I was the first to awake in Johnson City, which made sense considering I was the first to bed. Since it was early I watched a couple episodes of South Park, before stealing a shower (and Wes had hot water, which was sweet). After washing my ass and getting all my shit together, I sat at Wes’s kitchen table and wrote for a bit. Being in a van with three other guys daily you rarely get time to yourself, so being able to write when everyone was asleep was nice.
Eventually everyone got up and we hit the road.
I was stoking the Atlanta show. People who know me know I resided there for almost two years and if not for a stalker (yeah, that’s story for another time), I might still live there (probably not though, it’s a little too southern for my Yankee blood). Also Lila, a close friend of mine, was coming to the show and I hadn’t seen her in years.
We used to work together when I was working for Flagstar Bank back in the day and became friends. After I moved back to Orlando I visited her a couple times and we met up when I came down with a couple friends for Music Midtown after I moved back to New York (I’m pretty sure it was 2002). Needless to say, I was looking forward to seeing her.
The drive to Atlanta was fairly uneventful. The view driving through Tennessee was pretty cool as there were some pretty fantastic mountain views, but otherwise I slept a majority of the trip (SIDEBAR: Sleeping for me in the mountains is essential. The steep hills and turns really freak me out especially when you see signs for “out of control truck zone”. It gives me anxiety. That’s not cool in my book. I’m sure it’ll be a real treat once we hit the Rockies.).
As we rolled into Atlanta I shot Lila text requesting she would bring some starving artists beer. The next thing I knew, we were at the venue. The place was called Wonder Root and was supposed to a performance space. It didn’t resemble that in the slightest. What it actually looked like was a community center (when I went in to use the bathroom I interrupted a knitting class). There was a “performance space”, but that would be the basement, where we set up (SIDEBAR: There’s not an issue playing the basement. In fact the band has had some killer house shows in a basement. Always good energy and the kids are into the music, not some pseudo-scene.)
Alkaline Trio was actually playing Atlanta the same night (those sad bastards are following us around), but Atlanta is a lot bigger than Asheville, so hopes of a crowd were definitely there.
I’m outside smoking a cigarette, and who pulls up but my buddy Lila. She didn’t come alone either. She brought a cooler full of ice cold beer. This was muy bueno.
After a few beers and chatting with Lila, it was time to head in. I wanted to see the band Caffiend, who was playing right before us. Caffiend is a punk band from Orlando and would be playing with us the following night. I’ve never heard of them before so giving them a listen to get familiar with their music (as well as see if I could stomach it), was a halfway decent move.
They were exactly what I expected; straight up punk rock with a good beat.
When The Fake Boys went on the room was fairly full, better than I figured considering the location and the big bad band Alkaline Trio was playing The Masquerade. Like they’ve done the entire tour so far, the band owned the room. There wasn’t a person not moving their head or leg to the beat. Definitely turned out to be a good show.
I honestly don’t know who played after them because once The Fake Boys finished, I stood behind the merch booth to earn my keep and honestly didn’t pay attention to who was playing. When there wasn’t anything going on with the merch I was knocking a few back in the parking lot talking to Lila. Once the show wrapped up we headed over to a bar called 529 to visit Kyle, a friend of the bands.
Kyle must have missed them because I don’t remember seeing an empty shot glass and I never had an empty beer. He was a nice dude and he definitely took care of all of us. The bar also had a band playing so I caught a little of the set but it really wasn’t my cup of tea. It was a local southern rock band (ripping off .38 Special is NEVER a good thing), so I guess since we were in the self-proclaimed “Capital of the South”, it’s expected. Once we wrapped up at 529 it was time to hit the infamous Clermont Lounge.
If you’ve never heard of The Clermont, it’s an institution in Atlanta. Technically it’s a go-go bar, but not your typical go-go bar you’re thinking of. The average age of a dancer is probably 50. Yeah, it’s where strippers go to be put out to pasture. Although it sounds god-awful, it’s become a novelty in the area and touring bands have been known to stop in for a couple drinks (who doesn’t want to se a fat 50-year-old black woman crush a beer can with her fun bags?).
I was a little disappointed in myself though. I was looking forward to hitting up The Clermont and getting a good laugh out of the deal. Unfortunately I was a little tuned up from 529 and really wasn’t feeling it. After a couple beers I was ready to go. Lila took my back to her place and the boys would meet us there later.
I got back to Lila’s, chugged a big glass of water, and crashed. Atlanta got the best of me today, but no worries, I still had a blast and I’m sure I’ll be back there real soon to redeem myself. Up next we start four dates in the Sunshine State. First stop Orlando!
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