This bit of the trip is a bit boring. No gigs and it has been rainy, overcast, and freaking COLD! So not much sight seeing either. Frankly, I’m tired and ready to go home…but I’m jazzed to see Arctic Monkeys on Friday in Milwaukee, so I’m hanging tough.
So let’s summarize the last couple of days, shall we? Council Bluffs to Des Moines
One thing that surprised me about my trek across Iowa was the large numbers of massive wind turbines! Yeah, renewable power! The turbines are massively huge and if that wasn’t amazing enough, they look like kinetic sculpture as the turn gently in the wind. With all the recent storms, I couldn’t help wondering how the windmills would fare in a tornado. Would they generate half a year’s worth of power, or would they snap like twigs?
Another weird thing I wondered as I drove along was…what substance is in bug guts that makes them completely impervious to windshield washing fluid? Do you hit the bugs so fast that the spot weld to the glass? Why can’t we invent some solvent that gets them off without scrubbing?
Des Moines to Davenport, IA/Moline, IL
Before I headed out, I wandered Des Moines a little looking for something meaningful to shoot. Tah dah…the state capital!
Well, it’s not a great photo, but at least it’s proof I was there. O_o
On the way to Davenport, I saw a semi with one of the blades to those windmills I’d seen the day before. I was so geeked out by how big it was and how the wind caught the blade and made it shake, that I followed the truck like a fan girl for a long time. GEEK!
When I got into Davenport, the hotel room TV was on the weather channel. It was beeping like crazy and the weather people were apoplectic. There were about a million tornado warnings all over the Midwest. Iowa was going to be in for some serious thunderstorms too! So Ellie and I ran out to grab dinner and then I spent the rest of the evening watching the weather channel while biting my nails. Baseball-sized hail in South Saint Louis?!?! Storms and tornados were hounding the homes of 90% of the people I’ve ever known! Thank goodness for facebook (which I also watched obsessively). Everyone’s fine though. I even got a text from my neighbor. My house is still standing. Whew!
I think I dreamed about flying monkeys that night, but I’m not sure. ;)
Moline to Rockford
When I got up Thursday the storms had made it seriously cold, so I didn’t even attempt any tourism. Poor Ellie though, she’s completely bored of this trip and convinced that she will never see her sumptuous back yard ever again. However, she still hasn’t stopped hopping from the back seat to the front seat over and over whenever the car stops. And, I swear, you can hear a ‘sproing’ sound effect when she jumps in the car, but as soon as we’re on the road, it’s all harrumphing and whining.
It wasn’t long before I started seeing familiar town names. The weather was still crap, grey and cold, but when Ellie and I arrived we went on a long walk anyway. Nothing special because Ellie doesn’t much care if we’re in a park or a parking lot, so long as she can sniff every thing along the way, it’s the best walk she’s ever been on.
I did make an attempt to find a local state park, but after some driving, the GPS guided me into a pristine, neat little trailer park and declared that I had arrived at a 2,000+ acre haven for campers and hikers. Uhm…close, but no cigar. I hate to admit it, but I was tired and hungry, so I went and got a delicious Jimmy Johns sub and went back to the hotel.
See how adventurous and exciting I am? After I ate my sub, I accidentally took a nap too. Thrill a minute, I tell ya!
Despite being nearly wrung out by this little adventure, I’ve been listening to the Arctic Monkeys all day, so I’m starting to really get excited about the show.
I got up early, determined to see something of Kansas City before I headed for Council Bluffs, Iowa. The sky was overcast, so I was a bit grouchy that I missed shooting the area the evening before. After a long while of being certain that my GPS was leading me astray, I finally wound up at KC’s famous “Plaza.” Ellie and I walked around the uber-fancy shopping district snapping pics here and there. I think that was Ellie’s first big-city walk. She did great.
Any way here are my favorite shots from “The Plaza”
One thing about traveling via GPS, sometimes the turns and exits are so close together the voice nav can’t get her full sentence out before your next turn. And one problem with missing your exit is that takes FOREVER to get back on track. I was driving in loops for nearly half an hour. Grr. And that is all I have to say about that particular aggravation.
Somewhere along the boring old highway, I decided to hype myself up for the gig and played Wasting Light all the way through. Of course, White Limo gave me a case of lead foot. “GOOOOOOOOO LIIIIMOOO!” Whoops! Just when I noticed how fast I was going, I glanced into the rearview and noticed a cop zip onto the highway from the median. DAMN! I was certain I was busted.
I set the cruise control just under the speed limit, drove like a little old lady on her way to church, turned Dave’s volume WAY down, and waited for the inevitable. The cop followed me…and followed me…and followed me, but never got really close. He must have followed me for ten or fifteen miles, but he never pulled me over. WHEW!
