Went to a diner in Wilmington right by the hotel in Wilmington, PA. Surprisingly I don’t feel hung over. I’m definitely worn out even though I actually slept. Last night was insane and I don’t think I can repeat my behavior tonight. I ate eggs and french toast at the diner for breakfast. We discussed auto-tune at breakfast and how it was never meant to be used and abused the way it is now in mainstream music. There is actually a real reason why auto-tune exists other than to make you sound like a robot. Cher used it years before the fad. Auto-tune automatically brings your vocal in tune if the notes are flat. It sounds robotic when it’s bringing the vocal into the correct range. When used correctly, one would never even know it was even applied to a vocal. Since we are not far from Philly, we arrive to the venue early. As we were driving we were reciting Peedi Crack lines. CC loves Peedi. We pull up to the First Unitarian Church where we are playing tonight. I step out and walk down the black to a coffee shop called Caffeination, where I use the internet, and reflect on yesterday. On the road, days in my memory become like a roll of film that I would never fully remember if I don’t hold them up to the light. These blogs are me literally doing just that, for myself, as much as they might bring others enjoyment. This coffee shop is too hot and the employees here insist on making smalltalk with me, which is fine, but I don’t feel like carrying it on past the weather. Normally I don’t even like to get that far but it’s human nature to talk about nothing of importance with strangers most of the time if you are to ever exchange words. In this case they are asking me if I am on tour and I answer “Yes” and of course the next question is “what is your band name?” You can imagine this is usually where it gets awkward. All I want to do is relax, drink my iced green tea, and use the net.

I manage to dodge their inquiries, finish up, and walk back down the block to see everyone greeting our friends and CC brothers, Wesley Eishold (of XO Skeletons/Coldcave) and Max. We all decide to walk a few blocks to Goodburger and shred some eats. Get back to the venue and hang out until showtime. This venue is a fully functioning church. It is sweltering everywhere except for our backstage room, which is some just a huge room with nothing in it but a piano and chairs. It is not comfortable really. I have a conversation with Max about NYC in the late 90′s and different places that we used to go to that don’t exist anymore like Tramps and Wetlands. That was an era in NY that I came up in and was very much a part of so it’s always a pleasure to talk about it with someone else who I didn’t know at the time but witnessed and went to the same places I did. So it’s time to go on and Todd walks me down. Chauncey is already out there setting up. When I walk on, the humidity feels like I can cut through it with a knife. I’m actually a little taken back by how many people are in this basement of a church, transformed into a venue. I’ve played here twice before and have never seen it this crowded. It has never been this hot in here either. The walls are sweating and this crowd is fired up, yelling at me. It’s great. Chauncey is cracking jokes with me and the two of us are taking this set to the limit. Timmy came up and ripped his verse and then we all left the stage. The crowd is amped and loud by the time Cage goes on. So much so that I could hear the crowd cheer for him from upstairs when he walks out. Philly loves to party and the people here appreciate live music so much. It’s how it’s always been since I first started playing here and always look forward to playing this city. It’s not far from home. After Cage’s set we went down to the merch table to do our usual meet and greet. Head back up and hung out with our friends, Hate Your Guts, and Chauncey told them tour stories and we took group pictures like it was middle school.