x-x-x-x-x. Politics of Sex, Noise and Depression

| | | — | | Had been planning to be in Las Vegas today and Oakland tomorrow. We’re in Hoboken, New Jersey. Three foot snowstorm piled up all over the place. New York City’s talkin’ about twenty million dollar snow shoveling expenses. I’m talkin’ about a $150.00 heating bill.

Got home at 4 am this morning and our roommate, this cartoonist had the heat cranked and the cat litter box was so ill-kept the stuff in it was like piss-cement with shit-balls on top. Nasty shit stains on the floor. And the kitties had to live like this. Our own fault for not checkin’ in more specifically. “Our bad”, as the local slang goes. Everybody’s alive.

We’re getting out of this town and moving to Pensacola, Florida. No more carrying 20 bags, packs, gear and cartons up two flights at four am after a tour. Got a three bedroom house down there with a big yard with an orange tree in it and hard-wood floors for what we pay here for a stinky little rickety hole with peeling linoleum tiles and a stand-up shower.

We’re getting married this summer and having a huge throwdown in Asbury Park on the fourth of July. Y’all should come. E-mail us for details.

Last tour was dope. Getting better and better. People like us.

Day One - Thursday. We drive to Richmond, Virginia and play at a place used to be called the Hole in the Wall with some locals who were doing Stones covers. I wrote down the license plate number of some bitch who smashed a car bumper and drove off. Turned out to be ther drummer in the local bands car. Police took my number and called at 6:00 am a couple of times to follow up. The lady moved and don’t think they ever caught her.

Day Two - Friday we woke up around noon and the heat in Liz and Lee’s house has been broken all night and it was cold. They both rock. In many ways. Drive to Charleston, WV. Get there around 9:00 pm. Cool. Honkey-tonk vibe at the Empty Glass. Played with Hasil Adkins. Audience was very subdued. Apparently the previous week some dude just got out of jail for murder was shot seven times down the street and there were camera’s installed in the club and shit. We crashed upstairs with my man Steady Matt with the smoke and wine and music. Met some cool hip-hop heads. Got out of bed in the dark at around 1:30 pm.

Day Three is a good drive through the mountains to Cincinnati, Ohio. We play in a cavern with a bunch of pop-rock bands. Saturday Night. Bunch of people ran off late in the night ‘cause they heard the White Stripes were doing an unannounced show at Sudsy Malone’s. False. Ha ha. We crashed with our friend Eunice Wong who’s acting in a 2 person play out there for the winter.

Sunday we drive through some weather in Kentucky and seen about three upside-down vehicles by the time we’re getting lost in Knoxville, TN. Reed Massengill takes us out to eat and we spend two days getting drunk, taking lewd pictures and planning our respective world-domination schemes in his old victorian town house.

Day Six - Forget the name of the band we played with in Colombia, South Carolina on this Tuesday Night. They were funny with good songs and a great crowd. Met Michele who put us up for the night and hooked us up with Tykes with Guns from down there.

Day Seven - Wake up, find a diner, eat, do some quick email and get to Atlanta. Play between two really good bands at Ten Hi and crash at one of the local punk houses where Johnny is burned out from speedballing, but tells cool stories about riding freight trains around the country (for a few years).

Day Eight - Thursday. Get in touch with skate park in Tampa where we’re s’posed to play Friday. Venue has no clue there was s’posed to be a show. Guy who “booked” it is fired. Cancelled. Good. Call Abe Reid who says we can do a set at his gig tomorrow. Play at Fat City in Charlotte, NC with local pop band. Stay with Eric Weston, Gail and Aiden. They rock. Friday we hang around, they take us out to eat. Eric meets us at the pool hall where we play a couple of short sets with Abe and the Spikedrivers who are bad as shit. Bunch of cool freaks hangin’ about. Some gorgeous girls play a porn video game with us.

Day Ten - Saturday we drive down to Auburn, Alabama and cook some food at the W6 punk house. We remember last time we were here was when the transmission died on the van and the bass player quit. Fucker. Bunch of kids come out with bottles of tequila and it’s a good show.

