on the road pt 1
On the road with cut copy
Monday sep 19
Sst is late for the drop off of the van. A beautiful day in nyc. I run over to Clinton hill to pick up the band and swag then ditty bop over to caffeinate and pick up the wax. Fully loaded, we lead foot it 600plus miles to western ohio.
Tuesday sep 20 chicago aragon ballroom with franz Ferdinand and pretty girls make graves
Easy drive in to the windy city and a quick check in at the city suites. A busy night in Chicago. Beck, seu jorge, paul weller, black rebel, yadayadayada. It is our first day of the tour proper and the aragon is looking pretty big for a 630pm show. A lot of familiar faces abound and it is definitely exciting to be in a big room that I so abuzz with activity. The cutters take the stage with nary a soundcheck and play to an easy 2000 people by the end of their set. A great start to a good tour. We load out, watch a bit of both bands who are brilliant, then I drop the boys off at the smart bar for their late night dj set which turns out quite boozy, me thinks.
Sep 21 minneapolis target center w/ff and pgmg
Early departure to har mar/s hood. Getting out of Chicago is a major pain in the arse. 10 miles in an hour seriously fucks with my program, but hey. We hammer down to a taco john somewhere in the wisconsin wilds and before ya know it, we hit the twin cities. All is good on day 2. our hotel is a block away and we are buried in the bowels of Kevin garnettville. Cutters hit the stage at 7pm and the rather light crowd get into hit real quick. Outside rain and wind of biblical proportions are hitting downtown Minneapolis. I am getting frantic text messages from b long about ‘tornadoes hitting downtown Minneapolis right now’, but all is good. The boys get the crowd well warmed up and I load and leave to swim some laps(it has come to this, I swim in a pool after the show instead of a bourbon bottle. Crikey!)
Sep 22 lawrence liberty hall w/ff and pgmg
500 odd miles and another 7am departure. Smooth sailing til we hit des moines and the first cracker barrel of the tour. The boys are scared, and you knw that it is aptly named as every cracker in there is the size of a bleeding big barrel of beer. More hammerin down, with the wax behind the wheel and we are in Lawrence. Into the hotel for more laps before the gig. We have a rough one at first. You can hear a pin drop when the guys hit the stage, it is ff/s stage manager and I making the applauding noises until the crowd gets warmed up with a good boogie. I miss the pretty girls as I am loading the van at that stage and dumping it off back at the shack. A quick dip and it is back to liberty hall for some drinks and franz Ferdinand. The Scotsmen are fantastic, tight as nick/s pants, me thinks. They completely rock the house. I take leave immediately thereafter to a bar nearby called the taproom, securing my stool to the tune of x/s los angeles and $3.50 makers and sodas. Night swimming, right. Next thing ya know, the entire tour entourage is in the bar. And drink is taken all over. I am huddled at the bar with glen, franz/s tm, whilst various degrees of scots, aussies, seattlites, and new Yorkers tear it up. I hear rumors of an afterparty til franz/s bus call replete with fireworks, warm beer, and cold sake. The mere thought of an after party makes me think of crif dawg and the licking sideburns. I beg off and pour myself to sleep.
Sep 23 st louis pageant theatre
The first day with a drive under 450 miles and of course all of us are cream crackered. I remember driving from Chicago to st louis one where it took 6 drivers. Well that option is not there and I hammer down through the deluge which fortunately washes the road kill from the windshield. We get to our murder motel , eat an angus burger and high tail it over to the venue. And what a venue. Absolutely fantastic. The owner has taken pictures with every headliner at least. A lot of familiar faces on the wall. The catering is brilliant, the crowd is sold out early on and really into the cutters. Pretty girls then rock the house whilst the aussies do a little sign and greet at the Euclid records table. We stay for half of franz which is awesome. On the way back to the hotel we get lost and find ourselves at the zoo. How ironic. We have had the guardian from the uk with us all day and a photog which has been great. We all retire early. St louis, who knew.
Sep 24 chicago subterranean
Well the drive to chitown is uneventful. We stop at a surly diner which offers ‘crappie dinners’, which of course is pronounced a bit differently but reads the same. The vegetarians are not having an easy time of it, but the blt is damn good. We hammer down back to the windy city, into the belly of the beast at the corner of Milwaukee and north. Subterranean is definitely not. It is up 3 flights of stairs. Brutal. s/ceck and all that lark and my kids head off to dinner with tom and carter from our booking agency. I stick close to the club with bruce and erik from the bottle for a couple of bourbons before the show and some damn fine middle eastern food from the market up the road. I am merchie bunker for the day, thus I am stuck with the local openers. Two of my least favorite words in the English language when strung together,’local opener’. Christ, it is almost as fearful as ‘military intelligence’ or ‘pro life’, and today proves to be no exception. Thus, I sonambulate through the first two, until the aussies hit the stage and completely bring down the house with the 270 people. Wicked. I let em hang about for a bit, then we hit the road towards lawrece ,ks on our flying spaceship tour. Somewhere on the ron dog raygun memorial highway(portions toll, of course, the old nazi is dead and we are still paying!)
Sep 25 off
Off being the operative term as we have a 500 mile drive ahead of us. Thus we hammer down and stop for a bit of nosh in davenport iowa. Several hours later we are back at the summerhill watching larry david, eating papa kenos and taing it real handy.
Sep 26 lawrence gas light
More swimming in a pool, a jiffy lube(this is a AUTOMOBILE SERVICE CENTER, for our foreign readers). The boys go off to do a kjhk interview, I hit the Vermont street bbq for some smoked chicken. We are off to play the gas light, jeff fortiers club on the Kansas river. A sweet little spot sequestered away in north Lawrence. The crowd is a bit light but appreciative all the same. Wind up meeting a bunch of guys that used to be in shiner and season to risk. Old school. We take it real handy as we have 571 miles to Denver at 7am.
Sep 27 denver fillmore w/ff and pgmg
A very long effin drive that is punctuated by a dust storm in downtown Denver. We hit the venue and some good catering(I ate the salmon) and it is to the wolves at 730pm. But the crowd is into it and we actually sell 17 cds. I completely miss the whole show as it is load and leave and a 7am to slc. The guys dj the afterparty and everyone shows up a la Lawrence and the lads are a real mess in the morning.
Sep 28 magna ut great saltair w/ff and pgmg
Well after 10 hours of I80 we get there. There are no more go karts, just the smell of the lake. The last time I was here with unsane and slayer people got stabbed. Lets hope for no encore. Well it is the same slc punks as the last time I was in the city with har mar. so I know that the catering is going to be a bit challenged. Fortunately I loaded up on my carbs at the buffet removing the mystery meal from the days equation.
The cutters hit the stage early on and bring the house down. There is a lot of love in the room, to be sure. The pretty girls continue the trend, getting a very warm reception. By the time franz hit the stage, the crowd is very excited, a whole lot of shakin goin on, and they completely rock the house. We hit the highway to get a head start on our 855 mile drive to seattle, stopping at the Outsider Inn, in the sleepy hamlet of snowville, utah. A murder motel incarnate.
Sep 29 off
We wake up to a fine breakfast at mollies diner before hit the road. A lot of ground to cover today, but a good tune up for next weeks drive to philly. Rockin all sorts of tunes and managing an espresso stop in baker city, or, where I pay $3.25 a gallon for diesel.
Explain this to me . is it war tax? Hurricane tax? We are occupying an oil producing country and the oil companies have posted record profits in the last two quarters and the price of gas is still going. And don/t try to justify it by saying that it is cheaper than the Europeans are paying. That/s horseshit, they get free health care and education. For our troubles we get war and lies and a slew of immoral gobshite crackers breaking the laws that they are supposed to be enforcing. Instead of casting votes, perhaps we should be casting stones.
Where was I , yes indeed west bound on the 84 to the 82 to the 90 and a very beautiful drive through wine country with a stupendous sunset followed by an over due monsoon to clean the roadkill from the windshield. 12 hours later we are at our hotel in sea, wa where they have completely effed up the reservation. I immediately jump into a cab and hit the bars with the mack and some of franz/s crew, getting well scoobied and drinking single malt unitl the wee hours. Nice.
Sep 30 seattle
A good head on me, we hit the 5 points for monstrous portions of comfort food to absorb some of that liquor. I catch up on some accounting and advancing the Canadian dates coming up. Then we are off to west seattle to do an instore at easy street records. I overindulge as usual , taking advantage of the healthy discount to get all sorts of bill hicks,Dylan,Mayfield,wainwright,springsteen,Costello,Jorge,arcade fire,kaito,ike reilly,antony and the jonsons, and that is just the used scheisse. What a shop. And what a crowd, 50 people show up and dance away. A resounding success. We load and leave, I drop the guys at the 5 points and the wax and I hit the late night talk show circuit, asleep by 1230.
