West Indian Girl

the road to nowhere 4.15.06

playing a show in marquette, mi is not something most bands do. marquette is in the upper penninsula — it might as well be considered part of canada. basically it’s a haul from any major city. but as they say in show biz…”if you pay them well they will drive to marquette”. this city is pretty awesome and you never forget it once you’ve been there. we got to drive over the mackinaw bridge to get there. true story – a yugo actually blew off that bridge. for that reason i always get a bit nervous driving over it. it’s like driving over an ocean.

up front and company was a pretty nice place… a restaurant club combo place. the show was pretty good. it was more of a college crowd there and plenty of people were dancing that night. funny how in some cities people just stand and watch our show but in other cities like marquette people dance. hey, variety is the spice of life right”?

big pastie thanx to: jon ruuska for being a great host and putting michigan back in our good graces. we were treated to what felt like a 7 course meal before the show and had a nice private dressing room as well as hotel rooms at the local ramada. way to be jon. the bartenders were all cool too – they let us hang out there as long as we wanted after the show. the score is now west indian girl 1 – michigan 2

Mariqueen’s Mind

The City: marquette… really pretty… i think it should’ve been a canadian city. forgive me for being uneducated, but the only thing that truly struck my fancy was this “thing”. it was a bridge or a loading dock or what used to be a train track… rob and fran know because fran asked a marquetian [let me know if this is not appropriate] and i think rob overheard but i am too lazy to call and ask either one of them what it is. i couldn’t stop taking pictures of it. please refer to them and you will understand what i mean.

The Venue: we played at the upfront and company. apparently this restaurant turns into a bar and then becomes the hip and happening spot to see bands. the stage felt a little banquet hallish. i don’t know why, i suppose it’s because we had to sound check while people were still eating. at least this place had really great food. and when i say really great, i mean outstanding. thanks for the wonderful food and the hotel rooms, jon… youre awesome and i really appreciated it.

The Show: a lot of people danced… that was nice.

What Were You Thinking While Playing: are we done yet? i felt really fat and bloated from dinner and kept thinking about what a hippo i must’ve looked like. gross.

Interesting Things After The Show: i don’t know about interesting. but right after the set was over, a guy introduced himself to me [i forgot his name… im bad at that] but i remember him telling me he used to do the booking for the venue. i don’t know why he stopped [doing the booking] but he’s a bartender now. well… he offered to get me a drink, which was very sweet of him, so i said yes. the drink had a bottle cap in it. um… great. he then cheekily demanded a cigarette from me. i said sure. here you go. he then proceeds to close talk [you know… when someone talks WAY too close to your face] and tells me how awesome he thought our set was. i thanked him endlessly but was dying for the dressing room because A. i wanted my purse B. i wanted to regain my composure C. i needed to use the bathroom and didn’t feel like using the one that all the patrons were using. i finally realize that this dude is hammered when he clumsily pulls out a stool for me to sit on. i decline politely and he took offense to it. i told him i had to go upstairs and get my stuff and then he laughed and said, “ohhhh! you’ll be back” and put his fingers up as to quote unquote my supposed lie. i whispered in his friend’s ear that he was wasted and i was outta there. as i walked away, i heard him yell about how he thought i was so hot and after that i refused to come out of the dressing room for an hour. of course then i had to because nathan came up and was being stalked by some completely anihilated chick. hey marquette, good times.

THE JAMES REPORT

Up yonder in the great land of the north, they know how to drink and party like no other. Saul keeps a fire lit for all those passing through. Thanks buddy. The ghosts of the Edmund Fitzgerald visited me backstage. The spirits were high that night.

NATHAN’S NONSENSE

Marquette: long drive, long drive, crazy crazy lakes… boom shakalaka boom boom… took me an hour to find this damn place on the map… boom shakalaka boom boom… got lasso’d in by some drunken lass, all tryin’ to get up ons… took me a while, but i gave her the slip… guess she wanted me to come home with her cuz the hubby was away (yeesh)… ramalama ding dong… afterparty, afterparty, everything’s a blur… mark and i lost $4 on a pool game… merde!… some kid named derek professed to me that his great dream in life was to be a band roadie who’s main job was to score the drugs (keep shootin’ for the stars, buddy!)… scuttling back to the ramada at the buttcrack of dawn, wasted and freezing on a fine easter morn’… and that about wraps it up… boom shakalaka bam boom!

how many people know what this is….i doscenic views everywhere in the UPband photo op could not be ignoredone of the few live shots takenour host jon ruuska and friends

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