Day off in Tucson AZ
We slept briefly after Mike left, but he invited us to come by Loudhouse for some breakfast.
Which we did. And it was amazing. Eggs and bacon. But not just any bacon, they go to CostCo and get the extra thick-cut bacon ends. Holy mouthgasm, Batman! Hung there for a beer before going to downtown Tucson to hang out, kill time, and revisit some of AJ's old stomping grounds.
Also, we were still looking for places to stay as our lodging had fallen through for the night. So we put out the APB and responses came in as the afternoon progressed.
Checked out some record stores and other places, AJ giving narration about what they used to be or things that had happened/people he knew. After checking out whatever blocks we were near we then hoofed it towards Hotel Congress. Been there several times with The Mother Truckers, but I still couldn't tell you how to get there haha.
En route stopped here:
Apparently they are opening a new location and had cleaned this one up, for the worse. When I first went there with Southern Gun Culture in 2003, it was a slobbering gear pervert's wet dream. Every inch of the store was piled to the ceiling with vintage gear, all covered in dust. Saw my very first original vintage Iceman there. Had never seen an Orange PA system with tube PA mixer and matching speakers, but by the Gods they had one.
Now it might as well have been guitar center. Everything new, and none of it worth even looking at. Sad sad sad.
At Hotel Congress AJ bumped into an old friend, Tiger. What a character. 80's, diminutive, impeccably dressed in a suit/bolo tie/fedora, apologetically gay, and with the air of an aristocrat. He is such a fixture of Tucson and Hotel Congress, they've named the bar after him: Tiger's Tap Room. He holds court there several days a week, lazily serving pints and offering high-five worthy sarcastic witticisms.
AJ and Tiger
Downtown Tucson
Tucson AZ
Stopped in at Independent Distillery, a new place run by AJ's old friend Larry, where AJ would be doing a solo set Wednesday evening. Turns out I've met him as well, during SXSW 2007 when his band Great American Tragedy shared the stage with my band Ironclad at the Snake Eyes Vinyl day party. Small world indeed.
By now fatigue was setting in so we hoofed it back to the van to decide what to do next. I didn't care what, as long as it involved a nap. Rather than look like crust punks and sleep in the van next to a busy sidewalk, we drove back to Loudhouse to see what the next move was.
We by now had several offerings for lodgings, but it was either "Not until 10pm" or "We can go there now but it's 50 miles in the wrong direction" Hmmm. It was only 3pm. And spending the next 6-7 hours in a friend's bar was a sure fire recipe for sleeping in the parking lot that night...
But then an offer came in from Bonnie, an old friend of The Mother Truckers, who had been living in Tucson for little over a year, had a house and we could stay as long as we needed. And we could head over there after 4pm. THANK YOU BONNIE! By then I was content to take a nap in the van.
Rolled into Bonnie's place and got settled in, caught up. She was doing well, had an RV she planned to travel around in, and was planning to give up the lease on the house when the time was right.
We cooked a big communal dinner that night and ate at the dining room table like a family :)
Afterwards we in the band drank like sailors as Bonnie serenaded us with songs on the piano in the living room. Good times with good people.
Did I mention she also has a fireplace?
No comments:
Post a Comment