DIXIE STAMPEDE

What can I say about the day we just had. Please...if you're going to read any of these posts...read this one. Last night we realized we had over stayed our welcome at Mikey sisters house in North Carolina. We met some girls in South Carolina when we played in Myrtle Beach a few days ago. They told us we could come stay at their house on our day off and we could go to this thing called "Dixie Stampede" which is basically like Medieval Times with the civil war.

We drove here last night and showed up to a beautfiul suburban home in a neighborhood called "The Farm." The house is complete with two living rooms, 2 bathrooms and much more. Think the party plex but not a shit hole. We stayed up super late playing a $1,000 acoustic guitar signed by Michelle Branch and watching The Dark Knight on blu-ray. Watch it in Blu-Ray if you haven't yet.

I woke up today to a melting pot of smells infultrating my nostrils. I came downstairs still in a daze due to my recent spells of dizziness (I might have vertigo). Cooking in the kitchen were our 3 new friends making eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes and biscuits. I nearly weeped at the beautiful sight of it all. We all gorged ourselves on a bountiful breakfast and talked about how awesome our lives were. Me, Vic, Nick and Mitch threw a football around outside to try to burn off some of the food we just ate.

The beach was calling our name. We grabbed the football and piled into a couple of cars and headed to the majestic Myrtle Beach. After kicking off our shoes and rolling up our pants we dipped our feet into the freezing water which turned them blood red. We picked captains and made some teams for a gentlemens game of football. Me and Tarlowski were captains. Teams were Me, Vic, Danny and Mitch vs. Tarlowski, Miller, Matty and Tyler. Aaron played all time offense. It was a hard fought battle but Tarlowski's team came out victorious due to Matt Vicars dropping THREE consecutive passes that all could have won the game for my team. God damnit Vic.

We drove to Dolly Partons Dixie Stampede not knowing what to expect. The building was probably the size of the white house. We had 13 free tickets to this show we knew nothing about. We chilled with some horses outside of the show then went in to take our seats. First we got a group picture that we will be purchasing when we get home from tour. We took our seats in the first arena for our pre show entertainment. We got free drinks and then witnessed the best stage show I have ever seen. This man was the master of juggling, balancing things and winning over a crowd. This man at one point balanced a 8 ft ladder on his chin! Words can't express how great his show was. I have a new hero.

We piled into a gigantic auditorium that smelled like the house we stayed at in Tallahassee. It was all sand complete with a plantation style back drop. We took our seats and the show began. It was a spectacal of north vs. south civil war mania. Think the wild west happening right in front of your eyes with flashy lights, a ring leader who looked like Lemmey from motorhead and people in the most sparkly clothing you've ever seen. There was also a part with a lady dressed up in neon clothing like in that terrible Batman movie with Poison Ivy flying around like a native american eagle. The tokers had to have a good time with that. The girls we are staying with happen to work at Dixie and they told us that a select few would actually get to participate in the nights show.

The first two people up were Tyler and Vic. They came out after a horse race and the ring leader told them they were going to ride some horses. They all stepped up to these women on horses thinking they were going to get on and race. Then the women left and the boys were handed those little horses on a pole. They were fighting for the north. They had to lap around barrels twice, winner takes all. Tyler started off by going the wrong way around the barrels and we were all losing our minds. On the 2nd lap tyler took off his safari hat and started twirling it around his head like a fucking cowboy. I almost threw up my plate of food which consisted of soup, a biscuit, an entire chicken, a slab of pork, a ootato and a pastry. $40 a ticket, 13 of us got in for free. Of course as Tyler and Vic exited the arena Danny and I shot Vic with a birdman and he had to lie down in front of 400 people.

I sat there waiting for something else cool to happen in the show. The ring leader said some people were gonna play some Carolina style horseshoe. Two men entered the arena and to my surprise one of those men was none other than Aaron fucking Broveak. I couldn't believe my eyes. Aaron entered wielding finger pistols and walking like a drunken cowboy from the 1800's. He told the ring leader his name was "Chino"...the crowd was silent. Then the man called Aaron "Cheeto" and asked him where he was from. Aaron won the competition for our side, the north. When he was asked who he was at the show with a spotlight was put on all of us and we stood up in exuberant joy, screaming for our man Aaron winning his Dixie Stampede medal.

