Day the Fourth, Monday, April 26, Erie PA

We woke up in Philly in a most peculiar way. Chrissy, the lady of the house we were staying at had to get up at about 8 and was trying soooo hard to be quiet and not disturb us. This is peculiar in its own right since we were clomping around until about three, with the Pete and Gordon Fantasy Baseball Call-In show going another 12 or 15 hours, so courtesy is obviously not our strong suit. Anyway, she is a sweetheart and was really trying to be quieter than a mouse while she descended the stairs. And she succeeded until....well...until she dropped a whole lot of shit down the stairs, shit which then proceeded to bounce off every step, ending up about three feet from my head. Dag. She was really embarassed but what the hell, we had to get up anyway.

So then it was on to Erie. We still needed to replace a couple cords, so we ended up stopping at a mall. I thought it would only take a minute and so I left all my stuff in the car when we headed in. Now here's the lesson of this paragraph: when you are on the road always carry everything you need with you at all times. You're just running in to buy a coke? Bring your stuff. You're stopping for two seconds at a gas station? Bring your stuff. You need open the van door to fart outside? Bring your stuff.

Of course, I didn't bring my stuff and through some miscommunication got separated from the group with no phone, no wallet and no car keys. I figured I would just chill out at the mall entrance and we'd be on our way shortly. Wrong. I waited for about 45 minutes, alternating between being panicked and just plain pissed off. Finally, the boys showed up with smiles on their faces and empty ice cream dishes in their hands. It sucked, since I was definitely in the mood for some moo moo cream. Lesson-Bring your stuff.

The show itself sucked. The club is a bar/pizza parlor and only has live music through the kind efforts of our friends John and Gina. Now, a makeshift club is fine as long as it's not full of makeshift or full bore assholes. Unfortunately this was not the case. John's band opened the night and were very good and actually had a nice crowd. Then we hit the stage. Most of the nice folks left and the room started filling with the crowd for the punk band after us. And if there is one audience we do not do well with, it is the punkers. Add to that that my stupid god damn guitars kept breaking string and going out of tune and you have one miserable night. Oh well, to paraphrase Ringo "you gotta pay your dues if you want to sing the blues, and good lord it don't come easy in Erie PA."

After the show we retired to John and Gina's castle, er, I mean, house. I think I'll talk about that tomorrow because it was insane. Stay tuned...