076 Maid Marian Way
Hey hey. I'm in Nottingham UK at my friend Steve/Bob's place and the show last night was just great. One couldn't ask for a better first show of a tour, especially one so far from home. The poignant memory of the night was while Owen was playing "Nobody's Nothing." I was standing at the bar, drinkin up Stella, when a showgoer shuffles up, money in hand, and i notice that he's singing along. He's mouthing the Owen song. The bartender blindly notices his customer and as he walks over to him i notice that he is also mouthing along the Owen song. Neither one noticed the other. I noticed both. It was incredible...
We have today off, but we've been asked to play a beach party (?) in Derby (pronounced Darby. Like Terence Trent.) so we'll see if that happens. For now, we're lounging about. We may go see some sights. Apprently the oldest bar in the entire world is located here. And then there's always the Sherwood Forest although my little Britain travel guide suggests that it's not even worth it. Most of it is gone. Oh well. I'm not up on my Robin Hood lore anyway. Haven't bumped into the sherriff yet, thankfully.
I feel terrible that I haven't been talking too much here, but the honest truth is... i have had zero time in the past, well, three weeks or so. I thought i'd have time in the van on tour, but I ended up driving most of the time. And then, while online, I had to address pressing issues with this tour and tours to come, not to mention send out a slew of posters and flyers as well. The posts would have read something like this:
076 Busy
Hey i'm terribly busy but i'm just stoppin by to say hi. Hi. Show x has been confirmed and shows y and z have been added to the v tour. Peach out homiez.
You see? I would say ridiculous things like Peace Out and not even realize that I wrote "Peach." Oddly enough, i didn't even do that on purpose. It's funny wht jet lag does to the brain.
You know what i did right before i left for the UK? Grab a chair, pull it up, i'll tell ya. And please don't think of this a sob story, because i actually enjoy stuff like this. Challenges. Plans of action that make the normal person shudder in terror or at least politely let me know that i have lost all of my marbles.
Immediately after the Syracuse show on July 9, we drove home. Well, first we drove to Detroit to drop off Miko (6 am), then we drove into Chicago to drop Rachael off at Union Station (10 am. Her train was at 4 pm.), then we picked up Megan from Megan's, then we drove to Milwaukee, where we dropped off Todd and Chris Common (1 pm. Chris then drove 8 more hours back to Dayton.) Then I drove back to Chicago. The next day, July 11, I packed as well as I could, sent out some posters, prepared the necessary artwork for the American Diary EP, and had a meeting of sorts. The day after that, July 12, I drove back to Detroit. We arrived at 11 pm. I woke up at 6 am the next day, ate breakfast, and drove alone to Allentown. Arroved at 5 pm. Played a really great show at Double Decker thanks to Dr. Bix and had some delicious vegan pizza thanks to Pie's On John. We then went out for a few pitchers of Yuengling lager and managed to beat the high score on the music trivia game there. The previous high was 150,000. We scored 75,000,000. I am dead serious. Went to sleep around 1 am. Woke up at 9 am. Drove to Hudson, MA for the Smashachusetts Fest. Arrived at 4 pm, whereupon the promoter gave me a set time of 9:15. Since I had to drive immediately after my set, I used the 5 or so hours to sleep in the car, behind the wheel... since that was the only open area. I really only slept about an hour. Played the show, which was in a roller rink!, and hit the road. I checked the clock. 11 pm. I left for Detroit. 12 hours later I am there. I am exhausted and totally loopy. I sleep until 2 pm. I have to get up, go to the post office, re-pack for the UK along with all of my merch, and get to the airport by 4:30. The flight is at 6:30. We make it. I down a bloody mary, choke down some airline food, and try to sleep. We arrive at 6:45 am, rent a minivan, and i have to learn how to drive again. Everything is opposite to what i know and love. We get lost picking up Mike, but we get him and we drive here. WOOHOO!
I know what you're thinking. How in the harvest burger could i stand driving 24+ hours over the span of 2 daya by myself? And the answer is simple: Books On Tape. I will tell you all about it... but i've said so much already. And seriously, i'm hogging the computer, dontcha think?
We have today off, but we've been asked to play a beach party (?) in Derby (pronounced Darby. Like Terence Trent.) so we'll see if that happens. For now, we're lounging about. We may go see some sights. Apprently the oldest bar in the entire world is located here. And then there's always the Sherwood Forest although my little Britain travel guide suggests that it's not even worth it. Most of it is gone. Oh well. I'm not up on my Robin Hood lore anyway. Haven't bumped into the sherriff yet, thankfully.
I feel terrible that I haven't been talking too much here, but the honest truth is... i have had zero time in the past, well, three weeks or so. I thought i'd have time in the van on tour, but I ended up driving most of the time. And then, while online, I had to address pressing issues with this tour and tours to come, not to mention send out a slew of posters and flyers as well. The posts would have read something like this:
076 Busy
Hey i'm terribly busy but i'm just stoppin by to say hi. Hi. Show x has been confirmed and shows y and z have been added to the v tour. Peach out homiez.
You see? I would say ridiculous things like Peace Out and not even realize that I wrote "Peach." Oddly enough, i didn't even do that on purpose. It's funny wht jet lag does to the brain.
