Fran, I think this picure is, how they say in Liverpool... Boss!
I got the homeless ladies digits, but lost them while loading in. alas, she holds a special place in my heart. drunk-toothless-and-magical.
March 29, 2006
after the San Fran show
Fran, I think this picure is, how they say in Liverpool... Boss!
I got the homeless ladies digits, but lost them while loading in. alas, she holds a special place in my heart. drunk-toothless-and-magical.
March 23, 2006
Cubicle added to Mercury Lounge show!
wow- what is this band Cubicle, you ask? oh no- you are mistaken, no more bands are on the bill. Then are you joking me? what is this joke you are saying in your headline? quit joking....
fine I will not joke, and leave it up to the professionals. As they will be entertaining everyone in between sets at the Mercury Lounge on March 31st. All the more reason to come...
more reasons? ok, here are more reasons:
The Bullet Parade
Aeroplane Pageant
Human Television
stud muffins
fine I will not joke, and leave it up to the professionals. As they will be entertaining everyone in between sets at the Mercury Lounge on March 31st. All the more reason to come...
more reasons? ok, here are more reasons:
The Bullet Parade
Aeroplane Pageant
Human Television
stud muffins
March 22, 2006
Touring by Plane, and why it sucks.
When I found out we would be traveling by plane for a solid leg of this tour, I was a bit excited. We all really enjoyed the idea of getting from city to city in a fraction of the time it would normally take driving. Plus, we would get to watch a ton of PG rated movies that would be too embarrassing to rent at Blockbuster.
Now, with that leg of touring in the books, I don’t think I ever want to fly again… Heres a couple reasons:
-The DHP- We aren’t really sure what DHP stands for, but we know they are three initials you don’t want to appear by your name. Poor poor Thomas Hughes happens to be on the DHP list. What does this mean? Well, for one, every time he checks in at an airport he is flagged and searched. His identification needs to be verified and all of us traveling with him get flagged as well. Our bags get searched. Our privates get patted down. More or less, someone somewhere thinks Tom is declaring a jihad every time he enters an airport.
-Guitars- do you check them? Do you carry them on? No one ever seems to know at airports. One airline will allow you to pre-board to find adequate overhead space for your guitars, while others won’t even let you carry them on. Does anyone know what to do?
-Meals- Strides have been taken, but there are still many more to be taken before we are there.
-When you miss your flight altogether by eight complete seconds- oh man, lets not think about this ever happening. Especially if you are operating on less than 2 hours sleep. Especially if you are in LAX with a DHP trying to get to SXSW when all the flights are sold out because everyone and their A & R scout are also going from LA to Austin for the mayhem. Particularly if you have to play 2 shows that day starting in 12 hours, one of which is going to be broadcast over the radio to tons of listeners. Just don’t even think of it happening*.
- Those little cards they make you fill out- OK! Now your just complaining.
*- special thanks to Leslie McKay at Woodlake Travel for salvaging us.
March 21, 2006
The Spinto Band - A Poem
tulips
splash out from
the blood
running underground
coyly veiled
with dirt - the
blood they've
splashed from is
long gone as
the tulips sigh
to pieces in
someone's hothouse
brain, each
droplet caressing
the skull wall
for a trap door
to escape
through,
- Thax Douglas, 03/18/06
splash out from
the blood
running underground
coyly veiled
with dirt - the
blood they've
splashed from is
long gone as
the tulips sigh
to pieces in
someone's hothouse
brain, each
droplet caressing
the skull wall
for a trap door
to escape
through,
- Thax Douglas, 03/18/06
Kalamazoo
So a million things have happened to the spinto band since our last post. It has only been about a week or so since we left Delaware to join Arctic Monks on this little adventure, but it seems like Dr. Jeff has started getting grey hair and Jon should have qualified for Social Security.
Of most recent happenings, I would like to discuss a rather exciting event that took place yesterday, Monday March 20th, in Kalamazoo Michigan.
We hit the road right after our Schubas show in Chicago* to try to knock a few hours off of the drive. We didn't want to spend our first day off in a while rushing around in our van to try and make it to Toronto at a decent hour. you jive? Anyway, after the late night drive, which will be know as the Homer Vaj Drive thanks to Eric, we awoke refreshed and with a small grumbling climbing into our gullivers. At that moment, Tom noticed a coupon for a pizza buffet at a small establishment known as Godfathers Pizza. "alright!" we thought, "all the pizza we can consume for only 4 bucaroos." needless to say, we went.
Jeff must have eaten more dessert pizza then regular pizza. It was that good. There were the following pizzas (dessert pizza included): taco pizza, bbq pizza, peperoni, cheese (of course), supreme, veggie, apple pie, and sticky bun pizza. Plus there was a massive salad bar which we barely touched. Scott W. would be proud.
