 |
 |
 |
|
|
11-06-01 Hello? Anyone there? Yes I know it’s been a while, but we’re still here. Just in case any of you didn’t know, we’ve been in the studio off and on recording a new EP with Mr. Matt Pence that was just released last week. If you don’t have it yet- what are you doing? Get it now! Seriously though, I know we’re all very proud of this and can’t wait for you guys to hear it. Needless to say while we’ve been focusing on getting those done, we haven’t hit the road too much lately. Now that they are, we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than going out with one of our favorite bands- KC’s Shiner. Of course it wouldn’t have been an official Valve trip without a few little unexpected twists along the way. Okay, enough of this. Here’s the weekend in rock: Thursday: Dallas @ Curtain Club Friday: Austin @ Emos Land of the El Caminos opened the set. They were a cool band from Chicago. They reminded me a little bit of Hot Water Music. Their name is both a truck and a car at the same time- explain that to me… We played after them. It was good to see all of our Austin friends again. The show went really well, I think we have some new Austin fans now. Emos is one of the coolest clubs to play at. Always a lot of people there to really LISTEN to the bands. Very cool. Houston played next, who NO is not from Houston. I actually don’t think bands this good come out of Houston. I’d never really heard these guys much before the trip, but they’re a great band. Very different. Hard to describe. Check it out for yourself. Shiner closed out the night with an amazing set. Something I’ve yet to see them not have. We hung out and talked with people for a while, before realizing that we had about four hours left to sleep before we needed to head off for KC. We quickly found ourselves an open apartment floor to sleep on and instead jammed out to Dr. Dre which apparently means that we have a very "limited" range of musical taste. Did you know that Osama Bin Laden owns the stock market? Neither did I…learn something new every day=)… Saturday: Kansas City (or bust) @ The Hurricane When we got back to the studio, we noticed the van was making a bit of a strange noise. After once again combining all of our mechanical know-how, we were able to conclude that the "weird" noise had to be just the compressor. I don’t know why we decided that, but it made sense at the time. Have you ever heard of foreshadowing? Yes… So we trekked on. The one good thing I can say is that once we left Texas and got into states where seasonal changes still apply, the ride was really pretty nice. Well…that is up until we stopped for gas 30 miles outside of KC. When we turned the van back on, not only was it still making this very "strange" noise. Now dark smoke was also pouring from underneath the hood. We used all of our mechanical know-how once again to conclude- "hey, that’s probably not good". We thought about trying to go on further from there, until we noticed that even once the smoke was gone, the engine was hot enough to explode any second, and decided we’d better stop there. We were able to get in touch with Jason from Shiner- and they said that they could come pick us up with our trailer after their sound check, and then we could figure out the van the next day. So after finding out that there really isn’t much to amuse yourself with on the side of a Kansas City highway (other than coach Gattone that is…oh if the camera had only worked) the Shiner guys showed up and we were finally able to make it into KC. We basically had to walk in the club, set up, and play. The show still felt very good. One of the best Kansas City crowds we’ve had yet. We look forward to getting back up there very soon, so all Kansas City people watch the shows page. Houston and Shiner followed with even more rocking shows than the previous two nights. It was a great night overall. great crowd. After the show and after a brief run in with the "Hurricane bouncers" AKA the "Nazi Army" we were able to get our trailer out and loaded up. HUGE thanks to David George and Moaning Lisa for loaning us their van for the weekend while ours was out of commission. A couple of really great KC guys were nice enough to give us a place to sleep, so thanks to them too. The next morning, we found a shop that said that they could look at our van if we would bring it in, so we headed right out and had it towed. As it turns out, when our compressor had gone out, it had caused a "very important belt" to burn up in our engine. Thinking this problem would be easy to fix we offered them Tony’s belt to fix it. They were not laughing. So now that we knew what the problem was, the bigger problem became fixing it. No one there was sure if they would be able to fix it that day, some guy might call his brother…it all seemed very sketchy. We decided to get our mind off of it and go get some cheap fast food Italian and tour the local Office Depot (excuse me sir, I believe you have my stapler). Now don’t let me fail to mention that this whole time Tony is miserably passed out in the back of Moaning Lisa’s van with some sort of food poisoning…sorry about the smell guys. When we got back, hoping things would have been worked out, we were pretty much given the same answer we had been two hours ago. At this point we were getting a little worried and frustrated, thinking we might be spending another night in "Oletha"(I think that’s right) Kansas. Thankfully, somehow or another, at right around 4 that afternoon our van came pulling around the front, no noises either. We thank the Firestone boys and their brothers for getting us back on the road. The 8 hour drive home didn’t even seem that bad either, it was just good to have a way to GET home. We even got to listen to the last game of the World Series. Congrats to the Diamondbacks and especially to (ex-cub, but still a cub) Mark Grace, who finally won a world series. So that’s it, our weekend in rock. We couldn’t have a dull one for you. I just want to say one last set of thanks to Jason and Allen from Shiner for driving half an hour to come pick us up off the side of the highway, and to David and Moaning Lisa for letting us use the Van. Also, thanks to anyone who fed us, gave us a place to sleep etc. on the trip. It was great to be able to share the stage with both Shiner and Houston all weekend, both bands are amazing. As always, check the shows page for our all the rock shows this weekend, come out and buy a new EP. Tony will give you a kiss…unless you’re a guy…no probably still then too. J to tha izzo 08-15-01 HOLA! How are my peoples? As I think most of you know, we just got back from our big trip up to Chi-town. We had a great trip and made some new friends- I even broke a lighthouse…and Max managed to stay out of basements…well…as far as we know….hmmm… Wed. 8/8- McCarthy’s; Pittsburgh, KS- So a lot of people say that the 1st day of a road trip can really "set the tone" for the whole thing. This didn’t exactly make me feel better when about halfway to Kansas, we received a call letting us know that McCarthy’s air conditioning wasn’t working and it "might" get fixed by that night and the show "might" still go on. Considering that the show was literally only about 7 hrs from happening…this was not reassuring news. As it ended up, the air wasn’t working @ McCarthy’s, and the show was not to go on. While we were on the verge of just staying and spending an evening with the wonderful local crowd of McCarthy’s we decided to press on to Kansas City that night. As we were going, we called up