Time to fess up -- I'm actually a terrible, inconsistent blogger.

First, the post that should have come before Europe that's been sitting in "drafts":

It's a testament to how truly amazing our US tour was that I'm only 60% psyched to leave for Sweden today - the other 40% is mourning the end of the US leg. Intense!

Once again, packing and waiting.

The last four shows of our tour - Rochester, Burlington, Boston and Portland - were incredible. Rochester was a total surprise - who knew how awesome it was? Not only is the city beautiful (a waterfall downtown?), but everyone there had this really incredible talent for making us feel completely at home. Hanging at the Bug Jar in Rochester was like hanging out with our oldest, sweetest friends in NYC. Everyone danced, the other bands - Gaybot and Science vs. Witchcraft - ruled, and we had an awesome, epic night. Thanks to everyone who helped with the show, especially Brian. The best!

Burlington was, of course, awesome. I got to live my ultimate fantsay in life by playing tambourine and singing 'Moped Rally' with the Magogs, David had (I hope?) an awesome birthday party, The Smittens ruled, we ruled... it was a really fun show. The Smittens really know how to party. But we knew that. Plus, first ever 'You Got Served'-style dance off! Thanks to Holly and the guy who totally served her!

You know what's beautiful? New England.

And.... I finally had an awesome time in Boston. Finally! Frank's entire family showed up, and his grandma danced harder than anyone during our set. Literally. We bonded pretty hard with The Sammies, who share my North Carolina pedigree and who rock really hard (even though when Marisa tried to give Gymmy a highfive during their set she was... denied!). Everyone else was so great, Ashley had the ultimate birthday party and, once again (and of course most importantly) I finally had fun in Boston. Can we just play birthday parties from now on? Yes? Thanks.

We were all really emotional about the last show of tour... which creates a weird sort of pressure. This past month has been so unbelievable - we're better friends, and a better band, and I very literally don't ever want to go home. Portland, though, helped us through our tour-ending drama. The best city. We all want to move. I think partly (at least for me) it has to do with identifying with a seaside town (like the island where Marisa and I lived) but experiencing it in this completely different way -- instead of palm trees and seat turtles there are lighthouses and fog and rocky shores. So the smells and the sounds are sort of the same... I don't know if that makes any sense. But we really loved it there.

We spent the night before our show at the drive in - the 2nd oldest still-running drive in in the country, according to the sign. Best double feature ever - Ratatouille and Harry Potter!

The show we played at Sound Post in Portland was the perfect end to the US tour. The 500's and The Rattlesnakes were both incredible, and everyone at the show was unbelievably sweet and supportive. We had a really great time playing, and - somehow- the amazing crowd and perfect city made our last show not nearly as sad as we would have predicted. Thanks so much to Nick and Karina for letting us stay in the most amazing (like if Wes Anderson created a giant dollhouse on the sea...) house ever and being incredibly gracious hosts. We love Portland.

This month was so amazing. Thanks so much to everyone who helped us and showed us around the country - we have so many awesome new friends. We loved every single town we played and can't wait to see you guys again.

*So, techinically we're in Sweden now and I should be posting about Sweden. I will soon! And since I don't have my laptop there won't be any photos until we get back.

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.

Catch up!

I think this post will have to be mostly pictures, but quickly:

We had the 4th of July of our lives in St. Louis. Cyndi Lauper under the arch! So, so amazing! Matt and Sarah were so incredibly hospitable - our love affair with St. Louis is well under way.
The show at CBGB was so great, and the bar was awesome. We had a great time - I only lament that we wore ourselves out going to the St. Louis zoo prior to the show and couldn't physically party as hard as we wanted to. Hence the new tour policy - no zoos before shows. Like bros before hos.

The drive from St. Louis to Chicago today took way longer than it should have, mostly due to our side excursion to Lincoln's tomb. I'm currently wearing my new "Land of Lincoln" shirt and Rikky and Frank are wearing sparkling new civil war hats.

Do you see the puppy experience I'm having in the photo above?

We're about to play in Chicago!

I miss everyone. And I also don't ever want tour to end.

Freedom 90 (I won't let you down, so please don't give me up)

I'm sitting in Matt from Bunnygrunt's kitchen, anticipating all of the awesome stuff that will happen today: BBQ, bottle rockets, finally eating the tomatoes we bought in Kentucky, partying with our new St. Louis friends, seeing Cyndi Lauper under the arch (!!), fireworks.

We fell hard for Lexington, KY. The show was incredible - free ice cream, Kentucky bourban, the best venue ever (The Icehouse, an old icehouse that's like the KY version of 79 Lorimer - only exponentially better). We met some great people who we felt like we'd known forever (Ross, Matt, Brandon, Bailey, everyone!). Marisa and I also played with 7 four week old boxer puppies - an experience which was life-altering. I know everyone's sick of hearing us talk about these puppies, but they were SO UNBELIEVABLY CUTE. I'll post the pictures tomorrow, along with more on our St. Louis EXPERIENCE. Last night's show ruled hard, and I expect today to follow suit. But right now I've got some serious partying to do.

Freedom!