The Van Story

This story will be told in the style of William Thomas Mansfield IV....because he is the greatest story tell who ever lived.....and continues to live...i can prove it, I just saw him last night, so I guess barring any unforeseen "indecent" he's still kicking.

So there I was behind the wheel of the greatest vehicle ever made prior to 1997.....the '97 Dodge DMC, the Dream Machine(pronounced with a hard ch...as in chicken), the Cheese Wheel, the buttratfarttub(its a pallendrome...like........noxon).

We stopped for a snack, actually we stopped because kenny's bladder decided to turn 65 years old on this tour and he has to pee every 100 miles or so....regardless, as we merged onto I-90 we heard a grinding sound come from somewhere under the car.....kenny and chet got out and listened and determined our back right was completely fucked and upon further investigation decided to change the tire. Turns out that son-of-a-bitch(willie style, remember) was worn down to the metal grid beneath the rubber itself making the tire damn near explosion. we unloaded the van, jacked her up, and changed the tire. Although we continued to hear the grinding sound, we decided to continue at a reduced speed to Spokane, our original destination and venue.

Everything was going smoothly. We ascended Lookout Pass which took us from Idaho to Washington, and began our decent passing the mountain town of Mullen and into the darkness of the Washington Rockies. About three miles down the road from Mullen I rounded a corner, following the river as it bent to the right. Midway around the corner the back of our van slammed into the pavement; the right rear tire and fallen off.....son of a bitch. At 65 miles an hour we began to swerve and fishtail toward the concrete divider in the center of the interstate, then back toward the edge of the road and the river, then the concrete, the river.....my breaks are slammed and the van is making a god awful sound....imagine nails on a chalk board....but the bottom of a 2,000 pound van against concrete-Kenny's is fist pumping shouting "you got this, you got this, you got this, you got this", and I'm trying to maneuver to the side of the road.

All completely instinct, all a flash of chaos....but it wasn't done yet. Like a pricey valet I parked the son of a bitch between the white line of the shoulder and the guard rail on a corner of I-90.........the dust settled.....i was amazed at the cleanliness of my pants.

"We're on fire!" is probably the last thing you want to hear, probably ever, but that's the first thing lucas said when he got out of the car. The rear right wheel well was completely on fire...mostly likely caused by metal scraping the pavement and a busted axle, break components and grease.

I never felt an ounce of fear during the ordeal of loosing a wheel until i knew we were on fire....i mean...we were on fucking fire!!! Chet in the panic threw a bottle of water on the well, which only made the fire bigger cause it was a grease fire.....I'm unlocking the back door with hopes of unloading my bass (and everyone else's shit too, but in moments of panic you get selfish)....Lucas, in his moment of brilliance and heroism sacrificed his pillow and smothered the fire, while we threw sand on the burning grease.

Fire out.....all that remained was the red glowing end of an axle which had melted and snapped. Ironically the wheel had rolled with us and landed next to the van.

Highway safety worker Scott(the silent three hundred pound type, no jacked....he never wears a jacket), Officer Louie Ochoa...the best cop name ever, and Darrell, the bands first ever driver, were on the scene. Police reports, road flares, sirens, flashing lights, a celebratory cigar(for not dying) were all out in force. Darrell the tow truck driver(which was more like a big flatbed with lights and our van drove us to the front door of Mootsy's in Spokane and helped us unload our gear. We played, rocked, and thanked the powers that be.....i guess it's just another story from the road....the crazy crazy road.

Thanks to my family Kirk, Renee, Jared, and Rickki and their friends for helping us out big time....giving us a place to stay and staying up way past your bed times to make sure we got where we needed to be. You are all so awesome. Officer Ochoa, Scott, and Darrell for keeping us safe on the interstate, and the guys at Bell Automotive for making our Dream Machine bigger, better, and stronger for future travels. Woo Hoo, the cheese wheel rides again.......................................................bye!

