6 hours is the drive from Pittsburgh to Indianapolis. not the best, but not the worst. our merry band of minstrels and bards got to the house that we were playing in due time. when we arrived we chatted with Brian and Colin of Pheonix Bodies about the ups and downs of our tour. Derek showed up a bit later with some curried veggies in a pot. i had to hide mine behind some ceramic pigs so i could eat it later. the pigs were there to guard it from marauders that might tr to come up on my grub.

we played 3 and did fine. a randy little set if i do say so myself. i even let Brian from Phoenix Bodies us my snare drum. he had played it at the August 2nd Portraits of Past reunion and since then has taken quite a liking to it. so much so that i sold it to him for $100. hell, i only payed $100, so why should i try to make money off a bro. i like him and his drummer, as well as the fact that he was super into the snare drum. more than i ever was. it just felt right.

the other bands were a good mix, a little punk, a little metalcore/hardcore, a little bit of tom in phoenix bodies in a dress and wacky lipstick. well, actually, everyone in Phoenix bodies was sporting a wild fiendish lipstick thing.

we drove 33 hours straight home after the show. of which, i drove 26. i had to rest twice for 4 hours each. the rest of the time it was us cruisin' USA. i will admit that i like to drive at dusk, that people in nebraska and wyoming are more courteous om the freeway than in other states. and timmy is no longer in the band. please mark the death toll of the band up one more notch. we have now hit rock bottom... well maybe.

First watch this video






now go back and watch between seconds 0:59 and 1:04. that explains our day. we did some real things today for sure. Brendan from Frostburg brought us out to Swallow Falls to swim and i have to say that it was more on point than a sniper in the west bank. Lacy drove her car and we followed and Steve from Grendel's Arm met us there. this place was like the movie Deliverance but without all the backwater shinanigans. you know, squeelin' like a pig, and all that hoop lah.

we swam and jumped off the rocks on some of the smaller falls, then we went up to the bigger falls where i caught a serious bad one. look at this photo.






you see that ledge in the middle of the falls there. well i fell off that with all my clothes on this day. cell phone, dope camera, band money, my money, wallet, and all other personal belongings were instantly soaked. my phone is muffed up anc i cant use the keys on the left side. the camera bit the dust as well. you know what? who cares! this place that was the swimming hole was so dope that it was liking paying the entry fee to get awesome.

the drive to pittsburgh was not so bad. we got there with enough time to hang out with Brendan (of pittsburgh not frostburg), eric, zack, steve, and the other folks. we even hit up wholefoods. we grazed so tough that i couldnt even eat all the meager salad that i payed for. i did buy some shitty coconut juice drink with lime.


  BEWARE OF THIS DRINK






it tastes gross. if you respect coconut juice, then do not do it an injustice by drinking this particular flavor.

now, back to the show. The dudes that live at the house have a new band, which i would like to say is quite good. i like Eric's drumming style. he put me onto some rudiments and what not. i, being a stubborn "punk rock" kid growing up refused to take lessons, and now i dont know shit. rudiments i guess can come in handle. word to that. we played 4 songs and were hot all the way though. the basement was hot, people were shirtless, we were sweating, and i think we played ok. who knows, it was like the wall of noise blasting the patrons in the face from what i could tell. people were pumped though.

now there is something about vermont that not a lot of people know. that is the fact that getting in is easy, but leaving is hard. we took hwy 7, and it was over 2 hours before we got out of there. the roadside moose hunting was still going on, but it was a failure. i did not see one single moose anywhere. i had more luck finding old thrown semi treads all over the freeway than a moose, especially when there are signs for moose all over tarnation. sheesh!

i drove us for 10 hours through 5 states to get to the show today. there was some serious views out the window. let me tell you that Cumberland, Maryland is a nice place to look at. super brick buildings, large steeple, bridges, river, woods, rock formations, and human beings.

the show was rad as well. small basement spaces seem to have some sort of booming acoustics for our band. we played with some really rad people too. acoustic, screamo, and stoney metal. we had it all. we even had vegan tacos before hand. if you have time, check out Grendel's Arm.  They are very stoney and metal. they are some nice dudes too. tomorrow's plan is to meet up with some of them and go do some more waterfall swimming action.

now check this out

ok, humor me and do this. close your eyes (after you read this of course) and think about how he air smells when the first rain of the season comes. if you live in the city, this may or may not be the best smell, but if you live in the country, then you are going to really be feeling what i am about to tell you. think about the smell of the wood, the grass, the breeze, and the tarmac when the water is heavy in the air. no think about being in the woods with nature, riding a moose with squirrels chattering in the trees. think about how awesome that is. THAT WAS OUR DRIVE TODAY!

we drove from Maine, through New Hampshire and into Vermont to play Burlington. there was so much nature that the twisty 2 lane road, 6 hour drive was not bad at all. there were bridges, rivers, waterfalls, Birch, Maple, Pine, and Oak Trees all around. there were swamp lands, mountains, valleys, woods and fields all over. houses that were only $80,000. it was just plain awesome. it would be a place for someone to retire and get rugged, mountain man stye. i kept my eye out for more moose since there were signs for them all over, but still there were no sighting.

