Monday, April 9, 2007

MERCURY LOUNGE SHOW-TOUR DAY 12

We made our way to the airport with time to spare. I took the liberty of double checking with some employees of the airport about my lost ID & the police report I had on hand to use. seemed all good though.

When we were finally in line to check in, the people who worked there immediately informed us that our flight had been delayed and we wouldn't be in NYC til 4pm. I was a little bummed because we had counted on that extra time in the morning for the band to sleep. Slee is extremely important to this band, esp. since they were still a little jet lagged to begin with. We came up with a new plan to tell the venue the band just wanted to skip sound check and do a line check that night so they could sleep most of the day and perform that evening.

After everyone was good and checked in, we tooled around by the gate for a while. Eventually there was another announcement saying our flight was cancelled, and a long line started forming infront of the gate kiosk for people to change their flights at. We probably ended up waiting in line for a while....I was really bummed about this, since it was the biggest problem that came out of no where yet. I called anothony and jim to let them know what was up, then tried to devise a plan of action while waiting.

My only thoughts were to rent a car and drive to houston to catch our connecting flight to NYC, but I was exhausted, delirious, and it seemed to be a little too late to still catch our connection since it's a 3 hour drive to houston from san ant.

The band was pretty much over it. They said 'it's over mary, it's not your fault, but the tour is over' i think they were just tired and they had a different perception of how the tour was going to be played our then from how it actually ended up being. They just wanted to go home. So they told me I just needed to get them home now.

We convinced anthony there was nothing to be done, which there wasn't. They only later flight to NYC from San Ant. left and 4pm and on top of that it was overbooked and we'd be on standy by. no chance. Then we made arrangements with a stewardess at the kiosk for hotels and a new flight out to NYC the next day.

We got free hotel rooms for each person
Lots of meal vouchers
And 1st class tickets.

After all that, we got our luggage back, went to the hotel, and ate some lunch while we waited to check in at 3.

more trouble arose at our lunch spot, applebees when the waiter was being shady about letting us see how much we owed on the bill after we gave him vouchers. But Isabelle stepped up and totally scared the crap out of the kid, so the bill got fixed.

More waiting occured for our rooms. slowly one by one we got rooms. I was the last.

when I got to my room it was awesome. But i was kinda shaky at this point, and sooo tired that my body had trouble actually sleeping, which i'm sure makes no sense.

TBA

Sunday, April 8, 2007

SXSW-EXODUS SHOW-TOUR DAY 11 (PRT 2)

We got to the Exodus venue for the last and final show! After dropping off the band, I met up with Division Day at a said location and got their gear for the gig. After dropping the gear at Exodus, I met up with the band and Minty peeps for a little R&R and some dinner.

On the way to eat, we secured our vehicle in an underground parking lot hotel where Anthony, Al, and Angie were staying and walked from there to dinner. I however decided to bail on free food and fine dining opting for a little 'quiet time' for myself instead. I just needed a break from being around people and needed to calm myself and not think for a while.

I cruised down 6th street and just let myself get lost in the mix of people, music, and insanity that was going on, it was awesome. Eventually I stopped by this coffee spot near the tail end of 6th that also makes their own cigars. Inside I found Astrid chilling with her boyfriend so I talked to them for a while until a fairly 'out-of-it' character walked in and started talking about how he wanted to see Amy Winehouse.

At this point, Astrid and her boy went to some show down the way, and I think i was txting jonas at this time and went to see the park the van showcase.

The venue, Halla Catina? where the showcase was was really cool. It had a bar/resturant upstairs and a really nice stage area & bar downstairs. There was even a way out the back that led to another show that was going on outdoors. I feel like I saw more then Tulsa play, but they're the only band I can remember. The drummer for that band was pretty amazing, and they were a good gig over all. Somewhere in the mix i went to go get a drink and there was a bartender there who i was waiting on who kept ignoring me and helping other people. even though she saw me standing there. What a jerk.

Later, Chris Watson, who I didn't know as Chris Watson at the time kept pushing for me to get a PTV compilation, which I kept insisting to him that I had already gotten and downloaded only two days earlier. He was persistant I tell ya, even when I mentioned a friend of mine was in the band and how much i dug the band, but i suppose when you're the head of a high rising indie company you can't take 'no' for an answer...at least the first four 'no''s.

Other on goings were talking to a photo guy who had been touring with 'What made milwaukee famous' and talking about Lady Sovereign, Amy Winehouse, and people musically showing off.

