Hot Springs, Arkansas is said to be a sacred place of healing. It is your typical holy land, replete with free spring water and "Duck" boat tours.
The Spinto Band arrived in Hot Springs after a grueling 10 hour drive*. We were hungry, dirty, and probably a little cranky. Luckily, the latter of these issues were resolved upon entering Maxines, when an employee greeted us with a handful of Jello Shots. Images of Nick were scattered about the bar (He was the "poster child" for the festival we were soon to be apart of). Bill, the organizer of the festival, treated us to an amazing beer & pasta dinner.
And then we pulled off another grift...
..But that's a whole 'nother story...
*We did, however get to meet the former wife of the former bass player of Quiet Riot.
June 30, 2005
June 29, 2005
Hotlanta Part II
Ok- back from 10 High Club.
Tonite was a BLAST. Except that our sound man was a complete wang-dangler! I've never had to play quieter in a non-residential environment. Besides running a poor sound board, the guy obviously didn't want to be there. He rushed us in and rushed us out. Scott says he is "douchy." eh- Atlanta is a fun town though.
They do have bum-hammocks here. There is this park we walked by and there were 7 hammocks (1 for each of us) with a sign saying "hammocks for the homeless," or something to that effect.
Also- one of the bands called Friendly Weapon dedicated a song to the dude's "weenus."
Wish us luck on our huge drive tomorrow.
Tonite was a BLAST. Except that our sound man was a complete wang-dangler! I've never had to play quieter in a non-residential environment. Besides running a poor sound board, the guy obviously didn't want to be there. He rushed us in and rushed us out. Scott says he is "douchy." eh- Atlanta is a fun town though.
They do have bum-hammocks here. There is this park we walked by and there were 7 hammocks (1 for each of us) with a sign saying "hammocks for the homeless," or something to that effect.
Also- one of the bands called Friendly Weapon dedicated a song to the dude's "weenus."
Wish us luck on our huge drive tomorrow.
June 28, 2005
Hotlanta
So we arrived in Atlanta at 5 in the morning. Haven't updated you folks in a while so I thought I would take a minute to explain a few things.
First and foremost, The Milestone in Charlotte NC is a pretty great club. All the people there were incredibly nice and they sold moon pies behind the bar and had a bigscreen tv with a Nintendo hooked up to it. This place is pretty historic apparently and has been hosting shows as far back as 1969. We have been playing at some pretty sweet clubs along our tour, but this one had its own personality to it that made the experience quite the ho-down. Not to mention the craziest band I've seen in a while. Cryptorchid Chipmunk had a bunch of costumed West Virginians running around the venue singing songs about farting and blow-jobs. Tom uses the word "spaz" to describe these guys, Scott uses the words, "chaotic" "costume" "naughty-words" and "performance".... as well as "the bass player wore a dildo." They were crazy.
There were also these really nice guys who are on tour and were pretty cool called Elementary Thought Process They're from Jonstown PA or something and the lead singer had a tatoo that looked like his flesh had been ripped off his arm to expose the gears that made him work. Their gears were well oiled and their keyboard player was pretty good at Contra (but didnt know the Konami code!!)
Chapel Hill was hilited by the pizza shop Pepper's Pizza. Scott's face upon biting into the pizza was priceless. I'll try to convince him to post his pizza journal entry here on the journal.
Norfolk VA (have I talked about them yet?) was great too. Everyone at Relative Theory Records was super! Hopefully we will be back there. I thought about it and decided that Norfolk VA could be added to my list of places I wouldn't mind living (right behing Madison WI). It had a sweet record store, a beach, and a surplus of "slam pieces." The pizza left a bit to be desired though (I'm starting to sound like Scott- OH SCHNAPP!)...
eh, thats it for now. Im gonna go shave for the first time in a few days.
First and foremost, The Milestone in Charlotte NC is a pretty great club. All the people there were incredibly nice and they sold moon pies behind the bar and had a bigscreen tv with a Nintendo hooked up to it. This place is pretty historic apparently and has been hosting shows as far back as 1969. We have been playing at some pretty sweet clubs along our tour, but this one had its own personality to it that made the experience quite the ho-down. Not to mention the craziest band I've seen in a while. Cryptorchid Chipmunk had a bunch of costumed West Virginians running around the venue singing songs about farting and blow-jobs. Tom uses the word "spaz" to describe these guys, Scott uses the words, "chaotic" "costume" "naughty-words" and "performance".... as well as "the bass player wore a dildo." They were crazy.
There were also these really nice guys who are on tour and were pretty cool called Elementary Thought Process They're from Jonstown PA or something and the lead singer had a tatoo that looked like his flesh had been ripped off his arm to expose the gears that made him work. Their gears were well oiled and their keyboard player was pretty good at Contra (but didnt know the Konami code!!)
Chapel Hill was hilited by the pizza shop Pepper's Pizza. Scott's face upon biting into the pizza was priceless. I'll try to convince him to post his pizza journal entry here on the journal.
Norfolk VA (have I talked about them yet?) was great too. Everyone at Relative Theory Records was super! Hopefully we will be back there. I thought about it and decided that Norfolk VA could be added to my list of places I wouldn't mind living (right behing Madison WI). It had a sweet record store, a beach, and a surplus of "slam pieces." The pizza left a bit to be desired though (I'm starting to sound like Scott- OH SCHNAPP!)...
eh, thats it for now. Im gonna go shave for the first time in a few days.
June 25, 2005
Norfolk VA/More eating competitions
So, I think I should start out with perhaps the greatest eating accomplishment of our stay in Maryland. Last night we were sleeping at Lochlan and Sarah's house and before putting on Batman Returns, we decided that another eating competition needed to take place. Lochlan ran out to the super market where he purchased a box of saltines and we all tried the "eat 6 saltines in a minut" competition. We gathered in a circle and one by one we failed to even come close to swallowing down the 6 saltines. Then midway through the competition, Nick Krill stepped up to the plate. Tom, Jon, Jeff, Sam, and Joe had all failed before him. Nick built up a stock of saliva and then his minute began. 40 (yes I said FORTY) seconds later, the saltines were digesting in his stomach and the house was erupting in cheers. No one else could do it, and Nick was declared the evening's chow machine.
