Let me tell you something. You may think that someone has treated you nicely at some point in your life. Maybe they brought you some Thai food when you weren’t feeling good, maybe they told you that your new haircut looked nice even when you knew deep down that you looked like a member of Herman’s Hermits. But I think – maybe – that you don’t really know what someone treating you awesomely is like until you’ve played a basement show with the kids in New Brunswick, NJ. It’s incomparable. Our new favorite person Jay (roadie for Besties’ heroes The Ergs! and generally incredible dude) truly rolled out the Jersey red carpet for us, and we really can’t thank him enough. The show was loads of fun, everyone was astoundingly supportive and cool, and we spent an epic night hanging out and singing along with the jukebox at McCormick’s after the show. WE LOVE NEW JERSEY. And we’ve been listening to show-mates Full of Fancy – who rocked that basement so hard! – pretty incessantly in the van. Mikey says he loves you, Mikey says he cares….
We reluctantly left Jersey on Tuesday morning and drove the long, hard road to Richmond, VA. The journey took much longer than it should have thanks to terrible traffic outside of DC, so we ended up not having much time to hang out before the show (at Rumor’s Boutique, where you should definitely shop if you live in Richmond because they have the best t-shirts ever…). Richmond is a really rad city, by the way. I was the only band member who had never been, and I totally fell in love with it. We met some amazing people at the show – Brian! Julie! Maddy! Kathryn! – and (hopefully) helped lovely Wendy have a fun birthday. Julie opened the show – it was her first show ever!! – and we were completely blown away by her voice. Beautiful!
We’re now in Greenville, SC, hanging out prior to our show at the Spazzatorium. Best moment of the day: We got pulled over in Emporia, VA (which, crazily, Maddy had warned us about, saying that they had the highest rate of pull-overs in the country). We were really curious as to what the officer was going to say, since we were literally doing nothing wrong. Not speeding. No expired anything. The cop comes to the window and says,
“Do you know why I pulled you over?”
“No, sir,”
“See those fuzzy dice in the mirror? Those are illegal in Virginia.”
We got pulled over for illegal use of fuzzy dice!!! Best ever. Luckily, he let us off with a warning.
My mom sent us a Stumpy joke that I can’t believe we forgot: Stumpy Old Men.
We still haven't been able to upload any pictures --- soon.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
Correction!
Rikky just corrected me -- The name of this year's tour is Purple Haze/Home Free/Straight Stumpin'.
I apologize for any confusion.
I apologize for any confusion.
Purple Haze/Home Free/Stumpin' Tour 2008
West End Cafe, New Brunswick:
If I had any excuse for not starting the tour blog until now, it would be that it - for whatever reason - doesn't seem like tour yet. Maybe because we're still so close to home? Maybe because road dog 2.0 Salty isn't yet on board? I don't know. We had a day off too soon, I think, and though hanging out for a day in Philly was awesome... we're ready to get out of the northeast.
Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who made our New York show so incredible. Everyone in the band has been out of town/busy/checked out of real life for a while, so it was really amazing to see everyone in one place (though also sort of awkward and sad... "We should hang out more!" "We will... when I get home in two months"). The Toothaches were, as expected, amazing (and right now I'm going to start my tour blogging resolution to use the following words really sparingly: amazing, awesome, incredible). Their cover of M.I.A.'s 'Paper Planes' blew everyone's collective mind (in a way that our cover - which we thought would go over so well! - sort of didn't). And Sex Robots and Pants Yell! were perfect. We have the best friends.
The band slept at my house our last night at home, in close proximity to my new-ish kitty roommate, Stumpy. Stumpy has become the inspiration for our new ultimate tour bored-game, "Stumpin.'" It's easy to play! Just insert "Stumpy" (or "Stump," or "Stumpito", or whatever) into popular song lyrics, movie titles, etc. For example, "White Men Can't Stump," "Gotta be Startin' Stumpin", "Stumpin 2: Electric Bugaloo," "Stump Up the Jam" "Stump and Grind"... Please help us play this game. We've done so many that at this point we're sort of stumped. Stumped, get it? Always funny!
