Strange is thrilled to be a part of the first ever Werk Out Festival taking place this weekend Friday September 10th-Sunday September 12th.  The Werk Out Festival is being hosted by our good friends and subsequently kick ass band The Werks from Dayton, OH and it takes place at the beautiful Zane Shawnee Caves in Bellefontaine, OH.

Our set is Saturday afternoon 9/11/01 at 3:00pm sharp.  We are truly honored to be on the same bill as such great bands like The Werks, Papadosio, EOTO, Zoogma, EP3 and many more.  If you’re in OH and want to be part of the first ever Werk Out festival check out the myspace page, get yourself a ticket, and let’s get nuts!!!!

http://events.myspace.com/Event/4041483/The-Werk-Out-Festival

Joe and Kevin from Strange Arrangement are incredibly excited to perform in their first ever side project show.  They will be performing with Digital Tape Machine at this years Wuhnurth Music Festival taking place September 17th, 18th, and 19th in Spencer, IN.

Wuhnurth is one of the best festivals of the year, hosting the cream of the upcoming MidWest jambands, along with National Touring Acts.  Strange was unable to perform in this years festival due to some prior engagements with a few of its members.  But Joe and Kevin are more than ready to contribute to this fast growing festival with Digital Tape Machine.

Digital Tape Machine is the brainchild of Umphreys McGee drummer extroidannaire Kris Myers and keyboardist Joel Cummins, along with Dan from Land of Atlantis and Marcus from the Hue.  Joel can’t make it out for the show, so Joe is taking his place and Kevin is stepping in to supply some 7 string bass guitar.

The Digital Tape Machine set is on Friday night 9/17/10 (9/18/10) and starts at 1:30am and goes to 3:00am.  This is sure to be an experimental dance party that will be a show for the ages.  Other bands involved in this kick ass festival are Papadosio, Cornmeal, Marco Benevento Trio, UV Hippo, The Ragbirds, MidWest Hype, Steez, Ladymoon, and many many more…….

For more information please visit www.wuhnurth.com  Hope to see everybody out!!!

• I get picked up by the boys at 9:30am and I jam all of my belongings into an already overstuffed van.  I spend the first part of our long trip up north stuffing and stickering the remaining CD’s that we plan on handing out at Hoxeyville this weekend.  Jimmy and I find great pleasure in pasting the extra labels from the sheets on to Barry’s hat while he sleeps, along with a nice “I Love Cock” sign that Bob has fashioned.  Barry doesn’t realize his hat is covered with stickers and this sign until the 3rd bite of his sandwich at a Jimmy John’s about 2 hours later.
• Stop at a gas station somewhere in WI and we all pile out to use the restroom.  I am 3rd in line for the bathroom, so I peruse the gas station looking for anything to eat.  When I get back to the line, there is now a woman waiting to use the facilities as well.  I see Joe exit a bathroom door and being the only male waiting in line at this point, I promptly step in front of the woman and go to do my business.  Upon leaving the bathroom I get the look of death from this woman as I pass her, thinking to myself wow, she is still waiting for the bathroom.  As soon as I get past her, she turns to me and yells, “You know, you could at least put the seat down!” I now realize that I have just used the women’s room.  I apologize several times to her as she slams the bathroom door behind her, I feel like such a dick that I just put my head down and walk right outside to the van in shame.  I then have to rehash the story to everyone as they get back to the van, including Joe, who has gotten off scott free from this entire rural WI bathroom circus.
• We finally get to Marquette, MI around 5pm, we check in to the hotel room, and Joe and I hit up the hot tub before heading to the club to load in and eat dinner.
• We load in and get a huge meal on the house from the club, the highlight being the Whitefish Cakes appetizer.  The sound guy is kind of late, so we have a lot of time to kill, which we all do drinking.  There is a special at the bar where you flip a coin and if you call it you get half off of your drink, I witness several people win this little promotion, I lose it at least 7 times throughout the remainder of the evening.  Bollocks!?!
• Set I: Scarecrow -> The Route, Steal Your Heart, Siete, Coming Home, Electric Feel, Polygraph, Night Court, Complicated
• I see the bass player from the band that played at my girlfriends cousins wedding that was in the UP two weeks ago, crazy small world.  He remembers me because I was yelling at him to play Miss You by the Stones, which has kind of become my thing lately.  I remember him because he has a bizarre goatee and is wearing the same outfit he was wearing at the wedding
• Set II:  Steamroller -> Shebadu Ma Ma, Pegasus, Certain and Severe, Way it Is -> The Office -> Chitown
• Highlights of Set I are the jams out of Coming Home and Night Court, Set II highlights include a wonderful jam out of The Way it Is and a rocking Chitown closer
• I get yelled at again by a bouncer for using the wrong bathroom, even though at the time I thought it was the only bathroom the place had, that makes twice in one day I have used the wrong bathroom, this time it wasn’t a ladies room at least, it was just the bathroom for the banquet hall across the hall from the club.
• We don’t have to load out because we are playing there tomorrow, so we head back to the hotel to drink and listen to the new Arcade Fire record.
• Barry and I feel like hitting up the hot tub, so we go down there only to find a couple making out in the pool, we wait about a half hour and head back to find it empty, we jump the fence and finally get in the hot tub for about 30 seconds before a strangely bearded man comes and tells us we have to get the hell out of there