Anyway, you get the point, we ate a bunch of pizza. But, do you? because the point is so much more than that, the point is that we also won 200 bucaroo bonzais while eating pizza at Godfathers in Kalamazoo. how? well, in Kalamazoo they put Keno machines in their pizza joints. We all know that Jon loves Keno. Despite everyone telling him that they are no longer amused by his constant antics, Jon bought a Keno card and filled out 10 numbers. Everyone contributed a lucky number of their own (Dr. Jeff's was 7, Sam's was his friend's birthday, and Joe's was 69)... The kicker was, Jon also bought the kicker. The kicker option multiplies your winnings, but makes you pay extra. When the spinto band's lucky numbers produced 7 matches out of 10 picks, we looked on the back of the card and were excited to learn we had just won 50 bonzai bucknells. but wait... the kicker... something extra was involved... no one in the rock band had done multiplication in a few years, so we took the ticket up to the machine and scanned it... 200 buckwheat bruisers showed up on the screen. We all started jumping and shouting while old retired people gave us sour looks from their taco pizza plates. The staff at Godfathers were excited for us, even though they gave Jon disappointed looks that said, "oh young one, don't throw your money away on such imbucile chances," before he won 200 beebee gun buckshots. It was joyous. Then we all started to feel sick from all the pizza.
* - while at Schubas Jon lost a dice game. The game involved no money and was a chance to get rid of a spare drink ticket that had not been used. Whomever rolled the highest dice combination had to buy a drink for someone that was chosen by whomever rolled the lowest dice combination. Jon rolled high, Eric, our booking agent, rolled low. Eric's choice: the British bass player from Guillemots. To add insult to injury, Eric chose the drink... a sea breeze. ay ay ay. Jon complied
Of most recent happenings, I would like to discuss a rather exciting event that took place yesterday, Monday March 20th, in Kalamazoo Michigan.
We hit the road right after our Schubas show in Chicago* to try to knock a few hours off of the drive. We didn't want to spend our first day off in a while rushing around in our van to try and make it to Toronto at a decent hour. you jive? Anyway, after the late night drive, which will be know as the Homer Vaj Drive thanks to Eric, we awoke refreshed and with a small grumbling climbing into our gullivers. At that moment, Tom noticed a coupon for a pizza buffet at a small establishment known as Godfathers Pizza. "alright!" we thought, "all the pizza we can consume for only 4 bucaroos." needless to say, we went.
Jeff must have eaten more dessert pizza then regular pizza. It was that good. There were the following pizzas (dessert pizza included): taco pizza, bbq pizza, peperoni, cheese (of course), supreme, veggie, apple pie, and sticky bun pizza. Plus there was a massive salad bar which we barely touched. Scott W. would be proud.
Anyway, you get the point, we ate a bunch of pizza. But, do you? because the point is so much more than that, the point is that we also won 200 bucaroo bonzais while eating pizza at Godfathers in Kalamazoo. how? well, in Kalamazoo they put Keno machines in their pizza joints. We all know that Jon loves Keno. Despite everyone telling him that they are no longer amused by his constant antics, Jon bought a Keno card and filled out 10 numbers. Everyone contributed a lucky number of their own (Dr. Jeff's was 7, Sam's was his friend's birthday, and Joe's was 69)... The kicker was, Jon also bought the kicker. The kicker option multiplies your winnings, but makes you pay extra. When the spinto band's lucky numbers produced 7 matches out of 10 picks, we looked on the back of the card and were excited to learn we had just won 50 bonzai bucknells. but wait... the kicker... something extra was involved... no one in the rock band had done multiplication in a few years, so we took the ticket up to the machine and scanned it... 200 buckwheat bruisers showed up on the screen. We all started jumping and shouting while old retired people gave us sour looks from their taco pizza plates. The staff at Godfathers were excited for us, even though they gave Jon disappointed looks that said, "oh young one, don't throw your money away on such imbucile chances," before he won 200 beebee gun buckshots. It was joyous. Then we all started to feel sick from all the pizza.
* - while at Schubas Jon lost a dice game. The game involved no money and was a chance to get rid of a spare drink ticket that had not been used. Whomever rolled the highest dice combination had to buy a drink for someone that was chosen by whomever rolled the lowest dice combination. Jon rolled high, Eric, our booking agent, rolled low. Eric's choice: the British bass player from Guillemots. To add insult to injury, Eric chose the drink... a sea breeze. ay ay ay. Jon complied
March 15, 2006
March Madness
(right click and view in new window if you are having trouble reading this)I was overjoyed to awake today and find a tournament bracket in my email waiting to be filled. So many decisions. 65 competitors, one champions... endless debate.
I usually like the underdogs, but its going to be hard to go against the 1 seed in the Serengheti region... once the rest of the guys have a chance to look over their animal fact-files (we never go on tour without them)... I will get them to post their winners up here. Dr. Jeff was already disappointed that we couldn't include a Great White as he has been arguing its dominence for a while.
