Brother!

Hey Brother,

Just got back from the beach. Well, about 4 hours ago. I'm hesitant to go to sleep because I still feel like I'm on vacation. Going to bed will be like entering reality. I just might go out to a bar. It is 11:23pm on a fucking Monday night. All I want to do is go back to the beach. Look at pictures on Facebook.

I feel like there is a lot of shit to catch up on here.

The weekend of June 4th was pretty bad-ass. My buddy Dave Mann booked a huge festival that Seamonsters played. An acoustic show at the upstairs of Dukem on U Street. There were 6 Ethiopian/Eritrean bars/venues, 125 bands, 12pm-12am, Saturday and Sunday, live fucking music. It was pretty incredible and I still remain impressed by it. He's doing another one in October over Columbus Day Weekend, and that should be pretty sweet. He's also trying to set up a South By Southwest stage, and he says he will make Seamonsters a priority, so that's pretty sweet.

He's also the reason that I was able to tend bar at Bella, the place across from the 9:30 Club. That was fun as fuck and I hope I get to do it a lot this summer and beyond. Guess I should start learning how to do that shit.

Saw that you made it half-way, fuck yeah.

Phish weekend couldn't have been better. Called in sick on Friday, drove up to Camden, NJ and had a blast there with my buddy Aaron, his friend Jesse, and Flora & Corey. Saturday and Sunday at Merriweather kicked ass. Rolled up with Garber on Saturday, drank beers and enjoyed some awesome pavilion seats thanks to Flora. They put on a great show, covered Ween's Roses Are Free which I have been wanting to hear live for a long time now. Sunday started off pretty nutty.

Plans changed last minute and I ended up grabbing Flora's pit ticket, borrowed Amber's (Ben's girlfriend) car, drove with friends Aimee and Brian to the show; drank beers and had a good time in the lot. Seeing them in the pit at Merriweather was of course amazing. Very thankful that that worked out. Hopefully you will be back in time for My Morning Jacket in the pit. Oh and I'm seeing U2 this Wednesday, no big deal.

Seeing Phish 3 days in a row feels like a throwback at this point. Very nostalgic, even though I caught on to Phish so late in the game as it is. Although there are always newcomers, or the "freshman class" as I like to call them. The crowds were pretty damn good all 3 nights. In Jersey I had to tell a couple of bros to shut the fuck up.

"If you're going to talk during the show, you should move to the back."
"Oh, are we bothering you?"
"Yeah."

Problem solved, felt great.

I've spent a lot of money over the years on Phish, foregoing other things that could obviously have been cooler, such as traveling. But it's interesting, at this point, when I'm seeing them no matter where it is, it feels like a vacation. And when I'm back at my desk or back home after a show, especially when it's a few days in a row of Phish, it's that shitty(ish) feeling that I'm kind of feeling right now, having just gotten back from the beach. Not shitty, but different, and having to face reality in the morning is not terribly exciting. Can't imagine what you will be feeling when you get back and setup work and all that shit. Probably something quite different.

The week after Phish was actually pretty awesome though. Dave Mann invited me to see Beirut. I wasn't ever planning on going to that, but I enjoy their music, it was a sold-out Black Cat show, so why the fuck not. Went to Bar Pilar pre-show, best place, enjoyed Beirut, then went to the "official Beirut after-party" that BYT was sponsoring at this pop-up club/art exhibit. It was actually pretty cool, except for most of the people. I told Dave I should tend bar at Bella and he agreed hilariously enough.

So the next night I bar-tended for the first time and enjoyed the fuck out of it. Drank for free; 4 Miller Lites as to not get drunk. Listened to 3 pretty good bands perform, made some money, mixed some drinks, had a great time. Made a little over a hundred bucks.

This blog is a little all over the place. It's Monday, 11:46pm, and I have that Sunday feeling because I didn't work today and got back from the beach around 7pm. In fact I just skimmed through the blog to check if I called today Sunday. Then I gave up because who gives a shit. I explained it all right here so now it'll make sense to one and all 4 of you who read this.

The beach weekend was incredible. Look up Cropper Road, Chincoteague Island, VA and that is where we stayed. About a 10 minute drive to the beach. A great house, great company, Ben, Amber, Wilmeth, and Risa. Feasted on crabs, ate like kings, drank like morons. Couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

I haven't destroyed gym since last Thursday, going to have to remedy that this week. Though I ran on the beach and swam for a while, which was incredible.

That pretty much sums up the past couple of weeks, I do believe. Let's talk soon.

Regards,

Brother.