Austin360 blogs > The Personals road diary > Archives > 2006 > June > 17 > Entry
Nagel sticker vs. my bum!
This is going to be my last week of tour-related blogging, I think. I need to start working on my full-fledged article for the Statesman about the tour. It’s going to run in July with lots of photos that Toby took. Woohoo! Unfortunately, as in this blog, I will not be allowed to curse. Boohoo! I didn’t realize just how much I cursed for emphasis/enthusiasm until I wasn’t allowed to do it (same with when I first took a job working with kids).
Anyway, as you see in the headline, today’s story involves Nagel and my a—. Nagel is the name of one of Toby’s bands. They made their public debut in Toby’s backyard on the fateful night that Kristen went to the hospital. It was supposed to be Tour Eve, and I was in a really good mood. There’s nothing like a good Texas backyard BBQ, with a bunch of your friends and a couple of bands and some croquet for good measure. (I’m really going to miss those this summer in Chicago … sniff.) As Adam and I were leaving to go rest up at The Personals’ headquarters and wait for news of Kristen, I stopped to thank Toby for all the fun.
ME: Awesome party!
TOBY: Thanks! So you’re going on tour tomorrow. I’m so jealous!
ME: You’ve never been on tour before with one of your bands?
TOBY: Nope, never.
ME: We’ll have to plan a tour together next time.
Little did we know how very soon “next time” would be… . But back to Nagel and my a—. A few days had gone by since the BBQ and we were in glorious Madison, Wisconsin. It bears repeating that this night was the drunkest I got. On the way home we stopped for sandwiches at a place Adam used to work (way back when), and I ended up getting a sandwich that had some kind of pork on it, in addition to turkey. I do not eat pork. Period. (OK, extra crispy bacon, but c’mon. That doesn’t count.) I removed the excess meat in the van before I ate the sandwich. I do not recall exactly where I put said extra meat (I was pretty sure I found a trash can, but just the same, I paid careful attention to the smells in the van the rest of the tour). The next day I also did not initially recall going to the sandwich place at all. Toby’s photos indicate that I was definitely there, at least physically. (Kids, don’t try this at home.)
It was in the aforementioned state that I returned to Adam’s brother’s house, where we were staying, and crashed out in the basement. At some point later I decided it would be a good idea to change out of my gross gig clothes (once Adam told me I was “glistening” after we played — that is an extremely nice way to put it). When I took off my plaid pleated miniskirt (you know the one!), I discovered something on the upper left cheek area. Someone had labeled my bum with a Nagel sticker! Specifically, it was the white Nagel sticker that says the band name in a sweeping cursive font and then “The new ‘N’ word” underneath. Clever sticker. Clever placement.
But who would be so smooth and sneaky as to put one on my skirt without me knowing, even the drunken me? Yes, Madison is the show where “Erin was hugging everyone,” according to a DJ/bartender we befriended on myspace. But still. When I asked Adam and Toby about it they had a good laugh. Apparently, Toby had told Adam he was going to put a Nagel sticker “somewhere in the club” and Adam was supposed to find it. (Ah, I do love scavenger hunts. I just wish I could have been included, er, aware that I was included.) Toby took the back of the Nagel sticker off and set the sticker face down on a chair on which I was about to sit. Bingo! It took Adam a while to find it. I kept the sticker on the skirt until last week, when I finally took it to the dry cleaners in Austin. Now I just need to get someone from Nagel to wear a Personals sticker when they play Amsterdam or in international waters!
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