May 1st @ CLUB VENU

(The YABO Annex)

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So we woke up in Orlando and Toebutt fixed us a morning beverage.....

He split for work and we took this pic from his fridge with hopes of embarrasing him.  

But now that I think about it...he wears a MAGIC Jersey....he's incapable of embarrassment.  Thanks for having us Dave!

Now we were off to finish our drive to Fort Myers......notice the window treatment behind K ....

Now WHO could've done that......

Ah.

So the rest of the drive was pretty easy...no big deal....just some grass and weirdo animals and stuff....

We got to VENU and watched our man Ryan prepare his meal for the night...he's a SICK chef!  We had our soundcheck and then checked into the hotel.  Our friends from Ft. LAuderdale, Daryl and Cheimi, came by the room to find me on the floor, in my underwear, doing sit-ups.  Naturally, it was a short visit.  BUT we reconvened later in their hotel room with the gifts they brought us!!!  A full bottle of whiskey and some other stuff I can't remember (probably cuz of the first gift).  We woke up our friend Peggy, who also made the drive down from Boyton Beach, and she came by the room to "support" the party.  (She's preggers and can't be drinking). Jupiter One was a lucky band that night because SHE TOO brought us gifts!!  A Florida SUN-PASS for the Blaze...a limited edition AC/DC album for Pat....a Dennis Wilson button for Zac....A gift card to Chili's for K and a Disney Princess cup for his daughter Sola.....some Korean BBQ sauce for me....and a bottle of Planeside Burnett's for the whole band.  Thanks guys!

We got to the parking lot of the hotel and noticed Peggy had some new license plates....

That's a first in Jupiter One history.  We were flattered and also pretty excited they were plates to support cancer. (K's Mom is a breast cancer survivor)

So we finally got back to the club, but before I get into what we saw there...let me give you some backstory.  Our first time playing YABO in Ft. Myers last year, we met a very nice guy named Eric Riemenschneider.  He hung out with us all night and told us he was gonna be visiting NYC in February.  About 6 weeks later, Pat was walking to a bar after one of our rehearsals and literally bumps right into him.  So weird cuz it was Grassroots Tavern which none of us EVER go to, but he wanted popcorn.  Soon after, a relocation to No Malice Palace was in order...

The bartender was putting out mixed signals when asked if she wanted to be on the BLOG.  Still not sure how to read her, so I'll guess we'll just take it as a "yes" and throw the pic on....

She was pretty damn kind to Pat when the bill came around....

Naturally they hung all night and made plans to meet up with us at Elote the next day....we got to bullshit some and he showed me pics of some paintings he'd been working on.  

Eric is a teacher and a talented artist.  He was real excited about a portrait he had done for 3 of his favorite students.  Now flash FORWARD to May 1st.  (sorry if this feels like a LOST eopisode)

We're walking to the club, i'm texting a new friend....

...I look up.....and hanging over the doorway, I see a GIANT oil painting of the whole band!!!!

Apparantly Mr. Riemenschneider had been busy with another one of his portraits.....

He said the jumpsuits were inspired by the Dharma Initiative...he knows Zac and I love that show....That's Eric on the right....

After the inital shock of this painting (2 hours later), we finally sat down to eat some of Ryan's "fresh to death" food..

I desperately tried to make K slow down, but he just wouldn't listen!!!!  (I just hate being the guy stuck rubbing his belly before a show.  He eats too much and gets a tummy-ache)

Our friend Libby had made these Jupiter One-zies for Preggy Peggy and we thought they were hilarious...check these out....

Here's a close-up of the designs.....K as a baby cracks me up!!!!

We eventually played a show and the owner was so drunk he jumped on stage with us during A-HA's "Take On Me."   I'm sure he thought he knew the words at one point, but ...wow.  We even had Ryan Kida come up and sing Men At Work's "Down Under" with us.....it was a fun night and we went back to the hotel for some swimming afterwards.  In the morning we said goodbye to our friends and then had lunch with Ryan and Ed.  

Thanks to everyone who came out and made this night worth the 2,500 mile drive!

D