Trying to be brave

Hey everyone,
I realized it's been awhile since I told you all what I've been up to... and telling the same story every time I see each one of you could get tiring!

To make a long story short I'm taking a break from shows for awhile. Things have been stressful and I'm trying to focus on some other projects right now. Activism and education have always been the top priority so I'm putting all other things aside until I can be satisfied with the contribution I'm making. I will be playing a small amount of shows but one of them is a benefit for the AETA 4 (learn more about their case here: www.myspace.com/aeta4) and the other isn't until the anarchist bookfair next Fall in Victoria, BC. There has been some discussion about a small bike tour up the west coast with xTRUE NATUREx but we're not exatly sure how that's going to pan out. Plus, after the 2 month tour I feel that playing anywhere in the U.S. would be excessive right now.

On a more personal note I have been having a lot of anxiety and isolation issues. Trying to adjust back to life in Santa Barbara after being gone for over 8 months has been difficult and it's strange not to be in a new city everyday. I was so desperately needing time alone on this last tour but now that I have that it all feels so unnatural. I'm sure it's something that I'll get used to, but I'm debating whether I just want to pack up my things and disappear for awhile.

Just trying to stay positive and struggling to keep my life together. If I have to go it alone I will... though it would be nice to have some friends along!

in solidarity,
mike xvx

Tour Journal # 7 (final)

Portland
Arcata
Reno

Too much time has passed without me consistently keeping up with this blog, so I feel it would be an injustice to the memory if I were to try and capture it when it's not fresh in my mind. All I can say is that one of my favorite things about touring is getting to see these amazingly talented people perform and just feeling completely overwhelmed (in a good way) by their creativity and passion. It's been really hard to adjust back to a somewhat sedentary lifestyle, but hopefully it won't be for too long. this has honestly been the BEST tour I've ever been on in terms of turnouts, how much literature was passed out, merch sold, high fives had, sing alongs etc. here's a brief summary of the trip:
we've traveled: 12,000 miles in 2 months
we've seen: 37 states
I got sick 3 times on this tour
gave out an unspeakable amount of literature (awesome!!)
only received one speeding ticket and encountered no major problems*

*aside from us having to pay $500 for an alignment, new wheels and extra work on the car. bummer.

thanks again to zombiejenn for being an AWESOME travel partner and taking amazing photos, thanks to everyone who gave us a place to play, let us crash on their floor, came to shows, took a bunch of literature, bought merch, brought us food, gave compliments and constructive criticism, sang along, asked for hugs, high fived

no thanks to drug dealers, beligerent drunks, flaky people, crooked mechanics, people thinking the show is their own personal dating service and the guy who offered jenn crack and a date on his motorcycle

ESPECIALLY no thanks to: Cops, God, the guy who sold crack at my show in montana and the kid in the truck who tried to run me over in Portland.

and of course thank you for taking the time to read this. I'm going to be taking a brief hiatus from shows and be working on some projects I've deemed to be more important for the time being. hope to see you all soon, and GO VEGAN!

-l-
Mike XVX

Tour Journal # 6

New Haven
Wakefield
Chicago
Kansas City
Salt Lake City
Missoula


I haven't updated this blog in nearly a month but i've put this up as a reminder that i have to sit down and write it all out soon. hope you're all doing well my friends, take care.

love
mike xvx

p.s. a guy was dealing crack at my show last night. strangest evening of my life!

Tour Journal #5

greensboro
richmond
hamilton

our friend lyle set me up a house show last night in greensboro, nc and even though there were only about 10 people the hangout-age was intense! we played with some sassy kitties, ate delicious chili (though they were baked beans everyone kept saying "chili". i dont know why.) and played a rowdy game of what we refer to on the west coast as "brooklyn edge break". (and NO i did NOT BREAK EDGE so keep that shit off the bridge nine page or whatever) it's basically a mix of Taboo, Sharades, and Password but there were some awesome phrases like "awkward warts" and "keanu reeves" (mine!).

