Aug
Around the world in 80 days
Well, our East Coast tour has officially come to an end. We played our last show of this leg of tour on Monday at Winston’s Cafe in Chesapeake, VA. This is the only venue that we hit twice on this tour, with the first being back at the beginning of June. This was the craziest, wildest, most difficult, most rewarding, most exhausting, terrifyingly fun summer of my life. We put 11,000 miles on my car. I can’t even begin to explain everything we did.
But I’ll hit the highlights.
June 1 - CD release show in Nashville
June 2 - Left at 6am for our summer tour!
June 5 - Stayed with my high school friend Cherish and her girlfriend Ash and had a really good time hanging out in Greenville. Opened up for the talented Rebekah Todd at the Tipsy Teapot and got cheered into playing an encore song.
June 7 - Played at Winston’s Cafe for the first time. Felt like Rockstars.
June 13 - Anna quit the band; she and Savannah left the tour. The road is hard, and not for everyone.
June 13 part 2 - Daniel and I felt pretty sad, but invited our old roommate Emma Branch to help finish our tour out with us. We spent the day hanging out with 2 of my amazing friends from high school Kyle and Krystle. They were the perfect people to be with on this day.
June 14 - Met Scott Fagan and stayed at his retirement home flat in Middletown PA. Ate food in Middletown and paid 4$ a meal. Cheap!
June 15 - Met some awesome kids outside Philly and played a really fun house show.
June 17 - Met Jeremiah Akin at a show that was completely empty in Longbranch, NJ. Great musician, great friend to know!
June 19 - Emma joined the band. We flew her into Laguardia in NYC. Daniel and I debuted a new song on Pratt Radio in Brooklyn.
June 20-21 - Stayed with our old roommates Steven and Heather in Queens. No AC. No beds. But got to see our friends and play a few fun shows in Brooklyn, so it was totally worth it.
June 22 - Played at the Black Oak Tavern in Oneonta, NY. The venue thought they were booking “Paper Lanterns” which is a pop punk band from Philly, so the lineup was kinda weird for us. We still had a good time and made some new friends.
June 22, 25-27 - Stayed in an RV out in Milton, NY. Chickens jumped in our car and for some reason whenever they saw me, would come running at me, so I would run away. Cows came down the hill to hang out. Bull frogs croaked at night and the bees buzzed loudly. We had a little vacation. No hot water, so we bathed in the pond outside the RV. Bonfire every night. Redbox. Pizza. Emma and Daniel ate dirt dogs (hotdogs that fell on the ground… ew) Played a lot of music.
June 28 - Made some friends in Buffalo, played at Filigree’s. Stayed with a guy we met at the show named Adam. Met his cute little Pug. The next morning we saw Niagara falls and had breakfast at a dinner.
June 29 - Played Emack & Bolio’s, this quirky ice cream shop in Albany.
June 30-Aug 1 - Stayed out on Goodyear Lake in Oneonta in a beautiful cabin. Swam in the lake, had bonfires, cooked burgers, slept in comfy beds. Relaxing in the hammock was so nice. Played a lot of music together. Watched 21 Jump Street.
July 3 - Almost missed our show at Kafe Kerouac since we thought they were closed due to power outages. Got there late, but still played and had a good time.
July 4 - Played the Doo Dah Parade in Columbus, OH. Crazy. Crazy. Crazy. That’s all there was too it.
July 5 - Played with The Appleseed Collective in Detroit. Sort of a bust of a show, but they were amazing and it was great to meet them.
July 6 - Played some songs and were interviewed on a tv show in Ann Arbor Michigan. Stayed with Appleseed Collective.
July 7 - Thanks to Alan and Nancy (my aunt and uncle) We stayed in a hotel for the first time! Beds and AC! What a treat!
July 9 - Saw Moonrise Kingdom. Stayed with a professional balloon artist.
July 11-15 - Hung out in Chicago, played a few shows, stayed with some interesting folks.
July 16 - returned to Nashville. Quit our jobs.
July 20-21 - Played Hullabalaooza in Clarksville, TN. Camped out with a bunch of kids. Played in the sun. We were really dirty, but it was one of the best times we had.
July 23 - Played Vino’s Pub in Little Rock, Arkansas. Had a crazy time with the band after the show.
July 25 - Played HTGT Thrift in Baton Rouge. Packed out show. Slept in the venue.
July 26 - New Orleans!!!! Need I say more?
August 2 - The Hub in Tampa. Packed out show. Made a ton of fans. Loooooved the venue.
August 5 - Played in Sanford, FL at this amazingly cool venue called Little Fish, Huge Pond. Hung out at the venue with the people there for about 3 hours after our show ended. Met this guy named Chuck who we hung out with the next day. His house was so unique. It literally was as though someone had designed his house for use in a movie. So surreal.
August 8 - Panama City! This show was really different than our others. We used one vocal mic. Sat on the edge of the stage for the banjo songs. People gathered around and really listened. GREAT crown. And the venue gave us a surprise after our show. They lit paper lanterns and sent them into the sky for us!
August 13 - Ended our tour at Winston’s Cafe in Chesapeake, VA. This is one of the best venues to play. The owners are amazing.
We played a lot more shows than the ones I mentioned, and we did a lot more, but it was a long summer.
Yesterday Daniel flew to Portland, Emma flew to Orlando and I am in VA hanging out. The plan is to reconvene in Portland in September. So until then, we are on a little break. I’ll be in Nashville on Tuesday for about a week and then chilling in VA.
I can’t wait to get to Portland and start the next faze of our tour.
Best Summer Ever.
-Alex
