new boots for the old ceremony

today i found one of my favourite sad bastard records with the original cover photo of the handsome gentleman singing it.
i also found a pair of used red wings that will warm my feet and vegan conscience knowing that i am recycling the sustainability of the leather.

ALL WE DO IS BBQ! / PLAYING KETCHUP (pun intended)

wow, it's been far too long. i've totally been neglicting this place, and i have come up with 3 reasons why this post is so overdue:
1. i was pretty bored for a while, and had nothing fun to post about
2. i couldn't find my camera for like a week (it was in the pocket of the jacket i wore in nyc)
3. the internet has been really slow lately, forcing me to neglect uploading photos.

a couple of weeks ago, we had another day off in new york city. the main events of this day including taping for the mtv show rock the deuce, appearing live on fuse's the sauce and playing an acoustic show at looney tunes on long island. of course we got a moment to endulge on some tasty red bamboo, as well.

view from the mtv building.


board room table graphics.


our name in lights at fuse (i got to shake hands with Luis Guzmán)


was graced by the presence of the lovely and talented stacy smallwood.


other appearances were made by katie brown (in the back), and shannon mcrae (and her new cellphone).


josh at looney tunes.


shane at looney tunes.


neil at looney tunes.


after the performance, we did a signing for all the kids that showed up. afterwards i headed off with stacy to pick up her dog raggs from nick's parents house, and stopped in to see stacy and nick's apartment briefly before having to head back to the bus in jersey.

unfortunately, a few days after our visit, looney tunes burned down in an accidental over-night fire.

we've had a few days off here and there, and rise against has taken a few weekends off for things like weddings and not competing with gigantic rage against the machine shows, so we've been doing some off day headline shows. comeback kid did the first weekend, and poison the well has joined us this weekend, along with as cities burn and alesana playing both. i think i'm really into the new as cities burn stuff. cancer bats also joined up with the tour last night, and i'm pumped to have more bro's on tour.

on one of our days off we stayed in indianapolis, where i found a mall and best buy. my collection of "heavy" / night ruining movies has grown!


i also picked up a sick pair of retro jordan kicks.


in grand rapids michigan, the venue was right across from a mall, and we decided to buy a new coleman camping grill from the sporting goods store. there have been some major pro's about having this grill around, making it a fantastic investment. not only does it prepare food in a far tastier AND healthier manor than the bus microwave, it really inspires tour fellowship. you never see anyone sitting around the microwave after the show with acoustic guitars, telling stores and taking turns nuking 99 cent burritos from 7-11.























goose's girlfriend bonnie even got use out of the box as a bed!



more 'qin' resumes in st louis.




in kansas city i finally got some flats fixed on the bikes, and took a nice night ride alone downtown. kansas city has some wicked inner city hills, both to climb and bomb. i even stumbled across some sort of state or government building, and the liberty memorial. america, fuck yeah!










food has been pretty good the last little bit. i found some real great spots in unexpected cities.

mcfosters natural kind cafe - omaha nebraska (siiiiiiiiiick hilly bike ride to get here)


main squeeze juice bar/restaurant - columbia missouri (as recommended by former columbia/mizzou resident jon kenna)


i also picked up a new project! i got this rossin italian lugged steel track frame from a friend of rennick's and plan on working on building it up while i'm home. stoked for this bike!


currently listening to:
various mixtapes.
modern life is war - midnight in america.
the weakerthans - reunion tour.
memorial - berlin.
taken - between two unseens.

ALBERTA, WOO!

okay, so sorry to everyone (katiebrown) who has been bugging me to get caught up, here i am!

i pretty much love alberta.
we spent a day in edmonton, and two in calgary, and i did a lot, and had plenty of fun!

EDMONTON.
the show was at the shaw conference center right downtown, i woke up around noon and walked a couple of blocks down to the legendary hotel macdonald (aka "the mac"). my cousin preston works as a server at the hotel restaurant, and the plan was to meet my cousin ryan and uncle tom there for lunch while preston was working. it was great catching up with everyone over a nice lunch. they all used to live in burlington, and we kind of grew up together and then didn't really see eachother for a number of years when they first moved west, so i love getting out to edmonton to visit. unfortunately my aunt anna was out of town, which was a crying shame, as she's a real firecracker, and tons of fun to hang out with. preston and ryan are twins, and they have an older brother named justin who i haven't seen since he was going to george brown a number of years back.




preston.


ryan.


after lunch, ryan and i headed down to whyte ave to do some shopping. we stopped into this one store that had a sale on where all of their sale items we an aditional 30% off if you bought more than 4 items, so i bought some nudie jeans and a fred perry jacket and polo, and ryan got a shirt, and we maximized our savings!

when i finally made it back to the venue, josh and i headed out for a peddle. there was a paved bike trail that ran from behind the venue, along side the water, over a pedestrian bridge, up the side of the hill, and around some parks. we had a killer ride...litterally the climb almost killed me, but the downhills were sweeeeeeet!





the building with the sloped white rooftop is the venue.




the show in edmonton was probably my favourite show on the whole tour! other highlights of the night included hanging out with stu ross and andy hot fun, but i decided to hang back from going out to the bar afterward and watched the OC in my bunk instead.

CALGARY.
both days in calgary were absolutely beautiful! i got up super early both days and road my bike about 7k each way downtown and ate (both days) at this great little spot called the coup. the first day i had a grilled tofu panini, and the second day i had this tofu scramble sloppy joe with miso gravy, mmmmmmmm!

a major highlight of calgary was getting to hang out with erik hoibak. everyone who knows hoibak will tell you what a natural character he is, and every thing that comes out of his mouth is pretty memorable.



i believe he is doing some sort of impression of what it's like to be a front man in hardcore, water bottle mic and all.


after the second nights show, hoibak, casey and kevin cbk and i headed downtown to tubby dogs for ridiculous veggie hot dogs.


hoibaks dog featured your usual ketchup, mustard, relish, bbq sauce, pickles, tomatos, and sauted onions, the less common saurkrut, banana peppers and corn relish, and the perhaps never before eaten on the same dog stylings of peanut butter, jelly, sprinkles, and wasabi. gross.


my dog was nowhere near as stupid, and kevin and i shared a delicious order of sweet potato fry chips.




andy hot fun also made it up to the second day in calgary, and brad gilboe happened to be in town with saosin, and jason mante with poison the well. however, getting hot dogs seemed to have priority over hanging out with them, bummer. i also picked up a sick pair of two tone green vans era's, for only $30! they only had size 11, so i'm squeezing.

hoibak quote of the day:
kevin: "so do you and your girlfriend just talk about 90's hardcore all the time"
hoibak: "nah, when i got into 90's hardcore she was into the power rangers"