Nashville: Day 4-6
Sorry to give readers digest updates here, but since I started the Nashville updates I feel that if I don’t finish it out then it’s one more thing I’ve left open.
Monday was a pretty lazy day all around. I don’t exactly remember what we did aside from getting food and hanging out around the hotel. Kyle and Tron met some people pool-side that proved to be interesting. Oh - I finally found time to meet up with one of my favorite people, Alex McGlothlin.
I met Alex while I was on tour with Phantom Planet and he was our with Paper Route. All of us made it a point to hangout a ton and we destroyed Montreal on one of the most epic off days ever.
Anyways, Alex and I met up at JJ’s Market and enjoyed a cup of coffee to start off the night. We talked about getting food at a few different places and once he learned that I hadn’t experienced Calypso Cafe before, he quickly made me change that. Let me just throw it out there - Calypso Cafe is amazing. After we ate some food, and drank some of the best coffee ever, we made our way to the Greenhouse Bar where we met up with some friends of his. The bar was literally an old greenhouse and had a very outdoorsy feel while being inside, it was really rad!
Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday… I woke up around 8am and went to an eye-exam that I set up the day before. I haven’t updated my prescription or anything related to that in 4 years, which is apparently something you are supposed to do annually, oops. Once I got back to the hotel I made Tron and Kyle get up and we all went over to CiCi’s Pizza for some lunch, amazing yet disgusting at the same time - Don’t ask, It just is.
For the main event of the evening we went down to Rocketown to see the same tour that we just dropped off of, except now Valencia is headlining. The show went really well, looked like 200 or so kids. During the show I took Valencia and Sparks to Starbucks and Calypso Cafe - I felt like the local friend you have in town that shows you all the hotspots, haha.
Max from Valencia arranged for 21 people to play a mandatory $3 Cee-Lo roll that was pretty insane. Max started off the gambling by rolling a 1-2-3 and automatically losing, bummer. I rolled a 1, not too much better. Three people were in the running for an overtime match being tied with 6’s but second to last Mark, Cash Cash’s Tech, rolled Triple 6’s (which trumps a regular 6) and proceeded to scream while ripping his shirt off in a manner fit for Hulk Hogan… it was well worth me losing $3.
Shane Valencia, Tron, Kyle, Sparks The Rescue, and Myself then proceeded over to the 3 Crow Bar in East Nashville - where has this bar been the rest of the time we were here? We played an hour or two’s worth of songs on the juke box and just owned the night. I dropped everyone off afterwards and we came back to the hotel.
Today, Wednesday, Aside from waking up early and taking Valencia to the airport - I met up with another close friend here named Shaun Carswell. I know Shaun from the tour I did working for Joshua Radin, Dar Williams, Meiko, and Jesse Harris. Lot’s of names on one bus, haha. Anyways, Shaun was our guitar tech/ backline tech/ drum tech/ go-to guy and just in general one of the best people you’ll meet in life.
Shaun, Kyle, Tron, and I ran some errands at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Target to get ready for Warped Tour. Good thing we remembered these things. For lunch everyone enjoyed free Roast Burgers courtesy of Arby’s - no idea why they were free today but they were.
After we got back from running errands we wound down at the hotel for a while. Once we all determined we were bored crazy, we went down to Midtown to Baja Fresh and enjoyed a free burrito to finish off our day of free food (see previous post). I ran into a new friend, Spencer Nohe, while I was there. I met Spencer our first night in town through Steve Moakler.
With food in our stomach’s, we made our way back to Rocketown for the second night in a row. This time we went to watch Hollywood Undead. Before you judge me, we only went because their lighting designer, Slitzy, and backline tech, Don, are the same two that we had when I worked for Type O Negative. I know I’ve said this about a lot of people in this post so far… but they are some amazing people.
Well, we just got back to the hotel after enjoying our final night of the week off in Nashville, TN. It was a long week, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Here’s to seeing you again at the end of August when we pick the van back up and again mid-September when I start my next tour.
