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