So the next day, which was wednesday, The Gales had off.  In all honesty I can't remember what I did.  probably slept, maybe.  I know their van was impounded which made parking, for them a lot more easier.  i think the rest of the lucas hung out with their lady and guy friends. 

anyway, the next night we played a show that was like the good ol' days.  kathy has some bullshit thing she had to do for work so we had to play with new members.  our friends lawrence and emily had to replace kathy.  oh and we really didn't practice with them.  oh, and we forogt the songs we had to play with them since we practiced a tight set.  oh and did i mention that there was a lot of excessive boozing seeing that the bartenders kept giving us free alcohol.  well thank god it was only in park slope easy enough for all of us to get home.  christy and emily had a huge band, not just the two of them, and they sounded fantastic.  the room really worked well with their space sounding avant folk rock.  our performance, well let's just say, that happened.  and the nightingales were the best i have ever seen them play.  oh i remember getting matt really drunk(it's good to corrupt minors in the states) and andy got to order him a sandwhich since these american condiments are so tricky.  matt's friend cookie showed up the night before so i had two crazy brits staying with me.  i really don't remember leaving this show.  but i do remember the bruise i had from playing tamborine with the nightingales.  y'know the randy c thing where he just invites himself on stage, grabs an instrument and beats it off of his leg.  alcohol the cause and solution to all of life's problems...

so next we were off to boston.  where we played with this great band called "the in out" that our new friend john hooked us and the nightingales up with.

oh good old boston.  i'll think of more to write.  the memory fades sometimes 

so it fucking started like this...  and forgive the misspelings and bad grammer...  i just don't care.

anyway, from the pep boys commercial that you see on our site you get the gist. 

our van broke down 45 minutes outside of nyc on the way to pittsburgh.  shit was mad real at the applebees as the towtruck driver brought us to pep boys.  in three hours time it was all good and we rushed to make it to pittsburgh, just in time(10 pm), to get right on stage and play.  at this point "the gales" have already played three really shitty shows(i say this cause they played them without us, i bet they played great, but we were already missing them since we knew they were in the states without us).  the feeling of seeing our good friends and the feeling of being able to make a show we thought we weren't going to play made us play the best ever.  out of the van onto the stage and adrenaline  all worked out.  and the gales were the best ever, according to us.  and the dirty faces rocked the house, too.  robert losed his black shopping bag with his lyrics and "jumper" whcih i will address later.  but, over all goodtimes were had.  party at julie chill's place was a success and breakfast with kathy's sister was also a goodtime. 

the next day was off to philadelphia which we played an amazing place in fishtown called "johnny brendas".  highlight was getting lost and asking a tollboth lady where fishtown was and her responce was "FISHTOWN?????".   but, anyway, we met up with our good friend jesse trbovich and had an actual deli tray backstage(a big moment in the v.l. history).  the place was an amazing ballroom and, unlike pittsburgh where there were about 200 people, we had a good crowd of 30 people.  still really good treatment and very excited to play there again.  got to meet the amazing mumble who we later got a photo op with in boston.  the drive seemed really hard on the nightingales, a whole 7 hours, but fuck yeah it's not england. 

next was providence where andy and i quoted the piece "providence" made famous by the rock and or roll band sonic youth.  people were really strange in providence, i mean really strange.  like the guy that wandered up and asked robert if he was getting some pussy tonight.  oh and the guy mumbling gibberish and, i guess, singing some song at the top of his lungs while we were loading out.  total david lynch scene.  the club was an art space and actually really nice.  by this point we were still on and played a great show(we need the tapes adam).  drove back after the show and almost died.  fun getting home at 5 am and going to work the next day.  matt, from the gales, came along with us cause he wanted a head start on nyc.  he stayed with us through the rest of our dates and learned a lot about american television. 

