MONDAY – 5.17.1
COURT TAVERN – NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ

We saw Mr. Stephen Niebauer off to work at Vimeo around 9AM, at which point we were all showering and leaving his place by ten.  Joe was shadowing Stephen at work so it was back down to the three of us.  We had a lot of work to do, walking to Manhattan dropping discs at record stores and handing out singles.  And, anyway, no one wants their roommate’s friends hanging around their apartment all day.  But we did chat with one frequent, a fire fighter in the city who pointed us in the direction of both a decently priced diner and J&R music.  The diner served us two eggs, four pieces of bacon, American fries, toast, small juice and bottomless coffee for around $7.  That’s a great deal in Brooklyn and we found ourselves quite enjoying the meal while finding out we were all Sheryl Crow fans.  Rider asked, “How could you hate this?”  There were a good number of people eating alone and we observed one guy perfectly cut up his waffles and then let them sit for a good 20 minutes while staring off.  The coffee wasn’t bad for a diner, but we decided then and there it was time to go.

GPS Jill has been a bit off lately, but we eventually found our way to the pedestrian crossing for the Manhattan Bridge.  There was hardly a soul on the thing, as everyone prefers the Brooklyn Bridge, but it served as peaceful sightseeing before emptying into the real mess.  Most of the tops of buildings were covered in graffiti and we also realized none of us had actually seen anyone create it in person – a really good, detailed work.  But these are the things you talk about when you spend all day, every day with a person for two weeks.  As we walked toward J&R music, we saw a taping for an upcoming television series titled something along the lines of “In The Street.”  J&R is the last independent music place in the city and it takes up about a block of stores with both upstairs and downstairs levels.  Selling everything from cameras and appliances to CD’s, movies and instruments, it took us about an hour to look through all the items before grabbing a coke and a hotdog and walking back to Brooklyn.  This time we took the more scenic Brooklyn Bridge while Rider and Kehoe randomly handed out singles to as many people as possible.

Over in Jersey we were playing at the Court Tavern in New Brunswick, where we’ve played before with our friend Adam Streicher.  However, we’d arrived a bit early, as usual, to hand out yet more discs.  I think Kehoe stayed in the van to read and avoid parking tickets while Rider went to Starbucks.  I went elsewhere to find Internet without signing up for a Starbucks card.  Of course, GPS Jill led me to a coffee place that didn’t exist anymore, but I ended up stumbling onto The Cereal Bowl on Rutgers’ campus anyhow.  This place has a wall full of cereal dispensers that you can use for whatever you might order; perhaps a bowl of milk or yogurt.  Anyhow, I simply got a coffee and posted the latest journal for Boston before it was time to head back toward The Court Tavern.  I handed out quite a few singles to students and general pedestrian bodies before arriving back at the van to partake in a conversation about posters.  To kill a bit of time we were playing s “would you rather” game on the topic of giant, signed and framed posters of bands above the living room couch in your home.  The premise is that someone will stop into your house to use the bathroom before, say, hitting a night on the town.  And they just happen to see this poster, but never really get a chance to ask you about it. Therefore, they make this assumption about you based on this huge, signed and framed poster of a band in your living room.  For example:  Would you rather have a giant Bob Marley poster or a giant Grateful Dead poster?  Oh, and they’re all signed personally to you with the message, “Keep working on your night moves.”  When it all boiled down, nothing topped ICP as the absolute worst possible item – unless it was something blatantly racist.

Finally, it was time to load into the bar, as the other bands had arrived.  Big Tall Buildings was also on tour with another band and then Streicher’s new band, Twinks, played before we closed the night.  Previously, we had played in the downstairs music venue, but we were upstairs this time due to it being Monday.  In fact, the whole show was slated before the open mic started at 10:30PM.  And we liked our spot, figuring we’d catch Streicher’s local following, as well as patrons of the open mic.  The upstairs felt right for this type of laid back show and camaraderie between bands was high.  I even got a chance to play a bunch of Replacements and even 13th Floor Elevators on the jukebox before everyone started.  Big Tall Buildings played a sort of melodic, 90’s rock slightly in the vein of Pavement, which we enjoyed.  It was their first tour and we were having flashbacks of what that was like.  They had 6 guys in an F-150 and all their equipment in the bed, covered with a tarp which was held down with 2×4’s strapped with bungee.  Congratulations guys; it only gets better – and worse!  Streicher’s band pop-rocked their way right through a set while we enjoyed free Rolling Rock and then, next thing, we were adjusting the P.A. and preparing for a set of the dirtiest Valentiger rock.  Often times we sound good in a very cramped space, allowing us to really fill the place with sound as a three piece.  I may never hear again seeing as how I had been caught in a triangle of my amp, the PA speaker and the ride cymbal.  We really cut loose for a Monday show with “Oh To Know” stealing the spotlight and “The Girl That Everyone Forgot” and “Hard To Let Me Down” tying for a close second.  Rider had a bit of a rough time playing the other band’s kit, which had a kick held in place by the bass amp in front of it, but it all felt quite natural – At least more natural than the balding, bisexual guy with dreads who had been hitting on people all night.

After our set, the open mic began with a featured band that was setting up a projector attached to a classic Nintendo Entertainment System.  It was intriguing but they were taking forever and we still needed to get back to Brooklyn to stay with Steve, who needed to work in the morning.  At most times on the tour we’re straddling several things at once, struggling to keep a balance.  But our allegiance was to Steve and we chatted with the other bands and a few people before hitting the road.  The band finally started as we left and they were playing a Cranberries cover, which we liked.  The drive back to Brooklyn went pretty quickly, but finding a spot to park took a bit longer.  Eventually we settled a ways away from Steve’s and made our way.  He and Joe were already sleeping and we pretty much went directly to bed.  However, we were rudely awakened and frightened the middle of the night by what sounded like a table saw.  It had started to rain and the skylights were automatically closing, apparently sensitive to moisture.  It made for nice sleeping afterward, but the rain would surely plague us tomorrow.