Step On It! West Coast tour journal

7-22-05/7-26-05
we started out in STL on Fri @ the Slaughterhouse. Everything went really well. I messed up a few times, but whatever... I partied hard the night before and I got to bed pretty late, around 5 or so, and I was supposed to be at Greg's @ 5:45am. Needless to say I got a call from Devastator around 6... So we hit the road for Eau Claire, WI. I had never been there before so I didn't know what to expect. After braving through a monster storm we were informed that the show had been moved from an outdoor skatepark (for obvious reasons) to a house. So we arrived at the house and there were about 5 kids milling around. The owner of the house was really odd looking, kinda like a midget but normal size and had really weird looking nipples. Nice guy nonetheless. So we rocked Nate's Dungeon to about 10 kids. It was more like a practice for us since there were two fill in members, me and Hofacker. Once we were done we had to jet for Minneapolis. I was psyched cause we were playing with the Formaldehyde Junkiesand I would get to see some friends that I don't get to see too often. We showed up to Andy and Colin from FJ and Shannon from STL chilling with 40's in the parking lot. We all hung out until it was time for the show which was in an upstairs art space. It was some zine fest that didn't look too successful. There were about 15 ppl there whome pretty much didn't care for hardcore. I was always under the impression that MN had a huge scene but was told quite the opposite. So FJ started to play and Colin broke our kick pedal. So he borrowed one of the other band's, played one song, and broke theirs, too. I thought it was pretty funny. So we sat around and waited for some dude to go to his house and get another one. He returned and we played. After the show we went to FJ manor, MN's Slaughterhouse. I was told that it was Colin's 21st birthday. I love 21st birthdays. So we piled in the van and went to some dive. we had 45 mins to get Colin sloshed...I've worked with less. So shot after shot, we closed it down and got back in the van. When we got back to the house Colin immediately went into the bathroom and was forgot about. Like an hour later he was being carried out kicking and screaming by about 4 people. He looked pale green. success. I passed out and the next morning everyone went to Triple Rock for breakfast. I love seeing venues I've only heard about. Triple Rock was awesome. Andy took Nick and I to Extreme Noise to look around. After that we took off for Fargo, ND. We got there around 7. The venue was this two level pool hall, pretty cool stuff. Nick and I hit the bar and encountered many weird lookign ppl. The show was packed with TONS of little kids. The average age was probably 14. It was insane. We sold shitloads of merch. After the show we decided it would be best to start driving to knock off some of Monster Montana to get to Seattle. We stopped by this kid Conrad's house to check the internet to look for hotels in Yellowstone where we were gonna spend a day. Then we hopped back in the van and drove through the night. We got to this really small town just outside of the park around 10am. We got a hotel and hit this bar/restaurant, K's Club or something and got denied pizza by some rude cunt. I think it was because we weren't local or something, or maybe it's just because we all stick out like sore thumbs. Whatever. We hit the park and drove around for 7 hours enjoying the many wonders of nature: stinky holes and NO bears. fuck. We did get to see Old Faithful which was actually kind of a let down. Greg pointed out that it was no Bellagio Fountain show. I guess it's safe to say it didn't live up to his expectations. He was kind of the driving force behind our Yellowstone adventure. Afterwards we went to a shitty local bar and were getting the stare down by a bunch of a locals. I was waiting for Seabass and the boys to come over to us and dump a beer on our heads and challenge us to a game of chicken on dead man's curve. We took off for a different bar called Devil's Slide where we spent the rest of the evening. We talked with the owner and bartender, played some pool, had fun. I was trying to sauce them up so we could hopefully get a couple of free drinks outta them. But the owner wasn't drinking so we only got a free shot after I bought the bartender like 3. fuck. I bewildered the bartender by saying "suckfest 98" Apparently she's never heard this term before. Everyone went back to the hotel except me and Nick. We wanted to see a bear so we drunkenly walked to the park fence. I threw my empty over so I could litter on federal ground. rebel. We walked back and chilled under a bridge for a hot second before we were spooked by a "haunted" shed. Then apparently I layed in the street. We got back. I sang some songs to the snoozers I think something to do with Hofacker killing a grizzly bear then urged Nick to drink more. PASSED OUT
