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 Your Hey Mercedes weblog. The Cast: Robert Nanna Damon Atkinson Todd Bell Michael Shumaker Dan Keehn Chris Bickert Norman Arenas Ryan Snyder 
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August 4, 2001
Robert: 150 1979 - Smashing Pumpkins I'm sitting at the Orbit Cafe across the street from Bricks, the venue tonight in SLC. It's a huge dance club looking thang with a bunch of different levels and it's half outdoors! Hence, we'll be taking the stage at 6, when the sun's angle will keep us nice and toasty. The "backstage" is actually an entire other club downstairs complete with a pool table! ... And our hotel tonight is right across the street from a movie theater, so we may hit The Score once we get back from the show. Bus call is 5 AM to Boise. Yikes. We've switched buses. We're now sharing a bus with Hot Rod Circuit and they're a bunch of nice wholesome boys to say the least. At least before the beer... I think Dashboard is getting a newer bus after our generator decided to smoke up the bunk area. It was only an hour and a half pit stop on the side of a Colorado road... Harrison Ford's stunt double? I guess that would be a decent catch... Does he even have that chin scar? Everything is going so well! I love it... Thanks to everyone who has ordered merch! I've been able to send stuff out every day so far! Talk to you later at the old Country Inn.
dan: sometimes I wonder, is all this scrapple really good for me? last night I wish I had the OP609 or whatever it's called machine..I'll tell you a little story. Now sit down and get comfortable..Last night I went to the Oz county fair grounds to partake in a little social gathering, NOT the land of Oz the county of ozaukee..krei..! so I park by my grandmas old house and walk 4 blocks to the front gate where to my suprise I heard the rumbling of cars..I ran over to the fence and there they where in a big mud pit playing crash-up derby..you had your old wagons with alll the glass removed and tanks in the back seat..so that was the first cool thing I saw..then we walked to the beer tent to purchase one frothy generally genuine draft. why do guys in cowboy hats that are my age walking around in wisconsin? so after nearly getting in a fight with this redneck white boy from the suburbs who thought he was from virginia..we went to go get more adult beverage.. THEN I saw this gentleman that looked just like harrison ford..well he said he was his stunt double so we chatted it up with him and then I left to head south to pick up choice..got to Eagan's and ordered some shrumps and a weiss beer...then went home and crashed..listening to the rolling stones on this cool summer morning..I'd have to say that 'sway' is one of my favorites...off of sticky fingers..would everybody please have some granola and some cereal in there favorite spot for me..? bob, I need my hemp necklace back bra.. August 3, 2001
dan: beer is food...no doubt about it..15 min. then I'm audi5000....goin' to the fair I hope there's a sledge hammer thing cause I'm gonna bang the shit out of it..! all 165 lbs of me....show me the milk bottles!!!!!!!!!!!! ring toss....watertank...darts, oh lemme get me some darts oVER HERE..! I hope I win one of those big stuffed animals cause my brother's looking for something to shoot his arrows into so he can hoan his archery skills..you go bro.! aka..JTB not jets..but John "The Butcher" my brother..in full effect pimpin' his way outta sheboygan county..well gotta count the drawer..take a pull and leave the hell outta here... I'm gone
dan: something has got to be said about a woman who has what appear to be legs that I wouldn't mind being on the receiving end of a python clenching scissor-leg hold. You go girl..! she's gonna be in the sausage race on saturday at miller park here in milwaukee..went to see the apes last night and I must say I didn't really enjoy that one ape that looked a lot like michael jackson the hair was all human and she just looked not-like-an-ape..too emotional or something..nodded off three times...so we got done with the movie that seemed to last forever and went to the landmark and true some darts...mike A. won 1st place then me and dave H. and jUstin taking up last..had a really good guiness and went home after that..sunday I'll be up in the box at the brewers game suckin' down some ceeeold ones havin' some pizza and cracker jacks..now hair is on the radio..someone pullease turn it..sounds like tour is going pretty schweet guys..FYI- the gretts is doing good...her staples are fine...and they should come out next week..