Long story short, got to the hotel, got ready, and went to the gig. I was kind of surprised that they had a dude outside the arena blasting Wasting Light at the people in line. I thought it was gauche to play the album the band’s touring for right before the show. Not like I minded, it’s just sort of odd.
There was a really weird sculpture outside the arena. It had to be three stories tall, three stainless steel dudes with enough holes to look like Swiss cheese. Weird and cool.
Signs at the door announced that Motorhead wouldn’t be playing due to “travel conditions out of their control” but the same sign also bragged that, as a result, the Foos would play a 2 ½ hour show. Yeah, like they weren’t going to do that Motorhead or no! Hahaha
Definitely the smallest arena, but it was full and very enthusiastic. All four shows, my seats were on the right side of the stage. I was closest to the main stage in Tulsa, but in Council Bluffs, I was practically right on top of the mid-floor mini-stage! The photos were going to rock!
The show went on as normal; Biffy Clyro played. I really must get some of their music. That “Fireman” song is sticking in my head. I don’t think Biffy extended their set, but the intermission between them and Foo was extra long. They still started earlier than the other gigs, and they still started with a four-song blast of absolute ROCK power, before letting us up for air.
About midway through their set, Dave started talking about how they were going to play until the audience told them to go home, which made the rowdy crowd roar in approval. Surprised by the response, Dave said when they “got all the hits out of the way” they’d just play covers until they dropped. The crowd loved that too, so Dave decided they’d do a cover right then. It surprised me to hear them play Breakdown by Tom Petty. It, of course, was awesome!
But the cover they did that blew the roof off the entire place came a little later. Shiff, Pat, and Nate snuck off the stage as a roadie dude brought Dave out a yellow guitar. Now this may be a stunning revelation of my level of fandom for the Foos…but it wasn’t a guitar I recognized. Yeah, I actually recognize his guitars. The blue Gibson’s my fave. Anyway, so he puts on the yellow guitar and goes up to the mic. “So I got a text today from fucking Lemmy in Dallas. It said ‘5:30 is the new 3:30 and tornado is the new partly cloudy.’” Although Lemmy and Mikkey were stuck in Dallas. Phil Campbell was with the Foos!
So Phil came out and while he got ready to play his guitar, Dave kept saying things like, “I don’t know about this. This is a bass. I don’t really play bass. I hope I don’t screw this up.” Then he started plunking notes on his yellow bass like a complete beginner would. But when Phil gave him the nod, Dave RIPPED into the bass line of Ace of Spades like he’d been playing it every day for twenty years! The crowd went completely insane. I can’t even tell you much about the performance of the song, I was too busy flinging my hair to the frenetic beat like a crazy person. It was perfect…absolutely perfect!
Another great moment in the show, Dave climbed down into the security/photo pit from the corner of the stage and worked his way around to the front of the stage. The front of the stage had a section that stuck out about ten feet from the main stage, and when Dave got up the stairs to the end of it, he stood there out front with his back to the crowd…pulled up his pants dramatically, wiggled his butt, and then stuck his tongue out at us over his shoulder. LOL! I love that man.
Toward the end of the encore, Dave flipped the lyrics of Skin and Bones around and as soon as he realized he’d fucked it up, he turned to Chris Shifflet and both of them cracked up.
It was a great show…they’ve all been great. Even though the crowd in Little Rock was a bit lame, none of the bands gave anything less than 110%.
I realized as I walked to my car, that the Foo Fighters are probably the only band you’ll ever catch me going to an arena to see. Theaters, or clubs are my usual venues. I’m usually not a fan of arena shows because you feel so far off and detached from the performance, but not so with Foo! Dave drags you thrashing and screaming into the show and rocks your ass off…and that is why he’s a God-like Genius!
Went back to the hotel, slept, and dreamed of Ireland. Farewell to Foos until July. *sniff*
Saint Louis to Kansas City (no gig, click pics for largeness)
I got up bright and early Sunday morning, loaded the car and headed for Kansas City. As I drove I thought about St. Louis. In a lot of ways, I think I know less about my new adopted city than I now know about Memphis. That needs to change. I’m moving “explore St. Louis” up on my list of things to stop procrastinating.
I drove and I drove and I drove. I thought about marketing and photography for some damn reason (billboards and my camera there on the console perhaps). I had a couple of design ideas, so when I stopped along the way for a pitstop, I had to sketch a few things real quick in my notebook before going on. Even though the drive was pretty boring, just being on the road gets the creative juices flowing. We’ll see if these sketches turn into something.
I hit a patch of weather during the drive. Pretty heavy rain, although not the heaviest I’ve ever driven though. Turned out to be the same storm system that leveled Joplin, MO where I’d been just a few days before. I didn’t find out about that until I got to my hotel room.
