Dispatch from the Mid Atlantic

I’m not Catholic, I’m not even Christian, but I really like churches. Well, I like Cathedrals and enjoy the smaller worship houses in that same style. I find them very peaceful and a good place to meditate. When I got to perform at The First Unitarian Church a couple of years ago it was not only the first time I’d been back in that building since “the incident” in ninety nine but it was my introduction to the chapel room. I immediately felt comfortable in that space and decided in that moment that I wanted to play a show there. I tried to set that up when my book came out last year but there was some miscommunication and I ended up playing in room off to the side of the chapel. That was a cool space for a show but not what I had in mind. This trip, I finally got to perform in the chapel proper and I made the mistake of wearing a black blazer which made me look like a Satanic priest. It was definitely a look.

I think Jerzy worked it better.

In Toms River I met a guy who thanked me for all the sex he’d had to songs I’d written. It was an odd compliment but a compliment none the less. In Cape May I played in a cabin like beach house overlooking the water. The seagulls sang almost as loud as I did and the mayor came to the show. That was a first.

One of the reasons I set up this trip in the first place was to do a “book talk” at the MLK library in DC. Due to some recent and sudden funding cuts (guess by who) the show almost got cancelled. But I’m not gonna miss out on the DC Punk Archives so we went ahead with the show anyway.

Lots of good questions during the Q&A, sorry if my answers were long winded.

Got to visit the Dischord House and hang out with Ian Mackaye (see previous post) and had my mind blown.

Ellicott City, MD was a surprise sellout and the host spelled my name out in balloons.

Baltimore and Harrisburg were in cool loft spaces whereas Wilmington, DE was in a print shop. Now that I think about it I didn’t play very many actual “houses” on this living room tour.

The Player Agency in South Orange, NJ is Jesse from Motion City Soundtrack’s boardgames shop. About a hundred people showed up at the community center that houses it and watched me tell sing and tell stories.

I always tell people that these shows are just the adult version of the basement shows you used to go to back in the day. It’s the same sense of community and there’s no real barrier between us. It’s something that I really enjoy doing.

Unfortunately, that’s going to be the last round of these for a while. I’m off to do the international legs of the STWHA tour and that’s gonna probably take up the rest of my year. The next time I do a solo tour it will probably be with a band to promote the new record. That’ll be fun in a different way.

Thank you to everyone who came out to all the house shows that I’ve done over the last year and half. It was a really fun way to promote the book. I really hope that I can do it again when the next book comes out. See you then.