Chilled Monkey Brains

Again, by God's good graces I find myself sitting down to a delicious meal cooked by Steve. We are at Big Earn's house in Orange Park. Back in Florida and ready for the last leg of tour. When I left you we were on our way to Greensboro.

7/25: We arrived at Glenwood Coffee to play a show we were definitely looking forward to. The line-up included a pretty sweet hardcore and poppunk bands. Two local bands Beacon and Live Forever played first and kicked in really hard. We were slotted right in the middle and stoked because these kids didn't know what they were about to get into. We've come to the conclusion that we love playing hardcore bills. Sometimes when we play with a bunch of ska bands people will complain that we're too hard (we have that problem alot  - being hard that is ;) but hardcore kids will tell us they thought ska sucked before they saw us - and that really amps us up! So after showing some of them that skanking was just backwards leg kicks, they really started getting down! We were followed by Boys No Good (from jax!) and Rust Belt Lights who put on amazing sets. We were lucky enough to crash at Adam from Corporate Fandango's place on UNCG's campus. It was his roomate's 21st birthday and we found ourselves at a party conversing with music performance majors and graduate students about who the better trombone player was, Curtis Fuller or Jim Miller. We found an N64 with 007 and spent the late night in a heated 4 way 1 shot 1 kill tournament.

7/26: We came into Rock Hill early and explored the downtown area. We thought we had the wrong address because the place where the show was supposed to be looked like a courthouse. Walking through the building was like being transported back to the 1940's. At one time the building had beena bank, a post office, and a courthouse. We took the steep marble steps up to the second floor and into the room where the show was to be and it was a real courtroom! Some people were coming in for a bellydancing class as the building was now used as an arts center. We wandered down to the local irish pub and cheered to our safe travels and making it to what was more or less the half way point of tour. Our Savannah show had cancelled so barring some last minute show we would be heading to Florida after. A couple friends from my stint in the Marines came to the show and it was really cool to catch up. It is weird how long it's been and how different we are now. They're both daddies and I doubt I'm far behind but for a night we were just kicking back at a show like we used to way back when. We meandered back to the address to set up. A couple really cool dudes, Mike Gentry and Fernando Pena helped get the show together. The Not Likelys played and were really amazing. They have a song called "Weight In Gold" that I can't get out of my head! We played second and played really well. Unfortunately my back has been hurting lately (so thank God for the day off!) so I wasn't as jumpy and headbangy as usual but it sounded great in that huge room. The ceiling had to be like 30 feet high and lined with rich mahogany! After the show we drove back to Charlotte and crashed with John from the Not Likelys. 1.5 episodes into a season of It's Always Sunny, I was out like a light. The next day, a 6 hour drive, some Mario DS, and Cracker Barrel crapfests later - we're here at Earnest's house. There are some really sweet shows coming up so I wanted to check in with everyone before I forget! Thanks for your support and if we haven't come through yet - stand by to be earsexed!

xxxooo CMB