It was one of those mornings where I inexplicably woke up earlier than anyone else, and would remain the only one for hours. I checked email and some other bullshit, mostly. I'm sure you know how the infinite loop of cycling through websites. I did read an interesting article about Nebraska's Safe Haven law neglecting to include an age limit. Someone dropped off nine kids, ages ranging from 1 to 17. I wonder what goes through someone's mind when they do shit like that. They were smart enough to figure out a loophole like that, but too dumb to avoid having nine kids they couldn't take care of. Let that be a lesson, kids: CONTRACEPTION IS A GOOD THING. Wrap it up. Know what I'm sayin'?

Dan was up pretty early as well, getting some work done. We bullshit for a while over some Cuban coffee (it's espresso with sugar added in before). Sweet, sweet cafecito. Eventually, the rest of the Aloud brood rose from the dead and Dan offered to give us a tour of Cleveland.

Our first stop was Market Square, in Ohio City. Fresh vegetables, meat, fish, and homemade candy as far as the eye can see. It was late in the day for them (around noon), so they were trying to sell off the last of their goods. Haymarket back in Boston has nothing on this. We took a short walk to a small shop called Lelolai, where they have some excellent guava and cream cheese pastries (one of the very few things I miss from Miami that is difficult to find in Boston). Afterward, we drove through downtown near the Key Tower. There's been a lot of construction going on here lately. Money's been pumped into Cleveland to revitalize the area, and it seems to be working. The area we were in reminded me of Boston theater district, only bigger and a lot cleaner. You can tell they're really trying to get this area jumping again (or perhaps for the first time?).

Next was driving through Coventry. This area is where there's a lot of old money, and it has a reputation of being artsy— even the street signs forewent the traditional green or "Service Plaza Blue", and going with a tie-die effect instead. We ate at a restaurant called Tommy's. The food there was amazingly good; I ordered the Steph. We had a few laughs over the repeated misspelling of hommous on the menu (spelled "homos"), which then led to us laughing about a sandwich called the "Uncle Gay", and another called the "Chick-free sandwich". The epitome of maturity, we are.

There's a store called "Big Fun" that we headed over to briefly, and the sad part is that if given the opportunity, I could've spent all day in there. Old school comic books everywhere, GI Joes including their aircraft carrier, a shitload of Nintendo games and Nintendos, a shitload of Atari games and Ataris, Karate Kid toys, Pee Wee's Playhouse toys.. I probably owned half this shit when I was a kid (and now the kids say "Wow, you're old!"). We talked to the dude running the store (I want to say his name is Justin, but I can't be sure... I've been so terrible with names on this trip). He told us that each of the things in the store were collected by the employees and the owners, and they just bring them in to sell. If I had more time to spend there, I'd probably go broke.

It was beginning to get late, since we had to drive to Pittsburgh later on and we made our way back to Dan's place. We had to wait for some laundry to come out of the dryer. To pass the time, we watched most of Da Ali G Movie. I kept hearing it wasn't funny for a few years, but it actually was. Borat even makes a cameo. Cathy got back just as we were getting ready to leave, and in a final act of kindness gave us some homemade chocolate & peanut butter brownies and some strawberries. I don't know where we'd be without the IT kindness of the people we met on tour (yes I do: at another Super 8, broke, and sharing Cheerios for dinner).

It was a relatively short ride to Pittsburgh— about 2½ hours. We were a little concerned with how the evening would turn out. We'd be competing with Monday Night Football again, except this time the Pittsburgh Steelers were playing. We pulled up to Howler's Coyote Cafe practicing our best "Tom Brady? Fuck that pretty boy!" Fortunately, we were greeted warmly by Susan, the owner (who also has high scores on all the Megatouch games at the bar). We worked it out with the other band, Central Plains, that we'd try to share halftime, when no one would really be paying attention to the TV. While we were waiting around and exchanging some tasteless jokes with CP's drummer, Ross made good friends with three ladies: Rene, Bree, and another they called "Bubbles" because she could make her eyes bulge out of her head. They're also huge Steelers fans, and were totally decked out.

There's a strange law of inverse proportions in music, whereby the nights you expect to be the worst turn out to be really great; it's sort of like Murphy's Law's evil twin. Pittsburgh was no exception. We didn't fuck up once (at least not noticably), and everyone in the room was excited to see us play (including Rene, Bubbles, and Bree, whom we drew away from the Steelers game for 30 minutes).

We hung out with everyone at the bar to watch the end of the game, which went into overtime and Pittsburgh won by a field goal. The room erupted in such a way you'd think the Steelers won the Super Bowl. After a short celebration, which included someone playing We Are The Champions on the jukebox, we said our goodbyes, promising we'd be back to Pittsburgh. We had a ridiculously fun night.

