tour 4.02
Monday, March 31 1997 Arlington VA the Galaxy Hut w/Drumfish
Zeph - We played two sets. First one we played our quiet songs and it went very well. We tried to kick it up a notch for the second set and it was no good. It was out of control and it spoiled the mood. Too much bass.
Matt- I liked playing quieter because I could hear my voice and sing better.
Carol- bad show. played with one of the lamest and the hairiest bands ever! rob came, thank god, in the middle of our set. we had to play 2 sets so we played a soft set and then the usual loud set. rob said we sounded better during the hard set. he took us to his parents’ house after our show. we had French fries and Guinness for dinner.
Tuesday, April 1 1997 Philadelphia PA Upstairs at Nick’s
Andre - It really is ‘Upstairs’- like, a two story walk up. Playing to no one in the audience has become a bit of an in-joke.The new car smell of being on the road is still fresh, but downtime, like staying an extra day in Philly gets to be a bore. I’m really looking forward to Morgantown, because I’ve heard so often that it and Norman will be the high points of the tour.
Z - This place was dead. The bartender let us stay at his place which was big and comfortable. He and his girlfriend were in some band that I’d heard of before but can’t remember. We had the next day off so we stayed there the following night. We played Risk constantly. I think Carol won.
C- we got free food from nick’s. played with yet another lame band that didn’t draw anybody in their own hometown. we stayed at the sound guy eliott’s house where he lives with his girlfriend joann. they are in a band called thorazine. eliott was goin on about this band Nashville Pussy, about how great they were and it was making me feel bad for us. our show in maniyunk fell through so we just hung out at eliott and joanne’s house all day. woke up in a horrible mood. me and matt took a walk up the street. found a little co-op health food store. they don’t accept cash so i forget how we paid for our stuff. spent the last buck on a veggie strombolis and me and matt split it. went grocery shopping. made pasta with watery sauce. walked the dog, felix. i learned how to play risk and we played for what seemed like 9 hours. aaron killed all my soldiers and took me out.
Thursday, April 2 1997 Washington, DC
the Grog and Tankard w/The Verge
A - I asked if anyone knew where the Dischord house was and got driven past it. Then I walked down to Bread and Circus and saw Ian Mckaye in the checkout line with what appeared to be a close “friend” of his and so I thought maybe it really is him. Zeph was so mad after the Grog show he contemplated throwing a brick through the windowof the club. Cooler heads prevailed and we drove straight to Morgantown.
Z - Played with one of the worst cover bands I’ve ever seen. The woman singing had these bizarre body movements. Like one of those horse costumes built for two. Two midgets in a woman costume, moving independently of each other. They were doing Sheryl Crow and Phil Collins. The Verge played and they were OK. We exchanged CD’s with them. The stage was too small with a pole in the middle of it. Sound was horrible. They gave us two beers apiece and paid us nothing. The cover band had walked off with all the money.
C - DC is only a coupla hours away from philly. we had hours to kill once we got there. saw the vietnam war memorial and the Lincoln memorial. grog and tankard looks like what it sounds like. shitty. it was in this kind of a yuppy part of town. and the first band was truly awful. they had a lead singer who was an over-weight natalie merchant look alike from hell and did all covers that were not great songs to begin with which they made so much worse. the other band the verge was from delaware. the first time i met anyone from delaware. who knew people were actually from there?! they were kinda cute and i tried to score some weed from them but they said they didn’t have any. drove to morgantown straight after the show.