Put-In-Bay: Adult Disneyland

 Thursday night in Toledo was spent rehearsing with the quartet that we were joining for the Michigan house party.
After that was over, Aaron and I went to Arnie's for some relaxation. I had never been to an Arnie's before but Aaron guaranteed a good time. In the words of a guy we would later meet, "Arnie's is a one of a kind experience, but has two locations." (Don't worry, that's not the last quote that guy gave us) Aaron and I played electronic cornhole or as this machine shamefully calls it "bags." 4 games later, we would much rather duel on a real board.

Throughout our evening, we met some fun characters, all of which were going to Put-In-Bay on Friday. Wait?! You too?! See you there! We met a really nice guy who offered to let us crash in his suite on the island. We knew that it was a party place so we figured we may have to think about staying for the night but we didn't seriously consider his offer. Well, I got his number. So maybe I was? His name was Joe. And then some rich Toledo kids bought us all 3 rounds for being nice to them. Rich kids need friends too.

 We were warned that it takes forever to get on the ferry, which then takes an hour to get to the island. To make sure we got to the venue by 4, we departed at 10:30 am. On the way to the ferry, we saw a kid standing at the intersection to pull into a Walmart. He was wearing a sign on both sides of his body that read, "I shamed my family, I stole from Walmart." Believe me, I tried to get a picture but we were too busy enjoying the scene. Aaron and I agreed that it was a fitting punishment and that it would probably scare any other person in the area out of trying to steal from Walmart as well. As we got closer to the dock, I started noticing that the parked cars in fields had these weird black spots all over them. And then saw that buildings had them too. And then EVERYTHING had these black spots! When I let out a "What the..." type statement, Aaron then educated me about Mayflies. I had never heard of mayflies before this moment and honestly didn't want to believe that an ungodly amount of flying insects were inhabiting the area, even if for a short amount of time. I don't have any pictures of them because they were disgusting. It was then joked about that since it is June, they are now Junebugs to us.

After a fairly short wait, we drove the car onto my first ferry and traveled across the lake. It's probably been 7 years since I've been on a boat and I remembered how much I don't like it. Oh, and when we bought our tickets for the ferry, they let us know that there is no guarantee that cars will get back if they aren't in line by 6 pm. Wait, we play till 7 pm! Time to call Joe! This photo is the view from the passenger seat. I know I could have gotten out but I liked the idea of sitting for the duration of this fun house ride. After about 30 minutes we were at Put-In-Bay! We were happy to experience a shorter ride than an hour but we were now about 2 hours early to our gig...on a party island...with cash... Do you feel bad for us yet?

 Once we were off the ferry, it was a quick 2 mile drive to party central. The only thing stopping us was the crazy amount of people driving golf carts in the middle of the road. I see both sides of the argument, really I do. One side thinks, I'm going to be like that one song "Get there fast and then take it slow" and drive 10 miles an hour from one side of the island to the other while enjoying the scenery and my friends. And the other 90% of people there think, if I go 50mph I can get there in 2 minutes. We pulled a nice mixture of both.

We had lunch here.

And looked out that window.

And ate this. Seared Mahi Nachos. 

We liked the looks of this place.

We sat there for 2 seconds.

Don't mind if I do.

Pirate ship bar. 

View from the pirate ship bar.

 After giving ourselves a tour of the island, we headed back to Frosty's to set up our gear and play for 3 hours. We had an absolute blast and met some fun people. We even asked if we could keep playing because we didn't want to leave. Unfortunately the night entertainment was coming to take over. When we were finalizing the transaction with the manager he asked us to come back next week. As much as Aaron and I both thought, we can cancel everything and stay here, right? We knew we had to decline and head back to reality. The manager closed with "call us next summer and we will book you guys for a week" to which I let out a small sexual moan that turned into "Yes! Will do!"


Before completely committing to crashing at Joe's luxurious suite that would have cost us little to nothing, we checked the ferry to see if we could get on. Turns out no one leaves the island on Friday night and we were one of two cars. I can imagine the warning is more about Sunday night when everyone is done partying for the weekend.

Bye PIB, I will miss you.

Stock.

