Frontalot Tour Day 17: Austin, Texas

As precious as silver and gold!First off, don’t take my day numbering too seriously.  I’m not sure if it is accurate.  I was good at math in high school and then abandoned it for music, so though there may be numerals at the top of each post indicating the cardinality of the entry with respect to all other entries as observed on a one-dimensional graph with sole axis T representing time, they don’t necessarily mean anything of substance.  Lack of sleep and endless waves of generosity from fans and hosts have rendered my internal abacus entirely ineffective.

Which brings me to something I’ve been meaning to mention: touring is hard.  I know it seems glamorous and full of exciting adventures and fans and “living the dream” and all that, but it is also draining and hard on the body and soul.  Most days are spend driving long distances in a cramped, smelly van, far from the company and support of your loved ones.  Meals are infrequent and often unhealthy.  On show nights, you’re lucky if you get to bed before 3am.  On nights off, you’re probably staying with a host for whom your presence is a special occasion and therefore wants to hang out with you until 4am, which of course you oblige because a) they’re awesome and b) you don’t want to be rude and head off to bed just as they’re offering you home-cooked brownies and rare Belgian ales.  Otherwise you’re in a Motel 6 room which is full of gear and sharing a bed with your bandmate who snores and fidgets all night long.  You have absolutely zero privacy.  And so on and so forth.  Don’t get me wrong; I love doing this and I’m extremely grateful to have the opportunity to tour the country with some great musicians and extremely generous hosts.  I just don’t want to give aspiring musicians the idea that touring is somehow glamorous.  It isn’t.  It’s a job.

Attack of the were-tacoOK, end of seriousness!  When we last spoke, we had just crossed into Texas.  What a state!  It is very flat and apparently rap music is a precious commodity that must be held under lock and key.  Don’t people in this state know how to scrape UUEncoded files from alt.music.hiphop?  I know who does: Skip, who runs the Widescreen Gaming Forum.  He’s a computer whiz, and a super nice person who took us all out to dinner in Houston at a fabulous Mexican restaurant where, true to Texan form, my taco salad was the same size as my head.  I was trying to order something light.  Alas.

We finally landed that night in Austin at the home of the supremely hospitable Adam and Cindy, who lavished upon us food and libation beyond measure.  You guys are super sweet!  Sleep was sound and long in the well-appointed man-cave.  Lunch was delicious and full of enough calories to prep us for that evening’s show at the HighBall.  Ah, the HighBall.  It is a fairly amazing venue.  In addition to the concert area, which is roughly twice the size of the Cafe du Nord in SF, there is a full-service restaurant, a bowling alley, skee-ball with tickets and prizes to rival the booty of Circus Circus, and an entire upstairs area full of karaoke rooms.  All in 50′s retro styling!  Superb.  The show itself was off the hook, with a fog-addled opening set by Terp2it followed by Brandon in rare form.  Our set went over The HighBallexceptionally well.  Did I mention that there were over 200 people there?  A new record!  After we got off stage the room turned into a disco, and we danced the night away.  Check Facebook for photographic evidence.

We just got done eating delicious pancakes and are readying ourselves for the short jaunt to Dallas, where we will play the Doublewide with Boss Level and The Trigger Men.   Tickets are $8, doors at 10pm.  See you there!

One Response to “Frontalot Tour Day 17: Austin, Texas”

  1. Frontalot Tour Diary Day 25: Arkansas | Ken Flagg