chrisg's Tour Diary

There always seem to be too many things to do before leaving town. I've been waking up real early in the morning to try and get things done, but I still found myself running around all crazy this morning, just trying to get stuff taken care of. And it still didn't work. I was supposed to have made some items for an art thing, but I ran out of time. I was supposed to file taxes, but I ran out of time. I was supposed to do a lot more work before I left, but I ran out of time.

On our way out of town, we went by to pick up the new stickers we ordered. Not done. Great. The people promise to ship them out to meet us in Colorado, but I'm skeptical. Skeptical is a weird looking word. Or maybe I'm misspelling it.

Drive to Reno is uneventful. I busy myself reading excerpts from Michael Bergin's new book in Paris Match. Some of the most horrible prose I've ever read. Someone should've hired a ghost writer. Or else paid for a better one. When that gets boring, I finish my taxes. It turns out I'm getting a refund, which gives me a little more of an excuse to gamble tonight. Not that I need an excuse, really.

It's best to arrive in Reno after nightfall. We climbed over the last mountain, and below us were a bunch of brilliantly-lit buildings. The spectacle is all very old-school casino town, relying on copious amounts of neon and lightbulbs to make a point. It looks so much better than those newer hotels in Vegas that, in an effort to look classy, have resorted to mimicking international towns. We drive through downtown, marveling at the signs, and head to the Zephyr Lounge.

The Zephyr is a nice club. It's small, and so is the stage, but they have some decorations up on the wall and the bartender is really nice. We meet the fine fellows of I can lick any sonofabitch in the house, who are just a few dates away from wrapping up a five-week tour. Man, that's a long time to be out on the road. They're all very nice, and John even tries to help me connect my computer to his mobile phone in order to file my taxes. We sit for at least a half-hour with our computers back-to-back, trying to make it work. It looks like we're playing a really advanced version of Battleship. Alas, the mission does not succeed before we need to play.

We play. Everything seems really slow, but otherwise it goes well. It's 11:30. After pulling our gear off the stage, I jump into the van to try and find a wireless connection somewhere. Aha! i find a kinko's just a few blocks away. A nice man with the only ethernet connection in the place lets me borrow it for a few minutes, i file my taxes, and i'm back to the club. yes i know, what a hair-raising adventure. well, i didn't tell you read this, did i? oh, i did? i'm sorry.

After SOB's performance, we head back downtown to the golden phoenix, where we're staying for the evening (adrienne found some real cheap rate off hotwire). the golden phoenix's signage is some of the prettiest in town. lots of flame motifs that look a lot like the flamingo in vegas. the inside of the casino is a little janky, though. the hallway carpets are stained, and there are more 5-cent slot machines than i can count. and man, so smoky! but we get a nice room, and me and dan head off to spend money at blackjack. at the end of the night, dan stays even plus one free bud, and i'm down $35 with three free vodka and sodas. i want to play craps, but there's barely anyone at the table, which dissuades me. i played a 5-cent slot machine called "enchanted unicorn" or something like that. i can't stand slot machines, but i figure that i have to win at a machine with a unicorn, right? wrong. i do better at video poker, but don't end up making or losing any money. by 3am, everyone else has gone to sleep since we have to get on the road early tomorrow for a show in salt lake city. i turn in my chips and head up. no one is snoring! i fall asleep reading some article about counting cards at blackjack.