Adams Gig Journal

[AC]

Gabe's Oasis
Friday March 18th, 2005

Dillweed
Soulsick
Billy Howke and The Hoax

A day that will live in Dillweed infamy! Our first show with the new Dillweed lineup.

Nothing to report from before the show. We went through our set once in Solon before packing up. Always a tedious task for me being the drummer, this time around I felt a sort of pride as though I had made it through some sort of no-band marathon. I sometimes think of all the crazy circumstances and twisted fate that had to happen for this lineup to take shape. It really is quite amazing, everything that had to happen a certain way for it to become reality.

Anyway, back to the gig. We were scheduled to open this show. I'm always apprehensive about this as it is Gabes and they have a funny way of changing things right at the last moment. We had told all of our friends that we would start at @10-10:30. It's a real downer to tell everyone that and then when you get to the bar, find out that you are being bumped to a later spot in the evening. Then you have the daunting task of trying to smooth it over with your friends enough so that they want to stay through some band they probably wont like.

There was an early show that went up until 9:00 or so. One of the bands Mike and I checked out. They blew me away. Just a bass player, drummer and singer. That's all a band really needs anyway

The last band of the early show took forever to clear the stage. This actually ended up playing to our advantage. We didnt want to start too early as most of our friends had not shown up yet. This also ended up getting me and Mike's help enlisted to help Soulsick with hauling in their gear. I feel like a damn fool if I just stand there and watch another band haul in their gear. Plus it goes a long way in putting a bug in the ear of the band you're helping if you simply help with carrying in some gear. Seems that's the case anyway.

This must be the Cubs year cause Gabes actually fixed their crappy stairs! Those stairs behind Gabes is the worst part about Gabes. That and the bathrooms. The angle of the stairs still sucks but at least you don't feel like they are giving out with each step you take anymore. This is very comforting when you are carrying a Twin Reverb or an Ampeg bass amp up those stairs.

So we end up starting at 10:20. Perfect starting time! The set went very quickly. We could have probably added the other two tunes we are working on. The songs we did play seemed to have much more punch to them than in Solon. I attribute this to having my drums miked. I love playing my drums miked. It's much easier to stay in the pocket and for some reason it's easier to pull off bass drum slides and tom rolls.

The set went well. The overall feedback we got was very good. I got a few people that said we were very tight which is really what a drummer wants to hear the most. Many of the songs are not set in concrete yet. I myself have several small things to work on such as intros and such but the songs as we played them seemed to go over well.

We still need to work on our showmanship. I'm not saying we need to have it but it certainly helps to keep our name in the heads of those hearing us the next day if we have visuals to go along with the music. We tried to have some balloons and bubbles but they didn't really do anything for us like I had hoped. We will work on it though.

After our set, Soulsick played. They were very good at what they did. They came off very polished. Usually their sound is something I'm into but this band just didn't really do it for me. They seemed like a glam band from the late 80's who got timewarped to today and then realized that Warrant just doesnt cut the mustard anymore so then had to revamp their sound. I'm thinking if Whitesnake made an album today.........

After Soulsick it was Billy Howke and The Hoax. I've seen this band a couple times now and I've jammed with Billy once out in Solon. They are always fun. They always have some kind of showy aspects to their set. This evening the singer came out dressed as Eeyore and the drummer was in some kind of maid outfit. Playing drums in a dress would be interesting. I'll have to try it sometime.

After the evening was over, we collected our door money. 20 bones! A typical Gabes payout. Oh well. The money didn't really matter on this evening. It was more about finally getting back on the horse. Getting out playing live in front of people. Overall a great first gig!

[AC]

The Cue
Saturday April 30, 2005

Dillweed
The Specimen

A Saturday night show at The Cue! What's not to love about that? I was very excited about this show as I had not so much as seen the upstairs at The Cue. I now want to play EVERY show at The Cue. They have perhaps the best stage in town. More than enough room for everyone to move around and it was a good foot off the floor. And they have a full bar upstairs. I was afraid it would only be a tub of bottled beer or something.

Before getting to The Cue, we went through our set once in Solon. I had tried to get new heads for the two toms on my kit but the head I got for the bigger tom was too big. Someday I will remember the sizes of my drums. I figured it would be better for the toms to both sound similar instead of having one sound great and the other sound like shit. I figured wrong. More on that later..

I wanted to try a couple new things for this show. First, I had still had my prior band's drumhead on my drums so I wanted to change that. My idea was to make a completely black head with the Dillweed letter cut out. Then have it backlit from inside the drum so as to show the Dillweed prominently. After spending parts of several days on the first incarnation, I realized that what I had in my mind was not going to happen for this show. The lights that I had available were too heavey for the inside of the drum. This made it hard to do slides. So I took them out as I would rather have the drum play well than to have it look cool. Next, the way I made the drumhead black wasn't the best way I could have done it. The glue I used to adhere the posterboard to the head had an adverse reaction to the plastic of the head. This made it look like it was leather bound. Kinda cool but not the look I was going for. All in all though, I learned a great deal and I will use these lessons on the next rendition.

