D. Lambert Presents Blogtime!

Tour Diary #34

2010-03-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

March 19th
The show tonight at the Mill in Iowa City was my final show of the tour, I had decided to head home since I had to work early on Sunday. It turned out to be the perfect end to an amazing tour. The show was filled with many familiar faces of family and friends such as my parents, my aunt Debbie, Neal and Jessie, John Nagel, and too many others to name. It felt wonderful to be back in Iowa, and I could really feel a great energy from the stage that felt like we were home and among like-minded people that were welcoming us home in a huge way. When Leslie and the Lys took the stage, they captivated the sold-out crowd in a way that only they can, and as I watched them I felt very lucky to have shared the stage with such an amazing, one-of-a-kind group for nearly 30 shows. Before catching a ride home with my parents after the show, I was faced with the very difficult task of saying goodbye to the four people that I had shared nearly every minute of my life with for the last five weeks, in the process becoming four of my closest friends, with whom I hope to remain close with for the rest of my life. On the drive home, I experience the last bump in the road that separated me from home when the roads became too snowy and icy for us to make it home, and we had to stop and stay in a hotel for the night. However, it was all worth it when I arrived home the next morning and began the process of settling back into regular life. This trip was definitely one the greatest experiences of my life, and I feel very fortunate to have been able to see countless amazing places, doing something that I love with some of the greatest people that I know. I am very grateful to everyone who was involved in the process for the immeasurable impact they have had on my life. Thank you.

Tour Diary #33

2010-03-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

March 18th
Getting out of my bed this morning was one of the most difficult tasks of my life, I could have probably slept in there for about 30 hours if I had the opportunity. However, once I finally got up, I loaded up the car and went to pick up our friend Madison (who is also my brothers girlfriend) who was in Des Moines for spring break and needed a ride back up to Minneapolis. Then we snatched up Kristy from her work and headed north to Minneapolis. When we arrived, the girls dropped me off at the venue for a chaotic sound check with the new and improved Christopher the Conquered supergroup (the drummer Brandon and sax player Donny joined up with us for the last few shows, so I was now playing a stand-up auxiliary percussion kit) with Blowtorch the soundwoman behind the deck. After sound check, Kristy and Madison came back and we indulged in some delicious and extremely filling food courtesy of the Triple Rock (I had the vegan meatloaf dinner, which was mind-blowing) and hung out with Patrick Fleming, who had come up from Ames for the show. Playing our set was especially fun tonight because I had a new mobility that I had not experienced behind the drumset, and was able to run around off stage and have that much more fun. After the show, we went to Pizza Luce to get my favorite pizza in the entire world (its called the Rustler, and I highly recommend eating some if you are ever in Minneapolis) and went back to Nick and Madison's apartment to sleep. I must have been having too much fun at the show to take any pictures, but I did get a few shots of us hanging out with Consuela (Nick and Madison's kitten)... Enjoy!

Tour Diary #32

2010-03-26T14:08:00.000-07:00

March 17th
I woke up super excited today because I was only a few hours away from hanging with my girlfriend, Kristy, who drove out to Omaha right after she got off work. She finally showed up bearing the gift of incredibly delicious strawberry cupcakes, some of which we devoured on the spot, and others of which were devoured later by Leslie and the Lys. Kristy and I then proceeded to get lost in Omaha looking for a restaurant where we could get a delicious veggie reuben (we eventually found it) and then got lost again trying to find the venue (which we eventually found also). At the show, I met up with my parents who had come out to see me, and also got to see one of my best friends from high school, Derek, who I hadn't seen in quite a while, so that was really cool. The Waiting Room is an incredible venue that was a ton of fun to play, and I even got my own drum riser on stage for the first time (which was kinda strange, but not as uncomfortable as I'd imagined). Right after the show, Kristy and I drove straight back to Des Moines, where I got to see my cat and sleep in my own bed for the first time in five weeks, which felt truly amazing and a little bit surreal.

Kriiiiiiistyyyy! In front of a magnificent portrait of a man

Chris warming up while Nate hula-hoops, no big deal

Me drummin'

Tour Diary #31

2010-03-26T13:43:00.000-07:00

March 16th
Another boring travel day filled with the putrid stench of cow shit through nearly the entire boring state of Nebraska. I'll leave you now with a single inspiring photograph from America's heartland.

Tour Diary #30

2010-03-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

March 15th
We all slept in pretty late today and relaxed before making the short drive to the venue (the long drive yesterday was worth it). After loading in, we had a few more hours of downtown which I enjoyed by hanging outside in the sun. The show was especially fun because I got to see a lot of family and friends that I don't get to see often. My cousins Wendy and Carrie came to see me (and seemed to have a great time) as well as my old pal Matt (who moved to Denver last year) and my friend Josh (who still lives in Iowa, but just happened to be in Denver). So this meant that I had a ton of catching up to do, and also a ton of free drinks to consume (thanks guys!). All of this resulted in one of the funnest nights I've had so far, not at all hindered by the fact that there was a great, energetic crowd. Despite the thinner air making it slightly more difficult to breathe, Denver was a fantastic time all around.

