Welcome to day 23 of a 30-day tribute to the history of Duluth's favorite
sons, Bone Appetit. Use the Calendar at right to view days you missed.

At the prodding of Mr. Jizzy Young, Bone Appetit shook off the cobwebs of Duluth life to take to the road in the summer of 2003 for their first-ever tour.

In true Bone Appetit fashion, the band chose a lofty goal of making it all the way out west to Reno, Nevada. This was chosen for two reasons; One, Jizzy's parents moved out there, and two, it's the red-headed stepchild of casino towns and so it seemed an oddly appropriate destination.

The band began the tour in St. Paul at Big V's, a venue they had played before. They drew a respectable crowd of friends and family and sold CDs and several new t-shirts commemorating the tour. It was a fruitful beginning to the tour and the road ahead was looking promising.

The next morning, Bone Appetit gathered at the home of Sudden Death to load up the 10' trailer borrowed from his dad that they would tow to hold their gear on the venture west. The five piled into the Ford Explorer and headed south for fortune and glory.

The next stop on the tour was The Reverb bar in charming Cedar Falls, Iowa. Home base for the band House of Large Sizes, this venue was on the top floor of a building along Main Street. This was unfortunate for members that have large amounts of gear to haul (Double Barrel), but thankfully the band was riding the wave of team spirit and everybody pitched in.

The band set up and opened for Straight Outta Junior High, a young band with more gear than appeal, but it didn't dampen the spirit of the tour at all. A good show was played, the band scored some cheap hamburgers at the bar, and some merchandise was sold. A special treat was an appearance by long-time manager Max Blast, who was rumored to be following the band out west.

Listen to "Too High To Die" recorded live that night at The Reverb below:

Too High To Die.mp3 - 6MB

They left immediately after the show as their next booking would require them to travel around 1,200 miles in a mere two days. Double Barrel attempted the first night's sleep in the way back of the Explorer, huddled in the fetal position. Jizzy volunteered the first drive through the backroads, awaking Barrel around 5:00am on some godforsaken Iowa Interstate to take over.

What followed was hours and hours of the most monotonous driving possible, through the flattest parts of our great country. If the fifty states went to the prom, Nebraska would be the underdeveloped girl in the corner without a date.

Bone Appetit didn't play that night, but instead took refuge in Cheyenne, Wyoming at the first motel off of the highway that they found. It was a lovely room the five stinky musicians inhabited, with a bathroom the size of a broom closet. Of particular interest to the band was a painting that hung over the beds that was a solid field of green paint (apparently covering up the original work). Plans were made to steal the painting but they didn't pan out. The bar across the parking lot provided the group with the small comfort of a cold drink, but in the end Cheyenne was no place to be a rock n' roll band.

They left the next morning and drove through the desolate hills of Wyoming and finally entered the desolate hills of Utah. The band underestimated the size of the western states and in-car boredom ran rampant. Each member had their refuge. Double Barrel had his GameBoy, Richie and Jizzy had books and CDs, and Death had lots of pot. Hot Rod especially suffered though, constantly complaining about the lack of good magazines available at the truck stops along the way and fidgeting constantly. A brief respite of fun for the band was stopping at an authentic Cowboy Town where they snapped this picture.

Unfortunately Cowboy Town had neither cowboys, nor enough people there to really warrant calling it a "town" and so the band was forced back to the highway, still hoping for good times.

Surprisingly enough, when the band rolled into Salt Lake City, Utah for their next gig, they found a shirtless Max Blast working on his Bronco's engine in the club's parking lot. Miraculously he had made it the 20 hours on his own and from then on would become an official part of the tour.

They played that night at Burt's Tiki Lounge, a small but flamboyant punk club on the main road that runs through Salt Lake City. The other act of the night cancelled and so Bone Appetit had the venue to themselves, and properly rocked the handful of patrons that showed up that Thursday.

The exact context is not remembered, but after this show a spat happened between Hot Rod and another member and so the voice of Bone Appetit chose to ride the next leg of the trip with Max Blast instead.

Another all-night drive began throught the stinking salt flats that pockmark the western part of Utah. The long hours in the car were beginning to take a toll on the band and Reno was beginning to seem like a shining oasis awaiting them just over the next hill, if only they could press on just a little further ...