the Piper Downs Tour Journal

Oh Man!!!! We haven't even left yet, and I am Soooooooooo Excited!!!! Get ready for some Rockin' and Rollin'!!!!

Our show in L.A. was awsome. We are so stoked to be on the road.

That was one hell of a send off to our tour! The Gig is a great place to play all the time, but it's even better when it's the first show of a tour....

Well, we kicked off the tour tonight in LA at the Gig Hollywood. What a great crowd! It still blows me away when the crowd sings our lyrics loud enough for us to hear onstage! Looking forward to a nice trip...off to Vegas in the morning.

A great show to send the 'Downs off on the "Stupid is As Stupid Does" tour. Our new stickers featuring the "Varying Degrees..." artwork came in and I personally think these are the best looking stickers we ever had. Tonight's show was so much fun. If all the shows on tour are anything like tonight's, we'll be in good shape.

VEGAS BABY!! That was the best party ever! Brian & Brenda were fantastic hosts to a great crowd - Brian even made me a little stage for my drumkit! It was the first time I was actually able to see the crowd instead of the boys' butts... The crowd was a much nicer view, trust me. The only glitch we had was my sticks - my beautiful stick bag with all my special Ellen sticks had gone missing. I suspect they got left behind at the Gig last night and someone picked it up - hopefully it's a kind drummer-lover that will send it back in exchange for a kiss! I miss my sticks... :( But on the upside, our friend Chris hustled and got some brand new sticks delivered - 5 pair - and that should last at least 2 or 3 gigs. ROCK! Back on the road at 2am to Roswell - here we go!

We just had th best start of a tour that we have ever had!! THis was our LV show. We rocked it out, a sold a ton of merch! There mus be something in the water there, because every single girl there was seriuosly out o my league! So HOTT!! No joke! I would Like to that Brian for jumping up on stage and playing a song with s. He rocked!! Thnak you Brian, Brenda, Chris, and Jen for having us! Thank you Stacy, Brenda, Jen, Jen, Stacy, and all of he other girls who let us sign their Boobs!! I love Las Vegas!

Ellen forgot her sticks...she's claiming that they were stolen, but I know better...we've been on the road for less than 24 hours, and the tension is already starting to tear us apart at the seams...I'll make sure to get Yell on my side. In case there's a "Lord of the Flies"-style coup d'etat, then I think Yell would make the best eating. Since my brother Nick is touring with us as a roadie, I'm going to assume that he will come down on the side of Bognar blood.

(Much later...actually early 3/21) The Vegas show was great...We played to about 100 people, and signed a ton of autograhs and sold a ton of merch...overall, it's just exactly the way that a tour is supposed to go...I hope that tomorrow is just as good! It seems as though nothing could possibly go wrong on this tour!

It was my first time setting foot on the "estate" of Bryan & Brenda's. Wow! What a place! After driving all day to Vegas, packing the RV, setting up for the party, rocking out for 3 hours into the late night, I was surprised I had the energy to jump on the trampoline and then play tennis with Bobby. Nick is along with us to help sell Merchandise and roadie for us. I'm really happy he's here with us on this trip. Not only is he a great guy, but a natural at merch sales. I have no doubt in my mind that without him, our sales would not be near what they're going to be. A big thanks to Bryan for loaning us the RV, sure beats the beat-up old Van we used to take on tour. We split out of Vegas around 2:30am on a direct path to Rosewell , NM! I took the first driving shift, pants optional, Red Bull and caffeine pills required.

It's around midnight, and we've found a 24 hour auto repair place...The two guys working there are really cool, and they ask us to sign a couple CDs for them. I assume this means that the repairs are free, but as it turns out, they were not. Apparently, the name "Bobby Bognar" doesn't carry much weight at New Mexico's finest all night auto repair shops!

After a blazing start to our SIASD tour (Stupid is As Stupid Does), it came to an ungrinding, coasting on the side of the I-40, stop. There has never been a tour where our vehicle has not broken down (not including the tours we flew). This is just par for the course. The RV just wants to cut off after random amounts of miles driven. In all, it took us 9 hours to go 200 miles. About 5 miles outside of Gallup, NM it seemed the RV was not going to go another inch. Of course we're in area where none of our cell phones work, can't call a tow truck... I decided that I would skateboard the 5 miles into town to find a tow truck. Let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've skated on the shoulder of the I-40 with 18 wheelers blasting by you 2 feet away and assholes honking their horns at you. By the time I got to the Gallup Wallmart, and was able to dispatch a towtruck to my waiting friends in the RV, Yell was able to get it started one more time and limp it into town. Cancel the tow truck ("check please!") We replaced the air filter, the old one looked like it had been on there since 1978 (and the RV was a '90). We hoped this would solve the problem. It worked great for about 100 miles, then back to old familiar side of the road routine…

The RV broke down today. But it was like being broken down in an apartment. We had this lush waiting room on the side of the road, with all kinds of food. I've never been so happy waiting in my life. New Mexico is no small state to begin with, but at 15 miles an hour it's interminable. I hope no one is noticing that I'm taking all the mangos and pineapple from the dried fruit bag and leaving everything else.

