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<\/a><\/p>\nNorth American Tour Journal<\/p>\n
Day 12 \/\u00a0November 21, 2011<\/p>\n
Rochester, NY<\/p>\n
We wound up leaving Chicago around 5:00 am for Rochester.\u00a0 My parents met in Rochester, which eventually led to my place in the universe.\u00a0 I really wanted to take in some sights and visit some places in Rochester I hadn\u2019t seen in many years, but it was not to be.\u00a0 We arrived an hour late for load in at The Water Street Music Hall and had to rush through sound check once again.\u00a0 The taste of the deli at Wegman\u2019s Grocery and the smooth custard at Abbott\u2019s would have to wait till my next visit.\u00a0 I always seem to associate cities with the food they have to offer, so I turn into Pavlov\u2019s dog on the way into them.It is still hard to sleep while the bus is in motion.\u00a0 John, however, is sleeping like a baby, which is pissing me off.\u00a0 I have no idea how he can stay asleep while this death tube is bouncing to and fro.\u00a0 All of us, however, are still getting our sea legs.\u00a0 After a stop and exiting the tour bus, we find the ground still moves for some time.\u00a0 If you get motion sick, do not get on a tour bus.\u00a0 It will not be pretty.<\/p>\n
The drive to Rochester was long and we lost another hour heading east with the time change.\u00a0 We arrived at nightfall to clear but cold weather and got set up as quickly as possible.\u00a0 A representative and director of marketing for Whirlwind USA dropped by to let us sample some great music gear and dropped off presents for the band, which was nice.\u00a0 They make great music pedals, cables and gear and Will, the rep of Whirlwind, is a huge Chameleons U.K. fan.<\/p>\n
The sound engineer for the club, Roman, when asked how long he had worked for the venue, informed us he had come with the bricks.\u00a0 He was a stocky, abrupt character who cracked one-liners, but knew what he was doing and got things done very quickly.\u00a0 I tipped him, thanked him for giving a shit and told him about our last experience with our sound engineer.<\/p>\n
The promoters for the show went above and beyond and made collectable pins for the first 100 people in the door, which was a nice touch.\u00a0 For a Monday night gig, they also did a decent job of getting some people there.\u00a0 The fans were very sweet and I again fully enjoyed meeting them in person.\u00a0 An old high school acquaintance, Rosemary, surprised me and brought a friend of hers to our show along with a package of New Mexico Red Chile for the bus freezer.\u00a0 Very cool and much appreciated, especially since I couldn\u2019t venture out to food spots in Rochester.\u00a0 I was disappointed, however, my only remaining family in Rochester did not make it out to see me.\u00a0 I wanted to show my cousin, Dickie, how well I had taken care of the leather biker jacket he bought me for Christmas when I was a teen.\u00a0 Oh, well.<\/p>\n
Phone and web service has been in and out the whole trip, which I hadn\u2019t planned on.\u00a0 If we aren\u2019t in a major city,\u00a0 it doesn\u2019t work, so Netflix and HBOgo have not been used at all\u00a0 By the time we are in the city, we are working hard.\u00a0 Consequently, I have been either staring out the window at trees and hills or typing this blog for you all.\u00a0 If I had HBO and movies to watch, I\u2019m not entirely sure this blog would exist.<\/p>\n
Next stop, Boston. It is Cambridge, actually.\u00a0 See you there. J<\/p>\n
J<\/p>\n
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