BigYawn

Crystal Stilts were supposed the be the headliners on this bill, but they bailed due to “transportation issues.” Sure, I guess I’ll buy that. They will be back in few weeks opening for Comet Gain. We’ll leave it at that, but I find the events, interesting. Nuff sad…

Who I did catch that impressed me were locals True Womanhood(50), who as one attentive audience member mumbled, upon learning Crystal Stilts were no longer playing, “True Womanhood, don’t they play every week?” While I can neither confirm nor deny that fact, I can say I have seen their name thrown around a few times of late. But, I’m happy to say that it appears they are getting all these opportunities because they are actually fucking good!

If anyone remembers Nethers, the indie-folkish DC band that has not done much of anything the last year (though they do check their myspace page from time to time), these two bands would truly make for one Hell of a bill, assuming of course you didn’t slit your wrists out of despair. This version of understated melodramatic rock can get as emotional as the next Ted Leo tune, but in a much different way. I thought I missed a couple songs due to the long line of chagrins getting in, but I apparently did catch the whole set and it was surprisingly impressive. According to the band, they just condensed to a trio after dumping their second guitarist via e-mail. This act wouldn’t be so cold if they didn’t all grow up together. That’s frigid, and I think it makes me like these guys even more.

I was pretty excited to see Women(51) based on their S/T debut album from last year. The band is a bit of a throwback, I can’t help but think of the Animals or the Rascals when I hear their music. Maybe it is the way it is recorded, the way they use the guitar, who knows, but they sound like a band well out of their time. While they don’t really have the garage type sound the above two bands carry with them, you certainly hear the typical jangly guitars pretty regularly.

Sadly, the band wasn’t as exciting live. It makes sense, they certainly don’t sound like they would have a lot of live energy, and that’s really where they fell short on stage. The songs were good, and “Black Rice” still sounded pretty damn cool, but beyond that nothing seemed particularly deliberate or impressive, almost like they were going through the motions, which is really too bad. I can see a lot of potential in this band, hopefully they figure out how to translate their recorded music into an interesting live show.

This was an interesting show, as I started to think more about why I’m doing this whole 333 Band thing. I see the youth and talent of a band like True Womanhood, and I wonder, am i just trying to live vicariously through the bands I’m watching?

Sorry for that Jack Handy moment, might get a few of them from time to time.

After driving back and forth to NYC the day/night before, it took a lot to get me out to this show. Not because I wasn’t interested, but what we had here were three bands I had heard little of, most of which was from headliner Airborne Toxic Event(49). But, a commitment is a commitment, and I was getting in for free. The results were more or less what I expected, which was a mixed bag all around.

Henry Clay People(47) are a band from LA, the same “scene” that birthed the Airborne Toxic Event, or so we were told a number of times. The past year seems to have been very good for the band, playing all the hot spots in LA regularly, and getting a fair amount of press along the way — Even heard them on XM Radio this morning. The tour they are currently on seems to be their biggest yet. All good things. And frankly there is a lot one could like about Henry Clay People, but I think they are still a ways away from really hitting their stride. The music is good but it simply doesn’t grab you, doesn’t pull you in. Many of the songs don’t seem finished, or more likely, appear sort of lost in a post-punk prison that doesn’t quite fit.

All that being said, I can see these guys getting bigger and better with some time, it seems like they might just need to get a stable lineup. They are fronted by brothers though, which always raises the break-up quotient substantially…

I wish I could say the same about Alberta Cross(48) (not the breaking up, but the getting better). Their music was simply too derivative to do anything but bore me to tears. The alt-country-rock sound has been done a lot lately and done by better bands. On top of that, the lead singer sounds eerily similar to Caleb Followill, lead vocalist of Kings of Leon. I mean, over the top creepy scary similar. I gave up after 20 minutes, it was simply too much.

And then we have the Airborne Toxic Event. I have a hard time telling what it is exactly these guys want to be: indie darlings, major label fodder, too cool for school? Any of these labels could fit. So let’s start at the beginning, why all black?

Clean cut lead vocalist, funky looking drummer, an Asian guitarist who is trying waaaaay too hard, and remember that British comedian from Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Russel Brand, apparently he’s in this band too. And the female vocalist, keyboard and violin player. When did it become cool to have a violin in indie rock? And on top of that she doesn’t just play the violin, she plays it like a rock star. Again, why? What is this band trying to prove? And why so many smiles? I know you’re not that excited to be playing yet another show on a long tour. And why does everyone smile but the Asian guy? Is he really trying to be that slick? Shouldn’t you all be on the same page?

