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