DETROIT (by Nate Senge)

It had long been my desire to see the now infamous skeleton of Detroit. The hollowed out facades of abandoned skyscrapers, the peeling paint of unseen and outdated billboards, the endless circular chase of a lone taxi cab. What remains of Motor City did not disappoint.
I was instantly greeted by the towering edifice of the Detroit train depot, once the grand epicenter of the city's transportation network. What remained looked like a choice piece from the set of I Am Legend. A derelict, hulking mass whose peeling metal struck a worthy contrast to the corinythian ornaments of its summit. Razorwire rounded the perimeter, and a single sputtering streetlight gave the scene an effect that would have had Tim Burton swooning. Flanked by a used car lot and a flashing neon bar sign, an uninformed outsider would have guessed this to be the outcasted bowels of the city. Yet these environs were but a brisk, ten-minute jaunt from the banner-strewn promenade of downtown. The unconvincing spangles of the city's light display seemed only to embarrass the trolling urbanites, so aware were they of the legerdemain at hand.
The dusty interior of The Lager House captures it all. The first question put to the sound guy came back with, "no one tells me shit." My overly politely ordered burger was made by a Saw-esque diabolical looking man with an oversized cutting knife and a grease-stained apron in a makeshift barbeque pit out back. The bar was populated by an array of sledneck types, sipping their American Lager and fumbling their french fries in head-drooped silence. You can imagine my surprise when the usual cadre of skin-tight jean-clad and emaciated hipster frames started pouring through the back door. In seconds, The Lager House changed its clothes and the rock show was on.

COLUMBUS OH-IO

i love columbus. having lived here 2 years, i'm glad to report that last night did not disappoint. thanks to all the old friends who came out! it was another show with social studies - and then they came to crash with all of us at my friend josh's - which turned into a dance party until 5:30am. great finish to the tour. Hauling ass back to brooklyn today!

DETROIT

Madison was lovely- fun show at the frequency including tim's dad proudly taking photos. A much needed day off thursday - thrift store-ing, cooking, nerd time for some and exploring the town.

Booked it to detroit tonight - great show w the amazing timothy monger of great lake myth society doing an acoustic solo set, social studies and a band called the juliets- whose lead singer verbally attacked the sound guy, then ran off stage and tried to tackle said sound guy before getting tackled himself - all while the drummer was also spouting off on stage. Other than that, met some great detroit folk tonight. Always an adventure!

columbus tomorrow for our final stop - and a bit of a homecoming for me!
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MINNEAPOLIS

minneapolis is a strange town...and an amazing one. at our show last night joe january, the bartender, gave us $1 raspberry beers, josh from where astronauts go to hide smashed a mandolin during their show, and a fan actually proposed to his girlfriend from the stage. madison, can you live up to minneapolis??

POST FROM MINNEAPOLIS!

here we are at the 400 bar in minneapolis after a long, but beautiful drive from chicago. you get some michelle urban planning thoughts here now.

Most people write about Roadside America - the lost geography of strip malls beside highway exits--the paradox of a landscape that defines so much of the American identity yet is so aspecific geographically. But I love the landscape that lies adjacent to the highway--what you see through the window. That's where I see the history of America--the juxtaposition of farmland against theme parks, abandoned farmhouses abutting corporate islands, outlet architecture that references an imaginary past, the encroachment of assembly line Levittowns wrapped superfically with the motifs of construction that once alluded to craftsmanship (and therefore wealth)...the grandeur of the natural landscape against the harsh verticals and horizontals of manmade highway barriers. Most potently for me is the moment each day when we're on the road, when the sun starts to approach the horizon, in preparation for dusk--the light spreading across the plains, and the steady movement of our van through time. And I know that this life right now is only temporary--of 6 friends traveling across America, making music not just at the shows, but in our van, in parking lots, in highway rest stops...And I know personally that my search for "America" is necessarily a search for that reverse "Other"--to locate a history that is not my own in order to explain this (my) present. What will ethnicity mean anyway after a 2nd, 3rd generation, besides a visual marker of our past that we had no control over? The 2010 census is coming up--what box will you check?

DAY 4: chicago to minneapolis

Great show last night in chicago with raise high the roof beam (awesome kids) and shams band. There was a sign by the bar that had our band name confused: kitchens ablaze. We laughed about that for a while. Very pleased with the friendliness of chicagoans and one dollar tacos! Got to see a little of chicago too this morning and now we're on the road again to minneapolis for a show with where astronauts go to hide at the 400 bar tonight.

Currently listening to: rural alberta advantage and nick/grant doing book reading of moby dick.

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Ascot

Today's joke from the road: an ascot makes an ass out of you...and scott. - nickyd
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Tour Day 2 and 3

We set off for Chicago last night from Philly - made it as far as somewhere near the Pa/ohio border, listening to the national and blondie...with nick doing a dramatic reading of grant's article for work. We're now in Ohio - following the requisite band tradition of going to every thrift store we can find. Great finds today. Currently stuck at "tom's tire" getting the van fixed (again).
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TOUR DAY 1!

Day 1 of tour is inevitably an adventure. It began auspiciously, we cleaned out the van for the first time since March and set off on the road according to schedule. Then we accidently drove past Philadelphia and ended up outside of Baltimore...Luckily, Andre from Bang Camaro who booked us last night is the bomb. The crowd at the bar was awesome and we got free beers all night. Did I mention it was also a Halloween show? We quickly made friends with a bunch of amazing people in costume - and made a mummy costume for Tim out of toilet paper from the bathroom and a dance party commenced. A brawl broke out between Nate and the brother of the slutty Snow White, but that was countered by meeting a tattoo artist in training who offered us his pad for us to crash - which was a lot more enticing than our plan to sleep in the van or get ripped off at the nearby hostel. He needed $20 to pay his rent, so we gladly chipped in and got into our sleeping bags. His parting words were, "I'm sad to see you guys go, I feel like I'll never see you again!" and "If you get offered crack on the street, just say no." Yup, we were deep in the South Side of Philly. With our hiking packs, it felt just like we were back in South America.

After an amazing walk through Philly - checking out brick alleys and stomping on leaves - we got a rather inauspicious phone call during breakfast. There was a suicide at the bar we were supposed to play tonight in Philly - so the show was cancelled. So, we'll head back out and drive overnight to Chicago today. Overall, warm fuzzy feelings for the people in Philly.

- Michelle/Tim/Jenny reporting from the Philadelphia Java Company Coffee Shop.