Back on the road.

May 17, 2012
Black Tusk tour.

 It's about eleven o'clock and we're in the van, driving down a lonesome highway in Alabama. Outside our rumbling, self-contained universe, the air presses down, hard and humid. Everything is black and grey. No light, no nothing, just brief flashes of garish light as billboards swim in and out of view. We're listening to a Townes van Zandt covers record that Scott Kelly, Steve Von Till, and Wino have put together. Weeping acoustics, scratchy throats whispering a dead man's thoughts, velvety strings shimmering underneath. It's haunting, subtle, dusky music, made for lonesome nights and quiet thoughts. Nights like these really underline how far I am from home, and how alright that is by me.

Tomorrow, we carry on into Louisiana to meet up with our friends Down and haarp for a string of shows through the South. We are staying in some no name hotel in Mobile tonight, all four of us curled up in one room like stray dogs. Road dogs - it's more apt of a description than a cursory reading will reveal. Roaming the earth like hungry wolves, sticking close to our pack, relying on the kindness of our far-flung tribe to get by. It's a life built on love, and muscle, and bullheaded determination. Many others know as well as I do how hard this can be, but, it is worth the sweat and bruises and aggravation to find a place that feels like home - even if that place is a creaky old Ford van stuffed with boots and wayward sunflower seeds.

 It's good to be home.

 : BLACK TUSK
 With Down and Haarp
 5/18: Broussard, LA @ The Station
 5/19: Huntsville, AL @ Crossroads
 5/21: Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
 5/23: Little Rock, AR @ Juanita's Cantina Ballroom
 5/25: Memphis, TN @ New Daisy Theater *

*5/24-5/27 I will be in Baltimore for Maryland Death Fest, and will rejoin the tour 5/28**

 With Municipal Waste
 5/27: Wilmington, NC @ The Soapbox Laundrolounge
 5/28: Atlanta, GA @ 529 5/29: Orlando, FL @ The Social 
5/30: Pensacola, FL @ Vinyl Music Hall
 6/2: Denton, TX @ Rubber Gloves
 6/3: Oklahoma City, OK @ The Conservatory
 6/5: Tempe, AZ @ 910 Live

 With Municipal Waste and 3 Inches of Blood
 6/11: Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction
 6/12: Hollywood, CA @ The Key Club
 6/13: Oakland, CA @ Oakland Metro Operahouse
 6/15: Seattle, WA @ Neumos Crystal Ball Reading Room 
6/16: Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater
 6/21: Chicago, IL @ Reggie's Rock Club
 6/22: Columbus, OH @ Screamin' Willies

 "Orion Music + More Festival" 6/23: Atlantic City, NJ @ Bader Field

 With Municipal Waste and 3 Inches of Blood
6/24: Albany, NY @ Bogies
 6/25: Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
 6/26: New York, NY @ Santos Party House