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Entry One: a summary of events from July 1 through July 9, 2004

Dearest Tour Diary:

We are late in beginning the story of our travels. Right now we ride through the rolling plains of Iowa. Allow me to take you back to a previous time via typist narrative.

July 1 was the beginning of the expedition. We set out early in the morning. We continued at a rapid pace towards our first destination: Doylestown, PA. Upon arrival the fair city of D-town we were immediately introduced to the first hot dogs of our trip at a brief pre rock show cookout. The hotdogs were the best we had on the trip at that point.

When we arrived at the rock show at the Tabor Children's House, the D-town kids were upset at the lack of Ernie Kim. To prove their desire of the Potters' drummer, they proceeded to telephone Ernie and protest his absence.

Ernie had played with us the night before at the "Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock" CD release party. He supplied the core of rock. An amazing center from which the wizard rock could spiral out into the ears of the highly anxious muggles, who desire the rock just as much as the wizards. Ernie will truly be missed on this tour. It's hard to get the same energy from our "Digital Ernie." It is truly a different energy, but still a rocking energy nonetheless.

We played the Weapon for the first time. Everyone sang along. At the end of the show Paul broke his punk rock belt and it was divided up amongst the scavenger-like crowd of rocking kids.

After we rocked the rock show, we partied with the D-Town kids. Sandwiches were made. They were devoured. Corn was shucked. Hulk fists sang through the air. It was amazing.

We had a small post concert rock show in the Williams' living room. Paul produced his Silvertone guitar from the Potter Van and a few intimate moments of wizards and muggles rocking together ensued. We even gave the kids a taste of "The Bad Pixies," Paul's private plan for a Pixies cover band constituted of musicians incapable of producing the technical aspects of Pixies songs correctly, but still entirely capable of producing the full emotional and dynamic effect of the Pixies.

After the post-rock-show-rock-show, the evening was concluded with a showing of "Wizard People, Dear Reader." It was very enjoyable to watch, especially in the company of the D-town kids. If you haven't seen it already, you should definitely check it out. We're playing before they show Wizard People at the Coolidge Corner this September. Check it out on the Shows Page.

The next day, July 2, was much less rocking. We spent a few hours in the D-town Library doing library things. After all, we are a band about books.

After the library we traveled to Pittsburgh. Alex, from the band Shopping, took us up above the city and we watched fireworks shoot up from the city. We went to a Pramanti Brothers, and ordered two of their famed sandwiches. Alex advised against the combination of coleslaw and warm French fries in a sandwich. He talked of a lukewarm temperature it produced in the sandwich as a whole. I however did not mind. I said, "BRING ON THE SLAW!"
And the slaw was brought on.

We did not have any shows in Pittsburgh so we spent the next two days rocking the city in a different sort of fashion than the fashion that we use to rock libraries down. We went to a record store but did not buy any records, for if we did, they would eventually melt in our travels at they sat in our sun absorbent van. We ate lunch at the Quiet Storm where we would later witness the stunning performance of Soltero.

Soltero, also being on tour, stopped at the Quiet Storm to play a show. Tim Howard, who is Soltero, is currently touring as a solo act. Tim, Ernie, Paul, and I once played in a Christmas themed band when Eskimo Labs released its amazing Holiday Compilation, "This is Christmas."

Soltero played a short, but killer set, and by the time it was done I had turned 17. So what better way to celebrate than to go to a karaoke bar?! Paul did a poor rendition of Springsteen's Thunder Road. A valiant effort but he could not take the climatic building of vocal range that The Boss is able to trademark his songs with.

We ended the night watching police helicopters patrol the city from atop the roof of Nick Falwell, who is also in Shopping. I heard Shopping's new 7 inch while in Pittsburgh. It totally rocks.

On the day of July 4, Paul and I went to a Pittsburgh Pirates game. They have the best mascot I have ever seen. At first we were wondering why the Pirates' mascot was a chicken, but then we realized that it was not a chicken but a parrot. But this parrot was the best damn parrot in history. They were playing the Brewers, so the bird ripped a Brewers hat off of a Brewers fan. The parrot ran around with the hat and rubbed it on his bottom. Then he took a bunch of balloons and tied the hat to it and let them go into the air. WOW!

