Wasahappenin’ Peoples:

here we are again…..stuck in traffic…..gettin’ our road trip on.  this damn computer is so hot in my lap….i know i’m losing potential children with each passing moment.

i’m writing to update the happenings of our june tour:  we played the paradise in boston two nights ago, rocked that mother, had a blast, and stayed up all night making body-count outlines with our spare bottle of Tums.  that’s what kinda night it was.  actually, i went to sleep around 2 but eli and daryl made friends with the sunset and consequently, daryl was totally sick the next day.  as a result, i got my first turn at driving the RV….made it from Boston to Philly….no head-on collisions….a good thing. 

Boston was crazy fun.  after driving almost 22 hours from Chicago, we landed just outside of Springfield and had only an hour or so to roll in.  When we got there, we ended up on the campus of Northeaster University, looking for a YMCA.  Everyone paid five bucks and we got our first shower in many days.  Needless to say, that was the shit.  And it was our first band experience of hanging out in one room completely naked together.  tours bring you close together.  tours tear you far apart.  luckily, we’re dosing on the former and it’s all good.

after the Y, we ate some noodles and headed back to the camper for a little frisbee.  my bass player, who’s been traveling with his girlfriend, called to check in and i informed him that the trailer had been stolen and we were S.O.L.  he kinda freaked out until i informed him that we got a plastic saxophone and let out a huge “joke’s on you, buddy” cackle.  i’m good with practical jokes but not good with the laughter. 

boston’s beautiful.  we strolled through about five colleges until we got to Boston University and to the Paradise Rock Club.  Paradise wasn’t what i expected it to be, but it rarely is, i suppose.  it’s crazy to imagine we were on a stage that has had Tom Petty, U2, AC/DC, The Pretenders, Tom Waits, and a whole slew of other legendary artists.  I tried to frame the memory a little.  Lucky for my shoes, the floor was nice and slippery and i got to duck walk a little bit during the show. 

boston’s crowd was a touch lock to pick at first.  but once we did, it was all good.  they ended up being really into the show and really nice to us afterwards AND we tied our record for most CD’s sold in a night.  damn, some dude bought me a Stella during the show.  that was a first (thanks, man).  Then, later on, we met a couple of dudes, Kyle and Nick,  who were jammin’ out and lockin’ in with us and we pretty hung out with them for the night.  They bought us beers and had no problem telling us we killed it.  That’s always a nice thing to hear.  Personally, I felt the show was a little weird….not bad, just weird…..like having a vision of Jesus and finding out he wears leather pants and velcro shoes and drinks Busch Light….Either way, it was a good show.  Everybody in the crowd told me how awesome it was, so i figured i’d adopt their feelings as my own.  so it worked out pretty good.  thank you, boston.

Wanted to give a special shout-out to Kyle and NIck:  you guys were really cool and we appreciated the hospitality.  after sweating it out on the lost highway day in and day out, it’s tight to meet some people who wanna connect, rock out, and who have a deeper appreciation for the time and energy going into this kind of endeavor.  at one point in the night, they asked me how it felt to be up onstage totally rocking out, sweat flying everywhere, jumping up and down, etc.  “what’s it like, man?”  i thought for a second and remembered the countless hours in my bedroom playing along with jimi hendrix, led zeppelin, and bob dylan….crafting my guitar face, honing my vibrato, dreaming of that special day.  so i told them, “aww man, it feels like it felt when i was 15.  and if you’re into the music and feeling the vibe, it feels exactly how you feel when you watch it.”  and that’s the truth, in my experience.  music is music.  cuts like sharp knife.  energy with no rules if you let it run wild.  kyle and nick were feeling it and they let us know.  i appreciate that, homies.  hell yeah.  we got it.  you get it.  period.

**also, i forgot to mention and give thanks to my good friend Paul Dennis and his girlfriend Tara who drove down four hours from Vermont to see us play.  We had a nice chat in the RV and caught up for awhile and I’m grateful that anyone would ride miles to see us play.  thanks man!

so we woke up at 8 and headed to Philly.  Like I said, Daryl was sick, so i drove.  we got in around 3, loaded in, and snuck on over to a Soul Food stand and got some jerk chicken, candied yams, and mac ‘n’ cheese.  then we had a soundcheck and waited around for a few hours.  eli and i played long-distance frisbee toss in an open field behind the venue.  then we headed down to CVS to grab some meds for our fallen drummer.  all in all, Philly was a chill experience…nothing over the top, nothing under.  the club was really nice and the sound on stage was the best we’ve had thus far.  i couldn’t believe it.  our set was pretty rockin.  i think we might have rocked em too hard….a lot of the folks in the crowd were at banquet tables.  all in all, it was good.  we dared (for a thousand dollars) tim to play one of his piano solos with his “johnson” but he chickened out.  i don’t blame him.  it’s hard to hit all the right notes with a “johnson” solo. 

eli, our resident late-night-party bandmate (not to mention bad-ass sax man), ended up waltzing with some ladies into the night, heading to Pat’s King Of Steaks with Bob’s crew for some authentic cheesesteak, and losing our tour manager’s main set of keys.  we didn’t know til we woke up and they were missing.  so we spent about two hours looking for them to no avail.  in the meantime, i met some of the dudes from the Dirty Projectors, a band i had been listening to online during our tour.  that was a trip.  i didn’t learn any mystical secrets from them, but it was one more step in seeing how everything is pretty well-woven together.

um…...om. 

—jason