Larimer Lounge

Stage

Me with my cousins Wendy and Carrie

The gals rippin' it

Tour Diary #29

2010-03-17T12:35:00.000-07:00

March 14th
Not much to tell about today, as it was a very long travel day with no show. We drove from Salt Lake City to Denver, where we stayed with fellow Iowans Tessa and Josh, who made us some delicious soup and cookies!

Tour Diary #28

2010-03-17T12:25:00.000-07:00

March 13th
We slept in pretty late today and then drove to Salt Lake City. Despite the fact that it started raining/snowing (resulting in really heavy, wet snow) when we got there, it was still a sweet city. Since we got there too early to get into the venue, we went to a restaurant down the street where I ate a delicious vegan Philly cheesesteak (I'm really going to miss being able to eat things like this... get with the program Iowa!) and then chilled out at a coffee shop for a little while. By the time we got to the venue, I was in a great mood and ready to have fun, which soon followed when I got to dance to the opening band, Birthquake, who was by far my favorite opening band of the tour and I highly recommend checking out. The crowd was really on fire tonight, there was just an insane amount of energy for all the bands, which always makes it really fun to play. We met some super cool dudes named Ammon and Nick who let us crash on their floor, and Ammon turned out to be a great musician who even played us a song he wrote on piano. I must say, I was very impressed by Salt Lake City!

Mountains

More mountains

The ghost of the Urban Lounge

Leslie hanging with some of her contemporaries

The 9-piece instrumental dance explosion known as Birthquake

Tour Diary #27

2010-03-17T11:39:00.000-07:00

March 12th
Today was originally planned as a day off for travel between Seattle and Salt Lake City, so Chris took the initiative (based off a recommendation from Patrick Fleming of the Poison Control Center) to book us our own show in Nampa, ID at the Flying M coffee garage. We had no idea what to expect of this show, but it turned out to be a really great night. We showed up after a long drive and were greeted with many friendly faces from the staff as well as the opening band, The Chutes. We were then treated to whatever free food and drinks we wanted, and the show began. The Chutes brought out a ton of friends and family who were having a great time during their set, and then amazingly almost all of them stuck around to watch us. This was quite possibly the most attentive audience we have played to yet, it was very strange/cool to hear absolute silence during quiet parts of the set. Then we met an extremely generous woman named Laura who invited us to sleep in her very nice and spacious house. Unfortunately I am an idiot, and forgot to charge my camera AGAIN, so I have no pictures of this very fun night. Rest assured, the next update will have pictures!

Tour Diary #26

2010-03-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

March 11th
After a drive up the rainy ol' highway, we arrived in a rainy little town called Seattle. After loading into the venue called Chop Suey, we walked a few blocks down to a vegan Thai restaurant called Teapot where I ate some of the best curry of my life. Then, we went back to the venue and met some former Iowans, one of which (Doug) knew a ton of my friends and also brought some delicious chili, which was seriously amazing. So anyway, I drank a few gin & tonics and had a fun time at the show. Since my camera battery died, I unfortunately have only one picture to share of this day. Sorry!!

Seaaaattle

Tour Diary #25

2010-03-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

March 10th
Portland, Oregon. Rolled into the city and headed straight for Voodoo Doughnuts, where I had the greatest doughnut of my life called the "Old Dirty Bastard", and CJ was able to eat the very first doughnut of his life, since he is allergic to eggs. A truly touching moment. Anyway, within the first half hour of being in the city of Portland, I saw a three-legged dog, a sign advertising "full friction" lap dances, and two different homeless men screaming at nothing... my kinda place! So, after chilling out at a coffee shop for a few hours, we headed to the venue, called Dante's, which was super fancy and even had raised platforms that appeared to be for dancing on (which Nate and CJ took full advantage of later on their trumpet/flugelhorn duet). The show was very packed and full of energy, which is always a great thing and will never cease to amaze me. After the show, we went back to Voodoo for round 2 (round 3 occurred the next morning when we had to go back to the venue to get Nate's debit card that he forgot) and headed to the residence of CJ's cousin Jill, who offered her place for us to sleep for the night.

Booooya!

Nate and Kate by a fire

CJ on the platform

Nate on the other platform

Tour Diary #24

2010-03-10T17:31:00.000-08:00

March 9th
The city of Eugene, Oregon has something about it that I really like a lot. It just seems to have a very relaxed feel to it and a lot of great attitudes, as well as delicious food. We got to town a few hours early, so we walked about a great area filled with a bunch of cool bookstores, coffee shops, etc. Then Chris and I ate some fantastic pizza and soup at Cosmic Pizza (if you are ever in Eugene, check this place out, they have great vegan pizza) before the show. Playing the show felt exceptionally good tonight, due in no small part to the fact that we had one of the most skilled and attentive sound engineers of the tour (something that I REALLY appreciate but is often overlooked). We met a very nice woman named Leslie who invited us to stay at her house with her 4-year-old son Eden and roommate Rachel, who all treated us great (Rachel even gave Chris and I her bed, while she slept downstairs in another bed). In the morning, we found out that Leslie very lovingly raises chickens in her backyard, so we got to eat the freshest and most cruelty-free eggs that I've ever had in my life. These were absolutely delicious, and made me really wish that I had a backyard so that I could raise my own chickens. I also got to participate in an intense lightsaber battle with Eden before we hit the road.

