/////THE TOUR JOURNAL/////////

This is my tour journal, or as people say these days, "blog". Whatever the case, this is where I write about my tour experience. I currently work for The Reverend Horton Heat. I'm working on putting together a more comprehensive read/book as time permits. Thanks for checking this out. Make sure to spread the words as they are my life...

Joel Bull

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May 1st, 2010: I'm leaving on May 10th for a month long tour with The Rev. Looking forward to getting back to work and making some money. I will start updating this page as the tour unfolds. Until then...

May 11, 2010 – Texas: (on our way to St. Louis)

Flew into DFW from John Wayne Orange County on a 330 departure. 3.5 hours later I arrived in Dallas. Paul AKA: Dumpster pick me up at the airport with suit and tie on in the monsoon sky windy night. The Honda Civic weathered and the wind popping outside the window as Paul drove to the hotel to check in to my room. We dropped my suitcase and messenger bag at the room and went for sushi. The Lakers, Jazz game 4 was on the flat screen on the wall of the sushi bar as we sat down for some California Rolls, edamame, miso soup, and drinks.
Paul’s friend showed up, a young south American girl with ideas of her own and we all talked and ate sushi and watched the Basket Ball game…
I had time to make it back to my room before the second half started. The Lakers shutout the Utah Jazz in 4 games and are now heading to the Western Conference Finals against the Phoenix Suns. This should be a really good match up because both teams are really good. In the east Cleveland is struggling to beat Boston with the series going into game 6 with Boston having 3 games and Cleveland 2. Orlando is waiting for the winner.
Got up at 1130am and printed shirts for about 4 hours at Jim’s house in Parker. Went for lunch at McDonalds then wrapped things up at Jim’s around 4pm. Paul gave me a ride back to the hotel where I crashed out for a few hours waking up at one point in a panic thinking I was later for something then realizing bus call is at 10pm and going back to sleep. The phone rang and it was room service letting me know there was food cooking down in the lobby and asked if I needed anything. I quickly got out of bed and went down to the lobby and filled up a plate with chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and dinner rolls. It was a tasty dinner.
I watched some of the Cleveland – Boston game 5 then headed to the studio for bus call at 10pm. The merchandise was a lot easier to sort through this time as we have only 6 shirts. In the past it has been very trying because everything has always been in shitty boxes and disarray. Chris has really cleaned things up and he’s really helped out a lot. I’m stoked on that. He also helped with sorting everything tonight before loading the trailer, which really helped me out. I sometimes get very stressed about getting all the merchandise in order. It didn’t take long and we had everything sorted out.

I hung pictures of my girlfriend Kamie in my bunk on the wall with scotch tape. I love her so much. It’s a refreshing kind of love… A beautiful, loving, healthy, nurturing kind of love… I sometimes can’t even believe it. I’m super blessed to have her in my life. I don’t know what I would do without her. And I don’t know how I went this long without knowing her. Sometimes I’m at a total loss as to how I would function without having Kamie in my life… I hope that never happens ever, ever, ever!!!!

5.12.10/St. Louis, MO. 1059PM: Here at the gig smoking a cigar and writing in my journal. Working is awesome! The Rev is on stage right now. Things are going well. This is the first show of this tour. We have five weeks of shows all across America. It’s going to be a stretch… I’m pretty stoked though. I’m jacked on coffee!!

5.14.10/Indianapolis, IN. Vogue Theater: Here we are getting ready for show #3. Cracker & Split Lip Rayfield are on this tour with us. They are all really cool people. I’m stoked because sometimes you can end up with total piles on tour. I’m pretty much in my own world with my merch anyway. I get to set the tone and rules for merch as for setting up so it works out good. And I would always want good treatment if I were opening. Motothead was a bit trying at moments because I would sometimes have to set up on the other side of the venue but Matt Barth was cool the entire time.
I’m switching between typing and freehand. Writing my girlfriend letters and typing for my website. I trip out on Henry Rollins. He really fucking gets it done and stays so busy its really kind of hard to wrap my head around how he pulls it all off. His body of work will be so enormous when he is dead and gone. He will always be remembered. I can only hope to produce half of what he has already done. He is an animal when it comes to work and words and his entire deal.
We’re in Indianapolis and girls talk about wetting the bed from too many drinks. It really does not sound promising in and sense of any word or idea that comes to anything outside of my thoughts of my girlfriend. I am not missing anything at all and to hear a girl talk like that confirms the fact that I am right where I’m supposed to be. The days of free headers and mass jukathons is over for me. I have found so much more in my relationship. It’s so refreshing.
The tour is going well. The first show was trying because it was hot in St. Louis. But then in Kansas City it was cold. I got a headache and felt like shit most of the day. Trying to kill it with caffeine did not work. I took a couple ibuprofens and that made the ache go away. I felt it a little more later in the night… I’m glad it’s gone today.
So here I am… Show #3 is getting underway. I will try to write as much as I can… Monday is my day off and it’s perfect timing for the first game in the Western Conference Finals: Lakers vs. Suns. Gonna be a good series. Cleveland got beat out by Boston so now it’s Boston vs. Orlando in the east. Bring it!!