The next thing I wanted to start doing was to change my on stage appearance. I have been wearing the same shit for the last 10 years. Literally, there are shirts that I wore on some of The Mystery Machine shows (first band I was in from 1995) that I was still wearing. So I figured I needed a change. I took a cue from Green Day's new look to come up with what I tried out. Black button down shirt, Black khakis and my black fedora. All finishing with a sharp red tie that Mike D furnished. I was happy with the results. My hat was soaked as was the rest of me afterward but that was cool. The new get up didn't hinder my playing which is the most important part. I will continue with it, hopefully adding new pieces to my on stage wardrobe.

Lately I have been thinking about adding something for the listener to see. I think this helps bigtime in remembering a band the next day. Give them something unique from the rest of the bands you play with on a given night. I have several projects that are in development now. I think we could really use a backdrop of some kind. No band in IOC uses one for some reason. What an easy way to pound the name of the band into someone! Look for one soon. Also, I want to get some stage lighting/effects going. A fog machine would be awesome if used right. Maybe a strobe or some sort of blinking light that can used in conjunction of a song or two. Look for that soon as well.

So we get the The Cue @ 8:30. We were actually able to get a real soundcheck! This almost never happens! We spent a good half hour getting the levels right and the monitor mixes good. When we were doing the drums, we all noticed how bad the toms sounded. This was real evident once the miked tom came back through my monitor. We all winced each time I hit a drum. It was pretty awful. I will be rectifying that problem before this Saturday at The Green Room. Other than that, the stage sounded great. Randy, the sound guy, did a great job. Worth every penny of his share of the door.

The set itself went off without a hitch on my end. There will always be a couple times where you mess up or you hear someone else mess up. This was no exception. There were a couple times where Mike flubbed a note but he never changed his facial expression. He made a conscienous effort to not make an "oops I fucked up" look and did a great job. Being as no one in the audience could really tell that anyone messed up, we will say that it was a perfect set. The soundboard recording will tell otherwise I'm sure.

I understand that The Reacharounds played a show with The Specimen. I don't remember a single thing about that evening. Anyway, The Specimen were very tight. I liked several of their more rockin tunes. I scored a demo which I look forward to listening to. They had a very good keyboard player. Keyboard players crack my shit up! They always have the funniest facial expressions. Like they are always searching a huge wall of sound for one single note. Heads slanted sideways and eyes squinting. Hilarious..

We had a great turnout! And a great ratio! Seems the women outnumbered the guys 3 to 1! I think Mike must have macked on every single one..including the guys the way he was going. He had a prophecy that he said was going to happen before we got there. I wont go into it here to protect the guilty but I will say that his prophecy came true about as soon as he had walked in the joint. Sickening! Freakin Bastard!

Another great thing about playing at the Cue was that the beer was free for the band! Every bar should do this. It shows great respect to the musicians who usually don't get paid sqaut to play at their venues. I took full advantage of the free beer and was pretty plowed by the time I got back to my place.

We scored $100.00 for our efforts. A nice payday for us right now! I hope we have gotten our foot in the door for The Cue and I hope we can set up another show soon!

Next up: Saturday May 7th at The Green Room!!!!!!

[AC]

The Green Room
Saturday, May 7 2005

Dillweed
Foolhardy
The Gglitch

Our second Saturday show in a row! I can't remember the last time that has happened. This show was special in that my mother and aunt came up from Macomb for Mother's Day. My mother had never seen me live and she was quite excited. I had another aunt come up but she had a long night the previous evening and chose to sleep it off at my place.

This was the first show that we used the new van. The Dillweed Express was procured last week. A 93 Dodge Grand Caravan. Look for it ro roll though your town very soon! So far so good with the van. No problems to report.

We went out to Solon as is our normal custom. We went through most of our set. We then packed up and headed for the Green Room. We got there at 8:30. We were the opening band so we set up and got a decent sound check in. I was very happy to see that Joe was running sound for the evening. We had thought that he was playing at Gabes that night. Joe is probably the best sound guy in town. He has complete control of his room. IMO you should be able to articulate everything that the band is doing on stage. You should also be able to carry a conversation towards the back of the club without the music getting in the way. Joe is a master at allowing the room to accomodate both of these things.

