Tuesday, November 18th - Albuquerque, NM


at our westernmost.

This is the turnaround point for our tour map.  ABQ is as far west as we go, and once we're done here, we play our way home.  It's starting to feel like we've been out here forever, and we all have an acute sense of how far away from home we are.  Don't get me wrong, we're having a blast, but the road is taking its toll on us.


all this driving has left kyle stunned...


...and dan homesick.

For the second time in 3 days, we show up early enough to the venue that we find it still locked.  We're playing at a community center near the UNM campus (go Lobos), so it's not hard to find a place to eat.  We hit up the Frontier Restaurant (2400 Central Ave SE), a college staple here.  It's a mix of traditional diner food and New Mexican fare.  Brett and Kyle go for the former (burgers) while Dan and I choose the latter (burrito and enchilada, respectively).  Some girl in a hat is giving me the skunk eye.

We walk back down to the Peace & Justice Center, and some people have shown up, so we start our load-in.  The dude from Peaking Lights gives us the bulk of a 30-pack of PBR they had bought for themselves.  The only catch is that we can't actually have beer inside the center.  Improv will be required, so we stash the beer in the van and grab a couple ceramic mugs from the center's kitchen and keep making pit stops to refill them.  At one point, somebody tells Kyle that it looks like somebody pissed in his coffee.  "Busted," but no one really cares.

The girl in the hat is at the show.  She catches Dan and I talking outside and bums a smoke.  Jean proceeds to give us some recommendations on where to get some authetic New Mexican food and where to do laundry.  It turns out we didn't take any of them.  Thanks anyway...

Alan George Ledergerber (myspace.com/alangeorgeledergerber) plays a short experimental set to start the night, followed by Chemtrail Pilot (myspace.com/chemtrailpilot).

*Note to self: go back and do some research and edit in the correct info.  Don't spend as much time in the parking lot trying to get drunk.

INSIDE BASEBALL: Dan, Brett and I are having one hell of a time getting drunk on this tour.  Part of it is that we have a terrible habit of not picking a D.D. before the show starts (thereby causing us all to drink moderately in fear of having to drive to our crash pad), but I think we actually drank enough beer on a nightly basis to build an unhealthy tolerance for it.  Even when we're nipping off of Dan's bourbon, it's still tough to even get a buzz, let alone get sloppy.  Kyle seems to be immune to our affliction, but it's frustrating/frightening for the rest of us.

Nick Angelo (myspace.com/nickalbertangelo) plays a solo set right before us: he's a one-man band with guitar, vocals, and a kick and snare drum on pedals.  He sounds a little like a raspy White Stripes, and his two feet are already a better drummer than Meg.  The organization of this show is essentially anarchy, with each act setting up in a different part of the room.  We spent a little too much time in the parking lot and not enough staking out our space, so we end up setting up right in the middle of the room.  How punk rock is that.  Our set is a little on the laid back side (we did a similar set to the one from the record store in Austin), but tight and fun.  The last two groups, Wet Hair (myspace.com/wethairgoldsounds) and Peaking Lights (myspace.com/peakingfix), both played a similar brand of electronic experimental music.  Unfortunately for them, the crowd really thinned out after our set.  Maybe we scared them off.  Sorry.

After the show, we head to Pita Pit with Scott, Kyle's friend who's putting us up for the night.  We have a weird Led Zeppelin moment: Dan swears I was singing "D'yer Maker" when loading up the van (I don't remember), and while the dude was making my souvlaki pita, guess what song was on?  We head back to Scott's to crash out.  His place is warm and cozy, due mostly to the wood stove that heats the place.  I sleep with my head right next to it.


Wednesday, November 19th - OFF DAY (Albuquerque, NM & Amarillo, TX)

We sleep in and decide on a place for lunch.  Sadie's (6230 4th St. NW, Albuquerque, NM) comes highly recommended for Authentic New Mex cuisine, and it doesn't disappoint.  Dan, Hellboy and I all order the Carne Adovado: big chunks of chile-marinated pork, fried potatoes and beans, smothered in cheese and green chile (Dan gets his con huevo).  Out of sight.  I am the only one to finish my plate, but I've been craving this meal for months.


even though it doesn't look like much, i'm excited...


...but i don't think anybody else knows what to make of this.

We spend the rest of the afternoon doing laundry before hitting the road for parts unknown.  Kyle books us a hotel room in Amarillo, TX, only about 4.5 hours from ABQ.  This is a drive that we're very happy we did at night: Dan pulls off to the side of the road on the New Mexico-Texas border so we can look up at the billions of stars.  Holy fuck.  There's really no good way to describe this feeling.  We're miles from anywhere, the moon wasn't out, and the sky just looks like it has exploded with stars.  You can see the milky clusters with the naked eye.  I haven't seen anything like this in almost 20 years when my dad lived in Arizona.  It's majestic.

