Immediately after leaving Charleston we started to get hungry, and were very happy to realize that the seafood place recommended to us by multiple folks was only about 30 miles outside of town. We pulled up at the Seewee restaurant with empty bellies and bulging eyes – it looked exactly like the kind of place we wanted to feed.



And the bill of fare did not in any way disappoint. All of it was breathtakingly good. We started off with Charleston She-Crab Soup, which, for folks that don’t know, is similar to a crab chowder, served with a shot of sherry that the eater mixes in to his or her liking. Divine. On the side, we had fried pickles, which were perfectly crisp and not at all greasy – clearly the Seewee fryers are masters of their craft. The main event was a plate of some of the freshest seafood we’ve ever had (and after years of heading down the Cape in the summers, that’s saying something), including four perfect oysters, bone dry on the outside but bursting with oceanic juices at the slightest disturbance of the brittle crust.



We waddled out of the Seewee with what little dignity we had left and hit the road back to North Carolina. Drove past Myrtle Beach (kind of a pit) and briefly contemplated going into a shooting range and firing off a few rounds (I was the killjoy who nixed that idea).



We pulled off in Wilmington at about a quarter to five and went immediately to the Juggling Gypsy Café. What a joint – it felt like home the moment we walked in. Funky decorations all over the place and a laid-back atmosphere. The people there were super friendly, and we sat around and watched the end of "No Country for Old Men."



We went to meet Hunter, our CouchSurfing host for the evening, and promptly got lost looking for his place (curses on you, Maria!), but when we found it we felt very welcome. Hunter was, true to his name, a hunter, and he offered us deer sausage for the next morning’s breakfast, about which more later. He also sacrificed watching the NCAA finals to come watch our show, which was super cool. He said he’d been meaning to check out the Juggling Gypsy for years, and now had a new reason to go. We hung out for a bit, then headed back to the Gypsy for the show.

At the Juggling Gypsy, we got fabulous sandwiches and local beers (Duck-Rabbit Porter! Hoohah!), and Gabriel discovered that he’d left the power adapter to his reverb pedal in South Carolina. Oops. And there was not a one to be found in Wilmington, at least not at that hour of night.

By the time we were ready to play, a little crowd had assembled. It was a great show – Gabe warmed the audience up (we’ve been switching off opening and designated driving duties) and got ’em into it, and then I came on. For the first time this tour, I felt like I’d really found my footing. Felt very free up on stage. By the end of the night (near midnight on a Monday) the crowd had dwindled a bit, but those left were a fantastic audience nonetheless. After the show, we hung out with Hunter, Brian and Denny (who were running the Gypsy that night), drank a couple of beers (well, not me – I was driving) and headed back to Hunter’s place.



(Live MP3 - Jared doing "Butterfly" - http://econo-graphics.com/superdupersecret/ButterflyWilmington.mp3)

At Hunter’s, we sat up for a little while, shared some of the Kentucky Gentleman we’d procured a few stops back, and met his roommate, David, who played us a couple of songs on King Alfred, my elderly archtop electric guitar, including a great rendition of Townes’ "Mr. Gold and Mr. Mudd" and one of his own originals, which was very lovely indeed.

We took some shut-eye, and in the morning woke up to a breakfast of pancakes and the aforementioned deer sausage, which was spicy and delicious. With our bellies full, we packed up and headed west for Asheville.



(Deer sausage! And it was awesome!)

So we woke up early in Chapel Hill, fended off the cats and hightailed it down to Charleston. In a stroke of incredible luck, our GPS unit (whom we’ve nicknamed "Maria") decided (without our realizing it until we were well on our way) that it would be faster to take back roads from Chapel Hill to the South Carolina border than to go hook up with the interstate in Raleigh. As a result, we took winding two-lane blacktop all the way, through brown fields and tiny towns. We danced in our seats to "Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu" by Huey "Piano" Smith. I bought the worst cup of coffee I have ever sampled in my life (which, given previous hikes through Nebraska, Texas, Alabama, etc., is saying something).