our friend David (singer of the great rock band Moaning Lisa) to see what exactly was going on in KC, and he informed us that the night was still good for rock, because as luck would have it our friends Shiner were playing that night in KC with Burning Airlines. Shiner is one of my favorite bands to see live, so this news was a nice change from the way the day had been going so far. David works at this great little pub/restaurant in KC, so we just went directly there to meet him. David got us a great hook-up on the food, and we got to have our first of all too many "you guys are from Dallas…just like Flickerstick" conversations…don’t ask. So as soon as David got off work, we all headed over to the Hurricane to watch the show. Shiner was great as always. I’d only seen Burning Airlines once before, and didn’t really like it…this time was no different. They’re a pretty good band…just not for me (ducks to dodge things being thrown). That night we were lucky enough to find a girl who was moving out of her old apartment and into a new one, and basically just had the old one empty with no one staying there, so she let us crash on her floor. It wasn’t the most comfortable place, but it was cool and inside…oh yeah, and I think Tony was pretty comfortable cause he slept on top of Max…who was less comfortable. Thurs. 8/9- The Bottleneck; Lawrence KS- We woke up Thursday and headed straight over to David’s little place again for some more food, and found it just as good in the early afternoon as after a long day…if I could remember the name of the place, I’d tell all you KC people to go there, but I don’t, so oh well. J. Go see Moaning Lisa, ask David or Desmond, they’ll tell you. Anyway, so we decided to drive a little North of Lawrence to find a Hotel for that night so the trip to Chicago would be shorter on Friday. After stopping at some of the strangest "straightoutofspringer" hotels I’ve ever seen in my life (see amish man sitting outside his door smoking a pipe while young girl in swimsuit runs around with a dog nowhere close to any sort of water), we were able to find a SEEMINGLY normal place to stay for the night at the "Econo Lodge". So needless to say after the comfort of the night before, we were all ready to get a little more sleep, so we all layed down for a little sleep…except Max- who I believe feared another attack of Tony, and left to somewhere that I still don’t know. After I don’t know how long, I was startlingly and unpleasantly woken up by the fact that there was a strange man with a thick accent standing in our doorway apparently talking to me. He said that he had just come to "drop off a towel" (which by the way was about the size of a dishrag) and apparently thought that he would just drop in and surprise us. After I was finally coherent enough to realize what he was rambling about figured out that he was none too happy that there were actually FOUR people in the room, and not TWO, as he had understood. I, in my half awake state, had the quick wit and cleverness to sit there and give him a completely blank stare as though he was speaking a different language (I’m pretty sure some of it was) until he finally left. When everything was sorted out between all of us as we woke up, he called later and was informed that there were in fact only TWO people staying in the room, that the OTHER two people were just waiting to meet relatives in Kansas City that night, and would NOT be staying the night there. After he mumbled more incoherent nonsense we told him that if he ever barged into our room again without knocking that we would send Tony out after him wearing only a belt and a washcloth doubling as a loin covering…which unfortunately was something I had to see. Trying to forget the events of the afternoon, we headed on into Lawrence. I was quick to find that my unsettling events of the day were not yet over. After loading in we went to look for a place to eat, and found what appeared to be a harmless little wing/burgers type place. As soon as I got inside though, I was attacked by crazy-old-overalls-Ididtoomuchacidinthe60s-guy…who was apparently very concerned with my date of birth. If anyone knows this guy, or ever happens to meet him (oh trust me, you’ll know) do what tony would have, and I should have, and give him a swift kick to the groin for me. Anyway, past that, dinner was good. The show at the Bottleneck was really…well, different. Straight from the fact that Punky Brewster was running sound for us, to the almost Wesley Willis like opener (you really must see- www.mp3.com/mailordermidgets). Other than that we really did have fun that night, we got to play with "The People" again, and they’re very cool guys, and a good band. Their drummer sure can slide…but I still don’t know what that means. It turned out to be an entertaining night all the same. I think we played a strong set, and made some new Valve fans in Kansas, so that was very cool. Fri. 8/10- The Double Door; Chicago, IL- The only thing that really sucks about being on the roads is EARLY mornings and LONG drives…and this day included both. The short little jog from Kansas to Chicago is neither of those things, but it’s always worth it. We got to Chicago mid-to late afternoon and went to Casey’s brothers place to meet up with him and hang out a little while before the show. As always we made sure to get the one essential of any Chicago trip- good pizza. After hanging out a bit and cleaning up some- we headed downtown to the Double Door. The Double Door is a VERY cool club. I’d heard a lot about it before, but never actually been there. It was just a very cool place, and the sound was amazing (think curtain club if you’re in dallas). They even had a little downstairs area where the bands all had separate rooms where you could relax for a bit. Our friend Tommy, who you all might know as the designer of this site, and Catherine came down and hung out. Tommy even filmed a little something that very hopefully will never see the light of day. Okay, on to rock- we opened up the set and had an amazing show. Chicago crowds are always so good. Tonight was definitely the same. I saw a lot of new Chicago people in the crowd rockin out, so that was really great. Thanks to all of our old Chicago friends who always come out and support us. Next "Dredge" played- I don’t really know how to describe it, so I’m going to try to quote Casey’s mom as close as I can remember- "that Jim Morrison looking singer gets up there with his flute and the dead trees and skeleton guys and just makes all of those insect noises"- I don’t know if that really sums it up, but I really liked that description. They were a good band though, very different, but I enjoyed it. Ruby, closed out the show- and all I can say is that when the most entertaining part of your show is your singers angry between song banter at the sound guys…yeeeeeah. Apparently this girl used to be in a band with Shirley Manson. Garbage fan? Don’t blame me for your mistakes. We had a lot of fun hanging out the rest of the night, got to meet a lot of cool Chicago people, hopefully we will be back up there again soon and see all you guys again. After we left the club that night, we went out to stay at Casey’s parents house. This is the story that for fear of future retribution I’m not going to dig too deeply into…other than to say that there is a certain wall of pictures in that house that was aptly named "the birth of a mullet". I’ll let you all draw your own conclusions from that. Sat. 8/11- The Hurricane; Kansas City, MO- After waking up that morning