Coming home was pretty rough, not gonna lie. Brian and Michelle had to get home Sunday night because they had no childcare later than that. But home was 11 hours away. So the two of them along with Fritz left early Sunday morning and knocked it out. John, Lisa, Bethany and I slept in... loafed around in our jammies... went out for some breakfast with Abel and Julia... and then hit the road. We of course changed drivers a few times and made pit stops, but didn't really mess around getting back to Indiana. Except for dining in at a Waffle House in Lexington... at about the same time Brian, Michelle, and Fritz were arriving home. Eventually though, we made it back to Bloomington. Somewhere around the midnight or 1am hour. It was late. We were tired. We dragged our suitcases and pillows inside, only the things needed to get inside and get to sleep. And we locked ourselves out of the house. All four of us, outside, while the only house key was inside with Francis (the cat). Naturally something like this would happen at that moment. But God was merciful to us, and the cat sitters who only live five minutes away woke up when John knocked on their door. The rest is history, dull and forgetful, like the kind in high school history classes. But we did learn some exciting things about ourselves. For example, it's quite difficult to maintain happiness and true contentment among the five of us (seven, counting spouses) for an extended period of time. People irritate people, and as it turns out, all of us are people. But thankfully people also love people, and there was certainly plenty of that going on too.

-Dallas

This wasn't just any taco truck. It was THE taco truck in the Carrboro area. And after a quesadilla and a taco, I was convinced. John and Lisa's old friends Abel and Julia showed us around the downtown area, highlighting all the best places to eat, then took us to their home for some much needed sleep. Not before gin and tonics though. So we got going Saturday morning with some delicious homemade blueberry pancakes and eggs courtesy of our hosts. Then we proceeded to spend what seemed like the next three hours arranging a set list for the upcoming show. It's usually not a problem, but we had an 8-11pm time slot available to us. Anyway, we finally got out of the apartment and into town for some good touristy exploration. A used book/record store, local brewery, thrift stores, and coffee were among our discoveries. I bought two books about time travel. And Fritz, despite all his searching, came out without a single Tower of Power vinyl. We were all having a lovely time, but couldn't help but notice that it was raining without much promise of drying up before the evening. That was a problem because we were booked to play an outdoor patio show. Fortunately, Abel is both resourceful and cool. He walked us into a little bar called The Station, and ten minutes later we were setting up to play there. This place even had a stage and sound system. Woah. The show definitely had its ups and downs, but we had a really good reaction from the audience. Even the bartenders bought CDs. Afterward we chatted it up with some good old Carrboro'ans, and ate some tots and drank some drinks (courtesy of the band fund). Then we ate again at a pizza joint. Then we drank again at a members only club that was spinning Michael Jackson vinyls. Amazing. Thus ending our musical excursion. One more entry to come about our ride home and lessons learned.
Dallas

That's that I was telling everybody. Why I was afraid of the word "tour" I couldn't say. We stayed in a log cabin built in 1800 after the JoZorra show. It was a great night, you can see some pictures of the house in our pictures on the website. I can't say I was disappointed with that show. Steve and Abby were a father daughter that only stepped in for a 10 minutes but ended up staying the whole night. They were a very complimentary, they bought a CD and a T-shirt.

The sound was amazing at that show, Dallas did a good job (as always) and we could really hear ourselves well. We were controlled and decisive in our playing, it was so good we could hear our mistakes. Nice to be so close to perfect.

We pulled out in the morning after a tour of our host's home, we stopped at Doughnut Country, (highest rated doughnut shack according to iPocketBrain) Dallas is addicted to coffee and sweet breakfast pastries if you didn't know. The joint was rockin', very comparable to MaryLou's, forrizzle.

We drove through the Smokies, and stopped in Asheville, NC for a bathroom break. I almost quit the band due to an iPocketBrain bathroom locating app malfunction. But things looked up after a fast but belated bladder evacuation. P.S. Asheville, I'm glad I met you but you broke my heart, I want you, but alas, I have given my heart to another city. Lafayette you can be a cold mistress but I am still faithful.

Late, we made it to Carrboro, NC. First stop, Taco Truck...

Stay tuned tomorrow for the most exciting leg of the journey.

Brian

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.

Hey gents and gals,
We're finally getting out on the road later this summer on a little tour through Indiana and Kentucky, into Tennessee and North Carolina. It should be lots of fun and lots of hot. Dates and venues to be posted soon.
Dallas