Tour Blog Wrapup

Hi everyone, 

Still exhausted and recovering from tour, so I'm going to make this 'wrapping up' blog entry fairly brief. This was definitely the most fun and headache-free tour yet, and I want to extend thanks once again to my tourmate Proud/Father (Sebastian Figueroa) for putting up with me so well for three weeks of constant travel.

The stories from this tour would take many, many blog entries to tell, and I alas am lacking the energy. But here are a few sentences about each place since the last blog posting, to give you a general overview of how things went down -

Winchester, Virginia - A fun night at a local bookstore capped with stellar performances from local avant-noise friends Guillermo Pizarro and Christopher S. Feltner. Photographed an incredible abandoned house outside of town and enjoyed the cool mountain air. 'Twas a most enjoyable, mellow day on the tour.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Indebted to Tibbie X (bassist for Reagan Youth) for letting us crash at her lovely apartment and enjoy conversation and guitar geekery. No show this evening, but I'm glad we stopped in Philly all the same. Tried to track down some Toynbee Tiles and failed, ah well. Philadelphia was still much fun.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn - Played on a rooftop (thirteen floors up!) with an incredible panoramic view of the Manhattan skyline. Despite the chilly winds and headache-inducing load-in/load-out procedure, was a great deal of fun with lots of awesome new friends. Special thanks to Alec Fellman for letting us crash, as well.

Bushwick, Brooklyn - Silent Barn! A slim turnout but still a fun noise set, and got to meet Ben Goldberg from one of my favorite labels, Ba Da Bing! Even sold him some jam. The Silent Barn folks were friendly and accommodating and the space was awesome. Thanks to Gio Andollo of GioSafari, and his awesome pug, for the hospitality in letting us crash that night in Harlem. Was very much appreciated.

Florence, Massachusetts - Spent the next two days at my aunt and uncle's lovely mountain home in rural western Massachusetts. Explored an abandoned quarry and an abandoned roundhouse, and had a fun night live on Valley Free Radio in nearby Florence. Was most surprised to see a Greenville friend, Matt Epstein, turn up at the studio to hang out with us! Weather was lovely, and family spoiled myself and my friend as usual. It was almost a shame to leave to head north.

Portland, Maine - SPACE Gallery, performed for a First Friday event while live yoga was conducted in front of us. An intriguing, interesting night. Was especially impressed by our local opener, Remy Brecht. Beautiful dark ambient washes. 

Providence, Rhode Island - Benefit festival at 95 Empire for Lisa Carver's son Wolf. Avant garde to the extreme. We were grateful for the hospitality of new friend and  ambient wizard Claudia for letting us stay where she was housesitting, a lovely suburban home where we were glad to recharge. Thanks for everything, Claudia!

Buffalo, New York - Probably my favorite night of the tour. TJ Borden's gloriously decaying Victorian manse had much to offer in terms of pure kindness and hospitality, and we were massively grateful. Buffalo seems like a spectacular town.

Coal Center, Pennsylvania - An amazing internet-based conceptual art performance from old friend NYKDLN (Scott Michael) kicked off this mellow basement show in coal country in western PA. Streamed the show live. Thanks to Derek Bendel for pulling it all together. The evening was beyond fun.

Cincinnati, Ohio - Steve Kemple runs an eclectic series of experimental music performances at the local main branch library, and we were stoked to be a part of it. Got to meet Jude from one of my favorite blogs, Half Gifts, which was a bonus. Cincinnati definitely treated us well, as did where we crashed over the river in KY.

Hazel Park, Michigan - Got to fiddle around on a Rhodes Mk 1 electric piano at this great cafe/artspace just outside of Detroit, and ran into a lot of old Detroit friends it was nice to see. Spent the next day photographing the largest abandoned factory in the world (the former Packard Assembly Plant). Detroit is always fascinating in its ruined beauty, and it's even more decayed now than when I was last here in 2011.

Chicago, Illinois - Living Room Visions friends David Seeber and Tyler Andere pulled this house show together, and it was a chance to finally meet longtime online friend Justin Mark Lloyd in person, as well. A rewarding night all around, and my first visit to Chicago turned out to be a stellar one. Thanks to David especially for being so kind and welcoming. We'll definitely be coming back.

Cape Girardeau, Missouri - A bar show put together by Wes Ables of Public Spreads The News turned our highest profit of the tour, and Wes and his crew couldn't have been more accommodating. Despite equipment issues, Wes had an incredible show that was definitely one of my favorites of the tour. A charming town.

