The weekend thus far

Last night's ZTS show at the Cobra Lounge (a special Riot Fest warm up gig) was a hot, sweaty smoky mess and, all things considered, I wouldn't have had it any other way. I headed right to the bar from work and ran into T., who told me he's been working there for awhile. After a few minutes the rest of the band arrived and we brought in the basics (shared equipment with The Methadones that night). After some food, the rest of the bands playing that night (the aforementioned Methadones, Shotbaker, The Effigies and The Queers) began to arrive and some catching up took place. I did my best to keep my talking brief so as not to strain my voice (singing or not, I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut-you think I don't know that?). After a great set by Shotbaker, we hit the stage at 10:15pm and, amidst some sound problems, played pretty damn well. The Methadones were up next and were an onstage paradox, featuring a stoned singer who never smokes pot, a notorious drunk on guitar now 40 days sober, and a teetotal bassist who was seen knocking back shots minutes before they hit the stage. They were a train wreck, and the audience ate it up. The boys packed up the gear and merch while I chatted up a cute attendee as well as an old friend now drumming for The Queers. They soon left and texted me shortly after realizing they had left a bit of gear at the bar. I grabbed all that was left behind and planned on heading home myself (I had to stay and hear "Bodybag" , my favorite Effigies tune), and instead heeded a "call" and took a detour to where this sweaty, smoky writer ended his month long streak of celibacy.

As a result of last night's post show...er, shenanigans, I overslept an hour this morning and was later than planned in grabbing The Boy. After some running around this afternoon (and yes, after a catnap) we headed down to Day 1 of Riot Fest in time to see 7 Seconds (L.'s favorite of the night), the mighty Stiff Little Fingers and Naked Raygun, who played much better than last year.

Looking forward to Day 2 and of course ZTS's slot on the bill. We need to be down at the venue at the ungodly hour of 9:00 am for load-in so off to bed I go.