Day Eleven - Van starts making vary scary sounds and dying about a mile from our exit in Montgomery. We coast to the “new, improved” local 1048 in time to check out some of the Sunday afternoon Jazz Session and meet the actor who plays Mr. Pink in Resevoir Dogs. He’s super-cool, down to earth. Danny DeVito and all these heavy’s are in town doing a movie with Tim Burton. We play and hang with a bunch of really cool friends there and meet Bobby Crowe who they’ve all been talking about for years. Get the van towed. Monday was a day off anyway. People feed us at the restaurants they work at. We hear a story about some red-neck dude stealing a bunch of fake rocks from the film set and holding it hostage on his land with a shot-gun.

Day Thirteen - Tuesday we finally leave for Pensacola by like five, six-o’clock pm and get to Dan and Aprils around 9 or 10. Van’s working again. New timing belt.

Days Fourteen - Sixteen we play three shows in Pensacola, and find a house to rent and a roommate. Rivka almost gets in a fight with some fool who was fuckin’ with her while she’s doing the mailing list and shit.

Day Seventeen - Saturday we drive a few hours to Gulfport, Mississippi and play Hawg’s Tavern where speed-freaked veterans and their counterparts eat fried balony sandwiches and get drunk on cheap beer beneath the confederate flag in the front room (and I’m talkin’ maybe 15 people total on a Saturday Night) and us kids have a show in the back. We ended up singing through my guitar amp beacuse someone stole the PA or some shit. Sounded pretty good, though. Supreme Dispassion from Mobile hooked up the show, but the kids from Buttership put us up. That was some freaky music that night. Y’all missed it.

Days 18 - 20. Played for about 7 people at One am on Sunday night at the Dixie Tavern accross from Erika’s place where we stayed. They all loved it and bought shit and smoked us up. Dope. Thank you. Hung with Steve Zeiger and did some promotion for Tuesday’s Circle Bar Show. Checked out a bit of a hip-hop show and dug a little of Princess Superstar’s DJ set at House of Blues. Tuesday morning Rivka was sick and I did a radio interview at Tulane University and that night we played long and drunk and stoned and hung with Steve, Mary (our psychic friend), Diamond and Peter and his homey.

Day 21 - Wednesday. I think all twelve people that heard Mad Happy at the Spanish Moon in Baton Rouge dug it. My man Brian from Rye brought a few people out and the dude we crashed with gave us a piece of the great wall of China. Cool.

Day 22 - Thursday. This night had been a Memphis booking nightmare, but we finally ended up on a bill at Young Ave Deli with three other bands. The Shut-ups and the Pelicans from Memphis and His and Her Vanities from Madison, Wisconsin. Hank the sound-man there is a bit bull-headed (even though his heart shines through the bitterness), but it was a good night of music. Stayed with Renee and Scott Massey. A Poet and drummer who we think are tops.

Day 23 - Friday. Valentine’s day. We get up late and do some biz (cancelling the west coast dates and planning the route home), then head toward Russelville, Arkansas late. Van don’t start. I throw an infantile fit for a minute. We call AAA but before they get there I hook up with a friend of the herb dealers accross the street and my man Nick gives us a ride to AutoZone to replace a wire he noticed was shorting. Turns out the dude is a bad-ass singer/writer himself. Gave me a mean-ass look too, when first asked him to give us a jump.

Russelville was a fun all ages (even a fifty-something year old and her mother) show. Hung and crashed with our new friends from the last tour.

Saturday the 24th (Day 25) was a show at The Loft in Tulsa. All Ages. Joe Cinocca and Yawn Records hooked up a show with four acts. We were sandwiched between Big Rick’s hip-hop/r & b set, a dirty acoustic act and a funky high school band. They need to work on their coffee bar at that place. Put up at the Ramada.

Day 26. Sunday. Drive to Memphis and crash.

Day 27. Drive to Nashville, play a rockin’ Monday show at Springwater. Drive to Knoxville and wake Reed up.

Day 28. Leave Knoxville at 4:00 PM and drive home. Arrive by 4:00 am. Shovel basement stairs. Load in. Clean up. Chill. xoxoxo. Crash at 7:00.

Good to be home. 1,000 BlessingsMad Happy |

7/04/2001