Taken Alive - The Sights

Taken Alive
The Sights’ Rock and Roll Tour Diary
by Eddie Baranek
editing and foreword by Brian Smith
Published by
Hiros Rise Music
Copyright © 2013, by Eddie Baranek
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form.
FIRST EDITION, July 2013
ISBN 978-1-62847-194-6
Design by Kristin C. von Bernthal
Cover design by Jason Snell, We Have Become Vikings
Hiros Rise Music, LLC
P.O. Box 15690
Detroit, MI 48215-9998
Printed in the United States of America
Foreword
It was 2002 when I first saw The Sights play. I’d just moved to
Detroit for the music editor gig at Detroit’s Metro Times and I had a
head full of skepticism for anything having to do with rock ’n’ roll.
The city itself was, and still is, in ruin, with husks of dead factories and long-vacated neighborhoods canvasing the landscape,
poverty everywhere, and so on. The show was a fittingly very Detroit experience. Took place in a shitty little drinking-class hood in
a shitty little venue filled of cigarette smoke, where chicks drank
brown liquor and dudes snorted bad coke in bathroom stalls. Then
the band played and Jesus it was loud. Ear-bendingly loud. It was
also crammed with what I interpreted as a direct reaction to the
city around them: youthful verve, singsong shoutouts and a kind of
tumbledown glory that you’ve only read about people saying when
they saw the early gigs of the Who, or the Jam, or Humble Pie. There
was a necessity about it. There was every reason in the world for
The Sights to be doing that show and not a single reason why they
shouldn’t. Suffice to say the band quickly reinstated my faith in the
very idea of rock ’n’ roll in the 21st century.
Its frontman and main songwriter Eddie Baranek owned the
place and every head in it. His was a presence built upon passion
befitting an area that gave up plenty of passionate motherfuckers,
such as the MC5 and John Lee Hooker and David Ruffin and Marvin
Gaye, and countless others whose spectral visions continue to troll
every damn corner of this forsaken city. No wonder The Sights were
from Detroit. Baranek’s unkempt charm recalled English rock ’n’
roll royalty (a sort of teen-spirited Steve Marriott), but he belonged
here. He was from Detroit.
Garage rock was exploding out of the city then, on the heels of
the White Stripes, the Dirtbombs et al. The Sights were never really part of that. They never sounded like a rattled-out ’65 Impala
with a blown muffler echoing off derelict Victorians in southwest
Detroit. That sound was gauche, too self-consciously anti-pop. For
The Sights it was never about how ugly the song could be, it was
about how fucking powerful the hooks could be. There’s more than
one way to look at the city of Detroit, kids.
Baranek was younger than the garagists too, he was their bratty kid brother who often snuck into shows because he was nowhere
near drinking age. Few took him seriously. Many thought him a little mod punk who’d lost his scooter.
He’d learned his musical lessons well growing up, a logical songwriting conclusion of formative years ingesting a deep record collection that ran Bessie Smith deep, with major stops at Otis Redding, The Band, Carl Perkins, Small Faces, Motown, Neil Young and
The Jam.
For a decade I followed The Sights (see page 229) with journalistic intent, from up close and afar, when they had real momentum
and when they didn’t. I kept an eye on their major UK shows, such as
the NME Music Awards, saw them draw SRO crowds at the South by
Southwest Music Festival in Austin, and win over tough crowds on
a tour supporting Robert Plant in 7,000-seat theaters. Their European and stateside press (including a 6,500-word Metro Times cover
story I penned) had bloomed and their songs landed in films, TV and
a 2005 big-label (Scratchie/New Line), self-titled debut (prompted
by Sights fan and Smashing Pumpkin James Iha) was poised to lift
them from beat bars to big rooms and onto the lips of a million pubescent girls.
But Iha’s label failed The Sights as it did all the other bands on
its roster. No matter, for Baranek, it’s all about the music, not how
popular he thinks he can be. So of course his band was a revolving
door of musicians.
I’d always admired Baranek too. He was this deceptively intelligent and beautifully fucked-up pharaoh from the cheap seats who
had the balls to back up his song. For example, he’d call label execs
out on their horseshit, in their presence, and then still wouldn’t return their phone calls. He once told star-maker and future Columbia Records head Rick Rubin to get lost after a show at the Troubadour in L.A. Somebody had to. There was an ugly class system still
at work in the record biz. While “calling like you see it” was once a
hallmark of a great rock ’n’ roll band that everybody had heard of
and many adored, it became a hallmark of a great rock ’n’ roll band
that nobody has ever heard of. The Sights proved this. Sure, Eddie
was a bit churlish then, a kid, and it was part of his process. He
since has learned that only the music can do his talking.
Other forces worked against this mighty Detroit combo. See, after the Scratchie/New Line album, Baranek’s life kind of spiraled
into a mess of booze, bad ideas, and a finely wrought fear of success
(a lofty parallel would be, shall we say, Lennon when he lost himself in L.A.). I documented it in a story for Metro Times in November
2009. You can look it up (see page 229). The story also told how Baranek poetically and triumphantly rose from the gutter, and in 2010
his reinvigorated Sights signed to a new label and released their
best album to date, Most of What Follows is True.
Cut to early 2012: The Sights complete a new album called Left
Over Right with producer Jim Diamond, a heady beast of an album
stuffed with country, soul and rock ’n’ roll, and an earned songwriting wisdom born of some hard road and experience. One day Baranek was sitting around wondering if a label would even release
the new album, and he was considering career options. That’s when
Sights fan, Tenacious D frontman, comedian, and movie star Jack
Black (Kung Fu Panda, School of Rock, Tropic Thunder etc.) contacted him. Asked if The Sights would like to support Tenacious D
on their big American tour. Yes, there is a god.
