***Tour Entirety***

Thursday - 7/5
The Prospector - Long Beach
Score: 6.6
I'll start with the downers. Show didn't start until 10ish, and we played last out of 4 bands. So you can imagine the (lack of a) crowd by the time we played. However, the few people that stuck around were REALLY into it. I don't mind a small crowd, but I get really pumped about a high "into-it" percentage. The final downers were that Peter from the Dandy Warhols (his new band played before us) and the gorgeous bass player from the other band didn't stick around. But to round it out with goodness we sold some merch and made some friends / contacts.

Left for Evan's around 2-3am. Stayed up late with Evan, EJ, and Eric and had some good talks / chillage.

Friday - 7/6
We hung out at Evan's for most of the day and had a blast. I was sad to leave (*cry*). We drove the rest of the day / night until Mercedes'. I didn't feel up to partying so I got stoned and crashed in the van.

Saturday - 7/7
Make Out Room - San Fransisco
Score: 6.4
This show would have been a bust if it weren't for all of our friends that came. We got to hang with Pete Tulio, and Bonnie and Michelle and their friends got drunk and danced. We also got payed around $100, which was an amazing surprise. This show's score would be a lot higher if it wasn't for the fact that NO ONE came up and talked to us or showed interest in merch.

Hung out with everyone at B&M's, got stoned a bit and crashed.

Sunday - 7/8
Went to fabric store, hung at B&M's, played a lot of Wii, got drunk and had some good talks with everyone.

Monday - 7/9
Edinburgh Castle Pub - San Fransisco
Score: 6.5
Typical tiny crowd / playing for the bands show. However, the bands were awesome and they ACTUALLY STUCK AROUND! I don't think we sold any merch, but the people who stayed were enthusiastic and nice. Also ran into Ruby's friend Andrew which was extremely coincidental.

Stayed at B&M's again and left for PJ's in the morning

Tuesday - 7/10
Stayed at PJ's house, got really drunk off good liquor and stayed up with EJ and Jake. Lots of fun, then EJ pushed me in the pool and we eventually messed with Curly.

Wednesday - 7/11
Rotture - Portland
Score: 5.9
Excited to be in Portland, but bad / awkward show vibes. We hit it off from the start with the guys from Lasers All the Time, which was fun. The show started late, and despite playing 3rd out of the four bands (compared to the usual last), most of the audience left after Lasers. We still played well and two people came close and danced. Much appreciated. We chatted more with Lasers afterwards. They were rad, but kind of obvious we weren't TOO into each other's music. Thankfully though Lee from Lasers invited us to pitch a tent in his backyard, which we were really stoked about.

Thursday - 7/12
Drove to Seattle, realized we needed to put together a show at S.S. MA within 24 hours, so jumped right on it. EJ, Curly, Brandon, and I spent most of the day putting up / passing out flyers. EJ and I got soaked in the "world fountain" thing, and did some other tourist shit. We eventually met up with Jon Manning (Lost Sound Tapes) and took the bus with him to a show. EJ and I were excited to see that it was a DIY house show shindig. He was a bit more excited it was a punk / trash kind of thing too. I surprisingly enjoyed it, reminded me how long its been since I've been to a real punk show. We ended up staying at Greg from SSMA's friend's house.

Friday - 7/13
I spent most of the day walking around downtown Seattle by myself. I ate duck, checked out Seattle Art Museum, checked out Pike's Place, and did some serious soul searching / thinking about the future at the harbor.

S.S. Marie Antoinette - Seattle
Score: 9.0
The show ended up being fucking rad. By the time of the show I completely fell in love with the SSMA, and was glad the show was finally coming together. Although it was a sort of playing for the bands vibe, there was a very sizable crowd, and they were very enthusiastic. Probably our most effective show for turning people onto us / selling merch. The punk rock feelings from our set were in full effect, I think we adapted well, and wish we played more shows that aim towards that. Highlights were people picking up EJ while we played guitar on Sword in Hand, along with everyone demanding an encore.

