Several Days of Tour: Tragedy, Triumph, and Urban Planning

Tour got real hectic during the past few days, so I haven't been as attentive to the social media needs of this band as I should be. Shame on me! Here's what happened. It's a lot.

We drove into DC and stayed at the lovely home of our friend Lillian's parents on Capitol Hill. They fed us delicious vegan pasta with caramelized lemon.

These are very accomplished people.

We played at the last unrenovated house on a heavily-gentrified block not too far away from the Hill. It was a beautiful place, and the folks there treated us very nicely. It was kind of a strange show, because we were by far the loudest/weirdest band, and about two-thirds of the crowd was not super down. One-third was super into it though, which was comforting.

Da house.

Rockin in unison.

Rockin solo.

We've been thinking a lot about gentrification, urban planning and income disparity on this tour. The first leg has basically been a tour of cities that are ground zero for income inequality and gentrification. In DC the differences between gentrifier and gentrified are quite stark. Literally a block around the corner from the venue we played the neighborhood turned bleak and poor. In some ways, playing in these transitional areas makes me feel like a colonist. I am part of the force that is pushing the locals in poor neighborhoods into more marginal spaces.

On the bright side, in DC the crowd watching us was quite diverse. The sea of white faces usually present at indie shows unnerves me.

The house, brighter.

After the show we got chili dogs and fries at a DC local landmark, Ben's Chili Bowl. I was into it. I was apparently quite vocal about this fact.

I am a monster.

The next morning, we were brunch wine and dined by another set of friend parents, the Tokarzes. Mimosas, bagels, lox eggs, fruit salad. We felt bouge.

Check out the views!

Then we were off to Baltimore. The lamestream media has been painting a highly inaccurate portrait of the state of this city. Yes, there were riots a few days ago, but for the most part it was business as usual there. We were charmed.

We sere supposed to play at this dope warehouse that had been converted into a crazy artists colony with dozens of gallery spaces and perhaps hundreds of studios. It took up a whole city block.

Woah man, lens flare.

The room we were slated to play in was maybe the largest we've ever been booked in. Shit was crazy.

Giant!

I really cannot overstate what a cool scene this one single building was. There was a huge network of hallways and empty chasms connecting the different areas of the building, which lent it a certain FPS flair.

Blind Eli

Art kids.

Alex: "Take me a profile pic, Craw!"

Unfortunately, the landlord freaked and our show got shut down by the man! Way to go, Charm City!

Actually, Baltimore is really cool. Would love to actually play there some day.

Pennsylvania next.