The end - 2010 Spring tour.

I wish I had the energy for a full tour wrap up. I really do. Touring is exhausting and my mind is completely tapped out. This will be my last tour post and I'll keep it brief.

First I want to say thanks to everyone who came out to each of our shows on this tour. I met so many great people along the way. Some of our shows were big, and some of them were small. But at every show, there was at least one fan who came out specifically to see us and hear our live music. Honestly, this makes it all worthwhile for me. I'll play to an empty room if I know that one serious music fan is there. If you are one of the folks who came out and watched us in an empty room, thank you! It means the world to me.

Secondly, I'd like to thank all of the booking agents, writers, DJ's, and bands who helped make this happen. This is our fourth full US tour and things are starting to get really good. Every time we venture out the tour dates get bigger and better. It can be drag booking clubs and it takes a lot of work. It's not always beneficial for a club owner to take a chance on a national touring act trying to break in to a new market. The pay off usually doesn't come until the return trip. For all of you who gave us that chance, thank you for your help. I can promise you we will keep coming back until it is worthwhile to everyone involved. We're gonna shove this cowboy shit down your throat. You're gonna like it. We're not gonna stop.

After last nights show, we drove it straight from Bozeman to Seattle. That's one hell of a night drive.

I don't have it in me to recap the show in Bozeman, but I can tell you there were a lot of people out. They spent their hard earned dollars to get in the door. They raised hell on a school night. It was a nice way to end the tour.

I'll get back on the blog machine next time I have something worthwhile to tell you. For now I need to get some sleep and try to pull it all together. Thanks everyone. Let's keep it real.

Brent


PS - If you live in Seattle, you owe it to yourself to come out to the High Dive this coming Saturday (4/3) for our show. Brent Amaker and the Rodeo is on fire right now. We've got Bunny Monroe joining us on stage. Ben will be debuting a new instrument: "the tamburger". Hell, he might even do a "tamburger" solo. I wouldn't miss this one. Be there. Don't be a square. Don't be a pussy.

Mitchell, SD

Mitchell, South Dakota never disappoints. We rolled into town yesterday and knew exactly what to expect. We got a room at our favorite trashy motel (the Siesta). We asked for the corner unit with all the extra beds. They had it ready for us.

The motel staff remembered us from previous tours and welcomed us back. I was a little surprised since a traveling band is not usually the best sort of guest. Never the less, they had our room ready and were glad to see us.

My friend Austin booked the Mitchell show for us after the Moonlight was shut down for liquor violations. They canceled our event just a week before we left on tour. I was really concerned, because the Moonlight is our spot. Austin said not to worry. He would handle it. And boy did he come through for us. Austin and his buddy Aaron coordinated the whole thing on short notice. They found us a new venue and they got us our guarantee. They even came through with press in the local paper and radio play.

So when we got to Signatures, we already knew we would have the support of the town, but we didn’t know much about the venue. Well I’ll tell you now it’s safe to file this one under the category of “happy accident”. Signatures RULES! Here is a pic of me and the owner of the club.

We got to the club/restaurant and Aaron was waiting to greet us. The Rodeo is always looking for a price break on food, so I asked if there were any food discounts for bands. Aaron replied, “Do you guys like rib eye steak?” Do we like steak? Does a cow like to chew its cud? Hell yes! Next thing I know Aaron is ordering up steaks for everyone in the band and throwing it on his tab. Now that is a serious welcome for hungry cowboys. The evening could not have started any better. And them were some damn good steaks too!

By the time we had eaten our food the bar was already filling up. It was becoming clear that this was the big Saturday night event in Mitchell, SD. We’ve always had a lot of support in Mitchell, but people were filing in and I wasn’t recognizing any faces. Looked like the word was out and we would be welcoming a whole new crowd to the Church of the Rodeo. We had a couple of hours before show time, so we decided to run back to our room and relax a bit. In this type of situation, hanging around would only mean a lot of free drinks from friends and patrons. I knew how things would end up and it was way too early to go down that path.

