West Indian Girl

motor city love – frank, jubei, q and carter

the night before our detroit show mariqueen, carter and i put on face masks. ironically, chris who i had to cut out of the picture becuase he’s too worried about looking faggy, was the one who owned the face mask in the first place. classic stuff. good clean skin is nothing to laugh at though. so let’s talk detroit. i havent been back to mi in at least 5 maybe 6 years. funny thing about it was that once i got there i wanted to leave. oh well, i wasnt born there…so technically i’m not a true native…im a jersey italian. the best thing about playing in detroit was seing a bunch of my old friends like sue and ted lott, robin (in pic with mariqueen), anna, jubei, frank, and del(bottom right). it was real cool that they all made the drive up from either grand rapids or ann arbor – that’s love. i just want to let it be known that i really really appreciated you all coming out and that seeing you guys was the BEST thing about the detroit show. i really do miss all of you and hope we play in michigan again so we can laugh some more. sort of makes me sad that i havent kept in touch with you all like i should have. tissue please.

the show was great – i dubbed the magic stick the loudest smallest crowd we ever had. once again ward (in pic with q) delivered with the sound. i would like to thank the turin brake guys for letting us put 50 people on their guest list. thanx guys. rob actually had a gang of family out to the show. i wish i knew all of your names so i could give you all a proper thank you but i don’t. the stage sound at the stick was one of the best if not the best of the tour thus far. after the show the jaeger club continued to collect dues. i think i saw lewscious float away at one point. anyway detroit, west indian girl has left your state, at least you have the lions to tide you over until we return…sucks for you.

Mariqueen’s Mind

The City: no offense but detroit isn’t the greatest city in america. before we even had a sound check i encountered a bunch of really shitty and mean detroitians. there seems to be a dark and unhappy cloud that looms over the town. as we were searching around michigan for hotel rooms the night prior to our show, we noticed that a lot of the locals like to park their cars as to showcase them, in front of random stores and just hang out. uh, i don’t know about you guys, but that seems really boring and is called loitering where i come from. anyway, if there are any decent parts of detroit i certainly didn’t get the chance to see them. i can’t lie so don’t be upset. just know that all the locals that i did meet and got a chance to interact with, i really liked… you guys were super dope. dear detroit the best things to ever come out of you are mediocre vehicles, robert james, francis ten, ghetto tech and iggy pop. thanks. sincerely, mariqueen. kisses.

The Venue: the magic stick, majestic, whatever what have you, was fresh. i was way into the fact that we had wireless internet access and could bowl. because of our dumb soundcheck to showtime schedule i didn’t get a chance to whoop anyone’s asses on the lanes. we were supposed to do a west indian girl vs. turin brakes bowl off, but it never happened. lucky for tb, they would’ve ended up having to take all of us out to a fancy dinner in detroit. wait… is that even possible? i enjoyed playing at the majestic. it was a great stage and a fantastic venue. lavishly big and spacious. it could’ve doubled for a rollerskating rink. in all honesty, i would love to play there again. that area is probably the coolest spot in detroit, period point blank. if only that art gallery next door was open, i would’ve been a lot happier with my day. cest la vie.

The Show: we did great despite time and monitor problems. i thought it was really weird that we started our set before the sun went down. it really is just weird. that is probably one of the worst things about this tour. all of our shows have started so early. just lame. i mean, seriously… in l.a. no one is even ready to leave their house at eight o’clock. why would people even show up to our set if it started at seven thirty. that’s insanity. the detroit fans were by far, the coolest and most enthusiastic around. you all get two thumbs up. way up.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: “we should’ve gotten a box of sunglasses to pass out to the crowd.” “i can’t hear myself” “i hope i’m not fucking up” “this dress makes me feel fat” “i hate performing and pmsing at the same time” “oh wait, spinning in this dress is fun” “weeeee!”

Interesting Things After The Show: everyone got WASTED. i plead the feeeeyefth…

Carter’s ConscienceDetroit– Space rock city baby! First time in Detroit! I know that I keep saying that, cuz its the truth. Rob and Fran had a huge posse of friends show up to the show, but it was strange starting a set when the sun hasn’t set. The sound on stage was probably the best we’ve had so far, I could hear every instrument crystal clear. So thanks to the monitor guy whose name has since departed my memory, its great to hear yourself onstage. I can’t say it was my most inspired show, but the crowd was great. People kept making me laugh, yelling “detroit loves West Indian Girl” and telling Fran to take his shirt off.

Things went downhill pretty quickly after the show, however! I’m not a big advocate of alcholism, I don’t drink because i think its cool, but it seems like sometimes on the road you need to have a drink just to stay sane, blow off the days stress. . . Thats what Detroit was all about. The crew we were partying with was hilarious, and that just added to the hijinx. I think I was signing one of our tour lithographs for a fan when I got the bright idea to actually sign the fan herself. (With permanent marker, of course) And then, what the hell, I had her sign me right back! Lewscious looked like he needed a tatoo, so I made a little drawing for him on his shoulder. Tommy got in on the poor mans tatoo parlor, Q got one Janet Jackson style! She returned the favor by tatooing my entire back! I didn’t know what it said until the next day, but needless to say it was vicious slander, and I might sue for defamation of character. Just kidding, I’ve woken up with worse. . . Q was in rare form that night. We need to come up with a good nickname for inebriated Mary Q. Maybe we should come up with a nickname contest. The winner can buy me a shot. And I’ll write something obscene on them in permanent marker. I love Detroit.

lewscious and jubei

sue and sutton

andrew james and teddy

james and matle

F.TEN