Carlisle 11/28/09

We woke up in Manchester and found this really cute breakfast joint. They even had mugs to help us cope with the rigors of touring.

We got on the road and made our way to Carlisle. The weather here has been a bit horrid, and the News keeps warning of massive flooding in the northern UK, but we got to the club without any problems. Hopefully our US tour mates/BFFs don't have any problems when they come through a week later.

The venue BBE is playing is called the Brickyard. Inside, it looks and feels like a wide open, damp cavern. Or a really big pizza oven.

The dressing room has an old stone fireplace shrine-ized with multiple thrift store mirrors and naked white hanging bulbs.

Someone from NZ might use the words “Super rad vibes” to describe the accommodations. On top of all this architectural/interior design greatness, everyone we meet is super nice and outgoing to boot. We meet Jenny from the Block, who is playing in one of the bands tonight, and we find out she'll be our host and promoter t’morrow night. But b’fore her band plays, The Sun Explodes slays things. They're like a live-action Dethklok, including arpeggiated keyboards, 5/4 half-time breakdowns, and leg-up-on-the-monitor-wedge-finger-tapping guitar solos. It gets me in a hedonistic mood and I go gorge myself on the way-to-much Indian food I got around the corner.

After the show some really enthusiastic fans insist we come down to the dance club CONCRETE. Just the name of the place makes my filling hurt, but whatever. So I hopped in the car to drive all our gear to a safer locale before heading to the club. At one point there was a strange intersection with an Ambulance trying to merge in, so I held back to let the ambulance in front of me, which it never decided to do. Instead we just sat there. And sat there. The light wouldn't change. A couple minutes later a cop knocked at my window and said I had to pull up another ten feet to trigger the sensor. Waa waa. I still don't understand why the ambulance didn't take the right of way I was giving it. So we ditched the car somewhere safe and made it to the club. It's in the basement and they have a sheet of 20 or so fruity shots that each cost 1 quid. I watch Charlie go hog wild in an attempt to try one of each He gets sidetracked from his mission though when he orders a Bananarama martini. True story. James and Zach did not get Bananarama martini's, but that didn't stop them from humping on the dance floor. I stood sagely by and told dudes I was the caddy from Happy Gilmore, and if I they bought me a drink, I'd take my picture with them. This actually happened. Twice.

The party at Concrete came to an end, but our soiree did not. On our way home, we tripped over this guy in the alley. Yes, completely passed out, lying supine on the cobblestone ground in a puddle of water and puke. One of saintly ladies in our crew called an ambulance as the rest of us tried our best to get the guy up without actually having to touch him. This was as hard as it sounds. He eventually staggered to his knees, and then did something amazing. As soon as he saw the lights of the ambulance through his closed eyelids, he found the focus to start RUNNING away. Remember, this guy was unconscious and pickled in a cold, cold alley. We decided he thought it was the cops and his mind was screaming "WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE'RE NEVVVVVVVVER GOING TO JAAAAIIIIIIIIL AGAIN! REMEEEEEEEEEEEMBER!?"

Our host for the night, Walter, found our alley discovery pretty amazing and was pretty happy we didn't bring the guy back to his flat with us.