Van Helsing's Last Ride
11/2/07 – 6:30 PM – On the road to Vegas
We skipped LA the other night and went straight to San Diego and stayed with Esteban. We rocked The Casbah, and it was a lot of fun. We've been fortunate to have had good sound at many of the venues we've played on this tour. Good sound onstage is often the difference between a fun show and a bummer one. The sound was great last night and we had a great time. There were some funny coincidences – there was a girl in the audience from Cherry Hill, my hometown, and one of the fellows in Something for Rockets attended Goldsmiths College in London, where I spent a semester. There was also the best hospitality we've had on this tour – four drink tickets per band member, with Stone IPA and Arrogant Bastard Ale on tap. Eric and I got drunk and walked up to the 24 hour Mexican food drive through window and got some tasty carne asada tacos. So it was a good night.
What's not good is that Van Halen is having more problems. First all four tires failed, then the alternator and the tensioner, and today we found out that the transmission has failed as well. Right now the vehicle has no third or fourth gear, and the transmission needs to be rebuilt. Short on options, we've decided to make a go of it – we're currently limping to Las Vegas in 2nd gear, averaging about 45 MPH. It's going to take a long time, but fortunately time is on our side. Tomorrow night is our last show, and I'll be damned if we're going to cancel it. Let's just hope it doesn't explode before we get to Vegas.
11/3/07 - Brett's place - Las Vegas
We made it! And it only took 11 hours. We saw some beautiful stars on some desolate back roads. It feels really good to have made it back. Tonight's the big last show of the tour. We're ready.
We skipped LA the other night and went straight to San Diego and stayed with Esteban. We rocked The Casbah, and it was a lot of fun. We've been fortunate to have had good sound at many of the venues we've played on this tour. Good sound onstage is often the difference between a fun show and a bummer one. The sound was great last night and we had a great time. There were some funny coincidences – there was a girl in the audience from Cherry Hill, my hometown, and one of the fellows in Something for Rockets attended Goldsmiths College in London, where I spent a semester. There was also the best hospitality we've had on this tour – four drink tickets per band member, with Stone IPA and Arrogant Bastard Ale on tap. Eric and I got drunk and walked up to the 24 hour Mexican food drive through window and got some tasty carne asada tacos. So it was a good night.
What's not good is that Van Halen is having more problems. First all four tires failed, then the alternator and the tensioner, and today we found out that the transmission has failed as well. Right now the vehicle has no third or fourth gear, and the transmission needs to be rebuilt. Short on options, we've decided to make a go of it – we're currently limping to Las Vegas in 2nd gear, averaging about 45 MPH. It's going to take a long time, but fortunately time is on our side. Tomorrow night is our last show, and I'll be damned if we're going to cancel it. Let's just hope it doesn't explode before we get to Vegas.
11/3/07 - Brett's place - Las Vegas
We made it! And it only took 11 hours. We saw some beautiful stars on some desolate back roads. It feels really good to have made it back. Tonight's the big last show of the tour. We're ready.