Continuing with the theme of food, the lovely people at Relative Theory Records were nice enough to give us all free smoothies when we arrived this afternoon. It had been a long-hot-traffic-riddled drive down here, and the smoothies really hit the spot. The people here at Relative Theory are super nice. They asked us to play Oh Mandy twice tonite, which I doubt will happen, but maybe since they are so nice.
Tom bought a Byrds record, a Bee Gees record and a Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazelwood record.
My power source for my laptop is fucked up and I may lose use of the computer if I cant figure a way to fix it. we shall see, Let us hope for the best.
bum-shack
Continuing with the theme of food, the lovely people at Relative Theory Records were nice enough to give us all free smoothies when we arrived this afternoon. It had been a long-hot-traffic-riddled drive down here, and the smoothies really hit the spot. The people here at Relative Theory are super nice. They asked us to play Oh Mandy twice tonite, which I doubt will happen, but maybe since they are so nice.
Tom bought a Byrds record, a Bee Gees record and a Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazelwood record.
My power source for my laptop is fucked up and I may lose use of the computer if I cant figure a way to fix it. we shall see, Let us hope for the best.
bum-shack
June 24, 2005
Photos from the eating comp
Here are some photos from today's eating competition:
Albert drinks from dixie cups
beef master general
The nugget champs
Lochlan goes for a gallon
dipping sauces anyone?
Albert drinks from dixie cups
beef master general
The nugget champs
Lochlan goes for a gallon
dipping sauces anyone?
June 23, 2005
The Results
46 minutes into the milk-off, Lochlan threw up. Albert, shivering and wrapped up in a blanket, looked on. Having decided that movement of any kind would deter his milk-drinking, Albert took on Jeffrey as his assistant. Jeffrey handed him a three or four more dixie cups which Albert drank. With nine more cups to go and eight minutes left, Albert declared that it was physically impossible for him to drink anymore. The audience agreed.
Here are the symptoms and breaking points for each contestant:
Albert: Intense cramping, brain malfunctioning, shaking, gagging, cold sweat.
Lochlan: A feeling of absolute total capacity. His body "just couldn't handle it."
In lighter(?) news, Jonathan Eaton is the newly crowned Beefmaster General. He has completed his seventh burger and...is not feeling good.
The Neapolitan club has not yet finished, but in all, it should be stated that everybody went for pro.
Here are the symptoms and breaking points for each contestant:
Albert: Intense cramping, brain malfunctioning, shaking, gagging, cold sweat.
Lochlan: A feeling of absolute total capacity. His body "just couldn't handle it."
In lighter(?) news, Jonathan Eaton is the newly crowned Beefmaster General. He has completed his seventh burger and...is not feeling good.
The Neapolitan club has not yet finished, but in all, it should be stated that everybody went for pro.
tie game
at 35 min 18 sec into the competition jon has tied david archer's previous record of six cheesburgers.
nug complete
at 25 min. scott, sam and tom have all eaten 46 and 2/3 nugs. and thus have depleated our supply of 140 nugs.
in othe news jon is on burger number six.
in the milk challenge alberts body temperature has dropped due to the ice cold milk.
in othe news jon is on burger number six.
in the milk challenge alberts body temperature has dropped due to the ice cold milk.
nug complete
at 25 min. scott, sam and tom have all eaten 46 and 2/3 nugs. and thus have depleated our supply of 140 nugs.
in othe news jon is on burger number six.
in the milk challenge alberts body temperature has dropped due to the ice cold milk.
in othe news jon is on burger number six.
in the milk challenge alberts body temperature has dropped due to the ice cold milk.
nug
at 16 min. 57 sec scott finished his 40th nug
at 17 min 15 sec tom finished his 40th nug
at 17 min 40 sec sam finished his 40th nug
at 17 min 15 sec tom finished his 40th nug
at 17 min 40 sec sam finished his 40th nug
It Begins
the first anual spinto band eating competition has just begun at exactly 8:30pm on june 22, 2005.
there are currently three competitions going on right now.
the first is the famous galon of milk challange.
albert and lochlan are tryign to drink a gallon of milk in one hour and then keep it down for another hour.
second we have the forty nug challenge.
sam, tom and scott are trying to eat AT LEAST forty chicken mcnuggets. there are twenty other nuggest on standbuy if the competition ends in a tie.
the third challange involves an attempt at the "beef master general" title belt.
jon is goign to try to eat seven mcdonads cheese burgers, thus beatign the previous champion's six cheeseburger record.
finally we have the neopolitan club.
this is nto a compitition but rather a friendly celibration of ice cream. joe, jeff and nick bought a tub of neopolitan ice cream and will split the triforce of cream like so: nick wil eat the strawberry, joe will eat chocolate, and jeff will eat vanilla.
there is also a two leter bottle of holiday spice which will be used in the victory toast.
more to come soon ...
there are currently three competitions going on right now.
the first is the famous galon of milk challange.
albert and lochlan are tryign to drink a gallon of milk in one hour and then keep it down for another hour.
second we have the forty nug challenge.
sam, tom and scott are trying to eat AT LEAST forty chicken mcnuggets. there are twenty other nuggest on standbuy if the competition ends in a tie.
the third challange involves an attempt at the "beef master general" title belt.
jon is goign to try to eat seven mcdonads cheese burgers, thus beatign the previous champion's six cheeseburger record.
finally we have the neopolitan club.
this is nto a compitition but rather a friendly celibration of ice cream. joe, jeff and nick bought a tub of neopolitan ice cream and will split the triforce of cream like so: nick wil eat the strawberry, joe will eat chocolate, and jeff will eat vanilla.
there is also a two leter bottle of holiday spice which will be used in the victory toast.
more to come soon ...
