Hello again everybody,

Lots of news to report on from the past week.

First, we took off for Atlanta on August 12th.  We drove half the night through torrential downpours and stopped in a serviceable South Carolina motel that looked just like the one from Vacation.  However, they don’t run the A/C in vacant rooms so our room was about 90 degrees when we got in it.  It was kind of like camping on shag carpet unless you got a bed.  8 hours later we were back on the road.  We made a quick stop at the Original Chick-fil-A Restaurant and then hit Atlanta to devour its vintage boutiques, record stores and its local fare.  The show itself was great!  The Star Bar has great sound and we got a good response.  Everybody was super friendly and had tips on other venues in Atlanta and beyond that we should look into playing.  On top of that, Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun killed it.  We’re really glad we were finally able to play a show with them.  Also, they were really nice to us and let us crash at their lovely home and meet their wonderful dogs.  (Side note: I’m really impressed with the caliber of the floors we get to sleep on.  So far the motel has been the worst place we’ve stayed.)

The next morning we took the long haul to Wilmington, NC.  Which is a city, I think, that was separated from Hampton Roads at birth.  It’s kind of like if you condensed Portsmouth, Norfolk and VB into one city.  First thing we did in town was find some food and coffee so everybody would stop yelling at each other and once we regained our composure and normal blood sugar levels we headed to Satellite Bar & Lounge to scope out the place.  We pulled up to find a converted grocery store next to an abandoned housing project and walk inside to find…it’s BEAUTIFUL INSIDE!  The place has brand new everything  and it smells good.  I have never said that about a venue in my life, ever.  When bands play they throw open these 3 big doors wooden double doors so it feels like it’s outside.  There was probably a couple hundred people there and one really awesome dog (Yes, a dog).  Dusty, the owner is a really nice guy.  Hats off to him for having a great space and doing his best to support independent music.  Also, Unholy Tongues, who set up the show, are cool people and a good band.  They’re still finishing up their recording so I’m now anxiously awaiting its release.  Special thanks to Jeff from Unholy Tongues and his wife Peggy for proving us with quality conversation and sleeping quarters.  We’ve been extremely fortunate to meet as many friendly and hospitable people on the road as we have.  We’re all really thankful for that.  It makes everything so much more enjoyable.

This is getting kind of long so I’ll cut it here and tell you all about the Richmond show and fall plans in a couple days.

Hope you had a great weekend!
Joel