Last night was my first night at merchandise sales. Or as we in the biz like to call it, “merch.” It was a late show because “Cute Is What We Aim For” did the early show. Beause I wasn’t on nanny duty that night I got to go watch the early show and was sadly very disappointed by what I saw. The opening bands sounded like they had barely come out of their garage phase, and ciwwaf wasn’t much better. I’m pretty sure every pre-teen in Ohio was there, and their parents were lining the back wall. Before the final song the lead singer gave a heartfelt confession of his own alcoholism, and announced he has now been sober for 10 months, at which point every 14 yr old girl shrieked and teared up. They were so pround of him!… Gag me!

After the cute bands moved out we got to move in. Load in was pretty exciting because we were all rushed to get set up so there could be a sound check, and I had to set up all my merch before the doors opened. I also got to get to know the Free Energy (the opening band) guys a lot better last night and they are so awesome, not to mention their music is super catchy and great. A few of them are even from Red Wing, MN so we talked about all the places we knew. Scott was working their merch so I talked to him a lot and the time went really fast.

For the most part the selling merch was easy. Except for a few choice costomers. For example, “Cheap Creeper McFlirt,” who tried to “sweet talk” me into giving him a discount on a CD. Then there was “Mr.&Mrs. Beligerant Drunk.” Mrs. was so wasted she could barely stand, and Mr. kept chatting with me about Gwen Stefani. And last but not least, “About to get kicked out guy.” I have to say he was my favorite. The bouncer followed him to my table and kept a close eye as drunky gave advice to every costomer about which shirt they should get then proceeded to tell me that he wanted to buy all 6 records and 2 CD’s. I, of course, didn’t believe that he was serious, so in an effort to get him to leave I said, “ok, well the total for all that is $75, so either show me the money or move along sir.” And to everyones suprise (i’m sure including his own when he checked his wallet the following morning) he handed me $80. I gave him his merchandise and he told me to keep the change. Just after our exchange he was escorted out of the club, but didn’t forget to slur and announcement; that you should always let pretty ladies keep the change.

We didn’t get out of the club until about 3 so this morning I slept until about 11. By which point we were parked in Mason, Ohio for our day off. Mason, Ohio was basically a truck stop and a hotel. The day was filled with sitting out at the pool, playing soccer, and eating every meal at Perkins. A very good day. Tomorrow is Cinncinatti!

I also want to say… HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO MY DADDIO UP-CHUCK!!!