Monday, April 20, 2009
DAY TWENTY ONE - WE'RE HERE!
Charlie and the boys got us right on time at 3:45 and we took a dozy ride out to the airport. We finally got an airline that knew what to do with the MCO's, but it's another hurry up and wait process. We made boarding as soon as it started, and were off before we knew it. The magic of medicine helped us sleep the six hour leg to Honolulu. YES, we got a freebie on this one! We were greeted with a most awesome view of the island with the mountains and volcanoes in the distance.
From there we had to claim our baggage and re-check it in for the leg to Houston. Another six hour nap in-between the gastro-intestinal experiments they call food. Had a three-hour layover in Houston then a two and a half jump to Baltimore.
We were greeted by a big crowd of family and friends at the airport with posters and all. We can't tell you how it made us feel! Well, yes we can it's our blog. It felt wonderful, if not mildly embarrasing. For a group of guys that love their share of attention, we were caught well off guard! But thank you all for that.
We caught up at DuClaw's in Arundel Mills and they did their best to keep us up until nightfall. Matt showed off his extensive collection of "Engrish" shirts, and our range of inside jokes fell on confused ears. We parted ways for a good night's rest only to return to the beat tomorrow night at the Redhouse Tavern.
Sadly, this blog now ends. But we'll keep it up for prosterity anyhow. After all, this is the only written account in existence that will jog our memory of the whirlwind this tour was. To all that we met along the way, it was awesome playing for and hanging out with you. Thanks for all you do, and we hope to return soon!
Be safe. But if you can't be safe...just be real. - Dapper Dan
Saturday, April 18, 2009
DAY TWENTY - SCUBA STEVE
Hit up the most awesome McDonald's on base and crashed for a couple of hours. Frank and Ken, our contacts for today loaded us up and took us to Anderson Air Base, but made a couple of stops along the way for some fantastic sightseeing. Ooh and ahh at this... Another hot, sweaty setup outside of Bamboo Willy's. We may have lost ten pounds each from sweat here in Guam, and added a few more here. A very picturesque view of the water was behind us, and a magnificent crowd to our front awaited us. A lot of younger folks tonight rocked with us and were very vocal and made us feel quite the rock stars. Having run out of CD's, we sadly had to pass out cards to everyone to get an album download for free. We intended to throw out the old merchandise box after this last show, but donated it to someone's bedroom setup. We're quite the recyclers.
The thing that sucks about working up a good sweat, is that at night we get cold. Tear down was a lengthly process, as we had to load gear into the truck, out of the truck and into the lock-up stage, our gear into the truck, then our gear into Kent's room. We ended up back at the rooms at around 1 am, and are getting picked up at 03:45. So...who's for a little bit of not sleeping!? The party was in Matt's room this time. Nobody had figured out his was the biggest, and was like a small condo. sigh...the perks of being on top of the orders.
So this is it! The 2009 AFE Asian tour. It's been a whirlwind of a time for us and we've met some most excellent people. We're honored to have served those who serve us and can't thank them enough for having us out. It's been tough work at times, and at others quite the vacation. We'll wrap it all up tomorrow because if any of the previous travel days are any indication, we're in for one final crusade...getting home!
Friday, April 17, 2009
DAY NINETEEN - SNORKLES
Charlie picked us up at 2 for load in outside of Typhoon's. It was as hot as we've ever set up before, but we got the PA working something sweet. Ate at Nap's again and played for the Crawl-fish boil, bringing in the sailors and families from the base. We were very jealous of the moon-bounce off to our left where kids swarmed the entire night. We never got the chance to have a go.
We were dropped off at the rooms for the night, and we ordered a couple of pies in Kent's room and watched the latter half of Blazing Saddles and the Untouchables. It's Friday night, and we're being lame. But if you were scuba-diving at 8am tomorrow, would you stay out late? No, we didn't think so.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
DAY EIGHTEEN - 5 GUYS AND A PACIFIC SUNSET
Ate lunch at Ya Mon, a Reggae restaurant and tried everything they suggested; the steamed local catch (yellow-tail tuna) cooked in coconut milk, ribs and a most toxic rum drink (arrgh!). Cruised Rte 1 looking for some water activities and found a nice stretch of beach to lay out on and get some sun. Low tide, but it made for some interesting views of the marine life. Sustained ourselves on Corona and Bud Light and some peanuts well past their sell-by date and watched the sun set at 7. Kent and Steve, always ones for improvised machismo devised a new beach game. We call it cinder catch, or really heavy-ass rock catch. For want of a medicine ball, this just had to do.
Showered and got ready for a night out. However, we stayed in Kent's room and watched the following: South Park, South Park, Reno 911, Daily Show, Colbert Report. It's awesome to be back in US territory! Sad though that we can't spend any YEN or SINGS anymore. Anyone want 'em?
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
DAY SEVENTEEN – PEEPING TAMMIES
Tried to get a little bit of daytime
Listened to our driver’s 80’s hair-metal band on his phone on the way to
A couple of quick hops got us to
Arrived here in
DAY SIXTEEN – THE TOUR’S SHORTEST POST
We chose to stay close to the base tonight, and after we dropped off the gear into the rooms, we legged it back to the Terror Club to hang out with Tommy and the gang. He gave Matt his
DAY FIFTEEN – A NIGHT SAFARI ON OUR OWN
Some Fools & Horses met the Monkees today. A family of Rhesus monkeys approached out of the woods to be fed crackers by Andrew and Steve. One bared his teeth at Steve for some strange reason – don’t bite the hand that feeds you bro! Some killer video below of that (if you don’t see it it’s cause we haven’t uploaded it yet. Keep checking)
Matt was taken to the Terror club (grrr…aren’t you terrified!) earlier than expected to get the layout. We arrived at 3 for load in and sound check with Sound Waves Multimedia. A very professional outfit and a good system. You should see this joint. It’s paradise! Our stage overlooks the pool and surrounding greenery. It’s outdoors, so the only drawback would be the temperature/mugginess. We ate at the club, half of us choosing more Western fare, and the other choosing the hot as hell Kung Pao Chicken.
Our set was fun, and the audience included families of the Navy, with some other branches in the ranks. We met three nice kids named Perry, Mitchell and Mark who we planted the seed of their up and coming band. We love the 7 year-old mentality too, partly because our brains haven’t matured much past that level. Perry asked if we could have a sleepover while we were here. I told him we couldn’t, as we were going to be leaving in a couple of days. Picture that! We actually might have had a good time. We haven’t played guns in a while, or gotten our asses beat in a console game we’ve never played before. We could have shown them a rockin’ time. “Alright guys, go get mom to make the Kool-Aid, we’re gonna raid yer dad’s liquor cabinet.” Great kids.
Manager Tommy steered us away from our initial plans to go on the Zoo’s Night Safari, saying flatly, “it kinda sucks.” Say no more! Another guy, who’s name is lost at the moment, told us of a land not too far away called the
We were in the district known as the Orchard well throughout the night and into the wee hours of the morning. There was a kick-ass band in one place that we were digging on most of the night, so that held our attention from the naughtier bits.
The cab ride back was about S $25 so between all of us, it was a nicer alternative to taking the train which had yet to open for the morning commute.
No, the Singapore Sling is not a good cocktail the way they make it. Kent and Matt have a much tastier recipe that will just about change your life, not to mention your state of being without even knowing it. GO SLINGS!