June 14: Nashville, TN : Keeping with the spirit of non-stop excitement, we decided to tour Nashville today. We walked up and down the main drag downtown and saw all the old record stores, bars, and music stores that densely populate the area. It was actually really cool, yet it was totally a tourist trap, so that was kind of a bummer. Every single place had live music inside even in the middle of the day. There were a few totally authentic places like this one no frills record store we went into that must have had every country album ever recorded on vinyl. We stopped in at the Grand Ole Opry too. Afterward, we ate at Nashville's famous Pancake Pantry. They had something like 27 types of pancakes. What I got was damn good and gave me such a starch overload that I passed out when we got back to the hotel room.

Our cousin Nicklaus was getting married that night and Travis and I were in the wedding party, so we had the typical prep things to go through. The ceremony and reception were at a place called the Parthenon, and as you can guess, it was a life-size replica of the Parthenon in Greece. It was quite over the top. They had 40 foot tall, foot thick doors and a 40 foot tall statue of Athena gilded in 14 carat gold inside. Despite the lack of booze (his wife is Baptist), it was a really fun time.

We ducked out of the ceremony early to head back to Bonnaroo. We picked up Evan from Umoja (who was playing with us at the festival) and hit the road. We got there at midnight, set up our tents, and went in to watch The Flaming Lips' "Christmas on Mars." As we walked in, Pearl Jam was just finishing up, so we headed over to the big stage to catch the end of the set. They were playing "Alive" and the entire crowd of 80,000+ people were all pumping their fists in unison to the song. It was so damn cool. We got in the VIP bleachers with our passes, so we had a perfect view of the whole field.

On to the Movie tent! Knowing that Wayne was giving a personal introduction to the film, I decided to sneak back stage to say hi to him. I managed to get back there and walk around the entire area, but he, nor anyone else was anywhere in sight. Eventually, a security guy came up to me and was asking where my backstage pass was, which of course, I didn't have. So, I immediately started saying "I am SO lost! Where AM I? HOW DO I GET OUT OF HERE?" Which seemed to work. So, needless to say, I didn't get to say hi to Wayne, but I also didn't get kicked out.

We stayed till about 2:45 AM, watching the movie when our need for sleep overrode our desire to finish the movie. Heading back to the tents in the cool, extremely humid night air made me realize this was going to be a rough night.

Kanye West was supposed to be playing until about 4:00 AM, but he apparently was late and being a total dick and didn't end up starting until 4:15. This means that the music was playing literally until the sun came up. Once the music finally stopped, I was determined to sleep for a few hours (I hadn't been able to fall asleep at all yet). The people in the RV next to us, however had a different idea because they started up their land tank and it immediately filled our tent with exhaust. Here, my desire to not die of carbon monoxide poisoning overrode my desire to sleep.

Great! I thought. I have to make it from 7 AM till god knows when on NO sleep. I ended up pulling it together, and somehow, managed to be fine until the night.

We kept using the hotel where we checked in as artists as a home base for bathroom and cleanliness purposes (and iTunes gift cards, which I now have about 50 of) which actually worked out quite well.

Sunday, June 15: Manchester, TN BONNAROO!
So, this is the big day! We woke up, cleaned up, got something to eat, and awaited the call from the stage manager. Around 10:30, they came in golf carts to pick us and our gear up and take us to the stage. By pure serendipity, the driver of the first cart was wearing a band t-shirt of some band we played with 4 years ago. I said to him, "Hey, we played with them!" To which he replied, "That was my band!" So, immediately, this guy was our friend and was going to hook us up however he could. While we were loading up, an older guy and a younger girl got out of a car nearby with banjos and asked the golf cart driver if they could have a ride into the festival. He kinda snubbed them and said "yeah, just walk down there and find someone else to help you out." The guy kinda looked put off by this. It seemed kinda odd in a subtle way, but we couldn't figure out why. All of a sudden, the other golf cart guy who was driving up radio'd him and said "you need to get here right now and give Bela Fleck a ride into the festival." So, basically, somebody snubbed Bela Fleck for us. Awesome.

We then got driven in on the carts with all our gear past all the festival people who were checking us out, trying to figure out which band we were. We got full access to the artist backstage tent with free water, beer, Gatorade, soda, and most importantly, shade! Since we were the first act of the day, we had the luxury of a no pressure set up. Also, they had a backline of amps and drums for us to use, so those were already there good to go.

The set went exceptionally well, and a huge crowd turned up early to hear us play. The crowd was probably one of the most receptive crowds we've ever had, especially in a foreign location where most people don't know who we are.

Afterwards, we were packing our gear up and relaxing in the Artist tent when Bela Fleck himself walks in. He's just hanging out back there with us, just drinking water and waiting. It was so weird. We didn't want to seem like punk kids who didn't belong, and we really didn't know the artist to artist protocol for backstage happenings, so I just said "Hey Bela, how you doing?" He was really nice and I apologized for the golf cart incident, which he really didn't care about. He then got his banjo out and started warming up right there with us. I got yelled at by the stage manager for taking a picture of Evan, who happened to be near where Bela Fleck was. She thought I was taking pictures of Bela.

After about an hour of being backstage, waiting for them to take our gear back out to the cars, one of the security guards came up to us and said
"Allright guys, that's enough, you have to get out of here."
Eric: "Are you joking?"
Guy: "No, you've been here long enough."
Eric: "We just played here, this is all of our gear. We're waiting on YOUR people to get us out of here."

