how i spent my birthday.

i kicked off my birthday weekend with benign biopsy results. what a relief! i figured that deserved some celebratin'. so mom and i went out friday for some pints of bitter at a local welsh pub. and i pretended i was back in the UK.

then saturday morning....

mr donkey helped me open presents

then we drove to joe & linda's tater patch in rolla, mo

to see our friends the dirty 30s play
and i did my leprechaun-prince impression

then jason did his gene simmons impression

then i blew out the candles on my completely truthful cake


then choppy got irish

then amber did too (ew... choppy was just wearing that!)

day three.

glossop square.

day three began with a drive to the quaint town of glossop. purchased batteries & cables from woolworths. had some chips and cheese from a pukka pie stand. sat down in glossup square. ate lunch. fed ravenous birds.

drove to accrington where we were playing that night at the attic. arrived plenty early and decided to do some shopping. found a wonderful semi-outdoor market called "the arcade" where nick was shortly accosted by a wild rabbit. and i purchased my very own pair of UTB jeans. (the boys had been noticing a strange phenomenon: all the UK girls were sporting jeans where the back seam rides rather high, much like a thong, making the jeans go "up the butt". and the term UTB was coined). downed a few pints at the pub next to the arcade while the boys tried to impress the russian waitress.

set up for our show at the attic. met our fabulous promotor john winstanley. used some herbal throat-spray and participated in bizarre vocal and acrobatic warm-ups with the gringos backstage in the kitchen. watched the gringos kick ass onstage. kicked some ass ourselves. after the show was over watched as the town of accrington disintegrated into a mad riot including a show-down between conolly the giant irish bouncer and a rather drunk polish man. ate some more chips. left nick and matt (upon their request) to fend for themselves in the apocolyptic accrington. and the rest of us drove off into the sunrise to the nearest welcome break.

ravenous glossop birds.

nick shows no fear.

utb me.

our band posters up at the attic.

bitter anyone?

day one.

rolled into london around 11am. met up with tour-mates (gringo star) and hopped a train to chelsea. checked into 639 hostel (next to a creepy old cemetary and the infamous wormwood scrubs prison believe it or not). hopped a train downtown to pick up cds. ate a bacon buddy (sandwich) with brown sauce. became addicted to brown sauce. hopped train back to hostel but got stuck at piccadilly station. after 15minutes of swealtering heat, hailed a cab. found out later that someone thru themselves on the tracks. bad omen?

freshened up at hostel and hed out to the royal crown pub. downed pints of bitter. i have no idea why it's called bitter because it's as smooth as silk. got lost on train ride back. bought a beef pasty at the train station. made it back to 639. headed up to our 8bed dorm. settled in. noticed nick was missing. passed out.

639 hostel.

gringos matt and nick catch up on local gossip heading southbound.

the royal crown.

which way is back?

where's nick?