the google earth's winter tour '07 (part two)

nov. 21st, 2007
we played in providence. we rolled up to the show at this house party and at first i felt kind of like shit because i was still a little sick. so i took some advil, and felt way better. the kids in providence know how to party; the house contained no more than at least 20 kids, but they could hold it down. erik and i also couldn't stop coughing for a bit and we had no idea why. we walked into the house to find our friends john and deigo and i got to meet chris who booked the show. he was a nice guy and does his part to keep providence righteous. we were all kind of hungry so we went to nice slice where we could get some pizza. i think it was somewhere around here that we decided our tour was sponsored by dunkin' donuts and pizza as a whole, since we ate a ton of pizza and stopped at every DD on the way. nice slice was awesome and had vegan pizza, which i decided to get since i was sick and dairy is awful for colds. we decided to order a full one for three people to get in on. it was so good, almost better than real pizza. we then got erik some more chocolate ice cream down the road. i wanted to hit a whole foods and get some supplements and we decided that getting them that night might have been best since it was the day before thanksgiving and it would be closed the next day. returning to the house, we set up our stuff and decided to play a set. afterwards, all three of the guys mentioned above played in a grunge band. it was pretty cool. then the show kind of ended because i don't think anyone really cared about watching bands anymore that night. mostly mike tim and i screwed around in the basement playing a few different songs. we then came upstairs and hung out and tried "green" wine. it was really interesting. we then left for chris's house and erik and i stayed up late again and had a good conversation about music. we all then crashed on the floor upstairs.

nov. 22nd, 2007
you would think thanksgiving on the road would be dreary and lonely, but it wasn't. we were invited by our pal linc to spend the holiday with his family. i don't think any of us can put into words how awesome his family's hospitality was or how thankful we were to be there. we were greeted by the whole family and by several bottles of wine and many different delicious beers. i made it my goal to try every wine on the table and got to trying mostly all of them. there was even a homemade wine that was so good (and strong). the food was incredible and we all must have had so much of it. after we ate i went upstairs to try to figure out what the deal was for our new brunswick show the next day, and ended up passing out for at least an hour from all the good food and wine. i awoke to linc coming up stairs and telling me we were walking to some water way just a little bit away from his house. so we walked in the cold to this little dock which i think was on a river and we hung out for a little. we then walked back to linc's to enjoy some more food; mostly thanksgiving sandwiches. i think mostly everyone got a couch that night too which was awesome. i also think this night was where we realized the rest of the tour had basically fallen apart due to some weird complications with shows getting canceled and a gap because tim got awesome neil young tickets for a show in toronto.

nov. 23rd, 2007
we woke up and headed to new brunswick nj. on the way, we stopped in this little town that had nothing but pizza shops. so we caught this diner that was just about to close. mostly everyone got falafel, and the woman who served us asked erik about his ethnicity and when he didn't say what she was looking for she kind of didn't care anymore. also this couple came in for "hot dog specials" of which they probably didn't need. the woman couldn't fit between erik's chair and the other booth behind him so she totally brushed up on him and smelled really horrible. it almost made a few of us gag. to drink the couple ordered "anything that wasn't diet" and we felt right at home in america. so then we get to new brunswick eventually after killing 2 hours in that little town full of pizza. every time i have ever been to new brunswick, it has been awesome. unfortunately, some events went down at the end of the night which proved that new jersey kids can party real hard, but also that new brunswick has some low points. don't get me wrong, the show was incredible. a friend of mine forwarded me to her friend who does house shows nicknamed "quack" who really does some awesome stuff to help out bands. we, again, were greeted by free alcohol (2 kegs worth!) and my friend nikki was there so it was nice to see some familiar faces. the set went well and was really fun, again probably because it was a house show and it was pretty full of kids who were willing to listen and be supportive. after the show, the beer pong tables were broken out and the nice crowd of the show kind of evaporated and was replaced by new brunswick frat. type kids. i had fun trying to wait to play a harmless game of beer pong, but gave up my pursuit of actually playing once i realized how serious the competition was for a spot in a game. once my friend nikki left and took one of the only people i was talking to at the party with her (her friend deanna) i tried to find a quiet area to relax because i was getting partied out. upstairs and downstairs were flooded with people, so i went to the van and got my headphones and i pod. i sat on the couch and ended up passing out for a few hours while everyone was engrossed in a serious game of golden eye or some video game. i think when i woke up next, we were all ready to crash and most people that were still there were in the basement. we all got to the point of trying to sleep when this jock type dude stumbles upstairs and trips on bobby on the floor, only to respond by yelling "what the fuck are you doing on the floor?" and by punching him in the back. it took us ten minutes to deiced that we ought to leave. i felt pretty bad about it, since quack was so nice, but we were looking out for the wellbeing of ourselves and friends. bobby was okay to drive, so we took off towards johnson vt. i think about an hour outside of new brunswick, i realized i had left my glasses and headphones behind. for some reason, i found it hard to sleep in the car, so when bobby got tired i took over and drove from ny through ma into brattleboro vt. i was getting tired at this point since we had been up from 4.30 until 9 or 10, so i found a park to stop at so we could all rest. a few hours later bobby was awake and we headed to johnson.