You know what i did right before i left for the UK? Grab a chair, pull it up, i'll tell ya. And please don't think of this a sob story, because i actually enjoy stuff like this. Challenges. Plans of action that make the normal person shudder in terror or at least politely let me know that i have lost all of my marbles.
Immediately after the Syracuse show on July 9, we drove home. Well, first we drove to Detroit to drop off Miko (6 am), then we drove into Chicago to drop Rachael off at Union Station (10 am. Her train was at 4 pm.), then we picked up Megan from Megan's, then we drove to Milwaukee, where we dropped off Todd and Chris Common (1 pm. Chris then drove 8 more hours back to Dayton.) Then I drove back to Chicago. The next day, July 11, I packed as well as I could, sent out some posters, prepared the necessary artwork for the American Diary EP, and had a meeting of sorts. The day after that, July 12, I drove back to Detroit. We arrived at 11 pm. I woke up at 6 am the next day, ate breakfast, and drove alone to Allentown. Arroved at 5 pm. Played a really great show at Double Decker thanks to Dr. Bix and had some delicious vegan pizza thanks to Pie's On John. We then went out for a few pitchers of Yuengling lager and managed to beat the high score on the music trivia game there. The previous high was 150,000. We scored 75,000,000. I am dead serious. Went to sleep around 1 am. Woke up at 9 am. Drove to Hudson, MA for the Smashachusetts Fest. Arrived at 4 pm, whereupon the promoter gave me a set time of 9:15. Since I had to drive immediately after my set, I used the 5 or so hours to sleep in the car, behind the wheel... since that was the only open area. I really only slept about an hour. Played the show, which was in a roller rink!, and hit the road. I checked the clock. 11 pm. I left for Detroit. 12 hours later I am there. I am exhausted and totally loopy. I sleep until 2 pm. I have to get up, go to the post office, re-pack for the UK along with all of my merch, and get to the airport by 4:30. The flight is at 6:30. We make it. I down a bloody mary, choke down some airline food, and try to sleep. We arrive at 6:45 am, rent a minivan, and i have to learn how to drive again. Everything is opposite to what i know and love. We get lost picking up Mike, but we get him and we drive here. WOOHOO!
I know what you're thinking. How in the harvest burger could i stand driving 24+ hours over the span of 2 daya by myself? And the answer is simple: Books On Tape. I will tell you all about it... but i've said so much already. And seriously, i'm hogging the computer, dontcha think?
posted by Robert at 7:52 AM
16 Comments:
books on tape are good for that. also, listening to recorded live shows while you drive seems to work for me too.
I have to say I was quite upset that you didn't play London. I mean you have sompe strange choices of venues, Pontefract & Hinckley and not London in the end? Was quite a shock and a disappointment :(
Pontefract will be amazing. Oldest building in town. i have waited to meet you for years, Bob. Since braid. Don't be freaked out that i ask to have a picture with you. Holding a piece of paper with my band name on it.
brad x
Hey Bob, we had a great time playing with you in Brooklyn!
i find that listening to books on tape does make everything go quicker. ive been listening to the 6th harry potter book on tape. silly british people and their accents. hope the uk tour is treating you great bob.
xxoo
felipe mikael
^ British don't have accents!
We are playing Weybridge which is just outside of London, and we're trying to set something up for July 30. All i can say is we tried and we're still trying.
xxoo
bob
Ah excellent. I'll definately look into that Weybridge one and see if it's an easy one to get to. Going to try and make it to the Brighton one though as I haven't been to the coast in ages and it'll also act like a small holiday.
If you get stuck with a place in London you could probably play in my back garden if you like. Could fit 30/40 easily I should think.
Hope the tour's going alright though and that you're enjoying the UK.
Holy crap, Bob! That's an insane driving schedule. Can't wait to hear what books you listened to, and glad England is smashing so far.
Hey!
It was me and a few friends thatoffered the beach party idea!
Shame you couldn't make it, but we can wait till the actual Derby show.
Steve even made you guys a massive vegetarian pasta salad to tuck into!
Take care
dan.
So I see that Stephen King did keep you up for the drive to Detroit after the MA show. Glad to hear it.
Bob,
tonight, in pontefract, i got to do the thing i'd never thought i'd do. I was too young to see Braid before you split up. ME and my best friend got to stand 1ft away from you.. whilst you sang the song that we both adore so much. Even if we weren't sure if you were trying to discourage us from singing along, commenting on the dashboard-esqueness of it all, we weren't deterred, and if you play it in Leeds, we'll do it louder.
you signed a poster for our new house, thankyou. it's on our WALL OF RAWK! YEAHHHH!
brad
xx
that's a lot of driving. kinda scary, especially with a van. Just a side note, I just read that Myspace.com was bought by FOX, wierd I know. If you have an account there you might want to read this article.
http://apple-x.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1510&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
later
i left such a nice message above, and today i get news that my band is playing the leeds date!
brad xx
I am still crying for the Glasgow show...wasn't it supposed to be on the 30th of July? (instead London?)
Nothing up here in Scotland, what a disappointment!
yeah bob, you missed out on pasta action. damn you!
stephen roe, x
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