a big long post, post -tour.

the ride was pretty hilarious because cole and i were in very close quarters in the backseat with ryan. ryan is fairly hyper all the time anyway, so needless to say he was very high energy rolling into his hometown. tristan and mike up front chugged redbulls while ryan read every sign in funny voices ("hot soup? you bet!") and described all the sites with accompanying stories. my personal favorite was when he pointed to a house and said "that lady's house used to be covered in shit [then immediately]- that over there's the marina-- " and so on and so on. no real explanation.
we stopped at his house and met his puppy then headed to mike e's house. the home was absolutely beautiful with a huge backyard/baseball diamond and we were fed and pampered to the max (thank you guys!). we played frisbee and baseball, drank beer from a keg that was there, ate some great pulled pork/wild rice, and overall loved life. cole and i got a bed again which was great.
The next day a group of us just hung around and watched planet earth (we probably watched close to the whole series at mike's house) and did some work. Then it was time for the show at sister's camelot. The guy showed up late then didn't have the key, so in the meantime we all had a beer. The space, when we got in, was really cool. It was a potluck which was nice. This was one of the most efficient load-ins/break-downs in my opinion. The show was great. cole and i got some good dancing in, and we headed back over to mike's.
morning number two in minneapolis we hung around in the driveway for way too long and i talked to people who tease a lot about the importance of kindness.
on the drive to omaha i shared the backseat with maurice and danny to work out some harmonies because i really wanted to sing with tristero. we got a total of one song worked out between all the other distractions/me being slow at these things.
we got to houston's house there where the first things we saw were an adorable dog named cosmo and a vat of boiling grease with a turkey inside. we caught wind that the party tonight was going to be up to 100 people. soundchecks began then suddenly it seemed like the party just sort of appeared. not at the door, but scattered around, drinking beer, talking... out of nowhere. everyone only played and i had to go upstairs because the dog was being held down there where it was too loud and it was really sad to me.
the show began and the audience was really into it and the basement was packed. overall it was a great show though a little later into it the audience started getting too drunk and chatty. it seemed to be acceptable to walk on stage and grab the mic. tristero played a great show but they didn't play 'unstuck' so i didn't get to try out the new part (which was probably a good thing.)
afterward color chart, the film crew's improptu band, started their 'set.' it started with the hit, "guy in the coonskin hat says please be careful with that." then something magical happened, i started hitting a cymbol and told ryan to start up again, he started singing about kyle's truck being weighed down by all the equipment. then the subject of el rojo terrible (the trombone player, john) got brought up. so ryan's saying, "waaaay down, waaaay down" (still in reference to the truck), and i started saying, "roooojo, sleepin' on the stove. rooojo, sleepin' on the stove." and it turned into this crazy chant with harmonies and rounds and everything. this is a song that would pretty much get sung everywhere else we went from then on.
houston came downstairs and scared the crap out of me and yelled at everyone for being too loud. cole and i set up our tent and crawled on in, it was loud and hot oustide. cole was hilariously drunk and cranky but we eventually got to sleep.
the next day was stupid hot and i was feeling sick. we went to a slightly unpleasant breakfast then thriftshopping where i found a skirt, an extra tank top, and a dress all for $6... then a sweet coat for $10. having new clothes when you've been wearing the same things for a month is the most glorious feeling. when we got back to the house we took a vote on whether we wanted to stay in omaha or drive to kansas city that day. the majority (by one vote) wanted to stay in omaha which i wasn't happy about. then, miraculously and due to cole, we found out that the show was that night and not the next. so we loaded up and headed into KC.
cole and i drove with dave which was awesome. dave avoided killing us when a car in front of us slammed on its breaks, though we could smell burning rubber for a while. thanks dave!
driving into kansas city was the most beautiful thing i'd seen on the tour so far. it was full of abandoned bridges and buildings, and weird 'trash' (such as plastered torsos and old movie signs with big red arrows that should be lit up, trains, etc.).

we played at a place called the foundation which was just as stunning inside as out. i took a ton of pictures.




