December '05
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Old Shit
12/24/05
Props to you Dubliners... a bunch of loud rowdy fuckers y'all are. Really good last show. Load in and set up fast and smooth for a change... well... for most departments. You could tell by the internet cafe that sprung up in the crew room by noon.
I should've mentioned more about the food on this UK run... the catering company that we carried really did a good job... you can tell by all the weight that the crew gained. The soups and deserts were the highlights.
I want to apologize to some of my fellow crew members for not saying goodbye after the show... I'm not much on goodbyes... plus as you all know the world is pretty small for a roadie... we'll see each other again sooner than you think.
This is a caricature of the entire core crew... yeah... I know.
The Travel day home the next day was a long and brutal one. First of all... Fuck Aer Lingus ... The stews were snooty and the airplane was old and beat. Our connection in Chicago had a three hour layover to begin with... it turned into a 6 hour layover. When it was all said and done it was 21 hours of traveling. I was knackered by the time I got home. The xmas traffic mess at the Portland airport was stupid. As has been the past few days here at home. I'm really no fan of this holiday. I'm gonna repost something I wrote back two Christmases ago. ...
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First off, Christmas... scholars say that Jesus was born at some other time of year. I don't know, August, March or some shit. During the crusades, the proselytizing conquerors would tell all the pagans that winter solstice was actually JC's B-day so that there would be an easier transition through their religious conversion. No drastic lifestyle changes. Even if Jesus was born on the 25th it's fucked because of our time line. Depending on who was in power in those medieval times would determine how many day's our calendar year had. If everything based on the birth and death of Christ, who would really know what the fucking date was now. If you're not religious and just like Christmas as modern society has adapted it to be, then I say to you... think again. Don't get me wrong I'm no grinch and I respect and support everyone's right to love it. I just think everyone should see all sides. Some say the holiday spirit brings out the best in people... well, that may be so but I think it also brings out the worst. This time of year inspires more guilt, depression, greed and selfishness than any other time. Suicides statistics double around Xmas.
Pressure for gift giving brings
stress and guilt to everyone that participates. Peoples frenzied
shopping generates the worst of all traffic situations. Half the
drivers are passively driving way to slow on their holiday highs
being courteous and stopping for the likes of little old ladies
crossing streets and yielding to left turning motorists... while the
frantic last minute shopper drivers with never enough time struggle
to get around the lazily meandering slow driverdudes, driving ever
more rudely and certainly more dangerously in a futile attempt to
save a little more shopping time or find the best parking spot.
I can't tell you how many times
I've heard..." you're not going to spent xmas alone are you?".
Followed by a very aggressive xmas invitation.
Just so I don't sound like a total
grump... I do buy a couple of presents for some of my friends kids.
I'm not saying xmas shouldn't exist... alot of people genuinely love
the holiday, I want them to have it. I just feel trapped by it every
single year.
Our entire retail economy is dependent on how much crap people buy during the holidays. The buying frenzy is my personal pet peeve. Stores this year have cut back on staffing their stores in expectations that sales wont be up to expectations. This increase lines for cash registers and any kind of help you might need from store personnel. Those people that are lucky enough to be working are overworked and numb to everyone they deal with. There is no such thing as customer service anymore. The other awful by product of the buying frenzy is traffic. Every year I am surprised at another level of widespread driving rudeness. People fighting for parking spaces, people driving recklessly to make it to whatever store before it closes, and general congestion everywhere. The stress from this alone is a good argument against a commercial Christmas. Once again, I'm really not a grinch about it. If you get as much or more enjoyment out of the holiday than you get adversely affected by it, then by all means... ho, ho, ho. But if the balance of good and bad tips the wrong way on the Christmas scale then I encourage you to do what I do. Skip it. Well, as much as you can that is. I've successfully avoided xmas for about ten years now. My mother as well. No trees, no uncomfortable family gatherings, no guilt, no stress (other than driving around... some things you can't avoid). I do have a ritual for the 25th though. My Mom and I go see a horror movie together. The theatre is generally empty and there is always a new horror flick out at this time (I've always wondered why). |
Well... it's 2005 now and I don't feel that much different about it. Still avoiding it... sitting at home right now watching my tivo'd My name is earl's, nip tucks and west wings... enjoying my solitude with my dog Bo. Tomorrow the horror ritual with mom will be occurring sometime in the afternoon.
I do wish you all a great holiday... however you enjoy it.
12/19/05
Earl's Court Day one....
