seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Yemen
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from Türkiye
seen from Netherlands
seen from United States
seen from Finland
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United States
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from Spain
seen from India
seen from Maldives
seen from United Kingdom
Virginia's
My wife and I stopped into Virginia’s during their weekend happy hour to try the famous burger. I have to say, it was pretty good. They cooked it to a nice medium / medium rare. For $30 it came with fries and a glass or wine or beer. The fries were super crispy and well seasoned. The shrimp cocktail was juicy and flavorful. And the drinks were pretty good prices as well. $10 wine, $5 pickle…
Other Life Choices . . .
Introduced this weekend to the Pickle Back. A shot of whisky, followed by a shot of pickle juice. The pickle juice is basically a liquid version of salt and lime after a tequila shot.
Jameson pickle backs <3
Tour Journal 1/31 -2/7/2017
Hey all, here is the tour journal from my last tour. Overall the tour was great, saw lot’s of old friends and met some new ones. Most people I met at the shows had a positive attitude, always a couple bad apples but no major rock star ego’s. Mainly groups of artists enthusiastic about playing and supporting DIY music!!
Tuesday January 31st / Driving day from Philadelphia, PA to Richmond, VA. I packed up and left for tour Tuesday evening. No shows that night, I had four shows in North Carolina starting the next day. Richmond was an easy half way point for the first drive. My long time friend and ex band-mate Lewis let me crash at his place. I got in around 10-10:30 pm. and we proceeded to drink beers and catch up through most of the night, although both of us were exhausted and cut ourselves off before heading into the wee hours.
Wednesday February 1st / Got up that morning and headed out to get coffee. Lewis was going to run errands and meet back up with me. It was only about 4 hours to Fayettville, NC were my first show was, and I didn’t need to be there until 7-8pm, so I wasn’t in a hurry. I broke out my laptop in the cafe to catch up with emails. To my dismay I got the early morning notification from the club, The Rock Shop, that the show had been cancelled. The message was sent to my Facebook “Band Page” and stated “ What's up man? Are you good for playing Art Attack next week on the 8th. We have to close this week. Thanks”. For those of you who don’t know, this is not how tours work. I had booked this tour months in advance, and had this show booked back in November. I knew that having all my dates booked solid was too good to be true. My first reply back to the club was, “ No, I'm on tour right now, I will not be anywhere close to Fayettville, NC on the 8th....I've been sending messages the last two weeks to get details, why am I only getting a message now?” I didn’t receive a reply to this message. When Lew met back up with me at the coffee shop I told him what happened. He said, “Well I guess that means you don’t have to play tonight”. But no, I had to look for another show, I take this time off to play music. Granted a day lounging with my friends around Richmond sounds great, but there would be no way to ease my frustration than to search, and hopefully find another show. I started researching online, first Richmond to see if there was anything I could likely hop on, but no luck. I checked out surrounding areas, then in North Carolina. It looked like there could be something I could squeeze on in Carborro, NC, possibly Chapel Hill. I sent out some messages, we grabbed lunch and then I headed down to North Carolina. First place I stopped was Carborro, NC, which for a small town it was extremely difficult to park on a Wednesday evening. The venue 2nd Wind had a music showcase, but when I talked to the bartender it seemed like chances were slim and that the night was booked solid. I went back to my car to regroup, I found a pop punk show in Chapel Hill. I sped over there, basically the same town, and stopped at what I think was club 506. I told the door guy my situation, and he was very sympathetic, having played music and been in the same situation before. But the event was handled all by an outside promoter, and they had no pull. I bounced around town for another hour or so and ended up a couple blocks down the street at The Cave. I had heard about the Cave for years, and by the sight of the place, (dark dank punk rock dive) I thought my odds might be pretty good. The bartender, who was a young punk kid, was super helpful with suggestions, but told me there was nothing he could do, if he had the authority to throw me on the show he would. He was in charge of door and sound, no promoter in house, basically told me I was SOL. I left and tried his suggestions, but nobody had any openings. I returned to the Cave, basically having no where to else to go, hoping that maybe the situation in the Cave had somehow changed. Same result, although he gave me some more ideas. I had found an open mic in Raleigh (45 min away) and he told me to try and hit up their sister bar Slim’s. So I was off again, making my way to Slim’s, as that sounded like the best option. I walked in the bar and struck up a conversation with the bartender.. I told him my situation, but there was nothing going on that night, but told me there was a show down the street at Kings. Immediately though a patron that was sitting beside me heard my story and offered me a beer. He said, “You lost your show, I know the road is tough, least I can do is buy you a beer”. So I prolonged my attempt at trying to hit up Kings down the street and enjoyed a beer with my new friend. After I took down the beer I walked a couple blocks to Kings, which for one had a $12 cover. I could also hear metal/hardcore bands playing in the distance, this was not a show I was going to be able to hop on. I raised the white flag, and retreated to Slim’s. I decided I would drink a couple more beers. Money was tight this trip, and not having a show on the first day with no opportunity to sell my stuff or get some tips was a back breaker. Granted I could have busked, I could have played my cards differently but this is what happened. I moved on to my next game, which is known as “find a couch or floor for the night”. I was in a bar with what seemed to be a friendly group, and I figured if I could start some conversation, make some friends that could offer me some hospitality. I made some idle conversation with some folks, for the most part people were friendly but I could quickly tell this was going nowhere. After beer number two I decided to find the nearest truck stop outside the city and set up there for the night. After arriving at the truck stop and “settling in”, I started feeling frustrated about day number one of tour. I decided to write the owner of the club one more time and make sure I let him know how much of an asshole he was. Usually I don’t resort to this, not the first time it has happened to me, but usually I end up finding something! Failing made me angry so I wrote,” Hey man, I have spent months organizing and putting this tour together. I spend hours everyday trying to piece this together, and have worked extra hours to finance this whole thing myself. To have a show cancelled the day of, without apology or any sense of regret is the shittiest thing you can do to a touring musician. I understand things happen, and that running a business, especially a bar/music venue is not easy and not always profitable. But to do this to me, without any time to throw something else together, and not even show sympathy is absolutely garbage. I discovered this message after driving hours towards Fayetville, exited to have the opportunity to play in front of some new people. At the very least I deserved an apology or a legit explanation.” Long story short he told me he had a death in the family and that’s why they closed, and then he somehow blamed me for cancelling the follow up gig. He did apologize, and I apologized for giving him shit and showed sympathy for his loss, but said if he had just told me in the first place I would have never reacted the way that I did.
Thursday February 2nd / After waking up at a Raleigh truck stop I made my way into the city. I had pretty much all day to kill and my next show was in Raleigh. I didn’t do much, except walk around a lot, finding cheap things to eat. Thought about busking, but didn’t want to move my car from the free parking spot that I had found, and didn’t want to lug my heavy guitar case across town to the prime busking spots (which it’s illegal to busk in Raleigh without a permit, not sure how strict the enforcement is). I was glad to see musicians at the venue early, ready to load in. I met Mikka and the Nevernauts, my internet friends of the past year, finally meeting up with them in person. The door guy for the venue was upbeat and positive, respectful to the bands, telling jokes and keeping things lively. All the bands were on time, and no bullshit when we talked about the lineup. Deep South the Bar was the name of the place, and I would definitely play there again. The bands had promoted the show, certainly wasn’t packed, but there were people there. In other words it blew the previous nights experience out of the water. Raw Dog played first, and then they all stuck around for the rest of the show, standing up front for all of the bands. I played second, a little rusty and out of sorts. I hadn’t played since Monday and it showed. Still felt great to play and I got my shit together by the end of the set. Born Again Heathens played next, awesome Celtic punk, bagpipes and all. Then Nevernauts headlined and those guys are awesome. We all took a group picture at the end of the night, it was a solid experience. I made some gas money, I had a couple opportunity's for places to stay from people I met at the show, but most likely would have been subjected to an all night party, and I wanted to be able to wake up and drive the next morning. So I headed back on the highway and hit the next rest stop on the way to Asheville and crashed there for the night.
