http://www.thisgigsucks.com/blog.html?cq=1 en-us Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:11:13 GMT http://www.thisgigsucks.com/blog.html?cq=1&p=381


Those of you on the road Thursday-and we've all been there- as your cry into your booze at the hotel bar, remember what you are missing at home:

1.Unspeakable traffic.

2Even-less-speakable airport grief.

3.Drunken scenes with unpleasant relatives about why you "... don't have a real job yet to support my daughter/grandkids/fill-in-the-blank."

4.Turkey that didn't defrost in time

5.Turkey that's inedibly overcooked, a tradition in some families...trust me.

6.Fighting children you shouldn't have to put up with but can't smack  because their not yours.

7.Dishes.

8.Dirty looks during the Game because you're 'not helping.'

9.Racing out to the insane store because someone forgot to buy ice, or beer, or something.

10.Guilt trips about not being with  one half of the family, or the other.



So enjoy your Turkey sandwich or the questionable catering, and your mates at the pub. You can get as loaded as you want; no one will be offended, no one will inturrupt the game, and there's no clean up.

It could be the best Thanksgiving of your life.


]]> Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:11:13 GMT http://www.thisgigsucks.com/blog.html?cq=1&p=380


You can still order XL or 2XL, but these things go fast around the holidays, so if you want one, get amongst it.

Peace
]]> Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:19:51 GMT http://www.thisgigsucks.com/blog.html?cq=1&p=379 ]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:48:15 GMT http://www.thisgigsucks.com/blog.html?cq=1&p=378
Lately we've been receiving a lot of inquiries about shipping costs to the UK, Australia, and other countries, and some to whom we've responded may be wondering about the relatively high costs (generally in the range of $22 (US) for one shirt, to $40 for 9-10 shirts).

These costs are determined by the US Post Office by weight (size does matter: girls lie) and destination.

We thought it worth mentioning to our customers that we do not add ANY COST for our time or shipping supplies. We eat the costs of tape, shipping labels, ink, and boxes and envelopes if not provided by the Postal service.

Putting it another way, if the US Post Office bills us, say, $22.50 for a package, we bill our customer  $22.50 for shipping, no more.

It may not take the sting out of it, but we thought you'd all want to know that we are keeping shipping costs to our international customers as low as possible, and rather than adding to our profit margin by padding shipping costs, as many businesses do, we in fact lose -just a little bit- on packaging costs on every order.

Many thanks to our many international customers who appreciate that we are doing everything we can to help keep our swag affordable, and especially to those who've written to say that for its' high quality, our swag is an incredible value.

We'll close be reminding you that, as the sample shipping costs of actual orders at the top of this note illustrate, it's always more economical to order in larger quantities, so be smart about it. If you'd like just one shirt, check with your crew pals and tour mates, and maybe by pulling together a few orders and shipping to one destination, the shipping will be a bit more managable.

From our crew (BC,DK,LG,TK) to yours, thanks for your loyalty.

-ThisGigSucks.com

The original site for "Swag for roadies, by roadies"
]]> Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:42:33 GMT http://www.thisgigsucks.com/blog.html?cq=1&p=377


Don't bother going to Volcano National Park. Although there is one lava stream flowing, you can't really get to it, and although it is hot and smelly, there's not much going on right now at the Kilawea caldera (crater rim). Also,  the road that drives past the craters on the  SE side (Chain of Craters Road) has been closed.

What is going on right now, and is incredible, is the vent that opened last March near the sea edge. This is on State land, not within the park, and important distinction. You need a car to get to all of this stuff, so rent one and drive down route 11 on the east side past Hilo. Follow 130 when it splits off toward Pahoa, a small hippie town. Follow 130 south to it's dead end; note that it will appear to end many times, including being marked as 'road closed' with construction barriers, but you are supposed to drive right around those. The road will just get weirder and more strangely paved, and it will be apparent to the most casual observer that this is where they re-paved over lava flow that wiped out the Kalapana neighborhood- around 200 homes- in the 90's. Finally, there are parking attendants to direct you when you get to the free parking at the end.

Being a prepared roadie, you will have brought with you

 the water and flashlights so you won't have to pay $1,000 dollars at the 'last chance' tourist stands that have popped up at the edge of the lava field.

Then, you hike a very cool 1/2 mile or so out into the lava field, loosely directed by some spray painted rocks and the occasional marker rope. The lava field walk is hard to explain, but imagine yourself an ant walking across a chocolate frosted cake. You'll see.

At the end, there's a viewing area: here you'll want to grab a good seat on the rocks and part your ass for an hour or so, through full darkness, to relly see the show. Don't expect to see the lava directly, as you'll be a half mile away. What you do see is the massive steam cloud, generated by the lava hitting the water, that magnificently reflects the hellish orange glow beneath. It looks like a huge, roiling, threatening, mesmerizing refinery fire, hidden just below the horizon, and occasionally when a big wave slaps into the poring lava, you will see firely chunks of it fly off into the ocean. This description is pathetic compared to what it actually is: words fail.  Just do it, and trust me. There will be a small crowd with you, including tourists, but this is also where the locals go to see the flow, because it's that cool.

Here's the pattern you will follow, see, and hear repeated all around you:

-Arrive, gasp in marvel, [chattering in many languages].

-Immediately whip out camera and camcorder, start filming/shooting.

-Take a look at pics, discover they don't capture scene- in fact, capture it quite badly- and adjust settings.

-Film/shoot again.

-Again, discover recording media is doing a crap job. Possible, repeat attempts.

-Finally, abandon effort, settle down, and WATCH, knowing you'll just have to verbally describe it to people later.



Approach the volcano viewing exactly like a rock show, ie, knowing that no film or picture is going to record it correctly and you just have to be there to get it.

Enjoy.

Last tip; check with your local crew to see how the vent is doing. This is a volcano, so, also like a rock show, although there is always something to see, sometimes it's better than others.
]]> Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:45:32 GMT http://www.thisgigsucks.com/blog.html?cq=1&p=376 ]]> Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:21:13 GMT http://www.thisgigsucks.com/blog.html?cq=1&p=375 No blog entry to day because I'm too busy VOTING.

VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE! 





(and I don't mean vote 6 times, because that's impossible, Unless maybe you live in Florida. Or maybe Ohio. In that case, just once, please, will do. And Pennsylvania, don't fuck this up for the rest of us, OK?)



]]> Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:26:17 GMT http://www.thisgigsucks.com/blog.html?cq=1&p=374 ]]> Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:19:32 GMT http://www.thisgigsucks.com/blog.html?cq=1&p=373 ]]> Sat, 01 Nov 2008 23:40:59 GMT http://www.thisgigsucks.com/blog.html?cq=1&p=372 ]]> Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:30:59 GMT