Well... this was an interesting show... all was going fine until Dave's run into the crowd during Stacked actors... Usually it's pretty obvious whether it's safe to go out in the crowd or not by the looks of it. For example... in New Zealand... it just looked to fucking crazy... I warned Dave even though he already knew he wasn't gonna run. Well... The London crowd seemed actually tame. Nice and loud... a little rowdy... but nothing out of the norm. London.. y'all are a bunch of fucking animals. Normally there are always people reaching out, trying to touch the famous guy... but on this night.. it was a nightmare. Mobbed and attacked... people grabbing and hitting and scratching and pulling as he ran through the crowd. Even the security that accompanies him for his run got beat up pretty good. All in all very scary. The guitar he took got trashed... unsalvageable. It had to be put down. Dave was pretty upset upon arriving back at the stage for Taylor's drum solo part of the song. Understandably so.
Dave shook it off and continued on to tear up the rest of the set... it sure seemed like he felt better on this day. His voice wasn't sickly tonight.
It was the Eagles of Death Metal's last show with us... a fond farewell to you all. No... a hot steamy romance between Sam and I never developed... but she did say hi to me a couple of times during the week. That's almost hot sex, right?
A good friend of mine... Paul Nuttall came down and said Hi and brought me a picture he took of Juliette Lewis and I during our last Euro tour. Paul tour managed her band.
Earl's Court Day 2.....
Guess what? Dave didn't run out in the crowd today... Go figure.
We got Millionaire and Supergrass as openers tonight... kickass... both of 'em.
Lot's of celebs walking around on both of these night Jimmie Page from Zep and Brian May from Queen to name a couple. I got emailed so many requests for shirts at this show but no one came over to my side of the stage to ask me for them... for future reference... I'm off stage right... which is the left of the stage as you look at it. I'm always right next to the barricade so all you have to do is holler and I'll come over and gladly take your dough.
After the show we piled on the slave ship and headed 6 hours to the ferry to Dublin. I've never gone to Ireland this way before. Always a plane ride... but it doesn't really matter anyway as I slept through the ferry ride.
We're at the Westbury hotel in Dublin which is awesome cuz of the location... right next to Grafton street which is a mess right now with Christmas shoppers. Check in here at the hotel was equally a mess with them not really being ready for our arrival.
If anyone wants to come to the hotel for t-shirts... I'll bring them down to the lobby... Probably a mistake.... but whatever.
12/16/05
Happy Birthday Ian Beveridge!!!
Now I've said it many times... This guy is literally the best monitor guy in the business... he really is. He's been with Dave since the Nirvana days. Not only does he hold the "best in the business" title but he is really one of the best fellas I've ever met. He keeps me laughing at the worst of times... he is one of the only guys out here that you can have a non-work related conversation with. Roadies tend to speak in alpha numeric codes and technical jargon that would put a meth addict to sleep. I even believe that Ian holds a crazy title in the remote control plane flying world... like us aerobatics champion or some shit like that. The guy is smart as fuck... I think he had a subscription to popular science magazine or something as a kid cuz he'll always surprise you about something. The other day he explained calculus to me... I've already forgotten it... go figure. Normally a guy like this would be doomed to a life of celibacy... but somehow he pulled a pretty hot wife. How awesome is Ian... a Scottish dude that flies rc planes, knows that Rush song YYZ ... ALL THE WAY THROUGH on the bass!!!, turns knobs on a monitor console like a mutherfucker, owns a big ass farm in the Midwest, hot wife, and tells some of the best stories ever heard. Ian... I am privileged to know you.
Day off again... Bored to tears with crappy UK tv. To many Re-runs of Quincy, LA Law and Murder She Wrote have now got me questioning my sexuality. So I went for a walk down Kensington High street looking for somewhere to get a damn haircut... holy fuck... the cheapest I could find was 37 pounds... that's like 80 bucks US. Screw That... I'll stay shaggy.
Got an opportunity to possibly open my own rehearsal / recording / rental gear / one stop shop for bands studio in Portland, OR... There will be 15 to 18 rooms available on a hourly or monthly basis. All rooms will be wired with a 16 channel snake that leads back to a central recording room. So if someone would want their rehearsal recorded... it would be cheap and easy... just mike it up and go. Quick easy Demos. Full accoutrement of Backline and PA rentals available. Also small retail store involved. Need to come up with a business name for it... any suggestions? I'm looking for a partner in this... if you've got 50k, time, and work ethic and want a solid investment, Please contact me. Ah hell... forget the time and work ethic.
12/15/05
Manchester show... sorry no photos. Camera out of batteries... I suck.
