I-10

Culled from the touring archives...

21 September 04

Another tour. Our fifth in the past year; our seventh total. That makes nine in my illustrious music career. Today finds me in a van hurtling towards Baton Rouge. Currently, we’re nearing Pensacola, though we must detour off Route 10 thanks to Hurricane Ivan. He decimated the bridge that passes through Pensacola. Hurricanes ravaged Florida this year. We witnessed their aftermath in Daytona Beach last night- businesses boarded up, awnings twisted and torn apart, lagoons swelling in streets, driveways and yards. Ryan of Coliseum remarked that it looked like the apocalypse. I heard the roar of the ocean not far from the venue, though I didn’t join the group who went to see its wrath (Matt walked in his slippers).

Just stopped at a Chevron gas station somewhere outside Pensacola. Everywhere is ruins. Trees down, houses collapsed. The store at Chevron had a ceiling bulging brown with rainwater. Despite the natural calamities, our tour continues, now in its eleventh day. Nothing much of note to report- shows, noise, kids, fun, dread- the usual. I’m feeling rather disillusioned with the game. I’m 28. What am I doing with my life? I know, typical gripe from someone in a vaunted position. I play in a band, can go on tour and still manage to make ends meet….barely. I shouldn’t complain. But my brain runs rampant on these long drives. I like what Ryan said last night about the “goal” being the “action.” It’s quite Buddhist- focus on the particulars of living each day and find the meaning in that, not in some distant destination. 34 days and 34 shows left. Perfect. No days off. That, my friends, is a tour.