Deer or the Doe and Junkface tour: 2007

September 4th Intro

intro
the start of a tour is always exciting for me, every time I am always up until god knows and stressing and preparing for the weeks ahead. the second you sit down in the van you feel the rush of whats ahead. canceled shows, asshole people, no attendance at the shows, no shows, fights, irritation, sadness, loneliness, bad weather, money problems, van problems, cops, playing horrible, breaking equipment, killing each other, you get the point right? Hopefully along the way I only experience some of these things, I know for a fact that I will experience at least 75% of the list. I also know that all the amazing people and adventures will be so much better than the negative that with a luck not everything will be about me complaining about how loud Carlos snores. -Aaron

September 4th. Bozeman, MO

Zebra Lounge

September 5th. Mount Rushmore

of all family I will be the first to admit that a huge reason why we are so excited about this tour is that we we will be able to see parts of this country that we have never been to. Visiting a new town or state is like being a kid again, swimming in reverie and apprehension. Today led us to an adventure to the great American enshrinement of aged dead white men, Mount Rushmore. The crooked road that leads to the site from Rapid City, SD is a snake oil dealers capitalist fantasyoriented attractions that dot the western landscape of the US all in one long windy stretch along Hwy 16A . Such attractions include, The (Original) Old Macdonald's Farm, The House of Reptiles ( scaring children since 1937), Bear Country USA ( an American drive-thru safari range) and my favorite the Park Of Presidents where Busts of all manner of Commanders-in-chiefs (?) dot the park with three being used to draw people in, J.F.K., Ronald Regan and the ever so eloquent George W. Bush. With a Motto like "From George W. to George W." Who can go wrong.
Arriving at our destination of Mount Rushmore we discussed if we were going to be underwhelmed by the sheer touristic hubris that surrounded the voyage there, but we found none of it there. As those four faces reveal themselves from the mountainside I think we all realized that all of felt a little like kids again
----Carlos

I got to sleep in a tent with Cassie. We did not get rained on. Randy and Ryan swam, or is it swum? The way there everyone seemed a little out of sorts. We had kind of a rough night the night before as far as the show not being the best it could be. But I swear for me the second we got into camping mode the mood changes and everyone seems really happy and grateful to have this experience together. Fires and hot dogs, beers, ghost stories, smores and getting creeped out. These are childlike qualities that I never want to lose. -Aaron

September 6th. Minneapolis, MN

The first exposure I get of Minnesota is hazily climbing out of the van just a few miles into the state from South Dakota. What first hits me is the warm humid wind that envelopes me all around in the vacant gas station parking lot, it was not at all what I had expected. For myself our trip to Minneapolis is the first of a few musical pilgrimages for Minneapolis is where one of my favorite musical influences were bred, raised and died. I can only imagine Paul, Tommy, Bob and Chris in 1984 wearing ratty jeans and flannel shirts wandering around the rainy streets of the Twin Cities most likely drunk and alternating between Kiss covers and playing songs that inhabit my post high school life. (for a better overview I can only highly recommend Portland's own Colin Meloy's 33 & 1/3 book on the Mat's classic Let It Be)
Yet for everyone else in the band the Mat's are not the focal point of this journey .
Within 15 minutes of pulling into the Minneapolis we see the sculpture garden with the giant spoon and cherry and the Walker Art Center and are warmly welcomed into an apartment building that is infested with almost entirely musicians. The level of hospitality we encounter is rare and is always welcomed and very much appreciates. Our host takes us on a tour of his building leading up to a grown up rooftop play area complete with home-wired stereo and movie theater. That gives us a gorgeous view of the Twin Cities skyline. He tells us that the neighborhood that we are playing at is known as "Currytown" due to its large eastern African immigrant population from Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia I wonder if the residents refer to it as such, I tend to believe that they do not.
When arriving at the venue I realized that the Triple rock has possibly the friendliest staff I have ever encountered at any rock club I've ever played. The show was was a double header with a touring package of post-hardcore emo bands with merchandise displays larger than their equipment and then our 21 plus at 10:00. The opening band was an exercise in jerkiness (read www.localcut.com for more info) After we loaded up in the rain and made our way to the next town...Marquette MI.
----Carlos

