TOUR DIARY!

Day 1:Friday December 10th, 1999. MUNCIE, Indiana @ Stevie Rays House of Wax

It had been over a year since we first visited the home of Ball State and the infamous Stevie Ray's, and we were anxious to get back out on the road to relive the great memories for the "who are we" tour in '98. We all had the day and the day's only goal was to get to Indiana and play> (oh how I wish that was everyday's goal....to play...not to go to Indiana...) We started out on our trek to the great midwest at the most annoying time; 4pm. Yeah I told the boys that the very latest we should leave was 4. So of course we left at about 4:15. The ride down to Muncie was fairly quick except for the horrendous traffic on I270m outsode of Columbus. Man I thought Cleveland was bad at rush hour. This was just plain ridiculous. The 4 hour trip to Muncie turned into almost 5 cause of that damn highway. These three days of shows were of course going to be done with the accompanyment of our buds ROD from Dayton. Only this time Jayro the bass player couldnt make the trip so Paul, from Midway and friends of Mark Rod, was the bassman for the week or so of shows for ROD. So after almost five hours of driving we pulled into the familiar confines onf Munice Indiana and there were our friends already loaded out and waiting for us. Th efour of us met up with Mark, Paul, Kevin and Squiggy, their merch guy and old friend of ours as well.

The first band, The Viscosities, was already playing when we arrived. They played a punky surf 60s kinda thing that sounded pretty good through the walls as we loaded our gear up the steps to Stevie Rays. The place was just as we remembered it. Used clothing, vinyl and kids watching a band. Squiggy had the ROD merch already setup and we set up our merch poster at the back table.

We finished loading in just in time to see ROD take the stage, er, corner. They were playing their first show with Paul as the fill-in, and he did a fine job. They sounded tight and energetic and we were dancing along with the other 40 or so kids in attendance. They played their patented 25 minutes of blazing punk and were done. Next up was us. We had just stretched out the kinks fromk driving allday and we were ready to rock out. The Muncie set was as follows: LEAVE ME NOW-NEVER BE THE SAME-LOOSE TRUKS-SWITCH-FRIEND OF MINE-WHETHER-STARE-NEED TO KNOW-PUZZLES-BIFF THE CAT-DISAPPEAR-SELF CONTROL-ANNIE MAE-BLUE CHRISTMAS. This was the first time that we played out two of those songs. Disappear is our newset addition, and we learned Blue Christmas especially for the trip. Blue Xmas was fun for us cause Brian wanted his moment in the spotlight so Ken and Brian swithed places and the band did the cover with Brian on lead vocals, posing and singing like a punk rock Elvis; and Ken on bass, realizing what a bitch it really is too keep up. It was fun and the song actually sounded pretty good too! After the set we found a place to stay with the Viscosities. After a long ride that took us all over the greater Muncie area (only cause we suck and didnt realize which way to go to start off) we finally got to the Viscosity house and proceeded to party down with them and their friends. I think we finally all fell asleep around 3am...what a start!

The Unknown and Rod with Santa!
(from left: Paul,Wayne,Brian,Todd(squiggy),Santa,Mark,Ken,Chris,Kevin)

Day 2:Saturday December 11th, 1999. SPRINGFIELD, Illinois @The Asylum

We woke up after a comfortable nights sleep on a few couches and proceeded back to Stevie Rays to meet up with Rod. We had a long drive out to The Asylum in Springfield so we wantd to get a start as soon as possible. We decided to make a stop around Indianapolis to get some grub. After a Denny's meal and a romp through a music store and thrift store...we were back on the road. We got into Springfield at about 6pm and we had just enough time to get situated and relax before the show. We had been to TH eAsylum once before in Sept of '98, and it was just as we remembered it to be. Some of the place was rearranged but it was basically the same cool-ass coffe house we remembered. After a half hour or so, our old friend Jim Rice, better known as Devoall, showed up and we new the night was going to be a big success. So after shooting the shit with Devoall and listening to the first band, Eary August, we were up.

