11/17/01: Naperville, IL. Naperville, once again. It’s hard to turn down a warm place to sleep, but I think we may be wearing out our welcome here.
Last night’s show in Valparaiso was definitely an interesting one. To start with, it was an all ages venue called- The Venue. Getting to the show was an adventure in itself. Apparently, a lot of people live in Indiana, but work in Chicago, and so Friday afternoon, they leave work a bit early to make the weekend longer, which makes Chicago’s already bad traffic a nightmare. By this time, though, we’d gotten the whole lay of the Chicago area roads, and knew which way to take to avoid the worst of it and (just barely) make the early evening load-in.
Once again, there was some controversy over who was playing first and once again, they tried to make us the lucky band. Somehow, we got second billing. The Pavers were third, and Big Wig were to be the headliners. Since the Pavers had already done load-in for us (oops!), we decided to venture off and get some food. This was still a challenge for me as I was having a hard time keeping things in my stomach. I still had a fever and was feeling very weak. So, I went to a gas station and bought bread, Gatorade, saltines, and peanut butter (for protein). When I tried to eat this concoction, however, I realized it was quite a bitter pill to swallow.
I got talking to Scott about not being able to eat anything and he suggested an old wrestler’s trick of eating honey about an hour before you have to do anything. Wrestlers would do this to keep their weight down and since honey is already processed sugar, it’s basically pure energy. Sounded pretty strange, but I was willing to try anything, and about an hour before show time, it seemed it was starting to work.
I missed the first band’s set because there was a “band room” where we were hanging out with various Pavers and Big Wig types, so I took a nap on the couch. This was the first night that Josh broke out his Play Station. A Tekken tournament ensued. Of course, I would have laid waste to the whole lot of them, but I had to save my energy . . .or something like that.
So, finally we got to hit stage. I was feeling a bit better due to the honey, but still pretty weak and feverish. We played 35 or 40 minutes, and played a kick ass set, except you’d never know by looking at these kids. They just stood there! They’d clap after the songs, and maybe cheer a bit, but for the most part, they just stood there. This happened for all the bands that played. Weird town.
About halfway through the set, I started getting extremely sweaty and clammy all of a sudden, when I realized that my fever was breaking. I guess anytime was a good time, but it kind of freaked me out to have my fever break on stage. After the set, we loaded off stage and helped the Pavers load their gear on stage. I have started to play roadie for Josh a bit, because he’s helped me out so much. Basically, I just help him with his cymbals and getting his gear on stage. Then I watch for the first few songs and make sure he’s OK. Then, I’m free to enjoy the rest of the set, but I keep an eye on him just in case he’s flagging me down.
The Pavers played a great set, and again the kids just sort of stood there. They did finally seem to start getting excited when they knew Big Wig were coming out. By this point, I was beat, and had to sit down. I went over to the Merch booth to hang out with Mark and Colleen. It was at the Merch booth that I saw the Punk Rock Britney Spears. I still don’t know what her name was, but she was gorgeous and all the guys were checking her out. Someone in the band (not naming names) took a picture of her ass (see above). She had blond hair in pig tails, just like Britney in that one video, and had a similar face, too. I’m still not sure what she was doing there, but she seemed to be with the Big Wig guys and was taking pictures of them during their set.
While Mark and I were shooting the shit and listening to Big Wig’s set, the fourth song they played just sort of seemed to fall over. Then, they started getting people out of the main room and into the room we were in. There was a general sense of panic, and one of the Big Wig guys went running for the band room to get something. All anyone could tell me was that Matt, the drummer had collapsed in the middle of the song, and his face was all bloody and they didn’t think he was conscious. Fortunately, the staff at this place was really pro and they handled the situation very well, and very calmly. The ambulance was there within minutes, and the main room and stage were cleared. They didn’t start sending people home just yet.
When Matt came to and things looked OK, we were told that Matt was epileptic and had forgotten to take his medicine. The strobe lights in the place had probably set it off. He was OK, but pretty beat up, so they cancelled the rest of the show and to make it up to their fans, they had a sign-up for the guest list for their show the next night. No one seemed to be pissed about it and they all seemed to understand why the show couldn’t go on.
We ended-up making friends with the Big Wig guys (check out the Pictures) and we met up with them later at a Denny’s. Three bands, one Denny’s, and all the Valparaiso nightlife you can imagine. It was quite a mix. We got a lot of stares and questions.
On the way to the Denny’s, we packed all of the Reno and Pavers band and crew into our little van. We got lost on the way there and pulled onto this dirt road in the middle of nowhere when Colleen had one of the best quotes of the whole tour so far:
“Oh no, this is where I get gang raped,” totally deadpan. It was an in-joke for the rest of the night and probably will be one for the rest of the tour.
Later that night, I got lost in a Super Wal Mart. Hey, I AM a drummer. All I wanted was Chapstick and deodorant.
After that, we headed back to Naperville and got there way early in the morning again. I slept on the floor with Bella, the cat, and slept most of the next day (today).
Tonight, we are off to Milwaukee for a show at the Cactus Club. After that is Green Bay, so we have to come up with a place to stay in between the two for tonight. I am finally feeling a bit better. Still not 100%, but definitely better than the last two nights. Back to solid food again, too.
No matter what bullshit they throw at us, touring fucking rules. There’s no better way to get to know the guys in your band, and to become a better band. It’s like a whole other reality, where the daily 9 to 5 is something for suckers and we get live out every rock n’ roll fantasy we’ve ever had. I mean, I never would have thought that I would be touring with the guy who wrote and sang so many songs that meant so much to me since high school. And yet, here I am.
(click here for pictures from Valparaiso) |
