At 7:15 am this morning, I pulled into the parking lot behind Chris' apartment and had a tiny anxiety attack upon seeing the smaller-than-I-had-imagined vehicle that Chris was attempting to pack with all of our tour gear (pictured below). In my mind, there was no chance in hell that we were going to be able to fit everything into this vehicle. However, after some brainstorming and tight packing, we figured out a number of things that we could do without, and packed every square inch with band equipment and luggage. Then began our journey. Clocking in a staggering five hours, it turned out that I had endured the most sleep out of anybody, therefore making me most eligible to drive to Chicago. The next eight hours or so is much too uneventful to mention any details, so I'll skip to the show.
We played our first show at the Subterranean to a very outrageously dressed crowd (this is in no way mentioned as a negative thing, it was incredible), a select few of which were in the front row screaming at us to play dance songs the entire time, but I still think they were enjoying the set (or would have enjoyed had they been sober enough to even know where they were). Oh, one more interesting fact is that Leslie's drummer Grace was courteous enough to let me use her equipment on this tour, which means that I am playing a hot pink drum kit decorated with cats. Anyway, it was super fun, and there was a great overall response from the crowd. After we finished, the otherworldly Leslie and the Lys took the stage and blew the minds of their many fanatical followers. Due to the fact that CJ, our trumpet player, had gotten sick from his dinner (caused by unknowingly consuming egg products, to which he is allergic), I was recruited to join the Beanie Baby Marching Band for a guest spot on a song with Leslie & Co. I should note that this consisted of me going onstage with a trumpet and pretending to perform a song that I do not know how to play, on a intstrument that I also don't know how to play.
After an extremely exhausting day, we went back to our gracious host Eddie's apartment and promptly fell into a deep slumber. Great first day.
Chris packing the car.
Marqueeee!
The Subterranean
Creepy statue. Not sure what is going on here.
The crowd.
Beanie Babie Marching Band. The trumpet I'm holding doesn't even have a mouthpiece on it, let alone any sound coming out of it.
February 13th
Despite being only the second day of the tour, we had a day off today. This was great, because it meant that we got to sleep in very late, and then walk around to some great Chicago stores (two of my personal favorites being Quimby's Bookstore and Reckless Records). It was a great relaxing day that will be followed by eleven shows in a row. Columbus, Ohio tomorrow.
My new friend Walter
Rad zine that I bought from Quimby's and my good pal High Life
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