i called off the next day and mat and i went to kathy's and i showed matt alot of dave chappelle.  it was so fucking cold that day that i felt bad that i couldn't show matt any of the city.  but, kathy's house was good enough cause i watched tv, with kathy, and matt got to talk to poppy over myspace.  the gales played with the affair, that night, at cakeshop.  but, this was just time killing until then.  i got the bag, that robert losted, that day expressed mailed from dc josh.  well, as i said, the black bag i got wasn't robert's.  it was a duffel bag filled with women's clothing, tampoons, condoms, about 300 dollars worth of heroin, needles, 30 ecstacy pills and such.  goodtimes worrying about going to jail for sending drugs throught the mail.  and possibly the best tour story.  left it all at cakeshop and it was gone the next day... 

i'll think of more and write the rest of the fun later...

you know i could post my own blog instead of making the band suffer, but who give a shit.

my record of the week, as of last night but will change tonight, is illmatic by nas.  hiphop classic, i must say.  the other shit that is off the deep end is this nick cave cover, off of a john peel show, where the brother is doing, "i put a spell on you."  shit is mad real.  almost as good as the birthday party covering, "loose".  oh and big props to all of you all folk getting married.  happiness is a beautiful thing, as i have heard.

sorry that there are tons of broken sentances and misspelled words in the tour diary. 

anyway, what the piss happened to the mets last night?  i mean i got home, made some chili, listened to some beat happening and then i had to put up with that shit.  when you have runners on the base you have to knock them in guys.  yeah everyone's a coach.

but, hey now i just have the crappy steelers to care about.  i don't know which one to call the jaw this year big ben or cowher.

christ...

so it is a rainy and misserable night in nyc.  the kind of night that depression sets in and it's best to be with your loved one.  i made so many silly comments on all of our new british friends myspace pages because for the last week everyone we met were family to me.  it's my wacky american sense of humor and i miss everyone dearly.  it sucks when you leave something that you were so excited about only to set your foot back into reality(cold rainy nights make me feel sentimental).

anyway let me start by saying, "i got lost in the kitchen" and give a shout to dj plantpot who also played with us at the spitz.  best 10 minute set ever.  kathy called and told me she found his cd which i wished we could have played in the van.  andy was feeling it.

so back to london.  a bloke nate met said at the start of the show that he could put four people up.  at the end of the show, tracking him down and such, turned out that he didn't make reservations with his girlfriend.  it turned out that three of us were allowed to stay aslong as we hung with him.  i made sure that kathy and andy had a place cause if the driver and my best friend didn't have a place shit would have broken loose.  nate went out with the guy, kathy and andy got accousted by the unnotified girlfriend(rightfully so) and josh, juan and i wandered the streets looking for food and beer.  good times, i tell you.  we walked around and i got to see big ben and parliment from a distance.  found more fried food(no more fried food as long as i live, i tell you) and we found beer.  higlight of the tour was laughing our cold asses to sleep while drinking beer in our van.  got to take a cab, though, and it was more roomier than nyc taxis.  also, as my stream of consciousness thought goes, was the first night i gave something to matthew from the nighttingales(coolest young guitarist i met in the longest time and man does he have talent).

yeah so woke up in the van with three hours of sleep, cranky and time to drive to leicster.  pretty much the onlt tension the entire tour. 

leicster was such a pretty town and we all fell in love within hours.  had the best meal of the tour, at the firebug, and wandered the town alone(yep i love my alone time).  josh hit every college kid with flyers from our show.  and i got to see the strip mall call lecister. 

derrin had gloves for his poor messed up hands and i got to feel the wrath of trying to figure out his drum set.  tiredness kicked in and we played possibly our worst show of the tour.

but, it was great cause we got to meet the girls of violet violet(cheri, kylie and fliss), who play so well together that you can tell that they have been friends longer that they have been a band.  each one of them was a master at their instruments and they gelled so well together.  but, fliss, the drummer felt the wrath of darrin's drum set, as it feel apart while kylie kept it together.  seriously they were amazing in ipswitch when the equpiment stayed together.

i feel that each drummer is always accustomed to their own drum sets and most times other people can't play it as well as the owner.  took me until the last day to figure it out.  i played like such shit that night and miss loads of beats, ugh.

