notes from the road...day twentythree

space mutiny!

well this one isn't really from the road cuz we only sat around at rob's house yesterday doin nothin. but i guess it is because i am on the road right now. we goin to new york! yesterday we maybe had a show in MASS but they never got back to us and their website had a bunch o hardcore bands on the bill. so yeah, screw that 6 hour drive to nowhere. we woke up when we damn well pleased and waited for the delicious breakfast we could already smell. have i told you bout rob? well his hospitality is unmatched. we ate eggs and toast and bacon and sausage and pancakes and cinnamon rolls and mushrooms with orange juice and milk to drink. definately num stat ONE. this day was for slackin, and thats just what we did. we watched a mst3k, Head (the monkees' movie which was a lot better than i expected) the best episode of lost in like forever and al and sean watched battlestar galactica, which i am refraining from until i can catch up proper. its just too important to do wrong. also we played the nintendo somethin or other with the wandy things. we bowled and played tennis and darts and wario ware, they were all pretty cool. i felt really stupid until the dart game, which i could actually play. after that i wrote a song about my good girl at home. it went well i think. i have to listen to some of fever b's songs to make sure i'm not rippin them off too hard. what else happenned yesterday guys? they told me the stuff i already told you. it was a slack day. for dinner we had burritos of course and they were nummers all over again. Rob busted out some more fancy homemade hotsauce that made lee go for the milk. i dont know if you realize what a big deal that is but it is. i have seen lee eat the peppers that made homer go crazy with tapatio on top. ive seen him cut his tongue open with a razor, shove in habaneros and stitch it shut again, only to complain that the blood was diluting the precious flavor. i went against my better judgement and tried some. it was good and then it got hot and then the hotness started and after that it got really hot in the room. then the salsa kicked in and my mouth scared all the dragons out of PA. seriously i woke up at two in the morning and it had moved a foot down to my poor heart which was MAD at me. everyone tried to watch hot fuzz somethin er other but i fell asleep. its by the friends who made spaced and sean of the dead. spaced is a lovely sitcom that you've never seen. it's really good. man someone needs to punch this thing up a bit. i'm gonna turn this over to ally and see if he can make it funny, but don't get your hopes up. i think everyones grouchy! sssshhhh! (alex) if anyone is grouchy its cuz the mapquest directions be crazy. motha trucka be all like go this and that uh way. and i be like sean, yo, just drive your heart out. plus the 78 E. IS past allentown. thats all i can add. as dan stated before, we didnt do too much yesterday. and that is a great thing. thanks rob! we all love you.

notes from the road...day twentytwo

Reminiscent - Lord Dragon
pre show/post garage clean-up
Helpin' out with the party


so it's been two days since the last post and alex is all "gotta write'em both dude" so i will try. we went to pennsylvania to visit our friend rob (from PA) and play in his garage. first on the agenda was to visit his burrito shop and eat. we hadn't eaten all day so we were ready. luckily for us so was rob, he had made us some chicken and potato quesadillas with all the fixins to eat while we waited for our (free!) order. rob and tyler's hospitality is unbelievable. i got robs favorite the trinity which has chicken pork and potatoes, along with black beans salsa guacamole and rice. it was delicious, and should you ever be in york PA craving some mexican food, roburrito's is as good as it gets. secret hot sauces and everything. so we went to rob's house and while i talked on the phone to my sweetie the band and rob cleaned the garage and got it all ready for us. i then hung out with a couple o local teenagers, it's a long story. anyhoo, rob had balloons and a really good psych light machine. after we got those all set up he busted out the bubble machine and we all started drooling. it used a 9 volt but all we had was a 12, so we were cranking out bubbles like machine gun fire. after a beer or two we played and everything was just lovely. people danced and goofed around and cheered for the particularly fancy guitar parts i am known worldwide for, which makes me HAPPY. also they cheered for many of alex's crazy ass fills and sean's delightful rendition of our current top ten hit, birthday suit. they wanted to hear that one again. fer sure one of the best shows we've played. afterwards, we converted the garage once again, this time into a makeshift movie theatre complete with a projector, a huge ass screen and couch seating. rob is a man of mystery and magic. our film for the night was the modern piece de resistance entitled "snakes on a plane". there was more than one person dressed in the appropriate plane attire. so i fell asleep during that piece o crap and when i woke up i did what i usually do, go back to sleep. the party was bangin. we even got an impromptu james brown impersonation, which was spot on and all about how good our band was. i complimented the young man the next day and he had no idea what i was talking about. it seems he also hit his head very hard twice that night and puked in robs car on the way home. they were checking out the hole his head had left in the drywall downstairs the next morning. like i said the party was bangin. a million thanks to rob and tyler for doin what they always do.
alex watched: kind hearts and coronets (a darn good flick)

