We woke up after a couple of us had slept for almost ten hours. We all really needed a good night’s sleep after the fly-fest from the night before. Mike never showed up at his house, but we met his roommate and her awesome dog. He was a big dog, but he had the build of a wiener dog. Just like every other animal we’ve met on tour so far, he was extremely friendly.
After packing everything up in the van, we headed out for a day in Duluth. Our first stop was Jitters, a neat little coffee shop on the corner. Charlie and I both ordered some smoothies, he a blueberry banana combo, myself a mango, banana, pineapple mix. We all tried both and agreed that there were really freakin awesome. I enjoyed that smoothie.
Jake had spied an Electric Fetus music store the day before. This was our next stop. Everyone browsed the records but me, who does not own a turntable. I called Stephanie instead to see what she was up to.
When the guys were finished checking out the records, we walked over to check out a camera store Max had seen on the way in. It was a bust. I don’t know if they were going out of business or what, but there was almost nothing in there. The only employee was just standing outside by the door, watching everyone walk by. There wasn’t anything else we wanted to see, so we headed back to the van.
The van was parked across the street from a retro video game store. Charlie suddenly remembered that he used to have a Game Gear as a kid, and wanted to find one in this store. He and I headed in. It was awesome. I was geeking out hardcore. There were Nintendos and Dreamcasts and Commodore 68’s everywhere. They had a back room with towering stacks of Nintendos, PSones and Sega Saturns among other classic systems. They had an awesome collection. Charlie found his Game Gear. He left the store with it and five games. The thing is enormous. Google Sega Game Gear and you’ll know what I mean.
We set off for our next show in Ashland, Wisconsin. The drive there was mostly uneventful. Ashland, however, is awesome. It is rife with big, beautiful buildings and is right on the edge of Superior. As soon as we arrived, we headed into the venue, the Black Cat cafe. This shop was extra cool. Its very warm and comfortable atmosphere was very inviting and, according to Andy and Jake, the coffee was excellent. I tried some “toasted cheese” a.k.a. grilled cheese done on sourdough and toasted over heat instead of grilled or fried. It was really excellent.
We had heard from someone that there was a really sweet pier in Ashland. To kill some time before the show, we all trekked along a street packed with local stores to take a look at this pier. On the walk we stopped in a couple stores; I bought the Great Gatsby and No Country for Old Men from a bookstore.
The pier was not what we were expecting. From a distance it looked really cool and huge, but there was something off about it that we couldn’t quite place. When we finally managed to get to it, we realized what was wrong with it: there were no people on it. It was desolate. Turns out, its not a pier after all. It was sort of falling apart, with huge sections missing. It looked almost like a railroad bridge, as there were tracks on top. A small group who was walking past let us know that it used to be a coal loading dock. Trains would come out on the huge bridge jutting out into the lake to offload coal onto boats. It hasn’t been used in a very long time, so it wasn’t exactly someplace a person would want to walk on. There was still the lake, though, so Charlie made the best of it and jumped in for a quick swim.
Back at the Black Cat after a walk in the rain, we brought in all the equipment for the show. It was a quiet scene, so the show was to be an acoustic one. We were playing for about seven people, not counting the employees at the cafe. Although the audience is not as big as we would like, those who were there were very supportive and we all enjoyed the show.
Because we have played an acoustic set before, Diabolic Octopus was mostly prepared. I was interested to hear what the Ooblecks would sound like. Turns out, they sound awesome acoustic as well as electric.
During the set, Charlie mentioned to the crowd (all 5 people) that we didn’t have a place to stay yet. Right away Sara, who works at the cafe, volunteered her friend’s basement. After the show, we stuck around to talk to a couple people. We spoke with Mary, who also volunteered her place to stay. She was pretty excited about us, and let us know she was moving to Minneapolis. She would be there about the same time we would be. Hopefully she will be able to get work off to come see us play a real set.
Once we were all packed up, we headed over to a skate park Charlie had spotted on the way through. Charlie shared the park in the dark with a couple kids on bikes. They were ruling the ramps. When Charlie almost collided with the little boy, the kid’s mom said “Watch where you’re going (insert kid’s name here),” to which he replied, “You watch where YOU’RE going!”
We met Sara at her house after that and met her kitty and two puppies. More friendly animals! Andy, Jake and Charlie went to go hit up some bars with the girls we were staying with. Max and I opted to stick around at the house. I set up my bed spot on the concrete floor and went to bed. Max slept in the van. When the other boys got back, they went straight to bed.
Another exciting day on the Doob tour comes to a close in a somewhat damp (but still appreciated) basement in Ashville.