The Aloud mobile drove ten miles to some Days Inn in the middle of nowhere. Half-watched some of American Gangster before passing out.

Sucks we've only got three more shows before returning to earth.

Aloud will return in: Philadelphia.

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary

(Quick note: I'm a little behind on these, so... there.)

There wasn't much going on Sunday. Our plan to get an early start was mostly shot, at least by the time I woke up. Jen and Ross got up in time for whatever continental breakfast the Super 8 has going on, but I chose to stay in bed another hour (they said I shouldn't have bothered anyway, and I was happy I made the right choice). There weren't any shows to get to, so we took our time with checkout. Blades of Glory was on TV again, the fifth time on our trip. I like the movie enough, but it makes me glad I don't spend money on HBO-- particularly since they canned the Preacher series which was already in pre-production.

Today's plan was to get a buttload of driving done, since Pittsburgh is a long drive. We bade farewell to the Central Time Zone as we headed back towards Clevenland. It began, brilliantly enough, with an event 6+ years in the making; we'd each assumed someone else closed the rear hatch to the van. As we started pulling out of the parking lot, we heard a loud tumbling behind us...

The drive through Ohio was particularly boring this time. It may just be a Pavlovian response to the last tour-- when we drove from Chicago to Pittsburgh (only as a stopover on the way to Philly). Or it could be that driving through Ohio really is that boring. I don't know. It's probably both.

Dan and Cathy, our friends from Cleveland, were kind enough to let us crash at their house on such short notice; they even cooked us dinner, which was beyond awesome (I forget that the two are also good friends with Nico from Televandals, which you must all check out). After dinner we went to a place caled Malley's for ice cream. Aside from the Disney music on a loop-- yes, including the It's a Small World theme-- the place is insane. The ice cream menu was brilliant, and they had so many specialty chocolates, just thinking about it makes my stomach hurt. Some really good stuff at that place.

Back at the house, we stayed up getting some laughs out of failblog.org. Seriously, if you've never been there, go now. Might want to watch your back if you're at work, though having a laugh at work never killed anyone (just got them fired). We also had a bit of fun with a laser pointer and Luther, their cat-- who also happens to be a Kitler. Our bellies full of burritos, ice cream, and some laughs, we all turned in around midnight.

Many, many, many thanks again to Dan and Cathy. You guys rock (and the Lord said: Go Sox).

Next: Pittsburgh.

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary

I woke up in Dubuque, grateful that Carter (Black Bloom's pug/house mascot) did not wake me up. I don't think I could've handled that ball of pure energy that early in the morning. We said our goodbyes to Brandon, and started making our way back east. I hear it's been raining like a bastard back in Boston. We've had some amazing weather on this tour. Haw-haw.

We mozied on through Illinois through the farmlands again, on the way to Indiana. We were all recovering from the sound issues the night before-- they were that unpleasant, at least to us. The crowd there didn't seem to notice, though, so at least there was that. We were talking to a couple of girls that came from KLCR, which has been playing Fan The Fury, who liked what they heard and were grateful that we'd made it all the way out to Iowa. I think they may have even said we were the first band they've played to head out their way. At least there's that. I'd love to come back to Dubuque and put on a better show. Plus, it's kind of a nice town, to boot.

Gas out in Iowa was strangely cheap (in relative terms, anyway.. We're still getting fleeced at $3.59 a gallon). Oddly enough, the Plus grade was cheaper than Regular.

We crashed at a Super 8 motel just by the Illinois/Indiana border. During the trip, there was some debate over whether the club would be in Eastern Time while the hotel was in Central. This wasn't the case, though. Whoever drew the lines decided to include the northwest chunk of Indiana in Central Time. Who the fuck drew those lines, anyway? They don't make any sense.

Bummed around the hotel for a little while, but that got old and we decided to check out what Highland, Indiana has to offer. We went crusing around. There's something oddly comforting about strip malls and oak trees. After traveling as much as I have, it's become clear that most of the US' suburbs look just like this (even Florida, kids.. even Florida). We can talk about the evils of gentrification some other time. Right now, I'm just making an observation.

Bean Counters is a large coffee shop with a bar attached to the back and a decently sized stage up front. Once we loaded up, the other band, The Greys, showed up and they were very friendly. I've got to say, one thing we've been fortunate with on this tour are the amount of bands we've crossed paths with who have been very cool. The show went off without a hitch for us, vindication for our sound troubles the night before. Even without any stage monitors, we were able to pull through. The sound guy, Roye, was great and did an excellent job. We found out the guys in The Greys were Oasis fans, so we pulled out our cover of Don't Look Back In Anger. Once they hit the stage, they reciprocated our gesture with a cover of The Importance of Being Idle (awesome). They have a cool thing going with their band. They all write songs, and every so often switch instruments. They played for about an hour and were even cool enough to mention during their set that we had stuff for sale.

