By STEFAN ROGENMOSER

The Tour Begins

Drove to Baltimore, Maryland and stayed with a friend. On the way to Hoboken I drove us through Princeton, N.J. and we went by the university, which has a beautiful campus and is where I probably should have gone to college. We had our GPS set to avoid toll roads. We drove on some beautiful country roads looking at rolling hills.

The next day we drove to Hoboken, N.J., which is just one Hudson River away from New York City.

We played at a place called Maxwell’s. They fed us. It was a good show, and loud

We got to meet Lightspeed Champion, and we liked their music. After the show Jim, Chris, Neil, and I went to the waterfront and overlooked the Hudson River to see the NYC skyline. It was windy and chilly, but nice.

We stayed with Jim and Rebecca in Jersey City, about 10 minutes away. In New Jersey you’re not allowed to pump your own gasoline. Jim manages our friend’s band the Swims. They had tons of cool stuff in their flat, like a painting by Hunter S. Thompson which he’s shot with a shotgun, and a Kurt Vonnegut original sketch.

            Village Voice interview

Next day, drove through Manhattan to Brooklyn because we were staying there with one of Dave’s friends for the next two nights. We parked the van close to where his pad was, then we walked to the subway and rode to Queens for an interview.

Socrates Sculpture Park is where we did some video performances for the Village Voice, the nation’s first independent paper. While we waited for our rendezvous, Jim, Dave, Chris, and I went to eat some lunch at a very humble and incredibly good Greek restaurant called Mr. Gyro. Our waitress was very good, and she complimented our hair.

The journalists (one was a writer, the other a video-journalist) from the Village Voice were two freelances, they totally rule. We performed our songs “Don’t Forget the Sun,” “If You Go,” and “I Lost My Head.” Of course Jason got to do the interview.

We walked back to the subway, which here was above ground, and it looked like a scene straight out of The French Connection where Gene Hackman drives/chases through the streets under the subway rails overhead.

We took the subway to the Village, went to Washington Park, which was under construction. We still found a bench in the open part of the park to busk on. We even played a version of “I Only Have Eyes for You,” originally by the Flamingos.

That night Lightpseed performed on Conan, and they draped our t-shirt draped over one of their amps.

Some of the guys had expensive fancy pizza downtown, Jim and I had street hot dogs instead. We went to this weird artsy “space party” with Dave’s friend, whom we were staying with in Brooklyn. Our friend Chelsea met us. Some of us went to the Virgin Megastore in Times Square, and we found our CD there. I found Dusty in Memphis, Stop the Clocks, for reasonable prices. Then some of us went to the Planet Hollywood bar. And then the late night subway, which stops at every stop. Took a little while to get to the pad in Brooklyn.

In-Store Show

In-store at Vintage Vinyl in New Jersey early that afternoon. Played pretty well. After we signed some records and CDs we sold, we looked around the store at some records and CDs. A lot of famous musicians have played here. Eli “Paperboy” Reed played after us and his performance was incredible. He sounded like good 1960s soul such as Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Motown, and James Brown. His backing band included a horn section.

A Night in Manhattan

We drove the Hulk back into Manhattan to the Bowery Ballroom. We unloaded and were able to park right in front of the venue. Jim and I walked a few blocks to the Mercury Lounge, where we’d played a little over a month ago, and where I’d somehow left my keyboard throne. Of course it was nowhere to be found. Back to the Bowery Ballroom, an incredible venue with great sound on stage and in-house. Our show went well and the New Yorkers seemed to dig us. Chelsea also made it the show. Chelsea and I went out for a smoke then went downstairs to the bar. We were down there for a bit, occasionally stepping outside again. Chelsea and I ended up watching Lightspeed Champion from the balcony, then to our Explorers Club room on the balcony. The room was empty. Chelsea and I were ready for another cigarette. She suggested we smoke it in the room. I closed the curtain, lit it, and we smoked it, of course concealing it from the balcony bartender, who could have easily seen us since there’s a window between the bar and our room. We were smoking inside a non-smoking club, and nobody stopped us or possibly even knew. I put the butt in an empty cup with melting ice and condensation. Back to the balcony to watch Lightspeed Champion rule it. Back downstairs to refuel. I think the show was over by this point, or at least nearing the end. I went outside to smoke, and Neil and Jim were out there too. Neil noticed my condition and advised me to drink lots of water. I did. It didn’t help… empty stomach. I shoved a cigarette into the filter tip cigarette holder and lit it. That was it. I walked closer to the building and performed The Big Spit… it was really only water though, since I hadn’t eaten yet. Then again. And again. At least I didn’t have to load up any gear. Chelsea treated us to pizza, but I even ruined my chances at that. I ate the crust though, and it was great. We took the van back to Brooklyn and stayed there one more night.

            Telectiscope

The next morning we woke up to a hot apartment, but it wasn’t so bad. We packed up and drove over to a Telectiscope right near the Brooklyn Bridge on the Brooklyn side. We could see London on the other end of the Telectiscope with the London Bridge in the background. One woman was speaking on the phone with her mother in London in real time.

After examining the Telectiscope and a beautiful garden near the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, we trucked on to Boston. We shoed up quite early, then hung out with Lightspeed outside the venue… Jim taught Dev from Lightspeed a few tricks on the skateboard. Mike, Jim, and I perused the streets a little and stumbled upon a building covered with shrubs, then found some Boston University students painting a mural of hot air balloons.

There weren’t a ton of people at the show, probably because there was a big Celtics basketball game happening that night. Lightspeed had an encore and Dev stood on his skateboard on stage while playing guitar. One of the writers from the SMiLE shop was there to see us, as were some people from a local college radio station which gave us airplay. Flowers Forever was in Kansas that night. The college radio people left after we played. The venue was Great Scott, actually in Aliston, Mass. On the way out we drove by Harvard University but it was dark and we didn’t see much. We also drove through downtown Boston, which is a big city, but seemed comparatively small after being in and around New York City for a few days.

            The Sun Also Rises Early

We drove through the night into Vermont. Dawn happens around 3:30 a.m. this far north, and the sun came up not long after. We stayed in a hotel in Burlington, Vt. We had the next day off. We ate at a 1950s style hamburger and ice cream place called Al’s Frys, which was good. Most of us then went to gaze over Lake Champlaign. Upstate New York was n the other side of the lake. As we were leaving the waterfront a train slowly crept by, and Dave jumped onto one of the cars and rode for a few seconds. At the hotel we did laundry until after 3 a.m. because the dryer wasn’t very efficient. There was also a hot tub and pool we spent a fair amount of time in.

