Wed Aug 18 - Paul is driving as we leave town. The air is cool, my legs are working well, and I’m feeling good. I’m also pretty excited about playing Long Island. I’ve never been there and I’m excited to meet up with Q and Not U and Food for Animals, both bands from home. The drive is actually pretty amazing. As we head into NY there is some wild lightning. Once we hit Long Island, we pass lots of beaches. We get off the highway a few exits early and drive through a town to get to Farmingdale. It basically looks like a trashy-, beach-y Rockville Pike. There are Chinese restaurants EVERYWHERE. The street that the club is on has a very small town feel and we are right next to the railroad. The club is clean, and totally professional. We have two young ladies assist us during load in. Afterward I wander around a little with Paul. He is looking for thread. I am looking for fruit.
Back at the club, Erick and I find our dressing room and are happy to note its stocked with lots of beverage options. We also have a TV that is showing only one channel, FUSE! Over and over we get to see Eminem's new video. Also we bore witness to Coheed and Cambria, ad nauseum.
I go up to watch the opening band sound check. It’s a combination of At the Drive In and Saul Williams…all performed by 5 anonymous dudes with navy blue shirts......sweeeet. Back in the dressing room, we meet the fellas from Food for Animals. They are awesome guys and I’m glad to have met some new music friends from my hometown. They are AWESOME to watch as well.
The show itself is attended by a large crowd of what seems like high school students and I’m totally psyched to play. They are fun and dancey and interactive. We even have some girls come up on stage and dance. One of them steps on my strip plug and shuts off my organ but I figure it out quickly and it’s not a problem. Someone grabs my ass. Not sure if it’s the dancing girls or the bouncer kicking the girls off the stage. Probably the bouncer.
After the show, we watch Q and Not U and hang out. It is quite cool to see lots of young people that are really into music. It's at this age that they haven't yet become jaded and they are so excited. Seriously, its refreshing. During load out, we find the stage-dancing girls sitting outside the club screaming at the bouncers. Apparently, they were kicked out twice. They are extremely upset. I sit with them for 20 minutes trying to calm them down. I feel pretty bad when I later walk out of the club with another bouncer to give him a CD from the van.
I drive to Paul’s apartment in Brooklyn and nearly fall asleep on the BQE.
Thursday Aug 18 - We leave for Boston around 2.30 and Paul’s fiancé Johanna is with us. It's hot and having three people in the back of the van makes it seem even hotter. We drive about 15 minutes in the wrong direction trying to get on the BQE. When we finally see the ramp we are stopped at a red light. There is a little Puerto Rican boy sitting on a bike in the street hiding next to a pick-up truck. There is another little Puerto Rican boy walking on the side walk. He is saying with a strong accent, “I see you ugly ducking. You can’t hide ugly duckling. Come out of there, Ugly Donald!” The boy on the bike races across the intersection without looking in either direction to get away from the teaser. A guy in a truck comes barreling through the intersection and runs the red light. He hits the rear tire of the little boy and the kid goes flying. He lands on the sidewalk and is stunned but okay. The bike is literally folded in two. The insulting kid rushes over to his friend. The little boy’s father goes to attack the driver. We are kind of blown away by witnessing this.
It takes us almost 6 hours to get to Boston. We take a different route than usual and traffic is terrible. Our directions are wrong and we sense we are lost when we arrive at Logan airport. When we finally pull up at the club, I’m rejuvenated because I know I’m going to get to watch Food for Animals again.
We eat some food, chat with people, and Erick and I go for coffee. We get it from the co-op. We are helped by the classic "rasta for a week" guy who is ripe with rich body oils and the pungent scent of Patchouli. After we pay for our coffee, he tells us to “stay focused” in his best Power to the People voice. We repeat this to each other throughout the evening. I rely very much on the humor provided by food co-op staff stylings from all over our great country.
The show is fun. Jeff throws down three Maker's Marks just before set time. Jeff tells us before we play that he is just way too drunk. Great. Then he keeps muttering what we learn to be his dual mantras -- "Keep It Simple, Stupid" and "It's Not Rocket Science." [Jeff: The bartender poured some very generous portions, I drank too fast, and as is the usual case on tour, I was hungry and dehydrated. Plus I'm a serious lightweight when it comes to alcohol to begin with. All this added up to a very dizzy, disorienting time behind the drums. Luckily a drum machine programmed by a finger-less leper could play my parts. Also, in my defense, I didn't "mutter" my "mantras" to myself like a stumbling wino, I told them to Erick in response to a question and he repeated them to everybody else.]
The highlight of the set is when we offer to give a t-shirt and CD to anyone in the audience that can eat our whole plate of French fries in less than one minute. The volunteer can’t do it but we give him some free merch anyway.
During load out, there is some heated tension between members of the Apes, cab drivers, and the Boston Police Force. A guitar and an organ are almost run over and I fear for a few minutes that an Ape will spend the night in jail. It doesn’t happen. We stay with our friend Andy from Tunnel of Love.
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