Over two months since I've written?? Goodness. I had no idea it'd been that long. Wow. Well, a lot's happened, but nothing too earth-shattering. Maybe one or two things.
Band shows. Yes, they've been occurring. More Swishbucklers than anything else, really, but still.... SXSW was pretty decent this year. Four shows, four days. Not bad. Let's see if I can get through all this in an almost linear fashion.
In the month of February, the Pocket FishRmen had shows two Fridays in a row. February 8th we played the Nomad, always a favorite venue, and what I remember of the show is good. Cannot remember who we played with, though. Probably All Monsters Attack. I only remember two drummers being at the show, though. Hmm.....oh, yes! Sexy Finger Champs. There we go. Yes, very fun show. We'd drawn the last slot, but enough folks stayed around to make it an overall good time. (Funny how quickly I'm forgetting these shows and line-ups. I don't know if that's a good sign or not.) February 15th, we played at the Limelight (formerly Wacky's, I remembered!) in San Antonio. That show turned out much better than I feared. It was Patrick's birthday show, so the line-up was Harvey McLaughlin, us, and the Sandworms, another band of Patrick's that plays infrequently, as in almost never. The audience built steadily through the night, and all was great. We even got all individually asked by this young woman there if we would play her swingers' party sometime in the summer. We'll see if that comes to fruition, but I think we all agreed to it if it involves enough money.
Now, one thing that I didn't mention yet. When I was driving to the February 8th show, I noticed the temperature gauge in my HHR didn't move from the stone cold position, which indicated that most likely the thermostat was stuck open. I made it home fine, but after discussing the situation with a few folks, Matt Silaski insisted on coming over to help me change the thermostat. I readily agreed. He's a great dude, and it's a job I didn't feel like tackling all by myself. So, he did. The thermostat was truly trashed, and together, we had it changed out within a couple of hours. Without losing much coolant, even. All was good, all the way through the trek to San Antonio on the 15th.
On Friday, the 22nd, Michelle and I did our frequent grabbing of Chinese food before she went to work, but I took a side trip to get some gas at a station near the house. Right as I was pulling into the station, a bunch of warning lights came on the dashboard, and the ol' HHR started running as if it were missing a cylinder. Despite going ahead and putting some gas in the car, I thought this might be it. I'd been waiting for the signal to go on to a new vehicle for awhile (largely with the "I'll help you" urging from my mother), and this was the final straw. I limped the car home and immediately began the search for a new one. I had Michelle take me to get a rental the next morning, as I searched.
The rental car was a 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, and I liked it quite a bit. The 2019 Santa Fe (no Sport) was a model I was looking at already, and this was the early favorite. I also looked at the Honda CR-V, Ford Flex, and the Toyota Rav4. Either the size just wasn't right, or there were other issues. The Santa Fe was the one. Plus, I just liked the dealership. They didn't pressure me at all, and kept lowering the offer without me even griping about anything. The whole experience was as painless as it could be. I bought the one I test drove. Had it by that following Tuesday. Which was good, because, due to an impending band Mardi Gras trip, Michelle and I had to bump our anniversary dinner to Wednesday night (our actual anniversary was that Friday). I had a new car to take us in! First new car I've ever owned. Hope it lasts a long, long time. I plan on babying it as much as I can.
But, of course, fetishing my new car was short-lived, as I had to take off on this aforementioned band trip. The Hickoids/Swishbucklers were going to play Louisiana around Mardi Gras. I say "around," because we actually left after playing Lundi Gras night, but hey, close enough. Cody wasn't with us for the first couple of nights of this trip, so it was Swishbucklers and Hickoids (with Tommy Rowsey on guitar) on the first night in Lafayette (Friday, with We Are The Asteroid), and Swishbucklers the second night in New Orleans (at the Saturn Bar). The Lafayette show was tons o' fun, although I don't think the Hickoids were at our best. We hadn't had much time to prep with Tommy on guitar. I still had a blast at the show. Saturday night turned out pretty well, although Dave Catching's band played before us, and the crowd had dwindled before we hit the stage....or floor. At least, we got to park on St. Claude, right out front.