So the positives. The club was amazing. Punk rock mecca for me, it has been a place that i have wanted to play for a really long time. The rooftop at the place we stayed was fantastic, the people we stayed with were so welcoming and funny. The rain in the city was ridiculous that night and it forced us to stay inside and drink. We did. That coupled with number of technical problems I managed to play one of the worst shows of my life that night and then throw a fit when the van wasn't loaded properly. Baby time in deed. But no big deal tomorrows another night. -Aaron

September 7th. Marquette, MI

Leaving Minneapolis we encounter the vacant highway arteries of I-35W where at the foot of the Mississippi collapsed. It was 9:30 rush hour traffic and these severed pieces of the city lie empty. We make out way north exploring the rural views of Minnesota the people think of A Prairie Home Companion is on. What i notice is how lovely the landscape changes into meadows and small groves of trees. A few hours and we cross into Wisconsin so I asked to play the Big Star song that was used in "That '70s Show" We spent a few hours so far discussing various pop-culture references that we may encounter along the way. For many of us it is our only exposure aside from actually visiting these locales to the scenery and the local culture.

I discover as I drive north into Michigan the scenery changes to grassy meadows with small groves of trees and every few miles a few houses.The neighborhoods consist of small villages connected by a network of 2-lane roads. Finally reaching our destination known as the Upper Peninsula town of Marquette, MI a sleepy coastal college village of 20,000 people.

Tonight's show is at a house of students who occasionally host shows at their home, we enter the house to the traditional row of handshake and name exchanges. We learn that a large portion of the youth population in Marquette is here at the show and turns a huge party where after our set we set up our merch table lit by lamplight on a picnic bench outside and peddle our wares to the intoxicated people. The hospitality never ceases to amaze me in these towns. Thank you to Emily, Anna, Ron, Kyle and Jesse et al.
----Carlos.

Hmmm. I woke up when we rolled into town basically. We went to a local coffee shop. The town is so pristine. There is a little town with little shops, little townees, water front park, and just the right amount of rebellious youth to have a house show. You can always see it in these kids eyes. I will be watching one of the local bands play and catch one of the youth looking my way. Seeing if I understand what they are about. Is this guy going to act like he is better than us and just stand there? Does he care? Is he going to watch the bands? Does he like us? I want to understand what they are about, I don't feel better then them, I will watch the bands, I like you and I really care. I really care that there are these pockets of kids in these small towns that are still setting up house shows, are still playing instruments, still trying to carve a piece for themselves. The show was fucking awesome, I had a smile on my face, we played so well, I love my band, and my life and I love these kids. -Aaron

September 8th. Houghton, MI

We leave the house we played at the next morning, the guys load equipment back into the van and Cassie helps out in side, a welcome respite of 2am loading jobs. We make the 2 hours drive north into the tiny town of Houghton, MI known to sports fans as the birthplace of professional Ice Hockey. I soon learn that a town 12 mi north called Calumet was the center of the U.P. copper boom and was very close to becoming the capitol of Michigan before the mines went bust. Our contact and friend in Houghton, Emma allows access to her apartment above the movie theater on Main. St. with a view of the river that flows behind the town. Tonight's show is at the Level 2 Skatepark where the poor boarders were forced to watch the bands since the management turned off the lights to the park area when the bands were performing. After the show we ate at a dark tavern and I slept in a van.....down by the river.
----Carlos

We drank at a bar called the library. This town has a art walk going on down by the water front with all these doors stretching around the park. The theme is Grandmothers and there are all these doors with painting and collages, and drawing and photos of the towns Grandmothers. It was awesome. I slept on the kitchen floor with Cassie next to me. The shower was amazing. fruit bowls, darts, badly rolled burritos, ugh boots on a paraplegic, a gracious host, and a beautiful town is the low down. -Aaron

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September 9th. Madison, WI

I've been told that Madison is the Portland of the Midwest and so when we made the trip from Houghton to Madison I planned on investigating this claim and seeing where perceptions of cities changes and where they stay true. I discovered that Madison is very close to that 2nd distant cousin you see maybe once or twice a year at family reunions. The kind of relative that when you first meet things are slightly awkward and shy but by the time you parents drag you home your are the best of friends.

