More of Day 13

So the rest of our day wasn't too exciting. We stopped along the side of the road in Idaho to watch the sunset and take pictures. However, we were not aware that we would be attacked by a legion of flying ants! They were everywhere! On our backs, in our hair. Kind of gross. We brushed ourselves off and once in van, spent a couple of minutes swatting at the few stragglers that made it inside. Little jerks.

We ate dinner at an okay restaurant that had TV's so we caught up on a little Olympic watching. Food and a chance to run around outside (just a little) seemed to lift everyone's spirits, and we drove a few more miles to a Motel 6 where we slept. Pretty relaxing day off. I think my favorite thing about sleeping in hotels (besides waking up feeling refreshed) is watching TV at night with Nicole, Meg, and Rob and making fun of it all. My roommate always laughs at me because I'm always laughing at/making fun of things on TV that were never intended to be funny, so it was fun/hilarious to be in the company of like-minded TV viewers.

So yeah. Relaxing day. drive. eat. sleep. repeat. But it was nice none the less.

Day 13 - Aug. 18 - Monday

Today is our first day off in a good while. We woke up in Missoula on the floor and went for breakfast with the group of people that hosted us. This dining experience was much better than the last for me. I talked with Tessa, the girl who booked the show and drove from near Anacortes just to see us, and Bethany, the great cellist from last night. They're such interesting people. I hope I bump into them again somehow.

Missoula is nice, but its no place I'd like to live. The mountains are gorgeous, and I bet any time but now the weather would be cold. But there's nothing to do. Everything feels like the late 1800s to me. The downtown is a little square (not in coolness, but in geography). It's not completely desolate at all, but, I don't know...I just got the feeling that it was its own little bubble, with the same people traipsing the same ground all the time.

We've been driving for most of the day, trying to get as close to Salt Lake City as we can. We stopped somewhere in Montana (or Idaho...) along the river to swim. After carefully dancing across the rocks in a delicate balancing act we made it to what we thought would be deeper water. Turns out it only came up to our knees. BUT, it was great to sit in.

I'm crossing off lots of firsts. First time through the Northwest. First time traveling the country with other girls! First time finding a snake (in Balmorhea, TX), First time eating Vietnamese food. First Pad Thai. and First time playing in river water. It's a cool feeling, water pushing past you and trees surrounding your left and right. fun. fun.

3/8 of the band is asleep. Meg's doing crossword puzzles, Mike is air drumming, I can't see Brian, and Rob's wearing the driving hat. Our dream catcher hanging from the rear view mirror still has its reindeer friend that Brian adorned it with. And the sun is starting to retreat behind the horizon.

This is good.

Day 12 - Aug. 17 - Sunday

Missoula, Montana.

The drive up was soo hot! again! On drives like these I tend to sleep the whole time, even if I'm not tired. It's just easier to sleep than to deal with the heat. After going through some cool looking mountains, we arrived.

We played in an old small theatre in what I think was downtown Missoula. Yet again, I don't feel like writing a lot. So I think I'll just list some things:

-the opening group featured a classically trained cellist and violinist, both of which attended music school. They made Nicole and I nervous...but they were so great!

-their mandolin player was Forest O'connor...as in the son of violinist Mark O'Connor! That guy is ridiculous! I saw him play at UT, I have three of his albums that he's recorded with Edgar Meyer (awesome bassist) and Yo Yo Ma! Ridiculous. can't believe i played in front of him

- we went to this place called the Oxford. Super creepy. Been open since 1883 and seems like it hasn't changed much. i felt very aware that i was probably the only black person in Montana. People like to look a lot. Some creepy old weird guy kept hitting on me and was a little too close to my face...it was disgusting. i felt weird. and he yelled at the guys when they tried to stand up for me and get him to leave. i was uncomfortable there. strange place. Maybe tomorrow I'll get to tell you about all their weird menu names and menu items like cow brains...yeah.

ok, gotta go now. getting ready to leave! b-fast time

-aisha

Day 11 - Aug. 16 - The Show

So I'm playing catch up again so we'll see how much I can remember. We played at a place called Imperial? Imperium? It was a coffee shop with two stages, the larger one in a basement. Three local bands were on the bill along with us, and we traded off sets between stages. People stuck around and saw all of us play, which was cool. We didn't know what kind of crowd to expect in Spokane, Washington.

