IT'S A RAP (LITTLE INSIDE)
North American tour...check!
EUGENE 10/17
Dom slept in the van in the alley til we went on. I grabbed wifi on the sidewalk sitting at the tables outside some bar. People came from miles around, some as far as Exit 12. We played a short sharp set, no encore...Dom & I did see a fantastic doc. on Cocos Is. marine life on PBS in the hotel afterwards...
I did have a good exchange with the server at the Italian place we had dinner with...we were tired and shaky after our 9+ hour drive from Boise that day, and needed to eat with enough urgency that soundcheck was condsidered optional. We were seated, and I started to peruse the wine list. The server arrived and asked us if we wanted anything to drink. I said I was looking over the wine list and would get back to him (it was fairly extensive). He said he could help me with a recommendation. I said, no thanks, I'll just take 5 minutes to read the list. He countered: I've tried nearly every wine on the list and can tell you what I think would be the best--now I was pissed. I said: give me five minutes to read the thing! Please!
Finally, I pickled out what I guessed would be a decent bottle of Amarone.
He said: "uh, could you tell me the number of that one?"
And brought the wrong bottle.
TACOMA 10/18
Unusual to play a seated venue, dinner-theatre-style, but Jazzbones is a well-run venue, friendly folks, fine vittles...we started the set with Jon & I sitting cross legged on the stage, and I announced "we'll stand up when you [by which I meant the audience]do!" Folks did trickle down over the course of the set. It ended up being a pretty great crowd...some military folks from the nearby fort were toasted, having just returned from Iraq; I dedicated "Fall Apart With Me" to a Posies fan and her new Jamaican husband--who was a new convert to the Posies, and damn vocal about it! And I gave Oranger a lot of shit for joining the people up in the balcony who I thought should be down in the front!
PORTLAND 10/19
Ah, home in my own bed after the Tacoma show. Which means--dusty sheets on the bed that need to be washed. the pipes doing their every-other-year-backing-up thing, which means Roto-Rooter has to be called, which of course means they can't come til the *next* day as I have to leave at 1pm for Portland...more work than being on tour, in other words!
Preview for our show in the Willamette Weekly was practically the worst peice of press the Posies have received in nearly 20 years of being a band. At this point I can say two things:
1) the show was great, and packed, anyway
2) Karla Starr, your facts are incorrect. FOTB is not a reference to masturbation, it's a reference to a special and sweet treat. Nothing more. It would be the same for me to just assume your name is a reference to Ringo Starr, and look no further.
It was said in the article that we succumbed to a series of cliches--like putting out records, and breaking up, and releasing retrospectives afterwards. Wow, so, that means...what exactly? And, if we were more in line with standardized forms and styles of the day, wouldn't we probably have been more successful?
It wouldn't surprise me if there was perhaps some personal reason for an attack as vicious as hers. Higher standards applied by her editor would have never allowed this to go through at a well-run paper.
SEATTLE 10/20
Fantasitc, epic, loud, fun, sweet homecoming. Great visit to the Mountain (commercial station in Seattle KMTT). Lots of friends at the show. All you want from a Seattle rock show by the Posies. Favorite moment: Jon playing drums and singing 'At Least For Now', Nightranger-style.
BELLINGHAM 10/21
The only thing questionable about this show: the use of a 1989 (!!!) photo for the flyer...please...don't...do...that....
other than that it was pretty much part two of a superb homecoming...again, many friends in the audience, and we had a great dance party onstage, spurred by the Phish-show-lysergic-twist off stage left.
I was so exhausted after all this I almost drove off the road on the way to my mom's house...dom yelled at me and I was back...and slept for 10 hours...
Off to Germany tomorrow--thanks for a great US/Canada tour
Love
KS
Bellingham WA
