Tour Recap: Alexandria VA – June 10th

Jun 18, 2009 - News
Posted by chris

We headed out of Columbus OH on Wednesday June 10th at approximately 11am or so, although we hoped to leave at 10.  We were slow to get up.  But on the way we stopped at the local McDonald’s for some foodage, then got on our way to Alexandria, VA.  Approximately a 7hr drive.  While setting up the shows I did my best to try and keep the driving to a minimum.  Say 4 – 5 hrs at the most.  I wanted to hit as many new areas as possible to try and maximize the exposure, but at the same time keep the driving at a reasonable level.  And for the most part I was able to keep the driving distances to about those numbers.  However, Columbus to Alexandria was one of they days where the driving was a tad more.  The other was Raleigh, NC to Philadelphia, PA, which was also 7hrs.

Anyway, we were on our way and all was well.  The 3 of us chatted and listened to music.  Some of which was supplied by our friend Duffy!  It was great to hear some new stuff.  Another thing that kept us amused were some wrapped gifts from my parents.  When I was a kid my parents would always wrap some sort of gift for us when we went on vacation that we could open up either on the ride or when we arrived.  Usually something like a Nerf ball or puzzle or some other sort of toy.  And this trip was no exception!  Some of it was food, which disappeared very quickly.  We also got a whiffle ball and a dice game called Greed, which we unfortunately we did not get to try the game but it has been saved for next time!  Another cool item were two books of Madlibs, but we didn’t happen to open those until we were in Raleigh, NC.  So we’ll get to those later.

For most of the locations we did our driving at night.  We were all hyped up from the shows anyway, and this gave us an chance to avoid traffic and get to our next location with no worries of being late.  The trip to Alexandria however was the 1st day-time driving.  And oh did we hit traffic around DC.  Although, to be honest it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.  We really only lost about 15 – 20 min, so really, it wasn’t so bad.  As we got closer to the end of the traffic we found that most of the  issue was that the other side of the road was closed down for some surveying of some sorts.  Yes, you read that correctly, the OTHER side of the road.  As you can see from the photo there are zero cars coming from the other direction. Everyone just had to slow down to see what all the hubbub was about, and it was none too exciting.  But anyway, we got to our location  just around 7:30pm or so.  We actually didn’t see the sign right away, and we parked one street over and walked around.  We found the place and headed into the front door and had to walk up some long, skinny stairs.  UHG, loading in was going to be a pain.  There were several rooms on the second floor, none of which were set up for live music.  UHG again!  Then… near the back we found a set of stairs going back down, which lead to a room on the ground level.  This was the room with the stage and PA, and also had an entrance on the ground level.  No stairs!  Awesome!  This was the 1st venue of the tour where we didn’t have to deal with stairs.  Paul and I headed back over to the van and pulled it around.  Luckily, we found a parking spot just in front of the venue.  AND, we got everything loaded in before the rain came pouring down.

Unfortunately this was another smoking venue.  So once we got everything loaded in I actually stayed in a deli area just across the hallway where smoking wasn’t allowed.  It was actually quite annoying because I really like to stay out and support all the bands.  But I was doing all I could to save the voice.  Tea, honey, and staying away from the smoke.  When Paul was talking to one of the opening bands, Shinguh, he found out that they got their name from Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper” (apparently one of the members thought the lyrics was “Shinguh don’t fear the reaper”, haha).  So of course when we did our rendition we had to dedicate it to them.  They were really cool guys and hope we can share the stage again.   The other band that night, well, as we were moving our stuff to the stage they kept standing in the way.  They didn’t quite get it that once you are done, you get out of the way as quickly as possible so the next band can load up.  Then the singer made some comment about Paul’s drum kit, someting about if it was from “Rock Band” or something like that?  It’s an electronic kit for those who haven’t seen it.  Maybe it was us, but to Paul and I it sounded really condescending the way it was said.   OK, let’s see, we play original music and push as hard as we can and as much as we can for everything we do.  You on the other hand are a cover band, and not a very good one.  And the 2 females in the band, the ones I think you are hoping will get you by and hide your lack of talent?   Well you’ll have to do a bit more than that, I don’t think anyone was fooled.  Besides, it looked as if the years had not been too kind, fall asleep with your face on the stove did you?  To the entire band I would say, even as a cover band, put a little emotion into what you do and try not to be such a prick.  Haha, OK, sorry, ranting done…

As you can see, Paul and I were looking a bit ragged.  Even after our wonderful night’s sleep and showers from the day before.  Maybe it was just the lighting?  After the show we got everything packed up and we headed off around 2am on our 4 1/2 hr drive to Raleigh, NC.  Probably about 4am we decided to pull over to get some sleep.  Not sure where we were, but we parked in a Walmart lot to get some sleep.   Around 6:30am or so I woke up and it was damn hot in the van.  The sun was already beating down and was making it feel like a sauna.  Paul woke up at the same time, and he would later tell me he woke up angry.  Just plain and simple, it was so hot he woke up angry.  For some reason I find that really funny.  “You’re making me angry, you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry”.  Sorry Paul, Haha!  With the windows down to get a bit of air, we driffed off again.  I got up a little before 7am, walked into the Walmart to get some OJ (by suggestion of Mrs. Streak!),  and then we headed out around 8:30am, arriving at the Volume 11 Tavern in Raleigh, NC around 11am-ish

Next up… Raliegh NC – June 11th!

Chris