when we were unloading, trish and i lagged behind a little bit to take some photos of those weird torso statues through a fence. this car pulled up with two guys inside. the driver leaned his arm outside his window and yelled "hey, may i ask you girls just what in the hell you're doing?" and we replied, taking pictures. he said "what in god's name is so interesting in there?" and we just sort of mumbled about it, trying to avoid getting harassed any further. "who lives here?" he asked, and we said we didn't know. "well why don't you find out who lives there, go in, ask him if you can look at that stuff from inside rather than peering through a god damned fence?" i remarked that we were playing a show that night and his mood completely changed. "oh, alright! well, see you later." and he drove away.
there was definitely not much a crowd there, but that allowed for the cameras to capture the band playing in such an awesome space. the first bands that played were really loud, punky, and expressive. adam tramposh played an amazing electronic set.
right before apple miner was up something strange happened. two men stood up. the first was dressed completely in pink sans orange shoes. the second was mostly in black and white and was wearing clown make up on his face. they pushed around a strange cart filled with pink drums and other contraptions. they banged the drums and yelled out nonsensical "philosophy" and a song claiming, "I WANT TO BUILD A HOME" over and over. at one point the man in black started concocting some pies in tin made with whipped cream and strawberry flavorings. it was a very long process. ryan filmed him doing this while james followed the pink man around the room, still yelling. finally the pies were complete. man in black smashed one in man in pink's face. the remaining pie flew past his head and onto the monitors/some equipment. everyone gasped. man in pink kept walking and yelling. man in black realized the weight of the situation and turned serious, "wait, we need to clean this up." i watched patrick the soundman power walk up to the man in pink and grab him by the neck. he didn't say anything at first, just stared into his soul. i grabbed some paper towels and we cleaned up the mess.
the clowns were allowed to stay and the apple miner colony began. it was a good, solid set as always.
afterward i was still feeling sort of bad physically. we got to adam's house (thank you sir!) and it was hot as balls. cole and i got a bed again, right next the air conditioner which helped. the next day was the worst of all, i felt absolutely awful and couldn't stop sweating.
tensions were still high and had been since chicago. there were several arguments that morning. we tried to decide where to go and what to do. do we just cut our losses and cancel the show in wichita? and just head straight to denver? or do we plug along, be as professional as possible, and head on down. eventually the latter was settled upon. the drive down to wichita is a long one, so we found a motel between wichita and kansas city (in ottowa.) ryan called and totally sweet-talked the lady, being the ladies man he is. he somehow got 7 rooms, for 28 people, for $220. so it was like $8 a person.
we drove in and it was small and sort of dirty, but still heavenly. everyone's mood got better and energy came up. it was air conditioned. the people were nice. cole and i roomed with maurice, mitch, and matt.
A group decided, somehow, to go bowling in lawrence, kansas because it was only thirty minutes away. I was excited about this for several reasons. 1. i love bowling. 2. my sister is moving to lawrence next month. It will be our first time living apart and i've been thinking a lot about it. I even started writing a song the other day. 3. lawrence is the place where i had the dream that inspired me to call cole in the first place. 4. that night was our six month anniversary.
Bowling was absolutely fantastic. This was actually the most fun night of the tour in my opinon. We all picked bowling names, danced, and bowled. The juke box was linked to the internet so it was easy to play any music you would want. Cody w mainly djed. I was at the bar getting a pitcher and overheard the bartenders complaining about the awful music, when in reality it was probably the best music that place had heard in years.
We headed home fairly late and our room attempted to watch nightmare before christmas. It took too long to load and i cashed out. Soon after so did everyone else. The next day we checked out and went to a gas station to clean and vacuum the vans. We then had a very pleasant ride to wichita.


Turns out that wichita is an insanely religious place. On a walk from the venue (a christian coffeeshop/venue) to get some food, we spotted 18 some-odd churches. There was a group of four sisters who called themselves Shel hanging out playing some music when we first arrived at meads corner. They played mandolin, piano, etc. it was full of really tight and cute kitten harmonies and their parents were with them managing. The local band that opened called themselves a christian hardcore band, and they were definitely christian. I sang with tristero on one song for the first time which was fun. The apple miner set was well played but there were some major sound problems and a general sour mood eminating around. A large group of people including Shel left a few songs in. the people who did stay, of course, were glued to the stage and very attentive. Afterward mike and cole had a very productive talk about how to make the last four shows of the tour the best they could possibly be.
The gallery that we were supposed to stay at fell through so becky, the one who helped set up the show with me, offered up her small house (thank you!). We crammed in like sardines but managed quite well. We pretty much just cashed out then took off to denver.