Lexington, Kentucky - We were a bit late for this show due to the time change and regrettable roadwork, so a slim crowd turned out for us. Definitely the most challenging show of the tour. But hospitality prevailed and we spent a great night watching cheesy sword-and-sorcery films and oddball documentaries where we ended up crashing. I hope we can come back to do things more properly soon.

Asheville, North Carolina - So good to be back in NC! Got to see a lot of great Asheville friends, including some college pals who'd recently moved there. Static Age Records, the Moog factory, and other fun Asheville sights were beheld. Extra special thanks to friends David and Meghan (of the Divine Circles/Lunar Creature/US Christmas family) for providing us a comfortable couch to sleep on and a VERY friendly cat to share it with. One consistent thing on this tour, besides Dr. Bronner's in every shower stall, is the presence of friendly cats. This was the friendliest. 

Lansing, North Carolina - My friend and experimental bassist Nic Slaton runs a winery in this tiny NC mountain town, part of a larger artspace/hostel cooperative in an old elementary school known as Fort Awesome. Hanging out with childhood friend Tyler Davidson and Boone pal Jordan Barger made this night a special occasion and a lovely way to (almost) wrap up the tour. Laid back outside show.

Greensboro, North Carolina - At last, the end of the road, at Sam Martin's home in Greensboro, where my tapes were destroyed with a hammer and I was gratefully reunited with my wife and bandmate. A perfect end to a nearly perfect tour.

I'm sure I'll write more about this trek when I'm a little less exhausted, but for now, there it is. Check out some photos from the road here - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100805578820678.1073741853.29708910&type=1&l=94cab7872c and I'll be posting some performance photos and videos eventually, as well. 

This is the last tour for awhile, I think. I'm glad it was a fantastic one! Cheers, ZC

Day 1 - 3: Greenville, NC - Winchester, VA (Part One)

Hi folks,

My apologies for the lack of blogging lately. I’ve been getting ready for the tour I find myself currently enmeshed in, traveling the East Coast and Midwest for three weeks with my friend Sebastian, aka Proud Father, from the ruins of New Orleans.

As tours go, three days in everything is kosher and still fresh and fun, though I know exhaustion looms on the horizon like the scaffolding of some ominous pirate ship cruising hazardous waters. Our first day was spent in Greenville, NC at Rat & Slug, one of my favorite houses to play (and partially run by a friend from back home).

Rat & Slug is your typical punk house, a bit dirty (as the name implies), a bit precarious and crumbling, but warm and inviting nonetheless, a collapsing old house near campus surrounded by waves of wandering cats. My good friend Charles Wright offered blistering waves of harsh noise and destruction in a performance that left a lot of us jaw-dropped. Charles always seems to ‘trance in’ to his music, sipping tea and lighting incense while building stunning walls of pure sound fury. This was by far the most intense set of his I’ve seen, culminating in the demolition of a guitar neck violently hitting a metal canister. Our own sets went as well as first nights of a tour tend to do, a few minor equipment issues aside, and the night descended into DJ’ing and revelry. Rat & Slug is the perfect sort of low-key, friendly environment in which to begin a tour.

After a night on a floor we rolled back west for a stop at Scrap Exchange in Durham, my favorite junk store. Having gathered some amazing VHS/cassettes for sampling, and even a few gorgeous 35mm slides of a forested cemetery somewhere, we moved on to Richmond, Virginia, one of the most flat-out beautiful cities on the planet and one of my favorite places to play. The corner coffee shop we always begin our East Coast tours at is Globehopper, and it’s one of those half-discovered miracles of city life with delicious food and drink tucked away in an intriguing part of town. Another easy pair of sets and a little vegetarian Chinese food later, we drove north into the vast night to spend it on sleeping bags beneath giant oaks at a KOA Kampground near Fredericksburg.

Now we’re in the lovely, apple-obsessed mountain town of Winchester, Virginia, awaiting a show at Winchester Book Gallery (seriously, one of the most incredibly stocked book/record/video stores of all time) tonight with old friends Christopher Feltner and Guillermo Pizarro, two noise folks we’ve hosted in Burlington before. We’ve got a lot of time to kill in these pretty little town, so I’ll catch you folks later. Till then, ZC

PS - Photos pending. Already hit a sweet semi-abandoned stockyard and an abandoned house.