This post in no way describes how insane Dolly Partons Dixie Stampede is. If you're ever in Myrtle Beach, SC you need to go see this show. Hands down the craziest shit I have ever seen. Even though we don't have a show today this has probably been the best day of tour and it's only 7:45. We're about to throw in A Goofy Movie and party real hard at this house for one more night. Heading to Atlanta, GA tomorrow. I'll be able to explain this madness better in person. I miss you all a lot. I'll be home in 9 days. 

FRIDAY, MARCH 6TH @ KNICKERBOCKERS in Lincoln

HERCULES
THE JV ALL*STARS
BENEFIT OF A DOUBT

late show! come out! party after @ ghost house!

Hotel For Dogs

Recap of the last couple of days. In Lake City, FL we played with some super metal core mosh bands. Saw kids get destroyed in the mOsh pit. JVA played and no one understood what was going on. We played and I made a joke about Danny murdering someone and no one got it, but we had a great time. We played with an awesome band from Gainesville called Battle, all super duper nice fellas. At the show a few of us were standing outside when a car with green underlights pulled up. I heard this story second hand but from what I was told the car slowed down then peeled out and as it peeled out the passenger threw a full cup of soda that nailed the back of Aaron's head with sniper like aim. I wish I could have been there to see that.

Also in the parking lot across the street from the show there was a 35 year old man playing a full drum kit at 11:00 at night. Me, Mitch and Vic approached him to see what was going on. He soloed for a bit as we walked up and then stopped when we got close enough to talk. He told us he goes out there every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. His wife won't let him play drums at his house so he has to set up in random places. His parting words of wisdom were "man...I just come out here to work things out" which was immediately follwed by a John Bonham like solo. He was still playing when we left the venue around 1:00am.

We drove 35 minutes to Gainesville, FL to stay with the drummer of Battle. Had a nice sleep but kept being awoken by the snarled breathing of his little pug named Bubba. The following morning we woke up and drove to a pizza place called Leonardos. Hands down, dopest pizza I've ever ate. I got a slice of the veggie and a slice of pepperoni. Both slices exploded in my mouth with flavor like a juicy apple does. It wasn't an explosion of grease ever, all flavor, all day. If you're ever in Gainesville, FL and want cheap awesome pizza...hit up Leonardos. After that we drove a little ways out of town to hit up a skate park so the wood pushers of the group could get their skate on. I spent the whole time writing and looking for a basketball so I could go jam on some little children.

That night we had a show in Jacksonville, FL which was a mere 1 hour and a half away. The Hercules crew decided to make a pit stop at Jacksonville Beach to check out the atlantic ocean. It was pitch black and the waves were crashing huge. It was one of the coolest things I have seen. We got to the show at Doozers pub and the vibe was pretty weird because there was no one there. We dicked around for an hour or so then loaded in and kids finally started showing up. JVA played their best set of tour this night, the sound was incredible and their voices were those of angels.

We played with a street punk band called Prison Orange who's lead singer opened the show with a story about picking up a girl who ended up being a man. I didn't watch much of their set because I had to get away from all of the smoke but I heard it was a wild time. The last band was a local ska band called Hith who really tore the house down. A couple highlights from their show is 1) them playing Zombie by the Cranberries and having a 45 year old drunk man sing all of the words 2) the fact that they played for an hour and 15 minutes 3) the sublime cover they did 4) the drummers old ass parents were there watching them until 1:00am.

