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