Sunday, Oct. 4. Johnson City, TN. The Acoustic Coffeehouse.

Johnson City, Tennessee, was an intense experience. Our explorations led us to a head shop where the owner was listening to Glenn Beck, a coffee shop where the owner was born in Vienna, a well-painted record shop where the guy working had an improv release on the same Dictaphonia series as Bryan, and to one very earnest hot dog restaurant.

Chupacabra!

We also got into a minor fender bender with a man with a hook for a hand and few teeth, discovered a Johnson City-made soda called Dr. Enuf, ate Cheerwine cake, drove down an incredibly sketchy road called Lovers Lane, ate country ham at a Waffle House, and watched some out-there local religious television (quote from TV preacher urging congregants to “vote the Bible”: “The loss of our freedom is slow, like the boilin’ of a frog.”) We played a show at a place called The Acoustic Coffee House.

Like Derby City Espresso, the place reminded me of the coffee shop I where I first started performing when I was 17, The Magic Bean in Springfield, MO. The people there were very nice, and after our show some guys appeared and started to play some old timey music, and everybody started dancing.