After the show once every one was super wasted we piled out into the parking lot to stay at the bartneders house. Mitch was so drunk that he wanted to throw up but couldn't get himself to shove his fingers down his throat. So Danny and some random drunk girl took turns shoving their fingers into mitch's throat until he puked everywhere. Vic was trying to run away because he said if he see's someone puke, he'll puke. I held him tight and made him watch the entire thing and he screamed in horror. Aaron was thrashing about, head banging around until he would fall into the dirt and gravel. He later found a piece of glass or rock in his bruised and bloody knees. Vic yelled at a 30 something year old woman who was at the bar because she had a pearl necklace on and tickets to a symphony, he didn't think she belonged there. Apparently her name is "Mrs.Doozer" because she's at the bar, Doozers Pub, all of the time. A weird night.

After a pretty long detour after the show we finally made it to the bartenders house to sleep. There were probably 17 cats in the house so I decided that I would sleep in the van with passed out Mitch. Got about 4 and a half or 5 hours of sleep then woke up at 9:45 to the hot sun beating on my face. I collected myself and rounded up to the troops to make the 7 hour trek north to Myrtle Beach, SC. Vic was nice enough to drive us there. A pretty awesome scenic drive the whole time.

The show in Myrtle Beach was the strangest show our tour for Hercules. JVA of course did great but while we played the house music stayed on so there was this weird vibe between all of the songs. 2 songs into our set the owner told us to turn down. We did then realized we can't play quiet and so we turned back up and finished our set. Played a bands last show, they were terrible. Played with a sweet country band who really wanted someone to buy us all dinner. A few of us hit up the beach and got some really awesome sea shells. It was freezing but the beach was so cool I didn't want to leave.

We drove overnight to Wilmington, NC where we're staying at Mikey's sisters awesome. I guess this is the town where they film that show "One Tree Hill." It's about noon right now and I have 6 or 7 hours to kill so maybe I'll walk around town and try to get a picture of one of the stars. That's all I really got right now. Everyone in JVA is really sick and the hercules van is finally 100% better. We have the next 3 days off which sucks super hard. We're hopefully going to stay here another full day, go back to Myrtle Beach to go to "Dixie" for free which is like Medieval Times but with the Civil War, then we'll go hang on in Atlanta, GA for a day and hopefully all get free snorg tees t-shirts.

As always give me a nice call or text message. If I don't answer your call I'm most likely in the van where I couldn't hear you if I answered or at a show where I also wouldn't be able to hear you. I miss you all back at home, let's party hard when we all get back. 12 more days I believe. Be home soon! Check back for more posts, sorry this one was so long.

"we're having loud metal rock bands here tonight"

Tallahassee day 2. After the library I got a text message from Vic asking if I wanted to go swim in a sink hole. I obviously said yes. I was with The JV All*Stars and asked them if they wanted to go. For some reason they decided to go to the mall and get keys made instead. What a bunch of whack jobs. We drove about 30 minutes outside of Tallahassee and parked along side of the road. We walked about 15 minutes into a random forest until we approached a sink hole in the middle of nowhere. Mikey just tried to kick me off of his computer but since I'm updating Big Cool's Corner he decided to let it slide.

The sink hole was awesome. The water was absoultely freezing but after living in the sub-zero temperatures of Nebraska since October I wouldn't have cared how cold the water was. We had a blast swimming, trying to get swing on a rope into the sink hole and avoiding being scratched by the dog Davis we brought along with us. Mitch fell victim to the fast moving paws of the pitbull and suffered 4 large bloody scratches on his back. It looks like a bear tore into him. Vic can't tread water so he sat on a log in the water and got drunk. He later told me he was hungry because "swimming" really makes him want to eat. I told him how he didn't swim, he just sat in water and we looked at each other for 10 seconds or so and then moved on.

We got back to the shit shack and our new friends Frankie and Matt made us pasta with vegan sausage and garlic bread. After we napped and feasted we decided it was about time to go to our show at the OAF House. The OAF house was a great venue in Tallahassee that is sadly shutting down tomorrow. The house was your classic punk house that had a a shed in the backyard where bands played. This dude told me that the house has been around for 10 years and it's run is ending this weekend. A sad day in punk rock.

