I'll head right to the time we spent in Charlotte, with no disrespect to the time we spent in Atlanta the night prior, of course. In Charlotte we were greeted by Blaine Hurdle and Zach Wild who were both inhabitants of Ping! Island, the name of the house we were scheduled to play that night. We pulled in at around five which was relatively early giving us an ample amount of time to explore. Up to this point the most I knew of the city was that in the early 90's the NBA expanded the league to include Charlotte and like any other expansion team they sucked for the better half of a decade.

Blaine and Zach were hosts extraordinaire, not only taking us to a pretty neat record store but also driving forty minutes out of town for a special spatula known to make the greatest of burgers. This was as close to home as I feel we have been. The house was big, littered with second hand furniture and full of people coming in and out randomly. Possibly the Giant Princess House of Charlotte. Zach made us all hamburgers and hot dogs and Blaine played wiffle ball with us on the streets for a good two hours. After the show we were invited out to a place called "The Cook Out" and wow, what can I say about this place? Nestled in the "ghetto" (Blaine described it as so but to us it looked like home) The Cook Out is a late night place where no price on the menu exceeds what leftover change you might have in your pockets after a night out. I had a cheeseburger, fries, a coke and a chicken wrap. I spent $4.50 that night. That day I actually ate four cheeseburgers, three of which were hand grilled by Zach Wild. Back at the house we convinced two girls to take a picture of them kissing Andrew Lee on each cheek.

I need a moment here to tell you a little about Zach Wild. First off, that's not his name. It was the name we gave him after we heard ten minutes of his life. Honestly, it took minutes before he got the surname "WILD" attached to him. You would have to meet the guy in order to understand that his personality is not necessarily "wild" but his life itself is. Trust me. To Zach and Blaine we say thank you; thank you for your hospitality, thank you for breakfast the following morning, and thank you for giving me a reason to want to come back to Charlotte for something other than to visit the former home of the Hornets.

Baltimore was ok. Nick's dad had a pretty rad place and we all did laundry while were there.

On our way to Brooklyn we sat in traffic for two and half hours before we even reached the New York/New Jersey border. Let me just say that taking the Holland Tunnel was the worst mistake we have made so far. I will break up New York into two-day summaries:

DAY ONE

Death by Audio is a great venue, found out the guy who runs the place was the guy who took my spot at the Oh Sees show in Austin. I no longer hate him.

Played with some cool bands and cool people.

Had hamburgers at a cool place down the street from the venue.
Slept in a tiny apartment with loud music coming from next door, exactly what I thought living in New York would be like.

DAY TWO

Woke up to find Andrew Lee sleeping in a pantry.

Ate a hot dog on the streets of Manhattan from a questionable source. Very, very cool.

Recorded a session for BreakThrough radio with very nice people.
Sat in traffic and managed to turn a ten minute drive into 90 minutes.

Played at the swankiest venue I have ever played in but also had free food and drinks from the very friendly bartender.

From what I have learned in the short amount of time we spent in New York the stigma of everyone in that city being overtly rude and inconsiderate is untrue unless you are driving a fifteen-passenger van. Other than that we only met genuinely nice people, with the exception of our waiter at a sandwich place. I'm sure it wasn't his fault, probably a bad day.

In Philadelphia we made the observation that there must be a very big demand for cheap Chinese which could be the only explanation for the amount of Chinese take out places we saw. Needless to say we ate at one. We were also really excited to play with our friends in Ume that night. Together we loitered outside of a church.

That night we drove nine and a half hours to Cincinnati. I didn't drive but I have respect for those that did.

In this part of the entry I would like to encourage everyone to go out and make the best of Houston while you are there. Even though I am having a great time on the road I am also simultaneously a bit homesick, so please, if you live in Houston, make it a good night. Go see Giant Princess and the Mathletes.