tour diary april 2001

*****!!!!!!TOUR DATES!!!!!!*****

Friday March 30, (3-30!) 2001 Chicago, IL

Last night we played the legendary and soon to be demolished "Fireside Bowl" in Chicago. This was the first day of our "OH YEAH!" tour and we started it like we start every tour, with a stop at White Castles on our way out of St. Louis. We played with the Retards from Italy, the Phuzz, and our OH YEAH! tourmates Lawrence Arms and Big D. Not only did we get to play a great rock and roll show at one of our favorite places to play in the world, but we got to see our friends in the Blue Meanies and Alkaline Trio and were treated to a special guest appearence by none other than MIKE PARK who joined us onstage for "La".

Monday April 2, 2001 Toronto, Ontario

Oh Canada......Tonight, despite a bit of hassle at the border, we are playing in Toronto, Ontario. On March 31 (ted's b-day), we played in Valparaiso, Indiana. The show almost didn't happen. We showed up at the American Legion Hall and the woman in charge refused to let any of the bands in. The more kids that showed up, the more difficult she became. She told the promoter that he couldn't get his deposit back since he didn't have a signed contract. Rock and Roll prevailed though as the promoter found an expo hall at the state fairgrounds at the last minute. We had a great big convoy of cars following us to the new venue.

Tuesday April 3, 2001

Driving to Montreal, Quebec

Last night we played a very late and short but sweet set at the Kathedral in the impressive city of Toronto. After the show we drove for about an hour looking for cheap lodging and finally settled down for a chilly night's sleep in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

Friday April 6, 2001 Amherst, MA

It's a rainy day here in Amherst. We spent some quality time today at the post office getting things ready for our tour of Japan. On tuesday we played an amazing show in Montreal Quebec. Se Bon, Se Bon. This was only our second time to Quebec and kids went crazy. We played a lot of requests and made a lot of new friends. On wednesday we played a second show in Montreal at a small punk rock club the Bar St. Laurent. It was fun to see a lot of people come back again for more rock. We can't wait to come back.

Wednesday April 11, 2001 Atlanta, GA

It's a hot one here in "Hotlanta". We've completely bipassed Spring and went straight to Summer. It reached over 90 degrees in our hometown of St. Louis. It was almost freezing when we left just under two weeks ago. Anyway we've played a bunch of great shows lately. On Friday we played on the 11th floor of the student union at UMASS in Amherst. There were a few bad apples at the show who tried to spoil everyone's fun but generally it was a good show. We drove to Boston afterwards and stayed at the big Big D house. On Saturday we played two shows. The first was a matinee in Boston at Bill's Bar where we played a quick set to an amazing crowd. Big D had a party that night but we had to miss it. Right after our set we got off stage, we got straight in the RV and drove for six hours to Long Island for show # 2. We barely made it in time to get our set in before curfew. On sunday we played with our good friends Cooter in Hartford. After the show we drove for a couple of hours, finally stopping to sleep at the "Turnpike Inn" in New Jersey. This place is a little bit scary. We played a small show monday at American University in our nation's capital, Washington DC. In Atlanta the OH YEAH tour went mohawk. After Chris Diebold cut his hair into a mohawk twelve others on the tour including Dan and Gerry, showed their support with cuts of their own.

Friday April 13, 2001 Driving to Texas

Last night we were in the Big Easy, Crescent City, New Orleans. We played a small bar called the Mermaid Lounge. Unfortunately New Orleans no longer has an all ages venue. Sorry to everyone who couldn't come to the rock show because of age restrictions.
On the road eating is a very important and fun thing to do. Last night was no exception. After the show we all got shrimp and oyster po' boys at one of our favorite places for food, Verdi Marte in the French Quarter. With our bellies full and the clock reading about 3 am we hit the road, drove for about an hour and a half and went to sleep in a highway rest area.

Tuesday April 17, 2001 Mesa, Arizona

Refreshed!  After two nights of overnight driving we've settled into a motel for showers and real sleep. We just finished a four day run through the state of TEXAS. Our first show was on Friday the 13th in Houston with the legendary Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Fitzgerald's has two stages and the "Oh Yeah" tour played downstairs while the Bosstones and 30 foot fall played upstairs. We were a little bit worried that people wouldn't bother with the downstairs but we couldn't have been more wrong. The Bosstones were great and after the show Gerry and Dickie did some catching up. Gerry eventually wound up picking up Dickie and crushing him just like he used to do when Skankin' Pickle toured with the Bosstones.
The next night we played in Austin with our friend Jerm of Tall Dark and Lonesome. We were a little disappointed that we couldn't eat at another of our most favorite places "Tamale House # 5" the next day since it was closed on Easter. Tamale House has hands down the best breakfast tacos anywhere! We settled on another good mexican restaurant and headed to Dallas. Dallas is always fun because we get to see Dan's brother Chris, his wife Tracy and Dan's nephews Gabe and Noah. Gabe is a big fan of the "power skank" and loves to imitate Gerry ripping his shirt off. After this show we drove through the night, trying to take a chunk out of the 13 hour drive to El Paso, eventually stopping in Wickett (like the Ewok) and sleeping for a couple of hours in a truck stop parking lot. We played a small but fun show in El Paso. Dan from Big D broke his wrist trying to ollie his skate board off a retaining wall. Ouch!
Sunday April 22, 2001 Santa Barbara, California

