What you are about to read is an epic tale of hilarious disaster.

 

After yet another gorgeous, relaxed day spent in Boulder, we packed our bags and boarded the veggie bus, less than thrilled about driving east into stormy weather and grey skies. On the bright side, our tour karma  had been pretty amazing so far, so we tipped our hats to Colorado and yelled a fond “Farewell!” as we warmed-up the bus. 

“Wait…uh, I think the brake lights are stuck.”
“Stuck? What do you mean? They look fine to me.”
“Yeah but I mean they’re not working—like, they don’t respond when you press the brakes—they just stay lit constantly.”

 

First Problem:

 

The brake lights don’t work. We mess around with fuses and wires for an hour, then decide to hit the road regardless. We’ll drive slowly and make sure to turn cautiously—the most important thing is that we get to Kansas for our gig tomorrow night.

 

Part  Two:

 

About 20 minutes after our departure, we see flashing lights in the rearview—we’re being pulled over. The brake lights…
“Howdy officer—is there a problem?”
“Well, you failed to signal a couple miles back, and you were swerving onto the shoulder a little bit—is everything OK?”
“Yes , sir, absolutely.”
“No drinking or anything?”
“No, sir. I must have forgotten to signal, and this trailer’s a little difficult getting used to.”
“Yeah, I know how those things are. Well, I’m not gonna give you a ticket or anything—just make sure you signal, and try not to swerve that trailer.”
Christian hands the officer a CD, and we get back to driving. Good thing he didn’t notice the brake lights…

 

THEN (Part Three):

 

After an hour of driving into the heart of eastern Colorado, Joey stands up.
“YO—Christian, turn the lights on! Turn the lights on! I think there’s grease back here!”
And he was right. We flip the cabin lights, only to find that THERE IS GREASE EVERYWHERE!! Oozing down the center aisle of the bus, slathering our clothing and sleeping bags. We are literally in the middle of nowhere—and in fact, it’s quite beautiful outside. The stars are the brightest we’ve seen on the tour—the air is clean and crisp. We’re in the desert.

Which means…there’s a lot of dry dirt everywhere. In a quick-thinking moment of genius, Justine grabs our emergency  snow shovel and starts padding the floor of the bus with dirt. Several of the band members are skeptical—we’re shoveling dirt into a bus filled with garbage oil—-but it actually works. We get the mess reasonably cleaned up, transfer our personal belongings to the trailer, and FINALLY start heading to Kansas.

 

Part Four: The final chapter—

 

When we heard a loud pop and started smelling burning rubber, we knew we were screwed. We’d only been on the highway for 25 SECONDS!! Our tour karma had reversed. This  was the last straw. We opened the hood and found the serpentine belt tangled in a knot and half-melted.

 

As the the tow truck pulled-up, I couldn’t believe this was all happening—WHAT A DAY! Sitting on the hotel bed, it seemed like the only thing we could do was laugh and have a beer.

 

And the beer was perfect.

More BOULDER BLISS!!!

Which means…more walking in sunny downtown, more visiting of heady book stores, more goat’s milk cappuccino…this town is wonderful.

After a beautifully lazy day, we drove the short distance to Denver (about 35 minutes), loaded gear into the club, and chowed down on some sandwiches and pizza (compliments of Loren from the Larimer Lounge). I dropped my sandwich on the ground (open face down) half way through the eating process, but was able to recover most of it (5 second rule).

The house sound engineer (Joey) was an awesome dude, and he did a great job handling the 7-piece madness that is My Dear Disco. After the opening bands (Josephine and the Mouse People and Vonnegut) had finished playing, we took the stage and rocked a hard-hitting set. The room was pretty full, and for our first time in Denver, I think we turned some heads and got some booties moving.

 

The Denver Post even covered the story with a really nice review that you can check out here!:

http://blogs.denverpost.com/reverb/2009/01/26/my-dear-disco-vonnegut-the-larimer-lounge/

 

Thanks to the wonderful bartenders Brooke and Janelle (spelled correctly I hope?), we were able to trade two copies of our album for two pitchers of tasty Colorado brew. That’s what I’m talking about…

Back to Boulder for more sunshine, coffee, noodles, ice cream—-this place has it all!!

—The [rewind] button

Boulder is a sweet town.

We arrived at The B-Side Lounge with plenty of time to load-in, set-up, walk around town for a bit (and get lost), and still make it back to the club for sound check.

The staff at the B-Side are some of the nicest, coolest people we’ve met on the road. In addition to hooking us up with more grease, Matt (the head chef) made us some killer tacos and rice. Morgan, the house sound engineer, did an awesome job mixing us and made the vibe totally relaxed. And to top it all off, Andy (the bartender) was what I like to call a “Cool Ade” guy. In other words, this dude was so awesome, I would drink the cool ade if he told me to…you know what I mean?