Eating Competitions
So we played the black cat last night and it was great. Thanks to all blog peeps for helping make that show rock solid. The band really digs the idea of people finding out about bands from web journals and then those fans actually going out and supporting the band. It appears to be a glorious little community.
MORE IMPORTANTLY
Tonite a serious competition will be taking place. Since we have our first day off in a while, we need to think of a way to keep the momentum up. We decided that we will try to eat a ton of food. Here is the breakdown of who is eating what tonite:
Jon Eaton- 7 McDonalds Cheeseburgers
Thomas Hughes- 60 McDonalds Nuggets
Sam Hughes- 60 McDonalds Nuggets
Scott Weiner- 60 McDonalds Nuggets
Albert Birney- 1 gallon of 1% milk
Locklin- 1 gallon of 1% milk
Eric "Badlands" Booker- pussied out
Everyone is encouraging everyone else to reach new levels of consumption tonite. I feel as though the milk drinkers have the hardest path ahead of them. Bennington College crowned a Beef-Master General to a gentleman who ate 6 cheeseburgers, so 7 may qualify as Jon Eaton becoming the new General. meanwhile we do not know of any chicken nugget eating competitions, but I know Scott's strategy is to imagine the nugget puppets used in McDonalds TV ads as he goes for 60. How many eggs did Paul Newman have to eat in Cool Hand Luke?
Anyway, that is the news of the hour, we are all trying stomach expansion techniques as I type this.
ALSO ALSO ALSO:
I can't seem to get a wire to connect my camera to my computer unless I order it off the internet, so it looks as though my dreams of posting a bunch of pictures with these posts may be threatened, at least until the tour is over. I apologize, but I hear there are a bunch of photos on www.flicker.com if you search for "spinto band."
MORE IMPORTANTLY
Tonite a serious competition will be taking place. Since we have our first day off in a while, we need to think of a way to keep the momentum up. We decided that we will try to eat a ton of food. Here is the breakdown of who is eating what tonite:
Jon Eaton- 7 McDonalds Cheeseburgers
Thomas Hughes- 60 McDonalds Nuggets
Sam Hughes- 60 McDonalds Nuggets
Scott Weiner- 60 McDonalds Nuggets
Albert Birney- 1 gallon of 1% milk
Locklin- 1 gallon of 1% milk
Eric "Badlands" Booker- pussied out
Everyone is encouraging everyone else to reach new levels of consumption tonite. I feel as though the milk drinkers have the hardest path ahead of them. Bennington College crowned a Beef-Master General to a gentleman who ate 6 cheeseburgers, so 7 may qualify as Jon Eaton becoming the new General. meanwhile we do not know of any chicken nugget eating competitions, but I know Scott's strategy is to imagine the nugget puppets used in McDonalds TV ads as he goes for 60. How many eggs did Paul Newman have to eat in Cool Hand Luke?
Anyway, that is the news of the hour, we are all trying stomach expansion techniques as I type this.
ALSO ALSO ALSO:
I can't seem to get a wire to connect my camera to my computer unless I order it off the internet, so it looks as though my dreams of posting a bunch of pictures with these posts may be threatened, at least until the tour is over. I apologize, but I hear there are a bunch of photos on www.flicker.com if you search for "spinto band."
Grift On June 21, 2005 by nick krill
It is only 8:42 PM and we have already had a full day’s worth of grifts. For those of you who aren’t aware of grifting, check out
Grifters with John Cusack. It’s the worst movie ever, but opened my eyes to a world of social obtusities that Uncle Sam doesn’t want you to know about.
Today the spinto band was three for three on grifts in Baltimore MD.
The first grift was the classic free bread grift. It was about 6:00 in the evening, and being unable to load in to the talking head until 8:30 we decided to walk around and find a place to relax. We had just turned down a small side street and began commenting about how awful it was that every store nearby was closing down at six when i looked to my left and saw a large trash bag inside an Au Bon Pain shop. It was glorious, and filled with muffins, strudels, bagels and cinnamon buns. I got the attention of a shop keeper, pointed at the bag and mouthed the words “trash bagels.” She nodded, gave the universal hand signal for “wait just a minute” and went towards the back room. A few moments later she emerged with a small plastic bag and began filling it with the goodies. Each band member now began watering at the mouth and sizing up the expanding bag like a pigeon might hone in on a discarded pizza crust. The shopkeeper then struggled trying to unlock the front door and left us in a few seconds of suspense. Finally, she handed over the bag of orphaned baked goods. Scott suggested we take a moment of silence to bask in the glory of all these day old treats. The moment was brief and we immediately dove into the bag. To celebrate our recently filled stomachs we decided to get a drink. Which leads us to the second grift of the day, the illusive shop keeps “my bad” grift.
We left the side street, some of us with apple danishes in hand, and headed toward a Walgreens pharmacy. As a miser in training I always head straight to the gallon jugs of water when I need to get a beverage on the road. The gallon jug is always cheep relative to the other convenient store beverages, and you simply can not beat its bang for the buck factor. As I stood looking at the available gallon jugs, one immediately caught my eye: a gallon jug for .59 cents. Not only was this jug just pennies, but it was a fantasticly designed jug.
Normal gallon jugs are a variation on the gallon milk jug, the familiar plastic molded container and handle combo with a pop off top. The .59 cent jug was a gem. First, instead of a pop-top it had a proper screw on top, that greatly reduces the chance of the jug top popping off during a bouncy car ride. The jug was also a bit streamlined almost like a bloated Evian bottle. Finally, instead of having a molded, built in handle it was fashioned with a plastic hand-hold secured around the bottle top. This design allows the jug to be held comfortably by ones side with the jug remaining upright. The normal milk jug copy forces the drinker to carry the jug at an angle, which is a mite uncomfortable on long journeys. The only drawback found thus far is the handle around the bottle top can become annoying while drinking from the bottle, however it more than makes up for this fault with its improvements made to the transportation of the jug.
