SEBADOH U.S. TOUR, MARCH/APRIL 1999

Deb Pastor, Tour Manager	Miles Kennedy, sound engineer	Mike Flood, Guitar technologies	Georgine, Pharmisist, merchandiser.
	Bull, bus pilot	Luke, lights

THE SEBADOH

Saturday, March 6th 1999, Detroit MI...

St Andrews Hall. We have been playing here since the begining of time.The first time that I came here I walked in the front door and thought that I was going to lose my mind, I felt myself shrinking and watching the already enormous room grow to epic proportions like some kind of reverse vertigo. It it still a barn, but doesnt make me feel like a midget anymore. Its a huge, wood floored hall with a 'balcony' surrounding the edge of the room. A couple of basketball hoops would not seem out of place in there. Russell has an absoloutely huge stack of speakers that constitute his monitors tonight, his monitors setup could easily be used as the speakers of a regular PA system if the situation presented itself.

The tour started a couple of days ago in Lexington, KY which is about 100 or so miles from Louisville, which meant that alot of our friends made the drive and were in the audience that night. This made me nervous. I get to be friends with these people all the time and tell them that I am in a band and that I go on tour and everything, but they never see me actually DOING it. I have sat in the audience with alot of those fellas and heard their critisicms of the bands we were watching, and that made me wonder just what the hell they would say about us...

I think we took the tension and turned it into a workable performance. I had a really good time and got zoned for alot of the gig. I was really pretty spaced out when I got offstage. Speed to Roam played great, and I was pretty phyched about how the in out were sounding. A friend of mine was fixated on the Manchester influence that they were displaying, and left the building for the duration of their performance. I agreed with him, but thought he was over reacting. I didnt they sounded THAT much like the Smiths.

The next day we were in Cincinatti. I woke up in my bunk at about noon and tried to figure out just where the hell we were, in a city that I dont know too well in the first place. Russ and I walked cluelessly around the block and found a real rundown looking White Castle and got some coffee. We were approached by a short, thirty something white guy with glasses and fucked up teeth and skin problems, hunched over asking for $1.00
"I wanna get myself a small soda."
I put about 500 sugar packets in my coffee and told him he should ask somebody else. By the time that I got the sugar to dissolve somewhat into the coffee he had returned from the parking lot on the other side of the building with a folded dollar bill in his hand and he got in line. Then we walked back to the bus and rode over to the club.
I had been to Cincinatti a few times to see shows over at 'Sudsy Malones' across the street, a place where you can see a band, drink a beer and do yr. laundry all in one place. A pretty good idea I think, especially in a college town. Dirty laundry and a thirst for alcoholic beverages will always be attributed of the college aged. Bogarts is across the street, and in my mind was the place for the 'bigger bands'.

From my very limited experiences with it, Cincinatti gave me a pretty distasteful impression. Walking around on Vine St. was really bleak, little kids trying to sell you stolen 'Fresh Prince' CD's for $2.00,
"To help built a playground for my school."
And the crazies, who came in all sizes shapes, colors, and age groups. There were all kinds of people talking to themselves, and yelling at invisible friends and asking for change and stuff. I think that Louisville has all the stuff that I didnt like about Cincinatti happening as well, but just hasnt made me feel the same way that Cincinatti did. There was an amazing music shop called 'Mikes' where you can get pretty much any manner of vintage electric or acustic instruments and amps and effects. The folks in there were really great, and Lou bought this weird 'Laney' amplifier. Everyone else that I ran into in the stores and on the Vine St was a total peckerhead though.

A bunch of Lous relatives showed up and Lou spent the evening with them on the bus. I had a great conversation with his cousin Brian about how people get caught in cycles in their lives and about the nature of teaching by setting a good example. He seems to contribute his energy to very positive and selfless endeavours, a rare attribute.

At Bogarts, everything seemed pretty out of control sound wise when we were soundchecking, but in a big weird place like that, you really cant tell what it will sound like with all the bodies in there later... As you might expect, the difference in the way that sound bounces around in an empty room as opposed to a room full of very sound absorbant people is a big difference. You can never tell how it will end up until it just ends up that way. On this particular evening the dice were rolled and revealed that when people showed up and absorbed some of the sound it still sounded totally awful on my side of the stage, but I tried my best to make the most of it. It felt to me like I was shoveling air into a canyon. I was bummed because Kelli and her mother and a couple of close friends had come up there for the show, and I wanted to impress them if I could... Oh well.