The Sights were in and got the new album out. They were set to
play some of the greatest, most storied venues in the country, including the Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, Colorado’s Red Rocks
and L.A.’s Wiltern Theater.
Before The Sights and its road manager Shades split town, I
handed Baranek his first-ever writing assignment (well, his second
if you count that time he interviewed Ian McLagan for Metro Times):
He was to keep a tour diary for the duration of the tour and post it
on the Metro Times music blog as often as possible. He did it, sometimes writing posts on a broken iPhone in a rain-and-beer-soaked
corner of Germany. (That small detail is one of the many many reasons why The Sights are the best rock ’n’ roll band in Detroit, and
have been since I first saw them back in 2002.)
The following words are those posts – adventures for better or
worse – pretty much exactly as Eddie Baranek wrote them, characters, subtext and all. (Road Manager Shades snapped most of the
photos on his mobile phone.)
Yes, it’s a mighty long way down rock ’n’ roll.
– Brian Smith, June 2013
Taken Alive
Cast of Characters
U.S. tour, May- August 2012
Tour Manager, Driver, Babysitter ......................................... Shades
Vocals, Guitar............................................................. Eddie Baranek
Organ/Piano, Vocals .............................................Jarrod Champion
Drums..........................................................................Skip Denomme
Bass, Vocals.................................................................. Kyle Schanta
Sax, Vocals................................................................ Dean Tartaglia
Sprinter Van................................................................ Jerry Sprinter
European tour, October 2012
Driver, Tour Manager ..................................................Ben Corrigan
Vocals, Guitar............................................................. Eddie Baranek
Organ/Piano, Vocals..............................................Jarrod Champion
Drums..........................................................................Skip Denomme
Bass, Vocals.................................................................. Kyle Schanta
Sax, Vocals................................................................ Dean Tartaglia
Sprinter Van ............................................................................ Lester
Chapter 1
First Leg
May 2012
15
15
16
17
18
19, 20
21
22
23 24 25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Chicago, IL
St Louis, MO
Euclid Records in-store
Tulsa, OK
Albuquerque, NM
Pheonix, AZ
San Diego, CA
til-two Club
w/ The Bloodflowers and Bandroids
Fullerton, CA
Burger Records in-store w/The Memories
West Hollywood, CA
Whisky a Go Go
w/ The Blessings, Degero, Paper Hearts and The Vintage Tuesdays
Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara Bowl
opening for Tenacious D
Oakland, CA
Fox Theater
opening for Tenacious D
San Francisco, CA
Mutiny Radio radio session w/ DJ Ashley
Bend, OR
Les Schwab Amphitheater
opening for Tenacious D
Portland, OR
Langano Lounge w/ Paradise
George, WA
Sasquatch Festival at the Gorge in George, WA
Billings, MT
Fargo, ND
St. Paul, MN
Turf Club w/ Mystery Train, Rat Catcher and Diver Dress
June 2012
01, 02
10
16
17 Marquette, MI
Upfront & Company w/ Shweine Kampf
St. Clair Shores, MI
Edstock w/ The Hard Lessons, Six and the Sevens,
M.L. Liebler and Scott Harrison
Detroit, MI
Park Bar w/ Reigning Sound and Kelly Jean Caldwell
Chicago, IL
Double Door w/ Reigning Sound and Rabble Rabble
U.S.
May 15 - June 3
First Leg
Baranek • 21
Wednesday, May 16
Journey Into the Heart of Darkness Begins, ’Nam-Style
Camaraderie, Beatle Monopoly and some Rock ’n’ Roll
High School
I was speaking with my uncle about his service in Vietnam at a
family party once and he conveyed the importance of camaraderie.
How if you lose that you could die. That kind of camaraderie is so
important to rock ’n’ roll, to rock ’n’ roll touring, and I can feel it
here with me now (though a few of these guys only met each other
this morning). You depend
on others, and they you, to
move forward.
Now I’m a few hours
outside of St. Louis, shirtless and awkwardly typing
on an iPad (for the very first
time) writing this tour diary for the band I sing and
play guitar in – The Sights.
I feel like my father with
his calloused hands trying
to do something modern
and deft. The actual journey began this morning,
but the actual preparation
started months earlier. So
Beatle Monopoly
22 • Taken Alive
Rocco’s Handiwork
More of Rocco’s Handiwork
now I’m stuck in a van alongside others who look and smell like me,
and already it feels all warm and fuzzy like home. My bandmates.
Feels like camaraderie.
So what did today bring us?
Well, we met our first character of the tour. Our first stop was
just outside of Chicago to pick up my Sears Silvertone amp from
Schmocco (from here on all characters of the tour will be ‘schmomebody ‘ to protect privacy). His eaten watermelon on the porch says
something about the way he eats – and how he repairs amps. Dude
finishes the job.
We also played a game of Beatle-themed Monopoly. We quit
midway through, and Skip needs to learn how to barter properly. A
thousand dollars for some property? Uh, right.
Back in the van, the local 88.3 FM high school station just played
a few Misfits songs prefaced with a Clone Defects tune. The chick
DJ even messed up and restarted a song. Classic. But good to hear
some local homeboys getting some love outside of Detroit. It’s that
camaraderie thing.
All the best, eddie
Current tour weight: 131 pounds (but I’ve been snacking all day).
