y'all come back now ya hear

Thursday April 1 2004

well it’s been a while since the last update, and i am loosing all concept of time. after nashville we played ina little town called murfreesborough which was pretty interesting. it was only our second ‘real’ show (ie not SXSW or an instore), and it was good to meet some folk, and we got a free sandwich. the real tour starts this friday and it will be good to get into the shows. so far we’ve made about $60 and have spent over $1000 since we arrived, so you can imagine the deafing screams from my credit card! :) anyway, nashville ended up being a bit scary as even though we moved to the better side of town, we were still greeted by a raving lunatic when we got back to the motel after the show who was screaming at us from his upstairs window for no apparent reason. we had to assume it was a case of mistaken identity, but it does get kinda exhausting always watching your back and wondering why so many (loud) psychos live in motels. so needless to say, we hotfooted out of there the next day and headed straight for graceland which was way cool. we paid the $27 for the platinum ticket and got to see everything. everyone should go. the house was suprisingly small considering how rich he was, but everything in it was great. and the aeroplanes and the car collection were also very cool. and there were so many people there! all with their headphones on and listening to the audio tour. it almost felt like visiting some holy site or something judging by the looks on everyone’s faces. after graceland we headed back to dallas, which is where we still are. we were in the predicament of not having another show for a week and no cash to stay in motels. the lady that we met by chance at our first instore - michelle - and her buddy - melissa - have been the most awesome hosts and are looking after us so well. we’ve become regulars at their favourite bar and also went to michelle’s dads burger restuarant where we saw an elvis impersinator and ate chicken fried steak (steak with a KFC type covering - much more delicious than it sounds). it was kinda weird seeing the impersinator having come straight from graceland. this guy was pretty good, and he had the whole roomin the palm of his hand. and there was no doubt that he has way more groupies than us and makes a tonne more money too! there were people there that see a different elvis at least 4 nights a week, and drive up to an hour to do so!! this whole country is like being in a movie (or perhaps a weird documentary) a lot fo the time. but even the overenthusiastic elvis people were very nice to us. yesterday we went to the grassy knoll and heard the conspiracy theorists tell us all about the JFK shooting. kinda morbid, but interesting none the less. it seems like everyday there is another thing of pop cultural signifance that we stumble across. for example we are staying in the suburb where stevie ray vaughn is from, and in the house next door to the house where the famous actress jane mansfield grew up. nuts. but anyway, the holiday is almost over and from friday night on we play pretty much every night until we leave. the weather has been 100% perfect in texas, so i’m kinda dreading heading north as it sounds cold up there. but i am looking forward to finally having a good show. more soon, PC