March 6, 2009 – Mill Hill Saloon (Trenton, NJ)
Jena Berlin is taking my van our for this weekend and while it has been having some problems since it got to Philadelphia, it seems to be running just fine. We drive from Philadelphia to Trenton, NJ and everything runs great, and althought I didn’t know it at the time, this was going to be the last time I would be able to relax and enjoy myself this weekend. The show was sort of enjoyable…in as much as watching a bunch of bands you aren’t interested in play for hours on end. The first band was surprisingly decent, but all and all brought nothing new to the table. The one thing that was cool about them was the fact that of all the bands tonight (with the exception of the Ruining) they are the only band that I am not bummed about their obvious influence. It’s like, they are all way young, but are trying to channel the ghosts of Hot Water Music’s No Division, as opposed to the other bands who were obviously way more stoked on Against Me and The Gaslight Anthem, respectively. In fact, I think young dudes listening to old dude music makes me way more stoked than young dudes listening to young dude music, I guess just because I feel like there is nothing that interesting happening right now in punk rock. I was actually thinking that this band we played with, Let Me Run, is going to get pretty big, and its not because they are a great band (they are a good band, and I think Loudon put it best when he said they are in no way offensive at all – watching them and listening to them play is in no way a chore or unpleasurable, its just not interesting to me), but because the Gaslight Anthem have officially blown up and kids in the scene are looking for the DIY replacement to Gaslight. It’s like when Against Me got huge and everyone starting buzzing about Fake Problems and other little folk bands, proclaiming them as what “against me should have been.” It’s like, you can’t go see Against Me in houses and coffee shops anymore, but you can go the more “authentic” and “DIY” folk punk bands like Fake Problems and O’Pioneers play in houses. When the punx turn their back they will always look for a replacement. Since no one can go see The Gaslight Anthem at a less than 100 capacity venue, they will all clinge to Let Me Run, because they sound enough like Gaslight, and we can still see them in a shitty basement under a New Jersey bar.

March 7, 2009 – Nara Sushi (Richmond, VA)
When Jon and I switch off driving, I realize the van isn’t fixed. We start draining battery life and die the second I get it to Chris from Punknew’s house. We charge it enough to get to a Autozone where I had to buy a battery charger and then get to Nara, where I took the battery out and charged it under a chair at Nara. The show went off flawlessly and its really awesome to come back to a city and to recognize people and have them recognize you. I’ve see that dude Tyler from No Brass every time I have been to Richmond or VA Beach and he is one of the most enthusiastically stoked people ever, and one of the best voices I have heard for such a young kid. Anyway, after the show we drive on straight battery power to the place we were staying and I once again start to charge it. Totally unrelated, I am starting to realize how BORING talking about tour is when nothing interesting is happenng. For instance, aside from the battery issues, after the show we just sat around talking about bullshit till 4am when we went to sleep. Why does anyone think this is interesting?

March 8, 2009 – Peoples Media Center (Washington, DC)
After the time change I go to sleep at 4:30 in Richmond and wake up at 9:45 and drive the van, on nothing but straight batter power, to a Pep Boys 15 miles away from where the van and we were staying. Roy takes care of me and is way bummed that I’m from ATL. I tossed Roy the keys and walked a little over half a mile to a Sheetz where I not only ate the shittiest biscuit in the history of shitty godfuckingdamn biscuits, but I accumulate quite the pile of luggies next to my outdoor table/shire to my misery. After an hour and a half Roy calls me to tell me that my vehicle is ready to be picked up and that its was just a loose battery terminal. Now I can admit that I probably didn’t hook the battery up as tight as I possibly could have using nothing but these shitty wrenches I found in the van, but the van was having these problems long before I had to take our battery out for charging. I try and tell that to Roy, and he tells me he’ll talk to the mechanic, but when I get to Pep Boys he said its ready to roll and that everything checked out. Despite doing a couple tests we still leave Richmond, and, not knowing it at the time, we’re still running on nothing but straight battery power. Want to guess how this one pans out? Well, we get to DC just fine, play a great show and watch kids go bonkers for a yound punk band called Title Fight, and we get ready to roll. Well, as soon as the headlights get turned on, shit gets way hairy. we get just outside of Baltimore and the voltmeter on the dash is starting to crap out on me…the headlights are on just as a formality because they are barley emitting any light at all. We stop at some sheetz esqu place and, of course, the fucking thing dies. Using what little power is left in my jump box, we get enough power to move the van across the street to where I can charge our battery. We get kicked out promptly after and meander up to the Maryland rest stop or something or other. The plan was, since it is 11:15 at night, for the dudes in the Menzingers (the band JB has been playing these shows with) to stop and pick Jon, Dave, Jeff and Justin up, and I was going to charge my battery, and deal with it from there. It just so happens this rest stop/service area also sells batteries, so we get a new battery, follow the Mengzingers and eventually drop the JB dudes off in South Philly. When I get to West Philly, my van dies, again. Im charging my jump box to jump it off and move it the 25 feet it needs to move so that I can finally go to sleep. The van eventually made it to a parking spot in front of 409 in West Philly, where I plan to set it on fire when I return to Philadelphia.