The show was a blast, and after we finished playing, we all jammed-out to the DJ for the rest of the night. Luckily for us, our good friend (and an Ann Arbor legend) Justine Anthony just moved out to Boulder, so we crashed at her place for the night.  Dane (her house mate) and I stayed up late rocking some acoustic jams, and the rest of the guys in the band built a sweet sleeping fort. Dane also cooked some delicious redskin potatoes with mushrooms, spinach, and onions, smothered in Cholula hot sauce. PERFECT midnight snack!

We awoke the next morning to an absolutely gorgeous day: 60 degrees with the sun shining bright. After a couple hours of relaxing outside, we walked into town and got some coffee at The Laughing Goat. I had a goat’s milk cappuccino, which was honestly one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.

What’s with all this great coffee and beautiful weather? Colorado really has it figured out…

–The [rewind] button

 

WYOMING!!! Just minutes out of Nebraska, the temperature is up (40 degrees), the sun is shining, we found the cheapest diesel price so far ($2.14/gallon), and we also snagged some veggie oil for the bus. Halelujah! I also just had the best Subway sandwich of my life (12 inch veggie sub on toasted “Italian herbs and cheese” bread, with banana peppers, green peppers, olives, spinach, lettuce, tomato, and honey mustard sauce). I’ve had this combination of ingredients before, but this time the lady wrapping the sandwich was so nice. She really hooked-it-up. 

 

Check out this video of the Wyoming grease run: 

 

 

Thank you Wyoming!

 

Band morale is high as we cruise the last 90 miles to Fort Collins. 

 

***

 

 

We arrived at the club with plenty of time to get some KILLER GREASE (the cleanest we’ve ever seen) from Taipan Restaurant (thank you). After filling the tank with vegetable oil and eating way too much food at Rasta Pasta, we got on stage and rocked a 60 minute set. There weren’t many people in the club, but by the last song (“White Lies”) people were starting to fill the dance floor, and seemed to be having a great time. 

Now for my favorite part of the night: ROCKING OUT to Bustle In Your Hedgerow, an absolutely all-star lineup of ridiculous musicians playing instrumental versions of Led Zeppelin tunes. In case you haven’t heard of these guys, you should know that the band is comprised of Marco Benevento and Joe Russo (from The Benevento/Russo Duo), Dave Driewitz (from Ween) and Scott Metzger (from Rana, and formely of Particle). I know I’ve written quite a bit in CAPS so far, but I’ll take it all back to emphasize that Joe Russo is an ABSOLUTE MONSTER ON THE DRUMS!!! I’ve seldom heard anybody rock with the true spirit of John Bonham…it was beautiful to watch. To top it all of, these guys were really great people—totally down-to-earth—the nicest rock stars I’ve ever met. We had a blast hanging with them. 

 

During the show, we met a crazy character named Jacob—a total B.A. (bad ass), who invited us to crash at his place (Thank you Jacob, you are the man!). We stayed-up pretty late listening to Herbie Hancock’s “Feets Don’t Fail Me Now,” and some Crosby, Stills, and Nash, and when we woke up the next morning it was 55 degrees outside and sunny. What a relief from the Michigan cold! After a quick stop at the local food co-op, as well as a great coffee shop called The Bean Cycle, we hopped on the veggie bus and started cruising to Boulder. 

 

This tour is turning out to be a pretty amazing experience. 

 

More to come…

 

--The [rewind] button

 

DAY 2:

 

9am—I wake up to Tyler screaming. Nothing’s wrong…that’s just how he likes to wake up. 

 

 

Last night, at around 12:30AM, we were driving 30 mph through a complete white-out, so we decided to find a motel and sleep. 

 

This morning, I-80 is speckled with cars and trucks that skidded off the road, so I’m glad we stopped and got a hotel when we did. 

Bus update: Things are running pretty smoothly. We’ve only had three mini scares with the “Service Engine Soon” light, a terrible burning smell, and one of those “uh…I can’t accelerate right now, the pedal’s not responding” moments. SO, everything is COOL!

 

Thanks to our faithful bus manager (and bass player) Christian Carpenter, who got a hitch installed on the back of the bus before we left Ann Arbor, we’re pulling a U-Haul trailer filled with our equipment. Now that the bus is so spacious, Mike (the drummer) decided to rig a fancy little personal theater system for the passengers. How creative!