I'm afraid that my life may never get better than it was in Las Vegas. Even if I didn't like beautiful women, free sub sandwiches, great company and of course a two hour PD set, the time spent on the mega-trampoline was among the most joyous I've ever spent. But luckily I DO like women, subs and great friends!!!

Well, the R.V. (which we have named Myrtle) broke down about 800 times today. She sputters, coughs, and then just totally loses power and we have to pull over to the side of the road. Basically, we got anywhere from 2 to 30 miles before she pooped out. Finally, we made it (by the seat of our pants) to Albuquerque where we found an all-night mechanic. We replaced ol' Myrtle's fuel filter, but by the time we got her road-worthy again, it was after midnite. We ended up having to cancel our Roswell show and I cannot tell you how heartbroken we are about it. We are so sad that we missed all our fans that e-mailed us last week about the show - we feel just terrible. But we can promise that we will DEFINITELY make it up to you and make it out there to rock your socks off soon!

Still Sunday... almost Monday After starting and stopping the RV half a dozen times, we made it into Albuquerque late into the night. We were supposed to have played in Rosewell tonight. I was crushed that we had to cancel the show. The radio station there in town had been plugging the show and giving out tickets on air. I hope we can make it up to them! :^( Robert, the 24 hour mechanic in Albuquerque diagnosed the RV with a bad fuel filter. New filter in place we left Albuquerque behind at Midnight bypassing Rosewell :( en route to Shreveport, LA.

We had to cancel tonight's show in Roswell, NM. They love us there, and I wouldn't be surprised if the news of our cancellation prompts an outbreak of suicides among young Roswell females...Keep you chin up, ladies! We'll be back someday!

Today sucks. The van broke down about 8 or nine times (no kidding). We keep driving 5 miles, then it conks out on us, then we sit in it for 30 minutes, and then we can drive it for 20 miles...We left Vegas last night at 2:30 am, and 12 hours later, we're not even 200 miles down the road. I hate this band...Yell looks delicious.

OK, for those avid readers of the Piper Downs Tour journals, I bet you are wondering where the automotive trouble stories are? Well here hey are! We have spent all night limping the RV around. We had to cancel the Show in Roswell NM, and we found a 24hr Mechanic to fix the RV in Albequerque. We are back on the road. No sleep. WoooHooo!!

Driving to Shreveport, LA today. It took us a total of 15 hours to get here from Albequerque, but anything is better than sitting on the side of the road, like we were yesterday. Lots of sleeping and eating of "Oodles of Noodles," which apparently contains an addictive chemical...I can't imagine any other reason that 5 people would go through over 100 cups of soup in less than three days.

After 17 hours of non-stop driving, we're finally here! We made it to Shreveport, LA, and we couldn't be happier. Alligator Joe's looks super-cool and we even found a place to park Myrtle right across the street. Garner and I are hanging here while Bobby, Yell & Nick head over to Harrah's to use the facilities. We thought that Myrtle was done giving us trouble, but Garner and I have just discovered that her battery is totally dead. We've got a jumper thingy, so we'll be able to make it to buy another one at least. Yikes!

Tensions have eased within the band...at least for a while. I still worry about the future, and today I licked Yell, more out of curiosity than anything else, but I figure I should know what I'm in for should shit go down, and we have to start living Chilean soccer team style. Oddly enough, his skin had a faint taste of "Oodles of Noodles."

Shreveport Rocks! We just finished our gig, and we worked up some serious rock juice. I think after so much time in Myrtle, we were all ready to rock out. Can't wait to play again tomorrow night with American Tragedy!

This past weekend seemed like a month. we've been driving non-stop (relatively...) since leaving Las Vegas 2 days ago. We pulled into Shreveport around 5pm. We discovered that today's RV problem was a dead battery. We had parked across the street from the venue. The peeps of Shreveport instantly responded to our special brand of Rock Juice. They loved us! Hellagood show, Nick worked the merch like a Thailand hooker on prom night. After rocking those Shreveport MF's, we were able to jump-start the RV and head over to our Shreveport buddy, Jackie's house. Tonight will be the first time any of us have slept more than 2 hours at a time since Saturday morning.

