w/ Karl Hendricks Trio + Becoming Projections.

One of the greatest days ever spent on tour, and proof that punk rock glues good people together. Let me tell ya about it:

Karl and his family invited us to dinner before the show. He and I met once years ago when he opened for The New Year in PGH, but otherwise we’ve been out of contact. So we head out to his house and meet his wife Meagan and their wonderful kids, and we hang out and listen to records and have great conversation and eat some incredible curry that Meagan whips up like it’s no big deal. They treat us like family — hell, better than family, like old friends, even though we’ve only known each other for an hour.

Finally it’s time to actually go play the show. The venue is upstairs, and it’s an old, beautiful Pittsburgh building with a tin roof. It’s loud as hell but a fun spot regardless. Becoming Projections blew us away, and were hella nice guys to boot. We were scared to play after them, but we did because that’s what bands do. Then the Karl Hendricks Trio took the stage and gave a master class in rock and roll. Fuck, they were great. I had always loved his records but to see the band, in the flesh? My word. I want to see them again right now.

Back to the Hendricks’ after-show, where we drink beer on their PGH porch and generally soak up all the good feelings these wonderful people create. We don’t want the evening to end, but it has to eventually, right? Howard and I (Matt) roll up to Nell’s room while Bryan takes the couch w/ the cat. In the morning we eat bagels, fix Meagan’s bike, and hit Paul’s CDs (fantastic deals!) and spend 3x what we’ve made on this tour. Somehow we left the side door to the van open the entire time we were in there, but the good citizens of PGH left our shit alone.

We stopped for hoagies on the way out of town w/ the Hendricks’. We didn’t want to leave. These great people took us in, showed us the best of their city, and proved that punk rock changes lives.

28 Aug 2010