Bad Manners On Tour

Ah, Tucson...so far from Austin and so not worth the drive. The final 12-hour drive completed, we get to Tucson at around 11am. We're booked to close a festival that seems to be about Tucson bands, but early on has a cool vinyl record sale with some good stuff, including a guy who looks like German's dad. There is no tearful reunion, so maybe I'm wrong on the dad thing. We're there so early, that we have the green room to ourselves. The Hotel Congress is a Southwestern deco beauty, like something out of a Jim Thompson novel.

Tucson has a lot of two things: hot girls and cops. Both are everywhere. It's hot, but it's a dry heat. LA is so close I can taste it. Other bands come into the green room throught the day, but most see (and smell) us and move on. I heard that someone said we were "scary."

All the other acts on the bill during the day and evening are either roots, country or some other form of twang. No punk, no reggae, no ska. Just before us, is a band that's obviously a big deal in Tucson. There's an oil painting of them in the lobby. I could swear they sang songs about Jesus. They play too long and we have to enforce our contract the Bad Manners way. Once again we play to an audience who are mostly unfamiliar with the band (or any good music based on tonight) and win them over. Several attractive women in their 40's want to hang out, but we're LA-bound tonight! Tomorrow, I sleep in my own bed.

Oh yeah, fuck SB 1070!