Day 6 Rockford
DISCLAIMER: I personally did not have a very good time in Rockford or at the show. So my feeling upon this day tend to be a little negative, however, looking back it was not so bad, and the night ended up much better. But for me it was still a rough time, and I need to be honest in these blogs, not every day can be awesome. All this to be explained and more!
We woke up at Jimmy’s Aunt’s house, who had made us breakfast. I opted to sleep in rather than eat. However, we all took showers. This was the first shower I took besides my dip in Superior. Afterwards I felt quite refreshed and much less stinky. We took off to Rockford. The drive to Rockford involved a long break in a the parking lot of the Cheese, Liquor, Gifts store; or whatever the hell it was. It seemed like some sort of cheap version of Chuck E Cheese’s that had alcohol. On top of the building there was a ridiculous mouse who looked liked he was humping a large piece of cheese. After dilly dallying for a good long while in the parking lot we finally continued on our way to Rockford, on the way we smelled some of the most horrific smells; such as skunk, tar and the rest are still unknown to us.
We pulled into Rockford and found CJ’s Lounge where we sat in the parking lot before venturing off, to look for a coffee shop. It was hotter than shit out and this could also have been part of my problem. Anyways we walked under a car bridge on a people bridge that was built underneath.
We walked around a really pretty park and around a couple of blocks before finding Snob City. This wasn’t its real name and I didn’t go in but apparently when Jake and Andy got their coffee the guy behind the counter, acted like Jake and Andy weren’t quite hip enough to be getting coffee from him. We did stop and watch some ducks in the river. This was by my favorite part of our time in Rockford, I honestly could have watched them for hours, and after all the driving around We walked back to the van and sat around. We found out the show would be starting until 9:00, meaning we had three hours to kill. Food was definitely in order and we walked to a really good mexican restaurant where I got a super awesome gigantic veggie burrito! It was delicious. I also introduced Jimmy to Jarritos, Mexican Soda. After stuffing our faces to the point that all of our stomachs felt like we’d explode we tottled back to the van to do more waiting. That is pretty much all we did today was wait around. I was really glad I brought my skateboard, and that I bought a game gear. Because without those to things I wouldn’t have done much else today, but sit.
When the guy running the sound at the bar showed up, he freaked out a little bit that we were underage, even though the D.O. played there last summer. This is now all my opinion, but this guy was a serious D-Bag, who must have been in his 30 and was rolling around with Heelies! Those stupid ass shoes with the wheels in them, that six year olds roll around the mall in, until they crash into old ladies (I’ve seen it happen). Anyways, this guy did not help my mood, in fact he exacerbated it by just being near me. I didn’t want to play in the bar. I think bar shows are stupid, but a it was a show to say the least. We set up and the Ooblecks played first. Right before we played D-bag told us not to forget to mention who we are, as if I haven’t done this more than a billion friggen times. Assmuch. Anyways they micd my guitar amp, and made me turn it down, so the entire time we played I felt like we sounded like shit, and I couldn’t hear myself and it also put me in a bad mood, because I really enjoy getting into my guitar. I also fell off the stage, at the end of the first song. We finished up and the band in the back called Wolf Nation, were super nice to us. They told us we sounded a lot better, than we thought we had. They also said we reminded them of Fifteen, which was pretty cool, since Fifteen influenced Operation: Cliff Clavin, who along with This Bike Is a Pipebomb influenced me. As a requirement of being underage, we also had to stay in the back room for the majority of the show. So I didn’t get to watch very much of D.O. when they played. However, D.O. they played really really well. I also think they went over a lot better than we did. However, there was one guy who before we played was playing The Clash and The Replacements on the jukebox, who dedicated our set to. He came in the back and found us. He really enjoyed us, and gave us a cd of his band and he bought one ours. After the D.O. we loaded up our stuff and I had enough of everything. I got on my skateboard, cranked up some Toys That Kill, on my tape player and went to find a bad ass hill.
I found a hill and bombed down it, apparently the streets are smooth as can be because I flew for at least 3 blocks before having to push again. I rode around for a little while longer before returning, to catch Wolf Nation. They were actually really really awesome. We spent the rest of the night in the back talking with them, and having a pretty good time. Jason, the guy who normally runs the shows, and also helped out the D.O. the last time showed up and was a really nice dude. He got us some major cash-o-la from the door that we needed. He was a really nice guy and I really wish he would have ran the show the entire show, but thats just the luck of the draw.
We met a really nice dude named Ben, who let us and Wolf Nation stay at his house. When we got there I took off on my board to find a gas station, to get us bread and Dorritos. We didn’t need the Dorritos, by any means, but we all agreed that a little fat was what we needed. Ben, also ordered us pizza. We hung out for a while but it got pretty late, and it was time for bed.
Day 7 Milwaukee
We woke up in Rockford at Ben’s and said goodbye then went on our way. To be honest I don’t remember much of the drive, because before I knew it we were in a crazy city. Pulling into Milwaukee, it looked like an enormous hot wheels race course. Tom Tom got us lost a little bit and eventually we found a parking spot. We found where we were playing, and walked in. It was another bar. Instantly we were greeted with a friendly “You got I.D.s!” We asked about the show but didn’t get much help so we left rather discouraged.
To be honest, everyone was really down and out today. We had called Eric who helped us set up the show, and even he wasn’t sure if he could get us in to play the show. This bummed everyone out even more. The idea that we have 5 or so days coming up with no shows, no income, no places to stay, no plan and a lot more driving was wearing on everyone. I didn’t want to spend another day like yesterday doing nothing but waiting, so we went out to explore Milwaukee. We walked around and found a really neat activist coffee shop, full of tons of cool posters and art. I told the the girl behind the counter, about what had happened, and she told us that we could play there at the coffee shop if worse came to worse. This was pretty exciting, and I told her we’d be back. We continued on our way and found that everything closes pretty early on a Sunday in Milwaukee. We did find a really awesome video, record and overall awesome junk store, that was open and explored.
We sat out side for awhile and had a team meeting. We had to make our plans for the next few days. We did, and I think deep down everyone felt much better afterwards, and then the best news of the day came. Eric told us we would be able to play the show and get to watch all the bands. I was super stoked because I really had been looking forward to this show.
The show was at Y-Not III and it was definitely my favorite show of the entire tour. Eric’s band Uh Oh started off the show, I’d been looking forward to seeing again, since I saw them last summer in Minot. They played really fast and it was super rad. Diabolic Octopus rocked out, in what I think was easily one of their best sets all tour. Then the Ooblecks played and I think we also played really well, and it easily the most fun I have had all tour, playing. Mike Hunchback’s Fantasy band played an amazing set that was super intense and fun. They apparently had played in Minot, two days before and had many nice things to say about playing there. Bear Proof Suit rocked the hell out of the place, and were exponentially louder than any of the other bands, but they were awesome. The main dude even got one our cds.
After the show we all agreed that this show was something we needed to get our spirits back up. We then hung out with Mike Hunchback, C.J., Kate, and their roadie, who’s name . We went to a pizza and burger place, that I can’t remember, the name of. We had a really awesome time hanging out with them. They also said they may be able to help us out with a show in New York and New Jersey so we will see how that goes.
We said good bye to all of them and went to Eric’s and crashed.
