Tour Recap Day 1: Bear's Place (Bloomington, IN) - 10/7/2011

 
It feels so good to be back out on the road.  Just four cool guys having adventures and snacking on Oreos.

 
Touring can be stressful when you haven't done it enough to know what to expect.  This is the most relaxed I think we have ever felt and so far this one actually kind of feels like a vacation.  It could also just be that night one went really well.  Bloomington, IN shows get better and better and our fans always show us so much love and hospitality.

We left Chicago at 4pm and rolled into B-town around 9:30 local time.  It was a hectic load-in and we caught bits and pieces of Apollo Quad's set which was a lot of fun. They dropped it like it was hot several times ... on its head. I had to stop setting up guitars completely during their rendition of "99 Problems."

We got going around 11 and got the first date jitters out pretty quick. This was our first time performing with guest bassist Chad Mowbray. He did great and it was a pleasure to have him up there with us.

We closed out the night with "No Way Home" featuring guest percussion performances by Kris Murphy and a tambourine girl.

Fluffer closed out the night with real mind-expanding jams. At one point they were joined by a guy who looked freakishly similar to out friend Joe Wilson.

Who's the real one ... go ahead, guess.

We closed out Bear's Place and headed out on the town with our friends Kris and Kate. We stopped in The Bluebird Nightclub to catch the tail end of a Dot Dot Dot show.  The Bluebird was a cool place.  Like most hipster joints it was even better in 2004.

After that we grabbed some pizza and called it a night.

THANK YOU WENDY AND DAVID FOR THE HOSPITALITY AND BREAKFAST!

Night One is in the books and we 're feeling great. Looking forward to good times tonight at Third Street Dive in Louisville!

Oh and I almost forgot the Indy-pants-off tradition ...

Tour Day 2 Recap: Rhino's (Bloomington, IN) 2/26/2011

 
It's day three and we are riding in the van right now on the way to Nashville. The Garmin is taking us on a VERY scenic route. We haven’t seen a human being in 1.5 hours. Lots of dogs and cows and a sign for a place called Cox's Smokes. Not sure who owns these animals or awesomely named smoke shops…but they're here and they are pretty fun to look at.

Last night in Bloomington at Rhino’s was the balls, the kind you hope you’ll never forget. I got hit with my first pair of panties on stage and they smelled like sweet promise that brought tears to my eyes. THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR BLOOMINGTON "VERONA FREDS" who came to see us, especially to those of you who came out two nights in a row!

We played with an awesome band called Hard Candy Hearts. Their sound reminded me of getting hit by an old rusty locomotive made of swampy rock and roll sunshine.

Originally we decided it would be a good idea to take it easy and call it an early night since we had a place to crash…maybe some Parcheesi if we were feeling dangerous.

But even the best laid plans eventually go awry.

We have lots more pics and vids that I need to steal from other people's cameras/Facebook accounts... can't wait to see them...these really don't do justice the happenings of the night.

Thank you Jeania, Wendy and Heather for putting us up and feeding us!

Tonight we’ll be at The Basement in Nashville. This is actually my first time in Nashville, so I’m especially pumped to be here tonight. My phone is semi-working now (apparently at Sprint they can give you a new phone but not a new battery to go with it?)…so there is a chance there could be pics posted on the fly….otherwise you’ll just have to wait until tomorrow.

Tour Day 1 Recap: Melody Inn (Indianapolis, IN) 2.25.2011

Well we all survived day one of the tour. Still working out how we're packing the van at the end of each night and pooping in the woods, but so far so good. Only one casuality so far...and it was the keyboard on our computer. Something fell on it during our set.

Oh well I guess it builds character.

The show was a blast. We had two bands drop at the last minute, but everything worked out. Huge props to Phyllis who stepped up and played a great set to open the show.

Big thanks to all or Bloomington and Indy fans who came out to see us last night, espeically to Kris Murphy who joined us on stage for Long Neck Deep Curves to play some mean blues harp as you can see in the pic at the top of the page.