EJ and I slept behind the SSMA, in cots under the overpass.

Saturday - 7/14
Neurolux - Boise
Score: 7.5
Show was good and bad for a number of reasons. The crowd was weak considering it was a Saturday night. I was excited for BOAT, who have been getting a considerable amount of buzz, and was probably more excited about the idea of them catching our set. We basically played for them and another table of 4 or so kids. We didn't play our best, and there was some tension on stage, but we still got a sizable amount of compliments, and sold some merch. Most importantly though BOAT seemed to enjoy us and we hung out for a while after the show. We ended up getting wasted together and parading around downtown Boise. Jake and I ended up getting physically threatened by this chick working at a pizza place we went to. She flipped a nut after she saw I put Sprite in my water cup, and after the fact went on about some rant about how we're banned from their forever. I told her we don't give a shit, and Jake called her a bitch, and she jumped over the counter and got in our face! Fucking intense!

Sunday - 7/15
We drove straight to Salt Lake City after the show and got there around 9am. We met up with "Old Man Clark", someone we met on myspace who was nice enough to let us spend the day at his house. Very refreshing to catch up on sleep, and take a shower, which hadn't happened since PJ's house.



The most amazing thing about this tour so far has been realizing the generosity of other people. With the exception of last night, we've had a place to crash every night. Spirits haven't gotten too low yet, and all I can ask for is for things to continue going well. Today was also the first day I've appreciated the real adventure spirit of this tour. Being in Utah is like a- holy shit, we're in a completely different world. Its just fun to think about how much land were covering, so many rivers and mountains were crossing.



Monday - 7/16
Got a full night's sleep at Jeremy's (Old Man Clark) house, woke up feeling extremely caught up and refreshed. Chelsea, Jake, and Curly went to go see the Harry Potter, while Jeremy took EJ, Brandon, and me us on a fun little nature trip. We got pizza and listened to good music on the way, I was happy. We eventually made our way to a little stream / forest area in the beautiful Utah canyons, and chilled hard core. Very enjoyable. Afterwards we worked on our vests and made the 20 minute drive to Provo.

Muse Music - Provo
Score: 8.3
Muse Music is definitely my kind of venue. No bullshit, just a DIY place for bands to put on good, interesting shows. Small enough to stay intimate, and big enough still for legit bands to pack a good audience. The only drawback with our show was a weak crowd. Everything else was a huge plus. Awesome opening band, good stage chemistry, good crowd response, and lots and lots of dancing. Marks and Angels (opening band) blew my expectations away. I wish I could have caught the last few songs and / or danced, but the Mexican food I ate beforehand had me pissing out of my ass. All in all solid show, made some friends and sold some merch.

Tonight we stayed with one of Jeremy's friends in Provo, so once again we lucked out on a floor to crash on. Tomorrow we pick up Garrett in Denver which I'm VERY excited for!!!


Tuesday - 7/17
Woke up early from our crash spot in Provo (friends of Old Man Clark), and began our long drive to Denver. Brandon, EJ, and I took a dip in the Colorado river halfway through the trip, and thats all thats really worth noting. We arrived around 8:00pm or so to the Denver Airport to pick up Garrett. Very glad to see him! Got some booze and brainstormed about what to do for the night. Apparently Garrett's grandma lives in Denver, but she wasn't down with us staying there. So we ended up squeezing the 7 of us into a 3 person sketchy motel room.

Wednesday - 7/18
Woke up to harassment from the hotel douche bag, yelling at us because we had more people than we said. He kept our key deposit. Whatevs. We went shopping and hung out in downtown Denver. Took a dip in another river and chilled until evening, when we found out that we landed a last minute Denver show. We decided before the show that we'd drop by Garrett's grandma's house. It was an enjoyable time, old people are unintentionally charming. Garrett's aunt made us a surprise dinner consisting of Little Ceasars, salad, and apple pie. Afterwards we hustled out and made our way to the venue.