And besides, our oasis at the Siesta was waiting. We needed to make sure we got our full $48 worth and enjoy our little home away from home. We crashed out in our big room and watched Jeremiah Johnson on AMC for the next hour. This was one of the few moments from this month long tour when we actually had a chance to stop and relax. Perfect.

And as expected, the party was on when we returned to Signatures. The opening band “Rubber Gloves” were already into their set, so we made the rounds and caught up with some familiar faces. I even got to meet my good friend Quentin's dad.

All of the drinks were on the house for us. As I talked to regulars, I discovered that this place doesn’t normally host events of this type. Austin and Aaron had brought in a P.A. and our stage was an area on the floor in the corner of the bar. There was even a small light system set up especially for this show. This was going to be rad.

The bar was packed. We could hardly walk through the room without stopping to talk to new fans or old friends. Everyone was getting their drink on and anxiously awaiting our set. It wasn’t long before Rubber Gloves wrapped up, and we were loading our gear onto the imaginary stage.

Here is a little taste of our set.

When we play Mitchell, we always play multiple sets. Because this is our home turf, we play as long as people want to drink. In Mitchell, people want to drink as long as the bar will let them drink. We went on at 11pm knowing that we would be playing music until last call. Here is and example of some crowd response between sets.

They even continue singing the “Rodeo” outro after the music stops.

So this is the way it went throughout the night. We did our usual whiskey baptism and I was extra sloppy. I’m sure everyone went home smelling like a bar room floor. The crowd kept drinking and they kept getting rowdier until some drunk bastard collapsed into my mic stand and broke it over my nose. The band kept playing music and as I struggled to put the mic stand back together. Sugar pushed me out of the way and said “let someone else handle it”. I turned around to look at Ben and he screamed “there’s blood running down your face!” Awesome. I was rocking out in Mitchell and blood was running down my face. This made me really happy.

The band kept it together and some guys jumped up and replaced my mic stand. As soon as it was up, I launched back into the vocals and kicked in the afterburner. I felt like I was living out some crazy cowboy version of fight club. I was ready to kick some ass!

The rest of the set was a blur, but I never stopped to check out my minor injury. Later that night we were having some beers at the Siesta and a big chuck of scab fell off my nose. Thank you Mitchell, SD. You always know how to show this cowboy a good time.

We stayed up late and shot the shit with my good friend Nick and eventually crashed. Our alarms would be going off at 7AM so we could start out on our12 hour drive to Bozeman, MT. This would be the last big push of the tour. Sunday night at the Filling Station and then it’s back to Seattle. Hard to believe this one is coming to an end.

A return to the Motherland

Minneapolis would be the first stop on our tour of "the big three". We consider the upcoming string of shows a return to the motherland. It’s all originates from Mitchell, SD, but Minneapolis is also part of the story. I'll explain.

When I first moved to Seattle over 14 years ago, I was playing open mic shows at a place called the OK Hotel. This place was legendary. Many of the big grunge acts from the 90’s started at the OK Hotel. The club had a main stage in the back, and a a smaller stage and bar in the front. Every Wednesday they held an open mic show in the front.

I didn’t have a lot of friends when I first moved to Seattle. I spent every Wednesday night by myself at the OK Hotel waiting for my chance to get up on stage and play my songs. I did this for at least six months straight, never opening my mouth to speak to anyone else. I would sit by myself and wait, play my two songs, and leave. Eventually I loosened up enough to get to know some of the regulars. On one of my regular visits to the OK, I met Nick Antonie and Troy Nelson. Troy was a recent transplant from Mitchell, South Dakota and I think Nick may have been visiting. Troy was also performing at the open mic show.

To be honest, I didn’t really spend a lot of time thinking about Nick or Troy until several years later. Troy had a band called “First Name Last Name”. At one point we talked about doing a show together. I'm not sure that ever happened (or did it? can't remember), but I kept running in to Troy all over town. Troy would call me up from time to time and ask if I wanted to hang out. I would accept and he’d show up at my house with a carload of friends visiting from South Dakota. Specifically, they were all from Mitchell, South Dakota. This went on for years and every time we hung out, there would be new Mitchell friends. Some would be visiting and others would be new Seattle transplants. Johnny Podhradsky (our cape guy and photographer) was one of the many friends I met while hanging out with Troy.