The crowd in Highland was so great, too. We sold more CDs than we did on the rest of the tour, and everyone was really digging what we were doing. Between last night and Iowa, I got the feeling that there's an appreciation that we were even out there; I don't think many bands, particularly from our neck of the woods, pass through these parts and they were really appreciative. Sometimes clubs out East can be a little cold just because there are way too many bands in the area; it's nice to get a little love. We've met some really cool people out on the road.

After the show, the Greys invited us out to a bar around the corner called Growlers. Some cover band (The Unit?) was going full on with all sorts of covers. Living on a Prayer, Billie Jean, Thriller, Jenny (867-5309)... I stopped paying attention after a while. It's not a mark on their competence as players-- they were actually quite good-- I just have zero patience for 80s music. With few exceptions, I fucking hate the 80s. I'll tell you what I did love, though: Three Floyd's beer. Apparently, the brewery is near Highland (I forget the exact city), but they brew a mean Pale Ale. I had the Alpha King (if I recall correctly). The guy who runs Bean Counters (his name escapes me at thoment) was talking to me about this beer, and some of the brews they've got will really knock you on your ass. Overall, I've got to say I have not been disappointed by the beers they've got out here in the Midwest.

Anyway, we hung out at Growlers for a couple of hours with the Greys. They're getting ready to record their first album, and were exchanging touring advice with them (whatever advice we had to give, anyway... we don't know what the fuck we're doing). It got me thinking about our tour, and the last tour we went on. For lack of a better phrase, I feel so lucky to be able to do this. I've gotten to see so many places just this year that I'd never been to before. We've been to something like 20 states or something, and there's so much more waiting for us. There's so much to see out here.

(Once you get past the strip malls, Wal-Marts, and Hooters, of course.)

Driving day today... Pittsburgh on Monday.

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary

There's a funny and interesting thing that happens when you hit a certain spot in the middle of the US (at least to me), and that's the strange blend of North, South, and West. Obviously, Henry, that's why it's called "Middle America", but to actually witness it before your eyes is awesome. Illinois, for example, is home to Chicago, one of our biggest, one of our biggest metropolitan centers. But travel a little west, and you'll see farmland as far as the eye can see. For two hours, we were witness to some breathtaking views of farms, silos, and corn. It sounds boring-- and if I lived here, I might go insane after a few weeks-- but it was gorgeous to look at.

It's also easier to see how commonplace things to us, like Starbucks and large buildings, can be labled as "elitist" (or what have you) out here. There are long stretches out here, hours and hours, without anything except corn, car wash lots, and a McDonald's here and there. I'm not writing that to shit on anyone, it just puts things in perspective. I'd actually like to spend a little time out here if I ever get a chance.

Dubuque is just across the Mississippi (which, as it happens, is also the Illinois/Iowa border). "The Masterpiece on the Mississippi", it's called; it's a nice looking town, and a lot more developed than I'd anticipated. We were greeted at the club, the Silver Dollar Cantina, by Brandon of the band Black Bloom. The Silver Dollar is a neat little Tex-Mex restaurant with a pretty good stage in the back of the room. We unloaded our crap and shortly thereafter made our way to Black Bloom HQ just a few blocks away for some grub (awesome BBQ, cooked wonderfully by Micheala). We all talked a bit about politics, appropo because Iowa was where Obama won his first primary, and the presidential debates would be happening later on.

Back at the club, everyone there was very accomodating and friendly to us. Michelle, the woman who booked us and is the general manager there also teaches at a college part-time. She reminded me a lot of Kerri Kenney (in appearance only, I mean... not in that crazy "I'm in love with Office Dangle" way). To coincide with the debates they were having a voter registration drive at the venue-- which was very cool.

Since we've been operating on Central Time, the debates started at 8pm for us, which gave us a chance to try and watch some of it. We gave up pretty quickly, though, the closed captioning was painfully slow-- there was no sound-- and it was getting creepy when some of Obama's text was superimposed briefly over John McCain's face. We'll probably catch the rest on C-Span later on or something. I'm sure McCain was full of shit.

The show didn't go off as planned for us. We had a few sound issues that were difficult to deal with, but we made it through okay.

Afterward, we hung out with the Black Bloom kids at their place, made a few pizzas, and played with their pug Carter (that dog loves chasing things... and humping them). I can say we had a really good time hanging out with them, and I suspect this won't be the last time we cross paths.

