Post your Dave and Buster's Road Diary

[Mike Teacher]

[A new thread for this?! Well, move it if ya want, but hey, I write a lot, and I wanna hear some other road stories from people who were there; fill in for people who missed it; I missed about half]

Road Diary: Dave and Busters; Aug 1 2003

Noon: Car is set; French Bread Pizza needs a ride, ugh I gotta leave Now if I'm gonna beat traffic. Soar-ee Frenchy.If I'm lucky I'll be there around 3.

5pm: So much for luck. Rain is pouring, the traffic is horrific but I'm here. Anyone who left for the show from NY in the afternoon may well miss the whole damn thing. The Beltway eastbound was a parking lot. I Go inside; this place frigging Rocks. This place is huge; I mean huge enough that 75% of the place won't even be aware of the event. I'd live in a place like this; get one up here to the Jersey Shore. The crew is setting up, I try to stay out of the way. I meet all the people that everyone loves to rip on; and while maybe they deserve it sometimes, right now they're working there asses off setting up.

Sound systems; wireless Mics, Kareoke Set-up; tables; getting cables out of the way; Giveaways, setting up tables for sign-ups; Fairy-oke; Signs put up for this, that, etc. I meet El Jefe, Jafter, New Rory, J Dubs, Wendell and a few others who faces I have but whose names are outta my memory. The crew rocks, very friendly to this stranger. I take some pics outside, then inside of the set-up; I get the Crew onstage for a photo; hope the pics come out.

6-ish: R+F are here checking things out. Fez sees me and says Hi! Gives me a hug. He always does. How cool is that? They look psyched. Fez tries the Harper Valley PTA on-stage for about 20 people. Those who don't know what's going on have the `what's going on?' expression. Those are NOT easy lyrics; and Fez has added some of his own! I wonder how many people think the `I sang this when my parents would be fighting to get them to stop' story is a joke. It's not. One of the many reasons Ron mentions on-air how he'd love to wack Fez's Mom and Dad.

People are showing up slowly. This is the part where I wonder if Anyone at all will show. I've been at these before working at other stations and it happens. Even if you see 200 people in line an hour before, part of you says they're here for something else, no ones gonna show, it's gonna blow.

6:30: My Perry-noia is foundless; people are showing up in good numbers. I'm seeing cue sticks, I'm meeting people. The vibe is good. Well sorta good. I'm worried about the crowd. Are they just gonna stand there? Because right now they're.just standing there. This is Not the buzz of shows before: this is a new audience in a new city, and the first time a lot of these people have come to a R+F event ever. You can tell that many of the folks have absolutely No idea who Ron and Fez are, some are asking me where they are, and I'm like, `next to you'.

There's a backstage but it seems R+F aren't using it. Ends up they do the whole night right out in the open; nice!

6:55: OK I'm freaking out. It's less then 10 minutes to showtime and the place is filling up Real Good; but way in the back with the Booze! There's a stage area down front and then you step up to the bar in back; and Everyone is back there. R+F are gonna open up to what? An empty floor with people 60 feet back waving hi?! People are asked to come down in front. I'm down in front yelling to others to come down in front. I feel like the San Diego Chicken. Maybe they thought they needed permission, Ha! Here they come.

Showtime: Ron and Fez take the stage; the Crew counting down from 2 minutes:

The audience: 50% here and psyched to see the show; 50% here and I have no idea if theyre here to cheer them on or stare blankly. There's a crowd, but not as noisy as events past. But this is essentially at a Mall, not in a Club or Bar, and 200 people haven't been drinking since 4pm so the audience is not the loudest ever. Drink dammit!

Me: Praying that these people will make some noise. Strangely nervous. I take my nerves out by yelling WooooHOOOO a lot.

The Crew: runnin

[GaryWyze]

[color=purple]Well, I didn't make the trip, but here's my Dave & Buster's diary.

6:59PM - Watched the end of the Simpsons, turned off the television.

7:00PM - Got up off the sofa, walked into the bedroom, got the stream going, turned the speakers up.

