First off, thanks to Justin Zeppa for his contributions to Flatfoot.  He recently decided it was best to join the alumni ranks and focus on The Roar.  During his two years, Justin gave us lots of hot guitar work, several strong songs, numerous attention-grabbing posters and hours of good companionship.  Longtime friend Tom Green (St. Clair buddy 'o Thom's, former Ann Arbor city bus driver) is the newest member of the band. 


People have been asking for details of our recent trip to the Big Apple, so it seemed like time to blog.

We left Michigan on a Thursday after work.  Following a nice drive, we descended on an unsuspecting Sleep Inn outside of Youngstown like a pack of hyennas.  Between practicing songs kinda late with Tom Green on unplugged electrics, stocking up on the continental breakfast and driving a Cadillac into their pool, those guys were happy to see us go.  I managed to forget my bag with clothes/ toiletries, so I snagged some basics (socks, deoderant) at a Walmart.  Thom was kind enough to provide me with several t-shirts and a penguin sweatshirt before we left Ann Arbor.  My new deoderant scent is Swagger - the smell of confidence.  Foreshadowing?

It rained throughout most of PA.  We got to Danny's sister Amy/ her boyfriend Chris's place in Hoboken around 5 and parked the cars.  After hanging out with Chris and Amy, Thom Tom and I took the train into The City.  Thom was really chomping at the bit to get back - excited like a puppy!

We got some food, then met up with Thom's buddy Mike at the bar he works at in Brooklyn.  Irish bartender Shawn (Sean, Sein?) was very cool to us.  He re-opened a debate that began this fall as to whether Thom could potentially ever dunk a basketball.  I still maintain that with the time, coaching, training, etc. Thom could dunk a ball if he dedicated a year of his life exclusively to the task.
After Mike got off work we headed accross the street to meet Danny, Shannon, Chris and Amy at Union Hall.  Again we did our pack of hyennas routine, this time on the karaoke they were running in the basement.  We did it full band (plus Mike) style - Workin' For a Living, Caravan, Sweet Child O' Mine - are you kidding?  We won over hearts and minds.  Most of us headed back to Hoboken, just in time.  Things got crazy and hazy for Thom, Tom and Mike after that.  The bartender expressed gratitude for Sweet Child with shots, then they bounced around to a few other spots.  At some point someone asked them where they were from, to which Tom Green apparantly yelled "DETROIT, ever heard of it?"  They then took a cab to Mike's (which turned out to be 2 blocks away) and crashed.  At some point during the night Tom Green went out for fresh air, locked himself out and had to break in.  Meanwhile, noted sleepwalker Thom walked into Mike and Megan's room and tried to climb in bed with them.  He also took the time to open up all the drawers in their kitchen and re-arrange their utensils.  He woke up the next morning on the couch, very confused as to the location of his jeans.

My post-Union Hall evening was much calmer, consisting of a car ride back to Hoboken, getting a slice at a late night pizzeria and watching 5 minutes of some movie before everyone fell asleep.  I got up around 9, got the van and headed to Brooklyn via the Holland Tunnel, Canal St. and the Manhattan Bridge.  I felt very country mouse when confronted with that traffic!  After several trips through the neighborhood I found a garage by Freddy's (our destination that evening), parked the van and took the subway to meet Thom in Park Slope.  We had a nice stroll through his old haunts and wandered through Prospect Park.  We headed back to Mike and Megan's late that afternoon, by which point Tom Green was feeling vaguely human again.  Mike was at work, so Thom, Tom, Megan and I went to a burger place to watch the MSU vs. UConn game.  The place was full of Spartan fans, and we left after the first half with a good feeling.  We took the subway over to Freddy's and loaded in the equipment from the van just in time for the last 10 minutes of the game.  Freddy's was also packed with Spartans, which made the MSU triumph all the sweeter!

The show went well, beyond expectations.  It was great to see Joe Scott, Kate Brackney and some of the other mitten state folks.  Joe's band White Pines was outstanding - perfect blend of intelligent songcraft, emotion and energy.  People really dug the high energy blues of J. Blake and the Earthquake.  They were not your average paint by numbers blues band - clever solos, good song selection and a tight live set.  Each band brought a good crowd and it was standing room only by the time we started.

I haven't watched the video yet (hope to post clips soon), but it felt like an outstanding set.  You wouldn't know it was Tom Green's first show - he held down his leads on songs like Kathleen and Manowar with applomb.  I can't imagine how good it will be once we actually do a full practice with him!  It  was a very friendly crowd, heavily seasoned iwth Thom's Brooklyn friends, and they made us feel like conquering heroes.  After our set, people started screaming for "The Weight", which took me back about 6 years to the days before Thom moved to NYC.  We obliged and the whole bar sang along.  It was like something from a movie.

I slept at Mike and Megan's with Tom and Thom that evening.  We left via Queens around 10:00am on Sunday, passing such notable spots as Justin's old appartment and both Yankee Stadiums.  Tom and I alternated driving and the weather was gorgeous basically until we hit Toledo.  Around 10:30 pm I rolled into Lansing half out of my mind.  Not really, but that's a great song.  ("Burn Up The Highway"?  Ingham County Regulars?  Bueller?).  All in all I couldn't have asked for a better trip.  Thanks Big Apple!