DOOBTOUR

Dearest DOOB heads,

Hello. Is it me you’re looking for?

Whasat? Oh, photos? Well, I’m glad you asked.

Max’s photos can be found here, and Jimmy’s photos can be found here.

Mine can be found in my apartment, because analog > digallo. But I’ll let you know if digallo ever > analog in this particular instance.

Love,

Jake

Many of tales to be told!

Olah DOOB followers!

I realize its been a few days since my last blog.. my apologies. 

Day 8 Lansing!

We awoke later than we had originally planned to in good ole Milwaukee, but as soon as we did we head out to find a coffee shop, (that doesn’t sound familiar). 

Anyways we found a lil coffee spot and sat outside enjoying the morning. When we came back to the van however we found two tickets for 33 dollars each from the grand city of Milwaukee. Apparently one needs a night permit to park overnight in the residential area that we were in. After being pissed about the ticket we decided it was time to get the hell out Milwaukee! Even though all in all it was a really awesome place. We took off for lovely Lansing, Michigan. On our way we started our great ongoing battle with the mighty toll booths of Illinois, Indiana and Michigan! The price to pay for having a van and a trailer is a hefty one. 

The only really memorable thing about the drive is that we went through Chicago.  It was pretty sweet to see the city, and we would have liked to stop if things would have worked out but driving through it was enough for me. We made our way up to Lansing for the show that was at a place called Basement 414. The Basement was in an ally way and was made up of three large warehouse type rooms. The first room was a chill zone area with art work and computers and a giant board set up with all the upcoming shows. The second room was the area where bands played and the third room was for the most part a storage room. It was a really awesome place and the kids of Lansing are very lucky to have it.

The other band that was supposed to play cancelled so it was just the Ooblecks and Diabolic Octopus. But the show still wasn’t supposed to start until 9:00. So before we played we decided to eat at a bizarre sports bar called Nutshack or something like that. They had a really good spinach and artichoke dip, that I devoured. We walked back to the Basement and got ready to jam. The Ooblecks played first and I have to say it was the best show all tour so far. It was one of the first times all tour I could tell that everyone was really enjoying us, plus I felt like we were really on. The Diabolic Octopus then got up and Andy was in noodle-jam-city on his bass. Everyone had a really awesome time and then another band made up of two kids and an ipod of crazy techno beats that they made up played. They were called Anontron. They played catchy dance music with words such as dance or die or we will dance till we die. Everyone danced and had a good time as well. This guy named Andy who’s nickname was Sprout told us we could stay at his place. 

After manhandling our trailer in the ally and loading everything up we were told about a late night diner to eat at. This very strange man who was extremely nice told us it was about six blocks away and we could easily walk. A mile and a half later we had reached the diner, and met up with our new friends Sprout, Rosie and Preston. The rest of the night was much less exciting because after we got back to Sprouts, with everyone we went right to sleep. 

Day 9 Cleveland

Today was the start of our show drought. We awoke really late today and didn’t work to hard on getting out of town. I hung out with Rosie and Preston in a small patio talking about this and that. Eventually we decided it was time to leave and get some chow. They gave us some day old dumpster dived bagels from the night before and a couple cans of beans. They were extremely hospitable folks and I was certainly glad we went to Lansing. Since we did not have a show we were not in  real hurry to get to Cleveland.

We stopped at a Chipotle and I inhaled a burrito and then we went to an awesome and cheap record store called Flat Black and Circular. The drive to Cleveland was a calm one, and we definitely took our time. We stayed at a house called The Milkcrate with two of the raddest dudes in the world. Adam of Two Hand Fools and Loren of Signals Midwest. Maybe because we were all the same age, listened to same bands, were total geeks or because we had the same sort of ridiculous humor, but we all got along really well. We were up all night on the porch planning our next day in Cleveland, making fun of our NorDakooooota accents and in general having a damn good time. 

Day 10 Cleveland Part 2!

Ah Cleveland, what a wonderful time we had. We started out our day walking down to a coffee and bagel shop with Adam and Loren. Then we walked to the nearby Metro which we rode to a station downtown. This was our first adventure with public transportation on this trip, our guides were shocked to learn that Minot doesn’t really have a fantastic method of transportation. On our way to our destination we ran into a man with a shitty haircut a broken hand in a cast in a button up shirt and tie and nice slacks (with pen scribbled all over in one area of them). He tried to sell the best value deal of Indians tickets. I don’t even know all of his great salesmen tactics that he tried to use on us however they did not work, and we went on our way. 

We walked to the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, where apparently bands can get in for free if they bring in their cd. The cd’s then go into an archive, that will be opened up in a separate building one day. Pretty freaking Neat Eh!? 

I can’t even begin to describe how awesome it was seeing all of the guitars. But it was extremely sweet. Adam and I both drooled over Kurt Cobain’s guitar and Andy drooled over Jerry Garcia’s guitars, Jake drooled over the David Bowie stuff, and in general we all drooled over the whole museum. Upstairs in the museum was a special exhibit on Bruce the Boss Springsteen. I don’t know if it was because it was cold or what but when I saw his telecaster from the Born in the U.S.A. poster I got the chills. They kept coming when I saw his four track Tascam that he recorded Nebraska on in his own house. Truly the museum was wicked awesome and it was all free!

