Portland

My grandfather loved to garden and taught my mom how to care for plants. His and her favorite thing to care for were roses.

Today is my mother's birthday and I am so far from home, but I found myself in an appropriate place. There is a giant park here called "Washington Park." It has different beautiful areas to explore, and one of them is a huge rose garden. I walked around and wrote down different names of the various kinds of roses. Here are some of their names:

My Choice
Nearly Wild
Signature
First Light
Distant Drums
Pristine
Day Dream


It smelled so good there. There was a rainbow of rose colors.

Also today we went to a place called "Voodoo Donuts." They have a rainbow of donut flavors. They have a grape donut, and you better believe what it tastes like. We got a bucket of day old donuts for five dollars, but the bucket is so big. We cannot make a dent in it. Tonight we are going to a potluck and guess what our contribution is.

Olympia

Such a nice two days here in Olympia. Made some great friends; you should check out their band
L.A.K.E.

We played volleyball and I didn't go swimming.
This Olympia show was my favorite so far. The lineup was Eli Moore, Ben Kamen and the realest live tigers you could ever dream of.

From The Underground

A house show in El Paso, knocked on my feet, punched in the face. Ice came soon enough to avoid a black eye.

Pheonix Willow House Indy open mic, 3 songs deep, getting a glimpse of the underground.

Then, an eleven hour drive to Utah. Kilby Court was a great venue, but they booked the local bands first. We ended up driving all those hours to play for two people. The heart gets a little heavy.

Boise was breaking in the new Community Benefits. We played their first show. People are ready for the underground in Boise. They are making it happen. This was a really nice show. Ran into the nicest people there. Keep Boise Noisy. It's so clean.

Then .. What the Heck Fest in Anacortes Washington. We have been here for a couple of days. Google it. It's a hub of talented people; it's occuring right now. My favorite shows were Valet, Mt. Eerie, and Karl Blau. The underground is very apparent here.

It's a network of lifestyle and fashion existing in U.S. Every city is making it more obvious. There is a new movement happening. I'll write more about this as it reveals itself more, city by city.


Tour is a great challenge. I'm still trying to figure out how to do it, how to be centered, how to be a good friend, how to give myself in performances even if I'm run down, how to take care of my body, how to keep in touch with home, with the world.

Meditation, jogging, some funny word games, confusion, the ocean and a lot of driving. There are some good shows coming up. Oregon, and then Northern Californ, I can already feel the visions.

Pheonix

Now I'm on tour. There is a lot of sweating in the desert, and it certainly feels pretty good.

Constantly moving.. this is a lifestyle so opposite of what I'm usually dedicated to, so things are being shaking up inside of me, coming to the surface. I feel most comfortable with this. It makes room for reevaluation.. my dear friend.

I have two wonderful travelmates, a lot of time, and an open road. No complaints.