Wed 7-27
On our way to Seattle we stopped at a Walmart and tensions seem to be running a little high between some dudes. Little arguments here and there, no biggies. We got into Seattle around 12:30am. We stayed w/ the kids from Sinking Ships, the band we're gonna tour with. Nice dudes. They are all pretty sxe so that kinda sucks. On the way to Seattle we, mainly I, tortured each other w/ little brain riddle games. We played SNAPS, It's This But Not That, I'm Going On a Trip, and a sweet number riddle 2=3 5=4 etc. We decided to try to torture the SS dudes but they knew all our tricks and tortured us w/ new games. I spent half the evening trying to figure out who had the stick and how black magic worked. We woke up the next morning and drove to Pikes Market. Real touristy stuff on the Waterfront. I saw a fish market where they threw fish around, ate a sweet hot dog and saw Mt Rainer. I met up w/ an old friend from STL from when I was younger, Becky or Rebecca now. She is a world's difference from the way she used to be when we were younger. She took us to her studio and it was amazing. I was expecting something a shitty artists studio and walked into the most amazing, professional set up I've ever seen. It even had a small movie theater area. fucking a. She took some press photos of us. It was funny. Some of her equipment in the studio was on the fritz so we climbed out on the roof to do a few with Mt Rainer looming in the background. It was really good seeing her and I'm glad her life is heading in such an awesome way.
7-28
Last night we played at the Manium in Olympia, WA. I was kinda bummed that we didn't play Seattle proper, but whatever. We got to the venue and had no idea how to get in so we just bummed around town. As we walked back to the venue, there were three dudes standing in a somewhat circle with their pants around their ankles in their boxers. I told Zim that it would be funny if, without a single word he just walked up to them and nonchalantly dropped his pants and joined the conversation. Without missing a beat, Zim was welcomed into their no pants party. It was pretty hilarious to say the least. It doesn't seem like the Northwest has much of a scene for stuff that I'm into. Everyone seems to be into more modern, melodic hardcore not really my forte. I feel so isolated from the rest of the country. All the people we've met are into bands like Champion, wear the standard sxe hardcore apparel and are covered in tattoos that resemble the cover of Carry On's Roll With the Punches. Don't get me wrong they were all super cool and welcoming, but I definitely don't feel like I fit in here. I don't even feel like Step On It fits in here. They all seem to only be into west coast bands, and it feels really incestuous. maybe it was just the people we were around, but it was like, "oh this guy here toured with ____ insert bigger west coast band" they all just seemed to be connected in some way. I guess i'm just used to the midwest and some of the east where everyone kinda knows one another or of one another. We played 2nd to last and there were 3 bands before us. Each band sounded pretty much the same. The highlight of the night was probably the town of Olympia itself. It's probably the weirdest place I've ever been to (and I was born and raised in Jefferson County) When we arrived it had the appearance of a hip small town, but we quickly realized it was all a facade. Hippie-weirdo-anarchist-crust-punk-redneck-hoosier-frat boy-lesbian-spanging-talking to yourself fuck up's roamed these streets. There was even a well behind the venue that continuously pumped water and had a sign that said "drink at your own risk" Hofacker drank some, I don't expect him to live much longer. This one crust retard kept begging everyone for a cigarette and money. he would even beatbox for them. He was insane and annoying. We were told about these 5 black houses in the hills that anyone could stay at. They were owned by a crazy millionaire and the only rule was that you couldn't touch his "Slayer wall." After the show we drove back to Seattle where we showered and did laundry, lucky me my bath towel could be considered a biological weapon at this point. We made our way down to Portland after pizza. Andy from SS road with us. Dude is straight awesome. We swapped stories the whole way. He says Portland sucks big time, so I guess we'll see.
