Whirly Ball #2

Oct 4th, 2008

Here at the House of Blues in Orlando, FL or shall I say Disney World Florida where outside the weather is hot, sticky and inside this very stale venue the air conditioning is on full blast and I am in a hoodie.

We arrived here in Orlando earlier this afternoon after a 2 hour drive from St. Petersburg, Florida where this tour played last night at a outdoor venue named Janis Landing. The drive today was definitely quick compared to the last couple of drives so we were all able to sleep in and take it easy this morning. Some went to Starbucks while I myself went to fill my little pot belly with a burrito from a independent burrito joint modeled after Chipotle-McDonalds burrito’s. An indy food joint mondeling themselves after a humungous chain.

Yesterdays show was definitely the best show thus far of the tour (3 days of it). Against Me is from Gainesville, Florida which was only about 2 hours away from St. Petersburg so the kids came out in full force. About 45 mins after doors opened I was wondering how well the show would do because the turn out was low indeed however through out the night things changed and the venue was absolutely packed with crazy Floridians.

The Pharmacists definitely put on a great show and there was one song where Ted actually didn’t play guitar and just went nuts on the mic which added to their intensity. Totally cool. I guess there was some issues with the kids get crushed up front due to boneheads in the crowd not respecting peoples spaces. I missed all of this and what was said but I know the band was definitely super bummed.

All in all though the show was Against Me’s.

I met a couple from Edmonton which was cool and they definitely got a kick out of me being from Grande Prairie and now here I am on tour in Florida. Most people who I come across at shows who are from random parts of Canada definitely get a kick out of me being from G. P. Also last night I was able to have my first Thai Red Curry Tofu dish of the tour which is always nice except I have had way better in other parts. Cant win them all.

So Ted Leo is currently playing here at HOB and the show just seems weird. So stagnant and stale. When it comes to this particular venue we are still 20 miles away from Orlando and in the middle of the whole Disney structure which is completely disgusting. No rock band let alone “punk” band should ever play such a place but when you are on someone else’s tour you have to kind of go with the flow and go where the tour takes you.

Oct 5th

Sitting here in our hotel room with Chris, James and myself watching Saturday Night Live. Ted was with us until about 2 mins again when he bailed to probably go too sleep however someone just knocked on the door. Who is it? Marty has just arrived from an adventure downstairs in the bar so I am sure there will be some stories.

On SNL this evening the musical guest is the Killers who I will say yet again I am definitely a fan of. I back the Killers and will always back them. Sorry ya’ll. What was cool though is once this came up Ted started talking about them and it turns out he backs them too!! Right on. The others I don’t think are too familiar with them yet however by the end of this tour they probably will be.

Something I heard a couple years ago was that when the singer of the Killers got married in Hawaii he flew their entire touring crew out for the wedding with days off. These things stoke me out because there are many o many of bands out there who would ever do things as such #1 because they can’t which is completely understandable but there are many bands that could and don’t. So when a band who can do something as such and actually does this rules for everyone involved.

So with this conversation Ted mentioned a story about Pearl Jam who they just toured with and how the band has an actual profit sharing system set up for their crew which is a cool thing to hear and I guess if you are with them for 6 years you get actual investments in their band/ project- I guess you would call this a collective of sorts…?? Rad


Oct 7, 2008

So I should first and foremost introduce the Pharmacists

Ted Leo, Chris, James, Marty, with Scott moving the dials on the sound board and myself doing some other tasks in between.

Currently we are in Greensboro, North Carolina where we arrived a couple hours ago after a 6 hour drive from Atlanta where we had spent the night after a day off yesterday. The drive was pretty much the same as any other drive although I do remember seeing and passing the most amount of police I have ever seen on the highways. In about 1 hour I swear I visibly saw at least 20 cop cars on the side of the freeway, in the middle median and others who had pulled over vehicles. I couldn’t believe my eyes. What a complete bum out. The police do more harm then good. When you are driving and come across a cop car people instantly hit their brakes and when a cop is hiding some people actually freak out on the highway. Not good for anyone behind the wheel of a moving machine. It turns out that this lady who I have been hearing so much about lately named Sarah Palin was giving a speech in these parts so now it makes sense although there always seems to be WAY TO MANY cops in these area’s. Not NEEDED!!!

So we played Gainesville 2 days ago which was nice because I have actually never been to a show there before which is hard to believe. It’s a place I have only stopped through to eat, and spend the night. My roommate Yannick and friend Phillipe actually flew down for the show to film the show, do interviews with fans, and catch some moments with Tom-Against Me! for video stuff with his new upcoming solo record. A small world eh?

The show in Gville was a benefit for Civic Media Center in the city which is a independent media outlet. The show was at the Common Grounds which I am very familiar with due to the stories from Gville and it was a nice little punk venue. The show was sold out which probably made for a good benefit for the CMC seeing how no one else took any $$....Hence the benefit.

Yesterday we had a day off so drove to Atlanta where we stayed with this nice fellow named Henry who was a friend of the bands. Henry does a zine named Chunklet which seems to be a pretty well known zine however it wa the 1st I heard of it..Hahaha. Henry was a good dude and had 2 crazy ass dogs. The dudes had also planned on doing something named Whirly Ball which I had no clue as to what it was. So after grabbing a bite in which I consumed a nice Black Bean Burger with a nice IPA beer we hopped in the van and drove a little north of Atlanta to the sight of this Whirly Ball.

So Whirly Ball in a game played in a big court with 10 (5 to a team) bumper cars. On each end of the court you have a goal elevated up near the roof (like basket ball) with a target on it. Each player is in a bumper car holding the steering of device of the car with 1 hand while the other hand is holding a sort of paddle, basket, scoop, catching device in which you use to pass, scoop and shoot a wiffle ball into the goal. Totally mind blowing I know but beyond fun. I sit here with a sore body and a mind full of good times. I played every game there was and actually did fairly well. It’s the hockey player in me.