Fueled by a basket of fried pickles and "lone star" beer we took the stage at Hole in the Wall. After what seemed like an eternity of driving it was great to play some music and remember why it is that we embarked on this tour in the first place. Some drunk guy in the back yelled something that was mostly unintelligable except for a rather distinct "y'all." (I think that is slang for "you all". . . can anyone confirm this??) His brazen missile of southern slang hit home in our urban hearts and we dedicated the next "countryish" tune to the drunk guy in the back. . . thank you drunk guy in the back. . . we love you. After a much needed night of horizontal sleep and a proper texas lunch of delectable BBQ'd ribs, chicken, brisket, pulled pork, and an array of salads that all had bacon in them, we are ready to dominate Austin. We almost lost Matt "Bald Eagle" Sartain this morning when Jesse and myself, Justin Fantasy, threw down for an epic longboarding session. Matt was pushing hard and couldn't hold on so he bailed and hucked his meat onto someones manicured lawn. The skateboard kept flying down the hill while Matt, somewhat gracefully glided through the air and rolled onto the grass to amazingly land on his two feet. . . 9.9 points matt. . . well done. Tonight is going to be fun and we are thrilled to be playing in a city that has such a rich musical scene. Until next blog. . .
justin fantasy
7.31.2007
7.30.2007
A Deep Breath and a Lot of Driving
For those who came out to our San Diego show at Scolari's only to be disappointed by our no-show, we apologize immensely. Hopefully the other bands explained our situation; if you have any other questions for us, please email us at orthewhale@gmail.com or at www.myspace.com/orthewhale.
We are all very tired and as I'm the only one of us not sleeping at the moment, I'll try to explain as succintly as possible:
We set out for San Diego at around 10am from San Francisco. At around 12:45, with all going well so far, we smelled a burning smell. We assumed for a second that it was coming from the truck in front of us. Unfortunately, we were wrong. A few seconds later, someone noticed smoke coming through the vents and out from behind the van. We pulled over quickly onto the shoulder and jumped out of the van. We don't have an exact cause but basically, we think Cleo just had had enough. It was hot, she was beat up and dragging a heavy trailer, and she simply gave out. Some fluid (transmission fluid or oil) leaked out onto one of the pipes underneath the engine and started a small fire. Luckily everyone's quick action and some help from a nice trucker and another awesome driver helped put the fire out and make sure that everyone and everything were under control. After a while, we were joined by two fire trucks, a helicopter, and two low flyings planes coming to make sure everything was safe and put out.
After towing the van and trailer from the middle of the I-5 to Matt's great uncle's house in Fresno (60 miles or so), and realizing it was already 3pm, we conceded the fact that we would have to cancel the first show of our big summer tour. With a ton of help (and a 5 1/2 hour drive up from San Diego) from my parents, we procured a new vehicle and at 3am on Sunday morning we set out for Austin, Texas.
After a long, arduous, fun, ridiculous, and slightly insane 20 something hour drive, we are here in Austin. Here are some highlights: "hey baybay", Matt's chupacabra rap, Lindsay falling asleep with her mouth open, the Thing?!, Patton Oswald and the Chipmunks Christmas record, our new nicknames, our new ride, our new trailer, the smell of West Texas, the crazy lightning, the plagues of locusts, toads, and blood, Dr. Terrence Noseworthy (our favorite Texas stray dog), and oh so many more. We've been taken in by Julie's cousin and her family and we'll be staying here for the next two days.
Can't wait to go play our first show of the tour tonight. Seems like we've been on tour forever and we haven't even played. Weird. Anyway, thank you to everyone who's helped us out in anyway (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, girlfriends, boyfriends, random people, firemen, cops, etc). Looking at this list, I can't even imagine how many people will continue to help us. If you're in Texas, come see us in Austin tonight. Hopefully I can find some barbequed tempeh.
Love,
Alex and OTW
We are all very tired and as I'm the only one of us not sleeping at the moment, I'll try to explain as succintly as possible:
We set out for San Diego at around 10am from San Francisco. At around 12:45, with all going well so far, we smelled a burning smell. We assumed for a second that it was coming from the truck in front of us. Unfortunately, we were wrong. A few seconds later, someone noticed smoke coming through the vents and out from behind the van. We pulled over quickly onto the shoulder and jumped out of the van. We don't have an exact cause but basically, we think Cleo just had had enough. It was hot, she was beat up and dragging a heavy trailer, and she simply gave out. Some fluid (transmission fluid or oil) leaked out onto one of the pipes underneath the engine and started a small fire. Luckily everyone's quick action and some help from a nice trucker and another awesome driver helped put the fire out and make sure that everyone and everything were under control. After a while, we were joined by two fire trucks, a helicopter, and two low flyings planes coming to make sure everything was safe and put out.
After towing the van and trailer from the middle of the I-5 to Matt's great uncle's house in Fresno (60 miles or so), and realizing it was already 3pm, we conceded the fact that we would have to cancel the first show of our big summer tour. With a ton of help (and a 5 1/2 hour drive up from San Diego) from my parents, we procured a new vehicle and at 3am on Sunday morning we set out for Austin, Texas.
After a long, arduous, fun, ridiculous, and slightly insane 20 something hour drive, we are here in Austin. Here are some highlights: "hey baybay", Matt's chupacabra rap, Lindsay falling asleep with her mouth open, the Thing?!, Patton Oswald and the Chipmunks Christmas record, our new nicknames, our new ride, our new trailer, the smell of West Texas, the crazy lightning, the plagues of locusts, toads, and blood, Dr. Terrence Noseworthy (our favorite Texas stray dog), and oh so many more. We've been taken in by Julie's cousin and her family and we'll be staying here for the next two days.
Can't wait to go play our first show of the tour tonight. Seems like we've been on tour forever and we haven't even played. Weird. Anyway, thank you to everyone who's helped us out in anyway (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, girlfriends, boyfriends, random people, firemen, cops, etc). Looking at this list, I can't even imagine how many people will continue to help us. If you're in Texas, come see us in Austin tonight. Hopefully I can find some barbequed tempeh.
Love,
Alex and OTW
7.26.2007
Towards Thee We Roll...
And Call to Landlocked Masses!
We will be embarking on our tour at around 9am on Saturday morning. Hold tight, San Diego. We'll be coming to rock your britches and shake your hands. For more info on all the shows check us out here and here. The latter website has pretty damn efficient information on each show (directions/venue websites/bandwebsites/price/ages/etc). Thanks Julie for all your hard work!
For now, we'll be packing and buying loads and loads of strings. We'll update this as regularly as we can but the first few days will have lots of driving involved so please be patient. Hope to see you soon!
Love,
Alex and OTW
We will be embarking on our tour at around 9am on Saturday morning. Hold tight, San Diego. We'll be coming to rock your britches and shake your hands. For more info on all the shows check us out here and here. The latter website has pretty damn efficient information on each show (directions/venue websites/bandwebsites/price/ages/etc). Thanks Julie for all your hard work!
For now, we'll be packing and buying loads and loads of strings. We'll update this as regularly as we can but the first few days will have lots of driving involved so please be patient. Hope to see you soon!
Love,
Alex and OTW
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