7-30
Portland was pretty fun. It was a good turnout. Andy's other band Physical Challenge played. They were pretty good. Our friend Lucas from STL lives up here. We had a couple of drinks w/ him before the show then after went to the bar he works at. It was fun. We stayed in his gf's apt/dorm thing. We got a little scared at first because they got into a fight and left us on the curb for like an hour. We didn't really know if they were coming back and didn't know how to get ahold of them. Luckily they did and we got her entire apt to ourselves. everyone got waaaaay stoned except me. The next day we walked around. There was some beer fest going on but it was overpriced so we went to a record store and a "punk" shop. Portland is a pretty rad town. I was really hoping I would see Pig Champion or Jerry A, but alas I did not. I guess all the all-you-can-eat-buffets were on the other side of town. We drove to a small town called Salem. the show was at this teen club. It was a kinda Christian place and we weren't allowed to cuss. We did get free smoothies and stuff. We played on a stage w/ lights and pro equipment. We played like complete shit. Everyone was bummed out. We hung out w/ a Chicago band called Haunted Life. Nice dudes. We (I) drove through the night to Fresno and honestly there is no logical explanation of how we survived. I think at one point I was nodding off with a million foot drop into the waters below to my left. sorry dudes. ha. But at sunrise I got to see some views that I will never forget for as long as I live. We got into Fresno and hung out all day 'cause it was too early to go to the house where the show was. We hit some stores and an In n Out Burger then found a sick Nickel arcade. Me, Greg, and Zim beat the Simpson's Arcade game. Scratch off number 27 on life's little "to do" list. The show was at this kid named Steve's house, well actually his Grandpa's house. It was awesome. It reminded me alot of STL. A bunch of younger kids just looking for a good time at a hardcore show. There was a bunch of kids dancing during our set, but the merch didn't really get touched. suck. The kid who put on the show told us how he was trying to provide an alternative to clubs and all that. I really liked what he had to say, reminded me of 2000 version of myself. After Weinerschnitzel we are enroute to LA. I can't wait to visit with all my friends there.
8-1
We got into LA around 4am Zimdogs friends hooked us up w/ an empty apt in Redondo Beach. It's pretty big. We got up the next day to hang. I never realized how big and spread out LA really is. Some of my friends live North of Hollywood and it's like an hour away from where we are. fuck. We had a show in Long Beach that night. Oh and I forgot the first night in the apt we got treated to the comedy stylings of Zimdog. it is an experience... We played at Koo's cafe in the LBC. Lotta kids there. Afterwords SOI and SS went to Huntington Beach. We hit a beach and drank a little before beach patrol chased us out. There were a bunch of jellyfish washed up on the beach. We hit a Carl's JR and crashed, got up today and hit Venice Beach. My friend's Ben and Amanda from STL came out. VB was sweet they were filming some WB show "Just Legal" or something with Don Johnson. I was trying to get everyone to be extras in one of the shots but no one wanted to do it. All you had to do was walk through the background anyone could do it. (ed note. months later I saw said episode and cursed myself for not walking through the shot) We hung out on the beach most of the day. Our show tonight is in South Central. Yeah, SOUTH CENTRAL. crazy. Everyone was pretty nervous. We rolled passed Crenshaw and Inglewood. This neighborhood looks straight out of the movie Friday. Danny from Hit Me Back showed up at the venue to unlock the door. We talked for a bit. Cardiac Arrest did like 4 shows with them on the East Coast so it was good to see him again. Barely anyone came to the show. Maybe it was because it was in South Central? hmmm... We were all too sketched out to even go to the liquor store across the street. After being here here for a couple of hours and sitting in a fenced in parking lot I kinda forgot where I was. Then reality sets back in. i hear footsteps and have to keep looking over my shoulder into the shady alleyway. To think the riots happened here about 10 yrs ago. There are still fire damaged buildings here. I heard a plane flying over pretty low since the airport is pretty near. I looked up and couldn't see anything since the air is so smoggy. Everyday since we've been here it's been pretty overcast/hoodie weather. suck. I can't wait to hit Hollywood thursday. 8-04