Next: Highland, Indiana.

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary

It was tough waking up before 12:30, as we'd gotten used to the last two days, but it had to be done if we wanted to make it to Chicago in time. We got our shit in the car and took off (after spotting some deer running around the street).

Nothing really special happened on the drive there. We did stop at a Starbucks somewhere in Indiana, and we crossed over into Central Time (time traveling, bitches!). We stayed at a Red Roof Inn, which charges you for Wi-fi (hence, no blogs yesterday), and since the ole income stream ain't what it used to be, we decided to take our chance without internet at the hotel.

Today was the day where we'd forget to eat for most of the day, and didn't notice this until we got to the club. Thankfully, part of our deal was a free meal and we took advantage. The fish and chips at the Abbey hit the spot.

Sometimes, while you're on tour in different cities and different venues, you have no idea what you're going to get. When we were in NYC during the last tour, there was some early show going on (if you've seen the tour movie, this is where that cover band was playing). This time, it was the 2nd Annual Rock/Paper/Scissors competition. Grand Prize winner got $1000 in Amex gift certificates, 2nd place got a Wii. The games went on for a little over an hour, and a woman we were talking to for a while wound up winning the whole thing (what are the odds?). The whole thing was fairly entertaining, and eventually we got into it, including doing inappropriate things with the giant foam "scissor" hands. You've gotta keep yourself entertained, guys.

All the bands on this bill were great (check out Genius School, The Purrs, and Camera). There were also a couple of people from the Boston area, which was odd in a funny sort of way. The guitarist from Genius School used to live in Brockton, and Bob from the Purrs lived in Somerville for a spell. Anyway, they were all really cool people in great bands. I'd play with them again at the drop of a hat. Hopefully, we can set something up with each of them in the future.

We met some girls, Sarah and Kelly, who were dancing up a storm the entire show. I'd thought they were riding along with The Purrs, but I guess they just came along to the show randomly. They were cool as hell, and kept trying to get Ross to dance; eventually, he did, and it was as hilarious as it sounds. Towards the end of the evening, some little shit who was Kelly's ex-boyfriend came up to Ross and said some dumb crap to both Ross and Kelly. You've gotta wonder about some people. Pettiness knows no bounds, I guess. It nearly put the kibosh on the fun vibe, but everyone let it go eventually. A bar fight would've been fun, but detrimental to our tour continuing (or WOULD it?).

I'd gotten a message on Facebook earlier from Rod (from Bang Camaro and Noble Rot). Apparently, BC were also in Chicago playing at the Double Door. We would've loved to go, but by the time the show was over we were so fucking tired and desperately needed sleep.

And sleep we did.

Tonight: Dubuque, Iowa. I wonder if Iowa's anything like The Music Man?

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary

Now that I've overcome the forces of MySpace and No Internet...

We had days off on Tuesday and Wednesday, which we spent in Ann Arbor, MI. There was a huge contrast between Ann Arbor and Detroit, probably because at least half the population of Ann Arbor is the same as the college population.

Tuesday, we slept in pretty late-- which we really needed-- and spent a couple of hours walking around town. There's a venue there called the Blind Pig that we failed to find, but Owe keep hearing it's a cool place to play at; hopefully next time we're in Michigan we can hit it up. The town was like one giant college campus, very clean, but oddly enough there were many (and very nice) homeless people asking for change. We got hit up for change a good three times within the span of 10 minutes (we told them we were musicians, which is when they started laughing at us).

Exhausted from all the walking/crying about our financial status, we spent a couple of hours at a coffee shop to replenish and siphon some free internet. We got to talking to one of the baristas, and it turns out he was just in Boston for a week or two recently; we shot the shit about the old Beantown, and for a few minutes I was a little homesick. Just a little. The better part of the next two hours we had ourselves a little band meeting talking about what the hell to do when we got back (namely, not working day jobs). Hopefully, lots of this cool stuff we've been talking about will come to fruition. I love being in a band.

Wednesday, we mostly spent hanging about the house we were staying at. We may have set the record for most TV ever watched in a single day: Live Free or Die Hard; Knocked Up (twice); Mrs. Doubtfire; a few episodes of Entourage; ... I can't remember the rest, it all pretty much blends in after that.

We did manage to get out for the evening, though. The folks we were staying with treated us to dinner at a place called Zingerman's Roadhouse. It's something of a steakhouse, so the burgers there are excellent (meat is murder... tasty, tasty murder). Tried a new beer called Oatmeal Poet Stout that was amazing. I've been on a low-key beer tasting expedition out here in the Midwest, and I haven't been disappointed yet. My favorite so far is the Two Hearted Ale from Cleveland. Nom nom nom.

