The Poison Control Center

OCTOBER 30 – NORMAL-PALOOZA FESTIVAL, CHATTANOOGA, TN [SHOW #114]

Day 143. [DF]  Months ago, our booking agent let us know that we had been asked to play a festival in Chattanooga, but that it would be a long drive from Charlottesville and that we would be playing early in the afternoon.  Never wanting to pass up a show, we accepted.  The only problem was that it is approximately an 8 hour drive from Charlottesville to Chattanooga, and we needed to be at the festival by noon, not leaving us any time for quality sleep.  So we drove all night, Dave at the wheel initially, myself taking over for the last two hours.  The drive was sort of like this:  While Dave drove, I rode shotgun, and we listened to music.  Thinking that a driver who is accompanied by an awake passenger is more likely to stay alert on the road than one accompanied by a sleeping passenger, I remained awake the whole night, even though we didn’t really say much to each other the whole drive.  At one point I fell asleep for about fifteen minutes, but frantically awoke after dreaming that I was driving and had just realized I was asleep.  In actuality there was no such crisis, and long story short, we arrived in Chattanooga by 9am, at which point we killed some time moseying up and down the North Shore district of downtown.

Normal-Palooza, the festival of sorts at which we were to play, was something of a fundraiser for the Normal Elementary School, and has been growing from year to year.  There was a street full of art vendors, food vendors, a bunch of activities for kids (including a petting zoo with a pretty incredible-looking tiny pony and goats, etc.), and various musical performances – some by the elementary students, some by blues, bluegrass, and rock bands.  We were disappointed to find that Holly Golightly, who was supposed to play immediately prior to us, had to cancel.  On the other hand, we were glad to see many of the friends we made last time we had come to Chattanooga – Brad, Stacey, Matt, and Mike (all from the excellent GBV-inspired Heaven’s Basement) and John (owner of JJ’s and one of the head organizers of Normal-Palooza) – were at the fest. 

A large portion of the audience being children and their parents, we did our best to keep the setlist appropriate for the occasion, even though this resulted in a couple awkward lyric changes, such as Patrick’s strange “I want to drown in the flood of my mother’s hugs in the morning/ … / Yeah I don’t ever want my mommy to leave” during “When the World Sleeps.”  Throughout the entire set, a line of kids hula-hooped in front of us which, in our ten years of existence, I can comfortably say is a first.

After the show we went to Mojo’s for their 99-cent tacos (a Saturday specialty) with Brad and John.  Easily some of the best tacos I’ve had in ages.  Hung around for quite a while with Brad and John, and decided that, since it was still early in the day (probably 5pm), and since we were planning on recording a song with Jason Nesmith in Athens the following day, we would hit the road that evening for Athens.

Still not having slept more than 15 minutes since New York, I immediately reached the deepest sleep I have ever had in the van.  We arrived in Athens, witnessed some hilarious Halloween costumes (our favorite being the blind referee who, taking his character rather seriously, was walking in the street, moving his walking stick from side to side).  Went to a Kroger and bought a gallon of salsa and four bags of chips, and we finished the evening playing cards until nearly 1am, at which point we called it a night.  As I was taking my shoes off, it dawned on me that I had not removed them since I woke up in New York City – two shows, over 1000 miles, and 40 hours earlier.  I slept soundly.

Sound Tech we respect:  John

The fill of the bill:  New Binkley Brothers / Kofi & Friends / Uncle Lightning / Mirabai Belly Dance/ NPMM Pep Band, Choir, Jazz Band / NPMM Stomp Dance / Heypenny

Monument / Friends In The Band / Pacific Sunrise / Don’t Go / Two Mountains / Being Gone / Porcelain Brain / Give It A Try / When The World Sleeps