THE GRACKLES EAST COAST

TOUR JOURNAL, FALL 2004

10/13 11:35 a.m. CST

All loaded up. We left the practice space, pulled into Burger King and Nicole realized she left her wallet in her car. Got a couple sandwiches, swang back for the wallet, filled up the gas tank and we're on our way.

Photo of the back of the trailer.

I always take this photo when

we go out of town.

10/13 5:58 p.m. EST

In the car about an hour outside Cleveland, our first show. It's rainy. Road manager Ken took over driving outside Sandusky, Ohio. He put in the Wonder Stuff's second album. I'm not a fan, so I put the Pixies' Bossanova on my headphones.

Nicole said she woke up last night at 3 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. Woof! I didn't sleep so well either, but it was ok - I had a nice send-off.

I hope people come out to the show tonight. We don't know many people in Cleveland. Yet.

Sorta kinda forgot to consider the fact that we'd lose an hour once we hit Ohio, but we'll be ok. Just hope I can find time to find a cheap dinner. Don't want to get grumpy on Day 1.

I get bored easily in the car. You can tell Nicole loves this.

10/14 1:20 p.m.

Just got out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland. I heard a rumor that touring bands get in free, so I called ahead and was told that the rumor is true, so with one Grackles CD we all had wristbands and were in like flint.

Nicole impales herself outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Saw one of Kurt Cobain's blue Fender Mustangs! Couldn't photograph it though. No photos allowed. Lots of security. Lots of rules for a "rock and roll" museum. Sort of bummed that a Leadbelly exhibit will be at the Hall of Fame in a couple weeks and I won't be.

Last night's show in Cleveland went really well. A pretty good crowd for a rainy Wednesday night. Played with two bands from Texas - Gorch Fock, from Austin, and Boxcar Satan, from San Antonio. We played second, so I said we were the crèeme filling of a Texas sandwich. Ha ha. I'm so funny.

Brian outside the Cleveland venue.

The place was called Pats in the Flats - totally in an industrial area seemingly in the middle of nowhere but within blocks of downtown. Reminded me of the Hideout in Chicago.

Pat is an old grey-haired lady whose family has owned the bar since 1945, she said. I got my photo with her.

Pat and me.

Oh, and my vomit-colored guitar, dubbed "the Dirty Math Machine," totally wimped out. The neck was moving back and forth and went completely out of tune every other song. Such a shame. I was hoping it'd be the official "Grackles East Coast Tour Guitar," but it's now relegated to back-up duty.

Got the show on audio, but no photos - Ken couldn't figure out the camera. We played pretty decent, all things considered.

Gorch Fock were like noise metal crossed with the Allman Brothers Band. (Only because they had two drummers, three guitar players, a bass player, and a craving for the green stuff. Lead singer also played trombone.) They were good and interesting, but it got a little repetitive. Was awesome when the tromboning lead singer got up on the bar and Pat came running over to yell at him/pull on his pantleg. That was pretty funny to see.

Boxcar Satan was a punked-up blues band. Great bass player. They'd be great at weddings.

Oh yeah, we had to get a hotel room last night. Ouch! First night of tour! Suck-o. Thought we'd score a floor with one of the locals, but all potentials dried up. At least we got a shower and a TV with cable.

Tonight's an off-night, but we're driving all day to get into Worcester, MA to see Rob from Bastille, who we will play with for the next two shows. Free floor to sleep on and a cool guy to boot!

10/15 3:04 p.m.

We just got breakfast at Annie's in Worcester - the hangout all our Worcester friends endorse. The food was tasty and cheap. Two great things. Annie rules. Saw some of our Chicago friends' photos on the wall.

Then we walked around looking for a record store that we couldn't find. Now we're back at "Hotel Bastille" to watch a movie (Hudsucker Proxy) and relax before the show, which is at Clark University, just a couple doors down the street.

Last night we pulled up to Rob's at about 11:45 p.m. We met and shook hands and brought our guitars up to his apartment so they wouldn't get stolen in case the trailer got broken into and then promptly went out for beers.

The Blarney Stone in Worcester has a storied past I hear, but these days it's pretty yuppie-ish. But hey -- $5.50 large pitchers of Miller Lite ain't bad.

Rob and Jeremy from Bastille show us a good time in Worcester.

Oh yeah, I bought a Massachusetts Lottery ticket for $1 at Rob's urging and won $2! Woo-hoo!

Stayed out til 1:45 a.m., came back and had some Samuel Adams (when in Rome, right?) and got to know the Bastille guys better. It was a fun night. Crashed out after realizing we were close enough to the Clark U. campus to steal their wi-fi and check some email.

Looking forward to tonight's show. I'm wearing my Braid shirt - hope Chris (former Braid member) from the Firebird Band isn't offended.

10/16 4:02 a.m.