As a city Madison has characteristics very similar to Portland water borders the city and is the focal point of a very walkable downtown area, with a collection of your traditional mildly progressive cities, records stores, head shops, boutiques and bars...plenty and plenty of bars. Yet what struck me most about Madison was its residents kindness to strangers. Phil a member of the Madison band Sleeping the Aviary lead me around Madison on a brief tour of its sights and culture. We talked about people moving to Portland, pizza shops, rent, crime weather. I am left with the impression that Madison is not the Portland of the midwest but more like a cousin from across the country who shares a fundamentally similar experience in their town.
--Carlos

So I have known a few people who have lived in or currently live in Madison. I have heard it referenced as a similar city to Portland. Thats about all I know about it. Well that and what the travel book said which I don't really remember. I read that State street is where to go and check out. Well today in Madison the Ironman Triathlon is taking place. I have never watched or read about or maybe even heard of this event but this is what I gathered. You swim for 2.4 miles, then you bike for 112 miles, and then you run in circles for 26.2 miles while a million people crowd the streets and ring bells and wear stupid outfits. Does that sum it up? We played at the King Club with a band called Sleeping at the Aviary that I enjoyed very much. During the set I called out to the crowd and asked if anyone knew Andrew Glaza (someone did). Most the crowd didn't really seem like they were there. Granted it was Sunday and who the hell gets crazy on Sunday except church goers. But after the show we continued to drink with the other bands. Climb into boxes, put on used running shoes, drink more, watch Mr. Show. Etc. Etc. The next morning we were awoken by the gentle sounds of Chicago by Frank Sinatra.
Chicago, chicago that toddling town
Chicago, chicago Ill show you around - I love it
Bet your bottom dollar youll lose the blues in chicago
The town that billys sunday could not shut down

On state street that great street I just want to say
They do things that they dont do on broadway - say
They have the time the time of their life
I say a man and he danced with his wife
In chicago, my home town

Bold words my dead friend. We get to see balls is all I know!
-Aaron

September 10th. Chicago, IL

Another musical mecca for myself is Chicago. A city that rivals NY on many levels as the 2nd metropolis of the nation a town of underdogs. My only previous exposure to the city was on a 2 hour layover on my way to New York. The airport version of Chicago is a remarkable feat of social manipulation for the uninformed by creating an ideal microcosm of Chicago in an airport. Its funny how entering Chicago is much like entering New York or San Francisco in that you must pay to even get inside the city, &0.8, $1.00, $0.6 all to enter a freeway or return onto one if you exit, what a racket they have going on. We arrive in the Wicker Park area of the city to stay with our friend and Portland expat Stef. She welcomes us like we are returning war heroes welcoming us into her gorgeous apartment with that overlooks division street, a place she shares with 2 other wonderful roommates and 3 lovely dogs.

When I think of Chicago is many parallel stories all played themselves out under the backdrop of the skyline, Albini, Alkaline Trio, Tortoise, Howlin Wolf, Buddy Guy, Willie Dixon all under the windy city lights.
We play a venue called the AV/Aerie which is in a giant loft in Wicker Park that is run by another Portland expat. I take pictures through the cloudy windows in the venue trying to capture on camera what I see inside.
---Carlos