We all hung out and finally loaded in around 10:00pm. Us and JVA decided to share equipment and switch off playing. We'd played a song then they played a song and so on. It was going great and the shed was getting hot and wild. Then when Eric got a wild hair in his ass and decided to turn on Aaron's rat pedal while we were playing the cops came and shut us down. A girl high on LSD told us we had to turn the drums and bass down. We laughed and decided to stop playing since there's no way to turn drums down.

Some people went to a party across the street and got high while Nick Miller and I chilled in the Winnefaygo and told each other about our current situations in our lives. We partied late into the night. Kids in Florida like to jam tunes really load outside and dance around the speakers until they're too drunk to stand up. I fell asleep sandwiched between Nick and Vic hoping that one of them wasn't going to roll onto me in the night and crush my windpipe.

Today we chilled at the OAF House for a little longer and once again chilled around their speakers while they jammed the local college radio station. I walked through the FSU campus to go eat at Jimmy John's and it reminded me why I hate college and most people. Vic got to eat vegan soul food and I think it made him really happy.

We're in Lake City, FL right now at the Marion ST Cafe where we will be playing tonight. It's weird as hell here. I think everyone is bummed out that we're a loud band playing at their coffee shop. Tonight is a 6 band show and Jim from this band Battle told me that some kids messaged them on myspace saying they were going to kick their ass while they played. If that happens I'll try to make an immediate post and I'm sure Vic will update his twitter "Vic On Tour." Here's what everyone is doing right now

Vic : spacing off into mikey's eyes while growing a wicked goatee
Mikey: holding his head in his bands growing a disgusting mustache
Aaron: playing with a pack of sugar
Nick T: Telling Mikey that it's time to load in
Eric: Eating a whole pizza to himself
Nick M: Watching Eric eat that pizza, possibly trying to mooch a piece off of him (of course)
Tyler: Skating around Lake City sharpening his siqqq skills
Danny: Playing with his hair, sitting on a bench in the sun
Matty: Out of sight, but probably playing video games

Mitch: Drawing a picture of a wizard titled "eric the wand bearer"
Me: updating big cools corner with my left leg over my right leg getting a mean glare from everyone behind the counter. maybe it's my rise and fall shirt.

until next time this is big cool saying "big baybay, big whammy, big cool."

old man witherbee . . . the railroad man

It's been a few days since I've been able to get to a computer to post anything. The last picture is of Matt Vicars doing a shakey face photo. Drool filled fun ensued. Here is a recap of the last few days, it may be a long read....

We drove to Houston on the 15th and got to this venue called Java Junction. The space was really sweet, it was a cool venue in the back of a really fancy looking coffee shop. The girl doing the show made food for us and even made Vic his very own special vegan dish. All of the local bands were there and the girl told Hercules we were playing first. There weren't a lot of people at the show but there happend to be a girl from Omaha with her friend who came to the show to see us play. We set our stuff up, waited a while then decided around 8:15 that we should get the show going.

We jumped up on stage to turn our shit on and start playing with the sound girl said "wait, no one is playing." I took that as "we're still going to wait a bit." Then when we asked her why she said "the show is off." Even though all 4 bands had loaded in and there was a handfull of kids there the dude who owned Java Junction decided it wasn't worth it to stay open. Instead of yelling at him we decided to take down our gear and get the fuck out of there. These DHL kids who were drinking and driving said we could drive 45 minutes out of our way to stay with them. Luckily Vic saved the day and knew a girl in Houston. We stayed at her apartment, watched whose nailin palin and american hardcore with a dude who was shooting coke, who had just kicked his heorin addiction.

Monday we drove to New Orleans, LA. I wish I had some pictures to post on here because New Orleans was one of the coolest places I've been. We played in this bar where they have filmed a dozen movies, including the most recent one staring Jennifer Coolidge aka Stiflers Mom. The bartender/owner had such a thick Louisiana accent I couldn't understand him half of the time and it was awesome! No one was there to see JVA then out of nowhere 50 fake crust kids showed up for the band of the night Crackboxxx. We played and it was kind of weird but a great time. The lead singer of Crackboxxx broke a bottle of booze all over JVA's merch and some of the glass went into Eric Mellows leg.

