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FEBRUARY 16, 2000
Tree Rocks 2000
Well, we made it back home in one piece which is a blessing in itself, so in
the aftermath.. here's a run down of the rest of the tour. We leave State
College, PA for Pittsburgh, hitting the road as the snow starts to fall. The
coverage is heavy and we travel on one lane highways, which really slows us
down. Jake is behind the wheel and dealing with the weather with the typical
gas..brake..gas..brake..glide style.
We show up late, but just in time to
land our gear on stage at the Metropol and then immediately play. It's tough
to do it like that but the show must go on so we play on instruments that are
still cold from the drive. The show went well ..we got a good reception.. the
place was packed. I hang out at the t shirt booth and met a lot of cool
people and a few old fans that remember us from Club Laga. After the show we
cant even hang out with our new friends because tomorrow's show is in
Norfolk, VA and we have to drive all night through the snow just to get there
on time. Ahh the glamour of being in a band.
Chopper drives almost all night
to the daylight then asks to be relieved. I get behind the wheel and reel it
in. We arrive early and get a couple of rooms at the Lafette motel down the
street from the club. Cockroaches climb in and out of our luggage as we try
to get some sleep with the lights on. Cigarette burns and bloodstains on the
blankets are ignored in a desperate attempt at rejuvenation. We go through load
in and sound check to comments of "Boy, you guys are here early" and "whoa,
well look who decided to show up".
Looking forward to playing tonight. We
have some friends down here that I've been looking forward to seeing. Our
friends, RxOxH (rights of humanity) are playing tonight at a strip club and
they plan on coming down to our show because we start early. Sure enough as
we start the first song I see Chris and Venus right up front and Chris the
lead singer starts the pit right up. We had a good set and it felt real good
to be down here on a giant show like this.
After the show we hung out and
did a meet and greet on Stain'ds time and met some cool radio people. The
program director, Harry Kojan of FM99 told me how at first they weren't
listing us for the show but a fan called up and demanded that TREE be
included in the ad...It worked and we had our beautiful friend Venus to thank
for it. Down at the t-shirt booth we did a lot of signing stuff while the
plaster from the ceiling fell on our heads due to the magnitude of the rock.
After the show, we all wanted to go to the RxOxHx show and spend the night
with our friends but Jake being the level headed strategist that he is said
we didn't have the time. We all knew he was right but were victims of
temptation for the forbidden fruits of Virginia. So after our goodbyes.. back
on the road ..Destination.. Myrtle Beach, SC.
I've been to the House of Blues
in Cambridge but was totally unprepared for the one in Myrtle Beach.. it was
enormous. They treated us really good and the food was the best I've had in a
while. I was feeling fuzzy but we played well ..we've never been down here
and we were received well by the audience. Our friend, Meg, came down with
some friends and it was great to see her. She spent New Years Eve in Egypt by
the great pyramids.. walked across the paws of the sphinx following the rising
sunshine. She is so cool and her friends were too.
Jake started a new tactic
of standing by the exit door with the TREE CDs and hard selling them to the
people leaving.. it completely worked ..Jake has been really kicking ass on
this tour and he makes me proud.. he's part genius and part rock n roll
animal.. with a little muppet thrown in there for good measure.
After the
show, Meg and her friend Kyle take us to the masters Inn.. the sickest strip
club I've ever seen ..the place was huge and when I walked in I felt like I
just walked on to a Hollywood movie set. The prettiest stripper dressed like
a catholic school girl came up to me and asked if she knew me and like an
idiot I reply honestly and say I doubt it. Like it or not, it's just my way.
After the semi nude show. Kyle brought us back to the motel he runs and gave
us free rooms. At five in the morning the cops show up and start banging on
the doors...before we arrived there was a knife fight on the premises and the
cops were after the culprits and guess what, they didn't drag us into
it.. that's a nice surprise. In the morning, after a walk to the beach and
more goodbyes we hit the road for Charlotte NC.
We're playing at the Tremont Music Hall that we played once before with Clutch. We surprise the rest of
the bands by showing up on time ..we load in ..soundcheck and hit the line
of waiting kids with flyers and stickers ..then we hit the stage .....
To be continued........
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