So we got lost. Then we got lost again. We paid tolls, then we paid tolls again. But who gives a shit we are in Chicago. I don't really know what my expectations were. Michael Jordan dunking balls in Wicker Park, Jeff Tweedy smoking cigs outside a record store, Al Burian writing a zine, pizza, guys with Ditka mustaches. What I did expect was to drink a lot because our dear friend Stephanie AKA stank AKA balls AKA old fag lives in this city. I really enjoyed walking around the city and hearing the tremendous sounds that the L makes when it screams by. I felt really comfortable in the city. Since we had been in small towns only up to this point it felt really good to get to see some shit. I like feeling a little afraid, to not feel like I am at my grandmas house. We walked up to a hip area to eat some pie and found Junkface doing the same thing. Small world. While walking Ryan told me that people used to connect cords to the rails on the L to get electricity until the city found out and installed cutters on the cars to eliminate the theft. Jerks. Seems to me like if you are smart enough to be able to rig up electricity from a fucking rail of a train you should get all the free power you need.
So we played at the AV aerie which is run by Pat the same man responsible for the now defunct Blackbird in Portland. The venue was so cool. On the third floor in a pretty much industrial area, we showed up and got to put all of our equipment on a pallet and roll it into a elevator and as easy as that our shit was three floors up! A huge ceiling. A place to live, and art space in the back, this place was so cool. Everyone who worked there was great and friendly, the show was somewhat disappointing in the turnout dept. And Junkface had more problems than I can list. But overall it was fun. Them Roaring Twenties played and were everything you would expect from a Chicago band. After we went to the Rainbow and then back to Balls house and drank and talked and made Clint into Emilio Estevez. I have never laughed so hard in my life.
-Aaron

September 11th. Chicago, IL (Morning)

We awake in our friends apartment after a night of heavy libations with our hosts. Only to find ourselves in Chicago on a perfect 70 degree slightly breezy day. Most of our entourage head out to catch the El train and head downtown to explore the city from the ground up. We cross the amazing sculptures of Picasso and Du buffet and soak in the stunning architecture that we encounter. We even manage to see the giant mirrored jellybean that every local we spoke seems to hate, much like out beloved Tram in Portland. We walk down to grab some authentic chicago style pizza in a place that looks like a Chicago Applebees and take in the greasy doughy goodness that the town is famous for. We take a hurried cab back to our van and make our teary goodbyes to our friends and and make our way to Kalamazoo.
So long Chicago and thanks for the pizza.
----Carlos

Woke up. Drank. Walked around a great city. Took a ton of pictures. Drank. Ate pie. Got in the van and fell asleep.
-Aaron

September 11th. Kalamazoo, MI

Kalamazoo is the birthplace of the drummer that Aaron and I used to be in a band with so I am curious to see the environment that factored into his personality. Here it is in a few words.
Traffic, Beer, Violins, Cold Wind, Moving the van twice in one night, Tolls, Railroad tracks.
Hello Goodbye Kalamazoo.
----Carlos

So I left of in Chicago where I was drunk and fell asleep in the van. Thats where we pick up here. I woke up a block away from the venue. The Kraftbrau Brewery. The venue was pretty cool. We should up to find three locals on the bill. No posters put up that we sent to the club. No flyers from any of the bands. I just don't get it. I have played hundreds of shows in my life and made flyers for at least 90% of them. We sent posters to every venue we played and only half the time they are up. Thanks. I heard this place is closing down. Wonder why? They had great beer and great sound though. The other bands were all really nice but forgettable. I had a great time watching Junkface. It is really hard when you are on tour to disconnect from the show. But I did. I screamed and danced and jumped off things and sang in peoples faces the lyrics to the songs I have heard every night. It was awesome.
-Aaron

