Our first mini weekend tour. We got to the club in South Windsor, CT sometime in the 7 o’clock hour, only to find out shortly thereafter that the show was being moved to a different venue down the street. Apparently there were some issues with the original venue not being licensed for live music or some shit. Whatever. The B & G Lounge was more than accommodating, and was more populated, too. The only bummer about this switch was that the original venue had Olde Burnside Brewing Company’s Ten Penny Ale on tap. I’d never had it, but had heard it was really good. And yes, it was. So, I got to swill down two of those before the move.
The B & G was cool… it had a good sound system and some neat stage lights that flickered around the STREAK banner. The owner, whose name I cannot recall, was totally cool and excited to have bands coming in for the night. He’s a drummer, and after our set he encouraged me to learn to play an acoustic kit. Something about putting all my energy into beating the shit out of a real drum kit. That’s something I’ve thought about many times, but I donno… maybe some day when I have more time, money, and space. In the meantime, I’ll keep thrashing away on the old electronic kit. That thing’s got 10 years of beatings in it, between Uncle Big Time and STREAK, and it’s held up really well. Plus, it just looks so cool!
STREAK super-fans Josh and Jenn made it out. I love it when Josh is there… he’s got a bad ass death metal growl that he is not afraid to use between songs. There is some video evidence of this, that may surface some day on the STREAK YouTube channel or something. I, regrettably, did not get a picture of them, but I did get this one of Lezlie (left) and his friend Haven (right).
Lezlie was the original drummer for UBT, and more recently the bass player. OK, so, his name isn’t really Lezlie, but look at him, he’s Lezlie, right?
As for the beer, this place was OK in my book. I had prayed earlier in the day to the God of Micro-breweries that these two places would have good beer on tap. My prayers were answered. They had Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA on tap. Son of a bitch, that stuff was good! Some day I want to try their 120 Minute IPA… it’s 20% ABV, and from what I’ve heard, you can only get it in single 12oz bottles. Anyway, they also had Long Trail Ale on tap. Always a solid favorite. Then, back in the motel room later in the evening, I wanted to pop open my 24oz Sierra Nevada, but forgot to pack a bottle opener. This marked the first time I ever opened a bottle with my teeth. I’d always wanted to try it, but was sort of afraid. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
On to Pittsfield, MA for the benefit show for the family of Angelo Rossi. It was a celebration of the life of Chris and Angela’s friend, Angelo, who passed away last year. It would have been his 30th birthday. I, personally, never met the man, but he looked and sounded like a cool dude, and we rocked as hard as we could for him… I think he would have enjoyed it. Chris and I did a shot of Jager in honor of him after our set… smooooth.
This show marked the first time I performed (to my knowledge, anyway) with the hot dog stand open for business. Evidently, I had a zipper malfunction prior to us performing, which I was unaware of until after we were done, and I went to pee and the damn thing was wide open. Thankfully, the cucumber I stick down there wasn’t visible (watch This is Spinal Tap if you don’t get the reference), or my secret would have been out.
Chris and I took off for a few minutes to get the individual tracks for the album from the recording studio, which was close by in Pittsfield. Remix time! When we came back, some drunk goofy guy was hitting on my lady friend. He took off a few seconds later. “Made a new friend, huh?” “Yeah, thanks a lot, Aho.”
One of the great things about playing out in Western MA is that most places have Berkshire Brewing Company on tap. This place had three taps of theirs: Shabadoo Black and Tan, Lost Sailor IPA, and Steel Rail Extra Pale Ale, the latter being tapped out from the night before. Too bad, coz that is one of my favorite beers of all time, but the others are also very good. They had Magic Hat #9, too. Good, good stuff.
I pussed out, and we took off early from the show. We were tired, and missed our kitty. I was looking forward to seeing the headliner, Q, but oh well. On the way home, we stopped at the Goshen Snack Bar (Goshen, MA). We saw the sign on the side of the road of RT 9 / RT 112 that said soft serve ice cream. That sounded pretty good, so we took the road, which was a dirt road that seemed to be going into the middle of nowhere. Sure enough, there it was, a little trailer by the side of the road. There was a sign that said “Not quite in the middle of Nowhere, but you can see it from here.” Nice people… stop in if you are ever going by.
We got home, and were greeted by our kitty, Biff… and then greeted by two piles of barf and a decapitated mouse head on the carpet. At least he knew enough not to eat the head. Then he made a B-line for the litter box, and took a really stinky shit. Welcome home.
Currently drinking: Raspberry Wheat (?% ABV, probably around 5%), Opa Opa Streakhouse and Brewery, Southampton, MA