Our first show in Shreveport at Alligator Joe's was Awesome!!!!! We rocked h house,and sold a on of merch. People there loved us. (No Surprise) We didn't sign any boobs, but we did sign lots of CD's. I can't wait for tonights show!!!

Showering last night before going to bed seemed like a luxury I would have paid good money for. Thanks to Jackie's hospitality, it was carefree and beautiful. Patron's are still aloud to smoke in bars here. That old familiar smoke-stink on the clothes after a show haunted me accompanied by burning itchy eyes.

Jackie, from American Tragedy, has been kind enough to not only let us park Myrtle in his front yard, but he also gave us towels and let us wash off our stink at his house! Jackie kicks ass... We got up this morning and jump-started Myrtle - went to a parts store & got her a new battery. We asked the guy at the parts place where a good place to eat would be and he recommended this little place with home cookin'. Sure enough, we found the place a little bit down the road, and I had the best meatloaf I'd ever eaten - YUM! I'm so stuffed right now, I'm about to burst. Time to lie down and snooze it off before the show tonite…

Another great show in Shreveport! We tore it up and the crowd was great. The guys in American Tragedy let us use their gear, and then they rocked the house themselves. They stole all our licks, but we love 'em anyway. ;-) Can't wait to see Oklahoma City - we leave early tomorrow morning. Sweet!

The show tonight with American Tragedy couldn't have gone much better...There was a really nice crowd, and the staff at Sharpie's was totally cool. Heidi behind the bar kept buying me shots of Jaeger (and matching me shot for shot!), and people watching the show kept buying me beers. The American Tragedy show was awesome, too...that band fucking rocks. I can't wait to come back here - all tour stops should be this great.

I love Shreveport! We had some killer "home cookin' " today- Fried chicken, lima beans, biscuits, the whole nine yards. Eat your hearts out, In n' Out! Then night fell and we hit Sharpie's. PD tore up the place, and there was not a dry eye to be found when Bobby launched into "Valentine". Unfortunately, Ellen and Garner were playing "Cold Day in Hell" and Yell was at the bar trying to get a free beer. I actually don't know why people were crying.

~Later at the venue~ Tonight we played at a place called Sharpie's with Jackie's band, American Tragedy. I was a bit cramped on stage. There was a PA speaker hanging off the ceiling above my head (which I bumped into countless times), a wall on my left, a stage railing in front of me, Ellen's kick drum behind and Bob near on the right. Yell and I jumped out on the main floor during "Stutter". American Tragedy put on a great show, I was amazed at how much they could move on that stage. I hoped that it looked like we moved like that.

People in Louisiana are sure kind. We've been staying with a local musician named Jackie (from The American Tragedy, who we're playing with tonight), who has opened up his house to us like we were family. And everyone at last night's show was friedly, enthusiastic, and promised to be at tonight's show. Is his what people outside of Los Angeles are all like? Had some downhome cooking at a local smokehouse today. I felt like a pussy not ordering the "smothered neckbones" and opting instead for the meatloaf, but somehow I feel like I made the right choice.

Riding in the RV to OK City, it is RAINING in Texas, and skies are grey. I can see Bobby's buttcrack as he naps and I'm upset that he apparently got the attractive buttcrack genes as well. Bobby and Yell are funny when they sleep because they even have that tenor/basso complementary thing going when they snore.

Well, the journey continues… We got lost on the way to the gig at Classic Rock Café, and ended up getting here just on time. Of course, when we load our stuff in and check in, we find out there's been an "adjustment" in the schedule - we now go on at midnite. (Sigh) We can rock at any hour, of course, so we say bring it on. More on the results later….

I'm up earlier than everyone else this morning, doing some laundry before we take off for Oklahoma City. I can hear Yell snoring through the walls...jeez, I'm glad that I don't snore. I'm already going to miss Louisiana - the people are so friendly. I can't imagine going into a bar in Los Angeles and having the people just start chatting with you. It almost seemed more like when we were in Europe and Australia, and the bars/pubs are much more communal - everyone chatting with everyone, enjoying the fellowhip, taking every chance to meet someone new. It's a really nice thing.

