West Indian Girl

tight quarters 4.17.06

oh ann arbor how is it possible? i havent been back in so long and the blind pig still smells like shit. i guess some things never change. tonight’s show was with a cool band called lotus. we jumped on the bill last minute and please remind me not to do that again because it always leads to no sound check, not much promotion and a way too fucked up of a stage set up. we played our shortest set of the tour and played it pretty well i think. once again i think rob and mariqueen have really become great singers. the best part of this show was being able to see a bunch of my friends. it’s a shame i didnt get to show the band more of the city because ann arbor is actually pretty cool…but as far as the the corner of first and liberty where we spent all of our 8 hours in town…not so much.

go blue thanx to: barbara and george, robin and john, chris, shan kong, robin, and jubei for making it out. also thanx to our wighead michelle who i didnt even get to meet but heard she was there! next time say hello michelle.

rider and dressing room wrap up:the people at the blind pig werent too friendly. our dressing room was upstairs above the bar and shared with the other bands. there obviously was no rider. overall this evening was another michigan show that probably shouldnt have been booked. the score is now tied – west indian girl 2 – michigan 2

Mariqueen’s Mind

The City: i kept hearing how awesome ann arbor was. i only saw a little bit of it so i can’t really agree or disagree.

The Venue: the blind pig smells like butthole but at least the bartenders are really sweet. too bad the actual faculty that works there can’t take etiquette lessons from their own bartenders. i guess if you aren’t punk then you can’t be smiled at. i’ll remember to come back with safety pins and anarchy patches. sike sike and sike.

The Show: i was ridiculously grumpy because i was worn out and needed a day to rest. to my disappointment we weren’t going to get it and to top it off we weren’t going to get paid enough to play this show. here’s to gas money, i guess. anyway, we opened for a band called lotus, who had in ear monitors [preventing mark from having a monitor mix] and equipment that took up eighty percent of the stage. it reminded me of our mini tour with sound tribe sector nine which was kind of a nightmare. needless to say, i was the grumpiest person on the planet and i felt really bad about how terrible the show turned out…

What Were You Thinking While Playing: this sucks. i can’t see mark. this sucks. fran keeps hitting me with his bass. this sucks. i can’t hear myself. this sucks. all these people are here to see us and we can’t even give them a decent show because of all the equipment that [isn’t ours] in our way. this sucks..

Interesting Things After The Show: i was happy to see joey choma came out. i also hung out with a cool girl named michelle for a little bit, thennn nathan, mark and i got all liquored up and danced our troubles away to the smooth sounds of those lotus boys. let’s just say i was grumpy no more.

NATHAN’S NONSENSE Special Edition!

West Indian Girl saves the day!
So, we were all safely back at our Grand Rapids headquarters getting ready for our next show later that day in Ann Arbor, when suddenly, tragedy was narrowly averted. I was staying at Fran’s brother’s place, along with Mark, Rob, and Kevin. At some point, just past 11am, I went out front for a morning smoke. Almost Immediately I could sense that something wasn’t quite right…. Chris’s condominium complex seemed as it should be, tranquil and calm, but great clouds of smoke were wafting up from the northern ridge, just behind a row of garages. I grabbed Mark, who had just come out to get in some skating time, and we decided to go check it out. From atop the ridge we could see that someone’s entire back yard, which was less than 40 yards away from the complex, was on fire. the flames were obviously out of control, spreading outward from a barbeque pit that had evidently been left unattended. 3 little kids, aged 5 to 10, were busy running tiny plastic buckets of water back and forth from the house, while their frantic mother was seen panicking in the distance. By this point, Chris had come out as well to see what was going on. The three of us immediately sprang into action, each grabbing a length of hose, two industrial sized buckets filled with water, and a shovel from Chris’s garage. Within 5 minutes, we had that blaze fully contained. It didn’t take a genius to see that had it not been for us, that fire would have swept right up that ridge and engulfed a good portion of the condominium complex. The flabbergasted mother promised us a good home cooked meal, and said she would come check us out when we played in Grand Rapids later that week. Neither of those promises were actually kept, but hey, that’s alright. In the end, we were left with the satisfaction that due to our quick thinking and determination, life in this snoozy little cove would continue as it was. (Note: pictures were all reenacted well after the flames were put out.)

Ann Arbor: awe… my pal J.D. showed up again and brought me some flowers. thanks, honeybunches! well, honestly, all i remember from this show was how stinkin’ small the stage was at the ol’ blind pig. of course that didn’t stop us from rocking it proper. afterwards, mark, Q, and i launched into a procession of jaeger shots that would not actually stop for the rest of the tour pretty much. follow that up with some freaky moves on the dance floor as we blew out the night with Lotus helming the stage for what seemed like an eternity. i have to say, Lotus puts on a pretty intense show. it was downright mesmerizing, and quite inspiring as well. don’t miss it if you ever get the chance.

joey c and mqchris donnely and robin vincenti love barbara and georgetrouble comes in threes

-F10