Papa Parsley's Tour Journal - We Need Friends Tour 2007
Los Angeles, CA – September 28th 2007
After a solid rest in Phoenix we haul it west through the desert and finally arrive on the west coast, after already being on the road for 4 weeks. I made the band take a little detour so I could pay my respects to two of my all time favorite fictional characters: Bill S. Preston Esquire and Ted Theodore Logan. After our quick stop off in San Dimas we bummed around on Hollywood boulevard for a while to kill time and check out all the tourist shops and bondage stores. The show was at a flamenco restaurant on Sunset called the El Cid Theatre. It was very odd, there was a big curtain that we got to hide behind and open to display us standing there instruments in hand, ready to play. We have some friends at the show so that is always very nice. We hang out outside on the patio under the palms and in the hills, like that one Bob Seger song. We stay with an old friend of mine who happens to live down the street and get to play with his awesome dog. The next day Maria realizes that she left a bag of clothes at the venue and luckily one of the waiters from the night before showed up and let us in, I remember him being a Mexican gentleman with the best pair of boots I've ever seen. I can never decide if I really hate LA or if I really like it.
Special Thanks: Erick, James & Ghost, and our LA Loto Ball ex-pats
"Be Excellent to each other!"
The Stacy Wagon in Hollywood, here's lookin at you kid
Oakland, CA – September 29th 2007
At this point we are driving an average of 8 hours a day and it is really starting to drive us quite mad. After spending the whole day flying through the farm valleys of California we get into the Bay Area and head straight to San Francisco and to the beach so Josh can finally see an Ocean for the first time in his life (We didn't get around to it in Brooklyn). After that we kicked it around on Haight for a while and got some food, then hopped across to the east bay for our show in Oakland. The place we played is called the Stork Club and apparently it used to be an old country western bar. The sound guy is a super cool old guy who offers to smoke us up but we settle for him recoding us instead. Really would have liked to have a day off in the Oakland, but we wake up the next day and pack it up again and head even farther up the west coast into the pacific northwest for my first encounter with that vast green wilderness.
Special Thanks: Pete of the Bay Area Pyrate Punx, Liza
Cold SF ocean experience
Coolest sound guy ever
Lookin tough in Oakland
Castle Crags, CA – September 30th 2007
We camp at Castle Crags state park. We buy some of the local beer from the general store then settle in for a cold wet night in the northern California Mountains. It is Maria's birthday and she has publicly stated that this was the worst birthday of her life.
Pacific northwest beauty
Portland, OR – October 1st 2007
At this point of the tour all we do is sleep, drive and play. The drives are so far and it really sucks not being able to spend more time relaxing on the west coast, because it is so beautiful and relaxing. When we get to Portland we smoke the brakes out on a huge hill and I freak out. If the car breaks down here, we are seriously fucked, very far from home. We also smoke out my stress level and from here on out I am a complete mess until we make it back to Chicago. My nerves are shot, I'm getting hot flashes and panic attacks and I have developed a bad case of the shakes that's still with me to this day. Here is an example of how out of it I was; My sister's birthday is on the 2nd of October so after 9pm I called my sister at Kent State in Ohio to wish her a happy birthday knowing that it was after midnight there and therefore her birthday. She was partying and I was like "Happy birthday, your going out, Thursday party night in Kent!" Then there is a silence and she says, "Jeff, it's Monday", man my brain was really fried, I was off by 4 days. We play at a very eco-friendly crust punk house that was very stereotypical of what you'd imagine Portland to be like. Next day we get the brakes checked and then head up to Seattle in the pouring rain.
Seattle, WA – October 2nd 2007
In the car ride on the way up to Seattle Josh and Maria have a serious meltdown and I have had it. We are still 2,500 miles from Chicago and the band is falling apart, the car is overheating and we still have shows to play. I feel horrible, lonely, panic attacks, shaky, upset, tired. What the fuck is happening? Where the fuck am I? After some door slamming, crying and silence it is time for some serious Dr. Phil action. The band gets back on track and we all get drunk in Seattle and play a good show. I slept in the wagon on the streets of Seattle and lived out my childhood Kurt Cobain fantasy. I wake up at the crack of dawn and start us finally heading back east towards Chicago. About an hour out of Seattle the rest of the band is asleep while a guy passes us in his car, he checks out our loaded down wagon with all the gear and our out of state license plates and passes us up. He passes our car and then he blasts his fist into the air and gives me the hang ten symbol. I wish I could find that guy and let him know what that meant to me at that moment. It was like he knew that I was beat and he just said hang in there brother, keep on keeping on. So that's exactly what I did.
Special Thanks: The Minotaur
Best photo of the tour
Stacy gets around, chillin under the Space Needle
Nampa, ID – October 3rd 2007
We got to Idaho and played at this coffee house garage thing and we got free coffee, tea and pastries. The kids at the show were rad and they provided a much needed moral boost. This would turn out to be the last show of the tour. They give us food and a nice place to sleep and once again we are up and out for a very long drive. The drive from Nampa to Denver is 830 miles, to give you a perspective on how far that is, it is 100 miles farther than driving from Chicago to New York City. To make matters worse, there is nothing anywhere, absolutely nothing for 16 hours. My ass will never forgive me for that drive. The west is so vast and empty it is unsettling.
Special Thanks: Everyone at the shop for the food, and sleeping quarters
On the marquee, in Nampa Idaho, we are officially big time
Denver, CO – October 4th 2007
After spending an eternity in the car we roll into Denver in the dark to find that the show has fallen through. My friend Matt Jones buys me dinner, which was very nice of him. We go to a bar called Bar Bar and then stay with our friend Bryce who lives in this old Denver mansion, with a practice space and a bunch of people living there. Next day we are up and on our way to Kansas City, but not before vegan biscuits and gravy for breakfast.
Special Thanks: Matt Jones (for dinner), Byrce and the Big Timber guys
Kansas City, MO – October 5th 2007
Kansas proves to be an equally laborious drive, and at this point all I can think of is being done. Playing has lost all excitement, I want to be alone so bad, I never want to be in a car again, I don't want to ever smell anyone again, I hate everything. Our show was supposed to be in Lawrence but got moved to Kansas City instead. Everyone is at a house party in town and so we shift our efforts to try and play there. I feel physically ill and have only had 12 hours of horrible sleep in the last 4 days. A Japanese noise band plays for what seems like hours and we give up all hope of playing, we just need a place to sleep for the night so that we can drive back to Chicago tomorrow. We meet some nice ladies who let us sleep over on their floor. We wake up and high tail it back to Chicago, 9 more fucking hours in the car but finally there is an end in sight.
Special Thanks: Nice girls who gave us shelter when we needed it most.
Chicago, IL – October 6th 2007
I collapse when I get back to my apartment. The best and worst time of my life, now over. 9,800 miles in 37 days. After the best sleep I have ever had I wake up the next day feeling odd, confused that I don't have to drive, that I don't have to keep going. It really was over, and now anxiety of the future started to creep in faster than I had expected and I found myself half wishing that we were packing up the wagon again and heading back out on the road…
THE END
P.S. Hope you enjoyed our stories and photos. Sorry this took so long to complete but one up side has been reflecting back on all these moments nearly a year later. I can rest easy now knowing that this major life adventure has been properly documented.
With an open heart...
Jeff T.
a.k.a. Papa Parsley