Getting to my hotel room in Kansas City was a challenge. I arrived at 3:00 p.m. but the desk lady told me the rooms weren’t “certified” ready for guests and I should come back in an hour. So, Ellie and I went to a local park and walked a couple laps, then…just to kill a bit more time, we picked up some Chinese food to have for an early dinner. I returned to the hotel at 4:00, but they still weren’t ready. I gave the desk girl “OMFG NO WAY” eyes, and she got on the phone. I was in my room in 10 minutes.
It was way too early for dinner…I wasn’t particularly hungry, but I ate some of the beef and broccoli because it was there and I was craving vegetables (toooooo much bad road food to that point). Because my pal Jason gave me the low down on everything cool to do in KC, I was looking forward to going out for some evening photos. But about twenty minutes after my Chinese snack, I noticed that my fingers were so swollen I could barely bend them. Investigating further, my face, my feet…all blimped up horribly! I’ve reacted to MSG before, but it usually manifests as a headache. So much for exploring KC…I couldn’t even get my shoes ON! I popped an antihistamine and threw the remaining Chinese food out. :P
Edited pictures until I forgot all theories of color, composition, and design that I’ve ever learned. And I worked on catching up on the blog some more. I was still swollen, although not as bad. I threw an Aleve at it before bed…just for good measure.
I left the hotel early and set out on a quest for coffee. It took longer than it should have, but I got my Java and set out for St. Louis. It was a long and largely boring drive, except for one scary moment when I choked on my drink because of that stupid dead nerve in my throat from the thyroid surgery. Spewing coffee on your steering wheel makes it all sticky. The other big thrill of the drive was the OUTSTANDING sunburn I got on my left forearm. I had to tie a bandanna around it to keep it from getting crispy. But despite all that, I was home by early afternoon.
It was so good to be home, it was really easy to contemplate blowing the Iowa show off. But it was also easy to talk myself right out of that stupid idea. I unpacked the car, started the laundry, paid the bills, and speed mowed the yard while Ellie basked in her leash freedom. When the laundry was all done, I reorganized, downsized, and repacked. I think it was about seven or eight at night before I finally got to sit down.
I downloaded, organized, and edited photos, then threw a blog update up and that was all I could squeeze out of that day.
Memphis tourism and Gig (Click pics for bigness. There are more Foo pics on flickr than what I show here. Check my photostream or use tag 'foofighters'.)
Arriving in Memphis the day before the big gig gave me ample time for some tourism. The two sites I wanted to see most were Sun Studios and Beale Street. Since Sun was closest, I headed there first. I didn’t go in, although I probably should have. I didn’t want to spend too much time, just grab some photos and experience the vibe. I tooled around outside shooting Sun from various locations.
I took several pictures of the very cool guitar sign over the front door, but no matter what I tried in the processing, I couldn’t get any of the photos to be what I wanted them to be. It was really sunny and I kept getting in people’s way. Should have brought my polarizing filter. Oh well.
I parked about a block away from Sun, and what a lucky parking spot it was. There was a gallery/studio there called Escape Alley. It appeared to be a collective of artists building a pretty groovy little community art and entertainment venue. The alley itself was fun to shoot.
By the time I got done wandering around the art alley, I was powerful hungry. Onward to Beale Street! While I was looking for parking, I ran into the FedEx Forum! Wow, it was just a block from Beale! Sweet!
I wandered up and down Beale Street taking photos, looking at all of the bars, cafes, BBQ places, and weird shops, but my stomach had enough of my teasing! I had to make a choice of delicious food to eat. I popped into the Blues City Café and had some of the best (and most spicy) gumbo I’ve ever had in my life, then some fried shrimp that were kissed by the devil himself (VERY peppery hot!). It was while my mouth burned that I realized that Cole slaw’s primary purpose in Southern cuisine is to keep your head from bursting into flame. Sounds extreme, but it was so freaking delicious I couldn’t wait for each bite’s burn to abate before I shoveled more in my face, thus is built up quick. Thank heaven for Cole slaw.
I wandered around down town for a bit, saw a statue of Elvis (shocked?) and checked out the Gibson guitar factory (not much to see). Since it was so close, I decided to drive down to the riverfront and see what sort of chaos the recent flooding had caused. For the most part, everything was dried up and riverfront businesses were open and operating.
I was tired from all the walking around and sweaty from the heat (good Lord, it was hot), so I headed back to the hotel to tend the mutt and get ready for the show.
You know what I like most about Memphis? Memphis likes to chat. Everyone’s pretty friendly and there seems to be none of that northern reservation about chatting away with a complete stranger. I like that. I got into such a chatty mood, by the time I got to the gig, I was chatting with most everyone I passed. It’s not just Memphis people either, that chat thing seeps right into the visitors as well. I had a pleasant chat with at least one person every damn place I went.