Montreal

The next day we drove into Canada and then arrived in Montreal. We brought a road atlas and did some state trivia on the drive in. Montreal felt like Europe. French is the preferred language here. There are smutty adult stores everywhere. Everyone speaks English too. Everyone here is healthy, or at least they look fit, after all, they live in a country where there’s free health insurance. There were anywhere from 4-10 people watching us at Les Saints, the venue. Nice venue. We videotaped our show on my camcorder. We hung out in the green room with Lightspeed and got to know them a little better.

The Cleanliness of Toronto

We drove through the night toward Toronto. The Canadian countryside is beautiful. The sun also has arisen, and is pretty bright around 4 a.m. Toronto is high in the running for cleanest city I’ve ever seen. The people here are fit too, and English is the primary language, eh! We didn’t have time to go to the CN Tower, but the venue—Lee’s Palace—was cool. The production manager and soundman are two of the coolest people we’ve ever worked with at a venue. We videotaped this show too, which was better attended. Jim did a hilarious back flip off the high stage but didn’t land it right and fell down with his arms in the air. The ramp to get on stage was steep, and sliding down in my boots my boots my boots with heavy gear in hand was easy. Going up though, Dave had to give me a push. Afterward, we talked to some interesting Toronto dwellers, smoking much valued (and very expensive) Gauloises. They’re worth it, it’s the perfect cigarette, and could easily make anyone start smoking and never stop. Neil and Mike and I ate some Middle Eastern food that was good and filling. Jim and I went to a bookstore, and even though they had some cool stuff, we didn’t feel like purchasing anything. I love Toronto. I could have easily stayed here. At the hotel we watched our show from my camcorder and took notes. I just hit record and set the camera on the soundboard. At soundcheck I played the intro to “These Eyes” by the Guess Who and the soundman said, “Welcome to Canada,” then I played “Summer in the City” by the Lovin’ Spoonful, and the soundman said, “Welcome to California.”

            Back in the USA

From Toronto I took us through more Canadian countryside and back into the USA. We bypassed Detroit and got into some real heavy rain in Michigan or Illinois. We listened to a books on tape of Kurt Vonnegut’s last novel, Timequake, quite a funny listen. We crossed the Mississippi River and were in Rock Island, Iowa. The next morning we played/recorded at a blog/online radio session called Day Trotter. It was awesome. I got to rock a Farfisa organ, an awesome Lowrey organ, and a Wurlitzer electric piano probably from the late 1950s. It sounded awesome coming out of a Sears Silvertone amp. There was also a tack piano there. The sessions were all recorded onto 2-track tape.

Then we drove to Chicago and did the same thing, but more acoustic versions. This place was called Hear Ya and was recorded on Pro Tools. The guitars were acoustic this time. I played a sweet sounding Hammond organ and Mike rocked a Wurlitzer electric piano probably from the 60s or 70s. We drove a few blocks over to North Western Chicago to play the Empty Bottle. The show went well and we even got an encore for the first time this tour, but we didn’t play another song. Jim and I had a long conversation outside with two Chicago natives, grade school teachers.

We stayed with one of Mike’s friends whom he once was in a Beatles cover band with. They were called The Return. Young was, and still is, John Lennon. Now Young plays in a Beatles cover band called American English. Young played guitar for us. It was incredible, he was as good, or possibly better, than John Lennon. And it takes a lot to say that. He played “I’m Only Sleeping,” “HELP!” “Day Tripper” and even “Woman is the Nigger of the World.” (yes, that’s a John Lennon song). Everything was spot on. Then Young got on the piano and played “Jealous Guy” perfectly. He had a nice and gorgeous girlfriend named Enisa. Young is an incredibly nice guy, and has the closest personality to John Lennon than anyone I’ve ever met. Some of us hung out by a camp fire in the back yard before the J-45 jamming began inside. We didn’t sleep very long.

Madness in Minneapolis

The next day we drove through Wisconsin. We had to navigate some alternate routes because some interstates we closed due to flooding. It was nice countryside. We drove past a tourist town called Wisconsin Dells that seemed a lot like Myrtle Beach. Was all wanted to stop, but we had to trudge on to Minneapolis, which is a crazy city. We played at the 7^th Street Entry, where Prince filmed Purple Rain. This very nice man who knew the Beach Boys personally, and he gave Neil his Dennis Wilson t-shirt. We rocked really hard that night and then some of us did an interview for the local independent paper in the downstairs green room. After the show we had pizza and walked by some “Back dat ass up” type clubs. Party City. Stretch limousines everywhere. Well dressed people. Plenty of money. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson once wrote “There was madness in any direction, at any hour.” Now I know what he was talking about. I don’t know if anyone was sober. Jim took a picture of me rocking on the big Hard Rock Café guitar across the street from the venue. I got to talk with Anna (Lightspeed’s drummer) about British football, Monty Python, and some other things.

            Fargo

We drove to Fargo, North Dakota that night. We had the day off. The next night we watched the Coen Brothers film Fargo in Fargo. Earlier that night Mike and I cleaned out the van. We drove one through N. Dakota, where the interstate was often straight as far as I could see , until the mirage of I-94 melted into the horizon. We stopped in Bismark to get an oil change. We had to stop in Hebron, N.D. to get gas. It seemed like Hebron never made it beyond 1985, but it had a nice quaint small town feel. Lot of mills. And friendly people.

Badlands

Towards the western part of the state we stopped at Roosevelt National Park, near Fryburg, N.D. We took several pictures of the canyons and even some buffalos were roaming about. And on we drove, into Montana. Dave was driving now. It was dark. I was in the back of the van. BANG! Krunkle krunkle krunkle! I knew we’d hit something, or been in some kind of a wreck. Several words that are unfit to recreate here. We’d hit a deer. It was a familiar sound… I lost my first car to a deer. We pulled off to the side but had no reception in the middle of nowhere, Montana. None of us were hurt. Just a little post-traumatic shock, still spewing out words unfit to print. Montana is the least populated state. There are probably more cows than people in this state. We were at the bottom of the exit ramp, so we cranked what was left of the van, smelling like coolant, and nursed her back to the Eastbound ramp, hitting a bird on the way up. We had to climb a hill to get cell phone reception. It was full moon, the stars were out, it was a dark night. We called AAA, who sent highway patrol o help us. Rosebud County showed up and was very helpful. They called a wrecker and a tow truck. The wrecker took the van, the tow truck took the trailer. Most of the guys rode in the wrecker. Dave, Jason, and I rode in the police car 12 miles East to the nearest town, Forsyth. We stayed in a hotel there. The van was taken to the repair shop. We feared the tour might be over, but we all kept our cool.

