Sunday, November 9th - Columbus, OH

Sleeping in your own bed is always awesome, even if you don't crawl into it until 5AM.

Before I go any further, this has the potential to be the most boring tour diary entry ever.  It should go something like this: I woke up, put on my robe, did the Sunday Times crossword (well, about a third of it, anyway), listened to Stereolab, ate a grilled cheese sandwich, and *oh fuck*, I have to go play a rock show.

That all being said, I'll keep this short.  This was Brett's first show of the tour  Bunnygrunt (myspace.com/therealbunnygrunt) was supposed to play with us, but their van broke down in Connecticut, so it ended up being just us and Heavy Mole (myspace.com/heavymole) rocking the Carabar.  Kyle would probably eat my lunch if I said it to his face, but I never really got into Heavy Mole.  That all changed Sunday night, though.  I was in an entirely different frame of mind, and in that time and place they were perfect.  I admit, I was wrong.  Shit, it took me 7 or 8 years before I "got" Television, so my musical taste is understandibly suspect...

We took advantage of Bunnygrunt's misfortune and played a longer set than usual.  Knowing that the next 14 days on the road are going to be gastrointestinal suicide paired with long strecthes of inactivity, I pretty much made this an aerobic workout for me - plenty of jumping, kicking, windmilling, etc. - and I'm pretty sure I almost knocked Brett out once or twice in the process.  Lonn jumped out of the small crowd to rock the last couple of songs with us.  I know he wishes he could be out here for the long haul, and we'll miss him, but Brett's pretty fun too, I guess...

Oh by the way, not only was Metallica playing Columbus this night (I considered skipping our show, seriously), but The New Bomb Turks announced a surprise reunion show that night too, which I'd imagine sucked out at least a couple kids who would've been out to see us.  Can't say I blame you.  We'll probably play Columbus again before the Turks do.


Monday, November 10th - Newport, KY

We have a terrible track record for Cincinnati shows.  We usually play with good bands, but there's just something about Cincy that subdues the vibe of what should be a good show.  Oh yeah, I remember what it is: chairs.  Fuckin' chairs.  You're at a rock show; you're not supposed to be comfortable.  You're supposed to be on your feet like you're part of it, not sitting down being passively entertained.  What the hell?

Dan, Brett and I make the trek down without Kyle, who had some extra tooth cleaning to attend to.  Sean brought him down and joined us onstage tonight.  Man, there are a lot of Sowashes, but only so much space in the van.  When we showed up at the Southgate House, we caught up with Mike from Thistle (myspace.com/thistlewired) who was running sound.  He gave us a couple of suggestions for food and bourbon hunting, but they were all closed.  I'm sure it was just an innocent mistake, but I really wanted it to be a joke, like, "how far can I make The Kyle Sowashes walk in the cold for nothing?"  I, personally, would've found that to be hilarious, and I can't wait to try that out on my roommates.


birthplace of the tommy gun.

INSIDE BASEBALL: Dan would like you to know that he saw a shooting star on the trip down.  He feels this is a good omen for the trip.  I had no idea he was an astrologer.  It's working out pretty well for him so far, at least: after being unimpressed with a new cymbal that he just bought, he's able to return it with no penalty.  Hopefully this good mojo will extend to the drum heads, which will be marginally tuned at best for the rest of the tour.

We ended up at the Pepper Pod (703 Monmouth St.), a 24-hour diner up the street from the venue.  Some comfort food was in order: Dan got biscuits and gravy, Brett got a meatloaf dinner, and I got the country ham breakfast.  The salt-cured ham was really great.  The meatloaf was pretty good.  The sausage gravy, on the other hand, was unspectacular, or as Dan put it, "Now I know what white tastes like."


the loose threads were tight.

The Loose Threads (myspace.com/theloosethreads) played first.  Very nice, punk-influenced indie rock.  It should probably be noted as a matter of record that Kyle Sowash was not present yet at this point.  This is both unusual and unsettling.  With about 2 songs left in the Loose Threads set, he and Sean walk in the door with a tub full o' merch.  We take the stage quick to try to keep the crowd and proceed to play a really sloppy set.  I can't speak for the rest of the dudes, but I was pretty thrown by some volume and feedback issues I was having.  We were also sans-setlist due to Kyle being late, so the between song banter/discussion seemed interminable and made the rhythm of the whole set a little herky-jerky.


dan and sean talk shop.

OK, enough whining.  Hyacinth House (myspace.com/hyacinthhousemusic) closed out the show and we beat a hasty retreat back to Brett Loose Thread's house, with a quick stop at 7/11 to get beer.  It was after 1AM, so the old guy filling up the donuts yelled discouraging words at us: "It's too late, so don't even think about it!"  Our Brett bought a donut, mostly out of spite.

In the morning, we (plus Brett Loose Thread) went to the Echo in Hyde Park (3510 Edwards Rd., Cincy) for breakfast.  We were intrigued by goetta - a kind of ground meat and oat hash - and all but Kyle sampled it.  Pretty tasty, especially with eggs and a dash of hot sauce.

EVEN MORE INSIDE BASEBALL: Dan was on the hunt for some Elijah Craig 18-year old bourbon, so we stopped at the Liquor Barn (3240 Fern Park Rd., Louisville, KY), which was kinda like going to bourbon college.  Dan got what he wanted, plus a bottle of Willett Single Barrel Estate bourbon.  There's a good chance that neither bottle will make it home, and not necessarily due to them being emptied and processed through our livers - the Willett bottle, especially, is unique and fragile.


so, which one of these will get me drunk?

REALLY HILARIOUS THINGS WE SAW ON THE WAY TO BUY BOOZE:
Cox's Smokers Outlet
Coon Hunters for Christ
Big Bone Lick State Park

INAPPROPRIATE JOKE MADE BY REST STOP ATTENDANT:
"Have you ever seen an asshole wrapped in plastic?  Take out your driver's license."