Notes Tagged: 'bessie'

Twin Cities Love

We have spent almost all of our time in St. Paul at the intersection of University and Snelling. We played a show there. We bought drumsticks at the drum shop there. We had coffee there. We had our air conditioning line repaired there. We had an oil change there. We went through the car wash there. Sam Nice had dinner there. We just hung out there while waiting for these other things to happen. We must really like it there.

Of course, come to find out, that’s the most murderous intersection in St. Paul…

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Permalink / 18 Sep. '07 / Tagged: minneapolis stpaul fernie ghost bootsy van bessie coffee

The Regina Monologues

While in Calgary, we took Bessie to a Minute Muffler to have the tires rotated and the front end aligned. Justin, our man there, was as straight up and forthcoming as we’ve ever encountered in a mechanic, telling us what we don’t need and charging us for the minimum work. He was able to squeeze us into a hectic day despite our being very late for the appointment and even gave some tips on how to fix another problem that we’ve been having for what could end up being ten dollars. He represented you well, Canadian mechanics!

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Permalink / 16 Sep. '07 / Tagged: tour regina canada video bessie van

Fernie: Ghost Town (But not in that way)

Fernie, British Columbia is one of those places where you walk outside (or look out the window, for that matter) and say, “Wow.” The mountains are all around us and beautiful; the town is very cozy and nestled right in the middle of them. We arrived to much fanfare (parades, the presentation of the key to the city, a champagne reception. You know, the usual) and without too much Bessie trouble. We have forsaken the air conditioning completely and we’re not loosing too much coolant. We filled up what we had lost, including the reservoir, which Jiffy-Lube filled with washer fluid instead of anti-freeze, by the way. Perhaps we should have been watching them instead of getting our hippie on with the hacky-sack…

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Permalink / 14 Sep. '07 / Tagged: tour live oohLaLaShaSha fernie ghost bessie van hacky-sack canada

Karaoke, Coffee Bars and Cars

Billings, MT was a pretty foreboding place to enter at night. First, there were the typical city lights on the horizon, followed by an absolutely disgusting smell. Then we saw something that may have been a slaughterhouse, which explained part of the smell. Then, some oddly lit smoke stacks and enormous storage tanks appeared, looking like something out of the original Transformers movie. According to Daddy Wrall: that’s where the Autobots live. When we left, this morning, we discovered another refinery on the western edge of town; that’s where the Go-Bots live. They meet in the middle of town to battle meth-dealing Decepticons and whoever the bad guys in the Go-Bots were. I was going to do some research to confirm out what these places actually are, but I think I prefer this good/evil transforming robots explanation. Maybe I’ll do the research to see who the bad guys in the Go-Bots were instead.

The reason we were unable to secure a gig in Billings (and I’m not ashamed to admit this) is that the club with which we had contact has a very successful karaoke night on the only night that we could come play here. As you all can imagine, that wasn’t going to stop us from hijacking the joint. We rolled into town at around 11 PM and headed straight to the Rail Yard. We entered a modern looking smoky bar with five or six karaoke screens scattered on the walls, a caged stage area that was not the preferred singing location and an enormous karaoke station with a computer, a large mixing board, wireless microphones and two middle-aged MCs. Including them, us and the servers, there were about twenty people there. Everybody, as you must know by now, was nice. Really nice. Stupid nice. Hospitable, welcoming, nice, nice, nice. Sam’s family, basically. I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but allegedly this is a very successful night. I’m not sure if that was what is meant by “successful” or if it was a slow night. Either way, the energy in the place, despite the poor head count, was palpable. Almost everyone there was chain smoking and participating in the singing. It’s certainly possible that it was more of an early night for the bar and that there had been people there earlier. The “evidence” on the front steps was a potential confirmation of this…

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Permalink / 13 Sep. '07 / Tagged: karaoke van bessie montana coffee

Two Number Sixes? The Horror! (And More, More, More)

A few of y’all have asked about this, so I have to let you in on it. In the tracklisting on the back of OLLSS where, the number six happens twice: once for track six and once instead of five. There is a reason for this, and I’ll explain it now:

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Permalink / 11 Sep. '07 / Tagged: tour oohLaLaShaSha hacky-sack minnesota wisconsin coffee jedsed hunidracks bessie

Daddy Wrall is Burning! PVD is burning too! (in the good way).

I missed the no-hitter that Clay Buchholz pitched on Saturday, but I have an excuse: Miss Fairchild was playing a killer party in Rhode Island. It’s called Providence is Burning and it’s truly the bee’s knees. This is how it works: Micah and Jackson, along with Certified Max (and Sammy Bananas) team up with Firehouse 13 (a really cool converted firehouse on the west side of Providence that houses art and artists) to create a monthly all-hands-on-deck party with dancing and fun and all kinds of things!

But let’s backtrack a little to earlier in the day on Saturday. Prior to heading to Providence to burn down the Firehouse (irony intended, I presume), Miss Fairchild decided it would be fun to clean Daddy Wrall’s ears. Now, having heard too many horror stories about cue tips and peroxide, we decided to go the new age route and use ear cones. It’s a little loud and a bit awkward (especially if that hair gets brushed by a burning ember!), but effective nonetheless. You can get the general gist from that oh-so-fun photograph above.

Sam Nice (He has too many names doesn’t he? I’m going to have to come up with a few more for myself so as not to feel left out) did the driving to Providence. It’s a drive he knows well, from his time living there, so he decided to take some liberties…

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Permalink / 03 Sep. '07 / Tagged: tour providence certifiedbananas van bessie arlo tshirt tattoo

B.E.S.

Introducing the newest member of the Fairchild clan: Bes, or as we affectionately call her, Bessie. She’s a lot of van for one band, but that makes for a nice comfy ride. Hope you get to meet her one day!

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Permalink / 02 Sep. '07 / Tagged: tour van bessie beardedvoice