I just drove for five hours in shitty weather(ice, snow, wind, etc.) from St. Paul, Minnesota to Madison, Wisconsin....the epic end to my Thanksgiving weekend. I also poured myself a strong drink(to relax from the tense drive) and now feel compelled to write some nonsense. I am really excited for the band. We are in that stage where things are happening, but we are still rocking the cougar bars in small-ass wisco towns; we can still play a four=hour show and people feel compelled to yell "Freebird"; there are still a million ways to spell Cates, cate, caates, catis, kates, kate's; backstage means a parking lot, a basement, a trash can, a Chinese restaurant. Don't' get me wrong, I am not trying to come off like a whiny bitch. To be honest, I kind of like it all. There is a satisfaction in setting up your own system, fighting for your payout, sleeping in the van, taking a sharking lot, and playing as much as you can.
This year I am thankful for my family and friends, as well as my band, who through thick and thin will always be my brothers. You guys are the best. I love you and look forward to every experience we encounter.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
but the words are mine.
Alright so let me catch up with our adventure. The remainder of our days flew by us. We bid goodbye to our friends in Sharp and Harkins Band as well as Mike Droho and Anthony, and traveled to Spartenburg, South Carolina. Now Spartenburg is famous (to me at lease) for two things. 1. This private all -girls school, and 2. the world headquarters for Denny's. Unforunately we couldn't get a grand slam at either! We played at Wild Wings, which is a restaurant chain in the south, as well as an awesome venue. Our sound team was amazing and we had some of the best sound we'd had on tour. Everyone we met that night was super cool and supportive even though throughout 3/4 of the show their backs were toward us while they watched that Patriots/Jets game. I can't lie, Chet and I were watching too. We had some friends who saw the Duo in Arizona drive from Maryland to see the show which was a show of serious dedication. The highlight of the night for me was seeing Chet and Richard have a dance party with themselves once we got back to the hotel room....and as you should assume this was fuled by booze, and my documented evidence of this event will never be shown. Friday night was SWANGIN'! We played at the Atlanta Brewing Company, which is THE place to go before you go out in ATL. Some of you might have seen this on Dirty South TV, but if you didn't it was in a warehouse and smelled like feet. The crowd was strong, though and we made a lot of new friends and sold a good number of discs. It was so hot in there I had never sweat so much...I felt like Styles...seriously I'm sure you can see it on the video. Many props go out to G from Dirty South TV who helped us out, and cracked me up when he was filming by holding one "rock and roll fist" in the air while he ran the camera and ate a massive sub sandwich....a man of many talents and styles...all awesome, by the way. After that we kicked it with some people from the show at Fox and Hounds. We drank some drinks, shot some pool, had a great time, and decided to go to the Pink Pony. Now did I mention Harie is one of the baddest dudes I know. This guy hooked us up with some premium apparel for his clothing line, Rejunio, and took us out that Friday for a night on the town!!! All I will say is this Pink Pony = VIP, Free Drinks, Free Hotel, and Jessica Linn a foot from my face. Swangin!!! Harie....we can't thank you enough for your generosity, hospitality, and overall awesome spirit. Thanks, brother! We wrapped our Atlanta session up with an acoustic show at Marlow's Tavern. We played on the porch above the restaurant which was heated and intimate. It was great to see some of our friends from the night before (not Jessica :-( and great to meet all of the new people. It was a great way to end our southern experience. Hey bartenders....y'all were the best! Now don't think this tour was all about boozin', after all we are professionals :-) Finally there isn't enough thanks, love, and appreciation that I could express with words to adequately show my love for Shirley, Georgia, and Teresa. Y'all are family to me and I love you very much. Thanks for making me feel at home away from home. I can't wait to see you...believe me you will just have recovered by the time we come back. Thanks for believing and let's keep this mutherfuckin train-a-rollin'.