Rhinoceropolis - Denver
Score: 8.4
The Rhinoceropolis is very much like the S.S. Marie Antoinette. It makes sense why, considering that Chuck from the SS got us the hook up. Very collective art spacey place, but more of a venue / living environment than the SS. Awesome place to play, but not awesome that we were last out of six bands. By the time we went on, there were five people in the audience. One of them lived there, and two were in the previous band. HOWEVER!!.... The people that did stay were WAY into it. We treated the show as kind of a practice for Garrett too, and when he wasn't playing he was jumping around in the crowd like an ecstatic lunatic. It was beautiful. We played, sold CDs to our two new fans, and then chilled with Joel from the other band. Long story short, he went to the same elementary school as EJ and me, and grew up down the street from Garrett. Random guy to meet in Denver!

Thursday - 7/19
Left the Rhinoceropolis around noon, got Qdoba, and left Denver around 3:00. Stopped at a small town for food and lodging around 10:00.

Things are great, lots of laughing and high spirits. I think the fact that we made it this far already without any serious breakdowns is a good sign. Having the extra person is a breath of fresh air in regards to group dynamics, despite having to squish a little tighter in the van. Tomorrow is the start of a string of 6 shows in a row, I'm quite excited.


Friday - 7/20
Checked out of our room around noon, made it to Omaha around 3. Immediately the bartender gave us a bottomless pitcher of PBR, and the fun began. After a few drinks Curly and I walked to an internet cafe and chilled for a bit. Eventually met up with the Little Brazil guys and started getting ready for play.

Oleaver's Pub - Omaha
Score: 6.9
The biggest bummer about this show was our poor performance. Off night, nervousness, too many drinks, or all of the above, led to sloppiness and awkwardness. Some songs were good, but I was unhappy with the majority of the songs we played. Still though, we got some compliments and sold a CD or two.

Afterwards we hung out at the Little Brazil house with many of the good people who were at the show. Some guy wearing no pants kept harrassing us on the poorch, and eventually showed up with a posse demanding that we give him back his pants. Pretty hilarious! A fist fight almost broke out multiple times.


Saturday - 7/21
Left around noon and got to Cedar Falls around 6ish. We ran into Andrew, who was the first person to actually buy our CD online, and helped us get together the show. It was rad hanging out with him, I always enjoy talking Malkmus with someone who knows what they're talking about.


The Reverb Bar - Cedar Falls
Score: 7.8
Pretty solid show overall. We started off a bit rough but we were tearing it up by the end. We played first and the crowd was small, but seemed to make an impression on the people that actually watched.

We got food during the two middle bands, and Andrew and I got a bit stoned before Teddy Boys. They sounded fucking rad, and made me wish that we had a better bass amp. Afterwards we went to chill at the Teddy Boys house, I smoked a bit more and went to bed almost immediately.


Sunday - 7/22
Otto's - Delkalb
Score: 5.0
We got to Delkalb pretty late and didn't have much time to chill before playing. This was the first show of the tour that I just straight up did not want to play. It was a play to the other bands feeling, but we still had fun and made some friends.

Afterwards we hung out at Astral Gaurd's house. It was pretty crazy. Everyone was really cool and interesting to talk to. We stayed up basically all night, and around 5 went to a dance party down the street. By the time we got back to the house it was 6:30 and the sun was all the way up.


Monday - 7/23
We got to Chicago around 4 and met up with Eric Krewson, who I was very happy to see. Him, Garrett, and I went walking and hung in the park by a fountain for a bit. We eventually went back to the venue to load in and met up with this group of girls who wanted to drink wine in the park with us. It was a great time, Eric and I started crushing hardcore on the notably cuter / smarter one. They peaced out before we played but offered us their house to crash at. Sweet!

The Note - Chicago
Score: 8.6
Definitely the biggest crowd we've played to yet, and think we did pretty well. The downers were feeling out of place on the bill, and not really making an impression on most of the crowd.

Afterwards went to the girl's house, but got the feeling the night was winding down. However, after we got some buurrs, there was some good chillage with who was left. We stayed up until sunrise again and slept away the morning.


