Richmond VA at CHURCH OF CRYSTAL LIGHT Sept.15

Wake up in Asheville, NC. After collecting ourselves in the morning we get up and hit a nice greasy spoon diner just a block from Ted’s place. Eggs and pancakes and all that good stuff. It’s a long drive this day to Richmond for the last show of our 3-band touring. This time I ride with Brian and Emo in Wendy’s car and she rides in the van. Again, really scenic coming down out of the mountains of North Carolina.

The Richmond show is at this new space which Narwhalz and the Adult Moan boys are renting. It’s a really nice space, plenty of room for shows, first floor storefront in a really great location, and they have the second floor for living space. There’s some cool art up on the walls and the front window has the name of the space: The Church of Crystal Light. Of course, there are some drawbacks, like the lack of any working shower and the condition of the existing bathroom. But still, for a living/show space, it’s a great spot.

We roll in a little before 8 and the Pom Kiki crew is all there. The Head Molt kids even came up for the show! Load stuff in and chat, then we all head out to try and find food, which kind of turns into a big confusing debacle involving much hungry frustration. In the end I do manage to get some pizza, and finally everyone is back at the space and it’s starting to fill up. Of course, this big food quest took us all about an hour and a half or so, so it’s getting kind of late, especially for a Monday show. The first band takes a little while getting set up too, so things get off to a pretty late start.

First band is pretty fun, 2 guys who do a dissonant noisy song, then almost a straight up pop-punk song, then a more noisy song and they’re done. RADIO SHOCK’s on next and I set up as fast as possible. The place is really full and it’s a pretty awesome scene. There seem to be lots of college kid types who have never seen anything like these bands before. As I set up, Davey tells me that there are cops hanging around outside, so maybe I want to wait to start being loud. So I give it a couple minutes, then start.


More photos from the show here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/acemcmanagan/sets/72157607968713302/show/

My show goes really well but in the middle of the last song Brian Narwhalz says into my ear “You have to stop right now. The cops are here.” So I make everyone start clapping along and then cut out the music, leaving them clapping to end the song. Then Brian Narwhalz and Jonathan from Adult Moan get on the mike and tell everyone to go home right now, sorry, but the show has to stop. The cops were cool, no tickets, but I guess it was too loud outside the place, or it was too late, or the neighbors complained, or some combination of the above.

After selling a couple of CDs and getting some email addresses I step away to phone home and return to the place to find a small group of people hanging around and I’m told that Adult Moan are going to do a performance for us! The best! Adult Moan are one of my favorite bands, and I can’t really do justice to their performance with a description, but I can tell you that it’s a little more like performance art than most musical bands and it’s sort of “infantile.” In fact, this show involved both band members stuffing themselves into a pink furry sac while shouting “Mommy!” “Go back in!” Ended with them both drenched in beer from head to toe and having smashed many of the keys off of one Casio SK-1 keyboard. All for the 10 friends watching. Truly an honor. We were also treated to a performance of Brian Narwhalz’s comedy act, “Just Kidding.” I’ve said it before: Stand-up comedy is the new noise.

Then we pull the mattresses, which have been serving as sound insulation, out of the front windows to sleep on and everyone claims a spot. Some people also order another pizza, which takes an hour to arrive. We hear stories of ghost sightings within the space, the second place we’ve stayed which we’ve been told is haunted. No ghosts appear however.

The next morning I take off to a nearby coffee shop to get online (and some coffee) and I also make a quick stop in the comic book shop on the same block. I get a call telling me that everyone is getting ready to go, and return shortly to the van being mostly packed up. Say goodbyes to the Pom Kiki Crew and score a new Narwhalz T-shirt, and it’s time to head home. Philadelphia for everyone else, and on to Brooklyn for me. Traffic is only a little bit crazy and after returning everyone to their residences, Brian gives me a lift to 30th St. Station and I catch the SEPTA train out of Philly around 9:45 or so. I’m back at my apartment by 1AM.