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| TOUR JOURNAL |
November 4 2006:Seattle, WA, USA
High Dive
with The Lights, The Heavy Hearts, Four Easy Pieces |  | | KEXP Audioasis benefit for The Ballard Food Bank |
| October 21 2006:Portland, OR, USA
Dante’s
with The Village Green | Last show of the tour!
We decided to spring for sweet ass hotelrooms downtown.
We decided to spring for decent food in killer restaurants.
We finally lived like rock stars.
We drove home the next day, with our missing drivers side window.
We dumped off our gear and returned our faithful rental van to the air port rental place.
Before we'd left on tour I'd said that the mark of a successful first national tour for The Purrs would consist of one thing.
All we had to do was return in decent health with all of our fingers and toes.
If we wanted it to be a raging success then we would have to return from tour still a functioning band.
Both of those goals were met.
So long 2006!!.. |
| October 20 2006:San Francisco, CA, USA
Rickshaw Stop
with The Village Green | We parked in front of the venue in the middle of a bright sunny afternoon. We loaded in and went to get some food. When we returned a half hour later we discovered someone had smashed our driver's side window with something and stolen all of Jason's clothes.  He'd done laundry exactly once during the tour. Have a good time with Jason's dirty underwear you junkie fuck! |
| October 19 2006:Los Angeles, CA
Spaceland
with The Village Green, The Ettes | And now for the third and final installment of our ongoing photo portrait series of members of The Ettes, I present Coco.  This was my personal favorite show of the whole tour. We played great. I mean, most of the shows were good, but I think we really started to hit our stride with this show. The Purrs busted out their version of "Creeping Coastline Of Lights", the classic Leaving Trains tune. After the set, Falling James, the lead singer of that awesome band introduced himself to Jima. The scene was populated with wasted chicks, the idle rich and the merely idle. Bev, our label rep, brought a whole crew of people. We got drunk and then we started really drinking. It was the last night of the tour for The Ettes. I need to say that we could not have asked for better touring companions than that band. They were funny, cute and fucking brought the rock to every stage they graced. They are destined for greatness. Dose purchased a bottle of champagne.  The night became a blur of smiling teeth, Austrailian accents, empty beer bottles and I think we got paid $60, which almost covered my bar tab.  |
| October 18 2006:Tuscon, AZ
Vaudeville Cabaret
with The Village Green, The Ettes |
I don't think I mentioned this before but The Purrs began almost every step of this journey with "A Reading From The Book Of Crue" as it was called.
We'd get into the van for the start of the days driving and a random member of the entourage would lift up the "holy book" otherwise known as The Dirt - Motley Crue: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band and select a random passage.
This book is one of the best in the Rock 'n Roll cannon in my opinion.
One can open the book to almost any page and within 2 paragraphs be exposed to more hedonistic, anti-social behavior than in a year of actual living.
The reading would end and the driving would commence.
My favorite quote was one from Tommy that went something like this:
"Before I knew it I had pulled my arm back, formed my hand into a fist and punched her right in the grill dude!"
We pulled into town, found the university area and asked a student which way to the bars.
We parked and hung out most of the day in a bar that was really into Che guevarra.
The show happened, Jima broke some strings.
In a fit of drunken clarity, Craig threw away our lame ass guitar stands while loading out.
Hey look! Somebody blogged the show!
|
| October 16 2006:Austin, TX, USA
Flipnotics
with The Village Green, The Ettes |  | Back to Austin as fast as we can through more intense rain storms.
We spend the day in some guitar shops looking at things we can&'t buy.
The drinking commences.
BBQ fan Mike returns with a large container of BBQ for the road.
Flipnotics is a small coffee shop. I wasn't sure we'd fit in there with our massive pedal boards and the Farfisa and all, but somehow it worked out just fine.
Actually, it was one of the best shows so far in my opinion.
Somebody named Brian took some cool photos of the show:
The show commences.
We leave early in the morning for an asinine 2 day drive to Tucson.
|
| October 15 2006:Houston, TX
Engine Room
with The Village Green, The Ettes | The rain started about an hour outside of town.
Serious rain and lightening.
Finally a good storm.
You just don’t get good electrical storms like this in Seattle and so it was a real treat.