Speaking of not knowing what to expect, we did not foresee walking around for half an hour downtown struggling to find some where to eat at 5:30! NOTHING was open, expect for Spaghetti Factory (which had an hour wait), some snooty expensive greek place. Ridiculous. Apparently no one goes out to eat in that area of town on a Saturday night. We ended up eating at a place that had "Authentic Thai Food" on its sign, and any place that has to advertise that it's authentic cusine makes me nervous...they also had liquor bottles for vases and were playing bad pop songs as their house music. Call me sterotypical but that's just not the music I'd imagined at an AUTHENTIC Thai resturaunt...

Anyway, show was good. pre-show actitivites were good. They consisted of multiple rounds of arcade style Street Fighter!! It was great. I love that game. And apparently so did Jesy and Taylor.

I'm feeling like this is kind of boring, I appologize. I didn't take any pictures because this was the day on tour that I was slightly grumpy/dehydrated/ ready to disappear. Sometimes I just want to hide and not do anything and that was today. BUT it turned out well! Afterwards we hung out at the spot to be at, called Neato Burrito lol Imagine a crowded Chipoltle with darkened lights, indie rock house music and a bar. Funny. After that, we stayed with Krissy, owner of the venue. We sat around outside singing songs and playing guitar before goin to bed. Next stop, Missoula, Montana

Day 11 - Aug. 16 - Saturday

Woo! I've finally caught up to today! I've been writing for a good while. We are on our way to Spokane and I've only heard weird things about this place. It is the home of Gonzaga university, but besides that it's just a college town void of college kids since its summer.

This morning Taylor, Nicole, Brian and I had Vietnamese food for breakfast. Everything close was closed! And apparently people who need coffee in the morning don't need food, because all these coffee shops had wimpy little pastries. My hunger surpassed crepes and scones. And since apparently no one eats before 11am on Capitol Hill except those who like Vietnamese food, that is where we wound up. Now I am stuffed sitting next to Nicole in the van full of hot air and the smell of seven different kinds of chips that can't be any kind of healthy. Hope people come to the show tonight.

Day 10 - Aug. 15 - Friday

Oh man, I feel like I'm never going to catch up. I'm sure I've been writing for over an hour now. People are asleep in the van; we're listening to a mix tape Jesy made and I'm trying to write about things before I forget.

Yesterday we woke up slowly, took showers and explored Seattle. Trying to keep nine people together and entertained downtown is difficult. So eventually we split up. Nicole, Travis and I walked down Pike Street to 1st street by the farmer's market and pier. It's the place you've

probably heard of in Seattle where they guys at a fresh fish place toss big fish around. Everyone gathers to take pictures and every now and again they like to freak people out and throw a big fake fish at them. Very touristy, but entertaining. We found the water and gazed into it. It stretches for miles and miles and hits the mountains that look to be sinking in the distance. pretty.




When we got back to the house, we packed up and headed for the show. The venue turned out to be Q Cafe, right next to Quest church...Some people were skeptical of a place that seemed to be so closely associated with the church. Buut the staff said though the cafe was founded by the church it is not affiliated with it...even though our green room was labeled "Children's Room" and had Bibles in it. lol I don't really care either way. I don't mind playing in churches. It was a big deal that by 8pm only two people were there. haha. We debated about whether or not we should play. The venue was far from the downtown scene and according to Jesy sort of out of the way. We waited around, played pictionary for a while and then decided to do short sets: Bexar Bexar: Balmorhea : Tiny Vipers. In the middle of the Balm set people wound up coming so we played a few extra. It was fine. no pressure. Kind of like practice really. lol is that mean to say? meh, whatever.

Jesy played for a while and then we packed up our stuff and headed out.
OH wait, totally forgot to mention that Rob played guitar with Brian and then randomly started drumming on two songs! We (Meg, Travis, Nicole and I) weren't expecting that and turned to look at each other to confirm our surprise. I think Nicole got pictures. Probably isn't really a big deal. What doesn't Rob play is the question. But it was a fun moment at the time.

