Driving through rural Indiana after a nice breakfast and a couple of cups of strong coffee with the guys reflecting on the last week or so. Having said that, is it still called breakfast if you order it at 2 p.m? Let’s call breakfast the first meal of the day from now on. Since last we talked, we made it all the way from the Seattle area to over here in Indiana in two weeks or so playing seven or eight shows along the way. We had a few days off in that time but they were full on solid driving days. America is a BIG beautiful country. I can’t imagine how long it would take to traverse on horseback.
The first show along the way was the Back Porch in Spearfish South Dakota. The stage is set up to look kind of like a back porch. Nice promoter and sound tech and friendly staff and an enthusiastic audience. Weekday shows are often tough in almost any town so when the energy is good it’s time to rejoice and be thankful. Before the show most of us went to the fine Italian restaurant known as the Pizza Hut. Three of us were drinking coffee. When it came time for refills, instead of bringing over the pot of coffee for refills, the waiter gathered them up and retreated to a mysterious area out of sight in the back. That always makes me nervous in terms of the potential for the cups to get mixed up so I said to him jokingly before he left, “don’t mix them up. I don’t want any girl germs!” His response was “I know exactly what you mean!” which I thought was kind of an odd reply. Sure enough when he came back the cup placed in front of me was sickly sweet so I passed it over to Jason. I guess I should have told him I didn’t want any boy germs. Not so bad really considering all the germs we’ve shared for all these years in the Petri dish that is our van. And besides, I’d take his familiar germs on my coffee cup over a perfect strangers any old day! The kid also brought us thin crust pizza instead of deep dish but he was so awkward, enthusiastic and cute we felt compelled to leave him a generous tip.
The next day was a driving day so we spent the night in Lacrosse Wisconsin. I was tempted by the whirlpool on the way to the hotel room but the two burly men sitting waist deep made me think three would definitely be a crowd. We left early the next day and magically ended up in Cleveland around midnight.
The first time we played The Beachland Ballroom was a show we did a long time ago opening up for a cool band out of New York called Donna the Buffalo. The last six or seven times in Cleveland we’ve played the tavern that is attached to the big ballroom. Always the bridesmaid never the bride I guess:) It’s actually the perfect sized room for us. A full smaller room is always easier on the psyche than a not full big room. Lots of old friends showed up too so it was good to catch up with everyone, play our happy music and head off into the night.
Trevor Rogers 