and somehow finding a way to fit an upright piano in our trailer, and eating probably the biggest breakfast I’ve had in about 5 years, we said our goodbyes and headed off for MO (with enough food to eat for weeks in hand). Of course, there couldn’t ever be a dull day on these trips…and this was no exception. On arriving in Kansas City, we found that there had been some scheduling difficulties with the club, and our show was now outside, because the "KISS ARMY" was now taking the inside stage. We even got a picture w/ a member of said cover band, that hopefully will be posted soon. So yeah, the show was interesting to say the least. We had a pretty rocking set, and David and Craig from Moaning Lisa were out giving "props" so that was fun. Tony tried several times to convince the crowd that they were in another state…but I don’t think they bought it. After we played I went down and watched some of the Kiss Army set, and let me just assure you, there’s still nothing less attractive than a middle aged man in tights. Beyond that it was pretty entertaining though. After finally getting everyone out of the club at the end of the night, and narrowly escaping what I’m sure was about to be some sort of gang war- we headed off to "party" with one of the other bands. Now I must say that Kansas City must have a different definition of "party" than we do, because 6 guys sitting around in a room playing a game called "hide the lighthouse" doesn’t exactly sound like what I want to be doing on a Saturday night…but we made the best of it all the same. Though there might have been some throwing of chairs, scaring of cats, impromptu ballad coverings by Omar in his yellow helmet, lighthouse breaking, and just an overall lack of RESPECT- I think the night turned out fun all the same. Sunday- Drive home- we drove home. Come on, how much can I really entertain you with a story about an 8 hour drive. I think that about covers this trip. Thanks as always to everyone who helped us, gave us a place to sleep (except the hotel guy), bought stuff from us, and most importantly came out and supported us at these shows. We had a great time and I know we’ll be coming your way again soon. Watch soon for more details on the upcoming trip back north again for CMJ- we’ll be making lots of stops on the way up and back- so hopefully we’ll get to see you guys again. Till then, peace out, and if there’s a guy sleeping on your couch in your basement when you wake up tomorrow morning- let him sleep. j-lo 05-22-01 Oh beautiful Tulsa. We just can’t seem to get enough of it these days. For anyone who wasn’t aware, we had so much fun last two weeks ago in Tulsa, that we decided we simply had to return last weekend for the "Cancer sucks" benefit show (otherwise known as "cancerfest and "F#$* Cancer"). This was a HUGE event with over 30 bands. It was sort of like that rockfest thing, except without all the people. We pulled in Saturday evening not really sure what to expect from this night. If you read the last entry about the previous Tulsa show…you know that Tulsa is…well, in Oklahoma. Anyway, I think our night was pretty much set up for us by the fact that literally within the first ten minutes we were there, a couple of the larger sized security guys decided they were really bored of checking out 13 year old girls- and it was time to lay the smack down (and possibly just impress one of those 13 year olds at the same time!) Now all they needed was an appropriate "smack down" victim. At this point, who would come riding by them on his skateboard- but Valve’s very own Tony Gattone. Well of course, the security guys looked at each other, and before you could say inbred- they were tackling Tony- slamming his face into the door and basically throwing him outside on the cement. I think it’s very important to make clear that I’m not exaggerating any of this. Meanwhile, Max and I had watched this even go down, and helplessly tailed behind the group w/ such intimidating threats as "hey…don’t do that"…and "that’s really not nice". Needless to say we were slightly ineffective. Anyway, about this point, a couple of workers of the club who DID graduate high school noticed what was happening and came out and rescued Tony. After a long drawn out discussion about this, it was decided that Tony COULD in fact ride his skateboard if he still wanted, and the bouncers would return to their routine of checking out underage girls. After all of this had blown over, we got to go hang out w/ our buddies from Jibe and Blue October for a while. I hadn’t really gotten a chance to meet any of these guys before, and they were all really cool to us. After this I went and watched some of Split Christie’s set which rocked, followed by The Feds who rocked as much as they always do. Then, more hanging out and drinking. Tony was nice enough to make some sandwiches for some people. Finally it was time for us to play. I would actually have to say that we had one of the better crowds I saw that day. I want to thank all of our friends who stuck around for our set- I know we actually had fun, hope you did too. I think some of our friends from the Feds and Jibe thought we were hungry, so they threw some bread at us. Fortunately for us, the security sprung into action and took away their bread. I have to hand it to those guys, they don’t miss a THING. I really want to thank our new friend/possible new road manager David Taylor. David came on stage w/ us for the show, and made a Valve show his first concert, which is cooler than I can even say. He also made sure we found the Ramada later that night…but we’ll get to that. Anyway, I’m going to sum up the rest of the show very quickly- *Blue October plays- sounds very good At this point…it was REALLY time for us to get out of there. Now thanks to David, whose mother happens to work for the Ramada we were all staying at, we had no trouble making it to the hotel. We got in and all got to meet Carla, who was very nice to us. Now I don’t know who exactly thought it was a good idea to have ALL the bands from this event put up in the SAME hotel w/ a lot of the rooms on the SAME floor…but all I can say is poor Ramada. After a day of Cancerfest…there was really nothing to do but have a fun night…fun for us that is. We got to hang out a lot more w/ out new friends, I got a good chance to talk more w/ Adam of Curly’s who is seriously a great guy, and treats all of the bands really well, so thanks Adam- hope we didn’t get you in too much trouble. The next morning, Casey, Max, our friend Fiona, and I all went out to this little breakfast place called "Duffy’s". Now we’d heard that if you go to Duffy’s for breakfast- you’ll go for lunch and dinner too. We thought, wow, this place must be good. What we didn’t realize is the reason that you’ll go for lunch and dinner too is that it will take that long for them to bring your food. For a band that’s desperately trying to get back to Texas…this is not the best thing. I must say that for all the wait and trouble Duffy’s was…the food was really good- which was about all I think we needed that morning. Anyway, we returned to the hotel, and Tony had pulled the famous, "disappearing Tony" act, and after carefully searching all neighbor’s basements, we headed on down the road. Thanks to Kelly who made sure he made it safely back to Texas. I think that pretty well sums up our little cancerfest trip. I really want to thank our friends Jibe, Blue October, Splitting Christie, The Feds, and of course our friend Adam from Curly’s for making this event bearable. I’m not sure that