*photo by Chase Jarvis

So when the Rodeo started up (about four years ago), we booked a US tour. Johnny was going with, and it made sense to book a show in Mitchell (so he could stop in and see some friends). We had a bunch of other tour dates, and I had no expectations for the show. As it turned out it would be the beginning of a beautiful longstanding Rodeo tradition.

During our first visit, we arrived in Mitchell on a Tuesday night and everyone came out. I met family of everyone I had ever met through Troy. I met Johnny’s ex-girlfriends. And most of Johnny’s ex-girlfriends were also ex’s of every other SD dude I know. Everyone knew each other and everyone was all about the Rodeo. We tore the place down. We played set after set of music and poured whiskey all over the bar. It was the single craziest out of town show I had ever experienced.

After that show, the South Dakota connection grew stronger. It wasn’t just about Mitchell anymore. As we continued to tour, I realized that people from Mitchell had moved all over the United States. We had become part of the Mitchell family and the family was ready to hook us up. We would get free lodging, people would feed us, and everyone was looking to take care of the Rodeo. We came to expect a Mitchell connection in every city. It was truly insane. Now I meet people from Mitchell, South Dakota on a weekly basis. They show up at shows all over the country. And when we stop in South Dakota on tour dates, it gets really crazy.

So that brings me to Minneapolis. Mitchell, South Dakota may have been the birthplace of this freaky scene, but Mitchell-ites are concentrated in certain regions of the US. The hot spots on the map are as follows: Mitchell, Sioux Falls, Minneapolis, and Seattle. This tour we would be hitting all four. Minneapolis is the first stop on our journey back to the motherland.

And it was exactly as I expected. As we rolled in to town, I was getting text messages from Nick Antonie. He was driving in from Sioux Falls and bringing all his friends. TJ ,who was already living in Minneapolis, was also waiting for us to arrive. There are too many other SD folks to mention. This was going to be a good night.

Trevor had booked this show. Trevor is a new friend who has no connection to the South Dakota scene (as far as I know). When he found out we were going to be in the area, he asked me if we would play his birthday party at Nomad World Pub. It seemed like a perfect fit for the Rodeo. Trevor's band was also on the bill and I was looking forward to checking out their set.

Before the show, we ran up the street to get some food and play some bingo.

We got back to Nomad to find a packed house and the party was already started. All the Mitchell kids were there, plus a ton of others we didn’t know. We had fans waiting for us to play. The crowd was loose, and everyone having a good time. We hung out, had drinks and watched a whole string of great acts play before us. At one point Nick and I busted into a bar across the street to find more great music.

And when it was time for us to play, it was on! What a fun show. The stage was tall and shaky. As you got near the front it felt like a trampoline. The crowd was packed up front and hanging on every word. What a fucking treat! We ripped through our set and fed off the energy of the crowd. The bar hooked us up with a bottle of jack and we welcomed a shit load of new Rodeo fans to the church. I’m pretty sure I got more whisky on tits and nose holes than anything else. Fuck it. It’s good to get whiskey in places other than your mouth.

After the show, we got back to our room and tried to get a few hours of sleep. At this point my sleep schedule is so screwed up I’m lucky to get three or four hours. I’m not sure how much I got, but it doesn’t matter. We got up the next day and headed for South Dakota. Our next show would be a tiny farm town outside of Sioux Falls at a club called the Phoenix. Let’s do it!

Here is the club.

And the killer sound system.

Here are a couple of our new friends from Harrisburg.

And the stage.

Ben and Bryan were happy to find a pool table.

The Phoenix was another classic South Dakota stop for the Rodeo. The owner boasts that his bar sells more "1800" tequila than any other bar in the region. One of the patrons told me that the owner gives most of it away to pretty girls. He also spends much of every evening taking "1800" shots himself. Here is a pic of some empty's on the back porch.