At the show, the chat thing was even easier. A bum passed by the smoking section while I was chatting with this one couple, and the bum mumbled some long string of nonsense at us that sounded just like a scat. The guy I was chatting with started into a bum scat comedy routine that had tears welling up in my eyes. A bit later, I got into a chat with a couple of very cool kids ;) before the show. Kristi and John were awesome! Kristi is (if possible) a bigger Foo Freak than me! *gasp* So, of course, we bonded instantly.
I kind of missed them when we parted to get to our seats. But then a guy sat next to me, not because it was his seat (he was actually from one row up), but because he wanted to chat. Well, he was nice enough, but I got the feeling he was hitting on me, which would have been okay except he started talking about car maintenance and I got bored. LOL.
The crowd was stunning. It was Friday night and the place was packed almost to the rafters. The biggest arena so far, it had two balconies and the place was almost completely filled with hyped-up rock fans! By the time Motorhead finished, I thought the roof would get blown off the place just from the enthusiasm.
None of my Motorhead pics turned out because the lighting was complete shit. :( There was light around them, but not on them. Damn!
Knowing the Foos were going to go for hours, I popped out for a quick smoke and who should I find in the smoking area? Kristi and John again! Woohoo! Kristi was sweaty, buzzed, and completely fan-blissed out!
I always assumed the venue picked the music that plays before the show starts, but I guess it must be the band. I heard Queens of the Stone Age’s Feel Good Hit of the Summer every show between Motorhead and Foo. It was cool, because with a house full of Foo, lots of people were singing along with QotSA which made me grin. There was also a Them Crooked Vultures song they kept playing, No One Loves Me I think.
Okay, so it was a great night…let’s get on with it. The Foos took the stage and the crowd went nuclear. They played their way right through three or four songs before they paused for some chat. The most notable quote I remember from that bit was Dave saying, “If your favorite band plays for one and a half hours…well, they shouldn’t be your favorite band.” Ha! Well, they aren’t!!
Dave does not sit still on stage. He runs to the sides, rocks out, runs out front, rocks out, runs into the crowd, and rocks out. He’s always encouraging the crowd to sing along, which really gets people amped up. He’s so physical through the show that I could see sweat literally dripping off his arms while he played. You never get a half-assed effort at a Foo show!
During one song break, Dave asked if we wanted to hear a limerick. We did. Fair warning though, it’s dirty!
There once was a hooker from Dallas
Who used a stick of dynamite as a phallus
They found her vagina in North Carolina
And her asshole in Buckingham Palace
Hahah…oh…uhm…*gasp* David Eric, shame on you! ;)
Dave redeemed himself later though when he told a story about waking up that morning. He ordered a bagel from room service and after half an hour called to ask where it was. They said it was coming. After another half an hour, Dave called back to tell them, “Fuck your bagel!” Then he set out to find some coffee and a sandwich. “I walked and walked and walked…then I saw a Starbucks!” It wasn’t until he got his food and sat down that he realized he’d walked into the Starbucks right across the street from the arena. “I’d walked right into the belly of the beast.” Anyway, Dave started getting fans coming up to talk and one fan had a special request. So at the end of the show, the special fan got to ask his girl to marry him, then the Foos played Everlong for them and then Dave gave them a big hug. T’nawwww.
My sandals are completely inadequate for standing on concrete for three hours, so when the show let out, I sat on a wall because my feet were swollen up like balloons. A hippy chick was sitting there with her nerdy boyfriend and as soon as I sat down we started a hysterically funny, sarcastic critique on the ‘fashion trends’ among the sea of humanity leaking out of the arena. Hippy chick was funny as hell. She reminded me of my friend Jeannie. She told me that she’d seen someone who looked like Wynona Judd making out with someone in the sound booth. Weird. Anyway, my feet got to feeling a little better, so I said goodbye and headed for the parking garage.
Now here I am, on my own walking along the street in a city hundreds of miles from home and as I walked, I heard someone enthusiastically calling my name. I blinked toward the voice with amazement. Who the hell knew me by name in Memphis? Kristi & John!! What are the odds? How cool is that? I sat with them and chatted about the show. Kristi also saw Wynona Judd. I just never really pegged her for a Foo Fan, but okay, cool! I exchanged emails and facebooks and stuff with Kristi, then we all went up to the parking garage. Kristi and John left, but I got the DSLR out of the trunk and headed back to Beale Street.
I wanted some night shots, but just as I got there this crazy huge gust of wind nearly toppled all of the revelers over. I took a few hasty (and therefore crappy) shots until I felt the first rain drops. I managed to power-walk the block back to the garage just before the downpour hit.