 

 

Here’s a little vid showcasing the fabulous continental breakfast we had at one of the fanciest Super 8 Motel’s we’ve ever seen (seriously)…

 

More antics and adventures to come--

 

--The [rewind] button

 

 

It’s 10AM— I have thirty minutes before we leave for Colorado, and I still have to put together merchandise orders (10 minutes), go to the post office and mail them (25 minutes), get Tyler’s car back to his house (thanks Duncan, how would I get around town last-minute without that Honda of yours?…5 minutes), and worst of all, I haven’t even started packing (hmm…). 

 

I’m sure this sounds hilarious, but this is pretty much my typical day-of-departure predicament: lots to do…NO TIME! I feel like I’m on some kind of ridiculous game show, except instead of having to assemble a brass monkey out of giant styrofoam pieces in three minutes or less so I can unlock the Legends of the Hidden Temple, I have to suppress my voracious appetite for good deals, and quickly scan the aisles of Plum Market for on-sale items that I actually need on the road. My mind wanders for a second as I look over the hundreds of bottles of olive oil (1Liter of Colavita Cold Pressed Extra Virgin for $8.99? Damn, that’s good…but the clock is ticking). I snap my self out of the price tag trance and checkout with three high-protein granola protein bars ($.99 each), and a box of throat coat tea ($4.19—a little steep, but an essential item for the touring vocalist). 

 

Walking out of the market, I run into my good friend Brendan McCall. There are few people in this world who can truly snap me out of a complete mental stress maze, and this guy is one of them. We talk for a minute, and I am instantly brought to a relaxed head space. I realize there’s no way I’m going to make it to my house by 10:30, and I accept my fate: I’m going to make the whole band wait for me. “I just changed-out last week’s menu,” he tells me, “do you want to take some meals on the road?”

 

[mental pause---something like in the movie "Snatch" when Brad Pitt gets knocked airborne from an uppercut to the jaw, and just hangs in the air, suspended in time]

 

Do I want to take some meals on the road? My response is some garbled mixture of the following: “Brother, for real? OH, BRENDAN!!!! I mean…Man, are you serious? Dude…”

 

In addition to being a great guy, Brendan is also an INCREDIBLE chef. He and fellow chef Jay Haamen (also INCREDIBLE—and he can fix cars) own and operate a killer food business called A Knife’s Work. Their focus is on prepared food-to-go, using fresh, local produce and meats (organic whenever possible). They change their take-home menu every week, and all the food is packaged in compostable containers. In my opinion, these guys make THE BEST FOOD IN ANN ARBOR, hands down. Their food is for sale at Everyday Wines in the Kerrytown Market and Shops, where the staff will help you select the perfect wine to pair with any of the six meals they offer weekly. Check ‘em out!!!

 

As I said before, I was late for our departure. You can imagine, however, the forgiving spirit that joyously took hold of the entire band when I arrived with my bounty of food from A Knife’s Work. Our typical on-the-road menu of peanuts and granola transformed into White Bean, Thyme, and Roasted Vegetable Soup, Caramelized Squash and Candied Pecan Spinach Salad, Yellow Lentils with Sherried Fresh Bacon, and Moorish Spiced Lamb Chops over a Red Onion Kumquat Salad. Not a bad score for a bunch of starving artists, eh?

Thank you Brendan and Jay—-Best tour departure ever! 

 

-The [rewind] button

 

 

Hey EVERYBODY!  ALL OF YOU!  EVEN YOU!  IN THE CORNER! YEAH YOU!

We just wanted to make sure you knew that we are starting our super awesome, amazing, fun “Get Kids Dancing” Colorado Tour 2009!

 

Check back frequently to read our the tour diary, where we will be documenting all our crazy shenanigans and hullabaloo…

 

 

My Dear Disco is coming back to the Blind Pig! Our shows at the pig are incredibly special to us, and we can’t wait to play for Ann Arbor again!

 

This show is really exciting because we’ve invited the incredible band from detroit, The Hard Lessons, to split the bill with us — and we’re doing two nights!

 

Here’s the scoop:

 

Friday, Jan 9th + Sat, Jan 10th

$12 adv/$15 day of, 18 + Doors @ 9:30 (non-smoking)

 

Friday night will be hosted by The Hard Lessons, which means that we’ll play first, and the whole show (including our set) will be about getting deep into that high-energy detroit rock & roll rawness!

 

Saturday night will be hosted by us, which means we’ll play second, and the whole show will be throwing down a non-stop dance-thrash!

 

Each night will be unique and contain some special surprises. We can’t wait to share them with you . . . lets rock the joint!!

 

Advance tickets ARE available and are great way to save time, money, and ensure you can attend the show/s!   Just go to: http://www.blindpigmusic.com/ and click “buy tix” for the night you’d like to attend.

 

Happy ‘09!

 

the [record] button