Elephants, Friends, and He-Man.

I first heard about the duo EOTO “E-oh-toe” (fun little reading-break-game; try saying “duo EOTO” as fast as possible. For shared enjoyment, gather with some friends and a punch bowl of your choice, and see who can say the phrase the quickest. A stop watch is recommended if circumstances permit.) at last year’s 10,000 Lakes Festival, while chatting with Michael Travis (drummer, String Cheese Incident) about life after cheese. EOTO, for you who don’t know, is Michael Travis’ and Jason Hann’s (percussionist, String Cheese Incident) dance music project. And so, to cut a potential long introduction short, last night I actually got to see them perform, as we opened up for them at the “High Noon Saloon” in Madison, WI. Our set was short but sweet, and there were a lot of new and old friends showing up to support. Speaking of old friends, I’d like to acknowledge our good buddy Zach (Oshkosh, WI crew), who’s moving to Florida this Friday. Last evening he shared one of his most recently acquired, and if I may be so bold and say highly fundamental, pieces of knowledge with me. Are you ready for this??? He’d just found out that the actor Dolph Lundgren (from such classics as "Rocky IV" (as Ivan "I must break you" Drago), and "He-Man – Masters Of The Universe") is Swedish! The outcome of Zach’s new enlightenment is that he now respects me just a tad more. What can I say, I’m deeply moved.

Today’s Swedish Lesson:
Elefanter Bara Pratar Ibland = Elephants Only Talk Occasionally

Show Recap: 4/25/08 House Cafe, DeKalb, IL

Last night's show at the House was another memorable evening. A couple highlights music-wise included a cool new segway (Wrath of the Solids > The World Is Watching Part II > Wrath of the Solids) and some covers that we haven't played in awhile (Strawberry Fields, Benny and the Jets). Jordan did a killer job with the lights, as usual, and the crowd was rockin for the entire set. Our regular DeKalb supporters came out in full force, along with others traveling from further away (Mike from Kankakee, Operation Adaptation Madison crew, Adam and Grimace with their new video cameras, Tom from the city). All in all, a very successful and encouraging show. A rare Saturday night off tonight, then off to Madison tomorrow, which Mattias has been assigned to report on, so watch out!!

Photos from the weekend

Congrats to my bandmates for writing in this blog. Below are a few funny photos from the weekend. First is the tallest gear-load ever on Adam's rolling guitar amp case as we loaded out of the Redstone Room on Friday. Second up is a funny billboard on the way out of our hotel this morning. Stay tuned for one of Jordan doing a beer bong at Operation Adaptation...

yes...yes...

operation…sullivan…the weather holds…matt…fat maw…many have tried…alex…finger trap…cubbies…ditch the fifth string…bicycles…old milwaukee…job well done…dave…little walter rides again…brewers…suck…well in hand…beer bong…could get used to this…next week in dekalb…adaptation.

Alright...I'm onboard with this blog nonsense.

What a night tonight! Back to the good old Redstone Room for some rowdy fun. Two sets of music, good people, dancin, boozin, smokin, hootenannnyin, lost cameras, new friends, old friends, new songs, old songs, Amy's birthday weekend, Grimace's 7th week in a row of catching an FGC show and he's plannin on comin to Dekalb next week!, early morning 5.2 magnitude earthquakes, Smokey (my arch enemy) and Melinda, Justin (one of our favorite sound guys), Sierra Nevadas, redheads, deadheads, dreadheads, and as much fun as I've had in a long time.

Hell yeah Davenport, let's do this again sometime soon.

Show Recap: 4/17/08 Friends & Co., Charleston, IL

Last night's show was at a small venue in Charleston called Friends and Company. We've been hearing a lot of good things about this venue from friends and other bands, so we were excited for the show.

We rolled into town at about 7pm, passing by a house with about 20 or 30 hippies hanging out on the front porch, who gave us a nice welcoming holler as we rolled by. The load in was easy, and the owner, Mike, ordered us a few pizzas so we continued to feel right at home.

When the doors opened, the place filled up within a matter of minutes, and the local opener, Phillips and the Screwdrivers, got things warmed up for us. We then hit the stage for an intense 2 hour set and kept the crowd raging.

At the end of the night as we were packing up our gear, an over-exuberant fan attempted to hoist himself up on the stage to say hello, using Jordan's keyboard as an anchor. Before anyone could realize what was happening, Jordan's keyboard and light controller went crashing to the ground. The keyboard no longer works, and the light controller has questionable functionality, which we'll have to test out tonight. We then spent an hour or two at the hotel after the show looking into our insurance policy and thinking up contingency plans for how to deal with the broken gear (rentals, repairs, replacements, etc). A total pain in the ass, but Jordan is handling it very well.

On our way to Davenport for a show at the Redstone Room, of which you will hopefully see a report on here tomorrow if we can manage to stay committed to this blog for more than a day....we'll see. :)

Welcome to the new blog!

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the new FGC tour blog. We're hoping that setting up this new interface will help us stay motivated to keep this thing current. Our last blog was fun but short lived, so we're hoping to have better luck maintaining this one. Please feel free to post comments or send suggestions! Or, if you attend a show and want to post a guest blog entry, just contact us by email and we'll set you up!

Janis