Our hosts also had another house guest, an older gent from London, who was great to talk to. He lives in a prime location in London and has rubbed elbows with some pretty prominent people. It was great hearing stories from him and shooting the shit (as I'm sure he was enjoying his "50% discount" on everything in the States). His daughter is in a band as well, so if you get a chance, check out Liza Finn.

Afterward, we headed back into town to meet up with some of Ross' friends who either live in Ann Arbor or were in town. We all had a good time with some beer and the jukebox, and a short, but awesome, conversation with our server about Oasis and Champagne Supernova.

We parted company around 2am, grateful for the couple of days off. After that, off to Chicago (which I will write about in the next blog).

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary

I just wrote a blog, and because MySpace is a piece of shit, I lost the entire thing.

Today is our day off, and as such it is YOUR day off as well.

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary

A little late with the update, yes, but internet's hard to come by these days.

The day after our Cleveland show, we had a bit of time to kill and decided to hit up the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. The sound guy at the Beachland tipped us off that if you're a touring band and offer them a CD, they'll let you tour the museum for free. This tip turned out to be true, and immediately alleviated my suspicion that the musuem would be lame. So now we all know that when Aloud is eligible for induction into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2027, they'll already have a copy of Fan The Fury handy in... wherever it is they keep that shit.

A lot of the memorabilia they had there was overwhelming, particularly the Beatles section. They had John's Sgt. Pepper outfit sitting in a case that was amazing to look at, as well as the old collarless Beatles outfits from the earlier part of the 60s. It's strange growing up looking at pictures of these iconic things, and there you are, separated by a glass case, looking at what amounts to someone's clothes. Of particular interest to me were the handwritten lyrics to songs like Hey Jude, and the Clash's Clampdown (which had a ton of little extra notes and drawings scrawled in different colors). The bass Paul Simonon smashed for the cover of London Calling was there, as well as Joe Strummer's guitar. U2's "Lemon Uniforms" from the Zoo TV tour were there, with one of Edge's Strats from the 80s alongside the manequins. There was an entire wing dedicated to Les Paul and a few of his earlier guitars were there. Another section was dedicated to music from Ohio.

Yea, it's just a bunch of stuff, but it's a strange comfort to be around the possessions of your musical heroes; it brings them back down to earth in a strange way. I'm glad we went (and particularly for the mere cost of one Aloud CD). The smiles on our face were difficult to erase for a few hours.

Once we got into Detriot, it was a different feeling. It's difficult to pass judgement on a place after everyone's told you it's better on the weekends and you show up on a Monday, but Corktown (the area where we were playing) was a virtual ghost town. The shadow of Tiger Stadium, half of which is torn down and hasn't been in use for 9 years, loomed large over the area. It seems the loss of the stadium had a huge dent in the economy of the area.

The show itself didn't go too bad-- attendance wasn't terribly encouraging, and again, probably due to the diffculty of playing a show in Detroit on a Monday night (exemplified by the last band, INterior Project, not even bothering to show up). Still, we had some fun and hung out with the kids from Pewter Cub. The guys from Superdot, musically speaking, were not my cup of tea (hey, I'm not fond of ska, what do you want from me?), but to say they suck would do them a disservice: they're an incredibly tight band and their musicianship is something I can really appreciate (and they're really nice, to boot).

One thing I can say about INterior Project being AWOL is that it afforded us the opportunity to head back to Ann Arbor (where we're staying) to get some much needed sleep.

We took the long way back, driving through Detroit before catching the highway at the Deerborn city limits; it was a sad sight. Detroit's a major American city, and for its urban center to be so.. I dunno.. destitute is beyond me. It's the same visceral reaction I had to the Katrina disaster in New Orleans, except this was surrounding me. I'd like to think that maybe we just headed into the wrong part of town on the wrong day of the week, but the graffitti Jen spotted on a house that said "HELP" in big, red letters is a little hard to shake. Even thinking about it now, it's depressing. This is in our own backyard, folks.

When we got back, we did what any good American does to forget the plight of others: watched TV (specifically, two episodes of Entourage... Jeremy Piven and Kevin Dillon make that show awesome, as far as I'm concerend).

We had a day off today that we spent in Ann Arbor, which I will write about tomorrow (which is our second day off).

Right now, I'm off to bed and getting me some sleep.

