Transcript
Speaker: I'm Mark McBride. And I'm Steve Brown. Welcome to Season 2 of the Yo-Yo Player Podcast, where two dusty old graybeards grab their friends and reminisce about the 1999 Theen Magazine Yo-Yo Tour.
Speaker: In this episode, the first Last Supper in San Antonio. Nothing like a bad idea that follows you for weeks.
Speaker: You met us in San Antonio. Yeah. It was really fun. it was like looking back, it kind of reminds me of like a John Candy movie or something like one of those, like the part in the Home Alone. You remember in Home Alone or whatever, when they're trying to get back home and then they're like in the back of a moving truck with a band and they're all crammed and they're stuck in this space.
Speaker: So I got to the airport in San Antonio and I was like waiting to pick up my luggage. And um i I don't even know which who i was I was talking to, but somehow or other just us started up some conversation with these Australian dudes.
Speaker: Right. And so the ska band, the Porkers from Australia that were on the tour, ah they happened to be like in the terminal getting their bags at the same time I was getting my bag from the baggage carousel.
Speaker: And we were just chatting. I was like, oh, yeah, I just, you know, I'm a kid. and I'm doing yo-yo tricks on the Warped Tour. um'm about to, I got to go, you know, and I didn't know what I was doing.
Speaker: i was going to figure out a cab or a bus or like, you know, I think I had a location somewhere written down of where I needed to get to. But I had no concrete plan of how i was going to get from the airport santonio San Antonio to this venue probably like 45 minutes away or something.
Speaker: And so just randomly struck up this friendship with the the porkers and they were like super cool. They're like, hey, man, yeah, blah, blah, blah. And oh, we've got an RV, you know. And so they had a rented RV. They're like, yeah, we'll give you a ride. You ride with us.
Speaker: was like, OK, cool. You know, so I have like my bags. on the train And it was like one of these, you know, it's like. before rvforrent.com, but it was like that same kind of thing. It was a small little RV. ah And it's the Porkers were called the Porkers because there all these really big big, big, you know, oversized, hefty dudes, right?
Speaker: And it's a ska band, you know, and ska bands have like nine band members in them each, right? So I'm in this tiny little RV with these guys I just met for like 45 minutes, and they're just like crammed tight in this little RV, riding just...
Speaker: along for the ride with these guys just jo you know how australians are you know they're fun and charming and had lots of jokes and and one-liners and so that was kind of my ah my first really cool experience of you know what turned out to be like a really long six weeks but filled with lots of you know highlight moments of experience in life
Speaker: All right. So, so Rick flew into Austin, picked him up and then we drove into San Antonio. Yeah. And San Antonio is where we went and had lunch at another very, again, this is like peak fucking nineties Dick's last resort.
Speaker: Okay. So ah let me get, let me, let me, let me queue up a, let me queue up the story that we're, that is Dick's last resort. So ah By this point, we had met like we had met our bus mate Chuck from Tommy Boy Records.
Speaker: Like we'd shown up at San Antonio. You checked in They said, there's your bus where I'm with the yo-yo crew. So we're all kind of rallying together. And then the entire tour spends the night at a hotel so that they can make sure that all of these like fuck ups are at least together before the first event.
Speaker: Yep. So everyone had to check in the day before, spent the night at the fucking hotel. And we met our, we met our first ah bus mate. Cause turns out that we're on the bus with the Vance crew, Tommy boy records, and then like a kind of rotation of a few other people to get come in and come and go on our bus.
Speaker: And so, and he was by himself. So he kind of glommed onto us and we were kind of like crewing up and, And so I remember sitting in the back of the bus, like back of our bus, we were, you know, we had been driving and it was like, yo, hey, Tommy. So you were on the tour last year.
Speaker: so names but tommy it's Tommy Boy Records. his name Thank you, Chuck. look So we were sitting in the back going Chuck of Tommy Boy Records, you know, what are we in for thing? And he's just regaling us with stories because has a mouth on him. This guy is a talker.
Speaker: He was, I mean, it he was a solid, like good, like S tier bullshitter. Oh my God. Yeah, he was, he was top tier bullshitter. And at some point I had said, I'd said, you know, before the tour, i reached out to, like, I was talking with Jen Niles and her then husband, Eric.
Speaker: And I said, Hey, you know, Jen, you you know you and Eric you work in music, you work in this world. Like here are the bands that are going to be on the tour this year.