Wednesday 8/18/10

• We all oversleep our free breakfast
• The weather is super lame, overcast, cold and rainy, so our plans of heading to the beach are squashed.
• Bob, Barry, and I eat lunch at a deli/soda fountain in town, while Jimmy and Joe go to get Thai food.  We all head back to the hotel to rest a little bit and do some work on the computer.
• Joe and I head to the post office to mail out some posters and cd’s to towns we will be playing soon, and then head over to the NMU campus to see if we can get some people to come out to tonights show.  We hit up the college radio station and get Polygraph played on the radio, we then comb the streets of Marquette looking for any young kids that might be interested in coming out to see us.  We find basically nobody out and we are now both wet from the rain
• We head back to the hotel for a quick hot tub dip before we head to the club for dinner and to play.
• We order an obnoxious amount of food at the club, including 3 orders of the Whitefish Cakes we had enjoyed the night before.
• Set I: In the Mood -> Creston, Good Ideas -> Side 2, Get Down on It, Mo, No Light, Hall Pass, Handshake Drugs -> Bed Bugs
• Set II: Highway, Otherside -> Truth 2 -> Jimmy Jam -> Lovely Day, Polygraph, All Around Jam * -> All Around the World -> Barry’s in the Bathroom Jam -> The Route, Give it Up * &
• * w/ Glenn Roberts on guitar, & w/ Alan on cowbell
• This whole show was awesome, the band really stretched everything out experimentally, and Glen Roberts on guitar, who is a friend of the band from Chicago and has a summer home in the UP, rocked it out when he was up there
• We get back to the hotel and we almost all crash immediately

Thursday 8/19/10

• We all oversleep the free breakfast I had negotiated the night before when we drunkedly got back to the hotel, so we get bagels on the way out of town
• We drive to Pictured Rocks in the UP before heading down to Traverse City on Joe’s suggestion.  We hear all about the backpacking honeymoon trip Joe and his wife had taken in the UP a few summers ago, ad nauseum.
• Joe and I jump into Lake Superior, feeling we had to since we were there, it is freezing and amazingly clean
• We decide to take the longer much more scenic view to Traverse City along the lake
• We stop to get a Pastie, again at Joe’s insistence, before we get to the Mackinaw bridge, we all agree they are disgusting, including Joe.  Why eating a pastry filled with undercooked potatoes and grey sliced meat in the middle of August was something we had to do is beyond all of us?  It is a food made for Miners to eat in the dead of winter.  We basically get them to make Joe shut up.
• We stop to use the bathroom somewhere outside of Petoskey, MI and I witness a car accident happen right in front of the gas station.  Pretty sweet!!!  Everyone was OK!
• We get to the club and load in, we are offered free dinner there, but we decide to go elsewhere after seeing the menu.  Bob, Joe, and I end up eating at a faux cuban restaurant and are all displeased with both our service and the food.
• Bob squeezes two limes and shakes salt into an empty glass before pouring his modelo especial into it, which I find odd
• Levi Britton from a MI band called Down the Line plays an acoustic set before Strange with a percussionist named John, they are great, Levi’s voice is amazing.
• Set I: Steamroller, Creston, Electric Feel, Polygraph, Highway, The Route, Siete, The Way It Is
• Set II: Pegasus, Mo, Get Down On It, Bed Bugs, Night Court, Shebadu Ma Ma, Office -> Chitown
• Show sounded great and had a ton of energy, especially from Jimmy who was pretty buzzed before they started, ha!
• We load out next to a really smelly dumpster, find the last hotel in Traverse City and of course over sleep our free breakfast again

Friday 8/20/10

• Barry is hanging with a friend for the next few days, so there is a little more room on the way to Hoxeyville, which is only about 45 minutes away
• We stop at the grocery store and liquor store before we get out of town and get the essentials for the weekend.
• When we get to Wellston we stop at a car wash to rinse out our nasty cooler, which we all find hilarious for some strange reason, I think we are all just slap happy at that point
• Get into Hoxeyville and can already feel the awesome vibe the festival is giving out.  We set up our camp, which is right next to several other bands camps, while Cornmeal is within ear shot and is absolutely killing it.
• Our friends Mo and Cahill come up and set up right about the time we finish setting up our tents near us, it’s going to be a great weekend.
• First band I see is Breathe Owl Breath, which is hilarious and awesome at the same time
• Other bands I see before the rain are Frontier Ruckus and Funktion who absolutely kills it, their sax player has left but they haven’t missed a beat
• I am really looking forward to the MacPodz, but they get rained out halfway through their set, along with the New Deal, which everyone called the No Deal the rest of the weekend.
• We spend about 2 hours in the van hoping that the rain would end, but it really never lets up, I realize I forgot to close the door to my tent after it is much too late
• We then end up in the Founders tent behind the Cadillac Stage drinking free IPA for hours with basically every other band at the festival.  It is an awesome time.
• I wake up the next morning in the van covered in IPA, it looks like someone filled several water balloons with IPA and bombarded me.  It feels that way too.

Saturday 8/21/10

• The ground is surprisingly dry considering the onslaught of rain we got the night before, my tent however is not.
• I fix myself a PBJ and a Diet Ruby Red Squirt/Vodka/OJ cocktail for breakfast before stumbling over to see Paul vs. Seth at the mainstage
• On my way back I see Jamie Perkins, chef guru of the Ghetto Gourmet tent in the Vendors aisle, he is heading into town for some more food, and I jump in his car because I need to grab a few more things.
• We get to this store called the Dubliner which sells everything under the sun, including 500 kinds of jerky, shotguns, televisions, groceries, canoes, and booze
• I get the essentials, a bottle of crown royal, 2 packs of parliament lights, a 30 pack of busch light, and I use the clean bathroom to do something you never want to do in a port a potty
• When we get back to the festival I catch the last half of Van Ghost before heading back to camp to change into my Elway jersey and hit up the other campgrounds to try and get people to come to the Strange set the next day.  I walk around for a while, and catch parts of several sets of music with highlights being Airborne or Acquatic and the Ragbirds, who cover Jesus Jones which is pretty freaking awesome!!!
• My bright orange Elway jersey is accented with bright orange sunglasses, an orange strange arrangement coozie, and an orange bic lighter
• Back to camp for my buddy to make me a Hoxeytail, which is delicious, I then see the rhythm devils come out and play with Greensky Bluegrass for a China Cat, I Know You Rider
• They also come out with Keller Williams later on, as does Keller with them
• My Dear Disco absolutely kills their set as well, things are getting pretty nutso at that point.
• We hit up the Founders tent again before heading out into the woods to see several different talented musicians jam out in different little campsites, truly an awesome experience for someone that can’t play a note on an instrument.
• As the sun went down people could only see the 7 on my Elway jersey and couldn’t see the bright orange color, so I was called Mike Vick more than a few times, which I find absolutely hilarious
• Go to bed in my wet tent with the spins, anxiously waiting for more music the next day

