Jim Morrison memorial neck tatt

Today is our one week mark.

Everything has been going really well so far. Saturday night we played in Boston. It was really great and we partied really really hard with friends after the show. So far all the venues have been cool with us playing on the floor, which is really awesome. it sucks playing on a big stage when people are still coming in and the floor isn't packed. I finally got a good cup of coffee in Boston. 3200 miles across the US and the only good coffee I could get was the stuff I brought along with me. I hope that at some point you can get a decent cup in every major city, but most people are cool with Folger's, so I'm not holdin' my breath.

Last night we played Holyoke, MA. We got out to the show with like 4 hours to kill, and since we had the wrong address, ended up on the opposite end of town. It looked fucked. As someone who is very comfortable in every part of Los Angeles, I was out of my comfort zone there. We were circling the block in this minivan with california plates and a roof rack, and dudes on the street were looking at us like we should NOT be there. Western Mass is really beautiful and Holyoke is right down on the river, so being from LA, its really interesting to see a bad neighborhood have such beautiful scenery.

After last nights show we drove to Providence, RI and got a motel. Its going to be awesome not having to drive at all today, for the first time in a week. My pillow smells like a combination of many places I have been in the last several days. Its comforting.

I am very very tired. Last night we played Cleveland, and met some kids who drove four hours to see us. It put things in perspective and totally validated everything we are doing. Syracuse was ok, Lemuria are really nice and we had some pretty good pizza. I am so fucking tired of gross highway food. All I want are smoothies and salad. Boston tomorrow!

desert glue

salt pools and poisonous scorpions, Larry David and cheap beer, oppressive dry heat and skin stuck to skin. The last two days have been a blur of red rock and century old cacti.

Last night's show in Albuquerque was great. They seem to have a fairly small, but tight knit scene, and everyone was really nice, for the most part. One thing I have noticed about desert cities is that their homeless are particularly aggressive. can't say i fucking blame them a single bit.

As soon as we crossed into Texas this morning, I started thinking "ohhhhh fuck, we've entered the bible belt AKA LION'S DEN". We passed the Western Hemisphere's largest cross, and the "Jesus Christ Is Lord" travel center. For the next couple days, I will be out of my comfort zone. this kind of shit scares me more than any urban city.

That said, I realize that I left home with several misconceptions about this area and am learning to keep my prejudices in check. As common as mega-churches and christian gift superstores are out here, it should have been apparent to me from the beginning that not everyone I encounter is going to be a bible thumping psycho.

Entering new time zones every day feels like a kind of gradual jet lag. Thankfully we will be east tomorrow night, after many more hours of driving land us in Cleveland. The venue is a bar/show space called Now That's Class, that happens to serve beer and do all ages shows. Tomorrow, I feel, is the first true day of tour. no more off days, no more fucking thirteen hour drives.

Tomorrow, will it really come?

Tomorrow we begin our journey into the uncharted frontiers of America, starting with an off day/party day in Phoenix. We have worked really hard to make this come together and I couldn't be more stoked that it finally has. The next three weeks are going to be lookin' a little bit like this:

Apr 19th - Albuquerque, NM @ Gold Manor w/ Adobe Homes, Sweet Weapons, La Haine
Apr 21st - Cleveland, OH @ Now That's Class 11213 Detorit ave. w/ Worship This!, Ages, Highs and Lows

These shows are with Lemuria and White Wives, plus others:

Apr 22nd - Syracuse, NY @ The Lost Horizon

Apr 23rd - Cambridge, MA @ TT & the Bears

Apr 24th - Holyoke, MA @ Waterfront w/ Balance and Composure

Apr 25th - Providence, RI @ The Met w/ Transit

Apr 26th - New Haven, CT @ The Lillypad w/ Transit
Apr 27th - New York, NY @ Webster Hall w/ Banquets

Apr 28th - Bay Shore, NY @ The Temple w/ Transit

Apr 29th - Montreal, QC @ Underworld

Apr 30th - St. Catherines, ON @ The Mansion House
May 1st - Toronto, ON @ The Horseshoe Tavern

May 2nd - Chicago, IL @ Pancho's w/ Bust!, The Please and Thank Yous
May 3rd - Omaha, NE @ The Hole w/ The Yuppies, Places We Slept, Thunderbolts
May 4th - Denver, CO @ Blast-o-Mat w/ Capsule, Matterhorn, Black Sleep of Kali