Day Off in Kansas City

Up at 7:30. Head feels pretty good for having slapped back 12 Budweisers last night. Head to Starbucks, where I have a scone and a drink (decaf), read the local paper and the New York Times, then head off for a walk and to find the grocery store.

Spend about an hour walking around. Discover that the Westport area is about 5 blocks from the hotel in the other direction. See some stuff I recognize a few spots. There's a place called America's Pub that used to be The Shadow. Did a couple of shows there with Dillon Fence back in '91-'92. Can't remember if Cry of Love ever played there – fuzzy memories.

Grab some stuff from the grocer's and head back down the hill. Goof off in the room – mostly reading because the internet is for shit here. The entire hotel is wireless, but the signal is inconsistent and it's not playing nice. Web pages take forever to load and I keep getting bounced off. The hotel's only been open for 6 weeks, so I guess they still have a few bugs with the system. Cool hotel though. This used to be an old apartment building which they refurbed. I'm told by the GM that they're gonna take it one step further next year and go boutique. Wonder why they didn't just start out that way in the first place?!?

I order some "to-go" chow from PF Chang's next door around 6. On the way to pick it up, I hear some commotion across the street. There's a mini marching band making some racket. I have a weakness for marching bands – don't ask! There's about 6 drummers, 6 marcher/dancers and a "drum major". And they are smoking. I watch for about 20 minutes, then dip in and grab my food. Watch again for another 10 minutes, drop a few bucks in their bucket and head back.

I'm staying in tonight, just gonna watch some tube and chill out. Might go meet Stonner and some of his friends about 6 blocks away and see his buddy's band play. Might not.

He calls around 7:30 – they're on their way to the first watering hole of the night. He gives me the name of the bars they'll be at in case I decide to come out. I think about going out around 10, but decide against.

In bed around midnight.