They even have fluffy teddy bear style dogs living in bookstores here!

I realized that I haven't been taking nearly enough pictures of these gals tearing up peoples faces and hearts from the stage.

Got to hang with this cutie a little bit when it wasn't running away from me.

Leslie introducing us to one of her lovely chickens.

Happiest chickens I've ever met. Thanks for the eggs guys!

Kate vs. Eden (Kate lost)

Tour Diary #23

2010-03-10T17:21:00.001-08:00

March 8th
Today our life in sunny paradise came to an abrupt end as we climbed the mountains and saw the temperature drop by more than 20 degrees in a matter of less than an hour, followed by a heavy downpour of snow. Due to the fact that we winding up and down the mountains, we decided that we had better stop driving for the day, so we found a hotel in Yreka, CA to stay for the night. After checking in, we found a Mexican restaurant down the street where we enjoyed a nice meal and some margaritas with Leslie and the Lys. After finishing our margaritas, we found out that we each got a complimentary shot of tequila, which was presented in a ritual consisting of the waiter slamming the shot glass against a serving tray to make it fizz up, and then doing a strange high pitched yell/song afterward. This proved to be not the only great thing this waiter was capable of, as when we were paying for our meal, he gave Nate a pen to sign his check with that was actually not a real pen, but rather a novelty device that shocks your finger when you push down on the top. What a trickster! Anyway, after dinner, we watched The Fantastic Mr. Fox, played some charades, and went to sleep. Very fun night off.

(The following is photographic evidence of how quickly Mother Nature turned her back on us)
Hey! A rainbow!

Hey! Some animals grazing in the sunlight!

Whoa whoa, wait a minute....

NOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Tequila shots fixed it all. Oh, hey Ramona and Chris.

Tour Diary #22

2010-03-10T17:02:00.001-08:00

March 6th & 7th
(I'm going to compile two days into one here since one was almost all traveling.) Today's long drive up the coast of California brought us many different types of scenery. Starting out in pure big city driving, we then got to huge climbs and curves through the mountains, followed by extremely flat land covered with vineyards. When we finally arrived at Nate's aunt and uncle's house in Aptos (a town right outside of Santa Cruz) we were greeted with some incredibly delicious pizza, salad, and beer which helped cure all of our car ride blues. We then hung out for a little while and went to sleep. After sleeping in pretty late in the morning, we got a wonderful breakfast and headed out to the forest for a hike through some gigantic redwood trees (many many pictures below). After this we relaxed with some lunch and headed north to gorgeous city of San Francisco for our show. The venue (Rickshaw Stop) had one of the friendliest staffs we have encountered, and immediately presented us with a mind-blowing snack spread before the show. The show itself was crowded and insanely high-energy, with opening band Planet Booty getting people dancing early on. Our set consisted of much dancing and sweating, as well as two ladies up front with generous amounts of cleavage and a high blood/alcohol level continuously informing Chris of their desires to engage in sexual activity with him (just to be clear, they did NOT get a chance to carry out these wishes on this particular night). After the show, an employee of the venue/awesome dude named Mack let us come drink some beers and crash at his place, at which time he shared some stories with us about playing in Des Moines with his band Early Graves. Then in the morning we got some killer San Francisco burritos!

San Francisco skyline

The half-devoured complimentary snack spread that we received at the Rickshaw Stop

Highly energetic opening act Planet Booty.

Tour Diary #21

2010-03-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

March 5th
Today really made me love my life. Getting to be in one of my favorite places in the world (San Diego) and hang out with two of my favorite people in the world (my aunt EJ and uncle Ron) was fantastic beyond words. Having had only a couple hours worth of driving, we arrived in Solana Beach at their beautiful home in early afternoon and were immediately presented with one of the greatest lunches that I have ever eaten (vegetable lasagna, one of the freshest salads of my life, some of the freshest berries of my life, and some lemons picked directly off of a lemon tree). After lunch, Ron drove us down to the beach where I had the mind-altering experience of being able to completely relax and clear my head while watching and listening to the infinite swell of the ocean. Truly amazing. When we got back to the house, we enjoyed the Koi pond and the great valley view on the back porch before heading to downtown San Diego for our show. We arrived at the Casbah to find a great small club with a ton of character and a very nice, accommodating staff (immediately made me feel back in my element as far as venues go). A very unique band called Lion Cut opened the show dressed as cats and playing cat-themed dance songs, and then we played a very fun set that felt really tight and intimate. It turns out that the people of San Diego are just as great as the city itself.

(couldn't help but take a ton of pictures today)

Chris at a rest area

Yikes

Not sure what these are, but I like 'em

Lunch with Ron and EJ!

