AG's Journal #21

day 12-3/26-the ritz club-missoula,mt- well, on to montana! it's oscar night and the stars are out, but they definately ain't here! it's a pretty slow night at the ritz, but the owner sean and the bartender stuart are really cool. the crowd gets a little bigger by the end of the night. it includes the band that is playing tomorrow night, the floodplain gang. they're another homegrown network band that we had heard of but never got the chance to meet until now. they are out of boulder, colorado and are in the midst of a cross country tour as well. we talk some shop and stuart keeps pouring the drinks. i'm sure you can figure out the rest.....

day 13-3/27-zebra lounge-bozeman,mt.- we pull into bozeman at about 5 o'clock and go straight to the zebra lounge. it's a pretty big place and an interesting layout. there are a lot of little rooms and alcoves including a poker room that is full of action. we have fun stretching things out and jamming a little more than usual. bruce has one of his most impressive drum solos yet. everybody had a really good night. the crowd is very appreciative, screaming after every solo and song. we meet some of the locals after the show as well as the manager, evan, who loves the band and insists on having us back. both of these montana towns are surprisingly very promising stops. they both have a lot of good music coming through them and i think it's something we can really build. darren booked a fill in show tomorrow in salt lake city, so as of last friday, we'll be playing every night for the rest of the tour. 15 shows in a row! so far so good! only 11 more to go.

day 14-3/28-dead goat-salt lake city- for a filler gig that was booked 3 or 4 days ago, this one turns out surprisingly good. we we're all pretty fried after a 7 hour drive, but after some dinner we start to get our wits back. we get about 125 people in the place, which they say is their best tuesday night in a long time and it turns out to be a fun night.