West Indian Girl

good good good good vibrations with brian wilson

let me tell ya something, when i found out we were playing in chicago on a sunday night during the same weekend as lollapalooza i wasnt expecting a big show. surprise surprise, even in the sweltering heat a bunch of people came out. my friend brian told me that it actually came 1 degree shy of hitting the highest temperature ever recorded in chicago – obviously related to the hot hot set we were about to bestow upon the windy city. the set was hot and sweaty like good sex. speaking of which, i wonder who is getting laid on this tour. anyway, i think i have the slightest drinking problem because i cant seem to play without pounding a few beers. i think it’s because have so much on my mind right up until we play that i use those beers to help clear my head so i can just think about the music. it’s sort of like when you squint your eyes when you want to focus on something except your drinking great tasting beer. i love beer. hmmmm i hope AA isnt in my near future. speaking of AAA i think my AAA car insurance is due. i dont think you can pay online either. bummer. speaking of my car did i mention that the day before i left for tour my landcruiser’s radiator overheated and exploded. even though my truck breaks down a lot i cant bear to part with it because it really is one of the best things in my life.

i lost my camera charger in toronto so i wasnt able to take any pics in chicago. adding to this documentation debacle mariqueen’s camera was out of juice BUT thanx to my friends chris varady and brian wilson we have all the pictures you see posted. chris is responsible for getting an old band of mine a couple record deals. he’s a great guy and it was awesome seeing him…motor city love. brian drove all the way up from bloomington. now that’s a haul and i hope it was worth it and you had a good time b. personally i thought the show was excellent and was really taken aback by the crowd, not just because there was actually a crowd there but because the crowd was so enthusiastic. we did put on a hot ass gricky show though so i guess one plus two does equal three.

Mariqueen’s Mind

The City: chicago was scorching… so much so, that it was kind of gross. at least we played in a fabulous part of town… wicker park… way into it. i’m only bummed that it was so hot in temperature that i wasn’t inspired to explore all that it had to offer (shopping). i suppose the fact that i have decided to cancel my credit card has a lot to do with my lack of enthusiasm for sightseeing (shopping). life (shopping) just isn’t as fun if you can’t charge it. don’t quote me on that. i don’t really mean it. ok i’m lying… but who cares? so, instead of having tons of fun (shopping), we all went over to a cafe across from the venue and fran bought me the ultimate thirst quencher. it was called a frozen mango guava tea drink or something. if it hadn’t been for my much needed hangover denny’s breakfast session, i would’ve eaten everything the cafe had on its menu. after fran treated me to a drink, i treated my intestines to a nice session on the toilet inside the venue. speaking of which…

The Venue: two words: picture booth. that’s right, people… not since the local fair have i seen a picture booth. anywhere. why doesn’t every bar in the whole wide world do this? seriously… if you know what’s good for business you’ll get the gettin. trust.

The Show: eh… i don’t think i did that well to be perfectly honest. singing with a hangover isn’t the most genius move in the world. to make things worse i made the same dumb mistake that i had done at the san diego fischerspooner show. i put lotion on my hands and body right before i played. so i wasn’t just greasy… i was greazy. to make things worse the venue was just too humid to even understand. plusss i had those stage lights in my face… so i wasn’t just greazy, i was steazy. guh. sticky + greazy = steazy. i’d like to thank mark lewis’ brain for that one. i’m sure fran would have liked it better if i had used his new word, gricky… that’s right, gricky = greazy + sticky… but i think i was more steazy than gricky. steazy is when you’re just perspiring and moist… gricky i feel is when you’ve been perspiring and air drying from it so you’re just more sticky. either way they’re both heinous. if it hadn’t been for the fact that i found it extremely difficult to hold on to my instrument i would’ve been into the show more. i was actually sweating so much that troy had to throw a towel at my feet. despite all the adversities, supposedly, i sang great. personally, i don’t believe i sang that fantastic, but a ton of women came up to me and told me that i did. you gotta believe the ladies… i don’t think they’d ever lie to me or not come up to me if they really weren’t sincere. i was even told that my voice was “crazy”… that might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me after a show. i think it was the heat… who knows? all that sweat and what not made for a very sexy show between me and rob. maybe it’s because we’re soul siblings and both aries. aries is the first fire sign and is ruled by the planet mars, which is already a fiery planet. maybe that means the heat brings out the best in us when we’re doing what we love to do. who knows… maybe, maybe, maybe a hundred different theories. bottom line is… i didn’t think being so uncomfortable on stage would make for such a good show. lucky me.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: “i can’t see… the sweat is seeping into my eye… shit” “ow, this tambourine is so slippery… i can’t hold onto it any longer… what if it falls out of my hands and knocks mark in the face?” “shit!” “this is far too much sweat for such a nice dress” “my god i hope sweat doesn’t on my boobs” “i should’ve worn a bra” “i need to shower after this as soon as possible” “ugh, i hope i don’t have to hug anyone tonight”

Interesting Things After The Show: not so much. i drank again because we’ve started the jaeger crew. it’s illustrious members are captain t-ommy, lewscious, the boogey bunny, franny boy aka franboyant and q, the master. how’s this for interesting? i’m sitting behind the trailer in a chair in the street with tommy’s new captain and tenille-esque hat on… hot… super rock and roll… sooo into it. anyway, so i’m sitting there and all of a sudden i hear a police mini siren behind me. you know what i mean… one of those dumb cop honks instead of a full on siren. so yeah, it’s two cops and they have completely stopped street traffic just to tell me how much they liked my tattoo. life is funny sometimes… isn’t it?

Carter’s Conscience Chicago– Rob drove last night, because according to state law I was not capable of operating heavy machinery, or driving for that matter. Motel 6 and Dennys. If I never set foot in either of those fine establishments again in my life, I would not be upset in the least! Chicago turned out to be a great show! Lollapalooza was the same day, so I was stoked to see that there was a great turnout to our show as well. The severity of my hangover subsided somewhat during our soundcheck, and I felt really relaxed and inspired on stage. Its like the feeling you get when you’ve been sick, and your starting to get better. Everything seems fresh and new, and you appreciate just feeling good. Anyway, I’d say it was the best overall show we played this tour so far. Or maybe i just enjoyed it the most. Who knows. . . Rob and I were connecting a lot on stage, in particular in the new song we play. ( the second to last song, if you were at the show) Met some really cool fans, in particular Brian who drove all the way from Indianapolis! Brian studies the media, and he turned me on to Chomsky, who i’ve never read. I’m half way through Holy Blood, holy Grail, which is a really interesting read. For those of you who aren’t familiar its the book that the Da Vinci code borrowed most of its ideas from. And you can’t lie to me, I know you read the Da Vinci code. And I know you loved it. Its literary crack. Wish we could’ve stayed on a bit in Chicago, but the bus was rollin on. Incidentally, ate one of the best burritos of my life around the corner from the venue.

chris varady and chicago’s finest