Baranek • 23
Thursday, May 17
Jerry Sprinter, Meth Spoons, Satan’s Helpers, Gun
Battles, Budweiser’d Brawn, Tulsa!
Yesterday we played our good friend Joe’s record store in St.
Louis, Euclid Records.Touring life can easily be crappy motels, flies
in your milk carafe (this morning’s Continental Breakfast highlight), and weird noises from other rooms. So staying with pals like
Joe is a godsend. Thanks Joe. His lovely wife Sandy fed us in the
morning, and we engaged in a few excellent rounds of nerf gun war
with their son CJ.
You see, being in a van with a band isn’t always talking about
the best Beatles record (Revolver), or arguing over what the best
Kyle Preparing for Battle
Nerf Gun Fight
24 • Taken Alive
Baranek • 25
Dylan period is (everybody knows
it’s just after the holy trinity).
It’s about reliving your youth by
shooting nerf darts at 7 a.m. with
a 13-year-old who could give two
shits about how many records I
have or the latest I put out. You
gotta serve somebody (yourself?),
and you gotta stay grounded.
After checking into our room
in Tulsa we meandered around
looking for local flavor. Kyle
found a meth spoon.
Then we stumbled upon the Meth Spoon
Dark Knight’s wheels halfway
parked inside of a Warner Bros truck. You’d think somebody’d cover it up so a bunch of clowns wouldn’t pull something weird. We
decided against pulling any weirdness. Some locals approached.
They looked like the kids with whom I attended high school. They
said, “Hey bro, you guys headed to the Town Pump?” Sure. Why not?
(Keep in mind we’re in Tulsa.)
Skip reminded me that this place was like Satan’s Helpers hangout bar in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Bikes, boobs, Budweiser’d brawn
– all in one room. My high school doppelgangers said we should witness the bartender’s “quarter trick.” We pictured cheap black eyes,
and took our seats outside on the patio, next to the motorcycles.
But back to the quarter trick: Skip and Kyle giddily exited the
26 • Taken Alive
bar, saying, “Dudes, you
gotta get in there with
some quarters and see
this.” Let me just say
that Shades was the lone
holdout, and he kept all
his quarters.
The night closed with
us meeting a pizza dude
(Schmen), an Irish expat patron (Schmaddy),
and getting to know the
server (Schmasha). Since
we’re playing Tulsa in a
month or so with Tenacious D, they’re all on the
list.
Kyle christens the van Jerry Sprinter, a fitting title for the
America we were about to meet.
All the best,
eddie
Current tour weight: unknown, but hair is in a ponytail.
Baranek • 27
Friday, May 18
Roadside Diner Packs on the Chub. Meanwhile, While
the Rhythm Section Sleeps …
It’s been brought to my attention that my sedentary lifestyle
(slothing-it van-style for three days across the U.S.) has elevated
my bodyweight. I’m sure this wasn’t a problem for Lewis and Clark,
but then again I’m not wrestlin’ with unidentifiable animals (well,
not counting Skip) and I’m not subsisting on twigs and berries. But
twigs and berries it might have to be. I gained four pounds in two and
a half days! Kids, don’t try this at home. My inner triathlete took
measures to ensure I get
back to fighting weight.
So until this weight issue’s under control, I’m
stepping away from the
blog for a day to hit the
pavement, the pebble, and
the pool.
All the best,
eddie
Current tour weight:
135, but hopefully heading
down?
28 • Taken Alive
Baranek vs. Pavement
Baranek’s Chief Broom Imitation
AquaBaranek
Baranek • 29
Sunday, May 20
The Love Me Nots, A Tom Waits Wink in Nasty City,
and the Old In-N-Out, In-N-Out
A handful of days into
our journey and soon it will
be shows, shows, shows
from here on out. We arrived in Phoenix Friday
night and hooked up with
our friends Nicole and Michael of Jim Diamond faves
the Love Me Nots. Good to
see them, and I wish them
well on their European
tour.
Saturday was In-N
-Out Burger, a Sights staple since Dave Shettler inIn-N-Out Burger: Baranek Style
troduced me to it on a 2002
tour. It’d been six years since I’d last tasted it, so every bite was
BSE (Best Shit Ever).
After Kyle drove us from Phoenix (eating ice cream the whole
way) we checked into our hotey in San Diego. Shades read its reviews online: hooker central. It was located in National City, otherwise known as “Nasty City” by the locals. We felt right at home.
We stumbled along and found Napoleone Pizza House. Turns
30 • Taken Alive
Cherry Chocolate Bomb
Phoenix Champion
out it is/was a Tom Waits hang, and it’s the subtitle of one of his
tunes. Our waitress Denise supplied the anecdote and it brought
a tear to Jarrod’s eye. We scarfed pizza while hittin’ on the juke
(some Waits, Marvin Gaye, and Del Shannon’s “Hats Off to Larry”).
Quick note: we found this pizza joint by exploring a city, not typing in “hip shit to do” on our iThing. People should live life a little
more accidentally sometimes. It reminds me of early Sights’ tours,
when we used pay phones to call venues and atlas maps that were
bound in books. We
still carry an atlas,
and I try to maintain
as much of my caveman-ness as possible,
but it is, I’ll admit, getting harder.
I’m writing this in
a San Diego Vietnamese cafe after strolling
Mission Beach. Shades
and I walked two and a
half hours around the
entire shoreline barefoot and it felt great.
I’d sent my girlfriend
Maria a picture of me
Napoleone Pizza House
on the beach and her
Baranek • 31
Jerry Sprinter in Nasty City
Hop Skip & A Jump in Phoenix
response was “You still have those crappy flip-flops? I thought I destroyed them.” My defense? They’re flip-flops, I ain’t goin’ for style
here, woman. I love that woman.