richmond, va was a beautiful, friendly and welcoming place. Alison Self ( www.myspace.com/alison ) set me up this amazing show in a clothing store called Rumors. all four people who play were super good; Wrist Rocket, Trouble! and of course Alison. the turnout was amazing, i managed to make enough donations to make up for all the days i had no shows and an awesome womyn named Desi made me the BEST vegan gluten free cookies and a brownie i have ever had!! all i can say is: WOW! the show it's up for consideration for best show of the tour. we had the next day off and Alison took us to all these old civil war buildings on Belle Isle and it was a fascinating, beautiful and hilarious experience. i climbed down this sketchy latter into a pit that we only started referring to as HELL and found a charred nutcracker that was super creepy looking. then we went on a walk on the rocks through the frozen river where alison, adrian and I started an epic war against the ice where we heaved boulders and logs as hard as we could to try and crack it. sadly it was a battle we couldn't win, and we had to count our losses and continue on.

we spent all of 30 minutes in Hamilton, NJ. let me just give you a brief explanation of what jenn and i have both dubbed: the worst day of our lives. it started out in Richmond when we took the car in to get a flat tire patched and the headlight repaired. what was supposed to take an hour turned into 3, and after they claimed they couldn't patch it and we'd need a whole new tire they brought us out a bill that was nearly $900 claiming that we "couldn't go on driving for even a month with all these problems" which was fucking bullshit because jenn had it serviced by a friend of hers before we left. so we let them know that they were fucking liars and to just get our shit done so we could leave. once we got all the bullshit out of the way we ended up getting 2 new tires because the other was worn and we had the basic alignment done it came out to almost $500. (seriously so much money to spend on something that you do not care about, jenn's tires are really expensive for her car because of the way they're shaped.) so as we were leaving we noticed that the glove box had been unlocked, which contained the hundreds of dollars we had stashed away for food. needless to say we were furious, but i let Jenn handle all the yelling because she has much more sass then me. nothing was missing but i can tell you we were a little flustered. then we hit insane post-inaugaration traffic going through D.C. which added another couple hours to our trip up to Hamilton and made us about 2 1/2 hours late. we showed up at the house and the last two bands were setting up, only with a problem that we only had 30 minutes to finish the rest of the show because of the noise ordinance and an angry father. i played 3 songs in the corner, traded 2 cd's for a switchblade with some kid, gave a couple hugs and then left. so hectic!

as you can imagine we were a little stressed so we drove farther up north after the show instead of staying in town. we are in lovely Stamford, CT and in a few minutes i'm going to get up and go for a walk in this pristine snow covered park about 2 blocks from here.

tour has been pretty off the wall the last 2 days, though being around animals and spending time with some beautiful trees and rivers has helped deal with the stress of riding in a car 6 hours of the day. i miss southern california but i'm excited to be in places i've never been before. we drove through new york last night and it was just a reminder of how fucked civilization really is and how we just accept the mental damage and emotional suppression it enforces.
anyways, i hope you're all well and hopefully be seeing you soon.

damn right that's how we pay the rent (hell yeah),
mike xvx

Tour Journal #4

Gainesville
Tampa
Henegar
Lawrenceville
Asheville

Gainesville, FL was super fun. I played at the Civic Media Center with Chelsea Carnes (Dirty Fist! is her other band, you should really check them out!) and Chris Clavin (sweet dude from ghost mice). and afterward we had a raucous game of apples to apples with everyone at the house and slept on some bunk beds in chris' kitchen. the next day we went out with our friend Paul to see some of the local gators and it was so rad! i've never seen alligators in the wild before, and although they only feed at night and they're mostly stationary during the day it was still awesome. there was also a flock of about 500 birds out in the woods. later in the day jenn and I went and ate some awesome vegan jamaican food at Reggae Shack. if you're ever in gainesville i highly suggest eating there, but don't get anything jerked because it will destroy your stomach!

Tampa, FL was the show at the organic farm. although i didn't play and it was super rowdy i still got to see some good people.. even if for a brief moment (you know who you are!). there was a huge and filthy organic farm kitty that jumped up on the table and started eating the stir fry right out of the pan. so funny!

Henegar, AL was a small and strange place but the kids there were super nice. i played in my friend Josh's (everyday action) bedroom for about 15 kids. when we were driving out on these crazy backroads all i could think was "man, this is 'Bama"... but for some reason everytime i thought those words it would narrate in my head with a southern accent. it's kinda like when i read sometimes and if the book is unintresting my brain will start narrating for me... but for some reason it's always a British accent... that has no relevance to this story, i'm sorry!