On our way out there was free Smart Water and we each got one as we made our way back into the city. There is a small walking bridge in Cleveland that points to the Browns stadium that is painted like a football field. On the cue of our guides we sprinted down the bridge slamming our bottles down on the other side in a glorious celebration of a touchdown! 

Inside the city we saw their most famous monument. A giant poster of Lebron James that takes up an entire building. We are all witnesses. (dumbest poster of all time!) We saw the Indians stadium and then got on a bus and rode down past Little Italy  where there are two known members of a mafia family living in retirement. Then we reached a small suburb downtown area, with an awesome vegan food place and the coolest toy shop of all time; Big Fun. Every toy had dreamed about playing with as a kid growing up was there, they even had a Terrordrome in the G.I. Joe section. We walked around for a while before walking to Loren’s parents house where we piled into his mom’s car and drove back to his place. We hung out for a short while before taking off to their friends Jeff and Molly’s (pronounced in Cleveland as Maaaaahlly) house. We hung out for a while where Max ran into someone he had seen on youtube. Mindblowing. In a short summary we jammed out to Good Luck, walked to a gas station got slushies, watched a bunch of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, and again had a damn good time in Cleveland, before taking off back to sleep at Loren’s. 

Day 11 Indian Head Campground

Today can be summed up really easily. We drove half way to New York and stayed a crazy campground in the middle of no-where Pennsylvania. The drive was beautiful. We had a fire at the campground. We ate beans, and the rest of our soup. I was a ninja with the samurai sword with my bandana over my face and my hood up. We went to sleep. 

Day 12 N.Y.C. part 1

Today in a small town near the campground we debated on wether or not we should continue on our journey to New York. The answer was an definite yes. We came all this way we might as well make the trek. I called up my friend Eric in Brooklyn and told him we were coming to stay for a night, and he said he’d be happy to have us. Theres not much to say about the town except that everything was overpriced there was a neat costume shop, and in general the town was on the ultra lame side of life. 

The drive wasn’t too long, but traffic getting in was. We had a ridiculous time trying to get into the city. Honking, people selling water, and flowers, detours, traffic, Tunnels that don’t take trailers, and more traffic. Eventually we got into the city and stupid Tom-Tom took us into more traffic. Jimmy had to pee really bad, Andy was driving ready to kill someone, Max was nervous as hell, Jake jaw was open in excitement and amazement, and I was ready to get the hell out of the van. 

Eventually we escaped from New York, like Snake Plisken and made it across the bridge to Brooklyn. We met Eric and his roommates at their incredibly sweet apartment on the 4th floor with access to the rooftop. We brought in our most prized posessions, wrote a note for anyone stealing anything and made ourselves at home. 

Guess what Eric and his roommates are. . Ready? They are freelance workers for independent movies and commercials. Eric is a grip lighting engineer and his roommate Brandon was a set manager. Pretty freaking cool dudes. Max, Jake and I decided to go to a show and meet Eric, who was riding his bike to the show, and we took the bus. Unfortunately, the show was 21 and up. So instead we hung out front for a while with Eric and waited for the bus back home. Bus, walk, sleep.

Day 13 Brooklyn Zoo! New York Part 2

New York, New York, its a hell of a town! We woke up bright and early. Max and Jake practically had peed their pants in excitement waiting to get Andy and myself up and moving. We packed up our van, and headed out to explore. We stopped in at a place in called Pillow City. It was a coffee and sandwich joint and when I walked in they were playing, Shimmy Shimmy Ya by O.D.B. It was the best! I had an outstanding smoothie, and a bite of Andy’s Caprese Panini. Delicious! We then began our long walking adventure through N.Y. Now to list our day!

Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge (CHECK)

Ferry to Statue of Liberty (CHECK)

See idiots taking stupid pictures (CHECK)

Lots and lots of people (CHECK)

Listen to our buddy on the megaphone heard people on and off the ferry (CHECK)

Ground Zero (CHECK)

Eat Good Pizza (CHECK)

Subway to Central Park (CHECK)

Central Park (CHECK)

Strawberry Fields (CHECK) 

Watch beast lady use brute force and other assorted dummies row boats in the pond (CHECK)

Pet beautiful and sweet Golden Retriever (CHECK)

Subway to downtown (CHECK)

Times Square (CHECK)

Lights Advertisements People (CHECK)

Subway back to Brooklyn (CHECK)

walk back a mile and a half to the van (CHECK)

Hear a black guy point and yell “WHITE PEOPLE!” everyone laughs (CHECK)

Pack up the van (CHECK)

drive to Campground outside of D.C. (CHECK)

Pass out (CHECK)

Day 14 D.C. 

Hotter than Hell! We walked around all day sweating.