I know the tour has been very vay-kay thus far, but we’re out
here to promote our new record. It’s called Left Over Right and I love
it. It wasn’t produced by some L.A. clown, just good old Jim Diamond. If you see him, say hello (and ask after those instrumentals
for me!)
All the best,
eddie
Current tour
weight: (unknown,
but that walk should
get me back down to
size).
Most of The Sights at Mission Beach
Baranek • 33
Tuesday, May 22
Pasty-Faced Detroiters Burn! Plus, PBR Flows Free
but Baranek and Schanta Stay Sober (!?) and
Sexy Tartaglia Graduates From College …
Dude here, walked 2.5 hours on Mission Beach yesterday. I don’t
know how many miles that is (get on that, Shades), but I do know
how badly the sunburn feels. We had to band-fund some aloe at
Rite-Aid today. We’ve since added that to our backstage rider.
So we loaded into San Diego’s til-two club and the bartender
Marshall gave us 25 free plays on the juke. First up? Some MC5, then
Flamin’ Groovies, Sam Cooke, and Otis. It’s feeling like home – not
home ’cos I’m some Detroit dude in a Detroit band wearing a leather
jacket talking about how sweet the MC5 are, but home ’cos those
are the records I play at home. In my house. Ask Maria. She tires of
my “old-man music,” but I’ll never tire of her saying that to me.
Anyway, the most I can muster in my mouth post-beach sunburn is an endless supply of water. Skip? He’s loving that free PBR
in 24 oz. cans. Yup, sunburned Skippy is getting shitfaced and it’s
barely 9 o’clock.
We played to a mostly empty room, and the other bands on the
bill included the Bloodflowers and Band Droidz. Band Droidz were
added to the bill around 11 p.m. that night, and it was a humbling experience. They were insanely good – songs, jamming, perfect blend
of riding a wave of riffs and songs. Drummer Ramsey is a sweet
dude, and comes up after our set saying our song “Hello to Everybody” reminded him of Big Star. I should note that a few members
34 • Taken Alive
of the Bloodflowers (what’s up Rey Hoover) and all the members of
Band Droidz are black, or half-black (or according to Hoover, half
whatever somebody thinks he is: half-Chinese, half-Japanese,
half-whatever fits someone’s narrow scope). I note their skin color
’cos here we are, five white dudes with red skin – not even red, just
some ugly-ass pigment you never want to see again (like a fruit going bad). I commented into the mic from the stage: “We didn’t plan
on trying for a tan to match you guys” or something lame to that
effect. I don’t know, sometimes I don’t have much faith in my microphone speech crap. I hate when people tell you their views in a mic.
Really? Who cares what I think? I just want my music heard.
The night ended, and we all make goody-goody with the bands
(Skip and Jarrod enjoying some Jager Bombs with the Bloodflowers drummer Albert). The gig was a good chance for Jarrod to test
whether he should use the Wurlitzer electric piano, or the Hammond, so tonight’s show had purpose. We all piled into the van. Me
and Kyle skipped the booze but Skip and Jarrod were feelin’ pretty
good. I discovered an interesting aspect of sobriety on our drive to
L.A: you get to observe bandmates slurring their way through conversations.
It was also interesting for me to play 100 percent sober, and interesting to see them feeling it. I still don’t know how I feel about it,
Baranek • 35
Pre-Jaeger Jarrod
really.
Tour manager Shades gets huge props for manning Jerry Sprinter from the San Diego gig directly to the hotey in the bowels of Hollywood. During the drive, Skip talked of how he and I met, etc. It
was cool for me to hear his perspective on things and all the shit the
two of us have been through in the last few years.
The next day we link up with our sexy sax man, Dean Tartaglia. The guy had to graduate from college (congrats) and fly out to
meet us. Dean and the other dudes split for Amoeba Records while
Shades and I headed back at the hotey to fine-tune tour details. Details never stop; they only become more transparent.
Dinner tonight’s with old friends Rick Fusco and Chris Turner –
36 • Taken Alive
Sexy Dean Blows Horn for The Sights
Rick promises chicken fajitas and an amp repair (badly needed), so
I’m geeked. Then we play Burger Records at 9 p.m., our first show of
this tour as a fully operating five-fingered hand. I am more geeked
for that.
All the best,
eddie
Current tour weight: unknown (but I will weigh myself before
the fajitas at Rick’s tonight. Stay tuned).
Baranek • 37
Wednesday, May 23
Kickass Chicken Fajitas, Baranek’s Starbucks Sellout
and The Sights Find ‘The Dude’ in a Sweet Cali Crib
I’m on an iPad at Starbucks
sitting across from Shades on
his laptop. I’m the guy I make
fun of. Don’t tell anyone.
One more thing: you know
how you can think the world is
so cruel? Well I’m pretty cynical, but I gotta say, our pal
Rick Fusco is a true friend.
Not only did he prepare
kickass chicken fajitas, he has
an Echo Park pad and the perfect lifestyle. The last time I
left him (in Detroit) he had a
cropped ’do but now that he’s
in Cali, well … Let’s just say
he’s adopted the look of Jesus,
or The Dude, or some lost Manson follower. Could be that’s
Rick Fusco
what happens to all the Detroit
ex-pats once they move three hours to the left: they just get real
gone. Maybe the dude’s crazy (I’m endorsing the Manson theory). If
that’s crazy then I’ll take it ’cos he hooked us up with his amp repair
guy, fed us, and hung with us at the world famous Whisky a Go Go
38 • Taken Alive
Fusco helped Eddie keep his faith in
humanity.