Robert: 151 New Frontier - Donald Fagan Two hours until bus call to Denver. We got some posts goin... Also, I put up the PAYPAL only designs so check em out! August 2, 2001
Robert: 2:59 PM 8/2/01 I knew it. As soon as I saw my prized Nick Drake/Joni Mitchell CD on the floor of her car, I knew it was moshed beyond repair. And here I am, in the back o the bus again, and we’ve got some skipping Pink Moon. Drats. Hopefully it’s just that one section, cause I need my “All I Want.” You could say that it is all I want. I’m a smart one. I just mailed 2 postcards. On the way back from the box, I realized that one of them didn’t have an address on it. I’m a smart one. Where does that mail end up going to? I wonder if some obsessive mail carrier has a basement full of undeliverable mail. A nice collection of letters, bills, postcards, mailed by smart ones like me. If I ever find this basement, a la the wishing well scene in the Goonies, I’m taking them back. I’m taking them all back. The best food the immediate area around El Torreon has to offer is a lowly Tizza Bizza, which will do wonders for my stomach. But three bean burritos minus cheese later and I’m feeling pretty swell. I was just so hungry... Of course, given my luck, there’s probably an all vegetarian restaurant right around the corner that just escaped me. That’s what happened in Columbia. Not that my deli sammich was bad... it’s just, well, I was hoping to eat super healthily on this tour and I just went to one of the worst food production places on earth. Not looking so good. We’ve been pretty spoiled with these short 2 hour drives. They’ve allowed for a pretty good sleeping, either in a hotel bed or on the sitting still bus. However, tonight gets sorta hairy. After the show, we’ll most likely head to the hotel for an hour or two and then leave directly for Denver. A good 9 hour drive through the night. I’m envisioning that Def Leppard album cover right now. On Through the Night. Speaking of Def Leppard, there are some new photos up at the Vagrant America website. I know you’ll be interested of shots of us playing in front of a Get Up Kids banner... which was unknown to me until long after our set. Perhaps I would have made a wisecrack about it. Note to self: Easy on the wisecracks. Note to self: If VH1 ever, during a lapse of judgement, decides to do a made for TV movie on Hey Mercedes, I really don't think Anthony Michael Hall should be in it. However, I will gladly allow him to take part in the 906. In fact, right now, my partner in crime, TFIC, should be capturing some big names presently. I would have to say that the greatest Tom Petty lyric is the following: “The waiting is the hardest part.” It always seems to come up while on tour. The hurry up and wait thing I must get used to. And look at me, I’m getting used to it. We just watched the DVDs for Small Time Crooks and Snatch, and I may just throw in O Brother Where Art Thou... I liked Small Time Crooks. It was a lot funnier than I thought It was going to be, and i’m not really sure why I originally felt that way... It’s a shame that none of the Woody Allen DVDs have extra stuff. I like me some good extra stuff. Some good extra stuff.
TBELL: Intended to be posted this afternoon around 6pm... So here I am sitting outside the venue in Kansas City. Rocking out to the sounds of The Stone Roses. It’s hot out, hot as a mother. Hard to breathe it’s so hot. I’m trying to stay cool inside the back of the bus, where the generators have been malfunctioning all day (boo hoo right?) keeping it a balmy 75 degrees and smelling like feet. Either that or someone has hidden a portion of cottage cheese under one of the bunks a week or so back for later consuption and forgotten about. The place we are playing tonight is more like a hollowed-our garage space with no air-conditioning rather than a working venue. It’s barely big enough and will be packed with crazy kids running around in about an hour. Dan from Dashboard Confessional said last time they played here it was so hot that as soon as he walked inside his glasses would get all fogged up, the kind of show I assume where water/condensation forms all over the place and the floors get real slippery. Ugh. Thankfully we are playing early enough to where it won’t be to painful, and the kids will all be fresh and ready to rock before slipping into heat induced strokes mid-Saves the Day set. Be careful out there kids, and drink lots of liquids! Can’t wait to get started on our way over the Rocky Mountains and to a more humid free environment, more accesible fast food vegetarian eats, and the Pacific Ocean.. Hello and a shout-out to all our blogger friends at home and away: Dan where you been lately? And in the immortal words of some kid in Norway “Where’s J?”