Speaker: What do you know about any of these bands? What can, you know, like just like fishing for anything going down the list, like, oh, the co-headliners with blink 182 or Pennywise.
Speaker: And she goes, oh, fucking watch out for Pennywise. Like Fletcher from Pennywise is a mean drunk. Eric was like, I went to high school with that guy.
Speaker: Watch out.
Speaker: San Antonio. So this was the Pennywise story, right? Yeah. Which, you know, which is the wildest thing to me.
Speaker: I didn't really know who Pennywise was until Steve introduced me to him again. What can you tell us about Pennywise? I just remember, well, whenever Brohim played at the tour, that was like, oh it was like the whole tour felt Brohim. Whenever Brohim played, everybody stopped and chanted along to Brohim.
Speaker: We'll be right back.
Speaker: We're in Texas, in San Antonio, letting Chuck regalos of stories about, um you know, the year passed. And he says, Fletcher from Pennywise gave a kid a purple nurple so bad that he had to leave the tour.
Speaker: What the fuck? Like with a straight face, like like he twisted and ripped a kid's nipple off. What? And we are listening to this and just like I could watch Nick Vandersky and Jason Tracy like buying this hook, line and sinker. I'm buying it because again, I literally had Jen and Eric Niles tell me, watch out for Pennywise.
Speaker: Right. Fletcher's a mean drunk. And I had heard, I had heard none of this at this point, had no opinion of the band other than like, eh, they're okay. And was like listening to this bullshit. And it's just like, okay, fine.
Speaker: Like whatever. Like I, it was one of those things that I just kind of like, I was like, I i can't tell if this is bullshit or not, but like, i don't know, man, I've met some sketchy fucking dudes in my life and wouldn't surprise me.
Speaker: So we all then go to dinner. We get everyone together. By this point, actually, Greg has flown in to meet us for the first day. Like he flies into San Antonio to get us to like get us kicked off for the first day. yeah I didn't remember that at all.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I flew out for the first three days, which is my entire Vans Warped Tour experience ever. And I wasn't staying on the bus. I had to stay in a hotel and I rented a car and I rented a midsize and they gave me a Lincoln Town car, um which was exciting.
Speaker: In Texas, I guess was appropriate. And we started in Austin, right? So I took you all out for dinner, the entire Yo-Yo crew in this apparently famous barbecue place that was...
Speaker: known for rude waitresses. It was down by the river walk or whatever that walk is. Do you remember this?
Speaker: So we first get up with the crew, right? we We get the whole crew together. We're doing kind of the but like, okay, here's the lay of the land. You know, this is our first show and all that. And we all go out for dinner, right?
Speaker: At a place called Dick's, right? Yeah. I'm not familiar with this franchise, but I guess the idea is that all the waitstaff treats you like shit and then you tip them for it, I guess is that some people like that, I guess. That's a thing I hear. you I've been on that' been on the internet.
Speaker: Like a big part of the schtick of the place is that the waitstaff was shitty to you and everything on the menu was some kind of a pun about Dick's. Yeah. So super casual and we're sitting like the eight of us, I guess seven. casual yeah
Speaker: The whole menu is dick jokes and you're like, you know, so super casual. Because Warped Tour, like, you know, all these bands were converging on San Antonio to start Warped Tour. And, you know, I rolled in with like tattoos and a mohawk. They assumed that we were in a band.
Speaker: We had to have been like the 30th fucking table from the Warped Tour to come through this restaurant by this point. Yeah. And they're like, so you guys are like on the tour, right?
Speaker: and and we're And I think it was you were kind of having none of it. And you were just like, they're you're in a band, right? And we're like, no, we're yo-yo guys. Like, nah, you're in a band. Like, why are you messing with us? You guys, like, we're like, no, man, we're like, we're yo-yo guys. Like, nah, yeah you're in a band. What band you in? Somebody, maybe y'all remember who, i don't remember who it was, but somebody goes, we're Pennywise.
Speaker: don't even know who said it. Like, we're Pennywise. It's like, who the fuck?
Speaker: The rock group? You're like, yeah. I'm like, okay. And I'm like, hmm, okay. And then say okay and then i see her walk away and I watch i watch as she like goes and spreads it to all the other people that fucking work there. which which i my penny I can almost hear them whispering Pennywise. spinnywise this but I remember Chuck leans over and he's like,
Speaker: Dude, the waiter is telling the other people. I can see him telling the other people and pointing at us. He's telling them that we're Pennywise. Okay. Who remembers the members of Pennywise?
