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Eagles Everywhere!

04/05/2022 2:15pm

Maryland. On the way to Philadelphia.

We are seeing so may bald eagles on this drive! Big groups of them perched on tall treetops, on rocks, soaring in the sky. They are so big. I guess it's nesting season.

It's a really gorgeous area.

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The Corgi Who Wouldn't Cross the Street

Washington, DC

02/05/2022

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Generally Confused

02/05/2022 10am

Ashville, NC, Downtown Inn

I asked the girl at the front desk if there was a washroom on the main floor. She looked really out of it and said "uhhhhhh...like a bathroom? A water closet?"

I said ,"oh, yeah, sorry, Canadian lingo."

She said, "Sorry, I just had a granola bar."

I didn't understand the significance of that statement.

Eli also said he asked her for salt and she seemed confused.

So maybe she was having a rough morning. I hope her day gets better.

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Weird Storm

01/05/2022

On our way to Asheville from Carrboro, NC, there was a crazy afternoon storm. It started with a heavy downpour, then it turned to hail. There were big bolts of lightning! Our vision was pretty bad for a minute as we drove through a really thick cloud of fog. Cars were pulled over on the side of the road. The sun was still peeking through the clouds, which made it feel even more bizarre, and also beautiful. Heavy, white clouds of fog collected in the valleys off to the sides of the highway. It was gorgeous. I felt amazed by this beautiful storm and it made me feel lucky to be alive in the world.

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Jesus Truck

30/04/2022 - 10:48am

White Plains, South Carolina

We just drove past a transport truck that said JESUS on the side in enormous letters. It said nothing else.

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Rainbow and Laundry

29/04/2022

We got to the motel in Atlanta around 7pm and were on a mission to do laundry. We were all running dangerously low on clean clothes. After gathering all the dirty clothes and scrounging together enough American quarters to do a few loads, Ali, Summer, Chris, and I made our way down to the first floor laundry room. To our dismay, we found just one washer and dryer. We laughed in delirious exhaustion -- we were running on 3 and a half hours of sleep.

The laundry needed to be done, there was no question about it. So we found a laundromat in a strip mall 10 mins away and headed there.

The laundromat was bustling with Atlanta locals. I thought the four of us stuck out like sore thumbs. There was a dramatic show playing on the television but I didn't catch what it was. There was a vending machine with peanut m&ms that looked like it had been there for decades.

After we started our loads of laundry, we decided to check out the rest of the little strip mall. Chris headed to the pharmacy to get allergy medication. We spotted a Value Village at the very end of the strip. It was lit up and looked open! We've been talking about wanting to go thrifting so much but we haven't had time. Our dream was coming true!

We started fast walking towards Value Village, which quickly turned into a full-on run. We only had 25 minutes before our laundry would need to be switched to the dryer and we needed to get as much shopping in as possible! We were laughing and running and squealing in excitement like little piglets.

As we approached the store, the neon "Open" sign in the window became clearer. We all saw it said "Open until 7". We were so disappointed. We peered through the big windows of the brightly lit, empty store. It looked incredible. I could tell I would have gotten so many things. With a defeated sigh, we turned back towards the laundromat.

As we walked, we came across a store called "Rainbow". The funky shoes in the window display drew us inside. We all found something cool. Ali found a red dress. Summer got some rings. I got some great rhinestone-studded platform slides and some underwear for Éléa that says "too hot", "so bad", and "danger" all over it, with a motif of flames and brass knuckles. I think she's going to love them. It will definitely make her laugh.

I need to get better at remembering to take photos for my blog posts. All I have are these two I sent to Éléa:

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Free Haircuts

29/04/2022

Today we played at Shakey Knees festival in Atlanta, Georgia. Show #3. It was nice for many reasons. One reason was that it was a beautiful sunny day and not too hot. We got to play outside to a sweet crowd who was dancing and singing along or lounging blissfully on the grass. It was also nice because we got free lunch and dinner in the artist village and the food was really good. Everyone was drinking cans of water called Liquid Death.

The highlight though was the haircutting tent in the artist village. There were a bunch of barbers/hairdressers from a shop in North Carolina called Old Crow who were giving out free haircuts to artists and staff. All of them were men except one woman who was married to one of them. Thomas, Eli, and Chris all got haircuts!