The view from their back porch. Ehhh, I guess its not bad.

Purdy flowers

RUBY!!!

Brand new addition to their family, Novie. SO cute!

Koi pond

Lemon tree, first lemons I've ever eaten like I'd eat an orange. So delicious!

Kate and Novie

The whole crew

I guess I was a little excited to see the ocean.

If you lived here, you'd be happy by now

CTC at the beach!

Casbah

The stage.

Tour Diary #20

2010-03-07T14:30:00.000-08:00

March 4th
Good to see ya, California! We had quite a long drive to Los Angeles, but it was well worth it, as we were immediately brought to life by the radiating energy that this city emits. When we got to the venue, we met up with a friend of Nate and Kate (also forefather of the Ames Progressive) named Greg who was super nice, and who later let us stay at his house. Then we took a walk down to the amazing Echo Park around sunset, where we walked around a little pond and watched some ducks attack each other. The venue (Echoplex) was by far the biggest and most state of the art place that we have played so far, which was great, but almost made me feel out of my element a little bit. For the first time, we actually had a separate sound engineer for monitors AND a lighting guy...pretty fancy! Another highlight of the show for me was that my cousin Ali, who I had not seen for probably ten years or more, came out to see me, which was really cool. I'm not sure if it was the fact that we had switched time zones twice in the last couple days, but after our set I completely passed out on the couch in the green room for about an hour. After the show, we crammed ourselves and Greg into our vehicle (that was already over capacity) and drove back to his apartment where we slept and were treated to breakfast in the morning. High spirits all around, a great night.

Haha.

Great California scenery

The magnificent Echo Park

Beautiful

This place is HUUUGE!

My cousin and her friend

Greg slaving over the stove while Nate chills with his new pal, Pico

Pico eating some breakfast with us

Tour Diary #19

2010-03-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

March 3rd
Tonight we had the privilege of playing in the sunny paradise of Tucson, Arizona at the Club Congress, which is part of the historic Hotel Congress. In addition to playing in this beautiful club, we also got a free room in the hotel, which had been very well preserved and consisted of very old beds and furniture. Before playing the show, we ate at a delicious Mexican restaurant where we were allowed to bring our own beers. Tucson rules!

Drove through a lot of this stuff

Lobby/lounge area at Hotel Congress

Stairs (in case you couldn't tell?)

Our room!

Bathroom reminded me of home because it looks exactly like Kristy's and my bathroom

The view from our window. If you can read the marquee, you'll notice that George Thorogood and the Destroyers were playing right across the street from us.

Quite possibly the most beautiful stage I've ever played on.

Tour Diary #18

2010-03-07T13:28:00.000-08:00

March 2nd
Following an extremely enjoyable day, we had to drive an excruciating 11 hours to Las Cruces, New Mexico where we had an extremely nice hotel waiting for us courtesy of Chris' dad (as if he hadn't already done enough for us!). There was some great scenery along the way, but otherwise it was a pretty uneventful day. That's all I got.

Yeah, I was getting a little bored

Finally reached our destination and commenced the snacking!

Tour Diary #17

2010-03-07T13:24:00.000-08:00

March 1st
Today was by far the most relaxing day that we have had in the two and a half weeks that we have been traveling. It was the first of two days off between our Denton and Tucson shows, so we spent the entire day in Dallas with Chris' dad. First, we got to do some laundry, run some various errands, and then eat at a great Vietnamese restaurant for lunch. Then we went back to the house and relaxed for a few hours before Rich (Chris' dad) treated us all to an amazing sushi dinner at a restaurant where he is a regular. We bypassed the menu and allowed the chef to bring us out various plates of sushi at his will. We also got something called a hot rock, which was literally a rock that was heated to an extreme temperature upon which to cook your own meat and vegetables at the table. After this delicious and amazing meal, we did a little late night grocery shopping, drank some beers, and got thoroughly rested for some major traveling.

That's how we operate.

... and that resulted in Nate literally falling asleep while playing the guitar. Amazing.

Tour Diary #16

2010-03-01T16:24:00.000-08:00

February 28th
We got to Denton, TX about an hour early for load in, so we got some coffee and met up with Chris' dad, with whom we are staying for two nights at his house in Dallas, and who also happens to be a great guitar player, so he sat in on a guitar solo with Chris during our set (which was really amazing to see). In an instance of perfect timing, it started pouring rain right when it was time for us to load our gear out, so we got a little wet. After that, however, we drove a bit to by far the nicest house we have stayed at on tour and proceeded to eat approximately 6 pounds of snack food before retiring into a food coma for the night (on an insanely comfortable air mattress, I might add).

Courthouse building in Denton

This picture is supposed to be rotated, but Blogger for some reason keeps rotating it this way, which is really pissing me off, but I'm going to post it anyway.

