monday, february 11

while we were driving around the previous night, jason had spotted a bob’s big boy in town, and was excited about having breakfast there. i had only ever been to a big boy once in my life. it was pretty much the big, greasy gross/delicious breakfast i was expecting. then we went across the way to target to stock up on a few essentials like star wars figures and tights and candy.

we decided to have david bowie tuesday for the drive to toledo. it was not too long of a ride, and once again it was snowing on-and-off. we got to town mid-afternoon and were gonna do something cultured like going to the art museum, but then realized that a) it was monday and museums tend to be closed on mondays and b) our hotel had a pool and hot tub, which seemed infinitely more inviting anyway. plus i at least was pretty sore and achey from that special combination of rokking out/lugging gear/sitting in the car for hours.

anyway, the hot tub was MAGICAL and the pool was ridiculously warm and wonderful as well. it made us pretty happy. i must admit i had momentary regrets on the drive to our hotel, when we passed a days inn that was mint green and shaped like a cupcake (for real), but i think ultimately i had made the right hotel decision.

anyway, it was time to get to the club for soundcheck, and we got there and nobody was there and the neighborhood was pretty sketchy, and we drove around aimlessly for a bit, and there was this huge creepy fire coming out of a distant smokestack that looked like something out of a bad sci-fi movie, with lots of menacing smoke. back at the club, there was still nobody there to let us in, and we were feeling pretty “eh” and wanting to go back to the hotel pool. but, once the folks showed up and let us in, i’ve gotta say i was pleasantly surprised by the club’s interior. it was actually pretty decent, and our soundcheck was painless. we got some takeout pizza and hung out until things got underway. the opening band, sinker, were great and turned out to be cool folks too. also, i was pleasantly surprised that a very decent-sized crowd had turned up. you never really know what you’re gonna get on a monday night in toledo, i suppose.

so yeah, boy in static played and then we played, and it was fun, and the sound was good, and the crowd were into it, and so overall i’ve gotta say this show went a lot better than we were fearing. afterwards, we hung out for a long while, even after most of the folks had left, until it was pretty much just us and the bar staff and the other band and their friends. the bartender had this crazy trick where he dipped his fingers in 151 and had me light his fingers on fire and then blew a big fireball. i’d never lit anybody’s fingers on fire before. it was a little scary, but his trick was pretty impressive. kenji captured some of the antics on video if you wanna check it out.

after we packed up, we were convinced to join one of the guys from sinker and some friends of his for a late-nite meal at big boy, which we of course knew was not the best idea, but after starting out the day at a big boy, it at least seemed like a funny idea. while on the way there, we passed the convention center, which was advertising someone named “michael diamonds” and immediately we knew that HAD to be kenji’s freezepop name (earlier in the day we had renamed him from “a. nonymous” to “...and the holograms”, so i guess he’s following in the duke’s tradition of changing his name 3 times).

we finally made it to the big boy, and it was a fun crew, although i can definitely say, you really just wanna stick to breakfast there, sean and i got a bunch of side dishes and they were all fairly gross. we finally headed back to the hotel around 3:30, and it had started snowing again. we were all pretty exhausted, especially crème brulée, who literally fell asleep in the backseat in under 2 minutes.

Seany D, crème brulée, michael diamonds, me, and jason. in the big boy lobby. feeling the love. literally.