#2 Niagara Falls, Post crazy Albany night, Buffalo show

11.29.09
This morning finds us at a Howard Johnson motel near Niagra Falls. The good folks in Young Widows booked us in on Priceline.com, and we're spending less on it then we did for the shithole outside of Detroit. No paranormal activities with temperature control here.

The Phantoms all walked down for Mexican food to find that Buffalo, New York had been taken over my bored white people with fake afro wigs, platform shoes, and glittery trousers. They were everywhere. It was a very, VERY odd sight. We walked a number of blocks and couldn't even detect where they might all be reporting to.
We ate at the Mexican place and it was pretty good. It was Q-Doba style where they basically build what you tell them to but it was better. Shrimps always make it better.

We got back to the venue and it was filling in nicely. Coming in the main entrance showed me again how neat the space was. I was in my usual attire which is pretty much an assembly of Salvation Army items that somewhat have the coherency of a suit (provided that the lighting is dim) so I drew some odd looks. Maybe kiddies would like me better if I wore more t-shirts?
Dom's shoes were damp so I lent him my black work shoes and I wore my bight-ass red dress shoes that never fail to generate a number of conversations, compliments, and comments.

Backstage we mentioned the animated gangs of wannabe disco lame-asses that were populating the city. One of the girls who worked at the Soundlab told us that the city happened to be the site of the world's largest disco. Ahh. Now that's competition.

I was very proud of our set. The crowd, again, was young and wasn't entirely sure how to respond but there was an enthusiastic sect that grew as the set progressed. We kept a few areas of the set loose/open-ended and it was at times like that that I felt that we really are developing a silent rapport, musically, and that we are communicating like a band that has played together a lot longer than we have.
I had one goof that embarrassed me a bit: during the intro to "Monoliths" I have taken to plugging in the theremin, using the light that is mounted on my guitar and the projections to manipulate the sound (it's a hand-built theremin with two optical sensors to control it). The noise was pretty awesome but, when I plugged my guitar back in to finish the song I accidentally flipped the rhythm switch on the Jazzmaster (a classic problem for people wh play them but one that has rarely affected me) and I had about 20% of my volume. I think this confused Dom but he had the good sense to start singing and work with it as I slowly raised my volume as we went which provided a pretty cool effect. I dug it.

The show finished and, as had been the case all night, the Soundlab folks were awesome, trying to give us water, beer, and a place to stay. We got out of there pretty late and headed this way.
Corey check in and, as is the case with third party booking groups- like Priceline, Expedia, and the likes- you're not guaranteed the room type you book. It was 3am and the guy still wouldn't grant a double. What a douche. I work in a hotel so I know that you have to be a king ace prick to not do that at such an hour.

I slept well on the floor but I am a seasoned veteran at it.

We have a day off today. The only plan is for Dom to get some dry shoes and to see the Falls with Young Widows. There is a cool-ass Native American museum that I hope we can hit up.

Donuts across the street....................

1.) I don't have time to write explicitly about the following:
A toll booth worker who looked just like the devil-ish character in "Clash of the Titans" asking Corey about traffic running the other direction. Corey doesn't quite process it but says "I dunno. I was really paying attention."
Ol' boy gets his jerry curl in a fit and says "I'm just tryin' to make conversation here!!!" in the most cliche New York accent ever. Awesome.

2.) Crazy fucking night outside of Albany, New York as we stopped for the night in a small town and were accosted by the crazy owner. He was a fan of early Genesis, Devo, and Talking Heads. We gave him records, he gave us bourbon. Then the jack-ass bartender tried to charge us $60. Corey had to talk the guy down and the owner apologized. Situation averted.
The night ended with bible readings.