Upon our arrival in Amarillo, we remember that we hadn't eaten since lunch.  It's late, so we decide to go on a fast food quest.  We haven't had a single bite of fast food on this entire tour so far, so it only makes sense to indulge in the most ridiculous way possible.  We find a freeway exit with a Wendy's. McDonald's, and Burger King and hit all three.  It's a disasterbacle all around - I think each restaurant messed up our order - but Dan explodes over his M&M Frosty.  You'd think somebody had shit in it for as much as he griped about it. ("$2.50 for a small? The M&M's aren't mixed in! What is this, vanilla?")  Eventually, Kyle offered him a dollar to shut up, which he never paid.  We make it back to the room in time to catch Margot and the Nuclear So and So's on Conan.  Our pal Erik Kang got a lot of face time - way to go, man.

Morning calls, I clean out the van (it's fucking cold here) and once everybody's rounded up, we go to the hotel restaurant: Waffle House.  Dan's been craving the Starbucks of the South for a while, and we finally cave.  I'll give it this: it's comfortable, and you always know what you're gonna get.  That said, breakfast success.


the waffle house experience, defined.

We stop by the Big Texan Steak Ranch (7701 East I-40, Amarillo, TX) on the way out of town.  I've been talking big game about taking the 72 oz. steak challenge.  They have the thing laid out on an altar right when you walk in the door, and, honestly, I think I could do it.  The biggest deterrent right now is that I don't have $72 in case of failure and we do have to get to Tulsa (6+ hours away).  We spend some quality time in the gift shop instead.  Next time, I will conquer this.


if i'm ever in amarillo again, your ass is grass-fed.

We take a detour around Oklahoma City to visit Pop's (660 W. Highway 66, Arcadia, OK), a monument to soda out in the middle of nowhere.  They have something ridiculous like 500 different soda varieties.  Kyle Sowash is in heaven.  We probably spend a good half hour there and leave with no more than 12 bottles.  Brett's drinking one behind the wheel on the way to Tulsa, and a toll collector asks him if he has an open container.  He says we keep the open beer containers somewhere else.  I think I see flashing lights behind us...


decisions, decisions.


pure cane sugar = pure joy.


Thursday, November 20th - Tulsa, OK

First thing in town, we hit up Wilson's BBQ (1522 E. Apache St.), as recommended by one of our road food books.  Their slogan is "You don't need teeth to eat our beef."  We didn't find it to be that, exactly.  Kyle ordered the brisket, but it wasn't terribly impressive.  Dan and Brett each got bologna, which is supposed to be some sort of regional thing, but mostly it was just a slice of smoked bologna.  I got "hot links" on the recommendation of our waiter, and I'm pretty sure I won.  The real treat here was their BBQ sauce - sweet, spicy and bold.  More flavor, for sure.  The waiter asked me what brought us to Tulsa from Columbus, so I told him we were in a band on tour.  Next thing I know, he's asking for our autographs.

INSIDE BASEBALL: Nobody should ever ask us for autographs.  We are not famous.  If anything, we'd be more famous for our love of food than our music.  We're considering bringing 8" x 10" glossy photos of us to give to restaurant proprietors while out on the road.  That way, they can hang up a picture of the fat, fussy, funny-talkers who are invariably disappointed by every place they eat.

This show got thrown together last minute at the Monolith, a little DIY space in Tulsa.  We basically begged for a show so that we wouldn't have 2 off days in a row, and Lindsey helped us out tremendously.  Thanks!  This was mostly a laid back bill, and we stuck out like a sore thumb.  Mason Remel (myspace.com/masonremel) and Autumn Shade started things off with some nice sets of chamber pop.  We played in the middle and though we were definitely a mismatch with everything else, caught the attention of at least a few people in the crowd.  Low Litas (myspace.com/lowlitas) played a solo set after us and was really impressive.  The night was capped by Normandie Wilson (myspace.com/normandiewilson) who was also fantastic, but suffered from a pretty significant loss of crowd.


duh.

I should probably note that it was colder than the love of Barbara Bush outside.  Dan, Hellboy and I went to a local liquor store to get some beer before the show.  It wasn't until after we made our purchase that we found out about Oklahoma's ridiculous law that full-strength beer cannot be sold cold in stores.  We figured that if we just left the beer in the van, it would eventually cool down to a drinkable temperature.  That didn't happen, but it didn't stop us from throwing them down anyway.

Lindsey came through again, putting us up for the night.  All in all, Tulsa's not a bad town.  We'll definitely have to come through again with a little more notice.


from all accounts, this is not what the tulsa scene is really like.