Normally I may take up to two minutes looking at the various product options to determine which yields the maximum value, but today this choice was simple and I made my way to the cashier. Scott was also tempted by the .59 cent water and was at the casher when I arrived. To my dismay, when the clerk scanned the upc code the price for the beverage came up as $1.69. Unfortunately the .59 cent deal was for a gallon of Walgreens brand water, and we held in our hands a Pure American jug. This price was unacceptable, even considering the well designed bottle. After some talking with the cashier and the store manager it was determined that the product was marked incorrectly on the shelf. Due to a shortage of the Walgreens water they had to move the Pure American brand into the shelf space. In the end both the cashier and the manager said it was their bad and thus we go the $1.69 water for .59 cents.
Now being well fed and with our thirsts quenched we decided to find a comfortable place to play a little Phase 10 to pass the time. We began in a park, but after constant pestering from gnats (no-see-ums) we decided to move the game indoors. We began perusing the streets for a comfortable lobby, and finally spotted a local hotel. We had been tipped off by our friends in the mini band that hotel lobbies are a prime pit stop for touring bands yielding clean bathrooms and occasionally scraps of the days continental breakfast. We were all excited to test out their theory. Five of us walked in and made our way towards the hotel bar. We sat down, began dealing the phase 10 cards and told the bar tender we were waiting for a friend. We soon noticed a small buffet of free food which we began picking over. After a few games of phase 10 jon ordered a drink to keep the bar tender at bay while we all made another run at the buffet. Around this time tom decided to go to the bathroom and jon made a phone call to the hobsons (who decided to sit this grift out). Although the call was not initially part of the grift, it fit perfectly into our plan. Here is a short transcript:
Jon: hey where are you.
Caller: bla bla bla
Jon: oh. well we are here.
Caller: bla bla
Jon: hmm ok well we will see you there soon.
This conveniently gave us an exit plan and the bar tender was none the wiser. Then, just as we were finishing out latest phase 10 hand tom returned beaming and holding a hand full of cookies and a coffee. We made our way through the lobby towards the front door and each grabbed a few cookies on our way out. It was the perfect end to a perfect evening of grifting.
While returning to the talking head we saw a park bench reading, “ Baltimore: the greatest city in America” after tonight we would like to amend that phrase adding, “Baltimore: the greatest city in America, for grifting.”
Grifters with John Cusack. It’s the worst movie ever, but opened my eyes to a world of social obtusities that Uncle Sam doesn’t want you to know about.
Today the spinto band was three for three on grifts in Baltimore MD.
The first grift was the classic free bread grift. It was about 6:00 in the evening, and being unable to load in to the talking head until 8:30 we decided to walk around and find a place to relax. We had just turned down a small side street and began commenting about how awful it was that every store nearby was closing down at six when i looked to my left and saw a large trash bag inside an Au Bon Pain shop. It was glorious, and filled with muffins, strudels, bagels and cinnamon buns. I got the attention of a shop keeper, pointed at the bag and mouthed the words “trash bagels.” She nodded, gave the universal hand signal for “wait just a minute” and went towards the back room. A few moments later she emerged with a small plastic bag and began filling it with the goodies. Each band member now began watering at the mouth and sizing up the expanding bag like a pigeon might hone in on a discarded pizza crust. The shopkeeper then struggled trying to unlock the front door and left us in a few seconds of suspense. Finally, she handed over the bag of orphaned baked goods. Scott suggested we take a moment of silence to bask in the glory of all these day old treats. The moment was brief and we immediately dove into the bag. To celebrate our recently filled stomachs we decided to get a drink. Which leads us to the second grift of the day, the illusive shop keeps “my bad” grift.
We left the side street, some of us with apple danishes in hand, and headed toward a Walgreens pharmacy. As a miser in training I always head straight to the gallon jugs of water when I need to get a beverage on the road. The gallon jug is always cheep relative to the other convenient store beverages, and you simply can not beat its bang for the buck factor. As I stood looking at the available gallon jugs, one immediately caught my eye: a gallon jug for .59 cents. Not only was this jug just pennies, but it was a fantasticly designed jug.
Normal gallon jugs are a variation on the gallon milk jug, the familiar plastic molded container and handle combo with a pop off top. The .59 cent jug was a gem. First, instead of a pop-top it had a proper screw on top, that greatly reduces the chance of the jug top popping off during a bouncy car ride. The jug was also a bit streamlined almost like a bloated Evian bottle. Finally, instead of having a molded, built in handle it was fashioned with a plastic hand-hold secured around the bottle top. This design allows the jug to be held comfortably by ones side with the jug remaining upright. The normal milk jug copy forces the drinker to carry the jug at an angle, which is a mite uncomfortable on long journeys. The only drawback found thus far is the handle around the bottle top can become annoying while drinking from the bottle, however it more than makes up for this fault with its improvements made to the transportation of the jug.
Normally I may take up to two minutes looking at the various product options to determine which yields the maximum value, but today this choice was simple and I made my way to the cashier. Scott was also tempted by the .59 cent water and was at the casher when I arrived. To my dismay, when the clerk scanned the upc code the price for the beverage came up as $1.69. Unfortunately the .59 cent deal was for a gallon of Walgreens brand water, and we held in our hands a Pure American jug. This price was unacceptable, even considering the well designed bottle. After some talking with the cashier and the store manager it was determined that the product was marked incorrectly on the shelf. Due to a shortage of the Walgreens water they had to move the Pure American brand into the shelf space. In the end both the cashier and the manager said it was their bad and thus we go the $1.69 water for .59 cents.
Now being well fed and with our thirsts quenched we decided to find a comfortable place to play a little Phase 10 to pass the time. We began in a park, but after constant pestering from gnats (no-see-ums) we decided to move the game indoors. We began perusing the streets for a comfortable lobby, and finally spotted a local hotel. We had been tipped off by our friends in the mini band that hotel lobbies are a prime pit stop for touring bands yielding clean bathrooms and occasionally scraps of the days continental breakfast. We were all excited to test out their theory. Five of us walked in and made our way towards the hotel bar. We sat down, began dealing the phase 10 cards and told the bar tender we were waiting for a friend. We soon noticed a small buffet of free food which we began picking over. After a few games of phase 10 jon ordered a drink to keep the bar tender at bay while we all made another run at the buffet. Around this time tom decided to go to the bathroom and jon made a phone call to the hobsons (who decided to sit this grift out). Although the call was not initially part of the grift, it fit perfectly into our plan. Here is a short transcript:
Jon: hey where are you.
