Shh...it's really late. Everyone's asleep.
Photo Credit: Kezia Chee
Once again, I'm writing from a couch on which I'll be sleeping, as Julia's older sister Emily just arrived from London and has settled into her old room, which I've been occupying for the last week or so. I'm currently residing at one of my homes away from home, the luxurious Chez Nunes-Waller in upstate New York.
I feel kind of strange calling someplace my home away from home. I'm not exactly sure where the actual "home" is, at this point. I tried to assert my manhood by watching sports tonight, and I rooted for the Celtics, so I'm from Boston? Okay, we'll go with that. But I haven't really been in Boston for more than four days at a time since January. Touring with TVF, and now Julia Nunes, has comprised the last four months, and it looks like I'll be on the move for a few more to come.
The rest of the Spring/Summery Tour took us around the northeast. We started in Washington, DC and then over to Philadelphia.
I bet you didn't think there would be this many people, did you, venue?
There was a lot of driving involved, but we made the trips worth it by sampling the local cuisine in all of the cities. Philly, of course, provided me with my first authentic cheese steak.
Kyle shoves a cheese steak in his mouth. Precious.
After we finished checking out the great many Porne Dungeones of Philly, we went back to Maryland and strutted our stuff at a Mother's Day brunch.
That was the day that I started to doubt the very meaning of the word "Pro," as a band's Prevost tour bus kissed the side of our touring van while attempting to Parallel Park. While most would consider this a brush with greatness, I was less than thrilled.
After that weekend we had a few days off, so I trekked back to Boston to spend some time with Mom and the TVF boys. Upon arriving at Benny's house, Kez and I were greeted by the following image.
Chris, drunk and in hiding. Photo Credit: Kezia Chee
The the most likely culpit? Only the finest in safety-shelf liquor.
Ron "Daylin" Roberto makes a fine rum.
I initially went home to keep my mother company while she had the house to herself, but she had way more to do than I anticipated. I thought she would be all lonely and sad by herself, but she had already made plans to go out and rage with her friends. I stayed home and watched The Daily Show.
Before I knew it, three days had passed and we were back on the road again, this time to the legendary Iron Horse music hall in Northampton, MA. Like the Middle East in Cambridge, the Iron Horse is a venue I've dreamed of playing since I was a teenager. Getting to play it was one thing, but after the show was all over we found out that we had packed the club to capacity. Moreover, we discovered that while we had headlined the early show at 7 PM, one of my favorite musicians, David Bazan (formerly of Pedro the Lion) was headling the 10 PM show. We stuck around and got to watch one of the most intimate and amazing shows I've ever attended.
Bazan is an inspiration, and I cannot express how fortunate I felt to find we were playing the same venue on the same night.
For our next show we hauled it to Pittsburgh, home of the most amazing sandwiches on the planet, courtesy of Primanti Bros.
Yes, as a matter of fact those are french fries shoved into my sandwich, served on a sheet of wax paper.
Ah, yes. The Dirty Burgh. Our stage was complete with a sofa that night, which made the show very homey. At one point, Julia and I sat down and unplugged completely and played "Through the Floorboards" right on the lip of the stage. I also seem to remember a boy with elf ears. That was interesting.
We met up with our good friend Lucas Carpenter, an outstanding musician that also opened for us in Philly. Knowing that it might be some time before we got to see him again, Julia seized the opportunity for a photo shoot with Lucas.
Then things got kind of weird.
Real weird.
Our last date was in Columbus, OH, our farthest point west on the tour. The venue was called The Basement, and as it turns out, it was literally a basement. An awesome one, though.
It was a bloopy day, all sorts of tired. No light in those clubs makes you sleepy.
Kyle and Julia in the Basement. Also, can you tell that I photoshopped the couch?
The show was just as packed as the Iron Horse, and the size of the venue made it seem like it was even more packed than it was. Wade Johnston and the Navigators opened up and got everyone psyched. It was good to finally meet Wade after being mistaken for him for the last year and a half. I can say with confidence that those people who thought I was him were way off--Wade is way more of a hot guy than me.
It was a great way to end the month of touring. The audience loved it, especially one happy guy who proposed to his girlfriend as Julia played Bright Eyes' "First Day Of My Life." Congrats to that couple, and thanks for letting us be a part of your big moment.
Photo Credit: Kezia Chee
And now it's 4 AM and I'm still up. Got to get better at this going to bed thing. Bonnaroo in the coming weeks means lots of rehearsals, and even more traveling.
To be honest, I'm kind of content with all of the moving around.
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