Captain Cold Call

We headed to Toledo, OH on Thursday afternoon. While driving, the car was in a state of "cold call mania." That means, I was googling (or something) establishments all around the areas we were going to be in for the next week trying to fill in our empty days. While playing at Brindaliers on Monday, Erica's Uncle Mike suggested to us that we should look up Put-In-Bay (PIB) and see if they would have us. I had never heard of PIB so I didn't know what was to come in this story. When I googled (somethinged) "PIB Bars" a nice list of 20 or so came up in order of fanciness, starting with lobster restaurants and ending with dives. Cold calling is a tricky process because you have to be able to take rejection as well as criticism from complete strangers. The following responses are fairly typical when asking about trying to book your band at places:

"We don't have live music...(We didn't waste money getting the license)"
"We already have a band booked...(Snooze ya lose)"
"I'm going to need to see a video of you guys...(What's a steel drum?)"
"We only do live auditions for entertainment...(My buddy plays guitar)"
"We have a DJ...(My buddy owns a laptop and speakers)"
"You will have to talk to our manager who isn't in until tomorrow...(Quit wasting my time jerk)"
"Let me take your information down...(this will shut him up)"
"We book our music a month in advanced...(you unorganized piece of s***)"
"We book our music a year in advanced...(F*** you)"

Aaron and I created our tour originally by emailing our info to venues, but that was back when we had months to get responses. Since we were in need a quick responses we had to call every place that could possibly want us. I started down the list of PIB bars and heard rejection after rejection. As hopeful as hearing "Let me take down your information for the manager" is, I have had zero managers call back asking more questions.

23 phone calls later, whether to PIB, Cincinnati or Lexington, not one venue worked out. We weren't incredibly beat up about it because our tour is built around these skeleton gigs that are very much worth doing, but we were trying to fill in the dead time in between. We arrived at the Ziegler residence and hung out in anticipation for the evenings activities. Minutes after loading everything in to the house, my phone rang...

An unknown number?

Could it be?

Could someone be calling me back?!

"Hello?"
"Hi Tyler, this is **** from Frosty's on PIB and we want to hear some more about you."

*cue fireworks*

A short conversation later, we are set up to play one of the largest bars on an island meant for partying. Thank you cold call gods for shining down on me.

Cleveland

So I started off strong with this blog, writing three or four entries a day. Those days also involved travel, which gave me plenty of time to get bored and pull the laptop out for some writing time. From when we arrived in Cleveland till when we departed, something fun was going on.




We had booked a gig Monday night at a bar called Brindaliers, which is Browns, Indians and Cavaliers combined. Can you guess if they liked Lebron James? I don't think I heard the word "James" without the phrase "Fuck Lebron" in front of it. Brindaliers has a great patio that was perfect for our acoustic duo. Erica's mom invited all of her friends and the Cleveland family to come watch us play, which was a lively and fun group to play for. As the first set went on, dark clouds were moving in. Aaron and I began to realize that rain was eminent so we asked the manager to prepare the inside for all of the guests to move in, as well as our pans so we could keep playing. A few minutes later, a strike of lightning was close enough for us to stop what we were doing, grab the big metal pots that were in front of us and run indoors.




The manager and staff of Brindaliers did an amazing job setting up the main dining room to accommodate everyone on the patio quickly, which is impressive given that the family table was 15 or 16 strong. We were continuing our set in a matter of minutes. On one of our set breaks, the Brindaliers owner let us know that he would like us to come back on Wednesday night to play again, filling up our Cleveland dates. We enjoyed our time on Monday so much that we stayed at Brindaliers until they locked up the doors.




Tuesday morning we woke up and drove to Akron, Ohio to get our pans turned by Steve Lawrie. He was incredibly welcoming and hilarious. He tuned our pans in about 3 hours and now they sound better than ever!

Tuesday night, Aaron and I played for a house party at the Kosilesky's. Their patio, pool and cornhole setup was the ideal scene for steel drums, IMO. Once the cornhole boards were going, Aaron and I joked about not playing pans again until we lost a game. Everyone laughed. Aaron and I didn't. Though not ACA (American Cornhole Association) approved boards, we took on the task of playing for keeps. The quick set break went on for about 30 or 40 minutes before we realized we should get back to playing pan, not cornhole. The party lasted until it was candle lit for a only a few guests which was pretty awesome. When it was time for the music to stop the cornhole boards came back out. Aaron and I didn't lose and only stopped because it was 12:30 am. The Heat also went on the win their game that night which stirred some damning comments from some of the nicest people I know.

Wednesday was another hard day of eating lunch, swimming in the pool, watching television and eating dinner. We played at Brindaliers again, this time in perfect weather that lasted the whole night. It's always a good feeling when the audience doesn't want you to stop when you go to pack up. It's not always the case, but when it happens, it makes you feel like you did something right. While hanging out after playing, we discovered that there were cornhole boards already set up in the party room. After getting really excited to play some indoor cornhole, we were quickly saddened by the lack of other willing participants at the bar. We were about to ask a table of people our age if they wanted to play but their topic of conversation involved a story about stabbing someone. Which I instantly imagined to go something like this:


Scary Guy #1 to Scary Guy #2
"...So then I stabbed the guy for interrupting me..."