Caller: bla bla bla
Jon: oh. well we are here.
Caller: bla bla
Jon: hmm ok well we will see you there soon.
This conveniently gave us an exit plan and the bar tender was none the wiser. Then, just as we were finishing out latest phase 10 hand tom returned beaming and holding a hand full of cookies and a coffee. We made our way through the lobby towards the front door and each grabbed a few cookies on our way out. It was the perfect end to a perfect evening of grifting.
While returning to the talking head we saw a park bench reading, “ Baltimore: the greatest city in America” after tonight we would like to amend that phrase adding, “Baltimore: the greatest city in America, for grifting.”
June 21st 2005
We are pigeons.
We are outside an Au Bon Pain in Baltimore MD. They just closed and we got their bagels and muffins. The manager may be mad. This is turning into the most effective means of tour support yet-- get other people’s garbage and eat it.
Sorry for not posting in a while. We have been busy and internet opportunities have been few and far between. I don’t even remember when I gave the last update. Tonite we are playing in Baltimore at the Talking Head and it will be our 6th show in 5 nights.
Backtracking:
Last night was great. We played at The Crowbar in State College with the nice folks of the Bullet Parade. While the sound man was a bit of a herb, he did do a good job and despite Jeff’s kick-drum head breaking, it was a pretty good show. Jeff Van Fossen was as cordial as ever and we slept on futons with his dog Ghost Mutt.
I don’t want to leave the most important part of last night out. It was a post-show viewing of Batman Begins at the local theatre. All sorts of spinto fans including the oh-so-welcoming Mike “Pryzz” let us in for a 3 am viewing session. Thomas and Sam managed to drink two 40s while the movie was on while Jeff slept and I was blown away by the dark knight. All in all it was a great roustabout.
So the night before that we were in Newark. I stopped by my parents house and had a li’l father’s day BBQ as the rest of the band did the same. The East End Show was pretty cool. Albert Birney beat me up in pinball scoring 100,000 points or so to my 35,000 (if that)…. The first band punked out which upset Scott a bunch... besides that it was pretty good. Well, actually, I did feel a bit sad for the current state of the East End. It seems as though it isn’t the venue it was a few years ago, but it’s still booking shows and serving quesadillas.
The night before that we played a packed PianosNYC show. Saw everyone under the sun and made me realize NYC seems like the place to be. Ate a big ol’ sandwich and had a taste of Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray celery soda. Hopefully Sam will critique it.
We are outside an Au Bon Pain in Baltimore MD. They just closed and we got their bagels and muffins. The manager may be mad. This is turning into the most effective means of tour support yet-- get other people’s garbage and eat it.
Sorry for not posting in a while. We have been busy and internet opportunities have been few and far between. I don’t even remember when I gave the last update. Tonite we are playing in Baltimore at the Talking Head and it will be our 6th show in 5 nights.
Backtracking:
Last night was great. We played at The Crowbar in State College with the nice folks of the Bullet Parade. While the sound man was a bit of a herb, he did do a good job and despite Jeff’s kick-drum head breaking, it was a pretty good show. Jeff Van Fossen was as cordial as ever and we slept on futons with his dog Ghost Mutt.
I don’t want to leave the most important part of last night out. It was a post-show viewing of Batman Begins at the local theatre. All sorts of spinto fans including the oh-so-welcoming Mike “Pryzz” let us in for a 3 am viewing session. Thomas and Sam managed to drink two 40s while the movie was on while Jeff slept and I was blown away by the dark knight. All in all it was a great roustabout.
So the night before that we were in Newark. I stopped by my parents house and had a li’l father’s day BBQ as the rest of the band did the same. The East End Show was pretty cool. Albert Birney beat me up in pinball scoring 100,000 points or so to my 35,000 (if that)…. The first band punked out which upset Scott a bunch... besides that it was pretty good. Well, actually, I did feel a bit sad for the current state of the East End. It seems as though it isn’t the venue it was a few years ago, but it’s still booking shows and serving quesadillas.
The night before that we played a packed PianosNYC show. Saw everyone under the sun and made me realize NYC seems like the place to be. Ate a big ol’ sandwich and had a taste of Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray celery soda. Hopefully Sam will critique it.
UPDATES
Since we haven't been able to connect to the internet recently, we have been trying to record our blogs in Word documents. So if you are confused by dates and times given by us compared to the blog, here is your heads up. I dont think anyone really reads this anyway though.
June 19, 2005
Sam Hughes Reviews in Twos
Mr. J's Root Beer and Grape from Sloppy Joes Deli:
To continue my brief tour of Cranford, NJ area beverages, I bought a couple of flavors of soda at the local deli. There is going to be one problem with this review, and that is that I do not know who manufactures these products, so I don't know who exactly that I am judging. See, Mr J. just gets a soda manufacturer to make his sodas, then slaps a label on them to sell in the store, and this is where my problem starts with these beverages. The packaging is identical, somewhat equivalent to the generic pizza boxes that say "hot and fresh" or the clothes hangers that say "we <3 our customers." I'd say that in some ways this is what attracted me to the packaging, but to think that many other Mr. J's are selling the same product with similar packaging is a bit disheartening. As for the beverages, I will start with the root beer.
I've had a craving for root beer lately so I was excited to dip my tongue into this one. Sadly I cannot say that I left with this same excited feeling after drinking it though. There is nothing particularly offensive about this root beer, but it is rather standard affair to me as bottled root beers go. I suppose that is the root of my dissapointment for this beverage, in both packaging and taste, it doesn't offer much.