Alright so let me catch up with our adventure. The remainder of our days flew by us. We bid goodbye to our friends in Sharp and Harkins Band as well as Mike Droho and Anthony, and traveled to Spartenburg, South Carolina. Now Spartenburg is famous (to me at lease) for two things. 1. This private all -girls school, and 2. the world headquarters for Denny's. Unforunately we couldn't get a grand slam at either! We played at Wild Wings, which is a restaurant chain in the south, as well as an awesome venue. Our sound team was amazing and we had some of the best sound we'd had on tour. Everyone we met that night was super cool and supportive even though throughout 3/4 of the show their backs were toward us while they watched that Patriots/Jets game. I can't lie, Chet and I were watching too. We had some friends who saw the Duo in Arizona drive from Maryland to see the show which was a show of serious dedication. The highlight of the night for me was seeing Chet and Richard have a dance party with themselves once we got back to the hotel room....and as you should assume this was fuled by booze, and my documented evidence of this event will never be shown. Friday night was SWANGIN'! We played at the Atlanta Brewing Company, which is THE place to go before you go out in ATL. Some of you might have seen this on Dirty South TV, but if you didn't it was in a warehouse and smelled like feet. The crowd was strong, though and we made a lot of new friends and sold a good number of discs. It was so hot in there I had never sweat so much...I felt like Styles...seriously I'm sure you can see it on the video. Many props go out to G from Dirty South TV who helped us out, and cracked me up when he was filming by holding one "rock and roll fist" in the air while he ran the camera and ate a massive sub sandwich....a man of many talents and styles...all awesome, by the way. After that we kicked it with some people from the show at Fox and Hounds. We drank some drinks, shot some pool, had a great time, and decided to go to the Pink Pony. Now did I mention Harie is one of the baddest dudes I know. This guy hooked us up with some premium apparel for his clothing line, Rejunio, and took us out that Friday for a night on the town!!! All I will say is this Pink Pony = VIP, Free Drinks, Free Hotel, and Jessica Linn a foot from my face. Swangin!!! Harie....we can't thank you enough for your generosity, hospitality, and overall awesome spirit. Thanks, brother! We wrapped our Atlanta session up with an acoustic show at Marlow's Tavern. We played on the porch above the restaurant which was heated and intimate. It was great to see some of our friends from the night before (not Jessica :-( and great to meet all of the new people. It was a great way to end our southern experience. Hey bartenders....y'all were the best! Now don't think this tour was all about boozin', after all we are professionals :-) Finally there isn't enough thanks, love, and appreciation that I could express with words to adequately show my love for Shirley, Georgia, and Teresa. Y'all are family to me and I love you very much. Thanks for making me feel at home away from home. I can't wait to see you...believe me you will just have recovered by the time we come back. Thanks for believing and let's keep this mutherfuckin train-a-rollin'.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Georgia on My Mind
Wow, I meant to keep up with this tour and post something each day, but between the Kentucky moonshine and twenty plus pounds of bbq breakfast it must have slopped my mind. So please allow me to recap our adventure thus far.
Our first stop was at the Cubby Bear in Wriggleyville, Chicago. This place was awesome; its directly across from Wriggley Park and we were treated like rock stars. Chris Burhle opened the show, and actually they hooked us up with this show as a return favor for us opening for them up in Madison. That band is just awesome and it was realy great to see them in their natural environment. It was great to see our good friends Jess, Andrew, and George come out to support. Honestly, the greatest thing about any show is the support you recieve from your frinds and family. You guys are the best.
We've also met a ton of amazing new friends along the way. Our next two dates were in Bardstown Kentucky....you might be asking "where the hell is Bardstown, Kentucky?" Let me tell you, friends, Bardstown is the Bourbon capital of the world, and that bourbon was flowing like sweet, sweet necture. Tasha, our bartender for both nights was a sweet southern belle for sure! She hooked us up and was super cool. Accually once I started to understand what the hell people were saying to me, thay were all pretty nice :-) Our friends at Still Bill's (the place to chill) hooked us up with some real deal, kick your ass, you better watch what you're putting in yourself cause if you don't you aren't going to play a note tonight Kentucky Moonshine. Supposedly if you put that in the freezer on a summer day they call it ice water!