I could promise we’ll be returning to Tulsa and or Oklahoma any time soon. If you live there and crave more Valve rock- please come see a rock show in Dallas…or better yet…move…fast. This weekend we’re playing a couple of great Texas shows- so come check them out. See you guys soon- Josh 05-15-01 Hey everyone- we just got back from our big trip up to the windy city. Along the way up and back we also made rock stops in Lawrence, KS and Tulsa, OK. I have to say that this was one of the most "eventful" trips we’ve ever taken. We had a lot of fun…and a lot of very strange times. Read on… Wednesday: Lawrence, KS- We headed off early Wednesday morning for Lawrence. We were playing a "private" party for some architects and I don’t think any of us knew exactly what that meant. We got to Lawrence a little early so we decided to go look around for a bit. It seems like a cool town…at least that’s my judgment from the four blocks or so that we saw before deciding it was time to eat. We found an Italian/sandwich place and all "got our eat on". After we learned that in Lawrence waitresses don’t actually take your money (?) we decided it was time to go load in. I’d heard a lot about the Bottle Neck, and it was a very cool club. Right down to the "flaming stage of death" as Ali put it. Anyway, we got everything loaded in and went to play some pool and video games. After Max and I had successfully had a game of pool that a four year old girl would laugh at, we figured that was enough of that, and went to set stuff up. After that I looked around the place a bit, and found that in the upstairs room probably every band that has ever played there has signed the wall- including our good friends bowling for soup and GWAR. Anyway, by the time we took the stage there were already quite a few architects there, along w/ my friends Ali and Katie who drove from KC to see us. We played a great set…and even debuted a new song for the architects…and I must say we learned one thing about architects…they sure do design buildings. Then the next band played and did some really cool stuff. We also got yelled at by some old crazy guy about major minor 6th chords. I have no idea what he was talking about…but Tony did cover his back w/ our stickers while he was babbling…and that’s what’s really important. After the show we all headed over to Kansas city with our friend Craig of the band Moaning Lisa. We went to the Hurricane where we also met David (also of ML) and hung out there for a while. After that we all headed to Craig’s house where he was kind enough to let us stay. I think it’s important to point out that on the way, Casey and Tony taught some girls Grateful Dead CD to fly. Anyway, by the time we got to the house, Max was pretty well passed out in the back of the van, so we decided not to disturb him. Now I’m not sure if you recall what happened last time we left Max unattended after a good night of drinking (see the college station trip)…Anyway, around 8 in the morning, Craig came down to inform us that apparently his "neighbor found some guy sleeping in his house" and apparently "that guy was Max". After we finally all woke up, we went out to find Max and hear his version of the story which though broken and scrambled some how lead to this: "I woke up and there was this old lady and man yelling at each other about what was wrong w/ me, and was I on drugs. At first I thought I was at Craig’s house so at first I just yelled back…but when the toddler came running through, I figured out that I was actually just asleep on some strangers couch. Around that time the family returned to the kitchen, and I quietly made my exit". That sort of sums it up, but if you have the chance, get Max to tell it…it’s really priceless. Thursday: Grand tour of the windy city. We had a day off Thursday- other than the long drive up to Chicago. We got into chi-town Thursday evening and went to Chris’s (Casey’s brother) place. We all hung out there, played a little pool and ate some pizza. Later that night we tried to go out and check out the Cibo Matto show at the metro…but apparently a few people like them in Chicago…considering the line wrapped pretty much around the block. Abandoning that plan we walked further down past Wrigley field and thought we had spotted hope w/ the sign for "midget boxing" (I swear that’s true) but unfortunately that wasn’t for another few weeks. Finally we decided to go over to about the only other club I could get into- the House of Blues. We were lucky enough to show up for that right as the show was over and the club was closing. We decided at this point to count our losses (which was up around 40 bucks in cab fares) and call it a night. While we never did get to go anywhere, it was cool to hang out downtown for a while. Friday: Chicago- We got up on Friday and all went out to lunch at this GREAT Italian place called "The Italian Village". I cannot stress enough how good REAL Italian food is. We were also told by a man that works there that we look like the Backstreet boys…hmm. After that, we headed back the Chris’s to rest for the afternoon and prepare for the big night of rock. We headed up early for load in, and after that went on a few mile jog to the restaurant where we were meeting Casey’s family. We all had a really good dinner and then decided it would be smarter to take a cab back to the club. There was a private party upstairs at the elbow room so we all went downstairs and talked to all our Chicago friends and watch the first 2 bands. Then we played. Chicago shows are always some of our best. We always have a lot of support and this was no change. After we played the Gelheads had their CD release. They opened up with a Cheap Trick cover, so I liked them right away. Anyway, I had fun watching them and talking with Mike / Ben Affleck. I got to see many old Chicago friends, as well as meet some new ones. I even learned what a white hen is…woooeeeh, I feel special. Anyway, after the show we were all headed back to Chris’s for a little after show party. Unfortunately the car I was in got sidetracked for just a bit…say ooooh four hours or so. Apparently finding lost cars in downtown Chicago is not an easy task…as I learned. Luckily Kate, Amy, and Liz were good spirited enough to drive us around looking for all that time- so thanks to them. Also thanks to Emily- the short bus driver in Kansas City for not giving us directions. Anyway, after all that, by the time we made it to the place, the party was long past over. Apparently there were some really tall girls there, and Max did a bobsledding trick down the stairs. Then sleep…very short sleep. Saturday: Tulsa, OK (hell)- We woke up all too early Saturday morning and somehow managed to get underway not too late. I just wanted to point out that trying to drive for eight hours after only a night of driving around in circles and a couple of hours sleep can be a very odd experience (not as odd as waking up in a strangers house, but odd). Anyway, after almost killing us twenty five times, we made it to Tulsa. Now in case any of you aren’t aware, the motto for Oklahoma is "Oklahoma is ‘OK’". Now if you’ve ever been to Oklahoma, you know that this is a blatant and complete lie, because Oklahoma is in no way even slightly "OK". Oklahoma is about as "OK" as being put on the rack. Anyway, the club that we played at was actually really cool, and all the people who work there were really great to us. The first band that played was a very cool young band from Oklahoma. I really enjoyed them. Then the second band played and they were very