The Engine Room has a fairly decent reputation as a mostly metal venue.
This venue is absurdly huge. I think it holds something like 2000 people.
There may have been 8 people there, counting The Ettes and The Village Green kids.
The sound was super huge and so were the speakers themselves.
After the gig Jima struggled to sleep in the van but the wind and rain buffeting the van all night prevented much REM sleep.
Sometime during the night he had to piss.
He opened the van door to go to the hotel room to see over a foot of water in the parking lot, so he just pissed from the van.
In the morning we found out 3 people died the night before in flash floods and tornadoes.
 |
| October 14 2006:Austin, TX, USA
Trophy's
with The Village Green |
We were met at the edge of town by Jima's friend Mike, who escorted the band to Sam's BBQ for some seriously good food.
After that Jima found himself at the Continental Club taking in a happy hour show by (insert guitarist's name here).
He looked to his left at his friend Mike who is looking to Jima's right.
Jima turned right and realized he was standing next to David Byrne.
That was cool.
Before the show, Jima showed up at sci-fi writer Bruce Sterling's house for the dying embers of some soiree.
Then it was back into the taxi to the club for the gig.
While Jima was tending to his high-brow affair, the rest of the gang rested in the van and wandered the neighborhood.
While hanging out at the van Dose was greeted by some of the locals, who told him to, “Eat a dick faggot!”.
After the show we stayed and drank with some locals who were kind enough to put us up for the night.
In the morning a huge spread was prepared.
We hung out in Austin most of the day and then headed to Houston. |
| October 12 2006:Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Local 506
with The Village Green, Stratocruiser | 
Whoever the local opener was, they were a hoot. They were blowing shit up!
Their final song involved the drummer pouring lighter fluid all over his cymbals, then lighting them by spitting a fireball while playing.
They said this was the only club in town that would let them perform this stunt.
Though our show is at the Local 506, Craig and Jima found themselves at a bar called The Cavern after the show instead.
Some crazy chick is saying something about losing her cellphone or her boyfriend (its never quite clear).
Whatever her story, she's got way too much baggage for Craig.
More drinking ensues.
Jima passed out on the sidewalk infront of the Local 506.
A local music fan blogged the show!
The next day we have to drive back through Atlanta again on our way to Austin.
We stopped in at The Vortex for the tour's best hamburger!
 |
| October 11 2006:Atlanta, GA
The Star Bar
with The Ettes, The Village Green | We left DC right after the gig and drove all night to make the Atlanta gig the next night.
As the sun was coming up, sleep deprivation again caused all sorts of amusing thought processes to rattle in our pretty little heads.
We came over a hill and found ourselves behind this truck decorated with a NASCAR hero.
I was really digging that Reeses Pieces hat... real classy!
Seconds later we passed this highway exit sign:
Maniacal laughter erupted from the cockpit of the blood colored Purrs van.
Look! Up in the sky! Its a giant butt crack!
Craig insisted that we eat at a Wafflehouse. None of us were the same for the rest of the day.
Jima, Dose & Craig spent the whole day in a bar drinking.
Dayna and Jason found a park in which to lounge away the afternoon.
All in all it was a beautiful day for everyone.
The bar had this really cool alter dedicated to Elvis the king of rock'n roll.
Jason warms up in the "dressing room":
...and hey, here's another member of The Ettes, the world's most photogenic rock band!
|
| October 10 2006:Washington DC
Red and The Black Bar
with The Village Green, The Ettes | We get into town and head over to the Mall area for a bit of site seeing.
The Vietnam Memorial is an undeniably intense experience.
After that we split off in search of food.
A large percentage of this tour journal is dedicated to the pursuit of food.
That is because the one thing I have learned by touring is that there is little else to do except eat and drink.
Finding decent food is almost always a challenge, as most people don't seem to hold quality food in high regard.
It's a quantity vs. quality issue for most Americans.
If you're into the quality end of that argument, then perhaps touring isn't for you.
We walked for almost an hour before finding a crappy shopping mall that looked like it might have some decent food.
It was (allegedly) an Italian place.
After waiting 15 minutes someone actually notices us and seats us.
They don't bring us water, just some bread, but no olive oil.
