Adventure #94: Indianapolis, Indiana

Here are some things that happened:

1. I drove to Indianapolis
2. Crystal Wolf gave me a new hat
3. I got to play another show with The Michael Character
4. Jackfruit became a verb
5. All my friends jumped on stage with me to sing my last 2 songs and it was amazing
6. This guy Cory (who I'd never met before) and I dyed each others' mohawks blue.
7. I finally made good on my threat to get a Piradical tattoo (thanks Andrew)

Here are some things that didn't happen:

1. Nothing. Everything is happening all the time according to String Theory.

This is Pen Pen with a new hat.

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

Adventure #67: Indianapolis, Indiana

Over the past 2 years of solo touring, Indianapolis has emerged as my favorite city to play. My friends there are some of the best people I know. I don't tour to make money, though (fingers crossed) I've never not at least broken even on a tour. I don't tour to “make it” because that's a stupid phrase and means nothing. I tour to meet new people. I tour to visit old friends that I don't see nearly often enough. I tour for late night conversations with total strangers about the state of the world. And I tour because there is literally nothing in the world that beats hearing a new crowd of people sing your songs back to you every night. This is Pen Pen wondering if it'd be weird to get a Piradical tattoo.

So I woke up still snowed in at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center in St. Louis. Mark, the guy who runs the center, came down to say hi while I waited for the snow plows to maybe consider clearing the roads (if they felt like it...). An epic conversation about activism, art, DIY, racism / gentrification, experimental music, the legacy of occupy, and basically everything else that matters erupted over coffee. Not to put too fine a point on it (say I'm the only bee in your bonnet) but the contrast between my experience in Conway and St. Louis couldn't have been starker. Both shows were canceled largely due to weather. But there is no question in my mind about where Mark and LNAC stand on the line between community and commerce. This is Pen Pen debating the difference between anarchism and nihilism with Bushy the Blindsided Bear.

I hit the road and headed off to Indianapolis. I had been looking forward to this show all week. The bands were all great (Roller Toaster = my new favorite band. “We want you to know that we are huge supporters of NASA but we're against monkey rape.” Is maybe the best song introduction ever?). The room was full, and nearly everyone I had been hoping to see was there (Mitch was at a different show. What a jerk. Also Margie decided it was more important to spend time with her newborn son. Some people are so selfish.) The No Direction girls were there, and handed me an early copy of their new CD! I've already listened to it twice because it's punk rawk and like 15 minutes long and awesome. This is Pen Pen fighting the eternal battle between punx and hipsters.

I hope I never get used to hearing a room full of people singing every word to my songs, nearly drowning me out. It's been happening more and more lately, and it's still so surprising and wonderful. The day I take that feeling for granted is the day I need to quit touring. In the morning (OK, afternoon. Late afternoon. Punx need their beauty sleep.) we headed to Teppanyaki Chinese Buffet for Scotty's birthday. It was terrible. It was glorious. Every time I come to Indy and spend time with my Pirad friends, it gets harder and harder to leave. Someday I might just stay. This is a bunny made out of lemons and a giant muppet.

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

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