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary

Pulling in to Cleveland, I was more impressed with it than I thought I'd be. It's got a nice skyline and everything, but what got me was Lake Erie. You think lake, you think canoes and catfish and sedentary life. I now get why it (and other fine lakes) are known as the Great Lakes: they're fucking huge. Driving in through Lakewood, where we're staying, there was an area that looks exactly like a beach; there were some houses whose backyard was this lake. Nutso. (I've subsequently been warned not to venture into the water; it's freezing and a sewage pipe was once spotted there. Sorta like Revere Beach!)

Ross went out to dinner with a friend of his from the area, and Jen and I got stuck watching some dumb Mandy Moore movie... imdb.com tells me the movie's called Because I Said So. Something about being a cook and dating two guys and Diane Keaton's all like "blah blah blah marry the architect" and Mandy Moore's totally "mom, butt out of my life yadda yadda," and Ross finally gets back to the hotel and starts singing "Oh Mandy". We had to leave before the movie finished, and I didn't get closure on it. However, a five minute trip to wikipedia solved that problem.

This wasn't exactly confirmed, but I think the Beachland Ballroom actually has two stages: the main stage, and the tavern stage (where we played). Even the tavern was really nice and the sound was excellent. We avoided all of the problems from last night and were able to hear everything. I'd have to jot down Cleveland as the best show of the tour so far. We had a lot of fun, and finally hit that moment of not being so self-conscious.

Redwater Rojo went on first. I like them. They were loud, and they were awesome. They're working on a second album that should be out soon, I believe. I'm looking forward to playing with those guys again. The Suede Brothers are very young and very impressive. Those kids can really jam, and I'm told they're working on another album as well. It was great to watch them both while kicking back and enjoying a few beers. One thing I've noticed about this area is the great beers they've got up here. Last night I tried this one called Two Hearted Ale that was amazing, and tasted a lot like a home brew a friend of mine makes.

Let it also be noted how awesome the people that run the Beachland are. John, the sound guy, was amazingly helpful and nice (and reverent whilst discussing the tragedy of Tom Brady). Good sound on stage is rare and always appreciated, and we had that last night. Also, the dude who let us into the club (I'm a complete asshole because I forgot his name) and his wife left us with a ton of nachos, salsa, and fruit. The dude tours quite a bit with his own band and knows that sometimes it's real tough to get food out on the road, so they wanted to leave us the food to snack on (it certainly beat the PB&Js I've been feasting on all week).

The highlight of the evening was meeting Dan, Cathy, and all their friends. Dan and Cathy are friends of ours via Beca (she's the gal who takes great pics of us and on occasion is Super Merch Girl at our Boston shows). They also know Jason, the lead singer of Redwater Rojo, which is how we got hooked up with them in the first place. Anyway, back in '04 I must've gotten at least two calls a week at some obscene hour from Dan extolling the virtues of the Red Sox (something along the lines of "WOOOO FUCK YEA, RED SOXXXXXX@!!!"... how could anyone argue with that?). They were a blast and we finally had those beers we'd been talking about having for a few years.

After the show, us, Dan, and Cathy ventured back to Lakewood to some late night diner called My Friends restaurant. I had the Westside burger with fries. Fucking awesome. It was like IHOP, except good.

Around 2am, we parted company with The Dan and Cathy and made our way back to the hotel, where we promptly passed the fuck out.

Cleveland does indeed rock.

Going to try and hit up the Rock n' Roll Musuem today. I heard a rumor that touring bands get in free if you give them a CD (and we've got plenty of those).

Next stop: Detroit Rock City.

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary

Spent most of yesterday hanging out with Johnny Nobody and their friend Rob (who's also in a sweet band called Bearhunter that just put out an album). Saw a good 20 minutes of some movie called Summer Lover with Peter Gallagher and Darryl Hannah, way back from Year Zero of my existence (aka 1982). We watched it with the sound down and amused ourselves by saying rude things. That's never not funny.

Shows out here in Buffalo start late, so we didn't arrive at the club till 9:30pm or so. We hung out in the van for a little bit-- it was both empty and stationary-- and shot the shit. It's nice to be reminded that your bandmates aren't complete douchebags and may even be pretty cool people.

Chylde, the first band, was wild. They had a total Sabbath thing going for them and they pulled it off so well. And they were loud as fuck. I found out from John (I think he's the drummer... I wasn't wearing my glasses) that they're playing with fellow Bostonians Township pretty soon. Small world.

We had a few technical delays to deal with before our set started, but after much sweat we were able to sort them out (mostly). There was some confusion over whether my guitar was too loud or not loud enough (didn't matter to me, I couldn't hear shit anyway). At some point early in the set, the sound guy walked to the stage mid-song and turned (or tried to) my amp down, which I didn't appreciate; it took me a couple of songs to adjust accordingly. I've got three separate volume knobs on that, you see, and while my setup is far from complicated by most standards, it's not as easy as just turn a knob. I have no problems turning down, and as a group we encourage sound guys to tell us if we're too loud on stage. Just ask me next time and keep your hands off my baby.

