3/22
We drove all night, with a 7 AM stop at The Waffle House, to get to Akron. The Waffle House has virtually nothing I would eat, so I ordered two pieces of wheat toast with jam and rocked out to some tunes on the jukebox, I played: Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, CCR, and a Waffle House-themed number called “Going Back to the Waffle House,” complete with horrible ersatz instrumentation. I bet the people at the Waffle House hate all the theme songs, of which there were about 20. After eating, we made out way to Akron and arrived around 4:00. We checked into a hotel and, after finding out we didn’t need to be at the club until around 8, passed out for several hours. We headed on down to Annabell’s and found that it was an excellent room with an upstairs bar and a downstairs rock club. Next door, there was an Indian restaurant that closed before I could grab any delicious food. Down the road there was a coffee shop. It even had a few vegan things, but they all had nuts (which I am allergic to), so I just got some tea and a prepackaged dry treat. Chilling out there alone was the first relaxing moment since we headed out really. I was listening to some nonsense conversations going on around me. I felt like I was in a folk song about being in Akron, OH that was being played by an amateurish folk singer at an open mic:
I made my way to Akron.
At the center of the state.
I learned my lessons quietly.
The barrista brought a plate.
The kids all buzzed around me,
that quiet sort of hum.
The jazzy lines filled the air.
Doo-da-dee doo-da-dum
Oh, coffee shops in Akron
are my only highway home
Coffee shops in Akron
Never make me feel alone.
(next verses would be about kittens and grandmothers)
I headed back to the club. We were playing with some young kids at the club. The first band did some kind of instrumental rock, which is inherently something I am just not into. I tried to think of any instrumental rock bands that I do like and came up empty. The second band, who kind of bogarted our time slot, were somewhere between ’70s self-indulgent wank rock and metal. They weren’t bad players, but again, just not my thing. You all probably know, I am big on songcraft and not much else. They had some pretty funny rehearsed synchronized headbangs and guitar lifts. It was kind of rock cute in an insincere way. Their friends all left and they took off for a bit and we played to just the singer of the band, the bartender, and maybe two others. The band returned part way through and hung out and listened and danced to “30 Lives,” which was cool of them. When we were done, we chatted with the sound guy and the bartender, both of whom were really nice guys. We’ve had kind of a common thread running here where the venue staff at these places like us and invite us back and all, so that is always nice.