1,250 Miles Back Home

So after lunch we started our drive back home.  We stopped at a local SUBWAY for the usual $5 footlong and took in the Florida Suburb Sights.....

Ah.  That was enough....

We loved the billboard's phone number "866-VAS-TIME"

Makes for a catchy phrase.  Like the commercial would be a man who just got his GF pregnant for the 6th time...camera zooms in...he rolls over in bed...they both look at each other...while nodding their heads they simultaneously say, "It's Vas-Time" as a smile lights their faces.  Cut away to the Vasectomy doctor in the office...blah blah blah...

Soon thereafter, K got sleepy and rocked his signature Park Bench Style Blanket...

9 times out of 10 you will find K sleeping in the Blaze adorned with a variety of newspapers.  This meant we had to make a pit stop and get him some kind of gross energy drink or something.  We were surprised to find out that in Florida, the whole No Shirt, No Service rule doesn't apply...

We took bets on what K would walk out of there with...Monster...Red Bull.....Sparks....but he totally surprised us with a Pepsi Max for Men.

Now Pat was out $5......this meant K had to deal with one of his favorite "games."  It's called, "The Lock-The-Door-And-When-K-Takes-Out-His-Key-To-Unlock-The Door-I-Lock-It-Again-But-He-Doesn't-See-Me-Doing-It-So-He-Tries-To-Unlock-The-Door-Again-Thinking-He-Turned-The-Key-The-Wrong-Way-Until-After-3-Tries-He-Realizes-I-Keep-Locking-The-Door Game."

Back on the road and we thought of our trusty computer, Cecil, as we passed exit 350...

Now the sun's starting to set....

It's one of those picturesque landscapes.  Driving down the open road at dusk with green grass and tall trees on either side of you...the wind is flying through your hair  (or over your head)....the smell of nature filling your nostrils as you take a deep breath.....

...then some huge insect smacks into your windshield and explodes.  Time to pull over at the next gas station to clean this lifeless blood off our glass.....can barely see!  

While we stopped K thought it a good idea to buy a little snack.  Namely this Pickle in a Bag thing....

...that idea turned out to be a bad one.  But couldn't ANY ONE OF US have told him that??  Seriously.  It's gross.  COME'on K.

Zac took the wheel while Pat and Cecil had a little "screening" party.  (We threw some OG Rap on in the blaze and eventually put a Dew-Rag on Cecil.)

 K's daughter, Sola, loves presents from the road so as we passed through South Carolina what better place to stop then....

South of the Border!

Anyone who's driven through South Carolina has at SOME point in their life been here.  It's the chochki MECCA of the U.S.  We've been hearing SOOOOOO much about all the parties, hot girls, spontaneous nudity, excessive drinking, and gambling that goes on at South of the Border that we decided to cut loose and get a little crazy.  It's basically an east coast Las Vegas!

...or at least it was in 1954.

Guess sunday nights at 4am isn't the best time to hang  :(

Thanks for nothing.

D

May 1st @ CLUB VENU

(The YABO Annex)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

HEADED DOWN SOUTH!!!!!

We got a 911 call from our man Ryan down at YABO in Ft. Myers, FL.  Says they need some Jupiter One in their life....naturally we shimmied down the fireman's pole and hopped in the Blaze.

We got 2 days and 1,300 miles to drive so we decided to make a stop at Ice Man and Margo's along the way.  I can't remember AT ALL what we did when we got there other than looking at their wedding photos (which had plenty of us in them.)  As "Glen" always said,  "Hearing about people's dreams are like looking at photos.   If you're not IN any of them...then you're just not interested."  Needless to say, Margo probably cooked something and Ice Man probably had us cracking up about something....either way.  A good time.  Obvi.

So we woke up the next morning and started our long ass haul from Richmond, VA to Orlando, FL.  Gonna meet up with our friend Dave Toback (a.k.a. Toebutt), and drive the rest of the way to Ft. Myers in the morning.

With Pat at the wheel......

Zac reading his book....

K working on his "Anna" Re-mix...

..and Me taking a picture of myself; we were ready to plow through miles of highway to reach the Florida Sun.

UNTIL, for no apparent reason 2 cop cars decided to pace the entire freeway at 20 miles an hour. 

Wtf?

We never did find out the reason for all this, but we drove that way for a loooooooong time.  NOW we might show up to Toebutt's super late...which means we won't get to make fun of him in his MAGIC jersey.  Once the cops FINALLY left,  the SilverBlaze opened up and never looked back....

Our only other obstacle from this point on was trying to distract K from yelling "PULL OVER!" everytime we passed one of these....

Despite the several pee stops  (for K)....

...we eventually made it.  And yes...Toebutt was sitting on his couch, donning his MAGIC jersey.  We had some drinks, Pat met some friends at a bar around the corner, and then we all slept.  zzzzzz

D

SUNY Institute of Technology

Utica, NY

~~~~~~~~~~~

So we're trying to catch up a bit....sorry we're so behind!  This show happened on April 25th and the best part was watching this student doing sound....i wish we had audio cuz all you'd hear is a series of exclamatory sh*ts and f*cks as he desperately searched for cables, mics, stands, whatever.....this kid was WAY too young to be this stressed out....

The second best part was this Gladiator Tournament going on in front of us.  The big guy on the left would just stand there taking hit after hit...he owned everyone for at least 2 1/2 hours.  No one could beat him....it was like watching a giant pelted with Q-Tips....

Finally the beast got tuckered out and knocked off.  That's when these girls hopped on....

K watched them battle for awhile and got real excited.  He just kept staring like a panting dog desperate for someone to throw a stick.....he wanted to play!

We laughed at all the other kids around campus trying to figure out who this stranger was; gleaming at the sidelines.  Eventually K just had to ask, "Hey, can I fight you?" At which point she politely said, "No, that's okay.  I'll just let you play...." 

 Apparently, teenage college girls aren't into "playing Gladiator" with strange men....probably cuz that's Creeeeeepayyyyyyyyyy!

After many hours of K goading me, I finally submitted to a duel.  This was a very heated and passionate fight....

Round 1 was taken by Mr. Ishibashi......much to my chagrin.

It was a big upset, but I got back on the proverbial horse and focused my chi.

Knock me down once......shame on you.

Knock me down twice??.....shame on ME.

One fake right, then a follow through left.....

...and BAM!!!  Sent K into next week....Rounds 3 through 14 ended up pretty much the same way.  But he was a worthy opponent...very cunning and honorable.

D

Unglued remix?

Not really sure if this counts as a remix, but it sure as hell counts as funny.