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We woke up to an absolutely perfect, crisp autumn morning in Chicago. The warm sunshine and a cloudless sky almost made us want to scrap the rest of the trip and stay in Chicago forever. But alas, after a bit of retail therapy, we had bid farewell to our host Kimmie and hit the road toward our next destination…Detroit.
After the nightmare of our previous days’ drive, the traffic was refreshingly spare. But the blustery day had our van jumping like a bucking bronco. With the highway being so close to the lake shore, we decided to make a slight detour and spend some time at the dunes in Michigan.
The part where Nathan entertains himself by taking pictures of seagulls.
A picture perfect day at the beach
Wish you were here! <3 jascha.
Regretfully, we had to get back on the road in order to make it to Detroit for the first show. Â We did however take the time to figure out an in-car hookah method:
in-car hookah method (TM)
…and saw perhaps one of the best slogans of all time:
yum
We stopped by and dropped off our non-music related gear at our new quarters with Maggie and Petra in [HIP]silanti, and got (by far) the most impressive welcome of the tour.
The Welcome Wagon
We were greeted by this message adorning the stairs, and the smiling faces of Maggie, Petra, and Kelsie. They had meals made up to take with us on the drive to the venue, and were perfectly happy to let us eat and run.
The first night, our show was in Ferndale (a suburb of Detroit). It was a show. That’s about all we have to say about it.
On the way back to Maggie and Petra’s, we got diverted off the interstate by an accident, and had an adventure in one of the more blighted areas of the Detroit metropolitan area. The urban decay here is both beautiful and depressing at the same time. The next day, with Petra as our tour guide, we went out to explore Ann Arbor. They have an incredible Downtown area that feels like a larger and more well executed version of Mass Ave., that is immediately adjacent to an enormous green space called “The Arb”. They have a great Farmer’s Market, vintage shops, bookstores, and everything is so bike friendly. I forsee a solo trip back to photograph the blight of Detroit and the beauty of Ann Arbor in my future.
The second night, our show was in Warren. It was a show. That’s all we have to say about it.
Now, it’s another beautiful, bright morning, and we must bid adieu to Maggie and Petra. On to Jamestown, NY and the Labyrinth Press Co.
On our way from Minneapolis to Chicago to play at Reggie’s Music Joint, we ran into a traffic jam and nearly missed the show. This also left us no time for a detour to the House on the Rock. Arriving late at Reggie’s, we managed to find a parking spot out front and hustle our gear onto stage in about ten minutes. Â We discovered that opening for two hip-hop bands in the South Loop of Chicago may just not be our forte. Or perhaps it is. We opened up with some rock and roll songs, and about halfway through switched into a little country, just to make things a bit weirder than they already were. Â The folks in the bar seemed to really enjoy ‘my woman takes her liquor like a man’ and ‘Quetzalcoatl’. Â After the show, we traded our vinyl to a couple of the acts for their demos – one producer excited by the prospect of remixing ‘Quetzalcoatl’. We were also invited to appear on a hip hop radio station the next time we were in town. The folks at Reggie’s were extremely kind to us, and invited us back sometime in the future. Â Weird was definitely the word for the night.
Day 3:
We absolutely loved the venue in MN – the folks at the Triple Rock Social Club have a great room (any place where Rocky Votolato is playing the next month is just fine with us!), and rolled out the red carpet for us. Â We made fast friends with the band Alas, Alas and we think you should check them out because they are awesome. Â The lovely Katie, from Alas, Alas, put us up for the night and was such a gracious host. Â She even offered to cook us breakfast! Â On the way to her house after the show, Jordan might have had a little too much to drink. Â The result was a hilarious drunken rendition of “I Believe I Can Fly” which we will post as soon as we figure out how to upload it.
andy robs a bike graveyard.
Andy showed his true self control when we came across a ton of old bikes. Â If it were up to him we would have dumped the gear and brought every bike back.
Anyway, we had a ball. Â Minneapolis, we will be back.
Day 2:
Amazing clouds yesterday. Â We stopped in Milwaukee for a few hours, had a few caramels and sang/slept/explored the Lake Michigan shoreline for a bit before finding an amazing burger shop with local brews.
Singing on the Beach...Milwaukee, WI
Cloud Watching...Milwaukee, WI
Balancing Act...Milwaukee, WI
Naptime...Milwaukee, WI
milwaukee sky
Sheboygan treated us well, The Green Room is a nice little spot. Â Our favorite part of Sheboygan was our friend Jared from Cedarwell – the kid danced like his legs were going to fall off! Â Beautiful.
we promptly threw all ours away.
Eric was kind enough to allow us to crash at his place with Jared acting as host…we’ll definitely be back soon.
serving food daily!
Day 1 -
Things got off to a little bit of a rough start, and it got a little rougher when we realized we weren’t going to be able to use the car top carrier. Â After an hour (+) of finagling, we figured a way to pack both the luggage and the gear. Â 4 hours later we rolled up to Cal’s on the south loop – turns out it’s a liquor store/stockbroker bar by day and underground indie/punk venue by night.
We unloaded before heading over to eat some Giordano’s for some Chicago pizza.
Never go against the family....
We loved the set from the Remaindermen – great drumming from stickman Chris K. – and can’t wait to see those guys again. Â The lovely William Winter put us up for the night in his amazing abode – altogether a pretty amazing day 1.
cal's