Week and Some Days 4: East to West

9/17/13 – Arena, Vienna, AUS / Playing a Killing Floor

Wake up. Morning jog. Spreads, cheeses, breads, coffee. Groggy clutching coffee hangs. Wet sleepless hungover death fire escape load out. Depart. Arrive Prague. Thirty minute view of most gorgeous city on earth. Depart. Arrive Arena – a huge muraled slaughterhouse squatted in the 70's with giant green house complex and multiple venues (including a 4,000 capacity outdoor stage) horizontally run, all people paid almost the same, nicest people ever (cool!). Exquisite multiple course vegan dinner. Beers. We play. Little dancing. Little sweat. Still people are pretty stoked. Finish. Go to separate bar that's still in Arena. Dingy dark and stickered. Cindy Lopper sing-alongs. Talk to girl Sophia. Something about law, marriage, and cats. Sophia misses train. Retire to three bunk tall sleeping room of venue. Bag's missing from dining room. Scour. No dice. Lay next to Sophia until pass out.

9/18/13 – Grey Room, Zagreb, CRO / Dddddd... (rolling tounge sound)

Wake up. Walk Sophia to train. More scouring for bags. Find them in upstairs office. Talk to dude who books 450 shows a year for Arena about music politics, money, and keepin' shit real. Awesome. Spreads, cheeses, breads, coffee. Depart. Arrive Zagreb, Croatia. Squat with multiple show rooms and multiple exercise/dance rooms (cool!). Shitty fire escape maze load in. Hangs in green room. Another delicious vegan dinner. Extremely strong wine booze that is somehow socially acceptable to just sip on. Play show. Dancing. Sweat. Get off. Electropunk show downstairs. Everyone in courtyard drinking shouting. Dave. Mar-ddd-ia. I play decoy. Something about horoscopes. More half wine half alcohol. Definitely shouldn't be in public anymore. Pass out in seat of van.

9/19/13 – Practice Space, Ajdovscinja, SLO / Feed a Cat a Fish...

Wake up in van. Everyone is gone but Dave. Walk downtown. Find Everyone. Tour of Zagreb. Old cathedrals, markets, streets. Everyone is a babe. I haven't figured out the formula but the further east you go the more everyone is a babe. Depart. Take route that goes to Croatian coast. Arrive Adriatic Sea. Misty island mountains. Spotted homes with clay roofs. Crystal clear water. We jump straight in. Most gorgeous spot I've ever swam in my life. Can see rocky bottom clearly even when chest deep. Lay out on beach. Play with cute cat. Fisherman says something in Italian and throws me a fish. Catch fish. Points to cat. I feed fish to cat. Cat eats whole thing. Magic. We depart. Arrive in Ajdovscinja, Slovenia. Quite small town of 6,000. Private show. Beers. Pasta. We play. Thirty people dancing. Sweat. End with Bad Religion cover that another band plays for us. Something about the break up of Yugoslavia. Something about where we were being a barracks to protect from Italy. Something about no such thing as fat people in wheel chairs. Depart to promoters house. Moroccan weed (I guess I smoke now.) Pass out. 

9/20/13 - Arci Dallo, Castiglione delle Stiviere, ITA / Deceit and Dunking

Wake up. Bread and jellies from moms. Stress out about flights. Garden Jalapeño hang over away. Castle ruins on hill with hawk flying over it. Depart. Beautiful Slovenian landscape. Beautiful Italian landscape. More fucking castles. Arrive Castiglione delle Stiviere. Sunset over Italy from old cathedral. Load in. Cave-like show room. Two course dinner on pearly white fancy made up table. Mojitos. Half pint glasses of Bushmills. We play. Dancing. Sweat. End. Suggestive shots that end with the bartender dumping chocolate into mouth. Something about Sherlock Holmes. Marikus. Something about Vonagut and Dresden. Something about Mussolini being hung by his feet in Milan to prove he was dead. Something about me dunking Marikus's head in a fountain. Dave and Lauren Taza drinking the fountain water and spraying it on people. Joe climbing a 500 year old statue and sitting on its head. What a dink. Walk back to sunset cathedral to see sunrise. Don't make it in fear understandably angry bar tender locks the doors on us. Cold mini pizzas with mayo ketchup and mustard - the grossest drunk concoction ever made. Pass out.

9/21/13 - Cinque Terra, ITA / Day Off   

Wake up. Can't load gear out because suddenly huge street market. Shitty internet and stressed Google flights. Everything is closed to sell lunch because its lunch time. Leave. Majestic Jurassic Park landscapes with castles. Arrive Cinque Terra. Winding ribbon streets looking down vines constructed with cured branches. Beautiful beach on the Mediterranean. Straight into water turquoise water. Sandwiches and beer. Meet Aussie and Hawaiian couple. Hangs. Night. Old narrow city. More booze. Water front. Drink in tied up fishing boat. Untie tied up fishing boat. Find oars to once tied fishing boat. Find motor to fishing boat. Take fishing boat for booze cruise around cove. Obnoxious loud English pizza. Two girls from Canada. Walk to beach. Unwise 3am flail swim. Happy Birthday Joe! Most everyone passes out on beach in line of sleeping bags and floaty rafts.

