South by South Gomer tour DAY FOUR: The Santa Fe Tsunami of Snuff

Day four:

I don't have to tell you that the complimentary coffee available at your neighborhood Econolodge is synonymous with quality. The rich toasty aroma evokes visions of dishwater cascading over Styrofoam boulders, while the taste transports the drinker to the inside of a discarded gym sock in a high school locker room. After a couple cups of that corrosive beverage and a round of ibuprofen I felt like Hercules (if Hercules had explosive diarrhea) and was ready to conqueror the day. But first breakfast!

As we packed our booze into the car we realized that the whiskey bottle had somehow been left ajar and left a cryptic message in some sort of obscure Zenubian dialect on the sidewalk. Our crack team is still deciphering it's meaning, but I believe it has something to do with ice and bitters.

Since our next show was only an hour away in Santa Fe, we had the rare opportunity to actually see a little of the town we were playing in. Acting on the recommendations of pretty much everyone we met at the bar the night before, we checked out a place called Frontier Restaurant. It was jumpin' on a Monday morning and we loaded up with all sorts of green chili infused breakfast items. We also dove headlong into the notorious Frontier bun which was mostly sugar and butter with a cinnamon roll exoskeleton.

There is a schism amongst the band as to whether this meal was the turning point for the delicate micro-genome of our digestive tracts or the strip mall sushi later that evening was to blame. Either way, tomorrow''s post will basically be a picture of a van and a toilet.

After breakfast we loaded up and explored another recommendation from the night before, ”Man's Hat Shop”. Now, if you've never seen Mark Donnelly in a hat shop, it's like a kid in a candy store, except the lollypops are made by Stetson and cost a couple hundred bucks. Fortunately he loves a good deal almost as much as he loves a good hat, so he was able to sleuth out some discount brims and we miraculously got out of there with hats or accessories for all and only spent a few dollars.

If you're ever in Albuquerque, and have some cash left over after you buy your souvenir blue meth, swing by the hat shop and tell them High Card Drifters sent ya! They will say “who?” then you'll say “nevermind”. then you'll buy a hat and be happy!

After a bit more window shopping for fancy western jewelry (I realize how punk rock this all sounds, sorry to shock you with the gritty realities of life on the road) we hit the highway for Santa Fe. The sun was shining, wind was in our hair (I knew those baked beans were a mistake), but as we hit town, Bryn's phone lit up with a flash flood alert.

Seconds later we were caught in a deluge of biblical proportions. Fortunately this happened just a couple miles from the venue, but when we arrived we had to unload all of our gear in the downpour. There were Giraffes and Elephants, lining up to get in the van when we parked...no human has ever been that wet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LehBVfdZZh8

Let me tell you, splashing through mud puddles carrying heavy amplifiers and even heavier hangovers is as fun as it sounds. Of course, only minutes after our gear was loaded inside, the rain stopped, birds were singing and the sun was shining. Typical.

As we slowly mildewed and wiped the condensation from our bloodshot eyes, we surveyed our musical home for the night, the quaint and charming Jean Cocteau Cinema. A great little room with some sharp acoustics. Our sound guy Craig was great and got us all dialed in toot sweet! After sound check we had a few hours to kill, so we did what every notorious rock band would do in a strange town full of vice and loose women...we went shopping again. This time we got Aaron the fancy collar tips he was looking for and some bad ass spider boots. He's the cute one after all, we gotta keep him looking sharp.

We still had ample time after shoppies to check in to our motel and find that suspicious strip mall Japanese food. For my alimentary canal this was the last straw...relations between me and my butt have been tense ever since. After several visits to the commode and a shower followed by another visit to the commode we were off two play two sets at the theater.

The crowd was intimate, but very into it and we had a rare chance to bring the volume down a bit and tell some stories behind some of our songs. People could actually hear our lyrics and harmonies for once...who knew we had lyrics and harmonies?! This was most definitely the Drifters at their most civilized.

I should also mention that the staff at the theater were great and they even had Game of Thrones themed beers on tap. It was a win win. We got some recording of this night on audio and video which we will be able to share with you all real soon. Stay tuned for that.

After a couple 45 minute sets we wrapped up, loaded up and went back to our humble abode where we knocked back some victory cocktails with Spencer, Poppy and Holly. All in all a great day in Santa Fe!

Coming up tomorrow...the stars at night are big and bright. CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!

...oh you know the rest.