| The Guru in Plymouth 6/5/2010

The Guru in Plymouth 6/5/2010


It seemed a little weird on the way down to Plymouth last Saturday that we were going to be playing in the back room of an Indian Restaurant, but I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by The Guru Indian Grille and Music Bar in Plymouth, MA. It seems that Bones, the promoter for the evening, has been putting on some good shows of heavy music on the weekends there. Jim regularly frequents these shows, and it was definitely his night as it seemed the whole crowd knew of “Metal Jim.” The sound man was excellent as well, paying close attention to the entire set, was super easy to work with, and actually took the time to make sure everything was sounding good, instead of the usual quick rush-rush job that most sound technician’s do. We got some decent merch sales, and I even heard we made a few bucks at the door, and that Bone’s wants to have us back. You like us, you really like us!?!?

We met a dude by the name of David at the show (I’m bad with names, but I’m almost positive I’ve got this one right), who is interested in playing acoustic drums with us. It was really cool of him to come out to see us, and I look forward to jamming with him at some point to see how things feel. It’s gonna be weird to do that first jam session with an acoustic drummer, not only coz for three plus years I’ve been the electronic drummer for Streak, but because in the 15 years that I’ve been playing in bands, I’ve never once played with an acoustic drummer. It’s always been either the good ole electronic kit, or sampled drums. I am really looking forward to it though, as I think an acoustic drummer and myself moving over to add a second guitar will ultimately push Streak into a new stratosphere, and when this happens, look the fuck out!

I also want to give two quick shout outs… one to David’s friend, whose name I totally can’t remember. Thanks for coming along, I hope you enjoyed out set, and thanks for the slice of pizza… sorry that I had no shame in taking it, even though you didn’t actually offer it to me! Also, thanks to Joe Young, Streak Freak extraordinaire!!! You go the distance man, and you bring the love again and again!

The crowd was great at this show. People standing up front instead of lingering back. I could feel that we had a little more energy than normal on stage because of this. It was a great crowd/band connection, that really makes me remember why we do this. As I write this, I can still feel the twinge in my neck and shoulder, the lingering result of a head banging injury that I incurred during the last couple minutes of our final song of the night, Faces of Fear. I think my head banging was intensified a little more than normal at this one moment because of the energy in the room. I felt the sharp pain, thought to myself “ooohh, that smarts a little.” By the time we off loaded all our gear, I knew I was going to be hurting for a little while. I must be getting old, coz I used to be able to head bang with the best of ’em. Maybe I need to do some calisthenics now before every show or something.

My beer of choice for the night was Harpoon IPA. A solid good old Boston classic. There wasn’t much else good on tap besides Guinness. I prayed to the God of Microbreweries on the way down that they would have Mayflower Brewing Company on tap, being that they are based in Plymouth and all, but unfortunately, He did not answer this prayer. Speaking of Mayflower Brewing, they have possibly my favorite quote ever on a beer bottle on their bottles…

“We could not now take time for further search or consideration, our victuals being much spent, especially our beer.” — William Bradford in his first hand account of the Pilgrims at Plymouth

I love that quote. It makes you think that the Pilgrims would have kept sailing to a much better climate like Florida, but “SHIT, WE’RE OUT OF BEER! Fuck it, let’s just stay here in this desolate shit hole, so we can brew some more beer.”

Adria took a smell of my Harpoon IPA, and wrinkled her nose like she often does to my beer, took a sip anyway, and then offered Jim a sip. It was pretty loud at the time, but after Jim took a sniff, I believe he said “It smells like shitty Budweiser,” and handed it back. HAHA. Because of this, I decided Harpoon should update their IPA label…

New Harpoon IPA logo

Going back a few hours earlier in the evening, I just had to stop at my favorite package store of all time, Julio’s, in Westborough, MA, since we were practically driving right by there and all. (It’s a sickness.) Among other great beer that I purchased, I was pleasantly surprised to see a whole bunch of Dogfish Head Raison D’Extra 12 ouncers on the shelf. This is a souped-up 18% ABV version of their Raison D’Etre. To my knowledge, this beer has not been brewed since 2007, and these were in fact March of 2007 vintage bottles. It is one of their many beers that age well, and I just couldn’t help myself but pick up two of them to add to my cellar collection, which now makes a total of three of this particular beer that I am cellaring, as I was lucky enough to find one earlier in the year at another store as well.

Again, it’s a sickness. And I seek no cure. 😀

Peace…
Paul

Currently drinking: Mayflower Brewing Company Pale Ale (4.9% ABV), Plymouth, Massachusetts