When you strip away all of the above, the music isn’t so bad. I appreciate the energy they put into their performance, and yes, some of their better moments do appear to be pulled right from another band’s repertoire, but find me a band that doesn’t do that. I’ll say this, the ATE isn’t close to the level of outrageous pilfering Alberta Cross is; and what they steal is at least good.

Look, we’ve got a dark indie band here with aspirations, can’t find too much fault in that. And yes, while the lyrics might be trite high school chatter, “Sometime After Midnight” is a great song, and frankly was what got me to have an interest in the band in the first place. At the end of a very back and forth night of mostly disappointments, seeing a band who can put it all together on some level is sometimes all you can hope for.

20 bands covering R.E.M.? At Carnegie Hall? What’s not to love?

First off, a note about how I figured out this show. No, every artists did not play 3 songs, they all only played one, with the exception of Patti Smith(45.66) and Calexico(40.33) (sorta). But, I did hike it up to NYC and back specifically for this show. And it is the sort of event that merits extra special consideration. So here’s the deal: each band counts as 1/3 of a band. BUT, I cannot use this band again to count against the 333. So yes, am I cutting corners to count Hootie(45.33), maybe. But I also can’t count Bob Mould(41) again, and he lives and plays often in DC. Seem fair to you? Good. One last note, this may get a little long, so I have intentionally left out band images to keep it shorter. Thanks for playing…

Carnegie Hall is one of those venues you simply don’t get a chance to see these types of shows at. So, it was amazing to be there, even if it was the nose-bleeds. The dB’s(39.33) started the night off the right way, with “Fall on Me.” In a night that was not full of what would normally be considered R.E.M.(46) singles, this was a great way to start it, and a good band to pull it off.

If you’ve never heard of Fink(39.66), don’t feel bad, neither had I. No idea how he ended up on the bill, but his mellow acoustic version of “The Apologist,” a song from Up I am also not familiar with, left no indelible marks on my memory. This was followed by Keren Ann(40) and her version of “Man on the Moon,” which is actually one of my least favorite R.E.M. songs. And yeah, I don’t know who she is either.

Calexico were the house band of the night, playing behind a lot of the solo artists. They also contributed the fairly quiet “Wendall Gee.”. Not bad, but on top of the very low key opening sequence, I was more than a little concerned. And then Rachael Yamagata(40.66) took on “The Great Beyond.” A very pretty song, but again, isn’t R.E.M. a rock band?

Thank God for Bob Mould. His version of “Sitting Still” finally cleared the decks for what had been a bit of a let down thus far. Considering this song isn’t a terribly hard rocker, for Mould to turn it into one, clearly the gloves were off when it comes to artistic interpretation. The old school love continued with the Feelies (41.33) doing “Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars).” A perfect song for the recently reunited band to cover, so much so that it seemed like it could have easily been from their own catalog.

What could be my favorite R.E.M. song, “Night Swimming,” was done reasonably well by Ingrid Michaelson(41.66) accompanied only by a cello. Not great, but I’m just happy to have heard it done live. Things finally got interesting when Glen Hansard(42) did “Hairshirt,” mandolin and all. He did a fantastic job of copying Stipe’s vocal stylings, all the way down to the warbles. The Apples in Stereo(42.33) then came in and tore it up with “So. Central Rain,” finally hitting the full pop value I had been waiting for all night. Like many of the acts before them, there was some vocal issues with the sound system, which likely comes with the territory since so many different folks were stepping to the mic. Regardless, this was a highlight.