September 12th. Columbus, OH

Where to start? I have been excited about this show. Our friend Emilie lives here. We have known her for a long time and all have some sort of relationship with her. She helped us with other dates and the tour, and her new band that we are playing with (aptly named OHIO) is really good and we have been listening to the single the entire way here. So I feel pretty positive about the show in general. Not to mention that I am excited to see Emilie and meet her friends and band mates. We rolled into town pretty early, Emilie was still at work, but her roommate Fifer and a few other friends were at the house hanging out. The weather was so nice. Cassie and went straight to the backyard and soaked up some rays. Everyone at the house was awesome and really nice, we talked about religion, and drugs, and kids television shows. Emilie came home hugged us and gave us beers, we ate dinner that Fifer made and it was so good. It is really weird when spaghetti and salad tastes like the best thing you have ever ate. But it did. I have had numerous tour experiences with spaghetti on tour and I can remember it being so good each time. It is never quality sauce or expertly cooked but dammit it's always good. I remember eating spaghetti in Colorado with Nham,Young and Willy while on tour with Destroy Miranda that was so good. I remember it perfectly. Anyways enough about the fucking food. Wait in Columbus we also had these little cupcakes that were AMAZING. Thanks for the grub.

Once we were done stuffing ourselves we loaded up some equipment and headed for the Legion of Doom, a punk rock house nestled in the center of sorority hell. I have never seen so many jock dudes in my life. It was weird, the main strip next to the College looked like Mill Ave. in AZ but even worse! The L.O.D. was just an old house resting in the middle of it all. We parked and Emilie, Fifer, Clint and I walked up to the house. A really skinny dude opens the door, walks right past us while talking on a cell phone and ignores us for 5 to 10 minutes. Then tells us we can load in. The basement is set up really well. There is a area for merch, a stage, P.A., everything you need to run a great punk house. Sans the punks. Now when I say punks I don't really mean the stereotype mohawk, stud belt, Crass fan. I mean a community minded person, open, willing to learn, help, fight for what they believe in. I am talking about the ethics not the standard. I am punk. People we know who run houses in Portland are punk. They come and talk to you, try and form some sort of relationship and build a sense of community in the process. This wasn't like that. Everyone from the house stayed up stairs the entire time. I walked into the kitchen and said "Hey do you guys know where the bathroom is?" 7 of the 8 people in the kitchen just stared and then one guy points and says that there is someone using it. Thats it. That is all anyone from the house said to me. Ohio played, the P.A. was fucked kind of, I am not sure what was wrong since I had never used it before but some sort of wiring problem. The song I had heard was awesome so thats all that mattered to me. Junkface played and people stared, no one came down from the house that I could see. A few girls fake danced. It sounded good down there though. During their set people started to trickle out. By the time we were setting up all that were left were the fake dancers who were discussing where they should go while we were setting up to play. One of the girls told us to have a good set and said we would be called when she visited Portland and that she will get our numbers from Emilie. Oh thanks, I look forward to that call.
-Aaron

September 14th. Tivoli, NY (Day one)

Tivoli, NY
Trivoli lies in the north west part of town of Red Hook, County of Dutchess. It is one hundred miles north of New York, just above North Bay on the Hudson River and forty-four mile south of Albany, the State Capitol. It is one of the most beautifully located villages along the Hudson. (A Brief History of Tivoli, by Lela Moore) I hope I cited that right. I am looking at the booklet that Lela Moore wrote right now. It is one of the originals. I assume there is a box of them shoved away in the house somewhere. We drove for at least ten hours yesterday. I woke up at a huge, creepy, old, fight club like mansion. The house is really old and dusty and filled with some old lady's junk from a million years ago. Living among it is Sasha our amazing host. The tour consisted of us walking from one creepy room to the next. Some kept and used, some disregarded in the vastness of the house. "The bathrooms only work on the third and basement floors". Shit was the the third or the forth? We went on the roof, I don't really remember that. It might not even have been here. We started filming a horror movie where Randy just needs some friends. I got dragged across the ground twice. It was fun. Cassie and I slept in a room that was not unlike a room at her families cabin in Long Beach. Waking up to Sasha's baked goods from her place of employment was nice. Everyone just sitting on the enormous front porch staring out at the Hudson River. We went in to town and ate at a small burrito cart on the side of the road which was fun. We drank beer and Randy, Ryan, Sasha and I went out in the river in a canoe and kayak. I was in the middle while Sasha and Randy rowed. We went across this huge river to Saugerties Lighthouse and back. It was awesome. Now everyone is gone (to town) and its just me, music and typing and the occasional train passing by.
-Aaron

