Friday, April 4 1997 Morgantown WV Nyabinghi

Matt - Greg was the best person out there. Slept inside the club. He had a few different amps for me to use. Booze! No matter how shitty our turn-out was, he took great care of us. He yelled at patrons for not watching us play.

Zeph - We left DC immediately after the show and called Greg Barratt from the road on the way to West Virginia. Left him a message telling him to stay put, we’d be there at around 3:30AM. We got there at 5:30. The sun was coming up. He was inside playing blackjack on the bar with JP and a couple other guys. We had a few drinks and went to sleep on the stage. They woke us up the next afternoon and we rehearsed in the club for awhile before sound check. We were changing around a couple of songs and adding a few others and it was all simple enough stuff but it just wasn’t coming together. Later Bobby Lane played and our set was actually pretty good. We stayed the next night and got wasted with the Pleasure Fuckers and Nashville Pussy and had a great time.

Andre - Greg is definitely as gracious as I have been told he is.  All the top shelf bourbon I can drink! The last thing I remember is the pool table.  I wake up with a gash on my thumb and a bruise on my hip the size a coffee saucer.  Zeph is pissed at me for something I  said and the trouble begins. The show is again sparsely attended. Carol- got in around 5 in the morning. Greg was still up and nyabinghi was still open. i was sleeping in the back when Greg, totally shit faced, came running out to the van screaming so i knew we were in morgantown. everyone started drinking but i just wanted to crash. they all wound down eventually. i made myself some room on the second stage to crash out. matt went with greg to get some bagels. fell asleep before the bagels arrived. woke up, played some pool with André. we ordered food from yama, morgantown’s japanese restaurant. and then, oh yeah, our show sucked. Bobby Lane from brain police played before us. crashed at the club again.

 

Saturday, April 5 1997 Nyabinghi

A - I go record shopping and pick up a copy of Stoner Witch by the Melvins on vinyl. Why did I think carrying an LP around for five weeks was a good idea? We get to watch Nashville Pussy that night and the packed club puts our previous night’s show in stark contrast.  Hang out after the show with Ruyter and Blaine and buy a bag of weed that I’m told is government grown for the medical marijuana program. Whatever C- took our gear out and practiced at nyabinghi. took a shower over at bob and sonya’s. went grocery shopping. sonny made chicken and Matt and i made rice and chili beans. afterwards went down to the club to check out nashville pussy and pleasure fuckers from spain. both bands were fuckin awesome. i felt like a loser being there after playing a lame ass show to nobody the night before. tonight the place was packed. greg’s so cool for putting up with us. went over to John Cale’s to say hi. he had a stale joint wrapped in pink paper and some cheese and pepper juice and crackers for us. stayed at bob and sonya’s.

 

Sunday, April 6 1997 Cincinnati OH Sudsy Malone’s

Z - I got pulled over in West Virginia and got a ticket. This was our first show in Cincinnati. Sudsy’s is a good place. The crowd was OK. We made $114 and met Leslie who worked there and her friend LH and stayed with them and had a great time. This was when the Risk playing was getting serious. We probably played for 18 or 20 hours. LH had the Australian strategy going and it worked well for him. We ate well and smoked and drank a lot while we were there.

A - I’m still impressed with the concept of the laundromat / bar. I take a walk through town by myself before the show. Handsome is playing at the theater up the street.  Walking back, there’s an explosion of laughter coming from somewhere and then silence.  It happens again and again until I walk up to the source which is an entire bar filled with people watching the Simpsons.  I was told that drinks are not served while the show is on. Our show  actually had a fair turnout. I still don’t know if they were fans or just people drinking and doing their laundry.  We stay in town and the next day cross the border to KY for a beer run. I play Risk for the first and last time in my life.

C- we left morgantown around 1pm. arrived in cincy around 6. slept through most of the drive. tired, hungry and cranky. we were so broke and hungry it inspired me to go over to subway next door to the club and beg for food. the subway man turned out to be a former bostonian and was really cool. hooked me up with sandwiches for everyone. what a guy! this place is a club-slash-laundromat. pretty nice. at least all the machines in there kept the place warm and dry. we met Leslie, a girl who works there and she really hooked us up. we went over to her place after the show and played risk. i’m getting better but aaron still kicks my ass.

 

Monday, April 7 1997

C- a day off. actually our show in Indianapolis fell through. andré made french toast and we had a pretty decent breakfast. leslie wanted us to try getta, some ohio breakfast treat made out of god-knows-what. i passed. we got started on risk and played till we had to leave. we met leslie’s friend LH who’s like a mathematician and he loved risk as much as us. we got invited to a dinner over at leslie’s friend’s house. afterwards went to sudsy’s to see mike watt play and it was ok but the place was packed. then we drove to some bar. leslie bought us all beer. then we went back to leslie’s and played out the game we saved from earlier.

 

Tuesday, April 8 1997 Dayton OH the Nite Owl

Z - We didn’t want to leave our new friends to go and play this show that we knew was probably not gonna be good but they drove up to see us again so it was OK. The place was a sports bar but they had great food and they gave us plenty of it and plenty of booze. I got this monstrous triple cheeseburger and went off by myself and ate it facing the wall so I wouldn’t disgust anybody. We got drunk. The set was really bad. We had to get out of there to get to Memphis so LH and Leslie drove with us down past the Kentucky border to this all-night place they knew. We got some food and took off at around 3AM.

A - I was just really hoping that Kim Deal or some of the Braniac guys would have showed up to the show and said “you guys are the best thing we have ever heard in our life”  But they never did.

C- must’ve been a very unmemorable show becuz i can’t really remember it. all i can remember is eating jalapeño poppers we got from the club kitchen and zeph eating a giant burger in the corner. leslie and her friends, LH and matt came. and there were a few other people. leslie took us too an all-nite-diner in kentucky after the show. they had the tackiest decor. ohio was very hospitable to us. well, mainly leslie and her friends.

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