Hamlet

Woah. So long since I've written on here. I tried in vain to post something when we were in NC, but the computer crashed and I got the infamous "blue screen of death." Nonetheless, we're hanging out in Columbus, OH right now, and I'm tempted to think this post will be successful.

In general, this tour has been pretty steady, and a whole lot of fun. We've hit all our favorite regional eateries: Cici's, Waffle House, and even the ever disgusting Chinese Buffet. Not to say that we haven't been roughing it. Meal's out are certainly the exception. As for snack food, our recent foray into the delicious realm of boiled peanuts has been an overwhelming success. How did we all go for so long without trying any? It's a southern thing, so we enjoyed them while we could. And to 'top' it off, the gang hit Cincinnati's own Skyline Chili this afternoon. Surprisingly I wasn't on board, but I totally support the dabbling in local cuisine.

Of course, there's at least a little more to tour than eating, and we've been doing our fair share of playing music as well. Lock and Key are sure to deliver the rock each night, and It's hard not to succumb to enthusiastic fist pumping and singing along.

Despite the fun, Lock and Key has had some bad luck on this trip. On the very day they were planning to leave Boston for good, they got word that their parked van had been hit. Actually, the police officer rolled up to their house and told me while I was sitting on the front porch. She was actually pretty unhelpful. In the end, it turned out that their van was totaled, and therefore unusable for the upcoming 5 week tour. Luckily, a buddy of theirs had a similar van which he offered to lend them for the trip. Well, it turned out that that van wasn't up to job, so for the past 4 weeks, Lock and Key has been touring in a Honda Civic. It's a cushy ride, but not always when filled with 4 smelly dudes. To help the dudes out, we've been hauling some of their gear and sharing the rest. Touring in a Honda is not easy, so props to Lock and Key for sticking it out.

Secondly, we also got word that Lock and Key will have to drop off several days of the tour to head home and take care of some family issues. We hate to see them go, but obviously they need to be there for people and take care of things. Tours are fun, but life goes on back home. So, everyone should totally support Lock and Key and help them out. They would totally appreciate it and they totally deserve it. It does look like we'll be able to meet up with them for a final show in Boston, which should be a great way to end tour.

OK. So I think we're heading out soon, so I'll have to condense things a little. A few days ago we found out we'll be playing the Triple Crown stage of the Boston Warped Tour. I'm especially looking forward to playing with our labelmates, and being part of such a huge event should be pretty cool. Unfortunately, we'll have to back out of our Rochester show for that day. I'm pretty bummed about that, especially since there are some great people that always come out to see us. So, I'd like to personally apologize for having to cancel. It sucks, but sometimes we just have to make tough decisions. The good thing is, Rochester isn't all that far from us, and we can come back soon to make up for it.

As for right now, it turned out that our purported show in Columbus didn't really happen after all. It's never good when shows fall through, but we at least got some good food and I do believe we have a place to stay. Tomorrow we play in Akron, which should be a good show.

Well, I guess that's about enough for now. I have been taking lots of photos along the way, so I'll try and get those up as soon as I dump them and edit them. Finally, thanks to everyone that has come out to see us, helped us out with shows and given us places to stay. We really appreciate it.

Sorry, but I almost forgot. Do you know how you can take 2 sleeping bags, unzip them, and then zip the 2 together to form one big double sleeping bag. Well, henceforth I will refer to such and creation as a "hamlet". The name comes from me misunderstanding PJ when I was half asleep. No one else in our group know of another name for such a thing, so I think this one will work. I know it doesn't come up all that often, but if you could try and use it when it does, I'd appreciate it. Well, that's it. Thanks everybody.