St. Louis, Missouri
Mississippi Nights

MONDAY 5 October

Rainy day in St. Louis.

Sat up last night with Bill, Randy and Jim. Matt stayed with an old friend in town. Late night of HBO and Maurizio's Pizza delivery. Had to change rooms because of the deafening throb of the industrial AC in the first room.

Drive to Webster Groves to meet my brother and get some lunch. We drive by the University where Dad taught , see the wall I used to jump off as a kid and the spot where I wrecked my bike and nearly fell into oncoming traffic. How many near misses do kids have that would have changed (or ended) the whole course of their lives? Weird thought. They've torn down our old house on Edgar Road and built dorms on it. I'm outraged. Dim memories surface and drift as we drive around.

Back to the hotel, get Bob and Jim, head for the river and the club. Nice place, very comfortable for watching.

Go to a sports bar to wait out the interim. Bob and Jim's friends, Jason and Allison from Verbow, show up--they've driven down from Chicago. Really enjoy talking to them. Very nice people whose music I really like. I hope to see more of them in the future. When you hang out with good people, you tend to meet good people. Another argument against my sometimes hermetic existence.

Weird, wacky show. My guitar volume very low for some reason. Can't hear vocals at all--surprise. I try going plug-less (unplugged?) mid set only to discover that it doesn't improve anything at all. Just as muddy and unclear, only LOUDER.







Crowd enthusiastic, but our tempos are all over the place--together, but Skintrade is brisk while Vaporub becomes a seven minute near-derge. Some guys start talking to Bob during the beginning of Anymore Time Between, so he stops singing and gives them the mic (since it must be so important). Man In The Moon begins to sound like a song tonight.


For the encore, Bob says to take Disappointed REALLY fast and Hanging Tree REALLY slow.

We do and it make s for a very wacky, but really cool encore. Back out for a rousing See...Light. Todd comes down to !
the floor and dances through the encores--very fun. Another town rocked.....

Lawrence, Kansas
Ogden Theatre

TUESDAY 6 October



Drive to Lawrence KS, seems to take a long time. The day gets nicer as we drive, one of our coldest days so far. May be looking for sweaters or coats at an Army/Navy if this keeps up.

Lawrence feels good. Impressive music scene, lots of local bands. Downtown is nice, the Granada is a pretty good venue, not without its sound peculiarities and problems. The staff are all cool, though and very nice. We'll be hanging with some of them later. Post sound check, I go wandering.


My left heel was bruised last night (too much jumping around?) and I'm having a back spasm, too. Body's starting to fall apart. Matt had a day like this a couple days ago. Maybe the increase in drive time? The car now smells strongly of sports creme a lot of the time. Added benefit of clearing sinuses.


The gig looks sparsely attended, but it just turns out that people just take their time getting to shows in Lawrence, and it fills up well.

We play a really good show; best overall in a few days, I think, with some especially good moments. Bob thinks we have a few chronic trouble spots to look at -- little transition things and feel issues that are recurring. The crowd are really enthusiastic.

Afterward we go to the Bottleneck, another good club, with some Varnalines and some of the Granada bunch. Pool tables! I suck, but John and Chris prove themselves to be sharks.

After last call, we head back to the Super 8 for a mild throw down in Chris and John's room which just manages to keep from getting out of hand. The nearest to a Led Zep evening on the tour, but the furniture remains the same...........

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