Our pals Memory Map are out on tour, and have so graciously agreed to document their color coded adventures for us. The first entry comes to us from Mr. Blue, Mike Bridavsky.
May 13th – May 16th: Bloomington-Chattanooga
Memory Map is on the road in support of our LP” Holiday Band”. Going south, east coast, and back to the midwest. 3 weeks plus. We are all wearing our assigned color for the entirety of our trip… every article of clothing we packed is in our color. Matty in orange, Dixon in yellow, Joshy in green, and I’m in blue.
Within the first night, on the way to Indy we already experienced our first pang of regret as we stepped into a gas station with an entire high school basketball team hovering around the Krispy Kreme stand. “Oh shit”, I thought to myself as I looked at my blueberry getup… and then briefly glanced behind me at bananaman Dixon. “OH SHIT” is what I thought when I saw him, tall and skinny, dressed head to toe in yellow, from his shoes and socks, to his tight flooded pants, to the conductor cap on his head. there was absolutely no way that he was not going to get harrassed by these fellas, who at first did not notice us because they were busy hooting and hollering at the poor young woman at the register. I saw my chance and quickly booked into the restroom, and as the door shut behind me, I heard the moment that they saw Dixon… a loud burst of unrestrained laughter closely followed by “whatup Big Bird!”. I think Dixon later described it as “brutal.”
Fast forward to the present… I am currently Im laying in the back of the van en route to Tallahasee, FL, listening to David Lynch’s “Catching the Big Fish”. Matty’s playing Dragon Quest 9 on DS. Josh is sleeping. Dixon’s cruising in the left lane. He likes it there. Haven’t been to Florida since my pops took me there in the summer of 1995. Worst planned vacation of all time- he just drove around aimlessly for a week.
Fri, May 13
First show was our LP release in Bloomington on Friday the 13th, joined with Dreamers of the Ghetto and Busmans Holiday. This was the first Friday the 13th that was actually unlucky for me- a waitress spilled a glass of water on my phone and killed it the day before leaving for tour. Then the wheel busted off my new Earth Sound Research amp. The show was great though. Got a new phone and then a few days later my old one started working. Science is a mystery, and science always wins.
Sat, May 14
The following day were went to Indy for our Indy LP release at The Vollrath Tavern. This is when Dixon got harassed by the basketball team. We played with our good buds in Sleeping Bag, and they were “as always good!”, as Gregory Noodle, my Russian ex co-worker from Marcos Pizza in the summer of 96 would say. Also on the bill were Indy bands Learner/Dancer and Vacation Club. I throughly enjoyed both of their sets. Really a great show all around. Just before leaving at the end of the night we noticed they had fresh, home-made brats for sale in the bar. WTF?! Best brat of my life. Really.
Sun, May 15
Back to Bloomington after the show. Definitely did not feel like tour yet. I wasn’t constipated yet, so that’s how I knew we weren’t on tour. Now im sure we are on tour. But today was the day we would officially head out, with our first show in Louisville at Cahoots with the Sleeping Bag bros, The Teeth and Waxeater. The show was modestly attended but had a good dose of positive energy, generous bartenders and astonishly affordable and delicious onion rings and fries. We stayed at Elliot’s of Waxeater… his place is very nice, spacious and unique. In the morning we discovered that Dixon brought a rice cooker on tour. He prepared japanese rice with blackened sesame seeds, tuna, fresh ginger and sesame oil. Perfeck! And even made some Miso soup. What a guy!
Mon, May 16
After Dixon’s delicious rice breakfast and some shopping (Matt and I bought parts to fix the kick drum pedal) we left for Chattanooga, and also left the freshly repaired kick drum pedal. The drive to Chattanooga was uneventful. Groth left us U2s Achtung Baby, and REM’s Green on cassette. the song “Stand” is intolerable after one listen. The U2 cassette has some solid jams though. We arrived at Sluggo’s North around 7:30 pm. We were treated to a delicious vegan dinner which was immediately followed by a very enjoyable Pub Quiz downstairs at the bar. We lost the quiz. The last round was pretty awesome though…”Shakespeare character or Pharmaceutical?” We lost the quiz.
The show was fun, finally felt like we were finding our stride. The other band, “Are They Queer?” was pretty awesome, apparently it was only their second show. We stayed at Terry and Ashley’s home that night, the owners of Sluggos. There was a kitten in the bathroom that fit in the palm of my tiny hand. Probably two weeks old. Terry and Ashley are very generous and kind folks, I felt very fortunate that night to have met such nice and interesting people. Its the best part of tour.
This morning we are off to Tallahasee. And now I have to take a pee. Reeeeealllllly bad.
Memory Map play rock and roll and are on tour for the next few weeks doing just that. Check their dates below to see if they are coming to your town, be sure to check back here to read about where they’ve been, and grab the new album here.
Leave a Reply