We played Cleveland last night, at a place called 'Peabody's Down Under', which is down by the docks or whatever, and is on this road/strip of clubs and seafood restaraunts that reminds me of a minor league Burbon St. or something like that, without the loose regulations on the carrying around of open containers of booze and the like. I got the impression that Cleveland is a bit more uptight than to just let people WALK AROUND WITH BEER. That would just be a little too much freedom.

Melanie, who travelled with us last year selling t-shirts came down from Detroit with her boyfriend and a fella named Jason Sanford who is from the same part of Detroit that Melanie is from, called 'downriver.' Downriver seems to be a colorful place, based on the people I have met that grew up there, and the stories that they tell. The dressing room was otherwise fleshed out with semi-random characters, and Scott Perrin for the third night in a row. He showed up in Lexington with a bunch of homeade t-shirts and fake teeth and traveled with us all the way to Cleveland. Last night he was once again trying to tell me that Sebadoh needed to add turntables to the ensemble, and that he was indeed the only man for the job. I told him that I would think have to think about it for a long time first.

The IN OUT played a really great, somewhat aggrivated set, at least from where I was standing, right after Steve from 'Those Bastard Souls' opened up the show with his crazy band. Peabody's was a pretty cool place to play, it sounded alot better on stage than the night before, which made for a much more satysfying show. I was really having a good time last night. I kept seeing Flood over on the side, and it made me want to play my ass off. He is one of my dearest friends, and besides that he has seen a sh*tload of Sebadoh performances, which makes me not want to bore him to death...

There were some weird stories going around about the people who run Peabodys handing envelopes to plainclothes cops and having a $5,000.00 'Production cost' for the use of the room/P.A. and the services of two weirdos who were doing a combination of security/monitors/lights/bad attitudes. The thinly streched crew allowed someone to walk off with the In Out's bass, and a couple of cases of guitar pedals and tools belonging to the bass player.

We are going to Canada tonight, and are anticipating the hassles involved. None of us have criminal records that I know of, yet it seems that the possibility of being asked to empty our pockets/ disrobe before a customs agent later tonight is always a consideration. I dont look forward to that jazz. The fact that Miles has more than one horror storiy about an 8 hour detainment makes me think that he doesnt have very best luck in the border crossing dept. We will see...

March 8th, toronto to montreal

As it went, the border crossing was a piece of cake. We all ran to our bunks and pretended to sleep at the suggestion of Bull, and were nonetheless woken up and went inside for a few minutes to show our passports and declare our marital status. The girls who were in charge of inspecting the bus apparrently knew about us and merely has us sign a poster and said goodbye. They didnt look around on th bus at all. The Opera House was drafty and hugely out of control soundwise at the time of soundcheck, and still pretty out of balance at showtime. Miche (Flecton Bigsky) showed up to great fanfare and hung out with us until he hit the stage and freaked the opera house audience out. He is one talented dude, who just doesnt give a crap about certain unimportant things. A really perceptive and humorous fella who can play guitar. The in out's van showed up on the back of a pickup truck right before Miche went on. Apparrently the alternator belt had slipped off and could not be remidied by anyone, and so they just had the wrecker guy drag the minivan right to the gig, where it was dropped in a snowbank. The day before, on the way to Detroit, they had to get a jump start for their minivan because their alternator had ceased to function, and the battery was dead.

"Everythings fine as long as you dont use the radio or the headlights."

Miles and Flood said that we had done especially well with the gig, I really couldnt tell what the sound was like outside of my 'land of sonic imbalance'. Those two are just about the only people I would trust the opinion of at this point to say something like that. Those guys have seen a million shows of ours, its almost embarassing to look over and see Miles and Flood and Pastor watching us. I feel like such a boring fucker sometimes when I realize that these folks have heard us doing the songs over and over again.

Wednesday March 10th, Burlington VT

Montreal was great. Showered and slept in a real bed after the Toronto show and then walked around drinking coffee with Miche. Then loadin, a couple of interviews at the club and off to do an'on camera' interview at a poolhall down the road.

I got to talk with Kelli, and we were trying to work out when she will be coming to visit for a couple of days on the trip. I have to call some airlines when I next get a chance.