He made sure we drank some "1800" shots before he would pour us anything else. The guy is a maniac. We hung out with the locals and then ripped into what may have been my favorite Rodeo set ever. I can't tell you what exactly made it a favorite, except everything felt right. The band was on fire. And the crowd was all about it. Half way through the second set we did a whiskey baptism. After I doused everyone in the bar, Nick grabbed me and asked me to pour some for the owner. We found him sitting in a chair drunk at the edge of the stage. Nick prodded him to open his mouth (which he could barely manage at this point), and I poured the whiskey. He took his shot and passed out on the floor. Amazing!

After the show, we caught up with SD family, and met some new friends. We closed out the bar again and then got back to our room. The big one is next. We have to save some energy for this. Mitchell, SD, here we come!

Fighting Tiny Dancer Disease.

On our way out of Fayetteville we stopped to look for a hood ornament for the van.

Ben tried to make a deal with the owner, but he wasn't having it. We weren't discouraged. The perfect hood ornament was here and we had to find it. After five or ten minutes of rooting around we found our prize.

I'm really happy with how things came out.

With our new mascot affixed to the front of the van, we piled back in and got on the road to St Louis. I claimed my usual spot in the rear. Here's what it looks like back there.

We got another deal on a high-end hotel in St Louis.

At the bottom of the hotel they have a Ruth’s Chris Steak House. We've been eating a bunch of crap on this tour, so I decided to blow the rest of the money left in my account and live it up before the show. Tiny Dancer was too sick, so he stayed behind to catch some sleep in the room. Here is a shot of Benny after he woofed down a medium rare rib eye.

We ripped through a killer set at Off Broadway in St. Louis. It was decent turn out for a Tuesday night and we met some more cool folk. My buddy from college (Steve) came out to support. Hadn't seen him in over 20 years. Always cool to catch up with friends from the past.

We had to ditch out soon after our set to get Tiny Dancer back to the room. He had a fever and was pretty much shot after pouring every inch of his bad self into the show. We took him back to the hotel, and the rest of us hung out in the lobby looking for Mannatech representatives who might want to party. No such luck.

We all woke up the next morning fearing that one of us might be next to come down with Tiny Dancer disease. Bryan was already on his way. I had one bottle of Topo Chico left from a gas station in Texas. I made the mistake of letting Bryan handle the bottle, and I did my best to kill the germs.

At our next stop, we picked up some surgical masks.

Riding in a van with sickies is like a guaranteed ticket to infection. We weren't taking any chances. Sugar bought a case of emergen-c to fight off the demons.


We made it to Chicago and rolled in early at the Redline Tap. Ben and Bryan found the pool table.

And then we grabbed some deep-dish pizza around the corner.

After dinner, Ben and I had a drink at the Heartland Cafe. The same folks own the Heartland as the Redline tap and we got drink discounts. While hanging out, a guy in the bar asked to buy us shots. We never turn down a free drink, so what the hell. Turns out he was the owner of the Heartland Cafe, The Redline Tap, and most of the other establishments on the block. This guy was cool. Ben and I sat and rapped with him for an hour. He told us all kinds of crazy stories about living in the 60's and being an activist. He bought us more drinks and we made a new friend. I love running into cool folks on the road. This is really what it's all about.

Speaking of cool people, we got to hang out with our radio DJ friend Die. She came out with her sister to see the show. We did a radio interview with her from the road (WLUW, Chicago) and it was nice to catch up and see her in person. I also got to connect with more old friends from college (Rick & Scott). I was in bands with both of these dudes! It was awesome to get to reconnect.

Our set at Redline Tap was a blast. Another great weeknight crowd. Another barn burner.

At this point we don't even have to try to put on a killer show. Everything is on autopilot and everyone is ready to bring it. We played our set, mingled a little, and got back on the road. It's like a well oiled machine. Ben got behind the wheel and got us safely to Milwaukee for a few hours of sleep. Next stop Minneapolis!

