Wednesday, November 12, 2008

roam ye buffalo roam... the carolinas


///in the aftermath of the big Obama victory and the celebrations that we were lucky enough to be a part of in Washington DC into the wee wee hours that night, we awoke and made our way across Virginia... an absolutely gorgeous drive... sunny and warm and the fall colors were beaming with pride for our country. these are days i will never forget.

it's been a week now.

a week ago, our friends in a little folk noise duo called Where The Buffalo Roamed met us in Blacksburg, VA from their respective homes in Carrboro, NC (corbie) and Asheville, NC (andy) to begin a stretch of shows with us throughout the region. kicked off at The Lantern in Blacksburg, VA thanks to the kind kind folks at WUVT 90.7 FM(jessica! kevin! brian! etc etc etc!). The Lantern was sweet. show was magnificent like all shows are magnificent. in their own little ways. like how tighty whiteys can dangle from man ass while guitar is thrown about in a shredding manner. very Dynamite Club of you sir. WUVT is a magnificently ran student radio station. like none other. and they're in the business of throwing glorious shows too, for that they shall be forever thanked.

but in all seriousness, Virginia floored me. one of the most moving drives across land i've experienced recently, which sort of says a lot, cuz we drive across land with unyielding frequency. and i'm constantly moved by the ever awesome landscape this planet has to offer, but a lot of factors made this particular drive extra magnificent. the Shenendoah River! Shenandoa River Valley! lush and dying into fall all at the same time. sunshine! Obama. etc etc etc. and it's always nice to cap a day like that with a rock show. i could do without the scantily clad spazz punk, but that's just me.

WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAMED @ The Lantern in Blacksburg, VA



>>>begin highlight reel<<<

11/6/08 Grandma's Noise Livingroom @ R3V3RB in Greenville, SC
no lie. grandma was there. and she liked it loud. art space. Saint Solitude (asheville, nc) came and played too. one man indie pop tunes with loops and beats. Dup. good guy. sound was awesome in grandma's noise livingroom. big fan. i fell in love with a lamp. afterwards us and team buffalo nailed some greasey grub at a Waffle House then sailed our respective schooners over the hour or so sea to Asheville, NC and Andy's house for a night of philosophical musing and deep deep sleep.

i love lamp.

11/7/08 New French Bar. Asheville, NC
best asheville show yet. stayed with our Moscow friend Cherie. she made us spaghetti and caesar salad. and halloween candy. oh wow. met her cats and her housemate Joe the bike mechanic. played with Asheville keys and drum duo heroes Speedsquare thanks to our mutual friends in Stephanie's Id. New French Bar is pretty low-fi, but pretty happenin. lots of traffic. WTBR opened the show on some friendly turf. then put on a dance clinic during the Finn Riggins and Speedsquare set. Optimus Prime helmet ruling all. in the morning Cherie made us egg mcmuffins with her egg mcmuffin maker. and angels sang on high.

this is what North Carolina looks like right now:


it's been that awesome. that's a glimpse. my shoddy digi camera only does it so much justice. on the other hand, this really did drive by us in North Carolina... apparently a new class on the NASCAR circuit:

your eyes do not deceive you. of course that's a giant grocery cart on a trailer that apparently doubles as some sort of racecar. why wouldn't it be?

11/8/08 The Soapbox Wilmington, NC
our marvelous pals in Ponchos From Peru were nice enough to host us in Wilmington once again. show in the spring with them was awesome and we were pumped to be back. they had recruited The Nothing Noise from Chapel Hill but with Wilmington roots to come join the party again as well. and this time the show was upstairs in the juicy part of the venue with the juicy sound and stage. Adam + Matt from Ponchos even made us dinner. tempeh and salad and lots of goodness. we love those guys and there science and sexy ways. their living room is gloriously decorated with band gear and gadgets. i dream of such a place to go home to.

show was super fun as expected, despite the continuing decay of my synth and it's pestiness on stage the last week... morphing patches and pitch in the middle of songs... it's been a bullride with it recently. my calloused hands have barely been able to keep me in the saddle... but i've been managing. that and we axed a couple of synth heavy tunes from the set on the fly... yarrrrrr.

yay for elevators! Matt from Ponchos with all the gear crammed in


PONCHOS FROM PERU @ The Soapbox in Wilmington, NC



11/9/08 day off. Fuquay-Varina, NC
much needed day off. had been two weeks since our last one and would be two weeks until our next one. scheduled it to spend time with Lisa's sister Sylvia, brother-in-law Dave and nieces Karen and Katrina. they're awesome. we had so much fun with them. since our last stop there they'd gotten Rock Band and were all about it. so we all rawked. and they all played hooky on Monday to rawk with us some more.

Cam shreddin some Rock Band drums with the Moodys


daddy long legs in the Moody driveway


11/10/08 Spazz Haus Greenville, NC
our third time in Grvl. first time at a Spazz sanctioned event. it was everything we would expect. holy gloriousness. tiny room. packed. sweaty. rawkous. and awesome. super fun site. we played first. then WTBR. which led into WTBR and myself laying down beats for the 520 MCs. about 2 hours of nastiness. some switcheroos. the night ended with Nolan Smock on drums, myself on keys, Andy or Corbie on guitar and the MCs around 3am. as wild as any house show should be. on a monday. not without drama and not without cops and not without busch light. lots of it.

///more updates soon... including photos and some thoughts about last night's show in Winston-Salem.... at The Garage... so cool. highly recommended.

///gilbert

No comments: