1-Jan-2006

SkyBox, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Alright, technically this gig took place on 12-31-2006, so if you’re offended you should stop reading now.

Yer damn skippy we welcomed in the New Year. The Noordyk and Walkner clan were there to help us, in the SkyBox, a bar which may have the most Brett Favre paraphernalia in the known universe. In fact, we welcomed in that dastardly new year with a two and a half hour set to start the show. We played from 9:30 to 12:00 and then were physically forced to drink champagne, otherwise I don’t think we would’ve stopped. I can’t explain it—I could try—I could bullshit you and say it has something to do with the differences between static and kinetic friction, how the coefficient for static is much higher, thus much more force is required to move a static object than the force required to move a kinetic object, so it’s easier for us to just play for four hours instead of taking set breaks. The truth is, we like what we do…come to think of it, I can only really explain it in a parable.

I went to coffee shop with the man they call “Mantaur.” Poor “Mantaur” had torn his lattimus dorci trying to deadlift 2,000 pounds (a lift he has made in competition). At this point in time, his back was closer to being 100 percent so he didn’t have to wear his protective girder anymore (a girder I dubbed “the cummberbund of ogre power,” which made me and no one else laugh when I referred to it as that). The coffee house barista said, “Your girder is off, now can you lift heavy weights again?”

Mantaur said, “Yeah.”

Barista said, “or are you gonna stop this hobby because you keep getting injured.”

At this point I saw a twinkling in Mantaur’s previously lifeless eyes. For a moment I thought he may've been insulted, but then I saw he had the proverbial, Vietnam-vet, 1,000 mile stare. He looked off and said, “powerlifting isn’t a hobby, it’s a way of looking at the world. When some men see a mountain, they wish to climb it. When I see a mountain, I want to lift it.”

Playing music isn’t a hobby, it’s a way of looking at the world.