night.

i woke up hot cause the sun was beating down on me. there were people in suits running off to work that really didn't even pay much attention to me. curly and i walked to get some breakfast and it was delicious.

then we decided to go to montreal and skip over ottawa because there was no show and Jill was already waiting to meet us.

greetings from ann arbour

we woke up not knowing if our scheduled show at Touchdown's was still going to happen because the booker had called curly the night before saying that the 2 local supporting bands had cancelled last minute. so we had asked cris to see if she could find someone to play with such short notice. but nothing had come up so we just drove to her place to crash for the night.

we got there after it was already dark and we picked up some beer from the store to relax a bit. I bought a six pack of Edmund Fitzgerald beer made by the Great lakes brewing company based out of cleveland. it was dark and good

we got to watch when one of cris's roomates blew up his old cell phone. i ate some gnoccis that were leftover and very good. i passed out pretty late i think, on a small couch.

when i woke up it was pouring rain. but it didn't matter too much at the time. we made some breakfast which was very good and cris mailed a letter for me when she went out because i was tired and too lazy to get up in the rain. it was the first time we had encountered rain onthe whole trip.

we wanted to leave early because we had been hearing horror stories of the difficulties bands have passing over the border into canada without a work permit. on the way, we stopped at a bank so everyone could get some american dollars. while we were waiting in the hanks in the bank partking lot, i guess our van was taking up too much space so a bank security guard, a real ass, came over and yelled at chelsea and then yelled at curly while he was directing chelsea to back up. she said he was a disgrace to society and curly yelled back something like 'i didn't ask your opinion shut up' ha. she was a joke

Chicago

we got into the city mid-afternoon. we found a legitimate parking spot in front of the Note and hung around out front for a while because we couldn't load our stuff in yet. i walked down Milwaukee and grabbed an arizona iced tea from the seven 11 a few blocks away. when i got back to the van we met up with eric who had found jake and chelsea down the street.

curly ej and i were handing out flyers to people walking around. a group of girls stopped to talk to us for a while. they were interested but were under 21 so they couldn't come to the show. they did say they wanted to party later tho. a couple of them said they had a place that we were more than welcome to stay at. they said they'd have a party. in the meantime, they suggested getting some wine and drinking it in wicker park around the corner.

eric helped us load our stuff into the corner the pool table room which was right behind the stage. we stopped by a nice italian dinner place called the Bin Wine Cafe and tried some samples of wine. i bought one of the cheapest i could find. then we headed over to wicker park and met up with the people we had met on the sidewalk. we got to talk to them and their friends for a while before we had to head back.

we walked back to the venue and got ready to play. we were third on the bill so we watched the first band, Your Best Friend, who was made up of some older folk and i was afraid we might be the oddball on the bill, again. as they were transitioning between bands, a few of us walked up the street to get a slice of pizza since the wine had made us hungry. we made it back in time to see the second band: the piano-driven local group, filligar.

as they finished up i asked them if we could borrow their bass amp since ours was constantly cutting out and was sub-par anyway considering the large stage. it was a pretty fun show and there were a few people from the audience that were dancing at times, that's always enjoyable. eric videotaped a couple songs and said afterwards that we had improved immensely since the last show he'd seen of ours back in philly.

it was pretty hot up there and i was exhausted by the time we finished up. we got all our junk off the stage and made way for the final band, 'Picture Books' who began their set with a sort of group lullaby in the crowd then made their way on stage and plugged in their acoustic instruments. they had a fair amount of supporters in the audience.




i ate some cheetos out in the Hanker and we all caught bits and pieces of picture books' set. curly and i both thought they were kinda like hoots & hellmouth. afterwards we loaded up the hanks. and curly called the girls who had offered us a place to stay. we found a place to park around the corner and brought all our stuff in.

when we got inside we realized that they had organized a small party but we low on beers and definitely didn't have enough to spare. they said that the only place within walking distance was a few blocks away and would be closing in 10 minutes. so we got directions and binns jake and i ran for it. i got tired with just a couple blocks short. jake made it almost the whole way. when we got there we didn't see any place open. there was a place that had close a few hours before that they must have been talking about but oh well.

we walked to a seven 11 on the way back but were 5 minutes past 2 am so they couldn't sell us any thing. EJ tried to get the cashier to break the rules for him but she wouldn't budge on it. meanwhile, outside, i was talking to some guy who was looking for a ride and somehow knew that we were in a band. i asked if he was at the show but i couldn't understand his response. i told him that we were just walking so he went away.

Ej found a VHS tape on the ground on the walk back and he opened it up and let the tape unwind as we were walking. it ended up stretching pretty far, around traffic lights and signs and stuff. a police suv drove past us and obviously saw him but i guess they were off duty cause they just kept going.

they later went for a drive to a 24 hour beer place and EJ picked up a case of high lifes for the festivities. we stayed up pretty late and played some card games. one of teh beers began exploding slowly and after 10 minutes resembled one of those baking soda and vinegar volcano demonstrations you saw in elementary school.

i passed out on a loveseat as the sun was starting to come up