I then left after this and made my way back to the Exodus. It was a bummer though, I wish I stayed only to bump into Al from Minty who i later found out was inside talking to PTV people when i was outside. I just went out the back too so i totally missed him...ugh! that would have been cool.

Anyways I went back to the venue and checked to see if the band was there yet. They weren't. I think I bumped into Angie at this point, but i'm not entirely sure....I might have gone to get some more coffee actually....no wait.

People were coming back to the venue, I still needed to get the merch, so i went back to the hotel where had some. I ran into Angie and Alex there and we just chilled in the lobby for a long time just shootin' the shit about stupid stuff.

Later on Al and his friend joined us which was cool. Eventually Alex and I left to go back to the venue and THEN i got coffee. On the way out some kid started talking to me, i think because I said excuse me or something for reaching over him to get sugar at that coffee prep station. he noticed my laminates and just asked 'are you a tour manager?' it was awesome. That's probably the first time someone's just asked me first if i was a tour manager and not if i was in the band it made me feel good.

When Alex and i finally got back to the venue, him and Francois decided to check the equipment to make sure everything was in order for their performance. I stayed out side and talked to Sage Allen, the promoter, who was a bit of a cutie with his southern drawl. Alex then frantically ran out to me and said we didn't have a drum pedal...and it was about 30 so minutes before we went on. I just told him 'give me five minutes' and immediately went down the street to where the teeth were and borrowed jonas' pedal. it was awesome. the teeth JUST finished there set, i rolled up, grabbed the pedal...to which jonas kinda gave me a scowl of disapproval....but he offered earlier in the day so can't be going back on his word, haha. but really, it was awesome of him, and booked it back to the show.

I got back to the venue, gave Alex the pedal, then another problem arose. 'Mary I don't have a thrown' Great.....at this point i sure as hell wasn't going back to ask for a thrown from jonas, so I just kinda asked the tech who was helping us on stage and he let us borrow Jr. Sr's...but luckily we didn't get charged for using it, thank god.

When the band played I went to the hotel to get the car and brought it around to be loaded. I also had a few mintues to take some pictures of the band. There last show was off the hook and it was jam packed with sweaty people. After the show we packed up both our stuff and Division Day's. That ;venue sucked though. Just the structure. No loading dock area, no dressing room, no nothing, it just blew getting all our stuff out past lots of people in the dark at 1am.

After everything was loaded into the proper vehicles we paid the band off with 75 bucks. super cheap! the only thing that we messed up on was loosing a inch thick piece of padding for one of division day's cases. But Sebastian, from DD, and I agreed to make amends by me taking him out for a beer sometime in LA since they're from there, so it's all good! They were the best guys any TM could find at that point for help, we seriously lucked out they were amazing!

All was loaded and ready to go at this point. I scooted out the band best I could into the car after we said our goodbyes to Minty people and DD. It was sad to go, but was nice to be back to just 5 people on the road once again!

The traffic wasn't bad, I was good to drive and we were off to San Antonio for the flight to our final show in NYC....or so we thought.......

SXSW-HOT FREAKS! SHOW-TOUR DAY 11 (PRT. 1)

Alright. So Alex and I woke up early today and walked over to go pick up our rental car. We pretty much lucked out on that only paying 70bucks for a big ol' SUV cuz they didn't have any smaller vans available. Then we picked up the rest of the band, and went to our first show that day. It was okay. Wasn't the best venue, and the set times were running behind. High lights were free drinks, a nice lounge area, and Alex climbing up the stone wall in the middle of the set. Also ran into my KEXP buddies Jim and Shannon who were there to check out the band, The Early Years, playing at the neighboring venue Mohawk.

During their performance I mainly tried to convince two different groups of people to let our band borrow their backline for the last show we had to do that evening but failed miserably at doing this.Basically for a little summary we already had backline through another band, but they were renting and charging other bands for some of the expenses on that rental. Our expenses would have been 400 bucks which we couldn't do, and since we didn't get a receipt with a breakdown, which i asked for from the band, i was feeling it was a little sketch, and Minty and I agreed it would be best to find a cheaper alternative.

After the gig we went back to pack, and sleep before our crazy flight at 3 the next morning would happen.

I however had to find backline, so after getting the next few days ready and my stuff packed, I left the house and went to scope out backline. I stopped briefly by to see another teeth show and find out what time they were playing that night too, but it was too close for any kinda borrowing to be going on so i bailed on that idea.

