TOUR DIARY
(Time permitting, David likes to give updates of their extended trips away from Southern California)

Texas Feb 2004
Update # 1
Well, we left California around 1pm on Sunday, hoping to get into San
Antonio by Noon or 1pm Monday. The ride was fairly uneventful until
we got to Deming, New Mexico, where Keith had to stop to try and find
a blanket. The fan in the van stopped working somewhere near Phoenix,
is my guess, and it got damn cold out in the desert at night.
Keith got some coffee and some gloves, and went to start the van and
nothing. Dead battery, we tried to get a jump, but that didn't work.
So, call AAA. Used Karl's cell phone, and was connected to a call
center in Colorado. They tried to transfer me to a New Mexico call
center, but after half an hour on eternal hold, I hung up and used a
pay phone. Had to wait another hour in Deming, got a jump and on our
way. Our next gas stop in Van Horn, Texas, same thing, had to wait
for a jump, then went and got a new battery. Our old battery had just
1% of it's power left. Monday night we were at Sam's Burger joint.
The place is a cross between Alex's Bar, the Doll Hut, Koo's Art cafe
and the Galaxy. Large venue, capacity of 500, with an adjacent
restaurant that serves burgers. The place is like a roadhouse, or one
of those BBQ joints that seem to be everywhere in Texas.
We played on swing night, there were lessons before we played and we
tried to pull it off best we could. The first set, we had people
dancing, but they kind of thinned out the second set.
Funny story, during the first set, My nose started bleeding, 
I used paper towels stuffed up the nostrils to stem the bleeding.
Check the photos page under Sam's Burger Joint to see a picture
of David with a piece of paper up his nose.
There is a lot of things happening at Sam's, there is someone that
gives poi (fire twirling) lessons, someone shooting a comedy bit that
will be used for the live Comedy sketch show that happens the third
Thursday of the month at Sam's. The 2nd Saturday of the month sees an
open art gallery and goth fest.
Interesting place. We are at the San Antonio public library sending
out this email, so our time is up, and we are going to go to the
Alamo now.

Update #2
Hi, we went to the Alamo on Tuesday, and did the Riverwalk in San
Antonio. Both very interesting places. Went back to Sam's Burger
Joint for what I thought was metal night., but it was actually a
poetry reading night. That was odd, and a bit anticlimactic, we were
all hoping for metal, and weren't in the mood for mellow. Wednesday
saw us heading for Austin, and we were well on our way when
the alternator and regulator went out on the van (again, this
happened last year outside of Las Vegas). We had to kill 5 hours in
New Bruanfels, Texas waiting for the van to get fixed.
We walked a few miles to the town plaza, reminiscent of the Orange
Circle, though it is more of a rectangle. Cool Gazebo in the central
plaza, and a great old stone courthouse.

Back on the road, $450.00 poorer (I see that our show on Feb 27th at
Cask N Cleaver is going to be a benefit for the Irish Brothers,
hahahahahha) we ended up in Austin. After that expenditure, Wed
night in Austin was a slow night, we went to the club, Trophy's, we
are playing at Friday night, checked it out, reminded me of Old Club
Mesa, with a bit of the Doll Hut throw in. We wandered around 6th
street, the happening part of Austin, there is something like 65 bars
and clubs within a half mile to a mile walking distance. It's Mardi
Gras, so the beads were being given out and the wanker Blues and
crappy cover bands were blaring from the bars. It probably would
have been a bit more fun if we had been inclined to spend a little
money, but we went back to the hotel, drank a couple beers and went
to sleep.

We added another show in Dallas tonight, Thursday, so that is where
we are heading. Hopefully there are no more van mishaps, and we get
to Dallas in one piece. I want to go check out Deally Plaza, the
grassy knoll and the 6th floor museum (this is where JFK was shot,
for those who have forgotten 11th grade US history).

Update #3
Hi, we are finally done sitting around and are playing some shows!
Thursday morning saw us leaving Austin for Dallas. Before we left,
we went and checked out the Capitol. I guess the capitol building in
Texas is taller than the United States Capitol Building. Anyway, it
was nice to wander around the capitol building. I guess it is/was
the Texas state birthday, so the capitol was crawling with high
school bands and choirs.

On our way to Dallas, Keith and Karl stopped to get cowboy boots, 3
pairs for $99. Karl got two pair, Keith found a pair he liked.
Once in Dallas, we stayed at Wanda's friend's Sabrina and Alex's
place, nice neighborhood, reminiscent of Old town Orange, without
the preservation society. People are tearing down the old bungalows
and building monstrosities on these tiny lots.

We played at this place called Muddy Waters, before the bands played
they had this dumb ass trivia contest. The place is pretty much a
typical sports bar. This band Slick 57 hooked us up with the show,
and they brought out the local crew. The crowd was receptive,
though they thought we were a bit loud. We scared some people with
Psycho Pompadour. Tim, from this band in Dallas, Rocket Deville, was
really appreciative of our music, he ended up going home with both
our CDs, a 7 Inch record and a t shirt. He is a really nice guy, as
was everyone in Dallas.

Friday morning saw us heading to Deley Plaza finally; what surreal
place. They have markers on the curbs where the first shots hit,
then the second shots, there is an x on the asphalt where the fatal
shots to JFK hit. It is odd to see in person, these images that are
ingrained from pictures and documentaries.