Miche had his partner in Flecton BigSky on the drums in Montreal and played his butt off yet again. Then a final performance from the great In Out. They had a fender-bender with the van on the way up but hardly noticed it in the scheme of badluck and trouble that had been plaguing their van and equipment on this ride. I like the Caberet, the sound was completely under control and felt real good. Lou is still pretty ill so we played some of his songs really quiet, which was really nice.

Afterward we said really long goodbyes with Miche and In Out folks. When Flood and I came out the back door, the bus started up, alerting me to the fact that we were the last to board...'first one to know and the last one to go.'

Everyone but me and Deb were in their bunks when we crossed back into the USA. Bull went in first and then Deb was walking off and some uniformed guy came walking right up the steps. I was eating a Reeses cup and was asked about my citizenship and what I had purchased in Canada. Deb tried to introduce herself to no avail and then he moved on to the bunks, asking the same kind of questions that he asked me. 'Do you have anything to declare?' he asked flood.

'No thank you.'

We got to the hotel and Lou and deb went to the 'day room' and we all slept on the bus...

Which brings us to today, when we are back in New England and more specifically, Burlington, VT. The club is run by some crunchy young entepreneurs and is called 'Higher Ground.' The paint, cappuccino machines, P.A., and coolers full of local microbrewed beers are all pretty new, and there are alot of Reggae acts on the schedule. The kitchen serves alot of good vegetarian food and 'wraps' and that kind of thing. I was phyched to eat anything after eating cans of spaghetti from the microwave on the bus last night. And last but not least, Playtopia are here tonight so Mike is really getting phyched.

Thurs, March 11 4AM in route to NYC

Brattleboro is probably one of the reasons that the word quaint was invented, and I being from New England can say with reasonable confidence that I know what quaint looks like and can say that I am not sure that I like the whole quaint thing. Right behind the club was an old mill that had been turned into 'retail space', one of those ingenius capitalist/preservationist smoke up the bum moves that I am used to seeing in Northampton where I used to live. There was snow and microbrew and skiracks on the cars and young people eating veggie-wraps and wearing colorful wool caps with chin straps hanging.

Tonight there was a strange occourance, there was an invisible barrier between the audience and the stage for about 40 minutes tonight, and it happened to be during Playtopia's performance. The beam was in the shape of a semi-circle and had a range of about 30 feet from from its source, which seemed to be Playtopia, or the stage itself. The barrier did not affect everyone, people were able to push through the field, but only slightly further than the people standing closest to them. I was not affected by the energy field.

Lou is still feeling the fevery illness, so we played his songs real quiet again. They are nice that way, so it works out pretty well. Lou and Flood got me talking and thinking about using another amplifier, maybe Flood's, for the songs that I play on guitar during the set. Im real happy about this. I have been really bummed out by the sound of my guitar through Lous new Laney/Bluesman dual amp thing he has going on. My SG sounds like white noize through the setup the way it is. Im only playing the guitar for 6-7 songs in the set so I wasnt going to go frantically screwing around with the settings that Lou made on the amps. Its alot easier to play a guitar that doesnt sound like sh*t.

Oh well... Looking forward to getting to NYC, and looking forward to saying goodbye. NYC is where there will be the extreme possiblity of tension, having the Sire folks in the audience who we hardly know but who are distributing and marketing our record. The bunny brains and Playtopia are playing with us there at least.

Sunday March 14th...

The ride to NYC was strange without Flood aboard. I slept on the bus until we arrived at the Bowery Ballroom for soundcheck. The bus was sitting in a shallow puddle of piss because the hoses that had been frozen previously had thawed and released a few gallons before anyone noticed. It really didnt stink or seem weird because the Bowery is not a wildlife sanctuary or anything. While I slept we apparrently had a near disaster when we were headed toward a bridge that wasnt tall enough for the bus, the useless satellite dish would have been slammed off the top of the bus and dumped on the car behind us and caused untold calamity otherwise. But that didnt happen, Bull realized what was going on when some guy pulled up next to him waving his arms and pointing at the roof. Bull pulled over to the shoulder and called the police and they ecorted us while Bull crawled along in reverse. backtracking to the last exit during morning rush hour. All while I was sleeping. I wonder what other weirdness I sleep through?

I walked around the 'neighborhood' of the Bowery, looking for coffee in the midst of the most amazing congestion of restaraunt equipment and machines sprawled up over the sidewalks for several blocks. I saw the Bari pizza oven supply company, and took my hat off in honor of the mother of all great pizzas, The Bari Pizza oven. It was like standing outside Abbey Road studios again.