Tuesday - 7/24
Driving day. We left Chi-town pretty late, and got to Ann Arbor around 10pm. Our show there was canceled, but we were all happy to see Cris and crash at her place. We got some good local beer, looked at pictures, ate amazing chips, and argued about things in only the way we can.


Wednesday - 7/25
Woke up early to get a move on to Toronto. Crossing the Canadian border was a breeze. Got into the city around 630pm, which didn't leave us to do much before the show.

The Big Bop - Toronto
Score: 0.4
2 mismatched touring bands - local bands + $10 cover charge - drink tickets = worst possible show ever. The .4 comes from the sound guy, who treated us amazingly and seemed excited to watch. Nothing much to say, we treated it as a practice.

Afterward the show we had a bit of an argument about what to do. No one offered us a place to stay, and there didn't seem to be any nearby cheap hotels. We eventually decided to rough it out and sleep in the van / parking lot, and us boys minus Jake galloped into the city to find a bar. We drank at a nice local place and met some cool people. EJ, Garrett, and I were the ones left at the end of the night, and EJ was able to convince the girl running the night to let us crash at her pad. We drank wine and smoked a bit and then crashed.


Thursday - 7/26
The three of us woke up super early to meet the rest of the band at the van. Brandon and I had an amazing sit down home cooked breakfast, then we hit the road to Montreal. Got there around 9ish, met up with Jill, and explored the beautiful area of Montreal we were in. Ate some ridiculously overpriced food, hit up a bar, and Curly and I crashed in the van.


Friday - 7/27
Woke up around 8 to move the van for the street sweeper. The van felt fucking awful, like a sauna. We spent most of the day chilling at the hostel, leeching internet / laundry / fans. Loaded for the show around 6.

L'Absinthe - Montreal
Score: 5.7
The set up of this show was somewhat awkward. It wasn't really a venue, more of a swanky bar / outside lounge, and we were just providing back ground music. However, there was an area to watch, and we brought somewhat of an audience from the hostel / random people we've met. We played two sets, basically every song we have. The people that came made it a lot better than it could have been.

Afterwards we waited to hear back from the guys at Turbohaus who said we could crash, and eventually just showed up at their house. Smoked and got an amazing high, went skateboarding and got munchies, such an euphoric feeling. Eventually watched Fast Times as we feel asleep, and enjoyed it on a whole other level.


Saturday - 7/28
Complete video game day. We slept in and spent all day playing GoldenEye and Mario Kart. Watched some Curb Your Enthusiasm, thats about it.


Sunday - 7/29
Left the Turbohaus house around 11. Drove a lot. Made it to Boston around 8ish.

Harper's Ferry - Boston
Score: 7.8
Given that we were the last to play out of 5 bands, the show wasn't so bad. The place didn't immediately clear out, so surprisingly enough we had an audience. People seemed to enjoy it, and a few people danced and bobbed a bit. The sound guy was really cool too and gave us some props. Starting to get a better picture of our flaws and strengths.

After the show we had a half an hour arguement / debate about where to head. Brandon and Curly wanted to head back to Philly where their ladies are, but EJ lined us up a place to stay in upstate New York with his cousin Bill. We argued until none of us cared anymore, flipped a coin and headed to NY.


Monday - 7/30
Bill ended up pimping us out to the max, so I'm really glad we went there. Mattress, full breakfast, AIRCONDITIONING, internet, the whole 9 yards. We spent the day chilling, and in the evening went to a lake for sunset. Good times indeed. Got back and BBQed, goofed around for the rest of the night.


Tuesday - 7/31
Left Bill's around noon, got to NYC around 5. Hung out for a bit, met up with Lindsey and my friend Davey from inertiatic. Had a good time chilling before we played and broke into my Canadian Whiskey.

The Cake Shop - New York
Score: 8.6
We had a fantastic spot in the lineup which resulted in a sizeable crowd. Jill and Lindsey got drunk and danced, and a few random people seemed pretty into it. I harped on a few mistakes we made but overall was glad with our performance / chemistry.