angry. One of them even gave us dirty looks. I peed myself. This show actually did turn out to be really fun because after it was all over, we got to hang out and goof off w/ the guys at Curly’s. This eventually led to fights with giant beer bottles, Tony in a trash can, and Tony and Max removing various articles of clothing…don’t ask…I don’t want to remember. Finally, after all that, we made our way back to the Ramada Inn for a night of rest for me and a night of talking to the lady at the front desk for Tony. Sunday: We drove home. Wow…so I don’t think I left out too much in there. All in all, this was one of the most fun trips we’ve taken. We got to see a lot of old friends and make a lot of new ones. We had a lot of people drive a long way to come to some/all of these shows, so thanks to all of them for the support. We look forward to our next trip up, we’ll try to make it back a little sooner next time. For all of you locals, we have some more shows in this area coming up soon, so check the shows page. Thanks again especially to Craig and Chris and Craig’s neighbors for letting us stay with them. We’ll see all of you soon. Josh 04-16-01 HEY BRAH! WHAAAT’S UP??? Hope all of you guys had a great Easter weekend- as for VALVE’s- it was filled with much rock. It was also filled with much of THE ROCK…but you’ll have to read further to find out about that… Friday- San Angelo- The trip to San Angelo this time was a little more anxious than most- if you remember- it was on our last San Angelo trip that Tony broke the van. Luckily this time our Mariposa of a van came through for us. The only real incident along the way would be our little run in at GUITAR CENTER- where you can find all the medieval weapons/guitars you could want (see the BC Rich BEAST). Enough of this- on to rock. We show up to San Angelo- load in, go rest/eat some tiny sandwiches, watch some Saturday night live, and then it was time for our friends AIR RAID SUMMER to play. They had a great rock set. This band keeps getting better and better- and they happen to have a new CD out, so you guys should check them out. We followed and rocked like only a San Angelo Friday night can rock. Highlight of the night would have to be the dancing brought by AIR RAID SUMMER’s very own Josh "doughnut" Kahuna. He truly took it to the next level. After the show we went into the little steel penny apartment for some post show celebration that all went bad when "doughnut" thought he could make some ketchup fly…what was he thinking. To make up for it Kahuna invited us all over to his apartment for another famous San Angelo party. This one even included our very own WWF special including The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. This made one of the guys at the apartment a little uncomfortable- probably because it was not actually the rock and stone cold- but his lifesized and autographed cardboard cutouts of the rock and stone cold; and they weren’t actually fighting- it was more like me and Casey throwing them around the room and almost ripping them in half…oops. Anyway, we decided that instead of doing that- Tony and "doughnut" should try to act out a real wrestling match there in the floor. Tony showed "doughnut" the "people’s elbow". Finally at the end of the night we said bye to our AIR RAID SUMMER friends and went back to the Steel Penny. Omar almost threw up in the back of the lumina. Saturday, Dallas- after our long day of touring Friday- it was nice to be back in front of a home crowd for Saturday night’s show at the Curtain Club. Fozzie- a fairly new Dallas band opened the show. I’d never seen them before and they had some cool stuff. The great guys in Spill played right after that. Then our good friends [DARYL] rocked. They had a great show, and are getting ready to go out on a REAL tour this next week, so wish them luck. Then we finished up the night. We had a great show- and the crowd was awesome. It was cool to see so many of our friends out to the show- there was a lot of energy the whole night- really a great show overall. After the show Dylan from [DARYL] invited everyone back to his house for a party. Apparently I’m learning that no VALVE rock party can be complete without Tony deciding that he needs to wrestle a member of one of the other bands- this night Spammy- the drummer for [DARYL] was the "people’s victim". Although it got hard to tell who was winning at the end when it all just started looking slightly homo-erotic. Apparently I’m told we lost Aladdin’s head. I’m not really even sure what that means- but I’m told it’s bad. I did see a great Jeff Buckley Painting, and a robot that sang a disco song. What else could you need. Finally we went back to the studio and had without a doubt the strangest load in experience I’ve ever had…but you’ll have to ask Tony about that one. Thanks as always to anyone who came out and made these shows fun this weekend. We have some great local shows coming up these next couple of weeks so check the shows page and we’ll see you guys there! josh 03/05/01 WE'RE ON TOUR! Hey there! We just got back from the 1st leg of our big TOUR. We had tons of fun TOURing through Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma with our good friends Blue Sky Black and Zac Maloy. I have to say how impressed I was with Tim (BSB) and Max who both played twice each night and still managed to rock both times. Okay, enough of all this...on to the TOUR stories. Wednesday- Sherman/Austin college- I think the start to this whole night could be summed up when we pulled into the parking lot and asked a student if they knew where a "rock show" was going to be that night. From what I could gather from the back, the girl got confused for a second, then repeated "rock show?", and then told us that she thought possibly that "nixons guy" was playing over in the other building. This was closely followed by us finding that the place we were playing looked much more like my highschool lunchroom than a club, not to mention that every couple of seconds you would hear "ORDER 67 YOUR FRIES ARE UP" called over the load speaker. This was straight out of Spinal Tap, no joke. I must say that considering conditions, all 3 bands played great sets (despite my guitar breaking for me...but that's another story altogether). Then a lady tried to come yell at me for throwing an empty mountain dew bottle. We got in the van and took off. I felt like I was in 7th grade. At least the sandwiches were great! Thursday- Fayetteville, AR- We took off for the 2nd night of the big TOUR with high spirits, and Dairy Queen Blizzards in hand (see parker posey in "waiting for guffman"). We arrived at Dave's (the club) and met up with Blue Sky Black. We all got our stuff unloaded and soundchecked and whatnot, and then relaxed for a while in the really nice back room at Dave's. We were provided with many bad band posters to make fun of, and Casey and Tim gave us a good ole' blues jam to entertain...Once again, all three bands had great rock sets. The rest of the night all sort of blurs up to me, so here are the highlights that I remember: * The comedian/soundguy's great comic relief I think you get the point. It was a crazy fun night. Friday- Dallas- It was nice to be back in front of a home crowd after being on TOUR. I must say that the crowd that night at Clearview was great. I think we had a really great show, and an overall fun night. My personal highlights included getting to finally see "Start", watching Zac at Curtain, our ROCK set, and the wonderful stories provided by the drunk girl outside of