Sunday 8/22/10

• wake up the next morning very moist wearing an Elway jersey and underwear
• We have to jump the van immediately, because we drained the battery on Friday night having the lights on inside while we were all trying to avoid the rain, we get it jumped and leave it running for awhile
• I go to get breakfast with Mo, it is a nasty scrambled egg concoction that I immediately regret ordering
• Pull van up to the stage and start to load out while the band before us is finishing
• I set up the merch and talk to a taper while the band sets up
• Jeremy from Funktion has decided to add percussion to our whole set, and Terrence from Funktion is going to play Siete with us as well……super nice guys.
• Hoxeyville Set – Pegasus, Mo, Creston, Bed Bugs, Steamroller, Siete, The Route, Highway
• Set goes awesome, tons of people are into it, and we give away every last Summer Sampler CD we brought, we actually run out of them
• Some dude steals my space behind the merch table during the set and keeps getting pissed when people are asking him if the CD’s are free or not.  Dude, news flash, don’t sit behind the merch if you don’t want to answer questions about it, and if you are going to, come up with some better material
• We load out and hear 4 finger 5 kill a cover of Higher Ground with two bass players, while we are driving away we hear UV Hippo killing it as well, so pissed we had to leave and get back to Chicago already
• I sleep most of the ride home, and get some unnecessary Culver’s on the way home
• Get back to my house around 11:30pm
• Hoxeyville was easily the most fun weekend of the summer, super huge thanks to everyone that made it happen.  People like Jake Robinson, Chad Knaggs, Matthew Beck, Mike Seigel, Amy Hoffman, Rachel Wells, Seth Norton, and Eric Fischer…..super huge GIDDYUP to all of you.  Strange is truly honored to be included in the MI scene…..we can’t wait until next year!!!!!

• Joe Picks me up in LaGrange and we hit the road around 3:00pm
• I notice that Jamie the Wolf has made it back into the van, I thought some schwilly had stolen it at Summer Camp, turns out he was in Joe’s Garage in Oak Park, welcome back Jamie
• We cruise to Kalamazoo, probably the least amount of time it has ever taken us to get there, this ends up being a good thing considering we are playing the beer garden for the first time, anticipating strange construction at Bell’s, and we have to rent some equipment when we get into K-Zoo
• Get to Bell’s and begin the load out, we have to walk across a stretch of a construction zone and then 30 yards of garden to get to the stage
• Eric Fischer, a great friend of the band meets us at Bell’s to help run the sound
• Eric and I then leave the band at Bell’s to retrieve several things for us to be able to produce sound that night.  We need or have forgotten to bring, main speakers, extension chords, five mic stands, 2 drum mics, 10 XLR chords, and a bass amp because Barry’s bass amp has somehow lost a fuse.  This little detour takes us more than an hour
• Get back to Bell’s and order the toasted coconut chicken salad for dinner, it is delicious
• Barry finds the missing fuse to his amp, so we don’t need to use the amp we had just rented.  That is fine though, considering the amp we had just rented was for a guitar and not a bass guitar
• The mosquitos at Bell’s in the garden are absolutely terrible, everyone of us is being eaten alive.  Bob reccomends rubbing some lemon root all over your legs, neck, and arms to keep them away……it works for a very little amount of time before they come back.  Jimmy is the only one out of all of us that changes into long pants
• One of the main speakers goes in and out throughout the first set, but is eventually fixed.  Sound actually ends up being great before the show is all said and done.  Kudos to Eric Fisher for that
• Set 1 – Good Ideas -> Side 2, All Around the World, Peg, Pegasus, Mo, Complicated, Creston, Chitown, Night Court, Bed Bugs
• Set 1 Highlights include a wonderful impromptu jam before the beginning of Mo and the evolution of the new song Complicated.  Also, Barry is on fire all set, thank god he found that fuse
• Set 2 – Steamroller, Shebadu Ma, Polygraph, The Route, Scarecrow, Siete, Highway
• Set 2 Highlights – Jeremy the percussionist from Funktion sits in the entire 2nd set and really adds a wonderful element to Strange
• As is always the case at Bell’s we all have a lot of really good beers throughout the night, tonight was no exception.  It takes us a long while to load out.
• Stay at Jacob and Sherry’s house again, Sherry is out of town.  We rage until very late drinking Bell’s Beer and eating Red Baron frozen pizza
• I go to bed with a wicked case of the spins
• The next morning Joe and I go to return the equipment we had rented the night before prior to hitting the road.
• Holland, MI is less than an hour away from Kalamazoo so we all have pretty much an entire afternoon to kill.
• Joe takes us to his college swimming hole, Rupert Lake, which is nearby Kalamazoo.  He brings 4 bathing suits so none of us have an excuse to not go.  I choose the smallest suit he has brought, which is a brand of suit I have never heard of, “Carribean Joe” with the moniker “Let Go” It is very small and I feel very foolish when we stop for coffee on the way to this lake and I have to wear them out in public.  Bob says I remind him of John Travolta from Pulp Fiction while we are waiting for their coffee.  We reach Rupert Lake 15 minutes later. Joe claims it is a clean lake, it is not.  Although, it is incredibly refreshing, especially when you swim about four feet down from the surface of the water where you receive an arctic blast of cool water.
• Everybody swims but Barry.  Jimmy’s borrowed suit is see through, which is great because there are about 8 children present at the lake
• After swimming we drive to rendezvous with Molly, Bob’s wife somewhere in between Holland, MI and Kalamazoo, MI.  We get rid of Bob and head to Crane’s Apple Orchard for lunch.  Joe has a sloppy joe, and Barry, Jimmy, and I all get the BLT, along with several glasses of Apple Cider.
• After lunch we head to the theatre in Holland only to find it closed.  While waiting for Joe to use the bathroom Jimmy restrings his guitar in a park across the street while Barry and I enter a sports store next to the theater to check out the merchandise.  We find a few arcade games for sale, one of them holding several different games from yesteryear.  I play a game of Super Dodgeball losing to China before Barry and I play several games of Street Fighter II.  Barry is the better player.
• After Joe gets back we head to Staples to print out some handbills to hand out at the UV Hippo show taking place in a park in Holland, in hopes of getting some Hippo fans over to our show at the Park Theater later in the evening.
• Unfortunately the UV Hippo show is cut way too short due to some really nasty weather that rolls through incredibly quickly.  It literally blows the Hippos merch table over.
• We grab dinner at a cafe/bakery in downtown Holland.  The chick taking our order screws up every single one of our orders

