chinese broccoli

Even if you’re hopping off the tour two days early (to go see your parents, not because you are some kind of wuss), if you wake up in the same house as the whole band you are technically still on tour, and this is great. Hotlanta morning found us in the house of lovely Danielle, who we raced all the way from Athens to impose on and woke up covered in the coolest cat in town, Bruce Righteous. When he isn’t sleeping on touring bands, he chills out on his convertible.

Pete to Elisa: “Maybe your work in the Magik Markers is equivalent to a degree from Smith. (pause) They’d probably give you a degree from Hampshire.”

it’s a short walk from Cabbagetown to Ria’s Bluebird for breakfast, amid the good good part of Atlanta — viney, flowery, humid and sweet-smelling all amid a broken-downness that is perfectly suited to all this pornographic overgrowth of green. We’re all a little quiet and out of it but that doesn’t stop anyone from eating all the pancakes they can see, or taking veritable hundreds of sniffly, sentimental, last-minute “this is the effective end of tour, now that our food manager is no longer coming along with us” photos.

There is some lingering and some photo-downloading and some standing around, a lot of standing around, in the yard, and then they fucking do it, those bastards. They get in the van without me and just leave me there like some throwaway, some cast-off stray that just decreased their fuel efficiency all week and didn’t sell very much merch. Actually, no. It was really nice. I totally miss those guys. The only thing that made it okay for them to drive off like that was to spend the next day with Danielle and the next morning getting Allenn to sneak off and hang out, too, the two best things Atlanta has to offer really, besides…no, nevermind. Nothing else.

Two nights later in Brooklyn I spent the evening cooking a can of chili listening to Boss and pretending I was both in Knoxville (where the Markers were playing that night) and at Ben’s Chili Bowl (which Amy’s Organic Spicy With Tofu certainly does not replicate). HOW FUN IS IT TO TRAVEL WITH YOUR FRIENDS? So much fun. It is even more fun, let me tell you, when you don’t know everyone you set out on the road with very well, and the longer you go the better they get, and after a few days you’ve had the delight in pressing figuratively up against all this humanity, dark and light, not that dark, don’t worry, in all these super smart and funny and kind people who seem for whatever reason genuinely glad to have given up their space to share it with you. Pete, you are so funny! And it is awesome to listen to you talk on the phone to your family from the van, how much you soften and laugh. (I mean, um, you’re really tough? Is that the appropriate thing to say to a boy?) John Shaw! You are an exclamation point of gracious patience and awesome bemusement, I cannot wait to come bother you in Western Mass over a long stretch of years. Elisa, beautiful and smart and hidden and dark and girly all at the same time, I didn’t do the crossword with you nearly enough times, we have really never done anything enough times, thank you so much for bringing me on the adventure, and, like the twin towers, NEVER FORGET. Also guys? Your band is really good. I wish you were playing again tonight. Okay, jesus, this is out of hand, the internet isn’t permanent, right? I won’t be embarrassed later and this won’t be archived forever? Okay cool.

Here are some videos from Elisa’s camera of everybody’s “signature moves”:

pete’s signature move

john’s signature move

liz’s signature move

P.S. See you at the reunion BBQ.
P.S. You have to play “Maggot Brain” in the back yard, tell Kurihara.