In the morning the mechanic used two cell phones at once until he found us a radiator in Billings, Montana, the nearest city. We had to wait on its arrival. We had to check out of the hotel, so we sat around outside and worked on cover songs and I got to catch up with my blogging. Just after 3 p.m. we heard lots of honking and a “Wu-whoooooo!” as Dave pulled the fixed van into the hotel parking lot. We were filled with joy and thanked Jesus and the people of this tiny town of Forsyth (population 2,000) for all the help.

The insurance on the van and Dave’s insurance paid for all the towing and repairs. As we passed Exit 82 Westbound Dave pulled over to look at the deer carcass. Nearby was another decomposing deer carcass. The police officer told us there had been another deer strike that night, and someone’s car was totaled. That kind of stuff is not news to Montana law officers. That deer cost us our air conditioning and some delays. The mechanic told Dave that the bird we’d hit after hitting the deer is called a Kill Deer, and they are rare birds. Fate? Conincidence? Or just pure weirdness, chance. Making the Seattle gig was obviously impossible, so we bolted through the rest of Montana on towards Portland.

The Next Gig… Portland

We finally got through the long sate of Montana. Then briefly Idaho, then Washington, which looked like a tundra until we got to the Columbia River, which Lewis & Clark traveled down. At a gas station we saw a bum couple who got to hitch a ride with a trucker. We stopped in Oregon to look at Multnomah Falls, a beautiful waterfall. Dave, Jim, Mike and I braved the long trail to the top of the waterfall. It went uphill at least ten times. We were completely exhausted once we reached the top, but it was a nice view, and long way down. Dave, Jim, and I gulped some mountain stream water. Mike feared there were amoebas in there.

We arrived at Doug Fir Lounge in Portland. Chris and I walked around Portland to some record stores and picked up some cool tunes, and also found our album. We probably walked 40 blocks or more. My lack of sleep and those long walks were catching up with me. Doug Fir is one of the best venues around. They fed us a fancy meal with Gruyere cheese. They let us smoke in the green room. Jim and Dev from Lightspeed went to Burnside Skate Park to skate. Some of us stopped by a pretty hip vintage store.

We thought our show that night was pretty sloppy. I was in the green room when I heard the drums of our first song begin. We were videotaping this show too. All of Lightspeed Champion and Flowers Forever and all their crew looked on. They made up most of the crowd. Upon reviewing our video of the show we realized it wasn’t as bad as we thought. It was the first show we’d played since we hit the deer. I came close to falling asleep or collapsing on stage.

After the show I was strung out on a sofa in the green room. Anna and Dev from Lightspeed took pictures of me in this state. I wore a tight red suit, a 70s shirt with butterfly collars, my fedora, and enormous yellow sunglasses. I think a lit cigarette was hanging out of my mouth and I was sipping on a cold brew. It was good laugh. I got my second wind ten minutes after we’d gotten off stage. I took some pictures of Lightspeed during their set. Cameras don’t like low light environments, but a few of my snaps were in focus.

Martin from Lightspeed got a tattoo that afternoon in Portland, it was a harmonica with flames shooting out of it. He was also wearing a Pantera t-shirt, pretty funny. We all hung out in the green room after the show. I did an impression of a heroine junkie, or what I thought that would look like, for about ten minutes. Jason thought it was pretty funny. All of us Explorers were in the green room singing and playing Beatles songs as Lightspeed’s set ended. They went back out for an encore and Anna played some bass as Dev played drums and I don’t know what anyone else played. As they were breaking down their instruments from stage I walked through the room singing “If you’re going to San Francisco… be sure to wear some flowers in your hear… you know you want to” I ad-libbed to someone who was listening, Anna from Lightpseed, who was laughing.

Apparently some of the Lightspeeders had partied pretty hard in Portland. Maybe because the oldies tribute band wasn’t there. While loading out of the Doug Fir Lounge we slid down the parking garage exit with the dolly containing our gear. The parking garage gate door was funny… someone had to walk out in order for it to open.

I slept in the back of the van. I was told the drive to the hotel was pretty rough, down some windy road along the Pacific Coast Highway. We stopped in Newport, Oregon.

The Mighty Pacific

As we left Newport we saw the Pacific Ocean. The view was incredible. We stopped at some state parks to film us performing some songs. A nice girl filmed us doing “Don’t Forget the Sun.” The drive was beautiful. We took lots of pictures. There are a lot of small quaint towns along the PCH, and they’re pretty cool. They all have little walk up coffee shops, like “Sugar Shack” by Jimmy Glimmer.

California! We were at our true home, at last. The PCH in California is even more beautiful and cooler than Oregon. We drove past some enormous redwood trees. It was incredible. We played a song in front of an enormous redwood. We saw an elk. Then it was back to the 101. We ate at a Denny’s somewhere in Northern California. Then we got on Hwy. 1. A crazy idea of Dave’s. The road was twisting and turning and going up and down and it was like a roller coaster. It was fun and scary at the same time, like a nightmare. It was so dark. We finally made it back to the PCH’s cliffy coast and almost immediately had a flat tire on our trailer. Dave, Mike, and I did the honors of changing the tire. I don’t know if anyone else in the band noticed we had a flat. They probably thought we were stopping for the fun of it. It was pretty late. We still had one spare left.

We rolled on into a town called Fort Bragg, Calif. The next day as we were leaving I don’t think I closed the back trailer door properly. It flew open, and two suitcases were on the highway. A nice man put them on the side of the road. We were stopped at a gas station, and I got the suitcases (which weren’t even mine) and put them back in the trailer and closed it properly this time.

            We drove through some hilly vineyards and countryside. The roads had no shoulder. It was hot. It was a little frightening. We got back to the 101, and it was hot there too.

If You’re Going to San Francisco

We stopped at the hill on the Sausalito side of the Golden Gate Bridge. We took lots of pictures. The Golden Gate, Alcatraz, the Bay, the Bay Bridge, the San Fran skyline, the Pacific off to the West… it was all too much.

