Tagged: jaredmeestourdiary

People who register Wordpress accounts using a 'phantom' email address are one sandwich short of a picnic.

Coming down the last big stretch of hills before PDX just outside La Grande. James Brown is running like a dream. As long as Nicholas can just lay off the brakes on this section of downhill, I dare say we are in the clear. He is pushing 70 which is the fastest this thing should go but also trying not to ride the brakes as we made that mistake last summer. Megan S. is covering her eyes. Brianne is biting her pen. Megan C. is asleep. Josiah is reading some metaphysical philosophy shit...aaaaaand we made it! Yesterday was [...]

On the way to Sun Valley last night the 5th bee in 3 days mysteriously appeared in the van. This one was somehow in 2 pieces but the ass end still managed to sting Megan S. She screamed bloody murder and I almost ran off the road it startled me so badly. We realized that the lyrics of one of our songs "Bees" may be true. There may actually be bees in the walls (of James Brown). At load in last night we found 2 more dead ones on the floor tom. Maybe they are just flying in thru our [...]

I will be honest. And in doing so I will tell you that I cannot truly be honest...the things that have transpired over the last 72 hours are highly blogworthy and the juicy details would be fun to read about and probably somewhat soothing to write about but would in the end it would be inappropriate and unwise to divulge that much fresh drama before it had a chance to settle. Suffuce to say: We are together. We are together and we are still on the road. We are 5 shows away from home. We [...]

Sick from fried chicken and Red Bull yesterday and have quarantined myself in the "masturbatoriam" (the back back Frankenstein seat in our van). Reading Stephen King and David Foster Wallace. Josiah and Megan C are driving and listening to Frank Zappa and Jonny Cash. We are on the way to Moscow, Idaho to play a show at Kikey's Gyros. Did I ever tell you: We are traveling with 3 couples? Yes Megan C and Josiah are a couple and Megan S and Nicholas are a couple and Brianne and I are a couple. Funny eh? No major [...]

There are only a few ways to describe the chaos that was Long Beach, CA on July 3rd. The first is to write "watch this video." The second is to write about my childhood friend Todd Henry and his cousin Ryan who passed a hat amongst the 100 or so people at the El Dorado restaurant and within 10 minutes had collected enough money to pay for almost all of the repair costs of James Brown's recently blackened and crispied carburetor. Todd, who is now known as Cy as he changed his name two [...]

Los Angeles was my home from 2000 to 2005. Like it or not, it will be my home tonight. James brown has decided that we should not go to our show in San Diego but rather hang out in the parking lot of "Super European Automotive" here in Nniversal City. We need a carburetor rebuild which will be done by 5 pm tomorrow just before the Long Beach show tomorrow evening. We knew something was wrong when we were topping out at 25 mph last night after the Silverlake Lounge show...Jesse from Worlds Greatest Ghosts confirmed that [...]

You know its gonna be one of those nights when you approach the bar to find your bandmates trading in both of their drink tickets at once for a Long Island iced tea (which are generally much more long island than iced tea). Needless to say that by 8:30 pm last night at the Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco I knew it was going to be one of those nights. Those nights that can really go either way. Up or down. You either: A. perform really honestly and deliver a superior performance as you are [...]

"I'm at the pizza hut, I'm at the taco bell. I'm at the combination pizza hut and taco bell." So I am a severe allergy sufferer. Most of my last 4 tours (as well as the majority of the intervening time in PDX) have been spent sneezing and sniffling and gargling saltwater in a vain attempt to not go hoarse for the next show. We don't have health insurance so I've never actually gone to the doctor for it. But 5 days ago I realized I would have to sing 21 shows, or about 200 songs, [...]

"This Is How We Do It In Fresno" - BKF Jordan Dykstra reports: We played in Merced, CA at the venue called The Partisan. The vibe was wooden on the outside and very mellow on the in. We got burritos across the street and then Sean and I walked for about half an hour to find some delicious blue Spirits cigs, but no one had 'em. Defeated, we settled on a dirty-ass six-dollar pack of camel lights. The show started around showtime. Portlander Allison Milham opened up for Brian Kenny Fresno! and played some [...]

• Jared Mees and the Grown Children - COCKELBURS AND HAY (LIVE IN MERCED, CA)

Jared is reading Our Band Could Be Your Life , by Michael Azerrad, and our tour has started as the complete opposite of the dirty, yet romantic, touring punk bands from the '80s (as mentioned in OBCBYL). Now, we're in no way making a ton of money (if any), but we've been treated with utmost kindness from our friends and fans. Our second show of the tour was in La Grande, Oregon, which is approximately 45 minutes east of Pendleton. So, it's pretty, and pretty far out there. Fortunately, La Grande contains Duke's Bar and Grill, and our friend's [...]

Tonight was the first night of our tour, which begins with a series of satellite shows around the area before we play Portland, and then roll on south. It was determined that Kevin is only allowed to give one anti-smoking announcement per day, or else he has to smoke a cigarette. He's been smoke free since the ball dropped for '08. Here's what the other children said: Links: Jared Mees and the Grown Children [...]