Philadelphia was, as usual, great. Thanks so much to our friend Jimmy for setting up the show with his band, Cordova Academy Glee Club, who ruled! North Star Bar in Philly is a really cool venue. Highly reccomended! Yesterday we had a day off in Philly, and we spent it exploring the Mutter Museum, which Marisa and Rikky really liked. Frank and I, not so much. I think my issue was that I don't like to be reminded in such a brutal way that we're all just blood and bones. It's depressing. Frank wasn't as into it because, even though as a nurse he sees crazy stuff every day, he doesn't like to see it in a non-clinical setting. Also, the gift shop - which seemed like it should have been great! - was not so great. I did get some postcards and some temporary tattoos. But Marisa and Rikky - who aren't blogging (maybe soon?) and therefore don't get to say so - really liked it.
Most of us (all except Rikky, who went out for jazz and soul food) crashed early at our friend Jason's house (thanks Jason!) and half-heartedly watched the Oscars. Pretty awful aside from the french girl who cried "You rocked my life! You rocked my life!!!!"
We're now in New Brunswick, NJ, getting ready for a hopefully rockin house show. Pictures soon. We miss everyone already!
If I had any excuse for not starting the tour blog until now, it would be that it - for whatever reason - doesn't seem like tour yet. Maybe because we're still so close to home? Maybe because road dog 2.0 Salty isn't yet on board? I don't know. We had a day off too soon, I think, and though hanging out for a day in Philly was awesome... we're ready to get out of the northeast.
Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who made our New York show so incredible. Everyone in the band has been out of town/busy/checked out of real life for a while, so it was really amazing to see everyone in one place (though also sort of awkward and sad... "We should hang out more!" "We will... when I get home in two months"). The Toothaches were, as expected, amazing (and right now I'm going to start my tour blogging resolution to use the following words really sparingly: amazing, awesome, incredible). Their cover of M.I.A.'s 'Paper Planes' blew everyone's collective mind (in a way that our cover - which we thought would go over so well! - sort of didn't). And Sex Robots and Pants Yell! were perfect. We have the best friends.
The band slept at my house our last night at home, in close proximity to my new-ish kitty roommate, Stumpy. Stumpy has become the inspiration for our new ultimate tour bored-game, "Stumpin.'" It's easy to play! Just insert "Stumpy" (or "Stump," or "Stumpito", or whatever) into popular song lyrics, movie titles, etc. For example, "White Men Can't Stump," "Gotta be Startin' Stumpin", "Stumpin 2: Electric Bugaloo," "Stump Up the Jam" "Stump and Grind"... Please help us play this game. We've done so many that at this point we're sort of stumped. Stumped, get it? Always funny!
Philadelphia was, as usual, great. Thanks so much to our friend Jimmy for setting up the show with his band, Cordova Academy Glee Club, who ruled! North Star Bar in Philly is a really cool venue. Highly reccomended! Yesterday we had a day off in Philly, and we spent it exploring the Mutter Museum, which Marisa and Rikky really liked. Frank and I, not so much. I think my issue was that I don't like to be reminded in such a brutal way that we're all just blood and bones. It's depressing. Frank wasn't as into it because, even though as a nurse he sees crazy stuff every day, he doesn't like to see it in a non-clinical setting. Also, the gift shop - which seemed like it should have been great! - was not so great. I did get some postcards and some temporary tattoos. But Marisa and Rikky - who aren't blogging (maybe soon?) and therefore don't get to say so - really liked it.
Most of us (all except Rikky, who went out for jazz and soul food) crashed early at our friend Jason's house (thanks Jason!) and half-heartedly watched the Oscars. Pretty awful aside from the french girl who cried "You rocked my life! You rocked my life!!!!"
We're now in New Brunswick, NJ, getting ready for a hopefully rockin house show. Pictures soon. We miss everyone already!
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