THURSDAY 5.13.2010
THE CROFOOT – PONTIAC, MI

We woke up around 11AM and began cooking with Eric’s mom. She prepared a delicious farm-fresh egg and veggie frittata while we round up English muffins, fruit, tea and pancakes. The waffle maker was destroyed, as we tried to use it without Pam. We watched a bit of Joe’s footage from the Strutt show while we all took turns in the shower and before we knew it our departure time had arrived.

We hit up about three record stores on the way to The Crofoot in Pontiac, handing out singles and shaking hands. We bothered no one on his or her computer in Starbucks. A few vintage music stores were browsed; Kehoe had his eye on a Wurlitzer electric piano, I had the itch for a tobacco Telecaster and Rider found a very unique, brown drum stool. Unfortunately, there isn’t much of a budget (or room) for vintage equipment on tour.

The Crofoot is a rather large music venue with two rooms, converted from an old factory building. The larger houses a taller stage with what I have been told is the best sound in Michigan, hosting bands like Wolfmother and The New Pornographers. The other, The Pike Room, is where bands like Fruit Bats and Valentiger play. Now, the odd thing about this event is the sheer number of bands on the bill due to a combining of two shows. I believe five acts performed, pushing the start time to 6PM with the Shout Aways from Midland opening at 6:30 and Skies Alive following at 7. Next, The Narrative from New York banged out a solid set before we performed around 8PM.

I somehow found it necessary for us to be drinking wine up on stage because it seemed like a funny, most un-rock star thing to do, obviously fitting for us. The bar officially had two mini bottles of Sutter Home white zinfandel and no wine glasses. So, we found some tape and put a plastic cup upside down, attaching another one to it, right side up on top. They ended up looking more like hourglass-shaped goblets, but it gave us and the crowd a good laugh anyhow. We tweaked our usual setlist just a bit, opening with “Oh, To Know” and never looking back. It was just “that kind of night,” a Thursday with 4 other out of town bands and a $10 cover in a large room. But it felt good. The stage was perfect, the sound was golden and we were playing for a decent crowd in a respectable venue. As lame as it might sound, one thing we’ve learned over the years is that it’s best just to be yourself in any given situation. Valentiger was Valentiger to a “T” that night and it showed. We received one of the stranger comments I’ve heard from a member of the audience. He said, “It looks like you guys play a lot of live shows.” And I proudly took that as a compliment whether it was intended to be or not, because on an eerily related note we talked about stand up comics and their deliveries all the way to Pontiac. Bad delivery WILL ruin good material. But at any rate, “Man On Fire” and “Courses” were particularly good once again and the whole set had a very fun and sloppy ending of The Jam’s “In The City” and “Hard To Let Me Down” coupled with “Leaving Town.” Someone who bought Power Lines told us “Man On Fire” was his favorite song that night, proving the slower songs we sometimes deem boring to be and important part of the set.

Overall, it felt like a very short day because it was, really. The show was early but it worked in a strange way, seeing that we needed to be up at 4AM the next morning. We are busy boys on this tour, with the goals we have in mind. We even managed time for “car bar” with former Merchaneer, Snax, and selflessly gave a granola bar to a hobo. But to take us down a notch, Kehoe, Joe and I preyed on leftovers from an earlier banquet at Crofoot. The beautiful and brightly frosted cupcakes reminded Eric of the food fight scene from Hook.

Back at Kehoe’s house it felt too early to call it a night, seeing as how it was only 11:30. Rider and Joe showered to avoid it in the morning, leaving Kehoe and I getting up earliest the next day. We absolutely murdered some pita bread and hummus Eric’s mom had bought for us and then we all tried to sleep. Joe and I ended up chatting, whispery sleepover style for about an hour before falling asleep. He was somehow drinking tea in the dark. I needed, once again, to vent my opinions on homelessness.