7:01PM - took a piss, popped a couple of advils-for-flu. May have washed hands. Probably not.

7:02PM - Heading back towards the living room, I made a quick detour into the kitchen. Grabbed a Gatorade. Melon, of course.

7:02 and 37 secondsPM - Back in the living room, on the sofa, waiting for the show to start.

7:05PM thru 10:45PM - Listened to the show, talked on the phone a bit to some Ron & Fez show refugees, had a couple of rice krispie treats.

I like your diary better.

<center>http://czm.racknine.net/images/krustysig.jpg

Much thanks to CZM for the killer

This message was edited by GaryWyze on 8-2-03 @ 9:51 PM

[Mike Teacher]

Yeah but you didn't De1ete you Sig Pic from your FTP space on AOL [1nsert laugh here]; trying to make room to host pictures.

I suck!!





<IMG SRC="http://members.aol.com/miketeachr/MikeTheTeacher">

[TooCute]

My diary will be considerably shorter:

12 PM: Pack up the car, say bye to the dogs, head out.

1 PM: Finally get to NJ. Run into torrential rain that lasts about half an hour. Traffic moving at about 20 miles an hour.

2 PM: Monsoon-like rain.

3 PM: Exit 8A. Traffic. Drizzle. On advice of stickyfingers, decide to take 295 instead of 95 through the rest of NJ.

4 PM: Finally get to exit 7A, where we can cross over. Too bad stickyfingers didn't know about the construction. But at least it is moving (at about 30 mph).

4:15 PM: Typhoon. This is worse than Bangladesh. This continues until we get halfway into Maryland.

5 PM: ...I'm in Delaware.

6 PM: Passing Baltimore.

7 PM: Realize that mapquest is dumb, and the same exit can't take you to both college park and silver springs. Figure it out, head back.

7:30 PM: Arrive at hotel across street from D&B

8:30 PM: After a well needed shower (my jeep has no A/C) we arrive at D&B. Immediately spot Stickyfingers & Katie; He's won his first round game. He goes on to come in second in the tournament overall.

Rest of the night: A lot of vodka, a lot of chatting with a lot of great folks. Later, after the show, we hit the video games. My favorite used to be Tekken 3. I've never played Tekken 4. At the end of the night I finally get on the machine, where three short asian fellows are playing. One of them beats me the first time around, and I walk away (what's with having only four buttons total? I was a little perplexed). His friend calls me back and says hey, you have another game still... so I play again. Easily kick the guys ass now that I pick a new character (the punchy guy. I was so disaapointed that they no longer have Eddie Gordo!). Then I play two round against the computer. Then another one of the asian trio hops in. I kick his ass. The I kick his friend's ass. Then I go on to win a bunch of rounds against the computer. The panda finally beat me; at this point D&B was already closed and we were the last folks left in there!

The Chairman & I and Stickyfingers & Katie & Mikeyboy head back to the hotel. The Chairman and Stickyfingers drink an entire bottle of bacardi between them. We stayed up until 5 AM playing the cover song game where you listen to covers and you have to be the first one to guess the song/artist. I won! Yay!


Anyhow, ALL of the DC people I met were supernice and so friendly; Jafter in particular was running around the whole itme making sure everyone was doing ok and things were running smoothly - big big big kudos to him. R&F spent most of their time mingling with folks, but it was so great to see the show!


The drive home was less eventful. We spent the afternoon with Stickyfingers & katie in Baltimore basically being tourists despite our best efforts not to be; there was a Red Sox/Orioles game so the entire harbor was crawling with Sox fans and their kids. We ate in some retardedly crowded food court because we asked three independent local people where the best crab cakes were and they told us they were at Phil's, in the food court. The line was an hour and a half, of course, so we never actually got them. Didn't make it to the aquarium, either, as the earliest time they were letting folks in was 7:30 PM and we didn't feel like killing that much more time in Baltimore. Got back in about 4 1/2 hours; easy drive. Yay!