we got up wed and drove to Vegas. 110 degree deserts SUCK. Especially in vans covered in puke. Oh wait, let me back up a little. When we got to the desert there was a lot of Fear and Loathing talk and everyone was getting psyched to go to Vegas in general. Zim announced he would do any drug anyone would give him. So ppl decided to convince him that Dayquil would fuck him up. So Zim downs 3/4's a bottle of the orangish, red liquid. After about 20 mins Greg couldn't wait any longer and burst his bubble telling him Dayquil won't have any effect on him at all other than maybe keeping him awake for awhile. We all had a good laugh, jokes on Zimdog....but little did we know the joke was actually on us. After about an hour into the desert, in the sweltering 110 degree heat, driving in a van with the windows down because a sign instructed us to turn off our AC to avoid overheating, Zimdog had his last laugh. I was watching a movie on my portable when I heard Nick groaning while driving. Me and Greg looked up and it appeared that someone was dumping water on us from a different car. It was flying through the passenger window all over the van. Within a second reality set it. Man was no match for the lethal combination of water, 110 degree heat, a 3/4 bottle of dayquil, and a gas station burrito. No amount of writing or storytelling could justly recount that horrific event. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, kind of like one of those battle scenes in a war movie. I ducked and covered only to to watch my friends defend themselves against the onslaught of orange blasts. It looked like someone was spraying a hose directly under the passenger window sending the spray throughout the rest of the van. I still remember the awestruck look on Nick's chunk covered face. Since all the windows on the driver side of the van were open it created a nice vacuum that covered a good portion of the interior and all the babes on the babe wall as well. I watched as ppl were using their pillows as shields while Zim's wrath covered the side of the van. Greg was holding up his pillow over his body while screaming. I couldn't help but feel like we were storming a beach during WW2 and Greg was a fresh faced midwest boy innocent and naive to the horrors of war trying to defend himself against the barrage of gunfire coming from the Axis powers shooting down on us from atop a hill. When the attack was done there was a moment of silence while everyone gathered their bearings from the emotionally draining episode then everyone erupted into laughter! After all this was a product of everyone's doing. A puke covered van in a 110 degree desert. Good thing about deserts is that there aren't too many exits, probably one every 25 miles or so. Another good thing about deserts is that THEY ARE PUNISHINGLY HOT! So the van cooked quickly and Zim had to sit looking like he ate a spaghetti dinner with his hands. Sadly everyone agrees that this is probably the most exciting thing that has happened on tour so far. As I'm writing this I'm sitting in the driver seat of the van and I can still see orange streaks all over the ceiling. So we got to Vegas. the venue is called Rock n Java and it's in a strip mall really close to my bro's old neighborhood. We are informed by the owner that the place is Christian and cussing is not allowed. We even had to sign an agreement saying we wouldn't cuss on stage. We've encountered alot of Christian stuff this tour. the place in Salem, OR, "Ike's Box" was Christian. Kinda creepy now that I think about it. Ike was the owners dead infant son. the place was a converted mortuary. Is Ike's Box his coffin? Was he buried in the venue somewhere? Were the smoothies his ground up organs??? man, that was some good Ike. Anyway, the show was super packed. There were like 5 touring bands. I was getting pretty irritated w/ the bad Christian, mosh garbage. Me and Nick were ducking out and drinking at a nearby pool hall, seems to be becoming a pretty regular pre-during-post show warm up for us. Afterwards everyone headed to the strip. It was a mess w/ 4 vans following each other some with trailers. James from STL showed up as well. We finally parked and everyone started going their seperate ways it was getting very annoying. Greg's gf Nicole was there, too. We walked around til 6am. I found a single deck blackjack table at Casino Royale. Talk about a diamond in the rough! I played by myself because everyone is pussies. Let me tell you, if you ever think you're gonna take the house just because it's not a 4-6 deck game, you're dead wrong! I lost $60 in a matter of seconds, and it was $5 hands! The dealer hit 19, 20, or Blackjack every other hand. It was seriously ridiculous. I didn't even get drunk. What a bust. At 6 we drove back to LA since we had no place to stay there. When we got back, me and Nick were watching the Cardinals game and all the power went out. They shut off the power on our apt, SON OF A BITCH! We stalked around the building looking for the power box to switch it back on, but couldn't find it. So everyone just slept it was like 3pm. We got up around 9pm. Oh, and we also had our own hot water heater so no hot water either! We decided to make the best of it and get drunk and forget about it. We met up w/ our friends from STL Don Harris and Rob Ryan, who just happened to be visiting Don. we hit some bar w/ cheap mini pitchers then went home and crashed again. Zim left early the next morning with friends to go to Comic Con and didn't return. We realized he wasn't coming back because we had no power and he could just stay with friends. This morning we got up, took cold showers and Zim showed up around noon. Everyone seems to be pretty mad at him. I don't really give a shit, but those other guys do. We'll see what happens tonight.