Crackboxxx played and all of those fake crust kids from outside stormed in the back and started to get real wild. At one point when they were just throwing each other into the bar and broke the bar off of it's foundation the owner freaked out on everyone in his thick farmer dude from Waterboy accent and the show was over. What a wild time. Crackboxxx is an awesome band, check them out. After the show we strolled around Bourbon ST at 2:00am looking at all of the wild shit going on. Some people went into some strip clubs. A taro card reader gave us a box of dumpstered pizza then we went to a bar where I got free soda all night.

The next day we ate a great contraption called Tachos (tater tot nachos) then strolled around the new orleans some more. After getting a call from Mikey telling me we hopped on a show in Mobile, AL it was time to leave. We rolled into Mobile around 8:00pm and had just missed their Mardi Gras parade that looked like a wild ass time. We played at the Alabama Music Box to no one but of course a homeless dude walked into the show and loved Hercules. Hobos are our biggest fans. They love the loud guitars.

We got a hotel in Mobile and had to move rooms because there was an infestation of hundreds on ants in our beds. We woke up the next morning early to eat the "continental" breakfast that ended up consisting of cornflakes . . . and that was it. What a bunch of shit. I don't remember the drive to Flordia much because I fell asleep listening to New Found Glory's new record "not without a fight." Take out the dumb Chad backup vocals and it's a flawless record. Check it out.

We got into Tallahassee and went to the venue called Birds Oyster Shack. We walked in and met the owner Ray who was so nice to us right away and told us up front that he was paying us $150 and giving us free food and drinks all night. We hung out there eating burgers, fries and oysters for hours. Some of us sipped on coca-cola and some of us sipped on more adult beverages. That night a bunch of college kids showed up to play a bean bag game called cornhole. The only people who watched Hercuels and JVA was Hercules and JVA but it was a great time. JVA played flawless last night.

We hung out at Birds for a few hours after the show and shot the breeze. We got a place to stay with this girl named Frankie. After having a really hard time finding the house which was only a mile away from the venue we finally arrived around 1:30am. We stayed at a house called the shit shack and the name reflected the house, it is great. Unfortunately a ton of traveling kids are staying there so there wasn't actually anywhere for any of us to sleep inside. Hercules and Vic slept in our van, and jva slept in their van. Mitchell slept of the porch in the warm Florida air. There was a wicked thunderstorm last night and it was actually awesome the sleep in the van and watch the rain and lightning.

Tour is going great. Today we're playing in Tallahassee again at a placed called the OAF House. Don't know what to expect really. It's probably 60-70 degrees in Florida today which is awesome because I read it's about 19 back in Nebraska. Tomorrow marks the halfway point of tour and it's already flown by really fast. If anyone actually reads this you should text me or call me. I'm missing everyone at home and I have nothing to do all day. Until next time . . . big baybay

DIRTY VIC

VIC YELLS AT GIRL...HILARITY ENSUES

I fell asleep last night with my shirt off, pants on and belt undone. I have become a vagabound loser. Had to get up early today in Lubbock, TX so we could get to Fort Worth to play our show with the punk rock veterans in DropDead. The drive today was a short 5 hours to Fort Worth. We rolled into town and dropped our stuff off at Aaron's parents house, the 2nd Broveak residence we're staying at on this tour. We then drove to Spiral Diner so Vic could eat his first big vegan meal of tour. According to Mr. Vicars to food was "incwedable!"

I was really bummed Omaha or Lincoln people didn't come down to the show. You missed OUT. Hatred Surge was one of the best bands I've seen live. One of the heaviest bands ever. The PA was fucked up for the first little bit so I couldn't heard the lead singer but once the PA got fixed her voice blew up and scared the hell out of me.