I guess this was more of a road diary than a D&B diary - oh well!


<img src=http://thereisnogod.faithweb.com/images/toocute2.gif>
!! 2% !!<font color=FBF2F7>

[stickyfingers]

11 am-recieve a call from my best girl, Katie, telling me that its time to get the show on the road (psyched up)

12 noon-on the road and making a number of calls to Too Cute and The Chairman trying to get our bearings and formulate a plan.

1:30 pm-A little traffic and rain near the Del Mem Br nothing like the other two would see in about 1 and a half later

2 pm-...I'm in Delaware.

5 pm- arrive at the White Flint Mall and make our way to D & B's on the third floor and i must say that this place is huge (its damn near a floor of a mall)...eat wings, enter pool tournament, feel the place out.

6pm- hotel check in, walking distance from DB's, go to the event, get up there, as I walk in Ron and Fez are casing the joint and I walk right into them...have a nice little convo with them and hand Ronny his cigar which he would smoke the remainder of the evening (it was quite a good one...wink, wink)...talk to Mike the Teacher, Jafter, AJ, and get set up with Ed, my waiter for the evening who was awesome, and realize that I left my pool stick back at the hotel, walk back, come back and that brings us to the 7 o'clock hour

7pm- show starts and now I am in the pool tournament, i am about 2 vodka and cranberries deep and counting...had to calm the nerves...i am the first game on the one of the 4 tables...it was a really tough game against a fellow named Darrin...pull it off...go watch the show for a bit and continue to pester Ed for drinks(he would cooperate)

8pm- 2nd round of the tourney I am now playing a fellow named Carl and I take this one in convincing fashion...getting a little excited now...(the show is going great...Fez loses in Skee Ball to a blind woman, Blind Courtney, who is not blind IMO)

9pm- we are trying to make the tournament last till the end of the show so things are slowing up a bit...now the tournament is down to 8 people...i play a young man named michael who I get lucky to beat...its down to 4 people...they bring us on stage. Ronnie introduces the first 3 who had normal names like Jake L., Angelo C., Dave M.....then he gets to me and he gives me a big intro like I am somebody important, "From RonFez.net its Stickyfingers *crickets* I don't think the crowd had any clue who I was (not that they should) and then I made a joke towards fezzie which I thought was good but I was the only one who thought so

10 pm-Final Four time...I play a dude named Angelo and play as well as i have ever played to win 2 games to 1(best two of three at this point)....wow its down to 2...myself and a guy named Jake...Ronnie comes out to talk to us. I am representing New York and Jake is repping DC. Oh man its NY vs. DC. Ronnie is sure to mention that. This is pressure.

The final game(s) begin...its again best 2 of 3. I am nervous and also about 10 VC's and 3 beers deep but its still good. it took me about 7 seconds to realize that Jake is a god damn pool shark. He runs the table on me in the 1st game. Oh shit! Then he breaks to start the 2nd game and gets all but 2 of his own balls and the 8-ball in. Its my turn and I do not want to get shut out 2-0. I step up like I got a set and proceed to run all of my balls and the 8-ball off the table. Damn it was so exciting. I would say that at least 75 people were watching the game while the show is going on. So now its the final game for all the marbles...Ed brings me two VC's on his wallet, awesome. And so it begins. Its a back and forth game. It gets really close the end and I have a couple balls on the table while Jake only has the 8-ball left. Its my turn and I have to try a bank shot. It was close but i missed it, setting Jake up with an easy shot on the 8. He made one more ball than me so I was Less Than Jake. If i had made the bank shot, the easy shot would've been mine. Oh well, second place, first loser...it was a great time. And as we determined later in the night I was the real winner in life minus the surround sound system from Guitar Center.

11pm-my CYuhhhh....gets on the air....the show ends and the madness begins

[Mike Teacher]

Wow;

I hope it's not coming across like 'road diary' means you came from far away.

I don't care if ya live next to White Flint if you were there I'd like to hear what ya saw.