so our set wasn't the best, but it went over really well. people actually bought a lot of stuff which reminded me to tel everyone just to relax and have fun.  juan and i hung out with cheri, from violet violet, and got to trade her a cd which was blasted in our van.

marcella did her best set that night and i got to bob my head to delta 5's mind your own business.

ran into mark, from ironman, again and made it so welcoming since our friend was there.  dave, the driver of the nighttingales, kept us all entertained with stories and we stayed at the promoter john's house.  oh and i got steve drunk cause we got a jug of long island ice teas.  my fault, whoops...

which went like this, after the show, "what do you want to hear" as the entire band yelled forty different records at once.  drank lots of beer and listened to parliment and watched a fall dvd.  i think we showed him how nerdy we were by quoting nothing but seinfield episodes verbetium.  the indian breakfast the next day was probably too much nerdiness for him.  good times, i tell you.

left and drove back to london for the depressing show.  we got so use to our nighttingales family and it was hard not to see them when we got to london.  played, though, with juan's good friend wilson's band dear theif and it was nice to see him.  enjoyed his band alot, but took some sort of sleeping aide before i played.  i won't go into certain details about our show.  it becomes too personal cause i almost broke my hand that night, but let's just say i shouldn't have taken a sleeping pill on no sleep.  there was one other band, though, that we played with and i can't remeber their name but they were really good.  the vibe at the club was that we were outsiders and weren't really welcomed.  but, there was this older english guy there that looked like lou reed.  i was pretty into that. 

oh and chalk farm reminded me of certain parts of pittsburgh so i got excited and sad at the same time.  stupid homesickness. 

left the next day for ipswitch(we just loved saying that we were going to hit you with our ipswitch).  had a lot of time to hang out and watched people go into the stadium for what seemed like a crazy soccer match.  got to sit outside, though, near the train station and drink beer near the water.  the train inn had picnic benches that overlooked the river and it also reminded me of pittsburgh.

when the nighttingales and violet violet met up with us we could all feel the sadness of our week coming to an end(at least our band). 

violet violet were really on that night and blew all of our minds. 

marcella was kicking mind your own business which we were all singing as we were setting up(she was also bobbing her head to back to junk when we played it too).  i just had the idea that i wanted to be punk rock and play and hard as possible(the delta 5 got me in the mood and i couldn't stop thinking about negative approach and the stickmen).  hit my bad finger off of the snare on the first song and went crazy from there.  the best time i think i ever played. 

i remeber derrin hitting me in my legs, during violet violet, and it made me feel so great.  great in the feeling that we bonded with everyone and that i knew from the moment it was over that an empty feeling was going to set in.  i told him i figured it was an asshole in my band hitting me, ha!

alan and matthew played with us at the end of our set(allegh/mon and back to junk) and i had a grin from ear to ear.  best feeling ever to know that our friends cared.  i am so happy that marcella taped the show(hopefully, ha). they really made our songs that night and brought out the energy of something coming to an end.

we got to sing company man with the nighttingales which we sang all week in our van with our own made up lyrics.  andy named our van "the company van". 

i think we even had robert choked up to see us leave which makes it seem like we accomplished something, ha. 

after my favorite nighttingales set of the tour we all dance to dj marcella's amazing set and it felt like one big dream.  nate missed out on this seeing that he had to run to a train to meet with friends in paris.  i haven't danced in years, could everyone tell?

slept at mick's, the promoter house, which was a very nice place.  drank outside told stories and actually didn't really sleep.  no one wanted the tour to end.

woke up the next morning and drove marcella to london with us.  returned the van and made our way to the airport.

josh and i smoke a cigar and had a few shots(i'm telling you i am nervous to fly).  felt very sad cause we wanted all of our new friends to be with us longer.  it took an extra few hours to get on the plane cause it was delayed and we made our way home.

sat with josh and made stupid jokes while everyone stayed away from us(really why).  got back in and was sick and white as possible.

i could go on, but it was just dropping things and people off.  lots was left out cause i didn't write anything down just tried my poor memory.  but it was the time of my life and the first time i ever toured with my own band.  the nighttingales, marcella, violet violet, gina birch, poppy and the jezabels, dear thief, electric soft parade and dj potplant are all people in my heart and that i rightfully call friends.  you guys helped me experience a great first time to england.  oh and of course my brothers and sister in the lucas. 

i can't wait to see you all again. thanks for making memories.

