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Hey all -
The Nebulas tour jet touched back down in Providence, Ri this morning at
10:45am ET, although the band was still operating as if it were 7:45am -
meaning I was probably half tired, half drunk and most likely partially
clothed for the aforementioned reasons. I'm still reeling from what was
probably the best musical experience of my life thus far - it doesn't get
any better to play the music you love in front of crowds that really
appreciate it We have tons of photos, journal entries & just a huge pile
of shit and receipts to sift through, but rather than post a lengthy recount
of the tour on the list (many have already been more than generous with
their reviews of the shows), we're going to throw all that information on
our website in the coming weeks. Suffice it to say, it was the greatest -
the reception was phenomenal - more than any fo us expected - the dedication
of west coast surf fans & bands alike is unmatched anywhere - there is a
respectable effort growing in the East, but for The Nebulas, nothing beats
the experience of the last 13 days. We're so stoked to start writing new
material and just to play out alot - we plan to unleash hot fury on the East
Coast soon, so fear not you Mid-Atlanticians. As soon as that jackass with
the rifle gets permanently subdued, we'll gladly drive our WHITE rented
Chevy 3500 Aktion Van down the corridor - well maybe we'll rent a blue one &
then change it to grey once we cross the Mason-Dixon line...anything but
white - we have enough problems trying to get through airport security with
knives and 38-year old black face reverb tanks.
Anyway, this was supposed to be a short post, and I guess it still is by my
standards, but we just want to thank EVERYONE that somehow changed our lives
in teh last two weeks - we will credit you by name on the website, but in a
blanket statement - thanks first to everyone that came to see us as a fan;
everyone that had a role in getting us shows , everyone in the bands that we
were fortunate enough to play with. I'll elaborate a little later, but I'm
friggin' spent right now.
While we were on the road, we did manage to book a Halloween show in our
official hometown of Somerville, MA - this one at the Sky Bar - showtime is
9pm on 10/31. Also on the bill AFTER us for a change - its Boatyard Resin
and Rollover Baby
more info to come
thanks again
toofastjim
The Nebulas
www.thenebulas.com
Hey Jim...I'm glad the tour was a success! Thanks for sharing your road
stories. I love living vicariously through The Nebulas. I say Bo's picture
of your set list...looked awesome. I would have loved to hear Morphius and
Torque Wrench live. So what was:
The coolest thing that happened?
The suckiest thing to happen?
Best song performance?
Worst song performance?
The strangest thing to happen?
-BN
Brian -
Thanks for enjoying it - I typed up a complete tour diary which will be
posted on our website soon, along with some pictures - its just way too long
to post on a one-list. I wish I had the set list picture on the last
night - I didn't have my copy. We used 3 or 4 different set lists through
the tour, just so we wouldn't play the exact same thing every night, but
Morpheous & Torque Wrench usually sounded pretty good, as did our version of
Cecelia Ann which we pulled out a couple times - the toughest part was
cutting songs from the list, which is why we made them in advance.
Coolest thing that happened? I don't know take your pick between having a
killer show and packed crowd at the Lava Lounge with The Volcanics & The
Infrareds on the bill & having Jim Frias sit in on sax for 3rd Star...OR
playing two killer shows with Slacktone. Its tough to have just one coolest
thing. Meeting and playing with cool bands like The Infrareds & The
Hypnotic IV as well as The Volcanics, The Detonators, The Fabulous
Planktones & Pollo Del Mar and The Pyronauts - it was all too much fun. We
made enough money to pay our expenses - that's pretty cool for a surf band.
Suckiest thing to happen? Probably having DanO's bag get stolen (but
thankfully recovered) - it was partially my fault for spacing out, but I
feel bad. Maybe a couple of scheduling screw ups (we had to sit through
lesbian open mic in Fresno or that our set was cut short because of some
comedy hour on the last night in Hermosa), but nothing really went totally
wrong & ruined the trip or anything - it was all good.
Best song performance?? Again - tough to pick just one - probably something
from Sacramento, San Francisco, Monterey or The Lava Lounge - those were our
best shows & everything sounded pretty good as a whole on those nights, so
no single song really sticks out as being great. I heard we have a god
version of Da Kat (a new original) on tape from a San Diego show, but I
haven't heard it yet.
Worst song performance? Probably either the meltdown of Swan Lake on Phil
Dirt's show when Dan broke a string & the band never really recovered, or
our train wreck ending of Third Star on the last night in Hermosa - again a
string was broken, but I think I screwed it up before that happened.
Fortunately the rest of those two shows were pretty good, so those
occurrences didn't piss us off as much as they might under normal
circumstances.
Strangest thing that happened? I got invited to an orgy in San Francisco by
my old college roommate & his girlfriend and her girlfriend - it actually
kind of spooked me and wierded me out for awhile. Maybe if he wasn't there,
it would have been alright. We had somewhere to go, so I wasn't able to
oblige.
tfj
----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Neal <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 7:01 PM
Subject: RE: [SurfGuitar101] Nebulas R Back / Boston-area Halloween Show
Confirmed!!
> Hey Jim...I'm glad the tour was a success! Thanks for sharing your road
> stories. I love living vicariously through The Nebulas. I say Bo's picture
> of your set list...looked awesome. I would have loved to hear Morphius and
> Torque Wrench live. So what was:
>
> The coolest thing that happened?
