blog blarg

now what am i going to blog about?

charlotte, north carolina

The final and sweatiest show of tour. We played the last show in Calabi Yau house history, surrounded by delicious BBQ, good friends, and people who just wanted to dance and have fun. It was the best possible way to end tour.

greenville, north carolina

Fun and creepy at the same time. The metal and bone sculptures next door were pretty incredible.

winston-salem, north carolina

Doing what we do. Thanks for the pictures, Will.

richmond, virginia

Stayed a block away from the Hollywood Cemetery, whose history goes back to 1849. It was incredibly beautiful, and I wandered around in awe, not realizing that two hours had passed and the boys had been trying to call me for a while. Whoops. Among the gravestones was the pyramid, a monument dedicated to the 18,000 Confederate soldiers buried there, and two US presidents, John Tyler and James Monroe.

washington d.c.

Did some sightseeing in DC, walking for hours, nearly the entire stretch of the National Mall. Still didn't have enough time to see everything we wanted.

philadelphia, pennsylvania

Hung out with the Pattern is Movement dudes. Played to a good amount of kids, some of whom had driven more than two hours to see us. Loaded into a basement with a steep staircase and low overhang, which I often have claustrophobic nightmares about. Except in the nightmares, the staircase gets narrower and I end up getting stuck. Hmm.

new york

So I didn't know anyone was still reading this, but after hearing "hey, why did you stop posting?" a few times, I decided to wrap up the tour blog after all. Here we go. We spent a good amount of time in New York, playing in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and commuting back to the Tobias Family house in between. The shows were two of the best on tour, but the trip to Chinatown topped it all. Jeff's parents took us on a whirlwind eating adventure, where we stuffed ourselves with all kinds of amazing food, at a bunch of different eateries. Picked up a "Fudgie the Whale" ice cream cake on the way home, and immediately exploded afterward.

neil callaghan, new hampshire

still angry at Canada, we drove straight through to New Hampshire to hang out with Neil. we arrived in the middle of the night, and i literally ran straight from the van into his house because dark summer camps in the middle of the woods are where things in horror flicks happen. turns out it wasn't scary at all, it was beautiful, and we spent the afternoon outside with the bbq grill, eating until we were way beyond full. after the show, i realized i was starting to feel the onset of tour crazies, and i think perhaps the last photograph captures it. maybe it was the Stone Temple Pilots blasting as we were loading up the van. 

buffalo, new york

Niagara Falls! not much else to say, really.

ontario, canada

crossed the border fairly easily. had the van searched, sat in customs for a few minutes while they verified our show, and watched the kilometers on the speedometer for the first time. played in the middle of the day (weird) in a big theater (weird) to some kids who didn't say a word to me afterwards (weird). i thought they hated us, but apparently i was the only one they didn't talk to. hmm. we drove back into Buffalo where we got harassed by the US border officer, and drove away with rattled nerves to meet the Tobias family for dinner. we were supposed to have two more Canadian shows, but we were denied the second time we tried to enter. it's a complicated story, involving work permits, taxes, band equipment, and nerves, but everyone was incredibly nice, and gave us advice for next time. defeated, we went to jeff's sister's house and played Rock Band all night.

detroit, michigan

packed apartment. sweaty show. nice kids. mannequins. banana hats. oh, bearded dude is Shawn, who did the artwork for our new album, Dirty Versions. thanks Shawn!

chicago, illinois

despite the looks of pure boredom on luke and i's faces, this show at People Projects was fantastic. we ate mexican food with joel before the show, which apparently made us scream even more than usual.

madison, wisconsin

jazzman scott & sharks walked around madison all afternoon, feeling like we were in athens. ah, the college town. show was at the Nottingham co-op, who had a great view of the lake and very uninterested punk rock tenants. they sat on couches while we played, so i did too. sometimes you just have to try and fit in. i found an ERC, sat for a couple of hours, and started to miss home.

lincoln, nebraska

played a basement show, scary staircase and Andrew WK mural included, with some super fun bands. caught up with one said super fun band at a rest stop the next day for hugs. meeting other bands who are excited about music and like being in a band is great. strangely enough, people like this are hard to find.