Clearview who apparenty started loading equipment at birth...and we all know what that's like. Saturday- Ada, OK- WOW! This show was crazy. It started when we pulled into where we thought the Raging Planet was (it'd always been there before, why not now?) but it wasn't there. Luckily, just as we pulled into a gas station to ask directions, Zac's uncle was there and was on the way over, so he could show us where it was. So after several people telling Max, "you boy's ain't from round here are ya?", we took off for the club. The Raging Planet, for those of you who haven't been, is now EVEN MORE out in the middle of nowhere, and looks from the outside more like a bait shop than a club. Despite all this, it's still a good club, and as we found out that night, the Ada kids love it. I don't even think I should go into the part about the sound man very much, but I think he found out that it's not "just like runnin the karaoke machine" (it took 15 minutes to check the moog). Anyway, getting past all of this, we took the stage, and I personally was afraid that we might be beaten and maimed for bringing our pop-rock to Ada, but amazingly enough the show was great. The crowd was really cool and everyone rocked out. We got some good pictures there, hopefully those will be up soon. After us Blue Sky played an amazing set, and then Zac finished it up. Just on a side note, apparently between bands in Ada, they like to have mini-sessions of MTV's "the grind". It was really strange, one minute everyone would be rockin out, the next it was bumpin and grindin and crotch grabbin all over. I was scared. Tony and Byron both brought their unique moves for the band's contribution. I think this was the night also that Casey and Tim started formulating how their going to write the best hit radio single ever. From what I can gather so far...they're pretty sure it has something to do with "being a loser", "having a kid", and "Carlos Santana". Everyone watch out for this one. Sunday- Oklahoma City, OK- Finally we were at the last show of the first leg of our TOUR. I think by this point no one knew what day or town we were in, we were all judging our time by the bottle of crown. These things happen when you're on TOUR. VZD's is a really cool little Diner/bar and club that apparently has a lot of history behind it. Ask someone who knows...they'll tell you, cause I don't. We had a little time to kill so we got to go down and look around for a while at a little music store down the block. Reminded me of the X that used to be in Denton, for anyone who doesn't know what that is, think of John Cusack's store in "High Fidelity". It was a pretty cool little place. Then we went back to the club where they had Lasagna and the Simpsons waiting for us (is there any other way to spend a Sunday night?). We all played great shows considering we were stuffed from the food, and torn and tattered from the TOUR (that's alliteration). One girl there even yelled out Cornerstreet, don't know who that was but she rocked. Then we found ourselves at a teary eyed end to the first leg of our TOUR. We said goodbye's to all of our buddies, wished them well until we met again, for the 2nd leg of the TOUR. On the way home we stopped at a gas station and Casey and Max decided they needed to educate me in the ways of Van Halen. We picked up a tape that apparently I'm told is one of the greatest tapes ever made. I think they must have put the wrong one in the case...but I didn't say that outloud. Finally we were back home. Ready for a lot of post-TOUR rest. In case I wasn't clear, we have just returned from the 1st leg of a TOUR, we are a TOURing band, and this week we'll be starting the 2nd leg. Everyone be sure and check the shows page and see if our TOUR is TOURing your way. josh 02/27/01 Mariposa! We just got back from a CRAZY weekend out. This weekend we visited San Angelo and Waco. I know this doesn’t sound very CRAZY, but just read on. I’ll tell you just how CRAZY it was. Friday, San Angelo- We decided on Friday that we should try to head off early so that we could get loaded in and soundcheck before the show. So we left in the early afternoon, thinking we had plenty of time to make it. This plan worked great…until Tony decided he wanted to break the van. Around forty-five miles outside of San Angelo our van decided that it wanted to take a rest. After all of us thinking that someone had to be doing something wrong, and each trying over and over to start the van, we decided with all of our roadside mechanic skills that the van wasn’t starting (during the hour we sat beside the road, several other kind roadside mechanics stopped to agree with our conclusion). At this point we decided to start calling all of our San Angelo friends…which unfortunately there are about 3 of. Well, to cut this story a bit short, we were able to get in touch w/Josh from AIR RAID SUMMER and fortunately he had a truck and was willing to come and help us out. That took care of getting us and our trailer back to town, but there was still the issue of the van. We got a tow-truck who could tow it in for us at a special rate of twice the quoted price ("well I only measured the trip OUT when I quoted you that, see it’s a two way trip"). But we still needed a shop to tow it to, considering we had a show to get to the next day and we didn’t think it was going to start on it’s own. We were eventually able to find a shop that wasn’t normally open that day who was willing to work on it, so big thanks to them. Anyway, after this CRAZY event we were finally able to get ourselves and our trailer back to the Steel Penny to load in before the first band even started. Luckily we had time to relax a bit in the back and enjoy some pizza before we took the stage. We had a great show, Tony again had some tough dance competition. Afterwards we went to a CRAZY San Angelo party, which was a lot of fun. Finally we went back to the club for some sleep. This day was definitely CRAZY. Saturday, Waco- We woke up Saturday morning, and checked to make sure that someone was taking care of our van. After that issue was taken care of, we set out on a quest for breakfast. Considering we had no form of transportation it seemed the only option was the skinny’s down the road. Oh the mistakes. Max had the first of our skinny’s experiences when he was told that the inch of liquid that he added to his coffee counted as a refill. We tried explaining to her that this technically wasn’t a "refill" really more of a "warmer". There was no arguing with this master of liquid inventory, so Max was out the 53¢. (CRAZY) Suffering this loss, we headed back to the Penny where we met Jim and he was kind enough to take us to lunch. Jim only has a small truck, which wasn’t going to fit all of us, so Tony got to ride in the back. It was very similar to Michael J. Fox’s van surfing in "Teen Wolf". It was CRAZY. After lunch we called and found that our Mariposa of a van was fixed. Jim took us over and we picked it up. The mechanics son called Tony stinky. I laughed. Finally we were able to head back out on the road, where we encountered our second "skinny’s" experience. The woman working at this wonderful smelling store had obviously not worked there very long. She was checking codes on everything we bought (apparently Tony’s coke is larger than it appears). I guess there must not be a code for gas because about twenty miles down the road "Sheriff Billie Jack" pulled us over to let us know he had gotten a call from "Norma Gene" at the "skinny’s" who had told him that we must have forgotten to