We made the obligatory stop at South of the Border and happily resisted buying souvenirs for the most part –weren’t able to resist taking photos tho’…







We busted down I-95 to Charleston. And met up with Luca and Ladd, our CouchSurfing hosts for the evening, who were incredibly awesome. We got in touch with Luca more or less at the last minute, while we were in York, and he was kind enough to put us up with his friend Ladd, who has a much roomier apartment. Both are students at the College of Charleston in their last year of school.

Charleston was indescribable. We had a drink and some crab dip at a rather swanky bar at the end of a pier and looked out at a cruise ship loading up with tourists. We wandered through colonial-era alleys and saw ornate churches surrounded by palmettos.



But maybe the most interesting thing was what we saw when we went to meet Luca for dinner. Luca lives in a small apartment near the college, and when we got to his place, he was hanging out with his landlord, George, and their neighbor, Gerry. They offered to give us a tour of Gerry’s house, which George (an architect) had designed. It was spectacular, with a roof deck overlooking the city, a colonnaded patio (complete with fountain) overlooking the alleyway between the houses, and a working sundial hand-painted on the side of the house.



And then they gave us a tour of George’s house (that he had designed for himself), which was easily the most fascinating dwelling I’d ever been in. "Resplendent" would most assuredly be the word. As the immense front doors opened, we noticed that where most folks would have a den, a kitchen or a front room of some sort, George had a swimming pool built into the ground. The walls were lined with antique rugs that George had bought in Turkey. The ceilings were hugely high, and had a giant concrete chandelier hanging down. The floor was all mosaic. The living room had four ancient wooden columns, which they had found on the lot when they cleared it out to build the house. And it was rounded out by a giant poured-concrete fireplace that George had designed himself.



At any rate, Gabe and I both decided that we’re commissioning George to build us houses if we ever have any money. Done. Settled.

And for that matter, you should commission him too if you have the money – look him up at http://georgeholtdesign.com/.

So Luca and Ladd took us to a local joint called Papa ZuZu’s for dinner, which was exactly what the doctor ordered – fresh delicious veggies (and hey, the South Carolina tomatoes are already fantastic this time of year) to counteract the astonishingly unhealthy diet we’ve been rocking for the past few days.

Then we went to the show, at the Village Tavern in Mount Pleasant, just across the bridge from Charleston. Great bar, with a great beer selection and an impressive roster of local and touring bands of all genres – widely regarded as one of the best places to play in the area. Cameron, Steph and Ryan, who were running things when we got there, were really lovely to us, and we had a very nice little crowd by the time we got playing.

For myself, I will say it was the last time I ever play without a setlist, but Gabriel rocked the place. Folks gathered around as he played, and when he lit into Hank Williams’ "Lost Highway," one dude grabbed a harmonica and started playing along; Gabe gestured him onstage, and he soloed at the mic. He was fantastic. Gabriel did a nice mix of originals and covers, and we sold a few CDs at evening’s end. A good time had by all.

(Live MP3s - Gabriel doing Dylan’s "I Shall Be Released" - http://econo-graphics.com/superdupersecret/IShallBeReleasedCharleston.mp3)

We went back and crashed out at Ladd’s house, and in the morning she cooked us a lovely breakfast before she had to depart for school. We ducked into a music/pawn shop to buy a gig bag for me, and for Gabriel to add to his growing collection of sunglasses (this time, aviators with pink lenses – and I must say I look pretty good in ’em too), got a couple spare keys cut at a hardware store, and lit out on 17 for Wilmington.

Day 2, and a lovely day it was. We rolled into York a little after 1 PM. Odd city – very beautiful buildings and a more-or-less deserted downtown. Reminded me of New Bedford in a lot of ways. We then hopped it for Amish country, a few miles east.