The Classic Rock Cafe had a nice stage. We did our best to entertain the midnight crowd on a Wednesday. Most of the folks were happy to see us. There was a 72 year old man who thought he found his new girlfriend in Ellen. But he spouted out curse words regarding Yell's choice in bass guitars... wonder what that was all about? Driving around for an hour after the show we gave up on finding a vacant hotel and slept in the RV.

Today we are leaving Lousiana. I am sort of sad that we have to go. We have had such a good time. These two shows have been some of the best tour shows ever. Jackie has been so nice to us. Thanks Jackie!

Thursday, our day off for this "Stupid" tour. Today Yell and I had a chance to replace the headlight that was out and the wipers that were bad. We're crossing our fingers that this will be last of the RV troubles/repairs. We all ate a ton of pizza and saw a couple of movies. Thumbs up to "Dawn of the Dead".

Well, theycan't all be amazing, I guess...Last night's show at Classic Rock Cafe didn't really meet our expectations. Sort of a light turnout, and we drove FOREVER to find the place (after being given poor directions 3 times!), and our nerves were frazzled. But the venue was really nice...big stage, good sound, and the owners asked us back, so I guess we did our job. Last night we couldn't find a hotel, so we went to bed sweaty and gross in the van in a mall parkng lot. Security banged on our door at an early 11a.m. and woke us...

Last night we got hotel rooms for the first time on this tour...Man, never has a Super 8 felt more luxurious! Spent the morning doing laundry and eating a Chinese buffet lunch. Now we're at the Diamond Ballroom in OK City, and Yell and I have set up all the gear for everyone else. Jeez, we must be the nicest guys in the world. Along with being the sexiest, wer're also the hardest working.

We just finished our gig at the Diamond Ballroom and man, did it ROCK!!! The place is huge - there were a total of 7 bands playing and we were playing right in the middle of them. The place slowly filled up and by the time we went on (right after 'Soft Taco') the crowd was pressed up to the stage. We rocked it HARD - so hard that I busted up a cymbal beyond recognition… It was a great gig - a fantastic way to start the weekend….

After our gig at the Classic Rock Cafe on Wednesday night, we made an attempt to find a hotel/motel near a mall, with no luck at all. We ended up parking the R.V. outside of Dillard's at the mall and sleeping until mall security woke us up at like 11:30am. Security said, "You folks have been parked here a while..." Bobby told him we were really just waiting for the mall to open up, and Mr. Security said in a slow drawl, "Well, it's 11:30...." Ah, ahem, yes, it's probably open then. Since we didn't have a gig last night (our only night off on this tour) we spent yesterday watching movies and hanging out until we checked into a most luxurious Super 8. Once we were checked in, we all took much-needed showers (we were pretty ripe) and sacked out for the night. Right now, we've just checked in to the Diamond Ballroom where we're playing tonite - this place is huge. We heard the ad they've been playing on the radio and it's pretty stellar - I'll slap it up on the site here as soon as I can. I'll just say we're very well represented. So just a few more hours and we'll be rocking Oklahoma City again! We are so ready...

Oh man! The local radio station (the Buzz) has been playing a commercial about our show, and it's pretty fucking cool. I'll have our webmistress put it up on the MP3 page at www.piperdowns.com so you can hear what it sounds like. The venue-The Diamond Ballroom-is HUGE. Seven bands on the bill, and they have us headlining in the center with a longer set than the other bands, and already we seem to be getting some referential treatment...It's strange to be treated so well! I could get used to it. That said, I can't wait to use a toilet that's not located in a 7-11.

We pulled up to the Diamond Ballroom in OKC around 3pm to load in. The place was HUGE. There were black & white pictures hanging on the walls of all the Country & Western acts that had played there before from the 40's, 50's, and 60's. And then there was a color picture of Body Count. The booker of the club wisely put us on the bill in one of the middle slots. It was a great experience! The place was filled up with screaming kids, rocking and moshing to the 'Downs! We became fast friends with one of the local bands, Soft Taco. After our set we congregated with Soft Taco back at the merch table and signed autographs for about an hour. A first for me: one of the fans wanted to lick the sweat off my face from the show, and she did. After the show, OKC's biggest local band, Headroom, let us shower at their place and hang out with them for awhile before hitting the road to Texas.