-randy c

if i remeber anything i might write more, but you get the gist(not the ex young marble band the actual word).  i gave you the point.  anything else ask joshua tanzer, he kept a tour diary.

so i work in the metropolitan museum of art and my boss, the nice guy that he is, left me all the work to do while i was away... i just walked through all of the galleries, to modern art, with these abstract expressionist drawing as the public just kept trying to touch them, blah...

..

anyway, so we're driving to london and i'll forget about the crazy man i started with a second ago... d.c. josh is playing loads of the kinks which became a lot of our tour driving with the exception of cds that band gave us... we driving into london getting excited to play with the nighttingales and gina birtch... but, no one told us we had to pay anytime we saw a c above us so we proabably owe loads of fines to the rental place... the spitz was nice, but..... but, the moment we checked e-mail in london i found out my cat was really sick... well this really bummed me out and made me want to go home and see the little guy(yep, i am that lame)... so i was a bit out of sorts until i realized there was nothing i could do... we were promised a full rider and food... well we got 15 beers and stale chips with a ketsup/mayo dip for chips(i hate mayo)... well the beer at least disappeared quickly and the mood was filled with anxiety... we played probably, at this time, our best show ever as a band... we were just very on... alan and matthew, from the nighttingales, said we gave them chills.

anyway, gina birtch approached andy after we played and asked him to play theremin with her on a song... probably one of my favorite highlights of the tour was seeing andy rock out with one of my favorite musicians(in love by the raincoats is one of my favorite songs cause it makes you feel what it is like to be in love)... got a few polaroids, but marcella, who dj four shows on the tour, had a problem with her recording device and didn't get the show... maybe somethings are just meant for those who are there in that place and time...

every little problem that the nighttingales had the night before were cleared the instant that derrin started playing his tribal beat for the first song... robert was on, alan was on, steve was on and same with darrin and matthew... it showed us why they are one of our favorite bands... d.c. josh and i were drooling at the way derrin played drums, the night before, but we were floored this night... got to play tamborine with them, in burrmingham, but played drumsticks agaist amps as gina birch sang 'black country' (mollie from poppy and the jezabels sang it the night before)...

it all went so well, but i will just say sleeping arrangments sucked that night... i slept in the van with the windows opened and it started why i am sick at this point.

..

part three will be soon cause i'm not in the mood for complaining now... and this moment will come complaining about sleeping in a van.

but highlights, while i am thinking, the hawkwind cover the nighttingales did in ipswitch, also watching darrin an fliss play drums(my two new favorite drummers)... and kathy's solo on narcissist every night(reminds me of fairport's sailor's story)... oh and alan and matthew singing back to junk and playing on allegheny/monogahela with us...

..

okay my fucking boss is about to yell...

..

-randy

so it began on a saturday when i went to see the oxfordcollapse's record release show.  from drinking too much with adam and dan collapse, i ended up burning my hand to a crisp while refilling my zippo.  i smartly lit a cigarette with lighter fluid drenched all over my hand.

so it begins the next day on sunday october 8th.  i tell d.c. josh, our keyboardist, that i can't bend my fingers and that i really shouldn't try.  being that i have pus filled blisters all over my left hand.  well i figured i might as well have some drinks to numb the pain and before i knew it i was at our space getting excited to leave.  we loaded up the van, for long term parking, and off we were to full customs. 

the memories i have from the plane ride, thanks to kathy constantly reminding me, is that i guess i forgot how to chew with my mouth closed.  i think i took a zanex or some kind of sleeping aide, since i hate to fly.  the lady in front of me was basically reclined to my lap and, as kathy pointed out so much to me, that i kept kicking the back of her chair instead of asking her to move her chair up.  oh so passive aggressive i tell you.  i missed the times, though, of d.c josh taking numerous cans of beer for everyone while i slept on the plane.  air india, despite how much i don't recommend them, was very generous with the free alcohol.