We rolled into San Francisco singing songs about it by from there and then tried to make it up some of the steep hills. Our van and trailer barely made it up the steep San Francisco streets, going about 10-15 mph floored. The engine was really loud. But we made it. Back to the Independent, a venue where we’d played last year with Apples in Stereo. That was also a Friday night, as was this night. We did some rehearsing out back before the gig. We also had incredibly good chips and salsa in our green room. It was gone in an instant. I forgot the brand name of that stuff, or else I’d be munching on it right now. Neil and I cooked up some coffee. I put my camcorder on the upstairs soundboard.

This was easily the best show of the tour so far. We did a cool intro walking on stage, we tightened up the gaps between songs, and this time I got to be up front between Jim and Jason. It was so much fun, just like last year. The audience was into us. We rocked hard, and at the end of our last song I threw my piano onto the stage, half of it still on the keyboard stand, and started whaling on it with my hands and feet. I think we were a hard act to follow that night.

Mike and I watched Lightpseed for a little bit then went to go find some food. Pizza was what we found. Everything else was closed. We didn’t make to see Haight-Ashbury again this year. Lightspeed had a fun set too. After the show Dave, Mike and I were sitting on stage playing guitar and singing and trying to impress whatever ladies were around. I don’t think it worked. San Francisco is a very romantic city, it is majestic and beautiful. It’s like a much cooler and bigger Charleston, both being peninsula cities, except that the Civil War never seems to have left Charleston, and San Francisco is probably rebuilt after every earthquake.

We hit the road to Los Angeles that night. It’s a beautiful drive between San Francisco and Los Angeles. It seems like Seinbeck country. We drove the other way last year, which is when we stopped at a gas station, used the restrooms, bough fresh blood oranges from a tent vendor, and got back on the interstate realizing nobody had pumped any gas. That was laugh.

Welcome to Paradise

            We pulled into L.A. and went straight to the Little Radio warehouse, which is where we’d play that afternoon. I tried to get some sleep, but it didn’t really work out. There was a pool set up outside and giant inflatable waterslide. They gave us some good lunch. Jim and I went down the waterslide several times until we had to soundcheck. We were dripping wet on the stage during soundcheck. Our manager was there, so was his and our friend Lobo, one of the coolest dudes alive. Our friend Darren, or D-Rad, from this band called the Tyde was there too. He sang with us as we covered “Fun, Fun, Fun” by some band who apparently sounds a lot like we do. We’d just learned the song that afternoon, which is why I didn’t get to sleep.

P.S. More to come soon… lots of interesting stuff happened to us. I apologize for the unedited and un-proofread parts of this article. I’ll fix that. This is a long one, so take your time reading it.

The Endless Tolls Highway Ride…

On the way to New York City for our first gig we ended up on some toll roads that cost us a fortune. It was a bumpy toll ride—you would think that the toll money might be used on the upkeep of toll roads, but that wasn’t happening on this ride. Then again, roads in the North freeze up with ice and then crack, and so on…

The Hulk and trailer (thanks Jeff, holla!) said to the road, “Ker-klunk, ka-bow, ker boom,” as we bobbled up and down on our seats. We counted the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike and listened to the History of Rock and Roll according to KHJ Los Angeles, it was a teen radio station back in the day, its broadcasts now on one of our iPods. The Turnpike toll was more modestly priced. Our GPS guided us through some strange parts of Newark.

Five o’clock on a Wednesday is not the best time to roll into New York City. We had trouble understanding the foreigner at the tollbooth of the Holland Tunnel entrance. He said something to the effect that we need to pull up and turn around and go through the Lincoln Tunnel because of our trailer… we were told this as three Greyhound style buses that were way bigger than us were creeping their way into the tunnel as cars were cutting across lanes almost at right angles. It was almost entertaining. We pulled up and waited for about a minute. No one came to assist us and cars were honking and driving by. Dave, who was driving, said something like “F this” and we headed for the tunnel. A good American flashed their lights and let us in. we blazed through the Holland Tunnel, a little nervous about what might be awaiting us at the other end. We saw the light at the end of the tunnel and we were in Manhattan. We were safe for now…

Entering a Madhouse called New York City…

Traffic was crazy—we had just entered a madhouse. Taxis everywhere, hundreds of jaywalkers in all directions, honk, honk, beep, beep, yeah. A white Miata pulled next to us at a stop light and the drive, another good American, signaled with his hands to roll down our window. The Hulk’s windows don’t roll down so we opened the door and were told our back trailer doors were open! Shit. Some of us rushed out to shut the trailer doors. We had to take the keys out of the ignition to re-lock the trailer door. The light turned green and we were still stopped. we drove about tow more bumpy blocks and Jim saw the trailer doors had flung open again! We stopped the van again to re-investigate the situation. Honk honk beep beep yeah. Jim and Mike ended up getting in the trailer to hold the doors shut until we got the venue. We drove a few gentle blocks (Jim and Mike still got airborne inside the trailer holding the doors closed) down Houston Ave. and arrived at the Mercury Lounge. We unloaded and got a sweet parking spot across the street.

We sound checked, some of us walked two blocks to get some real New York pizza.

We played a good show on this sold out night (Radio Exile review of our show–  http://radioexile.insidepulse.com/2008/04/24/the-explorers-club-42308-mercury-lounge-nyc/  ) and afterwards I caught up with some raving fans who made my dream come true: A Manhattan in Manhattan, in a plastic cup. Classy. Then we grabbed some acoustic guitars and banjos an our bag of jingles/percussion. We trekked a few blocks to the edge of the Village with a camera woman and some other people from Fader. I was half-twisted and walking with the boys right near a grocery store where Jeff Buckley used to play. We stopped on a street corner and played for the camera and accumulated a small crows. It was wicked fun. We opened up a guitar case and collected some change.

Back at Mercury Lounge some of us hung with our raving fans and developed a secret code which was 1:33. I got some video with my camcorder of us loading our gear, and I think I forgot my triangular keyboard/drum throne in the band gear room. It was messy and unorganized, and we have tons of gear. So if you’re walking by the Mercury Lounge, check to see if my throne is still there.

We drove to Brooklyn near Prospect Park West and stayed the night some friends. The next day ate lunch somewhere in Brooklyn. We then went down and took the subway (where some of the guys sang and played guitar and we talked to a nice lady—who also liked our music—named Rose, who had moved to NYC from Atlanta in the middle 1960s) into the city to 42^nd Street.

I got to see my favorite building in New York City, the one that curves like a wave and up makes you feel like you’re falling down if you look up while walking next to it. We walked over to Broadway and Times Square, where we played acoustic versions of some of our songs and covers such as “Johnny B. Goode” and “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” (a song which we’ve never performed in public) on the island between the lanes of Broadway. We opened a guitar case and made a little gas money, some of the crowds really seemed to be digging us.

