053009 The Vollrath

Tornadoes, ghosts, a speakeasy, and a meowing toothless man… welcome to Indy

It was the perfect day to ride downtown. I stashed my laptop, keys, wallet and phone into my pannier, adjusted my fancy cleats I picked out exclusively because they were the prettiest available, put on my helmet and started out for Findlay Market by bicycle. Most folks in Cincinnati retreat from hot, humid weather like Custer's men running from Little Big Horn. This means there are fewer motorists to deal with on nice, sunny days in late May. Yay for me. I picked up some pickles and headed toward Main street to meet Mike and Brian for a quick meeting at Iris Book Café before hitting the road for Indy.

Drum drum drum drum drumming on the steering wheel.

Bribot Gigglefest.

Troy, our new merch man with a mustache, mullet/rat tail/kind of majestic back-of-head stylized hair style, and jean vest was going to miss the show due to a prior engagement. We called upon the services of my sister Rebekah in his stead. She spent the bulk of our drive asking if we were "there" yet. She's a "good traveller."

Margaret's Hawt Sister stood in for mustache merchguy.

The Vollrath was built in the 1920s and supposedly operated as a speakeasy and brothel for some time until the end of prohibition whereby it became a legitimate bar. The place is said to be haunted. I had a chat with Debbie, a bartender at The Vollrath about "Joe," the presence that haunts the bar. She told me that he used to keep the mirror behind the bar clean to help the previous owner (who was blind and old). We Seeds plus one sat down while Blind Pilot prepared to soundcheck and chatted up the locals. One leathery man, toothless and seedy, meowed incessantly at me each time I passed him. I had unconsciously put on a T shirt when I awoke that alludes to a kitty cat. Eventually I turned to face the man and asked "Really?!" "Ahhhhhhhhyyyyeeee like yourrrrr aaaaattituuuude," the old man remarked in a voice that might have suited a wizard and slowly as if he really had to consider every syllable as he spoke. Brian, Mike and Rebekah all found this to be pretty funny. We really liked the place a lot.

We had a beer with Joe, the local ghost.

Awww!

Seriously the cutest picture ever taken of Mike.

Folks started arriving around 8 PM. The tornado warning came around 8:30. The lightning show was great, but the neighborhood folk hanging out on their front stoops watching the lightning was slightly better. The other show aka the one we drove to play was presented by My Old Kentucky Blog—all the MOKB folks were as welcoming as can be. We started shortly before 10 PM on the smallest stage area we've ever played upon. Good thing we Seeds love each other because we were standing pretty much standing on top of one another, practically forming a magical TSS obelisk. We played nine songs including our two newest tracks Ethel and Tired Enough To Dive (listen to it on our MySpace page : www.myspace.com/theseedyseeds). Considering our close proximity to each other and especially after a few of Mike's compulsively delivered "jokes" the stage was getting particularly hot. After a day of biking, riding in a giant bananavan without A/C, and talking shop with the locals, we were all sweating enough water to fill a baby pool. We finished our set, pulled our gear offstage as quickly as possible, and gave some high fives and wet hugs.

Blind Pilot started shortly after we finished. They were super good. They also had SIX FREAKING BAND MEMBERS ON THAT TINY, TINY STAGE. Wow! They've clearly got some sort of clown car magic going down.

Blind Pilot rocking the house.

Margaret and Kelly like to party.

My Old Kentucky Blog and Upland Brewery like to party as well; and they're buying.

Relaxing with a brew. Shortly thereafter Mike fell out of the van and "hurt his arm or leg or something."

As the night winded down, we loaded up our gear and set out for my cousin John's house. He and his wife Mandy were super awesome hosts. Somehow they had ten million beds for us all. John immediately got started making "party nachos" for the brave (aka the drunk aka pretty much everyone not vegan aka not me but everyone else). Once the nachos were done he put on The Big Lebowski and we all sat and relaxed for a minute before heading to bed. Probably everyone had dreams involving bowling, nihilists and Dudeism. We woke up the next morning, walked to the stripmall where the brave (aka everyone but Brian) got Indian buffet. Brian ate a boring bagel. We got back in Bavanarama and headed back to Cincy with Rebekah asking if we were "there" yet the whole way home. She's a "good traveller!"


—Margaret