nov. 24th, 2007
we decided to pass johnson and hit burlington for the afternoon until we could meet back up with linc in johnson where our next show would be. we actually didn't have a show this night. we walked around and found some food to eat; good soup and sandwiches with great dark beer to match. the rest of the day was spent walking around the shops in burlington until we found a bar to just hang out at for a few hours and shoot some pool. it was then that we realized mike was a pool shark. he essentially cleared a table after a break so once we were out of quarters everyone went outside to smoke. we then headed back to johnson where we found some really good beer at a gas station in a growler from some "snooty," as some girl that night put it, restaurant in stowe. i caught a great shower and we all just ended up hanging out drinking beer and talking for the rest of the night. we went to sleep and awaited the next day where there would be a show to play in linc's living room.

nov. 25th, 2007
we woke up and linc took us all around johnson, a really small and really awesome town in vt. there was this awesome cafe that had great juice, sandwiches and tea. they also had wireless, which was nice because no one got cellphone reception in johnson. we were that far into the wilderness i suppose, which was really nice. we walked around and found two different springs of fresh water. the whole town was incredibly beautiful and mountainous. most of the day we watched chappelle's show and relaxed. then it was time to get ready for the show, so we re arranged the living room and set up our stuff. the show was fun; a bit sloppy but okay. our friend linc also played and i haven't seen him play in a while. he was really fun and got the crowd to sing along. after the show, mostly everyone stuck around to party a little. once there was no beer, mike and i walked to mobile to get more. the guys there asked the both of us our birthdays on our id's because someone came in with a fake and didn't know the birthday on it. this happened to be someone we were traveling with and this gave us a small laugh. once we got back to linc's, everyone had ironically left - even the girl who gave us a good chunk of money for the beer. we probably only drank 5 or 6 of a 30 pack (the rest of which we left to linc) and then decided to go for a walk. bobby and erik and i walked to this lumber yard type thing of which we could get on the roof. so we got on the roof and could see a great deal of johnson from up there. we hung out for a bit and talked, then got off the roof and headed back to linc's where we watched a movie and passed out. we woke up the next morning and i walked to the spring to get some more water and then around johnson since i woke up so early. we all went back to the cafe to get more great food and directions home from johnson. this is essentially where the tour ends and we drive back home.

the ride home is one of the worst parts of a trip like this. it's a lot of driving to do inevitably nothing; there's no show and it's the end of a road trip with friends. if you're going home, you just want to be home already. but the drive was lasting. it was nice to think about getting back to a real bed since floors were our primary sleeping quarters for most of the trip, and i can only imagine how excited mike must have been about this because every night he passed out in the most uncomfortable looking positions. i think it must have taken us near 10 hours to get back home and our cars were scattered about rochester so getting to them and then getting home was only a process which delayed getting home more. mike had to stop in fairport to get his car and parent's dog and luckily i got a hold of my dad to give me a ride so i wouldn't have to make the other guys drive me way out of their way so i could get home. when i got home i took the greatest shower of my life and laid in the most comfortable bed; my own.

timmy + the awonderfuls winter jam '07 (part one)

i told myself i was going to blog the whole trip and i found myself at home last night, after the last few dates fell through and we had returned home, with nothing written. this could be due to a couple factors, one being laziness, but let's actually give the credit to little internet access the whole trip. so here goes my best attempt at a recount of nine days on the road as the drummer for a wonderful. we met a ton of people and caught up with old friends in the best way; a road trip filled with playing shows in different towns (mostly) each night, all of which seemed to be hazed with smoke (cigarette of course) and tinged with a bit of alcohol (this too, we did responsibly). there's a whole lot to write so i'll not keep things too long and break it up into a few parts.

