Saturday, October 6, 2007

Hotel Frank (Omaha)

wow.
funny how things can turn around in a day.
we were thinking after dekalb that maybe touring wasn't going to be so fun, but the pessimism was turned around quick last night.
total blast.
we rolled into town early again and got to hotel frank around three, set up in a horrible horrible hippie coffee shop where i wrote the last post. we decided we'd walk down to the place and see what was up with bringing our gear in and what time to show, blah...out of nowhere, we're standing in front of the giant door, and it just opens. there is standing a girl, relatively terrified that we are standing on her porch. she informs us that she is leaving but if we wanna go inside and hang out, that is an option. she knows there is a show tonight but has no idea either way what that entails.

we head to a park.

i like the fact that we're getting to spend so much of our down time outside and in parks just running around and being dorks. we got to go down by the river bank and throw the frisbee again, this time setting a new high of 34 consecutive throws and catches and then played dominoes for about three hours. sated on bro-down time we head back to the frank and see what's up.

this time we're greeted by three or so dudes hanging with their dog out on the front porch and they seem friendly enough. they have much more information and are real helpful. we load our shit in and scope the place, which looks a lot like the party room from animal house. this was an accurate foreshadow.

we go grab beers for ourselves and some whiskey even though they have a pop machine filled with beer for 75 cents a pop. this beer is rapidly consumed and before long we're on the porch with a larger amount of people re-telling richard pryor jokes and playing dominoes. this is what i wanted tour to be like. honestly having a great time with people that you've never met before and not worrying. no one in omaha ever asked me what i "listened to" or what i "was into" and it made my night.

around nine thirty or so it's pretty obvious that eth is a little overserved and seth and i are on our way. even though we were slated to play last we decide to take the openers offer of going on earlier. good idea.

there were probably fifty or sixty kids crammed into a room when we went on. it was hotter than than anything you could imagine but i could tell this was going to be intense.
the second we started playing the kids went insane, dancing, screaming, cat-calling, throwing beers, good kid shit. between verses kids were pouring bud ice forties down our throats or trying to offer a drag of a cigarette. sometimes even covering some of the vocal parts for us while we were havin a sip.
it was one of the most fun shows i have ever played in my life and i can say that with complete honesty. 'you can't' go there' and 'massage' were spazzed and perfect and the set went on without a hitch.

until....

we blew the p.a. during 'dead kids'. it turned out to be a blessing as a roomful of kids and us screaming 'DEAD KIDS!' at the top of our lungs turned out to be the coolest thing i've been a part of in a while.
what a show and what night.
just ask ethan. he remembers some of it.

after a little overcelebrating ricky took some zzz's in the van and ethan posted up in a bush....for three hours. god bless the kid. he had so much fun. and the last thing he said as he was leaving the party (with each arm around a stranger) was: "these kids are my friends".

and you know what?
they were.

special thanks to the terminals (who are fucking fantastic) and everyone at hotel frank for getting us money even though they didn't need to.
you guys are the whip.

in lawrence now and gonna play the record store in about an hour.
we know, we know...
break a leg.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

may i ask which heinous hippie coffee shop you were in?