Yesterday we played our good friend Joe's record store in St. Louis, Euclid Records.
Touring life can easily be crappy motels, flies in your milk carafe (this morning's Continental Breakfast highlight), and weird noises coming from other rooms. So
staying with friends like Joe is a welcome respite. Thanks Joe. His lovely wife Sandy fed us in the morning, and we had a few excellent rounds of nerf gun war with their son CJ.
You see, being in a van with a band isn't always talking about the best Beatles record (Revolver), or arguing over what the best Dylan period is (everybody knows it's just after the holy trinity). It's about reliving my youth by shooting nerf darts at 7 a.m. with a 13-year-old who could give two shits about how many records I have or the latest I put out. You gotta serve somebody (yourself?), and you gotta stay grounded.
After checking in to our room in Tulsa we started meandering around the grounds Iooking for local flavor... We were not disappointed. Kyle found a meth spoon.
Then we stumbled upon the Dark Knight's wheels halfway parked inside of a Warner Bros truck. You'd think somebody would cover it up so a bunch of clowns like us wouldn't pull something weird.
We left the vehicle intact and some locals who looked the kids I went to high school with asked "Hey bro, you guys headed to the Town Pump?" With nothing else to do (keep in mind we're in Tulsa) we head on over.
The aforementioned dudes let us know we need to see the bartender's "quarter trick." We think this is a cheap way to get a black eye, as we take our seats outside on the patio next to the motorcycles. Skip reminds me this place is like the bar the Satan's Helpers hang out at in Pee Wee's Big Adventure. He's not wrong. Bikes, boobs hanging out, Budweiser'd brawn all in one room. But back to the quarter trick.
Skip and Kyle come outta the bar all giddy, saying, "Dudes, you gotta get in there with some quarters and see this." Let me just say that Shades was the lone holdout, and he still has his quarters with him.
The night closes with us meeting a pizza dude (Schmen), an Irish ex-pat patron (Schmaddy), and getting to know the server (Schmasha). Since we're playing Tulsa in a month or so with Tenacious D and we don't know a soul in Tulsa, they're all on the list.
At some point Kyle christens the van Jerry Sprinter, and it's a fitting title for the people we meet along the way.
All the best,
Eddie
*Current tour weight: unknown, but hair is in a ponytail
Photos by Shades
