Tourblog Pt. II

Before I kick off the second half of my whirlwind tour blog ( a week late I know ) I wanted to point out a couple of interesting things:

Warren Ellis who has long been one of my favorite writers gave me a little bump today on his blog which I thought was nice of him to do.

Also, LETRON gave me a nice little write up in her blog a few days ago, and if you havn't listened to her music you should check it out.

SO;

Onward:

Chicago, IL: We arrived in Chicago a few days early, visited one of my new favorite bars in the world: the Skylark which appears to have fallen out of a Raymond Chandler novel and subsequently hired a really fantastic chef. We played at the EP Theater which is managed in part by my good friend William Block. This was, in my opinion, one of the best shows we played on tour, the EP is set up perfectly for what we're doing. We played with a great band called All Things Lucid who reminded me of The Band quite a bit (also, I highly recommend going to their website and playing with the cars, endless hours of enjoyment). We went to a SOX game and saw them lose (awwww) and we also started an impromptu doo-wop group outside of the Empty Bottle.

Things get a bit tricky after Chicago, we drove to St. Charles, Missouri and picked up Mike Franklin, aka my Döppelganger. I knew I would like Mike and his friends almost immediately when we showed up, exhausted after driving all the way across Illinois and part of Missouri and were welcomed by a group of people sitting on a porch playing Bill Withers covers on banjos, accordions and bazoukis. So we picked Mike up, drove BACK to Illinois to Springfield where we played at a bar that was slightly smaller than a doublewide trailer, we were all running around, playing instruments with spoons and drinking Stag beer. I also tried to convince the guitarist of the other band that I was a spy or something...

We then returned to Missouri, hung out with the Franklins and friends (including Mike and Angela's two adorable children, one of whom referred to my chest hair as "dirty boobs") all was blissful and fun.

After St. Charles we stopped for a night in Columbia, MO and played at another bar the size of a doublewide, this one happened to be full of rednecks and we played, unamplified, right next to the bar. I was pretty convinced that we were going to get the shit kicked out of us by all the rednecks, however, we seem to have retained most of our shit, as we are, as you all know, still totally full of it...


Kansas City, MO: Jack and I wandered around KC for a day, had some beers with the ever lovely Tiffany Gammon, ate some great food at a place called YJs which I highly recommend if you are ever in the KCMO neighborhood. We played at a venue called the Pistol which is an old warehouse in the West Bottoms, creepy but cool! We played with a few really awesome bands, including a band from LA called Tweakbird who totally slayed.

Lincoln, NE: Why did we go from KCMO to Lincoln and then back down south? For a lot of reasons, not least of which is that Box Awesome is a rad little club and everyone in Lincoln is super nice. The day after the show we watched the Empire Strikes Back with one of the bands we played with and I realized, once again, that I am an unabashed Star Wars nerd.

Lawrence, KS: On our way out of Kansas City we visited the grave of Charlie Parker, had a nice little conversation and paid our respects to probably, in my personal life, one of the most influential musicians to ever grace this green earth. We rolled into Lawrence late, bummed around for a bit before deciding that we were totally broke and should probably try to scrounge up some money. We ended up trying to busk outside of a bar called the Replay. Busking didn't end up working out so I decided to buck up and go inside and see what I could see. We ended up playing on the indoor stage to a sizable group of people, totally spur of the moment. The people at the Replay were absolutely amazing and we had a fantastic time.

We then had a few days off and went to stay with Michael Cuddell who is an anarchist publisher in the middle of Kansas. This may seem like something that could potentially rip a hole in the time space continuum, but I assure you, Mike is out there. We hung out in his horse barn, drank coffee and talked politics for a few days. During this time we also made a stop down to Topeka where we played at a place called the Celtic Fox, they were all very nice.

After our stay with Cuddell we moved along to Wichita, KS where completely by chance I ran into a guy named Casey who used to play guitar for a band called RickeyFitts. Long story short we ended up knowing a lot of the same people, Casey made us food and we played at a bar called the Rack 'em Up which was fun. It was also the bartender's birthday.

Tulsa, OK: Spur of the moment show in Tulsa. Another doublewide sized bar called the Dragon's Lair full of old bikers. A knife got pulled, some dude stole another guy's truck and crashed it, the cops came and we played. Also, in Tulsa you can only get 3.2 beer.

Oklahoma City, OK: We played at a bar called the 51st Street Speakeasy which was pretty damn awesome. It's an old house converted to a bar, good food, cool people, good fun.

And OKC was pretty much our last show on the tour, we were supposed to play a show in Norman, OK but due to some miscommunication our show consisted of four people sitting on the porch of a house. The people who ran the house were very nice though and I read about half of Joe Strummer's biography while I was there.

And now here we are in Austin, Texas, surrounded by pretty girls, cheap beer and bands that are really into Gram Parsons (this makes me happy). Our friends Abby and Sabyre arrived a couple of days ago. Two nights ago we went to the Mohawk (which is quite a happening place) and saw Charlie Parr play. I have no hesitation in saying that Charlie is one of the most amazing musicians I have ever seen. I highly recommend anyone who doesn't know Charlie's work to go see him. Abby decided to hitch a ride home with Charlie and so now it is just Jack, Sabyre and myself.

Anyway, I have written enough for today, be good.

Current Music:
Caestles : We Have Built A New God EP

Random Playlist For The Evening:
Little Beaver - Funkadelic Sound
The Dismemberment Plan - Bra
Minus the Bear - Pachuca Sunrise
Grails - More Extinction
Uncle Tupelo - Fall Down Easy
Built to Spill - Israel's Song
Little Joy - With Strangers
Stevie Wonder - Visions