Hey I started this in Athens, and got bored writing it so i never finished, but here you go. I'll fill in some gaps real quick. There are a bunch of good pictures that will get posted later, but I dont have the camera around right now.
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good morning, blogger maniacs! I am writing you from the depths of The Secret Squirrel, here in gorgeous, Georgeous Athens, Georgia. Georgia is a beautiful state in the summertime and I imagine otherwise, verdant and lush. As we switched highways outside Atlanta, we passed a number of large growths of very tall, narrow trees, covered entirely in dark green vines with thick leaves. The way the trees bent it formed these crazy liquidy shapes. It was beautiful and I wish we could have gotten off a snapshot. But to back up...
After spending the night in the mansion in New Orleans, our next stop was Pensacola. There may be other spots, but the place to play in Pensacola is Sluggo's. Sluggo's is has a classic anarchist feel and seems to have a stranglehold on Pensacola's vegan cafe/bar/venue market. I would attribute this in part to the delicious half pound burritos on their menu for 2 dollars (!), as well as a community feel, as Dann noticed the unclosed tabs sitting behind the bar as much as 2 weeks old. I guess its a safe bet that these regulars would be in at some point to close their tabs out. From conversations overhead, the Sluggo's dudes listen to everyone's band who sends them a myspace message asking for a gig, and they do not like dealing with booking agents. If you would like to play Sluggo's, its as easy as writing and finding a local band to play with you. Fortuitously, the date we needed was open, and we were able to finally confirm the show on only 2 weeks notice. Also, although I think the music was running off a computer behind the bar, they also had a very interesting jukebox, about equal parts punk, college rock, and jukebox standards, with like 3 John Coltrane records stuck in there. We got there rather early in the day and hung out reading, drawing colored pencil show fliers, and taking stupid pictures.
Finally the show arrived. There were just 2 bands on the bill, us and "You Win Instantly!". We played first so YWI's friends would have to stick around and we would actually get to play for some people (maybe like 9 people counting the band). The space was perfect for all our props, and we blew up about 4 beach balls and laid streamers across the floor. Pensacola was our first show without a stand in drummer, but the bar let us borrow some duct tape which we used to patch up Monkey's holes, so we were in reality a 3 piece once more. I think Monkey is getting a Jesus complex, becuse the holes were in his hands! Also we used the duct tape to write "SPIKED PUNCH" on our tremendous sized Texas flag which we began hanging up behind us at shows now that we were a solid 2 states out.
You Win Instantly! turned out to be fucking awesome. Tonight they were in an experimental pop 3 piece arrangement. One guy brought in his desktop (!) and was running Ableton off it, while the other 2 had a variety of synths and smaller toys and percussion working. It was improvised. The first half of the set we sort of sat down, but at some point Dann started shaking a tambourine and then the room (the 6 of us) really came to life into an interactive bizarro conceptual beach party. Beach balls were flying, tambourines shaking, the music was great and the whole thing felt very natural. Afterwards we ended up going back to one of the audience members house for a jam session where there were as many people as at the show. Things got really intense, with some posivibe rapping going on. The next day we hit the beautiful Pensacola beach.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
tuffin' up 2k9 tour diary 2: DIY Market Research
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Tuffin Up 2k9 tour diary 1
Shit yall, me and Sauceypoo are on the road, reporting from Cafe Envie just a couple blocks off Bourbon street in wonderful, culturally significant New Orleans, Louisiana. We play Pensacola tonight, but are waiting out a few hours here while we wait for Mr. Quintron and Miss Pussycat's bar to open (a man on the street said that would happen between 2 and 4 today. We fortuitously stumbled upon it on our way into the French Quarter, I think we would have missed the place had it not been for missing a turn, but its actually just right of I-10. The outside was full of cool shit and we took the opportunity to snap some photos, including a faux preside-ation at the tiki bar.
Last night we played with 2 great acts, one being Lauren who set up the show and played as Never Ever. She is moving to Santa Fe to do movie stuff and regrettably does not have any recordings, but we are gonna try and get her to Austin at some point, it was really great. She has a gorgeous voice. The other was a blues cover band called Toastbeards who (in part because the singer was tall and bald, but mostly because they rocked) reminded me of Those Peabodys. Their drummer Chase sat in for our set and it made a world of difference. Hope to get them to Austin too, it was super fun, everyone danced. Hey sorry to Austin hipsters, but you are not the hippest of the hip, you gotta loosen up and just have a good time, these New Orleans folks got you beat so bad!! Jeff sat in on drums in Bryan, which also was super fun. The show there was a poetry slam and Spiked Punch were designated "celebrity judges". I went ahead full throttle maximum participation and read "youve got to have some adventure in your life" as a poem. The MC was by far the best slam poet there.
Lauren (Never Ever):
Our car is completely stuffed full of shit, which would be the status quo and not a problem, except once we hit Richmond VA we are gonna have to fit a 3rd band member in the car. We have so many props. Our 15 dollar inflatable monkey already has a tiny hole in him somewhere that we need to find and tape up. We had bought a bunch of leis and figured out the thing to do it to spread them around whatever venue we are at and let people pick them up and put them on at their own volition and then pick up whatever remains at the end of the night. The beach balls, which we had intended to screenprint and sell, which will never happen, also turned out to be a good buy. Last night there were times where 4 were flying in the air at the same time. It was nuts. I broke a guitar string at the Austin show and neglected to bring an extra set at all, so the last couple shows have been on acoustic guitar. That will stop at some point, but who knows when honestly. Maybe Quintron's got some strings we could have...
more later...!!!
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