Everybody is sick out here... Ian, Sean, Bryan, Dave.... a bunch of other fuckers too... I feel kinda responsible seeing as I had it first in Australia. But the rock stops for no one... Every night that Dave goes out there and performs... fever, sore throat, headache or whatever... he makes us all look like pussies. Screaming his head off... running around at top speed through the crowd... and generally doing everything you probably shouldn't do when you're sick. About halfway through the show he even cut his hand open and was bleeding all over the guitar... he had no idea how he did it. Rock Stigmata I say.
Sorry Manchester y'all were a fairly tame and quiet crowd compared to the shows we've been having... I'm gonna give you all the benefit of the doubt and attribute it to y'all being stoned to the gills on good weed.
After the show we slept in a parking lot somewhere then drove into London at about noon for a day off. Checked in to our hotel in Kensington and I did my laundry at a launderette around the corner and just generally loafed about. The fucking American dollar sucks so bad over here right now. 10 bucks will get you 5 pounds. it's about half value. Needless to say it hurts the wallet to be here.
Tomorrow I need to find a place to get a trim on this mop of mine. My hair is quite long and damaged these days and really wants to dread... it's a pain in the ass. Can any of you Londoners, Londonites, or Londonians recommend somewhere for me to get a trim...? Please don't send me anywhere that will make me look like a muppet. Please email me tonight or post reply on the board.
12/11/05
Birmingham... 1st proper UK show. We've got Eagles of Death Metal...
Who are fucking awesome... I think I have a crush on the drummer Sam... I'm not the only one though... she's hot, a great drummer, and quite a nice gal. She used to play for Hole (ew!) and also Motley Crue. She drums with all the flare and flash of Tommy Lee... stick twirls and all.... but stays solid as a rock. The music is quite original and the shtick is entertaining. Sean and Dave sat on the edge of the stage and watched the whole show loving it... as did I.
...We've also got the Futureheads supporting us.
Great music... if any of y'all are fans of that old band XTC you'll love this... it's like XTC on steroids.
Before the show Dave sat in in video control and checked out the crowd through our remote control cameras sitting all over the stage... they're controlled by a joystick that lets us point a zoom into anything we want... yes, we caught a couple people picking they're noses.... so watch it y'all... you never know who's watching you.
The Foos part of this show was good as usual.
Dave announced my website to the crowd again talking about the naked pictures I have of them. Well... I never posted these before cuz I thought I'd get in trouble... but since he's talking about it.... he ya go.
Here's Taylor partying with a chicken... Nate and his bird... Chris and his hair tube... ........ and of course Dave "back in the day".
So there you go fuckers... quit writing me about how you all have to see their peckers.
Set up was very slow today and inefficient as it always is on this first day... Backline team got screwed out of precious space for our guitar worlds. It sucks... we should all be on the same team.
Glasgow!!!!!!!!!!!! My home away from home. Love the Scotts!!! What a great night this was. Always the best crowd in the UK. Dave deserves massive props for putting on one of the best performances I've seen out of him even sick as a dog... just goes to show ya... you don't need to sing perfect or play perfect to put on a kickass show.
It was nice to see some good Glasgow friends like Coco and Audrey, local thug Joe McCabe... and Hottie Lori.
I scored season four of "Still Game".... a Scottish sitcom that is right up there with my other fav from Canada "Trailer Park Boys".
After the show we piled on the slave ship and headed to Manchester for a day off... a few hours away.... problem is that we couldn't check into the hotel till noon... so we drove most of the way then sat in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere till ten am then drove into Manchester. Saving grace is that the Radisson that we're at is pretty nice. I'm gonna go to the gym after posting this update then cruise to a mini mart for some juice.
Beat it.
12/10/05 10pm
Show over, truck packed, thank god.
Dave got the plague that I carried around with me in Australia... sorry Dave. He still made Cardiff his bitch and fucked it's fanny hard.
Slightly annoyed with Oasis guitar tech... pulling the old we're playing last so I'm leaving all my shit in the prime real estate. It's a festival... c'mon. I don't care if you are playing last. When it's our time on stage, the stage belongs to us. It wouldn't have bugged me so much except that I moved our guitar worlds in front of his... kinda blocking him in... and during our set he wanted to work on his guitars since oasis was up next. He squeezed in and started pushing my stuff out to make more room for him right in the middle of our show... which isn't so bad but if something would have happened on stage while I was paying attention to him... helping to clear a little space... like a string break or something worse... it would have been really bad. We never do that... we always clear the prime real estate until it's our turn... it's better for everyone. Even us.
Got our Euro bus after load out... it's not a double decker... 11 berths. Right now we're only 8 on here which is perfect... a couple of junk bunks for computer bags and personals. However, we've been told that were getting three more on here... which will officially make us a slave ship.