There was some drama early on as I was a tad late getting to the venue. After our sound check it was 9:00. I took off so I could change for the show. Mike also wanted me to pick up an instant camera as the one he bought had no flash. I get to my place and in the process of changing, I got a call from Mike saying I had 20 minutes. That gave me plenty of time. Well my mom and aunt decided that they didn't quite have the directions down. So I told them they could just follow me. Ten minutes later we were finally on our way. I then got another call from Mike while I was at Kum and Go getting his camera. He was like "They want us to go on now" Then get a call from Ste asking me where I was..I went off on Ste and for that I apologize. She didn't deserve that. Anyway, I got another call from Justin saying that they were on stage. I was just downstairs at that point. A hug from Ste and a grab of the ass for good luck and I got on stage and we played. We ended up playing the entire set. I say entire set cause I didn't really want to play Breed anyway. We only play it out of convenience to fill up time. We could do much better covers if we only allow ourselves.

Anyway, I remember the set being quite loose. We were not as tight as we were at The Cue but it was good overall. We continue to get a good response from 3 Crosses. Untitled #42 and Punk got good responses as well. Dan decided to do an intro of the band. I have a hat now that I can use for my awkward gesture in this situation now. I never really know what to do with that. The set went well. We all made a few mistakes but overall it was good. The ending to Soul Sucking turned out well. I'm happy we got that down. We can do that ending to almost any song so that's good too.

Foolhardy was next. They were a European emo band. They were good at what they did. I just didn't like what they did. There should be a one to two word expression for that. If you are like me, this happens a lot with bands. Bands are not created equal. And they are certainly not all great. If they were, then there would be no great! Hmm..Someone come up with a term and post it! I'll send a free sticker to the winner!

The Gglitch closed the night. And rightfully so! They were very good. A jam band that were actually very tight. It was about this time that I proceeded to get very drunk. There was a pretty amusing exchange at the bar where a group of people were having their picture taken. I got in the back of the group and became that guy in the picture where you are like "Who the hell was that?" I caught eyes with one of the girls in the pic and was like "Hey I just became that guy where you are like who the hell was that? So I offered my hand and said "I'm Adam just so you have a name to go with the nutty face!" She laughed and we were having a good conversation until her boyfriend showed up. He didn't think the situation was as amusing as we did. Oh well..What can you do?

My mom and aunt were also very drunk. I remember dancing with my aunt and I accidentially elbowed her in the eye! She didn't think anything of it. Until the next morning when we noticed that she had a huge shiner on her left eye! Looked like someone punched her a good one. I concocted a good story for her to tell her son and co-workers. Something about a bar brawl broke out or something. I don't remember.

Several people showed up for the show which is always good. Craig made it to this one which was a welcome sight. Hadn't seen that mug for awhile and this was the first time he had seen us. He seemed to dig it which was very cool. We have to get to Des Moines soon and check his band out. Better yet, we need to get a show together very soon!

Ste came down from Chicago! I was very excited to see her. I'm sorry we were not able to chat as much as I would have liked. I will need to head up to Chicago soon and see how she's livin with her new day gig.

Chelsea was there too. Her desire to see all of our shows is awesome! Every band needs fans like Chels. She enjoyed my family as well. My family is very likable when they are drinking..

All in all a good show. I'm not sure what the door ended up being. I lost track of Dan for most of the evening. I'm hoping it was good cause we had a lot of people there and the turn out was very good in general..Next up is The Reverb on May 25th..

[AC]

The Reverb
Wednesday May 25, 2005

Dillweed
Synergy 62? I don't remember the rest of the names

Our first of hopefully many shows at The Reverb. Also our first show outside of Iowa City. Finally, this show marked the first use of our new van, The Weedwagon! (Name subject to change)

We were not able to practice very much leading up to this show. I'm actually glad we couldn't. We should have these songs ingrained in our memory by now. We should be able to play them whenever we choose and know them by heart. Anyway, the songs came back to us very quickly in the couple days leading up to the show.

We packed up and took off from IOC @ 6:30. The trip was probably the perfect distance for The Weedwagon's maiden voyage. Maybe about 2 hours all told. It was pretty easy to find as well which is always welcome.

The Reverb is in Cedar Falls, nestled in with a newly remodeled stretch of specialty shops and resturants. It is on the second floor. UGH!!!!! More stairs!!!! At least these stairs were inside. And they were constructed much better than Gabes. There was no back entrance which was a tad odd. Come to think of it, I don't recall even seeing a back emergency exit. Thank goodness we left the pyrotechnics at home! We would want to pull a Great White in Cedar Falls!

