Thursday, July 18, 2013

Day 14 -- Freddie's Pub & Eatery, Wisconsin Rapids WI

Friday July 12

Awoke still trying to wrap my head around what I had witnessed the previous night at Sha-Hooters. Had to revisit the video I had taken, which I finally managed to upload (tried to during the show by damn wonky signal took for every and chewed up the battery life on my phone).

Trying to recall how the afternoon was spent, as I am writing this a week after the fact...

But early load in, and an early show. We were playing outside on Freddie's back patio, and the heat was finally creeping in. Hoping we wouldn't be in the sun since it was a 6pm start time. Turns out, not.

There was an outside little building which we were able to set up inside of, and still have the patio for the crowd area. Kinda weird, but it worked great. The garage doors facing the patio were open, and Freddie himself removed the middle door from the hinges. All the windows were opened and suddenly the wonderful breeze was cooling down the weird little amphiteater-esque structure. Plus the building would help shield some of the ambient noise, so hopefully none of the surrounding houses would complain about it...

Went inside to order burgers. And wow. These were some of the best burgers I'd had the whole tour, and I have had some good burgers. Simple and tasty. Awesome!

By the time we went on the crowd was still kind of thin, but holy shit. There was an older woman there with her husband/dude/whatever, already pounding 7 and 7's (in this case a pint glass of ice and Seagram's 7 with a sprizting of  7-up). And she was already loud and obnoxious. We hadn't even started yet, and she was already showing her own weird approval by heckling us.

"RIIIICK!!!!! PLAY FOLSOM PRISON BLUES!!!!"

"RIIIIICK!!!! ONLY STEERS AND QUEERS ARE FROM TEXAS!!!!"

"RIIIIIIICK!!!! FUCK YOU, HAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

"RIIIIICK!!!! PLAY FOLSOM PRISON BLUES!!!!"

Just, wow. And we hadn't even picked up our instruments left. Myself, Eric, Matt and the few other people there were already shaking our heads and chuckling uncomfortably. And we felt bad for her "dude."

So this was the dialog going on before, during, and after each song for a good part of the first set. Rick was getting a kick out of it, which was good cause I was starting to fantasize about clocking her in the head with my bass so she'd shut the fuck up.

But she had to "leave early", before 9pm, and still wanted to hear "Folsom Prison Blues." Rick told her it was 8:45 (it was really 7:30). We hoped it would work but it didn't. We finally played the Johnny Cash classic, and waited with bated breath for her reaction...

"PLAY IT AGAIN!!!!"

Well shit, didn't see that coming. We didn't, and her and her dude finally buggered off to go be obnoxious somewhere else. Soon as she left, everyone in the crowd and us included were all yelling "RIIIICK!!!!" and laughing. Bless her heart for drinking the way that she does to deal with whatever she was dealing with.

But fucking hell, if you're going to be a drunk/obnoxious/slurring loudmouth in public, people are going to make fun of you the rest of the night/week after you leave. Deal with it.

SO anyway, the rest of the night went great. Not a huge crowd, but plenty of people there including our Mulligan's friends Jan and Owen. Everyone having a good time and not feeling uncomfortable anymore. Got done in time for the sun to do down, and we hadn't set up our light kit.

Spent the rest of the evening drinking heavily and having a good time. I needed a good drunk, it was long overdo. Have certainly had the option every night we play, but just didn't feel like it. But once in awhile can be therapeutic.










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