Asides that, the set wasn't bad.

Johnny Nobody finished up the night and fucking wailed. There were a bunch of songs I hadn't heard before (and therefore must be new) that sounded so great. They're definitely one of my favorite bands. They rock it out. It's also fun to watch Jay play drums-- he's a lefty who plays with a righty setup.

Post-show was fun. We got to talking to an interesting dude named Greg, whose dad is apparently the mayor of St. Petersburg, FL. We must've talked to him for an entire hour about Family Guy, Howard Stern, The Jungle Book (and he sounded like Baloo, too), the "artwork" on the wall (thanks to that wall, we now know the location of the G-spot), and what a douchebag Scott Stapp is. Definitely in the list of cool random people you meet on tour. Back at the JN house, circa 3am, an impromptu party of sorts happened, which included Colin's (JN bassist) girlfriend bringing in bags of McDonald's. I had a moment of weakness and indulged. It was late, I hadn't eaten all day, and I paid for it in the morning.

Egads.

Off to Cleveland today. Let's see how Day 3 shapes up.

Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary

In the years since I got the hell out of Florida (and even before that), I've managed to be a very bad Floridian. However, there are two things that, being born in the Sunshine State, have been hard-wired into my brain. The first is obliviousness to and complete disregard for the rule of law. The second is a knee-jerk reaction to weather that dips below 60ºF: HOLY SHIT, IT'S CHRISTMAS! The first time this temporal confusion occurred was August 2001. I happened to have the window open, and I expected that nice, cool breeze that came blowing in to carry with it presents and Christmas trees and sugar plum fairies. Instead, I wound up purchasing Weezer's green album at the late CD Spins on Newbury Street, which was a terrible investment. I was young and stupid, and was not aware of the rule cardinal rule of Weezer: anything past Pinkerton sucks ass.

Mistakes were made.

But anyway, to get to my point, now that the temperature is dropping, I've been feeling a bit peppier of late since I'm expecting presents to magically appear under a tree I don't own. I checked the weather for the route we're going to be taking, and for the most part it's going to be between 50º and 65º fairly consistently.

Henceforth: I am excited about this tour.

Dr. Pavlov would be proud.

Tonight, it all starts in Saratoga Springs. It's been well over a year and a half since we've been to Saratoga Springs (and King's Tavern). For a recap of what happened last time, see below.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tveDh53uoHk

I've also decided I'm going to try and write a haiku every day we're on tour, because I can only do so many crosswords. I'm actually still at work right now, so technically I'm not "on tour" this very second. Due to financial constraints, I'm working a full day today and walking right into the van as soon as I'm done (inversely, I'll be walking right out of the van and straight into work when we drive back to Boston at the end of the tour). So in honor of, I give you...


Cheers,
Henry

Labels: tourdiary

Happy weekend, everyone.. I'm happy to announce after months of non-announcements that our road movie Hard Up In The 2000s is now up and ready for viewing.

Watch it in YouTube high quality by clicking here:
www.allthingsaloud.com/hardup.html

Or you can watch it directly from our YouTube page here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09G40So9mwk&feature=PlayList&p=DAF41E9BEAC36CD9&index=0&playnext=1

The whole movie runs at about 45 minutes (get the popcorn, kids!). If you've got ADHD, don't worry... it's split into ten parts.

If you are going to watch it off YouTube (and why not? You can get fullscreen on there..) I would recommend registering a free account with YouTube and adjusting it to always default to high quality video. Trust me, it'll look a hell of a lot better... but that's up to you.

In important news, if you haven't been watching, Hurricane Ike's been stirring up trouble. Everyone here hopes you folks that have been hit by Ike are alright.

Everyone else, please don't wait to donate to the Red Cross to help out with the relief effort.

Cheers,
Henry

Seven years. It's sort of hard to believe, isn't it? How much time has passed?

It's times like these I wish I believed in Hell. I've got a list of people I'd save a spot or two for, beginning with, but not limited to, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, and ending with people like Osama bin Laden. Satan, pleased to meet them, could force them to marry each other in the Ironic Punishment Division at Hell Labs, not because there's anything wrong with a bunch of old dudes marrying each other (what do I care?), but because the truth is they all belong together. Right next to Homer Simpson eating the world's supply of doughnuts. Fucking despicable human beings, the whole lot of them.

Except for Homer. He's more of a jerkass. Why else would he tempt the fates by eating his soul crumb in the middle of the night?

But seriously, folks... this isn't getting ridiculous; this has been ridiculous ever since that goddamn son of a bitch was elected (allegedly).