Also, I have to apologize for my lack of tweeting and picture posting thus far on the tour. My phone has lost the ability to hold a charge for more than 2 mins at a time (counting on the Sprint store folks in Bloomington, IN right now to set me up with a new one.... come on insurance protection plan..I know I pay $7 a month for you for some reason...)

If I had a chance I would have tweeted some pics of a lot of the cool record stores we checked out in Broad Ripple and downtown Indy. If you ever get a chance stop into Indy CD and Vinyl in Broad Ripple and make sure to say high to Annie behind the counter. Super cool place, super nice people, and apparently we just missed the guys from Cage the Elephant who were playing next door at the Vogue.

Anyway, it's time to go. Tony is getting stiff and he has asked me to show him some neck stretches. I will use all my Tony Horton learnings to help him out. Then it's off to Rhino's in Bloomington!

Click HERE for full details on that and all other upcoming shows and stay tuned for more pics and more show updates daily.

Bear's Place (Bloomington, IN) - 10/8/2010

Well kinda hard to sum this one up...

The show was tons of fun...and the crowd and staff was awesome.  One "Hairy Bear" and a passed-around glass of moonshine later and things got a bit fuzzy...the blurriness of these pics really adds to the effect I'd say.

Hairy Bear and me making friends

Jamming at Kris Murphy's after the show

Mike doing.... well something

Once again though Bloomington proves to be a blast and showed us a lot of love.

Special thanks to...

• Our awesome waitress Kimmi, not only for bringing us drinks but also for joining us for some "No Way Home" tambourine-ing
• Marissa and Pam for bringing back that pizza and partying with us straight into Saturday morning
• And of course ...Kris Murphy for the hospitality and back rubs

See you soon Btown!

Rock and Roll McDonalds in Bloomington, IN Tomorrow Night

Almost 13 years ago the late/great Wesley Willis blessed the folks in Bloomington, IN with his premonitions of our country's battle with fast-food addiction.

Come eat some quarter-pounders in his honor with us tomorrow night at Bear's Place. (1316 E. 3rd St. Bloomington, IN).



Verona Red sucks a cheetah's smelly ass
at
Bear's Place (1316 E. 3rd St. Bloomington, IN)
Doors: 9:30
Cover: $5
21+

The 8's (http://www.myspace.com/the8smusic) 10-10:30
The Constants (http://www.myspace.com/theconstantsindy) 10:45-11:15
Verona Red (http://www.myspace.com/veronared) 11:30-12
Casket Sharp (http://www.myspace.com/casketsharp) 12-12:30

Rhino's (Bloomington, IN) 2/20/2009

Rhino's in Bloomington was an all ages show. And I felt a little bit like a camp counselor when I got there. But it was a lot of fun. This was the first time we played "No Way Home" and wouldn't you know it, I think the kids dug it.

This was also the first time we took Healy on the road with us. He did a good job at the booth, way to go Healy...what he didn't know was that I refuse to use hands when driving through the state of Indiana.

He didn't seem to mind...what a sport.

We didn't get a lot of good shots of the show, because up until this point we'd be using a disposable camera, which can't get a good picture unless you take the film of the camera and actually rub it onto whatever it is you are trying to get a picture of.

Anyway we met some cool people.

Chris pictured here on the right, had a great theory on how every puke can be associated with a species of dinosaur...his favorite was the T-Rex puke. It sounded pretty badass.

I told myself to pay attention to what kind of dinosaur I look like the next time I puke...so far I've haven't yet remembered to stop and think about it.

After the show we went and partied it up on IU's campus. It had been a while since we got to walk around a college campus and pretend to be rockstars. Sorry again to anyone in the Acacia house...

After that it was time to find a hotel room...only availibility was a handicap room way outside of town...Mike was so excited he could hardly contain himself...

Lucky for him the handicap toilet had handlebars.