pam's tour diary, July 2001

Tuesday, July 17th

Nan got to our rehearsal space in DUMBO before the rest of us this morning, and ended up loading everything in the freight elevator all by herself...damn...I felt bad, but go Nan! Build those muscles! We left around 10:30, but some of the girls wanted to stop for doughnuts and coffee/tea, so we went to this cute little E. Village coffee shop called Des Moines or some Iowan name like that. I got a buttery bagel. Nan and Leener got homemade doughnuts...vanilla bean and chocolate, respectively...mmmm...doughy goodness. And then we were off!

(wanna wrestle? I'm strong. mmm donuts. -Nan)

A few hours later, somewhere in the vast hilly greenness that is Pennsylvania, Betsy got a flat tire. Shit! I just got the damn thing fixed yesterday! Or so I thought. Feeling partly responsible, I volunteered to be the greasy Finger. I crawled under Betsy and checked out the spare. Then Shark and I figured out how to get it out from under Betsy's rear end. We got as far as me jacking her up (rather unsuccessfully, I'm sorry to say)...the jack really sucked ass...when from out of the blue, a very kind local gentleman came over and offered us his obvious tire-changing expertise. My pride slightly bruised, I let him take over. He saved us at least 20 minutes, so it was all good.

(I peed in the woods in Pennsylvania. So did Alina. Pam didn't tell you 'cause she was stuck changing the tire. I think the cars could see me peeing 'cause it was not a dense forest---just some thin, dry little trees. I don't like to squat and pee. -Nan)

We took Betsy to a garage a few miles down the road and got her a new tire. Leener was sick with a nasty sore throat and she was pretty out of it. We were afraid we'd have to take her to a doctor, but she ended up feeling miraculously better the next day. Umm...I'm straying from the point...woops. We went to a Dollar store while waiting for the repairs and Leen bought a pair of $3 flip flops...a size too big...like I said, she was really out of it.

As soon as we got Betsy back out on the road, it started to rain. We'd been having problems with the wipers and sadly, they continued to be a pain in our collective ass. We kept having to pull over while Sharky kicked the fuse box, turned Betsy off and on, and basically kept trying to make those pesky wipers work.

It took us 15 hours, but somehow we finally made it to Columbus, OH. My friend Bruce came out and let us into the apt. complex. We promptly went to sleep for like 10 hours.

Wednesday, July 18th

We spent today relaxing and waiting for the windshield wipers to be fixed. We watched a lot of digital cable.

Our gig at High Five was at 11:00, but being the geeky band that we are, we showed up at 9:00. Thankfully, the t.v. at the bar was on and it was tuned in to VH1...right in time for the premiere of "Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story." Phew! We thought we were gonna miss it!

(Oh my God. I really liked the Def Leppard story. The guy who played Joe had the physical posture of the real Joe--I liked him although Alina thought he looked like Barry Manilow. Everyone agreed that the actor who played the drummer had a very short forehead---he was kind of weasel-like.-Nan)

The first band, Twin Cam, went on around 10:30 or so. Three cute boys playing poppy, punkish rock. The drummer, Mike, is amazing. He's the primary songwriter and the lead singer. It made me very happy to see him singing...damn talented, that one.

Our set was fun, but not as "on" as we could have been. But first nights out are usually like that for us, it seems. People enjoyed it anyway. We debuted our cover of AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long." The owner, Diane, is a huge AC/DC fan, so we thought it would be appropriate to debut it there. It rocked the house, and one of the bartenders (this chick named Jamie) came out and danced for us...woo hoo!

(Jamie told me to "ride the bull" during "You Shook Me." hee. -Nan)

The Kingrods were next...old school rock/blues. A really strong band with an amazing lead guitarist. They were lots of fun. Twin Cam came out again after their set and played a bunch of covers including "Dirty Deeds" by AC/DC and my personal fave, "Hot for Teacher." Okay, picture Alex Van Halen singing lead on that song while playing his fucking complex drum part. Oh my god! I'm telling you, this drummer blew me away.

The guys from both bands were all very silly and nice. We did the customary cd swaps after the show. They also told us where to go for pizza at 2:00am...Hounddogs...good pizza...but then anything tastes good after a night of rockin' hard.