I got there early and left before the end; and sticky and too cute get there late and party all night. Sounded like more fun later...sigh...

Damn I miss booze.

<IMG SRC="http://members.aol.com/miketeachr/MikeTheTeacher">

[french bread pizza]

thursday/friday: beg for rides and beg and plead for a ride and cry and beg and plead for a ride. (should have started earlier..my bad)

friday 4:00pm:: sulk for the rest of the night

9:00pm: go to bed sulking, peeing every 30 min, constipated from the vitamins, thinking about all the good times i'm missing out on



http://sigup.com/sigs/sig_frenchy.gif

[Travis_Angel]

4 pm: leave work, intending to get both a haircut and a new shirt for the appearance and because really, I needed both

4:45 pm: arrive at the thrift realizing that due to the very heavens themselves being loosed upon our corner of the planet, I'd likely not have time for the haircut- also I need to fix the small leak in the weatherstripping on the passenger side door of my car

5:15 pm: clad in a glorious golden soccer jersey that just screams "HEY DRUNK GIRL FALL ON ME AND PUT MY NUMBER IN YOUR PHONE UNDER TPAVS", I head back towards ROCKVILLE (not Bethesda really kthx) and to the Dave and Busters

5:50 pm: I arrive at the room where the show will be broadcast from- El Jefe, Dubs and Spoon chuckle as they explain to me that it's a "SISSY" karaoke contest I've entered

6:20 pm: hey look it's Ron and Fez and man does Fez look like Teddy Roosevelt

TIMES GET FUZZY FROM HERE AS DADDY'S MEDICINE IS DOLED OUT AT LIKE $2.50 A GLASS

- Mike Teacher wore a nametag and was about, hm, 10 feet tall...like a human-looking Richard Kiel

- holy shit Pat Tanaka holy shit someone shrunk him

- hey 2cute isn't fat or ugly as I'd assumed (Don and Mike "hot girls" are almost always busted)

- whoa hot girls here, and they dig the shirt (see above)

- I lost the "fairy" competition but on some level I don't feel at all bad about this

- after the show and numerous drinks this girl who knows my friend Janne introduces me to Ron

- I wander the midway with Ron and both he and Fez watch me play Star Wars virtual (kinda awkwardish)

- I shake hands with everyone including some goofy kids who wrote their aol screennames on nametags or something and drive drunk to Wendy's but all I can get is fries because I'm a pescatarian and I think their chili has beef

- I pass out on my bed after calling ex-girlfriends on my cell phone at like 2am

yeah


______________________
A Spaceknight like Rom, consume planets like Unicron, blasting photon bombs from the arm like Galvatron

This message was edited by Travis_Angel on 8-4-03 @ 12:35 PM

[mikeyboy]

I was down in DC all week for work, so I'll spare all of you by starting with Friday afternoon.

5:00 - arrive on metro at the Greenbelt metro center and pick up my car to find that the rain is pouring down. I'm armed with mapquest directions to pick up Courtney and take her to Dave and Busters.

5:05 - Crap. realize that the mapquest directions are completely wrong. I attempt to call Courtney from my cell phone, but get no service on my cell phone. Traffic is at a standstill

5:20 - I find an exit for Greenbelt off of the beltway and stop at a gas station for directions.

5:30 - Pick up Courtney and head out to D&B. Traffic is much faster going the other direction on the Beltway and opens up completely once 95 North shoots off.

6:00 - arrive at D&B. I'm first greeted by Jafter and AJinDC who sign me for the pool tournament and give me a name tag. I head into the room for the show. El Jefe, J Dubs and co., are running around getting everything ready. I find Courtney a seat at one of the JFK staff tables sh she has a spot to listen to the show. Ron & Fez come over to say hi.

6:15 - We've got some time to kill before the show. Courtney mentions that, despite the fact that she's blind, she enjoys skee-ball. Armed with a power card, we head to the midway for some skee-ball.

