08-05-02

Back again kids of rock. I yet again apologize for my tardiness in this report…but anyone who honestly expected an update right when we returned…come on…really…what were you thinking? So in case you didn’t know, we took a little Midwest trip a couple of weeks back. We had our friend Jordan from the great band SOVIET SPACE playing drums with us on this trip, which I know we all enjoyed.

If this report comes out a little scatter-brained, it’s because I’m trying to write it in the middle of a Southpaw Preachers recording session (AKA why is Mike kneeling under the console.) ON TO ROCK!

Thursday: Tulsa @ Curly’s
It had been a while since we visited our good buddies up a Curly’s, so we decided it was about time we dropped back in and shared a rock evening with them. We were lucky enough to get on a bill with my favorite band of all time UNCLE RUMPLE. That is some pure, untainted rock n’ roll. We also played with So Far Gone, I think those guys smoke weed. Tulsa greeted us with a new surprise that we’ve never encountered at a show…just as we started our set, a guy decided he needed to ride his Harley through the club. He should just be glad it wasn’t a skateboard…but that’s another story altogether. As always, Adam and the whole Curly’s crew were incredibly kind to us. I’ve said it before- I’ll say it again; if you live in Tulsa, go support your local music. Curly’s is a great club, go out and say hi to Adam for us. Thanks to all of our Tulsa friends who made it out for the night.

After the show we hit the road to try to cut some of the drive off the next day (for those less familiar with routing- Tulsa to Chicago is a bit LONG). We ended up crashing in Springfield, MO where Tony and Jordan decided to take a big tour of the hotel, or as others would call it, got lost on the way to the room. In the morning we were treated to the grandest of “complimentary breakfasts”…I’ll just leave that one to the imagination. I will say that I feared for my life as a grabbed the last pastry in front of the line of the hungry youth group. Actually, as we exited the hotel and noticed the 6 shiny brand new vans parked out in front- we decided that we are now officially the Valve youth group, cause apparently that means you get a new shiny van…whoever is handing those out, we’re waiting.

I would tell you all sorts of funny great stories about the long drive from Springfield to Chicago…but there aren’t any.

Friday: Chicago@ The Elbow Room
We pulled into Chicago in the late afternoon and went to Casey’s brothers place to hang out. As always we were treated to the finest dining a band can possibly hope for in Chicago…the pizza of course. We also got to witness some children’s TV show from Australia, I want to call it the Wigglies. All I can say is that I sure as hell hope those guys are cashing in, otherwise there’s just no excuse for that.

We got to the club pretty late and got loaded in and sound checked. Then we headed upstairs for some good time hanging out Casey’s family and all of our old Chicago friends. It was good to see our great friend and designer of wonderful apparel Tommy Moore. Please check out his web site at www.meanshirts.com. The show was rocking, we had a very receptive crowd, although I think our performance was rivaled by the one immediately following us…when Casey’s sister was proposed to on stage. I must say that’s a first for Valve, but I personally have to say that any guy who proposes at a rock show knows what’s up. I think she said yes too…so that’s good.

After the show we went to hang out with our new Chicago friends Superbig. I wish I could honestly say I remember more of this party than I do. Mainly I remember knocking a very expensive guitar over (and everyone thinking it was Jordan’s doing), “confiscating” a bottle of kahlua, some guy from Poland trying to tell me what house music is really about, and then lifting up his shirt (remind me to never go to Poland or listen to house music…ever), and loudly singing to the crowd about how it was getting hot in there, so everyone should take of their clothes. Thanks Nelly. I think shortly after that we were informed that it was time to leave the party.

Saturday: Kansas City@ The Brick
Just as we pulled into Kansas City from the long, LONG drive from Chicago who did we have to find pulling out from the Brick but the gayest band ever (well 2nd if you count “The Frogs”) SHINER. Running into those guys after driving for that long was kind of like kicking someone when they’re down. Seriously, it was good to see those guys again, it had been a while since our paths had crossed. We had never played the Brick before and I was very impressed. This was without a doubt the coolest club we’ve played in KC before. Maybe I’m just saying that because they cooked me dinner…but I don’t think so. We didn’t even know until we got to the club that we had once again been hooked up with our old friends “The People” who we’ve played with a number of times in Lawrence, KS. The whole bill ended up being very cool bands, as should be expected when playing in Kansas City. It was good to see all of our Kansas City friends, even some we’d never met before… We played a good rock set, full of “straight backbeats”…but I still don’t know what the hell that means.

