Put your snow pants on and go, "Shoop shoop shoop shoop!" The morning began innocently enough. A light snow was falling in Ann Arbor, where we were staying with Ryan from the Fullerenes. I had enjoyed playing with the Fullerenes on a personal level, as I had known them for several years from our mutual membership on mp3.com. About two years ago I made a trip to Michigan to play a few shows with them because they were breaking up. Now they're back together and rocking harder than ever. Last night I even jumped up to an empty microphone to provide an unscheduled third part harmony to the chorus of their song "Madeleine." Good times, good times.

We mobbed Ryan's stash of breakfast bars after he went to work. Breakfast bars rock. Josh put on the dvd of the new Planet of the Apes, or as I like to call it, Marky Mark and the Monkey Bunch. Josh and I watched the whole thing. I had seen it before, but I thought that perhaps this time the ending would make some kind of logical sense. It still didn't. I fancy myself an intelligent individual and rather familiar with the conventions of cinematic storytelling. And still I cannot figure it out. The end of this movie is like one of those "It was all a bad dream" endings mixed with one of those "Was it really all a bad dream?" endings mixed with one of those "Ha ha, we fooled you" endings with a little bit of a "You need to buy the director's uncut version to know for sure whether or not you're just crazy for not understanding anything" endings. If anyone can give me a decent explanation of how in the bloody hell they can justify ending the movie that way, please write to me and fill me in. And trust me, I've thought about this a lot.

Pittsburgh is about 4 hours away from Ann Arbor. We left the house at around 3 o'clock, giving us just enough time to make our load-in at 7 o'clock. When we checked our driving directions in the van, we found out our load-in was actually supposed to be at 5 o'clock. Okay, that was problem number one. Josh called the club and talked to Linda, the woman who runs the American Music Cafe. She was very understanding and told us to get there as soon as we could and that we probably would get there in time for our set anyway.

Here's problem number two: a blizzard in Ohio. Pretty much once we got into Ohio, the snow began to get heavier and heavier until it was nearly impossible to see. The highway was unplowed and icy. The sludge between the tire ruts in the road was about four or five inches deep. I had never driven in such dangerous conditions. I could joke around and make it seem like a funny situation, but it was terrifying and I hope I never have to do it again. Changing lanes caused the van to plow through the sludge one side at a time, dragging and making a horrible shushing noise, pulling like it wanted to spin around. Luckily I was able to maintain control the whole way, but at a price--we had to drive rather slowly and I got cramps in my back and neck from the stress. After about four hours I had to trade off with Josh. The second we switched driving duties, the snow practically stopped and the roads cleared up. That was the only funny part. And it wasn't that funny.

We made sure to call the club again during the blizzard, and Linda said to just drive safely and get there whenever we could without crashing. We appreciated that immensely, and it took a little bit of pressure off of me to hurry through the ice. We made it to the club to a great cheer and huzzah from the small crowd, who had been waiting to see if we would survive the treacherous roads. There were four bands that night, and due to our tardiness we had been bumped to the last slot. When we arrived, the third band, Noticing the Mistake, were just exhausting the last of their songs. They had been extending their set to cover for us. They played one more song as I ran out to start bringing equipment inside. I missed their song, but Judah and Josh said it was very good. The other bands we had missed were the Angry Midget Conspiracy and Tommy Magik & the Wonderfulls. Luckily the guys from Tommy Magik were still there and we made sure to trade cds with them and Noticing the Mistake.

Our set was actually very good. The small crowd of perhaps fifteen people was very appreciative. Some of them even knew our songs. We played well. It was very casual and we joked around a lot. Linda made us a pizza, half pepperoni and half vegetable. There was cheese on the whole thing, though, so Lauren and Judah declined to eat the "vegetarian" side. More for me and Josh! I guess it sparked a discussion between Josh and Linda about the nature of veganism, where Linda didn't understand why someone wouldn't want to eat cheese. I just ate and ate.

Shane, the lead singer of Noticing the Mistake, had set up the show for everyone and offered us a place to sleep. We all went to Denny's with about seven or eight of Shane's friends. I ate a salad. Judah and Lauren ate some vegetarian burgers. Josh had some sherbet. It is pronounced sherbet, not sherbert. We saw Pennsylvania's current gubernatorial hopeful eating across the dining room from us. He finished his meal and hopped in his tour bus, which had his giant photo plastered across the side. We waved. He has my vote.

Shane took us about an hour away to Follansbee, West Virginia. Follansbee, West Virginia is a beautiful little town dominated by a giant metal factory where they manufacture steam in various colors and scents. We followed Shane up a winding road to his parents' house. We walked into his parents' home and woke up his girlfriend by mistake. She had decided to surprise him by showing up unannounced and sleeping in his bed. It was an awkward moment. She and Shane retired to the living room and left us the tiny bedroom. We moved some things around. Josh and I crammed on the floor, I on my air mattress and he on his sleeping bag. Judah and Lauren took Shane's bed, and we all jostled around and eventually fell asleep.

Logan