15 minutes later, no menus!..we split on the place.
Of course this means we didn't get to eat anything before showing up at the venue.
The Red and The Black is an awesome place.
Here is a photo of Red & Black's super cool bartender:
We have to hump our gear up some pretty steep stairs.
Yesterday in New Brunswick we had to hump our gear down some pretty steep stairs.
Up and Down, up and down.
We were psyched because we finally get to hook up with The Ettes for a couple of dates. They are so damn cute.
I'm pretty sure its impossible to take a bad photo of any one of them.
Finally after sound check we are free to find some food.
Dose spots a fast food chicken place across the street called (I shit you not) "Cluck You".
He said he'd been to one before.
Eating at a Cluck You is like a case study in everything that is wrong with crappy, industrialized, fast-food chicken restaurants.
First off, its very brightly lit. The entire ceiling is a bank of fluorescent strip lights humming and vibrating, placing all one sees in a stroboscopic nightmare hue of bluish white.
There are two televisions playing the same series of rap music videos. The great part about this is that they have the closed-captioning function on, so we are able to read along with the insane rants that pass for lyrics in today's rap scene.
"I'm super cool cause I'm super rich"
"I dress real cool that's why I get all these chicks."
"I drive a big car, it burns lots of gas."
"Suck my dick and kiss my ass."
...or whatever.....
I look around at all of us standing in this long line, staring up at the screen reading this crap, in a Cluck-U, in one of the most crack infested towns in the US.
And believe me, the line is long.
Along the other wall is a series of 3 pictures depicting some of the most disturbing examples of the cartoon chicken crime wave currently sweeping the country.
The first is an image of a smiling rooster with a meat cleaver held above its head, chasing an obviously terrified chicken (otherwise known as homicide).
The second is a smiling hen stirring a bunch of
eggs in a bowl (infanticide).
The third is another chicken, smiling joyfully and eating a big bucket of fried chicken (cannibalism).
Three felonies on a wall. But its okay, because its cartoon chickens.
|
| October 9 2006:New Brunswick, NJ, USA
The Court
with The Village Green | 
This was the first time Jima heard a genuine Jersey accent on this tour.
We were eating in an awesome Italian place next door to the venue when our waiter started talking to us.
He even used the word "fuggettaboutit".
Unfortunately he was using that word in his description of the bar we were playing in that evening.
I seem to recall that his said something like, "Nobody ever goes there. You won't get paid. If you want to get paid, fuggettaboutit!"
Fortunately he was wrong about that.
Later that night in a Super8 out by the highway Craig says, "I'm gonna get naked and then go looking for ice."
Jima decided to venture around the closed pool area where he grabbed a 20-foot pool cleaning device. He decided it was a good idea to walk around the parking lot swinging it all directions. This lasted until he noticed Craig and Jason watching, at which point he went directly to the van to sleep.
|
| October 8 2006:Boston, MA
Great Scott
with Cities, The Village Green | Traffic on the way to Boston was hellish.
The Purrs were looking forward to this show as they would be playing with "The Cities", a cool band on the YepRoc label.
Once in town, everyone wandered off to get food.
The gig was played.
The Cities were cool.
We stayed with some friends of Dose's, who cooked up some home made fruit pies.
Showers were had by everyone. |
| October 7 2006:New York City, NY
Club Midway
with The Village Green, We The They | We arrived in NYC in the afternoon, found the venue, parked the van nearby and took turns wandering the streets.
About a block away from the venue was a bar where Craig and Jim found themselves taking in a free comedy show.
Craig swore he'd seen one of the comedians on SNL before.
On the way back to the venue for the show a guy asked Craig if he wanted to "see a girl for $5."
Our friend Paul took some nice photos of us playing at this show.
Our merch table for the evening:
The whole interior of the club was painted in flourescent colors. Here is a picture of the door to the bathroom.
After the show The Purrs found themselves at some after hours club called "The Room".
Jima found himself at a large round table talking to a person who looked like a metal head.
He turned out to be an Australian folk singer just back from a tour of Europe.
Jima was all excited to hear some cool tour stories when the Aussie leaned in close and said, "What really got me through the tour was my personal relationship with Jesus Christ."