I got back to the hotel and walked Ellie. Although I brought an umbrella so that princess prissy pants could have her evening tinkle, the wet ground offended her sensibilities and nothing got accomplished. Fine doglet! I had to go back to our room and collapse immediately, so the dog just had to hold it until morning.
The eastern bits of Arkansas aren’t quite as stunning as the west. I did have time to meander, but I decided I’d rather spend my free time in Memphis than in the wilds of Arkansas. But half way to Memphis, traffic slowed to a crawl. Since I was going no more than 2 miles per hour, I decided to pull up Google maps on the phone and see if it would show how long the delay was. My lord in heaven, it was at least ten miles. Ten miles and 2 miles per hour? Oh hell, no!
I hopped off at the next exit, calculated a little detour on the GPS, and got onto a two-lane highway that ran parallel to the main interstate. I ran through a couple of sad little towns and one sort of major town that was also in pretty sad shape. It looks like times have been hard in this area for quite some time.
Not all of it was like that, there were some sprinkles of spiffy newness…but not many.
The only real bit of adventure the trip offered up was just at the point where I was about to get back onto the interstate. No more than a foot from either side of the highway was water…lots of water and the road itself was covered with dried mud. Clear evidence that the area had recently been underwater. I got a bit nervous when I noticed cars ahead were spraying water into the air. Uh Oh. Yeah, a short section of the highway was still underwater. With no shoulder and the water right there on both sides, there was no easy way to turn around. So after watching several cars brave the water, I decided to bite my lip and plunge in. It was pretty deep and my car is pretty small, but I hit it at a slow but firm speed hoping to push my way through quickly. At least if I stalled there were about a billion other cars right there lined up to take the plunge. But NotABug made it! And we went on our merry way to Memphis.
After all of the recent flooding, I expected to find Memphis in worse shape, but for the most part, Memphis is just fine and dandy! There’s still quite a bit of water in the fields on the Arkansas side of the river, but life seems relatively normal on the Tennessee side.
So it was the first night without a show. The doggie needed some attention, so after settling in at the hotel, we went for a walk and ‘wrasseled’ for a bit. When we got back the sun was starting to go down and the light was fantastic, so I grabbed my camera and decided to go for a walk. The University of Tennessee was right around the corner and I figured that was ripe territory for golden-hour photo opportunities.
So after about two blocks a homeless guy ambles up beside me, telling me how it’s a nice night and he quit smoking 15 years ago. The sun is glowing gold on regal architecture and I have a smelly guy dogging me…no way was I pulling my camera out. So I walked with him for another block while chatting about his upcoming trip to Mt. Rushmore. When we came up to the Office Max I’d spied a bit earlier, I gave him a pleasant wave and ducked into the store. I managed to get all the way back to the hotel before it was dark, but the time had passed for stunning light on old buildings. *sigh*
Thanks to crazy homeless guy, the only decent photo I got was taken from the balcony of my hotel room. It’s definitely the best sunset photo I’ve ever taken, but I’m still disappointed about homeless guy wrecking my photo buzz.
There was no real chance to do any tourism in Tulsa. By the time I got up and got packed, I needed to get on the road so I’d be in Little Rock in time to get ready for the show.
There’s not much to be said about the drive from Tulsa to Little rock. Wildflowers reappeared and so did the road kill. Dead armadillos make so much more sense in southern Oklahoma than they do in Missouri.
Most of the trip was spent running from a big black rain cloud that made the sky far more interesting than the scenery. At least until I hit Arkansas…then the scenery went all WOW! The Ozarks, man, don’t underestimate them. Unfortunately the rain persisted and I was kind of pressed for time, so no great pictures. I swear, I’m going back though. Another thing Arkansas gave me was so much honeysuckle that the air was sweet with the scent even at 70 miles per hour. I sneezed for five miles.
No photos of the show due the Verizon Arena being jerkwads and not allowing cameras. I got there about an hour before the doors opened. Parking was a breeze! The Burger King across the street was whoring it’s parking lot out for the gig and they were literally right next to the on-ramp of the highway back to my hotel. Sweet!
My tickets for the Little Rock show were definitely nose-bleeders, but when I got there, all of balconies were closed. Due to low ticket sales, they were shifting us down to the main floor. So, if the show wasn’t sold out, why did Ticketmaster give me nosebleed sets on fan pre-sale? Bastards! Anyway seat upgrade so, great right? No, meh. I was only 3 rows back from the floor but a full 4 sections further from the stage. :P
How lame is it that Little Rock didn’t sell more? One guy claimed it was because it was a Wednesday night, but Tulsa was filled to the rafters on a Tuesday, so I concluded that Little Rock is just lame in general. LOL. Seriously though, the Arena was 2/3rds full but the crowd was a bit lethargic at first but by the time Motorhead finished, they were roaring and ready to GO! So, there is hope for Little Rock after all.