Oh yeah...Sean turned me on to this... The best metal band on the planet...Karkis. It's a pretty big video file. About 28 megs but well worth the download. You'll love it
12/10/05 9am
Oh yeah... it begins... I know that we're in the UK now by the fucking crappy hotel we're in. Just woke up to take a shower before checking out and going to the gig... no hot water. I called down do the front desk... "Sorry sir there's no hot water due to the demand for it right now. There should be hot water available in a few hours. But you can use the showers next to the pool they're on a different water feed.". What is this? A third world country? Fuck... I hate this... this is the kind of thing that makes me want to quit... it sounds small and stupid, and it is, but after being barraged by this kind of bullshit for an entire year the "cute annoyance factor" of it has worn off. It never used to be like this... I'm over it.
This is a stadium show... it's fucking huge. 80,000 mother fuckers... It's semi-outside although there's a roof on this joint. It's cold as fuck with someone checking your pass every 5 meters. We play at 7pm but we had to check out of the hotel and come down here at 11am. We're already set up... we did it last night. So we have to sit around at a gig all fucking day with nowhere to be... They don't want us in the dressing room and they don't want us in the production office. Normally we would hang out in a tour bus but our will not arrive till 6pm. I guess it works out for y'all though seeing as I use this time to post my unhappy rants about touring on foreign soil.
Catering is halfway decent. good deserts. Here's Sean to recommend his favorite.
I'll have some photos after the show... I'll post again asap.
12/9/05
Perth had all the ingredients of a bad show. Poorly organized outdoor festival out in the boonies... ill equipped for something this big. The security were the Australian equivalent of dumb rednecks. Throw in a super group like Oasis in the mix and it really spells disaster. It all worked out just fine though. Aside from the security and the long drive to and from the hotel, it was one of the smoothest shows ever.
The plane ride back to Melbourne was not so smooth however. 4 and a half hours next to a screaming 2 year old that was projectile vomiting all over everything... no it wasn't Wiley. The smell was the worst ever. I thought I was gonna die.
Melbourne shows were good... crowd was a little calmer than the rest of this tour... surprising. Melbourne is my favorite city in OZ and I was secretly hoping the crowd would blow the NZ shows away. But no... it more resembled the crowds of my home town of Portland, Oregon. Don't get me wrong... it was a great show... Dave had to work a little harder to wind everyone up is all. Tons of hot girlies in Melbourne though. Lots to distract me during the shows. Thanks to all that yelled at me and bought my shirts... still have a few girly shirts and small and medium t-shirts.
In the UK now on a bus headed to Cardiff... after a seriously long flight from OZ. Melbourne to Singapore... 7 hours. Then a 2 hour layover to a 13 hour flight from Singapore to Frankfurt. 1 hour on the ground to refuel then an hour and a half to London. Our current bus rid to Cardiff is to last for 6 hours so needless to say we're all a loopy. The flying wasn't all that bad though... business on Qantas is nice. Pods that recline to horizontal and fairly decent entertainment in the seats. I watched many movies...
40 year old virgin.... Fucking awesome. Funniest movie since office space.
The Island... halfway decent. Scarlett Johansen is hot.
Cinderella Man... made me leak. Good flick
Sky High... what do you think? Geoff loved it though... freak.
Must Love Dogs.... I plead the 5th.
Dukes of Hazard... waste of time.
Talk to ya later fuckos.
12/2/05
Sydney shows were great.... fuckin' twenty thousand people per show. So awesome that the boys are doing such good business here... at show 2 Lemme made an appearance as well as an old friend... Markus. During set change... our usually soft spoken stage manager, "Socks", got the entire arena doing "the wave". One of the funniest things I've ever seen. Had to be there. It was Nate's Birthday... and as the huge crowd sang the birthday song to him... I was reminded of my last birthday actually celebrated on tour... the band got a male stripper dressed as a cop to give me a lapdance in catering... Fuckers. Whatever... Happy birthday Nate.... much love.
On the plane to Perth. Feeling sick as a dog. Fever, cough, snot... It's a good thing I'm invincible.
Getting tired of my crappy camera... someone out there should buy me a fancy new one or at least sell me one cheap... that new canon rebel or something like it... c'mon... I promise I'll take more pictures.
So I'm carrying around a small amount of BB and his FOB shirts in all sizes... regular T's and spaghetti strap girly tank tops. If any of y'all in Perth, Melbourne, or the UK want any of them make sure you email me now and tell me what size to hang onto and your names. I can either hook up with y'all at the shows or you can come to my hotel to get them.
Sweet.