Date Line New York City 6:08 p.m. Road Journals #6 High Jinks of Vincent, "The Wrap Up."

As I look out my window I can see the last remnants of the sunset behind the twinkling lights of the office buildings in Jersey. The Hudson River is a dark molten blue and the Empire State Building is lit up all in red as my boys are speeding due south to the safety and comforts of their loved ones in their hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. I miss them already by golly, I have said it once and I will say it again, I have come to love those boys because they are the best bunch of fellas I have ever had the pleasure of working with.

Let's pick up our story where we left off, as we were barreling down the road toward Montreal. It was cold as a witch's tit and that ain't no lie. We were pretty well hung over from a night of boozing and schmoozing at Mark's place in Toronto. Once again it would be an all day hellish drive but by now we were used to it. We had become true road dawgs and as any good road dawg will tell you, there is nothing finer than gas fumes, coffee and road dirt. We pulled into Montreal and preceded to hit the Jameson with a vengeance. All day I was saying how good that first shot was gonna be, and it was. The bartenders where a pair of hot tattooed babes and we seemed to put some pep in their step. The Il Motore was new to having concerts and they were jazzed that we were there.  The club looked cool and the opening band was from Ottawa and they seemed like a nice bunch of lads.

After some tasty pizza and more shots the place began to fill up to capacity, it was gonna be a rocking good night. Oliver the promoter was a stand-up guy and he treated us real nice. Soon it was time for the Gentleman Jesse Paul Collins road show to begin. By now we were a well oiled machine and both bands took the stage and ate it up alive. Every time I watch Jesse and the boys play I like them more. They are a kick ass rock n' roll band with great songs and Jesse is just one of the nicest guys to ever front a band. I love it when he shakes his head like the Beatles and gives it his all. I am so proud to be working with him. Our set has become like greased lightening and we just plow through it non stop until the crowd is whipped up into an ecstasy of pure pop delight as they go nuts to "Walking Out on Love," our final number. After hanging out and chatting with the fans it was time to once again load our gear out into the sub zero weather.

Oliver told us that he couldn't find a place for us to crash, so he would pay for a hotel. This brightened everybody's spirits because we are all in need of a good hot shower and a good nights sleep. Well remember that little reference to Warren's speech about how hotels were all the same in the last journal? Now he was gonna have to eat his words. The Saint Jacque's Motel has nothing at all to do with any saint unless its one that has had to stay in the worst hotels ever perpetrated on man. This place couldn't even afford to be called a dump. One room still had the blood stains from some bad situation on its walls. We were too tired to complain so we went to bed and had strange dreams of demons and saints battling it out in the frozen tundra. The boys decided to take the two identical framed landscapes home as a memento.

In the morning we headed the Silver Bullet towards the United States of Obama hoping that we would not have to go through what we did getting into Canada on the way out. We didn't and the boarder Patrol Guy was super cool as he waved us through so we could make tracks for Boston, or Bean Town as I like to call it. Once again we were rolling all day and we pulled into The Middle East with just enough time to load in, sound check and chow down. It was still brutally cold out so the Jameson was not a luxury but more like a necessity to ward off the freezing cold. I was pretty toasted after dinner so I did my usual and crashed out while the band busied themselves with one thing or another. We were playing with The Tampoffs and Joe was a good buddy of the band so I am sure they were catching up on old times.

The show at the Middle East was good but it was nothing like the shows in Canada or Chicago or Milwaukee. The place was packed but the audience was very stoic, its funny because later on, when we got back home to my place and I showed Jesse and the boys my tour diary from The Nerves first tour, I had said the exact same thing about playing the Rat some 30+ years ago! We kicked ass as usual and loaded out our gear in the freezing weather and headed over to Joe's house where we chilled out in his warm cozy townhouse. I got the royal treatment as I had a room to myself so I could get a goods nights sleep.

The next day it was business as usual and we spent most of the day driving to New York and Hoboken to play Maxwell's. We hit the city at about sunset and it was beautiful cruising down the Hudson River and onto the George Washington Bridge. We finally got to the club and loaded in for another night of rock n' roll, but we all knew that it wasn't just another night. This was going to be the last show of this our first tour of the Gentleman Jesse Paul Collins Beat Road Show extravaganza! We knew that this was an important gig because it would be our only New York area performance. Things were looking up when Todd told us that there were 75 advance tickets sold, so we went to the bar and had our habitual shots of Jameson, the official drink of choice on the Gentleman Jesse Paul Collins Beat road show.