Fusco’s Echo Park crib is a swell place
for Dean to relax.
Kyle kickin’ it Fusco style.
Jarrod enjoying some phone time at
Fusco’s.
the next night. It’s people like Fusco, people with character, who
remind me the world is alright.
After leaving Rick’s we arrived at Burger Records for our gig.
The Burger dudes were great too, and it was good to have sax man
Dean thrown back into the mix. Kyle, Jarrod, Dean, and I rehearsed
our harmonies in the van on the way up and I was feeling good
about it. Everyone was so accommodating and nice about sharing
vocal parts. “Four part harmonies” and “nice” in The Sights? We
should’ve been wearing letter sweaters and calling ourselves Chip,
Baranek • 39
‘One toke over the line sweet Fusco’:
Burger Records
Kip, Flip, and Sk …?
The funniest part about
the Burger gig was the obvious stench of California
reefer that enveloped the
entire record store. The funny part wasn’t the stank,
but rather the nervousness a
few of the Burger dudes were
about making sure the door
was shut while bands played.
Y’know, sound issues and
all. I guess the laws are lax
in these parts … like Fusco’s
shaving routine. Thanks to
Fusco and thanks to a Burger Records.
All the best,
eddie
Current tour weight: unknown (but I bet last night’s Stouffer’s
didn’t help)
Baranek • 41
Friday, May 25
Baranek Takes a Breather, Road Dog Shades Weighs in
with a Bit of Texting Frolic
Shades here. Eddie‘s gonna have the next installment up soon.
In the meantime, enjoy some pictures of Champion texting.
“This driving shit sure gets
in the way of my texting!”
Champion enjoys a bit of texting
in the Arizona sun.
“Backstage at TD shows
provides wonderful light for
texting from your mobile.”
Baranek • 43
Saturday, May 26
Baranek Bumps into an ‘Ex’ on the Sunset Strip; Talks
Drunks and Wormholes; Sights Hit D-day, ROCK Thousands
Alright, it’s not like I’ve been purposely neglecting my diary duties. I just, y’know, got busy. I’d like to get current, so let’s see how
current we can get.
So we played the Whisky Tuesday night and it went very well.
Before the gig we went to Lemmy’s office, the Rainbow, just up
from the Whiskey on
Sunset Strip. Lemmy
wasn’t there, neither
was Nilsson or Lennon, but there were a
few Sunset Strip skeletons hovering around
our dinner table. It was
sorta weird, ’cos I met
Patrick from Alive Records (the label our last
record came out on)
for the first time. That
wasn’t too weird, but
there were people from
the old label there as
well. It’s like your ex is
eating at the same ta- Patrick and Eddie at the Rainbow
44 • Taken Alive
ble with you and your woman. The old label reminded me of when
I threw pizza here last time. I don’t remember that, but I’ll take it.
It was good to meet Patrick and see the old label people. It’s good
to know we can still be friends, ’cos I can hold a grudge. I should be
better with that by now, I know.
Wednesday was D-Day: Tenacious D day one. We loaded into the
4500-seat Santa Barbara Bowl early and found ourselves in the canteen. It hit my eyes first, then my nose, and finally found me – backstage catering, or manna from heaven for a working class support
band on a major tour. We ate, and ate and ate.
Everyone working backstage was so nice, the weather was
about 78 degrees, the food was endless, and nobody spied to see if
I took too much. I didn’t pocket an extra coffee creamer (caramel
Baranek • 45
of course) for later, and it was at this point that I regretted tracking my weight. You see, I’ve been surviving on peanuts, bread, bananas, and coffee. My diet before D-Day was a mix of Lord of the
Flies berries meets Karen Carpenter scary. It’s not that I wasn’t
gaining weight (I was), but I felt squirrelly in my scrappiness. I am
a scrounger, I save and hoard in the van knowing I’ll use it later.
Not only that, but some of the non-D gigs can be rough. Small clubs,
more characters. Nothing new for me. But when you contrast that
world (wormholes that see drunks drinking in shifts) to the Tenacious D world, well that’s where life can get interesting.
I’ve done entire U.S. tours playing rooms that hold no more than
Soundchecking Santa Barbara Bowl
46 • Taken Alive
a big family party. We’re still doing those places between D shows.
This kind of varied gig schedule gives me some balance, perspective. The sun shone hard on the D gigs – everyone there to serve and
smile. It’s great, the band and crew are a lot of fun, and everyone
wants to know how they can help. If it were like this every night,
though, I’d lose the personalities, the creatures, we meet along the
way, in the clubs, on the streets. It’s the education I get from those
people that helps to me define the reasons why I tour. You try to
explain some of the things you see or the people you meet, but it
can be hard and sometimes the experience is best shared by looking
across the table with whomever you’re with at that moment. Know
what I mean?
This back and forth between the gutters and the golden gate
fascinates. There I was, onstage at the Santa Barbara Bowl, and if
I looked to my left, the ocean. Look straight and it’s thousands of
people. I was nervous that the voracious D fans would eat us alive,
but they were warm. Then the next night it’s back to a club with a
weird smell and a soundman named “Smokey.”
Anyway, met KG and JB within a few minutes of arrival today.
Sweet dudes, and Jack made sure to let us know who his wife is. I
am excited to play with a band whose show I can watch every night
and have fun with.