And then the twang came back. I recognize older R.E.M. songs tend to be a little more country, but Guster(42.66) took “Shaking Through” to a new level. This would have been ok if so much of the night hadn’t been on the lighter side. Followed up by Marshall Crenshaw(43) covering “Supernatural Superserious” kind of poorly, and Rhett Miller(43.33) flat out over-doing “Driver 8″ — he really looked like he was peeing in his pants — the night was in danger of being way less than I had hoped. But happily, things changed…

Kimya Dawson(43.66) tackled “World Leader Pretend” like I could never imagine it tackled. Along with an interesting dance troupe — whose name I have sadly forgotten — and a glockenspiel, she hit it perfectly, covering one of R.E.M.’s more overtly critical songs in her own engaging yet nearly childlike style. She finished the song along with the dancers, all in costumes of bears, cops and the like, chanting the chorus. Absolutely a highlight. Perhaps the only act capable of following this was Vic Chestnutt and Elf Power(44) covering “Everybody Hurts.” There may not be a man alive better suited to sing this song with the emotional power Vic Chestnutt brings to the table. Resigned to a wheelchair since he was 18 (now 44), the Athens, GA resident knows a little about human suffering. That was a great moment.

One band I was very excited to see was Throwing Muses(44.33). I have never seen my home state band live, and given how infrequent their reunions/performances are, I wasn’t holding out hope they would come this way any time soon. Their version of “Perfect Circle” was good, but not as good as I had hoped. But this performance proved once again that R.E.M. has put out more amazing songs I’ve nearly forgotten about than most bands nowadays will ever crank out. This was followed by Dar Williams(44.66) doing a very un-Dar Williams version of “At my Most Beautiful.” Dressed in a full out gown, Dar adequately handled one of the band’s most beautiful songs (no pun intended). Not what I expected, but not terrible.

Ex-Be Good Tanya Jolie Holland(45), covered “Don’t Go Back to Rockville,” which is always a funny song for those of us living in the DC area. Or, at least I geakishly find it funny. Darius Rucker (aka Hootie), did a less than stirring version of “I Believe,” which has never been one of my favorite songs. Darius, like many of the artists performing, grew up or went to college on the East coast, making them all serious fans of R.E.M., and making their presence on stage quite apprapo.

Finally, Patti Smith came out and kinda sorta butchered “New Test Leper,” which you can more or less forgive, because she is Patti Smith. She really only forgot the lyrics, and she did recover. But she also proved to be quite a spazz. When R.E.M. came out and performed “E-bow the letter” with her — as we all expected/hoped they would — she was certainly not on top of her game either. Didn’t matter though, seeing the guys play that live with her was amazing. While I would have loved it if they stayed on stage to play a few more songs, in many ways that was a more than fitting ending.

You can obviously tell from the set list that many of the hits were absent. But with a band like R.E.M., with so much material to cover, it actually seems far more appropriate to pull from the very wide palette of material the band has, rather than focus solely on the hits. In thinking about it, R.E.M. is one of the few bands that I can actually relate more to the albums than particular songs. Document means very different things to me than say New Adventures in Hi Fi, or even Murmur. I was once friends with a guy who would lay out how R.E.M.’s catalog was the soundtrack to his life, and I can understand how we all feel that way. Even the newer material fits.  Minus Bill Berry the band took some time to find their stride, arguably only doing so finally on last year’s Accelerate. Much like me and many of my college contemporaries who have finally gotten our shit together as we climb further into our 30s.

But that is almost too visceral right? R.E.M. has reached far more of us on a personal level that is much more immediate than say Elliot Smith ever could. But that doesn’t make it any less moving, or R.E.M. any less deep as a band. On the contrary, I think it is their ability to write songs than can accomplish this, something as simple as the urging of someone to not go back to Rockville, that makes them an amazing band. Because we all have a Rockville, we all have those moments in our life referenced in “Nightswimming,” and we can all certainly take something from a song like “Everybody Hurts.” These are awkwardly obvious examples, but if you take a look at bands one could consider contemporaries of R.E.M., U2 on one end, Husker Du on the other, neither of them nor anyone in between is able to approach the connection one gets to an R.E.M. song, even at their most absurd. This is why we were there to celebrate R.E.M. at Carnegie Hall, because after 25+ years of making music they are still able to find that connection in their music, and we are still able to appreciate it.

The thinking was, this was going to be a great opportunity to see a couple bands that have been around town but that I have consistently missed, while also finally catching a band I really did want to see. The reality is, I saw a show that was pretty dissopointing in many ways.

