see you next tuesday

Wed march 29 austin the backyard
Easily one of the nicest venues I have yet to visit in this country. The back stage area is dotted with little bungalows for our hospitality suites. The catgering is the best of the tour thus far. Very gourmet Mexican, and the weather seems to be holding up. Willie nelson was playing here a couple of weeks back, but I believe the Hughes and I were driving to California that day.
There are easily 5000 people for the cribs at 7pm. The guys are once again, unfazed. Fearless seems to be the norm with the brothers jarman. And they continue to knock it out of the park. I cannot remember who is next, franz, I believe, and they are tight and consistent as ever to the roar of the crowd. We stay for about 20 minutes of death cab who have really taken their whole operation to another level. A major league rock and roll band. Very impressive stuff from the boys from Bellingham. We bang it out back to the crab shack, and the after party in the sky, which comes courtesy of the beauty bar and Jason from trail of the dead. All of our submariners and the franz boys not to mention some of the trail of the dead guys, the bush twins, and various ausitn hipsters. At 2am , I smell a rat of sorts, or at least a solpadeine type morning, and I drag the brothers jarman back to the crab shack, trouble free.
Thursday march 30 verizon wireless amphitheatre, Houston
The drive is nice and easy southeast. We stop for some bbq, or as ross would say, has anyone noticed that the only thing that we have eaten on this tour is taco bell and bbq. I opt for the bbq chicken and it is rockin. The rest of the drive is a breeze, and we check in to our best western near the venue, and it is super sweet. Nice beds, dsl, clean, Jacuzzi and pool, and a plethora of displaced crackers courtesy of hurricane Katrina(or maybe that is the universal excuse for general ineptitude in this part of the country). Anyhoo, over to the venue for more tour type of stuff, we are working out here, don/t ya know.
For the cribs, it proves to be the stinker of the tour. There appears to be no one there at 730pm.. the guys are well happy, and I have the video coverage to prove it. Myself, shippo , and the Hughes do the right thing and get out of dodge as soon as we load the guitars. Law and order, paper work, a Jacuzzi with some extras from a Houston cops episode(v. scary) and a sound nights sleep. The brothers jarman, on the other hand are on some form of razzle dazzle with the two headliners. Nothing new there.
Friday march 31 nokia theatre grand prairie texas
Some ass hole nearly runs me off the road, which potentially spoils my life for the foreseeable future(life is short, death is long). Funnily enough, there is no cel coverage at the nokia theatre, but hey, it is Friday and I need to talk to no one. Try to clean the van out, as these cribs are slobs, but then again, what rockers aren/t. still there is some scary scheisse back there in the van. What ev/s. rachel howard is here tonight with robin from rubber glove(a club in denton, fool). It is also our last night with franz for a week. I guess that they have some recording up their sleeves. The hardest working cats in show business, eh. The guys play a killer show, again to a crowd like Houston. The proof is in the merch pudding. Since we left vegas, the numbers have plummeted. Perhaps the jack ass ass jackin president has bankrupted his own homestate. I leave the band in the capable hands of ms. Howard and ms. Phillips(they take the lads on a whirlwind tour of north texas and the grassy knoll) and head back to the crab shack, which appears to be hosting the north texas plains cracker convention(maybe, that is why we are staying here) . myself , shippo, and the Hughes pick up some whataburger and some hi lifes and do the law and order thing. The Hughes has sussed some after party in the sky with the vitamin water peeps, and I brace myself for the drive to Tulsa.
Saturday april 1(really) cains ballroom, Tulsa ok
1st day sans franz, the drive is easy peasy, we get a lube job from a nice Christian family in ok city, see wayne coyne nowhere, and motor on to our hotel in downtown Tulsa. A heated rooftop pool and the weather to enjoy it. We cruise over to the venue in time for a languorous soundcheck, I stash the bottle of jim beam, and am shown the evidence of the sex pistols performance there nearly 20 years ago(sids fist through the dry wall, mounted in the office. This place is awesome. It smells of history, the home of bob wills and his texas playboys. The line is down the block at 5pm. You can feel a good show coming.