The Springfield set was: LEAVE ME NOW-NEVER BE THE SAME-LOOSE TRUKS-SWITCH-WHETHER-FRIEND OF MINE-STARE-DISAPPEAR-PUZZLES-LIES-BIFF THE CAT-SELF CONTROL-ANNIE MAE-BLUE X-MAS. We had a better night than the night before and the crowd was very receptive. The total that night was about 100 people. And we were very happy to hear that total. Next up was Rod and they kickjed ass as usual. Paul was doing better than the night before and they went over well with the crowd.

After the show we split with Devoall and made our first visit to Steak and Shake. That was a mistake. Not leaving with Devoall...Steak and Shake...it sucked. Eventually we got back to Devoall's place and we all hung out. Squiggy and Brian hung out in the kitchen and drank all night. Wayne, Chris and Paul hit the Playstation and played arcade classics. Mark and Kevin were asleep before you could say "good night." And Ken and Devoall talked about ALL all night! It was a great night!

Rod In Springfield,IL.

Day 3:Saturday December 12th, 1999. JACKSONVILLE, Illinois @The Cybercafe

Well we woke up at Devoalls house and proceeded to go through the tedious task of getting clean...and for 8 of us to do that it really was a task. We also had the chance to quickly learn a new cover song for our buddy Devoall. See the lasttime we played here in Springfield we played an ALL cover and that was just too much for our new bud Devoall to handle. Aside from liking us and our songs, he dug the fact that we played a cover by one of his favorite bands. So whil he was away for a while, we used the basement practice space to learn a new ALL song, FOOL. We proceeded to get clean and head out for the task of the day...THE UNKNOWN VS ROD BOWLATHON! The last time we were in Springfield we had a day off and we used the time to hit the local Bowling Alley, Spill Way Lanes! So of course this time around we had to hit it again! Since the drive to Jacksonville was only about twenty minutes, we decided it was a definate GO! We found our familiar bowl spot and proceeded to bowl! Paul turned out to be the Turkey of the day and Ken was the grand champion. It was all great fun! Check out the pix!

Paul Rod The Turkey!!

After the bowlathon we headed out to Jacksonville. The place was very small and it looked like someones living room. We were a bit worried about what the draw would be like. When we got there there was like 10 kids working on computers and it was getting late. We set up our gear in the corner and got ready to play. We were playing first cause we had a 9 hour trip ahead of us and we werent even going to see our buds Rod tonight. Early August was playing and they were to play last. When we were ready to play, we ere amazed. The place filled toi capacity in just a matter of minutes! There had to be at least 100 people crammed into the cybercafe. We went out promptly and rocked as hard as we could.

The set list was: LEAVE ME NOW-NEVER BE THE SAME-AT 705-WHETHER-DISAPPEAR-SWITCH-STARE-FRIEND OF MINE-BIFF THE CAT-NEED TO KNOW-SELF CONTROL-FOOL-SEEMS SO REAL-BLUE XMAS. We added a few old favorites for Devoall (he made the trip as well) and we were well received by the crowd! We would love to say thanks to everyone who came out that night! you all were awesome! We have never gotten so many cheers and applause in all of our ten years playing! Thanks!

After the quick set we headed home...and man did that suck. But we did have one crazy experience...we decided to wait til we got to around Dayton before stopping for food...so we pull into this Waffle House and walk in. As soon as we get in this large woman behind the counter is like "sorry the grill is broke and it wont be ready for an hour" so we are like "What the Hell are you talking about???" And mind you we are all gidddy from no sleep and its like 4am...so we turn around and leave all the while saying in our best John Candy voices "Sorry Folks, the Grill's Closed, the moose out fron shoulda told ya!" (if you have seen Vacation you know what we were doing) And it was like to most hilarious thing we have ever done....ok guess you had to be there and up at 4am.... Eventually we got home.....and I got in bed at 9:15am enought to sleep for a few hours and go to work at 3pm...Wayne went to work at Noon after one hour of sleep..Chris and Brian didnt work...JERKS! SEE YOU NEXT TOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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