Psyllium Husk Addiction and the quest for perfect Poop.

This would be our second trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas. Last year we played a party at a hair salon and it was a highlight of the tour. A bunch of local cool kids hosted us and the place was packed. This time we would be at the Smoke and Barrel in town. We were looking forward to getting back to Arkansas. This one would surely be fun.

The band got some good sleep in Waco before hitting the road. In fact, I think we may have got our first full eight hours of rest for the entire tour. Damn that was nice. We hit the road around lunchtime and started our routine in the van. Let me fill you in on one of our routines.

It seems like every time we go on tour there is a poop story. Last year Mason overflowed a toilet at an after party in Mitchell, South Dakota. Our host didn’t hold it against us and we’ve been invited back. Nothing like that has happened yet, but for some reason poop has become an obsession with the band. Specifically, “poop quality” has become an obsession on this tour.

Shortly after leaving Seattle, Ben and Tiny Dancer hatched a plan to achieve poop perfection while on the road. Touring is hard on the body and a bad poop experience can be a bum out. The guys stopped at a health food store in Santa Cruz and picked up a large canister of whole psyllium husk.

According to Ben, this is the key ingredient in Metamucil. As opposed to Metamucil, it has no flavor and it’s lumpy. It’s also much cheaper and comes in bulk. This stuff was gonna change everything. It would make us invincible to the rigors of the road. It would make us poop gods.

The daily routine started with Ben & Tiny Dancer. One by one we picked up the nasty habit. Now everyone in the band (except Bryan) is a slave to the psyllium. It’s hard to have just one addict in a band. If one cowboy goes down a dark path, everyone ends up hooked. Each day we take our psyllium husk, and each day we discuss the size and quality of our poop. And god damn it if it isn’t working. We can eat Mexican food every day, drink gallons of alcohol, abuse our bodies in every way imaginable, and the trip to the honey bucket gets better every time! You should see Tiny Dancer. He is smiling all the time. I didn’t even know he knew how. Now I am convinced that you have not seen Tiny Dancer truly happy until you’ve watched him emerge from a truck stop bathroom after a good psyllium dump out. And like the true rock star that he is, Tiny Dancer chugs the dry powder straight from the container and washes it down with a gallon jug of water. It’s incredible! The rest of us use a device we call the “funnel” which is really just a folded piece of paper. Using the “funnel” we can pour the powder into to the small openings of bottled water so we can get our daily fix. The whole thing is really starting to get out of hand. Ben has been discussing the possibility of creating an I-phone app for tracking results. Wish him luck.

Here is a quick video of the boys mixing up the daily potion.

Our manager (Leigh) has suggested that we switch over to the good stuff and look for an endorsement deal. Here is the proposed layout for our van.

I’m hoping I can get the monkey off my back when I get back to Seattle. Do they have recovery centers for psyllium abuse? If anyone knows a good facility, please let me know.

So after we all took care of daily business, we got on down the road and made it to our next show. Here are a few highlights.

Bryan and Ben found the pool table and got to work.

We hung out and got some pizza around the corner from the club.

We had a great show at the Smoke and Barrel. Rox opened with a killer set, and then we tore the place down. The club provided us a bottle of whiskey for the baptism and everyone got trashed. After the show, I hit a club around the corner for a good dose of head banging.

I'd tell you more, but we're rolling into St. Louis right now. Gotta dump out and and get to the club. I'll give you results later.

B

Waking up in Waco

It's Monday morning and I'm waking up in Waco, Texas. Since I last checked in, we have traveled through three major Texas cities. But I should rewind. I think I left off in Frisco, TX. Our next show would be a Saturday night in Houston.

On our way to Houston, we stopped at KAOS radio in Austin for a SXSW radio appearance. We were on a tight schedule, so it would be quick and dirty. Here is a little taste of our radio show.