We started our Amish odyssey in Intercourse – home of the oft-stolen street sign (a fellow we met said his grandfather had personally lifted three of them over the last 80 years). Went pickle-and-jam shopping and ate a home-cooked lunch. Browsed the "Old Candle Barn." Saw buggies. Way quaint:





(Whose smorgasbord? Gabriel’s smorgasbord!)



(This goat was trying to climb this tree)

Then it was back to York, and our gig at Sparky & Clark’s coffeehouse.

First thing is we don’t have a mic stand – Gabe left his in Austin over his recent jaunt to SXSW. We’re going to pick it up when we get down there, but that obviously doesn’t do us any good now. And Sparky & Clark’s doesn’t have one either. What we did have was duct tape. And they had a stepstool and a broomhandle. So we MacGyvered this contraption:



The gig went down just fine. We played to about 10 people over the course of the night, most of whom we knew by name by the end of the sets (special thanks to Nick and Michelle, by the way). Not a big audience, but a great one nonetheless. We had a blast.

(Live MP3s from Sparky & Clark’s:

Gabriel’s "Tough Love" - http://econo-graphics.com/superdupersecret/ToughLoveYork.mp3
Jared’s "You Got Some Nerve" - http://econo-graphics.com/superdupersecret/YouGotSomeNerveYork.mp3)

And then we went and had our first CouchSurfing experience. For them what don’t know, CouchSurfing is an international program that uses the interwebs to connect travelers with people interested in hosting travelers. Everything is monitored, and hosts and surfers are reviewed by the people they stay with/host. It’s pretty awesome, actually.

Anyway, our first ’Surf rocked. We stayed with Brian, Nick and Lindsay, college students in York who are about to graduate and move to Baltimore. Wicked cool people, and truly an experience we couldn’t conceivably have had through conventional means. We hung out, drank a couple beers and played a little music before heading to sleep. Brian played us a couple of his songs – he’s heading out on tour this summer, and if you are around you should seriously try to catch him – http://myspace.com/sirenisaband. Great stuff, with searing lyrics. Damn. Good people who want to host our bummy corpses, who also happen to be good musicians – what’re the friggin’ chances?



Then we crashed, woke up this morning and hauled out of York on the way to Chapel Hill, where we’re gonna rendezvous with Misty and the Western Civ crew. Huzzah!!!

Til tomorrow (but that’s just some other time),

J

Hooray! DC! Stop one on the tour! We started out the evening with a delightful repast at Ben’s Chili Bowl, perhaps the city’s finest eating establishment and a perennial Man in Gray favorite. Ben’s makes something called a chili half-smoke, which is a smoked sausage frizzled on the flattop until it takes on a wicked crust, then stuffed in a steamed bun and lathered with mustard, raw onions and a heaping of incredible chili. So very, very good. If you’ve ever been, I’d imagine you want one right now. With a side of cheese fries, naturally.
 
Then we got a beer with Gabriel’s friend Emily, who is doing awesome humanitarian work for the State Department. And then it was on to the Velvet Lounge, and our first gig this tour!
 
The show went really well – the small crowd grew as the set went on, and everyone seemed really into it. (Wanna hear a song from last night? This is Gabe doing a brand new one: http://econo-graphics.com/superdupersecret/KatieMaeDC.mp3)

 

Gaslight Society came on next and rocked – sort of a punky, groovy X-Ray Spex vibe. Very cool.
 
The night was closed out by DC force-to-be-reckoned-with Must Love Trash, who jammed out hard. I’ve seen them a couple-three times now, and they get radder every show. I highly recommend going to see them on Saturday at Kenny’s Castaways if you’re in NYC. 
 
Berg of MLT and his lovely fiancee Tracy were kind enough to put us up, and we spent the rest of the evening eating "jumbo slice" (they’re way not kidding) pizza and playing with Parker, their adorable Labrador. And then we slept the sleep of reason that breeds monsters.
 
And now it’s off to York, PA. By way of Intercourse, PA. It’s a little off the beaten path, but how can one resist?
 
Much love,
 
J