American Iliad
The Endless Journey
People talk all the time about hype-a-roni mega gigs with
blockbuster lineups where everyone jams together in one
big song at the end, but that is only so much cheese whiz
spread out on a corporate cracker. The only way to get a
feel of the real deal is to get out there and plug it in. Here
are a few notes from the road as JFA toured the country.
December 27-Lawrence, KS
Our show in Kansas City got
cancelled. Something about a
noise permit. So somehow we got
to play at a place called the Replay
Lounge in Lawrence with pinball
galore. Good beer, kill food, cool
promoter, friendly scene, no head
trips. What more could you ask
for? Our bassist Bruce threw up in
bed and set a bird nesting in the
side of the house "free," which
flew into a couple windows before
he took it outside on his finger. It
said "chirp" and split. In the morn
ing we skated a miniscule mini-
ramp with our friends JJ and Neil
called "The Piece of Shit Ramp."
December 28-Omaha, NE
They're farmers in Omaha. I saw
my first snow there. We played a
friendly place in historic downtown
called the Capitol Bar with
Mousetrap, a tight, intensified
three-piece. Lots
of kids showed
up. Bruce and our
drummer Mike
got tattoos from
Seth and Kevin of
a shop called
Villain's. Bruce
got a school of
piranha skulls going around his
arm and Mike got a tribal armband
in the shape of a wave.
December 29-Chicago, IL
We played at an old bowling
alley called the Fireside Bowl with
Sloppy Seconds and a crowd gone
mad. Crowd surfing was the norm
at this surging show. We stayed at
this girl Petra's pad near a bur-
geoning crack house. Bruce took
a dump that came back up. And of
course he left there so that Petra
was later seen plunging
to get it out. Nice man-
ners. In the morning we
hit the over-vert seawall
with Jim. Woe to thems
that shoot their board
into the frigid waters of
Lake Michigan.
December 30-Milwaukee, WI
We were treated to excellent
cheese and onion enchiladas com-
pliments of Gus, who owns the
Unicorn Club and the
restaurant around the
corner. There was
some slight malfea-
sance involving a cou-
ple of rowdy patrons
getting ejected from
the club with a brick.
I just remember Brian tumbling
down the stairs behind one of
them as an innocent bystander
catching serious air. We stayed at
This page, clockwise from top: At the
Falcon Club in Detroit, West End hit the
ceiling with hard driving punk. Jerry
stylizes a corner grind at Maximus. An
all-girl slam session cuts loose in Toledo.
The gong from Detroit came down to the
show in Cleveland. Psychedelic implosion
at the house of Eddie in Virginia Beach.
On The Road
the Vomit Pad, the punkest hole in
the wall in Milwaukee with a hand-
some pit bull named Maxwell. The
guys cranked a tape of their band
Vomit long into the night as we all
passed out on the floor in full-on
punk rock luxury.
December 31-Green Bay, WI
The Packers won tonight and
everybody is going out of their
heads. Brian wants to tell the
crowd the Packers suck but we
assure him that won't go over too
well. We go on after midnight and
ring in the new year. Then we drive
for ten hours in snowbound condi
tions that make driving look like
Star Trek after they go into warp
to make Toledo for our matinee.
January 1-Toledo, OH
We literally ran into the promot-
er Jon Stain on the way into town
as Brian rear-ended Stain's grocery
getter on an icy road. Stain and his
roommate Anson rule this town.
Both are crazy ass motherfuckers
who know how to have a good
time. The Stain opened for us with
a head-on heart attack. Cykosis
went for a misogynistic tough guy
rap that's been done too many
times already and much better to
boot, and Dyslexic Bob was a
loosely tight fun band that induced
an all-girl slam pit.
January 1-Detroit, MI
The Motor City knows how to
party. PBE opened the show at the
Falcon Club with twelve dudes on
stage making a glorious din. Along
came West End and they tore the
stage to shreds powered by a
hard-hitting girl drummer. West
End came on strong and kept the
heat on throughout their set.
January 2-Cleveland, OH
As usual, we showed up late,
but the Grog Shop was already
packed and a local band was
already tearin' it up. Then came
The Floyd Band with a an old style
onslaught that left no gall stone
unturned. Floyd, the singer, was
flopping and screaming and jump-
ing only to find himself underneath
a hideous dogpile of kicking,
punkers. The pit was intense, it
seemed the Cleveland punks were
more interested in participating
than spectating. It got a little out
of hand when they started break-
ing bottles over each other's heads
but what's a little shattered glass
among friends?