notes from the road...day twentyone

Lee and Nakita







us rock'n out. ba dum ch!
Our favorite donkey, Festus
Black Cat Flyer of Love


word. after our smash breakthrough in charlotte, we drove straight to selina's in boone, n.c. i slept on the way and then arrived and slept some more. when we woke up we took much needed showers and brushed our filthy scum covered teeth. when i (dan) flossed, the junk from in between smelled like poop. its embarrassing to tell but dammit this blog business is SERIOUS. so selina made us green pancakes with just the right amount of cinnamon, but held out on her real maple syrup cuz thats for her and her alone. are you ready for this? cuz things are bout to go down! alright, keep all this on the low, but selina's got the hookup at this mountain they got out here so we went. she takes care of animals there and we were going to visit those very animals. first we went to the peak of the mountain and listened to the carter family and crossed a really high bridge and blah blah blah BEARS, bitches! we fed bears. we crossed the invisible boundaries between bears and man with a spoonful of peanut butter. they love that stuff. also peanuts, raisins and cookies. in typical lee fashion, he mixed all his together, making a super sweet bear concoction that no bear could possibly resist. there were also baby bears that we couldn't feed cuz they gotta be kept scared 'o people. one of them scared me! i was leanin in all close like and he leaned forward all fast. my eyes got real big and my heart pounded a little. it was cooler than anything you've ever done. then we visited some of our otter friends, who were chillin out, swimmin, explorin and generally bein cute. also we saw nikita and aspen, two cougars that we were about to become friends with. we walked to this weird room with cages in it and selina opened a door to the cougar area. "Nikita!" she said, and whala! a 150 pound killing machine pounced in and started pacing back and forth. we stood there waiting for her to calm down a little and when she did, i started sneakin little touches of her feet and legs. she came around and let us all pet her. she was the cuddliest little killing machine! lee started petting her chin and neck and thats when she told us that thee makeout party is her favorite band, ever. when she purred it sounded like growling. we also made friends with a charming donkey named festus. that was cool but, you know, cuddling with bears and cougars is just, well... festus we love you. oh man though, bears and cougars. thats a party and a half. if you ever get the chance (and you won't) give a bear some peanut butter and just watch him go. so we left and tried to get some BBQ but both places were closed. they act like they're all about BBQ but they're only open fer the tourist season, boo! we had crappy hamburgers with even crappier lemonade and went to the record stores while alex caught yall up. i found a walter wanderly record (which rules hard) and 10cc and liza, sean got alice cooper's first, a peter pan bubblegum music record, the buckinghams and the mirrors but lee won with his purchase (sean's find) of the spongetones cd. 2 bucks and when we opened it, it was signed by the whole band. lee is gonna switch with sean when we get home cuz thats whats right, dammit. fat cat records hooked up the deals. we then headed over to black cat burritoes for a frustrating exercise called "find the mexican food at the burrito place in north carolina". there was none. what was on yours again alex? fuckin pineapple. they fed us and gave us beer but seriously, they should have at least one burrito at any burrito place. instead they had : the dont be a jerk-chicken shrimp pineapple jicima and our own jerk sauce and satay it to me softly-chicken tofu in a spinach wrap stuffed with carrots broccoli carmelized onions thai peanut sauce peanuts and mung sprouts. whats a mung sprout? they weren't that bad, we just wanted burritos. so i scooted my chair back a little and ended up falling down some stairs. we waited and waited for everyone to leave so we could play, but oddly enough, more people came! so we rocked down the house animal style in honor of our friends back on the mountain, and sold lotsa rekkids and badges. i think i musta been a lil bit tipsy cuz im blanking between loading out and getting to bed. lee tells me it took 2 minutes to get home and nothing happened, well that explains that. now we're sitting in the van driving to york pennsylvania talking bout girls we didn't sleep with. aren't we the sweetest?
currently listening: good golly miss molly (with snore accompaniment by brian)