Jima left and slept in the van like he does most tour nights.
|
| October 6 2006:Newport, KY
The Historic Southgate House
with Campfire Crush | 
We had a day off.
But that didn't mean we were going to be idle.
We drove to Newport to hang out in Jima's old scene.
There was some sort of strange boat oriented celebration in town called Tall Stacks going on, which none of the locals seemed to be able to define in anything but the most general terms.
We found some strange German beer hall to eat in.
They had a live accordian player who actually played "Roll Out The Barrel".
The place was packed, old people, parents with their infants in arms, all drinking, all singing.
It was actually fun, once we let go of our pride.
Dan (the booker for The Southgate House where we would be playing the next night) got us into The Thermals, Cursive show that was going on.
An absurd amount of drinking ensued.
The Southgate House is a very fun and strange place in which to hangout.
We woke up the next day in a house under construction.
There was a hammer drill going off somewhere in the house.
It was time to get up.
After a bit of confusion we ate breakfast, jumped in the van and drove to the studios of WOXY.
We taped a live set, perused their insane music collection and played with their dog.
Then we packed up and drove to the Southgate House for the big rock show.
After sound check I found myself back at the German brew pub, drinking super large beers.
The sound quality on stage that night was amazing.
After the show we packed up and drove all night to make it to NYC for the next evening's show.
|
| October 4 2006:Detriot, MI
Lager House
with The Village Green, The Ettes | 
It was only a 3+ hour drive to Detroit and we weren't really sure where to hang out when we got there.
We'd heard that D-Town was a total warzone, but the crappy hotel we woke up in that morning wasn't that great either.
I'm not exactly certain how we spent our day, but somehow the hours burned by and around 5 or so we found ourselves on a Detroit street where the venue was located.
Reports of Detroit's warzone status are totally accurate as far as I could tell.
Burned out empty buildings as far as the eye could see.
They are a testament to a past greatness and the whole place has the feel of an abandoned city of ruins.
There was no one on the streets.
I could imagine a thousand years in the future, an archeologist would discover the ancient city of Detroit using some forgotten travel book.
Then a thriving tourist industry would develop.
Anyway, about 20 blocks away from our venue in the middle of all this desolation was an upscale yuppie BBQ place.
We had our oasis.
Drinking and eating commenced.
Afterward we drove down the street to the venue.
In the distance we could see a towering MGM Grand Casino or something of that ilk.
We decided to splurge on a nice hotel room.
Jason (who handled all of our hotel accommodations) was on the phone for what seemed to be an hour before being told that the towering casino in the distance held no hotel rooms...on to the venue.
This bar was a straight up Rock 'n Roll dive.
I loved it.
It was the first bar I can remember being in that had a ping pong table instead of a pool table.
There was a small but super appreciative crowd.
For the first time in the history of The Purrs, someone requested a song of ours that wasn't on our set list.
We actually played a request!
Then we ended up selling a zillion dollars of merch!
After the show we asked the bartender about hotels.
He told us we need to observe the "8 mile" rule.
He went on to explain that you never stay in a hotel with in 8 miles of Detroit.
Again, the advice of locals proved invaluable.
It was back to Indiana.
|
| October 3 2006:Chicago, IL
Subterranean
with The Village Green, The Ettes | 5:30 am: The van pulled into the town of Rapid City.
Jim was driving and badly needed coffee and a bathroom break.
Due to the complete lack of options they were forced to pull up to "The McDonalds From Hell".
It was apparent upon arrival that this McD's was under heavy construction but a sign proclaimed "Restaurant Open During Renovation" so they soldiered on.
Most of the brightly lit eating area was rubble.
In one corner was a table with two old RV retirees happily munching away, serenaded by the jack hammers that were creating more rubble in other parts of the building.
"First things first," Jim thought and made straight for the bathroom.
Once he reached the Men's room he was greeted with a sign which read "Men's room out of order, please use portable toilet in parking lot".
Back outside to a dilapidated porta-potty.
Then back inside for coffee.
Jima went up to the counter and a homely woman with a bunch of warts on her face took his order.
"One coffee and one Bacon Egg & Cheese Biscuit please," Jima announced over the increasing din of the jack hammers.
"What!?" said Warty Face.