Being Mardi Gras and all, we were staying Biloxi, about an hour plus away. We had already checked into our hotels there before driving back for the show. And, then it was back to Biloxi, to bunk for the few hours before the next day.
Sunday morning, I felt like garbage. Not sure what was up, probably just lack of sleep, but I felt awful. We were expected at a party in New Orleans that all the folks we were involved with were going to be at. Some sort of chefs' party. Good food, in other words. And boy, did the food perk me up. I felt better almost immediately after eating. Sometimes, the fix is very simple. And it was a good thing I felt better, as both bands had a show in Hattiesburg that night. After we picked up Cody from the airport. Yes, he flew in for the last couple of shows. We played at a pretty nice bar there with a band called Space Trash. I fell in love with this band almost immediately. Not the most polished, not the most dynamic, but I think they'll get there. The ideas were certainly there, pretty original, and they were great folks. I wish them well.
We got back to our hotel at a decent time, and I finally got some decent sleep. Which helped for the next day, most definitely. One downside, though. I got bitten several times by bed bugs during the night. Yes, you read that right. My first time for this (I think). Tom was staying on the couch in the room, and he was bitten as well. Patrick was in the same bed as me this night (he'd been at the casino the first night, pre-Cody), but he didn't get bitten at all. Something was up. I had checked the bed for bugs, as I usually do, but can't vouch for how thoroughly I checked. There will be more on this development as this post progresses.
Monday, it was back to New Orleans. We had some time to ourselves before the show, and I spent some time in the Quarter (trying to dodge parades!), before heading to our show, which was at a bar called Gasa Gasa, uptown. I ended up walking all the way there. Wasn't a problem, although after making the trek, I wonder if there weren't a couple of areas locals would have said "you didn't walk through there, did you?!"" I ate at a burger joint near the bar and showed up a little ahead of schedule. And Gasa Gasa was a great time. The Hickoids shared the stage with Dave Catching's band and the Gools, the same two bands the 'bucklers played Saturn Bar with. We had to get a drum set together, as the house kit the bar supposedly had was pieces at best. Well, the drums were fine, but the hardware was pretty much non-existent. Anyway, great show. Great friends there (special appearance by Jacky Morgan!). And we got in the van and drove home. Yes, all the way. I picked up the mid-Louisiana shift for the second straight time.
Let's see, what's next? Well, I got home, and Tom was convinced we'd been bitten by bed bugs in Biloxi. At that time, I still thought it was a couple of very large mosquitoes. Once I looked at the bites online, I realized he was right. So, I quickly washed all my clothes, and after seeing some sort of small bug under my backpack, washed and dryed that as well. I told Michelle what had happened, but since nothing of mine other than my backpack had been near the bed, was hoping for the best. I still thought we might have brought in some strays from somewhere else, as Tom and I had walked around the area quite a bit Sunday morning. I suppose we'll never know. But I did tell Michelle to be vigilant, although I thought we were in the clear.
The following Friday, the Swishbucklers had a show at the Brick at Blue Star in San Antonio. While I like the place itself okay, it's not the best place to have bands play. It's one of these multi-use things, with several businesses and yet not much room for parking. After unloading (which you can't even do near the door), I had to park about four-tenths of a mile away. Sucky. Don't know if I'll agree to shows there anymore. Or so I write. Ha! Anyway, the show itself was fine, although the makeshift stage they had was somewhat rickety and a bit small. Still, we had a good crowd. Sex Pump played after us, and I thought they were great, but the crowd had started to dissipate by then. The opening band....I forgot the name....we played with them at Paper Tiger before....was especially great, playing punk covers from the "glory days." Great deep set list.
The following week was SXSW....and I think I'll stop this post here. There will be more to come on the subject of bed bugs (did they, or did they not have them?), and of course, rock and roll. And other things. I've missed writing. More to come.
