Chapel Hill, NC - 09/16/09
Ten hours… Ten hours in the van… Ten hours of finding something to do, ANYTHING to do. Leaving New York did not come as a welcomed gift this time around for me. Not only because of the aforementioned “Ten Hour Drive”, but because I honestly don’t think I was ready to go! I love the city, very much. Typically though, I only love the city for a day or two. After that time frame passes I’m become a nervous wreck. I’m not really sure why. I think it’s because it’s so different from anything I’m used to. I’ve lived in D.C. for a while but that doesn’t even COMPARE to the crazy that is New York City. For some reason this time was different than the others… I was taking it all in or something like that. Some of it could have been contributed to our great sleeping accommodations. Ben’s girlfriend put us up for three nights in her place and it was awesome. We all had beds, or comfortable places to lay our heads. The train going by, even though heavily joked about, was actually nice to fall asleep to. I even enjoyed our trip into Manhattan, which usually KILLS my nerves. I also kept feeling like there were just less people in NY this time. They all must have been on vacation or something. Or maybe I just grew a pair and learned how to deal with the hustle and bustle all of a sudden… who knows. Back to what I was saying.
So we hop in the car with Tom steering the ship, in search of the morning bathroom… something that is of great value after a large cup of coffee. After finding said bathroom, we started to drive from toll to toll, paying various amounts of money. Side note: all said and done, we’ve paid over $120 in tolls and parking this tour. STUPID! Anyways, we finally make it into Baltimore, MD when Ben’s Mom calls and tells us to stop in Wheaton, MD. She wanted to treat us to sushi! What a lady :) So we stopped off in Wheaton, watched Andrew go out on a limb and try an “abnormal” sushi and then fight his gag reflex. After the lunch break we were left with very little lag time before we had to load into Night Light in Chapel Hill. Andrew took the wheel and Tom watched a movie on my computer while Ben slept. I on the other hand, had a mission. My mission was to beat the Rope N’ Fly score of one Mike Rogers of All Get Out. I wanted so badly to break 1000 but it is an absolute impossibility and I dare someone to prove me wrong. After four hours of R N’ F’ing around, I had enough. I watched as the rain started hitting the windshield. It didn’t let up for our load in or the load out.
The show was sparsely attended but very fun. We changed up our set to fit a more “sit down” type of crowd. I played some acoustic songs in the middle of the set. I also made an attempt to get them on film but we ran out of tape. Now we’re back at our friend’s house staying the night, minus Andrew. He decided to go hang out with the guys and gals in Wakey Wakey for the evening so we’ll be picking him up from his play date in the morning at some point. I’m looking forward to seeing some friends tomorrow in Charlotte, NC and playing a kick ass show. I’m ready to slay the rest of this tour, go home to my awesome girlfriend, pick up our new puppy and just enjoy some time writing with the guys.
Love,
Josh