The one shining light was DAM! Fest alums So Many Dynamos(37). I wasn’t able to see them at the festival in ‘07 — I was busy sweating out other shows — so I was looking forward to finally catching them. Way more than the pop/punk beginnings the band came from, it really seems like they have matured into solid indie rock fare. The band has successfully avoided getting pigeon-holed into a genre mostly because their songs hit on so many different sounds, including a little pop, a little rock and roll, and even some dancier bits. Saying all that, it is still pretty obvious they are signed to Vagrant Records. For some reason there really is a sound associated with Vagrant –ok, except for the Hold Steady, which never really made any sense — and So Many Dynamos fit it quite well. To be clear, that is not a negative; I love me some Dashboard Confessional.

Finally, I got to see Pattern is Movement(38) after what seemed like countless missed opportunities. I had always been intrigued by their weird sounds, and wondered how they came across as a live duo. A fitting description was mentioned by the band themselves, telling a story where someone commented on how they looked like two bus drivers. That is an extremely accurate representation of these two, pictured to the left. And I think that actually makes you want to like them more. Hearing the on stage banter proved to me that these had to be the nicest guys in indie rock. All of which makes me sad to say, I was not impressed with their live show.

It wasn’t bad, but I was very uninterested. Maybe it had to do with them only being a duo, maybe the songs just never picked up the pace, maybe I just had something bad to eat, but I just couldn’t get comfortable. My eyes kept wandering to anything interesting, something to focus my attention on besides the music. This makes me very sad.

In retrospect, I must have eaten a bad piece of beef or something, cause I felt the same for Maps and Atlases(39). It didn’t help that it took them forever to jump up on stage. Really people, are you expecting more folks to show up at 11pm on a weeknight?

Sort of sounding more like Kings of Leon than I expected(the vocals especially), the band also lost some of its catchiness live, which, given my already unfortunate disposition, was a bad, bad thing. I really don’t know what else to say here, other than that I did not stay till the end of the set, so maybe it picked up in the last few songs. There clearly were folks there who were very excited and energetic. Sadly however, for all those involved, I was not one of them.

I know shows like this will not be rare as I make I through the year, but they still leave me with an unsettled feeling. While my hopes weren’t that high, I did really want to like all the bands involved, but instead came away needing a nap. This shouldn’t be as much a judgement on the bands involved as it is my fickle disposition. Please take note of that if you find yourself in a position to go see any of these bands.

It is safe to say, everyone at some point in time is interested in something because they are told to be. Whether it is a piece of art, a TV show, or a musician. “OMG, have you heard the new album by so and so, it is the best since Revolver!” OK, maybe no one outside of the Ringo Starr fan club talks that way, but you get my point. Sometimes you go to see a band simply because you think you are supposed to. I humbly admit it, I saw Juana Molina(36) for that very reason.

It is hard to say I wasn’t humbled by Juana’s performance. It is simply her, a synth and an acoustic guitar, along with one hell of a sampler set up. With just three instruments, and I’m including her voice here, she was able to create very complicated layers of sound that sounded much more than the sum of their parts. For all of this I was extremely impressed, the woman has more talent in one of her toe nails than I could ever hope to have. But while each song was intricately summed up by its many parts, her set as a whole did not come across quite as well.

It is hard to say her set was unimpressive, while her songs were, individually, but it is the truth. There was a problem with repetition, yes, but the trouble goes deeper than that. Juana appears to be a one trick pony, and while it is one hell of a trick, it is only so interesting when it is repeated that much over the course of an hour. I think this is often my problem with the case of simple singer-songwriters, they just have one card to play, and capo or no capo, it doesn’t change much. Now, those guys can’t hold a candle to Juana’s talent, but maybe that made it more disappointing. I was expecting something more, which is almost unfair to say, cause the woman certainly worked hard on every song. But I think there is room for some diversity in her set, something to break you out of the rhythm.

It is not often you can be impressed and disappointed all at the same time, but in this case I clearly was. I’m not saying you should or should not go see Juana Molina live, that is really your decision to make. But do your research first. IMHO, as gifted an artists as she is, her music accomplishes only so much in a live setting.

Occasionally in my quest for 333 bands, I will cheat. Bernie’s Band(35) was not anyone I planned to see, knew about, or will likely ever stumble upon again. Nor will I likely catch any other bands at the Rumba Cafe. As its name suggests, this is not a venue that plays a lot of rock music. Samba, bossa nova and the like is what you will hear, and I think that is exactly what Bernie’s Band was playing. I say “I think” cause it was the last stop on a night that included 2 other drinking establishments, so I was more than a little unclear as to what was going on. But, I must have heard at least five or six songs in total, and even danced to at least a couple of them.