DropDead was almost too good to describe. The dudes were rolling around the venue all night just talking to a lot of old friends. The people in DD are straight up 40+ years old. The drummer looked like he could be my grandfather but they were all incredibly nice people and they still play fast as fuck. They had to borrow equipment so they didn't get to use their usual set up so they weren't as load as I would have liked. Can't believe I got to play a show that DropDead was also playing. Highlight of tour.

After the show Matt Vicars decided to get behind the wheel of the van. After a smooth 10 mile ride we were almost to Aaron's house when we pulled up to a red car that looked like it could go pretty fast. There was an attractive woman driving the car so Vic decided to "holla" at her. He said "Hey girl, you vibin me? you vibin me?" to which she replied "no." After he asked why and few times and didn't get a response he retaliated with "well the fuck you bitch." Not a very classy move for this is the era of Classy, not Dirty Vic.

We were pulling up to the next light and to avoid anymore confrontation with this woman Vic decided to pull behind her. We follwed her for a few lights and started talking about how it would be funny if she lived in Aaron's parents neighborhood. As we were coming up to our turn the lady got into the same turning lane as we did. Now we were concerned that she thought we were following her. Great...she lives in Aaron's neighborhood. As we followed this woman we found out she even lived on the same street as Aaron. We had to pass her parked car to get to our house.

She got out of the car and noticed that we had followed her to her home and she was not happy with us. She stood by her car with her arms folded, glaring at us most likely assuming we were trying to gang rape her or something. Vic kept yelling "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" but she just kept starring. Vic decided to write her a note explaning what he did and why he did it. He assured her that he did not mean what he said and that she seemed like a very nice girl. He placed the note which included his name and number under her windshield wipers.

If I wake up in the morning and our windows are smashed in and our equipment is gone Matt Vicars is going to owe us thousand of dollars for his actions. I'll keep you all updated.

nick miller STILL likes cold world

We're in Albuquerque tonight and it's freezing cold which really pisses me off. Luckily we're not home in Nebraska where they are getting 10 inches of snow this weekend. We stayed at Aaron's grandmas last night and it was the nicest house I've ever been to. I awoke to the smell of hash browns frying. I then had a plate shoved in my face that consisted of perfectly browned hash browns, breakfast sausage, toast and fluffy scrambled eggs. If my stomach could express emotions like love, joy, and nirvana it would have with exuberant jubilee. Aaron's grandma is 71 years old and she looks like shes 35.

Everyone got Skate 2 tonight. They've been playing since about 12:30am and I would assume they will be playing until we leave Albuquerque tomorrow around 11:00am. Tour is awesome. Hercules and crew are finally not sick but the plague has spread to JVA and Nick Miller. Having a great time. Text me or call me if you have my number. This update was dumb. I just have nothing to do.

I HAD A LOT OF DOWN TIME, SO I STARTED DOING CRACK

I woke up today after a terrible night of sleeping. I laid down at 1:30, woke up at 3:00 then had this schedule the rest of the night 3-615, 630-9, 945-11:15. Every time I would wake up I would try to get my eyes to focus on any sort of light so I could tip toe my way around 10 bodies until I saw the crack of light illuminating from the bathroom door. I would sit on the toilet to pee (yes, like a girl) because my fever was over 100 degrees and the thought of standing up to pee made me sick to my stomach. I would then struggle to stand up and finally make my way back on top of my sleeping back to fall asleep to the soothing sounds of Mikey Elfers snoring like a water buffalo in heat.

I woke up today feeling good but mother nature wasn't going to let the day go smooth. We headed outside to a beautiful 65 degree day in Oklahoma City, OK. The sun was shining and we were all in high spirits. After stopping for a bite to eat we headed south down I-40 to go to Amarillo. I noticed that the sky was turning darker as we drove but I didn't think anything of it as I was busy listening to the new Harms Way record thinking about how I'm too poor to be on tour. All of a sudden we saw a black mass in the distance that looked like an inverted color marshmallow man splattered across the sky.

