christmasjones

Well children I am back from yet another excursion on the road with musicians. We did a gig in Boston, Mass, which are always phenomenal. then drove straight through 28 hours to Mobile Alabama. There we had a little cabin in some guys backyard all to ourselves. Kinda odd it was decked out in anime video collections, midevil weaponry, and randomness. Apparently the place belonged to a deceased grandma. I'm assuming the trophies of nerd-dom were after grandma's passing.

Our arrival in New Orleans led us to the hotel we would be sharing with another band. Son of a bitch we got lucky! The place was beautiful! Located right in the heart of the french quarter on Chartres Street, our hotel was actually two apartments for weekly rent. We had a front porch facing the narrow street. Having a front porch in the French Quarter is about as good as it gets.

The gig was at a small joint called the Dragon's Den located in the Marigny section of town. No problems here, this was the punk rock village of graffiti art, squatters, and cheap beer. The lack of open container laws a culture shock at first, considering we were still in America.(most countries in the world don't give a shit) Within hours it became second nature to walk around with a beer outside.

We had two days off before another gig in the city.

The first night off was a romp around Bourbon Street. We tried those silly tourist hand grenades "new orleans most powerful drink" and the "huge ass beers". At a random bar it said "more beer on tap than you can imagine." Me, being a so called beer snob, I had to check it out. Sam Adams on tap. Sweet.

The man next to me turned, "hey ya'll musicians correct?" in a twangy texas accent. He looked about 40ish.
"Yeah dude, that would be me."
"I'm a musician too. Ya'll should hear my tracks on this here Ipod" he snapped his fingers "hey bartender, get this man a jager bomb."

Turns out he was a conservative texas oil man. His job was a manager on an oil platform. At one point he lectured Jon and I on(the only two of our group left) why poor people are bad, obama should be assasinated, and gay is a mental disorder. We just kept drinking his free alcohol. He was too slow to figure out that we didn't give a damn how idiotic he was, or that a punk rock band from CT definitely aren't republicans.

Then he went to the ATM and made a bold statement.
"This 500 bucks is gonna be for us! How about we hit up every strip club on Bourbon tonight? My treat!"

yeah...after six hours of velvet ropes, champagne rooms, jager bombs, and random white powder drugs, we ditched the asshole. Jon and I were proud of ourselves. We made it back to the apartment at sunrise, and passed the fuck out.

Day off 2 was more of HANGOVER day than anything. Once we got some vomit out, food in, and showers on, we mustered the energy to wander more. There's no cover charges in any bars in New Orleans. There's fuckin music everywhere. We brought our acoustic guitars so we did a set in Jackson Square. During the last song, we had gathered somewhat of a crowd, a police officer rode up on his horse.
"Get the hell out of here before I issue you a summons." (in a very gay accent...thummons)
We spend the rest of the night on Frenchmen Street partying with locals and making new friends.

My full description of the city won't fit here. I'm working on it. It's a magical place. People in New Orleans tend to dance in the street barefoot. Walking a mile in any direction and the bars will have bands blaring every possible genre of music you could ask for. The spicy food is epic.

We explored the 9th ward. I like checking up on the progress of the new houses being built. Unfortunately I must report the going is slow. There hasn't much done as far as cleanup since my last visit in 07. It's still a sad barren wasteland. Oh and the fucking van overheated in the ghetto. Talk about exciting! A group of hoodlums were just staring at us funny looking white boys with the broke-down vehicle. Luckily I had a friend nearby who came to help. Once he stepped out of the car, the appearance of his gun holster quickly got the hoodlums to ignore us. God bless America huh? This place really is the wild west. Oh, and don't ever set foot on Martin Luther King BLVD in a city you do not live in. I decided the park the van in front of the gig and use my friend for a ride back the hotel.(since it was still early)

The second gig was at The Saint, supposedly owned by Sean Ysuelt of White Zombie, though we never saw her. We got to ride a trolley to the gig. Pretty cool experience. Great way to see the town. The venue was jam packed. We did very well on merch before the set even happened. For some reason during our performance I felt inclined to steal patron's hats during each song. It was so much fun. Hopefully the right people got back the right hats. Or maybe they worked it out.

Overall we made a big splash in New Orleans playing to several hundred people two different ends of the town, making quite a few new friends, and just experiencing a magical city where residents would never say "i hate this place"(how many towns are there like that? honestly?).

We drove up friday and hit home for halloween around 9am. I spent the night trick or treating with my son. All kinds of candy he can't eat. Hi fives!

Sunday we drove four hours to Long Island to open for the Murder Junkies. The main band was a no call, no show. Douchebaggery? Yep. Our set was fun, as usual Long Island kicks ass.

...and that ends that.



Just visit the album for the pics
New Orleans trip 2009