And that is precisely what goes down, the cribs nail the show of the tour for my money. It must be the addition of the european lager to the rider. The crew takes all of the gear back to the hotel, and I enjoy ucla trouncing lsu in the final four. I walk back to the venue and just beat the violent electrical storm that seems to be shadowing us since we left Austin 2 weeks ago. It is mad, but I settle the show, grab an umbrella, and scoot over to lola/s, a little tapas bar down the road. I am soon joined by the Hughes and shippo and two broads from girls gone wild or outback steakhouse or somewhere other than Tulsa. The muzak stinks up the place, so we bounce around the corner to caz/s bar, where nearly the entire tour party is assembled en masse, which is great to do some bonding and hi hey hello how are yas. Many makers and sodas, and too many modest mouse songs later, ross and I beg off and disappear back to the crowne with the pm from cains. A good night had by all, you can/t beat the tertiaries.
Sunday april 2 off Lawrence Kansas
A beautiful drive northeast off the interstate on a blustery Sunday. We stop somewhere in Kansas with the Mennonites for a big hearty country breakfast. Real nice. It is opening day for mlb. Very exciting. Chisox v the tribe. That is my agenda for the evening. We get to the ssummerhill, and I go for a swim in their underground pool and wash the rags. This is no crab shack, here. Thanks be to jaysus. Everyone scatters like a proper day off, I go to the jayhawker and get poisoned, shippo and the Hughes carry the torch for all cribs personnel by closing the gaslight.
Monday april 3 omaha sokol underground sans franz
So it is the comfort inn after an easy drive up I29. we get to the venue and it all comes flooding back to me. The miserable experience of my previous trip there with y cubed. I avoid much of the whole thing, staying outside as long as humanly possible. The band plays a great show, which seems redundant, as I have only seen one ‘bad one’ on the tour.
I go back with the gear and watch ucla get trounced by florida in the ncaa finals. The fucking gators play basketball. Go figure. No joy in l.a. this year, until reggie matt and lendale all get drafted in the top ten, and farmar superstar goes to the nba. Back to the venue to taxi death cab(oxymoron?) around the side, and give ross a lift back to the hotel.
Everyone else gets their drink on, and whatever transpires involving midget throwing and beer bonging and god knows what else carries on until day light. The atmosphere is tense, the jarmans bury the knife and ill will and hangdog expressions abound.
Tuesday april 4 st louis pageant theatre sans franz
We make it in record time from Omaha, eat some crappy food, play a killer show, sign some cd/s, pack the van, watch two songs of death cab, and slowboat it to the southeast, stopping in Kentucky lakes, ky, successfully putting the ky in Kentucky. The poisonous air of the morning appears to be cleared.
Wednesday april 5 atlanta the tabernacle sans franz
This drive blows. It takes us 60 minutes to get through Murfreesboro, tn(that is 3 miles) I catch up on some gossip, whilst everyone sleeps off the drive. The cherry blossoms are in bloom in the smoky mountains and I have relocated to southeastern tn in my mind. As dtuy and hunger calls. We pull into the bbq corral in ringgold, ga for some top shelf bbq(put some south in your mouth, hmmm). I opt for the pork free option of cornmeal crusted catfish and turnip greens and it is cheap and stellar. 100 miles more and we are in hotlanta. The venue is old and beautiful and apparently home to the house of blues during the 96 olympics. There are quite a few folks in attendance for the criblets, who play a killer show once again. The set is so solid. Read my lips, this is the band to watch in 2007. hell , they are the band to watch in ’06, but who is counting. We pack up and head over to the highland, dropping the guitars into the rooms. The guys go back to get their swirl on, I opt for dinner downstairs(halibut, tomato soup, garnacha, irish coffee, yum!) then the requisite trip to the Clermont lounge. Draft Guinness, strip bar karaoke, some Williamsburg hipsters, blondy, a very hospitable bartender, and some very strange goings on. I try to get the cribs down, to no avail. The are whirlyballing with death cab(in bump[er cars, no less). I sleep a solid six hours. The Hughes is MIA.