Rivival Tour
Alright, so from Mid September until I go bat-shit crazy, I am on tour with the Night Kite Revival.
I am writing this from an on-campus suite in Middletown CT. In about an hour we are leaving to drive to Cambridge MA. I have already been to so many places. In order:
Portland, Or. Bellingham, WA. Spokane, WA. Boise, ID. Logan, UT. Gunnison, CO. Denver, CO. Wichita, KS. City Museum, St. Louis, MO. Danville, KY. Chicago, IL. Naperville, IL. Ann Arbor, MI. Traverse City, MI. Oberlin, OH. Geneseo, NY. Salt Space, NYC, NY. NYU, NYC, NY. Middletown, CT.
So many more places to come.
I ate a bagel sandwich and walked around the downtown of Middletown today with Cristin and Anis. We stopped in a basement bookstore in one of those indoor malls with the wooden floors and the low ceilings that every beach town has, even though Middletown is not a beach town. There were stores selling dance outfits and other stores selling tacky wall hangings. The bathroom had a pull-tab to the right of the toilet that looked like an old string for slated blinds--this was to be pulled in case you needed help. In the basement was the Book Bower, where we found some beautiful childrens books that we don't have room in the van for, but we purchased anyway.
The whole town is eerie in a "back to the future" sort of way. Cristin said it best--that the town looks like a movie facade for a film made in the 80's only after the film was done, they decided to keep all the signage up.
I wonder what makes some small towns eerie and some so beautifully welcoming. Here in Middletown there is the aspect of all the signage being stuck in the 80's--the store fronts too. Bad big-hair salons and tacky mannicans. All the breakfast places serve crepes, breakfast sandwiches, and bagels. All of them. There are a lot of homeless looking fellows too, just sort of wandering the 5 blocks that make up Main. This creates an eerie feeling to the Main street.
In contrast, Oberlin OH felt like a place one would want to move. The streets were small and sort of old timey, but there were city blocks of stores, there were people bustling about. There was a painfully shy redheaded boy who served us ice-cream late one night. There were albino squirrels hopping about the parks and too many people on bicycles and an old man, playing some reggae, painting a picket fence a brilliant white.
Everywhere I have been thus far has been lovely. Most of the county I am experiencing through the van windows. The NE has all of its fall colors on. Driving up into Michigan was incredible. The mountains in Colorado. The flat golden fields of Kansas. The patches of farmland in Kentucky. It has all been so beautiful.
I feel like this post is so...journal entry brain excretion blah, but at least you get a glimpse of where I have gone and what it is like.
Oh, and an important thing to note for all of you who wish to be touring anythings...this shit is hard, no joke. It feels like we spend all of our time driving or setting up for a show or doing a show or selling merch or tearing down or eating or sleeping or driving some more. We sleep in hotel rooms and crash with friends--but mostly hotel rooms. I have never been so consistently sedentary. There is never really any alone time. There is no room for anything but kindness and working together and patience.
I only want to be helpful.
It is also very funny--living out of a van with a group of people for a long time. A lot of funny.
Miss you all, love you all, be well.
I am writing this from an on-campus suite in Middletown CT. In about an hour we are leaving to drive to Cambridge MA. I have already been to so many places. In order:
Portland, Or. Bellingham, WA. Spokane, WA. Boise, ID. Logan, UT. Gunnison, CO. Denver, CO. Wichita, KS. City Museum, St. Louis, MO. Danville, KY. Chicago, IL. Naperville, IL. Ann Arbor, MI. Traverse City, MI. Oberlin, OH. Geneseo, NY. Salt Space, NYC, NY. NYU, NYC, NY. Middletown, CT.
So many more places to come.
I ate a bagel sandwich and walked around the downtown of Middletown today with Cristin and Anis. We stopped in a basement bookstore in one of those indoor malls with the wooden floors and the low ceilings that every beach town has, even though Middletown is not a beach town. There were stores selling dance outfits and other stores selling tacky wall hangings. The bathroom had a pull-tab to the right of the toilet that looked like an old string for slated blinds--this was to be pulled in case you needed help. In the basement was the Book Bower, where we found some beautiful childrens books that we don't have room in the van for, but we purchased anyway.
The whole town is eerie in a "back to the future" sort of way. Cristin said it best--that the town looks like a movie facade for a film made in the 80's only after the film was done, they decided to keep all the signage up.
I wonder what makes some small towns eerie and some so beautifully welcoming. Here in Middletown there is the aspect of all the signage being stuck in the 80's--the store fronts too. Bad big-hair salons and tacky mannicans. All the breakfast places serve crepes, breakfast sandwiches, and bagels. All of them. There are a lot of homeless looking fellows too, just sort of wandering the 5 blocks that make up Main. This creates an eerie feeling to the Main street.
In contrast, Oberlin OH felt like a place one would want to move. The streets were small and sort of old timey, but there were city blocks of stores, there were people bustling about. There was a painfully shy redheaded boy who served us ice-cream late one night. There were albino squirrels hopping about the parks and too many people on bicycles and an old man, playing some reggae, painting a picket fence a brilliant white.
Everywhere I have been thus far has been lovely. Most of the county I am experiencing through the van windows. The NE has all of its fall colors on. Driving up into Michigan was incredible. The mountains in Colorado. The flat golden fields of Kansas. The patches of farmland in Kentucky. It has all been so beautiful.
I feel like this post is so...journal entry brain excretion blah, but at least you get a glimpse of where I have gone and what it is like.
Oh, and an important thing to note for all of you who wish to be touring anythings...this shit is hard, no joke. It feels like we spend all of our time driving or setting up for a show or doing a show or selling merch or tearing down or eating or sleeping or driving some more. We sleep in hotel rooms and crash with friends--but mostly hotel rooms. I have never been so consistently sedentary. There is never really any alone time. There is no room for anything but kindness and working together and patience.
I only want to be helpful.
It is also very funny--living out of a van with a group of people for a long time. A lot of funny.
Miss you all, love you all, be well.
I like that I decided to check out your blog after you left today. I miss you already and reading your blog keeps you close. I hope your new direction brings you happiness and I hope that you find a new place. A place that has enough room for a visitor once in awhile. :-)
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