Adventure #39: Summer Tour 2012 Chicago, Illinois

I keep wanting to call Sid and Helen Sid and Nancy but I wont do that. We showed up at Sid and Nancy's, a little house in the suburbs of Chicago. Mayberry they call it. Nate and Tessa from Destroy Nate Allen got in shortly after and we promptly set about rocking. It's weird. This is only my second time playing with Destroy Nate Allen, but it feels like we've done a lot more. I guess they just make a big impression.

The show was awesome. Definitely the best of the tour so far. There was a pretty solid crowd there. A bunch of Joshua's friends drove up from Cleveland to see Nate. I finally got people singing along with “Oh! What A Captain of Industry,” and Joshua joined me on guitar for “Family of Ghosts.” I played accordion because I had figured out how to play the banjo lick on the accordion earlier that day, and that seemed like a good idea. Mostly it was. Nate and Tessa rocked the house the way they do. I got out of breath just watching them. This is Pen Pen destroying Nate Allen.

Sid and Helen's seems like kind of a community hub. A regular hang out spot for a lot of folks. The guys from Flat Foot 56, who we'll be playing with on the way back in September were there. So that was cool. And Sid and Helen's kids were sort of hilarious. Their youngest daughter couldn't decide if she wanted to be a crust punk or a doctor when she grew up. Their infant son wandered around with a Run DMC onesie. Then Joshua and I spent time berating their teenage daughter for not knowing who Patty Smith or Pavement were. We're those people. Picking on teenage girls for the win! On the way out, Joshua demanded that we stop and get some Chicago deep dish pizza before we headed up to Milwaukee. This is Pen Pen enjoying some real Chicago deep dish in real Chicago.

This is a song I wrote one time You should download it and share it with your friends.

Adventure #36: Summer Tour 2012 Cleveland, Ohio

The show in Cleveland was a big send-off cookout thrown by Brandon, one of Joshua's friends. He has a house out in the suburbs right next to the highway. Luckily we played outside, so the highway made it really easy to hear everything. There was a bonfire on which we roasted hot dogs and veggie dogs. And many many beers were consumed. Joshua and I spent a lot of time figuring out how to pack the van. This was a delicate process involving Joshua knocking over my drink repeatedly while I sang the Tetris song unhelpfully. This is Pen Pen nearly beating level 10 of Tetris.

The show was fun. I got to awkwardly test out some new material on a friendly crowd, and Joshua got to drunkenly cajole his friends into singing along with his songs. Consummate professionals, we are. Consummate professionals.

After the show, we crashed out at Andrea's place. You know when you see a picture of one of those meticulously designed apartments where everything is color co-ordinated and fits some sort of theme in a furniture catalog and think “damn, who actually goes to all that trouble to design their apartment?” Andrea does. That's who. Before we hit the road to Detroit (Rock City), Andrea gave me an anti-meat T-shirt which I will wear in the mountains to antagonize cattle farmers shortly before getting killed. This is Pen Pen protesting meat despite the fact that I'm pretty sure Penguins only eat animals and would die on a vegetarian diet. That's how hardcore he is.

This is a song I wrote one time. You should download it and share with your friends.