Stage at Hailey's

Other side of the room

Opening band, Peopleodian

Tour Diary #15

2010-03-01T10:55:00.000-08:00

February 27th
We got up pretty early and made the relatively short drive to Austin, where we were greeted with the best weather of the tour so far. It was in the 60s and sunny, and I can't explain how good of a mood this put me in. We met up with my old high school friend Chance, who I haven't seen in a couple years, and he showed us some sights around the city. Among these sights was a great cafe called Spider House, where we sat out in the sun and enjoyed some relaxation, food, and drinks. Also among these sights were two men streaking across the street and into a gay bar. Good times. Then, after walking around downtown for a few hours, Chance informed us of a bridge under which an estimated 1-2 million bats reside and fly out of every night at dusk, so we walked there for a very creepy but interesting spectacle of flying and squealing bats in an endless flow for about 15 minutes. Now it was nearing showtime, so we walked over to the venue where we played our first outdoor show of the tour, and also to the biggest crowd of the tour. The day was going quite smoothly until the next turn of events... after the show, Chance and I went to get his car, which was parked in front of a curb with about a foot drop-off on the other side, and which Chance accidentally reversed and drove his back wheel over the curb. This was right around bar close, so after many drunken stumblers stopped to try to help, we realized that this problem was not amendable without assistance of a tow truck. So, thanks to the handy service of AAA, we only had to wait until 4 am get his car unstuck and drive our exhausted selves back to his house for some sleep.

Chris by a cool tree

Nate and Kate in the warmth

Lookin' shaggy, dog

Hey Chance!

Caught these two faces at the best moment in time

Downtown Austin

You can kind of see the swarm of bats here, way more impressive in person.

Met some new friends and hung out on their bus for a while

Outdoor stage at Red 7

Tour Diary #14

2010-02-28T20:05:00.001-08:00

February 26th
Houston, Texas... how the hell are ya? After a long drive through a torrential downpour of rain for hours on end, we got stuck in rush hour traffic and it took us over a half hour to drive the last 5 miles of our trip. T'was a rough one today, but we finally made it, got some delicious Mexican/Cuban cuisine (which actually upset my stomach, but I'm trying hard not to devote this entire post to complaining!), played a fun show, and went to stay with a woman named Elaine who had a ton of really cool art in her house (you can see Nate wearing some of said art below).

Houston skyline... had plenty of time to take pictures of this while sitting in stopped traffic. Fun times!

Your guess is as good as mine

I realize I'm getting carried away with the animal pics, but I always get excited when we stay with a cute one! (maybe it remind me of Kristy a little bit? I don't know!)

Tour Diary #13

2010-02-28T19:58:00.001-08:00

February 25th
After eleven consecutive shows, we finally had a day off, so we headed to New Orleans to hang out with some friends of CJ's and enjoy the city (which we very much did). Upon arrival, we boarded the streetcar and took it downtown to Bourbon Street. We were quite pleased to find that you can drink on the street in New Orleans, so we grabbed some beers for the walk to a restaurant called Coops, (that was recommended by our friend Jamie from Atlanta) where Chris treated us to a delicious dinner and drinks. What a gentleman! After dinner, we had a mission to find some good New Orleans music, so we walked to a couple different bars where we saw two excellent bands and danced into the night.

Fast times at Gas Station High

Warm weather rules so much!

We were the only ones in this bar, but the band was actually really good. Sounds like some shows I've seen in Des Moines...

The second bar we went to was better attended, and the band was also really good

Retired for the night with my new friend Toby

Tour Diary #12

2010-02-26T19:18:00.000-08:00

February 24th
I must admit, I didn't expect Birmingham, Alabama to be one of the coolest cities on the tour. We woke up early so we could drive there and go to the local Fox News studio to see Leslie and the Lys tape a performance for the noon news. It was amazing and hilarious, the whole news staff was super laid back and let us watch the entire news show, and then we got to do out and do some dance moves on a song with Leslie and crew, even though I totally got cut out of the shot (bastards!). You can find the performance here, and I would highly recommend checking it out. Then we had a ton of extra time to go relax at the Bottleneck, which turned out to be an amazing coffee shop by day in addition to a great venue by night. This place had by far the coolest green room area that I have ever seen, with arcade games and such, but was unfortunately basically outside in an enclosed patio, in which is way too cold to hang out. Turns out that we just so happened to be in the south on some of the coldest days that they have seen this season, which is a little bit of a letdown, but I should definitely not complain because it is far nicer than Iowa right now (I miss many things about home, but the weather is not one of them).

The Fox News building

Hey Buttman

The ladies getting prepared to annihilate

The wacky weatherman Mickey Ferguson, ladies and gentlemen!

Tough acts to follow: Auntie Litter, a chef making hot wings, and......

Pet of the Week!

The gang's all here... but Nate is hiding behind Leslie's hair

How many times can I pretend to be a newscaster on this tour? Never gets old, huh?!

Great view out behind the studio. I wasn't trying to look tough by the way, the sun was in my eyes!

The amazing Bottletree

Inside the Bottletree, where all the magic happened

And now, a few of the animals at the house we stayed at (there were 4 dogs and 3 cats, at least that I saw)

OOPS!...