All the best,
eddie
Current tour weight: unknown (really shoulda brought a scale;
is there a Target around?)
Baranek • 47
Sunday, May 27
Cali’s in the Rearview, For Now; Plus, The Boys Take
Oakland and Baranek Gives Props to the Babysitter.
California’s in the rearview as we entered Oregon for a gig in
Bend with the D. I’d like to revisit a taste of the last few days’ highs.
First off, I’d like to give our tour manager Shades more props
for being strict on the departure times. Getting the clowns roped
in is no easy task and for that I’m grateful. If you’re in the band and
reading this, get your ass up earlier to shower. Before we leave California, let’s leave with this: I got to spend a few days with my sister Kim and her woman
Amber.
They let me crash in
their Santa Barbara hotel room, and crash in
their home in Alameda,
and took care of me and
got me away from the
circus/clown car for
awhile. In my last post
I mentioned those moments you share and
how sometimes only
those who were there
fully understand. I had
one of those best moments ever with my sisJerry Sprinter in Oregon
48 • Taken Alive
Amber and Kim Backstage in Oakland
ter when we were watching this 3-year-old girl in a dress chase the
pigeons in Dolores Park in San Francisco. The girl was laughing and
loving life, and I thought about when Kim and I (and my other sister
Becky) were all young and now Beck has kids – the innocence. The
few days I got to spend with sis and sis-in-law reminded me how
much they rule.
The Oakland show with Tenacious D at the 3,000-seat Fox Theater went swimmingly, and our friend JC Hall came. Always good
to see that man. Early morning after the Oakland gig we played a
Mutiny Radio show down in San Francisco’s Mission District. The
piano there was tuned a half-step too high, so I tuned my acoustic
to the piano’s tuning.
Baranek • 49
Something told me the piano wasn’t the only thing higher that
day. Dean had to transpose the key of each song on the fly in his
head while playing sax. Not easy to do. He did a great job.
Our day off was spent walking around the Mission. Kyle and I
ate at a Salvadorian restaurant – Skip refused; instead, he downed
an $11 club sammy and came in our place after to complain about it.
And so tonight we’re back with the D, and tomorrow we hook up
with the original Sights’ bass player, Mark Leahey for some frolic in
Portland, Oregon.
All the best,
eddie
Current tour weight: (unknown, kinda regret posting on day
one without updating along the way).
Dean at Mutiny Radio
Baranek • 51
Wednesday, May 30
Bed Bugs, Band-Aids, Badminton, and Getting Recognized Outside Truck Stop Urinals
As I type, Kyle’s asleep in a bed a few feet away. We were bed
buddies for the evening, and I must say, he is a good one (he’s the
next smallest Sight besides me). Having a small bed buddy is important, ’cos you don’t want to wake up in the middle of the night
with some dude’s arm digging into your back. Trust me, that is a
crappy reminder of how far away you are from your girlfriend.
Speaking of, this is the home stretch to cap off the first leg of the
tour and being so close makes me miss Maria, and want to get home
badly.
We left California behind (thus, no In-N-Out
Burger) and pushed on to
Bend, Oregon for the next
Tenacious D show. We
loaded in a few hours early,
and I credited the earliness
to Shades. You see, I’m not
used to this. Typical Sights
protocol is to barely make
load-in time, grovel your
way to the food, and kinda
slither around like zombies. Not this tour. Shades
has been great at getting
Badminton in Bend, Ore.
52 • Taken Alive
us there early.
The Bend gig took place
at an outdoor amphitheater, and the backstage
dressing rooms are actual train boxcars. We take
up some badminton for
a while, and the weather
is noticeably colder than
the previous week. It was
mid-afternoon, and I figured the sun would come
out and warm us up. It never did. But warmth came
in the form of wonderful
Liz from Bleu Bite Catering
ladies working catering. I
learned that Liz (head of Bleu Bite Catering) hails from Roseville,
Mich. – my girlfriend’s hometown. Pretty sweet. The ladies love us,
we love them. Fun time.
We hit the stage and rocked a 35-minute set with some new
tunes tossed into the mix. It was cold, my hands weren’t warming up, and I had a hard time getting it going. My strumming hand
started bleeding early in the set, and someone in the crowd tossed
me a Band-Aid. The crowd
was warm, and they were
chanting for me to “put it
on” (the Band-Aid) and so
I stuck it on my forehead
and not on my cut. I don’t
know why I did that, but it
felt like the right thing to
do at the time. The crowd
loved it. It’s funny, you do
the dumbest shit onstage
and people eat it up. It’s
like the dumber you are
sound-wise, or stage-wise,
the more (sometimes) people dig it. So strange to me.
Bend, Oregon
Baranek • 53
Anyway, the stage manager
told Shades we should play
longer, so Shades was yelling at me to give them more.
We gave them more, and
afterwards the stage manager (an old road dog) came
up and personally shook my
hand to say we did a great
job. (We always get love
from the older stagehands,
crew guys who “get it.”
Why can’t they all be pretty girls? Nope, instead they
are big, older, black t-shirt
wearing dudes. You can’t Rest Stop Merch Sales
pick your fans.)
We stayed in a nearby hotel post-show. We pressed into Portland
the next day. It was early in the morning, and we took a piss stop at
a government rest area in Shitsville, OR. I strolled out of the bathroom and the band was surrounded by nearly a dozen chicks and
guys in hoodies and assorted black t-shirts. A barefoot dude named
Potato Chip offered us hash. Anyway, they were all at the previous
night’s show and loved us.