After Austin, we would be meeting up with Felipe in Houston. Felipe Galvan is a Texas music icon. He is my friend. I didn't know him before this tour. Felipe was just a guy who decided to book us on a Saturday night at Fitzgerald's. At first I only knew him as the club-booking agent. He told me he liked what we were doing and he was going to match us up with a local ska band that would fill the club on a Saturday night. Houston is a brand new market for the Rodeo and this sounded almost too good to be true. I would find out later that the Ska band he mentioned was Los Skanarles and Felipe was the front man.

And ska doesn't even start to describe Los Skanarles. They are one of the best live bands I have ever seen. Their music bristles with energetic dance-hall rhythms, rockabilly, Latin soul and even a little swing and zydeco, all played with a punk-rock attitude. And man do they have some serious fans! We got the bro hook up on this show. Our first visit to the 4th largest city in the US would be a blow out. Hell yeah! Here is a press shot of Felipe and his band.

When we got to Fitzgerald's Saturday night Felipe was waiting for us at the club.

Fitzgerald's is an amazing venue. I'm not sure what the capacity is, but it's bigger than most of the venues we play in Seattle. There are two floors and two stages. The bigger stage is upstairs. The night we played there was a hip-hop show happening downstairs. We were upstairs on the main stage with Los Skanarles.

We ate dinner with Los Skanarles in the green room at Fitzgerald's (the boys from the band brought us tacos from their favorite Tex Mex joint). When it was time for us to play, Felipe caped me.

And I did the same for him.

Before the night was over, our whole band was on stage raising hell and playing percussion with Los Skanarles.

Here is a photo of me and Felipe hanging out after the show.

We hung out and had a good time that night. I can't remember when things ended, but at some point there was a conversation about Felipe jumping in the van with us and going to our next show. I wasn't sure if this was drunken talk or if he was serious. We dialed him up the next morning, and he was ready to go. Crazy. Let's hit San Antonio!

We picked Felipe up at his house at 9AM. He had gotten home at 7AM. 2 hours sleep! That sounds about right. We were all hungry, so Felipe took us to his favorite spot for breakfast tacos. Felipe ordered a beer with his breakfast. What can I say. Felipe was setting a whole new standard for the Rodeo. This is the spot where we ate.

I crashed hard in the back of the van after breakfast. We were heading to San Antonio for an afternoon BBQ show. My friend Sid was hosting a day show since we needed to be in Austin that evening. Last time we did this, the BBQ was a gathering of hip young artist types enjoying good food and drink and watching music. This time it would be a little different. This time we would be playing a show at the local kite festival.

We rocked the shit outta the kite festival. It was crazy. At one point it was so out of control that tiny children were crawling all over the stage. Right before we launched into "I'm gonna knock you out" two kids crawled on top of my monitor". I reached out to the sound guy and asked for "a little less child in my monitor". A worried mom emerged from the crowd and quickly snatched her kids from the stage. Truly a rock n' roll milestone for the Rodeo.

My friend Sid hooked us up with some cash, beer, and tacos before we had to leave. This guy is a class act. We talked about returning and doing a proper club show next time around. That'd be cool, but we'll have to make some choices. I'd hate to miss the 2011 kite festival. No telling what will happen next year.

Filipe pointed us to a real deal Texas icehouse on the way outta town and we had some more beers.



Our show in Austin was intended to be at Headhunters. A few weeks ago, the booking agent started waffling on the date, and then he stopped returning my calls. Felipe's friend Roxanne suggested we play at Ginny's Little Longhorn instead. Roxanne works at Ginny's and said we might be able to just drop in and play. We headed out to Austin in search of a spontaneous set. We found it.

When we got to Ginny's the place was packed and country music legend Dale Watson was playing. In between songs he was announcing winners of the "chicken shit bingo" game. Here's the way it works. They have a real chicken sitting in a small chicken coup in the middle of the bar. There are numbers on the floor of the coup and the patrons throw food to the chicken to encourage it to shit. If the chicken shits on the number you purchase, you win cold hard cash. Hell, I would have given up my slot at Headhunters just to witness this. Things worked out alright.

