Grand Rapids, Michigan - 2010-07-08
Jeff Schroeder

http://buzzbands.la/2010/07/08/smashing-pumpkins-communing-in-grand-rapids/
(lookup on archive.org)

Grand Rapids, Michigan: We arrived at our hotel in Grand Rapids around 7 a.m., I pretty much went straight to bed. I usually try not to sleep on the bus. I guess I'm not that comfortable with communal sleeping quite yet. But this is a blog about the band and the tour, not my neuroses.

We had the day off yesterday and it's always a challenge to find something to do. After waking up and grabbing some coffee, I stepped outside into the not-so-California-like humidity of Grand Rapids. Armed with my tote bag full of who knows what, I began to wander around the downtown area looking for something to do, maybe find a nice cafe or something. I walked for about 20 minutes or so, started getting really hot, really tired, and really depressed. Not much happening here on a Wednesday morning, I thought. I was about to return to the more comfortable albeit somewhat lonely confines of my hotel room when I suddenly wandered upon this sign: Ladies Literary Club. One of the best afternoons of my life. Just unbelievable.

And yes, I just made all of the that up.

The truth is, I woke up, ordered lunch, and went over Billy's room to watch Germany play Spain in the World Cup semi-finals. The damn octopus! After the game, we did the usual: record-shopping. We ended up at one of the weirdest record stores I've ever visited, Dodd's. Mr. Dodd has owned this place since 1951, and from the way it looks inside, probably not much has changed since then. The strangest thing about the store is that Dodd shrink-wraps every used record and writes that it is in mint condition when clearly it is not.

After record-shopping, we met up with the rest of the gang (and yes, we are a gang these days) for a nice dinner (I'm much more comfortable with communal dinners than communal sleeping). The restaurant we ate at, in addition to having good food and excellent cocktails, had a small but decent collection of '80s video games, which we played after eating. I must admit, I'm a little pissed because the joystick on the Galaga machine was sticking a little and totally screwed me from getting the high score. Whatever?

See you tonight.

Source: BuzzBands.LA