Walking into the place, one could tell it had been there for a number of years. It had a Gabes sort of feeling but you could tell that the people running the place cared more about it's appearance. The bathrooms didn't smell like dead rats, the stage was clean, and there was actual bar furniture instead of the lawn variety found at Gabes. It felt immediately comfortable. There was a Ms Pac Man machine in the place! It automatically had my vote after seeing that! There were several oddities abound in the place. I remember seeing a toilet on the roof covering the actual bar. It shared the roof with some dilapitated instuments. Drums, guitars, amps and such. Not sure if there was some sort of joke they had going with the toliet and instuments being on the same roof. They also had a cooler full of water with plastic cups at the ready. Anyone could go up and help themselves to free water. I wish every bar would do this! It just makes so much sense.

So we set up for a sound check which takes up like 5 minutes. We are a very minimulist (sp?) band which is so cool! Who wants to be in a band that takes an hour just hauling in gear? Ugh! Not for me mang! So we set up and the closing band wants to set up their lighting trusses and such. We had no problem with that since it was still early. They spent over an hour setting up all their stuff. We were excited to see all the work they were putting into it and was hopeful that it would be awesome.

We played our set without incident. We did well on most of the material save for Placeholder. We just butchered that one! We were almost laughing at ourselves toward the end of that one we did it so badly. Oh well.

I noticed again that the ladies seemed to be getting into the tunes more than the guys. This is some weird phenominon that I haven't quite put my finger on yet. I'm certainly not complaining! If I had to choose between the genders liking our stuff more than the other I'll take the ladies every time!

Chelsea is quickly becoming a Superfan! She made the drive from CR asnd brought a friend with her! Thanks Chels! You ROCK!!

After the set we decided to load up immediately. We lost Mike in that process though. He had some friends with him as well. That was cool though. He drove all the way up plus he unloaded ALL of the gear from the van to the sidewalk when we first arrived. Chels helped with the gear though! We may have a roadie folks!

We got all the gear packed up and decided to meander about for awhile. I tracked down Mike and his friends and they annointed my head. Annointed with a capitol A! We went back into The Reverb to check out the other bands and as soon as we get up there, Mike is doing what Mike does. He's hugged up next to a fine looking lady who I thought was seriously digging our stuff earlier. Her friend was there as well. Betsy I think was her name. Anyway, we sit down. I've had a few beers by then and I was feeling quite loose. This was good cause Dan hands me the e-mail list asking me if I was going to try to get some e-mails for our mailing list. The skill of going up to random people asking for info is not one that everyone in the band has. I'm not sure that anyone in the band has this skill. It can be quite intimidating. However, in the condition I was in at that point, intimidation was being laughed at. So I got the e-mails for the two girls Mike was with. I think I got a few more too. Details are a little foggy from here on out!

I got Betsy's e-mail and I think I asked her about something. Well she was lit up as well and her voice was like a megaphone in my ear. Plus it had that pitch to it that just sets off your sciatic nerve! Anyone know what I'm talking about? Ever talk to a girl and her voice is just not something you can listen to for any amount of time? Even if the girl is the coolest person in the world?

Anyway, Justin, Dan and I thought food would be a good idea. Betsy caught wind of this and went apeshit! Yelling at us about all the great places we could go. She was dead set on us going to Jimmy Johns I think. So we get the directions as best as we could from her and set off for food. Mike stayed behind with the ladies. One of them grabbed my hat and put it on. She looked absolutely gorgeous! I do remember that! I let her wear it until I got back from the resturant. I should get some more hats wholesale for situation like that. That was I could just let her keep it. It looked soooo damn good on her!

So we leave for food. Chelsea and her friend decide to drive us. Sweet! We found Jimmy Johns alas! It was closed. So we settled on Happy Chef. I have not had good experiences at Happy Chefs. This was an exception though. Food was great. Conversation was great. Sweet!

Mike called me during the meal asking me to grab some condoms for him. Seems his evening was taking on a decidedly better slant than the rest of us! So I grabbed some for him and we headed back.

We made it back for the headliner. The band who had spent all that time seeting up their lighting was playing. That was some comedy! They had everything blacklit. The singer's hair was some sort of electic wig. They were playing some pretty bad rave type shit. Not anything like I was hoping for. Just as soon as I had told Dan that every song they played sounded alike, they went into another song that was EXACTLY like the previous song! Pretty funny. We shared a hearty laugh..

I asked about the door money and was told that we would have to wait until everyone was gone for the night. Great. So we had to sit there for like 90 minutes waiting for everyone to leave. While waiting, Mike and I grabbed a beer. When we got back to the table, the two girls Mike was talking to went from just drunk to drunk and decidedly ignorant. They were throwing ashtrays and cigarette butts at people. Throwing ice at us and such. Dancing like peyote tripping buffoons. They did a complete 180! I'm sure Mike was glad we didn't take off without him! CRAZY!

