The Black Cat gave me black lung

boy, is this going to be a huge update...
last week, i decided i wanted to go to philadelphia to check out the city and find out why property was so cheap. so i thought to myself that we could just hit the road and go, or i could find out what concerts were going to be in philadelphia this month. lo and behold, the unseen and tiger army were coming. so i decided we'd go this week and see the show. then, i noticed that they would stop in D.C. first and i thought to myself that D.C. is on the way to philadelphia, so i should go to that show too. and then i invited dexter to come with us. so here's as much as i can remember doing in the past few days:
tuesday morning we got up super early, picked up dexter and left for d.c. we got there around noon and dropped our stuff off at the hotel. we left our car there too and just rode the metro around town all day. it is absolutely possible to get around d.c. without a car. we went to the air and space museum, which was kind of boring for me and then we went across the street to some museum (i don't think it was part of the smithsonian, but i don't remember the name). that was awesome. there was a rembrandt exhibit going on and tons of sculpture around. i haven't gotten started working on sculpture yet, but i'm going to order some tools today. when we go on our odyssey this summer, i'm going to make nathan collect stones for me to carve. we went to a bunch of touristy places and shook our fists of rage at them. you know, the white house, congress, etc. pictures forthcoming.
we caught the show that night at the black cat. the bands were awesome, but i will never go to that venue as long as i shall live, or else as long as it takes d.c. to boot the smokers out of public places. i could not enjoy the show. i almost gave up and left, knowing i'd just see them the next day, but i wanted to enjoy the show. you guys know how i've been sick for so long. this place made it so much worse. i had coughing fits all night. i had to take breaks and leave the room. i had to go hide in the bathroom several times. i would blow my nose, and my boogers smelled like tobacco. it was the nastiest thing ever. think of all the times i've been to greece where no one cares who they smoke around; this was exponentially worse. i actually went outside in between bands. just to breathe. i never leave a show before it's over. i had to keep drinking water to keep myself from having coughing fits. that in turn made me need to pee, so during the unseen's entire set, i was holding it, because i refused to leave in the middle of the performance. they put on a fantastic show, by the way.
that venue sucks. i felt so nasty that i actually took a shower after the show, and i never feel that gross. not unless i get beer spilled on me. i always shower the next morning, but i couldn't wait that long. i was hoping the steam in the shower would help heal my lungs.
the next day we drove to philadelphia, checked into our hotel, left our car there, and used the septa all day. it's not so easy to get around philadelphia. for one thing, the train doesn't go to the entire northeastern part of the city, which was where our hotel happened to be. i'm a little worried about that city. i spoke to some realtors to find out what's wrong with their property, and i didn't get a straight answer. as far as they're concerned, the market's booming. the truth is, compared to other places in the country, it's stagnant and undervalued. it makes me think i could get rich there, because i could afford to buy those multi-unit buildings, but i'm afraid that the economy there must be horrible.
anyways, we found this great little belgian pub that nathan and dexter really loved. and no one was smoking. we walked around the city, and it seemed kind of drab, but then we got to the venue and saw all the punks lined up, and it was really comforting.
the show that night was awesome. the bands didn't play very differently, but the venue was awesome. it was like the state palace in new orleans, but divided by about ten as far as size and fanciness go. it was still gorgeous. the kids were cool, except for maybe two jackasses in the pit who looked like they were ruining it for everyone. maybe i'm just a nancy. i like how the norva has bouncers in the audience that keep it from getting murderous. but that's just me. i don't like overly-rough bouncers, but the ones at the norva are totally humane, and even gentle, but they don't let people get beaten up too much. anyways, the great thing about this club, the trocadero, was that the smokers were locked away in the bar upstairs where they couldn't poison anyone. that freed me up to jump around on the floor and be completely safe. so i enjoyed the show a whole lot more. nathan was allowed to bring his camera in and we took photos, but they didn't come out very well. i got permission from the guy from the unseen to post them here, but tiger army didn't come out to talk after the show, so we couldn't ask them.
i bought an unseen record and got it signed. and on tuesday, they gave us all stickers. i think i'll put one on the anti-hippie bus when we get it. punk rock is cooler than everything else because the bands will sell their own shirts or just hang out to see the next band play and if you want to tell them they put on a great show, you can. dexter was all surprised to see one of the performers out in the public section of the club after they played and i just told him that it's always that way. i suppose not with the huge bands. i've never seen mike ness out in public, or greg graffin, or anyone from flogging molly. as far as i'm concerned, that just makes brain failure and the unseen cooler than those other bands. oh, and i take back what i said after i saw the murphys in boston. i saw two boston bands play this week twice, and i have to agree, those boston punks and skins are a rowdy bunch, indeed.
on the train ride home, dexter was drunk, and he sat down next to this guy and started talking to him. it turns out that the guy was from the netherlands and by the end of the train ride, he had made a deal with dexter to trade houses for a vacation sometime in the future. dexter will stay at his house in the netherlands while he stays at dexter's parents' in arizona. at least, i think that's how it'll work, the details are up to them. but it makes me kind of happy for dexter. even though i think drugs are for hippies, he's been talking about wanting to go there for years and not for drugs. he's always been interested in the culture and art and architecture which is supposed to be fabulous. plus, the dutch ride their bikes everywhere which makes them cooler than me.
so i want to open up the comments for a discussion on venues and clubs that you guys have been to. what are your favorite ones? what makes them so great? if you could have your own club, how would you make it the best one?
here's my list:
1. the state palace theatre in new orleans. clean, gorgeous, and always ready to house the punks. it's in the middle of everything, as it should be, and there are two balconies with theatre seats for losers. plus, those opera house seating pockets going down the sides. the best thing about it is that it's beautiful.
2. the norva. i know i'm partial, but it seems like a fantastic club. it's the only club here that i know of that makes a point to let the punks come, and they come enough to keep me happy. they let me wear my jacket, which the avalon in boston didn't. the bouncers are easy-going, but do their job, smoking isn't allowed, and there's that cardboard cutout of a person in the upper window that it's really fun to see when people notice him for the first time. plus, he's great conversation material for bands that come through. bad religion was berating us for having a cia operative always watching him in our club.
3. the trocadero. as i already described, it was fantastic for all kinds of reasons. one thing i didn't like was that the floor space was too small to properly house the circle pit and me. i like to be close to them, but not stuck in the middle of them. i had to settle for standing on the slightly raised part of the floor. also, i think that club is owned byt he house of blues, which just isn't cool.
worst clubs i've ever been to:
1. the black cat. that was the worst club experience i've ever had.
2. the house of blues in new orleans. not the part of it called the parrish, but the main club. i saw henry rollins there once, and they over-sold the show and i couldn't stand anywhere. i tried to sit on the steps, but the employees made me get up, which pissed me off, and if i still remember it years later, it must have not been cool.
3. i saw elliott smith at the showbox in seattle, and not only did he put on what seemed like the worst show of his life, the venue was all smoky, and we all know by now how i feel about that. i really wish that had been a better show, because now he's dead and i'll never see him perform again.