I had a nice seat on the aisle so my view was unobscured. However, there was a woman behind me screaming like a howler monkey on fire, so that sort of wrecked my buzz a little bit. Thank goodness I brought ear plugs. Of course the earplugs didn’t help with the noxious gas attack someone near me had toward the end of the show. I eventually moved to the top near the entrance, just to evade the methane. Seriously dude, try some Immodium or something.
The light show when they played Generator was mind blowing, but I think the Little Rock performance of Stacked Actors may be the best performance of that song I have ever seen (check YouTube, there are zillions of them). Everything about it was perfect smokin’ rocktastic head-banging bliss!
One of the most charming moments of the show, was Dave shoving Chris Shifflet to the front of the stage for the guitar solo of Tie Your Mother Down (a Queen cover). Chris is sort of shy for the lead guitarist of a major rock band. The Foos also covered School’s Out by Alice Cooper…the crowd went nuts!
Another fun moment came during the encore. Dave was playing acoustic from the platform at the far end of the floor and he sort of got fixated on something in the audience. He asked “Super enthusiastic guy” to do “that thing again…the one where I can see your belly hanging out of your shirt.” I couldn’t see the guy but every time he did it, Dave laughed and gave the guy the thumbs up, then he dedicated Times Like These to Super Enthusiastic Guy.
Seeing the show twice in a row makes you realize how much of it is rehearsed and how much of it isn’t. However, I’ve been a Foo Fighters fan long enough to know that Everlong comes at the very very end…always. Although I do love the tune, it’s not my favorite and while I hate to admit I’d walk away with my boys still on the stage, when Everlong started I slipped out to beat the traffic. My feet were aching from standing up so long and I was tired beyond belief. It was kind of cool being able to clearly hear the Foo Fighters from a whole block away outside at night.
I feel kind of gypped that the day didn’t yield any photos, but I had a blast anyhow.
So the excitement was beginning to build when I woke up on Tuesday, although no anticipation can really get going without a dose of java. I spent some time hanging out with my brother in the morning, and wonderful brother that he is, he not only took out the trash…but also pointed out that the giant luna moth on the wall would make a great photo. +1 brother point to JR!
I finally got on the road sometime after 9:00 a.m. The road between Springfield, MO and Tulsa OK is…well…the road. RV sales places, lots of Adult video store billboards. I really need to get off the interstate. Oh yeah…I forgot the trucks…lots and lots of trucks. So many trucks they were practically stacked up. ;)
I stopped in Joplin for gas and road snacks and stopped next to this night club with old cars sticking out of the roof…can’t beat that!
I was quite enjoying the lovely bursts of wildflowers along the roadside in Missouri, but once I crossed into Oklahoma, they vanished. Oddly enough, so did the road kill. For a while I pondered why there weren’t wildflowers and road kill in Oklahoma, but then I caught up to the mowing crews. I don’t know if they clean up the road kill too, but I suppose someone must. Neither duty sounds particularly appealing. I wish they didn’t have to mow down the wildflowers…but I’m glad someone picks up the gruesome mangled animal carcasses.
Another thing I noticed about north eastern Oklahoma…no crops. Miles and miles of pastureland with cows as far as the eye can see…but no crops.
I’m starting to wonder if I truly trust my GPS. I mean, it gets me where I want to go, and every time I second guess it I get burned…but other times it skips stuff, or doesn’t quite give enough warning, or uses a highway number different from what is on the signs. I suppose it’s not that different than a human navigator, subject to errors but usually reliable. Though, no human navigator I’ve ever traveled with insisted that I go right back and drive through that closed section of road. GPS doesn’t handle construction, accidents, or other detours well. Recalculating…DAMN IT!
I was hoping for more exploration/photo time, but I had to crank it to get to Tulsa in time to get ready for the gig. Unfortunately, no DSLRs allowed at the show, but my little point & shoot was allowed, so I settled into the hotel room, walked the dog, and charged up my camera battery while I showered.
So I got to the show kind of early, hung out with the crowd at the front door. The Foo fans are an interesting swath of humanity; everything from ten year olds, chicks with pink hair, to the guy you get your homeowner’s insurance from. I should have taken more photos of the crowd, but I was saving my batteries.
My seats were FREAKING incredible! I was so close to the stage that I bounced a little bit. Biffy Clyro started the show, apparently they’re massive rock stars everywhere but in the US. They were awesome, sort of a Zepplin/Weezer love child.
Motorhead…was fucking MOTORHEAD! They absolutely rocked and by the time Lemmy was all done with us, the crowd was PUMPED! Me included.