Robert: 152 Driftwood - Travis 153 Raspberry Beret - Prince All my best to Notorious. Get well soon. Well, last night was amazing. I'm not sure waht it was, but I think we played our very best. It certainly was not the previous nights boozin'. Yep, I actually stayed up pretty dran late on Monday night post-St Louis show. The whole lot of us headed over to the Rocket Bar, whereupon I spared no expense in downing a drink or six. I'm not even sure how Todd and I got back to the hotel... That's never good. I think we got a ride from someone. Did I mention that Sugar Ray and Uncle Kraker were staying at our hotel? Sure, i may have some issues with their songs, but the OP906 machine does not discriminate in any way whatsoever... Doesn't matter anyway, cause I didn't see anybody. I think the Sugar Ray guitarist was on our floor. He has blue hair, right? It's 9:04 AM and I'm at a hotel in Columbia, MO. In an hour or so, we cruise to Kansas City. I'll catch up with you there! I'm off to put up some show dates.... August 1, 2001
dan: staples in her head gretta has five[5] staples in her head, she bumped it on a table at work while chaseing whiley..canned heat is on the radio right now.. ..off early today.. going on a white water rafting trip up around the black river..6 days 7 nights..camping on the sand bars... see you.. xo July 31, 2001
Robert: 154 Gigantic - Pixies "I think you went to bed a little too early, Bob." I guess I'm still on work time as opposed to tour time. I can't help it that I wake up at 7:30 AM every morning... So here I am. Yesterday afternoon, the entire tour invaded the St Louis Union Station Mall to attend a showing of Planet of the Apes. There was at least 30 of us in there... And what did I think of the movie? Well, let's just say that I'm growing tired of Mark Wahlberg's character. The same one he's played in every movie he's been in since Boogie Nights. The effects were alright, but the movie didn't do that much for me otherwise. I'd still like to see the original, though. And then we all split up. Four of us went to this microbrewery and caught the last 45 minutes of happy hour. I'm not sure this was a good idea, because it just tired me out. I remember waking up at 11:30 PM. Matt Skiba wanting to know if we wanted to go to the Rocket Bar. I did, but I was half asleep. And our hotel room has an amazing balcony that offers a tremendous view of the St Louis Arch. And the pool here is on the roof. It opens in 15 minutes, and I've just got to go do some laps... July 30, 2001
Robert: 155 I Better Be Quiet Now - Elliott Smith I thought I’d get up early to take full advantage of the day-off hotel’s amenities. Namely, a nice big indoor pool. However, my plan seems to have been thwarted by a gross mixup of communication. Apparently the St. Louis Radisson has no knowledge of the Vagrant America tour coming through their hallowed halls these next two days. Me: Yes, I’m with the tour. We should have a reservation. Hotel Clerk: Um, I don’t see it. Who are you with again? Me: I’m with the 4 huge buses that just pulled up in front of the hotel. Hotel Clerk: Look of wonder, perhaps a hint of fear... Hey, all I wanted to do was swim. Yesterday was the Last Day of the Antibotic (rejected album name. the joke never gets old) so I had to opt out of the late night bar run. Apparently some girl painted Hot Rod Jay’s toenails and now we’re following her to some risque bar? That’s exactly what the offer was. Instead, I headed to the bus and got an early start on sleeping. This was at the hotel at about 11 PM. At 5 AM, the buses left for St. Louis and sometime in between, I woke up, and couldn’t go back to sleep. So here I am, in the back of the bus. The TV is “searching for a satellite signal”. I’m waiting for our valiant tour manager to come to the lobby and straighten everything out. Seriously, forks, he’s the best. I don’t see how he can manage such a rowdy bunch of hooligans for 26 days straight. I mean Hot Rod Jay is a handful in himself, right? I plan on putting up some Paypal-only shirt designs today, along with some buttons... You know, stuff we can easily send out from the road. I hope everyone is safe and warm. ** It is now 11:17 AM. I'm in the room. Seems it was accidentally under Adrienne/Anniversary's name. Got some coffee brewin'. Soon to the pool for a lap or two. That should keep me sore for a week or so. July 29, 2001
Robert: 156 Imaginary Love - Rufus Wainwright We're chilling at the Doubletree Louisville post-Krazyfest. Tomorrow is the first day off and we're planning a mass tour viewing of Planet of the Apes. We may even rent out a theater in St. Louis... Expect some blogging. |