A bunch of guys were crowding around Thomas, taking photos and videos of his haircut. It was pretty crazy. He looked like a Star.

I got a beer cozy that says Old Crow. They were also giving away free hair products. We stocked up on surf spray, high shine pomade, matte extreme hold pomade, and even cologne and mustache wax for Chris.

While we were waiting for the boys to finish their haircuts Ali, Summer and I tried out some of the products on each other. We basically ended up setting up our own hairstyling station in the tent. The hairdressers seemed happy about it, having some talented hairstylists (us) join the team.

Ali was inspired by Nilufer Yanya's slicked back ponytail so I tried to do a similar look on her with the high shine pomade. It turned out nice, but I ended up doing a big messy bun instead of a pony tail. It was giving me Amy Winehouse.

Then Ali started on my hair, first spraying a bit with water, then spraying thoroughly with the surf spray to give it some texture. She sprayed and sprayed and sprayed. She scrunched and scrunched and scrunched. We were happy with where the look was going. She started adding some pomade, just vibing.

After working it for a while we realized it started getting really frizzy and we weren't sure how to tame the frizz. Nothing was working. We asked the one woman hairdresser who wasn't cutting anyone's hair at the moment if she could help us. She came over and took a look at my hair and said, "you put a lot of surf spray in here didn't you?" We laughed nervously and said, "yeah, we did put a lot. We pretty much soaked it in surf spray." She said, "yeah, there's a shit ton of surf spray in here." We showed her the bottle. A lot was gone. We were laughing.

The nice woman got to work on my hair, trying to save it. She started to take small sections and twist them with her fingers with pomade, making piecey curls. My hair was like tangled straw. She was pulling on my hair pretty hard but I didn't care. Then she took me over to the hairdryer and dried my hair with a diffuser. Once it dried more it looked pretty cool. Like a surfer I guess.

At one point we overheard one of the hairdressers say "Life's short and people enjoy it." True.

Everyone's hair looked amazing.

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Nashville

28/04/2022

Base East, Nashville, Tennessee

Basement East

Show #2

Here are some photos from the show:

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Trader Joe's Music

27/04/2022 6pm

We stopped at Trader Joe's for dinner and the songs playing in the store were strangely loud and aggressive with goofy lyrics like "I DON'T WANT TO BE ANOTHER UNSUNG MELODY", and "I DON'T EVEN LIKE YOUR FRIENDS ANYMORE" - a song about a guy who got dumped.

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Milk

27/04/2022 9:30am

We stopped at McDonald's near Dallas for bathroom and coffee. The woman at the cash asked Thomas if he wanted cream and he said "no, I'll have milk". Then she gave him a full container of milk. Like the ones kids drink. It had sonic the hedgehog on it. He said maybe he gives off a childish energy. He shared the milk with Chris.

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Cock Ring Drum Stool

27/04/2022 7am

Conversations over Best Western breakfast.

Nilufer Yanya's drummer, Ellis, has a drum stool contraption that vibrates when you hit the kick drum. Eli tried it out last night during soundcheck and Ellis was saying "can you feel your ass shaking?".

None of us have ever heard of anything like it! It seems like the sole purpose is to vibrate your ass. It's like those video game controllers that vibrate when something dramatic happens. Ali said maybe it's a performance enhancer, like a cock ring for drumming. I guess it makes the whole experience of drumming more enjoyable? I'm curious to try it. I wonder if I would orgasm.

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First Show

26/04/2022

Ada Lea's first show of tour. Antone's Nightclub in Austin.

We played a great set and the crowd was amazing. Everyone seemed so happy to be there, enjoying music. They went crazy for my harmonica solo and tambourine playing. They loved Eli's egg shaker moment. And they were saying all sorts of nice things afterwards so it felt fabulous.

Ali and I also tried a thing - screaming together at one point during Hurt. It was funny because she looked at me like "are we going to do it?", so then I just went for it but I feel like I did such a weird scream and shook my head for some reason and it felt funny. The crowd seemed to love it though. Eli said he didn't even notice the scream. I said I think I blacked out during the scream because I have no idea how it sounded. He said he thinks he blacked out too.

It's hard to practice a scream.

After we played our set, I was standing in line at the bar behind these two girls and overheard their conversation.

"Wow. That was for sure the best show I've seen in a long time."