Chilled with Davey for a bit more after the show, then crammed all of us into the van for the sprint to Philly!!!


Wednesday - 8/1
Slept until 2ish, spent the day playing video games. Went to the grocery store, Kemp, Paul, and Cortney came over, drank and had a blast. Busted out an acoustic guitar and filmed some epic sing alongs to Dont Make Up The Rules (As You Go) and Yoshimi.


Thursday - 8/2
Slept until noon, took the van with South Street with everyone. Got some Lorenzo's, came home, played more video games, jammed, watched Scent of a Woman.


Now that we're officially halfway through this beast, I'll break out some stats!
Complete sober days: 3
Days E.J.'s had nothing to drink: 2
Shows we haven't played HTML: 2
Shows we haven't played Dinos: 0
Broken strings: 3
1 day crushable worthy girls: 5
Longest period Curly was on phone: 2 and a half hours
Most days with Pizza in a row:5
Most days without Pizza in a row: 4
Most diverse crowd: Montreal (people from Germany, Britain, Iceland)
Best food: Pizza in Montreal ($3 for bacon slice and drink)
Worst food: Mexican in Utah (made all of us immediately have to piss out of our ass)
Most people in van for long drive: 10
Most random coincidince: Girl in Denver knowing us from Ukulele tape comp
Miles Eric traveled to meet up with us again in Seattle: 593
Best bands we've played with: Chairlift, BOAT, The Teddy Boys, Villa Vina
Times I've pissed in Garrett's ear in his sleep: Every night
Most times in one night: 3


Friday - 8/3
The Fire - Philadelphia
Score: 3.5
Awkward show to the max. Sound guy sucked / was dick, bad band chemistry, with the added awkwardness of playing in front of people we know. Something we're definitely not used to.



Saturday - 8/4
Had a party at the house, good time! Lots of people I wanted to see came out, not too much to say.



Sunday - 8/5
Took forever to leave the house. Ended up getting stuck in the worst traffic ever. Almost canceled the show but showed up around 9:30

The Red and The Black - Washington DC
Score: 2.6
Sunday night, no one was there, we basically played to the other artist (acoustic dude) and the bar chick. Didn't want to be there.

Afterwards, we ended up heading to a place in Maryland. So random, we met them (Anne Marie & Nicole) at a Montreal gas station. Stayed up for a bit and crashed.



Monday - 8/6
Slept in, headed to Baltimore in the afternoon. Met up with Anne Marie's friend Maurice (who ended up being a real cool dude). We drove forever to find a lake to go swimming in, then drove back to the county for pizza. However, apparently we weren't allowed to stay at Anne Marie's house like we thought, so we drove back to Maurice's to crash with him. I ended up smoking and going out with the girls, Maurice, and EJ. It was kind of a drag at first, but ended up at the president of MICA's house. Such a surreal experiance. This was the nicest house / mansion I've probably ever seen. It was such a trip being there, art everywhere, awesome design and archetecture. So random / amazing!



Tuesday - 8/7
Woke up, drove to Greenville, North Carolina. Hung out with Curly's friend Jess for a bit, and eventually headed to our show.

Spazzatorium Gallaria (house show) - Greenville
Score: 8.8
FINALLY broke our streak of bad shows! The house was PACKED with kids, it was amazing. We were fairly well recieved, kind of too hot to fully dance, but lots of compliments afterwards. Hung around for a bit and eventually crashed at Jess's.



Wednesday - 8/8
Left Jess's, got to South Carolina around 8. Garrett and I got pizza, then to our surprize noticed that the kids who requested us to come actually made it out to the show!

Cumberland's - Charleston
Score: 8.5
Another solid show! Probably the show I've felt most proud about, soundwise and stage presense wise. It was awesome to have real fans there, who were definitely pumped.

Afterwards drove for a bit and got a hotel.



Thursday - 8/9
Got to Atlanta somewhat early. We got free drinks all night at the bar, so started a bit early. Drinking is really not a good idea in the awful heat / humid weather though. Around 7:00 I was ready to eat, and already kind of just hung over. We got pizza, and eventually played.