Friday June 18th, 2010 – Park Theater – Holland, MI

• Load in to the Park Theater and have a laborious time getting the sound right.
• I have my first ever box of water at the Park Theater, which is apparently much better for the environment than bottled water, but feels like you are chugging milk when you are drinking it.
• Joe’s wifes Grandparents come to the show.  Her Grandfather tells me that he went to his first movie ever at the Park Theater way back when.  He doesn’t remember what the name of the movie was, but does remember it was a Western.
• Park Theater is really cool, huge room for Strange Standards with a huge stage, apparently it used to be a movie theater, only problem with the place is that the lights keep going out throughout the show, it probably happens about twenty times throughout the night, at least the sound is never cut off, but there are several times where the band is not visible at all while they are playing
• Set 1 – Steamroller, Creston, Electric Feel, Pegasus, Mo, Otherside -> Truth 2 -> Coming Home -> Jam -> Shebadu, Complicated
• Set 1 Highlights include a crowd pleasing Electric Feel, Mo and the jam out of Coming Home
• Set 2 – Siete, Jam -> The Route, Chitown, Polygraph, Scarecrow, Certain and Severe, Jam -> All Around the World, Bed Bugs E: Highway
• Set 2 highlights include Russ from UV Hippo sitting in with the band during The Route and Chitown, and Dave from UV Hippo sitting in during Scarecrow and the jam out of it
• Joe heads back to his in laws house with his wife after the show, Bob meets up with his wife, and Jimmy, Barry, and I head back to Chicago

Sunday 6/20/2010 – Chicago Peace Fest – Chicago, IL

• Pick up Jimmy and Barry and get down to Peace Fest about 3pm
• We park the van in a parking lot across the street and roll over to the festival to see what they need us to do, our set is at 5pm
• We are kind of loitering around the stage when one of the people in charge tells us that one of the bands hasn’t shown up.  The dude then sees Jimmy has a guitar on his back and asks him if he can play a few songs.
• Jimmy obliges, while Jimmy is tuning his guitar, some dude comes on stage and reads a poem about being in jail
• Jimmy Conry Solo Guitar Peace Fest set: To Be Alone With You, Up In Smoke, Steal Your Heart, Woodstock
• While Barry and I found the whole scenario hilarious, Jimmy really pulls it off under pressure and does a great job
• We take the massively unorganized festival as a clue to get some CD’s stuffed so we can hand them out at the set
• Friends of the band Mo, Kim, and Katie (Joe’s wife), all help us blanket Peace fest to get email addresses and hand out CD’s.  This proves to be a very interesting experience for all of us
• Lots of really young kids smoking lots of really bad pot at Peace Fest
• Peace Fest Set – The Route, Steamroller, Siete, Shebadu, Creston, Pegasus
• Joe’s parents make it to Peace Fest, and I am sure they are still in shock to the blatant display of Peace and Love.  Quite a Fathers Day indeed!!
• Despite all of the jokes, there are probably about 500 people out at Peace Fest, and lots of very eccentric, down to earth, interesting people.  They have been doing this festival in Chicago at different locations for over 25 years.  The City hates them, but they still always find a way to get it done.
• When I drive the van down to the stage after the set to get the equipment I nearly run several dozens of people over who are standing in line for the port o potty.  On the way out, I nearly drive into a soccer match

Hey everyone, just wanted to let everyone know that our set is at 1:30 PM on Sunday August, 22nd.  If you can make it up to this awesome Michigan Music Festival this August make sure you make it over to our stage to get down.

Hoxeyville Festival is located in Beautiful Northwest Lower Michigan in the Heart of the Manistee National Forest.

Other artists on this years bill include, Mickey Hart’s Rhythm Devils, Keller Williams, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Steve Kimock and Crazy Engine, Cornmeal, Moonalice, The New Deal, UV Hippo, The Macpodz, Greensky Bluegrass, and many many more.

For all of the information you need, and tickets go to www.hoxeyville.com

Hope to see you all there!!