pay for our gas before leaving. We happily returned back to the "skinny’s" and gave "Norma Gene" the gas money. We apologized for forgetting, but I don’t think she heard us, she was too busy looking for codes. After that CRAZY incident we got back on the road to Waco. Luckily I can say that the rest of the trip went without hitch (other than when Max got hungry and tried to kill the cow that crossed the road, and a "skinny’s" encounter w/ SWAMP THING). We got to Waco and loaded in. After a CRAZY pool tournament we took the stage and rocked Waco like a hurricane. I was happy because I received many cupcakes and silly presents for my birthday. Thanks to everyone who contributed to that. That was CRAZY! Finally we headed back to Dallas. We had a lot of fun on this CRAZY weekend out. We want to thank everyone again (especially the AIR RAID SUMMER guys) for helping us make it to and from San Angelo. We have a LOT of CRAZY shows coming up these next two weeks, so everyone check the shows page a come see us. Josh 02/05/01 This week we had the pleasure of visiting wonderful Tyler, TX. Tyler actually happens to be old stomping ground for Max and Tony "rearside" Gattone. So we got the lowdown on the underground Tyler dealings…it’s a little scary, you should ask them. Anyway, on to the story… The drive to Tyler is around a short 2 hrs, so we never get too bored. This time we just kicked back to the new "Coldplay" CD, which if you haven’t heard, you should check it out. It sort of reminds me of old school Van Halen. Good stuff. Anyway, so we arrive in Tyler around 7 and load in. One of my favorite things about playing Tyler, is the food @ elmo’s is incredible. I had my usual, the casadillas (or casey-dilas as they’ve apparently been dubbed). They were great as always. But on to the rock- Our new friends "The End of Julia" opened up the set. These guys were great. I’d heard a lot about them, but never actually heard them before. I hope we get to play more shows with these guys cause they were a great band, and cool guys, anyway check them out if you haven’t. At one point I thought the cops were going to come in and tell them to turn down…but actually some guys had just stolen a papa johns guy’s car and ditched it in the elmo’s parking lot. Tyler Saturday nights. Then we played a great rock show. We had a good crowd and no one yelled "skynyrd" the whole way through. That’s always good. After us "Plummit" played. Much body swaying abounded. Ever see the video to Papa Roach’s "last resort"…yeah. But it’s okay, Max made up for it by climbing the many poles in elmos. Tony later attempted to do a seductive pole dance to lure the shirtless plummit guitarist, but found that spilled drink combined with spinning around on a pole equal Tony on his back. It’s okay though, he put the spilled drink to good use by moonwalking across it, that was impressive. We also got to see a guy in the back of elmos who was on drugs I don’t think my doctor has heard of arguing that "he was driving his truck home, and no one was towing shit" and that "no one was gonna touch his wife". I was scared. On the drive home Casey and Tony attempted to damage some Tyler road signs with their empty bottles. I think Casey might have damaged a few innocent land animals, and maybe even some south American children…but no road signs were hurt. Tony manages to make contact with one…but I think it was more of a hand off to the sign, sort of a "here, I’m done with this, why don’t you take it" and the road sign would say "yes, why thank you, how very nice of you" (what the hell am I talking about). Either way, it showed that Tony’s abilities in throwing shirts and darts also seem to carry over into bottles. Max also seemed to turn the inside of the van into his private playground…running and skipping and climbing and being glee. If you are reading this paragraph and think you might see a legal problem with any of this, then for you- none of this happened, of course I was kidding we would never do that, we played yatzee. We had a great time in Tyler, we want to thank everyone who came out to see us, especially the "Downstar" guys, nightrider, and Tony’s 500 ex-girlfriends. Anyone who missed it (or didn’t) should come this Thursday night (Feb. 8th) to Dan's bar in Denton, or this Sunday (Feb. 11th) to the curtain club local show. See you all there. Josh 01/23/01 Well here goes again…this week we rounded off our two-week spree of shows with Bowling For Soup. We had some more really fun shows, here’s the rundown: Wednesday, Lubbock - We left for Lubbock with the following two messages in hand: 1. "It’s snowing here, don’t die"…and… With those two things in mind we were ready to face the road. Lubbock is always an exiting five and a half hour van ride filled with fun, games, and lots and lots of peeing our pants. Anyway, I’ll skip that section for you… We arrive at Einstein’s at around five thirty for load in and it’s already snowing. Luckily it remained a Texas snow for the rest of the night, so we didn’t feel very threatened. We were forced to skip the radio interview due to "technical difficulties," but would like to thank Gabe for plugging the show for us, and for being a filthy drunk. Anyway, we played a great show. The crowd was one of the best we’ve ever had in Lubbock, and there were no flying potted meat products. Tony wanted me to give kudos to Bernie (not Chris) who officially "spanked" him and "swallowed his head". Then BFS played a great set. After that we hit a crazy Lubbock party. I had a guy tell me that he wants to make out with his sister. It was fun… Thursday, Stephenville - This was my first time to ever visit the great town of Stephenville, TX. If you’ve never had the chance yourself- go rent "Gummo"…no, but really, I think when we walked in the bar the music may have actually stopped. I think the fun really started midway through Gary’s soundcheck, when a crazy guy in the corner started screaming about how "if he hit that damned drum one more time he was gonna…" it trailed off from there. This was then followed by the two guys who were caught stealing shirts from BFS’s merch box, and then asked if they could switch sizes. One of them decided that he wanted to give Sweet Charlie a little loving…which almost turned into the first actual "bar brawl" I’ve ever seen. Anyway, once past the scary first portion of the night, everything actually went okay. Around the time we went on, the college crowd started to arrive, and the show was actually good. Then Chasin Elwood played, a local Stephenville band who I’d never seen before. During their set, Tony got to share a dance with one of the talented Stephenville fillies. It’s a moment I’ll never forget. Then BFS played, which we didn’t get to see all of, but I’m sure it was good. Friday, Ft. Worth - If you live in the DFW area and were not at the Aardvark show on Friday, you should be shot…unless you were at the stockyards for the cattle show, in which case we will kick you, then shoot you. We had a great show. People said it was one of the best shows we’ve ever played (and this time "people" isn’t just Casey’s mom). There were a lot of people there and we had a crazy time. BFS played another great rock set. It was a great end to the two weeks. Then…much sleep… We’ve had some great shows this month, if you didn’t get to catch one, try to come out this Thursday (25th) for a great show at Club Clearview with us, [DARYL], and Red Animal War. Keep checking the shows page for the list of February shows, hope to see you all there. Josh 01/15/01 HEY! So here it is