anyway so we arrive six hours ahead and i guess it is now monday at heathrow.  it was so easy to get through customs i didn't know what to think.  we all went seperate ways and ended up meeting at the air tran.  nate and kathy had some confusions, though, cause air india thought their case had machine guns inclosed within.  but, you retrieve all of the instruments after the fact of customs, so it was just an old open the case and show the blokes.

so, anyway, we get to europcar and the fun began.  i have one polaroid of us before this point and the happiness we all showed was priceless.  well this didn't last too long.  within about five minutes of having our van, juan wrecked the van scratching the sides of it and being deemed unfit to drive in england.  after about three more hours and lots of pestering to tim, the nice fellow at europcar, andy was allowed to drive and finally we were off. 

our first show was to be in manchester, but like everything there is always a catch.  we have to stop at burmmingham first to pick up merchandise that we didn't want customs to take.  the nighttingalees label, ironman records, is in burmmingham where we mailed the records to.  we had to do this all after the plane was delayed, we got stuck getting a new car which they cleaned for us too for some reason, and we had to make soundcheck at 6pm.  by some reason we actually did make soundcheck and it was at the night and day cafe.

our friend gwendoline helped us with this show and it was with a band called the electric soft parade.  these guys were really really nice to us and it was a good first response to how nice everyone in england is. we played as well as we could given all of the craziness.  and nate and i stayed in manchester and the rest of the kids stayed in liverpool with andy's friend tim.  much of that night was lost in a stream of jetlag.

the next was great for me and josh.  one because i got to walk around manchester and i'm a huge factory nerd(how many new order and joy division boots do i own i don't want to feel too geeky now).  and josh got to walk around liverpool the day after john lennon's birthday and see many lennon sights(like his o level report card). at this point i have to thank picadilly records for buying 5 cds off of us and writting a nice review on their website.  we all met up in manchester and it was off to burmmingham to play the first of four shows with the 'gales.

this night it was us, the nighttingales and poppy and the jezabels.  i was really excited to meet poppy's father cause he played with nicky sudden and all of us are big swell maps fans(jacobites, etc..).  we played first and played much better than the night before cause we were all adjusting. kathy, by this point, was nailing the guitar solo to narcissist better than she ever played.  we started to get all aquainted with the nighttingales, who we would all miss the second we were gone. 

next were poppy and the jezabels who were amazing for 14 year old girls.  d.c. josh and i were pretty floored by how technical they were for so young.  the kids went crazy and all in all it made feel very old, ha. 

the nighttingales were great to us, but they said that it was their worse night so far.  i thought my hands were destroyed, but derrin(the gales drummer)left that night with his hands covered in blood.   

we all partied way too much and met mark, from ironman, who put us up.  his place fit all six of us and he was way too generous.  we all owe him so much love. 

the next morning mark took us to breakfast and he and d.c. josh discussed politics while the rest of us talked music and sobered up.  mark also gave us a ton a promo information on how to get our stuff out england.  we then headed off to london.

in london josh and those guys met some crazy american guy who sold ribs at the smitfield markets(is that right).  this was while we were waiting to get into the spitz.  he had a sign, though, of r.l. burnsides birthdate to deathdate, so that was really cool.

okay i'll write more later cause this is longer that i thought and i am at work.  if there are misspelled words and such please forgive me cause i have been on cold medicine since i got back to the states. 

i can't wait to write, though, about andy playing with gina birtch and my new favorite band violet violet.

-randy 

christ, we did it and made it back alive with no broken bones(as of yet)... i gave away lots of personal items to many nice new friends... and all of us miss everyone we met already... i am very sick, today, from jet lag and such, but it was all worth it... big shouts out to the nighttingales, violet violet and poppy and the jezebels... we can't wait to go back and we can't wait to have everyone here... been blasting the myspace music on everyone's pages and feeling nostalgic(sp?)... good times, i tell you.

..

-randy c