Tour Diary #11

2010-02-26T18:19:00.000-08:00

February 23rd
As we were headed south towards Atlanta today, we got the first taste of warm weather when we stopped at a rest area and noticed that it was about 60 degrees and sunny! However, when we actually made it to the venue, it was dark and cold again. Total bummer. But The EARL made up for this by being an awesome venue and giving us the best meal of tour so far (tofu veggie pita and black beans & rice for me). We also experienced by far the most interesting local opener that we have shared the stage with (do yourself a favor and check out Danger Woman). After the show, an incredibly nice couple name Jamie and Katie opened up their home for us to hang out and sleep at, and even made us delicious pancakes in the morning! Thanks guys!!!

Ha, looks like a butt

Nate slicing a cucumber with a plastic spoon out of the back of our car. Life of luxury.

Chris got a little carried away at the rest stop.

Twilight in Atlantaville.

Bar/restaurant area at the Earl.

The stage.

Pretty sweet green room.

The one and only Danger Woman, ladies and germs.

Tour Diary #10

2010-02-24T12:58:00.000-08:00

February 22nd
Everything seemed to fall back into line today in an amazing way. Chris, running on very little sleep, woke up early and took care of business, cleaning all the glass out of the car and making arrangements to get a new window installed (unfortunately the closest place this service was available in time was about 45 minutes in the opposite direction that we needed to go, but this was only a minor setback). While waiting for our car to be ready, we got to explore a nice little old-town area of Manassas, Virginia, in which we found a great old bookstore with a very cute cat residing inside, so we relaxed in there for about an hour, ate some lunch, and hit the road just in time to make it back on schedule for Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Since we have been travelling southbound, the temperatures have naturally been increasing, and I can't begin to describe how nice it was to be able to comfortably hang outside of the venue in a t-shirt! After the show, we met a very talented photographer named Enid who invited us to stay at her parents house about 2 hours south of Chapel Hill, and directly on the route that we needed to go. Posted below are just a few of my favorite pictures out of the many great ones that Enid took (check out her amazing portfolio here)

Amazingly cute cat that I was hangin' with at the bookstore in Manassas

I thoroughly enjoy a good piece of bathroom art

(The rest of these are photos taken by Enid from the show. Thanks Enid!)

Tour Diary #9

2010-02-24T12:51:00.001-08:00

February 21st
Woke up early enough to do some laundry (been going without underwear for a couple days at this point) and grocery shopping for some healthier lunch options (contrary to what my 6 year old self would have told you, it turns out that eating peanut butter and jelly gets less appetizing by the day). After these tasks were completed, we took off toward our nation's capital (for all the toddlers that subscribe to my blog, this means Washington, DC), where we met up with a fellow Iowa native and good friend of Nate and Kate named Tushar. He was nice enough to take us on a tour of the beautiful BBC America television studio where he works. This was a lot of fun, as you will see in the photos below. I'm going to start a new paragraph for the next major event of our day, since it has the opposite tone of the fun half of our day.

For all of the restored faith in humanity that I've gained on the tour so far, it should have come as no surprise that the following would happen and bring me back to reality. Sometime around midnight, I walked the block to our car so I could bring it back and load our equipment into it. As I neared the vehicle, I noticed that one of our windows had been broken out, and upon further inspection found that Nates backpack containing his laptop and numerous other items of personal value had been stolen. Thank you Washington DC for living up to your reputation! Luckily, I am travelling with a very level-headed, rational group of individuals, so we were able to remain calm and put some plastic over our window and get to a hotel outside of town where we would fix the car in the morning and continue on our way. The scum of the world will not take us out of this ballgame quite so easily.

Washington DC subway

Tallest escalator I've ever seen in my life. Kinda scary

Tushar showing us around the BBC studio

Live on the air, delivering the hard facts

Conquered news team

Deluxe green room at the DC9

The stage at the DC9

Thanks scumbags!

Tour Diary #8

2010-02-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

February 20th
After muscling our way through the can of sardines known as New York traffic, we had only a couple hours of driving to Philadelphia, which was nice because it allowed us to get there in time for some exploring and a much needed relax session at a coffee shop. We got to the venue, ate some delicious food, and then Nate led a group consisting of both bands in a yoga session while a growing crowd watched and snapped some pictures of the weirdo Iowa kids doing their rituals (it was a pretty great feeling). By now, you know how the rest of the story goes, we played a show with was again excellent, and then went to stay at our new friend Paula's apartment and hung out with her guinea pigs and cats. Gooood times.

Philadelphia in the distance

Fancy lookin' folks at the show

More people from the show

Little squeakin' dudes

...and, of course, a cat.