Friday February 3rd / I woke up from a truck stop on route 40 just outside of Raleigh for the second night in a row. Got an early start so I could visit my cousins in Hickory, NC on the way. Left Hickory around 3-4 pm, arrived in Asheville and met up with my friends Tom and Lauren around 6 pm. Pretty much took it easy and relaxed until I headed to the Burger Bar a couple hours later. The Burger Bar is a super tight space, and by tight I mean comfortably cramped, especially when you have musicians setting up their gear next to the bar. The guys from Skunk Ruckus were extremely hospitable and offered any help I needed. Burger Bar is basically do your own show, no sound guy, basically set things up the way you want to. Lilli Jean opened up, she had a sax player for accompaniment and the drummer from Skunk Ruckus sat in on their set on a last minute offer. The whole set sounded surprisingly good, the drummer knew just what to do. He offered to do the same for my set, which I was honestly tempted but I decided to go ahead with my regular setup. It was a good set, and some folks in the audience tipped me in “burger shots”, which is a shot of bloody Mary mix, followed by a shot of whisky, followed by a pickle back. Skunk Ruckus, which I could only describe as a mix between mountain music and psychobilly, started playing and brought tons of energy to the small little Asheville Bar. There set was a lot of fun, old folks, hippies and punks were all dancing together. I had a $25 bar tab, and a friend who offered to drive me back to his house if I got too drunk. Either way I took full advantage of both offers and the remainder of my night was a bit hazy.
Saturday February 4th / As I said before the remainder of the night was hazy, but I had awoke to see that I was able to make it upstairs and take advantage of one of the beds that was offered to me (I wisely choose the bottom bunk). My friends made me breakfast, and we spent most the day watching Rocky III and trying to recover from what I had perceived as a mild hangover. Eventually Tom gave me a ride back to my car, at which point I started to realize, from the uneasiness in my stomach, that I was going to have more trouble functioning than I thought. Once I got to my car, I decided to get supplies for my drive to Wilmington; gas, coffee and snacks. I almost decided I needed a bloody mary, but thought better of it and got a V8 instead. Leaving the town of Asheville turned out to be a challenge, the driving was making me nauseous and I was trying to mentally overcome it. I made it back to route 40, slammed the rest of my V8 and pulled over at the next exit I could. My body was turning itself off, I just wanted to stay awake long enough to make it to the truck stop. I parked, turned off the car, reclined the drivers seat and took a much needed power nap. I woke up an hour later, feeling revived, thankfully without any vomiting. Now I could drive, and I made the 5 hour trek to Wilmington, NC. The show that night was at The Zoo, a house show venue. I had never played there but stayed at the house the last time I came through. My buddy Dirt from Poking Holes set up the show. Sidney Dively opened up, playing originals on guitar and Uke, reminding me at times of Mazzy Star and The Smiths. Poking Holes played next, old timey folk/punk. It was the first show as a two piece, adding a washboard player. I played next, this was probably my favorite show of the whole tour, not the biggest turnout but everyone at the show came for the show, not just to party! Rumble Tramp from Boone, NC closed the show out, really cool set, reminds me of bands like Rosa and other Planet X bands of the era.
Sunday February 5th / I got some much needed rest and headed out to Richmond, VA the next morning. I arrived around 3 pm and I met up with my friends at the GWAR bar around to corner from the show, which was at Condemned Island (house venue). My buddy Matt through this show together. After we originally agreed to set the show up earlier that month lot’s of road blocks arose, so we knew it was not going to be the most ideal situation. This was just one of those shows. It was on Super Bowl Sunday, and apparently you can’t compete with that. At one point I had asked,”Wasn’t Jim Ramirez supposed to play this show”, and I heard somebody reply, “Oh yeah, I think I was supposed to pick him up”. My buddy Mike Jones played, who goes by Aged Out. He was awesome as usual. I was told I would go after the next act, which it was over an hour later before they went on and a couple of my friends had left by that point. I played for a few people, one of my drunken friends successfully alienated what remained of the crowd by screaming at me about fellatio and other un-music related topics during my set. My set turned into a jam session with me and Mike, trying to remember how to play various cover songs and songs from our old band. At one point I believe we were told we had to sober up and leave. Granted we knew the show had to be over early because Matt’s band had to play a show downtown. Either way leaving was difficult, but we managed to succeed, not without my drunken friend taking a leak in front of their house and getting yelled at (Yeah, you were “that guy”). I’ll go ahead now and skip to the end. We all ended up at Mike and Kensey’s house. After people either got a cab home or went to bed, I tried to sleep while Mitch and Kensey stayed up listening to country music until 4:30 am.
Monday February 6th / Mike took me out to breakfast at 821 Cafe, then brought me back to pick up my car. I had managed to get enough rest, so the 6 house drive to Charleston, WV wasn’t too bad. The show was at the Empty Glass, a venue that has been around for a long time. It was actually an open mic night and I was the featured act, getting to play a full set at whatever the prime time of the night would be. This was a great open mic, people were super friendly and energetic. People danced for all the acts, I got tipped out well and people bought me more drinks than I was able to drink (my stomach was starting to rebel against me at that point). I got offered a place to crash no too far from the venue. I had to decline the whisky and beer nightcap and I passed out easily on a recliner chair in their living room.
Tuesday February 7th / I woke up in a sweat, not because I was sick but because it was 70 degrees outside, extremely warm for Charlseton, WV in February. They had turned off the heat at some point during the night, but I was still sleeping in my sleeping bag. It was almost 10 am., and I had a lot of driving ahead of me so I got my stuff together quickly, said my goodbyes and was off. Fairly uneventful drive, other than I didn’t have any service on my phone until I exited West Virginia. I’m proud to say that unlike many humans nowadays, I am able to read a map and do not require a GPS system to tell me where to go! The show was in Ashland, PA at The Drunken Monkey. My buddy Tyler from Condition Oakland put this show on. A pretty great line up, Ace & The Kings played first, a mix of originals and classic punk covers. Churches & Trains, another one man band act, who I will hopefully do a weekender with at some point, played next. He does a similar stuff to me, but much more towards a folk/country end of the spectrum. I played next, and was followed by Tedd Hazzard who has an extensive collection of catchy, screamy folk punk songs. Tyler - Condition Oakland played last. Me and Tyler had played together a lot recently, and he gave me the ok to take off early, which I was happy to do, although I did catch some of his set. I’ll just say that all of these guys are worth a listen, all have albums (save Ace & The Kings) that you can stream/buy on bandcamp. This was the 3rd time in three months I have played this area of Pennsylvania, I believe Wyoming Valley is what they call the region? Either way I am starting to feel like a local, so this kind of served as my homecoming show, only a couple hours from Philadelphia. At this point all parts of my body and mind had gained some tour tolerance and the 2 hour drive at nighttime back to my house in Philadelphia was a piece of cake. I managed to get to bed by 2:30am, although waking up the next day proved to be rough.
That’s the tour journal, no out of this world crazy stories. I don’t typically attract that kind of mess. For me it’s all about playing music and making connections with people. Things don’t happen for me when I stay in one place, it’s not how I work and not how I like to live.
I feel bad, so many past tour journals I have slacked on and never posted. I feel I should go back and pick through them and post them up too. Time is always the issue, I’m always involved with several things at once, and it’s always a struggle for me to get everything I want to get done, done...Anyways stay posted and thanks for reading!
Teaching my family about pickle backs while I do them lol