"ONE COFFEE AND ONE BACON EGG & CHEESE BISCUIT PLEASE!"
(wait a minute! If the Men's room is out of order, where are all the male workers of the kitchen crew washing their hands???
YUCK!!!)
"Will that be for here or to go?"
Jima looked around at the hell he had found himself in and started laughing.
So we drove for a total of about 24 straight hours and arrived in Chicago around 2 in the afternoon.
Jason & Dayna fell asleep in Wicker Park watching the van and making nice with the local squirrel population.
Jim, Craig & Dose wandered around till they found a bar (a pattern which will be repeated in almost EVERY town) and started drinking.
Chicago is the loudest town in the world.
The "L" train was about 20 feet above the "patio" of this bar.
The deafening sound of its passing quickly drove the boys inside the bar.
According to the bartender, no locals even notice it anymore.
There is a constant din of sirens and cars without mufflers.
People seemed to yell at each other a lot.
Yelling is the Chicago version of your "indoor voice".
Subterranean was a cool 3 floor bar. There is a hip hop looking dance club / café on the first floor.
Up some steep stairs is the room with the stage and up above that was another bar that no one seems to ever go in.
Of course that is where we set up camp.
The show goes well.
We actually had some fans show up, including the very first person to EVER purchase the "Dreams" CD from our website.
In fact I think that was the first sale of that album to anyone.
That was cool.
Radio Free Chicago reviewed the show.
Carlo Lorenzo took some cool pictures.
After the show we packed the van and headed out to the highway to Detroit.
We stayed at some Super6Motel8 along the highway.
There were whores cowering in the dark corners of the hallways and one of them warned us not buy the heroin at this hotel because "It really sucks."
I'm a firm believer in taking the advice of the locals about such things. |
| October 2 2006:Minneapolis, MN, USA
Lee's Liquor Lounge
with The Ettes, The Village Green | Sometime around 4 am is when the hallucinations started.
I was sitting shotgun and was enjoying the giant top hats that were emerging from the ground.
At 6 am (still in Montana) Dose spots an owl flying across the highway.
Suddenly the owl turned toward the van and proceeded to impact with the windshield.
There was a very loud pop, and both the owl and the windshield shattered.
The windshield held together because it is designed to withstand high speed impacts.
It acquired a white spiral pattern and was almost impossible to see through.
The owl, which wasn't designed to survive high speed impacts, lost structural integrity at an alarming speed.
My face and arms were pelted with tiny little splinters of safety glass and a spattering of owl parts.
For some reason neither Dose nor I was blinded.
We drive another 30 miles before finally finding a truck stop.
The lady behind the counter tells me "Owls do that all the time around here."
Owls must be a very depressed lot, trying to off themselves in such a spectacular fashion.
We drive to the next decent sized city (Billings) an attempt to get a replacement windshield for a van on a Sunday.
Fat chance.
We end up having to cancel the Minneapolis show as we have to wait for Monday morning.
We take a room in a Super8 near the highway.
Fairly quickly we locate the nearest drinking establishment and proceed to get hammered.
The bar is a scary sort of strip mall sports bar with the usual garbage on the menu.
There is a dude at the bar who is waaay too into the Pittsburgh Steelers or whatever.
Everytime the Steelers score, he runs back and forth through the bar whooping it up.
His girlfriend appears embarrassed but relieved.
Perhaps he won't beat her so thoroughly tonight if his team wins.
The next morning the guy comes to repair our window.
Then we are on the road.
We had to cancel Minneapolis and now are faced with another overnight drive to make the Chicago show.
|
| September 30 2006:Missoula, MT, USA
The Loft
with The Ettes, The Village Green | The drive out to Missoula started about one hour after leaving the High Dive.
We got back to Jason's place, ate some food, repacked the van and hit the road.
We drove all morning and into the day arriving around noon.
Then we walked the streets in search of something to do.
No luck.
I spotted an army navy store that I wanted to go in.
The store would have to wait because I decided to get some extra sets of van keys made for everyone.
I asked a local where the nearest hardware store was.
He said about 2 blocks away.
It turned out to be 2 miles of pedestrian unfriendly walking.
The girl at the key counter didn't know how to use the key cutting machine.