After the show, Jason Gerkin of the great Shiner decided to show us the ins and outs of the after hours KC nightlife. We got the complete tour of Kansas City bars that I only seem to remember around half of. I just know that everywhere we went they kept handing me drinks… there was some big crowd running around yelling… lots of police… an apartment, a remote I’m never allowed to touch, Gerkin’s homoerotic pornography, I don’t know. The whole night seems kind of a blur from there. Oh well. You’ll have to ask someone else.

We awoke to find Gattone sleeping outside on a couch that I don’t think I’d even piss on, but I peed on Gattone anyway. That about wraps it up. We just hit the good road home- the van gave us a little scare with some “strange noises” but it trekked through it all. Thanks to Jordan for coming out on the road with us, he’s an incredible player and it was a lot of fun to have him with us. Thanks as always to all of our friends who made their way out to shows, gave us a place to sleep, fed us, got us drinks, or any and all of the above. Watch the shows page, we’ll be headed you way again soon. Till then, keep rocking Josh

04-24-02

What’s up rock kids? Valve had a bit of a crazy weekend last weekend, we got a chance to head back to Texarkana and our good friends at Trybz. We hadn’t been back there in a while so we were looking forward to the trip. This time we were taking along our good buddies Soviet Space, so we should have known they would screw things up.

It all started when we found out that Texarkana’s newest Rock radio station “Real Rock 103.9- The Pig” had been playing “Upper West Coast” and “Forever More” fairly regularly and wanted us to go in and visit with them for a while before the show. As it turns out “The Pig” was actually promoting the whole show as their kickoff party…which included more than we could have guessed. When we showed up at the club to load in, they were already getting things ready. What we found inside was this:

• a small kiddy pool
• 20 bulk cans of chocolate pudding (we had to restrain Gattone)
• a sign that informed us “this is not a crack house”

What the third thing had to do with the other two, I don’t know, but I thought it should be mentioned. Apparently the idea behind these items was to create a “Pig Sty” which the girls who won the bikini contest (did I mention a bikini contest, well they were having one) would get in and try to find the money in the pudding. Does this sound like foreshadowing to a problem? NO…

After we got all loaded in, we headed over to “THE PIG” for our little interview. We got to meet BOOMER, the coolest DJ in all of the Texarkana area. I stole their singing monkey and made him endure a Valve-style interview. I think Boomer was about to kill us if we hit their little bell one more time…does any of this make sense? The point being we had a great time and all the people at “The Pig” were very cool to us. All you Texarkana people be sure and listen, you finally have a “real” rock station.

After the interview we headed back over to Trybz to watch Soviet Space play some rock. They had an awesome set. After they played the “Bikini Contest” started. The only problem was that no girls were in Bikinis. A couple of guys were, but that’s just not right. Anyway, after much deliberation it was decided that the girls could go into the “Pig Sty” in whatever they had worn to the show (underneath that is). I’m not really going to go into detail about the girls who volunteered for this…but you can imagine. Anyway, after the “mud slinging” (AKA pudding thrown all over Noah and Max) was done, we waited for it all to be cleared up and then took the stage. The crowd was really great, and the show was going well…for at least the first four songs. Then something happened…and I’ll try to tell it as I understand it.

Apparently a couple of large, drunk Texarkana boys got into a bit of an argument over which one of them was going to make out with Jordan from Soviet Space. Next, another large, drunk boy overheard the argument and said that no, he in fact was taking Jordan home with him. This was all overheard by another large drunk boy, who said they were all idiots, and Noah was the one to be taken home. Needless to say, this erupted into an all out brawl at Trybz. This ended up being bad enough for the show to stop, cops to come, Tony to pee himself, and Noah to remind everyone around 20 times that it was “4/20” so everyone should just calm down. Eventually we got to finish our rock set to the brave few who had lasted through the brawl…somehow Noah and Jordan both came out okay. What’s the lesson to be learned here…Soviet Space screws everything up.

