SAT MAR 5 2011 at Zapatos

My house is the launching pad for all PLUMP road shows. The trailer is parked in my garage, and my Explorer is the only PLUMP vehicle that can both carry 4 people and some of our more fragile equipment and pull the trailer that over the years has accumulated a couple thousand pounds pa, amps, drums, et al. Actually leaving for a gig is much easier now than is was about a year and a half ago. When Jody was in the band, PLUMP travelled in style in his van to all the gigs. The van was AWESOME, and Jody was a great driver, so the road trips were killer. BUT, his van was quite tall and would not fit in my garage. The inability of the van to be garage-friendly had a negative affect on how we hooked up the trailer (i.e. we could not just back the van right to where the trailer was resting in the garage, easily place the trailer hook-up on the van's "ball", and go on our merry way). Instead, we were forced to employ a strategy in which the van was backed up to about 2 feet outside the garage, after which 3-4 of us had to drag this trailer (that was full of gear) about 5 feet to meet the parked van. We also had to lift up to fit the trailer on the "ball" as the "ball" rested kind of high on the van. The dragging of the trailer was dreaded by all, and I think its a miracle that no one permanently injured/disfigured their back from participation in this process. The hook-up of the trailer now is much easier, as my Explorer fits in the garage (like a glove), so the trailer is now attached in the safe confines of the the car-hole. So, now instead of dragging the trailer, we can spend our time before leaving for a gig standing around in the kitchen, shooting the shit, until every one has arrived.







The next step in the effort to leave my house is the shuffling of the cars, as there is nowhere to park on the street at my house. I have to drive my car and trailer out of garage/driveway, then one lucky person parks in the garage, and two people park in the driveway. Due to cigerette smoking, getting stuff out of cars, loosing keys/wallet, looking for keys wallet, locking keys in the car, staring off into space, or other similar time wasting activities, this stage of the PLUMP launch can last anywhere from 3 to 25 minutes. Luckily, no keys were lost today, so we got out of my neighborhood within a reasonable amount of time.




We have played at Zapatos many many times. If you have ever been to Northgate in College Station (where Zapatos is located) you will know that it can be quite difficult to park in the area. It is particularly difficult to park if your vehicle is connected to a trailer, making your overall vehicle parking effort a little more than twice as long as normal. Typically, the final 3 minutes of our journey to Zapatos is spent vocally musing and hoping and praying that the miniscule curb side parking right out front of Zapatos will not be completely filled, and that there will be room for both the Explorer and the trailer. This luxury happens 1 in 20 times at Zapatos. Luckily, on this night, the rock-n-roll gods smiled on us, and there was enough room for us to park right out front of Zapatos (Which is key because by being out front, our load-in walk is about 25 feet. Otherwise, the load-in walk can be 150-200 feet which totally sucks given all the terribly heavy equipment we have). Unfortunately, the rock-n-roll gods did not smile on my ability to park both the car and trailer in perfect parallel to the street. I inched forward and back a good 15 times, but each time, the trailer was extending at an angle into the street. Luckily there is a solution to this predicament: (1) unload all of your gear out of the trailer and takesaid gear into the venue for set-up; (2) find another 3-4 guys - in our case The Hooch, who were opening for us; (3) lift up the now reasonably light trailer (which can be lifted by 7-8 people) and move the trailer, while still connected to Explorer, sideways a few feet so that said trailer is now perfectly parallel to the street. Mission accomplished.



The Hooch is what I would call a pop/jam type band from San Antonio. They appear to either be in college or are just out of college, and are some very nice guys, and have a good sound. The Hooch were on the bill at our fabled gig at the Reggae Festival in San Antonio at the Reggae Bar in which the festival got cancelled due to too much noise right before PLUMP was going to play (see October 2010 blog entries). Tonight in College Station, The Hooch had a bunch of friends from the College Station area come out for the gig, and they sounded great. They have some nice "in-between-song" banter, kind of resembling a Vegas club act, which I found entertaining based on both the humor and based on the colorful blazers two of the guys were wearing. AND, their drummer even let me play on his drumkit, which saved me the time of setting up, and eventually taking down, my own personal kit. I always appreciate it when drummers can share kits, and frankly I enjoy trying out someone else's kit for a few hours. And, as nice as some drummer's kits have been over the years, I always end up prefering mine (which is a good thing, I think). PLUMP was fortunate enough to have a great crowd that was up and dancing the entire show. People were up and dancing from song number 1, which is always very good for us. The shot bar and the regular bar and the outside area were all really crowded. "Gimme Some More" and "the Trifecta" seemed to get the audience particularly riled up. AND, it was cool but comfortable outside, which is extremely important for an outdoor show in March in South Texas. This show was a keeper.