We opened a guitar case and we depended on the kindness of strangers to make a little gas money, some of the crowds really seemed to be digging us.

They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway…

They say there’s always magic in the air
But when you’re walkin’ down that street
And you ain’t had enough to eat
The glitter rubs right off and you’re nowhere…

Yelling at NASDAQ and NYPD at Grand Central…

We then walked to Grand Central Station and found a domed intersection that gave us nice reverb. We had a little crowd going when some NYPD officers asked if we had a permit, then cut us off on “JBG.” One of the officers said he liked our music and we could get a $3 license to perform… maybe next time.

We got back on the tube and rode back to Brooklyn to get the Hulk and take it to the heap in Scranton. The subway ride was interesting and the quaintness of the cultural diversity along with the crashing sounds of the underground reminded me of some of the sounds in the Simon & Garfunkel song “Sounds of Silence.” We talked only to each other on the ride back. New York is a lonely city, introverted, and well read. Several people on the subway were reading newspapers and novels—something a South Carolina boy doesn’t see every day….

 Leaving the Big Apple…

Back in Brooklyn Dave bought an $8 pack of Camels. We piled into the Hulk and headed for the heap in Scranton. We had to drive through Manhattan. We tried taking the Holland Tunnel again to go under the Hudson River. A nice NYPD officer told us we couldn’t go through with the trailer and gave us simple directions to the Lincoln Tunnel. We got to seem some cool New York scenery on the way out, I even saw the red lights of the New Yorker building. The Lincoln Tunnel did not seem any different than the Holland Tunnel.

About 30 miles outside of the city, we stopped at a brand new but rural McDonald’s. Mike (our new 7^th member, filling in on extra vocals and keyboards) drove the rest of the way through the beautiful Pennsylvania hills to Scranton. There were twinkling yellow lights on the hillsides and in the valleys… we had to push the Hulk pretty hard to make it up some of the hills.

Panked in Scranton!

When we got to Scranton we met Brian Langan, our good friend from the Swims. He was disc jockey-ing this bar/annual dance/discotheque called PANKED! At the Bog. He and Mike (also in the Swims) only used vinyls and 45s on two turntables to DJ. We were greeted with warm welcomes by almost everyone, and a lot of Scranton friends were excited to see us again. Once we got to where we were staying with Brian most of us went to bed after a few good laughs. I read an article about the Explorers Club in the Scranton City Paper, I did that interview, but I forgot to take a copy of the paper with me. Maybe it was my boots. Brian pointed out that in the SXSW blog I wrote about my boots, my boots, my boots almost the entire time. Brian and Jim played video games in the basement until the sun was up.

The next day Brian took us to lunch in his new band van to this really good and inexpensive restaurant that ruled. On the way there he kept hitting the steering wheel and jokingly saying, “Come on guys, can’t you drive,” as well as a funny episode where he plays a father who gets irritated with his misbehaving kids on a road trip (look for this in an upcoming podcast). Brian also sang a few Explorers Club songs as if they had been done by Nickelback (look for this in the upcoming podcast too). He also did an Irish acoustic/folk/Celtic version of Green Day’s “When I Come Around,” which is one of the funniest things we witnessed on our trip.

Brian, Jim, Dave, Chris (our new touring bass player), and I went to downtown Scranton to the mall where the guys looked at some video games in the game store. We then went to an excellent coffee shop, which I remember from the last trip to Scranton, and where I got a little cow sticker on my coffee lid which is now on my camera bag. Walking around downtown Scranton was awesome. The Electric City, as it’s called. Chris and I then went to a used record store and looked at some vinyls and CDs. I didn’t find anything in my price range, but Chris found two Conway Twitty records.

Back at the house Brian and his wonderful girlfriend Patrice and her mother made an excellent pasta dinner with salad for us.

Dares in Wilkes-Barre…

I then drove the Hulk to Wilkes-Barre, following Brian and the Swims in their van and barely keeping up with them. The speedometer, for no apparent reason, went from 60 to 0 while I was driving and I don’t think it worked for the rest of the trip. In Wilkes-Barre we unloaded and Dave hopped over one of the incredibly tall parking meters. We played at the Café Metropolis with the Moneynotes, the Swims, and the Spinto Band. We were second in the lineup. The place was packed with tons of awesome genuine indie kids. The sound on stage was strange, and this was also the night when I realized I probably left my throne in New York. So I stood up on this already tight, hot stage. We had a blast playing and the crowd really seemed to enjoy it. 

On our song “Freedom Wind” there is a loud rockin’ out part where I jam screeching organ and everyone else blasts guitars and drums, then the song gets quiet for the last chorus with just Jason on lead vocals and me on electric piano. When we got to the quiet part everyone heard what we thought was feedback. Everyone looked at their amps and put their ears close to them as Jason and I finished up the song, with all this loud screeching feedback noise happening during the quiet ending. After the song ended the noise was still prevalent. It was out of control. It was comig from my amp. I turned the volume off and thought I’d really done it this time. I’d blown out my old vintage Kustom amp because I turned it up too loud. But nope, it was just a high organ note on the Yamaha keyboard that got stuck in the down position and kept screeching until I unjiggled the sucker. 

Our set ended in a dogpile and Jim got some of his fingers cut by guitar strings. Rock and roll. The Spinto Band and the Swims played excellent sets. After everyone loaded out I had a good keyboard player-to-keyboard player chat with Phil from the Swims. That man can shred some organ.

Back in Scranton some of us at more pasta and I walked behind the house and found an excellent view of the valley, which I showed to some of the guys. It was pretty cool. We watched a funny 1980s documentary about heavy metal fans hanging out in parking lots talking about how good hair metal is. I was about ready to sleep only to find that there wasn’t much room upstairs and that my sleeping bag and pillow were already in use. I went to the basement and hung with Brian, Jim, and Nick and Thomas from the Spinto Band as they played California Games on NES. I went to sleep on the sofa down there. They played games until the sun was up.

The next morning Brian took most of us to a good bagel shop. We packed up and took the party to Philadelphia. We arrived at Johnny Brenda’s in Philly and unloaded, then took some silly pictures on a very patriotic bench.

The City of Brotherly Love Loves Us!

Johnny Brenda’s treated us exceptionally well. They gave us a buyout for food, and they even gave us this little Greek platter in the green room that was gone in about ten minutes. We also got a good amount of drink tickets. We did a fun interview with Caitlin from Soundcheck Magazine. Caitlin even brought us some delicious cookies that she’d made. We also took some silly Philadelphia Freedom Wind pictures on a patriotic bench outside the club.