Oh Yeah! We're in California. The heat of Texas and Arizona subsided and it got a bit chilly once we hit the border. We played a very small show in Mira Mesa outside of San Diego. Thursday we played the Troubadour in Hollywood with our friends Slow Gherkin. We all stayed at James from Slow Gherkin's parent's house and were treated to some great home cooked food. Nothing tastes better when you're on the road. We also got to see the new Asian Man Video sampler for the first time and the long wait was worth it. MU330 contributed the "Tune Me Out" video as well as "Hoosier Love" live in Tokyo. Mike Park hopped in the RV and rode with us for the next few days, giving Gerry neck massages and buying us all burritos. The Anaheim show on friday was great, probably the best yet for southern California. On saturday we actually drove through snow on our way to Berkeley. The show at Gliman Street was a lot of fun. Our friend Jason Thihn's band, Short Round, opened up the show. It was good to see a lot of our friends especially everyone from the Chinkees.

Wednesday April 25, 2001 Leaving Las Vegas

The OH YEAH tour spent the past two nights surrounded by the bright lights of Las Vegas. On tuesday night we were supposed to play an all ages show at the Junkyard, but a few hours before the show the police threatened to shut down the club if there were any minors present. Since almost everyone who showed up was underage we moved the show outside to the parking lot and all the bands played soft accoustic sets, horns and drums included. This was definitely one of the most interesting shows on this tour. The tour made a whopping $68.68 from donations so we came up with a plan. We decided to bet $69 on black at the roulette table at midnight. That's what we did and we lost it all!! Fun, fun, fun.

Tuesday May 1, 2001 Salt Lake City, Utah

We're back at the motel 6 after playing a great show at the Kilby Court. After uploading this we're going to hit the road for nice 10 hour night drive over the mountains to Denver. Now a quick recap. After Vegas we played a nice stretch of shows with Slow Gherkin in San Jose and Santa Cruz. Our friends Yoko and Guts from Japan were out visiting and hopped in the RV for a few days. Guts even joined us onstage rocking the guitar on La.. There was plenty of good eating while they were with us.One morning Mike Park's mom took us out for Korean BBQ and twice we ate at the best American style taco stand "Taco Bravo". After the second show in Santa Cruz we hung out with the guys in Slow Gherkin and went for a 3 am bike ride along the coast.

Thursday May 3, 2001 Colorado Springs, Colorado


It's SNOWING!!! Once again we had a long overnight drive from Salt Lake to Denver and I gave up the reigns to Gerry at about 7 in the morning in Rawlins, Wyoming. I woke up an hour later to see we were driving through a heavy snowstorm. Fortunately it wasn't sticking but the snow kept up for the next two days through Denver and Colorado Springs. The Denver show was a lot of fun. We were joined on stage by our old sax player matt knobbe's alter ego "guitardo" who rocked the six string on "la". The shows in Colorado Springs have always been good and the promoter eric, super nice. This time was no exception. A couple of guys showed up at 1:30 am while all the bands were loading out. When they found out that they had missed the show they sped off totally pissed off. Maybe they should get out of bed a little earlier.

Saturday May 5, 2001 St. Louis, Missouri

Back home! After Colorado Springs we drove through the night to Lawrence, Kansas for an afternoon BBQ that our booking agent steve was throwing for all the bands. Lawrence is like a second home to us. Our first out of town shows were at the a place called the Outhouse which was an old brick tractor barn in the middle of a cornfield five miles outside of Lawrence. We had some great shows there including the historical Skankin' Pickle / Blue Meanies / MU330 bill where all three bands first met each other. Our recent show probably won't be seen as influental but it was still fun. The show was supposed to be all ages but we found out at the last minute that it was 18+. Sorry to everyone who couldn't get in because of that. On saturday we played at St. Louis University for our hometown CD release. Jenny Kavanaugh and her band of outlaws opened up the show. John Skavanagh our old singer plays guitar in this country rock band. One of the highlights of the show was an onstage chainsaw fight between Gerry and Vigo from Big D. After the show Chris had a big party for everyone. OH YEAH!!!