Midbest

We’ve been listening to the same good-time-oldies radio station for 2 hours, driving through Ohio – soon it will be Pennsylvania, then New York.

The last four days or so have been so great that I haven’t had time to post anything, due in no small part to the INCREDIBLE band Poison Control Center, who we played with in Grand Rapids, Ypsilanti and Dayton. We’re all so in love with them – both as a band and as awesome dudes – that the prospect of finishing up the next week without them is daunting. We’ll learn to cope, I guess.

First, Chicago. South Union Arts is, in theory, a really amazing and interesting venue – an old Baptist church converted (only slightly) into a performance space. There’s a giant neon Jesus above the pulpit/stage, a Baptismal pool, pews. We loved playing in Chicago, and were really excited to see all of our friends who came out, but the show was a little weird – the stage setup is such that we were all really far apart, and since there are pews, people tend to sit rather than stand. Regardless, we had an awesome time, thanks to Kate, Ashley, Kristen, Leigh, Dan, Matt, Jake, Jeremiah and everyone else there – including Tom, who amazingly came to Chicago to surprise me. The best.

The two shows in Grand Rapids ruled. We really liked being the bar band at 'Juke's' - it's sort of nice when there's not a lot of pressure and people are just hanging out listening to your set. We also saw a guy break up with his lady over the phone and then punch a wall! At the DAAC the next night we played a really fun (if sort of cranky on my end - sorry guys!) show with Poison Control Center and a Canadian band called DD/MM/YYYY. Though the shows were great, we had the most fun hanging out (and swimming!) with Shawn and Emily, the ultimate sweeties of Michigan. And meeting PCC, the ultimate dudes.

I don't really know what to say about Ypsilanti. Incredible? Yes. Bizarre? Indeed. Awful? Sometimes. The show itself was intense and great - my favorite of tour, for sure. We got a little crazy during PCC's set, and were really psyched to find that we had met our match in the 'gettin crazy' (and naked) department. Again, the best.

Then things got a little weird? I won't say too much, only that there were some intense smells and that we were suddenly kicked out at 7:30am (after a long, long night of the aforementioned craziness). We love our Ypsilanti show.... but didn't really love Ypsilanti.

Did I mention that we went to Detroit and it blew our collective mind? Even knowing - sort of - what to expect, it was still devastating to see a city so broken. The abandoned skyscrapers and ruinous Ford factory... for whatever reason we didn't take many pictures.

Dayton! We enjoyed awesome hospitality (and more swimming) from our new friend Zach, who set up the show, and once again partied really hard with PCC. It was so great. Though we were really sad to leave them... the rest of tour we'll have less bruises, for sure.

Tonight we play Rochester... only four more shows. So sad.