NoiseTrade Widget

Prosperity & Precipitation

On the way to Fort Worth, TX. Tonight we play our first show at a joint called Lola’s; it looks like a cool place so hopefully this will be the first of many gigs to come. Earlier this week we played a show at the historic Gruene Hall and I gotta tell ya it was really great. Gruene is one of hose places that almost always has a good crowd no matter what, this especially rings true during the summer months. Not to mention that the venue itself is just oozing with character. I mean, Gruene has been open for like a thousand years or something…translation = its cool!!!

I didn’t get a chance to do one of these blog deals last week, so I guess now is as good a time as any to catch ya’ll up on some of our past experiences. Actually that last sentence is a flat out lie. Of course I had the “opportunity” write a blog, however it was an opportunity that went unfulfilled. I’m going to blame my lack of productivity on the stomach bug that was making its way around the band last week. As a result I spent all of my time consumed with fear that I would catch it, that is until I got it, after which I spent all of my time…uh, lets just say, “losing weight quickly”…and once it was gone I spent what was left of my time fearing that it would make a sudden return. Since I have the rare opportunity to appoint responsibility for said stomach bug on some poor defenseless bastard, I think I’m going to place the blame squarely on Mike Williams (twitter.com/3leafent). What an ass!!! Side note: If you’re going to be really sick in a hotel, make sure and get really sick in a nice hotel. I can guarantee that you don’t want to be praying to the porcelain gods in a Super 8, or any hotel that has a number included in its name (Motel 6 ahem…). Nope, be like me. When I throw up I do it in style, at the Hyatt Place Hotel in the Fort Worth Stockyards. Hey, I could be their spokesman.

For the most part last week was pretty good. We played with No Justice on Wednesday night and, although there was a serious threat of rain, we still had a great crowd and a great time. After the show we hoofed it down to Fat Daddy’s where there was a band called Six Market Boulevard playing. They were a pretty good band, plus they did a cover of Usher’s “Nice & Slow” (my favorite song in 6^th grade). As an added bonus the bar was selling Tecate’s for $1. All in all not too bad. The next night we played at Schoepf’s BBQ in Belton, a gig that got cancelled due to rain, then un-cancelled, then re-cancelled, and then un-cancelled again, or something like that. They haven’t had music for long over there, but judging by the setup they have and the crowd that they pull in, it doesn’t seem too far fetched to say that this place is gonna have music for a while to come. As luck would have it we weren’t able to play on the huge stage outside because of the weather. Instead we had to settle for setting up inside the restaurant in a corner, but it was still a great time and we look forward to being back next year. On Friday night we played the Silver Saloon in Terrell, TX. This was our first time at the Silver Saloon and it turned out to be a really cool place. It was fancy too; hell so fancy that they even had a dress code, and this dress code had more than just a couple rules on it. Seriously though, this thing was detailed, in fact I think about half the band was not in compliance, but hey, we’re rebels and sometimes we don’t even have a cause, so watch out man!!! Saturday night we played Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos, it was a bit of a slow night, but that will happen at CSW, especially in the summer. On the plus side the absence of a large group of people afforded us the opportunity to have some fun with our buddy Bobby Duncan, at the expense of his monitor mix. To make a short story shorter, Bobby got some unexpected hormonal accompaniment.

Well, I think that is about all of the things I can remember. I would like to apologize to any English Majors who are reading this as by now you have probably figured out that punctuation is not really my “bag”. Anyhow, I’ll leave you with a little piece of information that we picked up in Corsicana last week. Ready? OK, here it goes. Prosperity Bank was voted the fourth best bank in America by Forbes Magazine. That’s right fourth best, a fact that the Corsicana branch appears to be mighty proud of. So if you are looking to get down with a new bank, and you’ve already been denied from the first three, look no further. Prosperity Bank is the clear and logical choice. I’m out.

-Dongo

Blue Lights & White Lines

The van is headed south, or Southeast. Today’s journey started in Lubbock and, if all goes according to plan it will end in Helotes I’m not 100% sure, but I believe that means we are traveling southeast. Currently we are jamming James McMurtry’s “Live in ‘03” album, its one of those albums that you love to listen to because its so good, but you also hate because it makes you feel pretty damn inadequate by comparison. Now I know that this blog thing may seem a bit out of the blue but I’ve got my reasons, namely being that I just acquired a new laptop and I’m attempting to justify my purchase by penning the occasional blog. Hopefully this will serve the triplicate purpose of keeping ya’ll informed, keeping me busy in the van and keeping our “ball-busting” manager content. I’m not sure if I will accomplish any of these things but hey, it’s the thought that counts right??? To elaborate a bit: our manager is one mean son of a bitch; no I’m just joking around… Seriously though the dude is an ass, and you can follow him on twitter (twitter.com/3leafent)

Tonight we will be playing at Floore’s Country Store in Helotes. It’s been a long time since we’ve been there but I feel certain that we’re all excited to hit the stage. I mean this is a pretty damn cool join: the food is great, one of my favorite live albums was recorded there (REK’s “NO.2 Live Dinner”) and the green room is nothing to complain about either. As an added bonus Floore’s is close enough that we all get to sleep at home tonight. This is a fantastic prospect considering the fact that we stayed at quite possibly the nastiest, dirtiest, most stinky motel in Texas last night. Amenities included a broken AC unit, a rusted bathtub, no sheets, torn wallpaper, broken doors, dirty water, blood on the carpet and blankets, ripped up towels that were nowhere close to white, no internet and a TV that was stuck on one channel. If you don’t believe me on that one just ask Bobby Duncan, but hey it was cheap and rightly so. I would like to add that Bobby Duncan is a real a-hole as well… all right this time I really am joking. Follow that boy on twitter (twitter.com/bobbyduncan)

At times things tend to have yin and a yang to them, last night appears to have been one of these times. If the seven-hour van ride and aforementioned hotel situation were the yin, then the gig was the yang. We played at the Blue Light in Lubbock and it truly was a blast. The crowd was great (we had over twice as many people as we had last time we played there), the people were rowdy, the beer was flowing like wine (D&D), and everyone was having a good time. At one point a fight broke out right in front of the merchandise table, but even this occurrence couldn’t do much to damper the crowds demeanor. Speaking of the fight: I missed it so admittedly I’m operating on secondhand knowledge, but from what I hear it was a cause for much excitement. One of the guys involved in the melee even stepped on Hunter’s sandal clad foot, to which Hunter said “Hey man, I got nine more”…like, you know… in reference to his toes. How about that? A guitar picker with a razor sharp wit and a silver tongue to boot. I don’t want to say that this fight was cool, because you know…you shouldn’t condone violence, but it was an interesting thing to see to say the least…that’s what I was told anyway. And to put your mind at ease as to the safety and sanctity of the Blue Light and its clientele allow me to say this: “worry not”. I was assured by a handful of patrons that this sort of thing is by no means commonplace.

That’s about all I’ve got to say and then some, but I’ll leave you with our funny moment of the evening. Lets set the stage. Hunter and I (Astros fans) are sitting at the bar watching the baseball contest between the Astros and Rangers. Along with us there are some bar regulars (Rangers fans) watching too. After the Astros pull out a victory one of the Rangers fans starts complaining to us about the Rangers:

Bar Dude: “At least the Astros went to the World Series a few years back. The Rangers haven’t made the playoffs since 1999. That's like 16 years man.”

Hunter: “How long was that?” (Trying not to laugh…)

Bar Dude: (After thinking a minute…) “I mean, like 14 years”