Oh, the magic of flight...

"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” -- Plato

Ah, yes oh wise Plato dude, music does indeed give flight to the imagination, but apparently not to the body.

We all had a great time at Bunker's Friday night. After our set, Ben from Summite Ave. called me up on stage to do backup vocals on a tune. We'd been drinking free beer and people had been buying us shots all night. I was more than happy to jump up on stage again. After I got done singing, I though it would be a great idea to make my grandiose exit by leaping from the front of the stage. It was going just as planned until my right foot hit the floor.

"I cannot fly. I cannot fly. I cannot fly. I cannot fly. I cannot fly. I cannot fly. I cannot fly. I cannot fly. I cannot fly. I cannot fly. I cannot fly. ..."

on second though:

"I CAN fly. I cannot LAND."

Wanted: Booking Agent

The Subsidies are currently booked by Jeff Worden, of Summit Ave. fame and fortune. Due to a recent series of booking flubs (bizarre venue choices, no promotional materials at venues despite the "Oh yeah, I sent those."), the band has decided to search elsewhere for a new booking agent.

One would think that a booking agent would, at minimum, know the correct spelling of his/her bands. We've appeared in the City Pages a few times now, and not once has the spelling of the band been accurate. Jeff, as expected, blames the venue. "Oh, that's really up to the venue to do accurately." Then he tells a tall tale about some horrible inconvenience his band had to endure 17 years ago, which I guess is an attempt to make us thankful for what we have. Which, to recap, is a poor booking agent.

To prove that he isn't pulling his weight, our venue for tonight's show, Bunkers, was not even aware that we were playing. You won't find any "Tonight at Bunkers, Summit Ave. and The Subsidies!" banners this weekend. And here's this week's City Pages ad:

What? No Subsidies? Hell, at least before we had a mention, albeit a misssspelled one. So, upon questioning Jeff about his lack of attention to detail, he returns the following email:

"I don't know what you are talking about. Everything looks fine to me on the attached ad." And the following is attached:

So, if you know of any good, or even mediocre booking agents, let us know. In the meantime, we'll keep paying Jeff 125% of what the venue pays us, as well as reimbursement for his meals and attire, which I swear is exhorbident, but he claims is the industry standard. The rock star lifestyle is not what I thought it would be.

I'm not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.

The last time The Subs played Bunkers, I happened to break a string on my acoustic guitar mid-song (I also broke one on my blue electric that night, but I digress...). This always sucks, but whatever, it happens to the best of us ("Us" being way cool rockstar peeps, of course. Not you.). Though, when the acoustic string broke this time, the tiny little pin that holds in the string in on the bridge (uncommonly known as the "bridge pin") decided to pop out onto the stage. I inconveniently missed that this had occurred until a few weeks later, whilst sitting alone quietly in my apartment. I decided to skip a return trip to Bunkers to search the stage, instead proceeding to my local Guitar Center outlet to purchase a replacement. $7.98 and 83 minuets later, I came to find the only acoustic guitar bridge pins guitar center sells are too damn small for my classy Martin.

Solution: google "martin bridge pins."

I came upon the 8th Street Music website on August 30th, where I decided to order said pins. Ships within 5-7 business days. Nice.

TWO WEEKS LATER I call the place. Some dude looks around in the back, with expected results. "Ah man you must have caught us at a bad time. Probably won't get 'em in for another week or two. Want me to cancel your order so you don't get charged?"

YES.

DO NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM 8th Street Music! EVER. THANKS.

I then proceed to order the Martin pins yet again, this time from the most reputable online music site everyone and their proctologist seems to recommend (only after I've already wasted two weeks, naturally): Musicians Friend

"Ships within 2-5 days." I put my order in on 9/14 so I might get 'em before we play Inferno on 9/22 right?? No dice. "SHIPS" Grant, "SHIPS." riiiight. Ok. Turns out they shipped 9/19. I have yet to receive as of 9/27.

IN CONCLUSION: We're playing Bunkers again tomorrow (today). I will not be playing acoustic on any songs. I'd place bets with your friends on me breaking a string during the first song if I were you. SEE YOU TONIGHT!

John Carpenter's "The Fog"

Despite mild bronchial inflammation due to the industrial strength fog machine, half of the band hallucinating from the mixture of cold medicine and alcohol, and getting back home around 4am, we had a fantastic time down in Mankato at the Inferno Tavern. Kick Tin opened for us, and their set list brought me back to my earlier hard rock days. Very cool stuff.

And thanks to everyone we met that stuck around until the end and rocked and danced away. Anna, Stephanie, Rikki, She-Neuge, The Kick Tin guys, the Inferno staff.

We'll definitely make a repeat trip down to Mankato. But first, I need some sleep and more cold medicine.

Bunkers Revisited

We've been asked back to play Bunkers, as apparently we impressed a few people with our last show. We'll be helping Summit Avenue again by bringing in our normal high-energy show - and built-in fan base! The Subsidians!!!

We hope to see you on the 28th of September...

Gets kinda hot in these rhinos

It's been a foregone conclusion that the entire roster of The Subsidies will someday meet again in Hell, but who knew it would be this soon? The Subsidies head down to Mankato, Minnesota on September 22 for a hell of a rockin' time (get it?) at the Inferno Tavern. Kick Tin, a rockin' acoustic cover band, will play after The Subsidies have their way with the crowd. Get down to the Inferno around 9:30 to help us heat things up (get it?). And remember, it only feels like eternity.

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Dear loyal the Subsidies blog reader,
The Subsidies have officially changed their name and style genre. All scheduled shows will proceed as planned. Our new website can be found here. Thanks, that is all.

Grant

My lawyer is gonna straight up beat your ass!

I'm sorry, I came across this at work today and it was just too funny not to post (it's real, by the way)

Jose L. Mendoza... official lawyer of The Subsidies, bitch!

Many, many, many thanks!

We want to thank those of you who made it out to the O'Gara's show. To get into this venue, we promised we could bring in a crowd of 150+, and we ended up with an incredible 269 people through the doors! The show was my personal favorite to date, and that's solely because of the awesome crowd. You guys danced and rocked out from start to finish. Hell, there was still a large crowd of people dancing and chanting for more at the end of Summit Ave's show around 1:30 AM!

Thanks everyone! I've uploaded a couple photos from the show, and I'll possibly have some video on there in the next few days. Scott Walker, a good buddy (and amazing professional photographer) took some pics, and I added a bunch of his. They are really good. To see some of his stuff, check out his myspace page and his main site.

Again, THANKS!