Potato Chip and crew purchased $42 in shirts and CDs. Now
here was a Sights tour first: I’ve never sold merch at a truck stop after taking a piss. We got recognized (more like, people pointed and
sorta giggled) a few more times en route to Portland (grocery store,
on Hawthorne in Portland).
We arrived in Portland the next day and loaded in at Langano
Lounge. My old friend RJ hooked this show up. I dig club gigs on off
days from D shows ’cos I feel at home. RJ is an old pal; back in the
early ’00s he and a bunch of his friends were 17 years old hanging
out seeing us on the East Coast – the Maxwell’s kids. Maxwell’s is
one of my favorite places to play; it’s in Hoboken, NJ … I digress.
I haven’t seen RJ in years, but he has the Fusco thing going on:
East Coast/Midwest guy heads west and lets it all out. The dude
has gotten older, and his hair! Jesus! He looked awesome like Jesus. He’s kind and sweet like I think Jesus is too, and he treated us
54 • Taken Alive
Dean and Kyle
RJ and Baranek
very well. It was great to see RJ.
I left the circus/clown car and Mark Leahey and his wife picked
me up for dinner in Portland. Mark is the original Sights bass player and oooooold friend of mine. We drank and ate on the streets of
Portland and caught up on old times.
It was a great tour breather and cool to hear them doing well.
We talked about the guitar pedals he builds and I bought one over
dinner – I hope it’s sweet, I’ll find out this Saturday; he’s mailing it
to Mike Walker’s joint in Marquette, Mich.
We played the gig at
Langano and it’s a cramped
sweatfest. Leahey joins us
on “That Ain’t Right Little Girl” and everyone goes
home happy. The PA power cut out a few times, so I
had to shout my way threw
a verse or two. I love when
that shit happens. As I’ve
said before, it’s those little
accidents that make life
interesting. If everything
goes well onstage and is
perfect, I get a little irked.
It needs a little grime, a
Leahey and Baranek Rehearse
Baranek • 55
little off-kilterness, for it to be perfect for me. If everything runs
smooth – that’s when I get scared. I think that’s where self-sabotage sets in for me. I can recall getting freaked out with big gigs or
whatever and probably sabotaging them to some degree. Over time
I have gotten more comfortable with, um, “success” (whatever that
means) and can live with a bit of good fortune these days.
All the best,
eddie
Current tour weight: I’ll weigh myself when I get home, how’s
that? I’ll give an honest answer, I swear!
Jerry Sprinter in Portland
Baranek • 57
Friday, June 1
Skip’s Sasquatch Heroics, Baranek’s ‘Goodfellas’ Vision
and Outsider Musings. Also, Feist Girls, John C. Reilly
Country and Jack Black Sweetness
There’s a scene in Goodfellas
that comes close to what I saw
Memorial Day morning. I have
tremendous respect for drummer Skip because after Portland
he drove us all through the night
(and the mountains) to the huge,
four-day outdoor fest that’s lovingly christened Sasquatch.
It’s a vast open space called
Gorge Amphitheater or “the
Gorge in George” in a town called
George, Washington. The venue
Skip: Heroics Manning the Wheel sees four stages surrounded by
of Jerry Sprinter
mountains, valleys, and a buncha
insane shit you just don’t see in the Midwest. So we pulled into the
fields around 5 a.m. when it was still quiet, the kind of heavy hush
that reminded me of when I’d snowplow with my father – 5 a.m., no
one around. Eerie.
We rolled into the artist campsite area and a few of us had tents
to sleep in (four hours max.) until our 9 a.m. load-in time. I had a
tent, but didn’t pull it out. Too tired. So I called it a night on the
ground.
58 • Taken Alive
Sasquatch: Monday morning blue
This is where it got all Goodfellas.
Here I was, in a sleeping bag, crashed on the grass and the right
side of my face was melting in the horrible rising sun. Heard faint
moos from cows in the distance (still don’t know what that was
about), and with sleep deprivation mixed with such weirdness, I
saw Skip and Shades silhouetted against the sun gettin’ their Tommy DeVito on.
It was Goodfellas time, and I expected to hear the Shangri-Las’
“Remember (Walking in the Sand)” and wondered who the hell they
murdered and attempted to bury.
Huh? What?
Which band member got the beat-down, man? Wait, what? I’ve
Baranek • 59
lost everything … Where am I? C’mon,
Shades, you’re not that … Skip? Really?
Oh, wait.
That horrible sun. Life. Those
beers. Shades and Skip were but innocents, trying to sleep. I needed sleep
too. Wow.
Later, we rose to load-in, and evShades (as seen by Baranek
eryone (stage manager Katie!) on staff
at Sasquatch)
was accommodating.
This was the morning of day 4 for them, and you better believe
they were exhausted. We were tired too, but we’d too much adrenaline and too much of a “something to prove” attitude to let anything
or anyone slow us down. So we played our early afternoon set to a
crowd of a few … a few including Jack Black and a gang of his kind.
I talked with Black afterward, thanked him for watching the entire
set. It was good to know that even though the dude was tired, had
a show eight hours later, and basically could hang with a bunch of
other famous people, he came and heard us play. I liked that, showed
character.
The rest of the day saw our boys go off in all directions, regroup,
wander off again, etc. Was a beautiful day to be alive. I didn’t take
pictures of the view that is the gorge. How could I? How could I take
a picture of that, bring it home, and show it to people and try to explain it to them? It’s something I enjoyed with a few others, and I
Give Katie a Kiss
Jack Black & Entourage Enjoying
The Sights Early
60 • Taken Alive
almost want to just leave it there. You can’t bring a day like that
home with you.