I told the stage manager later on and he got so pissed at the guy. I was glad because it seemed like once we played they were giving us the bums rush. But the stage manager told us we could hang out there all day if we wanted.
So, god damn it, we did just that. Broken Social Scene loaded in next with all 5600 of their members and their gear. The guys in the band were really cool and Travis was chatting them up for a while. The singer even asked for one of our CD's, which was unexpected. Travis was asking him about some of the lyrics for the song "looks just like the sun," and the singer totally blanked out and couldn't remember the words. When they went onstage later and played that song, he still couldn't remember them and messed up the first few lines! All because of Travis! We got to watch their set from right on the side of the stage. It was damn cool.

Despite our desire to make out with Robert Plant, we were all so worn out that we decided to leave around 4. We hit the road for Evansville, Indiana, where we stayed with our friend Christine who lives above a non-profit organic food co-op which she runs. It was really cool. Evansville was like no town I've ever been in before. The best way I can describe it is that it looked like a person who appears to be much older than they are because they've had a rough, hard life. But, today did mark the first time I've ever been in Kentucky or Indiana. We also met Christine's boyfriend, Quinn, who was from Evansville. I've never heard an accent like his before. It was like a southern/Midwestern combination. He was the nicest guy ever and funny as hell. I could have listened to him talk all night, had we not been so tired.

June 16, 2008 : Chicago!
After stocking up at the Co-Op, we hit the road for Chicago, making this the 3rd state I've never been in before.

The drive was corn filled, yet uneventful. We pulled into town without too much traffic or delay and met up with an old friend from U Miami, Dave Finch. It was great to see him after 10 years!

The venue was a really cool bar with over 300 beers! They gave us 50 dollars in drink tickets and 50 dollars payment! Who could ask for much more on the road? The show was a little sloppy, but it was good to be playing in clubs again. That whole festival circuit was really getting old fast (sarcasm). It was good, though, to have the lights and the whole set up going full force.

The venue was really really cool and the people who worked there were super nice. On monday nights, they have a band or two play and for the rest of the night, it's an open mic night. The girl who played right before us looked really fucked up and got up on stage and stared singing in a Joanna Newsom waifish warble "I'm so horny....... won't....someone....stick their dick.....in me." Not really what we were expecting, but it was definitely amusing. After the set, some mexican guy came around selling Tamale's, which we definitely took advantage of. In my combined exhausted/slightly buzzed state, I conducted the whole transaction in perfect Spanish. Finally! Paso a paso paid off and I was able to order food effectively.

We stayed with Travis' friend from High School, Jimmy, who lived one block from Lake Michigan in downtown Chicago. His place was really damn cool and he took us up the elevator to the roof to see the downtown skyline at night. There was also an ancient, sketchy freight elevator with the accordion doors that he took us in. A main goal for this stop was to get lots of footage for our "tour music video/documentary intro" so this location was ideal, as it was right downtown by the Sears Tower and we had rooftop access.

June 17, 2008 : Bloomington, IN
We woke up, shot some footage around downtown Chicago, took some pictures, and drove by the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot buildings. There was the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art right next to Jimmy's place and they had free admission today. We went in to check it out, totally forgetting that Contemporary Art is Contemporary Crap. The main exhibit they had was by this artist who was seeking to find out why naked figures copulating was considered art in painting or drawing form, ie the Kama Sutra, etc, but not in photography form. Need i say more? There were dongs going in. One photo was entitled "Alana's Asshole." I'll let you figure out what it had going on in it. Finally, it was time to go so we headed out for Bloomington. Unbeknownst to us, the interstate that connects the Chicago area to central Indiana was CLOSED! On top of it all, there weren't any signs saying anything about a detour. We were really worried, but figured out that there was in fact a detour through Gary, IN. Gary is a city that looks like the mayor ordered an evacuation in 1976 because the city was about to be destroyed, and some people still stuck around.

While Indiana was sitting poised to take Georgia's throne for ugliest state, we approached Bloomington, a beautiful oasis in the midst of a bunch of crap. The scenery turned into beautiful rolling countryside and the town itself was charming beyond tolerance. Seriously, we all couldn't stand how damn quaint it was. There were amazing restaurants, book stores, record stores, venues, bars, nature, HYBRID BUSES! I mean, this town seemed to have it all. If it wasn't in the state of Indiana, I'd say let's all move there right now!

The venue we played at, The Bluebird, has been around since the 70's and was one of the town's leading live music venues. We really didn't realize how big of a deal we stumbled upon by playing there. The 2nd band was from Salt Lake City, making us feel like mere amateurs in the whole amount of distance we traveled to be there, but it was cool anyway. We played 3rd of 4 bands, and since the bars stay open till 3 AM there, we didn't go on till 12:35. We rocked the hell out of our set and had a great time.

We stayed with our friend Simon from the band Kentucky Nightmare who lived a few blocks away from the venue. Despite him having to be at work at 8 AM, he kept us up laughing till 3:45. He is one funny bastard. Knowing that the drive to Dayton was one of the shortest legs on the trip (160 miles), we didn't set any alarms and just slept. In fact, Chris was the first to awake around 12:30. After so many days of little sleep, much driving, and tons of activity, we sure did need the recovery.

June 18, 2008 : Dayton, OH