Saturday, Nov. 13. Grand Forks, ND. The Hub Bar.

The final show of the tour was in Grand Forks, North Dakota, at the Hub Bar with good friends June Panic and his wife Amanda, who calls her band June Panic’s Wife.

It was really good to see these folks!

It also amused me to drive all the way to North Dakota for the final show of the tour. It was my first visit to the state. Happily, Gary joined us again to play the drums with me for this last show of the trip. He came with me the first six weeks, along with some other players, but I played the West Coast leg as a solo act. Good to have everybody back together in the van--which we have put 22,000 miles onto in about two months!

For some reason, I have lots of photos of Gary posing with his food during this trip. Here’s another of him enjoying the classic highway diner dinner salad, a bowl of shredded lettuce.

This was at a café in South Dakota on the way up to Grand Forks.

The kids had a great time playing the drums and tussling the next day.

We went to see an exhibit of work by Lena McGrath Welker at the University art museum. There was a young woman at the gallery dressed up in an elaborate pirate costume, having her picture taken with the art. Senior photos? We checked out the local record shop, Budget Music (or something like that), which has diversified its product to survive in recent times.

Grand Forks is almost to Canada, and it was pretty cold there. Nobody seemed to us to be dressed warmly enough, and nearly everyone we met in the town mentioned that there was a flu or cold going around. But it was to Omaha that the snow came while we were gone.

The show at the Hub Bar was a good time.

June played some of my favorite songs of his. His songs are brilliant. Amanda’s band had a lot of new songs I hadn’t heard before. They rocked. I used to play her music on my radio show back in Lincoln all the time.

Having Gary back on the drums felt great.

Here’s Bryan with one of the Hub's pitcher-sized beer mugs.

So that’s it, the tour’s over. From August 21 to Nov. 13, we drove through nearly the whole country with three our four different versions of the band. We played 63 shows and three live radio spots. Impromptu performances also took place at an artist open studio, a karaoke contest, a handful of open mic nights and a dog groomer's. Philip Gayle joined the tour for the East Coast, and lots of other live collaborations along the way with other artists like Kath Bloom, The Black Twigs, The AMA Trio, The Chiara Quartet, Low Hums. We met about a million people and saw some extremely good music. Quite a trip.