Jon's picks are as follows:
final 4: Gorrilla, Elephant, Cape Buffalo (my upset special), and Kodiak Bear
championship match: Elephant v. Kodiak Bear
champion: Elephant
Sam's expert picks:
final 4: hippo, tiger, elephant, rhino
championship match: hippo v. elephant
champion: elephant
Thomas' picks:
final 4: elephant, rhino, hippo, ox
championship match: elephant vs. rhino
champion: elephant
nick's pics:
final 4: rhino, hippo, elephant, kodiak bear
championship match: elephant v. madison
champion: elephant
Special thanks to Amar for organizing this event.
March 13, 2006
San Francisco Treats
Oscar doesn't remember eating 2 mint It's Its on Friday night, but I do. He loved them. He made love to them. The Spinto Band had to try it. So late last night we stormed the local Safeway and bought all the It's Its it took for us to be it's itsed out. That was about 1 each.
Thats how the start of our tour went. Not including the 15 hour drive and the delayed flight that landed us in the wildly chilly city of San Francisco, the first thing worth writing about was ice cream sandwiches. Well, that and the fact that its Julie's birthday today. She was so nice to us it felt like it was our birthday! She fed us cake and and rolled dice with us last night.
"Dice?" you ask.
yes, dice. I would like our tour manager, Professor Jeff "dice" Van Fossen to explain the rules to the game that helps the spinto band kill time before arctic monkeys song comes on SNL.
1. get your money out! this is gamblin'... so put the kids to bed and the wife out of the kitchen- stat!
2. everyone throws in a dollar to a hundred dollars (or a quarter depending on how hot you like your doritos)
3. the object is to get the lowest score possible with the 5 dice... like miniature golf. low man takes the pot, while everyone else dreams of what could have been.
4. you roll and roll, keeping at least one die every turn. you can keep two die if you want to.
5. 3's are worth zero. those are the keepers. the rest of the numbers are face value. making 1's pretty good and 6's pretty lousy. 3's are king.
6. try to get all 3's. keep your lowest die each time, until all 5 die have been kept.
7. the dice get passed in the circle, everyone gets a turn.
8. repeat. if you won the last round, you are obligated to play in the oncoming round.
_____________
thanks Jeff.
wait- which Jeff? isn't the drummer of the band named Jeff? no, the tour manager is? wha wha wha?
ok- we developed a system. Since our drummer collects tarantulas (and then gives them to a friend named Brian Witte when it becomes inconvenient) one thing we call him is Spider-Jeff. Also, since our drummer has a doctorate in restringing sweatshirt hoods, we sometimes call him Dr. Jeff or, because there is only one Dr. Jeff in the pond, we just saythe doctor.
Jeff is a bit trickier... I mean, the tour-manager-non-spider-Jeff. Sometimes we just ignore him, others, we have to acknowledge him due to his undies-optional policy. we usually say, Dirty Jeff or Dice-Jeff. he's also a vegetarian so sometimes we call him asshole.
it seems like the two Jeffs like to call each other doctor and nurse. whatever thats about.?.
If anyone can think of any better nicknames for these two, feel free to let us know.
Thats how the start of our tour went. Not including the 15 hour drive and the delayed flight that landed us in the wildly chilly city of San Francisco, the first thing worth writing about was ice cream sandwiches. Well, that and the fact that its Julie's birthday today. She was so nice to us it felt like it was our birthday! She fed us cake and and rolled dice with us last night.
"Dice?" you ask.
yes, dice. I would like our tour manager, Professor Jeff "dice" Van Fossen to explain the rules to the game that helps the spinto band kill time before arctic monkeys song comes on SNL.
1. get your money out! this is gamblin'... so put the kids to bed and the wife out of the kitchen- stat!
2. everyone throws in a dollar to a hundred dollars (or a quarter depending on how hot you like your doritos)
3. the object is to get the lowest score possible with the 5 dice... like miniature golf. low man takes the pot, while everyone else dreams of what could have been.
4. you roll and roll, keeping at least one die every turn. you can keep two die if you want to.
5. 3's are worth zero. those are the keepers. the rest of the numbers are face value. making 1's pretty good and 6's pretty lousy. 3's are king.
6. try to get all 3's. keep your lowest die each time, until all 5 die have been kept.
7. the dice get passed in the circle, everyone gets a turn.
8. repeat. if you won the last round, you are obligated to play in the oncoming round.
_____________
thanks Jeff.
wait- which Jeff? isn't the drummer of the band named Jeff? no, the tour manager is? wha wha wha?
ok- we developed a system. Since our drummer collects tarantulas (and then gives them to a friend named Brian Witte when it becomes inconvenient) one thing we call him is Spider-Jeff. Also, since our drummer has a doctorate in restringing sweatshirt hoods, we sometimes call him Dr. Jeff or, because there is only one Dr. Jeff in the pond, we just saythe doctor.
Jeff is a bit trickier... I mean, the tour-manager-non-spider-Jeff. Sometimes we just ignore him, others, we have to acknowledge him due to his undies-optional policy. we usually say, Dirty Jeff or Dice-Jeff. he's also a vegetarian so sometimes we call him asshole.
it seems like the two Jeffs like to call each other doctor and nurse. whatever thats about.?.
If anyone can think of any better nicknames for these two, feel free to let us know.
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