The "Dancing" Tour, May-June 2001

Three vehicles, two sedans and a gear truck. Eleven people, a seven-piece band and four crew. Eleven rolls of film, from which I've chosen fourteen moments.

The night we all met in Albany, we partied vigorously in a motel well suited for mixed drinks in plastic cups. Top row, from left to right: Mike Keneally, Thomas Nordegg (tech), Scott Chatfield (manager); second row: me, Nick D'Virgilio (drums); third row: Rick Musallam (guitar), Tricia Williams (vibes, percussion); bottom row, Marc Ziegenhagen (keys), Dennis Hill (tech) with Tricia's leg draped over his shoulder. Two out of the full eleven aren't in this photo, and for good reason. Stacey Ferguson (merch) was, shall we say, alcoholically indisposed.but at least she was there; Evan Francis (sax) missed his flight entirely.

 

You wanna see the show, you better buy the merch, or else you gotta talk to Mikey and Harry and you don't wanna hafta do that. Capische?

 

This was taken just after the low point of the entire tour. We were opening up for Project/Object in Lexington, KY. The venue was small and the loading door was off the back of the stage. We'd driven nine hours to get there and had another backbreaking drive the next day. The weather was iffy--it had been storming on and off all night--but if we didn't want to get stuck there until P/O was done, we really needed to load right into the truck after the show. It was my call on the weather when we finished up. I walked outside and it was barely drizzling. So we went for it.and a minute after we started and had all our gear outside, it started pouring raindrops the size of quarters. The next half-hour was spent running gear back and forth between two trucks, covering shit with garbage bags, and soaking ourselves to the bone while trying desperately to get the pack right and not ruin any equipment. It just sucked.

 

Nights like Lexington led to meetings like these. The brain trust of the operation huddles together upstairs in an office at Martyr's in Chicago. This photo was shot after a particularly animated meeting. It ain't all fun and games, people.