This is from Brian, with a few added details from Jacob

5:00 am we leave Eugene Oregon after a late night gig

We made the mistake of discovering a microbrewery in Boulder which gives free tasting glasses of their beer. I think the band could eat every meal of the rest of the tour there. Everyone is jonesing for tofu and rice but ends up eating their delicious hamburgers and IPA.
The Boulder Outlook hotel wows everyone with a swimming pool, organic breakfast, and composting bins everywhere.
For the last three dates I, Jacob, play borrowed sousaphones, while we are joined by Rafi on trombone. Rafi teaches us the type of neck massage used in the Israeli army.
We make a lunch stop in North Platte, NE. Not too much going on in that town...
Omaha is a luxurious stop for us in a nice hotel with single rooms! The folks at the Holland are very accommodating and we sign autographs after the show. We'll try not to get used to that.
Minneapolis, last gig, everyone is exhausted, but it goes well. Delicious Indian food at the Cedar Cultural Center. Thanks to all who came to shows and bought merch direct from us, it makes a difference in the days of itunes etc.
Pictures to follow...
j

Road stories:
Everything is peachy, having a blast so far. Seattle was green . Everything went off without a hitch, even though we had a hitch, and a Uhaul trailer.
Tractor Tavern has amazing beer. which is key to the band's spirits.
The music dept at University of Oregon at Eugene was the site of the first ever version of Svirat Svercko with a thirty piece Balkan brass behemoth. Cozmic Pizza had a great crowd and a very Oregonian space. The Californians in the band thought the pizza, with Sun-Dried tomatoes, sweet crust, and a hint of cinamon, was pretty good. The East Coasters thought it wasn't.
Thirty minutes outside of SF and our fan got shit on it: the van broke down. But this is too good a story to pass over, so Brian is going to write down the whole thing for the next blog entry.
Anyway, we go sightseeing and see Crissy Field, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Ferry Building. Many pictures are taken of Peter playing various little accordions, and standing in front of San Francisco Bay.
We're back on track, on our way to LA to play Santa Monica College, feeling much better after three stellar Bay Area gigs, several Mexican meals, sleep, and sightseeing.
Peter turned me on to some amazing Kafana-style accordion bootlegs, with some synths that are more Star Wars Cantina than the Star Wars cantina band. The Jimmy Smith tradition of virtuoso improvised left hand bass lines on the keyboard is alive and well in Roma Europe.
Ben amuses himself and others in the van by watching about 60 Sergio Leone movies. He decides Oscar's new nickname is "Ramon".
Santa Monica is an abrupt but welcome change from the sweaty late night club gigs so far. This one is an early community college set for an all ages crowd. No matter, we do that too. We get to do some of our more delicate stuff, which is a treat.
Oscar's brother Elias makes some amazing steaks, tuna, and grilled asparagus for us in Downey, CA. His dog Max climbs on the pool table. But this was not the last delicious Noriega meal we would have on the tour.
After a 6 hour stay in Palm Springs, we head to Tucson. First stop is Oscar's mom's restaurant. WOW! They know how to feed ten starving musicians. Chile Colorao Burritos! Never had anything like that.
Tucson is a cool gig in an arty performance space. A mix of folk dancers, young people, and Oscar's childhood friends. Good times.
On the way to Santa Fe we stop in Hatch, the home of the green chile. This tour is turning out to be all about Mexican food. Everyone buys bushels of dried chiles and jars of salsa.
College of Santa Fe is a great gig, really nice audience, and everyone seems overjoyed to have a touring band stop in their town. We are glad to oblige.
Next up, Denver, Boulder, Omaha, Minneapolis, Home!

This is Our Tour
Come and say hello!
Stay tuned for road updates

Played in a barn party in CT, hung out with some Donkeys, and Ron made a joke to a stranger about "ass" and she didn't get it.
In Maine Oscar asked for lobster so many times that we started to call him "Lobster Noriega".
The whole band's eyes lit up when we learned that the private party we were about to play had roasted an entire pig in a homemade smoke pit.
We enjoyed the anal probe at the Canadian border.
At the Atlantic Jazz Fest we sold more cds than the famous jazz artists who headlined a few days before us.
According to Bubba, the backstage volunteer at the festival, we got his "mojo working! That's what I'm talking about!"
Ron loves dogs so much that as soon as he got back to NYC, at 5am, he got one.


Check out this video: Ron Dog Love



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To whoever stole Oscar's beef medallions while we were on stage in Manchester, NH:
You are one sick fuck. We're going to track you down and make you learn the changes to Pavketov.

To the 15 year old hippie kids at the hippie party in Tyngsboro:
How can you say you can't afford a $10 cd when you just drank $20 worth of beer? How can you say you didn't hear the band when we just played in your face until we got shut down by the police?

To the What Cheer Marching Band from Providence:
Haha, just when you thought you learned Missy Sasa from our last record, we changed the key! Now you have to learn it all over again. Have fun at Guca and say hi to Vranski Bisiri and don't feel bad when they make fun of the way you play Ederlezi.

Up next: Cincinatti, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland!

"We don't need a GPS, it's Boston."
Oscar, the day before the tour, on which we get lost a dozen times.

"So here's the fucking deal! We need some fucking money!"
Screamed by Ron at loft party in Boston, 1:30am 3/30

"There's only one type of music I don't like and that's jazz."
Strange guy in the hot tub, Porches Inn, North Adams, MA, 2am 3/31

No but seriously we had a fun trip, slept on the floor, slept in a fancy hotel, ate steak and ate pumpkin seeds, and no one puked on us, except this one guy who thought he could play the cymbal really loud, and then Ben and Jacob and Ron had a skipping race down the hall of the contemporary art museum, and somewhere we caught that on camera, so we'll have to post it here. 

Posted by Jakub

Greetings from Belgrade,
SSP is in Serrrrbia on a gigging/learning adventure. Got here a few days back, went to the Surdalica brass band competition, saw 22 Serbian brass bands playing at the same time, played the Novi Sad Exit Festival, biggest festival in the Balkans, played a parade in Belgrade, woke some people up out of their office doldrums. Tomorrow headed back down to Southern Serbia to trade tunes with Vranjski Biseri. Master craftsman Marshall Sealey gave a masterclass in do-it-yourself brass repair to dozens of curious Serbian Roma musicians at 1am in the lobby of the hotel.
Anyone in Vranje come to Vranske Banje and say hi!