...18 years ago...

Up at 11 or so. I wash up and others rise. We pack our gear. Joe [the promoter] is going with us to Missoula today. Others go to post office - I have no money to buy stamps. I write and bum a cigarette or two. I'm quite good at it now - I learned al lot from the 'Johnsons'. We are supposed to go to a radio station before we leave but it's snowing like crazy so we pack and leave. We eat before we hit the highway.

Drive. The weather isn't as bad as we were told. The drive takes us about 5 hours. Arrive after asking directions and not finding the place. Dan calls and Dave and I get to use Cirrus machine. I get money out and find I have about $200 bucks in my account - cool. By the way, Dave R. says we'll have our own personal accounts from the band - about $6,000 a piece! I can pay some bills and live fairly comfortably while at home. I'd love to get my own apartment next year but I doubt I'll be home enough to use it.

Ha-Ha! Well none of that creative accounting came to pass. We arrived back from this tour and I think that eventually Dave and I shared an apartment (after finishing up the lease on the "Cave" on 44th street in Philadelphia - we all lived there together for at least a year). It is true though that we became full time musicians after this tour. We weren't rich, but toured so much that we broke even plus just enough to live on during the next 6 years or so.

We get directions and load in. It's a nice room for a show. The PA SUCKS! The dudes running it [the PA] and the show are complete fuckheads - stupid and have no idea what's going on. After a check we discover one of the four mics is busted. After a few tense moments, Dan and one of the guys go to a music store and rent mikes. They come back and we check again. Not much better but it will have to do. Kids arrive - about 200. We play first set. Play well and make do with the sound system. Play second set and get through that and an encore - actually had fun. I had to set up on the left side (like in Cincinnati), right up front - fun.

This setup had us all in a line up front.

We eat and drink beers in the storage/dressing room. Rod steals hacksaw and other tools for hotel room destruction sometime in the future. We pour the veggie dip on the flowers, and Joe the promoter from Bozeman takes two curtains. We pack up and leave. Eat in diner upstairs, then drive to "Comfort Inn". To sleep about 2AM. Very comfortable bed.

Not sure what the curtain theft was all about. For the record, our tour 'rider' - the little "extras" we added to our performance contract were (taken from our website FAQ):

6 clean white towels
6 liters of spring water
1 case domestic beer - NO COORS
1 6-pack Guinness Stout
1 bouquet fresh cut flowers for the dressing room
1 local newspaper
1 case soda
Fresh cut lemons
Tea and coffee
Either a dinner or a $10 "buy-out" for each band member and crew person (we preferred the money - you wouldn't believe some of the things promoters called edible).