It was weird to be backstage with the other artists and “connected” people who got back there, and then to go out into the “civilian” area and watch the show with them. There definitely is/was
a cool attitude backstage that is so fucking annoying. I felt out of
place, I definitely looked out of place, and it felt strange to me. High
school was annoying as hell, and I’m still in class sometimes.
I went out into the crowd and watched Feist’s entire set, and
it was equally as strange to be completely surrounded by girls
Kyle shows the number of chords
he’s mastered
Champion relaxes with an adult
beverage at Sasquatch
Eddie relaxes with an adult
beverage at Sasquatch
Dean
Baranek • 61
Sasquatch 2012
younger than me singing along to every song. Outta place here? So
I bounced around to discover something to relate to. John C. Reilly’s country-tinged band was pretty good, and Spiritualized were
alright. But still, there was nothing I felt I had to go hear or see.
The night ended with most (everyone except Shades) of us partying with Spiritualized. It was the last night of their U.S. tour, and
we sat around and talked about all the usual stuff. Sweet to relax
and relate to others.
It was a great day for The Sights; people loved the new songs,
and we spent the night again in the artist camping area. Skip was
obsessed with finding a party, he found one (or two), and I finally
passed out from exhaustion in my tent around 1 a.m. I woke up at 5
62 • Taken Alive
a.m. with that sun, and we began our trek across Montana.
All the best,
eddie
Current tour weight: I’ll bring a scale for the 2nd leg.
The Morning After
Baranek • 63
Tuesday, June 5
Scenes from the War Room
Shades here. The Sights completed the first leg of the Tenacious
D tour on Monday night. Eddie’s gonna be back here with more diary entries to document their shows that take us back to Detroit for a
quick rest before launching the second leg of the Tenacious D tour.
In the meantime, enjoy these pics from the War Room at Sights HQ
as we plot the details of that second leg.
Sights HQ: War Room
64 • Taken Alive
Monocled Scrutiny
Baranek • 65
Plotting Second Leg Troop Movements
Baranek • 67
Thursday, June 7
Nyah Boy, Testicle Free-for-All
After Sasquatch, we crawled back to Jerry Sprinter and began
the first day of a two-day trek across northern America, on our
way to Minneapolis. Shades and I had discussed wanting to see two
places we’d been to on prior tours: the Rock Creek Lodge in Clin-
Rock Creek Lodge
68 • Taken Alive
ton, Mont. and the 10,000 Dollar Saloon. The Rock Creek Lodge is
home of the Testicle Festival, a weekend long excuse for people to
get naked, get drunk, and hopefully get … it involves Buffalo Balls,
or Rocky Mountain Oysters.
Baranek at the Rock Creek Lodge
We pulled into the bar/store/office for some and ordered a beer.
Two photo scrapbooks of past “Testy Fests” and images of countless hillbillies naked and drinking dominate our eyes and conversation. It’s pretty messed up. Actually, these late ’90s photos of people
drinking kinda look like those hipster kids that run around today
with the ’90s neon hats, cheesy ’staches, etc. Except these photos
Baranek • 69
are the real deal. It’s like some off the grid world where the internets don’t exist, no one cares if your album came out, and Daddy’s
always right. I didn’t finish my beer, I wanted to get outta there.
So onward we go, and we never find the 10,000 Dollar Saloon (“3rd
leg” we’d say). Being in the van with the same people for weeks at
a time can do a number on you. You adopt similar lingo; the same
words and phrases become the currency by which we communicate.
If we forgot something and wanted to bring it next time, we’d say
“2nd leg” because our summer tour with Tenacious D is broken into
three separate legs. Another example of van lexicon is Skip‘s never-ending Ringo-isms. Skip is rich with phrases that make sense,
don’t make sense and even one or two I think make sense(?).
“Nyah, Boy”
70 • Taken Alive
For example, when bad news strikes, Skip will say “Oh Boy,” except it comes out as “Nyah Boy.” Actually, that is what it has morphed into in one week with a few of us repeating it nonstop. I am
pretty sure Skip got it from Drew and Mike on WRIF, but who knows.
Anyway, the point is these phrases will get repeated endlessly
until they cease to carry their original meaning. They get used even
when it doesn’t make sense. It can be hard coming home and having
to talk “normal” again.
We stayed a night in Billings, Mont. (where Dean graciously
splurges for a pizza party) and the next night in Fargo, ND. A few in
the band headed off to some bars and ended up selling some records
to the bartender in Fargo. (We’ve sold more merch at bars, hotels
Dean Blows at the Turf Club
Baranek • 71
Turf Club (as seen from Skip’s throne)
and rest stops than we did at one or two of our club gigs.)
The Twin Cities beckon, and we arrived in St. Paul early. Shades
checked us into a Days Inn down the street from the gig and sells a
copy of our new album to the general manager of the hotey.
Turns out the dude plays harp and has a pretty interesting backstory (corner Kyle or Dean sometime and ask to get the lowdown).
A handful of us walked around and browsed (Midtown Books,
Ax-Man Surplus) and shopped (Kyle snagged another a pawn shop
copy of Tetris for GameBoy – a van must-have). We played the gig –
The Turf Club – and after two days off still kill it. We sounded great,
played our asses off, and, most of all, we had fun. It felt good to be
out of the van, 1,400-plus miles later, doing what we do.
72 • Taken Alive
Nyah boy,
eddie
Current Tour Weight: 133 lbs. (weighed in when I got home).
Toasting the Turf Club Crowd
Turf Club, St Paul, MN