Thursday, July 19th

We went to a matinee today. We saw "The Anniversary Party." It was sooo good! We talked about it for the next two days. Good script, direction, and acting. All around, an amazing flick, and I'd happily see it again.

Our gig was at the Northberg Tavern...this cool little bar underneath a local pizza place, Donato's. Good pizza. We played with two boy bands, Long Day at the Factory (cute boys in scout uniforms playing punky pop) and Spider Fighter (melodic pop punk - very indie, really good stuff). Again, the bands were great guys and this gig felt much better. I mean we were more comfortable (or I was anyway). It was all ages, so there were some kids there and they all seemed into it. We had fun...damn...that was good pizza.

(Soulcracker played at the Northberg three days before we did. And Flickerstick played down the street in a larger venue. Not that we care or anything. I'm just sayin'.-Nan)

Friday, July 20th

We left at 8:30 this morning for Chicago, hoping to make it in time to stop by Mom's house in Mishawaka, IN. We did...and realized we'd forgotten about the time change. Yay! We have an extra hour to poop around! I'm gonna watch t.v. and have a snack! Plus, our EPs are here and they look great. I'm so pleased.

Note: Alina asked me to marry her this morning while we were in the bathroom getting ready. I accepted! Yippee!

(Alina said she was going to ask me to marry her too. And then Sharky. Apparently she's planning separate proposal dates for all of us. She said my scenario involved a red wine/bread & cheese picnic in the park where I bite down into my sandwich only to break a tooth on a beautiful diamond ring. I will let you know what happens. -Nan)

Then it was off to Chicago for our show at Manhattan's. We played with our friend Ruthie again. She plays this amazing, rockin' bossa nova stuff. We lurve her. We had a really good show. My mom and stepdad (Geoff) came. I was really psyched to play for them. Geoff (also a musician) had never been to one of our shows. We embarrassed him at mom's request by announcing his 53rd birthday and dedicating "Big Dick" to him. He got a kick out of it. Leen said his head blushed (he's bald). The crowd was warm and appreciative. Plus, we debuted Alina's "Anorexic Love Song." It's trés fun to play. Yes, all around a rockin' good night.

We met up with our lovely friend Holli after the show for drinks, and then it was back to Mom's house. We stopped at Hardee's for burgers on the way...around 1:00am. I think the meat had been sitting around for awhile...kinda dry...yet edible.

(I love Chicago and all our new friends. But I don't want to stop at Hardee's anymore.-Nan)

Saturday, July 21st

Ahh...our day off. We went to Targét and spent $ that we don't have on cute, cheap clothes and accessories. Mom came and hung out with us. We bought wine for dinner and took some of our new cds to Orbit Music to sell on consignment. The manager, Michelle, asked us if we'd play an in-store show the next time we're in town. Hell, yes! I like her. She has good taste.

Our friend Scotty from Space and Noise came over after dinner (Geoffy made a juicy chicken dinner with broccoli, carrots, and potatoes...mmm). We sat outside and drank red wine until 1:00am. Mike from S & N came too, but he had to leave after an hour. Leen and Nan scared him off by humping the floor. I won't explain...mostly because I can't.

(Okay the humping the floor....let me explain. ummm......well Christine and I were watching an N'Sync Special on MTV that afternoon and she started telling me about one of their dance moves which involves humping the floor. Well, I tried to demonstrate it and looked kind of like a flopping fish. I do think it scared Mike---even saying that we did the move once in a yoga class didn't seem to help.-Nan)

Sunday, July 22nd

Woke up to a scrumptious breakfast of eggs, taters, bacon, bagels, toast, and soy sausage. Thanks for cooking, Mom and Geoff! Well, I made the eggs.

We kidnapped Scotty around 1:30pm and took him with us to Chicago for the day. We were supposed to play this festival on the Northside of Chicago near Loyola called the Edgewater Fest. It would've been really cool...if it hadn't started raining right before we were supposed to play! Yes, we've officially had our first rain-out. It sucked, our equipment got wet (it's fine now, though), and we didn't get to play. Phooey. But on the bright side, everybody there (the other performers, the organizers, and a few friends) was really nice, we sang a couple of songs in the parking garage with an acoustic ("A.s.s.h.o.l.e." and an impromptu song about the rain), and we still got paid. So we really can't complain.