• Joe picks me up at my house to get all of my camping gear and we go to meet his mom at Sam’s club to get the coffee and breakfast materials for tomorrows set at Summer Camp
• Originally wanting to get donuts, we leave with kilachki’s, muffins, coffee, cheese and cinnamon rolls, and strawberries…..we called an audible
• Joe and I then say goodbye to his wonderful mother and head over to Jimmy’s to pick up Barry
• Get to Jimmy’s house and have to unload all of my crap and put it into Barry’s car, the van with all of our equipment will be coming later that night with Bob and Jimmy
• Takes a little less than 3 hours to get to Summer Camp, Joe and I joke that we stared at our crotches the whole time, because we were putting stickers on all of the CD’s we were planning on handing out that weekend
• We park our car, planning on eventually moving it elsewhere, but we run into Roy from Brainchild and he tells us we should just make camp there, so we take his advice.
• Joe sets his tent up in 5 minutes, it takes me an hour.  I am borrowing my sisters tent, and when I take it out of the bag I realize I have no idea how to set it up.  There are several pieces with different colored stickers on them, I finally call her and she walks me through the process, thank god she answered the phone.  She has already made fun of me about 3 times since, and I am sure my flustered tone will be the topic of conversation at family parties for several years to come
• The ground at summer camp is made out of some kind of lucite, so I make Barry and Joe hold the tent up and search for a hammer from some hippies, which proves to be an exhausting task to them.  I finally get one and get the stakes into the surface of the moon ground, my tent is now a tent
• Tent finally gets set up, when our good friend Kevin Wilson shows his face
• We stuff a gaggle of CD’s while Slippy Larue is within earshot
• Now we are armed with CD’s, and we make a cocktail and venture out to see some music finally
• Cornmeal, 30DB, MacPodz, and Dumpstafunk are all on our radar, and none of them disapoint
• I have to leave the MacPodz set to get my friend Emily her ticket, and then have to leave Dumpstafunk to get Bob and Jimmy their parking pass so we can get all of our gear to our campsite
• This is at about 1:30am, so the dude named Eric with several lame tattoos and a sleeveless shirt to show them off won’t allow us to drive our van inside the grounds until 8am, he does allow us to leave it right by the gate however.  What a guy!!
• Bob and Jimmy are pretty amped up having just got there, so we grab a bunch of CD’s and I show them the way to our buddy Pat’s tent in VIP, a popular destination for us all weekend
• I am pretty buzzed at this point and I spend a good deal of the 15 minute walk trying to make Bob and Emily laugh by jumping into peoples campsites, handing them CD’s, telling them to come to our set the next morning, and then jumping into their conversations.  I accomplish making Bob and Emily laugh, but I think I really scare some people along the way
• We get to Pat’s campsite only to find him asleep, we scare the crap out of his campsite, tell them to relay the message to Pat that we expect to see him at 8am sharp the next morning
• On the way back we randomly run into Jimmy who is cruising around by himself, we corral him and head back to camp to hit the hay, we have a big and early day the next day

Friday 5/29/10

• First thing I do when I wake up is start singing Aaron Neville, “I don’t know much, but I know I love you”  which wakes everybody up rudely
• I run over to see my tattoed friend Eric still guarding the entrance.  He allows me to drive the van in now
• We drive the van up to the Campfire Stage and begin to load out and to brew coffee.
• I realize that I hadn’t brought our merchandise to the main merch tent the day earlier, because it was in the van that didn’t arrive until after 1 am.  I start to walk over there when two nice Summer Camp employees named Betsy and Nicolle offer to take me over on their golf cart.  Giddyup! Now I feel somewhat important
• Merch tent isn’t open yet, so it’s all for naught, I see the same two nice young ladies later on and they give me another ride over there.  Thanks ladies!!!
• We make sure all of the food and coffee we promised to people is laid out next to the stage and we wait for the sound guy who shows up about 35 minutes before our set thinking that we didn’t start until 1:00pm……oops…..we had been there since 9:00am
• Bunch of people that helped us out make it out to the set including some journalists and fans from all over the MidWest, super huge thanks for coming out everyone
• Summer Camp Set – Siete, Creston, Polygraph, Mo, Steamroller, Pegasus, Highway *
• * w/ Joel Cummins from Umphrey’s McGee
• set was cut short because we started 15 minutes late because of the time goof up with the sound guy
• band sounds great, set highlight was the long highway with Joel sitting in and rocking the organ
• Rest of the day we spend seeing music and handing out Strange Arrangement coozies and CD’s
• Joe’s wife and our friend Andy Mac, (songwriter of Highway), and Bob’s wife Molly all eventually show up
• Music I saw…..Papadosio, The Ugly Suit, Dumpstafunk, Government Mule, and Umphrey’s
• Highlight of the night was all of us being together at an absolutely ripping Umphrey’s set that culminated with an unbelievable Cemetary Walk II encore
• Long day/night of laughter, walking, drinking, and music
• We go to bed somewhat early for a music festival considering we have a really long day the next day

Saturday 5/30/10

• Joe gets us all up and drives the first stretch to Hookahville, a 7 hour drive with a time change in the wrong way.  We leave close to 6 am
• I wake up in Indianapolis, which is about half way there.  Joe is a machine, he ends up making the entire drive
• Get to Hookahville and it is freaking hot, the stages there are right next to each other and there is a white rock for the audience to watch from.  This rock manages to reflect the hot sun and keep people at their tents out of the sun
• Band loads out and I make about 4 trips around the grounds trying to get people down to our set, luring them with coozies and CD’s, I nearly pass out.
• Sound guys are the nicest guys ever at Hookahville, they help us out greatly
• Hookahville Set –  Steamroller, Polygraph, Highway, Siete, Creston, Jam -> Pegasus, Diff’rent Strokes, Bed Bugs
• Highlights are a ripping jam before Pegasus, a tribute to the late Gary Coleman with Diff’rent Strokes, and Bed Bugs
• Hookahville feeds us with a barbeque for the band members and their staff, I wish I had known this beforehand because I wouldn’t have eaten the nasty Wendy’s an hour before we got there
• After our set we are literally fighting people for shade it is so hot, we decide to just leave and head back to Summer Camp
• Bob drives the first half and I drive the 2nd half.  Barry and I are feverishly searching for the Blackhawks game on AM radio on the way.  We are driving through western, OH and all of IN so we don’t have really high hopes, but we do seem to come across every other sport known to man including car racing, womens softball, NBA basketball, a Cincinnati Reds game, and MLS soccer……wtf?  Where’s the Stanley Cup Finals love?
• Eventually we just try WGN and are amazed to hear the flickering sound of Pat Foley’s voice coming in and out as we drive through the night.  We manage to hear the game winning goal, so we can hang our hat on that
• Get back to Summer Camp to find our loved ones buzzed and us completely out of it and sober.  We decide bed is probably the best idea