Speaker: ah the like There's Fletcher and then there's the other guys. Yeah. So, well, the singer's name is Jim. Okay. So, Steve, you're the singer Jim.
Speaker: Steve still has Yo-Yo Man and Juggler tattooed on his arms. But today, he's Jim from Pennywise. And then there was, like, Brian. And then there was, like, the other guy. And then there was Fletcher.
Speaker: And I was Fletcher. So it ah who was it? Because – The drummer or the guitarist? Who was the big motherfucker on Pitwise? No, that's what made it fucking hilarious. That was Fletcher, the guitarist.
Speaker: The big motherfucker was Fletcher, the guitarist. And they said I was Fletcher. But you, somehow you were like the you were like one of the other skinny white guys that was like...
Speaker: Oh my God.
Speaker: Oh Jesus. Having been around Fletcher, Fletcher is like a foot and a half taller than you. He's a giant. like And an entire Mark McBride wider than you.
Speaker: Exactly. like He is just, he's not a fat dude. He is just an enormous man. Enormous man. And they, and again, these are like four guys from Orange County.
Speaker: And we literally are like a guy with a Mohawk with juggler tattooed on his arm, my dumb ass in an Elvis t-shirt, Rick, who is a like large black man, Nick Vandersky, who is like got glasses in the epitome of a nerd, and have been the last four people to be mistaken for Pennywise.
Speaker: well Well, well steve i mean Steve can pass, right? But the the other three of us can't. Last time I checked, there was no black guy in Pennywise. But, you know, it's whatever. So we ran with it.
Speaker: And I know Pennywise by name from the signs and stuff like this, but I don't think I i was into 70s punk. I wasn't into whatever they were playing. And they ended up, ah they ended up, um or i they kept on asking me as I seemed to be the adult in the room if you were Pennywise. And I told them, no, they're not. Don't believe them. And now they really thought you were Pennywise.
Speaker: It was like, I would say i was not going to lie for you, but I was not going to kill it either by making it. Do you think I'd tell you a lie? you know Do you think they need to speak quiet? They should not be this loud. you know They shouldn't be saying this loud. Problems happen when they talk about it this loud. Things like this. They were convinced. They got your autographs. where wherere We're Pennywise. And And the no way. And they come back like we're going suck. And Chuck's like, we could get like some free stuff out of this. This is cool. Okay. I'm your manager and your Fletcher and your gym, and we're going to do this. And they come back. And then the other way, it's like, my son loves you. Can I get an autograph?
Speaker: And you were like, sure. Jim, I'm an a-hole. You literally are like excited. Like I'm an a-hole love Jim from Pennywise. And I like it they're going around i'm just like Fletcher. We ran with that for like 20, 30 minutes. Oh my God. So, so, so at least two people, I think two people have my signature on a shirt and because they think I'm in the band Pennywise, we started getting flooded. People were coming up. I did. I signed multiple shirts. ah like I don't know what I'm doing here.
Speaker: This doesn't seem like a great idea. You know? We do two rounds of this and this is ridiculous. And so they walk away and at some point I remember we're all kind of chuckling and then and then somebody goes, somebody says, oh, this is funny. When Pennywise hears about this, they're going kick our ass and we all went white. Oh shit.
Speaker: They might actually kick our ass for this.
Speaker: And so we go, oh, shit. ah And we said, oh, shit, we got to get out of here in a hurry. ah Greg, Greg Cohen and Julius the other end the table not paying attention. so right Greg, you got to pay. We got to leave now. And we all dashed. Like Pennywise was just going to like pop out of the men's room or something. Right. And we heard you, motherfuckers.
Speaker: so Because the other waitress comes back is like, I'm gonna be at your booth tomorrow. I'm gonna come by and see you because I'm going to the Warped Tour.
Speaker: We gotta get out of here as fast as we can. And I'm like, Greg, we gotta get out here. Everyone starts making an exit. Greg, we gotta bounce. He's like, okay, well, let me pay you the bill. And then they come back and the waitstaff is like, wow, that's really exciting. We'll see you tomorrow. He's like, isn't it great?
Speaker: Yo-Yo's are gonna be so wonderful on the tour. So yeah yeah, I remember San Antonio, like, you know, it was just like, this tour is going to be either freaking epic or I'm going to die. So it was just one of those things.
