Thursday, October 2, 2008

Go Team Tour: March 89 Pt 2

Later that day

Something happened. A big snow-storm. And Calvin’s still driving and we are still in MONTANA. Billy and Al probably both got to stay in motels both nights. we drove and drove with a lot of junk in this car. now we are in North Dakota and it looks like where they go to make freaky movies..Friday the 13th or Invasion of the Body Snatchers or something.

Ok the plot. First me and xxxx are sitting around on her bed talking about yyyy and why he is so oblivious about her..knock knock knock Mecca Normal are here. I was surprised. “Are you early?” Jean said “No, I told Calvin we were going to be here.” We didn’t know where Al and Billy were and Go Team were supposed to practice the next day. Being in a band where we don’t work together like a band—practice, play something, is really kind of nerve racking. And Mecca Normal wanted to leave at 10 AM the next day, which really kind of sucked. Bill was with Cheryl and Al was coming back from Eugene. They got home super late and everyone had all this stuff to get done, no one knew they were leaving so early and it felt like we were little kids or something, but then they finally left. The universe seems to be more and more infinite every day. I fell asleep. Then the records arrived. Calvin woke me up and things were so hectic and I felt really bossed around again. Silk-screening the singles was ridiculous. He was so completely stressed out. It could have been avoided. There’s no way I want to spend all that time silk screening, it’s not worth it. Maybe it is. Maybe more people will buy them, or maybe it means something that we care enough to waste hours of our time making ‘art’. I’d rather be playing guitar or studying. I don’t have time to silkscreen. It is totally ridiculous. Business (selling records) no matter how cool, totally sucks. I should have thought about this before. As it is we’re going to have to practice, mix, record and play and I’ve got to see shows and write two papers. Finally, Robert and Jenny arrived, which was TOO COOL and we left. Off to Seattle with Calvin driving, to Margaret and Heather’s cool apartment and then we drove to Ellensburg. We got gas at Circle K near where the Screaming Trees grew up. Cool. The town smelled like cows. They let us use the employee bathroom. Me and Jenny stayed up all night. The sun came up. We were in Idaho. It was in the mountains. Snowy big mountains and then weird little houses. Driving by seeing people turning on their lights was real strange….it was like what the exchange student wrote in my high school annual “it must be strange to live here forever and ever and ever and ever…” And then the freeway stopped and we were in Wallace. A town with really old old wood houses. Beautiful colors, beautifully painted signs. Pretty soon we were in Montana and that lasted for absolutely ever. It was really weird and really snowy. Montana looks exactly like that Alice Wheeler photo of Slim in the field with the cows. It was incredible--wild-west display and all that. But there weren’t any towns. None. Dirt roads. Montana doesn’t really exist. I kept wondering if more people live in small towns or cities because there sure seems to be an awful lot of small towns in the U.S. We stopped in Billings, on Montana Avenue. A café. But it was really a bar or something …old Montana drunk guys. It was scary. Robert comes back from the bathroom and says “my shirt was tucked in, no wonder everyone was starting at me”. It was really really snowy. We had to stop really fast because a guy from a truck was walking across the freeway. Calvin slammed on the breaks and we went in a ditch. Then a snow-plow came up and saved us with sand, but then we had to jump in the car when it was still moving and all these cars were coming and if they put on their breaks we would have all died. In North Dakota it was dark and I kept thinking of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. It was purple outside. Jenny was driving and there was even more snow all of a sudden and then we got to Minneapolis and I had to wake up Calvin But first it was really cold and the window kept opening up and then it was really really really cold. Some Velvet Sidewalk was playing really really loud on the stereo. And then Snakepit and finally we were at a house. Actually driving wasn’t really that bad, but I didn’t actually drive, as Jenny reminds me. So we got to Rick’s house all of a sudden and we fell asleep on the floor. For a long time and got up, took a shower, ate some food, played a show, went to a cool record store. It snowed an awful lot. We played at this college-y coffee house with no real audience, a lot of lights and no PA. Go Team set list: The Loneliness March, Outside, Keep Away, Rainy Day, Stay Ready, 935 Patterson, Red Headed Aunts. I broke a string, Billy broke two. It was weird. Too bright and no one watched us. The volume was fucked up. The show was chaotic; kind of horrible. I hope we get better. It totally sucked. What a dumb place to play a show. Some Velvet Sidewalk were totally on overdrive. It was powerful to watch. The songs were pretty great but they were too loud and a bit over dramatic. It was like ‘we want to be really sincere and rock out but we don’t know how to unless we act self-destructive’. Makes me think of the sacrificing of reality/truth for morality. Mecca Normal were alright. Joel is a great song. Strong White Male “your talk is in the sun and rain/mine is in the want and hate” and stuff like that-songs about women. No one does what Jean Smith does. I just wish it was more accessible. David was going overboard. With time things will get better. I don’t know how well-received we were. Met a girl named Karen who works at Twin Tone. She’s heard of Rockin’ Rod. “I have connections” she says. Talked to Rick about Evergreen. He’s gonna send me a tape of Babes in Toyland. Tomorrow it’s off to Chicago. It is so fucking snowy here.

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