I have sworn no t to post when under the infulence – it’s a band RULE. So today (this evening), no post. Not allowed.This is a good thing – apparently I don’t make a lot of sense in this state. But reading this as I typle, it appears I’m not in too bad a nick. May…naahhhh….
tomorrow.
FO
Got out yesterday to Gulu Gulu cafe in Salem and stuck around for the open mic night. It’s a great little place – they’ve got wifi there & we had to get out of the apartment. The vid below is a 1 minute grab showing some of the performers. There’s a guy playing ‘Beeswing’ by Richard Thompson. I thought of Stalk (a great mate of ours – who introduced us to Thompson) & I had to film him.
And guess what, we’re still sitting here on lap-tops again today back in the apartment. We’re finalising the dates for the North American tour and all the media stuff and organisation that goes with it. There’ll be a bunch of news in the next monthly Hose Down (out next week). Plug plug – you can sign up to our mail list to get the Hose Down delivered to your inbox every month (video, pics, TOF news & Max’s food diaries included). Details at the top right of this page.
Checkya tomorrow,
Fires out.
I hope we make it through this tour. Max went out and bought a vile vial of witchcraft potion today. We’re not even officially on the road yet. Is life on the road with me really that bad? I shower nearly every day, or thereabouts, or y’know, whatever – smell isn’t everything…
We spent the night (and some of the day) at Gulu Gulu Cafe, Essex Street, Salem. T’was great to get out – we’ve been cooped up here in the apartment for weeks. And not by choice. The universal rock & roll world champion demon god of rock & roll town has glued us here to do good touring things when the tour starts next month – and he has a mighty fist which he shakes in my direction when I even think of leaving to go out.
They had an open-mic night in the cafe this fine eve. We stuck around for most of it. Got some footage which I’ll post tomorrow.
Checkya then,
Fires out.
Last night Max went down stairs to the drum shop below to hang out & enjoy a small concert. I actually heard the whole thing booming up through the floor here – but had to stay focused on the lap-top & never got down there. Donn Carr hosts the show on the first Monday of every month. Old show tunes & jazz, I could hear them all laughing & singing along…
Kent took this video on Sunday morning – after what we’re now calling ‘The Big One’ the night before. I don’t know how he actually got it together enough to do this – but he did it nonetheless, just in time to leave for the airport. Click the pic below – it’ll take you to the Facebook video.
Tuesday night here in Boston. The weather above zero for the past few days, is now set to freeze again for the rest of the week.
Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.
OK, so I missed yesterday’s post. It was a slow Sunday after a very big night. One of the crew, not mentioning names here, had himself a mild case of ‘food’ poisoning. He was quite ill as the car pulled out en route to the airport. Myself, I had a slow one & some trouble concentrating.
The crew are now back in Atlanta. We’ll hook up in March for the US tour.
Feeling good today after recovery night’s sleep.
Checkya tomorrow,
Fires out.
The film crew got fired up & went out to reek havoc in Salam last night. The band stayed at the apartment, doing the usual lap-top stare-down. We hit the hay about midnight, fast asleep at 3am when the guys got back in full party mode. I was lying there thinking “If I get up & say hi, there’ll be no escaping the ensuing carnage…”. Amazing how 3 guys can sound like 10. Somehow got back to sleep. Woke this morning, feeling OK. Couple of hours later, the guys started straggling back in, looking expectedly worse for wear after a monster night.
It’s the last night in town for the crew. They fly back to Atlanta tomorrow. The next time we see em, we’ll be on the road. So tonight, we’re all heading out to tie one on in Boston.
The video below: Kent’s video tour blog. There are 3 episodes so far (you can follow his blog on our Facebook page). He shot this vid on Thursday.
Checkya later.
Fires out.
Photo shoot yesterday at midday. Another shoot at 2pm. Rehearsal in Boston at 4pm til 7. Everything going according to plan (more or less). The shot below taken at the second shoot by Sean (tour videographer).
Got back to the apartment at 8 & made a few calls to Australia. Then we all went out to dinner for a band & crew bonding session – which is always great. We get so cooped up each day, and mesmerised by laptops, that we’re only communicating at a work level most of the time. So it’s great to get out & relax a bit with everybody.
The restaurant: Fire Bull, a Spanish all-you-can-eat place just down the street. They give you this little beer-coaster thing. One side’s red, the other green. When it’s green, they hammer you with food, non-stop – waiters continually arriving with huge chunks of meat on skewers. Flip the coaster to the red side, & they give you a break, til it’s green again. Suffice to say, we all ate too much & nobody wants to eat today, just yet.
Checkya tomorrow.
Fires out.
Here we are again, the end of another day in Boston. Lap-tops out, brainstorming the upcoming US tour & Kent entertaining us with previous tour tales & general clownery.
Maybe cabin fever’s kicking in. We’re kinda trapped – mountains of snow outside. There’s one more night of snow storm and we should be done, hopefully for a while.
Checkya tomorrow,
Fires out.
Helped a guy in a BMW get out of the parking lot, digging & pushing til he got the necessary traction. After that, had to shovel snow off the steps to get back into the apartment. Max set about making a snow angel. All fun for about 10 minutes til the cold kicked in.
The two-day monster storm started early (earlier today). Everything’s ground to a halt, including traffic & business. Amazingly, Kevin & Kent flew up from Atlanta & arrived a few minutes ago. They kept the plane in the air while they ploughed the runway enough to land. And somehow, after that, they made their way through the 3-mile-an-hour traffic to get here.
Checkya tomorrow from under the ice, here in Boston.
Fires out.
A shot taken out the window earlier today.
We’re staying in a Boston suburb called Peabody (pronounced Pea-Bdee). This is our ‘back yard’. On the news tonight; a massive snow storm coming tomorrow which will last for 2 days and probably dump 2 feet of snow on the city. The problem now is that there’s nowhere to put the snow (30,000 tons of snow trucked out of Boston already). In Peabody it’s already piled metres high on the sidewalks in an effort to keep the roads clear. I propose we all get out there with cigarette lighters and get drinking. Tomorrow will be too late…
That said, checkya tomorrow & Fires out.