Sunday 5/31/10

• Today was all about music and passing out Strange stuff, which is basically all we did
• I did manage to take a cold shower before I went anywhere, it felt divine
• Jimmy, Bob, and Barry had all left the night before right after we got there.
• Steez, our good buddies from Madison started off at 11am on the Campfire stage
• Other bands we saw throughout the day were The New Mastersounds, Avett Bros., My Dear Disco, Moe., UV Hippo, Umphrey’s, and the Ragbirds
• Kevin Wilson made us all lunch at his camp, which was very nice of him
• I made my way over to Pat’s camp at one point to find him and his buddies cooking all of the leftover meat they had brought with them, tossing it into a red solo cup, and serving it with a piece of wheat bread.  I devoured the whole thing, the entire time saying, “Why am I eating this?”
• We walk around handing out Strange stuff until we physically can’t do it anymore, the sun and dust had beaten the crap out of all of us.
• My skin was a combination of burnt jerky, dust, and sunblock.  Which makes for a nice grayish paste before long……my kingdom for another shower!!!!

Monday 5/31/10

• We have a new found protector with us on the road.  His name is Jamie the Wolf.  He found us just outside of Marion, IL on our way back from Carbondale last week.  He is a dreamcatcher with his face on it, he protects us from evil and keeps the nightmares at bay.  We are ecstatic that he has jumped on the Strange Arrangement team, and we see a wonderful future ahead of us now that he has joined forces!!
• Bob is feeling extra squirrely on our way down to Terre Haute and he forces us to do an impromptu Afro-Cuban percussion jam in the van using various percussion toys he has on him along with other trash in the van.  I was given the easiest beat of quarter notes with some hand bell/chimes, I am convinced that I screwed it up.
• We stop for dinner at a Wendy’s outside of Terre Haute.  The poor girl working the register seems overwhelmed by the long line.  Pat asks her if you get 9 strips of bacon when you order a 3/4 lb. Baconator.  His suspicions are confirmed.  The girl at the register now seems scared, but I don’t know if it is because of the bacon question or the daunting dinner line rush.
• We take Old 41 all the way to Terre Haute, which spurns several Ol’ Prospector jokes from all of us.
• There is a little bit of rain on the way down, but the clouds part and the sun comes out almost exactly when we roll into town.
• The Verve has a new back door, a sparkling improvement from the old one which liked to fall off of its hinge when opened too far.
• We are trying to get a soundboard recording of the gig, so set up takes a little longer than normal.
• Matt is the sound guy for us tonight, he does an excellent job, and he allows us to keep our gear on the stage after the gig, allowing us to come and get it the next day.
• Set 1 – Scarecrow 108, Otherside -> Truth 2, The Route, Jam -> Pegasus, Chitown, Jam-> All Around the World, Complicated, Jamie the Wolf Jam Pt. 1 Jam -> Highway, 3AM
• Set 1 highlights include a wonderful improvised jam before Highway which we are calling the Jamie The Wolf Pt. 1 jam, The Route really starting to get some legs the more they play it, and Complicated also picking up some steam, being only the 3rd time played.
• During the 1st set friend/fan of the band Ally decides she wants to clear the dancefloor so she can hula hoop.  She shows some impressive moves before her hula hoop inadvertently knocks over a glass of beer.  This quickly puts an ending to the 1st ever hula hooping Strange fan.
• 2nd Set – Polygraph, Shebadu Ma, Creston, I Dream of Genie, Steamroller -> Side 2, Jamie the Wolf Jam Pt.2 -> Mo, Electric Feel, Siete, Certain and Severe, Bed Bugs E: Night Court
• 2nd Set Highlights include a fantastic Polygraph opener, a rockin’ shebadu, and another wonderful impromptu jam before Mo dubbed Jamie the Wolf Jam pt.2
• We normally stay at Connie’s house when we are in Terre Haute, although Connie is out of town tonight.  We are told we can still stay there by her and other employees of the Verve.  The only person that doesn’t seem to know we can stay there is Ahmed, a new tenant of Connie’s.  Joe, Bob, and I arrive almost simultaneously at Connie’s house with Ahmed, and it makes for some interesting dialogue between Ahmed and Joe.  He has no idea who we are, and insists on speaking to an employee of the Verve before allowing us to come into the house.  It all worked out, but was rather humorous in my opinion.
• Joe play the piano very late at Connie’s, and we all eat nachos in the kitchen very late at night sans a snoozing Bob.  We use mozzarella cheese for the nachos, and the ass end of several different jars of salsa.
• I’m not really sure who and who doesn’t live at Connie’s house, the whole situation is kind of confusing to me.  This is all the more perplexing when Barry and I are woken up by two teenage boys grabbing their paintball gear out of the room we are sleeping in.  The first vision I have when I wake up is of a young man with a paintball gun trying to quietly tip toe past me to avoid waking me up.  Still don’t really have an idea as to who he was, but I think I may have been in his bed, so I pass along my thanks to him for that, and for not shooting me with several paintballs while I slept.
• Everyone showers and we head back to the Verve to get our equipment before we head to Louisville