Back in Austin, we hung out with our cousin, whom we hadn't seen for
about 20 years, he has been in Austin for about 9 years, so he was
telling us about the local Austin history. About neighborhoods and
whatnot. The show Friday night was amazing. the Flametrick Subs are
such nice people, they really took care of us, and the crowd was
appreciative and enthusiastic. The Subs I guess had been talking us
up, because people were there early in anticipation of our set.
Ove (aka Clem) from the Subs put us up at his place Friday night,
which was very nice.

Tonight, on to Houston, Sunday El Paso, Monday, home. Damn, can't
believe it has been almost a week.

Update #4
Hi, after a lazy day Saturday, lounging around at Clem from the
Flametrick Subs place, we headed to Houston for the Continental
Club. Houston is three hours away from Austin, but to us, after all
of the driving we have been doing, that felt like nothing.

The Continental Club is at the Southern end of downtown Houston.
the front room holds the stage, the back room has pool tables,
another bar and these people selling Texas BBQ. Damn, that food was
good. We had the middle slot, so after we loaded in, we caught
Zombilly, a 3-piece from Houston that reminded me of the Dead
Milkmen meets the Cramps. Very entertaining.

The Continental Club was packed by the time we played, and if we
thought Austin was kind to us, damn, Houston was the best.
The crowd seemed to instantly get what we were doing, and were
highly enthusiastic throughout the set. As with Austin, some of the
crowd had actively sought us out on the web and knew a bit about us
even before we played. We sold quite a few CDs and shirts that
night, and everyone from the Bar itself to the people there wanted
to know that we were always welcome in Houston, and most
importantly, when were we coming back. The Flametrick Subs were
awesome again; damn we love this band. The bar loaded us up with a
twelve pack of Lone Star on the way out, and we started on our trip
to El Paso.

Update #5
Sunday morning, Karl's birthday, saw us making great time on the 740
mile trek from Houston to El Paso (note to self, try routing the
tour a little better next time) when, 260 miles from out
destination, the van died. In the middle of nowhere, Texas. I
thought it was the choke, it had gotten stuck, that happened before
on me, but this time it wasn't it. Time to call AAA.
Here is my frustrations with the Cell phone industry. I do not have
a nationwide calling plan (my bill in April is going to SUCK!) Every
time I have used a cell phone to call AAA on this trip, I have been
kicked to a call center in Colorado, Kansas, and this time,
Nebraska. As I was waiting for them to transfer me, some guy pulls
up, shaggy, balding head, missing teeth, but driving a Dodge Ram Van
250, like ours. Guy says he can fix it, does some diagnostics,
finds out that our ignition coil is bad, and OH MY GOD, HAS THE SAME
PART! Keith has been joking all week that our tour documentaries will
just be the van in the shop, getting fixed, but we somehow manage to
get to the show on time. I am scrambling, trying to call the venue
to tell them we are having van problems, but, having cell phone
connection problems again. I manage to get to a friend, who calls
the venue for us, so I can turn my attention back to the guy fixing
our van, along with his stringy haired, drunk son. This whole thing
seems odd, so I keep my distance, while Karl and Keith deal with
these guys.

The older guy fixes the problem, notices that our radiator hose has
a bit of a hole in it, but tells us that as long as the van runs
cool, we should be OK. The van has always run cool, so that isn't a
problem. I give the guy a hundred bucks, telling him that is all we
had, blah blah blah, I am still very wary, even though he fixed us
up and got us out of a tight spot. He followed us to the next town,
where his son tried to bum a ride off of us to California, Keith and
Karl deferred to me, as I was already standoffish and wary. So I
was the asshole, but it was easy. We hopped back in the van, and
raced to El Paso.

Now, the Mapquest directions said it would take 12 and a half hours
to get from Houston to El Paso, and even though we were stuck on the
side of the road for an hour and a half, it still only took us 12
and a half hours to get to El Paso. Bombardiers is a cool place, 2
story, with a balcony that hangs over the first floor.
Matt and everyone else there were very nice, the crowd was sparse,
hey, they can't all be Houston. They were into us, we were the only
band, so we played 2 sets. This drunk woman was good naturedly
heckling us, telling us we sucked, she likes the Doors, and only the
Doors, so, that answers that question. There were 2 other birthday
people in the house besides Karl, so that made it a fun evening.
Some guys are going to go to Phoenix when we play there in April,
and again, they people wanted to know we were welcome any time and
when were we coming back.

That was the theme of the whole Texas trip, everyone so nice,
wanting to make sure Texas was treating us right, from the people at
the shows to people in grocery store parking lots and late night
diners. That we were from California wasn't a turn off. The people
at the shows are so knowledgeable about music, and they were, to us
anyway, a lot more receptive than we had thought they would have
been. Thanks to everyone we met, Hollis and Ryan in San Antonio,
Ward and Tim and everyone else in Dallas, The Flametrick Subs and the
Satan's Cheerleaders in both Austin and Houston, without the Subs'
helped this trip would have not happened, everyone at the
Continental Club, Matt and everyone in El Paso for making our last
show in Texas fun.

We decided to drive straight home; 12 hours seems like nothing to us.
Yesterday, we were leaving Houston, playing in El Paso. Today, it is
good to be home, ready for shows this week, thankfully we have a few
days off before then. But, Texas has won us over. We are going to try and
go back out to Texas in Early October.