Tour Diary #7

2010-02-21T08:53:00.000-08:00

February 19th
NEW YORK CITYYYY!!!! Holy shit, seriously couldn't imagine a more perfect day on this tour. This was a complete affirmation of why I would ever want to play music and drive around in a cramped vehicle every day to do it. We rolled into the city in the afternoon, and everybody was instantly in a great mood and full of energy. After loading into the venue, they informed us that there were 20 tickets left for the show tonight, so it was definitely going to be sold out. Fantastic. So then, we decided to have a large group dinner with Leslie and the Lys at an amazing all-vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant (made me think of A-Dong, which made me miss home a little!). Also fantasic. After dinner, a few of us stopped to have a few drinks at a nearby bar littered with dogs (everybody takes their dogs inside places in New York, which was awesome!), where we met up with our long lost saxaphone player and Ames friends that had flown out for the show. Then we played to a tightly-packed, highly energized crowd that was going insane and loving it (when Leslie took the stage after us, people were screaming so loud that it was close to drowning out the music). After this perfect show, we found out that the bars are open until 4am, so naturally we took full advantage of this and went out to another bar for some pool and dancing. So we closed down this place, got some late night pizza, and walked back to the hotel that our Iowa pals were staying at and filled the room with 9 sleeping bodies (7 people on two queen-sized beds pushed together, and 2 on the floor). Please don't show this blog to the management of Hotel 91 in China Town.

Mercury Lounge!

The bar inside the venue.

Sexiest midwestern crew in America.

Havin' some coffee the next morning. This place had giant machines that sucked out the coffee beans you wanted, and then grinded the beans and brewed it instantly. Pretty sweet.

Tour Diary #6

2010-02-20T15:27:00.001-08:00

February 18th
I will admit, I was a bit saddened by the fact that we had to return to the United States today, after having such a great time in Canada. Hopefully I will be able to return for a vacation sometime soon. Upon crossing the border, I was surprised to find that the Vermont countryside is actually quite beautiful. Who knew! So for a couple hours, I just sat and enjoyed the scenery as we drove. We arrived in Cambridge, MA and played a show that was good, but not particularly noteworthy. Kate got to reunite with her good friend Jody, who also invited us to stay at her place. Since the show we had played was an early show (we were out of the venue by 9pm) we were able to relax and visit for a while, and then get a much needed full night of sleep and recharge for our trek to New York City in the morning. I've got more pictures than stories to post today, so enjoy...

Vermont scenery

These frozen waterfalls were all over the place.

Boston buildings.

Another sweet building.

Obeeeey.

I was a little disappointed to find that this was not an actual bears bar.

You will definitely know when these sassy senoritas roll into your neighborhood.

This little cutie was blind AND deaf. Kinda broke my heart watchin' him stumble around the apartment.

AND the next three pictures are dedicated to my crazy cat lady of a girlfriend.... ;)

Tour Diary #5

2010-02-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

February 17th
Today, I gained the ability to sympathize with an illiterate person. The second that we crossed the border from Ontario to Quebec, English text stopped existing (with the exception of the names of numerous American corporations inhabiting Quebec as a small step in their quest toward global takeover). All of the road signs, billboards, and even radio stations were completely in French. So, while Toronto felt like a slightly more easy-going version of a US city, Montreal truly felt like another country. However, after seeing this complete shift in language, I was quite impressed to find that nearly every person we met spoke perfect English along with French, so there was literally no language barrier in terms of verbal communication. At the show, we were again met with an overwhelming warmth and friendliness, so much so that after the show we were approached by the owner of the club, Roman, who enjoyed our set so much that he invited us to enjoy whatever we fancied from his bar for the remainder of the night. The only near-disaster of the night came when we heard that our car had been hit by another car while parked in front of the venue. To much relief, we found that there was nothing but a miniscule scratch on the fender, which was virtually invisible due to the amount of dirt we have accumulated on the exterior of the vehicle thus far. This situation could have led to huge problems for us, but instead caused not even a minor setback. I guess everything works out better in Canada.

Unfortunately, Montreal has a strict no-floating-above-bicycles policy.

Didn't have much time to get pictures of scenery, but I got this kinda creepy looking building.

The guy we stayed with, Nicola, had this beautiful treasure on his fridge. The house was nicknamed "House of Awesome" and I now realize why.

Tour Diary #4

2010-02-20T14:12:00.000-08:00

February 16th
Today marked my first ever, much anticipated departure from the good old United States of America. We crossed the Canadian border with relatively little hassle, and even enjoyed a very dryly delivered wisecracks from the woman working in customs while processing our paperwork. A great start to what I would find to be a great country. Upon nearing the city of Toronto, I was taken aback at the sight of one of the greatest skylines I have ever seen. Inside the city, there was an overall feeling of friendliness, which was affirmed in a big way by the insanely warm reception we recieved at the show. We not only sold merch but were also offered a place to sleep BEFORE we even played. Our super friendly host Sam also happened to be a very talented caricature artist, so Leslie asked her to come on stage and draw her in the middle of the set, ripping the half-done sketches out of her hand and tossing them into the crowd before she could finish them. Pretty hilarious. Toronto displayed an overall friendliness and hospitality that could give any Midwestern city a run for its money. Speaking of money, Canadian currency also looks really sweet.

Toronto skyline.

Buildings I kinda like.

Very appetizing. Stopped in for a suckling pig, but there was too long of a wait. Maybe next time.

God did not want me to have a picture of a naked woman on a billboard, so he planted a tree directly in my way when I was driving by trying to get a picture. Prick.