I actually talked to Bernie for a few minutes, but sadly remember little from the conversation. He is apparently a vocalist for Thievery Corporation, which led me to believe I might find some info on Bernie’s Band online, but I’ve had no luck there. It is hard to comment on the music, other than people were dancing and having a good time.

If you find yourself near the Rumba Cafe and see that Bernie’s Band is playing, and you like the sort of music you’d expect to hear at the Rumba Cafe, you may be in luck. But if you like the type of music Rumba Cafe often has, you probably already go to the Rumba Cafe, making this review and my observations completely moot. Which, given my lack of concrete memories from the evening seems just about right.

Apparently, the Dustbowlers(32) were the only band to show up to play the Red and the Black last Thursday. I caught four songs, and was not exactly impressed, but I wasn’t in pain either. Being the only person in the room who was not a friend of the band or a spouse — and I was getting dirty looks for being neither — it was a little weird, because the band certainly wasn’t playing for me, the casual fan. But I get the sense that despite their modest crowd and their very un-relentless touring schedule, these guys are still a few steps above being a generic bar band.

For example, guitarist and singer Tim Penney talks about his instruments on their website:

“I mainly play a 1969 Fender Telecaster, but also a J Mascis signature Jazzmaster and a parted together Jazzmaster. I play an early 30s Gibson L-00 and a 1959 LG-1.”

Doesn’t sound much like a bar band to me. Nor did the super mod appearance of their drummer. Just a weird little group here. The music was fairly straight forward, soul-filled rock and roll, with Penney often sounding like a more straight-forward Michael Stipe a la Automatic for the People. The lyrics weren’t anywhere near the REM comparisons I just made, nor was their overall sound. But again, not terrible stuff.

I haven’t the slightest idea why the other bands on the bill bailed, but these guys seemed happy to play a longer set. I left before the Stepford crowd really turned their attention to me, and I think that is better for everyone. I had another show to catch, one which would have been very hard to tolerate had I been turned into a domesticated homonoid of some sort.

I walked in just after Midnight Masses(31) started their set and was amazed at how good they were. Cobbled from a number of good bands (…Trail of Dead(34) and Dragons of Zynth at that) and pretty much containing the entirety of Shock Cinema, this six piece — sometimes seven — barely fit on the stage. Hard to describe these guys, but for once, a band’s myspace page does them justice. Their “sounds-like” were gospel, gothic and religious. If by gothic they mean some sort of creepy back mansion in the French Quarter of New Orleans gothic, than this might indeed be the perfect description. Autry Rene Fulbright has an amazing voice which moves perfectly with the swaying movements of what really could be called indie rock gospel, often with the whole band singing along. Just look at that picture to the left, that speaks volumes to the sounds of this band on stage. I didn’t know any of the songs, but for 30 minutes all I could think about was how awesome these guys were.

This show was a first for two reasons. One, because I actually ran across the street to catch another band in between the first two, and two, because I drank rather heavily, i.e., I got fucked up. Both of those factors lend themselves heavily as culprits to why I saw/listened to little of Funeral Party(33). That is a bit of a shame, as they seemed solid enough, though were a bit synth heavy for this kind of show. Trail of Dead don’t exactly make me want to dance, though, despite Funeral Parties‘ best efforts, they didn’t either. But, they didn’t suck either. At least, not what I remember of them.

What Trail of Dead did make me wanna do was sing along at the top of my lungs, jumping up and down the whole time. Which I guess is a form of dance to some. From beginning to end, there was a 75 minute assault on the senses. The Rock and Roll Hotel is a fairly small place for TOD to play, perhaps the smallest on their tour. They were crammed up on stage, two drum kits and all, blasting away, bumping into each other on purpose and not. A phrase I kept thinking about — keep in mind I was drunk — was “Amps gone wild!” This seems really sad and lame to me now, but the band was ridiculously loud, and that is very much a good thing. And the sweat, dear god the sweat. It was fucking hot and sticky, and this is in February!

