The Long Day

So I talked last time about going on the Preston & Steve show, but that experience was just one part of a very long day.

As I mentioned it started early, 5am early, with Clarissa and I banging out some bacon jam laden grub at the Conshohocken Cafe. I also mentioned Eric and I hit the WMMR studio hard, spreading the spread out on the green room in an effort to spread the word of The Bacon Jams across the airwaves.

What I didn't mention is that we got to have our faces melted with the hard rock jams of the band Royal Blood. This in-studio performance was their US debut and they crushed it! The boys invited us to their show later that night at the Underground Arts. Duh, yes, I want to do that!

But work before play. Eric and I said our goodbyes and headed to the warehouse to grab supplies for our second gig of the day... setting up at the Greater Philadelphia Gift Show. The upside to this gig was that we were veterans compared to the last time around. In and out, like the wind.

We had enough time for a late lunch hosted by our star sales person and expert groundskeeper, Angela. Grilled wings... Yes please.

I got home with enough time to hit the roof-deck for some rays of setting sun before heading to meet up with Matt "the man" Rovine from WMMR. Matt was cool enough to drop off some extra tickets for the show later that night... Now we could roll deep to this sold out shindig. Thanks brother!

Now it's rush hour, but the Jam Van cuts through traffic on the Schuylkill like a knife through... Bacon jam. I swing into South Philly to pick up Andy Fantastic before looping back up to meet the rest of the folks going to the show. Did I run a red light? Maybe, but if I did, it was at 5mph while driving away from a guy to whom we were giving directions... Still not sure about any of that drive.

We got to the venue and parked. Immediately after getting out of the jam van, two dudes approached us. They were obviously going to the show due to there black on black apparel and ability to slug brews while banging heads. "No fair you already got a show this morning." One of them said. "Huh?" Andy Fantastic replied. "Bacon Jams," the guy said pointing to our ride, "you are the guys with the spreadable bacon!" "Damn right we are! You guys heard the show this morning?" I asked. He went on to say that they listened all the time and were wondering all day about the bacon jams. We explained as we went into the venue.

Underground Arts looks and feels exactly as you would think when hearing its name... It's a dark underground basement that hosts the arts. The show started with the hard garage licks of the Baltimore-based Bad Seeds who, despite their young appearance, carried some weight. Royal Blood came on and the boys rocked the sold out crowd. Relentless drumming and a masterful display of base melody persisted throughout all their songs as the crowd banged along. Almost everyone in the crowd knew every song from this band that hasn't even dropped their first album! Right before they belted out the first beat of their soon to be hit "out of the black" I got a viscous fist bump from our friend from outside. "Bacon jam man, this show rocks!" The band kicked it into high gear and I nearly lost my glasses as my head started to whip my imaginary locks in a circle. The show ended with high-fives all around. We rolled out to the Broad Street Diner for a debrief on the concert. That's when I realized that I hadn't had a disco nap or a drop of caffeine during this long rollercoaster of a day... Sometimes you just have to jam through.

~MO