Day 16: June 6, 2008

I woke up early and showered up. On the road you have to take advantage when there's a clean shower available. You never know when the next one is going to come. We stocked up on baby wipes just for that reason. They're a quick solution for freshening up on the road. Tops and Tails a.k.a. "Whore's bath." This rock and roll stuff ain't glamorous. So a band that has a driver and a bus and hotel rooms should never, EVER, complain. Really.

We were headed to Salt Lake City and it was another big chunk of driving. It was about 6 hours away. We're on our way back towards home so the drives are getting big. Late in the tour it's a little tougher than before, but we manage. The guys get restless and start to wrestle each other in the back. Anything to break up the monotony. Let me see, there's sleeping, eating, driving, sleeping, reading, and that's about it.

Now we heard all kinds of crazy shit about SLC. The Mormons, the wives, the alcohol laws, the cops, watered down beer, and it's all true. In Salt Lake City, music bars can only serve alcohol between 10pm and 1am. That's it. The beer is watered down to 3% alcohol. You're not allowed to have more than one drink at a time so you couldn't have a beer and a shot. Also, you can't have a double shot. There are magnetic tops to the bottles that actually measure a shot to a precise amount and it won't let you pour more. I'm not kidding. Not that I was drinking shots or anything, but that's how it is. It's pretty wacky.

Now the venue, The Urban Lounge, is a cool spot. Great sound system, good layout, friendly staff and even a green room for the bands. Mike, one of the promoters who actually booked us, was hammered when we arrived and no help, but Alex the other promoter was a really cool guy. He helped us out all night long and took care of us at the end of the night. He gave us the door money, real Chech beer, and all the soda and bottled water we wanted to take for the road. Like I said, he really took care of us.

We even had some familiar faces in the crowd. My boy Christian who lives in Salt Lake came down with one of his boys to support us. It was good to see someone we knew again. It'd been since San Fran since I'd seen a friend. Also, Javier who is a younger brother of an old school buddy was there. He's stationed at the Air Force base in Ogden which is about 30 min away. He came down with a friend and also supported us. It was good to see him. I hadn't seen him since he was a little kid. Damn, I'm getting old.

We ended the night on a positive note considering again, that the crowd wasn't as big as we would have liked. Christian let us stay at his house. I almost forgot, we ate dinner at this Vegan place across the street called The Sage Café and it was incredible. Great tasting and plenty of food. It hit the spot. I never thought I'd ever say that, but hey, it's good to broaden your horizons. SLC was definitely another wild experience on this trip. The drive up there was amazing. The mountains and passes through them are beautiful. The show was solid and we're close to the end now. Home is in sight.