When the Foo Fighters took the stage, everyone in the place leapt to their feet cheering wildly and doing that devil-fingered fist-pump thing…like ya do. They led off with Bridges Burning then immediately shifted into Rope. To kill us all completely, then they blasted into The Pretender. I can’t recall everything they played, but we were several songs into it before Dave took a pause to chat with the audience.
Dave loves audience participation, so he forced us to sing along quite a few times and kept running down into the audience. There was a platform at the other end of the floor, and he ran over to it for the traditional Stacked Actors guitar battle with Chris Shifflet and appeared there by magic ;) at the start of the encore. From the platform, Dave told the audience that there is never a shitty seat at a Foo Fighters show!
The show was absolutely beyond expectations. They played for nearly three hours and seemed to enjoy every freaking minute as much as the crowd did. Dave ran around and told jokes, and rocked his ass off including…INCLUDING…having Lemmy up to sing Shake Your Blood! Dave gave Lemmy a big hug before the song (t’nawww) and after Lemmy said the Foo Fighters were the greatest fucking rock band ever. Who are we to argue with Lemmy?
I was thrilled when they played For All the Cows and Hey, Johnny Park. They played a couple of covers too. The one that really knocked my socks off was Tie Your Mother Down by Queen which Taylor sang! :D
There was a seriously annoying dorky couple in front of me and the whole row of hipsters I was sitting next to got irritated. I drank too much and kept having to go pee. Thanks to intermissions, I didn’t have to miss any of the show, but DAMN those arenas are HUGE!
I took about a bazillion photos! I wish I could have had the DSLR, but my little point and shoot did a pretty fine job. See?
After the show, I battled traffic and got back to the hotel. It took a little while for the adrenaline to wear off, but I was stone cold asleep within an hour. And that was the end of a totally exhilarating and exhausting rock and roll day.
Monday morning I woke to the news that my cousin Angie had died. She’d been battling cancer for a number of years, and lost her husband suddenly and unexpectedly earlier this year. Although the family is finding some peace knowing that her suffering is over, it’s still a hard blow. She leaves behind two teenage sons, a sister who adored her, and her parents. She left us far too young.
I spent Monday hanging out with Dad, running errands and such. Then the whole bunch of us; Dad, Billie, JR, Chelsea, and I went out for dinner. JR diagnosed a problem with my car stereo. I thought I had a blown speaker…but it looks like it might be the stereo itself. *sigh* Sure, first day of a road trip and my car stereo goes wonky.
Oh, and another thing that happened…the Foo Fighter’s announced their St. Louis gig. Sept 17. Tickets go on fan pre-sale tomorrow. My enthusiasm was somewhat muted from the sad news of the morning, but I’ll order my tickets tomorrow. Yes, I can’t pass up seeing the boys one more time in my home town.
(Pssst, click the photos to see 'em bigger if you want))
And so it begins. Ellie and I took off from St. Louis on Sunday morning. It was rainy and grey and continued to be for most of the drive.
I was surprised to see the state of the former Chrysler plant on I-44. It looked half demolished, although there were giant for-sale banners out in front. After passing that place my whole life, it was eerie to see it with no cars anywhere around it.
With the rain and gloom there weren’t many opportunities to take photos. However, there are a number of locations just outside of the Lou that I want to revisit and shoot the heck out of. Anyone want to go to Six Flags this summer? ;)
Last summer I started researching Route 66 sites around St. Louis. I really got into it for a while, but the more I researched the more I noticed that most of the “famous” Route 66 sites are closed, falling into decay, or are gone completely. It started to get depressing, then I realized…I don’t remember Route 66. As far back as my memories go, I-44 has been there. So why am I nostalgic for Route 66? Really…I’m not. But traveling down I-44 you can’t help but realize that Missouri tourism certainly is. Sign after sign touts historic Route 66 sites and souvenirs, and yet the sites that do remain seem to be unimportant to the towns that tout them as tourist locations. The sign for the Diamond’s restaurant is a prime example. It still stands next to the highway, but the hotel and restaurant are long gone and the sign itself is falling apart. No one seems to care. How will you promote tourism once the historic sites are all gone? Does all the Route 66 branding do anything to attract tourists younger than 60? I may have to come back and do a photo essay on this phenomenon.
Despite the gloom of “remembering” Route 66, there is one nostalgic landmark from my childhood that is still standing and seems like it might still be in operation, although I can’t be sure of that. The drive-in theater in Cuba was a fun spot my Dad used to take me to when I was a kid. We used to watch movies sitting on inflatable rafts in the back of his El Camino. The El Camino had a rockin’ 8-track player from which I heard my first Beatles songs. Ellie and I stopped for lunch at the old Drive in…lunch and a few photos.
Once I got to the Fort Leonard Wood area, I started seeing ex-Armadillos on the side of the road. That’s a first for me, Armadillos in Missouri. I’ve seen them as far north as Arkansas before, but never in Missouri. Weird.
