more stuff that happened.

in texas there are these birds called grackles. they're actually apparently an invasive species, but they make the most beautiful sounds and fluff up their feathers if you get close to them.

a few more mishaps: kyle got in a car accident, nothing serious- just a screwed up front bumper. emily broke her trumpet, but she got a shiny new red one, like an apple. mike lawless has been sick but now he's feeling better, only now wendy is sick. mike everett got food poisoning so bad that he had to go to a hospital in houston to get an IV. he's feeling much better now.

austin was a sanctuary, after the places we stayed. dylan's parents have a beautiful house with a huge backyard including a pool, great lighting, a hammock, and audio(the dog)'s doppleganger: domino. we drank some 'ronas in the pool and later mother falcon (pictured above) played, and they are absolutely amazing. look them up. apple miner colony's talking about a scandanavian tour next summer with mother falcon. MOTHER FALCON. the band played really great and the audience was very into it.


san antonio went really well, cole and cody were on home turf. i met his family. they are all really great people. before apple miner went on there was a family band (mother, father, son, daughter, uncle) with the daughter (maybe age 16?) as the front woman. it was adorable. the son had his guitar and ego turned way too far up and he and his dad made some really inappropriate comments, but they let geoff use their upright which was nice. apple miner sounded really tight, and we made somewhere around a third of the gas money for the whole trip in that one night.

we stayed at anthony's house that night in his grandparent's HUGE backyard. they fed us an amazing breakfast and lunch. apple miner played an acoustic set in the family room for the family, including anthony's aunt, who's had ALS for seven years. cole says it's been the most important show of the tour so far.

later we went to the wilson ranch (cole's dad/stepmom's place), which was yet another paradise in contrast to the perils of the road. horses, goats, cows, a swimming pool, huge yards, tons of awesome dogs, and good food and beer. cole's dad is hilarious and stephanie is very nice. cole and i stayed in georgie's room. the next morning we woke up in her bed then headed to houston where one of the openers was called Georgia's Horse, and she had a bunny on the cover of her album.

houston was sad... the venue was really cool (super happy funland) but it seemed like the population had lost hope. it was hard to get people to open their hearts, minds, and wallets.