St. Petersburg

Adrian on stage at the State Theatre, St. Petersburg, Florida

The show in Jacksonville was definitely wacky. Lost bass strings, improvisations, and drunken fans contributed to the hectic nature of that show! I was expecting even crazier things to happen in St. Petersburg and I was kind of correct.

My mom flew down to Florida from Philadelphia as a birthday treat and she came to our old timey hotel...which was a disguised Holiday Inn. Before she came there, we ate at an organic restaurant and then Julie and I went to the local music store. Julie bought new bass strings and also fell in love with a gorgeous Fender Jazz Bass. There wasn't any drum equipment there, but I play guitar, too, so I was having a good time. The promoter for the show walked in and had a Ween shirt on...so of course I started schmoozing! I also showed Julie a Les Claypool bass trick that she couldn't do and of course it frustrated her until soundcheck. We walked over across the street to the performance spot - The State Theatre - and we proceeded to do our normal pre-show soundcheck. Jerry Outlaw from the Zappa cover band Bogus Pomp was there. I met him at Zappanale in 2005 and he's a total sweetheart. His band was opening for us and I would like to thank him for being amazing.

We went back to the hotel and watched episodes of "Walker, Texas Ranger" (our favorite show to watch) and "Law & Order". The Law & Order was particularly funny because of how dated it was. I think it was the first episode to ever mention the "World Wide Web". Does anyone even call it that anymore?

We got to the venue at 9:00 to watch Jerry Outlaw. He performed a heart-wrenching rendition of the Zappa tune "Black Napkins" and dedicated it to Ken. Jerry and Ken were good friends and Ken had even recorded Bogus Pomp before. "Black Napkins" was one of Ken's favorite tunes and it's safe to say we all got a bit teary eyed. I must say, John Sinks (Ken's replacement and best friend) has been doing a wonderful job and deserves all the credit in the universe.

Back to the show...

We walk onstage and we realize that there is a hefty crowd that has packed the State Theatre. The show that night ruled! This was by far the most energetic one we played on this tour. Song highlights for that night include: "Ampresand", "Drive", and "Thela Hun Ginjeet". After all was said and done, we went back the old timey Holiday Inn and Adrian joked that the water fountain that looked like a toilet actually WAS a toilet. I love my mom, because she exclaimed, "I need to use the bathroom! Is it that thing?! " (as she pointed to the water fountain).