The place packed out pretty good and Jesse and the boys put on a rocking good show. There were a lot of their buddies in the crowd, Jeremy and Eric from the Busy Signals were there, Murat from The Electric Shadows was there, my good buddy Rick Wagner from the db's and the Paul Collins Band was on hand and a host of other friends and family, even my brother and his girlfriend showed up. Terre T. was in the crowd and she agreed to bring the boys on. I could tell that Jesse and the band were giving it their all for the last show. Then it was my turn to prove to a New York audience that I still had what it took.

I lead the band through the set and we cranked it out song after song like a freight train from power pop hell. New York audiences are kinda like Boston audiences, they are appreciative but they don't move much. We had a good time anyway and by the end of the night we were drinking Margaritas with my cousin Connie at Tortilla Flats around the corner from my house. In true New York fashion we parked the Silver Bullet right in front of my house, threw the Security Guard twenty bucks and headed upstairs to my house.

The next morning we were back on the trail, we left the Silver Bullet where it was and took the Path train over to the WFMU headquarters. Terre T. met us at the door. Terre is one good looking DJ, long legs and a fabulous figure, dressed to the nines in her very cool vintage outfit complete with a white leather belt. She was  a treat to be with. We checked our sound on their gear and had some strong coffee and sandwiches all provided by Terre and her lovely assistants. Jesse and his men turned in a great set, which is not an easy thing to do at 3:30 in the afternoon when you have been up half the night rocking and a rolling. After a short break we came on, I had given Terre a set list and told her she could just call out the songs as she thought fit. The show felt great and after Terre interviewed me about my chequered past we had all agreed days ago that after the radio show we were going to get trashed. It was the legendary last night of the tour party. We hot footed it back to my place and picked up supplies on the way, a bottle of Jameson, 3 bottles of red wine and a good bottle of Champagne. Then we stopped at Dagastino's to get the rest of our meal:  Angus Young steaks, Yukon Gold potatoes, lettuce stuff and a big bottle of Coke for Dave. When we got home we corked the Champagne and had a nice toast to ourselves. Then we laid out all the cash we had made and each one of us took turns rolling around in it. There was a lot of green flying around the house!

Warren and I started to get dinner ready while Jesse counted out the dough into 5 piles, it felt good that we were doing it that way, an even split right down the middle five ways. The steaks and potatoes where delicious and we washed it down with really good red wine. After dinner we had multiple shots and Jesse got out my old Nerves suit and tried it on, it was a perfect fit! The boys wanted to get out and kick up their heels so we headed over to Brooklyn where Eric from the Busy Signals was DJing. We got stinking drunk and came home at 6 in the morning. New York rules! I was so happy to have all the boys with me in my house, the house that rock built. I live in Westbeth the largest and oldest artists residence in the world!

Next morning the boys slept-in and then it was out the door for a last minute shopping spree. Warren needed to get something sexy for Jayda and Jesse needed to satisfy his vinyl junkie fix. We headed over to the East Village hitting up all the record shops on the way. Dave was dying for a burger from Paul's on 2nd Ave. so we headed over there and chowed down while Jesse and Adrian bought all the plastic they could find. Soon it was time to say goodbye, and we all dreaded it. This tour had been a complete mind fuck for all of us. We had logged thousands of miles and rocked the house from Atlanta all the way to New York and no one wanted it to end. As I sit here alone in my crib, I miss them and I wish them God Speed as they speed back home.

All the High Jinks Of Vincent come flooding back, the road games with making up words for letters like HOV (High Occupancy Vehicles) just like when we were kids, the constant references to Bum Sperm, the daily fecal report from the band members, the piss stops, the smoke stops, the gas stops, the couches and the floors and the trashy motels all mixed in with high octane rock n' roll. Thirteen days of rock n' roll and not one single argument. Just good times and kick ass rock n' roll. It was a trip to remember, it was a trip to do again, and we will. West Coast Gentleman Jesse Paul Collins Beat road show continues this summer...