"And I can't believe they drove all the way from Montreal!"

"I was like, 'is this boy genius? 'Cause I feel like I'm watching boy genius'."

"I only knew the last song but wow they were amazing. They're definitely going on my [inaudible] list."

I started writing down what they were saying as they were saying it and I felt a bit creepy but I knew I would forget if I didn't. And I had to share with the band because it's a pretty nice thing to overhear.

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Self-Driving Car

26/04/2022 4:30pm

On the way to Antone's Nightclub in Austin, Texas.

Me (in the back back seat, looking out the window): Woah what's up with that car? What's that big thing on top?

Eli: it might be a Google car taking pictures. Thomas: It might be one of those self-driving cars.

Eli: we actually have those in Montreal

Me: like self-driving cabs?

Eli: yeah

We're all talking, saying things like: "hmm self-driving cabs" "crazy" "what a world." Someone says, "So it's possible no one is in that car right now?"

We pull up beside the car at a red light. There are three guys in the car, one in the drivers seat, one in passengers seat, and one in the back. The passenger in the back has his window down.

Me: someone should ask that guy what's up with that car

Thomas (in drivers seat, rolls down the window): hey what's with the car?

Guy in the back of self-driving car: it's driving itself

Thomas (gestures at guy in the drivers seat and says confusedly): his hands are on the wheel --?

We have a small laugh and the light turns green.

As we are driving I start to write down what just happened. I ask Eli if it was him who first said it might be a self-driving car. I'm just trying to get the facts straight.

Eli: no, it was Thomas

Thomas (shrugs): it said "self-driving" on the side

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Tacos 4 Life

25/04/2022 12:30pm

We just stopped at a restaurant called Tacos 4 Life in Texarkana, Texas. It was a bit fucked! We are laughing our asses off in disbelief. The branding is all centred around world hunger because they provide a meal to a child in need with each meal purchased. The decor was strange and the vibe disturbing, with messages all around to suggest we are helping solve world hunger with our patronage. It seemed perverse and gave me an uneasy feeling. There were photos of Black children everywhere, most likely in Africa. The drink fountain had a sign with the Pepsi logo and beside it, "Cheers, you are a Hunger Hero". There was a huge marquis that said GIVE on one wall, a mural that said some other phrase about world hunger or giving life, and random objects on the walls around, like straw hats, croquet mallets, suitcases, and wooden objects. Everything was colourful in a way that looked like it could have been a teenage girl's bedroom, Summer said. Pink, teal, orange. There was a chandelier made of maps of the world and a massive pair of deer antlers. The antlers seemed to me to be the least cohesive element in terms of design and branding.

The employees were very nice and friendly, with thick southern accents, but because the vibe was so off, their over-friendliness almost added to the creepy, unsettling vibe. I got a seared tofu taco. The food was pretty good and everyone enjoyed it.

Before we left, we all went to the bathroom and there was a smell in the women's washroom so putrid it was nearly unbearable. We were gagging. Ali passed me perfume under the stall. That's when I notice a small piece of shit smeared on the wall of the stall. As we left, Ali told one employee, "I think there's some poo on the wall in the bathroom". She said, "oh, was it the women's washroom?", and nodded as if she knew, as if it was expected. ???!

I didn't notice, but when we got outside Eli said the employees' name tags said "Life Giver" below their name. This is when I absolutely lost it. !!!

We all had a great laugh in the car. Ali and I were nearly in tears. It felt like it could have been a scene in a horror movie or something.

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Driving in the Rain

25/04/2022 7:45am

Day 3 on the road with Ada Lea. 45 mins into the drive from Memphis to Austin

It started downpouring on the highway. Big globs of rain. It's so satisfying watching the wipers wipe away all that water and the windshield fill right back up instantly. Ali is driving. I can see her drawings on the dashboard reflected in the windshied in front of Thomas. He is in the passenger seat.

I wanted to drive but now I'm glad I'm not driving. I don't like driving in rain like this. Probably because of that time when I was a teenager, driving that tiny red truck my parents had. It was manual steering, really lightweight, AND rear-wheel drive. You really had to use your muscles to turn the wheel. Anyway, the roads were wet and I lost traction around a corner and spun myself around, a full 180 into the ditch. Not a scratch but it made me more nervous or cautious about driving in the rain.