Scary Guy #1 interrupted by Tyler Swick (Played by Himself)
"Hey, you guys want to play cornhole?!"

or

Scary Guy (Jack Nicholson) to Scary Friend (Anthony Hopkins)
"...So then I stabbed this guy who had the nerve to ask me if I want to play cornhole..."

Scary Guy interrupted by Tyler Swick (Jonah Hill)
"Hey, you guys want to play cornhole?"

or

Scary Guy (Al Pacino) to Scary Guy #2 (Danny DeVito as the Penguin)
"...I only got to stab 7 of the 8 people I was supposed to stab toady..."

Scary Guy approached by Tyler Swick (Brad Pitt from Interview with a Vampire)
"...Hey..."

And so on.



Thursday morning was difficult because we knew we had to pack up all of our things again and head to Toledo. We were excited about seeing Aaron's family but sitting on the couch instead of making the drive just seemed easier at the time. Aaron and I both had an amazing time being a guest in the Kosilesky house and felt the love from all guests and family that came out to see us play. Special shout out to Grandma Laffey for being amazing.

Day 4 - Part 2 "Sweet Tree"

This tour has been going great and that is due to how many friends and families we have across the Midwest and South. While spending time with our loved ones, they have given us tours of the areas that we were visiting. A reoccurring theme though has been, while driving the freeway, 

“Just through that tree line is my old high school,

"Just through that tree line is where I played baseball growing up,” 

“Just through that tree line is the house I grew up in,” 

"There are really nice houses over there,"

“There’s Lake Erie,”  

Needless to say, none of these things were actually visible. 

Day 4 - Part 1 "Driving"

This morning we woke up in the Crouch residence in Kingston, IL. The Crouch family hosted an amazing party celebrating a graduation for one daughter and baby shower for the other. Their backyard was the perfect venue for steel drums, complete with a patio, a pool, a full bar and a set of cornhole (or bags depending on your pretentiousness).  We had an absolute blast seeing University of Iowa acquaintances Caly, Connor and Becky, while meeting new friendly faces between sets. It didn’t take long for the tournament style cornhole games to start, in true Iowa Percussion fashion. Connor boasted a 3-0 run at the party after claiming to have never won a game before, shark much? Aaron and I agree that our favorite part of the whole visit was definitely Mrs. Crouch and fun loving personality (plus she made us breakfast). We played pans until the sun went down, closing with La Bamba for the overwhelming display of hula hoop talent in the crowd.

It was difficult to leave the Crouch household this morning because of their warm welcome and hospitality. Also, the next step of our journey was the 8 hour drive to Cleveland, Ohio, something that just didn’t seem as fun as sitting around doing nothing. With that in mind though, once we get to Cleveland the party will continue with the Kosilesky family! Given that today is Father’s Day, we are stopping in Toledo so that Aaron can see his dad before we finish our journey later tonight. The soundtrack for this long stretch has been stand-up comedy by Lewis Black, Dennis Leary and Dane Cook. Aaron and I haven’t heard Dane Cooks “Dangerous if Swallowed” in years but we could still remember the punch line to every joke. I know Cook isn’t popular anymore but that doesn’t undo the amazing stuff he did originally.

Day 3 - Part 2 "Bro Lo"

While playing one of our sets tonight, Aaron offered to let Dave play double seconds on a tune for old time’s sake. Dave and I originally were a duo in Lexington, KY which is what inspired me to get better at playing pan all of the time. Because Dave lives so close to the neighborhood we were playing at, he came along to provide some sweet percussion grooves in the background. It was a great feeling to be playing with Dave again but it also felt like having your ex-girlfriend that you still have feelings for, come on a date with you and your current girlfriend. Even worse, when they started telling stories about my habits to each other, it felt like 2 angry ex-girlfriends complaining about your faults to each other, in front of you. As I've discovered with the steel drum duos I've played with over time, it really is a relationship between 2 dudes with sensitive feelings. While Dave was in the bathroom, Connor played percussion on a few tunes, which then felt like having a girl on the side, on top of everything else.

Day 3 - Part 1 "Waking up in St. Charles"

After a great free day yesterday with Dave, we will travel from St. Charles to Dekalb to get more Portillo's because we didn't get enough of it yesterday. After lunch we will head to Kingston for a graduation party! Hopefully the rain doesn't come up with us from St. Charles. This morning we also discovered that the Hutter household has wifi. Here is a photo of me stealing their neighbors internet from the driveway last night.