May 21st, 2010/Buffalo, NY. 154AM: Here I am in Buffalo, New York. This place is desolate. Like a post-war novel or great depression era type of desolation. Here I sit in the hotel waiting for the guys to get back from Canada... I can’t go to Canada anymore. They barred me last time I tried for some shit I did back in 1986. That in it self makes me pretty much hate on Canada. Oh well. Life goes on. I went to an amazing book store today here in Buffalo. Old Editions Bookshop. I bought a Henry Miller book in which there are only 3000 copies in print. Out of those there most like a couple thousand. Who knows where they are. This one is in great condition with the dust cover which I found out is a big deal to have in order for a book to retain its value. The lady that worked at the store was very helpful. I had the chance to look at books that were valued at $2000. It was amazing. Steinbeck, Bukowski, etc. I was in awe…
I walked around downtown Buffalo after the book store. I took pictures and was amazed at how desolate the town is. My father told me there was some water ordeal here some 15 or 20 years ago. Here is some history about Buffalo: Originating around 1789 as a small trading community near the eponymous Buffalo Creek, Buffalo grew quickly after the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, with the city as its western terminus. By 1900, Buffalo was the 8th largest city in the country,[6] and went on to become a major railroad hub,[7] the largest grain-milling center in the country,[8] and the home of the largest steel-making operation in the world.[9] The latter part of the 20th Century saw a reversal of fortunes: Great Lakes shipping was rerouted by the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, and steel mills and other heavy industry relocated to places like China.[10] With the start of Amtrak in the 1970s, Buffalo Central Terminal was also abandoned because no train routes passed through the station, and trains were rerouted to nearby Depew, New York (Buffalo-Depew) and Exchange Street Station. By 1990 the city had fallen back below its 1900 population levels.
I’m grateful for my life.

Memorial Day 2010//New Jersey//May 31//5:09PM: So much has happened… The tour is going well. I have a day off in Hackensack, NJ. The past few weeks have been chocked full of work and play and things great. Not that anything astonishing has taken place, just good times. The more I’m out here on tour with The Rev, the more I realize what an amazing experience this is. We are making history. It’s so much fun out here. There are trying times, just like anything, but for the most part I am very stoked to be working for The Rev & Company. Some great things are coming to pass and I’m happy to be a part of this great opportunity. There is nothing like being respected for who I am. It’s an amazing feeling to belong to a group of people; to feel a part of a great movement. I love it. I don’t really have anything amazing to report other than the aforementioned. It’s nice to have a night off. We always have the days off for the most part while doing a show at night. But it just isn’t the same when you have to work that night and that is why I’m so grateful that we have the night off. We only have four nights off on this tour even though I had an extra day off because I couldn’t get into Canada and three nights of the tour the venue sold for me. Its still work, and I love my work. Going to a meeting here in a little while. I was so stoked being in New York because I got to hit up a meeting in the LES, which I hadn’t been to in a long time.

June 1st, 2010//New Jersey//12:11AM: Watching TV can be a brutal thing. I like sports. That’s all I really watch. Or something to do with music. But this American Idol stuff is for the wannabe compulsive jerk-off from douche-baggery land! It’s just so annoying. I didn’t even watch it. I’ve never watched it. I saw some of it on Larry King Live. Most of the shows these days are just whack. But that’s my opinion and everyone has one. It’s too much for me to keep up with.
I was talking with Jim (The Rev) about jazz guitar players. He is so knowledgeable. It’s amazing talking to him about music. He knows so much. Like I said before, this is history in the making… I’m stoked to be a part of it. But the thing about my involvement in anything is the fact that I don’t retain things well. My memory is one that doesn’t remember. I know that is terrible for a write. But that is why I have to write about my own views and everything I experience and throw in the few things I can remember that people say. Oh well. I like what I’m writing about. I’m sure it could have more of this and that and what Jim was talking about but like I’ve said, it’s hard to remember what people say.
My beard is getting huge. I’m smoking cigars. I spent a bunch of money today at the mall. I sometimes wonder where it’s all going… I have some great things in the works… I have to stay on top of my game. I will. See ya on the other side. Be home in 10 days… Stoked!!

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Joel Hendricks AKA Joel Bull is an old friend of mine. He's one of the dude's who helped me get Compound Radio up and running. Joel enjoys being on the road, depressing literature, rejection from super hot chicks, chubby chasing, and the basic scum baggery of a semi-young American man on the road with zero responsibility. The best part about it all is that he writes about it to share with us all. No Filter, No Filler, No Future............Joel Bull.

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