Monday sep 19
Sst is late for the drop off of the van. A beautiful day in nyc. I run over to Clinton hill to pick up the band and swag then ditty bop over to caffeinate and pick up the wax. Fully loaded, we lead foot it 600plus miles to western ohio.
Tuesday sep 20 chicago aragon ballroom with franz Ferdinand and pretty girls make graves
Easy drive in to the windy city and a quick check in at the city suites. A busy night in Chicago. Beck, seu jorge, paul weller, black rebel, yadayadayada. It is our first day of the tour proper and the aragon is looking pretty big for a 630pm show. A lot of familiar faces abound and it is definitely exciting to be in a big room that I so abuzz with activity. The cutters take the stage with nary a soundcheck and play to an easy 2000 people by the end of their set. A great start to a good tour. We load out, watch a bit of both bands who are brilliant, then I drop the boys off at the smart bar for their late night dj set which turns out quite boozy, me thinks.
Sep 21 minneapolis target center w/ff and pgmg
Early departure to har mar/s hood. Getting out of Chicago is a major pain in the arse. 10 miles in an hour seriously fucks with my program, but hey. We hammer down to a taco john somewhere in the wisconsin wilds and before ya know it, we hit the twin cities. All is good on day 2. our hotel is a block away and we are buried in the bowels of Kevin garnettville. Cutters hit the stage at 7pm and the rather light crowd get into hit real quick. Outside rain and wind of biblical proportions are hitting downtown Minneapolis. I am getting frantic text messages from b long about ‘tornadoes hitting downtown Minneapolis right now’, but all is good. The boys get the crowd well warmed up and I load and leave to swim some laps(it has come to this, I swim in a pool after the show instead of a bourbon bottle. Crikey!)
Sep 22 lawrence liberty hall w/ff and pgmg
500 odd miles and another 7am departure. Smooth sailing til we hit des moines and the first cracker barrel of the tour. The boys are scared, and you knw that it is aptly named as every cracker in there is the size of a bleeding big barrel of beer. More hammerin down, with the wax behind the wheel and we are in Lawrence. Into the hotel for more laps before the gig. We have a rough one at first. You can hear a pin drop when the guys hit the stage, it is ff/s stage manager and I making the applauding noises until the crowd gets warmed up with a good boogie. I miss the pretty girls as I am loading the van at that stage and dumping it off back at the shack. A quick dip and it is back to liberty hall for some drinks and franz Ferdinand. The Scotsmen are fantastic, tight as nick/s pants, me thinks. They completely rock the house. I take leave immediately thereafter to a bar nearby called the taproom, securing my stool to the tune of x/s los angeles and $3.50 makers and sodas. Night swimming, right. Next thing ya know, the entire tour entourage is in the bar. And drink is taken all over. I am huddled at the bar with glen, franz/s tm, whilst various degrees of scots, aussies, seattlites, and new Yorkers tear it up. I hear rumors of an afterparty til franz/s bus call replete with fireworks, warm beer, and cold sake. The mere thought of an after party makes me think of crif dawg and the licking sideburns. I beg off and pour myself to sleep.
Sep 23 st louis pageant theatre
The first day with a drive under 450 miles and of course all of us are cream crackered. I remember driving from Chicago to st louis one where it took 6 drivers. Well that option is not there and I hammer down through the deluge which fortunately washes the road kill from the windshield. We get to our murder motel , eat an angus burger and high tail it over to the venue. And what a venue. Absolutely fantastic. The owner has taken pictures with every headliner at least. A lot of familiar faces on the wall. The catering is brilliant, the crowd is sold out early on and really into the cutters. Pretty girls then rock the house whilst the aussies do a little sign and greet at the Euclid records table. We stay for half of franz which is awesome. On the way back to the hotel we get lost and find ourselves at the zoo. How ironic. We have had the guardian from the uk with us all day and a photog which has been great. We all retire early. St louis, who knew.
