the
old man winter tourthe
old man winter tour
Here you will find an account of Olde Man Winter...the tour that saw our boys take to the road as a dog would chase a car, in search of love, justice, and the dastardly Olde Man Winter himself in the far reaches of the Northwestern United States.
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Logged by: Teak Alder/Relations Emissary
Date: 27 December 1998
Place of Origin: Home
Comments: It's now 1-something in the morning, I can't see straight but I'm not going to sleep anytime soon because I'm wired, and I've some last-minute preparations to make for the band. Thermostat will be leaving for tour in t-minus 13 hours and 43 minutes, and they are very, very excited. Stay tuned for exciting stories of adventure and intrigue from the road.
Logged by: Teak Alder/Relations Emissary
Date: 31 December 1998
Place of Origin: Ashland OR
Comments: Teak here. We're in Ashland right now and we're relaxing at the Ranch with some fine friends of ours who we would like to take this opportunity to thank. Thanks to Chuck, Crystal, Ryan, and all the rest of the Ranchers. Our show in Arcata got Cancelled, so we just muscled it straight up to Ashland. Despite some difficult weather conditions in the form of very ugly fog, Max muscled through the most of it. Next stop, Eugene.
Logged by: Teak Alder/Relations Emissary
Date: 31 December 1998
Place of Origin: Ashland OR (still)
Comments: There has been a questionable turn of events in the state of Oregon. The boys were having some minor work done on the van at a Unocal 76 when a very careless mechanic managed to drop it (yes, the van) off of the lift rack and the hoist poked a hole through the floor board, doing some obvious damage, plus some damage that we've yet to discover. The Van is now useless. We are currently following some leads on compensation, and the tour will hopefully resume. Our spirits and wits are still very much intact. It is new year's eve--what a way to bring the new year on. The boys' previous plans of finding love and affection are, again, thwarted by the unexpected. The fine people at the Ranch are, again, wonderful enough to accommodate the boys and help them through there trying times such as these. More later.
Logged by: Frank Serpico
Date: 1 January 1999
Place of Origin: Assland, Oregon
Comments: what can i say about today. a rollercoaster of emotions. i was looking foward to another day on the road, when john fogherty and stephen king's love child(who had a booger that resembled a tootsie roll) dropped the van.what? apparently, this son of the south wasnt gonna tell us that the s.s. shawdi fell off of the lift when he was trying to hoist it. it left us with a hole in the bottom of the van, which wouldnt be a problem if we lived in bedrock, but since we dont, it kinda sucked. at that point, benicia was looking pretty good. i was beginning to hate ashland. i missed my girlfriend and hated the idea of missing our first new years together. i was also sick with a pretty bad sore throat. i was on my way home. the lack of cooperation from the owner of the unocal station(located on ashland avenue, boycott it) made me hopeless that this tour would ever go on. after recieving a talking to from john, i decided to gather my stuff and head for greyhound and the promised land of california. i had an interesting talk with the cabbie on the way there. i told him about our experiences with the unocal, and he responded with,"those guys are assholes, i wont even get gas from them." well, thats nice to hear in hindsight. i gathered myself at the bus station when the fate started kicking my ass. max's keys had snuck into my pocket. i was on my way back, planning to leave the next morning. the aforementioned owner of the service station(unocal on ashland avenue, boycott it) called soon after my return and told max to rent a new van and his insurance would pick up the bill. i knew then that it was my destiny to fight old man winter with these guys until the end, and stop his wicked plan of frezzing the sun. .thermostat played one of the most inspiring sets id ever seen them play at a makeshift new years party at chuck, crystal and ryans house. we were overran with pre-teens, but it was fun and mike got some digits. i still miss my girlfriend, im still sick, and i still hate ashland(although i met some great people while i was here), but this is a task that must be finished and old man winters plans must be thwarted. and, oh yeah john plugged up his second toilet of the tour. kudos to him.
Logged by: Nigel Tufnel
Date: 1 January 1999
Place of Origin: Ashland, Oregon...still.
Comments: well we have been on tour since last year. thermostat just rocked the ranch tonight and met a ton of new and interesting kids, we also scared them too. spirits are up and the tour will go on. tonight is tacoma.
Logged by: Teak Alder
Date: 1 January 1999
Place of Origin: Innerspace
Comments: It seems that Olde Man Winter has won this time. Funny things happen when you bring your vehicle to and all-too-incompetent mechanic. It was, in fact, the Unocal 76 in Ashland, Oregon as mentioned earlier. In an effort to seek new forms of transportation, our boys were thwarted and after 2 entire days of preparation and problem-solving, finally decided that they had no choice but to go home, all because of many a business being closed on this fine New Year's Day. On to the new year. Godspeed and good luck.
Logged by: Mike
Date: January something
Place of Origin: Some blessed place
Comments: Through our ingenuity or whatever, we were able to hit the road once more to do the last 2 shows of the Olde Man Winter tour. Show 1B was in Arcata, at the Vista. This show was a hoot. Our boys Sledwreck rocked the house with a vigor and passion known in some circles as S-Power or The Adrenaline of The Gods. Justin broke three (3) strings in one song. Snap-snap-snap. How does on break three (3) strings in one song, you ask? His teeth got caught in the strings or something like that. At one point, Bob, one of the owners, came in and started pushing some big heshers that were semi-moshing to Sledwreck. We thought he was trying to stop them, but, boy, were we mistaken. He was just trying to join in. So after the song, the lovely Bill Kees grabs him, situates him just right (smack dab in the middle of the Giant Hessians), and they bust into song. Needless to say, the cacophonous fury that is Sledwreck whupped up that crowd but good. For some reason, the same guys who were digging on Sledwreck were making fun of Sledwreck AND us after the show. Imagine that. They said something about us being "wussies" or something like that. I'm not sure what that means. Thanks to Kym for letting us stay at her house and eating her spaghetti. Show 2B was in Redding. Two words: Amazing. This crowd was so eager and totally ready to rock the heck out of the house. Even though all of the bands were totally different, the kids dug them all and had a great time. People were dancing to us. Not in small 3-second spurts, but entire songs. Wow. That is a first. There was a terrific tattoo parlor about two seconds down the street, so we took a look inside. There was a very frightening dog there. He growled at my crotch and brandished his incredibly sharp teeth as he did so. Evan and Max got an appointment to get a tattoo that night, and the next day, they went in and had ink permanently placed under their skin. I won't say what they got--you can ask to see them when you see Evan and Max. We met some great people and made lots of friends: Chad, who put the show on; Boys of Summer, a great band from that area; Los Huevos, who are the funniest bunch of people I've ever met; Jenny, Duane, and their ever-so-adorable daughter Molly (a big KISS fan), who were kind enough to house and feed us for the duration of our stay, and last but not least, there was Lee. I'll leave it at that.
Logged by: Max
Date: 28 January 1999
Place of Origin: Work
Comments: So this sad tale has a happy ending. A new van was procured at an auction. It has a roof rack and everything. I know we all loved Peterson and everything, but let's try to make the new van feel at home. It has yet to have a clever nickname, so you can just call it "The Van". If you see it driving around town, or parked somewhere, feel free to stop and say hello. It would appreciate it. RIP Peterson 1967-1998
fin...for now.