Show Journal 1999-08-21
Day 15 – Last show of the tour. To prepare for tonight’s event, we sat around Jim’s house, ate pizza and went swimming all day. We saw a big snake by the pool which really has nothing to do with the band, but it was pretty cool. We pushed on to Ashland and were greeted at the club by Jim’s girlfriend and Dave’s girlfriend. The ensuing barrage of cuteness and “I missed you” was disgusting and depressing for me. If anyone tells you that “chicks dig guitar players” don’t believe them. It’s a lie that was designed to trick people like me into thinking you can be cool. Anyway, here’s the highlight of the whole tour. We’re sitting outside the club in an alley contemplating the show and literally out of the darkness comes Nate Dawg, our roadie from the last tour and our good friend. Bear in mind that we are 300 miles from Portland. Man it was great seeing him again. Most people don’t realize that going on the tour is a big deal for us. Jen came too which rekindled by love life depression, but who cares, it was the coolest and most perfectly timed moment I’ve seen in a long time. That totally made the show for me and we hadn’t even played yet. The show itself went pretty well. Not too many people, but the ones who were there seemed to appreciate it. We ended up driving home that night. (Well actually Sesha drove, Dave slept and I just sat there and ate beef jerky). The final mileage (a.k.a. – the painometer) finished just a hair over 7200 miles. Ouch. I guess all in all it was success. The three cancelled shows and ensuing downtime was the hardest. The drives were fun, the shows were great and everyone we met was very supportive. I got to see many new parts of the country and got to see about a dozen things that started with “world’s largest.” I know we made some new fans along the way which is really the best part about it all. Thanks to all the bands, bartenders, sound guys, booking people and everyone else who helped us on the road. Oh yeah, one more fuck you to the Ford dealer in Philip, SD. Also, I need to take a second to thank Jim for coming out on the road for us. Bryan left some pretty big shoes to fill, but I think Jim filled them and made us remember why we are doing this to begin with. I’m not sure what his plans are for the future, but I’m sure we’ll be down for a long time. Thanks Jim.
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