It took another 15 minutes to locate someone who did.
It took another 5 minutes for this person to educate the key cutting clerk on the finer points of using the key cutting machine.
Then another 15 minutes for her to make the proper number of copies.
As she handed the keys back to me she said "If any of these don't work just come back and we can try again."
I don't think so.
Then another 2 mile walk back to the van.
We spent the rest of the day sleeping in a park near a river side walkway.
The sun was setting just beyond the rows of 4-story mixed-use buildings. It was a quite a beautiful site.
It was too late to go to the army navy store.
I was told the store kind of sucked anyway.
It was really just a hunting supply store, with very little actual military surplus in it.
When the sun goes down in Missoula a new kind of terror creeps out of the shadows.
Experts in these sorts of things refer to this terror as the "Violent Drunken Redneck".
Over the course of the next hour, Jem from The Ettes was told to "Get a haircut, faggot!" twice.
He doesn't even have long hair.
While hanging out at the van between sets I witnessed all sorts of quasi-macho male posturing.
Missoula turned out to be quite the jungle.
Our 3 bands played to a small but appreciative crowd. I was given free beer, which I always dig.
We then packed up the van and started the first true all night drive of the tour.
Missoula to Minneapolis.
Ouch.
|
| September 29 2006:Seattle, WA, USA
High Dive
with The Village Green, The Ettes |  |
| September 26 2006:Seattle, WA, USA
Easy Street Records (Queen Anne) | | Live In-Store Performance! 6pm |
| September 22 2006:
KNDD | | Live on air perfomance & interview, 6 pm! |
| September 12 2006:Seattle, WA, USA
Neumos
with Shane Bartell, Two Loons For Tea | | Sarathan Records Showcase/CD Release |
| September 2 2006:
Bumbershoot | What can I say?
150,000 people....an ass load of bands...and little ol us.
We get to the Seattle Center and drive about looking for the entry.
Ah here it is, its the street that is blocked off and patrolled by several armed female members of Seattle's finest.
We drive in and one of the cops comes up to the van to start giving us grief for pulling down a restricted street.
Then she sees our parking pass.
"Oh! It’s The Purrs! well come right on in!"
No lie.
We aren't used to being expected.
We start unloading and in the large stadium next-door Blondie starts kicking into "Call Me".
I really wanted to see Blondie.
I really wanted to see them perform "Hanging On The Telephone".
That's my favorite tune besides the obscure track "English Boys" which they would never play.
Maybe I will get done loading in time to head over and ....doh!
The second song is "Hanging".
Oh well.
Playing in The Sky Church is a treat.
The sound is great; the stage is nice and big.
Plus you've basically got the lighted backdrop from some old U2 tour as your light show.
It was heavenly.
The preparations for this show were overly intense due to the absence of Jason A. who was down in Mexico enjoying his honeymoon in Hurricane Ernesto.
Filling in was our (now lifelong) friend Peter from Voyager One.
He'd worked his ass off learning the songs of a band he had no emotional investment in, for a single show.
He did a great job.
Somehow we got roped into going over to a booth to sign posters for an half hour.
Our album doesn't come out till the 12th so we had nothing to sign except posters.
I wish we'd had some music to give away or something.
It was then time to relax and enjoy the festival.
But since there were 150,000 people there, it was rather impossible.
So instead I settled for many beers and some big greasy meat sandwich on a stick or something.
I saw some bands, but I'd be hard pressed to remember anything as standing out as I was pretty tired.
I was wearing one of my favorite T-shirts for the gig, its a Siouxsie shirt from the Israel/JuJu era.
I've had it since I was in 7th grade...
Anyway, this guy in the beer garden had a Siouxsie shirt on as well.
He took the fact that we were both wearing billboards for the same band as an invitation to chat me up about 80's goth bands.
After a couple seconds of talking about Sisters of Mercy or whatever, I excused myself, went to the bathroom and changed into my Yo La Tengo t-shirt.
It was drier anyway.
I headed back for another beer, right by the Siouxsie guy, who didn't look up at me at all, probably because I didn't register on his GothDar any longer.
Some wacko in mirror shades and no shirt high fived me right before I got my beer, telling me he was psyched to see Yo La Tengo represented. He was drunk and now I was out of t-shirts.
