Goodbye Canada, Hello Canadians! US Tour with Alexisonfire begins.

We are 4 shows into our US tour with Alexisonfire and La Dispute and so far it's been amazing. Trash Talk was not able to get back from Europe in time to start the tour with us due to the volcanic ash situation in Iceland so hopefully they meet up with us shortly. The first day was Cleveland and we were reunited with our buddies in Alexisonfire and their "a little big bigger than a sprinter van" box truck situation. We also met the La Dispute guys for the first time and everyone hit it off well. The show was great for a 1st show of tour and afterwards we drove to Toledo, OH to stay with a friend's mother who treated us like kings!

Detroit was an amazing 700+ person show at an awesome sounding venue called St Andrew's Hall. More importantly this day marked our first ever Jimmy John's sandwich experience and let me tell you, it's worth the hype. I had the Italian Night Club and then bought a JJ Gargantuan for later it was THAT good.



Buffalo was sold out at the Old Town Hall (formerly the Sphere) with over 1000 people in attendance and the venue was cool looking with a bowl shaped hall and great sound. Some of Alexis' family and friends came out which was pretty cool. Again, more importantly, we had Buffalo WINGS! Delicious charcoal smoked wings to be exact. We all enjoyed and all paid for it later. I love good regional food, it's one of the best parts of touring.

Last night was Ottobar in the lovely Baltimore, MD. It was an early show and we played at 3:30pm but it was still a good one albeit we were a little tired from the overnight drive and van sleeping. Saw some friends and then the Alexis guys came with us to Olive Garden where half of us waited for mediocre pasta and the other half went for mediocre Applebee's. I think the Applebee's crew one that battle. Not an amazing food day unfortunately, but hey, it happens.

We play the Canal Club tonight in Richmond, VA. Let's get it on!

-Brian

The Great North Country

Long time no blog! We are halfway through our Eastern Canadian tour with our new friends Kingdoms and it's been a blast so far. We've had 2 beachside bonfires, and adventure through Hopewell Rocks and snuck into a 3D movie. Good times all around. It makes traveling and touring so much more fun when you share it with good people and we couldn't be more thankful. The reception from Canadians has been amazing and more welcoming than we could have ever imagined. We've been so lucky to stay with great people who welcome us into their homes and their lives. We are in the final week of dates in Ontario, Kingdoms homeland, and it should be awesome as well. After this we head right into our full US tour with Alexisonfire, Trash Talk and La Dispute which is going to be ridiculous. Can't wait. We'll try and be better about posting more updates and videos, we've just been having too much fun to get to it! Hooks. Dece. Hooks. - Brian

Also, check out more frequent blogs from our friend and tour manager Erin Caruso here: www.erinirerin.blogspot.com She's been taking awesome photos of the whole tour and gives a detailed account of the good, the bad and the ugly.

Keepsake.

I built you a book-safe once-
A keepsake
Out of an old book I bought at a cape cod flea market.

It stuck right out in an overflowing pile of out-dated dictionaries, romance novels and war propaganda.
It was worn,
A cobalt blue.
And on it's cover was a serigraph of a gibson girl
A lace umbrella and all.
Elegant.
Her color registration slightly off,
Edges of the binding wearing down,
Torn,
Fraying.
Pages yellowed by time
It's body smelling like the earth
Smelling like history itself.
It stuck right out in that overflowing pile.

It had character-
Just like you.

I spent all night slicing into it's chest in a living room somewhere in the Fens
With eyes like a watchmaker
Gutting it.
Gluing and binding it back together again
Balsa wood and razor blades.
Working with fake horse hoof skin pealing from finger tips with tiny fish gills.
nicks,
blood,
blisters.

I loved every second I spent reincarnating that old forgotten story back into something with life.
Into a simple gift to make you smile.

Thinking back on it-
I should have sealed myself inside the damn thing.
If I had,
Maybe now I wouldn't be waiting like that book was when I found it
Sitting in some sagging warehouse on cape cod
Collecting dust in an overflowing pile of out-dated dictionaries, romance novels and war propaganda.

I could have been a keepsake.
Instead of another old,
Forgotten story.

Waiting.

Therefore I Am Loves Boobies!

Hey all! Alex here, from Therefore I Am. Just wanted to pop in and let everyone know that today is the first day of our winter tour with The Wonder Years and Man Overboard. We're stoked to be out on the road with such great dudes, and such good bands. Also, I'm excited to let everyone know we'll be working with our good friends over at Keep A Breast on this tour. We had the pleasure of meeting them this past summer on The Warped Tour, and have now teamed up with them for this month long winter jaunt across the good old US of A! If you've never heard of Keep A Breast, you can check them out here: http://www.keep-a-breast.org/ They are a non-profit organization, comprised of a great group of passionate, driven people who are working towards eradicating breast cancer by exposing young people to methods of prevention, early detection and support. They host a lot of great art events, educational programs and fundraisers all across the US. And through such events, seek to increase breast cancer awareness among young people so they are better equipped to make choices and develop habits that will benefit their well-being. So please take a minute to go check them out! We're going to be blogging over at http://www.keep-a-breast.org every week, with pictures, videos and stories of the road each week- so keep checking back!
Thanks, and be well!
Alex and TIA


Watch Brian, Chris from Therefore I Am and Sierra from VersaEmerge give a demonstration on how to perform a breast exam with Keep A Breast at Warped Tour 2009.

Coco: A Lesson in Humility, Dignity & Class

It's always inspiring to see or hear about a person you admire achieving their dreams. It makes you feel like there is a little bit of justice in the universe. In this case, Conan O'Brien got his dream job as the host of The Tonight Show.

Having been a fan of Conan for years now, it was pretty cool to see him reach such heights with his clever, albeit silly and sometimes downright retarded, brand of humor and wit. He was the funniest and most consistent late night tv host in my opinion.



As you probably know Friday marked his last night hosting The Tonight Show after only 7 months on the job. NBC's decision to bump Leno back to his original time slot had forced Conan to move his show back again or leave. Conan respectfully and graciously chose to leave.




Although the last week of The Tonight Show pulled out all the stops in making light of the situation by throwing everything they had at NBC, his final show was a 1st class lesson in humility, dignity & class as he candidly and openly spoke about the truth to the terms of his parting with NBC. I know tv feels fake and Hollywood seems like the furthest thing from reality but for a brief moment Conan let his guard down completely and even choked up in telling the audience how grateful he is of everything he has and even for his brief stint at his dream job. He was vulnerable and human.

It would have been easy for Conan to take the low road, it's almost expected nowadays. Trash NBC, whore himself out to every news rag possible and cry about how unfair his situation is. The fact that he remained positive and then nailed the issue with a dose of class in his last tv appearance as host of The Tonight Show is something I believe should be highlighted. Take notes.

Although none of us will ever walk away from a job with 45 million dollars, you can still take something away from Conan and company.

"Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it's my least favorite quality. It doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get, but if you work really hard, and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you, amazing things will happen." -Conan O'Brien

Bravo Conan, bravo. I will follow you wherever you go from here.

Stay +

-Brian

Beyond the bend-

only the good die young.