Lube Tour Blog Archive: 2010

Tour Blog: Saturday, March 6, 2010
The Dry Bean
Fitchburg, Wisconsin

In case you've never attended a LUBE show at The Bean, let me just explain this to you briefly. Shows here are not of the same ilk as those at most other places. There must be something in the water, or drinks, that brings out the savage party animal in people. It's as close to a crazy summer beer tent as you can find indoors. In other words, Bean shows kick ass!

In accordance with our past history, LUBE seems to attract birthday parties. This is a good thing! The people that are out celebrating birthdays with their families and friends have the best times! Buzz must have rattled off at least five or six names of those having birthdays with us, and I personally knew of one, Matt, who was out with his gang. If I could remember the names of the others, you might think me a sage and savvy bass player. We all know this to be false.

There was a nice crowd that assembled at The Bean Saturday night in addition to the birthday revelers. Many of the "faithful" were there as usual. You know who you are, and we really know who you are, and we can't thank you enough for continuing to support us. We love ya! It was also great to see some other friends we hadn't seen in a while, in particular our fiery-haired original Gimme Gimme Girl Rowan. She's been a little "relaxed" with the local music scene since having a baby, but she showed us that she still knows how to party when the opportunity presents itself. Thanks for the J-bomb, chica!

One of the things we love about The Bean is that the crowd stays until the very end, filling the dance floor and getting their money's worth. Saturday was more of the same, and I know that if time wasn't an issue, we'd still be there playing tunes and they'd still be there drinkin' & dancin'! There was good energy flowing all night, and that's a high no drug can match.

I keep getting accused of being too wordy with these blog entries, so I'm gonna wrap this one up. How about we go for more pictures and less words? I'm digging that idea! Instead of one picture per paragraph, I'll give you two! I'm sure Webmaster Jenny won't mind! (Gee... thanks for the challenge Bartho - hope you like my creativity in picture placement.)

Just two weeks off until the next gig, that being March 20 @ The Red Mouse in Pine Bluff. The following weekend bring us both a Friday and Saturday show, plus it's my birthday weekend. How old? You don't want to know, but at least I'm still the youngest guy in the band! By the time that's done, spring will be ready to hit us full-force with nice weather, and the gigs will just keep on rolling. Thanks again, everybody, and we'll be seeing you at the Mouse!

Tour Blog: 2/20/10
The Post Polar Plunge Party @ The Coliseum Bar
Madison, Wisconsin

While it's nearly impossible to play all the shows we'd like to play, and even more difficult to do shows for specific causes, we were honored when Mark Horstmann contacted us and said he wanted LUBE to play the Post Polar Plunge Party. I'm sure you're all familiar with the Polar Plunge, where people jump in a frozen lake to raise money for the Special Olympics. This was the second year there was a party after the Plunge, and it turned out to be a very fun night.

The party was held upstairs at The Coliseum Bar in Madison. It's conveniently located near the Plunge site and is easy to get to. Universal Sound (www.universalsound.us) opened the show, playing from 1-4p. These veteran musicians know what they're doing, have excellent vocals, and play a fun variety of music. They definitely got things off to a good start!

Next up was Wicked Lily from 5-7:15p (www.myspace.com/wickedlily), my favorite band of all time! Those of you who know us on a personal level know that Steve's wife Jenny and Bartho's wife Tammy are members of WL along with Tammy's sister Heidi and Rockford natives Wendy and Kerri (They put the rock in Illinois!). These ladies have been working hard and refining their set list, and the effort is paying off. The broke out songs from bands like HaleStorm, Shinedown, Flyleaf, Lady Gaga, Rhianna, and Iron Maiden. 4 of the 5 band members sang lead on at least one song and they also played musical instruments, with Heidi sitting in on drums and Wendy playing guitar. They played two energetic sets and kicked the party up another notch!

LUBE hit the stage at 8:00pm, if not a few minutes before, making it the one and only time we have ever started early. Hey, it's fashionable to be a little late, you know? We hadn't played in about a month and it felt really good to be back at it! The down time has given us an opportunity to work on some new material and so we broke out three new songs and resurrected an oldie but a goodie. The new tunes were "Only Happy When It Rains" by Garbage, "Sex On Fire" by Kings Of Leon, and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. People have been asking us to play "Sex On Fire" ever since it came out, and they seemed glad to hear it. The Garbage song just has a cool feel to it and it's impossible to not dig the energy of SLTS. Charles handled the lead vox on all of them and did a great job. Then just for grins, we brought back "All The Small Things" with Nick singing lead. It's another one of those catchy, fun, energetic songs that keeps the dancers movin'! The guys keep harping on me to sing lead on something. I think they need to see shrinks. The reality is we rawked so hard, lightbulbs were falling out of the ceiling fixtures!