I stayed up with Nick while he drove the RV all night until the sun came up. After Ellen took over behind the wheel I went to the back bunk and passed out. I think we pulled into Pasadena, Texas around 11am or so. I didn't bother to get up when we stopped at a Hotel. I slept on through the afternoon until Bobby woke me up to get something to eat at the Chinese Buffet next door. The show tonight was an interesting one. We played at the Moontower, a rock club that shared a wall with a Country club. In between sets you could hear Boot Scootin' Boogie coming through the wall. The PA system blew out a couple of times for the band that played after us. As the night grew old, a bunch of the local chicks jumped on the bar and danced to the DJ. Judith and Nicho drove over from San Antonio to see the show. They showed us to the local Whattaburger. There's something special about eating a greasy, bacon & cheese burger at 2am.

We made it to Pasadena TX and checked into a hotel for a shower and nap before our show at Moontower. Yell's sister & her husband drove from San Antonio to see us - should be a fun time. I hear the chicks at this place dance on the bar & show their boobs. HOT.

Last night's show in Pasadena Texas could have been a lot better, I think...There were tons of technical problems with the sound system, but for the most part, the people there were really nice...The owner of the club and his wife especially seemed to like us (a trend, I think!), and we got out of there relatively unscathed. We have yet to play in front of a chicken wire barrier!

The last show of the tour is tonight...We just drove into Dallas, TX, and it's raining...to top it off, we have a leak in the ceiling of the RV through the air conditioning unit! Not bad, but just enough to be annoying. I think I'll make Garner sleep under the drip.

Just got done rocking Moontower - what a gig… The sound system was a little maxed out with all the rock we were pouring through it. But all was well - after all, the drums came through loud & clear…. The chicks did indeed dance on the bar - the bartender had on a shirt that said "Shots for Tits", and those chicks were getting hammered. A few tried to get me up there to dance, but not only do I have teeny titties, everyone knows I have no rhythm…

Although we played really well at the Dallas club the Down Bar, I think we were all a little bit disappointed in the way we closed the tour. The venue is brand new, and they didn't seem to know exactly what to do with a rock band. That said, the staff loved us, and we got a great respomse from the crowd. The best part of the night, though, was that three members from Soft Taco drove four hourseach way from Oklahoma City to see us play...they also mentioned that the Downs are now a primary influence on their music...what a GREAT compliment!

Breaking down sucks. Especially in Arizona or New Mexico. Ugh. At least this time Yell caught it quick & we got to a parts store in Winslow, AZ before dark. He crawled under the RV and changed the fuel filter, getting soaked with gasoline in the process. Garner & Nick were flicking their cigarette butts at him, which I didn't think was nice, but Yell managed to avoid ignition.

Wow, what an ending. This was an amazing tour, but I sure wish we'd played the Down Bar earlier in the tour so my ego wouldn't be so bruised leaving Texas. This place was used to much quieter bands, maybe more of an acoustic-type place. I had to play like a girl and that totally blew. I hope my reputation hasn’t been damaged….

The last show of the tour has come to a close. PD was great as usual. The venue was unremarkable save for this ridiculously hot bartender, who was doing the old "touching for tips" routine. I remarked on this and bewildered Bobby, who apparently had never heard of it before. I guess all this time he's been "touching for pleasure".

Soo...My brother Nick has been on tour with us as our roadie, and we brought along a Scrabble board to pass the time. Today I went on a three game win tear, and took the "Stupid Is As Stupid Does" Tour Championship away from him. I just wanted to post that on the site...that just may be my favorite memory from the tour....and his least favorite, I'm sure!

Interesting thing happened today at a Phillips 76 station. In the middle of the desert-no one else aroun but the Downs, a guy pulls up to the gas pumps we're at, and strikes up a conversation. Really nice guy, it seems, and he's going to Vegas tonight (just like we are, before we head back to LA), and just as we start to comiserate on the drive time, he trumps all my complaining by telling me he's traveling from South Caroline to Vegas straight through...by himself! I thought we had it rough...

Guess what...we DO have it rough! The RV just broke down again! Hopefully this is the final time...we're so close to home (only about 700 miles)...the end is near! Soon I will be showering and brushing my teeth at much more regular intervals! Yell had to get under the RV to change a clogged fuel filtert...I don't know what I'd do if he wasn't in the band. Something happened with the filter, though, and sprayed him from waist to neck with gasoline. He didn't seem too happy (understandably), but he handled it much better than I would have. At least we're moving again.

Well, we're back in L.A… Now, I love L.A., and I don't think I ever want to live anywhere else, but I would love to spend my time on the road, touring all over the U.S. All the people we met along the way were great, and I just can't wait to get back out there and see you all again! Rock on & on….

So great to be home, and so terrible to not be touring. Ellen said it best when she told me this morning, "I would trade my comfy bed and hot food in a second for being back on the road." I miss the road...I hope it misses us.