8-8
I haven't written in awhile lets see if I can recap my drunken weekend. Thurs we played North Hollywood at a place called Studio S. we drove up there and ate at this place called Carneys. It is this hot dog place that is inside a train car. We got to the showe and it was this warehouse. there were all these kids running security and they would have to check EVERY guitar case, bag, anything, before you were allowed in. At one point they even busted out a metal detector wand. There's no place like home, there's no place like home. We were supposed to play w/ this band called Piece by Piece ex members of Carry On and members of Internal Affairs or something. They don't play out too often so we expected the turn out to be huge. we got there and heard they cancelled. Everyone was really bummed out. Me and Nick walked to Circus liquors which, I am told, was featured in the movie Clueless. Nick got a t-shirt. My friends Ben and Amanda came out for the show. When we got back we found out piece by piece were now playing again. Nick was super excited seeing Scott Vogel from Terror. When Guns Up played a Leeway cover Vogel started throwing kids and grabbed and ripped Nick's Warzone shirt. i think Nick was honored. Afterwards we all chilled and went to Don's apt, got some pizza and hit the hay. The next day, Friday, we got up and went to Venice Beach to score some tix to Jimmy Kimmel since we figured it would be the easiest one to get. We got there and they only had tix for The Best Damn Sports Show or the Late Late Show. Both required nice clothes. So we didn't go. Instead we got BBQ items and went to a park w/ Don, his gf, Rob and their roommate. It was fun, we grilled up some hot dogs and hung out. All day everyone was talking about going to Hollywood to hang. Then all of a sudden no one wanted to go anymore. I was pretty pissed since I already called a bunch of my friends up there to hang out. So we just went back to Don's and hung out where I proceeded to get obliterated drunk and went to bad mad at everyone from what I remember. The next day I was informed that I said some mean shit to people. I apologized and that was that. Sorry about that. Beer and anger aren't a good mix. The next day everyone went to the 1st day of Sink w/ Cali. I stayed with Don, Rob and Sarah Beth. We took their dog Eliza, an awesome/timid rescue, to this dog park near hollywood on these HUGE hills/mountains near the Hollywood sign. It SUCKED due to the fact that I was extremely hung over and out of shape. we walked like a mile and half up the side of these monsters. Me and Rob had to take breaks because we were so dead. Once we got to the top it was cool. It overlooked EVERYTHING. You could see the smog line and all the haze over the city. What a poopshit. We all sat on this huge park bench called Heaven's Bus Stop. Many David Cross references were made. After that we went to Amoeba and spent like an hour in there. HUGE. After that we went down to Manhatten Beach to eat at a Mexican place called El Sombrero or something. We walked to the pier. Some surfing competition was going on. We got a 30 of Tecate and went back to Don's. My friend old coworker in Chicago, Mario Panagiotopoulus came down. what a last name. He sweats olive oil. It was fucking awesome to see him. We walked to a bar for a beer and caught up. I hadn't seen the guy in like 2 years. We played this fun ass celebrity game. me and Rob passed the fuck out. Rob Ryan has to be my favorite drinking partner ever. what a mess. ha. I woke up Sunday half off the couch in all my clothes. I checked my phone and Greg called me a ton. It was 12pm. I called him back and he informed me that we were playing in less than an hour. SHIT! So I was nervous that I wouldn't make it in time. Literally the second I got there I was handed a guitar and shoved on stage. Talk about the nick of time! While I was turning on my amp my friends from My Revenge were yelling at me. sup dudes. It was awesome. After we were done I said hi to my friend Jon from Knife Fight and watched Tarpit. Good band. The fest was long and full of a lot of shitass bands I didn't care about except KNIFE FIGHT! I had been waiting two years to see them and I don't even care if Jon is the only original member. I spent the day looking for a decent toilet to defile and felt shitty because my crap factory needed to be unloaded. I walked down to the beach, talked to Jon and generally just sat around waiting for Knife Fight to play since they were last or second to last or whatever. They did not disappoint. They played the 1st 7in from start to finish with