And a big THANK YOU to Mr. and Mrs. Hutter for hosting us and making a fantastic breakfast!

Day 2 - Part 4 "How to make $100 in St. Charles"

You have no reason to have ever visited St. Charles, IL but let me tell you that it is a bubble of Americana that has yet to be popped by the outside world. When Dave drove us to downtown St. Charles we saw some of the cleanest streets we’ve ever seen. With plenty of bars to choose from, it is really the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory of boozing. Want to hear motorcycles rev their engines while you drink PBR? They got it. Want to hear Bob Marley while you sip on a Mai Tai? Yep, that too. Apparently we didn’t even see half of the bars but we still felt they had everything you could desire. With all of the options at our finger tips, we still enjoyed domestic beers and well shots of tequila.

While walking to the next bar, I looked at Dave and said, “This town really strikes me as a place that you could fall asleep in the street with a hundred dollar bill in your hand and wake up with two hundred dollars tomorrow.” Dave laughed and made a facebook status about it.

Day 2 - Part 3 "A train ticket home or a shot of 1800 tequila"

After tiring ourselves out walking around the navy pier (stock) and making up that Dave has a little sister named Macy so we could sneak into a volleyball tournament, we decided not to stick around for the Land Shark beer garden and made our way back to the train station. The taxi ride back rivals the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland because the threat of death was real. We had just enough time to hit the bar before loading the train so Aaron and I, considering the time we had, ordered a shot of tequila. The bartender, whether out of spite or genius, then poured 1800 into 2 shot glasses and charged us the equivalent to the train ride home. I know I made it sound like we had to choose between the two in the title but we did both.

Dave expertly chose an empty car for us to ride in but the rush hour traffic loaded up the whole train. We didn't realize that we got on the car reserved for tuberculosis patients. The train was filling up quickly except for the row with a whooping cough gentlemen who clearly was trying to expel his inner demons into our breathing air. Though his efforts were valiant, he still ended up with a seat partner. That poor lady…

Day 2 - Part 2 "This is a train, Tyler"

After talking to Dave’s parents for a quick moment, Aaron, Dave and I headed to the train station so we could have lunch in Chicago. While driving through the outskirts of Chicago suburbs, I started inquiring how this train thing is going to go down. This was going to be my first time on a train and of course I anticipated screwing up the process of paying for a ticket and getting on. When we arrived, I asked where the bathroom was but apparently this is the only train station in the country without a bathroom. A few moments later we were boarding my first train ever. Dave chose some pretty sweet seats that faced each other but unfortunately they were pretty close together. I’m sorry for the blurriness of the photo but that’s Dave’s leg filling in the space between mine. I’m sure the people around us assumed we were very good friends or lovers.

Every stop was crowded with people in summer gear and beach attire even though the high today was 70 and Lake Michigan probably still has ice chunks in it. We made fun of those kids all day but ended up getting sun burned before the day was over. We walked from the train station to Gioradano’s because I demanded, “I want a pizza that requires a fork and knife to eat!” for lunch. The 70 degrees felt great in the sun but when we sat down in the shade it felt like a nice Iowa 32 degrees and of course Dave was the only one to bring a jacket. Anyway, you don’t want to hear every corner we walked around so here are some pictures of things you’ve probably seen before. 

If you remember this street from the Nintendo 64 game "Cruisin' USA" add 5 points to your total score.

Day 2 - Part 1 "Surprise, Surprise, We Didn't Die"

We survived the night but I definitely woke up three or four times for the ax murder outside or Aaron’s zombie-like groan. Our 7am wakeup call came too early of course, but we were able to get ready, repack the car and hit the road by 8am. Today’s 90 minute drive to Dave’s house was brought to you by Steel Panther, a hair metal band that sings dirty songs. The raised energy level was definitely necessary to make the drive. We were enjoying the music so much that we missed our exit twice but we got to Dave’s just fine. Because we missed the main exits that involved taking major roads to Dave in “Chicago” we had to take dirt country roads from west to east in order to meet back up with the freeway we should have taken. Again, the music was worth it. 

Day 1 - Part 4 "They still use key-keys?"

From the expressway we could see our motel’s neon sign. From that moment forward, we expected the worst. We got the rate we wanted but everything else has just been a moment similar to. . .

As I was thinking about how to finish that sentence, Aaron said “Hey, a bug just walked across your back.” I don’t think I need to finish that sentence anymore.