5/22/10 – The Hideaway Saloon – Louisville, KY

• We decide to take the scenic route to Louisville which adds another hour or so to the trip
• Roll into Louisville and pick up our friend from La Grange (Aaron Wolf) at his house in Louisville and go out for some BBQ before going to the club
• Set up at the Hideaway and see our other good friend Jon Grisanti there.  He has done a lot of work getting people to come out to the gig tonight, amongst other things for the band.  We love you Jon!!!
• Rex from festivalfamily.com and musicmarauders.com comes to the show to take some pics and write a review.  He is running for the Mayor of Moedown and is campaigning pretty fiercely.  He shows us a poster he has made for himself, and tells us he will be walking around Summer Camp on Saturday from 4:30-6:00pm on Saturday with three good looking naked chicks to continue his campaign efforts.  Vote Rex for mayor of MoeDown!!!!……see you at Summer Camp!!
• Set 1 – Jam -> All Around the World, Certain and Severe, Coming Home -> In the Mood -> Jamie the Wolf Jam pt 3 -> The Route, Steamroller -> Otherside -> Truth 2 -> Shebadu Ma, Weight of Gold, Mo, Jam-> Pegasus
• Set 1 Highlights include a fantastic jam out of In the Mood into The Route and a great late set Pegasus
• Set 2 – Siete, Scarecrow 108 -> Jamie the Wolf Jam pt. 4 -> Scarecrow 108, Polygraph, Side 1 -> Creston, Happy Birthday Ryan Jam -> Electric Feel, Chitown -> Side 2, The Way it Is -> jam -> Highway, Complicated, Give it Up, Bed Bugs E: Night Court
• Set 2 Highlights include a rare Side 1 that morphs into a wonderful Creston, followed by a latin/swing happy birthday jam before finding its way back to Side 2………the Jamie the Wolf Jam pt.4 in the middle of Scarecrow 108 is extra thick and spacy too……awesome Strange set!
• Two monster sets, band doesn’t stop playing until 3:45 AM
• We decide to just leave after the gig and Bob drives the entire stretch from Louisville to Chicago.  We are home by 9AM ish
• Thanks to Aaron, Jon, and Rex in Louisville for spreading the Strange word and getting people out to the gig, it’s only our second time in Louisville and it is quickly becoming one of our favorite places to play.

• We have never played at Mary’s Place and haven’t had the best communication with the Sound Guy up to this point, so we decide to bring our board and main speakers just to be safe.  Hopefully we won’t leave them there like we left our power cables in Indy about a month ago.
• We leave Oak Park around 5:45pm on Friday evening, there is an obnoxious amount of traffic everywhere due to the cluster fuck that is Chicago construction right now.  290 is butts to nuts, and rumor has it that I-90 to Rockford is down to one lane.  We decide to take Roosevelt Road all the way out to Downers Grove to get on 88 West, take that to Dekalb and then just head north to Rockford on 39.  This takes us over an hour…….super frustrating
• We stop at Farnsworth road off of 88 to gas up.  Bob and I are waiting to use the Men’s room which was occupied.  Eventually the bathroom door opens and a State Trooper with a bullet proof vest emerges sporting a sweaty upper lip and frightened look on his face, Bob enters the bathroom and says, ”Yep” as he closes the door behind him……..I decide to use the unoccupied ladies room at that point to do my business.
• See a UPS worker at the gas station purchasing a hot dog, two beef/bean burritos and 3 bags of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos for a meal.  I question his decision making.
• Roll into Rockford running a little late.  Get to Mary’s Place and set up.  Bob needs me to fetch him a 9 Volt battery, I use this time to get myself 2 McChicken sandwiches as well.
• Mary’s Place has all the sound we need, and the Sound Guy Jason does a good job with a crappy room
• Dude that books the shows at Mary’s announces the band and plugs the merch table all night.  Kudos brother.  Some of his compliments about the band are a little out there, i.e. Strange Arrangement is the best jamband in the MidWest, Strange Arrangement is better than other bands because they don’t complain about having to play a long time and other bands only want to play for 45 minutes, Strange Arrangement is awesome because they don’t just play loud and blow your ears away, and Strange Arrangement is awesome because they don’t get effed up, they do it sober.  Thanks for all of the compliments man, I couldn’t agree more…..ha ha ha!!!  
•  Our awesome friends from Rock Falls, Kelly and his wife Crystal, are at Mary’s Place showing their support.  Great to see them, and some other fans from Rock Falls are there like Dave and his beautiful wife……thanks for making the trek, we truly love you guys!!!
• Set I: Certain and Severe, Steamroller, Polygraph, Shebadu Ma Ma, Coming Home -> Otherside ->Truth 2 -> Truth 3, Mo, Electric Feel, Sewer -> No Light -> Creston
• Set I highlights include a rare Truth 3 and a fantastic jam out of Coming Home….people really started getting down during Shebadu and pretty much didn’t leave the dance floor for the rest of the night after that.
• Set II: Highway, Siete, Jam -> Pegasus -> Spiders (Kidsmoke), The Route, The Weight of Gold, Diff’rent Strokes -> Chitown -> Pegasus, Camarillo Brillo, Bed Bugs
• Set II highlights include a fantastic Highway opener and a wonderful long trippy and tight Spiders (Kidsmoke). Some of our younger fans not into Wilco might not get this cover, but Strange plays it well, and I personally love it when they cover it.  Weight of Gold now has a vocal harmony on the chorus, which is a nice addition.
• Our awesome friends from the Blue Moon Project Jesse, Matt, Josh, Iggy, and Greg all show up during the set break.  Great guys, and pretty much the reason anybody shows up to see us in Rockford.  Greg is fresh off of an apendectomy, and Jessee is a cancer survivor.  We Love you guys, and love your support, can’t wait to see you next time we come back!!!
• Loading out takes some time, and the dude that has been plugging the merch table all night is much appreciated as merch sales are much higher than normal.  He keeps telling us that he can’t wait for us to come back to Mary’s Place, and he keeps mentioning that Mary’s is the oldest bar in Rockford.
• I do notice while walking around with the email list during the set that there are an unusual amount of people in Rockford claiming to not have an email address.  If you’re out there, and you’re reading this blog (which I’m pretty sure you aren’t) it might be time to get an email address.  I’m not saying you have to sign our mailing list, I am just saying that it is a pretty nice communication tool and maybe you should look into some of it’s benefits, most of them are free too……I’m not saying, I’m just saying.
• Per usual, we stop at Nick’s for a gyro on the way out of Rockford.  “See You Next Gyros Rockford”

