Phew. This country has a mighty big lack of Internet cafes handy. This is going to confuse things. Ok. So, I'm in Duluth, and it's all dark and cold, but full of hip kids and older-than-God brick buildings. It gets so cold here in the winter that all the buildings downtown are connected by these sealed hallways that go over the main road, so that you don't have to go outside to get around.

9/7 @ Rock N' Roll High School, Green Bay, WI: We showed up on time to load in, but the soundguy got there an hour late, so the show started late. This complicated things. The City of Green Bay decided that the club could no longer sell alcohol, and that shows had to be over by 10:45 each night. There were 6 bands booked to play, and the show didn't start until almost 8:00. Oxford High School played first, a pretty straightforward emo band with some great choruses and an amazing drummer. They were all under twenty years old, but sounded older and more musically mature that most bands I see in San Francisco. Fall Back Plan played next, more of the same, but not as good. All the openers were very inspired by the popular sounds of Alkaline Trio and The Get-Up Kids. Rhodora played third, and after the soundguy told them that they were out of time, the singer proceeded to get into a screaming match with the guy onstage. All his friends were chanting for them to play one more song, but we were next and already our set had been cut down to 15 minutes, so the soundguy said no. Words were exchanged, and the guy from Rhodora threw a punch at the soundguy. He almost fell on my keyboards, so I ran over there and tried to break up the scuffle. Luckily, nothing else bad happened, but we were now nervous *and* afriad we'd get booed and harrased.

The exact opposite happened, we played all our fast songs in a row, a six song, 15 minute set altogther with kids air guitaring and jumping up and down right in our faces. After the show we talked to a bunch of kids who bought some CDs and shirts about life in Wisconsin. Before and after the show we hung out at an awesome bar next door called Speakeasy. $1.00 Pabst drafts. I swear, this is not a lie, and it was not happy hour. I say that again in bold, $1.00 Pabst Blue Ribbon drafts. I switched PBR with the local brand, Point, and listened to punk rock on the jukebox. After the show Mike and I went to find food and ended up eating at this sports bar down the street, talking and watching some guys play Golden Tee 2002, the official video game of the Amscray tour. I swear, some version of Golden Tee has been either in or nearby all the venues we've played so far. I will come back a certified pro-geek golfer.

Drove up today to Duluth, where we're playing at the beautiful downtown Norshor Theater. Our name is even on the marquee.

I'll post info from the first two shows later. I'm off to explore.

Quick typing on a borrowed computer while we all shower after the amazing amazing show we had in Denver tonight. Drove for a couple days straight, slept cramped up in the van, all five of us fitt in like sardines in a truck stop in Laramie, Wyoming as the sun came up over the prarie. Spent the day in Denver at a park, milling around, walking around the lakes, eating great vegetarian food. Van is leaving now. I have to catch it.

Those are the tour dates up there on top. There is a chance we're going to play in the Chapel Hill area, but nothing has come through yet. I'll change the dates if anything new comes up.

Coming home from dinner on Friday night, a kitten followed us up the stairs, and has been in the house ever since (except when he jumped out the window yesterday). He likes to play and sleep, and is currently doing the latter on my lap as I type. We have named him Bunny because, well, it's a good name for a cat.

Site News: I took the MP3 of the week and all the other left hand clutter down while I'm gone. If you're looking for MP3s, listen to the Amscray stuff and then come see us on tour. Show your support for independent music by buying a CD or a shirt, or both if you're really nice. Buy me a beer, I like Pabst, so I'm cheap. I'll be constantly publishing from the road, thanks to our bass player's fast laptop, and the good folks at Earthlink and Blogger, technology I will use to make state borders pointless.

I'm going to miss Bunny and Miss Rodeo America while I'm gone. Alot.