Hello from the road!

We have officially begun our big fall tour. We're in the middle of a drive from Portland, Ore., to Oakland, Calif. -- almost there...

On Wednesday, we flew to Portland. Then on Thursday, we played at a really cool little venue called Mississippi Studios. It had a tiny little stage, and the audience sat in chairs and church pews that were arranged in the room. Afterwards, we ate at a burrito place, and I found a cool new jacket at the little boutique called BLUE.

I've always heard from people that Portland was supposed to be this really cool and beautiful town with really nice people, etc, etc. But every time we've ever been there, we drive straight to the venue parking lot, load in for our show, play the show, and then start driving again. So, we've never gotten to experience the town at all. This trip, we had a little bit of time to check it out, and I am starting to understand a bit of why people might like it so much. For one thing, there are a bunch of cool independently owned restaurants. And today, we played a show at a big independent record store called Music Millennium. Out east where we live, we buy CDs at Best Buys and mall CD stores and eat at chain restaurants. And then we sit in traffic to get to the next strip mall! Haha. Here, you can check out different unique places within walking distance and not get angry about all the other cars!

Yesterday, after our daytime show, we found a little park next to a river, under a bridge (haha, not very specific, I know, but I have no idea where we were). But it was beautiful there. The sun was setting, and we found a park table and played poker with pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Pumpkin seeds were supposed to be worth a dollar, and sunflower seeds were a quarter. I won a few nice hands and ate some of my winnings! Band poker is always a good time. There were some kids there who were fishing in the river for salmon. I asked them if they had caught any, but they hadn't. Later on, we heard our song on the radio -- on a station called KNRK!

So, tomorrow we're playing at a festival in Oakland called Art & Soul/Live 105 with Against Me! Should be cool to rock outside next to the Bay Bridge... Then we fly to Seattle to play a festival called Bumbershoot. After that, we fly to the other corner of the country, Miami, to begin our tour with The Used for the whole month of September into October!

Well, we're actually pulling up to our hotel here in Oakland, so I'm gonna roll out. Until next time, see ya!

Vince