Grow a garden in your backyard

I've really not had much internet access on this tour, I'm sorry I've been distant. Oddly though the tour has been going really well. I say oddly because this is ghostings first tour which is usually rough and in general tour can be hard but especially when you're traveling in a packed vehicle with people you don't know. But things are going swimmingly and we are all in good spirits. The shows for the most part have been going well and we've made enough money to stay afloat so far so that's awesome.

To catch you up three nights ago we played in our new friend christinas living room. This is not usually weird but she lives in an apartment and it happens to be in an old school. I'm serious. The landlord lives in the auditorium and there are chalk boards in all the apartments. I know it sounds like a story you'd read in middle school but it's the truth. So weird and cool. Anyway I played some tunes that sounded great because the acoustics in the room ruled. Then we did an acoustic Ghosting set which is funny because normally we're really loud and heavy. Oddly it worked really well. We've been talkig about doing a split this winter and now we're thinking they should do their side as an acoustic part. Anyway people seemed to really dig it so it was fun. After we played a band we met the first night played. They're called leaving songs and they're good dudes and a good band. But they're loud and they didn't want to play acoustic. So at ten pm on a weeknight these guys set up a drumset and amps in an apartment living room and started playing. Of course as soon as they did the neighbors came out of their apartments. Two songs in and the landlord was there. I'm impressed it took that long. So we called it a night and just relaxed the rest of the time.

The next day we went to get breakfast and walk around indianapolis. After askig many people we determined that there was nothing exciting to do in of around the city so we headed foe Cinncinati where we were to play a bar show. We got to cincy super early so we went to the record store and hung out. I decided that I could probably find joose there finally. All of the other places we'd been were just too nice but this was not the nicest area. Sure enough they had joose and four loko which is even more ridiculous so of course I had to get it. We drank it in the car and then Tyler locked the keys in the car. Re funny thing is just the day before I said we should make a copy of the key and nobody saw a point. Luckily the front window was cracked so I was able to pop the locks. Since it was so easy we then cracked the back windows and closed the front ones. Remember this it's important. Afterwards jared and I went to white castle because he'd never been (fucking vermonters) and he bought me a fish sandwich because it was funny and I can now eat something there, albiet something terrible for you. It tastes about as good as you'd expect. I think I also burned my mouth on it and it still kind of hurts.

We then headed back to the bar to see if it had opened yet but no dice so we sat out front and talked to an aging hippy named "smoke" who told us he'd seen the cromags in Philly in 82. It's so cool to meet ex punks who now follow around ratdog selling jewelery. A bit later pam showed up to open the bar. Pam couldn't be older than 35 but had four children the oldest of which is 20. We sat around and talked to her until more people showed up. Turns out we weren't even on the bill but were allowed to open up which meant we played to the other bands. For the most part that's all anyone did. After we played we went to load the truck and realized I locked the keys in the car. Jesus. So we spent the next hour trying to pop the trunk and locks with a stick taped to a broom through the back window. We couldn't get a good angle or leverage but were so close. I then found a kid to get me a hanger but was afraid it would bend in the door so with some help from the base player of the blue letter we fashioned a hook and I hooked the keychain and fished the keys out through the window. Sweetness. It was then off to louisville but not without stopping for a road soda at the gas station where the fucked up shitty white dude told me not to sneak up on him and yelled at me the entire time I was waiting peppering his tirade with racial epithets and slurs. Awesome. Just what I wanted. I got out I there as quickly as possible and then we were off to Kentucky.

In Louisville we were to stay with an old Burlington friend of ghostings. Paul is a super sweet punk with a kind quiet boyfriend and adorable but exciteable jack russells. Scrappy, the boy, still had his balls and I saw more red rocket than I cared for over the twenty or so hours we were there.

In the morning we got coffee and talked to an eighty or so year old woman about the area. She was unphased by tattooed pierced punks. I liked that. We then headed for Asheville where my brother and soon to be sister in law live. We were headed for Orlando Florida and needed a stop over. Atlanta made more sense but my atl connections were not coming through and I liked the idea of seeing my brother. It turned out that he was getting on a plane to Europe but I decided going to see beth would be awesome anyway so we drove to Asheville and got there around eleven. It was really nice being back at beths house and hanging with someone I'm really happy to welcome to the family. I realized while talking to beth that parts of her reminded me of another person that really makes me happy which makes me smile even more. So we stayed up drinking and sharing stories and then took the dog lupe for a walk and looked at wild flowers and veggies. We went to sleep around four and this morning got up and checked out the garden. Beth and chris have such a great place that is warm and welcoming as well inspiring. By the way mustard greens are awesome. We then went to the coffee shop where chris and beth have pottery displayed and then it was off to eat a quick vegan lunch before our ten hour drive to Florida. And here we are. I hope to put up photos and update the days soon. I'm in the 80s though which is pretty fucking wild. I hope you're living loudly as well. All the best.