Sep 24 chicago subterranean
Well the drive to chitown is uneventful. We stop at a surly diner which offers ‘crappie dinners’, which of course is pronounced a bit differently but reads the same. The vegetarians are not having an easy time of it, but the blt is damn good. We hammer down back to the windy city, into the belly of the beast at the corner of Milwaukee and north. Subterranean is definitely not. It is up 3 flights of stairs. Brutal. s/ceck and all that lark and my kids head off to dinner with tom and carter from our booking agency. I stick close to the club with bruce and erik from the bottle for a couple of bourbons before the show and some damn fine middle eastern food from the market up the road. I am merchie bunker for the day, thus I am stuck with the local openers. Two of my least favorite words in the English language when strung together,’local opener’. Christ, it is almost as fearful as ‘military intelligence’ or ‘pro life’, and today proves to be no exception. Thus, I sonambulate through the first two, until the aussies hit the stage and completely bring down the house with the 270 people. Wicked. I let em hang about for a bit, then we hit the road towards lawrece ,ks on our flying spaceship tour. Somewhere on the ron dog raygun memorial highway(portions toll, of course, the old nazi is dead and we are still paying!)
Sep 25 off
Off being the operative term as we have a 500 mile drive ahead of us. Thus we hammer down and stop for a bit of nosh in davenport iowa. Several hours later we are back at the summerhill watching larry david, eating papa kenos and taing it real handy.
Sep 26 lawrence gas light
More swimming in a pool, a jiffy lube(this is a AUTOMOBILE SERVICE CENTER, for our foreign readers). The boys go off to do a kjhk interview, I hit the Vermont street bbq for some smoked chicken. We are off to play the gas light, jeff fortiers club on the Kansas river. A sweet little spot sequestered away in north Lawrence. The crowd is a bit light but appreciative all the same. Wind up meeting a bunch of guys that used to be in shiner and season to risk. Old school. We take it real handy as we have 571 miles to Denver at 7am.
Sep 27 denver fillmore w/ff and pgmg
A very long effin drive that is punctuated by a dust storm in downtown Denver. We hit the venue and some good catering(I ate the salmon) and it is to the wolves at 730pm. But the crowd is into it and we actually sell 17 cds. I completely miss the whole show as it is load and leave and a 7am to slc. The guys dj the afterparty and everyone shows up a la Lawrence and the lads are a real mess in the morning.
Sep 28 magna ut great saltair w/ff and pgmg
Well after 10 hours of I80 we get there. There are no more go karts, just the smell of the lake. The last time I was here with unsane and slayer people got stabbed. Lets hope for no encore. Well it is the same slc punks as the last time I was in the city with har mar. so I know that the catering is going to be a bit challenged. Fortunately I loaded up on my carbs at the buffet removing the mystery meal from the days equation.
The cutters hit the stage early on and bring the house down. There is a lot of love in the room, to be sure. The pretty girls continue the trend, getting a very warm reception. By the time franz hit the stage, the crowd is very excited, a whole lot of shakin goin on, and they completely rock the house. We hit the highway to get a head start on our 855 mile drive to seattle, stopping at the Outsider Inn, in the sleepy hamlet of snowville, utah. A murder motel incarnate.
Sep 29 off
We wake up to a fine breakfast at mollies diner before hit the road. A lot of ground to cover today, but a good tune up for next weeks drive to philly. Rockin all sorts of tunes and managing an espresso stop in baker city, or, where I pay $3.25 a gallon for diesel.
Explain this to me . is it war tax? Hurricane tax? We are occupying an oil producing country and the oil companies have posted record profits in the last two quarters and the price of gas is still going. And don/t try to justify it by saying that it is cheaper than the Europeans are paying. That/s horseshit, they get free health care and education. For our troubles we get war and lies and a slew of immoral gobshite crackers breaking the laws that they are supposed to be enforcing. Instead of casting votes, perhaps we should be casting stones.
Where was I , yes indeed west bound on the 84 to the 82 to the 90 and a very beautiful drive through wine country with a stupendous sunset followed by an over due monsoon to clean the roadkill from the windshield. 12 hours later we are at our hotel in sea, wa where they have completely effed up the reservation. I immediately jump into a cab and hit the bars with the mack and some of franz/s crew, getting well scoobied and drinking single malt unitl the wee hours. Nice.
Sep 30 seattle
A good head on me, we hit the 5 points for monstrous portions of comfort food to absorb some of that liquor. I catch up on some accounting and advancing the Canadian dates coming up. Then we are off to west seattle to do an instore at easy street records. I overindulge as usual , taking advantage of the healthy discount to get all sorts of bill hicks,Dylan,Mayfield,wainwright,springsteen,Costello,Jorge,arcade fire,kaito,ike reilly,antony and the jonsons, and that is just the used scheisse. What a shop. And what a crowd, 50 people show up and dance away. A resounding success. We load and leave, I drop the guys at the 5 points and the wax and I hit the late night talk show circuit, asleep by 1230.
posted by david burton at 6:11 PM
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db yer my hero
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