GANG OF FOUR TOUR DIARY

BY DAVID PAJO

Buffalo NY 2.27.22

Icy Sunday in downtown Buffalo, I am beginning. Sound issues aside.
We re-introduced ourselves, bold and bound.
Jon King delivered, Sara Lee brought it, Hugo Burnham slayed, Mary Ramsay helped us sing.

It is 2022 and we are Gang of Four.

Drive Day

I’ve been tending to my wooden leg with the solicitude only cannabis dispensary gardeners would understand. But after crossing the 1000 miles to get here, rituals are cast aside. For the glory of long lost human-to-human reciprocal influence.

Allow me to shamefully appropriate:
I was born to preach the gospel
And I sure do love my job
-Washington Philips

Minneapolis MN 3.1.22

Today we iron and sew to ward off the sound demons. But despite our best efforts, technical issues still plague us. It is written that attitude defies all — so we threw a party.

Chicago IL 3.2.22

Dan Koretzky took Jon, Hugo, and myself out for delish pastrami sandwiches. Shambling ownership onstage. Yet again, our voices are propped up alongside Miss Alex. I went to bed in a casket, steaming / wrinkled.

Ferndale MI

Prepping with ‘rona tests to cross a non-physical border into Canada tomorrow. We are all negative but what else is new. I have a long history with this area, my mother’s side of the family is from Warren. 
JON KING DID A SOMERSAULT ACROSS THE STAGE. 

Toronto Canada 3.3.22

Here are the words / photos of our tech and touring partner, Patrick Ferguson: “When someone tells you that the life of a musician is “never boring,” politely correct them. Tell them this: “Sometimes it’s incredibly boring. Sometimes you sit and do hardly anything for hours.”

This morning, after an all-night drive, we were doing hardly anything in Niagara Falls, New York.  Some of us were having coffee, some of us were having tea, some of us were having toast or yogurt. Not far away, a lively fire was lit and warming everything around it. Sadly, this fire was in the belly of our bus. We were scant inches from it. Oblivious, we continued to do hardly anything until a Niagara Falls policeman stormed into our bus and shouted “I NEED EVERYONE OFF THIS BUS RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IT IS ON FIRE.”

There was a somewhat mellow stampede out of the bus and into parking lot where we confirmed that what the policeman had told us was true: Our bus was indeed on fire. 

The Niagara Fire department was there like magic, and within a handful of seconds, the fire was just a big black puddle underneath and a massive scorch-mark up the side of our bus. Apparently something happened in the generator compartment to cause the whole thing to set itself alight. We were lucky: No-one was hurt. None of our equipment was destroyed, other than the bus. Without a bus, however, it was impossible for us to cross into Canada and play our March 4th Toronto show. We are all terribly disappointed. We hope to find a way to make up this lost date at some point in the future.”

Travel Day 3.4.22

Toronto ist kaput. 
Scrambling to organize the shrapnel from yesterday morning’s bus burning, we divided into three vehicles to drive 8 hours to Gloucester. I arrived shattered and glorious, finally able to bathe my butt. 

Somerville MA 3.6.22

In 1985 I spent a summer in Cambridge, failing out of Berklee College of Music—that’s another story.  
Hugo casts a wide net and Gloucester repped in full support.
Carefully, I make my way to the annals of lost opportunities. 

Brooklyn NY 3.7.22

Unbearded I waddled into a backstage area more luxurious than any apartment I ever signed a lease on in Manhattan (or Brooklyn). New Yorkers are aching to dance and that’s one of many reasons why

I

HEART

NEW YORK.

Philadelphia PA 3.8.22

Not too long ago I lived right over the bridge, in Collingswood / Haddonfield. I’d ride all over Pennsylvania with bikers in Kensington. It doesn’t get tougher than this. Being able to play these songs for Philly makes everything worth it. 

Washington DC 3.9.22

The last time I was at the Dischord Haus in Arlington VA was also the first time. It was 1984 and Ian gave Ethan Buckler (Slint bassist on Tweez) and myself a tour. 38 years later, Ian gave me another tour. Nothing has changed. He’s still working hard at making history. 

Jon, Hugo, and Sarah were slamming tonight as per usual. 

Travel Day 3.10.22

Much needed reset at a hotel in Athens GA. Stretching the noodles, I learned the name of something that I’ve always done: F# Phrygian is the same as B minor. Duh!
We watched Gator Bait and decided it was a low-budget Deliverance meets Cajun Barbarella with some swampy Last House on the Left weirdness. I might be the only one who loves Gator Bait. 

Atlanta GA 3.11.22

Crossing the street to get to Walgreens, I was accosted for crossing the street to get to Walgreens. 

Playing sober isn’t as intimidating as I thought it would be. It’s fiercely focused. Even the moments of abandon are detailed. In my youth I once nodded off onstage at the 40 Watt Club.  Now is better than then!

Atlanta is a natural and intense country of its own and it sure was an honor to be able to play there. 

Nashville TN 3.12.22

For logistical reasons we were unable to hoist our ‘safe space’ flags. In Tennessee of all places, where it’s most important. I felt this travesty deeply. This isn’t pageantry or virtue signaling, it’s didactic. 

Hail my Louisville friends for making the 3-hour drive here, especially my decades-long friends who bought tickets as well! Many, many thanks unto ye. 

Travel day 3.13.22

Restaurants close at 2pm on Sundays in Hope, Arkansas. With the time change + zone stagger, I had breakfast / lunch / dinner at Walmart. 

Choking on rock and roll glamour yet?