After departing that scene i returned to the house to do a little more work and was thinking about crashing or meeting up with some dude who was considering letting us use drums. Angie then called me and told me she found the band backline and it was completely cool, I just needed to come down and handle the arrangements! This was awesome, give that girl a little liqour and she's on it!

I rushed down, found parking and went back over to Club Deville where we played the Hot Freaks show earlier that day. This band from California called Division Day was responsible for lending us a hand. All super cute dudes too. One of them also had the exact same different colored eye thing going on that I had too! After making arrangedments I split with Angie and we went to pick up the band.

The band was a little groggy, but they were in good spirits and super happy we found backline. We all loaded up with gear, people, and bags, said goodbye to the house we were staying at and made our way to Exodus that night! Hooorah!

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

SXSW-DAY OFF-TOUR DAY 10

I woke up early today because I was wiggin' out about my ID. Immediately I decided to get on the phone to the DMV for Austin and see if I could be issued a state ID or something. DENIED! They referred me to the airport though, and I proceeded to take action there while making phone calls to my roommate Dan, and my parents to get me my passport.

It was a very frustrating morning and the band kinda knew i was having a rough day, so they layed low on asking me questions. I don't really mind answering questions when i'm frustrated, I just have to concentrate on giving a clear answer that won't cause a secondary question is all so I always look like i'm mad when i'm concentrating on answering ?'s.

We were all getting ready to leave for the band's TV interview when Francois informed me he broke the toilet, but after looking at the piping and seeing he just cut a line, it was easy to repair. I only had to use some scissors to cut a piece off and retied the whole thing together....however in the process of cutting off said piece I also cutt of a bit of my finger so I started bleeding.

While Dr. Francois fixed me up, I fixed the toilet and the day continued with only a minor casualty!

Soon I was able to get some info from the airport saying all i needed was a police report saying my id was lost/stolen. This was a bit of a relief to hear and it put my mind at ease. I put the ID thing on hold and took the band down for an interview with current TV over on 4th street. While there I spoke with the TV people if they knew anyone locally who would be willing to lend the band backline for our last show tomorrow. They said they would get back to me.

After dropping off the rental car, I walked on down to the police station to take care of the matter. First I had to call a number and tell them what was up. Then some other people were supposed to call me back giving me a ref. number for the report, then I was supposed to go back to the police station to get a copy of the report. This took about 3 hours out of my day..

While doing all that, I went to kinko's to get a copy of my passport from my mom, and continued to ask people for Band Equip. I think at this point I went on back to the police station and got my report! HOORAY! I CAN FLY!

After that I called up Angie and we met at Stubb's to go check out the SPIN magazine party. Also there was the infamous Matt Rucin and his lovely wife. There was also a woman named Margaret Mary there which was a fun conversation for about 3 mins haha. she actually had some fun SPIN VIP passes that I think she made, so Angie and I went throught those. Angie got a James Brown one, while I chose some dude with a beard and yellow hat who was playing drums. then we mostly strolled around for a bit, then decided to partake in some free tequilla. The band onstage was pretty good I can't remember who it was though.



Al met up with us somewhere in the mix and I think eventually it was just me and him wandering while Angie did some work related affairs. Al & I proceeded to go see the Teeth at the Sidebar right around the corner, but at this point they bailed to their second gig, so Al and I took Park the Van compilations and headed down to check out their second show, and catch OH NO! OH MY!

We ended up over by Malaga so i took the liberty of going in there and checking for my ID again just to ensure it wasn't there. Al and I couldn't find exactly find where OH NO! OH MY! was, so while Al still searched, i peaced out and met up with Angie to see the Teeth play at the speakeasy. They put on a pretty good show. After the show we all hung out on the top of the speakeasy in this sort of roof-top lounge.





There were couch type beds set up with little tables for drinks built in all around the edge of the roof, there was also a dj in the center, and on top of that they were serving Dewars for free. It was pretty awesome. As me and Angie soaked up the sun and loved life at that point the teeth, chadwick, and Joel joined us. Angie eventually bailed for a Fader party and I kicked it with the teeth helping them load up their van and going to dinner with them, Andrew, and the girl who was with them playing pool the other night. We kept on meeting up with Joel and Chadwick who were show hopping, eventually the teeth bailed home for the night, and I lost chadwick and joel. I called up Angie and we hung out for a bit. Angie however wanted to check out some other show, and I was feeling lousy from the day and felt there was stuff I needed to get done for tomorrow so I ended walking back to the house. I thought I might be that last one home that night, but it was only 10p.

I just did paper work, and waited till the rest of the band got home, went over the next day with them and went to sleep.