We had a great time going back to Texarkana and are planning on getting back soon for a FULL show. For now, big thanks to Clint and all the guys at Trybz, Boomer and all the guys at THE PIG, and all the Texarkana people who stuck around through the mess to see a rock show. We’ll see you all again soon. For those of you in Texarkana, call up the Pig and give Boomer some love…oh and tell him to play you a Valve song. Josh

02-27-02

Hey guys! Sorry this report comes a little late, I’m recouping from a little sickness this week (i.e. laying in bed all day). First off thanks to everyone who helped me have a happy 21st birthday this past weekend. Both Friday and Saturday nights were a lot of fun. Now the weekend BEFORE that we had the chance to play a couple of great rock shows. If you weren’t there then you should have been…but I’ll tell you about them anyway...

Friday: Dallas @ Gypsy Tea Room
This Friday we got up at a strange hour for Valve. We have this theory as a band that people were not meant to be awake before the sun comes up- unless never having been asleep at all. The strangest part about this was that it was the 2nd day in a row we had been up this early. Apparently our friends over at KDGE (the edge) seem to think that people listen the radio that early, so they invited us in for two days that week. On Thursday we got to have a special Valve-ntine’s day, as it’s been dubbed, and play some "wedidntdoasbadaslasttime" smart-ass trivia. I suppose they must have liked us a bit because they invited us to come play a couple of songs for them the next morning at their "Edge Acoustic Café". This was yet another flawed plan in that they assumed that not only could Valve be AWAKE at that hour of the morning, but PLAY too. In all seriousness thought this was a lot of fun. Jagger, Julie and Slim Jim were all very cool to us. We played along with Lucie Loves Schroeder and Jimmy Eat World. I personally was amazed to see how many people were willing to get up early and make the drive out for this, but it was great. Thanks to everyone who actually set their alarms for one day of the week. Oh yeah, and Ron Jeremy was there…weird…

That night we were back again at the Gypsy Tea Room for the big rock show. I don’t think I’m telling anyone something new to say that Jimmy Eat World has been my favorite band for a long time, and is a band that we’re all big fans of. Needless to say we were all very excited to be playing this show. The whole night’s lineup was really good- Lucie Loves Schroeder, Us, Midtown, [DARYL], and Jimmy Eat World. All of that + a sold out crowd made for a crazy night of rock. We saw a lot of new faces come over to watch us play, thanks to those of you who were willing to leave your spot two miles from the stage to come over. Jimmy had an amazing show…as far as I could see from the grassy knoll. They sounded really good anyway. I didn’t talk with any of the guys, but I understand they were very cool. The night closed out a [DARYL] rock set, some crazy guy who thinks I play shakers for them, and Chad telling me stories about "Jewish guy anatomy". Thanks Chad.

Saturday: Tulsa @ Curly’s
There are always new lessons to be learned on each drive into Oklahoma, this trip was no exception. This one comes courtesy of Max, if you’re ever driving up into Oklahoma and see a gas station/convenience store that looks more like an 1800’s jail or possibly something out of "Deliverance"…no matter how much you think you should stop, DON’T. I think that one should be self-explanatory. We had a fun time heading back to Curly’s. It was good to get back and see Adam and the rest of the guys out there. We’ve had some "interesting" experiences there before, but they’ve always been very cool to us. The club seems to be getting cooler each time we go, if you’re in Tulsa you should go check it out. We had a fun night rocking out with our Tulsa friends "The Tony Romanello Band". Both of us had good sets. Thanks to the group who got out of your seats to rock out with us for 45 minutes, the rest of the crowd belonged at the air force base in Spinal Tap. When we got back to the hotel, we had an interesting run in with some locals who informed us that "if you boys don’t’ stop pushing the up button on there, our elevator ain’t going nowhere", luckily we had multitalented backwoods translator Tony Gattone at our sides who informed them "it’s alllllright good bubba". It was funny if you were there. Promise. So that’s it, our weekend of rock. We got to make a lot of new friends in Dallas and Tulsa, thanks to everyone who came out for the shows. We’ve got some really great local shows coming up, and are gearing up for a weekend of craziness at SXSW, so everyone watch the shows page and come tell Tony you liked him better as Rod Stewart. Josh

DIARY ARCHIVE

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