The Swims played a kick ass show and then it was our turn, they even played one of my favorite old Swims songs tonight, “Sara Jean.” They also played local Scranton hit “Depth Charge,” which rules a lot, along with their newer songs I’m not as familiar with yet. We played quite well and the sound on stage was awesome. The room was pretty full and so was the balcony, where we saw our pal Frank from Philadelphia band Dr. Dog. They rule too. Jason somehow broke the jack on his Telecaster, but Jon from the A-Sides let us borrow his guitar. The A-Sides ruled the stage after us, and they rocked hard even though they were having some trouble getting the bass guitar to make audible sound.

After the show Jim and I went outside and sat on the patriotic bench and ran into Caitlin from Soundcheck and talked with her some. Then it was loud out time. Then I went back into Johnny Brenda’s and hung out with Dave from our band and Brian and Mike from the Swims and Jon from the A-Sides. Chris ended up staying with a friend of his somewhere in or near Philly.  We still didn’t have a Philly cheese steak in Philly.Outside on the sidewalk in the rain, Dave and I reluctantly said adieu to the A-Sides as they loaded their van. Then we piled into our van and Mike drove us to a hotel Newark, Delaware that we’d booked earlier that day, which was pretty silly considering we had three different offers from Philly peeps to stay with them that night.

Strange Vibrations in Delaware…

In the hotel room we all were awoken incredibly early by someone’s cell phone (possibly Jason’s—since he’s probably the only one that would have a 1940s song for a ringtone—which is still better than Glen Campbell’s “Galveston” which he had on our tour last year and made me sick of that song because his phone rang way too much) that kept going off over and over without being answered at this ungodly hour.

I asked, “Is that necessary?” quite loudly, and the response I got was laughter from Carl and perhaps from some of the other guys who were also awoken by the phone that went unanswered. It was pretty funny. It ended up being a fun morning for some of us (me and Dave at least) and a panicked morning for some of the others. Everything I needed was in the van, and I had trouble getting through the hotel’s securely locked doors with my hands full and no key to entrée.

Chris got dropped off and we were on the road to Baltimore, well almost. We had some moans of I’m hungry and so on, and this being a Sunday at about 1 o’clock every restaurant had a tremendous wait. We ended up going to fast food, which is fine with me since by this point that was all I could afford (I didn’t even  eat dinner the night before, and I don’t think Jim did either).

We rolled onwards, taking this mystic caravan we called the Hulk south to Baltimore and showed up at the venue, Sonar, way early. We took our sweet time unloading gear and setting up merch. They had wireless internet here! This would be the first time on the trip most of us would be able to check our emails. Mike fixed the broken jack on Jason’s guitar. The Swims and the Spinto Band showed up, and so did our pal Beckner, whom we stayed with near Baltimore on the way up to New York.

Danny Bonaduce’d in Baltimore…

Beckner and I hit the streets of Baltimore in search of 7/11 so I could get some coffee and smokes. We were given directions from someone at Sonar, and it sounded easy. We took a left turn one block too early and ended up in Baltimore’s strip club district, a block of nothing but strip clubs and adult stores on both sides of the street, one bouncer even encouraged us to enter his club. No thanks, I’ll do that with my own encouragement if my life ever comes to that point. We ran into Mike and Matt form the Swims, who were looking for a place to get food. They had no idea where the 7/11 was. We kept walking and I eventually saw it, it well cameflaged at the bottom of a skyscraper. Inside I was pouring coffee and a Baltimore police officer standing in the isle looked at me and asked the cashier who I looked like. I said, “Danny Bonaduce?” The two of them laughed, and I think Beckner was standing outside by this point. I checked out and scuttled out of there, all the time thinking I’d just been Danny Bonaduce’d by a black cop in a Baltimore 7/11. It kind of ruled, I was wearing my yellow “shooter” shades, a 1970s looking shirt with butterfly collars out to my shoulders, and a vintage orange/brown leather Nino Cerruti (the guy who taught Armani) jacket from 1975.

The Baltimore Show and Last Goodbyes…

At Sonar there was pizza for the bands, and we chowed down. We were the first band in the lineup, and we played a decent show. I don’t know why I didn’t take off my leather jacket, but by the last three songs of our set I probably could have suffered a heat stroke. The stage was cold at first, then near the end of the set the heat really hit me. The Swims and the Spinto Band rocked as usual. Mishaps! was the last band in the lineup, they had an interesting punk rock sound, and their female keyboard player shredded organ like she meant it.

After the shows all the bands hung out outside on the wet street, and once again I got some sage advice from Phil of the Swims. He told me when we go play Canada on our summer tour to make the venues do all the entering another country legal paperwork. That should certainly take a load off our chests, speaking metaphorically.

Jim and one of the guys from the Spinto Band did backflips on the street, and then we all did a mock end of a youth sports match “Good game, good game, good, game…” run by head on and give high fives routine. Dave ended up making up blues songs for a few tramps since we had nothing else we could give them. We said our goodbyes to our Swims and Spinto Band friends and piled into our van for the long night’s journey into day back home. We stopped in the middle of the night at a Denny’s somewhere and shared good stories and had a good laugh.

And that is all folks!

–Stefan / The Explorers Club

p.s. for more tour photos look here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?page=1&aid=2020145&id=136100012

and here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020220&id=136100012

p.s. 2 — Dig Chris’s blog baby, it’s good and that shiz rulez: http://laughingmood.blogspot.com/

I ate at the Whataburger fast food chain 5 times on our 10 day trip.

After our second show Neil got very ill and remained so for the rest of the trip, giving his illness to our good friend Brother Will from Brothers & Sisters before we left Austin.

Our van’s GPS gave us directions with female British dialect. Whenever we made a wrong turn or missed it a turn she told us she was “Re-cal-cu-lating.” Austin is not the preferred city to use a GPS because the interstate runs on top of or nearly on top of parallel streets and the GPS couldn’t always tell if we were on the interstate or on the frontage roads and thus she would give us very confusing and sometimes incorrect directions.

On the way from Denton to Austin we saw the Texas Motor Speedway. It’s big.