Then we drove into the city to Holli's house and had a tasty dinner of pasta with pesto, corn on the cob, grilled yellow peppers, grilled mushrooms, and other odds and ends (cheese & crackers, shrimp cocktail, you get the idea). After dinner we passed the guitar around and everyone played a song (even Scotty!).

(That Scotty should sing more. Loved Holli's backporch with everyone crooning watching the sunset. -Nan)

We left around 9:00 to head back to Indiana. We had to be on the Notre Dame campus by 11:30 to do this local radio show at midnight. WSND, 88.9 FM. We spewed out our witty (and not so witty) spur of the moment anecdotes between songs and the dj (Andy Hughes) played lots of tracks from both "Inner Bimbo" and "Honeymoon Deluxe" not to mention some Space and Noise songs! We stayed for 2 hours (the length of the show) and sleepily shuffled out to Betsy at 2:00am to finally go home to Mom's.

(I said ASS* on the air. Even though I tried for the whole show not to curse. I have a problem.-Nan)

*Footnote: It's a Catholic radio station...words like ASS are no-nos, but we think Nan got away with it. Plus, it was totally worth it to see her face when we all sucked in our breath with amazement and stared at her with that "oh my god, what did you just say!!!" look on our faces.-Pam

Monday, July 23rd

Our last show...Higher Grounds in South Bend with Space and Noise and Jill Brazil. This is the one that we'd looked forward to the most.

Jill Brazil played first. They're this wacky mix of funk, metal and klezmer. I dug it. They kinda reminded me of Galactic. Cute too...esp. the sax player!

We were next...so many kids were there! Around 90 peeps...even more than last time, I think. Everyone was so sweet and welcoming! It was our best show on this tour, and we had a fabulous time.

Space and Noise rocked right after us...we love those boys. They're so bloody talented and wonderful. I just adore them. They'll be here in NYC next month. Teehee! We can't wait to expose them to our big city ways!

(Space and Noise are such a great band---they inspire me to experiment and let go more when I play music.....there's an unpredictability to their live shows that I love--and intricate layers to their music--it's just a process of discovering cool parts in their songs every time I hear them. DAMN!-Nan)

Note: The cute boy factor during this tour (and this show in particular) was just way out of control...almost more than we could stand.

We went to Nick's Patio after the show. Nick's is one of the only 24 hour restaurants in town...and it's NOT a truck stop. Plus, good food! I had the most amazing bacon cheeseburger! We watched 'N Sync on the Jay Leno show while we chatted, laughed and ate tasty morsels. We also got to know this wacky guy named Bill...he gave us a chef's hat to wear and he wrote a little message on it: "This is a hat. I like you. Bill." We shall wear it with rock n' roll pride!

After the food, we went to Josh's house (S & N boy) to get our copies of the "Comprelation" (a compilation cd that their label, Patsy Presents, put together), and we played with their (Josh's and his wife's) dog, Kiefer...a Pekinese Chihuahua...a Pikachu! Cutest puppy ever! Yes she is, yes she is!

We said our goodbyes around 1:45am and headed back to our retreat in the woods. I had terrible anxiety dreams that night. I dreamt that I'd forgotten to pay my rent, and it was $300 more than usual. It felt so real...one of those dreams that when you wake up you're still not sure if it was really a dream. Yet I slept surprisingly well.

(Just a note here to say that I talked in my sleep almost every nite--Sharky's favorites were, "Don't! Get away from me you bitch! mmmm la la la la." Also she says one nite I said, "Shit!" really loudly. I don't even remember what I dreamt about. Kinda scary. -Nan)

Tuesday, July 24th

Mom woke me up around 11:30 this morning to say goodbye. We all had breakfast, showered and got ready for the road!

(I love Peg, Pam's Mom. She is great. -Nan)

I tried to record some songs on the stereo from the "Footloose" soundtrack before we left, but I think the turntable wasn't hooked up to the tape deck properly, because it wouldn't work. Very sad.

We got on the road around 2:00pm EST. We are now in Austintown, OH and we're stopping at our favorite place...Cracker Barrel! A week well spent, this is our reward for working so hard. Because in the end, it's all about good food.

(Damn straight, amigo.-Nan)

Final Note: We drove straight home...got into DUMBO around 3:30am...damn, we're good!

Happily Satiated,
Pammer

take me home