Special props to Charles Redell for these awesome live shots of us. |
| August 11 2006:Seattle, WA, USA
Sunset Tavern
with Grand Champeen, Richmond Fontaine |
| June 10 2006:Seattle, WA, USA
Sunset Tavern
with Ruston Mire, Elephants, Stuart Valentine | and DJ Chrispo
Noise For The Needy Benefit |
| June 9 2006:Portland, OR, USA
Towne Lounge
with Lost Cosmonauts, Go Fever, Stuart Valentine | The day begins with me discovering a large bolt sticking out of the front tire of my car. Sigh….a trip to the tire repair shop is required.  I head over to the practice space and everyone has already loaded the gear into Connie. Dayna has a new gear loading configuration that solves the main problem we had with my configuration which was, how to get that huge Farfisa into the gear cage and out of the cabin part of the van. She has now officially wrested the crown of Gear Gnome from me. :) The drive down is thankfully uneventful. We go to KPSU, a radio station on the campus of Portland State U. where the students have foolishly allowed us to take over their airwaves for an hour. The studio space is large and nice, but loading in the gear requires that one runs the gauntlet of filth that is loading dock of the building. Pools of greasy water, piles of rotten garbage and a derelict homeless person or two line the path between Connie and the relative safety of the studio.   The performance and requisite interview afterwards go off without a hitch. We busted out a version of “Creeping Coastline Of Lights” that I enjoyed.  After that its back through the butthole of the building to Connie, to Old Town Pizza, to the Towne Lounge to load in for the big rock show. During the Lost Cosmonauts set a fight broke out on the crowd. There were reports of a broken nose and someone using the word “nigger” (which was very amusing to me as there isn’t a black person in the place). I’m not really sure of the details as I make it a rule to never get involved in local politics.  We hit the stage and played a slaying set. Our live show is in great shape these days as we’ve been doing militant rehearsals and that work is paying off. After the show I went out to the van and saw two people vomiting on the sidewalk at the same time. I don’t think they knew each other and I apologize for not freeze drying the moment in a photograph for your amusement. I just wasn’t thinking…It probably had something to do with the amount of bourbon I drank. Good night Portland….  |
| June 9 2006:Porland, OR
KPSU | Live In-Studio Performance, 5pm
Webstreamed at www.kpsu.org/listen |
| May 5 2006:Seattle, WA, USA
Comet Tavern
with The Original Sinners (UK), The Zero Points |
| April 29 2006:Seattle, WA, USA
Neumos
Rock Lottery | Jima performs in the Seattle Rock Lottery-Benefit for KEXP.
Tickets available at Ticketwest. |
| April 28 2006:Seattle, WA, USA
High Dive
with Gary Reynolds & The Brides of Obscurity, Twrst |
| March 3 2006:Seattle, WA, USA
The Crocodile
with Hypatia Lake, Stars Of Track And Field, Joy Wants Eternity | | Hypatia Lake CD Release Show! |
| February 16 2006:Seattle, WA, USA
Neumos
with The Turn-Ons, Young Sportsmen |
| January 28 2006:Bellingham, WA, USA
The Nightlight
with Jesse Sykes And The Sweet Hereafter | It is no secret that The Purrs love Bellingham.
The town has always been a sort of "you always love what you can't have" kind of thing with us.
We've tried on 3 different occasions to get booked at "The 3B Tavern" which is/was supposed to be a cool venue.
We heard nothing back, just crickets.
Then sometime last year we somehow found ourselves on a bill with Something For Rockets at a bar called "The Nightlight".
The great atmosphere in the bar, the awesome sound system, the deli tray...it only served to whet our appetites to play there again. We tried for months to get back in there with no luck.
We gave up.
Then last month backstage at the Neumos/KEXP show Jima was approached by a person who called himself "Phil" from Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter. He said he and Jesse really dug The Purrs and wanted to know if we would be interested in playing a show up in Bellingham at the...
"Hell yes!" Jima interrupted.
"It's not much money but we can promise you an audience."
"Whatever, The Purrs will be there. We love Bellingham and we love your band so what is there to think about?"
And that was that.