September 15th. Tivoli, NY. (Day two)

We woke up and worked on the finishing touches to the movie. I walked out to the water and saw a few boats and the train went by. I can imagine living out here. Not now though. We went into Red Hook and played at the bar. I am not sure what it was called just that it was the bar. I played music on the my Ipod for awhile before the bands played. It allowed me to be behind the bar for extended periods of time. I have never stood behind a bar. I liked it. This is our time at the bar. No one else in there. When I say no one I mean no one. No bartender. No one. It was kinda awesome and a perfect ending to our upstate adventure. We sat in front of the place and smoked cigarettes, we walked around the back to the patio, We joked around and took pictures and then played our sets to each other. We played well. But to each other. Then we all felt good. I think we did. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. We drove and got gas I broke the key to the stores ice fridge in the lock. We drive down the street and hit a mirror of an off duty police officer. He calls more cops. We waited a long time. We drove to Brooklyn. -Aaron

September 15th. Brooklyn, NY (Day one)

Driving into the city was exciting. I was tired but my mind was racing. Sometimes while you on tour it is hard to contain yourself. It is hard to control how much you experience. Sometimes too much is bad. It is easy to drink more when you are having fun. You are stuck in a van for hours, and hours. You listen to music that sometimes makes you crazy. You want to dance and jump and scream. Then a slow jam will come on and you forget all about that. Your next thought is how great tour is and how far you traveled and how you might want to go home. Then another fist pumper comes on and you pull up to raging party in Brooklyn and there is beer and drugs and people drinking and doing. And you are so excited and you can't wait to party with everyone and meet all these new people. Well that was not what happened tonight. We showed up to a party inside a really small apartment in a complex. With people sitting around in chairs and hanging out. Great. But..... I still felt good. The people in the apartment were really nice and I spied some people from Portland. We had some friends come to the party. We had to move the furniture to play and that is always fun. It was a good show. J2 danced. People had fun and Junkface got to play to their friends with was nice to see in their faces. Then some of us went to the city and saw the sad parade of losers dancing in bars at 3:30am. Man. The subway was fun. Ryan talked to some nerds about our show the next day. I really wished he would have used his British accent. We ate some pie. Sleep. Sleep. David and Wayne's is DARK. -Aaron

September 16th. Brooklyn, NY (Day two)

You can sit on the ferry and drink. It is free to ride back and forth and the beers were a "reasonable" price. After a couple of tall cans on the ferry and VP2 in my stomach I was feeling pretty good we met up with Ryan and Kyle which was nice and we walked to that stupid toy store from Big. Outside the store looks like a set from Demolition Man. Their is an Apple store that is under you sort of and the ceiling is made of fucking glass and you can walk on people sort of, stuff happening everywhere, high tech billboards, people fucking everywhere, machines that give you tickets for swearing, it was crazy. We walked up to central park and then took the subway back to Brooklyn stopping in Williamsburg on the way back to Dave and Wayne's. Our show was at Goodbye Blue Monday. The sign outside says Junkface and Deer or Doe. Always fun. People never get our name right the first time they hear it. Deer or Don't? Deer the Does? W hhaht? I'm sure the name is a little tricky but really I think it is just that people don't give a shit. When they ask your band name and you tell them and they don't immediately recognize it they instantly don't give a shit. That especially goes for people at say work or school or something. It is a little different dealing with clubs and bands, thats what they are there for. I understand not caring, I have always found it ridiculous that we name our bands at all. Ok lets come with something to call ourselves. We are Prodigy, White Zombie, Rancid, Abba, Kiss, The Beatles, Jefferson Starship, Broken Social Scene, Stones, Zeppelin, Monkees, Sugarcubes, it doesn't matter they are all stupid*. I have been in Sound of Sirens, Turbo Fuck 2000 (later dropped the 2000 since it was "lame"), Vital Idols, Destroy Miranda, Vena cava, Spiders on Spiders, Curse of the Carousel Pony (or Curse Carousel Pony?), Deer or the Doe, and most recent....... Tranquilazer. Have the names gotten better or worse? Trick question, they are the same, exactly the same.
So we played, Junkface played, their friend Joaquin played, a band from Chicago called Parsley Flakes played and were really fun. We ate really crappy food and watched a really bad bootleg of Superbad that Dave gave to me and I have watched it since. It is great, people walk across the screen/camera and there is an awesome laugh track due to the annoying audience. So we watched that and went to sleep and woke up the next day and drove through 700 tolls and drove to D.C.. Oh yeah Cassie and I ate Cheese Fries. And apparently Dick Clark has a restaurant.

