Beck Hansen

       We rode overnight from St. Louis. The roads were rough from a long winter. We woke up in Detroit, still recovering from the Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Louis marathon day.
       Everyone laid low in the hotel all afternoon. We were outside of town, surrounded by dirt lots.
       We rode out to the venue at 6 p.m., where we were playing with Sloan, Soul Coughing, and Pavement. The venue was on top of a parking structure. The show was already underway when we got there. We ran into the Pavements backstage. They flew in from Baton Rouge to play the gig with us. They were tired, but their show was one of the best I’ve seen. Everyone was on the side of the stage digging it. There were some classic antics and impressive guitar pyrotechnics. Malkmus showed me his fancy new guitar pedals from England. They had names like Meatball, the Stirfry, all food themes.
       Our set was enjoyable. Much cane-brandishing by myself, as anticipated. Somebody handed us an eight-track-tape version of Odelay. We found some amazing Middle Eastern food backstage. Some kids put on a juggling act for me in the parking lot. We got on the bus at 1 a.m., Boston-bound.