Speaker: Like again, Chuck, it kind of got us worked up. We're like, Oh my gosh. Okay. Look, if we can just get out of Texas, we'll be okay. Chuck wouldn't let go of it, man. Chuck like, and here's the thing is I honestly couldn't tell if Chuck was genuinely worried that they were going to be pissed off when they heard about this or if Chuck was just an idiot.
Speaker: I think it was a little, I think Chuck likes drama and he's an idiot um because I was playing along because ah like I'd kind of gotten sucked up into it, but there was very much the nagging voice in my head, which I'm like,
Speaker: Actually, judging for the people I've been around in those circles, Pennywise would actually probably think this is pretty fucking funny. ah But- That's the thing though, is it's it's it is very like 50-50. Like, cause on the one hand, it's fucking hilarious. But on the other hand, like people would definitely, like there's people who, there's there's musicians who take the whole like fan interaction thing, like really seriously. And they would be like, dude, that's like, they think that they had this experience and they didn't because you fucking lied to them. Like, that's not. And so in fair like is correct. Like it was, yeah it was kind of an asshole. thing that we did
Speaker: Totally. And so we like, and so we were like, okay, so we just got to get out of Texas and I think we'll be okay. And the next day they fucking set us up.
Speaker: right next to Pennywise's merch tent. And Pennywise's merch guys are even scarier looking than them. And so we're just like, oh shit, keep our head down. And at some point like in Dallas or Houston, like like Chuck came running over, he's like, Pennywise found out. And we're like, what, what?
Speaker: And then never heard anything of it past that. Yeah. He was like, oh, yeah, they found out. They're pissed. And we were like, are they really? and he was like, yeah, I think so. And we're like, okay.
Speaker: And then we're like, well, I i guess somebody from Pennywise is going to come over and yell at us. And then they didn't. we were like, oh okay. And the whole rest of the tour, the whole rest of the tour, i was i was a little fearful Pennywise would hear about it and and fucking want to beat our ass. The whole rest of the tour, I just thought I was going to come back to Hannah's at some point. and Like, oh oh my God.
Speaker: But yeah, that was dallas the beginning of right? San Antonio. It was. It was. That is one of my favorite thing about about like fucking punk rock bands and shit is that like everybody knows what Lady Gaga looks like.
Speaker: Nobody knows what the fuck Pennywise looks like. now So there's like there's so many bands that you can just rattle off like, oh yeah, I'm in Swing and Utters. they're like, oh, that's fucking great. You see it Facebook now. I'm going to tell my kids this is fucking Jethro Toll or something like that. It's like, you know. Like, what the fuck?
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Ben flash forward. Then by the time we got to San Diego, i was like, again, that was like two, like a week or two later. Um, we're in San Diego and the show ended and it was across the street from a Denny's.
Speaker: The venue was across the street from a Denny's. And so i had gotten a shower and I walked over to Denny's by myself. Cause it was like, just, I want, I want some fries and a milkshake and And I'm standing there waiting for a table and some girl sees me with my you know backstage pass dangling off my um belt.
Speaker: And she says, oh, you're with the Warped Tour. Are you in a band? And instinctively, i just went, yeah, I'm in Pennywise.
Speaker: And she goes, I caught your set. You guys are great. and I'm like, of course you did. so I didn't like, I don't know. I probably, I probably signed about a dozen autographs on the tour for people who thought I was somebody in some band.
Speaker: And it was always like people who came up to me and they're like, Oh, you're so, so, from so and so, and I was just like, nah, And they're like, no, come on. And I was just like, okay, sure. What do you want me to sign?
Speaker: So like i signed. And the funny thing about it is that I was just signing my actual signature. Like I wasn't even trying to like fake their names and anybody who's ever seen my signature, it's pretty specific.
Speaker: Yeah. It's big S and a big B. And then you can see a yo-yo going through it. Like it is not fucking hard to tell what that is, but yeah, there's probably, i mean, there's probably a dozen, maybe a little more than a dozen people who like have Warped Tour signed programs by me and think that it's somebody else.
Speaker: of the tour, know, there was, like, it was it was it was pretty, you know, was good times. Like, in fact, I think, I think the Bane...
Speaker: Okay, the bane at the time was probably just you know sunscreen, just remembering sunscreen every day. the sun The sun was the bane of that tour. Yeah. yeah But in retrospect, I think the thing that I would say was the bane was the fact that I was i spent way too much time looking for something bigger and badder, like expecting this or that. Like, no, these are bonkers little adventures. that They're great.