SO I have to tell you about rolling up to the Inspiration Lounge in Bardstown. First of all, noone had ever heard of this place, yes, that's great news. We headed in the direction of what seemed to be "out of town" and stopped to ask directions at this gas station. Lucas came out laughing his ass off, and shure as shit we were going to be rocking the motel lounge of the Quality Inn....quality. Yep, hotel lounge. Here is where I will give you time to laugh at our sorry asses.........................alright, enough. It accually turned out really well. We had supportive crowds and sold ten times as many cds as we could have hoped. I think we found the Rhinelander of the south.
So we waved good bye to Bardstown with hangovers and fond memories as we headed to Atlanta. Monday night was a gig at the number one indy rock website in the world, Dirty South TV. If you didn't see it, it was a unique expirence, but G (the dude in charge) was super supportive and crass and I think perhaps it will generate some crowd for our Friday show at the Atlanta Brewing Company. We will accually be streaming that live show on the Dirty South TV website Friday at 5:15 central so check it out while you are pre-partying for Friday night. After that we rushed over to Eddie's Attic to play a spot at their open mic. This, my friends, was the best open mic I have ever been apart of. Everybody was paying attention, there was no talking during performances, and every performer was unbelievable. We met great friends who were also touring and locals who were crazy!
I have to talk this oppertunity to not only wrap up this novel but also to thank SKJ productions and Opus entertainment, more specifically Shirley and Georgia who have treated us like kings while we have been here. The Lucas Cates Band, Mike Droho, and the Sharp and Harkins band are all crashing at their place in Stone Mountain, Georgia. It a communal environment with more food that I have ever seen. I am getting fat on this tour for sure! Its great to kick it with fellow Madison rockers and have the oppertunity to support each other while we are on the road. Community is powerful and I am blessed to have such an amazing group of people around me.
More to come as we head to South Carolina tomorrow! Peace.
Our first stop was at the Cubby Bear in Wriggleyville, Chicago. This place was awesome; its directly across from Wriggley Park and we were treated like rock stars. Chris Burhle opened the show, and actually they hooked us up with this show as a return favor for us opening for them up in Madison. That band is just awesome and it was realy great to see them in their natural environment. It was great to see our good friends Jess, Andrew, and George come out to support. Honestly, the greatest thing about any show is the support you recieve from your frinds and family. You guys are the best.
We've also met a ton of amazing new friends along the way. Our next two dates were in Bardstown Kentucky....you might be asking "where the hell is Bardstown, Kentucky?" Let me tell you, friends, Bardstown is the Bourbon capital of the world, and that bourbon was flowing like sweet, sweet necture. Tasha, our bartender for both nights was a sweet southern belle for sure! She hooked us up and was super cool. Accually once I started to understand what the hell people were saying to me, thay were all pretty nice :-) Our friends at Still Bill's (the place to chill) hooked us up with some real deal, kick your ass, you better watch what you're putting in yourself cause if you don't you aren't going to play a note tonight Kentucky Moonshine. Supposedly if you put that in the freezer on a summer day they call it ice water!
SO I have to tell you about rolling up to the Inspiration Lounge in Bardstown. First of all, noone had ever heard of this place, yes, that's great news. We headed in the direction of what seemed to be "out of town" and stopped to ask directions at this gas station. Lucas came out laughing his ass off, and shure as shit we were going to be rocking the motel lounge of the Quality Inn....quality. Yep, hotel lounge. Here is where I will give you time to laugh at our sorry asses.........................alright, enough. It accually turned out really well. We had supportive crowds and sold ten times as many cds as we could have hoped. I think we found the Rhinelander of the south.