nov. 17th, 2007
the first night of tour, we played in geneseo where we were greeted by some of the nicest people in the world (you'll find that there are a lot of them out there and that it's a recurring theme throughout this recap) who met us with several steel reserve 22's. the show was filled with tons of positivity, and was opened by a number of acoustic groups (most of which were friends of the people who hosted the show and piggy backed off of each other). i was also asked to play this show as little yellow bird and decided to take the chance to play a sort of last show as a one man band; playing some newer songs which might make their way to some very different places. the response was nice and luckily the transition into a wonderful was smooth since all the amps were set up. the set was really fun, most likely because it was in a living room and everyone crowded around. we learned that night to write set lists before playing any other sets, and i was deemed the "worlds worst quarterback" or something to that effect. we ended the night with good drink and good friends (some of which travelled some distances to see us). this was such a rad show too because it was also a fund raiser for a worthy cause and i think things got hooked up. we woke up the next morning and started a quick drive to albany.

nov. 18th, 2007
we arrived at the space pretty early and met this really awesome promoter/friend in albany named alex. the show started at 3 and didn't last more than a few hours so the space could host a potluck afterwards. this show was full of such positivity. everyone was singing along when ever they could to all the opening act's songs. everyone received so much attention, it was awesome. it's sometimes hard to find that kind of response in other cities. the venue itself was of note : the capital district federation of ideas. the space reminded me a lot of the a/v space as it was run by the curators and on an "underground" level. i even noticed a mural on the wall in which a friend of mine from rochester had done. a friend of mike's who lives in albany caught the show and afterwards we stopped at the famous bomber's, a burrito place with a bar upstairs. no one but mike and i seemed to enjoy the food which is a bummer, but they had good beer specials before a certain time and we capitalized on that. after that we got some ben and jerry's for erik because he's down with chocolate ice cream and headed back to mike's friends apartment to drink alcohol straight, where erik and i stayed up real late talking to vanessa (mike's friend) while everyone else passed out and watched kids in the hall. we woke up the next morning to get on the road to potsdam.

nov. 19th, 2007
potsdam was awesome. again, some of the nicest people in the world reside there. we played at the house of man and mouse, of which the man and mouse half were really nice. they had a potluck for us so we were fed really well. some awesome vegan food, and some awesome non vegan food was served. many a pasta dish, and many a good plates were eaten. our friend ben and eric (who lived at the house and plays in this band) played in the first band called "hi!" they were an experimental band with two bass players and drummer. this other girl elise played, and she knew of rochester hardcore music. she was super nice and sang really well. kids should have keep quiet and been respectful of her songs while she played. another band that played was mouse and the love and light orkestra who started their set with a grand entrance. there was a flute, an accordion, an upright bass, a trumpet and some other instruments to start. the band then somehow turned into a three piece and mellowed out a bit. i'm pretty sure we played before them, but i was a little under the influence of good food and drink. our set was really fun; house shows are the best for their atmosphere. i ended up with two blisters from playing a kit that wasn't mine, but it wasn't so bad. the rest of the night was something like a typical college party but better because of the people who were so nice to us.

nov. 20th, 2007
i ended up getting pretty sick in the middle of the day with some chills, aches and pains and a sore throat; see also: feeling like complete shit. this was the worst thing to feel like when having to play in NYC. but it was okay, we got to play with our friend alex's band "graphics." it was really nice to see him, since it was my first time really seeing him since he graduated. i eventually started to feel a little better before we played, which was nice. i think for this night, we played every song we knew and even satisfied some requests. after the show, we went in search of pizza and found some. i started to feel like complete shit again and took some advil and eventually felt better again. which was good again because alex took us to this little english pub in brooklyn that had great beer. though i didn't drink all that much because i was sick. we then returned to alex's where we watched some "curb" and just relaxed. alex's was great because we got to shower. i think it was at this point i might have planted the seed as to become the "clean one" since i have such oily hair and like to wash it every other day to avoid looking like my hair is thinning/looking like an 80 yr old dudes. in any case, it was nice to see alex and hit NYC, as i've never played there before.

(end of part one)