All in all, the whole day was a great success! Not only did a lot of people come to and enjoy the Post Polar Plunge Party, but they raised half a million dollars jumping in the lake! One particular team, Chassity's Chill Seekers, consisted of 40 team members who raised $32,000. That is amazing! There was another team, I forget their exact affiliation but I think it was one of the schools, and they set the national record with 225 members! The after-Plunge revelers ate, drank, and danced their way through the night and enjoyed all three bands. Like I said, the whole day was a success!

We'd like to thank Mark Horstmann for hooking us up with a fun show for a good cause. There was a lot of money raised to support Special Olympics, and the athletes & their families greatly appreciate all that was done to help them. LUBE fans, you were awesome and should feel good about helping!

This show closes out our February calendar. We are all looking forward to March, because March brings us 4 shows! We'll start things off with another bombastic show at The Bean on Saturday March 6. We love The Bean and can't wait to rawk your butts off! See you there!

V V out!

Tour Blog: 1-23-10
Badger Bowl
Madison, Wisconsin

Saturday night, LUBE's first show of 2010...how was it going to go? New Year's Eve had been a show for the ages- packed house, line at the door, the kind of night you want for every show. It was a grand ending to a rather crummy year, and it gave us good hope for 2010. But how were people feeling? Is there still a post-holiday hangover? Would anyone want to come out and RAWK with us?

I felt it as soon as I walked into Badger Bowl with a bass in each hand. There weren't a whole lot of people there yet (it was 7:15pm), but there was a simmering energy in the bar. I don't know if that's a sixth sense or some sort of innate capability humans have used since the dawn of man, but I just had the inclination it was going to be a gonzo night. How did it turn out? Gonzo indeed!

Once the people started coming in, they kept coming and coming. Packed house, line at the door. Sound familiar? This gig turned out to be a lot like NYE, just in a different venue. From the first notes of "I Ran" through the final big chord and drum-bashing end of "My Own Worst Enemy," the dance floor was shoulder-to-shoulder. If you guys could just see how great you look from the stage! Well, check out the Pictures page and see for yourself.

It was absolutely awesome to see so many people coming out for a great night of partying with LUBE. There were lots of familiar faces...yeah, you know who you are! There were some Lube Virgins (it only hurts the first time, trust us...), who were excited for the show based on what their friends told them. Once the fun got underway, it was drinks and smiles and dancing all night long for them! It was also a pleasant surprise to see Doug and Brent from Photograph & Naughty Chair checking out the show. We just saw Photograph last weekend at Badger Bowl and they will be back again soon with Naughty Chair. Nice guys and fantastic musicians...keep watching and check them out when you can!

As history has shown, LUBE gigs are the perfect setting for birthday parties. Christi, Linda, Jennifer, April, & Maureen were out celebrating Sarah's "25th" birthday. We all work together and it was great that they, and a whole host of other work friends...Erin, Tammy, former Badger legend Kalvin Barrett, Jim, Roger, Bryan, the Mexicutioner, Becky, Casey, Christie, and anyone else I forgot, all came out. There were two other young ladies having their birthdays with us. They were wearing blinky star necklaces in the front row but amidst all the chaos, I didn't get their names. We hope you enjoyed your birthday party!

One thing about cramming 300+ people into Badger Bowl, along with amplification gear and stage lighting, is that all these things generate heat. Then you season nicely with dancing, drinks, and conversation, and you have your very own oven. It was a warm one Saturday night! I had my supermegapowerblower fan on full blast and it was virtually no use. All it did was blow more hot air on me! Like a fine wine, the froth we all created with our activity fermented over the course of the night. If any of you stepped outside and came back in, you know exactly what I'm talking about! But it's an earthy, all-natural smell...

I have to hand it to you, folks. You made the first gig of LUBE's third decade (really? is that possible?!?) a most excellent adventure, one that we earnestly look forward to repeating again. We offer our sincere gratitude to everyone who came out and made it an awesome night. We WILL see you again in a few short weeks!

The next LUBE gig is slated for Saturday Feb. 20 @ The Coliseum Bar. No, it's not a regular spot on the local band circuit, but they are hosting the Post Polar Plunge Party (you know, when crazy people jump in a hole in the frozen lake to benefit Special Olympics). There's going to be almost 12 hrs. of music that day, starting with Universal Sound at 1:00pm, followed by my personal favorites Wicked Lily at 5:00pm, then your LUBE boys bringing it home from 8-Midnight. It's going to be a great party for a great cause, and it's definitely an opportunity to show some new people how the LUBE party rolls! Then once March hits, we're off & running with 4 shows on the books for that month alone. Maybe if we make it hot enough spring will come early! See you Feb. 20 @ The Coliseum Bar!

V V out!