Dale Watson ripped through an amazing set of his own country classics and I started to seriously doubt there was any chance we could muscle in on this scene and play music. Felipe told me not to worry. He would handle it.

Felipe disappeared into the crowd and re-emerged a few minutes later with good news. He had talked to the next band (Rick Broussard's Two Hoots and a Holler) and they were gonna let us play a short set during their break. Not only were they gonna let us play, but we could use all of their gear. Goddamn, the Texas hospitality never ends!

We ripped in to a smoking set of our favorite Rodeo tunes and the crowd loved it. We had couples dancing, SXSW scenesters clapping, and camera's flashing during our short power set. Another highlight for me on this tour.

After our set, we said our goodbyes to Felipe and Roxanne and hit the road. We needed to make some time toward Fayetteville. We went a couple of hours up the road and crashed in Waco. And guess what, we actually got a full night of sleep. Weird.

Back on the road now and heading to the next show. I'll give you more soon.

Brent

The past couple of days have been a blur. Good thing we have camera's.

Howdy. I'm gonna make this quick. We've been operating on about three hours of sleep a night for most of this tour. We're burning the candle at both ends and trying to keep it all together. Here are some moments from the past couple of days.

Ben found a new dolly at a thrift store in Dallas,

....but the store was closed.

Here he is later that day trying to get through a sound check at Poor David's Pub.

After our show, we made our way to the Adolphus Hotel. I took time to hang out by the fountain after we checked in at 1 AM.

Here are some pics of us hanging out around the Hotel.




Ben kept us entertained with his piano skills.


The bar attached to the Adolphus is called the Rodeo Bar. Seemed appropriate for us to close the place down.

There were a group of Japanese tourists who were psyched to see cowboys walking into a bar in Dallas, Texas.


Later that night Tiny Dancer and I got sucked into a conversation with some convention goers from Mannatech. We stayed up to 4:30 AM talking to them about their "product". I'm still not sure what the "product" is, but the whole experience was super freaky. I can't go into detail now, but let's just say that Tiny Dancer and I were lucky to get out alive.

The next day we got to hang out in Denton with Bryan's good friend Andre. We stopped by Andre's music shop and Bryan showed us how to repair a trumpet.

Here are the guys hanging out at Andre's house.

And they fed us.

Another bad ass steak dinner. Hell yeah!

After filling up on beef, we played a show in Frisco, TX at Lochran's.

We are on our way to Austin for a radio show now. After that, we gotta be in Houston for a show at Fitzgerald's. Another busy day in the life of the Rodeo. You gotta love it.

Trash Bar, Humble TX

We rolled in to Trash Bar late, and I expected the worst. We had just driven 8 hours from Oklahoma. When we arrived at the club the show had already begun. If you don’t know what goes on at this place, it‘s easy to assume you just stepped in to a first class shit hole. From the outside it looks run down and on the inside it’s the same. Most of the mirrors and windows are cracked. People bring their own booze into the bar in brown paper bags. They have one beer on tap: Lone Star. If you want something different, you can bring your own beer and they will throw it in the fridge for you.
Our Seattle friends in the Shivering Denizens got us this gig. They were at the club when we arrived. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to thank them or curse them for setting this one up. It didn’t really matter. We were here and we were ready to do our thing.

The guys were hungry after the drive and Tiny Dancer found a convenience store selling cheap tacos. After checking in with the club, we ventured out to fill our stomachs. I think all of us except Bryan ate. I’m not sure why he didn’t eat. His polyester wranglers are barely staying up at this point. The skinny little fucker could use some food. Oh well. To each his own.

After dinner Ben went straight to the quarter arcade.

Ben was so excited about the quarters, he tracked Bryan down and got him involved. I think this may have been a substitution for the usual pre-show game of pool. They were both fascinated with the shiny coins and hoping to strike it rich. Ben called me a couple of different times to get me involved. I had gotten my fill in Vegas and wasn’t interested.

Sugar, Tiny Dancer, and myself found a Mexican restaurant in a strip mall and had drinks in the bar.

