SXSW Tour
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3/12/08 Austin Beauty Bar
We stopped at the Czech Stop in West on the way to Austin. Ron and Suke had never been there and wanted to make sure we stopped there again on the way back so they could stock up on kolaches (Czech pastries). I wrote a song about that place once and gave them a recording of it. The town has a big festival and Myron Floren and Brave Combo have played there along with many other accordion players.
brave combo on the simpsons It’s a great town.
SXSW registration was overwhelming. Ron and I went to register while Suke and Dave looked for a place to park the van. At one point we were going up the escalator and Ron said, “Do you feel a knot in your stomach?” “Yeah, I do.” I’ve never seen such a concentrated cool contest as I did there. Not that everyone was trying but enough were to make me feel like I was in high school again. I saw a group walk by that looked as if their manager made them go to a stylist before registration. They looked very uncomfortable as if their stylist was mom. From clowntown. I saw my friend, Will Johnson, and everything was better. The registration was very easy, too. It was very organized.
Afterwards we went to Charlie’s house to hang out. Charlie makes t-shirts in his garage. He’s really good at it. We had an order with him and they look really good. To kill more time, we watched Blazing Saddles. I won a trivia night in Belfast one night with my keen eye for the great Cleavon Little.
Charlie photo by suke The Beauty Bar was run just like registration. They were a well-oiled machine. They helped us load in and load out. Really nice people. It was a bitch trying to park the van but we found a place 10 minutes before set time. I saw my friend, Erica, who was in the band after us, The Faceless Werewolves.
We had a good set. My sustain pedal went out halfway through and luckily Suke brought his soldering kit with him, fixing it the following day.
Afterwards, I wanted to watch The Faceless Werewolves but we had to get our stuff in the van and get out of there.
We went to a bar outside of the festival and I saw another friend from working there. We drank beer and watched the Spitzer news.
the late Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder -
3/11/08 Driving Day
We drove to Dallas from Athens. We stayed at my old roommates’ (Corbett and Becky) house where they were watching Cat Soup. Beth made ravioli lasagna for us. She’s real sweet.
We’d been craving Shiner Bock since the tour was planned and Corbett and Becky had it. Corbett was in an art rock band with Dave and me called The Dooms UK. His moniker was DJ Geeky C. He had good samples. He also has an awesome dog named The Baron. I love that dogs don’t worry about being over excited. What a joy. I had a dog in high school that pissed everytime she saw me come in the door. That’s a lot of excitement.
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3/10/08 Athens, GA – 283 Bar
On the way to Athens, we stopped to get gas in Harlem, GA. It’s the birthplace of Oliver Hardy. Subsequently, there is a museum dedicated to Laurel and Hardy. It was closed. I’m sure it's excellent.
closed. coño. photo by sukeLori, the owner of 283 bar, is a sweet sweet lady. We arrived in Athens and she immediately gave us drinks and let us hang out a bit before loading in. During the load-in she made note of the coin-slot disco ball by the jukebox. She would deactivate the monetary switch in order to give us carte blanche with the ball along with the smoke machine.
photo by suke We wandered the downtown with cd’s trying to put some on consignment. They are good with the local music but understandably not willing to burden themselves with unsigned touring bands. Except Wuxtry. Mike, the fellow working there, recognized me as a friend of Fishboy and allowed me to sell him some of our cd’s. Friends are good to have. He then put the cd's in the display case, replacing the remastered Joshua Tree cd. That was extra nice of him.
wuxtry photo by suke The next stop was Wilson’s Restaurant. That place is amazing. The ladies were sweet on us and made us fried pork chops and fried chicken with the most comforting sides.
suke's dinner-green beans, mac and cheese, okra and tomato, biscuit photo by suke
the ladies who made our dinner photo by sukeMy friend, Doug, was getting off work so we went to his house. He has an amazing place and a great dog, Tiny Doug. The last time I was out there we went out on his boat, Woman Magic. He’s my good times friend. He owns a flooring company that reclaims wood floors. He used to be an entomologist and still has museum-style glass cases with taxidermied insects. He’s selling his house complete with a movie room and fenced-in yard for Chinese Crested dogs like Tiny Doug.
Tiny Doug and Doug photo by suke We hung out for a bit and then Lori came over. After porch sitting a while in good weather we went back to the venue. Edison Project pulled up and we helped them load in. We had a good night. The crowd was great and we had fun. Athens is a great town.
Lori's other place is Dynamite photo by suke
shirt from Dynamite photo by suke 
one more pic of Tiny Doug photo by suke -
3/9/08 Augusta, GA – 1021 Bar
We checked into the Budget hotel. They had a Coke machine that dated before Coke Classic. I have a theory that New Coke was introduced as a smokescreen in order to replace sugar with corn syrup with Coke Classic. Theories are fun. I also had a theory that if you looped the electromagnetic spectrum you could reverse time. Here’s some digression to magical realism: If you put a radio at the end of a rope and spinned that rope at a 5-foot diameter from yourself during a nuclear explosion, then you could go back in time to a date that you really enjoyed and cut the time line into the form of a Wheel-O. Problem solved.
We were early so we hung out in the room and watched Randy Jackson’s Dance show. A dance crew dressed as vampires were my favorite. They were beat by Fish and Chicks. They brought it, but I’m still fascinated by dancing vampires, even if they look like the kind who shop at Hot Topic, they’re still dancing vampires.
We got to the venue where there was a photo shoot with girls dressed as strippers. It was very popular with the locals who turned up on a quiet Sunday afternoon.
Our friends, Edison Project, live in this town and invited us to play this venue. They’re really nice and I like their band a lot. Two of the mates are brothers and their dad played drums in a band that toured with the Beach Boys. During that tour, Dennis Wilson’s bus, that carried the drummers from the other bands as well, had gotten lost. As a result, Micah and Zach’s dad had to sit in with all of the drummerless bands, including the Beach Boys.
The show was good and we were happy to be there.
photo by suke 
zach from edison project photo by suke -
3/8/08 Greenville, NC – The Spazzatorium
Ron and Dave drove to Jersey to pick up the van and met us back at the rehearsal studio. Our gear was a tight fit. It started raining. All the way from NYC through Richmond the rain was torrential. But we hauled ass because we were supposed to load in at 8pm. We had a gps system and tried to keep the arrival time before 8. After Richmond we hit a couple of rubberneck hold ups due to wrecks.
I’d played Greenville in the past with the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. It was a great time. This time was a little stressful getting to the venue.
They have Galaga there. I love that game even though I usually die before the second challenging stage.
photo by suke Jeff, the co-owner, was really nice. “We’re about to order wings if you guys want some.” I did because wings are so good. But I’m with the band this time. Plus, there was no one there and he was gonna push the show back a little until people showed up.
So, we went to check into the super 8 and then went to Bojangles, Suke’s favorite. The Super 8 was great this time. One time I stayed at one in Wytheville, VA and two of the staff were doing it in my bed. And by doing it I mean watching tv with the covers down implying doing it earlier meaning having sex on my bed. Dirty people, dirty bed, dirty motel. No sign of that at the Greenville Super 8.
Two other Brooklyn bands were on the bill: Black Horse and Airwaves. There were still wings on the counter but I didn’t want any. I went outside to check on the van and met the neighbor, Jon, who made metal sculptures. He invited me to his place and showed me his other artwork- paintings and sculptures. I pet his dog and had a nice visit. He was really nice and had a great place to make his art.
ron photo by suke We went on at 2am and played hard. It was nice to play our first show even though we were tired. Jeff was really nice. I’m glad he’s doing his best to make that place stay open.
done and done photo by suke -
SXSW Showcase Review