after an extended stay in Detroit, we packed up and headed out for 3 more weeks.
first stop: Mahall's in Cleveland.
the pristine bowling alley in the basement made me feel like i was performing on the set of Kingpin.
i felt like, leading up to the Detroit show, we were brimming with adrenaline, and being at home for a few days depleted it a bit, so this show was off to a sluggish start. good thing we shared the night with 3 dope acts:
we hadn't performed in Detroit in months. outside of Signal Return back in february, i think this was the first Detroit show of the year?
excellent turnout. lots of friends. Prince running lights. incredible lineup. couldn't have asked for more. i didn't grab any pictures except for this blurry one at the very end.
very lucky to know the ones that we do.
GR was stressing me out, man.
where i thought we had secured a venue months before the tour, it dawned on me in early March that the person who "booked" the show, didn't actually book anything.
i reached out to some friends, and MC Friendly came to the rescue.
had it not been for him, we would have had another day off, which we needed to avoid. he got us in at The Beat Suite, a GR monthly showcase that usually focuses on producers, but this time around, it was the first "rap edition".
Mexicains Sans Frontieres, covered wall-to-wall in paintings like this. Hugo's killing the game.
this was only the second time we've played Grand Rapids, but the love was unbelievable. many, many shouts to the Young Heavy Souls crew.
home!
we were fortunate enough to get back to Detroit a few days early; doubly fortunate to perform at the opening for this year's ArtX celebration at MOCAD. if you've never been, ArtXDetroit showcases Kresge Arts fellows, past and present.
free food, excellent exhibits, familiar faces, it was a much-needed energy boost for the tour. after the show, we headed to New Dodge for Scrummage Karaoke and Eze took it upon himself to sing some Alanis Morissette.
we were closing in on coming home to Detroit, so Brent and i were feeling good. there was a local rapper on the bill, as well as a touring act. the local bowed out about 30 minutes before the show (oof)...just as Height was telling us this, Brent got a call about us performing at the ArtXDetroit opening at MOCAD on Thursday night, which kind of blew us away. we were expecting to get home a few days early, but adding a Detroit show -- ArtX no less -- had us all floating.
...and then Har-Di-Har took the stage and stole our hearts. wowowowow.
there was only two people in attendance, Rosa and Elena, and that's what's up. they said repeatedly, "i wish more people saw this", but y'know what? they saw it. that's all that matters.
we packed up, and were Detroit bound.
we were supposed to play at a bar in Lawrence, but at the last minute, it was moved into an industrial area at an art space called Studio B shared by Evan (below) and his dad.
we walked in and Mario Kart was on the tv, which was an excellent start to the night.
it was a real fun show, Lawrence was. we all agreed after that, if the same show were to happen in a bar, with the same people performing/in attendance, it wouldn't have been nearly as fun. Studio B was very relaxed, very free-flowing. Evan's band, Cool Guy Nice, covered "Baby's On Fire". we watched Ghost Dog after the show. i really enjoyed Lawrence.
thanks, Evan.
be sure to peep his band, Psychic Heat.
man.
i don't know if it was the altitude, or the drive from Montana to Colorado, but my anxiety peaked in Denver. it's difficult to explain what anxiety feels like to me. i guess it's like... imagine your body is one big rubberband ball, and each of those rubberbands is being pulled in a different direction. that unbearable internal friction takes hold of me every now and then. in the midst of it, i was struggling to find our van, and saw a man in his 60's sitting on the sidewalk with his back against a wall, furiously typing on a laptop. he was wearing a plum dress (with matching plum beret), pearl earrings and a pearl necklace. that was nice.
we were performing in the basement of a coffee house that had terribly low ceilings, which i think contributed to my anxiety bout. also, i was very sober. and, well, pot is legal in Colorado, so everyone else i was around was s t o n e d. so i feel like our vibrations were on different levels. once i realized that, the rubberband man in me subsided and i was able to enjoy myself. shit, it was the first time on the tour i freestyled, which felt great. i used to freestyle all the time, and i really want to get back into a regular routine of it. a lot of Baltimore love in the crowd. everyone was super cool, and -- fingers crossed -- that was the end of my anxiety attacks for the tour.
also, shouts to our man parker, painting this boi throughout the night:
i don't know if this is how all of Billings gets down, but people came out to drink and let loose on a Saturday night. unfortunately, one of those people was the soundman, who had been drinking since the early afternoon. Eze felt the brunt of his drunkness. here's Eze and Dan's thoughts on the show:
missoula was very pleasant. met some real cool people there (peace to Codependents!). one guy we met told us, "if you need a place to stay, i know of a place, but you have to be out early. you can't really be seen staying there."
intrigue!
after throwing down at The Ox*, we arrived at our crash spot, which was an indie movie theatre in the center of the city. real talk, i want to sleep in movie theatres more often.
*the mountain of veggie hashbrowns were unparalleled. gawddamn!
after a couple cups of coffee, i was feeling right again. thanks to Eze's boy Kingston for the hospitality and for hipping me to Rome Streetz and Moses Rockwell.
after an afternoon of raps and lounging, we headed to Olympia. Height told us in Austin we were performing with a group called Garlic Man and Chikn, and it was a pleasant surprise to find out they were both women. GM&C were so hype.
we were all feeling good after the show, until Height asked about our merch bin. said merch bin was left in Seattle during The Great Whiskey Haze of 2015. regretfully, we drove an hour out of the way and picked it up before calling it a night. oh, drinking!