We finally get our cash. $35 for the evening. At least The Reverb promises gas money. They have this long crazy ass way of paying the bands that they have listed out on their website. They must have had a lot of arguements in the past or something with bands.

Anyway, we get our cash and head to the van. Mike comes up missing again! We wait for like 20 minutes and he finally makes it back to the van. Seems he was looking for a place to piss but couldn't find anywhere to do it. That's his story anyway. Justin is nice enough to drive home being as Mike and I are in no shape to do so. I'm sure the driving duties will be equally shared as we get into using the Weedwagon. Hmm..not sure about that name...Maybe a contest should be organized to rename our van! Details to come!

Next show: TBA (I hate TBA!!!)

[AC]

Gabe's Oasis
Wednesday, March 29th, 2006

Opening night of Mission Creek Festival Midwest

Iowa City's intro to The Outros!

It's been another long strange trip to get back to playing live. Since Novemeber, we have been working on a full-length album with Engineer Chris Gram. The songs have been mostly inspired by the 70's cult classic TV show What's Happening. We had the idea that all of us would wear red berets and suspenders in homage to Rerun from the TV show but that plan did not pan out.

This was the first early show that I've ever played at Gabes. After playing it I now believe all shows should be early shows with the exception of weekends or signed acts. It's a much easier sell to our fans to get them to come out and be able to be home at a decent hour on the weekdays. Hopefully we will be able to book additional early shows as it surely the way to go.

We have a new line-up since I posted last. We now have Jeremy Kinn back in the fold on guitar and vocals and a new addition of Matt Lynch on bass. JustinDenman was to play the show as well but he fell ill and could not make it. I have nothing but good thoughts for him as he makes it through to recovery.

When we recorded the album, Matt played some very interesting keyboard and horn parts that we could not reproduce live. Maybe once he grows those 4 additional arms we can play a full representation of the recorded songs. As it was, we did the best with what we had.

I have a suspicion that as I read through these posts I will notice that the Gabes shows will not be as glowing as the others. Any number of reasons could be used for this. As much of an institution that Gabes has become, I think it's time they put that old bird to rest. They have gotten so misguided as to why they are in business. So many asshole musicians play through there that they are blinded and deaf when someone is actually courteous to them. Maybe it has to do with the type of bands they always seem to have in there. It's always some sort of hardcore thing. Maybe I should start a venue.....

Anyway, the set went ok. We definitely have a few things we can build on. We had it video taped and the tale of the tape was not kind at times. Most of the time that we were rehearsing for this show, our guitarists used acoustics. Then the day before we used electrics and then used electrics for the show. This was because we knew Gabes would not be accommodating to the use of acoustics. I definitely think that for some of these songs, using the acoustics brings out the best representation of the songs. I have worries that we will not be able to fully represent the recordings of the songs. With the keyboards and percussion and other overdubs, we would need 2 to 3 extra musicians to pull it off and that would be impossible to keep together. Oh well. It will be fine however we play them I suppose.

With three songs to go in our set, the sound guy told us we had time for one more. This was annoying since the opening band was allowed to play for almost an hour with their last song taking 11 minutes. They were not that great either. Unless you are into art-noise, which I am not and by the look of our fans, they were not either. I saw one girl with her fingers in her ears the entire time they were on stage. Funny stuff!

Anyway, we got them to allow for two more songs so we did In Our Hood and the soon to be mentioned Off To The Land. The Dirge (our drinking song) was left out of the set. Later on Dan would tell me of a conversation he and the sound guy had whereas Dan was told some bullshit excuses for why our set was cut short. Seems there was some miscommunication on what slot we would have. They thought we were playing first when we already had it approved to play second. I wish I would have been there for that conversation as I would have set things straight most unarbitrarily.

Dan's daughter Anna sang on a tune with us. We did Off To The Land. This is a Special People tune that we worked up and played. It went well although I messed up the beginning. The sound on stage was pitiful. I'm surprised Anna sang it as well as she did considering she probably could not hear herself. It went over well with the crowd though which was good.

This was an early show which meant we were done by 8:00. That was very odd but also very nice! Early shows are the way to go! After playing Dan, Kellee and I went to Village Inn for some grub and after loading the gear back in Dan's garage, we headed over to Matt's place to hang and check out how the video turned out. There might be something salvageable to use as a stream for the site...

All in all I think this was a successful first showing for this lineup. We can only grow as a band as we play the songs more to see what works and what doesn't. I don't think Gabes is really the best place for a band like us. A show at the Mill is in the works and I think this will show just what we are about musically.

