New York, New York - Day 1

We played at Lit in the Lower East Side, in a basement bar. The dark interior, the low ceiling, and the mean bar tenders let us know we were indeed in New York City. Though we were all excited to be there, we were all a little unsure of what to expect of the series of shows we were about to kick off. When we began to play to a small crowd which included my parents, sister, her fiancé, my girlfriend Jenny from Seattle, and friends and family of the other guys, I all at once became aware of how long it has been since I’ve been in New York and how little that mattered. It has not changed.

The show went off extremely well; in fact I think it was the best we have played since the beginning of the tour. Maybe it was that I was happy to have loved ones there, but it was also because we had two days off in a row and a much-needed break from playing.

Later that night Jenny and I turned in but Mike, Colin and Chris went out. Somehow, Chris ran into Lou Reed, or at least he said he did. At approximately 3AM somewhere in Brooklyn, Chris was writing some drunken drivel at a bar when Lou allegedly approaches him and takes a look. After reading what Chris had written he says something like, “you need to read more man.” I never liked Velvet Underground, but he was probably right in this case. Chris swears by this event, but we are not yet convinced.