cold beer on a friday night

Somewhere between seeing a friend for the first time in 12 years and watching a wild tom turkey try to get laid I realized this tour was going to be special. Ceder Falls kicked our road time off in typical fashion; ragging drunk college kids packed into OP's trying to forget their finals. My old friend Steve came up from iowa city. We used to loose baseball games together when we lived in Estes Park, Colorado. It was a trip to reconnect; amazing dude. My family came through as well which was super special. Whether its family, friends, or otherwise Its always good to start a tour with a line out the door.
We picked up a show on friday in what was known until 5pm yesterday as "somewhere in Nebraska". I think after last night the town of Paxton will always sound like home. With a population of 605, Paxton is small town america; no really, google map Paxton. It will appear in the center of the US. (As an aside, we're filling up in ogalala,and I just peed in the nicest men's room I've ever used. It kind of makes me feel bad I didn't pay for anything). So paxton is a place where one of the three bars is called the Windy Gap; its a place where a cowboy in spurs and the full get up trips over the monitor and crushes kenny's pedal board...that's only happed in one other place (please refer to an earlier article at www.lostbetween.com entitled "Drunken Madman Topples Speaker"....you know who you are. Needless to say we'll be stopping by the hardware store today). It's a place where Josh Rouse's mom comes to your show and dances her ass off. Rouse is often played in the van. Google him; he's like, one of Lucas's favorite artists. Its always funny to see a bearded man act like a 12 year old girl.
The whole expirence was great. I've never felt so welcome like I did in paxton. The crowd was about 1/6 of the town, and they were all super supportivem. I have to thank Tom for his generosity and help in finding this very last minute show. He pimped us like hugh heffner and took us to stay at his hunting cabin in the sand hills just north of town. He's one helluva fun-loving guy....thanks for everything buddy, including that parting shot this morning :-)
See you all in Pocatello

Sick of Being Sick

I was feeling so invincable. I havn't been truly old-school sick in a long time until yesterday, and today, and for who knows how long. Last weekend was pretty good, though. THe Lucas Cates Band CD Release Party was Saturday night at the Brink Lounge in Madison. We all dressed classy for this very loungey atmosphere. Its kind of a cross between a hotel lobby and a porno set....fake fireplaces and all! Our management team Shirley and Georgia were in town from Atlanta to give their support and talk about the future. Its pretty sweet to have good people on your side who tell you things straight up instead of blowing smoke up your ass....they smoked menthols, too...so bonus. Some of my students were there too. I don't think there is more pressure than having your students watch you perform. There were like 300 people in that room and the only reason I got even a little clammy was the fact that these kids were there. I love them to death, though, and I think its really cool that they came to support just like every other TLCB fan in the room.
SO we have a show tonight in Madison at the Cardinal bar. It's an old club that's been there forever...Tuesday night is tough, especially when you have a chest and head cold, but I'm going to follow that advice of Kenny, my guitarist; "just get a rocks glass, fill it with makers, and sip on it...but let it run down your throat really slow. That shit will clear you right up!" - for better or for worse.

Laissez le bon temps roulez

Last night kicked off a very busy next three months. The boys returned from their duo tour (a healthy six weeks long) on Monday and the whole band did two acoustic sets last night at the Bar Next Door. Seriously, that is actually the name of the bar. Its an old Al Capone speakeasy complete with escape tunnels and a kick-ass old fireplace. Anyway things are looking up for the Lucas Cates Band. Aside from the Thursday, Friday, Saturday shows each week, our CD release party is October 18th, we're playing Halloween with one of my favorite bands, Steez, the southern tour is kicking off the second week in November, and New Year's Eve looks like it's gonna rage (we're doing that show with Steez and Chafo...my side project of sorts).
I think the new album is on itunes already...I'm not sure. I happily do not handle the advertising/promotion/business end of things. There will be a solid push on Yahoo and other Internet sites for the CD. Of course, these days it's not about the album since people can just download songs. This is definitely an issue for me, I mean I know that it's all about downloads and making things easy, but there is something about an album: a time capsule of songwriting that is interconnected with the experiences of the songwriters, a musical snapshot of the artists moment in life, a collection that makes sense as a whole. You wouldn't take just the smile from the Mona Lisa, would you? OK, I'm NOT comparing the Lucas Cates Band to Di Vinci, but you get my point.
Wow, I got a little off track there. I think I just tripped over a soapbox or something and can't remember what I was talking about.

loosing my blog virginity

Ok, so I have finally caved in and started a blog. But why? i mean, is anyone really going to be intrested in reading the random things I have going on in my head? Consider this a social expirement then.
In all honesty this may just be another attempt at some shameless self-promotion and a great way to display my piss-poor spelling abilities.
So let's do a little introduction:
Hi, I'm Mark...typically I'm addressed by my last name, Noxon. People seem to like it. It's a pallendrome, you know, spelled the same forwards and backwards. My last name takes it one step further, however. You can read it forwards, backwards, and upside down. NOXON...seriously try it hit ctl + alt + the down arrow and read for yourself (restore your view with ctl/alt/up)...weird, huh?

I live in Madison, Wisconsin. It's a beautiful city, often refered to as a musicians grave yard (I'm sure I will rant about this topic later, so I'll save it)
I play with the Lucas Cates Band. We tour nationally and are working to pay our bills. Check it out on my links. I'm also sitting in with this funk band called Chafo for the next year.
I do studio work for anybody, anywhere, any style.
I graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in history (again, there will probably be more posts on this stuff too).

If you are still reading this I'm impressed...and thanks!