Slumber Party
A website nds
touring bands
a free place
to sleep, pasta

The Shackeltons spent 109 nights on the road in 2008—and only paid to stay in a hotel once. The rest of the time, the Pennsylvanian post-punkers crashed at private homes, sometimes with friends, but more o ten with strangers they found through couchsur ng.com. A ter one too many nights staying with crazy fans they met at their shows—including an alcoholic sex addict who danced around them while they slept—the website seemed like a godsend. “We’ve never had any bad couchsur ng.com stays,” says singer Mark Redding. “Everyone was so welcoming, and their places were nice and clean.”

Launched in 2004, couchsur ng.com is a nonpro t social network of people who o er their sofas to like-minded travelers in hope that someday the favor will be returned. The failing economy has been a boon for the site, sending its membership soaring in the past year. More than half of the 900-plus bands that use it joined in 2008.

Jesse Fenton, one of 11 volunteers who

The Shackeltons play another rousing game of truth or dare.

run couchsur ng.com, rst realized the site’s potential for musicians when he hosted Charles Kelley of country rockers Lady Antebellum and singer-songwriter Ernie Halter a ter a 2006 gig in Boston. “Couch-sur ng allows musicians who couldn’t tour before to get out and get their music heard,” Fenton says. It also beats sleeping in a van. But, he adds, “new friends and worldwide connections are what keep [people] coming back.”

It wasn’t always so easy to nd a hospitable respite. Anthony Bedard, guitarist for garage punkers Hank IV, remembers

an awkward sleepover from an early-’90s tour with the Icky Boyfriends: “There was this big Nazi ag draped on the couch.” He folded it up and went to sleep, but when he got up later to go to the bathroom, someone had laid the ag back on the couch. “And there was no evidence anyone had been up. I was like, ‘ This is fucked-up. Let’s get a motel next time.’ ” While Bedard said he had never heard of couchsur ng.com, he didn’t express any interest—those days are behind him.

For the Shackeltons, it would be ridiculous not to use the site. Even if all ve

members had shared a hotel room each night on the road, they would have spent more than $5,000. Penny-pinching aside, Redding says, the best part is meeting people. Among their favorite hosts: a mother and daughter in Billings, Montana, who wanted to increase their “couch-sur ng karma”; three art students in Fargo who cooked them a spaghetti dinner; and a father and son in Bismarck, North Dakota, who gave them three bottles of home-brewed kombucha tea. With that kind of hospitality, who needs the Marriott? RAGAN SUTTERFIELD

Late Registration

With Flea going back to school, we examine rockers who gave it the old college try

Flea
Institution: University of Southern
California Major: Music Why? “I’m lling
in the blanks,” he has said. No, really: Felt
the Chili Peppers’ frat-funk bangers were
hampered by his ignorance of jazz com-
position Report card: “I was running
across campus one day because I didn’t
want to be tardy, thinking, ‘What the fuck
am I doing? I’m a 45-year-old rock star
and I’m worried about being tardy?’ ”
Commencement: A long way o

Lil Wayne
Institution: University of Houston
Major: Psychology Why? “The college
thing is an ode to my mom,” he has said.
No, really: Wanted to complete his study
on the long-term e ects of living
exclusively on Gummi Bears, marijuana,
and cough syrup Report card: “I got a fail-
ing grade because I didn’t take one of my
nals.” Commencement: Dropped out in
2006, but as of last year was taking online
courses through the University of Phoenix

Du McKagan
Institution: Seattle University
Major: Finance Why? “I realized that
stupidity, while fun, has its limits,” he has
said. No, really: Figured he’d need some
accounting classes to keep track of
the comings and goings in GNR Report
card: “University is fucking tough. My
study habits were dusty.” Commence-
ment: Was “a quarter away” from getting
his bachelor’s degree when he dropped
out to play with Velvet Revolver in 2002

Rivers Cuomo
Institution: Harvard Major: English
Why? “I can escape the pain of my
profession,” he has said. “The truth is,
I hate to perform.” No, really: Dorm-
room closet ideal locale for vipassana
meditation Report card: “My social life
consists mostly of meals in the cafeteria,
which is fun. I don’t go out. But I’ve made
a lot of friends.” Commencement: Grad-
uated Phi Beta Kappa in June 2006, 11
years after he rst enrolled. DAVID PEISNER

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