i run on grease

After talking about it for far too long, episode one of the irunongrease.com video series is here. Let us know what you think! We will be releasing a new episode twice a month, so don't be shy and come on back for more.

Well we just got back from the 2007 Gateway Festival in Mt Sterling Kentucky (check out the full gallery). Where is Mt Sterling Kentucky you ask? Apparently no one knows. While the festival was prepared for thousands of music-craved campers, a total of 50 people or so turned out to buy tickets. Apparently it’s been awhile since Seven Mary Three and Nappy Roots have had a hit, and the 60+ lesser-known bands from all over the US (and even a band from Sweden) couldn’t have been expected to bring anyone. Nonetheless, the bands kept each other company and we enjoyed our 2 crazy days to and from Kentucky.

Everything sounded great, 3 stages, climate controlled bathrooms, even a smoke tent. We understood the risk, a first year festival in the middle of fucking nowhere (even the local Kentucks hadn’t heard of Mt Sterling), but hell, it was an excuse to get out of town and do some camping so we gladly accepted. Recently we came across a diesel van that had been converted to run on vege oil (aka GREASE) and that would be our vessel to the festival. It took 2 grease stops and a trip to the Lexington grocery store for some camping food and a 30 pack, 18 pack and two 12 packs of shitty beer (nothing wrong with a variety of shitty beer).

As we turned off the wrong exit and then on to the right one, we discussed how we would limit our alcoholic intake and stay sober until after playing (we pulled in around 2:00 and were supposed to play around 8:00). “Ya’ll here to play” said the security lady at the check-in desk. “Yup, we’re All Things Lucid,” replied Ryan. “We’ll i’m Shannon’s older sister [the dude who was putting on the festival], what i want you to do is park over here, party hard, then an hour before playing go here, then party hard the rest of the night.” This became the motto of the trip. We pulled into to an giant empty campground, and staying sober immediately went out the window. Remember those 72 beers we picked up in Lexington? Yeah, they were all gone before ever hitting the stage.

Let me take this moment to quote a paragraph from the “About Your Sponsor” part of the Gateway 2007 Music and Arts Festival brochure.

Shannon and his wife Elizabeth have two daughters and two cats. They reside in Mount Sterling where Shannon is a life-long resident and graduate of Montgomery County High School. He holds a B.A. from Morehead State University’s College of Business and was presented with the coveted U.S. Small Business Administration’s. He has served more than 18,000 clients spanning every state and more than 30 countries. He is actively involved in the enrichment of his community and is recognized world-wide as an Internet marketing guru. When he is not teaching others his secrets to Internet marketing, you will find him on a beach somewhere with a bucket of Corona and bowl of limes by his side. Gateway will be something that people are still talking about 50 years from now. It will offer the best entertainment the world has ever seen and those who indulge in it will be thankful they had the opportunity. Shannon has big dreams and if his past is any indication of his future, good things are in store come September 27th - 30th in Kentucky.

OK OK, ya gotta give the guy credit for trying. The whole situation can be easily laughed off with some beer and a shot or two or three of whiskey, you just might expect more from a marketing guru. But on with the story… We all got very very very drunk and played to about 10 people (that number may change depending on who you talk to). According to the few survivors of the night we were “Very rock n’ roll, the best modern rock band i’d ever seen”… take it for what it is, but we sure as hell enjoyed ourselves. Throwing beer cans off the stage, rolling around on the ground, looking into a vast field of nothing, it was quite surreal, and hey the sound guys liked us. We closed out stage 2 and stumbled over to the main stage where Nappy Roots was about to play. In about 20 minutes we found ourselves up on stage along with the rest of the people at the festival, passing around a whiskey bottle and making an attempt to dance (though i highly doubt anyone can dance to hip hop in Kentucky anyway). The booze was finally gone and Jeff and Kevin decided it was time to get some sleep. We had two tents that would each fit two people so Jeff slept in the van. I went to sleep in the tent with Kevin and woke up in between Kostal and Ryan in the other tent… Apparently I entered the tent shivering and muttering “I’m sooooo cold”. You’ll have to ask them for the rest of that story.

The next morning we gathered ourselves together, stole a Gateway sign and went hunting for breakfast. We ended up an exit off at the local diner, hungover and looking for grease (for both the van and ourselves). “Can I get ahh…Do mind if I… I mean is it ok if……I’ll just take a water,” I mumbled. I’m sure we were quite the site. We then hit the road, weirded out some local Arby’s workers while looking for grease, and nine hours later found ourselves back in Chicago (well Westmont first and then Chicago). Thus the Kentucky trip was over. All in all is was quite the fucking time, and a good fucking time at that.