The Living Rockumentary

Chapter Four:

Chicago. I woke up Saturday morning to the sounds of Lesa and Brian watching TV in the other room. We had a suite, so yes, there was another room. It was a great relaxing morning. No need to rush. Good power and consistant heat in the shower. Well done, Sheraton.

We drove into the city by way of a Dunkin Donuts Bagel counter and found a parking spot directly in front of the club. "Open spot in front of the club. You know what that means," said Tony. We all knew. In general, that means that the venue is empty. But this time we also knew that it was just barely noon and the club wasn't even really open yet. So, no worries.

As we pulled into the spot, coming out of my crazy mid-town u-turn, a taxi pulled in front of us and dropped off four folks with guitars. Ah, the International Pop Overthrow.

The famous Gunther Murphy's is a pretty nice place. It's long and kind of welcoming, with a seperate bar room and a seperate performance room. We brought in our stuff and then warmed up in front of the fireplace. Yeah, they had a fireplace. Yeah, we warmed up in front of it.
Soon enough, in walked David Bash, the man behind the I.P.O. You can always tell it's him because he's wearing a hat. He's wearing a hat right now. I'm sure of it.

The Fawns were the second act scheduled for the day and I expected a crowd of no one except the other bands. As we were setting up our stuff (we can set up most of our stuff before the show even begins because the first act is just a singer and guitarist), though, I looked up and saw some people paying the door man, some others milling around. Good.

The first act was a girl singing and a boy strumming. It was her first time performing.

By the time we took the stage, there was a decent amount of people in the room. We played a super energetic set. I think being cooped up in the van so long gave us a little extra umph. Umph! The Fawns!

People really seemed to dig us. We sold shirts and CDs and I could feel that the audience was not quite ready to be done with us when we stopped. Keep 'em wanting more, though, right? Yes.

A Boston band called Din played between the Fawns and School for the Dead, but the sets are so brief at the IPO that it seemed like no time at all until we were heading back on the stage.

School for the Dead also had the umph. The sound system was really great and everything felt perfectly comfortable to me. We got a very good response from the very-well filled room. Ken, of course, did an amazing job with both bands. The rest of us just seemed really happy to be playing again. I think the crowd picked up on that. We also sold a bunch of shirts and discs. The set seemed to fly by in seconds. I really didn't want to leave the stage. But we did.

And soon after, we left the club. It was time to start driving home already!

We swung by a record store and Ken ran in and grabbed a few discs. I took my contacts out in the van.

Ken had asked the record store grrrl for dining advice and she recommended a place just around the corner on the way to the highway that proved to be hugely awesome. Best meal of the trip. Good iced-tea, too.

After eating, we hit the road. We were hoping to get as far as CLEVEland again, but after a couple hours of driving, we hit the snow. It was dark, it was snowing sideways, 18-wheelers were whipping past, we were tired, and we were making fairly slow progress on the icy-roads, so I pulled off in the middle of nowhere and we found a Motel 6 with very reasonable prices. I used my Motel 6 card and saved 10%.

The Motel was a bit seedy compared to the Sheraton the night before but I didn't mind. I was glad to be protected from the howling wind outside and to not have had to shell out another couple hundred bucks.

Lesa, Tony, and I headed over to a trucker-diner nearby while Ken and Brian stayed back at the Motel in seperate rooms. The diner was pretty cool. Classic. The food ended up making me incredibly sick later on but, in-the-moment, I very much enjoyed the experience.

Later, back at the hotel, Brian was heard to utter, "I wish I was a big fat animal with a small head." while watching a nature show about badgers.

The next morning was rough, but we had a lot of road to cover and we sucked it up. We stepped out side to find the van plastered with snow. Not covered or anything, but battered.

Next thing you know, we were waking up from a dream, listening to Harry Nilsson and busting over the border into New York State.