Adventure #33: 2011 Tour (Indianapolis, IN)

There's something about Indianapolis that reminds me of Boston. I'm not sure what it is, but every time I come through I feel oddly at home. It was a perfect early spring day when I pulled into Indy and all I wanted was to find a good yard sale and hopefully pick up some cheap instruments or Super Nintendo games or something cool. This hasn't been a tour full of many souvenirs. I drove around aimlessly for a little while hoping for a sign or two. But all I could find were signs for houses for sale, which is not the same at all. Finally I decided to check out this art museum on the north side of town that I had heard had a cool house installation piece. The museum was attached to an art school and had mostly pieces from its students, which were by and large pretty amazing. This is Pen Pen posing for the cover of his Led Zeppelin cover band's next album.

Outside was a sculpture court with pieces from all over the country. Mostly steel and iron works. The house was in the back, and is one of the coolest pieces of large scale conceptual art I've seen. This is Pen Pen sad that this is the one house in Indy that's NOT for sale.

I made it to the venue around 6 and walked around for a while trying to figure out if I was in the right place. The Hoosier Dome (not to be confused with the former home of the Colts) is a store-front DIY space in what used to be a discount tobacco store. There are pretty much no markings or anything at all to indicate that it's any sort of performance space. Luckily other people started to show up around 6:30 and I stopped worrying that I was in the wrong place. The show was a lot of fun. I really like the Piradical crew. Of all the people I've played shows for, their community is one of the most warm and welcoming in the country. (I also write periodically for their blog, so I'm obviously totally unbiased in this...) It seemed like pretty much everyone there was in some way shape or form involved in putting it together, so it felt like a real community event which is always awesome. This is Pen Pen working their state of the art lighting system.

After the show, Cory, Mitch, Stephen, Sasha and I went bowling at 3am, which seemed like a really good idea at the time. They go fairly frequently and are all pretty good (even Sasha who was essentially blind without her contacts in). I haven't been in maybe a year, and wasn't very good a year ago. I bowled a 42 the first game and a 57 the second game. My goal was to get at least half of Stephen's score. I successfully didn't do that, so now clearly I have to practice my bowling before I come back to Indy to save my (already prettymuch non-existent) dignity. We headed back to the Pirad house around 5 and I fell asleep about 2 minutes into Tron. This is Pen Pen abiding.

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

L Train Ode by nathanleigh

Adventure #22: Fall 2010 Tour (Day 7)

Adventure #22: Fall 2010 Tour (Day 7)

The drive from Harrisburg, PA to Indianapolis is long. Really really really long. And flat. And boring. It is not a drive I will ever make again without a stop or two in between. I passed through the entirety of Ohio, which was about as beautiful as I had always expected. Their strip malls and chain restaurants are second to none. I pulled into Indianapolis slightly stir crazy from the drive, and hungry. When I got to the venue, no-one was there yet, so I decided to head off in search of food. This is Pen Pen trying to pick the lock to no avail.

I drove down College Ave (where the Dojo is located) hoping to find some sort of small cafe where I could get a sandwich and maybe a little internet. At the intersection of College Ave and Massachusetts Ave, I parked and started looking for a place. My thought process was this: “you know what usually has cheap sandwiches? Colleges. And you know where also has a lot of cheap sandwiches? Massachusetts. This is perfect.” It was not perfect. It turns out Mass Ave is where all the night clubs are. It's Indianapolis' equivalent of Landsdowne St. in Boston, or Manhattan. I saw a sign that said “Frozen Yoghurt and Coffee” and decided that was the most realistic contender. The barista had that sort of Midwestern effervescence that makes me slightly uncomfortable. I don't understand it, so I'm powerless against it. Somehow I ended up without a sandwich, but with a small pumpkin frozen yoghurt instead. She was right, it was delicious. Why can't Midwesterners just be bitter and angry like normal people? This is Pen Pen pretty sure that the frozen yoghurt with blackberries counts as at least 2 food groups, and is therefore an acceptable dinner.

After “dinner” I headed back to the venue which was starting to bubble with people. It's another small DIY affair, basically a storefront. Literally a storefront, if you want to be technical about it. I played totally unplugged again after 3 local acoustic acts. The group before me, From the Rooftop had some killer harmonies, and haircuts that made mine feel totally inadequate. Damon, their guitarist, looks almost exactly like Julian from The Mighty Boosh. Although no-one was there to see me specifically, most of the people stuck around for my set, and bought CDs. After the show, one person compared me to Tim Kasher (specifically from his stuff in the Good Life) and another to Dylan. Usually I find artist comparisons annoying, but if I'm going to be compared to anyone, it might as well be to 2 of my all time heroes. Although, for future reference, if comparisons are necessary, I would like to be described as “like Donovan with drum machines” because Donovan is awesome. This is Pen Pen admiring the carefully hand caligraphied signs at the venue.

After the show I went over to the Piradical house where the guys who booked the show live (or just hang out a lot, I couldn't really tell.) They were an awesome bunch, if gratuitously obsessed with Kim Possible (Christy, your fans are nuts. Sorry...). They're watching a horror movie every night in October, also celebrating Octobeard by growing out their beards. So we watched Shutter Island all bearded and such. I fell asleep about 2/3rds of the way through, but woke up just in time for the big twist before passing out for good. I liked the movie, but I think it was better when they remade it as Inception, although Ellen Page's character was totally extraneous. This is Pen Pen admiring the collection of posters for shows they've thrown holy crap they booked The Casualties! Also Westbound Train's CD release show

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

Letters, Postcards, Telegrams by nathanleigh