Fall tour 2024 with mold gold part 4

Our fifth stop was Milwaukee. I slept a large portion of the drive because I stayed up so late. We got to Milwaukee at about 7. Dropped our stuff off at the venue, and walked to get samosas.

the show was very sweet. Our friend Caley Conway(who released an amazing album somewhat recently) set us up with the venue. It was an old funeral home that was HUGE that had been turned into a house. It felt like a Masonic hall. The ages of everyone there was pretty spread out, a few old head types and some teenagers.

everyone at the show was super hospitable and had really kind things to say, that night we slept in a nice house and I got my own room(again!).

the next morning the dog at the house scared me so much. She was baring her teeth and for a minute I thought welp tour is over I’m gonna lose my hand, but mere was able to calm the dog down.

we drove to Chicago kind of early and spent the day bopping around. First we went to El Faro in little village, one of the best places ever. My friend Sammantha and I would go there anytime I visited her in Chicago before she moved. I got tacos.

after that went to the Mexican American museum of art. It was my second time there. This time they had a día de Los muertos exhibit filled with the tiny sugar skulls. So many skulls. I want your skull.

after that we went to a coffee shop in Bridgeport, dropped our things off at the book store we were playing that night, and took the cta to the loop. We bounced through the downtown library, then after I scrambled to find a bathroom, we went on a search to find lower whacker.

lower whacker is fucking tight. I went in 2020 with my friends Macklin and Pat on one of Macklin’s greatest hits of Chicago guided tours.

we weren’t able to find the tunnels, eventually my friend Alissa sent me a link to the entrance but we were way too far away. So we jetted back to Bridgeport.

we got to the bookstore a bit early, and used that time to practice. An hour later, Alissa showed up(the first one there!) then max and his mom showed up with the PA. After a few more people showed up Max played a great set on a twelve string (11 string cuz also was missing a g string). He played songs by his band National Photo Committee , and a couple of covers(Neil Young and Squeeze!). Then I played, then Mere(who was incredible all of tour by the way), and then Lula Asplund played. She was playing a bass synth with heavy release that was throwing insane oscillations into the air. I’ve never quite experienced an ambient or noise set like it before. She sang with this really deranged voice through tons of reverb. Straight up evil sounding.

after the show, we went to Ricobene’s and got pan pizza(it was good, it hurt). Then went to max’s where we stayed up so late kicking it. Max told us a story about pepper spraying a patio of people in Utah on accident.

the next morning we booked back over to Logan square and hung out with Alissa for a while at her spot, she then took us to a a brunch spot which I forget the name but it was delicious.

on the way back to Alissa’s place I missed a call from my dad. I called him back when we got to the apartment. He had bad news, my sister had been diagnosed with colon cancer. This pretty much rocked my mood for the rest of the day.

when we got back to Indianapolis we had a ton of time to kill so we went to a kava bar(or really it’s a delta 9 dab bar(which like just legalize weed dude this is getting ridiculous). It was too heady even for me. Afterwards we went to a bookstore and mere whipped my ass at chess a couple of times in a row.

we played at state street pup, I love Indianapolis and at this point it feels like a home away from home. Big Susie set up the show, scooter was the bartender, Judah was the first I think to get there. Being with these homies seriously helped with the hellscape that was my mind that day.

a new friend of mine Ari asked to play bongos for my set because he’s 20 and it was at a bar. This guy is a champion, he agreed to do everything I said, so me, Susie, and Rachel devised a series of bits for Ari to perform for everyone during my set. He modeled mere and I’s shirts for everyone, then he shot gunned a lacroix. Asides from the antics he laid it DOWN on the bongos. I started to feel like maybe I was going too far, then I saw mere laughing and was like “okay this isn’t that bad”. The last set of tour at this show was by Avian Roads, who played guitar like I have never seen before. He was plucking the strings between his left hand and the head stock. I’ve never even considered doing that.

after the show, mere and I got to Susie’s place and kicked it with Susie, Judah, and Rachel until it was time to sleep, mere and I fell asleep in the living room watching True Stories(and I got my own air mattress!).

the next morning we went to a diner two blocks away that is just so good, I got country fried steak like the good ol boy I am. The drive back was melancholy since tour was over and I was sitting with news with my sister(which me and my family are feeling much more positive about everything since my sister started chemo).

driving back into St. Louis, you see the arch from miles away. It’s always a welcome home sign. There’s a sense of relief when you see the arch and you know you’re only 20 minutes from home.