All new pictures posted all da way back 2 day terteen.

notes from the road...day twenty

A lil puppy-love after our unloved show
On tour with Lee, always a blast


Number of Alex posts today: 2
Yesterday was easily the most weird day of tour for me. That or it was the most alcohol I have consumed in one day on tour. Either way, it's a good possibilty that we should not get into town too many hours before we're gonna play. It's like that saying "idle hands are the devils tool." cept, replace hands with alexs. It seems that throwing large sticks at a beehive located above our van is not a good idea to anyone but me. Whoda thunk
Packed with Noahmade sammiches, we went for a drive to Charolette NC. After finding the club we were to play that night, we decided that it would be a better to leave that area asap and head for record/thrift stores all day. We visted five or six shops with only minimal amounts of finds.I'm prolly not gonna list em all but, Dan: An Archies record a Tommy Roe one - Sean: a Reunion 7" - Brian: A beatles 7" with a nice cover - Lee: A NRBQ record at LunchBox records aka home of the Jerks - Me: a few 7"s, 1910 Fruitgum Co. an Ottis Redding one and a Dwight Twilley record. Also, Brian has bought another coat. Everyone shook their heads and sighed when he came out with it. Funny little jacket-wearing kitty. Also, I can honestly say, I've never smelt anything worse on Dan than the jacket he got yesterday. Dan also pointed out that you can't haggle down a couple bucks at thrift stores in north carolina for phrases like the following pop outta peoples mouths- "Priced in the back" "We NEVER do that" "I'm a big jerk" The last one I just assume they say often.
Peoples were pretty hungry after the long haul that is thrifting so we went to a burger joint. Dan and I made pb&j sammiches while the others ordered to go. Next we drove around looking for a liquor store, for we decided to sit on some nice grassy lot located next to the club for the following two hours. Alcohol found/Area located/Old-broken down bus marked on. We guys sat around talking, laughing, eating and drining for a bit. Good times, good times.

(lee!) ..and i really had to ''go'' & the gas station attendent wouldnt lemme go,so i pushed the door open with the signs..he sed sir .sir...no no...awww...so i held it fer a while..the mile stone finally opened its doors to me with smiling faces and i, t.c.b.! okiedokie,so wowza! since '69 this lil dive has showcased a whole lotta bands( ie..r.e.m,bad brains,violent femmes,murder junkies,melvins,makeoutparty! etc)...a couple tourin bands ie "gaylord" came and played and did their thang...uhh,if thats what ya call it...umm...as soon as the local boys hooked me up did i knowwe had a mutual luv for hasil adkins,minutemen..fyp..,modernlovers,mc5 etc...cool cats..they even had a pit .pup..too cute it was..they nite finally ended..settled up ..and the local 's made me make a rebel yelp err..rebel war cry..er sumpin like that...ive got the hillbilly blood so, ihappily obliged into the nite.
sean then soon drove us all thru the appalachian blue ridge mtns. to our pal selina's home..nitenite.