Oh man! We're on tour! It just hit me! Loaded into Grind Central in the rain at 6 p.m. The Firebird Band demanded a soundcheck, so we went upstairs and the Bastille guys got us in to the school cafeteria for free! Yeah! I had a hot dog, a pepperoni pizza slice, fries and onion rings. Also had a salad to make me feel healthy.

YUMMM. Brian likes cafeteria food. And having his photo taken...

Played well. Broke a string during the second to last song. Had some sort of electrical problems which I couldn't figure out (later turned out I jimmied the output jack on my guitar pretty good at some point in the set)

Bastille was awesome. They had a good number of people there and they rocked it. I even got a piece of video of them on my crappy digital camera that features their homemade light rig. Good stuff. When they were done, the fans mostly left and The Firebird Band had a tiny audience. After the show, the three of them declined our invitation to party and our efforts to get them on our D.C. bill for Sunday night (their Baltimore gig on the same night got canceled). They instead started driving through the rain toward North Carolina. See ya later, suckas!

The Grackles play in New England.

After the show we went to Harris', the Bastille drummer's place and "had a good time." Stayed up and had more fun than we needed, considering we have a show tomorrow afternoon/evening in Brooklyn.

Oh yeah, before that we loaded our gear into Bastille's practice space for safe keeping overnight. What a huge, awesome room. I'm jealous.

Also, earlier, before the show, we heard the test pressing of Bastille's new 7" with them and their label guy Patrick. Sounded great. Rob was personally screening the sleeves, which were all hanging by clotheslines all over his apartment. Can't wait to get my own copy.

At Clark's Grind Central, I couldn't help but think of the ghosts of all my Chicago friends who went to school there. Truly odd to be there, years later, walking through the same halls and eating in the same cafeteria.

Looking forward to tomorrow's (actually, later today's) Brooklyn show. Lots of old friends to meet up with. Need to get some sleep!

10/17 12:47 p.m.

Just getting ready to leave Brooklyn. It, and the rest of last night's festivities, were overwhelmingly great. Packed up the car. Have to take Nicole to the airport. She has to be in Detroit for a work-related training thing, so I'll play tonight's D.C. show solo (with a little help from Brian on a few songs on bass and backing vocals) and we'll meet back up with her on Tuesday.

The last two days with Bastille have been a blast. The show yesterday at Kettner's 1up! House was fantastic. All-ages. Lots of good vibes from the kids.

The aerial view of us playing at the 1up! House in Brooklyn.

We were fourth of six bands. And a lot of old friends who I haven't seen for years came out to the show and afterwards we all went to Alphabet City for drinks and a chance to catch up. At 3 a.m. we all went to Strombolli's for some New York pizza. Hit the spot like none other. Then we came home and crashed. Everyone woke up around 9:30 a.m. as the sun came through Kettner's un-shaded windows, then his girlfriend cooked us all some vegan breakfast - pancakes, scrambled tofu, the works. Yummy.

Bastille took off for home and now we're ready to go too.

Oh yes, we and Bastille have designated the Firebird Band song that goes "And it's dangerous for us to keep writing each other" as the official song of the tour. We can't stop singing it to each other and cracking up. It's one of those catchy songs that's real easy to substitute other words for and annoy the shit out of everyone.

This photo of our road manager Ken, while out at a bar in New York after the Brooklyn gig, cracks me up for some reason.

10/17 3:15 p.m.

Dropped off Nicole at the airport, had to fuck with the directions and somehow missed the I95 exit and drove a half-hour out of the way. Genius! Dunkin' Donuts coffee, you're my only friend.

Showered this morning for the first time in a couple days. Had two shows-worth of sweat on my body. Shaved, too! Looking snappy. Feeling snappy.

10/17 3:33 p.m.

Hooray, we're on I95 finally. New Jersey Turnpike to D.C.

10/18 4:07 p.m.

Left D.C. after another airport drop-off - (my girlfriend) Deborah is going back home to Chicago after coming out for the weekend to hang out, see some old friends and family members and see us play. It was great to have her around for a couple days.

The D.C. show at the Velvet Lounge was sparsely attended. There were supposed to be two other bands on the bill and one of them dropped out at the last minute. The other band, Seepeoples, was from North Carolina. Was fun though. I played half the set solo. Did a bunch of unrehearsed covers, including a Braid song, a Weakerthans song and an Elliott Smith song. Brian joined me for some slower, quieter takes of Grackles tunes. Before we had Nicole on drums, Brian and I used to practice those songs in our apartment. Full circle, I guess.

Brian and I do a quieted-down, Nicole-less show in our nation's Capital.

After that we dropped off our bags at Deborah's friend's place and took the car/trailer to a parking lot a ways away so we wouldn't get towed/ticketed overnight. Brian and Ken went to get some food and Deborah and I went to bed. Exhaustion.