So we waved good bye to Bardstown with hangovers and fond memories as we headed to Atlanta. Monday night was a gig at the number one indy rock website in the world, Dirty South TV. If you didn't see it, it was a unique expirence, but G (the dude in charge) was super supportive and crass and I think perhaps it will generate some crowd for our Friday show at the Atlanta Brewing Company. We will accually be streaming that live show on the Dirty South TV website Friday at 5:15 central so check it out while you are pre-partying for Friday night. After that we rushed over to Eddie's Attic to play a spot at their open mic. This, my friends, was the best open mic I have ever been apart of. Everybody was paying attention, there was no talking during performances, and every performer was unbelievable. We met great friends who were also touring and locals who were crazy!
I have to talk this oppertunity to not only wrap up this novel but also to thank SKJ productions and Opus entertainment, more specifically Shirley and Georgia who have treated us like kings while we have been here. The Lucas Cates Band, Mike Droho, and the Sharp and Harkins band are all crashing at their place in Stone Mountain, Georgia. It a communal environment with more food that I have ever seen. I am getting fat on this tour for sure! Its great to kick it with fellow Madison rockers and have the oppertunity to support each other while we are on the road. Community is powerful and I am blessed to have such an amazing group of people around me.
More to come as we head to South Carolina tomorrow! Peace.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Mom! I'm on TV-sort of
Hi everybody! The Lucas Cates Band's (of which I am a part)southern tour leg of our cd release starts this Thursday, and we have some really cool opportunities while we are on the road.
Dirty South TV was started by a music video lover who became disgusted with both MTV and VH-1, as their focus turned from videos to reality TV and other things. He started Dirty South, and he shortly thereafter began “Live Sessions from the Dirty South,” which is now the #1 watched weekly indie music show. The Lucas Cates Band will be performing on Monday, November 10th from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Being on this show is a privilege, as bands, both local and touring, are clamoring for a slot.
G, the owner, CEO, or whatever you prefer to call him, loves our band and wants to do what he can to help with our exposure. To that end, Dirty South will now be feeding live from your show at the Atlanta Brewing Company on Friday night!
So, while we are on the road you can watch the performance at Atlanta Brewing Company Friday, the 14th and our in-studio show on the 10th.
This is a really big deal for us and we really need to generate as much support as we can. If you have a spare moment please tune in to Dirty South TV (don't worry, it's not dirty like that) or our live show on Friday. If there is a jump in ratings for this station they will know it's because of the band and this will open some big doors for us.
Here is the link to Dirty South TV:
http://www.dirtysouthtv.tv/LiveSessionsFromTheDirtySouth.html.
Thank you guys. Your support is appreciated so much more than you know. To see more dates/pics/details visit:
www.myspace.com/marknoxon
www.myspace.com/lucascates
www.lucascates.com
or find me of facebook!
much love.
Dirty South TV was started by a music video lover who became disgusted with both MTV and VH-1, as their focus turned from videos to reality TV and other things. He started Dirty South, and he shortly thereafter began “Live Sessions from the Dirty South,” which is now the #1 watched weekly indie music show. The Lucas Cates Band will be performing on Monday, November 10th from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Being on this show is a privilege, as bands, both local and touring, are clamoring for a slot.
G, the owner, CEO, or whatever you prefer to call him, loves our band and wants to do what he can to help with our exposure. To that end, Dirty South will now be feeding live from your show at the Atlanta Brewing Company on Friday night!
So, while we are on the road you can watch the performance at Atlanta Brewing Company Friday, the 14th and our in-studio show on the 10th.
This is a really big deal for us and we really need to generate as much support as we can. If you have a spare moment please tune in to Dirty South TV (don't worry, it's not dirty like that) or our live show on Friday. If there is a jump in ratings for this station they will know it's because of the band and this will open some big doors for us.
Here is the link to Dirty South TV:
http://www.dirtysouthtv.tv/LiveSessionsFromTheDirtySouth.html.
Thank you guys. Your support is appreciated so much more than you know. To see more dates/pics/details visit:
www.myspace.com/marknoxon
www.myspace.com/lucascates
www.lucascates.com
or find me of facebook!
much love.
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