Our recording studio where we slept the night after our Atlanta show, took the new band glam pictures, is off of Faulkner Road. At a bookstore in Denton, TX I picked up some cheap secondhand paperbacks which are William Faulkner’s The Wild Palms, Go Down Moses, and The Reivers, as well as Ernest Hemingway’s The Nick Adams Stories, and Anton Checkhov’s Selected Stories. Out of all those paperbacks I’ve had time to read one of Checkhov’s short stories.

On our way back home when we went through Atlanta we though we say a hotel with shattered windows from tornadoes that had twisted and ravaged their way through the Southeast the night before.

On several occasions we were reminded of something somewhat trite but true that AC/DC once sung; “It’s a long way to the top if you wanna Rock and Roll.”

 I feel like ending this blog on a very, very, very trivial note: on Saturday, after our last SXSW show we went to Target and all got something for Brother Will as a care package to show him our appreciation of his generosity. Here’s the trivial part—while I was walking down the greeting card isle my right shoe came untied, maybe my left, but I think it was my right, and perhaps it came untied because I put my right sock on first that morning (I did change my socks every day). But I got the shoe tied and didn’t come untied for the rest of the trip. This isn’t my most vivid memory, but it is still a memory nonetheless.

Wednesday March 12, 2008

Went to Convention Center to get Neil’s wristband. Instide it was humming with many voices from crowds of seemingly endless lines. Played Little Radio’s day party at the Red Eyed Fly just a little after 12 Noon. In the parking lot of Red Eyed Fly we helped move a car that wasn’t supposed to be parked there. A man used his pickup truck and tied a rope to pull the little car to a place where it could be easily towed. Hippies, Mods, Rockers, Punks and Freaks parade the streets, but the “Indie” crowd is by far the largest in attendance. Our Little Radio show was outdoors and well attended. We rocked hard: Jim did a backflip and I stomped on my piano with my boots. Brothers and Sisters played after us and they kicked major ass. We got to hang out with our manager Scottie Diablo. I was also interviewed by the Charleston City Paper’s own Susie while Brothers and Sisters played. Two journalists writing for the same paper and we did an interview with each other. After Brothers and Sisters were done we had a whomping good lunch at Star Seeds.

 We took some gangsta Chola pics in front of a low rider. We drove to the Beso Cantina around 5:30pm only to find out we were scheduled to play at 10:30pm. Five hours early. All of us but Jason hit up the downtown Austin scene but there were no shows that really caught our ears, which is a little disappointing at a music festival of this size. This was the first official day of SXSW, but there were several pre-shows as early as Monday. We even saw street musicians.

We arrived at the Beso Cantina at the correct time and met Nick from the Spinto Band and his girlfriend Catherine. I’m quite certain they were the only two people there to see us. Our show was mindboggingly horrible. The stage was tiny. Two fo the vocal mics were off during our first song and the sound on stage was atrocious. At some point Jason and I started whaling on every song and Dave hopped on top of the bar and walked down the entire bar during our last song. I turned every knob on my amp all the up and started banging on top of it until it made laser sounds.

Thursday March 13, 2008

Our Dead Oceans/Secretly Canadian showcase was on this night at Mohawk on 912 Red River St.

Wally and I went to Flight Path Coffee House on Airport Rd. I burned my fingers on a hot glass of coffee that had no handle. We peeked into a costume shop next door.

We loaded in around 6 and a cop gave us guff for unloading near Mohawk, but we eventually worked it out. A bus got to unload, then it was our turn.

I had time to see the Cowsills at Central Presbyterian, a church with good acoustics where we saw Donovan and Keren Ann last year. The Cowsills sunshine popped my face off. It was awesome, they played well and sang incredibly high harmonies loudly and—harmonies that soared through the tall dark wooden arches of this church. The Cowsills are the real family band that inspired The Partridge Family. Highlights were 1967 hit “The Rain, the Park, and Other Things,” “Nuclear Winter,” “We Can Fly,” and “Hair,” from the 1969 musical. The Cowsills were cheerful despite mentioning they were performing and dedicating songs by their two recently deceased brothers. I’m glad I was able to see and hear these songs.

I walked four blocks to Mohawk and we played our packed out showcase. The line outside was long and rowdy. We played to a packed house on the tight inside stage. At the end of our last song we were all soaked in sweat, the guitar players dogpiled onto stage while I jumped as high as I could and slammed into my piano with my hands and boots about 20 times for the last chord. Some of the Dr. Dog and High Strung band members were there to see us.

After the set we went upstairs to the balcony and listened to Jens Leckman perform on the outside stage. Michael Stipe of R.E.M. sat at the table behind us. I ran to the van to get promo copies of our CD. I sliced and weaved my way through the drunken crowd (which had massive B.O.) and slipped out through the inside stage exit, hauled tail uphill a block or two, got CDs, hustled back through the band, bumped through the SXSW masses and back to the balcony. Jim and I walked up to Michael Stipe, trying not interrupt his conversation. I told Jim what to say, we pushed closer, waited for a pause. The conversation went something like this:

JIM:    Excuse me, Mr. Stipe. We’re friends with Brian Wilson and Camera Obscura. We’re huge fans of your music and we’ve listened to you since we were kids.

STEFAN:   We’re in the Explorers Club and we want you to have two of our CDs. We just played our showcase downstairs. I’m Stefan. This is Jim. [We shook his hand.]

JIM:   Sorry to bother you, but we really want you to have our CD.

STIPE:    That’s ok. Thank you for the CDs.

I liked it, but Jim said meeting Michael Stipe was nerve racking. He is, after all, in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For some reason I didn’t have my camera with me the entire night.  

Friday March 15, 2008

Played a day party on the outskirts of Austin at Hank Sinatra’s farm. Chickens, goats, green grass. A rusted 1930s truck door and armadillo statue were on the wooden outdoor stage. A group called Hymns played and we liked it. We played a fun hot set to a joyful crowd. Carrying gear back up the long hill was exhausting in the 90 degree heat. Ice tea, grilled beef ribs, and good spicy salsa were nice refreshments. Jason, Jim and I got sunburns. That evening Dave, Wally, Jim, and I went downtown to see our Anaheim, California friends Thee Makeout Party play a tight set at Speakeasy, which is a difficult venue to find, even for Austin’s natives.

Afterwards we caught Dr. Dog’s wild set at a crowded Cedar Door. Our wristbands got us in fast, but the streets were filled with madness: jaywalkers, honking cars, lines stretching onto crosswalks and sidewalks around venues. Dr. Dog played more slow songs here than the did a little over a week earlier at Charleston’s Pour House, but they still rocked out just as hard. There was a whole lot of dancing and shaking going on. Cedar Door was at capacity, filled with people and press photographers and their expensive cameras.