> The suckiest thing to happen?
> Best song performance?
> Worst song performance?
> The strangest thing to happen?
>
> -BN
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
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> Visit for archived messages,
bookmarks, files, polls, etc.
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>
>
Hey Brian!
I'll answer your questions as well, based on my experience...
>From: "Brian Neal" <>
>Reply-To:
>To: <>
>Subject: RE: [SurfGuitar101] Nebulas R Back / Boston-area Halloween Show
>Confirmed!!
>Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2002 18:01:18 -0500
>
>Hey Jim...I'm glad the tour was a success! Thanks for sharing your road
>stories. I love living vicariously through The Nebulas. I say Bo's picture
>of your set list...looked awesome. I would have loved to hear Morphius and
>Torque Wrench live. So what was:
>
>The coolest thing that happened?
A tie between packing over 100 people into The Lava Lounge in Hollywood
on a Wednesday night, and being able to play with The Infrareds for 5
consecutive nights.
>The suckiest thing to happen?
This is a tie as well. When we showed up in San Jose at our elusive and
mysterious west-coast ammo/gear dump, we found that our stuff had actually
been routed through the Samsonite Testing Facility by accident and an
overweight, pissed-to-be-in-captivity gorilla took liberties on our road
cases, but REALLY took a liking to mine. I'll be posting the
"for-insurance-purposes" photos on the website shortly, but in a nutshell
when we pulled into the facility and saw our stuff, I believe someone in the
band said "Why is there a piece of cardboard taped to the side of that
case?" and let me tell you...it was all downhill from there. My case
sustained the worst damage..so much so in fact, that I just LEFT it in San
Jose behind a dumpster. The side was completely smashed in, the wheels were
mangled, and the frame rails were all bent up, and to top it off, I had a
nice 3" gash in the grillcloth of my Twin Re. Thank you UPS. I was already
composing my words as I walked up to it..
"I dont know what the hell happened, when I left Boston, it was a '65
Blackface twin, and when I open it in San Jose, it's a '79 silverface! Whats
up with that!?"
The other guys in the band did OK, with a trip to Home Depot for some
replacement casters and non-petroleum based industrial lubricant, and we
were on our way.
"So what could THAT be in a tie with?" you ask.
We're in San Diego, and we had played The Tiki House in Pacific Beach the
ngiht before. Well, our bass player had a friend who let us crash out on her
floor. After 8 days on the road, it really is amazing how one can become
picky about the concrete upon which they rest, but I digress...
So the next morning, as we were getting ready to set out, I dragged my
clothes duffel out of the van, so I could put my sleeping bag back in it.
Now let me set the environment. The van was parked in a location that you
couldnt see it from the apartment we were in. So I start to walk back
upstairs with Rudy and Eric, with TooFastJim staying down by the van. So up
we go, I get my bag, and start walking down again, only to pass TFJ on the
balcony. I really didn't give it a second though. So I walk down to the van,
and its shut and locked, but the only thing on the ground where my duffel
was is a black trash bag, which is what I put my dirty laundry in. So i
figure TFJ is making a point that I should better watch my shizzit. I open
up the van, no bag, I start walking around the van to see if he dragged it
behind it or something, when I hear this mild "thump" behind me. I turn
around, and theres a wooden fence with a door in it, and I see the door just
settling down from a swing. I walk over, and i shove the door open, and
theres some A-hole on the other side completely rifling through my clothes.
"Hey Motherf%$&er!" I yelled, and he takes off running. So being a
Nebula...I take off after him. He's got something in his hand, but it
doesn't look like anything I own. We're sprinting down this alley behind an
apartment complex, and all I see is a gray sweatshirt, short dark hair, and
the strobing of tan soled shoes flashing in front of me. He runs past this
dog, and dammit if the dog doesnt wake up confused and just stands right up
and squares off in front of me. I watched Captain Bungholio round the corner
still sprinting, and that was the last I saw of him. I went back up to fetch
the fellers from the apartment, and we began combing the neighborhood
looking for this jackass. I thought for sure we had him, but when four dudes
came walking his way and one of them said "Hows it going bro?", the guy was
just way too (insert lame-ass san diego surfer drawl here)"Heeey Duuudes!
Whaaatsss upp!?" to actually be the guy, so off we went looking for more and
the only thing we got out of that dragnet was a three egg, 2 bacon or
sausage and toast for 3.99 breakfast. As far as I can tell, nothing is
missing.
I got really lucky, because the OTHER bag I brought had my portable DAT
recorder, my condenser mic, my CDs, my theremin, and a couple of pedals and
lots of spare cabling in it. So those two incidents sucked. Everything else
was full bore kick-ass.
>Best song performance?
Probably the lava lounge because we were so pumped to have so many people
out that night.
>Worst song performance?
Me breaking a string during "Swan Lake" on Phil Dirts show and almost
knocking the other guitarist and bass player over to get to the spare
guitar.
>The strangest thing to happen?
TFJ getting propositioned by his college roommate to go have a foursome.
When I saw him after, he had that look that little kids get when they lose
their parents in a department store for like 5 minutes and then finally find
them.
That would sum it up from my end. Probably TFJ has some other views.
-Dano
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