1/3/08 Smalls / Detroit, MI

Cold night as we roll North on Rt 23 in our rented, 15 passenger van (with the back two seats taken out) the first hour of the trip is spent catching up on Dave's crazy life which is the best reality show not on TV. This is probably the hardest I have laughed in two months. I laugh much more hanging around the guys than I do back home.

However, I may be tickled to tears by the end of this mini- tour. 1) I am not sure that it is even necessary and 2) I booked most of it personally, so if it doesn't go well, knowing myself, I will take it hard.

Back to point #1- I think it is important to go out and play some shows promoting "3 Chords 2". After all, it is a cool record and Erv did spend money to put it out, so at the very least, we owe it to IDOL to do some work on our end. Still, it kind of feels like a greatest hits tour which is kind of weird. We have never been a band that plays strictly for the sake of playing. Or should I say, we may be playing, just not in public.

In this case, Joe has flown back in from the West coast, we had a couple of practices and off we went. The thought "Should we even be doing this?" has popped into my head more than once. I guess I will know the answer soon.
No great expectations about tonight though. What can you expect on January 3rd. We quit worrying about who comes to the gig a long time ago. I can still have my personal power hour if I choose. Smalls is a great club with cool people and it was good to catch up with some old friends.

Set: Best is yet/ Obvious/ New Life/ Over Too Soon/ Swinging party (mats)/ Half of Me/ Anniversary/ How do you feel/ Suckerpunch/ Black Concert T
Sad Drive/ 5th of July/ Mercurochrome

1/4/08 Points East Pub, Milwaukee, WI

Wake up early and get a workout in before hitting the road. Man, its cold. 5or 6 degrees or something. Still, when embarking on a hit/miss, probably gonna go broke rock n roll tour, cold weather kind of suits the mood. Rock n roll is a cold weather sport. That's why the South produces the lion share of the jam bands I have no use for. 75 and sunny just doesn't seem to bring out a jagged edge.

In winter, it's just too damn cold to noodle around at band practice once the cold cement starts seeping into your boots.

Kill time at Starbucks before the gig. Points East is a great room to play and we are flattered by the big turnout.

Towards the end of the night, I notice someone I have never seen singing along to "Sad Drive" which is an older song which we rarely perform outside of Columbus. Slim Dunlop once told me "Music gives you gifts all of the time, if you choose to notice them" (or something like that).

We may not make much money tonight or get a big write up in the paper, but some dude is singing a song written by a kid in a hotel room 1,500 miles away over 10 years ago and being in the moment, I accept this gift as being pretty cool.

1/5/08 Beat Kitchen, Chicago, IL

I love walking around Chicago. The weather wasn't great, but I huffed along the river and the park and had a great time wandering around. Taking solo walks though a city is probably my favorite part of touring. After a while I am starving so I make my first ever visit to Whole Foods.

The salad bar is great so I load up on all kind of good stuff and get in line to ring out. I figured it might be a little pricey, but when the cashier said $14.68, I sort of lost my breath and the woman behind said, "are you okay?"

You can't exactly return a hand made salad so I coolly finished the transaction and found a place to sit. It was quite delicious, but I couldn't enjoy it knowing that I could have had 2 bagels for only 2 bucks. My budget was blown. Irresponsible.

See, I can basically survive for days by just mooching off the free hotel breakfast and filling my back pack with free apples. + Even if you decide not to sleep in the hotel workout room (don't worry, nobody ever comes in and it has a TV and plenty of towels) don't forget to fill up your water bottle at the water cooler.

I try to live off $15 a day, so in theory, I had .32 to use that night.
Somebody better get ready to buy me a beer.

Note: This was our first headlining show in Chicago in a long time. Thanks to everybody for coming out and we tried to get to as many requests as possible.

After the gig, I decide that I am not ready for bed and end up at a sports type bar across the street from our hotel. The place seemed normal enough, but I must have stumbled into some strange vibe at the bar. Right when I walked in, some guy yelled, "there is a chair open right here" loud enough that people turned and looked at me for my response. After 2 ½ helpless seconds

"Uh, Ok.. thanks"

Next thing I know he has gotten "us" nachos to share and the bowl is sitting between us. He is a farmer just in town for the night. Ok, whatever, cool, I really just want to blast down a couple of beers and watch sportscenter. I get kind of quiet and eventually he sulks away.

As soon as he is gone, another guy replaces him (on my left) and soon after that, another guy is sitting on my right. I notice that the rest of the barstools are empty except for the three of us.

At this point I am just writing in my journal and watching sports. Eventually, the dude on my right sacks up and asks what I am writing (in a Euro-type accent no less). If I had any balls at all, the obvious response would have been, "I am writing a book about minding my own business"
But I just mumble something.

Before I know it, I am on the receiving end of a "what your band needs to do to make it" speech, topped off by, "Why aren't you looking people in the eye?"

This isn't working out as I had hoped so I start to pack up to head back to the hotel. My possible Euro lover plays hardball at first (go on, just go) and then begs me to stay (come on, just one more drink), but to no avail. I explain that my mind is made up. "It's over!" (Sportscenter that is) and that it is time for both of us to move on with our lives.

10 minutes later I drift off to the soothing sounds of Joe and Pooch breathing.

Set: Best is yet/ Obvious/ Habit/ New Life/ New Depression/ Laundromat/ Lucky day/ Anniversary/ Can't Be Myself/ Over Too Soon/ Swinging' party (mats)/ How Do You Feel/ Suckerpunch/ black concert T/ Sad Drive/ 5th of July/ Mercurochrome/ On Top of the World ( Cheap Trick -duh) Slowly Suddenly/ I've Been Looking Everywhere