We stayed with a
cool programmer
in a high-rise
overlooking an
cerie lake with
syringe-nosed
statefish and
howling wind. I
dreamed about
tornadoes.
January 3-Hampton, VA
This was a lengthy drive and
when we showed up late it was
clear the people at the N-Sect
Club were afraid we weren't going
to make it after hearing about our
run-in with Jon Stain. Hate Parade
sung a song about fat chicks need.
ing love. The other band had lots
of kick. I'm setting up my stuff, and
these girls spell out (with pre-cut
paper letters) "Eat Me" and "My
Crotch Screams" on
the stage. We
hooked up with the
gracious hospitality
of Eddie Young, an
old friend and hip-
ster who has a beau-
tiful party pad in
Virginia Beach com-
plete with fooseball
and a regulation
pool table. Eddie
treats us like kings
and we enjoy a most
delicious lunch of
rock fish and pota-
toes before ventur-
ing out on the road
again. Saw a couple
of flattops (aircraft
carriers) at Norfolk and some F-14s
playing tag. Then, by DC, we saw
the presidential helicopter fly over.
January 4-Lancaster, PA
Once again we showed up late,
but luckily so did everyone else,
and the show was a rager. It was
so steaming inside that the camera
fogged over for the night and we
couldn't get any pictures of The
Bouncing Souls as they let it all
hang out in punctilious punk form.
The club was jammed to capacity
and everyone had fun. We retired
to Candice the promoter's house
for an invigorating meal of veggie
lasagna prepared by her mom. Not
a mohican went hungry in the
house that night.
January 5-Burlington, VT
Woke up the next day at the
Brady Bunch house. Drove to
Vermont. The last of the hell drives
(except home). I was really worried
about the weather on this one. As
far North as Green Bay but East.
Turns out it was cold and windy
but no snow. The show was OK.
Light turnout. Saw our friend John
Yousko, formerly of The Harvest
and Junior Achievement, who now
works for Burton. Played with
Shelter (ex-Youth of Today). They
definitely got the crowd going and
we got some Hari Krishna beads.
January 6-Providence, RI
Rhode Island has lots of parking
garages and a pizza store with a
Coke machine. Mike and Kathryn
McCaleb show up! We play pool
on an uphill table. Fall From Grace
rocks the stage and we go on at
1:00 am. There's a good-sized
crowd, and it's raining outside.
The crowd gets violent. Someone
upstairs busts out a window and
trashes the bathroom as tons of
fights break out all around. The
stage behind our drummer Mike
starts raining on the lights and all
of the high power stuff on the PA.
We squeeze a few more songs out
and quit so we don't get electro-
cuted, and the crowd
basically threatens
us, so we play three
more songs and quit.
Lots of water now.
The high hats are
fulll Outside it's full
anarchy; lots of fights
amongst the punks,
hockey fans, etc.
Then Mike McCaleb
almost gets clipped
by a car and the cops
show up. Drunk driv-
ing festival.
This page, clockwise from left: Mousetrap
snaps. A few of Eddie's boards. Shelter
takes flight. Fall From Grace lays it on.
The kids go crazy for The Stain. Brian
throws one up next to ol' Lake Michigan.
January 7-Boston, MA
And we're off to Cambridge,
next to Boston, for the all-ages
show at TT The Bears. Then we
followed Adrian (whose house
burned down) to Causeway Street,
across from the Boston Garden.
He looks like Hank Rollins, by the
way. We bailed on that whole
scene to go to a cool skatepark.
back in Cambridge
called Maximus
across from the
Cambridge pool.
We were all tired
and hungry, but
found strength to
skate the sweet
medium vert ramp.
square/round
street area and
cool, smooth
wooden bowl
thing. Going for a
backside bertin
the bowl, I jammed
one of my fingers.
Then we ate shitty
Harvard Square
Mexican food and
decided Causeway would be our
last show due to my finger mishap.
Through all the miles, cold weath
er and time away from home
we've had some good times and
met some exceptionally cool peo-
ple. It seems the world isn't so big
and people aren't so far apart and
different. The spirits of fun in punk
and skateboarding are alive and
well, and there's still hope for the
world after all. -Don Redondo