6:20 - I swipe the card through one machine for Courtney and one for me. Courtney proceeds, to Dr0p one ball after another into the center circles of the her skee-ball machine. 50 points - 40 points - 30 points, again and again. I look at my own score. She's beaten me handily. We play again. Beaten again. Twice more. Beaten twice more. Her technique is to bounce it off of the left rail and it Dr0ps nicely in the center of the board. It's like some kind of super Daredevil skee-ball sense. We play three more time, and I win those, but the damage has already been done.

6:40 - we head back to the broadcast room. I mentioned to Ron that I've been beaten four times at skee-ball by a blind woman. This may or may not have given him the inspiration to have Courtney challenge Fez to skee-ball during the show.

6:50 - I get Courtney set up at her table and get ready for the pool tournament.

7:00 - The show starts, and the place goes wild. Fez does a very entertaining rendition of "Harper Valley PTA"

7:15 - I head back and watch the pool tournament and get ready to play.

7:45 - I'm up.

7:50 - I'm out.

8:00 - I head back in and enjoy the rest of the show. I get a bite to eat. I got to meet and/or hang out with the Chairman, Too Cute, Guttersnipe/Cherrynoid, Perrynoid, Cybersoldier, Def Dave in DC, Yerdaddy, RageCage, Zardoz, Stickyfingers, Katie, Cigar Sid, and others.

11:00 - Show's over. Everybody had a great time. I spend some more time on the midway and talking to people. I got Courtney in a cab and sent her home. Eventually D&B closed down, so I headed across the street and hung out in a hotel room with TooCute, the Chairman, Stickyfingers and Katie.

2:15 - called it a night.

<IMG SRC="http://www.angelfire.com/film/mikeyboy/sig14.jpg">
I'm hiding out in the big city blinking
Subscriber to Dignan's 40 year plan
2%

[SatCam]

5:52pm: boot up the computer because my sister didnt want to bring me to DC. Mix a couple of imaginary drinks in imaginary glasses and sip imaginary beer.
6:50: psycked. turn on "radio"
7:02: stop what I'm doing to savor the moment.
7:05: recover
9:00: left for some short business
9:20: return home and continue listening
10:42: stop what I'm doing to savor the moment.
11:00: recover
5:45am: retire.

<IMG SRC="http://members.aol.com/satelitecam/images/sig50_general_conan.jpg" align=right><div align=left><img src=http://members.hometown.aol.com/_ht_a/satelitecam/images/line.gif align=right><b>Linx</b>
<A HREF=http://www.satelitecam.tk>Ron and Fez Dr0ps and Bits</A>
<a href=http://www.oldronandfezpages.tk>WNEW Ron and Fez Pages</a>

<b>The Cam's News:</b>
<b>-</b>I am available to make a sig for your needs
<b>-</b>My sig is EVOL!!!</div>[color=White]

[guttersnipe]

- hey 2cute isn't fat or ugly as I'd assumed (Don and Mike "hot girls" are almost always busted)

No, she's tall and thin and absolutely mind-bendingly beautiful. And just plain nice, too. (So glad I finally got to meet her!) But she's a don & mike fan? I thought I was the only one here who was. Or at least the only one with enough brass ovaries to admit it!

~guttersnipe: Miss Don & Mike 1989!



<img src=http://www.charm.net/~imp/me/nightmaresig.jpg</img>

[curtoid]

Actually, I always thought Too Cute was an O&A fan from way back.

No, she's tall and thin and absolutely mind-bendingly beautiful. And just plain nice, too. (So glad I finally got to meet her!) But she's a don & mike fan? I thought I was the only one here who was. Or at least the only one with enough brass ovaries to admit it!

Mmmmm...brass ovaries...

:eg:

[KOP]

This message was edited by KOP on 8-5-03 @ 8:06 AM

[Travis_Angel]

Actually, I always thought Too Cute was an O&A fan from way back.