4 Yo Boys out of 10
Grape Soda has always been somewhat of a delicacy to me. It really isn't the kind of soda I would buy a 12-pack of, but is most likely reserved for a 20 oz. bottle or in this case, a 12 oz. bottle. I enjoyed this soda a lot. It was packed with sugar (49g) and made me feel very ill afterwards, but that is what I get for drinking these two sodas within 1.5 hours. Despite the load of sugar, this soda actually tasted less sweet and a bit more sophisticated than most grape sodas that I have dealt with. This is one grape that I would not escape from!
7.5 Axe Effect Girls out of 10
To continue my brief tour of Cranford, NJ area beverages, I bought a couple of flavors of soda at the local deli. There is going to be one problem with this review, and that is that I do not know who manufactures these products, so I don't know who exactly that I am judging. See, Mr J. just gets a soda manufacturer to make his sodas, then slaps a label on them to sell in the store, and this is where my problem starts with these beverages. The packaging is identical, somewhat equivalent to the generic pizza boxes that say "hot and fresh" or the clothes hangers that say "we <3 our customers." I'd say that in some ways this is what attracted me to the packaging, but to think that many other Mr. J's are selling the same product with similar packaging is a bit disheartening. As for the beverages, I will start with the root beer.
I've had a craving for root beer lately so I was excited to dip my tongue into this one. Sadly I cannot say that I left with this same excited feeling after drinking it though. There is nothing particularly offensive about this root beer, but it is rather standard affair to me as bottled root beers go. I suppose that is the root of my dissapointment for this beverage, in both packaging and taste, it doesn't offer much.
4 Yo Boys out of 10
Grape Soda has always been somewhat of a delicacy to me. It really isn't the kind of soda I would buy a 12-pack of, but is most likely reserved for a 20 oz. bottle or in this case, a 12 oz. bottle. I enjoyed this soda a lot. It was packed with sugar (49g) and made me feel very ill afterwards, but that is what I get for drinking these two sodas within 1.5 hours. Despite the load of sugar, this soda actually tasted less sweet and a bit more sophisticated than most grape sodas that I have dealt with. This is one grape that I would not escape from!
7.5 Axe Effect Girls out of 10
June 17, 2005
Sam Hughes Reviews
Caffeine Rush Joe Turbo Tea - Lemon
To kick off the beverage review tour, I tried my hands at a local favorite. Joe Tea was suggested by my colleague Scott Wiener and seeing as how I had never seen it in my part of the woods back in the Pennsylvania/Delaware region, I bought some while staying in Cranford, NJ. I'm not really an iced tea expert by any means because I honestly never had much of a taste for iced tea until very recently, but I think I've had my fair share since then to judge what I like. Anyway, getting to the tea. The packaging is solid. I could go for a smaller and less bold font on the front, but the red Joe Tea truck logo is nice. The packaging is nice and simple, something that many beverage companies do not understand these days. This is supposed to be a "turbo" beverage judging by its name and they certainly hype up that fact with their description on the label. I'm not sure if I buy into it though because afterall, I'm still drinking iced tea. If the people at Jolt put out an iced tea, they would have me listening, but I think Joe Tea is playing up the caffeine factor too much here. As for the taste, this is a nice tea. I like sweet iced teas a lot, and if you do as well, then you will be satisfied with this tea. As far as I can tell, the caffiene does not detract from the overall flavor which is a good sign, but I cannot help but feel that I'm missing most if not all of the tea flavor in this drink. The lemon comes through very strongly, and the tea counteracts this, but not quite enough for me to give this a very high rating. This is a good drink, but this is iced tea and the tea itself just doesn't present itself well enough. I'll leave you with a few words from the packaging : "Just because you're up - doesn't mean you're awake! If I had to describe this tea in one word it would be: VROOOOOM!" While I wish I could personally back up this sentiment, if I had to describe this tea in one word, it would be "AVERRRRRRAGE!"
Rating 6 out of 10 Bum Shacks
To kick off the beverage review tour, I tried my hands at a local favorite. Joe Tea was suggested by my colleague Scott Wiener and seeing as how I had never seen it in my part of the woods back in the Pennsylvania/Delaware region, I bought some while staying in Cranford, NJ. I'm not really an iced tea expert by any means because I honestly never had much of a taste for iced tea until very recently, but I think I've had my fair share since then to judge what I like. Anyway, getting to the tea. The packaging is solid. I could go for a smaller and less bold font on the front, but the red Joe Tea truck logo is nice. The packaging is nice and simple, something that many beverage companies do not understand these days. This is supposed to be a "turbo" beverage judging by its name and they certainly hype up that fact with their description on the label. I'm not sure if I buy into it though because afterall, I'm still drinking iced tea. If the people at Jolt put out an iced tea, they would have me listening, but I think Joe Tea is playing up the caffeine factor too much here. As for the taste, this is a nice tea. I like sweet iced teas a lot, and if you do as well, then you will be satisfied with this tea. As far as I can tell, the caffiene does not detract from the overall flavor which is a good sign, but I cannot help but feel that I'm missing most if not all of the tea flavor in this drink. The lemon comes through very strongly, and the tea counteracts this, but not quite enough for me to give this a very high rating. This is a good drink, but this is iced tea and the tea itself just doesn't present itself well enough. I'll leave you with a few words from the packaging : "Just because you're up - doesn't mean you're awake! If I had to describe this tea in one word it would be: VROOOOOM!" While I wish I could personally back up this sentiment, if I had to describe this tea in one word, it would be "AVERRRRRRAGE!"
Rating 6 out of 10 Bum Shacks
June 16, 2005
Providence was like a dream
So we are back at Cranford NJ where the Wiener family has been nice enough to put up with the smelly spinto boys for yet another day.
Tom, Sam, Jeff, Nick, and Scott all went to buy comics and Joe Tea iced tea... Joe and I are here to noodle around. Watched the end of Dawn of the Dead and decided I should fill everyone out there on our latest happenings.
