God Damn, do I have a drinking problem? What's wrong with me? I swear I hardly drink when I'm at home. I'm usually too busy or have to work the next day or just plain old relaxing. But out here, nearly every night I'm just lining them up and knocking them back. I should make a rule to NOT use all the drink tickets we get each night. I don't have to, just cuz they're free. Free drinks combined with long nights of waiting, plus getting to hang out with old friends I hardly get to see and new friends as well = drunk Josh. I probably should work this out on my own time rather than hash it out in front of you poor people. Disgraceful.

So I woke up on Anthony Musick's hardwood floor at about 11:00am and hurried about frantically drinking water, trying to re-hydrate myself. Anthony (Jackie Musick of of our labelmates, Roots of Orchis' older brother) left for work a few hours ago and everyone else is still asleep. Last night was a smoky one, for sure and the third story apartment smells entirely of cigarette smoke. The show at North Six was my favorite so far on this whole trip. There were only two bands including us and we got to play for a bit longer than usual which was fun. So many people from California were there, my friends Kathryn, Liz (visiting), Madrone, and Neil (NY residents) were all there. Mike Cancel of Slowdance and a bunch of kids from the Slowdance birthplace of Encinitas were there as well. California was definitely in the hizouse.

The after party took place at Mike and Anthony's hizouse and consisted of smoking, drinking (including my own consumption of 40 ounces of Old E), blaring Booty Bass, and generally good conversation. Hanging out with Kathryn is always a good time for me. I finally got to sleep at 4:00am.

So now, I am the first one up. How did that happen? Everyone else got to sleep hours before I did. Oh wait, maybe the Booty Bass kept them up. Sorry guys. I go and wake everybody so we can get started on the reportedly 6 hour drive to Williamsburg, Virginia. We stir about for awhile, some of us listen to some more DJ Assault, some keep drinking, some clean up. We say our goodbyes and roll out of NY at about 1pm and get on the freeway - sorry, tollway. A lot of people in California and the West in general don't realize that freeways are called "free ways" because they don't cost anything to drive on them. On the East Coast, there are some tollways that you pay getting on and off each exit, and in New York, there are these whopping charges for crossing bridges and taking the highway. We arrive in New Jersey about $25 poorer due to various tolls.

So the story gets boring here. Drivin, drivin, drivin and we're never ever stoppin'. I almost run a lady off the road since my reflexes are dull because I am an alcoholic in an alcoholic haze. Oooohhhhh. The drive was actually pretty nice, there are a lot of trees in New Jersey. We drove through New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC and finally Old Virginny. The place we were playing was a Cafe converted from an old house. It was very cozy and the people were very friendly.

My friend Tony who used to live in Petaluma but now resides in Richmond showed up with the guys in his band, Anco. We hung out a talked a while in the beautifully warm outdoors before the first band played. Times Ten were a really fun and loud band and reminded me of a really good 80's punk band. They played a lot of really short and fast songs and dressed kind of faux glam. Toward the end of their set, I discovered the merry-go-round in the backyard of The Meridian Coffee House and had a great time spinning in circles in the finally warm weather. I went and got Judah and Logan to show them my discovery.

The show was really fun although the Oranges never showed up. We played a guitar-based set since there was really no room for keyboards in the tiny room and everyone had a great time. We hung out with the kids at the show after we finished for about an hour and then set off to find Judah's Aunt Liz's house.

We got a little lost, but when we finally found Aunt Liz's neighborhood, we were very impressed. Colonial Williamsburg is really something, architecturally and Aunt Liz's house is pretty fantastic. We got the tour of the large two story colonial estate, passed the snarling hounds (no joke) and ended the tour in the kitchen. We made a bit of food and relaxed some before going to bed.

Josh