We (SmallTown Heroes and wives) just returned from a little trip through Tennessee into North Carolina and back. Played a few shows, saw some friends, ate some food, and came back broke. We pushed off last Tuesday from Lafayette and met up with John and Lisa in Bloomington. Ate/drank at a place loaded with character called the Runcible Spoon. $2 Guinness on tap. Fantastic food. Celtic music trio playing to a good crowd at 11pm on a Tuesday night. Wednesday we jammed* quite a bit (*jammed means practiced and screwed around). Then we played a show on the back porch of the Catholic Worker house in Bloomington, for a group of volunteers that were finishing up their service week. Pretty cool that a big group of High Schoolers came down from Chicago area to do free service work, no strings. It was pretty hot. But we were under an awning. But the sun was still somehow oppressing us. There were cupcakes and one Orthodox Deacon. Thursday we headed out for Murfreesboro, TN. Tried not to stop in KY because a couple of the band members have a weird stereotype (prejudice?) of Kentuckians. We somehow escaped death on the interstate through Nashville, then nearly floated off the road in a down-pour before reaching JoZoara Coffee Shop in Murfreesboro (not to be confused with Murphysboro). The place was way too cool to not have more patrons than it did. But boy, we did like the people that were there. Thanks to the employees Jonni and Kasey, and the father/daughter that came and stayed. More about Murfreesboro and the rest of the tour tomorrow.