Lawrenceville, GA was the show at Ragewood: a small house in the suburbs of Atlanta. It was the first show for the house and it went off really well. there was a good amount of people and they were all super friendly and respectful. The Ragewood kids were really supportive and accomadating and made our stay in Georgia probably one of the best of this tour. thanks again to everyone at Ragewood for an awesome time.
side note: i went against my better judgement and played Going to Georgia by the Mountain Goats acapella that night and i felt like a huge nerd.

Asheville, NC was a showcase and benefit for a venue located at 69 Gay st. there were 15 bands on the bill, tons of alcohol and FREEZING cold weather. i went on third and i actually had to play through the PA so everyone could hear me. it sounded like shit, it was super awkward, i was sick and yet i still had a really good time. everyone we met was incredibly nice and even though it was a benefit for the showspace the promoter kicked me down some money for gas which was rad. we also ate at this (mostly) vegan restaurant called Rosetta and had some french fries with Fancy sauce (aka veganaise mixed ketchup haha).

mr. wizard

i know it's been awhile since i've updated and i apologize. we've been busy and i haven't found the time to sit down and think for more than a few minutes at a time. there have been some awesome pictures and video footage taken though i can assure you. take care my friends and hopefully see you soon.

puppies are the only thing worth living for,
mike xvx

Tour Journal #3

austin
houston
new orleans

we stopped at our friend suzie's house in austin for a show in her backyard. thankfully for the first time on this trip the weather was warm enough to wear t-shirts at night. it was hot, humid and altogether beautiful. the moon was almost full and there were leaves all over the ground. Aaron Goldman and his dinosaur played an awesome set and it was nice to spend time around such sweet people. after the show we went out to a place called Toy Joy and ate some vegan soft serve. not amazing mind you, but definitely worth getting! the toy store was incredibly overwhelming though.... sooo many kichy toys to buy, put in your house, and never get rid of! but they did have a pretty sweet pikachu mask (jenn wouldn't let me get it). ehhh, alas!

next was the show at sedition in houston. i've always really liked sedition and although the crowd was small due to another show and an emergency protest, there were some really awesome kids that showed a lot of interest in SHAC. i'm always psyched to give out new literature to people so that really made my night. drank a free Jarritos and then stayed at Lara's house and watched a rowdy game of spoons (so funny!).

i've never stopped in New Orleans before but i have to say it's pretty amazing here. the first thing we did when we got into town was stop at one of the old graveyards and took photos for a good 45 minutes. it was cloudy and cold but way too exciting of an opportunity to pass up. we even got photos of the voodoo queen's grave! (proof coming soon) delicious food at the vegan potluck and some really talented and friendly people. Blair Gimma, The Straight Shooters, and Alana all played really well. i love going on tour and playing with such talented and diverse people. afterwards Derek from the straight shooters invited us to sleep at his punk as fuck warehouse in the french quarter. we played scrabble in the kitchen for a good 2 hours, played with the kitties and tried our best to not freeze to death. i'm still wearing gloves and a snow jacket as i type this!

(1 of 3 floors in the warehouse)

(kitty!)

so far the tour has gone off without car break-ins, drunken out of control parties, major arguments, or car accidents... but then again i probably just jynxed it. fuck.

for future scrabble reference; HEW is not a word!,
mike xvx

Tour Journal #2

Albuquerque, nm -

the show at the gold house was super fun. the livingroom was packed wall to wall with people and although there was a group having their own little private party in the corner it didn't get in the way of the awesomeness. Father of the Flood put on an amazing performance (video up soon), as so did Me You Like I and Just Before the War with the Eskimos. It was nice to spend time with some awesome people in a comfortable, welcoming place. as far as the award for best show of this tour goes, Albuquerque is going to be hard to beat.

Roswell, nm -

I didn't have a show here, but we of course had to go to what else? oh you know, the world famous UFO MUSEUM AND RESEARCH CENTER! I had heard mixed reviews about it from people in Albuquerque.. but now I know in my heart that they're all idiots (haha just kidding) because it was the fuckin' raddest place I've ever been. All kinds of awesome exhibits, newspaper articles, documentaries and diaramas of the UFO crash just outside of Roswell. We got to look through a whole series of pictures taken all over the world of UFO sightings and phenomena, and I had a pretty long conversation with an elderly womyn about how we were sure that none of it could be a hoax(jenn had a good laugh at us by the way). anyways, pictures coming soon! I saved my sticker badge so you all can check it out later.

don't stop believing(a ufo reference, not so much journey),
Mike XVX