We got Super Hot Dogs at the stadium. AWESOME!
The Pirates won! KILLER!

After the baseball we attended a 4th of July party hosted by a bunch of independent Pittsburgh filmmakers. I had a tofurkey sausage. Pretty cool! It had basil and sundried tomatoes. YUMMY!

July 5 was the day to rock Centerville Ohio. We entered the Potter Van with a sense of mission that morning. The Mission was no different than before but as we tried to race the sun to the western horizon, our mission felt clearer and stronger. We were born to rock. And that afternoon we rocked Ohio! We played in this amazing outdoor amphitheatre. It was like a smaller version of the Hatch Shell in Boston.

When we played "Keeping Secrets from Me" it scared away some passers by. I guess it's a scary song. It rocks though. Maybe rock is an acquired taste. It is important to rock though, nonetheless.

Apparently in Ohio there is a lot of religious fanaticism, which encourages the boycotting of anything wizard related. EVEN WIZARD ROCK!
Whoa! Hold on! How can you discourage something like that? Rock music and proper wizardry are about fighting evil with the powers of good. What's wrong with that? Why would someone discourage the fight against evil? It is beyond me.

So, after our mission of rockage was accomplished we traveled the next day of July 6 to the city of Chicago! A city I had only previously seen in the movies and on TV shows like Perfect Strangers. Oh Balki Bartokimus!

We found ourselves eating the best hot dog of our trip so far at Huey's on the corner of Clark and Balmoral. Paul got a hot diggidity dog, Chicago Style, and I ordered a chili cheese dog. SO TASTY!

Afterwards, I went to go look at Northwestern. But we won't talk about that here. Here is where we talk about the rock.

That night we rocked down the bookstore of Women and Children First. That show was really fun to play because they had a toy piano, which provided a varied instrumentation of Wizard Chess and The Human Hosepipe. Thanks Women and Children First!

Kelsey and Meghan, who would be our lovely hosts while in Illinois, showed us an amazing pizza place with classic Chicago deep-dish pizza! Wow! It was SO GOOD!

The next we spent as a free day in Chicago hanging out in Wrigleyville and eating more Chicago hot dogs. While in the Chicago Theatre District we got gourmet popcorn! It was buttery and so very sweet. They sure know how to make the most out of their cornfields out here.

While we were on our way to the Wrigley Field, a zany lady with the energy of chipmunk Rescue Ranger enticed us to come try out their free appetizers on the opening day of the Improv Kitchen. The food was good, but the atmosphere reminded me of the part in ack to the Future Part II where Marty Mcfly goes into that café and orders a Pepsi off of a TV screen. There was a dude who came on the TV screen in front of you and asked you to order stuff and then he got other dudes in the TV to do some very corny improvisation routines. However, it was worth it to use the their bathroom and eat their food.

We must give a great shout out to the McLaren Family; Kelsey, Meghan, Bobby, Kay and Kevin. Their hospitality allowed us to be well rested and energized for the rock shows that would entice the population of Illinois. Also, they were an amazing promotional machine for us! SO GREAT!

The next day was action packed with rock and roll! We played a party and rocked beneath a gigantic water tower in the early afternoon. Everybody there came to party and they sure did party!

We rocked Rachel's house in Manteno -------------------->>>

After that we played a show at Kankakee Elks Country Club. Over a hundred people showed up to the show at this tiny building in the middle of Illinois. It was crazy!
The show was loud and rocking! We opened with "Voldemort can't stop the rock!" The crowd went absolutely bazonkers! Our set destroyed pretty much everything in its path and was so hot that it evaporated all the water out of the nearby swimming pool.

After the show, Kelsey demonstrated how Lucky Charms makes your spit turn green! AMAZING!

That brings us to today. This morning, before we left Illinois for the Great Plains of America, we got a touch up done on the Potter Van, with the help of the McLarens once again. Right now, as we ride down the highway a lightning bolt dazzles all innocent bystanders as it poses majestically on the hood of our van.

The rest of the day we have been driving… 1100 miles is too long in a car.

<<<--------
Joe pumps gas in Nebraska

Number of Shows: 5
Number of Hotdogs: 6

- Joe 07.09.04