The September 11, 2001 attacks.

The anthrax mailings that took seven years to solve, and unconvincingly so.

The waste of time and money and blood in Iraq.

The absolutely disgraceful non-response to Katrina.

Habeus corpus and the right to privacy, the very bedrocks of democracy, being treated like mere inconveniences to those who would do anything they can to cling to power.

The blatant hypocrisy and doublespeak, as flagrant as a lynch mob willingly posing for a photo after a hanging— because the executioners were also the cops, the judges, and the jury.

The vitriolic polarization of the U.S.

The economy tanking.

Unemployment rising.

People losing their homes.

All of these things happened within the last eight years, eight years of Bush and Cheney and Rove (pay no attention to the man behind the curtain) and Rumsfeld and Rice and Chertoff and Ashcroft and Gonzalez and so-called Homeland Security and Fox News and god knows what else. Each of them, if not directly responsible then at least complicit, in allowing this live action Hieronymus Bosch painting to continue.

These clowns, McCain— "War hero"? I care not.— and Palin, are doing everything they can to whitewash history to hold onto power a little longer. The fact is all of those things I listed happened on the Republicans' watch; they're saying to you, to us, in front of a backdrop of two burning buildings:

"REWARD US FOR OUR INCOMPETENCE."

... Like cats bringing home a dead bird to its master as a present; only instead of a dead bird we've got thousands of dead— whether wrought by airplane, nature, economics, or war.

Question is, will we tell them to kiss our collective ass this time, or will we reply with "Thank you, sir, may I have another?"

We'll see soon enough, I guess. It's hard enough figuring out why in the hell McCain is within even 30 points of Barack Obama, let alone one or two. One has to admit, between all these disasters, it'd be stupid to decide this next election on criteria like moose hunting and lipstick and pitbulls and POW camps and who I could barbecue with. A "culture war", they call it; it's much easier to fight one of those because you can stir up whatever you want on a slow news day (see Bill O'Reilly: "Christmas, the War on").

Clearly, with every passing year, my entries on the subject— whether on this blog or in other media— get angrier, more dyspeptic. At this point, I've said everything I could possibly say, so I'll let someone else who can say things a whole lot better than I can take the lead.

Text version:
http://thenewshole.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/10/1376450.aspx


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PERKBFgg_I&fmt=18


Watch the parking meters,
Henry

We were prepping last night for the next jaunt of our tour (begins next week, kiddos...) by screening some new t-shirts... and Aloud underwear. That's right, ladies, soon you will be able to avoid baring all by baring Aloud near your lady business.

We tried to get Ross to model them, but he outright refused. So while we wait for him to fall asleep— so we can write rude things on his face with a Sharpie— this will have to do.



Cheers,
Henry

PS... Why the hell not:

Currently listening : Free As A Bird By The Beatles Release date: 1995-12-1

Still running short on internet access (living in a virtual cave has been spiritually rewarding). Anyway, like a true bum, I'm just going to copy and paste our mailing list onto this post. I had to move heavy shit all weekend. Sue me!

Cheers,
Henry

Hello Aloudians!

For those of you in the Boston area, I'm hoping you are avoiding the moving-ridiculousness that is Labor Day Weekend. Or, perhaps you lugged a bunch of great stuff from the sidewalk into your apartment. Either way, be safe out there!

I am writing to alert you to a few things. First off, we're playing two shows in MA this upcoming week. On Thursday 9/4, we'll be rockin' the Middle East Upstairs with Harris, Thick As Thieves, and The Crushing Low. It's a great bill, and we're on at 10:00 PM sharp. Tickets are 9 Bucks and this is an 18+ show.

On Friday 9/5, we'll be hitting up Lowell, MA at The Brewery Exchange. We're playing with The Motion Sick, who are great. This show is 21+.

In other news, a ringtone of 'Fan The Fury' is now available for free download from Myxer. To get Jen singing 'Fan The Fury' on your phone, text "512820" to 69937. Check your phone's compatibility, and see all of Aloud's free ringtones here. COOL!

Finally, we're hitting the road again at the end of September to tour much of the northeast and Midwest. Best of all, we're playing in Dubuque, Iowa. Who knew? If you want to see a full rundown of the tour, see the bottom of this email.

As a preview for what lies ahead for Aloud, we have an awesome tour movie coming out. Henry made it. It's called "When Bands Go Wrong," or something like that... Click here to watch the trailer.

Also, we'll be doing an unbelievably cool projection show in Boston in November, so keep checking back for updates on that.

See ya'll out there!!!

Ross

Currently reading: Down and Out in Paris and London By George Orwell