Stand Up, Fight Back (Euro tour with xTrue Naturex): Dijon, France / Luxembourg

"even I, as sick as I am, would never be you" -Morrissey

yesterday we drove south to Dijon for the Oi Polloi show and the temperature dropped incredibly. I thought for sure it would get warmer as we headed down, but it was probably a higher elevation. It was by far the coldest I've been on this trip, and probably in my life as well. 3 jackets, thermals, 2 pairs of socks, a scarf, and my hood up and I was still so cold I had to pace around the room. It was even freezing inside the venue! Got to hang out with Oi Polloi a bit though which was awesome... they were probably some of the nicest guys we've met on this trip! The show didn't start till 10 so by the time Keegan was done playing it was almost midnight. Stayed with some friends and their incredibly rambunctious dog who kept trying to eat everything we had. I had to fight him this morning to keep him away from my sleepingbag!

Today we drove north once again for our show in Luxembourg. Delicious food was had, and a lot of running back and forth from the car to keep ourselves from freezing to death. During my set though some people were very upset and offended by a line in my song 'cages'... at the end of the chorus the line is "genocide for the new third reich: FUCK YOU HLS".. so after spending a few minutes arguing (and me expecting to get punched in the face) we had a discussion about comparing animal suffering and murder to the holocaust. I apologized immensely, and said that no one had ever had a problem with that before.. and even in the states we use that comparison a lot in the animal rights community. They accepted my apology, we hung out and now I feel things are ok. It seems like it's only within a group of anarchists where you can be screaming in someones face one moment and then feeding them, giving them a place to sleep and buying their CD's the next. I'm very thankful for that though.

Super sick right now. Apparently my face has been red all day, and even though it's -3 degrees outside I still feel hot and feverish. Hopefully get to sleep in a bit longer tomorrow though; and we have a shorter drive so that should help as well.

for love and liberation,
mike xvx