Thursday, July 9, 2009

Early day today. Parked at around 9:30am and made it to the stage shortly after, only to find out the guys were playing at 11:15am. It was like we rolled out of bed and already the stage crew was shouting at us to get going. Sleepy eyed and under-caffeinated, The Flag took the stage and nonetheless had a decent show. The crowd look like this making a huge circle pit around Stu, our sound guy;



Way to go breakfast club. I don't know how these kids have so much energy this early in the day. I mean, I'm an early riser, but punk shows usually won't get me moving until after dark. Thanks for making it worth it Cleveland!

Really that's it. Being done that early didn't leave me much to anticipate for the rest of the day, so I decided to bike around Tremont for a while. Just past the bridge into the venue there was a small side road that shot up a huge hill which I decided to go up for the hell of it, and at the top found a cool little 'historic downtown' area with coffee shops, pubs, churches, schools and a scoop shop. On my way out I saw a little bike shop and pulled over to see if they had a tube patch kit. I looked inside at piles of abandoned bike carcasses, and what looked like a former service desk piled high with invoices and bike parts. I awkwardly stood out front by a couple guys eating Chinese food on the curb till one said "Who are you and what do you want?". They started asking me about the tour, and making fun of me for riding a fixed gear (though it isn't a fixed gear, their mistake). The proprietor of the establishment, Mitch, made up for it by truing my wheels, adjusting my breaks, and giving me tips on how not to get my shit stolen. It just goes to show you; sometimes it pays to take the road less traveled.

Also today I got to watch Fake Problems, who were on warped tour for all of one day, but it was great to see them either way.



More excitement - I got yelled at by some huge shirtless guy for not responding when someone knocked on the door of the porta potty I was in. It wasn't even him! He shook the whole thing while I was zipping up my pants, and held the door closed as I tried to come out. When I slipped out, he said 'hey buddy why don't you answer the fucking door next time when someone knocks, huh?'. I pointed to the door, and dumbly asked, 'oh, isn't there a sign on there when someone is in there?', pointing to the red 'in use' sign that pops up when you lock the door. He asked 'what did you just say?!' like three times as I repeated what I said. I got a blank stare, and then 'well somebody could have crawled in there and dummy locked it.'. Not wanting to take this incredibly stupid argument any further, I didn't mention how it's impossible to crawl in or out of a locked porta potty. He asked what band i was with and what stage I was on, I told him and he said 'they don't have porto potties over there?'. Me not being over there, what would it matter? I told him I was just passing through, and took off before he got violent. So goes the story of how the porta potty nazi gave me a lesson in crapping etiquette.

Anyway, that was my exciting day. Early morning, bikes and tough guys. Tomorrow, we invade Canada. I love Toronto!

See you soon,
Max

11 comments:

Unknown said...

how was the night alone it the bus? i'm a little obsessed with tour buses...

kylewagoner said...

I like you, Max. You tell interesting stories. Or maybe you tell mediocre stories and MAKE them interesting. Regardless, it's a fun read.

love,
Kyle

Unknown said...

I was at the show yesterday and yeah.. people in Cleveland can be assholes.

Bobbie (DitaxDeath) said...

I love tour buses too kaitlyn , i wanna know what your guys tour bus looks like.

Anyway Max you are the coolest

KillBoY said...

I've had 2 bikes nicked and almost had one nicked while I was over 20 miles away from home with no money and no phone. The guy had actually cut through my lock and was on the bike when I caught him. One of the weirdest (and yet strangely exhilarating) moments of my life was grabbing the handlebars and telling him to "get off my f***ing bike you f***ing c**t"!.

Max these updates are ace. :)

Anti-Flag said...

Haha that's awesome, I've had a couple bikes stolen and I wish I could have had that sort of redemption. The best tip that guy gave me was to take out my seat post and put a card with my name and number in the tube. That way, if you catch the guy and there is doubt, it'll look awesome when you unscrew the seat and your name is inside the bike. No doubt.

Jen said...

Haha. Sounds like an exciting day.
Did you put that card in the tube yet?

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