Bus to the Capitol (CHECK)

Air and Space Museum (CHECK)

Washington Monument (CHECK)

World War II Monument (CHECK)

Reflecting Pool (CHECK)

Lincoln Monument (CHECK)

**Vietnam Monument (CHECK)

**still my favorite monument and the most powerful

White House (CHECK)

Hot (CHECK)

Popsicles (CHECK)

Museum of Natural History (CHECK)

Bus back to campground (CHECK)

Shower (CHECK)

Grocerry store (CHECK)

Make food (CHECK)

Swing on Swingset (CHECK)

**Play a game of Giant Chess for 2 hours (CHECK)

**Max and I beat Jake and Jimmy in game two after losing really early in the first game

SLEEP!

…but holy shit.

It is so fucking hot here.

I have been sweating non-stop since we arrived in Washington DC yesterday. It is so hot and muggy and humid. I’m going crazy. This place is definitely cool, but it is waay too hot (haha).

We played a super tight set tonight after a long break, but I have never been so drenched in my whole life.

I literally feel wet when I step outside from the humidity.

If you ever come to DC, bring shorts.

Wow.

We did New York in a day.

I don’t think I’ve ever walked more than this in one day in my whole life.

It took us a while to wake up, but we finally dragged ourselves out of bed (couches in Eric’s apartment) and went to a cool little restraunt called Pillow Street or something for breakfast. It was good. We were fueled up, so we started walking.

Our first sight-seeing objective was the Brooklyn Bridge. As we walked its length among hundreds of other people, there were periodical “stands” where guys were selling bottles of water for a buck. Usually they consisted of a cooler full of water and a chair. We had a pretty big day ahead of us, so we pretty much blasted across the bridge without stopping.

The next destination was the Statue of Liberty. We navigated down to the docks and got in line for tickets. That wait wasn’t so bad. The next was, however, about an hour. There was plenty going on around us to keep us entertained while we waited though. There were two different steel drum players and one guy with a eukalele who was somewhat clever in adlibbing a song about North Dakota for us.

Security was tight. It was very similar to an airport. After putting my belt back on, we climbed on board.

The ride out was awesome. I love boats, and cruising on the big ship was relaxing.

Once we arrived, we made our way around the statue to take the requisite photos. We also got to see some pretty comical folks from around the world.

We skipped Ellis Island because of time constraints.

After landing, we found a subway entrance. Our next landmark was Central Park, and it was a little far to walk. Navigating the subways wasn’t too bad. I kind of enjoyed the ride. The A train was wicked fast, and with small points of different color lights flying by in the darkness, I felt like I was in a Willy Wonka scene.

Central Park was pretty cool. It’s really kind of bizarre to go so suddenly from walking among skyscrapers and taxis to walking through trees. Couples rowed about in the pond in rented boats. It would have been a romantic scene if not for She-man, cruising around the lake like a crazy person, almost colliding with the other boaters. We also took a peek at Strawberry Fields, in honor of the Beetles song.

We almost called it a day at this point, but I wanted to see Times Square. I’m so glad we decided to. We weren’t there for long, but I loved every second.

Usually I hate big crowds of people and the general chaos that it brings, but Times Square was somehow different. We came up out of the subway to a night sky, but it was not dark on the street. The dazzling lights and constant motion of people moving about in all different directions was very exciting for me. I couldn’t understand what all the people were doing there, just walking around. Some sat in the middle of the street in lawn chairs; there was too much pedestrian traffic for any vehicles to drive down the street anyway. If you ever go to New York, make sure you see Times Square at night.

After Times Square, we had pretty much reached the end of our day. It was a subway ride and a mile and a half walk back to the van.

I think we pretty well used up our day to its fullest.

Well, I walked around our nation’s capital today.

Saw some old buildings.

Did a lot of walking.

It’s very hot here.

We’re in Brooklyn.

After many hours of strenuous, but masterful, driving, we are in Brooklyn.

We have driven across the United States and are now sitting in an apartment in New York City.

When in some little town whose name I forget, we sat and discussed wether we thought it was worth it.

There was some flip flopping and changing of minds, be we finally decided to go for it and now here we are.

In New York City.

So yesterday, we drove.

Then we slept in the van in a campground. Andy slept outside.

That’s it.

So I think we were all a little skeptical at Cleveland just because we didn’t have a show, but hopeful because we did have a place to stay. Turns out that’s all we needed.

The dudes we stayed with are SUPER COOL: Loren and Adam. These two dudes are probably the coolest people we’ve met so far on tour. They are our age, so they have the same sense of humor. Everyone opened up right away and we’ve pretty much been best buds since we arrived.

Today we went out and walked around Cleveland, checking shit out. We just walked around, took the metro, took some buses, saw a big Lebron James poster, Metallica music videos, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!

We got in for free because we were bands and all we had to do was give them our cd’s. Apparently they get put into some archive and eventually people will be able to listen to it. AWESOME!

We also went to a store called Super Fun or something and it was just full of awesome action figures, classic video game systems, comic books and novelty toys. There was also this really weird book called Hips…

Oh, and I peed in a forest about ten feet from a parking lot.

Then we went to K-Dawg’s house and hung around, met some other cool people and watched Tim and Eric. Max inexplicably met a person he saw in a youtube video. Hilarity.

This place rules.