Rome, if you want to.

We drove south on the SS1, which sticks to the Mediterranean coast, occasionally dipping inland to allow room for tourist hotels and campsites. We had an uneventful drive, with a couple stops at the AutoGrille for diesel and caffeine. Leaving Livorno, we passed Califuria, the area of the Surfer Joe Festival 2009, but that was the last familiar site.

Four hours later we hit the outskirts of Rome, mostly a wasteland of industrial warehouses. As we enter the city center, the traffic thickens and gets crazier. Steve, driving the Peugot, sticks like glue to the tail of the Mercedes van. The roads pass under the brick fortifications of empirical era Roma, and I'm impressed with how many ancient landmarks stand. It must be hard for Roman city planners to do anything with so many sites to be preserved.

The GPS, "Jane," leads us to a B&B where the boys will stay. It's in a well preserved shuttered building, the kind with a retrofit, caged elevator up the center of a square stairwell. Marco, from the band Surfadelicas comes over, and takes us to lunch at a nearby pizzeria. Then he hops on his Vespa, 5 of us in the van, and 4 in the car, and Marco leads the way to the Coliseum. Amazingly, we find a parking place right in front, and decide to split up to explore the area.

Everybody who has ever been to The Coliseum has the exact same photo

We only have a couple hours but try to make the most of it, poking around the Coliseum and the acreage around the Forum. Sorry, there's just too much to see, guess I'll have to come back. Marco's girlfriend, Ilaria, joins us as we all come together.

Ilaria and Marco at the Coliseum

We can't load into the club until 6:30, so Marco and Ilaria, on their Vespa, lead us through rush hour traffic for more site seeing. This is probably the craziest and most stressful time of the trip, as Lorenzo, driving a huge van, tries to follow a weaving Vespa. At the same time, Steve has to follow inches behind the van so he doesn't lose us as all the other drivers cut in front of him in the traffic circles, and so he doesn't catch a red light, and lose us forever. Steve does an amazing job, displaying iron will, and incredible patience. It would be a ridiculous chase scene in a movie, but in real life, it was high anxiety.

Conte Staccio is in a weird little island neighborhood of nightclubs and discos. Later it will be populated with young people, many American college students, and at one bar, tall women with firm jawlines and way too much makeup. Conte Staccio has an outdoor patio, but we're playing inside. Nice small stage, with full PA; we all run through a few songs for sound check. Here's the rub for tonight, Italy is playing Germany in the futbol playoffs, so we can't start until after the game, around 11:00.

Italy wins, and everyone takes to the streets to party. Unfortunately, they stay on the streets and don't come into the club. However, the handful that do show up are enthusiastic and dance the whole time. After the Frankie and TMen sets, I go outside for some air, and it's a beautiful night in the city. There's a live video feed projecting the bands on the wall in the packed patio area. I'd rather be outside, too.

Me taking a picture of myself on the TV screen on stage

After the gig, the guys are confident they can find their way back to the penzione, so Lorenzo, Anne, Karen and I take the van and follow Marco and Ilaria to their apartment. Marco leads us around on the Vespa, showing us The Vatican and the Sistine Chapel, fully lit up at night. We find our stay for the night, and are asleep by 4am.