Monday July 6: Pierre, SD to Minneapolis, MN
@ Triple Rock
"Hello, Midwest. You are pretty." - Meghan
"Pretty flat." - Valerie
It's my 35th birthday. As I get older, I don't mind the birthdays usually, but this one is a little bit odd. I guess it just feels so completely and certifiably not-young, at least not as young as the super cool and awesome, hilarious and smart people I'm traveling the the country with. I'm not hung up, frankly. In fact I fit in well with these 20ish yr olds, probably because girls mature faster than boys.
The show last night in Pierre (pronounced "peer") was fantastic! What a lovely way to officially kick off the tour. Meghan observed that the first almost-two days had felt, up til then, just like looking at cool stuff and going places. Now that the first show has happened, it's a real tour. Yeah!
Hunter is a fellow Meghan found on byofl.org, and for a dude we had never met he turned out to be an incredible host. He located a venue, assembled the lineup and got the word out. He put us up at his place last night, and took us to Marlin's, the Pierre's 24-hr diner. We had a kickass time.
Performace Auto Style is literally a place you go to get your car stereo tricked out in Pierre. The owner, Dave, is converting it to Performance Audio, a musical instrument store/car stereo place/home theater place. Fancy shiz. This is the first rock show he's hosted in the space, which is a mighty honor for CT4!
We pulled up only slightly late, with the show already underway. A dude was playing electric guitar and singing to a handful of kids inside, while another pack stood around outside. It was a slightly unorthodox setup, but otherwise it just looked like yr typical small town DIY rock show - the best kind.
We met Hunter - very dapper in his hat- and Vietnam Glasses, the Rapid City SD band who played next. Their lead singer rocked a Kinks tee, and sure enough they play British Invasion style mod rock that we all thought was cool and a perfect opener. All the band members and their crew were very cool, and friendly. People jumped around and danced in the back of the small room, which made us very happy. The energy was pretty great.
So Dave has decorated the performance room of his business with banners and posters for audio gear, a good deal of which features scantily-clad womens. Right as CT4 was starting their set Cristina remarked how impressed she was that one of the ladies was sporting a belt, "to keep her panties from dropping. Good work." Plus, unbeknownst to the audience, Cristina had also attached a picture of her new boyfriend - literally a headshot from his modeling past - to the wall near the other poster. She just wanted to even things out is all. Finally, Meghan took a piece of paper with a speech bubble drawn on it that said "I wish I had a Connecticut Four CD!", and stuck it to a poster next to a model's head.
Connecticut Four played well, and once the first few songs were over with, the room started to loosen up. The back of the room was populated by that enthusiastic, small pack of bouncing, jumping, happy people. The sound was good (better be, considering the name of the place).
Along the way so far, I've been known to spontaneously burst out in a random, rambling, high-pitched sort of song about whatever thing it is we were discussing at that moment. I do it to amuse myself and others, and the ladies asked me if I'd sing a song for the audience in Pierre. After thinking about it I agreed, on the terms that I would really just make it a song about how they need to purchase merch from the poor touring band.
So I did that. I think it was terrible, but in a good way. In an intentional way. Either way, the band sold like 8 EPs and 4 shirts so yay!
Right so we packed up, which was not a swift process, since it was our first time repacking the entire car since we left Seattle, but it was still not too bad, timing-wise. We headed over to Marlin's diner, the 24-hr spot in Pierre. It was large group - us and Hunter and his friends and Dave and the Vietnam Glasses and their friends. Much talking and creamer-chewing and food-eating commenced. It took a long time to get our food, but it was well worth it. We met Miss Jean, our server, who was very accomodating.
We headed to Hunter's house, stayed up chatting with him and his roommates about Pierre's music scene, the weird kid who was hanging around the show all night, and some personal trials and tribulations.
We slept in the living room, on the floor. Because it had been my birthday for about 2 hours (Central time), the ladies offered me the sole single mattress available. Thanks yo! Meanwhile, Meghan and Valerie had the discomfort of having to listen to the upstairs neighbors fight and drag bodies across the floor until 6am.
It's now Monday afternoon and we're en route to Minneapolis and the Triple Rock, and hopefully some farking wi-fi! Plus, we have to get back to a riveting game of "Who Would Your Celebrity Parents Be If You Had Celebrity Parents?" (hint: Alan Alda and Oprah)