minimal stops. My life is complete. I also enjoyed RnR. I didn't remember liking them that much. They covered Led Zeppelin. At the end of the night my friend Amber from VH1 came down. It was the first time we had ever met in person. We've been talking for over a year now after she casted me and Labeau on Motormouth. We went to a couple of bars. She got WASTED. We played a lot of trivia at a our now fave Redondo watering hole, the Pitcher House. Her bf Matt was super cool as well. After that the band crashed out at the apt. Me and Nick walked down to the beach the OC films at. He was like a little kid. He loves that shit. I don't get it. ha. We were standing in front of a building that they use as a club on the show and carved Nick's initials in stuff in hopes that when they film he'll be able to see his name in the background. on the way back to the apt my feet hurt so bad. We stopped at a 711 for nachos and ended up feeding them to the sidewalk. they sucked. Today we are driving to TX. It's gonna SUCK
8-9
Dear Diary, Jon Hofacker is dreamy! (ed note: Hofacker kept asking what I was writing and I wouldn't show him. So he started to make fun of me and say I was writing in my little girl diary. So I drew hearts all over the page with our initals and wrote shit like "Jon Hofacker = Dreamboat" and "Mrs. Rob Hofacker" then said "FINE! HERE! LOOK!" laughs soon followed)
We've been driving for close to 24 hours. We are about 2 hours from San Antonio. It's about 3am. Last night as we were driving through the desert in AZ we heard a loud racket. We thought Adam ran over something. Everyone wanted to pull over except Greg. Then we heard it again luckily we were near a rest stop. We got out and saw that the tire was partially shredded. No problem we had a spare tire and the knowledge to change the tire. So we sprung into action. We had to take all the equipment out of the van to lighten the load. Then we saw lightning in the distance so we had to hurry. Sometimes you forget about the change in your surroundings (e.g. fauna and florae) While we were jacking and unloading Greg yelled and ran. Everyone started to jump in different directions. I went to see what was up and I saw a snake slither by, not just any snake though a rattlesnake! It couldn't have been more than a baby, but it was still a good 2-3 ft long. We made Zim watch it so it didn't crawl into the gear. So he had to squat near it and stand snake watch. There were bugs and mosquitoes EVERYWHERE. We were getting eaten alive. I've never experienced anything like it. You could just feel them all over you biting. It sucked majorly. So me and Greg started to get the spare tire out and realized there was an anti theft piece on there that you had to take off by turning this thumb screw thing. no problem. Lucky for us it was half broken off (sarcasm) and then even more lucky for us, we broke it completely (proper sarcasm) so now we're screwed unless we can find a star wrench. So we fucked around with it for what seemed like forever. We were all feeling doomed when a tour bus pulled up and out got the Boss, yes that's right, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN...just kidding. maybe the Mexican equivalent to Bruce Springsteen. All these Mexican dudes were getting out of the bus stretching their legs and saw all of our gear on the sidewalk. They started walking over to us to see what was up and started to help us get the tire out. SUCCESS. Those Mexican's sure know how to get around those pesky anti theft locks...juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust kidding. ha. cmon, it was a gimmie. Turns out they were in a band as well coming from LA trying to to get signed to some major Latino label. Their name was Lucero De Chihuahua (sp?) They didn't speak that much English but we all managed to have some laughs and took a big group photo with them. I hope they get big, good dudes, backed. We changed the tire and left the bug, scorpion hell. Then while driving some guy almost sideswipes us. Crazy night. He drive's a grey Alero license plate 691 SEM for any interested parties. I started driving and around 4am I started hallucinating from being tired. Zim took over and I woke up in TX. It's good to be back in Central Standard Time. Nick made a joke, "How are we all still getting along and laughing?" It's true though everyone is still having a good time just like the day we left. There have been little tiffs here and there but overall we all got over it and have a good time. Maybe it can be contributed to Harry Perry's "Video Commander" "GENTLEMEN....WAAAAAARP SPEEEEEEED!!!"
