I'm sitting in the van, reading my book, when I realise I haven't written anything today. My pen-holding finger is a bit tender, due to a blind dive into my washbag and the consequent 3-bladed attack of the gillette venus.
We drove to Arlington VA after the Baltimore gig last night. Baltimore (the Rams Head Live!) was a bit disappointing, for all the bands I think. The area round the venue was thronged, but in a temple bar kinda way. These kids were not up for the rocking. Personally I thought the venue (built in the last 2 years, was an atmosphereless barn. I think when you go to places like vicar st, if you're building something of a comparable size, then you should look to Vicar st as an example for how well it can be done. Tonight should be different though, there's much more of a punk rock vibe to the place, and by all account, Dave Grohl is a silent part-owner.
Though we only got to Donny (ex-Pinbacker) and Katie's gaff at 330am this morning, I didn't get up til noon which was untold luxury, then we all drove into Washington to hang out. DC is crazy. You know the way all the states this side of the pond have taglines for there states. Well the mayor had a vote, and they voted for 'Taxation without Representation' - slightly more bitter than Ontario's 'Yours to discover' or Illinois' 'Land of Lincoln' (I think). See, it's a small place, but it's very populous, and despite having the seat of power here for the whole feckin country, they don't have their own senator. And after the riots here in the mid-90's, the phrase 'white flight' was coined cos so many white people flooded out of the city into the surrounding Virginia & Maryland suburbs. It's pretty run down within blocks of the Teach Ban. Should get a proper look at the city tomorrow so more then.
Donny & katie live near a bakery, so they walked their dog there this morning and bought us so much good stuff for breakfast. I am going to turn into a carb, a complex one though mind. There's a pattern of cool pets so far on this tour - besides Shadow from yesterday, and Milo the dog, the lads stayed in house in Chicago, with Handi-cat, the 3 legged cat. Milo's no exception to the cool rule. He does a 'little woof, big woof' trick and eats squeezy eazi cheese from a ridged foam device. (He also ate 3 of Graham's gluten free shortbread biccies, but he was contrite so I'd say he's forgiven.
We passed the Pentagon on the way downtown - sinister as hell for a couple of reasons - its vastness and the lack of life around there. You can't even see it's 5-sided as you drive by it's so huge that there's no concept of its shape, and you just know it stretches as far underground as it looms large overground. In fact, I'd say the word loomed was likely invented for it. There's nothing around it as far as I could see from the interstate but solar panels. No cars, no people, no trees (the terrorists could hide in them). Nothing I've pointed out there is particularly sinister, but it certainly gave me a feeling of foreboding. Anyway, me & Mark and gonna take a walk around the Mall area tomorrow, and hopefully stick a finger up in Dubya's direction at least. D&K are enthusiastic hosts - they've told us about tons of cool museums round there, so fingers crossed (the ones that are sticking up) we'll get time in one. I could see Star Wars tomorrow, but you know, it'll still be on for ages, and I'd like to use the time I have in a city I've never been in before to maybe see some stuff I can't see elsewhere.
I'm sorry about the lack of photos, if you click through to flickr, i'm getting them up there in bits & pieces. I'm using wi-fi when it's in the air, but it's not my computer, so I have to share with others that want to hog it as much as I do.
The lads all played with Pinback tonight in the encore which is great. I'm pissed off I missed it, cos I couldn't see from the merch stall, and I wasn't told it was happening. You'll have to ask them how it was. Maybe I'll be told if it's happening again, or maybe I'm just the merch lackey ;) They also had some friends there, so that's cool when they had such a good show - besides D&K, Dudley's friend Annie was there, and Jon who we're staying with in NY. I wasn't introduced to him, but I guess I'll meet him if we're staying with him.
Mark and I have had our first cross words since I arrived to boo to that. He's downstairs watching cartoons. It's late, and I want to upload some more photos before I sleep. Goodnight.
2 comments:
This is great reading I must agree. I was in Washington and the day we went sightseeing it feckin' bucketed down and I got drowned. Or drownded as they say in the town.
Dudley should publish this on the Corpo site too. Alternative tour diary! You'll love Jon Pack. He's a winner in the game of life. All parts of him other than the colon are, at least.
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