THIS JUST IN: Scott called, THEY ARE OUT OF JOE TEA! oh man, could this be another Scott Weiner syke out? Only time will tell.
anyway- Last time I updated this I believe we were at the Paradise Lounge, since then the following events have occurred:
1. We spent the night in a Harvard dormatory lounge... comfortably.
2. We drove to providence
3. We ate pizza (hopefully Scott will fill you all in with a pizza review later)
4. played a show
5. Got a massive bag of 100 free bagels*
6. Were wowed by vocalist Seal**
7. Came to Cranford NJ
Thats about it. Things are developing on the August tour routes and I will fill everyone in as information arises.
* Regarding the hundred or so bagels we managed to acquire. Has anyone ever been to Dunkin Donuts at closing time? In typical Americana fashion, they perform extremely wasteful habits. They go tray by tray through their inventory of donuts, bagels, croissant, etc and whimsically throw them into the garbage. As a broke touring rock band with no money for food we attempted to bargain for these donuts at 11:45. The gentleman behind the counter was prepared to give us the donuts until his manager came by and said, "nope- sorry- we may get sued!" So at 12 o'clock we see the nicer of the two employees walking out with a garbage bag and a box of assorted dunkin donuts. We ate them in a heart beat, then Tom was like, "what the heck happened to the rest of the stuff." Next thing we know Tom is missing. Next thing we know after that, Tom is running back from the DD dumpster with a huge bag of something. We open it up and find all of the day's bagels. How glorious! We don't need to buy breakfast for the rest of the tour.
THIS JUST IN: 5 days after the Eatonia2005 Belly Flop Contest, Sam Hughes still has bruises on his chest from flopping! Stick around for a S.B.Hughes peculiar beverage review later today.
** After the Providence show we decided it would be best just to drive back to Cranford (approx 2.5 hours away... actually 4 hours). On the way, we thought we may try to request a song on the radio. Nick was dying to hear Seal's Kiss From a Rose and we were enjoying the all smooth all contemporary sounds of STAR 99.9FM, so we thought we would try to request it. Just as Nick had the phone in hand and began to dial, the previous song ended and what should come on next? guess... ok, give up- sure enough it was Kiss From A Rose! We almost crashed the car in amazement and then had a glorious sing along to the smooth voice of Paddington's own Seal.
So- tomorrow night is the TLA/Fire show in Philadelfee. I am most excited for that, so please come out. ALSO- we should mention that the PianoNYC show on Saturday is cheaper if you preorder the tickets. So maybe think about that because NYPD tells us that the Pianos show may draw the riot police.
nick wants to try: herding up gladabouts.
Tom, Sam, Jeff, Nick, and Scott all went to buy comics and Joe Tea iced tea... Joe and I are here to noodle around. Watched the end of Dawn of the Dead and decided I should fill everyone out there on our latest happenings.
THIS JUST IN: Scott called, THEY ARE OUT OF JOE TEA! oh man, could this be another Scott Weiner syke out? Only time will tell.
anyway- Last time I updated this I believe we were at the Paradise Lounge, since then the following events have occurred:
1. We spent the night in a Harvard dormatory lounge... comfortably.
2. We drove to providence
3. We ate pizza (hopefully Scott will fill you all in with a pizza review later)
4. played a show
5. Got a massive bag of 100 free bagels*
6. Were wowed by vocalist Seal**
7. Came to Cranford NJ
Thats about it. Things are developing on the August tour routes and I will fill everyone in as information arises.
* Regarding the hundred or so bagels we managed to acquire. Has anyone ever been to Dunkin Donuts at closing time? In typical Americana fashion, they perform extremely wasteful habits. They go tray by tray through their inventory of donuts, bagels, croissant, etc and whimsically throw them into the garbage. As a broke touring rock band with no money for food we attempted to bargain for these donuts at 11:45. The gentleman behind the counter was prepared to give us the donuts until his manager came by and said, "nope- sorry- we may get sued!" So at 12 o'clock we see the nicer of the two employees walking out with a garbage bag and a box of assorted dunkin donuts. We ate them in a heart beat, then Tom was like, "what the heck happened to the rest of the stuff." Next thing we know Tom is missing. Next thing we know after that, Tom is running back from the DD dumpster with a huge bag of something. We open it up and find all of the day's bagels. How glorious! We don't need to buy breakfast for the rest of the tour.
THIS JUST IN: 5 days after the Eatonia2005 Belly Flop Contest, Sam Hughes still has bruises on his chest from flopping! Stick around for a S.B.Hughes peculiar beverage review later today.
** After the Providence show we decided it would be best just to drive back to Cranford (approx 2.5 hours away... actually 4 hours). On the way, we thought we may try to request a song on the radio. Nick was dying to hear Seal's Kiss From a Rose and we were enjoying the all smooth all contemporary sounds of STAR 99.9FM, so we thought we would try to request it. Just as Nick had the phone in hand and began to dial, the previous song ended and what should come on next? guess... ok, give up- sure enough it was Kiss From A Rose! We almost crashed the car in amazement and then had a glorious sing along to the smooth voice of Paddington's own Seal.
So- tomorrow night is the TLA/Fire show in Philadelfee. I am most excited for that, so please come out. ALSO- we should mention that the PianoNYC show on Saturday is cheaper if you preorder the tickets. So maybe think about that because NYPD tells us that the Pianos show may draw the riot police.
nick wants to try: herding up gladabouts.
June 14, 2005
We are sitting in the Paradise Lounge in Boston MA right now typing up another entry. Seinfeld is on the TV Karl Denson's Tiny Universe is warming up in the Paradise Rock Club (seperate venue next door). Their tour bus is massive, I am jealous.
Nick says, "Don't be jealous... they're scrubs..." then taps me on the shoulder.
Food is 50% off after 8pm tonite. I may eat a meal with The Martha Dumptruck Massacre for that bargain.
Nick has something to say: How is good applesauce leftover? Perfect applesauce... leftover...