notes from the road...day nineteen

Papa and Sonson



attack of the killer alex posts!
Everyone is in the record stores shopping right now and me out of record monies so me blog. boy, new country music is hellish. one means two, and two means three. boo i say.
soooo the departure from Mr. Bush's house was it? Well, I woke up from a dream which was very enjoyable for me. In the dream, I was At Gordon's house sitting 'round when a bat flew through a window. I then shot it with a crossbow and the bat started to scream. Very high pitched and lengthy. Night came and outta nowhere all animals from the forest started attacking the house. Large deer, beavers, birds, wild pigs, a moose, and even a squid towards the end when the house became flooded for some unkown reason. Also, when they stopped attacking, I flew on a birds back, with the band, to a Guitar Center which we raided. Then we made our way back and suddenly I was awakened by Lee getting out of bed. After laughing to myself, I put on some pants, walked down stairs to see Dan lying on the floor for some odd reason, said my good mornings, then hung about watching Gordon make, what was to be a great breakfast. The yum-yums consisted of creamed-eggs, toast, waffles, and homemade jelly. The eggs on toast has been in the Bush family fer awhile now. Yum, yum, yum. We next finished up laundy, and got everthing ready fer the ride to Charleston, Sc. After hugs and handshakes we left. I can't recall the drive too much, but I'm sure you fellas didn't miss out on anything kerrazy.
South Carolina had its fun and comical moments like any other town. We rolled into town kinda early and found the record store that we were to play at when five 'o clock came. Twas spacious and had free coffee and some beers that the guy had purchased for us. We set up, drank some (I dropped a glass bottle on the ground and cleaned it up), got hungie so Brian and myself strolled a few shops down to a chinese food resturant. It took Brain several minutes to order some ordinary rice and then he bought me a bowl of chicken-rice. Lee came in and ordered after seeing how much foods we got for so little monies. Dan and Sean soon followed. I believe Sean was a lil bit disappointed, but the rest of us liked it. Also, a black kid came in through the doors, glanced at us, then headed to the counter muttering somethin like "Ching-chong, chong."
The show itself wasn't the greatest. A couple people walked in and out throughout the set. A little girl bought a record and a really nice guy named Noah watched the second half of the set. We jokingly hit him up about a place to sleep and he accepted. Sean and I have been wanting to see 300 for awhile now so we decided it was movie time after we loaded out. Noah hung around then offered us spaghetti at his place, Nice guy. Before we left for the movies, a homeless looking man with hooks for arms told us 'bout a movie he had just made. He ran around the corner got a poster and showed it to us. I didn't really hear his spiel, but I'm sure it was an interesting story. We all shook a hook then headed out.
The movie! I loved it. Sean/Brian/Lee all disliked it. And Dan, he leaned towards enjoyment. I'm going to stick with my "It looked like a comic book but on film, so you should love it just for that reason" opinion. Frank Miller is someone I would buy a drink for when I can afford it. We got lost heading to Noah's afterwards, called him, and found we could not park across his street for the neighbors mamma parks there. Noah invited us in, showed us a spiffy salt-water fish tank, offered us drinks, then went on and made us dindin. Delicious. I ended up drinking a glass of scotch and a few beers then headed to bed cuz me tired like that. I'll get another guy to tell you what happened that night when they are available. (Dan) ok, after babypie alex went to get his beauty sleep, the real party started. and by party i mean movie. it was about rabbits and it was a cartoon and the intro was really cool looking. i cant remember what it was called and by the time it was over i was asleep. noah's roomate came home with a girl, then his other roomate came home with an attitude. he walked in without a word and started throwing cans away. it was the most aggressive recycling i've seen. noah was extremely kind. also his dad played guitar in the nightcrawlers who's sole hit little black egg is known round the world to spiffy dudes like us. wait til you here what were gonna do in 2 days!!!! it involves sleek aggressive killing machines!! Onto the next days post.

My head currently: Less itchy when I use Seans 2in1 shampoo.

