CHAPTER 1 Wherein our heroes encounter police action, attend a bat mitzah, partake of afternoon beers and sleep in dangerous places. 

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We left Philly with a major bang — an impromptu party with 25 of our friends, raging until the sun came up. The next morning we were all over the place: Steve at the laundromat, Ryan out in the world taking care of myriad errands and me… in bed until 11. We all reconnected, watched some of the Led Zep DVD (”studying” as Ryan calls it) and pack, pack, pack. At 4:30 my sister Lauren, our 1-week roadie, swung in just as we finished loading up the van.

The Pony Pants van is a sweet, 12 passenger roaring beast of a vehicle with terrible gas mileage and heaps of style.

We can fit a lot of shit into that van: all the gear, merch, and personal miscellany we've got. Cowboy boots shoved between pillows and a vintage suitcase, a bag of tissues and bananas, mic stands and medications. It was a gorgeous Friday afternoon and the traffic getting out of Philly was surprisingly calm. We made a few more stops (snacks, coffee, stuff from Bluebond) then hit the highway. Flying down the on-ramp we all spontaneously threw our arms up and cheered. It begins!

The first show of tour happened in a house in New Brunswick, NJ. A sweet girl named Monica arranged the entire show in this awesome attic atop their adorable apartment. A fragrant and 100% vegan meal was waiting on the table and friendly kids wandered in and out of the dining and living rooms. A boy in a shirt reading “You say tomato, I say fuck you” offered me a mojito. This is New Jersey? We are incredulous. See, we played a house party in New Brunswick in the summer, which was a complete disaster. On the drive home from that party, bleeding, freaked out and with venom in our hearts, we swore to never return to that god forsaken state. When offering us the show, Monica assured and re-assured us that this time would be different. This was the truth times a thousand!

Frst up was Mincemeat or Tenspeed — fun glitchy electronica stuff from Philadelphia. Rumor has it that he has a release out soon on Badmaster Records, our very own label. Next up: a brand new project, Foxy Lady & The Pretty LA Women. I was talking to this awesome kid way in the back, but from what i can tell their MO is to gleefully bastardize covers of all variety of pop music favorites. More beer arrived, the crowd was getting properly drunk, things were looking good.

We started the set and the crowd freaked out! One kid in the front, a cute redhead reminiscent of Big Pete, had exceptional dancing style: sunglasses, lots of pointing and air guitar-ing. Six songs deep, the police showed up and shut everything down. Apparently the New Brunswick cops will take any chance to break up a party — the noise violation tickets they issue are a huge source of revenue for the city. Monica was a champ and took it in stride, but everyone else felt a bit deflated. Soon after, we set up camp and passed out. The next day, after a brief stop in Brooklyn for my cousin's Bat Mitzvah and to pick up the Barking Spiders dudes, we drove into Connecticut for the second show. We play at this incredible place called The Nest, a huge old factory converted into an incredible art space. This radical collective DIY Bandits organized the show, and it was really fun. A bunch of kids showed up, Food Not Bombs provided some snacks, and the atmosphere was super relaxed. Barking Spiders rocked it with Ryan guesting on drums, and our set was pretty good, too.

Some interesting hip-hop projects played, as well as some more punk rock acts: Johnny Hobo and Hand Grenade Serenade. Hand Grenade will make an appearance a little later in the week. We drove back to Brooklyn that night and stayed in Green Point. The next day we did the requisite Brooklyn things: bummed around, ate overpriced sandwiches, sat in the park, drank beer in the afternoon. We all headed over to Goodbye Blue Monday around 9 and godDAMN this place is fucking cool. Amazing junk of all varieties covers every surface, weird old lamps provide great lighting, a bar is set up in the back serving up $2 PBRs, and the stage is set up against the back wall. And what's more, it was a night of friendship: The Hate My Day Jobs opened the show and kicked total ass. Barking Spiders next, then us, then a woefully short set by Shellshag, who helped us set up the show in the first place. Tons of friends, old and new, came out to hang with us and it was a great time. We partied afterward at K&M Bar and crashed in our pal Stina's swanky new pad in Park Slope. I guarantee that it is the nicest place we stay for the entire tour. Lauren and I slept directly below a gigantic crystal chandelier, terrified and somewhat thrilled that it might crash down on us during the night. Death by chandelier is a pretty romantic way to go.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 18th, 2006 at 2:58 pm and is filed under Music, Pony Pants Express. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.