finally up, for those of you who have been checking and asking. We thought this would be a good little section to tell about all the crazy stories that happen while out on the road. We’ll probably also usually include a couple of photos from the shows too, so it should be a cool place to check in and see what’s going on with us. In case any of you didn’t know, this last week we did a couple of shows with our good buddies BOWLING FOR SOUP. We played Thursday night in Austin and Friday night in Waco. Here’s the basic rundown: Thursday: We all meet up, pack van, and get headed underway to Austin. Trip was easy, no unexpected surprises which is always good. We were supposed to be to the club by 7:30, but arrived late at 7:28, I’m still figuring the logistics of that one out… There are five bands playing that night, I honestly wish I could tell you the names, but that’s not gonna happen, so you should have gone! We get set up, ready to play, but somehow the Moog isn’t going through the PA. We try everything we can think of, but somehow the soundguy can’t get it to read. After about twenty minutes of him trying to make this work…we realize that we can simply plug it into Chris’s amp, and somehow…amazingly, it works! Unfortunately our set at this point had been cut basically in half. We played. Rocked the house down for a whole 25 minutes. All in all it was still a great show. Right after us, Bowling for Soup played- Great show, as always. After show, solo vocal performance by crazy drunk street guy, who then proceeds to piss on the wall. I loved it. Post-show party…lots of fun…I love Austin. Friday: We had a half day off, so we took in some of the great sites in Austin. Max showed us this great little breakfast spot, where we learned that breakfast burritos for $3.00 can be good…but Tony learned that eating the Bean/Egg/Jalepeno combination before a long ride in the van is bad…for all involved. We looked around at a few of the record/thrift stores around. Max probably got out with the best purchases of the day, with a pimp jacket and a shirt that says "SLUT". After lunch we headed for Waco and Scruffy Murphy’s. We load in, and after showing my complete lack of pool skills, we play. This was by far the best Waco show we’ve had yet. Tony had his first real challenge in the breakdance competition…we thought he might go down, but I think he pulled it out. Then..Bowling for Soup- great again. After a little partying, the long ride home. I think I almost killed us about fifty times, but thanks to some HOT SPICY CHUBBIES from the Czech bakery, we made it back. Then much sleep… We’ll be playing more shows this week with Bowling for Soup, so check the shows page to see if we’re coming to your town. We’re playing some new songs this month, so everyone come out to a show and give Tony a kiss… Casey, Tony, Max, and Josh 03-28-01 Hey there rockers! We just got back from a great trip to College Station and the wonderful North by Northgate fest. You know when we only go on TOUR for 1 day, I worry that I won’t have much to write about…this luckily enough was not one of those times. Read on… We left Saturday afternoon for College Station. The trip was great. We helped many of the various terrible CD’s in the van learn to fly. Tony showed us his new gas station CD purchase of "Bad Boy Ballads". I really hope that title doesn’t require much more explanation. Anyway, after a random gas station encounter w/ fellow Dallas rockers Doosu, stopping a woman from stealing the display of cold cokes, and Tony "bad boy" Gattone’s encounter w/ the Russian spy dogs, we had completed our trip. We arrived at the club to find that of course- the stage us on the 2nd floor, and of course- the stairway is outside, and of course- it’s been raining. Needless to say this makes load in a whole new task. Luckily we had some help, and got it done with only one of the loaders dying. Oh well. Next we met up w/ our friends Jennifer and Matt and went down to Freebirds for some food. If you’ve never been to one, Freebirds is a great food establishment where they give you these huge burritos the size of cucumbers wrapped in foil. I loved it. There was also some strange graffiti on the wall. Hmmm…. After stuffing ourselves we headed around to the other clubs to see what all was going on. Mainly what I remember is this: * a bunch of bartenders won’t serve max cause they think he’s 12. * "this song is about our ex-bassplayer, hope he’s not here cause he’d be pissed!!!"-angry angry singer. That actually really should sum up most of what happened there, just apply those to about 5 different clubs. After deciding I’d seen enough, I headed back to our club to check out what was going on there. The first band was called "Faceplant". I believe their show was best summed up by their merch. Take your pick- either the shirt "there’s no use crying over spilt bong water" or the thong w/ "plant face here" written on the front. Yeeeeah. Anyway, the next band was Split Christie from Austin. We’d played with them once before at the Metro in Austin and I think they’re a great band. Good pop/punkish stuff, if you get a chance check them out. Following them we took the stage and rocked. The show was great. For our first time in College Station we had a ton of people up there to watch us and the crowd was really rockin. Thanks to everyone who came and helped make it a rockin show. After our show I got to see some other Dallas bands play- Space Cadet and Doosu who both had great shows. I also saw some band from Indiana, people said they were an indie band. What I would say cannot be printed, but it involves a shark sandwich. Following the rock, we headed over to our friend Jennifer’s house for the "after party". It was great. We threw jenga blocks, did a little face painting on Tony "bad boy" Gattone, and broke things fred durst style. Some of our other friends from the show came by and invited us to come to another party, so me and Max decided to go check that out. Unfortunately, Max found this party to be- "boring Sidney" so he returned to Jennifer’s house…or so we thought. It wasn’t until the next morning when everyone awoke that we found that Max had not returned to the house…in fact…no one really knew where Max was. Matt and I decided that we should probably go find him before he cause harm to himself or others. The first place we decided to look was the van- I don’t know why b/c Max has no keys, but surely enough there he was asleep in the back. We woke him up, and learned that apparently we had neglected to give Max the proper directions on returning to Jennifer’s apartment. So after an hour or so of knocking on random doors and attempts to find a soft spot of sidewalk, Max decided he was destined to sleep in the Van. Of course this, along with the blood on Max’s face, raised the question, "how did Max get in the van". Hopefully the pictures we took should show well enough how Max got in the van. Let’s just say there was a good breeze blowing in the back on the drive home. Anyway, I think that pretty much sums up our crazy rock trip. We want to thank everyone who came out again and helped make our first college station show a rockin one. Especially thanks to Jennifer and Matt for helping bring some people out, and Jennifer for letting us (other than Max "the destructor" Litner) stay at your place. We’ve had a lot of people asking when we will be doing some more local shows…all I can say is April should be your month. Watch the shows page for lots of shows coming up in the DFW area. See you guys there. josh << BACK to TOP |
|