Alley cat that I made friends with. We shall call him Gregory.

Just playin' it cool, the only way I know how.

Tour Diary #3

2010-02-20T14:06:00.000-08:00

February 15th
Rolled into Pontiac, Michigan today to find quite possibly the highest concentration of beggars per capita in the midwest. In the midst of my walk from a coffee shop to the venue (about a block and a half) I believe I was asked for change by three people. We also stopped in a pawn shop that had the most plentiful supply of musical instruments and other nice things that I have ever seen in a pawn shop. This, along with the beggar situation, I can only conclude to be a result of that silly old Michigan economy. In any event, the Crofoot was definitely the nicest venue we had visited on this tour, containing a very impressive large ballroom for bigger shows and a smaller room off to the side called the Pike Room(which is where we played, and was also very nice). After the show, we met a cool dude named Joel who invited us to stay at his sister's house that he was watching for a couple weeks (what she doesn't know will not hurt her). He turned out to be a very interesting and thoughtful person, who stayed up late with us discussing his struggle between his very conservative, Christian family and his own open-minded, critical view of the whole song and dance. It has been very nice to see the type of hospitality that people have been offering us, especially considering the amount of blind trust it takes to invite five strangers into your house for a night.

Yes sir.

Pleased to meet ya.

Started tackling this big boy, my goal is to get through it by the end of tour. We will see.

Tour Diary #2

2010-02-15T13:48:00.000-08:00

February 14th (Happy Valentines Day Kristy!)
Woke up very well rested for our drive from Chicago to Columbus, Ohio. Not much to say for the scenery in between these two places, as it was quite boring. But, the great show in Columbus made up for all of that. We arrived at the venue to find that it also doubled as a hot dog place called Extreme Weiners, in which we were greeted in a very friendly manner with free beer (way more than we could drink, so we took the rest with us for later) and free dogs of our choice (my choice was the vegan version of a chili coney, one of the best dogs I've ever tasted). The people in Columbus were unbelievably friendly, as displayed by the fact that six different people offered us a place to stay, only the first of which we could accept. So after the dance-fueled Valentines celebration, we headed home with our gracious hosts Brian, David, and Allie where we were greeted with a decadent spread of hookah and six different types of liquor, both of which I had to politely refuse due, respectively, to my asthma and the fact that I had already consumed my quota of complimentary Black Label brewskies from the venue. I can only hope that the rest of the tour involves this much hospitality and overall warm reception.

So very true

Hehehehehe

Me hanging with the local opener, Alan

The beer to water ratio seems about right

Chris and Leslie bringing the house down with their duet

Tour Diary #1

2010-02-13T17:40:00.000-08:00

February 12th
At 7:15 am this morning, I pulled into the parking lot behind Chris' apartment and had a tiny anxiety attack upon seeing the smaller-than-I-had-imagined vehicle that Chris was attempting to pack with all of our tour gear (pictured below). In my mind, there was no chance in hell that we were going to be able to fit everything into this vehicle. However, after some brainstorming and tight packing, we figured out a number of things that we could do without, and packed every square inch with band equipment and luggage. Then began our journey. Clocking in a staggering five hours, it turned out that I had endured the most sleep out of anybody, therefore making me most eligible to drive to Chicago. The next eight hours or so is much too uneventful to mention any details, so I'll skip to the show.

We played our first show at the Subterranean to a very outrageously dressed crowd (this is in no way mentioned as a negative thing, it was incredible), a select few of which were in the front row screaming at us to play dance songs the entire time, but I still think they were enjoying the set (or would have enjoyed had they been sober enough to even know where they were). Oh, one more interesting fact is that Leslie's drummer Grace was courteous enough to let me use her equipment on this tour, which means that I am playing a hot pink drum kit decorated with cats. Anyway, it was super fun, and there was a great overall response from the crowd. After we finished, the otherworldly Leslie and the Lys took the stage and blew the minds of their many fanatical followers. Due to the fact that CJ, our trumpet player, had gotten sick from his dinner (caused by unknowingly consuming egg products, to which he is allergic), I was recruited to join the Beanie Baby Marching Band for a guest spot on a song with Leslie & Co. I should note that this consisted of me going onstage with a trumpet and pretending to perform a song that I do not know how to play, on a intstrument that I also don't know how to play.

After an extremely exhausting day, we went back to our gracious host Eddie's apartment and promptly fell into a deep slumber. Great first day.

Chris packing the car.

Marqueeee!

The Subterranean

Creepy statue. Not sure what is going on here.

The crowd.

Beanie Babie Marching Band. The trumpet I'm holding doesn't even have a mouthpiece on it, let alone any sound coming out of it.

February 13th
Despite being only the second day of the tour, we had a day off today. This was great, because it meant that we got to sleep in very late, and then walk around to some great Chicago stores (two of my personal favorites being Quimby's Bookstore and Reckless Records). It was a great relaxing day that will be followed by eleven shows in a row. Columbus, Ohio tomorrow.

My new friend Walter

Rad zine that I bought from Quimby's and my good pal High Life