Next show: Dillweed playing as Dadam in Oskaloosa, IA Sat 4/1/06

[AC]

Midnite Drip, Oskaloosa, IA
Saturday April 1, 2006

Dillweed aka Dadam
Sweethearts of the Rodeo
she swings, she sways

A coffeehouse gig! This show was Dan and I flying duo as no one else could make it. Neither of us knew quite what to expect for this show. I had been to Oskaloosa years ago but Dan had never been. I knew there was a college there, William Penn University so at least it had that going for it. Other than that, I knew nothing about the town.

We had a fine drive to Oskaloosa. One piece of news to note. We stopped at a gas station and I was charged $1.42 for a 20 oz bottle of Squirt! Most I've ever paid for that! We arrived at the venue at about 6:00. We walked in to find the lady we hooked the show up with sitting alone with her laptop. Her name was Jenn and she apparently ran the joint by herself which was impressive. It looked like she had done quite a lot of work getting the place operational. It had a very comfy vibe to it. Everything you would want in a coffeehouse. We were to play the backroom of the place but The Man came in disguised as Fire Inspectors and shut it down until they can get it up to code. It looks like they will have a nice room once it's completed.

Until then, they have the bands play in the front side of the store. This suited us fine. We aren't exactly up to diva status yet. We had a bit of time before we were to set up so we went on a sight-seeing trip of scenic Oskaloosa. Two minutes later, the sight-seeing trip was completed. Not a whole lot to the town of Oskaloosa. We decided to grab a bite to eat at a Chinese joint close to the venue. After filling our mouths with Wang's we headed back to the venue and waited to set up.

Since it was just the two of us, we decided to try playing some older tunes that we had written years ago as well as some Dillweed album tunes and a couple of the Outros tunes. We had about 14 worked up as well as a cover of Push tha Little Daisies by Ween. We were a tad apprehensive about that one since we only learned it a few days prior to the show. Dan played harp on a couple tunes. Poison Eye and Palm of Your Hand. I've always enjoyed playing both of those and I was glad they made it into this set. I was later told that the harp made the tunes really stand out. I'm surprised that the harp made no appearance on the upcoming Outros album. Chris! Some more overdubs please! And we will need those doubled!..

We played the songs amazingly well considering it was just the two of us. We were well received. I would put the turn out at 65 people or so. They filled the room quite nicely. I recall an older gentleman, perhaps in his upper 60's mimicking my drum parts to our tunes. Quite comical. He would go on to dance the night away with the other two bands. Very cool! Dan says he wants to hire the guy to go on the road with us.

After us was The Sweethearts of the Rodeo. They were a four-piece band out of Ottumwa. They had an interesting sound. One guy played a nice Gretch hollow-body through a Marshall stack while the other guitarist played what looked to be a Hamer though a Crate solid state amp. That made for an odd type of tone. I didn't know one could get tone from a Crate?

They had a very solid, very attractive female bass player. It sucks that this is noteworthy but the fact of the matter is that there are far less females playing around here than men. C'mon ladies!! Get out there and start picking up some instruments! There is nothing more mesmerizing than watching female musicians plying their craft.

I enjoyed their tunes a great deal and look forward to playing some dates in the future. I believe we may try to get an Iowa City show worked out as soon as we are finished with the OUtros album. Whenever that may be..

she swings, she sways played last. They had a truly original sound. Not one that is always my cup of tea but original none the less. They had a guy playing upright bass and another that played violin. Their drummer played the smallest set up I've ever seen. They had just gotten back from a Midwest tour that took them as far as Detroit and this was their homecoming gig.

I really enjoyed the vibe of the people who came to the show. There was no alcohol served and yet they were still dancing around and yelling out lyrics. It has been a long time since I was at a show like this where the music took first priority. Iowa City could use a heaping dose of this vibe. Seems people have too much to do around here to care about nurturing the local talent they have here.

All in all, this was a great show. They were nice enough to give us the door money which came out to $37.00 We only requested gas money but getting the entire door was certainly a nice gesture. We were honored with being able to add our names to the Midnite Drip Door of Fame which we did with pride. Jenn has a very good thing going there in Oskaloosa. The music world needs as many people like her as we can get! I hope she continues with it and that we get the opportunity to play there again with our full band.

Next up..Mothers Day @vaudeville Mews in Des Moines

[AC]

The Barracks, Ottumwa, IA
Friday May 5th, 2006

The Jo-Bous (aka Dillweed)
Final Escape (?)
The Sweethearts Of The Rodeo

This show kinda sprung up on us. After talking to Matt and Jeremy, they decided not to be a part of it. So Dan and I took the reins again with our two-piece set. We felt some good vibes the last time we played in Oskaloosa so we were looking forward to playing this show.

The venue ended up being an old Navy admin office that a lady by the name of Mika bought up and made it into her living quarters. It appears she has a way to go with it but it looks like it should be an interesting set up. She has one large room that she plans to have bands play in once a month. Once it gets warmer, she plans to have outside festivals. The place was set up in the perfect place for something like that. We had a hard time finding it at first. We couldn't find the state highway markers that we needed. We kinda just found ourselves to it somehow.