Woke up at noon! Goodbye exhaustion. My first sleep of more than five hours so far this tour. Went to an Indian buffet for lunch and spent the rest of my money. Uh-oh.

As I write this, up in the front of the car, Ken just said to Brian that his nun teacher in Catholic grade school "was uglier than most ugly men" and that she told his mom she was considering leaving the nun-hood because of him. Ha.

10/19/04 12:09 p.m.

We were trying to get to Detroit from D.C. earlier than we expected and hopefully get an extra day of free hospitality from Steve of Fifth Period Fever, but rain and mountain driving set us way back so we chumped up and got a motel room outside Cleveland. Nearby gas station had cold beer and we ordered a pizza, which hit the fucking spot and watched Juror No. 9, with John Cusak and Gene Hackman. Woke up, showered and now we're heading in to Detroit for the Last Show of the Tour.

Last night I got stuck with driving through the Allegheny Mountains. Dark. Heavy rain. Narrow as fuck lanes. Exclusively semi-truck traffic. Lots of fun, obviously. But I didn't kill us all, though I did ask to put on the Exploding Hearts and For Squirrels albums… I guess Ken and Brian didn't think it was too funny…

This is what your brain feels like after driving through the rain, in the mountains, at night, with semi-trucks on either side of you for four hours.

When I took off my pants last night I saw I had an entire right thigh-full of bruises. Not from driving, duh, but I don't remember any particular stage antics that could have led to that!

Meeting back up with Nicole in Detroit. Can't wait to see her again. Even though it's only been a few days.

We're listening to the Sainte Catherines CD - they're the Canadian band we played with in New York. They like to curse! My favorite line from one of their songs: "Let's fucking piss on expensive cars." Or, "Fuck me with a bag over my head." In Brooklyn, Ken said he gave the girl who was traveling with the band a Grackles button - the one that has a horse head on it - and she responded, with a thick French-Canadian accent, "Fucking nice!"

I can't believe I haven't gotten sick on this trip. It seems like everytime the band goes out of town I get sick and miserable at some point. No allergies or anything this time, though. Brian, however, sneezed out a lung yesterday in D.C. and in the car towards Detroit.

10/19/04 6:30 p.m.

Ken, the picture of sympathy and empathy, just said the following: "I'm sorry I made fun of the funny lookin' dirt lady." Yep. A homeless woman was walking by and smiled real big at us. Happiest woman we've seen thus far in Detroit. But Ken remarked that it looked like she had just taken a "dirt bath," and then laughed himself silly. What a charming man. And no, that was not a Smiths reference.

10/20 ~4 a.m.

Detroit was our best-played show of the tour. We had lots of fun on stage. And just as I was wheeling my amp cabinet away from the stage after the show one of the caster wheels broke off. Lucky timing, eh?

We played a new song, Rekinderview. It's our most experimental. It went over well. Several people actually came up to us afterwards and asked about it and said it was their favorite song. That's what I like to call a good sign.

The last show of tour, at the Lager House in Detroit.

Unfortunately, while we were playing, some sort of controversial call happened during the Red Sox/Yankees playoff game, which was on the TV in the other room of the club. A bunch of fans at the game went apeshit and cops were called onto the field and lots of people who were watching us play went to watch the game for a few minutes. The band after us, Brandon Wiard, actually postponed their start time until the game ended. They love their sports in Detroit, I tell ya.

The other bands were great, especially Fifth Period Fever, who we want to bring down to Chicago for a show sometime in the future. Steve, their guitar player/singer, let us sleep at his house, which is right across the street from where Detroit Tigers legend Ty Cobb once lived. That's where we are right now, after eating some late-night chili dogs and onion rings from a local Coney Island drive-thru.

Before the show we got to Detroit early, parked downtown and Ken treated us to lunch. I had a great bowl of Cream of Broccoli soup. Then we killed time by sitting in the parking lot of a CVS before moving to the parking lot of the Lager House - our final venue. The bar didn't open until much later than we expected. (Web site boasted of a 5 o'clock happy hour, but the doors didn't open until after 8.)

Underpants nicely left outside the Lager House, right

next to where we parked the trailer.

Nicole pulled up with a bunch of people from her work training seminar thing-a-ma-bob. It was nice to see her, and she seemed sad she missed the D.C. show.

My belly is full and I just took some pills for my leg, which is more black and blue and painful than ever.

Can't believe the shows are over. So much fun. Detroit was a great capper. Looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again though. And to sleeping more than a few hours at a time. Except I have to go back to work on Thursday. No rest for the weary, they say. Next tour will be longer and I can't wait.

Get me to a bed. I'll see you next time.

STATES VISITED:

Illinois

Indiana

Ohio

Pennsylvania

New York

Massachusetts

New Jersey

Delaware

Maryland

District of Columbia (yeah yeah, it's not a state. Stop being so picky!)

Michigan

MILES TRAVELED:

2,200

SHOWS PLAYED:

5