• Got my haircut at Great Clips before wehit the road and an American Sub from Albano’s in Westchester, IL….sandwich was great, the haircut was not
• I am driving up with Pat separate from the band in his white Toyota Camry without a gas cap, on 80-94 we see several odd/rare things on the road including a 10′ fiberglass ladder in the far left lane, an enormous tumbling rock in the same lane, and a step stool in the oncoming traffics left lane…..we also see a yellow lamborghini, along with a truck with Pegasus transportation written on the side of it, we take this as a good sign as we are going to see Strange
• Meet up with the band in Lafayette, they are running behind schedule as usual, Bob tells me that Jimmy’s newborn baby Emmit had farted on him earlier in the day and that it wasn’t pretty
• Apparently the band is running late because Joe missed the exit to Lafayette, a destination he has driven to several times before
• While we are setting up, some chick named Bitsy drags her birthday party into the room and gives a really lame speech/toast to all of her friends and not so good friends as she eloquently puts it
• We soundcheck and then start to get food/drinks/whatnot, this prompts Bitsy who by now is a little bit tipsy to walk  on to the stage and sing an impromptu serenade to herself basically professing to everyone in the room how awesome she is and how sweet it is that it is her birthday
• It is my job to get Bitsy off the microphone, which I take great joy in doing because her voice sounds like a jack russel terrier having sex with a bagpipe……Happy 24th Bitsy!!!
• During the soundcheck I had noticed that I can see way too much of Joe’s pasty white legs….he still hasn’t replaced the stool he left at HOB and the borrowed stool he is using really accentuates his pasy white gams, I tell him it would be in his best interest to put on some pants and/or hit the tanning salon real quick
• Set I – Steamroller, Jam ->All Around the World, Side 2, Mo, Shebadu Ma Ma, Polygraph, Creston, Jam ->Pegasus ->Spiders (Kidsmoke), Highway, No Light ->Otherside->Pegasus
• I thought the Spiders(Kidsmoke) cover was approriate considering it was Tax Day and there is a line reading “Spiders are filling out tax reforms” way to be so present day S.A.!!!
• Set II – Siete, Certain and Severe, The Route, Chitown, Truth 3, Give it Up, Sewer -> Hall Pass, Jazz Crimes, Weight of Gold , Bed Bugs, Night Court 
• This is the first time Weight of Gold has been played, sounds great, can’t wait to hear it evolve
• Sleep at Brendan’s place who is Pat’s younger brother and a student at Purdue
• Stay up very late listening to music and drinking a bottle of cazadores and several PBR’s
• Joe, Barry, and I sleep for very little, all wake up simultaneously around 11:30am and decide to go get something to eat
• Pat is no longer with us, but I do receive a text message from him saying that his brother Brendan served him bacon in bed, which I find very touching and very strange at the same time
• End up at a shiteous bar/restaurant called Jake’s Roadhouse in downtown West Lafayette after a long walk that we realize could have been much shorter had we just gone a different direction upon leaving the apartment, Kevin’s friend Katie meets us for the latter part of our lunch
• Bob and Jimmy appear with the van and we depart for Bloomington, IL
• We have a bunch of time to kill before we load in so we hit up Moraine State Park on the way
• Bob and I see a pheasant and two wild turkeys in the state park, we toss the frisbee a little bit, I let Bob and Jimmy get all the way to the nature trail they wanted to check out before I honk the horn and tell them its time to leave, I take great pleasure in this
• Get to Bloomington and look for a place to eat, end up at a place called Rosie’s by the venue, everyone gets a burger except me, I get a hot club sandwich

4/16/10 – Illinois Brewing Co. – Bloomington, IL

• Load in at the IBC is brutal as it consists of several sets of stairs and a long jaunt across the establishment
• The other band playing with us tonight is The Deal from Bloomington/Normal/ISU……nice guys, great band
• The Deal brings 3 bus loads of their friends to the show from campus which helps out the scene a lot, unfortunately two of their friends get into a scrap and one hits another with a beer bottle during their first set, there is a trail of blood leading all the way outside….nasty.  I am guessing it is over a woman, call me crazy
• We play first and third tonight as we are swapping sets with The Deal
• Set I – Siete, Creston, Steamroller, Jam -> Pegasus, Shebadu Ma Ma
• We realize that right before playing Pegasus that the juke box music has been playing for most of our set…..thanks sound guy!!!
• Set II – Night Court, Polygraph, Highway, Weight of Gold, Bed Bugs
• During the 2nd set I accidentally bump into a chair that has two leather jackets belonging to two different girls on it, they both fall to the ground, I pick them both up to put them back on the chair and notice that I am getting several dirty looks from the friends of the jacket owners as if I was about to yoink two female leather coats….I guess I fit the profile or look like a crossdresser
• Joe sits in on a cover of Stevie Wonders “Superstition” during The Deal’s 2nd Set
• Load out is just as annoying as the load in at IBC
• Hit the road and get home by about 5am