Burlington has a nice Co-op called City Market where there is a lot of cool little ditties in the hot bar/salad bar. there are 3 choices of samosa, sweet potato salad, curry seitan salad, mutliple kinds of tofu, and wonderful dressings. you could even graze a little bit if you were so inclined.

the show was pretty rad. i was compiling a list of dope songs to listen to while warming up. The Passenger by Iggy Pop was what sparked that, as well as some other situations that prodded me along. i have been missing music on this tour since rolling with the windows is too loud to really pump music on the radio and my ipod bit the dust. we played in the middle. it was hot and sweat as usual, but the people who were there were pumped. afterwards we wathed "COPS: bad girls" on DVD. i listened to it from the basement while i exercised while the other guys watched it. here are some photo highlights of the drive.

when you are young and your parents tell you that you have to eat certain food for breakfast, you at one point vow that you one day will eat whatever you want for breakfast. for me, the day had come. i had 2 veggie hotdogs at Spikes. If you can eat 6 hotdogs in 1.5 hours then you get free shirt. if you beat the reigning champs hotdog record then you didnt have to pay for all the food you ate, you got a shirt, and a hat. oh, you got your picture on the wall as long as you ate 6. the record was 14. i had 2, and i was not really loving life, but hell. when you are an adult you can do whatever the hell you want!

the drive into the nether regions of maine was quite picturesque. when you are in main and you get pulled over they dont even charge you that much for speeding. i happened to be looking out so intently for moose that i got pulled over doing 84 in a 65 zone. i guess it didnt help that i had the cruise control set at 84... when i was asked why i was being pulled over i should have told her it was because i was black. and after all that, i didnt see one moose.

the barn in maine was not as filled with people as last time we were here, but that was mainly due to the fact that tomorrow is school for a lot of people as well as worky time after labor day. we did fine with door and merch sales so we will be able to continue our little wilderness trek into vermont tomorrow. Joseph Merrick dudes are solid brothers. it would be better if hayden was actually older so they could tour. they would definately be a refreshing band on the scene, even though a lot of good bands are here on the east coast. the band physics physics was cool too. they had some rolling on the ground tamborine action acompanied by keyboard. feel good music for the end of the summer.

HAVE YOU SEEN ME?


 

At this point in time i would like to make it known that the people in Ampere are wonderful. i would also like to thank "old dude" for lacing Will Killingworth with the knowledge as to the where abouts of the super secret waterfall swim spot. that's correct. Will took our band and his band, plus some extra friends to thicken the posse, to this rad waterfall into a pool. i killed 2 rolls of films befre i even got into the water. it was clear, cool, and something out of a 70's movie where Matt Dillon is a sexy trouble youth with feathered hair...

the show was in Boston and it was a banger. L'Antetam, Furnace, Sinaloa, and Ampere al played. the basement was hot, but we all had a rad time. i broke my snare second snare drum head in 2 days this night, but who cares? i still was smiling. i even got to do laundry afterwards. we also had time to go to grasshopper for dinner before. woo!

After kicking around in NYC for a few days watching or playing the Portraits Of Past reunion shows, we headed to western mass. the morning we left i made it out to Jessica's from The Vue for a crazy waffle brunch. so dope. there was home made waffles with fruit compote(compost) and glazed pecan syrup.

the drive involved hating on U.S. Open Traffic, screaming out the window, paying too much for gas, and a van piled with 3 extra people. we got to the show and had a gay ole time though. the show was low profile, but Will and Meghan took care of us. we hung out at a resturant afterwards and hung out. from there we went and crashed out at Will and Meghan's new house, which is in the sticks but is really really nice.

