Midwest Tour Diary #3

-This is added as a footnote, even though it's at the beginning....
I promised you a blog for everyday, I was writing most of them,
but not sending them, don't ask, it's a dumb story. So now I'm holed
up in a Brueggers with a giant cup of coffee, and I'll work my way
through all the stories-

Day 3.
Chicago, IL

This morning I woke up with an ipod in my pocket.

I have no idea who it belongs to.
It's a nice one, too, video.
Loaded with music, lot's of Jack Johnson,
but I like him more than I thought I would.

Waking up with an ipod in my pocket,
that should give you some kind of indication
as to the night I had.

I should also add that I had no idea where
I was when I woke, luckily for me, it was a friendly place.

My friend Mike's giant loft,
right around the corner from the Cubby Bear.

As I stood up, peed for twenty minutes,
it came back to me in flashes and chunks.

Ah... flashes and chunks,
that reminds me of puking in the parking lot.

Last night was the Cubby Bear show,
the big, homecoming, hometown celebration.

And I must say, as much as I remember,
I was very happy with it.

It started off with Pauly Doerr's new band, RF Modulator.

They were solid.

As they were getting off stage,
and I was getting on, the room was buzzing
with energy, positive energy, I was stoked,
had just the right mixture of sleep,
caffeine, and cheap beer that I like for a set.

Everything was going smooth, as planned,
good crowd, beautiful people, good sound,
big stage, good lighting, old friends, love.

now....

HERE, WE ....

who the fuck are you guys?

Two midgets,
well not midgets,
just short dudes,
are on the stage,
handling the microphone
with the ease of an experienced microphoner.

You could tell they were somebody,
you know how you can just tell sometimes?

Turns out they were,
the Manno Brothers.

Q101 (big Chicago Rock Radio Station)
had a new afternoon show, to replace
my dear friend Fook in the afternoons.

These were the hosts,
the Manno Brothers.

I was cordial as a Southern girl.
I promise you, I was.

They were there to give away some
Blackhawks tickets, who apparently got
both good and popular while I was gone.

No sweat, little dudes,
you do your thing.

So I hop on backstage
to pace around, get pumped,
get excited to come out and rock
my dear friends and closest supporters.

I hear this...

"ALLRIGHT..... We're the Manno brothers from Q101,
and we're here to blah blah blah excited radio voice."

They do their schtick,
they are rapping up,
and then I hear something to the effect of,

"okay.... looks like next up onstage we have.....
.......Nice...... Peter? Nice Peter....
what kind of stupid name for a band is that?
jokey, jokey, radio douche jokey...."

um.

seriously?

Did you guys honestly just put me in that position?

They left the mic,
I walked onstage,
in front of all my friends and longest time fans,
and I think we all knew what had to happen.

My dear friend Ethan asked me,
"you heard that, right? you're not going to let
them get away with that are you?

sigh,
no, I guess I'm not.

You might remember at the Goose Island
many years ago, when the manager
was scolding me for having my guitar too loud
during soundcheck, while there were already fans watching.

He was being a dick, and I was a slave to my stage persona.

I am not a cocky smart ass all day long,
I wouldn't even be able to hang out with myself
if I acted how I do onstage all the time.

But onstage, anytime onstage,
with a microphone, I am bound
by some foolish self depricating
pledge to be shocking, courageous,
bold, fearless, loud, funny, and
often insulting, at least in the face
of adversaries.

It's hard to describe the feeling to you,
I didn't really want to call out the Manno Brothers,
they are fucking radio show hosts for god's sake.

I could roll with it, impress them, and maybe play
on their show next time I roll through Chicago.

But,
I can't fight the momentum of what I accidently
started six years ago. If some little asshole
is going to come onto my home stage in front
of my friends and fans at my big homecoming
concert and be dumb enough to insult me
in front of everyone, I'm going to go berserk.

I started off pretty easy, actually,
I didn't want to make a scene,
I just had to say,

"um.... I'm Nice Peter, radio guys,
and I happen to like my name, and I think
all the good people here do too." (yaaaayyyyyy)

Then, he upted the ante,
had to start a little pissing contest.

One Manno brother jumped up onstage,
and got onto my mic,
and when I say "my mic",
I'm not being some dickhead posessive diva prick...
it's my mic, I bought it, I bring it, and I hook it
up to my equipment, specifically...
my looper pedal.

He got up and started spewing bullshit
into the mic, and I went nuts,
I don't know how it came off to the audience,
but inside I was fuming.

Just let it go, radio dude,
you've got your show every fucking day,
this is mine, I only come here every six months,
and I don't need you to remind me that the
local rock radio station has never heard of me.

get it?

That looper pedal came in handy,
while he was talking, I clicked it,
got him looping over himself,
he got mad, tried to step on it,
and ended up relooping with himself.

give it up, dude,
you're not going to win,
and as much as I would love to stop
and be friends and be on your radio show,
I can't stop until someone in this audience goes,
"holy shit.... I can't believe he just said that"

.

This was all in the first five minutes of the show,
what a start.

The rest went great, I was smiling the entire time,
people were singing, people were laughing,
and people were feeding me shots.

shots.

shot

shhhhhhhh

ts.

jesus.

that was too many shots.

Have you ever been driving down
a long road and you realize with a start
that you haven't really been paying attention?

Just driving on autopilot.

That's what happened to me
suddenly in the last ten minutes of my show.

I was playing,
and there were a couple hundred people watching,
and I wasn't even paying attention.

It was a good forward to the rest of the tour.

That is, I've done this so many times,
if I'm not careful, I can get lazy and just slip into routine.

I haven't been great at writing new songs,
either that or I have quite a few new songs
that I'm too nervous to play, or too nervous
to finish, because I'm always afraid they won't
be as good as the songs I used to write.

Either way, I was on edge this whole tour
to keep things fresh, and most of the time,
I think I pulled it off.

I ended the Cubby Bear show with a cover of Hey Jude.

And I promise you, no lie,
I don't really remember it at all.

I've played that song drunk with drunk audiences
so many times that it felt like making love to a familiar lover.

Just let go, rock back and forth, and have a good time.

You know the words, at least the important ones,
the rest will take care of itself.

-p