Over 1100 miles of driving in a weekend, watching the price of gas go up from one exit to another, drinking cold beer when the temperature is always close to 100 and watching some of Detroit’s finest bands play their hearts out in Music City, USA --- what else could it be but a weekend road trip to Nashville to see the Demolition Doll Rods, Gore Gore Girls and the Paybacks.
These “rock & roll road trips” always seem to make much more sense during the planning phase than they do during the actual execution phase. You look at a map, figure that it’s only a few hundred miles to get there and decide that it’s time to go. That part is easy – the hard part is actually doing it. After a few of these trips you realize that about 75% of your time is spent driving, another 20% is trying to find somewhere to sleep and getting lost and the remaining few minutes are actually spent at the show. I vowed that this time would be different & actually spent a few minutes finding a hotel that was walking distance from the bar – or at least, it looked like walking distance on the map. Later on I would find that “walking distance” implies that you can actually read street signs and follow directions, but those problems could be solved on the next trip.
The fateful day arrived and I filled up my trusty Ford Escape with a full tank of gas and a full box filled with CDs. I was officially on the road again; visions of the Ramones pulling out of NYC danced in my head, but my progress was quickly stalled when I ran into the first of many construction zones on I-75. By the end of the weekend I had realized that the 50 miles or so between Detroit and Toledo had more construction zones on it than the 500 miles between Toledo and Nashville. I also found out that most people in Michigan drive faster in the construction zones here than drivers do on the open road in Ohio, but that is just an advantage we have living here – if your car/truck can handle the roads – then just drive like hell…
After about 8 hours or so, another $33 fillup and a fruitless search for any restaurant that didn’t serve Big Macs or fries – I pulled into Nashville. By some miracle, I actually drove straight to my hotel and immediately passed out on the bed with the air-conditioner on full-blast. Several hours later, as frost started covering the remote, I finally woke up and decided it was time to move if I was going to find the show. This column would be even more boring if I drove to Nashville and missed the show. I quickly popped outside and tried to find 37th Avenue – it should be between 36th and 38th. Well, it technically is, but it only runs on one side and the sign is unlit and hidden behind a tree. After carefully avoiding anybody that could possible give me directions, I stumbled upon the street after going in virtually every other direction. Finally – I’m at the club and they even serve Labatt’s. This fact, by itself, is almost enough for me to grudgingly accept that Nashville does belong in the National Hockey League with Detroit, but I later change my mind when I realize that Gary Bettman actually expects me to spend money to see Nashville and Columbus 8 times a year and Toronto only once every three years.
The bands all arrive and probably question my sanity as I was too tired to drive 8 miles to the Lager House on Wednesday to see the Gore Gore Girls, but decided to drive 550 miles on Friday to see them. The biggest surprise of the night is when I run into Julie of Punk Fitness fame and the Mydols. If you’ve never been to punk fitness – then you’re missing the coolest hour of working out in the Detroit area – just go to the Punk Fitness web site and get going. If I could last through some of her classes – than anybody can. The Mydols are now my rock & roll idols – if 4 women with husbands & kids & jobs can find time to start a rock & roll band then this world is a good place to be in. The show – there’s really no need to talk about that – if you think that any place that’s lucky enough to have the Demolition Doll Rods, Gore Gore Girls and Paybacks on one bill cannot possible be a totally awesome time – then you shouldn’t even be listening to rock & roll. It was one special night and the Paybacks even closed their show with an well-deserved encore of “Vegas”. Now that was worth driving 1100 miles for !!!!!
More info on Punk Fitness can be found here: www.punkfitnessdetroit.com and the Mydols web site is www.mydols.com. You can catch the Mydols at Small’s on Friday, August 26th along with the 3D Invisibles and the return of the Sillies !