Anyway, another thing you see a whole lot of in south western Missouri is Jesus billboards. Some of them literally say nothing but the word “Jesus.” I wonder how many people have religious epiphanies while driving along the interstate just from seeing Jesus’ name. Does the single most famous person ever in the last 2000 years, really need all of this publicity? Every time I see one of these things, I wonder how much charity and good Christian works could have been done with the money they spent on the billboard. I’m just not sure Jesus would approve.
One final observation from the road…while the ethics of Jesus billboards still remains undecided in my head, I am absolutely certain of one thing…if you drive a big rig and you tailgate a regular car, you are going straight to hell. I think it’s likely that the mode of transportation is more rocket launcher than hand basket too. All tailgaters should be punished with slow excruciating torture, but tailgating semi’s deserve red-hot pokers in highly sensitive areas.
Anyway, I finally made it to my Dad and step-Mom’s place in Ozark, MO (near Springfield). We hung out and talked, met my little brother’s lovely girlfriend, Chelsea, for the first time. And then Dad and I stayed up gabbing until 2:00 a.m.
And so that was Day One of my Foogasm tour, such as it was.
Well, we’re getting closer to the big road trip! The birthday has come and gone, the job has come and gone. I spent a good portion of this week running errands mostly related to car care. So my little VW!NotABug has new tires, fresh oil, clean filters, fluids galore, new wipers, is vacuumed, Windexed, and Armor All'd. Just look at her now…she’s eager to hit the road!
So am I, frankly. With my final paycheck, I splurged on a bunch of new photography equipment, including a 50mm f1.4 prime lens that makes me weep every time I shoot a photo with it. I’ve spent my extra time during the first week of my unemployment learning the lens and shooting a ton of crap photos learning this or that technique. I think I’ve reached a point where I’m making progress, then I realize I don’t really understand half of what I think I know. I’ve tried so many different things, my head is spinning. I’m looking forward to the structure of school and the ways it will push me into areas I probably wouldn’t explore if not forced.
My little jewel of a neighbor, Marybeth, continues to be my best little model. Although she has no patience for posing, so she’s not only helping me learn portrait techniques, she’s also helping me learn to shoot FAST! So nice to have that fast prime lens with her as my subject.
I hit a slump a little while back where all my photos were just crap. For some reason, focus was just not on the agenda. I almost got discouraged, but then I got mad instead. So I cracked down and spent a couple of days figuring out what the hell I was doing wrong. Turned out to be a combination of things; depth of field issues, camera shake issues, AND Autofocus settings gone awry. So I went for a rainy-day walk (it always rains here now apparently) and spent hours shooting photos on full Auto mode so I could focus on…well, focus! Working hand held and focusing all my neurons on holding the damn camera still. These are skills I had at one point, I just started taking them for granted, I guess. Shooting too fast, not concentrating…snap and go, then get home to BLUR! Feh. Spending a day slowing down, framing and taking shots slower and more deliberately was all I needed to remind myself. Practice, practice, practice until it’s second nature…that’s my modus operandi.
A site where they’re tearing a building down made for some interesting shots on my FOCUS DAMN IT walk.
And the significant improvement in my photos made my attitude better. Got the creative juices flowing. I’ve started keeping a notebook of photo ideas and I jotted one down my last week of work. I was thinking about Star Trek (no idea why) and started pondering what a spaceship’s controls would look like. Thinking about that gave me the idea to shoot light coming up through this cool paperweight I’ve got.
Long boring story short…this is the first photo I’ve ever taken where I conceptualized the image before I shot it…and it came out EXACTLY like I imagined it! I know that sounds like a ‘so what’ but it’s a freaking milestone! I know the camera well enough to get it to do what I want and not just set it, point it, and see what happens. I KNOW what’s going to happen! Well, most of the time. More practice!!
Here’s the shot…pure camera…not Photoshop. :D
I’m so excited about everything, and yet the little voices of doubt in my head won’t shut up.
“You can’t go to all these concerts! You have no JOB!”
Yeah, but I’ll work on that in a few weeks.
“You can’t be a photographer!!!”
Why not? Weirder things have happened.
“You know multiple photographers far better than you who gave it up and chose another career!”
Yeah, so I chose IT and I’m giving that up for another career. Maybe I’ll never make a living at it…maybe I will. *shrug* At least I won’t have to wonder if I could have done it or not.
So shut up little paranoid voice that sounds horribly, frighteningly like my panic-prone mother…at this point I’m ready to rip my life open and rearrange the fuck out of it. So I’m ripping it open with a completely new career direction, a long road trip, and screaming loud rock music! I can’t freaking wait!! One more week until the Foogasm tour begins!