The Star Bar - Atlanta
Score: 6.9
Solid set, but inevitably a let down after the last two days. The crowd was kinda weak, but still remained interested throughout the set. We hung out for a while after the last band played and eventually hit the road not knowing what we were doing. Ended up crashing in a WalMart parking lot, Garrett and I slept outside on cots.



Friday - 8/10
Got to Mobile, Alabama in the evening. Garrett and I were having fun with Curly's Suicide Girl's book, ranking our favorite girls. Unbearable heat. Finally got ready to play around 11:00.

The Blind Mule - Mobile
Score: 4.9
Whack show. Playing to a random group of bar goers, our charisma was high but we flopped in performance. I broke TWO A strings in a row, so ridiculous. We sounded terrible and everyone cleared out towards the end. Afterwards we met up with the guy whose house we were supposed to crash with at a party, but ended up just crashing at this dude we met (Nick)'s house down the street.



Saturday - 8/11
Everyone besides EJ ended up crashing at Nick's, so we slept in and lounged around. EJ showed up from down the street around 4:00. Nick just torrented the Simpsons movie so we ended up watching it. To our surprise we also landed a spot on a house show that Nick was going to, so we loaded and headed out.

House Show - Mobile
Score: 5.4
We got thrown last on the bill of 5 bands, so by the time we got on the kids were exhausted by the unbearable heat in the garage. Not to mention we were incredibly out of place on a bill full of hardcore bands. Still though, a solid group of kids watched us, and although we sounded AWFUL, it was still a good time.


Sunday - 8/12
We ended up spending another night at Nick's, woke up early to hit the road to New Orleans. Got there late afternoonish, walked / talked around a bit, somewhat unsure what the deal with the show was. Turns out the other band that was supposed to play bailed on us, more on that later. The place looked dead empty, but luckily in the nick of time 5 or so kids showed up. One of which was a cute girl. The other 4, dudes.

Dragon's Den - New Orleans
Score: 4.9
You've heard it all before. Small, yet cool crowd, no pressure, we played well, yadayada.

The N.O. 5 (as I'm from here on out dubbing them) were way cool people, smoked us out hardcore. Man, I got REALLY stoned. While everyone else started taking shots, I ordered a sprite, snuck out to the van and munched on some serious munchable munchies. When I came back not much had changed. Each girl (Chelsea and girl) was being swarmed by the other group of guys. Hilariously each was taken by a guy present. Curly and EJ got pretty drunk, and I was still stoned, and we ended up arguing about the ditching band incident for nearly half an hour. Curly wanted to send them a flaming message of hate, while EJ thought it wasn't a good idea, on the grounds that they might be a contact later. We eventually hit the road with no where to go besides Houston.


Monday - 8/13
Tensions starting to rise. At this point it becomes clear that Chelsea is definitely leaving us. Garrett wants nothing more that to get a hotel so he can shower / rest. The rest of us want to check out Super Happy Fun Land, in hopes that its a place we can crash for free. All of this added with the apprehension of Brandon coming back and how we'll gel again, topped off with maybe a TOUCH of homesickness. The SHFL turned out to be a rad place. Basically a house turned theater / fun land. As soon as my ass hit one of their couches I feel into a deep uncomfortable sleep. While I slept Gar and Chel got a hotel, and Curly and EJ picked up Brandon.

Super Happy Fun Land - Houston
Score: 6.9
No one shows up. Its a play to the bands, but probably the best play to the bands show of the tour. The guys from My Milliner and The Numerators were awesome, going crazy and having a blast. Then Panda 84 rounded out the night with a fun set.



Tuesday - 8/14
Chelsea officially leaves. We bum around the SHFL for a while, trying to figure out what to do with the day. The guys from the night before offered us a chance to play in San Antonio. But add in sketch words like "maybe" and "friends house", something you don't really want to drive out of your way for. Then something happens that changes the fate of the rest of the tour. WE FIND RISK. We start a game, the first of many as you'll see. When it becomes time to decide if we're going to San Antonio or not, the guy from SHFL offers us to stay another night, and possibly hop on tonight's show at the end. Being lazy opportunists, we jump on it.