Saturday March 16, 2008

Played our last show at Lamberts for the Quite Scientific Showcase. Neil, who was ill the entire time, felt much better. Loaded the van for the last time at SXSW. We did a full band interview with a reporter and a cameraman from Columbus, Ohio. A good way to end SXSW 2008. It’s worth the trip.

– Stefan / The Explorers Club

Hey Everybody!
This is Dave.  and it’s my first official blog for the band!  We’re going to try and do a better job of keeping this thing rolling along and keeping you guys informed.  At the moment i’m sitting in room 103 of the LaQuinta inn in Denton, Texas.  we played a show last night at a club called Haileys.  pretty sweet club, really nice staff - but unfortunately not very well attended show.  All the bands last night - The Mannequin Men, Catfish Haven, Zest of Yore, and us - pretty much played for each other.  it was still fun though.  a good practice.  we went to this sweet little artsy coffee shop downtown before the show called Jupiters.  real hip joint with all those earth conscious beverages and such.  and although all the artwork hanging on the wall looked like my 18 month old nephew could’ve done it, it was still a sweet place to get some herbal tea and vitamin C enriched smoothie drinks.  go there, get a beverage, and sit in the blue chair against the wall on the left, i found it quite relaxing.  We also ate some sweet grub at The Blackeyed Pea before the show.  great stuff!  haven’t eaten at that chain in a while.  i’m a sucker for their fried pickles.
Our waitress Kera was really sweet too.  Ask for her if you ever go there.  She ended up coming to the show when she got off work - so we at least had one person there that wasn’t in a band!  thanks Kera!

Everybody’s been battling this cold/cough/fever bug that’s circulating itself through various members of the band.  Wally was pretty bad off the other day but Neil has it the worst now.  Poor guy, i think the only time he’s been awake these past two days was to play the drums last night.  other than that he’s been in the van or on the floor of the hotel room trying to sleep his cold off.  Me and Jim had the illness before we left charleston, and Jason had it before us.  We’re thinking about hiring a pharmaceutical rep to be a 7th member of the band to keep us in some good drugs.

we drive to Austin today.  really looking forward to this week.  it’s so much fun!
more from the road coming soon!  we’ll keep you updated.  we love you all!

Dave

Here’s a brief overview of the Explorers Club’s path to SXSW 2008:

 Friday March 7, 2008

Played a fun show in Atlanta. Our friends James and Troy jammed with us on “Freedom Wind” and “Johnny B. Goode.” James wore an enormous fake beard and some Hunter Thompson style orange shades. Troy played kickin’ solos and on the latter song there were a triple attack guitar solos from Jason, Troy, and Jim. We slept at our recording studio. On this day we were also Spin.com’s “artist of the day” and we were mentioned on Pitchforkmedia.com.

Saturday March 8, 2008

We woke up to a cold windy morning in Atlanta. There were snow flurries.

In the studio we all jammed some B3 organ. Troy took some glam shots of us in the studio. Then we crammed all our crap into the van. We went to a costume shop called Norcsotco, tried on some hats/glasses. We left decked out and looking totally awesome: Jim got a brown barnstorming cap, Neil got a white captain’s hat with a embroidered yellow anchor and a black visor, and I got the same yellow Gonzo shades James has. We ate lunch at Chick-fil-A. On the way to Nashville Jim made his barnstorming cap into a hat phone, which is in a sense a poor man’s bluetooth but way cooler. 

Nashville had about three inches of snow on the ground–snow is something Jim experienced for the first time on this day.

Played at Mercy Lounge and got to hang with our friend Joe, formerly of a band called Girls and Boys, like the Blur song. We ate at the MOJO Grill and everyone loved it. This hip cat that I know from my college recommended we eat there, and to everyone’s joy I took him up on this delicious advice.

Sunday March 9, 2008

Ate brunch at the Alleycat with Seth Riddle, our first manager. The food was good, but it was no MOJO meal. It was also Neil’s 24th birthday. We drove to Denton, Texas. It rained heavily in Texas–after pumping gas I was somewhat soaked. We checked in to our hotel around 3AM. There was a swimming pool at the La Quinta Inn and the sidewalks were flooded, so I was completely soaked when I walked into the room.

Monday March 10, 2008

Hotel lawn mowers awoke us at an early hour.

Jason and I had sweet biscuits at Whataburger and found out through posters and placques on the wall that Roy Orbison, Don Henley, and Pat Boone are/were all from Denton or graduated from the University of North Texas at Denton. In our hotel we could hear the nearly discernible voices of the conversations in the rooms next to us. Dave, Jim, and I hit some Denton thrift stores. I found a coo pink polka-dot shirt for Jim. I also found a box of 45s (50c a piece) that Jim and I raided: Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison (from Denton), Harry Nilsson, the Merry-Go-Round, Peter & Gordon, the Beach Boys, Lovin’ Spoonful, Aretha Franklin, and so on… Dave found 99c CDs of MC Hammer’s greatest hits, Motown girl groups, U2’s Joshua Tree, and Peter and the Wolf. All six of us ate dinner at the Black Eyed Pea, but on the way there we got stuck in interstate traffic because a semi got stuck on the curbs of a tight exit ramp. We said bump this and Dave took us off-roading through the grass between the interstate and the frontage road. It ruled. 

Downtown Denton suppossedly looked like the 1920s, but I was around then so I can’t confirm that. Jim and I paraded off to a coffee shop (Yes! he drinks coffee now) and then to a bookstore where I picked up some paper Faulkner, Hemingway, and Checkov. The show at Hailey’s was fun. The singers coughed in harmony. A band called Mannequin Men followed us and they rocked our faces off. They seemed to be influenced by Creedence, the Nuggets collection, and good punk rock.  

Tuesday March 11, 2008

Drove to Austin, rolled into town by late afternoon. Dave dropped off his 12-string guitar at Erlewine Guitars to get some work done by this well-known guitar repair man. Went to Will’s from Brothers and Sisters. Ate dinner ate Polou’s with Phil and Manish from our label. All of us but Neil went to the Convention Center to get our “Showcasing Artist” pass and our individual wristbands.

Jim, Dave, and I went to see Brothers and Sisters at Beauty Bar that night, but the line was so long we went around back and watched them through the fence. It sounded fine. Talked to them once they loaded out.

To be continued…at SXSW 2008! blog…

–Stefan / The Explorers Club

 p.s. all grammar mistakes are purely for stylistic purposes.