3 July 2006: Hello Cleveland!

People in Cleveland are really sick of both "Hello Cleveland!" and "Cleveland Rocks" by Ian Hunter.

3 July we were in Cleveland, playing the Beachland Ballroom, in the "tavern" area. Had a surprisingly good black bean burrito and a few pints of a local brew by Great Lakes Brewery. Dessert was a deep-fried PB&J, which was out-of-this-world. The venue itself was interesting, feeling more like a VFW hall than a bar, but this is Cleveland, after all. Staff were nice as could be, and the local openers, the Expecting Rain did a fine job. Their trumpet player ended up sitting in with Shearwater for a couple of tunes after learning the songs in her car right before the show.

While the rest of Shearwater loaded out, I bro'ed out w/ the guys in the Court and Spark about 1990's hardcore. Turns out Mike and Scott were in a band on Ebullition called Ex-Ignota, who I never actually heard. Dre and I are going to burn them a copy of the Blacksmiths EP.

Also did a little Pere Ubu/RFFT snooping. Turns out they not only practice down the street from the Beachland, they're working on a new record. Hopefully they'll be making another US run and stopping in Texas so Katey can see them.

The show turned out to be the high-point of attendance for the tour so far, with 44 people paid. This beat the best estimate in the band pool by 23 people. Considering my sordid history with the city, I'm just glad no food was thrown at me and I didn't have to piss in a hole in a basement.

The 4th is a driving day, where we'll crash in the palatial Sheff compound outside of Worcester, and Howrad and I will finally get some amazing food in our bellies.