8-12
We played San Antonio at this run down Swing Around Fun Town type place. They had two go karts that probably didn't have all their wheels, some batting cages, mini golf, and a skateboard ramp. On the inside there were a bunch of Mexican people doing karaoke in Spanish. nice. We played to about 5 kids, including the other bands. We played some horse with a little kid who didn't really speak English and he schooled us. Afterwards this kid Josh convinced his roommates to let us stay with them. We hit a Taco Cabana, not recommended. Then we went to his apt. It was really awkward at first because we knew these people did not want us there. There were a bunch of kids watching tv kinda giving us the cold shoulder. But after awhile they came around and we discussed the finer points of video games and Stella. Greg clogged the toilet and pretended he didn't. Luckily there were two bathrooms. The next day we got up and drove to Dallas. We found this all you can eat Mexican place. It was ridiculous. We got to Dallas and sat around. The venue was right near where the Misfits got their inspiration for the song Bullet. Nick and Zim walked off looking for some grub and five mins later I get call from Zim freaking out. "I'm standing here at the taping of the WALKER TEXAS RANGER MOVIE!" Holy shit. We all took off running up the block. It was hilarious. We watched them film a couple of takes. we laughed and yelled alot. A couple of kids from that band Youth Attack and Attitude walked across the street to where Chuck Norris was and fanagled some pictures with him. He did not look pleased and kinda gave them a little shove off after they were snapped. They were crossing the street back to our side one of them excitedly had both his arms in the air and his camera phone open with the pics and accidentally closed it without saving. doh. It was pretty funny. We were supposed to play the show with like 5 metal bands but they all dropped off. So it was us, Youth Attack, and Attitude. It was pretty empty. Myth Busters was on a tv at the bar and they were testing the myth of being in a falling elevator and jumping right before impact. Would you survive? WELL I DON'T FUCKING KNOW BECAUSE WE HAD TO GO ON RIGHT BEFORE I FOUND OUT!! I've been waiting all my life to see that myth busted and now I will never know! (ed note: I've since seen the show and you will not survive.) Afterwards we talked to some kids from the bands. Me, Nick, Adam and Jon wanted to skip KC (our last date) and just go home, but Zim and Greg wanted to do it. So we drove all night and in the morning met up with infamous KC character Brett Ray. We stayed in this really hot apt of this cool dude named Jason. We got up and went to happy hour at Buzzard Beach $.75 PBRs. It was drunkening. After that some of us went to Winsteads then the apt and drank more. We are on our way to the show now. Can't wait almost home!!
8-13
show was alright. Bunch of STL kids came down to hang. It was pouring and shitty out. Afterwards we all hopped in the van and drove straight back to STL. home sweet home. That night was Gateway to the West fest and it was my final show with SOI. We played a good set and I even played a song that we never practiced or anything. I must say: NAILED IT! ha. I'm gonna miss being on the road with duders. good times. screw Flanders.