No, she's tall and thin and absolutely mind-bendingly beautiful. And just plain nice, too. (So glad I finally got to meet her!) But she's a don & mike fan? I thought I was the only one here who was. Or at least the only one with enough brass ovaries to admit it!

calrification: I've never been to a R&F event before, so my only experience with radio show fans was with the cows that appear at D&M events...hence I presumed it'd be the same deal Friday night

I was pleasantly surprised

though I spent more time focusing on broads without guys on their arms (fwiw I'd hit it though)


I doubt she listens to D&M as she lives in a market where they're not aired...


I need to remember that not everyone thinks like me, I think...*shrug*


______________________
A Spaceknight like Rom, consume planets like Unicron, blasting photon bombs from the arm like Galvatron

[french bread pizza]

[font=Trebuchet MS]calrification: I've never been to a R&F event before, so my only experience with radio show fans was with the cows that appear at D&M events...hence I presumed it'd be the same deal Friday night

I was pleasantly surprised

though I spent more time focusing on broads without guys on their arms (fwiw I'd hit it though)


I doubt she listens to D&M as she lives in a market where they're not aired...



all the true ron and fez girls are beautiful beautiful people..inside and out..

http://sigup.com/sigs/sig_frenchy.gif

[curtoid]

I need to remember that not everyone thinks like me, I think...*shrug*

It was a natural assumption - I figured what you were talking about/where you were coming from; from the scuttle on some other message boards and news lists, I knew a lot of fans of other local shows would post an appearance.

all the true ron and fez girls are beautiful beautiful people..inside and out..

Very true!

It might not be obvious right now, but R&F are making ha-uge in-roads on the DC market right now; a lot of people (and not just 17 year olds down in Prince William County) are discovering Ron and Fez (or in some cases re-discovering, as many have been familiar with the for a long time).

As grueling and evil as doing the 5 hour split shift, it is helping get their name and voice out there - I really think in a year they can own this town.

[KOP]

This message was edited by KOP on 8-5-03 @ 10:02 AM

[TooCute]

Thanks for the compliments :blush:

I AM an O&A fan from way back, and I DID listen to D&M (but I wouldn't call myself a fan) for a long time... actually on our little road trip we listened to some D&M and I actually felt a little nostalgic...

and snipe, youshould your eye-sigpic back up, you really do have the most beautiful eyes!!!

<img src=http://thereisnogod.faithweb.com/images/toocute2.gif>
!! 2% !!<font color=FBF2F7>

[Travis_Angel]

the younger fanbase was certainly a nice surprise...

fwiw Don Geronimo is really spiralling into madness, so maybe the drive time slot- wait- no- that's blasphemy

but yeah I dug the crowd and got a few numbazzz
(of course I was the hottest guy there, but, ya know)

hopefully the next event will be off-air (trust me, it'd be more fun that way)


______________________
A Spaceknight like Rom, consume planets like Unicron, blasting photon bombs from the arm like Galvatron

[curtoid]

the younger fanbase was certainly a nice surprise...

One reason I love R&F so much is that while they do appeal to "the younger fanbase," they don't alienate the older set. It is really a rare beast that can cut across so many time zones like they do. Kids don't feel like they are listening to their dad's show / adults don't feel the hosts are being posers.

"Two great tastes that taste great together..."

Now I'm hungry.

[KOP]

[Travis_Angel]

yeah the knock people always put on Don and Mike when I bring them up is "it's like listening to my uncle talk"...

also Ron and Fez are much more accessible (ie: not scared of their fans) and "hip" to trends among twentysomethings as opposed to doing 20 minute bits about Hogans Heroes (which I love but then, I'm 24 going on 55)

______________________
A Spaceknight like Rom, consume planets like Unicron, blasting photon bombs from the arm like Galvatron

[Mike Teacher]

It is really a rare beast that can cut across so many time zones like they do. Kids don't feel like they are listening to their dad's show / adults don't feel the hosts are being posers.


Quite possibly the Best description of the show ever, at least it sure rings dead on for me, and it IS a Beast.

<IMG SRC="http://members.aol.com/miketeachr/MikeTheTeacher">