We were hoping for some gas money at least but then saw that they were not charging anyone to be there. So we gave up on that idea. No worries. More on that later..

We were to open the show. We set up and started playing before realizing that again we forgot to set up the video camera!! The documentation of our music lives is quickly becoming nothing more than embellished tales of fading memories.

Being as it was Cinco De Mayo, we thought it appropriate to include a cover of Buenos Tardes Amigo by Ween to our set. It kinda bombed. I kept having people tell me it sounded great..from outside..

There were a couple tunes that some of the people remembered from our Oskaloosa show. Many of the same people were in attendance. Criminal has quickly become the set favorite. Who knew that when you include the term "donkey punch" in a song and include a kazoo solo that it becomes an instant classic?

I have found a renewed love for a couple of the tunes we do. Both Poison Eye and Palm of Your Hand are both tunes that I would like to record properly sometime soon. Dan playing harp really helps our sound as well as the strength it adds to the songs he uses it on.

Anywho, the set went off well. The Sweethearts played last and we really dig that band so we stuck around for the middle band. I talked to their bass player a bit. He seems like he's good people. Their band was good but predictable. It is real hard to be truly original with the genre they were sticking to. Every so often Dan and I would catch on to a power groove thing they had going on and then they would change into something else too soon. It was frustrating.

The last band was the highlight of the night. The Sweethearts of the Rodeo are quickly becoming my favorite Iowa band. They have a sort of dirty pop sound that sticks with you quite well. Their bass player looks like she has McDonalds french fries for fingers but man is she dexterous! I shudder to think how good she will be once she has 10+ years under her belt like we do.

We packed up our gear and received our payment. $10 and a bag of cookies. Ha Ha!! This night was not about anyone making any money. It was about the music. This communal feeling is odd to me being as there is so much apathy in IOC.

I look forward to the next time we are able to play in this area.

Next show: The Mill May 8th

[AC]

The Mill Monday May 8th, 2006

Open Mic with numerous others.

Tonight was a special night. This was the first time I had ever played The Mill. We got put on the Monday nite Open Mic and we got the opening slot. This worked out well since we were able to set up our gear before hand.

We got together and practiced the 6 songs we were to do before heading over. We played them well so we had some confidence going in that we would have a good night. I had bought brushes for this show and used them throughout the evening.

Once again, we were thwarted with the use of our video camera. I'm beginning to think the only way we can get ourselves recorded is if we play some dive that won't be conducive to the songs. This would have been a wonderful recording had we been able to do so. I so wish we had an all-purpose guy with us. We would have some great video at least.

The Mill was a perfect place for the true interpretation of these songs. Add to that an almost flawless performance and you have magic on your hands. I wish we could have played all night. Jay (who runs Open Mic) made an analog tape recording from the board but I have not heard it yet. Analog tape.....I think the only tape that is going to survive in the next ten years is that of the duct variety..

There were more people there than I ever remember seeing on an open mic night. On my own accord I was able to get a bevy of fine ladies to check us out. Thanks ladies and a special thanks go to The Sisters Donohoe. I promise to not look so serious when I play and next time I'll get a song dedication to you I promise! If there is such a thing as a belated dedication then I will dedicate The Dirge to The Sisters Donohoe...Lift em up and drink em down ladies!

My next goal is to be able to play sets with using both sticks and brushes. This probably has a better chance of happening with The Jo-Bous than with The Outros. I'll take it anyway I can get it I suppose....with music anyway..

All in all, this was a wonderful night. Nights like this make me glad Dan lit that fire under my ass to start playing drums....Thanks Dan!

No payment on Open Mic nights.

Next show: Mother's Day May 14th Vaudeville Mews, Des Moines, IA

[AC]

Sunday May 14th, 2006
Vaudeville Mews, Des Moines, IA

The Outros
The Horseshoe Spatulas
Telomere Repair
Seas of Miranda

The Outros on Mother's Day! What could be more special than that?!

We were very uncertain as to what lineup would be used for this show. Jeremy had decided not to play this show. We got Matt on board but had little time to practice some additional tunes we planned on doing if we were to play as a two-piece. At the very last second, J decided to play the show. So it went from The Joe-Boose to a full on Outros show.

We got to Des Moines @ 7 or so and found that the venue had not opened yet. The traveling band Telomere Repair was milling around so we chatted with them. Very good people. They were touring all over the country in a Tacoma pick-up with a super cab. That is hardcore!! Very admirable. They recounted on how they had a horrible time the night before in Minneapolis. I was hoping this evening would restore their faith and heal their wounds. I believe it did.