notes from the road...day eighteen

Fake outhouse awesomeness
Mr Bushs abode


Or as many will come to call it: "Day of Marinated Greatness"
This is only a few seconds after Dan pressed publish so it both him and myself having fun with the internets. We had a pretty good day to look foward to as we drove outta Ms. Sipy's town. Dan's father, Gordon, and his wife, Denise, were expecting us for a day and uh half. We just had a minute talk about commas after that sentence. Aren't we just a crazy bunch? Sean started out driving and about half way to Georgia we stopped for a potty break at some gorgeous rest stop. After stretching our legs and other appendages, Sean spoke with Dan 'bout Lee being in a bad mood when asked to finish the drive. So, Dan thinking it would be a great gesture of friendliness, jumped in the drivers seat which caused, what I thought, was one of the most comical arguements between Lee and Dan yet. It involved lots of yelling from the two about eachothers driving. More so of Lee's from Dan's point of view. I'm quite sure what happened next is what set me off in my own paradise of uncalled for happiness. The ordeal ended with Lee giving Dan the most awkwardly mean and unxpected hug from behind I've ever seen in my life. It might have even been the only one I've ever seen actually. Very intense but odd for it was a hug. Maybe he was trying to sufficate him with love I dunno. You crazy Lee.
The drive itself was fine. There was a bumpy moment or two, but it was Dan's first driving moment and windy so anything Lee said was basically out of hate and not truth. Terribly, terribly funny for me however. "Oh! Everything's falling apart now." - Lee after a sharp turn had made a box fall over. Dan's reply: "It was the first turn I have ever taken in this van." Also take note people, the men and women driving the highways of Georgia are a bunch of jerks. With their constant swirving in and out of lanes. Tsk tsk.
The closer we were getting to Mr. Bush's house, the more excited everyone was getting. We took some wrong turns and I listened to a funny call between father and son about what highway goes east/west and not south/north. Soon, we were driving small roads winding 'round what Dan has labeled "waterin' holes" and lookin at houses surrounded by little forests. We arrived at Gordon's self-built cabin of love. I had expected something I built with lincoln logs when I was a kid, but to my amazement it is a truely lovely house, almost jaw dropping. Next, the greetings and the makings of home. Lee was outta the van and into the bathroom before i had tied my shoes. Dinner was a knock-out. Sean's mother, Patty, has a contender it seems. Marinated chicken, char-swiss or swiss-char dan says (it was like a mellower spinach) with bellpeppers and onions, a rice like jasmin but more aromatic, and our choice of red stripe beer or sweet tea. The ignorant ones chose the beer. We chatted a bit then headed out on a path through the Bush's land for a pleasant hike. The Bush family, it seems, own quite a bit of land out there. "A couple acres," Dan says unsurely. I had wanted to walk til I could no longer, but I heard a bunch of cries from a bunch of babies about it getting dark so we turned around and headed back. On the way back I opted for the paths that were not cleared so I ended up with thorns from a briar patch (prolly black berry bushes) all over my pants. Those buggers hurt I tells ya. We chatted and loaded in and out laundry throughout the night. Towards the end of it all, a few of us had a three hour ping-pong session. Sean and Mr. Bush ended up destroying Team Danlex (the defending champions). Afterwards came sleep time for most. Big and little Bush talked and looked over old pictures for some time before hitting the hay. It was a great day for all. Also, Brian tried out his snoring strips unsuccessfully. Too bad for those light sleepers. Til tomorrow kiddos!
luv, alex
ps. hi dad.

notes from the road...day seventeen

say goodbye to mickey, dan
Sleepy kitty. Aka - Brian


Wull hullo thur! It's dan here wif mah brudder al, an we gonna tell yuh a lil bit bout whut we ben up to. yeehaw (gunshots)! so when is brian gonna write a blog? oh whenever you ask, says brian. ok how bout today's? sure. brian is asleep. the drive to jackson mississippi was long fer me. i was cranky i think. ya herd bout the gum'n'whatnot so thats pretty much that. two rednecks wouldn't stop staring at us forever at the gas station. at first i was all "what!?" but they won, i got nervous. we got greedy in traffic after our gum success, and got ourselves an empty can off another stranger. the drive sucked. we arrived in jackson and it was dead and ugly and there was trash everywhere like blanchard after a bad party. we made our way to w.c. dons and the owner terry told us since no one (NO ONE) was there he'd rather we didn't play. instead it was hot dog time! alex was bummed so he went wandering around the town. i was bummed so i ate a hot dog. the streets have like, real fire gaslamps for lights, alex said. and terry's hot dogs are fantastic. he thinks he's paying tribute to nathan's in new york but his are far superior in everyway. I hate you louis! you phony new york jackass! anyhoo, we ate and drank a beer and hoped people would show up or the bar next door would let us play or the people inside would take us with them to the drag show or ANYTHING! but no, it was not to be. we heard about terry's hot dog cooking techniques and tastes. he's eaten hot dog's for two years now and he's not sick of 'em. jus a lil yellow mustard and sometimes some onions but thats it. the weasely dirtbag soundguy, who introduced himself as the black sheep of the peavey family, got my new mickey mouse sweater off of me! sometimes i have problems saying no. the rest of the band is sure im an idiot. after he asked for it and i said yes, i realized how retarded i was being. i even asked for it back and he said yes, but then when he asked again, poof, big baby jesus comes out an gives it right back again! there is something wrong with me. i hated that guy an he was treating me like i was some rich kid with sweaters to burn. peavey sucks and their tweak addict nephew is even worse. so lee and alex swooped up the prime van real estate and sean, brian and i slept in the stinky bar. brian says there were like families hanging out at 2 in the morning. weird. sean and lee had some half assed adventure at the bar next door but screw it. we still gotta write another one for yesterday.
listening to the burrito bros and trex