Iv’e seen TOD twice before at the 9:30 Club, on a tour they were opening for Queens of the Stone Age. They came through DC twice, once QOTSA got sick and TOD headlined, and another with the full tour. Both times it struck me that these guys are crazy. Climbing and jumping off speaker towers, breaking instruments, throwing shit at each other. It is often hard to know how much of this is simply for show and how much of is really someone getting caught up in the moment. With TOD, I’ll have to give them the benefit of the doubt. With the exception of an amp tower going down and a little stage diving at the end, everyone seemed to make it out with their appendages all still attached.

The band played quite a bit of the new album, The Century of Self, which I happen to like a lot. But, I’m the guy who really loved Worlds Apart when almost no one gave it a second look. I mean, the band practically broke up over the damn album. But here they are, two albums later, still crushing heads along the way. I am a sucker for the epic song, the one that crashes and booms, even slows down, before hitting home with the drum line to end all drum lines. So many TOD songs take me there, it is hard to imagine why I didn’t like these guys at first. I was a pansy, I get it. But I’m better now, and this band continues to make the epic music that stands out against a sea of generic slop.

I have seen concerts in a lot of interesting places, London, Reykjavik, NYC, LA, Chicago, SF and Boston, even less interesting spots like Columbus, OH and some field just outside Lawrence, KS. I’ve seen shows in basements, backyards and high school cafeterias. In DC I’ve seen shows at pretty much every regular music venue out there. Yet, for all the hundreds of shows I’ve seen, not a single one of them as been at one of of the DC metro areas’ more well known venues, The Birchmere. That all changed Tuesday night when finally, I made it to the Birchmere to see an old favorite of mine, Toad the Wet Sprocket(30).

Singer/Songwriter Shane Gamble(29) opened, and was as stereotypical of someone in his genre as possible, capo and all. With song titles like “Break Your Fall” and “Shelter Me,” you totally get what you see in Shane’s case. He was accompanied by a steel guitar player, which made things slightly better than if it was just him solo on the acoustic, but frankly not much. I dare say it, the crowd seemed legitimately into him, which lead me to some conclusions when it comes to the Birchmere and the people who go there, and the word gullible comes to mind. A typical Birchmere goer is not likely to head into the city to see a show at DC9 or the Black Cat, much less hike over to H St. to see a show at the Rock and Roll Hotel. Just as someone like Shane Gamble isn’t likely to play any of those venues. I think the crowd was so into Shane cause they simply don’t see a whole lot of shows, so to them, he was a rock star. And Hell, his press pics sure paint him that way!

No offense to Shane intended, but he is most definitely not a rock star, and he’s also one of a million guys with acoustic guitars playing out there that all sound very, very similar. Hard market to break out of, but he’s not doing himself any favors.

Glen Philips, lead singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket, also goes out on his own, sometimes just with an acoustic guitar. In fact, I’ve seen him perform solo on more than one occasion, and I can say for certain that he does separate himself from the pack; partly because of his distinctive voice, and partly because he doesn’t pretend to be a rock star, even if his pedigree certainly calls for it far more than Mr. Gamble’s. It is the same everyman attitude that the entire band shares while on stage, and that may be one of the big reasons I like these guys so much. They simply seem like “just a group of guys” and that isn’t meant in the perjorative in any way. They all seem like they’d be more than happy to sit down and have a beer with you, talk about how their doctor says they have high cholesterol, and reminisce about better times.

The music was as expected, a long set of greatest hits pulled from all over their catalog, including more than one song from Bread and Circus, their 1989(!) debut. I frankly forgot these guys have been around for that long. But the tunes didn’t show that much age. It seemed like a mellower set, certainly more so than the last time I saw them (in 2003 maybe?) at the 9:30 Club. Perhaps because they were playing to the seated audience?

The guys all seemed loose and pretty chatty, with the exception of lead guitar Todd Nichols. I always sort of assumed the “creative differences” that lead to the band breaking up way back when was caused by some friction between Glenn and Todd. Don’t get me wrong, it was not icey on stage, but there were a few awkward moments.

20 songs including the encore was pretty much exactly what I was looking for, so I left feeling anything but disappointed. I’m not sure Toad will ever get back together officially, but they do seem to get something out of touring occasionally, hopefully more than just the money. Back to what I was saying before, they seem like a bunch of good guys that in the end might really just like playing together.

My thoughts on The Birchmere might be best saved for another time, but one thing that stood out to me was the enormous amount of salt they use in cooking their food. Be sure to drink a lot of water when you go there. Four days later and I still think I’m partially suffering from dehydration.