Cincinnati
Yesterday, our day off, was spent mainly on the bus. A fourteen hour drive from the Island, through torrential rains. When we arrived at Cincinnati’s venerable Vernon Manor we took to our rooms (and the bar) and hunkered down for the night for a much needed day off….the disease continues to creep among us, searching for its next prey.

I woke this morning with my four day headache more intense than ever. This disease can’t seem to decide where it wants to sit. It migrates hourly from my neck to temples to sinuses, occasionally stopping by the stomach and always in my lungs. It looks like it has got its hooks into Bobbie, our driver…the one we can least afford to be sick.

The gig tonight was at the 20th Century Theater. We have played here once before and had a very good show. Tonight was not so good. We had a lot of trouble with the sound on stage and didn’t seem to have the strength to overcome it. It was a disturbingly small crowd tonight, but very enthusiastic.

Madison
Ryan is today’s victim of the “bus plague”. A very grey, cold day in Madison and a busy one. Margo and I had a very extensive interview about Trinity Revisited with an AP stringer and then we headed over to the local NPR station to do a syndicated show called “Best Of Our Knowledge” (look for in it the next couple of weeks if you are an NPR-junkie). Another not so great gig tonight. A very cool little theater and, once a gain, a very slight crowd that more than compensated for their size, but illness, exhaustion, age, all sorts of excuses came into play and we couldn’t get the job done. There is nothing worse than being on tour and having a run of a few bad shows. Kind of what it must feel like to be a Miami Dolphin these days….we ain’t never gonna win.

Milwaukee
A beautiful, bright, cold day in Milwaukee. The Plague has claimed another victim, Jeff. Meanwhile my headache has finally disappeared and despite the fact that my head and lungs remain clogged, I feel great. I took advantage of our early arrival, and my new found health, to wander down to the waterfront to take a look at the Milwaukee Art Museum which, a few years ago, had a spectacular addition designed for it by Santiago Calatrava. There was also an inspiring exhibit by Mexican born, outsider-artist Martin Ramirez. A very well spent couple of hours.

The venue tonight was a new one for us, Turner Hall: a very, funky old vaudeville hall that has been left languishing for many years. They are in the process of refurbishing it but I hope that they don’t fix it up too much. There is something exotic and comforting about its faded beauty. We were treated very well by the promoter and the crew. We had a decent show tonight, not great, but decent…and not a bad sized crowd as well…let’s call this one a tie.

Des Moines
As odd as it may seem, we always enjoy coming to this town. There is something sci-fi about it, in an invasion-of-the-body-snatchers kind of way. But more importantly, the audiences are always great. The Plague continues to creep…Jared being its latest victim. I headed out to the mega-mall on the edge of town to do a bit of Christmas shopping with my mighty Canadian dollars.

We had a great gig tonight: a very nicely laid out room and an excellent crowd who were there to listen. Lots of self-indulgent psychedelic noodling. We had a blast. After tonight we feel a little like the New England Patriots…unbeatable.

Columbia
Ending a five night run at a venue like The Blue Note is not exactly ideal. Last night they had an Ultimate Fighting event in this place, say no more, this place is a dump. Coupled with the inappropriate venue was the fact that the #1 Missouri Tigers (the University of Missouri football team which is located in Columbia) were playing for a conference title tonight, a very big deal in this small town. The end result was a very small turnout, but what they lacked in numbers they made up in enthusiasm. Margo has never been able to completely shake The Plague and it all but claimed her voice tonight, but despite all the negatives we had a pretty good show.

Tonight we make the very long 850 mile journey home. We will hopefully be there in time for dinner tomorrow. The holiday season is upon us so the next couple of months we’ll be off the road, which at this point will be a welcome break. I hope to do some writing in the coming couple of months so if all goes well we’ll have some new songs when we hit the road early next year. In the meantime, be safe and look after those around you. See you soon.