Tar Heels
Much to my delight, but much to the chagrin of the rest of the band, we stayed at University of North Carolina Tar Heel-themed hotel in Chapel Hill last night. Unfortunately, my room was in the soccer wing. Not to knock Tar Heel soccer, but Michael Jordan didn’t haunt the pitch at UNC, he hit the hardwood.
We hit the hardwood in our own special way at the Cat’s Cradle, by blowing the subs midway through our set. The smell of burning plastic is never good when surrounded by van-loads of electric musical equipment, let alone when it means you’re destroying the club’s PA system.
This morning we went to the kind of grocery store/coffee shop/good karma complex that can exist in a university college town like Chapel Hill. I’m certain that I could have paid for my organic chocolate and Tom’s toothpaste with a haiku or well-executed downward-facing dog, but it was early and it was easier to use Benjamins. (Let’s be realistic though, I don’t make enough to pay anyone for anything in Benjamins, it’s strictly Washingtons with the odd Lincoln.)
Onward through South Carolina to Georgia and “The City Too Busy to Hate” tomorrow. (I wish I lived somewhere with a nickname like that.) Hopes are high for a chance encounter with Izzy.
cat's cradle, michael jordan, unc, chapel hill, carrboro | Comment (0)The Wright Stuff
The National Mall may not have an Orange Julius, but it’s pretty impressive nonetheless. And with a day off to bum around in Washington, DC before heading to North Carolina, we decided to pay it a visit.
Since we’re ginormous nerds, the musuems of the Smithsonian Institution were our target, particularly the National Air and Space Museum. As expected, we saw tons of great stuff, but I’m not ashamed to admit that the highlight was Kermit the Frog. Sorry, sliver of Moon rock and Apollo 11 command module.
Apparently you can’t buy scalp tickets for the State of the Union, so we were relegated to spending the night at our hotel. Rather unfortunate since we were going to wire the chamber with a Clapper.
the clapper, orange julius, kermit, apollo, washington, smithsonian | Comment (0)Freedom of ‘76
Boyz II Men still keepin’ up the beat, yeah
Freedom of ‘76.
Well, I put Charles Barkley on the guestlist last night, but he didn’t show. Thankfully it was the first all-ages show of the tour and the young’uns more than made up for the Round Mound of Rebound’s conspicuous absence. Judging by the first comment on this post, it seems they knew how awesome they were.
We’ll be back in Philly on March 20 as we wrap up our tour with A Place to Bury Strangers. That will be our 48th show in 58 days so we’ll probably feel like walking cheese steaks, but I discovered joe Coffee Bar this time around so I should be fine.
Speaking of coffee… Brian rightly observed as we left Toronto last week that simply “going for coffee” now makes one a hipster. And it’s true! I guess the only recourse is Sanka and Triscuits or something… but then that could be misconstrued as post-modern irony. The next day my friend Kieran, who knows his fair share about being hip, pointed out this BoingBoing post which really sealed the deal for me.
But that wasn’t Kieran’s point, nor is it the the point of my long-winded rant, the point is this comment which refers to this song by Murray McLauchlan. It’s a great song, introduced to me by Steve Ketchen, who does a way cooler version and who you should go see play in Toronto whenever possible. He’ll always be there if you put him on the guestlist.
kensington hillbillys, all-ages, kieran, hipsters, coffee, philadelphia | Comment (1)Homeless……..for now.
Being on tour is a lot like going to camp. Day 1, you’re a little nervous, and you meet a bunch of new people. These new people, you’ll be spending a lot of time with over the coming weeks. Gradually as the days go on, you get closer. You bond maybe, and your friendships grow. You find out who’s really nice (those who like being on tour), and who’s grumpy (those who don’t like being on tour). Finally, at the end, you don’t want to go home!
Last night was our 1st show on this, our latest tour of North America. This leg of the tour has us opening for the Super Furry Animals. Show number one was at Maxwells’ in Hoboken, NJ. In case you’ve never heard of the venue (or just haven’t seen it), the place holds about 150 people MAX, and has a killer sound system. The staff are great, and unlike most rock venues, they’ll feed the bands a great meal! Seeing the Super Furry Animals at a venue like that is a real treat. Definately one of the smallest and most intimate venue you’ll see that band in. I remember seeing them at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto (cap. 1500) a few years ago. An amazing show.
Our set last night was pretty good. We’ve managed to fine tune a set list that we’re happy with, and thanks to Craig, the sound guy, our sound on stage was really great. Despite some gear malfunctions on stage, I think we managed to pull it all off. It also didn’t help our nerves when we found out that Yo La Tengo, and Steve Shelly (drummer from Sonic Youth), were there. SonicBoom (from Spaceman3) was there too (he was selling merch at one point)!
Uncategorized | Comments (2)Radio Radio
There has never been a better excuse to fire up the ol’ blog: Radiohead spun some Holy Fuck while DJ-ing on BBC Radio 1 yesterday. Not to mention some !!!, MIA, XTC and The Damned, among other things. You can even listen to it online. I daresay this little bit of news will help us live up to our name.
Granted, their DJ set paled in comparison to the one Brian and I did at CFRE in Mississauga on Wednesday, if only because we got the most superfantastic gift bags from our gracious hosts. And because we played a Townes Van Zandt song.
Yesterday also found us shooting a new video for ‘Lovely Allen’ (coincidentally the same song Radiohead picked). It was a fast and easy shoot, mainly because Brian and Graham didn’t have to dress up as a raccoon and a sea anemone like last time. There are lots of photos to come, so stay tuned.
Update #1: video shoot photos now available.
Update #2:
