Feb 5, 2006

Chapel Hill, Athens, & Atlanta

Newsflash dudes! The south is awesome, did you know this? We are learning this lesson more and more every day.

After leaving D.C., the air became noticably fresher, the breeze a little warmer, the sun a little brighter as we headed south and we got stoked. Pulled into Chapel Hill in the early afternoon and fell in love with the green trees, the little storefronts, the multitude of BBQ joints.

Headed to The Music Loft to get Aaron's amp fixed and were treated to an awesome staff of dudes that fixed it up -- quick and cheap. Thanks homies! While there, there was a pony-tailed dude just seriously laying into some Arabian scale patterns at 250 BPM (beats per minute, folks) on a 7-string acoustic guitar. After finishing his rousing shred-sesh he proclaimed to the shop's owner -- "I'll give you my girlfriend's vagina for this thing." Wow.

The show in Chapel Hill was sweet -- at a cool little club called Local 506. Lots of people and good times were had. After the show we went to an awesome huge house that our new friend Lisa was house-sitting at. Got our sleep and shower on hardcore and Beak got to try "Sizzurp" (created by Cam'Ron).

The next day we had some huge family-style barbeque in Durham, which basically means they bring out 600 bowls of meat and fried shit and you eat it until you almost die. Hit the road to Athens bloated and content.

So, the thing with Athens is that its crazy. It's home to the Georgia Bulldogs, 30,000 college students, R.E.M. and the B-52's, and about 1,400 frat bars. The downtown district was teeming with dudes rolling in packs together, roving from bar to bar, drink special to drink special. The show itself was at Tasty World, a sweet venue staffed by some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. The crowd was modestly-sized but spirited. After the show we crashed at our pal Dave's house. He's a BMX biker who's lived a crazy vagabond lifestyle from Halifax to Athens.

The next day, we met up with a whole grip of dudes for BBQ and Whirlyball (more on that in a minute) in Atlanta. The whole day's events were coordinated by an amazingly awesome guy named Henry who runs a magazine called Chunklet. He was a great host to all the bands and showed us an amazing time. Whirlyball is a game where two teams of 5 compete while driving in bumper cars, carrying lacrosse sticks, and trying to throw a whiffle ball through a target. Needless to say, it is the greatest game ever created. TPC made a strong showing, but ultimately it was the Georgia cats and Henry that destroyed everyone else.

The show in Atlanta was great. It sold out and the crowd was really receptive to all the bands, especially the Hold Steady. THS slayed that night and everyone left the venue feeling elated and slightly drunk. Crashed at our friend Reed's, tired and ready for more.

Coming next installment: tales of hotel room debauchery in Jacksonville.

No comments:

Post a Comment