We decided to head towards the mass...mainly because we had to. We decided to turn on the radio for any updates or instructions from the local news station. Right when the emergency weather recording came on the air it was too late. We were in the middle of a tornado watch / severe thunderstorm that was capable of producing high winds and golfball sized hail. I only wish we could have gotten golf ball sized hail today. 

We heard a boom on the roof of our van that sounded like the winged creature himself jumping on us to pry open the top of the van and rip us out to eat our skulls. If only. The winds were raging and the rain made seeing the road in front of us impossible, especially since our windshiled wipers wouldn't turn on. The hail kept coming down harder and harder and kept growing larger and larger. We decided to head onward to try and get out of the storm since we were heading in the opposite direction of it's gnarly path. While driving we heard a loud crash mixed with broken glass. Turns out a baseball sized piece of hail smashed our windshield, knocked our GPS off of it's holder and made all of us scream like toddlers.

I was then waiting for another piece to smash the windshield so we could get pummled by rain, hail, wind and then get sweeped up and tossed a mile into a fieldby a tornado only to wake up with my legs by my head and my arms in a nearby tree. After 5 minutes of hell on I-40 in Edmond, OK the storm was finally over. It left me with a new outlook on life and the great feeling of replacing a windshield on a 1995 Chevy Mark III. Thank you mother nature. Two nights ago when an owl swooped towards our van then pulled up at the last second I thought it was a good omen...I guess I was wrong.

Tonight was by far the best show of tour. Met a lot of sweet people. Found out you can kick a crack addiction by taking 3 Five Hour Energy drinks at a time and strengthened my hatred for ciggarette smoke. Still feeling sick but things are looking up. Driving to Albuquerque tomorrow. Vic threw up after ingesting 5 vegan cupcakes, 4 vegan donuts and mushrooms (not the kind you throw on a pizza pie). Fast times. 11 guys.

DEEZ VEGAN DONUTS ARE INCWEDABLE!

Day 5 of tour. Really only day 3 if you don't feel like counting Omaha and Lincoln. We played in Grand Island on Saturday. The show was actually really awesome but everything around the show before and after fell short of being cool at all. The bands were all pretty sweet. Clean Sweep has gotten a lot tighter as a band. The new band Minkus was cool, they sounded like Latterman. We hung out with dudes who were a great mix of frat guys, hot topic dudes and nu metal bros. Think any high school bully but with black fingernail polish and an Avenged Sevenfold shirt on. We got kicked out of their house after the show so they could go to the bar. We decided to drive to Wichita.

Hung out until 7am with Vic, Tyler and Veronica, watching Planet Earth DVDs. I've been waking up really early on this tour even if I go to sleep really late at night. Hung around Wichita yesterday, visiting local sites like Keeper of the Plains. Saw a sweet statue of a troll under some grates. I guess they light him up green at night, it was a cool place. The show in Wichita was really awesome. Played with a sweet band called Polar Opposite Bear. JVA played a solid set and it made me super excited to be on tour with these guys.

Last night didn't go so well for me. The past 5 days I've been in a swarm of cigarrette smoke and cat hair. It all finally hit me last night. My throat became really soar and I started hacking up these hard crystals of mucus. My nose won't stop running and my eyes are watering all of the time. Some people ate some mushrooms last night and I spent most of the time making this really scary face at Vic. It scared him so much that at one point he had a high chair in his hands really to strike me if I came any closer. He also warned me that if the face continued it was friends off.

I went to sleep around 3:30am last night and woke up at 8:45am this morning to the loud sound of a speaker in the opposite room playing white noise every 7 seconds. Spent the first waking hour in the bathroom hacking up whatever I could out of my throat. It's 11:06 now and people are starting to wake up. I think it's time I get ready to go. I hope I can get some fucking sleep tonight.

Playing in Enid tonight, a small town in Oklahoma at a venue called The Underground. From the pictures I've seen it looks like it's mainly used for juggalo shows. Should be really interesting. Matt Vicars had 4 vegan donuts and 5 vegan cupcakes yesterday. Get ready for him to be fat when we get home.