Last Tuesday Tour Diary
This tour diary from the band Last Tuesday has no intro. It just begins with Day 5. Deal with it.
Day 5. Day off. 1:12am. Bleeding into Day 6. Bleeding like the fresh ink that fills this van with the smell of A+D...mixed with the smell of freshly rolled cigarettes. This is the Signal Home van. This is the 2 Cent Tour. This is Route 250 west...headed for Toledo OH...where a good friend has prepared her house for 7 wandering drifters to drop in at the wee-hours of the night...to catch some rest before tomorrow's show in Detroit Rock City. This is life on the road. Day 6.
16 hours ago...we woke up at the luxurious Lancaster Inn. The forfeit of sleeping late in a hotel room on our day off came easy when weighed against the chance to drop by my friend Dylan's for some fresh ink in the Young’s kitchen. Coffee in hand we crowded into the frozen van northbound for Ashland OH. 2 hours and counting. It's peculiar how sleep loses its attraction when there is too much life to be lived. Out on tour...it keeps getting pushed back and back. Maybe there will be time for a snooze as someone else takes their share of cruising across the land. But who cares right now....I want to be awake...I'm alive. I want to talk about music with my new friend Fred.
Around noon we made it to Dylan’s...and I was the first to go under the gun. I was first 'cause 2 weeks ago at the ink party I took the last spot and the last spot got the shaft cause there was so much ink going around in Tim's kitchen. 15 tattoos in 2 days. 27 hours of vibration between Dylan’s fingers as he inked up some of the best souls in central PA.
So now...it was all about me. And we quickly got to work. Dylan started the sketching of a great big stack of books running up my shin and the inside of my left calf. Sketches, Drafts and Demos all carry the same effect on the average appreciator of art, literature and music. It looks, reads and sounds like crap. Only the artist knows what the final picture, book or track will explode into. So it was quite silly when Dylan had finished the rough, rough sketch and asked me what I thought and if I was ready to go. I am no artist. So I looked down at the non-sensical scribblings of a 4 year old sketched onto my leg and let faith in the artist kick-in strong as I pronounced my lie: "Yeah dude, looks good.....do it up". As he started drilling, and wiping away the sharpie and highlighter my new tattoo starting coming to life. I couldn't be more stoked. The end result was a stack of some of the most influential and landmarkish books in my life...to date: The Message, JD Salinger, CS Lewis, Life After God, Brengle and The Alchemist (which I'm in the dead middle of right now).
Next up was Fred Oakman from the Signal Home. My new good-ole friend. A tattoo virgin. Getting his first ink in my good friend's kitchen. You can't go wrong with a tattoo that reads: GIVE HOPE. That's substance right there. Substance that you will carry for a lifetime. Substance you won't ever go back on. Why wouldn't you carry it on your carcass in permanent ink?
After Fred's killer first tat...Dylan had to hit up work for a few hours. So he left 7 rock and rollers to take care of his 4 year old boy before mama came home in a few hours. Little Spencer has met more rockers then he even knows. But it naturally does not faze him. If anything he must find it boring that everyone dresses in black and is always getting tattoo's. He just wants to reap the benefits of the gadgets we've accumulated as a collective...today it was mainly Brandon’s PS-2...featuring Grand Theft Auto.
When Spencer's mama comes home from her day job at Hot Topic she puts in a little movie for the 2 of them to kick back and watch together. Tonight it was Spencer's pick...he goes for Dawn of The Dead. He thinks Jesus was a Zombie.
We leave the 2 of them and head out for some food, Wal-Mart pacing and internet.
With Dylan returned from work we head back to start up some ink on Cougar. Also a virgin...Cougar went for the sailor jerry-style anchor flat on the front of his fore-arm. A ballsy start. He'll be back. Real soon. It always happens.