We played travel scrabble on the ride over here. Scott was manning the wheel while The Hughes bros, Nick and I competed in the word game. Nick won. Final scores are as follows:
Samuel Bradway Hughes: 115
Thomas Baird Hughes: 154
Jonathan Russell Eaton: 156
Nicholas "Klaus" Krill: 160 it was a close one
Right after the completion of the game, Scott pulled into a dead end construction zone and we had to back Killer up. Scott performed marvelously in spite of heckling from construction workers. Killer's intimidation factor is leveling off every time we pump her into reverse. Soon we will be backing trailers into you. Whoah!
What else-- I guess if you live in Boston tune into CN8 tomorrow (Wednesday night) as we will be interviewed and perform on NiteBeat.
Thats it for now, I have to go help set up the stage.
Go For Pro!!!!!
Jon
Nick says, "Don't be jealous... they're scrubs..." then taps me on the shoulder.
Food is 50% off after 8pm tonite. I may eat a meal with The Martha Dumptruck Massacre for that bargain.
Nick has something to say: How is good applesauce leftover? Perfect applesauce... leftover...
We played travel scrabble on the ride over here. Scott was manning the wheel while The Hughes bros, Nick and I competed in the word game. Nick won. Final scores are as follows:
Samuel Bradway Hughes: 115
Thomas Baird Hughes: 154
Jonathan Russell Eaton: 156
Nicholas "Klaus" Krill: 160 it was a close one
Right after the completion of the game, Scott pulled into a dead end construction zone and we had to back Killer up. Scott performed marvelously in spite of heckling from construction workers. Killer's intimidation factor is leveling off every time we pump her into reverse. Soon we will be backing trailers into you. Whoah!
What else-- I guess if you live in Boston tune into CN8 tomorrow (Wednesday night) as we will be interviewed and perform on NiteBeat.
Thats it for now, I have to go help set up the stage.
Go For Pro!!!!!
Jon
June 13, 2005
And so it begins!
We just got into Cranford NJ after a great day of tour fiasco. In typical spinto band fashion we waited until this morning to do a hundred things.
Nick says hi.
Tomorrow night is our first show in Boston. We are excited. Bubbling. Here is the necessary information: http://www.thedise.com/lounge.html - The Paradise Lounge:
Tuesday 6/14 - BPU showcase featuring The Spinto Band, The Bikini Carwash Company. Doors 8 PM 18+ $8
we don't know what the BPU showcase is YET.
Jeff's favorite cheese right now is Boursin. (Spelling reliant on Sam Hughes spellcheck.)
TRIVIA QUESTION:
the winner of this trivia question (just post your answer in a response to this blog post) wins a guest spot list at the spinto band show of their choice.
What 2 movies from 1987 had the same title and the same leading actor??
Nick says hi.
Tomorrow night is our first show in Boston. We are excited. Bubbling. Here is the necessary information: http://www.thedise.com/lounge.html - The Paradise Lounge:
Tuesday 6/14 - BPU showcase featuring The Spinto Band, The Bikini Carwash Company. Doors 8 PM 18+ $8
we don't know what the BPU showcase is YET.
Jeff's favorite cheese right now is Boursin. (Spelling reliant on Sam Hughes spellcheck.)
TRIVIA QUESTION:
the winner of this trivia question (just post your answer in a response to this blog post) wins a guest spot list at the spinto band show of their choice.
What 2 movies from 1987 had the same title and the same leading actor??
Today we made some rules to CD listening in the car. Here they are:
1. Driver has final say
2. Passengers may make suggestions
3. If driver doesn't play the suggestion within 3 minutes it is considered a pocket veto
4. Randomizers will be chosen by the passenger flipping blindly through a CD wallet until the driver says the word "STOP!" (no wammies!)
We want to take a moment to introduce a new temporary member of the band. Our dear friend Killer. Killer threatens coups and hatchbacks on turnpikes all up and down the east coast*. His 4 x 8 frame is what dreams are made of. His glory will reign until we find a better deal on a rental trailer.
I will check back in soon. Tom and Sam are trying to hustle the New Jersey transit authority so they can go see the Architecture in Helsinki show in Brooklyn tonite.
hasta la vista
Jon
*we do not know how Killer will fair in the midwest... only time will tell.
June 3, 2005
Start part 2
I created this blog yesterday only to find that I forgot the username and password that is needed to sign in. How silly. Goes to show how unfortunate this task could turn out. So this is blog version 2. Read on.
The spinto band/ BCC tour is up @ http://www.spintoband.com feel free to investigate to see if there is a city near you where we ill get to play. Matt just sent us this information about our Hot Springs Arkansas show:
The spinto band/ BCC tour is up @ http://www.spintoband.com feel free to investigate to see if there is a city near you where we ill get to play. Matt just sent us this information about our Hot Springs Arkansas show:
Hot springs is a fading resort town in unfashionable arkansas
(according to a BBC documentary about it. they talked about the zoo
with IQ and the bathhouses and barbeque and kitschy stuff also.) but
it's got about 100,000 people mulling about in the county and is close
to little rock, which is where the action is. But this valley of the
vapors thing is kinda neat -- they had one in the spring that was
great turn out and all that jazz. billy the guy who runs it (and I've
only met him once, briefly) is a transplant from chicago where he was
in this ska band the Blue Meanies. but he's got his contacts. viva
voce played, which was packed. viva voce was featured on the OC. have
you guys been on the OC? I'll lie and tell people you were, and they
won't know. maybe not.
Thanks for the info Matt!
Thomas and Sam are finishing up their semester at Bennington and we are
all excited to see what sort of haircuts they come home with. Hurry home
boys. Nick is out recording the Bullet Parade whom will pop in for a few
shows on our tour (have you checked the tour dates yet?) Can't wait to see
what new songs they are going to unleash. Jeff is finishing up work with the
flower shop as he prepares to do double duty on the tour, drumming for both spinto
and bikini carwash. Joe is also getting ready to quit his job for the tour.
I just finished putting together a new spintonic.net and still have miles of work
I want to do with it. Got to hurry as hopefully the link in the cd will help get
some people looking/listening at the lovely artwork featured.
Hmmm. So this time I am going to try to remember the username and password and keep
this updated. Tour starts in 11 days.
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