Tatyana’s birthday today, I can’t forget to call her. Pretty rote day today, rode w/ Chad from Morgantown, WV to Charlotte, NC. A long drive, but after a tough couple of hours of driving, Chad took over and let me sleep for maybe three hours, which I guess I needed. I have a tickle in the back of my throat and a head full of snot, which I’m really hoping doesn’t blossom into anything serious. The tumor on the base of my cock has shown no change, but at least it’s not bigger. My van is coated w/ a pretty thick layer of salt and is in dire need of a good going over; I have to caulk the passenger side window in and get rid of the tape and clean off the grease pencil, dismantle the rest of the window apparatus inside the door, check the tire pressure as it feels soft, check all the fluids, clean the cabin out, shit, lots to do tomorrow. I’ve slacked off booking, too, which I really need to pick back up on.
Okay show last night, I sold a CD and got some names on the e-mail list. Had a couple of stand-offish responses from people I asked to sign the list who didn’t see the set and were suspicious about signing up, one a girl w/ bad burn scars on her face, and one a young looking guy w/ a huge lame tribal face tattoo. Guess they’ve got enough problems as it is without my e-mail persecution. It was tough playing through Josh’s rig, but I guess I’ll get used to it. I didn’t get a great response from the crowd and was stinging about it, but then when the High Strung played, there were times when the room was nearly empty. The new songs sound really good, I’m really looking forward to learning them. HS has such a winning formula of writing songs really pretty and then playing them really tough. I was reaching for a comparison last night and couldn’t really come up with it, which is great. The Who w/ better songs, maybe? The live versions of Money and Twist and Shout? Stiff Little Fingers?
(Great moment just now, a girl who works at The Room, the venue we’re playing at in NC told Mark they were getting a buyout and asked him how many people were in the band. He sort of shrugged and said “Uh, five?” When she left, he looked at me and shrugged and said “Can I do that?” Good man.)
Feeling sluggish today, like the goose in the cage being force-fed so my liver will be good for pate. Got to find a way to get some exercise. Got seven drink tickets last night, but managed to not get too fucked up, I guess I deserve a pat on the back for that. Still drunker than is prudent when I drove back to the girls’ house we stayed at, but didn’t get any drunker, and even managed to snag a futon before the HS got there, something I swore I wasn’t going to do, whoops…