The Poison Control Center

OCTOBER 12 – NO FUN HOUSE, KALAMAZOO, MI [SHOW #101]

Day 125.  29,508 miles.  “This LaserDisc collection is incredible!” I gushed to Russ as I was flipping through the sleeves on the shelf.  There were dozens of movies, from classic westerns, horror movies, James Bond, action, comedies, the entire Twin Peaks series, and more.  “Oh, those are Sean’s,” he said, “he used to have ‘LaserDisc Thursday’ movie parties every week.  We were at Russ and Sean’s house in Kalamazoo cooking a big spaghetti dinner for ourselves in the kitchen.  The six people living here have been putting on shows in their basement, titled No Fun House.  The house was pretty big, and the basement was larger than any other we’ve played on this tour, with a few more inches of headroom.  “It reminds me of the Junkbox in Omaha,” I told the guys.  The walls were padded with foam and mattresses to absorb the sound.  “It’s like we’ve been committed to a mental institution,” I said at one point during our set, “and these walls have been padded to protect us from ourselves.”  Patrick was making small talk between songs, making some joke about George Brett in the process but the small crowd in the basement was silent in response.  “No one knows who George Brett is?  What decade were you all born in?”  We took a show of hands and it turned out that the majority of kids there were born in the 90s, and the rest were born in the 80s.  “Was anyone born in the 70s?” I asked, and there was silence.  (when I texted Kelly that I was the only one in the house born pre-80s she replied ‘oldie but a goodie’).  Devin had a tour first: he broke two strings on the first strum of the first song.  On the second song he broke another string on the first set.  We then made a wager with the crowd.  We chose six people of the 90s-born kids and each one was assigned a guitar string.  Whoever had the next string that Devin would break would be awarded a free CD, but if he didn’t break any more strings then everyone there would have to buy a CD.  He made it all the way to Give It A Try when a fourth string snapped.  After the show a group of us went out late to the Steak & Shake for milkshakes, soda, and coffee in the adjacent town of Portage.  Saxsquatch, the drummer of Lincoln County War, wowed us with his saxophone straw demonstration and his knowledge of jazz music while Russ mastered the forks-balancing-at-the-end-of-a-toothpick trick.  On the drive back, we passed by a bagel place and Devin asked Russ “how are the bagels there?”  Russ replied “we can check their dumpster if you want to find out.”  David immediately pulled off the road and into the back parking lot.  Sure enough, a gigantic bag of bagels were sitting in there waiting for us.  We hoisted it out, tossed it into the back of the van, and brought it back to the house where we had a late night bagel feast.  Jackpot!  David & Devin marked the occasion by putting on their Lender’s Bagels shirts.

The jam in the van:  David Bowie Hunky Dory / The Clean Mr. Pop / Bob Dylan Blood On The Tracks

The word we heard:  “No. She sucks.” –David’s response when Russ asked if our Jimmy John’s friend hooks us up with free food.

The pad was rad:  Russ, Sean, Sam, Alex

Sticks, strings and broken things:  Devin – 1 low E, 1 high E, and 2 B strings

The fill of the bill:  Dylan Lancaster / Lincoln County War

David you won’t be up late drinking in Michael Moore’s home state