*the only exception is Drive Like Jehu and maybe Nation of Ulysses, maybe.

September 17th. Washington D.C.

Velvet Lounge
So D.C. was one of the spots we really wanted to play but had a really hard time finding anyone to help. I dealt with one person who booked the for all three of the popular spots in town. When I couldn't find any bands to support a show for us he simply wrote me and said "D.C. is tough, hold released." Thanks dude. But last minute the Velvet Lounge was happy to do it as well as book all the bands and promote the best they can. Yeah! We arrived four hours or so before the show with our hearts set on seeing as much of the city as we can. All the touristy crap you can fit into a few hours and hopefully meet all the D.C. bands that are responsible for us making music in the first place. But after figuring out how to ride the subway (which is awesome) and then walking hundreds of miles we just saw the big three, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam Veteran Memorial. All were bigger and better than you would think. Carlos laid on the ground and climbed buildings and swung from cables to get all the "right" photos of everything, of course we are in none of them. So we were site seeing and running out of time and decided it was time to get to the show. Junkface is already there when we arrive along with the other bands that we are playing with. Of course the local bands want to open the show so we are left playing very last and Junkface playing before us. It is Monday night and none of us feel confident that anybody is going to stick around to watch two bands from thousands of miles away so it was a bit annoying. The first band played and I don't remember the name but they found it necessary to mention the fact that they opened up for OK GO the week before in the most awkward name drop possible. "Hey this a song we played last week opening up for OK GO." Cool. They had a fair amount of college kids there to see them and after they were done so were the college kids. Big surprise. Next band up Drunken Sufis. They were fun, they said fuck a lot, they made fun of themselves and the crowd and were all around cool. Junkface played a horrible show packed with technical difficulties, thrown guitars, shit talking to the crowd, pretty much everything shy of bursting into flames on stage. So by the time we played the crowd was at about three or four people. We played badly, sold nothing, had no place to stay and were drunk. We asked every person in the bar if they knew of a place we could stay but to no avail. So we loaded up and set out on the scariest drive of tour through West Virginia in the middle of the night with everyone else asleep, Carlos driving, and me really drunk playing DJ to try and keep Carlos awake. From what I can remember the highlight was probably the Ducktales theme song. It was really foggy and the trucks on the road hated us. I was delirious and crazy and sitting up on the seat and yelling and trying to stay awake. We rolled into a truck stop at 5 in the morning and bought coffee and red bull and cigs and looking around I think that truck stop culture has got to be the scariest group around. Everyone was buying highly caffeinated drinks and pills and they were eating really gross packaged food and had a look of crazy in each and every eye. Anyways we drove awhile longer and had to stop at a gas station to sleep. We had intended to just drive all the way to Bloomington Indiana but we thought it better to call Emilie in Columbus and stop there and shower and eat then roll on. So that worked out well, everyone at the house was awesome again and we drove on to Bloomington in a better place due to Columbus. Redemption right? So D.C. was kind of a bust. Show was shitty, no place to stay, not enough time and we didn't even get to see Ian Svenonius. What a rip off. Always next time.