Tour Diary | Slightly Stoopid | Part Two

Show 12: Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, OK -Good ol’ Cains Ballroom…always a fun night for us. We rolled in early and went straight to the Mexican spot across the street. Cain’s has this huge backstage room stocked with ping pong and pool tables. The battles were huge and words were flying. We are some competitive dudes, and when it comes to pool and ping pong we talk a ton of shiiiit. I went for a long bike ride along the Riverfront Path, which was super pretty. The Grouch and Eligh guys killed it as did Atmosphere. It’s definitely been a great tour. Our show went well. There is a random dome above the stage which makes for funky acoustics onstage but all in all, great energy.

Show 13: The Crossroads in Kansas City, KS -Insanity Party in the dressing room! Nothing like sweating out last night’s beer intake doing aerobics. It was a funny sight. Grown men…yeah…I will leave it there. The last time we were here it was like 100 degrees and 100% humidity. B-Real from Cypress Hill actually almost collapsed on stage from dehydration…this time it was a little less dramatic. Another solid show…

Show 14: Simon Estes Ampitheater in Des Moines, IA -This is a unique venue. The stage is situated on a grass park on a riverbank between two bridges. Super picturesque. Paul, Dela and I went to this Micro-brew Pub for a good dinner. If you ever visit Des Moines definitely eat a Zombie Burger.

Back home for a few daze!!!

After I missed my flight from San Diego to Boston via Chicago, I added seven hours and a night to my travel day getting to the “Old Bean.” In fact, I got in at 6 a.m. local time, went straight to my room and slept for four hours before heading over for sound check.

Show 15: Bank Of America Pavilion in Boston, MA -This place is always a good hit and one of our favorite venues. Dela, c$ used to live there and Paul, our keyboardist, and Josh, our Stage Sound Engineer, live in the area now. It’s always helpful for morale to have extra family and friends at the show, I think we play better. I got a good run in around the area. Tons of fish processing factories and tourist traps. The show was sold out…Tribal Seeds are back with us again. We really enjoyed having The Grouch and Eligh as support. They are great guys and musicians. We had a good set and played a few different songs. We’ve been playing off a pool of songs and mixing orders and adding a few in here and there.

Show 16: The Stone Pony Outdoor Stage in Asbury Park, NJ -I love waking up walking distance from the beach…just like home. There were some concerns about the coming weather and particularly lightning and thunder. We were ready to start loading in and setting up, when the promoter, club rep and management talked about postponing the show. The concern was how to evacuate 4,500 people safely. I think coming on the wake of Hurricane Sandy and the damage done, the club didn’t want to take any chances on liability. So unfortunately, at about 10 a.m. they cancelled the show. It’s been rescheduled for August 27. It was a bummer man, we were disappointed…we showed up ready to play.

So we headed south towards Philly. A couple of us went to dinner and saw the movie Elysium.

Check out this montage Jake Krolick put together of Slightly Stoopid’s visit to Philadelphia:

Show 17: Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia, PA -Woke up at Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing in Philly. The weather was nice -warm, but not too hot and humid. Kyle and I did an insanity video, with Carlos from Tribal Seeds joining in too. Insanity is pretty cool -no weights or props needed. Just you, a computer and the room. After soundchecking and working on a few new things, it was back to the bus for a cheese steak. We always try to eat the local goodness. Cheese steaks in Philly, pizza in NYC, BBQ in KC/Texas, Gumbo in New Orleans, etc. We did a Meet-And-Greet and hung out with some kids pre-show. We like meeting our fans and signing t-shirts and posters and things. Occasionally we will take requests too. The crowd in Philly is always nuts and this show didn’t disappoint. The kids were going off…crowd surfing, moshing and getting crazy as usual.

Next stop Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore.

Show 18: Pier Six Pavilion in Baltimore, MD -Woke up feeling shitty today…too much movement between air conditioned rooms/bus and outdoor heat and humidity. I just hung out and rested all day, no exercise or anything. We juiced up a bunch of fruits and veggies early in the day. I had some good Thai Curry for dinner. Jay Sans rolled up and we kicked it with him for a bit. He sat in and rapped a verse on “Top Of The World” too. The show was nuts. Sold out and the kids were going off. We saw some scuffles with cops and security. Intoxicated debauchery! What else is new?

Day Off One in Virginia Beach -For the days off we headed down to Virginia Beach, VA. We have stayed there in the past and know the area a bit. We were praying for surf! The waves were knee high, but we’ll take it. We went to the Beach Shack and bought a few spongers and skim boards and waxed up the surfboards. We then got in the water for a bit. It actually got better and in the evening Kyle and I got some fun waves. I kept seeing this kid on a longboard getting fun ones from the boardwalk. We went out right at sunset. Conditions were glassy with 1-2′ waves. Back to life! I’m like a fish -I need saltwater on the gills or I dry up! A bunch of us went to sushi that night to celebrate c$’s birthday and Barry’s (our bus driver) hole-in-one on a 120-Yard Par 3 hole. We saw Miles with James and Stephen there too. We went big…the sashimi, katsu, rolls, sake and Sapporo’s were flowin’.

Day Off Two in Virginia Beach -I definitely recommend a great deli/market called Taste. It’s on Pacific St. at 35th. Wow! Great sandwiches, chips and drinks. I ate there two days in a row. The Northender -turkey, avocado and the works on sourdough is the winner. Spicy chips and a huge iced coffee didn’t hurt. I love breakfast at 2 p.m. We were hoping for another surf but the waves didn’t quite cooperate. Kyle and Dela paddled out for fun and got a few. I went for a long bike ride instead. Found a good trail for riding alongside a beautiful lake. Part of the fun of being out here is the exploration of new spots. Good fun!

Until the next time…
-Rymo