Arts The Cops “I Can’t Stay Focused” Tour Blog, Installment 6
The level of anticipation is high as we arrive in Athens, Ohio. Dave and John are excited to visit their old college haunts and the band is looking forward to catching up with friends. Our first stop is Tony’s, a bar famous for delicious shots called “hot nuts” and a former employer of Dave’s. We spend the day milling about town and visit a cool record store called Haffa’s where Michael picks up Randy Newman and the Saints on vinyl. Dave buys a Guided by Voices video and a Gallon Drunk comp. The venue tonight is Casa Cantina, an employee owned co-op style restaurant that serves delicious Mexican food and killer margs.
There is a large and lively crowd on this Tuesday night. Dave sets up drums on stage and the rest of the band are on the restaurant floor. The audience is “right up in our shit” and we are all for it. We knew quite a few of the folks in attendance and the between song banter was outta’ hand. At one point Mike told one audience member to fuck off. Our performance was stellar and a good night had by all. We watch the sun come up and then make our way towards Detroit.
We arrive at tonight’s venue Lager House and are greeted by soundman Adam who flips us the bird in a loving way. Despite a dismal turnout last time through, the venue digs us and is excited for our return. After load-in we head to Nemo’s for a bite and some idle chat with Dave’s dad. Later we meet an outfit based in Detroit who has started an online video documentary site focusing on bands that are trying to catch a break called “Can You Hear Me.” More info can be found here. John and Mike do a brief interview before our set. Afterwards they ask us if we are interested in having a film crew ride along with us in the van as we pull an overnight drive to get to Chicago in the morning for a 7 am load-in for a radio performance. They decide against it after we ask them to do the driving.
John is at the wheel for the night as the rest of us sleep. We stop at a rest area about an hour outside of Chi-town a sliver of rest before we awake late and haul ass to the radio station. Today we perform on the Mancow show, which is a shock jock show in the Howard Stern tradition. Mancow’s engineer, “Mini-freak” greets us at the loading dock and guides us through halls of the historical Merchandise Mart where the station is housed. We find out that today’s show has a number of unexpected visitors and our show time will be pushed back an hour or so. We are upstaged by such entertainers as SNL’s Kevin Nealon, Booker-T (a WWF wrestler), Korn lead singer Jonathan Davis, members of some crappy band named Shinedown, and two porn stars. We wait in the green room for hours only to find that we will not be playing live, but taping for the Monday show. We never meet Mancow, drink too much caffeinated water and leave exhausted for Dave’s sister’s apartment for some downtime.
Tonight we play at an old Baptist church converted into art center in south Chicago. The old church features a baptismal pool over the stage, which is a converted pulpit. The main feature of the room is a huge neon crucifix over the stage that says, “Jesus is the light of the world”. Tonight Dave sets up at the lip of the stage and Mike plays above him on what was once the pulpit. John’s guitar amp falls off the stage halfway through “Terribly Empty Pockets” but ends up being ok. The night ends nice and early as we are all in dire need of sleep.
Morning comes nice and early since as need to be in Minneapolis at 3 pm for an on-air taping for the local NPR station the Current. We get into St. Paul a half hour late and are greeted by Derrick and Sam, producer and engineer respectively. A beautiful studio and friendly folks are abound at the busy station as we set up and knock out “Protection Act,” “Controller,” and “Invisible City,” which will air later that evening on host Mark Wheat’s show.
Our show tonight at the Turf Club reunites us with pals Clair de Lune. We’re greeted with an enthusiastic crowd and we deliver with an impassioned set. Following the show we head to the CDL house for an after-hours party. John loses six dollars in a quarters catching match and Michael awakes to find his shoelaces tied together.
The next morning we drive six hours to Michael’s former hometown, Omaha, NE for our show at Sokol Underground with label mates Little Brazil and our friends in Race For Titles. Omaha is one of our favorite tour stops and the show tonight reaffirms that notion. After the show Michael talks with long-time friends Tim Kasher and Matt Maginn of the band Cursive. Tim and Michael confirm the details of an upcoming Cops/Cursive split 7 inch to be released later this summer. The night ends early the next morning and we catch a few hours of sleep before our trek to Iowa City. We’re all feeling a bit exhausted as we brace for the homebound stretch of our tour.
I appreciate the dogged follow-ups, but these threads are hopelessly long and genuinely boring. I don't mean to be an a-hole, but can't we just say enough already with "THE COPS" installments?