9/22/13 - No Cage, Prato, Italy / Vegan Mussolini

Wake up on beach an hour later. Sunrise. People putting out beach chairs around us. Overdressed and covered in sand I stumble passed people to van. Pass out waking up intermittently to cute little kids talking Italian at Jared and I. Up at noon. One last swim. Change on beach with just pearl snap wrapped around waist. Depart. More Jurrasic Park scenery. Arrive Prato. Walk around forever looking for internet to buy plane tickets. No dice. Venue. Vegan collective that serves a vegan buffet and has almost all fair trade vegan non multinational booze (cool!). Get behind bar first thing. Serve our selves drinks. Lay down in van a while. We play. Fifteen people. Still dancing. Show ends. Talk to made up Bratz doll looking girls for a bit. Ew. Talk to two girls from in town. Cool. One whose a hundred pounds wrestles and drops me to the ground twice. Leave to promoters house. Big eyebrows. Everyone crammed in dining room. China and Mussolini medals. Pass out.

9/23/13 - Florance, ITA / Day Off

Wake up. Shower. No curtain. Only shower head on a dangling hose. I don't get it. Bidet. Curious. Sprays me in the face. Eyebrows says "for ass and balls - fantastic!" It is fantastic. Sneak 95% alcohol bottle onto conveyor belt at grocery store. Pesto picnic. Depart. Day off. Florence to meet friend of girl who wrestled me named Valaria. Tour. Rad cathedrals. Replica statue of David. Too many tourists. Jugs of wine on walk back. Dinner. Three types of pasta. Some bar. Free shots. Things get sloppy. Walk home. 5am sing alongs. Ear plugs. Pass out.

9/24/13 - Freak Out Club, Balogna, ITA / Check "Yes" or "No"

Wake up. Shitty sleep on arm couch covered in someones clothes. Try to return something in Italian. Takes forty minutes. Depart. Arrive Balogna. Bar. Grocery store mixers. Venue. Open bar. Nap. Great spaghetti. Bar. We play. Twenty people half of which are the other bands girlfriends. No dancing. No sweat. Most apathetic show. Get off. Dave passing notes to bartender. Doesn't work. Hangs. Something about pressing every opportunity to find love. Something about never stopping until you find love. Lay in van a while with headphones and Nana Grizol. Think about people I miss. I sigh. Pass out.

 

9/25/13 –Lucrezia Bar, Genoa, ITA / Too Many Hats

Within two minutes I go from waking up on stage to standing outside the van arms full of gear looking through narrow eyes at old people buying paint and speaking Italian while staring back at me. Weird. Walk. Downtown. Building that leans from weight and time. Forty minute walk to real Italian dining. Dining room sorta smells like vomit. Penini's and pasta delicious. One hour eating. Ten minute walk. Coffee for thirty minutes. This we dubbed Italian time (we brought up how we were surprised that people stop work and take hours for lunch. Person responded “It's Italy. We are concerned with eating, drinking, and fucking.”) Cultural perspective. 

Depart. Arrive Genoa. Huge seaport. Layers of old houses staggered across hills. Pirate ship. Venue nestled in narrow alleys between towering buildings that block out sunlight (the shops had their awning lights on in the afternoon – think Blade, Fifth Element, Shinra ghettos in Final Fantasy VII...). Shitty house gear in basement. Good enough. Pasta. Half fermented beers. Tour of city. Jared pees on Christopher Columbus's house. Bottle for vodka lemon. Some toothless Italian with sweaty hands tries to take my full cup. Play show. Sweat. Dancing. Some other probably toothless Italian dancing grabs Tim's junk on stage. Show ends. Another old still likely toothless Italian in Military fatigues has teamed up outside with an Italian wearing too many hats and talks at us. We retreat. Say goodbye to our merch girl and greatest human being that dealt with all of our gross bullshit the amazing patient and beautiful Lauren Taza. Promoter's house. Ten minutes showing us how to lock the door. Italian time. A real shower for the first time in Italy. Almost a real bed for the first time in Italy. Pass out.

9/26/13 - Neustadt 53, Schaffhausen, SWI / Fire Water

Wake up. Breads and spreads. Depart. Switz boarder. Hide merch. Go to smaller crossing because merch they will tax. Pull it off. Get lost in small town. End up full circle back at boarder. Escape. More ridiculous Jurassic Park landscapes. Jagged towering mountains with cloud rings letting out into rolling neon green grass. Shitty traffic in Zürich. Arrive Schaffhausen. Load into basement maze that seems to never stop descending. Hangs. Screen printing/sewing/photo place. Rice and veggie meal. Male model photo shoot. We play. Seat. Dancing. Slayer covers. Get off. 95% alcohol fire breathing. 95% alcohol street fire. Depart to bar. Jared gets kicked out for smoking weed. Depart to another bar. Talk to some girl who thinks gay/black pride is wrong. I react. Descent points about the danger of pride (we were only 10 km from Germany – ugh). Depart to sleeping spot. Pass out.

9/27/13 – Paris, FRA / Day Off

Wake up. Rush. Seven hour drive. Little/shitty sleep is catching up. Try to sleep in van. Little sleep in van. Arrive Paris. Shitty traffic. Enter in wrong address of hostel. End up on other side of city. Go straight to venue to watch Front Bottoms shower-less and gross. Venue at capacity. I lie to get in. Door guy speaking French at me while slowly unbuttoning my pearl snap. Ends in English with “This is not French. It will come right off at bar.” I nervously laugh and run in. Sidewalk sandwich beers. Show's good. Meet up with friend Anais I met in Istanbul. Something about illegal abandoned train station dance party. Something about Taylor Swift. We all go to Eiffel Tower. Midnight tower flashes. Walk around the park. Everyone trying to sell key chains. More fire breathing. Tim tags the tower. Overall: Eiffel Tower two and a half stars. Anais departs. We go to hostel. Hostel check in guy is no where to be found. Give up. Pass out in van.