We walked around looking for a place to grab some grub and came upon a place called The Spaghetti House. What a joke that place was! They had a belt wrapped around all the ceiling fans and had it attached to a small motor to make the fans turn (we maybe though it was some dude in the back on a hamster wheel making them turn. We think it was reserved for those that could not pay their bill) A hearty laugh was shared by our table from some jack-ass complaining about not getting his garlic bread. We believe he got a good helping of "garlic salt" on his bread because of it.

We ate our food and took off back to the venue. Immediately the food starting turning my stomach. Luckily it would not affect my playing. Playing drums on a sour stomach sucks balls.

Vaudeville Mews was a fantastic venue! They had a nice balcony and a nice stage. The house lighting and sound was top notch. Booze was half price for bands (YES!!) We were to open so we set up and waited to go on. Craig showed up around this time. He had perfect timing as we started as soon as he sauntered up to the stage.

The set went well. J was using Dan's old amp and it quickly became a sound bandit. That amp needs taken out to pasture. It was a tank during it's heyday. How could it not being Dan's amp back in those days? Anyway, we actually played a one song encore. We decided on Criminal. It went over very well. That and Jackie Johnson seemed to be the highlights of the evening.

We tore down and quickly packed our shit up. They had $1 cans of PBR which I took full advantage of. Craig and I were able to catch up on things which was very cool. Good luck with your upcoming plans my friend! These are exciting times!

We originally planned on just catching a couple songs of the next band before heading home as we all had to work early the next day. Save for Dan who has an endless supply of sick days.

The next band was The Horseshoe Spatulas. Craig was very big on these guys claiming they were the best local band in Des Moines. He was right to be a fan of them. They were great. We ended up staying through their entire set. At this point we were all feeling good on whatever trip we were on. We got our heads anointed and stuck around for the next band Telomere Repair.

That band was great! They reminded me of a heavy Radiohead. I'm not into Radiohead at all but these guys were awesome! I ended up buying a cd from them. It's rare that I do this. I wish them luck on their travels to Denver. They deserve that home-cooked meal they have waiting for them there.

The next band was Seas of Miranda. We were pretty toasted by the time they came on. I don't remember a whole lot about them. Dan ended up driving home. He can't drink so it worked out well. We ended up getting lost on the way back. Des Moines has the worst highway sign set up that I've ever seen! I asked for directions at some gas store. Here is how it went..

Me: How would we find Hwy 235 from here?
Gas Store Attendant: Well that depends?
Me: Ok..we need 235 West.
GTA: Well that still depends.
Me: We are going to Iowa City.
GTA: Well that still depends.

WTF!!! Does this depends on the trade winds? The type of car we are driving? How much food we buy? WHAT!!

We finally get the directions which end up being a right turn and a left turn and got back on track.

I ended up passing out on the way home. Which was good since I had to work at 8 am. I got home and showered and was in bed at 3:30 am. Yesterday was a long day. You got to want it baby!

All in all a good show. We got $15.00 for our troubles. Not enough for gas but what can you do?

[AC]

Tonight With Bradman
June 22, 2006

This had been in the works for awhile but Bradman never would send us a confirmation. He finally did call on Wednesday before the show. We got together on Thursday before the show to polish off a couple tunes. Jackie Johnson and What's Happening In Tha Hood.

Feeling as prepared as we could, we headed over to the Public Access building where the Bradman show is filmed live. We set up our gear and waited in the wings while Bradman did his thing.

Witnessing the way the show worked and such was pretty cool. It was organized chaos really with everyone clamoring around trying to get everything set up correctly and then it all falling into place right before he went on. Very cool!

We played Jackie Johnson first. It went pretty well. I used brushes and left the muffle on the bass drum. It worked out nicely that way. After that song was over we had a short interview that lasted about 5 minutes and then we played What's Happening. It went pretty well..as well..

Anyway, we stuck around for the rest of the show and nothing else noteworthy happened. After the show we convened to the parking lot where we made our farewells to Matt. Matt was leaving for Portland, OR that following Sunday. We will miss Matt and we wish him well in his new digs.

Being as Matt was an integral part to the Outros/Dillweed lineup, the future looks uncertain. We will be trying to find a bass player and I hope we find one with staying power. It's getting old getting something together only to have it fall apart. Granted the new beginning is exciting, but the process is wearing thin. We are not getting any younger! It would be nice to get some folks who will stick around for the long haul who has the same goals as we do.

In the meantime, we will focus on getting the Outros album done. It is right on the cusp of having the mixes finalized. Next will come mastering, then product, then shopping it to labels..Then WORLD DOMINATION!!!!!!!! Outros style! Pizsow!!!