Today we packed up all our crap in Connie and trucked up the I-5 in the rain to Bellingham.
We arrived alive and with time to kill, so we went to a local record shop where we overheard the shop-keep talking up the upcoming show to a customer.
He'd called us "awesome".
What is not to love about this town?
We load in, sound check, eat dinner and play pool.
Somewhere along the line Jima purchased a bottle of wine.
Somewhere along the line a fifth of Jim Beam and a fifth of decent vodka was acquired.
Somewhere along the line an amazing set by The Purrs was played.
Somewhere along the line Jesse Sykes played a slaying set....and hey look! That Phil dude is actually in the band and a totally awesome guitar player!
Somewhere along the line Jima and Craig end up at a different bar checking out fellow Seattle band
The Cops.
Somewhere along the line a hotel room is acquired.
The hotel seemed to have a thing about hang gliding. There were hang gliders suspended from the ceiling with overly life-like mannequins piloting them.
Creepy to say the least!
We all settled in to watch cable until we passed out.
The Purrs have this on going thing about Cable TV in hotels.
No matter what hotel in what town, a "Planet Of The Apes" movie is always being shown on TV.
We call the phenomena "The Channel Of The Apes".
It’s a great channel, plays nothing but ape stuff, Planet of the Apes (of course), King Kong and all his remakes, Congo, Grape Ape, Every Which Way But Loose....etc.
That channel is awesome! ...and it comes free with our hotel room.
Ask for it from your cable provider today!
By the way, everyone in The Purrs except Jima snores like a jackhammer.
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| January 20 2006:Seattle, WA, USA
Comet Tavern
with The Melody Unit, Climber |  | Just a short litany of small things going wrong.
Our van would not start.
"Connie" as we refer to her, is an old 85 Ford Econoline and is prone to tempermental behavior. Apparently she just was not interested in going up to Capitol Hill to play a gig.
So we had to car pool to the club.
We were told that load-in was at 8.
We get there at 8 to find the other band's vans parked in the street with their hazards on.
It turns out that load-in is not going to be until 9.
Parking in Capitol Hill is generally difficult and on a Friday evening doubly so.
We began circling the block.
After about half an hour Jason scores a parking space close to the club but Jima is still driving in circles around the block.
Jima doesn't have a very good sense of direction (no suprise there) and promptly gets lost.
Fifteen minutes of driving through a labryinth of tight little streets lined with bars and hospitals later Jima finally finds the bar. Another ten minutes of circling around and he finally finds a parking space about 2 blocks away.
Just as he turns off the car, Jason calls him to tell say that the owner of the car in the space next door has just returned and is about to leave.
Jima leaves his spot and drives quickly over where they both discover that the person has chosen to just sit in his car with the engine running and talk on his cell phone.
Jima gets annoyed and double parks.
Right about then the bar allows the band to load-in.
As Jima starts unloading gear, the unknown man pulls out of his beloved parking spot.
After load-in Jima and Dose need a drink so they head to the bar.
Jima only has ten dollars on him so he hands the bartender his credit card and says "I'd like to start a tab please," at which point he is informed that it is "Cash Only" at this bar.
Of course it is.
Jima buys a Guinness which is served to him in a plastic cup. Jima hates Guinness in plastic cups.
Jason points out that the bar does not serve hard alcohol.
It will be a bourbon free evening.
The band is handed drink tickets that are apparently only good for Pabst or LaBatts.
Around this time Jason realizes he has forgotten to print off set lists for tonight's show.
Jason and Jima set off in search of a cash machine.
The nearest one is in the grocery down the street.
They will not find out until they have waited in line and Jason has inserted his card and entered his information that the ATM in question is out of money.
Money is acquired from a machine another block away.
Jason and Jima pop into a different bar on the way back and acquire whiskey.
The instant the lovely liquid enters their bodies the evening takes a turn for the better.
All becomes right with the world.
All the little hassles of the evening shrink to their appropriate size, then pop out of existence like soap bubbles.
It turns out to be a kick ass show. |
| January 7 2006:Portland, OR, USA
Berbatis
with Man Of The Year, Climber |
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| Check out gigs from these years: |
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2001
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2002
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2003
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2004
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2005
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2007
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