notes from the eastern seaboard

Despite our rather abrubt arrival and departures to most of the cities we have gone through we try to experience one local thing that the area or city is well known for. . . in Texas it was BBQ, in Memphis it was BBQ, in Chattanooga it was fireworks, in Louisville it was baseball bats and whiskey, in New York it was bagels and pizza, and in Philadelphia it was cheese steaks. After scrambling around NYC trying to find some replacement tuning hardware for my bass we stopped for some bagels in the outskirts of Brooklyn. The service was typically New York . . . i was convinced the "gentleman" behind the counter was going to kill me if I said something wrong and the "gentlewoman" at the register looked annoyed that we were trying to get bagels. Despite the apparent gruffness and thick new york accents we were served and the bagels were oustanding. "Oh", i thought. . . "so this what real bagel tastes like." Alex was so taken by the delectable bagels that he devoured two and as we pulled away lamented that he had ordered, "six, no twelve, no, a bakers dozen!!!!!" (anyone???). Our drive to DC was mostly uneventful. . .we did see Baltimore in the distance and decided that Gram Parsons had never actually been there. . . it didn't seem as beautiful as he had claimed. As we pulled into DC and saw the memorial piercing the humid sky I felt a fleeting twinge of patriotism. . . then Matt suggested that we go launch bottle rockets at the white house and we all laughed and my building sense of national pride crumbled as quickly as it arose. Actually folks. . . this tour has built a certain modicum of national pride for all of us. We live in a great country that is full of some wonderfully supportive and genuinely caring people. It is refreshing to pull into a new city and feel so welcome. Enough sappy drivel. . . lets get to the meat of this blog. That meat, folks, is the meat of Pat and Gino's in Philadelphia. . . Pat and Gino's are the mecca of cheese steak fanatics. . . they have both been around for decades and are involved in a bitter feud that has created a classic rivalary in the hearts of sandwich fanatics. . .think Red Sox Vs. Yankees, butter side up or butter side down, Montagues Vs. Capulets, werewolves Vs. vampires, Army Vs. Navy. . . the list goes on and the allegiances are generations deep. So I ask you this. . . are you a Pat's man (or woman) or a Gino's man (or woman)??? We all had both which was a big mistake. . .it was like "crossing streams" and the resulting combination was toxic. The volatile sandwich feud continued through the entirety of our digestive tracks. . . i won't go into details for the sake of everyone reading this but the following hours were not exactly fun. The show in Philly was great, however, and the venue treated us like proper rock stars. . ..nothing wrong with that. We all wished we could have explored a bit more as is usually the case. . . .next time. Boston was a like a homecoming and it was awesome to see so many family and friends out at the show. . . thank you so much for everyone that made it out. . . it was much appreciated and we look forward to playing for everyone again. . . as we drove from boston we realized that we will no longer be heading east and today we begin the homeward leg. . . . Great American Music Hall here we come. . .
justin fantasy and OTW. . . . love you all