Super Happy Fun Land - Houston
Score: 4.5
Something about playing the same set and the same place two nights in a row. Also something about a member leaving, and adjusting to another member hopping back on. Also something about the entire crowd leaving by the time you get on. Just didn't wanna be there.

We round out the night with another game of Risk that we leave to be continued in the morning.


Wednesday - 8/15
We bum around again in the day, attempt to finish our game, finally head out of the SHFL in route to Austin. Definite homesickness setting in. We have no confirmed places to stay for the rest of the trip, and our final shows are falling apart. Trying not to drink but sadly theres no reason not to. We check out the venue, looks like another dud show, so I decide to get slammed. EJ, and I hit some wine in the van, and on the way back meet some people. We meet this blond chick Melissa, and her friend, thats a boy. Melissa is geeked out about us being in a band, and when she hears that we're looking for a female vocalist (lol) she starts jocking us pretty hard. Excited that we MIGHT have an audience for this show, EJ and I hurry back to the venue.

Troubadour Saloon - Austin
Score: 4.5
This was a straight up, fuck this, drunk ass show. Honestly, if you take my collective memories of playing at the show, it would total to about one song's worth.

Afterwards, Melissa kindly invites us back to the guys house, something we would normally be sketched out about, but pounce on given our situation. Turns out all the guys who live at this guy's house aren't to happy about us being there! We get bitched at for being so loud so late, and quietly hit the sack.


Thursday - 8/16
The guys from the house tacitly give Melissa the boot. But oddly enough, she happens to know someone in our next destination (San Antonio), and comes along for the ride. On the ride there it starts pouring, and we decide its probably better if we just don't play. Melissa instead takes us to her friend Clay's house, where we're welcomed with open arms. Turns out they're in a band too! It all makes sense! The guys are really cool, we get pizza, beer, and watch Wondershowzen and Fifth Element.


Friday - 8/17
We wake up, and go get burritos with one of the roomates, Kerry. We spend the rest of the day watching TV and movies. Towards the end of the night I smoke a lil bit and we end up watching Arrested Development.


Saturday - 8/18
Home is getting close but still seems so far away. We have two days until our next and final show, and we awake with no where to go. Luckily Jake pulls through and his sister offers us to stay at her place in Tuscon. We wake up early this day, and pound out the drive, arriving around late afternoon. When we get there we realize we're going to have plenty of leisure time, so Garrett goes and buys a copy of Risk. We get some pizza and beer and the fun begins. We play with five band members and Jake's sister's boyfriend, Alex. I end up getting knocked out early and get really pissed off.


Sunday - 8/19
Whole day to chill, what do you think we did? WATCH MOVIES AND PLAY RISK!!!! Like, seriously.


Monday - 8/20
We get some more serious chilling in before hitting the road to Mesa. Watch Gangs of New York and get some more pizza. Eventually the time comes, and we depart to our final show.

Hollywood Alley - Mesa
Score: 8.6
I can't describe why this show was good, there was just something in the air. Even thinking about it now, I get butterflies in my stomach because it represents so much. We hadn't played in five days, the longest stretch of not playing the entire tour. Not to mention we hadn't played a GOOD show in much longer. But man, did we have a good show this night. Each note sounded brilliant. Theres no question it was one of our best sounding shows. And the passion was unbelievable. I'll never forget going into HTML, declaring to the rest of the band: "Last song on tour guys." As the words came out of my mouth, I knew they were heavy and held countless meanings / emotions, but all that was important at the time was putting my fingers on F# and getting ready to rock the fuck out of the song. I'll also never forget watching Jake and Brandon go insane at the end, charisma pouring from everyone else. It was a feeling that we knew was coming for a long time, but couldn't understand it until it happened, if even then.

We packed up, had some drinks, enjoyed the following act, and hit the road that would within a few hours time, lead us home.