Then my main boy Tim was up to bat. He has a killer idea that locks in perfectly with his choice to take time off from work and hit up 2 weeks of tour with us. Just along for the ride...for the letting go. For the breath of fresh air and the clearing of the head that comes when out on open highways...in a new city every night. Nothing to hold onto in this town....we are gone tomorrow.
Tim's tattoo is the silhouette of a business man standing determined and intentional...opening his briefcase and letting all of its belongings fly away...and as they do they mix in with the birds above. Let go my friends...there's nothing to hold onto in this life...we are gone tomorrow.
Last up. Dan. He decided today he wanted get a lip-piercing. Dylan decided today he can do lip-piercing. Hmm...this should work out great. I got caught up watching the Steve Colbert show and missed all the prep work on his lip. More importantly I missed all of Dylan's rambling non-sense trying to spook the crap outta Dan and his virgin lips. So I run in...last minute and catch the piercing. Catch the squinting and the squirming. The drool. Damn...can that boy drool!
Dylan my friend. You did well for your first piercing. Dan...never get pierced by a first-timer. I swear my piercing came smoother. Good luck with the healing or lack there of.
Day 5. Day off. 2.10am. Bleeding into Day 6. Bleeding like the fresh ink that fills this van with the smell of A+D...mixed with Dan's drool...mixed with the smell of freshly rolled cigarettes. This is the Signal Home van. This is the 2 Cent Tour. This is US HWY 80 west...headed for Toledo OH. Soon we sleep. Tomorrow we rock the show. Detroit Rock City here we come. This is life on the road. This is our last tour. This is Day 6.
©2007 HM Magazine - All Rights Reserved
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Comments
wow this is offensive take this trash off
Offensive? I can handle that adjective, but "trash?" Why go so far as to call this trash? Using the word "ballsy" and "damn" were it, I presume? I can see this being mildly offensive, but to call it trash? Wow.
Dear Jim...
I am carl...the author of the afore-mentioned piece of trash. please pardon any offense and feel to drop me a line to carl@lasttuesday.com Dialogue is good.
Thanks for reading.
cb
i like it. written interestingly. something fresh and new. i see a little controvercial but isnt every kind of good writing?
Dear Jim,
Dont be such a philandering douche bag.
Yours truly,
Tonee.
p.s. wanna fight?
WHAT is offensive about this tour journal?? It's life!!! Life for some guys that have had a chance to live their dream and are saying their last goodbyes to people they've met along the way... just a day in the life of Last Tuesday. I think it's real! Real is a good thing. It's a great piece! Thanks Carl... all my best to all of you!
love. you know you got it from me. never forget these days boys...they are awesome, and i will never forget the days you have given me. you mean so much to me. thanks for giving me your 2 cents. i love you.
i love last tuesday and signal home
cb=good man last tuesday=good men
great writing. cb.
peace. love.
Carl, I truly enjoy you sharing about your journey. You spent the night at my friend Brent's apt. in Seattle and I have seen you in Greenville, SC. God bless and good luck. I look forward to seeing where you go during and after this tour!
this is inspiring
don't take this trash off
Carl, you are wonderful! I'm going to miss Last Tuesday, and I have never even gotten tattooed with you guys. I'm sure it would be quite the memorable experience, though. Thanks for making me a pin all those years ago in Iowa...I'll have it with me tomorrow! Can't wait to see all of you, but I'm sure not looking forward to saying goodbye!
oo goodness amazing.. awesome inspirational words of wisdom and life. Can't believe this is your last year, and i still haven't seen you, how sad..
cb. dangit. this is amazing. duh. I can't wait to see you again. this article makes me wish I was next to you the whole way!
<3-your favorite italian ;)
carl, have i ever told you that you should write a book? cuz i really think you should...
Carl Emmons,
This trash, as some call it, is amazing. It's a look into the life of 3 rockstars, who happen to be Christian, going out in style. To me, "ballsy" and "damn" are in no way offensive. Words are words. Carl, the new tatt looks sweet. I'll catch you at the last one.
Mitch