The Bowery Ballroom was a nice place with good sound and people. NYC seemed alot nicer in general this time around. I dont know if it is me or the city itself, but it seems to have mellowed a little. Maybe I have.

Playtopia played with alot more passion than in Burlington I thought, they seemed to be having a good time, which makes it impossible for me not to have a good time. Mike's brother Terry and his bandmates from 'The drunk stuntmen' were in attendance. Those guys are a real 'posse', roaming the land with divining rods.

The first night was pretty good. we were all pretty happy about the performance I think, other than the fact that Lou was sick, everything was great. He is quite a fella, singing as well as he does when he was so goddamn sick!

There was a 'meet and greet' after the show, and I must have gotten there late or something because I only saw a couple of the Sire people after the show. One of our stalkers, Arron showed up with his camera and portfolio and talked about his ethical considerations where his photography is concerned for two days. Later on he was slinking around the bar room downstairs with his camera. He pointed out this couple who were sitting in a dark corner holding eachother, obviously very drunk and the woman was crying at times. He was being shy about taking a picture of them and I tried to get him to do it... right when he was about to do it, they got up and started dancing awkwardly. We split back to the Gramercy, where we found a couple of the Drunk Stuntmen very drunk and waiting for Flood out on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. They were dumbfounded ny the news for about 1/2 a second when I told them that he wasnt with us. Then they jumped in a cab and dissapearred.

NEXT DAY (friday)
I wake to the phone ringing and it is a fellow from the Melody maker Magazine and I am relieved to find that he is looking for Lou. I woke Lou up and gave him the phone.
Russ and I took a cab over to girly action at about 11:00AM hung out with Pam Nashel and did interviews until 3:00pm, and then walked over to the bowery ballroom for the eternal hang. I begin to get really tired, and deeply missed the bus, which was in new jersey. We farted around endlessly and then did soundcheck finally. Shortly thereafter I called a travel agent reccomended to me by deb klein and arranged for a flight for kelli to meet us in baltimore and then go back home from Houston.

After I made the calls about the travel arrangements, I was standing in the bar downstairs and I heard a really amazing catpower song and found myself standing with my eyes closed in the bar room downstairs feeling sad and having a daydream. Then we went out to dinner with a couple of the sire folks. The meal was vietnamese and the conversation turned to the request that we have a photo taken with someone from a major radio statior. A person who I have never met before, and for a purpose that I didnt yet understand.I guess I kind of came in in the middle of a discussion about it, and I guess that I persued my curiosity in a weird way because soon the table was getting tense and everyone was looking at me funny. I was feeling like I was not perceiving things in a sensable way and I needed some privacy that I wasnt going to get.

The 2nd night at the Bowery Balroom was even a little bit better than the first night. Miles said that it seemed more like we were doing what we do everynight, I guess as opposed to it feeling like kind of an audition.

Saturday we were in Northampton. We know lots of people in Northampton. The families of Lou and I live round there.

I woke up on the bus and stumbled down to Gwen and Debs for some coffee. Russell and I then proceeded to walk to Dynamite records where russell and I made purchases and I did some catching up with the guys who I know that still work there. After soundcheck I went and visited my sister and her boyfriend and my nephew Ethan. There was a growing poker game in the livingroom and I hungout with Samnara nad Ethan in the kitchen, playing catch with my super cute nephew.

We all went over to Pearl St and sat on the bus together. Within 10minutes, Northampton legends Ernie Wilson and Mal Thursday had gained access to the Blue Diamond. When we went inside one of the Drunk Stuntmen was being denied access to the club by the doorman based on his level of inebriation. He wanted my help, but I really could not argue with the logic of the bouncers. They suggested that he go and 'sober up' and then come back. I was wondering exactly the definition of sober would be but didnt ask...

I got to see some really important people that night. People that I grew up with and because of. I think we played well. Im actually not sure, but I know that we didnt suck or anything. Thefreaky UMASS students and such were quite scary and loud, and were all up front screaming dumb stuff. The show was not very personal, but we did have a good time.

The show at Toads got cancelled by the club in the 11th hour. I guess there was some kind of pre-st.patricks day thing going on during the day, and there was a big snowstorm coming, so we are in Boston tonight, and for the next two nights as well.

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