At the front desk, we were given an actual key-key to our room. I know it’s not the craziest thing in the world but as Aaron put it, “in 25 years, I’ve never experienced this.” Walking to our room we saw rooms completely destroyed, mattresses leaned up against the windows and broken windows with wood repairs. Needless to say, we emptied the car of everything valuable and hid the instrument in the closet. If we’re never heard from again, our instruments are in room 217 at that shitty motel at exit 70 on I-80.

The good news is that we have been talking with my friend Dave about things to do tomorrow in our spare time and it looks like we will take a train to Chicago for a day of walking around. The bad news is that our free day now begins at 7am in order to get to Chicago by lunch time, but I have a feeling that the pizza will be worth it. I haven’t been to Chicago outside the airport since 2007 so I’m sure it will be like a new experience.

Now to sleep in fear.

Day 1 - Part 3 "Where were you, when they built the beer wall to heaven?"

We arrived at the G&M Distributors warehouse thirty minutes before the gig. When I asked Aaron what they did at G&M, he simply responded, “Distribute.” That is what our relationship has come to on day one. We quickly discovered that we were playing for a political rally for a state senator. If it wasn’t the giant signs with the guy’s name on it, the business suits and sundresses certainly helped. When we turned the corner to the event floor, we quickly saw the greatest sight there is to be scene: a wall of beer. 11,664 cans of beer and 3,888 cans of pepsi. Did I mention the beer? Our stage was made of pallets but who cares?! Did you see that wall of beer?!

The gig went well and the audience was appreciative after the performance. We did have one woman wave at us from the audience and then motion to play softer by waving her hands from above her head downward and then doing that part from the chicken dance where you talk with your hands. When you think things are going well, seeing something like that takes the wind out of your sails. That aside, it was a wonderful evening.

After the performance when we were moving our equipment from the stage to our cars, Aaron got a phone call. He tried to contain his excitement as he heard the news…. What’s the news? Can’t tell you yet. Hopefully by tomorrow!

Day 1 - Part 2 "The Blink song where they yell, 'Let's Go'"

After driving back to Iowa City and grabbing a quick lunch, Aaron and I had 2 hours before having to depart for Galesburg, IL. I used that time to do all of the errands that I could have easily handled any day leading up to today but the last minute just seemed better. At 2:30pm we met at Aaron’s to drop off my car and we headed out. So far the agreed soundtrack for the trip is Blink 182. Why? No idea but we are enjoying reminiscing all of the Travis Barker drum fills and harmonizing the pentatonic scale.

Day 1 - Part 1 "Exit Only is French for Welcome"

Our out of town tour started today in Cedar Rapids. We played at a middle school that was hosting a summer camp for learning and discovery. We were brought in to teach 2 one hour and fifteen minute classes about the music of the Caribbean. The excitement of hitting the road was quickly defeated by the 6am wake up time and 7am hour long drive to Cedar Rapids. Those with jobs that start regularly before 8am have no pity for us, but everyone else, it was difficult. The camp opened up with us

playing for all of the students in the camp as they met in the auditorium. Songs like Brown Eyed Girl were met with yawns while Lazy Song by Bruno Mars stirred some excited. The real fun came from teaching the classes. Though both were very well behaved, there was an extreme difference in willingness to participate with our shenanigans. Games like on the shape and off the shape (Thanks to Jim Campbell for that gem) and make a conga line during Jump in the Line proved to be home runs. I’m still working on a good way to present improvisation to children but so far it’s leaving their faces blank. Because of Aaron’s knowledge of pan history, he took care of delicately explaining the process of slavery and oppression is similar to having your iphone taken away today, which hits home for most of them.

Question time with any musical performance is a tight rope act, too far left or right and you will plummet to your death. Question time at a previous middle school performance during the University of Iowa steel band tour turned into questions about my beard. Multiple questions about my beard. So when we only had a few moments left in the first class, students asked questions like, “How long have you been playing?” “When did you start to play the pan?” and “How expensive is a steel pan?” All of which are great questions to be asked because they are easily answered in depth with a personal touch from Aaron and me. The second classes’ questions were as follows:

“Can you play Gangnam style?” “No”

“Can you play Eye of the Tiger?” “No”

“Can you play Party Rock Anthem?” “No…..How about a question that doesn’t start with “Can you play”?”

“Play the National Anthem.”

Now imagine Aaron and me staring at that kid…

The only question to beat that line up was “Can you guys play softer? Steel drums give me a headache.” To which I instinctively responded “Good.” Did I intend to sound like a guy who wishes headaches on kids who don’t like steel pan? No… but do I regret it? Meh.