8/21 : Seattle, WA. Cafe Solstice. With AMA.
8/22: Seattle, WA. Garden party at Amy Denio's house. With AMA.
8/27 : Lincoln, NE. Clawfoot House. With Ed Gray, Ron Wax, Jeff Thompson and Angeles Cossio, and Loud Kitchen.
8/28 : Omaha, NE. Noah Sterba's House. With Ed Gray, Simon Joyner, Noah Sterba & the Cocktails.
8/30 : Omaha, NE. Bemis Center for the Arts. With Daniel Higgs, The Chiara String Quartet.
9/1 : Ames, IA. The Ames Progressive. With Ron Wax, Pennyhawk.
9/2 : Iowa City, IA. The Mill. With Ed Gray, Ron Wax.
9/3 : Dubuque, IA. Monk’s Kaffee Pub.
9/4 : Minneapolis, MN. 331 Club. With Andy Elwell, Adam Svec.
9/5 : Madison, WI. The Gates of Heaven. With Meteorade, El-Tin Fun.
9/6 : Milwaukee, WI. The Sugar Maple.
9/7 : Chicago, IL. Uncommon Ground. With Barnfires.
9/8 : Detroit, MI. Burton Theater. With Windy Weber & Hitoko Sakai, Eloine + Gabriel Beam, Black Flea.
9/9 : Columbus, OH. Spore Infoshop. With Time and Temperature, Crawfishes.
9/10 : Bloomington, IN. Bryan Park Tot Lot. With Vollmar, Normanoak, Hanz Bronze, Bobby Bils, Polaroid, Sir Deja Doog.
9/11 : Normal, IL. Never Forget Fest.
9/12 : Urbana, IL. Mike ‘n’ Molly’s. With You & Yourn, Kayla Brown.
9/13 : St. Louis, MO. Pig Slop. With Eloine, Ron Wax, Teaadora, Derrick Hart..
9/14 : Columbia, MO. The Hairhole. With Ron Wax, Heater.
9/15 : Kansas City. The Brick. With The Chiara Quartet.
9/16 : Lawrence, KS. 8th St. Taproom. With CJ Calhoun, Katlyn Conroy, Sam Billen.
9/17 : Omaha, NE. The Slowdown. With The Chiara Quartet, Noah Sterba & the Cocktails.
9/18 : Lincoln, NE. The Zoo Bar. With World History, Zoe Boekbinder.
9/19 : Fairfield, IA. Thug Estates. With Eloine, The Horror the Horror.
9/20 : Louisville, KY. Derby City Espresso. With Eloine, R. Keenan Lawler.
9/21 : Pittsburgh, PA. Helter Shelter. With Eloine, Wife Beater, Critter.
9/22 : New Haven, CT. Cafe Nine. With Kath Bloom.
9/23 : Hudson, NY. The Spotty Dog. With Kath Bloom, Bunnybrains + Eloine.
9/24 : Burlington, VT. The Radio Bean.
9/25 : Portland, ME. Mayo St. Arts. With Dan Knudsen, Jeff Platz Percussion String Trio + Junko Simons.
9/26 : Boston, MA. Whitehaus. With Kath Bloom, Glenn Jones, Jaggery.
9/27 : Brooklyn, NY. Goodbye Blue Monday. With Eloine + Philip Gayle, Mal Madrigal, Guitars.
9/28 : New York, NY. Googie’s Lounge above the Living Room. With P.G. Six, Mal Madrigal.
9/29 : Philadelphia, PA. Castle Gay. With The Snow Caps, Charlotte Littlehales, Kate Ferencz, Buffalo Stance.
9/30 : Baltimore, MD. 2640. With Rosemary Krust, Other Colors, Holy Ghost Party.
10/1 : Washington, DC. Pyramid Atlantic. With Eloine + Gary Rouzer, Rosemary Krust.
10/2 : Blacksburg, Virginia. Gillie’s. With The Black Twigs.
10/3 : Boone, NC. BeansTalk. With Eloine, Arte Povera, Andrew Weathers, Carly Taich.
10/4 : Johnson City, TN. The Acoustic Coffeehouse.
10/5 : Chapel Hill, NC. Nightlight. With Eloine + Slicnaton, Inspector 22.
10/6 : Athens, GA. Flicker Bar. With Emily Armond, Tiny Distance.
10/10 : New Orleans, LA. The Saint.
10/11 : Houston, TX. Notsuoh’s. With The Chiara Quartet, Bell Tran, Papaya.
10/13 : Austin, TX. United States Art Authority. With Christina Carter, Ralph White, Eloine + Josh Ronsen.
10/14 : Wichita, KS. Vertical Violet. With Ghostbeard, Mike Adams.
10/ 17 : Chicago, IL. Schwag City. With Eloine.
10/18 : Chicago, IL. Derp Haus. With Brune-Juice and the Jigsaws.
10/20 : Norman, OK. Opolis. With Eloine, Ex Oblivione.
10/21 : Amarillo, TX. The 806.
10/22 : Phoenix, AZ. The Dressing Room. With Hell-Kite, Michelle Blades.
10/23 : Los Angeles, CA. Human Resources. With Monstruo, Moses Campbell, So Many Wizards.
10/24 : San Francisco, CA. Amnesia.
10/25 : Davis, CA. Robot Residence.
10/26 : Oakland, CA. The Cakebread Castle. With Eloine, Dax Tran-Caffee.
10/27 : San Francisco, CA. Red and White Fleet.
10/28 : Eugene, OR. The Jazz Station. With Eloine + Sabrina Siegel.
10/29 : The Waypost. Portland, OR. With Ohioan, Hearsay and Hyperbole.
10/30 : Olympia, WA. Le Voyeur. With Autococoon, Making Love, Dan Avery.
11/1 : Seattle, WA. The Can-Can. With Low Hums, Bill Patton.
11/2 : Caldwell, ID. Scott's House. With Eloine.
11/3 : Salt Lake City, UT. The Underground. With Eloine, Diandra Ryan-Mas.
11/10 : North Platte, NE. Da Buzz.
11/13. Grand Forks, ND. The Hub. With June Panic.