Next we walked to the liquor store and grabbed our own bottle of Ciroc for the show. It was time to do bring some class to the situation. Anytime I'm uncertain about an evening, I like to ask myself, what would Diddy do? In this case the answer was premium vodka.

We returned to Trash Bar and the place had transformed into a total scene. The bar was packed and folks were rocking out to the Shivering Denizens. It seemed everybody was ready to have a good time and the Denizens were killing it. Awesome set!
The place got rowdy and it was at this point I realized that my initial instincts about the joint were flawed.
The Denizens wrapped up and we ripped into one of the raunchiest sets of the tour. None of these people had heard us. We weren’t even listed on the chalkboard at the front door. This didn’t matter. The crowd was loose and they were ready for the Rodeo. We gave it to them hard. They liked it.

After the show, we met Felipe of the band Los Skarnales. They are headlining our upcoming show in Houston (Fitzgerald's, Saturday 3/20).

http://www.houstonpress.com/events/los-skarnales-bo-peep-brent-amaker-and-the-rodeo-1697100/

Felipe was at Trash Bar to meet us and show us a good time. How fucking cool is that? Now this guy is a badass motherfucker, and as it turns out he is a total rock star in Houston. We spent the rest of the evening shooting the shit with Felipe and crew. What a way to welcome Seattle Cowboys to town. Felipe asked if we had a place to stay. The answer was no, and before I could turn around he had set up an after party and found a friend with a four bedroom house who was willing to put us up. These Texans are serious about their hospitality.

The bar closed, and everyone headed to a party at Sammie’s house. I found myself sitting on a patio looking at fire and shooting the shit with a cool bunch of real deal Texans. It felt like home.
It was a fun night and it really brought me back to my southern roots. I could really connect with this bunch and I understood what they were about. It sure wasn’t like this when we toured Belgium. God bless Texas.
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Sweet home Oklahoma

Oklahoma City was a real treat for me. Not just because we were returning to Hi Lo (one of my favorite spots). And not just because we were playing with Balthazar (one of my favorite acts). But, because my folks live in OKC and when we visit they roll out the red carpet.

We were pretty beaten down by the time we pulled in the drive. Tulsa should have been the stop where we caught up on some rest. We had a four star hotel and nice beds. But it never seems to work out the way you plan. Tulsa was just too much fun. So, by the time we got to OKC, we needed some R & R.

Well the folks never disappoint. We rolled in to town early afternoon and they were ready for us. Mom had a pan of home made brownies waiting and Dad was working on the steaks.

We got hot showers. And then we hung around the house, watched TV, and chilled. What a treat!

Dinner was amazing. Dad busted out the grill even though it wasn’t really BBQ weather. The steaks were big and juicy. Just the way I like em. And it didn’t stop there. We had baked potatoes, salad, corn, rolls, and homemade strawberry jelly. For dessert there was strawberry shortcake. This type of meal is unheard of for a touring band. Thank you Mom and Dad! You made your son and his cowboy friends very happy.

The only problem with making a quick stop at the parents is that it’s just enough goodness to make a guy homesick. We get pretty used to the routine of touring and intentionally keep a busy schedule. Anytime things slow down, you have time to think about shit that don’t need to be thought about. It’s been too long since I’ve seen Mom and Dad and before you could blink an eye we were gone. First thing I’m doing when I get back to Seattle is plan a proper visit to see Mom and Dad. I miss them already.

Our show at the Hi Lo was a barnburner. If you ever happen to pass through OKC, I highly recommend you hit this place. It’s a true Oklahoma City classic. Bands play on Tuesday (only) and they have one of the best jukeboxes around. If like to light up a cig while you have a drink, this is a place where you can do it.

Check it out next time your in town.

We’re on the road to our next show now. It’s St. Patty’s day and we’re playing a St. Patty’s day party at a true Texas icehouse in Humble. I’ll let you know how it turns out tomorrow. Gonna try to catch some z’s in the back of the van. Later.