The best part of this day was probably the fact that we talked about Willow Munger. Willow was an old housemate of Jeremy (portraits of past bass player) and when i would go over to see him sometimes he would have some intense stories to tell me. this was all in Santa Cruz, Ca at the time, which is known for liberal peoples.

willow would have loud sex, had a clear acrylic dildo, and would brush her teeth naked with the bathroom door open... she also happened to work at the UCSC bookstore, so when i saw her all i could think about was some naked lady making loud odd noises while brushing her teeth... one to grow on.

this show was double booked. some of us knew that, but i guess that other bands that were going to play did not. it didnt really matter when it comes down to it, because by the time that Portraits Of Past went on the basement was flooded it seems the 2 drains had sprung a leak and water was welling up from the depths of the sewers. The Blue Letter, and Dead Letter Auction were both better than the night before. we played 4 different and shorter songs than the night before (dave is still down with the sickness). people were hanging out on the sidewalk in front mostly, but started to trickle in. not much more can be said. some of us went to Food Swings on Roebling and Grand. i got the italian chicken sandwich with some fries and the shake known as THE TANK. i instantly regretted ordering the food when it came since i was not even a bit hungry. i got the hype in the brain and that did me in. i walked around the parts of bedford and williamsburg and then went back to crash in the comforts of the van, on the streets of brooklyn.

what can one say about new york? there is a lot to do and not enough time... always. there are people that we all know here that we want to hang out with or stuff to do but never enough time. the show at the cat house was pretty rad. it is in the basement of an apartment run by some kids that live there and everyone was super nice. i think the reason is called the cat house is because there is a litter box at the top of the stairs to the basement that is piled up with cat poop. i had to make mention that it was time for changing. little kitties do not like to take poops while standing in poop, at least i would hope that they dont get down with such actions, but hey. if you gotta go, you gotta go, no matter what species of animal you are.

the guys in the blue letter didnt get to have the full assault of their equipment due to the fact that respect for the neighbors needed to be maintained. they still played well. Towers and Algernon Cadwalider were also really good. the show altogether was just well put together. the guys in Dead Letter Auction had their first show back together as a reunion in 4 years. they borrowed some of our equipment. i like john's drummer, but he was hitting way to soft. i later found out it was because i told him not to smash the heads to bits. i guess he didnt know how hard to play. miscommunication happens.

we played ok from what i could tell. dave is still "down with the sickness" to put it into some rap rock terms. that means we played 4 songs and kept it casual. it worked out well. it was another hot basement show to be sure, and i was glad it was 4 songs for the simple fact that i felt like i was dying and my skill level would have been compromised. afterwards we chatted to old friends from past and not so far past, then went back to the fort to sleep. i have been sleeping in the van the last few nights and it has been grand. let me say a little bit about the weather. BANGING! it is sunny but cool. there's a breeze blowing, there are people out on the street smiling, and it is like i am hearing "these are the people in your neighborhood" playing while i cruise the sidewalk.

this is how dave is feeling. please listen to the lyrics if you can make it that far

So, the carpet was so wet and smelling like dog in the van that i had to play doctor and scalpelize the crap out of the patient. the van was originally a doggie day care van, so you can see why wet moldy mange ridden beastial smells would be emanating from within every time you open the door. it needless to say, that this particular problem is now a thing of the past.

the show in Honeybrook, PA was canceled so i am going to talk about the show in Baltimore. we got there a day early so we could visit Bill from Protagonist Records. we made pasta, listened to old records, and i did some exercises on the front porch. yes, we still have the 2 15lbs. dumb bells in the the van. i walked to the grocery store with bill and was there to witness him purchasing his very first frying pan ever. at the age of 34 and after living in his apartment for a whole year i think it was high time that it happened. it was a coming of age story in the making. he is more of a sandwich and salad man, so it is understandable that he has no frying pan. well, sort of understandable. i mean, who would want to go through a year of life without burgers, or fried bacon, or other tasty fried goodies. not this guy, i tell you.

anyhow, lets get to the goods. the show was originally at the Copy Cay Building but got moved to The Barclay House for the simple reason that the owners brother say the person taking money at the door and got suspicious about it. as a background note, one must know that this is a huge warehouse space with many open large warehouse areas as the apartments. now, mike(our door man and show booker) was not taking money at the entrance to the apartment, but at the entrance to the entire building. one can sort of get a weird feeling when they see something like that. maybe the makings of a whole building wide rager of cataclysmic proportions was about to take place came to mind. who knows.

we moved the show to the barclay house which i am told was in the ghetto, but honestly, most of baltimore looks ghetto to me. lots of run down buildings there let me tell you. we played 2nd out of 3 and had a rad time. i played too fast of course and dropped a stick, oh and broke a stick, but it was all in good fun.

we busted an overnight drive to NYC so i could make POP practice in the morning. unfortunately we hit traffic and got lost in Maryland off some directions that we got from Bill before we left. this also led to me getting pulled over by a state policemen. i mean, we were looking shady rolling in a large white van, cruising real slow and making turns in the middle of the small highway. i got let off with a warning after i tried to explain we were trying to get to the I-95. really i think it was bald person vibes that we had going. we made it to NYC in 3 hours which was not so bad. balling down the freeway at 80mph is good for making up time.
DO NOT MESS!