Anyway. I need to go faster. Taylor told a ghost story under a blanket with a flashlight in the van. Mike and Brian wrestled WHILE Mike was driving! Brian denies it but nicole has it on video. Those two wrestle, tease and play like children. It's funny.

Got home. Went to a bar. Sat around with some friends mike made at a previous show in Seattle. Brian and Taylor raced barefoot down the block. A&M Trackster Taylor won. Two guys broke some glasses outside and were dumb enough to leave and return. Some guy sitting at a table 1ft behind where Nicole and I were standing was dumb enough to make a comment about our backsides loud enough for me to hear. I hate that. And after I've had two beers I really hate that and wasn't afraid to wittily let him know. I don't know what it is about some men that makes them think they can talk about women like we're mindless figures to be gawked at. If they decide to exercise that right of free speech, then I choose to exercise the right to make them aware of their stupidity. Fair trade, right?

Anyway, after some talk about music, we headed back up a steep hill. and slept. I think its kind of weird to get excited about a "bed" that's in a different place every night.

Day 9 - Aug. 14 - Thursday

I am writing you from the backyard of the violinist of Stars of the Lid. We met her when we opened for them at the Granada Theatre in Dallas and she let us stay at her place while we were in Portland. She left a note telling us to eat whatever, wash clothes, take showers and use her bikes if we wanted. So nice. I sifted through the sheet music on her stand just because I like to know what awesome violinists spend their time working on. We had a lot of the same scale and etude books and she had one concerto I've played before (though her version is undoubtably way better). Is that snooping? Crossing the line? eeeh..journalism school would tell me no. So I'm going to go with that. She has this really cute dog that likes to cuddle with everyone too--

So I never finished writing this. I am writing you from a highway in washington, yes, I am writing you from the future. Technology. Amazing.

Actually, I'm just lazy and haven't been writing as much lately. lo siento.

Anyway, I don't remember what happened leaving Seattle that put us behind schedule. The Doug Fir Lounge gave us a $60 voucher for breakfast, so we went back and ate our fill. Then we drove. and drove. and drove some more and hit a horrendous line of stand-still traffic...in the heat. I was sitting in our little makeshift seat in the back row of pillows, bags & sleeping pads (since we have 9 people, as Jesy (Tiny Vipers) is with us). It feels to me to be the hottest seat, especially when we're not moving and our "air conditioning" of open windows has no breath. It was gross. There was an accident that we never saw (but heard of on the radio). What was supposed to be a 4 hour drive took over 6. lovely.

Anacortes is a small island town that the locals say is a large retirement community. A girl I talked with said there aren't many young people beyond their high-school years. But The Department of Safety is the exception. It is an old government building turned artist co-op. They live together, run a gallery featuring their work, and host shows out of a theatre-like room (which instantly reminded me of Super Happy Fun Land, complete with art on the walls and couches & theatre chairs as seats. If you've had any kind of experience there, you know that yes, I had flash backs and yes I was frightened by the similarity). It's a pretty large building to be home to only nine people. While walking through it, it kind of fulfilled a childhood fantasy of running around and playing in a school after dark, a school that cooks you really good vegan lasagna. We practically teleported to the upstairs kitchen at the mention of a hot meal.

Twas good. I talked with a guy that hosted us in Springfield, Missouri on our last tour. The house he lived in threw a festival out of their basement and called it Fontee Fest. It was weird but cool to see him there. You never expect to see the people you meet while touring in other places. After some standing around and enjoying the cool air, Brian started his set. Nicole and I had some good chat time outside the garage door and took some fun photos that hopefully you'll get to see. The sunset was beautiful and vivid and I'm glad I got to take it in. It's rare that we get to do our sitting around in gorgeous places.

Our set was alright. The sound situation wasn't as clear as it needed to be, but then again, it's tour. When aren't we playing out of strange PA's? No offense to the sound guy. He was nice. But it's hard to mix us well. Afterward Jesy played and sounded great. She's small but she's got such a strong voice. And when she sings low its a little haunting but in a soothing way.

After the show we took a century to decide what we were doing (some wanted to stay in Anacortes). After a stop at a doughnut house, we decided to drive back to Jesy's place in Seattle where we slept for the night. I took way too long to explain that. If you actually got this far, you're a trooper.

-Aisha