WE LIKE IKE

i never know what to expect on tour.. you can't predict much of anything, from the venue to the crowd to the bands to the lodgings. Kalamazoo was awesome. The bands were great, super tight, good sounding, and good songs, plus a great stage presence.. i'm a big fan.

on top of all that - we rolled up to our 'lodgings' in the middle of the night, and i just had the best time of my life.. honsetly, the most amazing thunderstorm rolled in over the course of an hour or more, and the whole time i was pleasantly lit, strumming a gorgeous little ukulele and enjoying the light show. i couldn't possibly do the experience justice, but few things are worth talking about, and this night was one of 'em..

Aaron

Two full days in Chicago now seems like some kind of surreal dream of luxury, sightseeing, relaxation, and good food. I’ll put in my own shout of gratitude out to my good buddy chip who allowed me to catch up on a decade of old friendship and put me up in style in the wide open spaces of his big Lincoln park house.
After getting lost in chicago’s south side while trying to find an on-ramp to the skyway, we shot over to kalamazoo Michigan with no knowledge of what we were getting ourselves into, no expectations, and no maps—having left them all behind at mike and jill’s pad. We played the kraftbrau brewery, a very laid-back big brick box with great beer and the nicest, most earnestly genuine and friendly people I’ve seen anywhere. My—already sunny—opinion of folks from the oven-mitt state has only brightened from this experience.
We were the deli-meat in a three-band sandwich, the top (first) bun being the best-educated band in the house: WISHEK, fronted by our main contact for the show, the inimitable indie-jouneyman ike and his shiny aluminum guitar, and backed up by sweaty steve the English teacher—the only drummer I know who shows up to gigs on his bike and plays with a ball-point pen clipped to the collar of his t-shirt. We played a set that rivaled our Chicago show in sweat and acumen, but probably outdid it in verve, what with aaron and his hilarious banter, his playing from atop the amp and out in the beer garden, and ike’s wildly enthusiastic back-up shouts to our only cover song, a sweet little ditty from the late great mcklusky. All that and aaron didn’t even break a string! The third and last band were the hugely entertaining SPIT FOR ATHENA, a super-rocking trio careening between sounding like the pixies and fugazi, and I think trying to back up their name with on-stage feats of stunt-expectoration. Nice catch, levi.
We didn’t make much money last night but the citizens of kalamazoo (or at least those who like to go out to see loud music on a Wednesday night) made up for it in laughs and hospitality.
We ended the evening by following ike to crash in somebody’s house (not his), occupied by a nice kid who actually didn’t even live there. Yes, I’m confused, too. It was typical college pad, full of very smart literature, porn, musical gear, and dirty clothes. The floor (my bed) didn’t seem like it had been vacuumed in several years, but—unlike our last college-town sleepover--at least someone lived there! There was an amazing lightning storm directly overhead as we sat out on the porch. For the longest time it was just silence, no rain, and all these flashing lights going off in the clouds all around us. Then the thunder started rolling and in the next instant it was a deluge. For a west coast kid that’s some very pretty weather.
We’re now in our second day off, relaxing at erik’s parents house, THE SKI LODGE EAST, in medina ohio, until we drive up to Cleveland tomorrow, a city that, according to drew carey, rocks.

Garrett