So, touring usually means you do not get to see much. I toured for a long time when I was much younger, because it was my job, now I tour for fun and it is a little different. When I was in my 20's and touring for work the truth was I really only saw a venue, a hotel and someplace to eat which usually was not an ideal place to eat. Oh, and if we are talking about the early years of touring, I didn't even see hotels. We either slept at someone's grimy house or in the van at a rest area off of the highway, which is how it had to be to make it work. Not complaining, it was an adventure and some of the most fun I ever had but it seldom was about the locations you ended up but the show and the camaraderie. I had the benefit of touring over the years with some of the coolest, most interesting and astoundingly talented people I have ever met and made lifelong friendships doing so.
I quit touring a little after 30 to focus on my print shop and what would become Holy Mountain and with that came the opportunity to tour with my favorite band of all time, Earth Crisis. Touring with them is perfect because it is not full time, we go out a handful of times a year and for about a week at a time at the most. Touring with Earth Crisis comes with the camaraderie I mentioned above as well as the insanely talented people I get to surround myself with, and thankfully the hotels as well because I am too old to sleep on anyone's floor now. It also comes with a little more latitude to see a cool thing or two while we are out. In my time traveling with Earth Crisis one of the highlights has been meeting the fans, who like me, had their lives changed by the band, because let's face it, they are a lot more than a band and they have changed a lot of lives out there.
To stray back to the question at hand though, there are places that have really wowed me. Germany, I mean this place is the vegan center of the universe and as a vegan and someone who loves to eat, this place speaks to me. Sweden and Chile were two places where I had been in them less than two hours and had the overwhelming feeling I could live there for the rest of my life. Detroit holds a tremendous number of good memories and is another city I absolutely love and has an unrivaled hardcore music lineage. Also Tied Down Fest is about as good as a fest can be! It is also the home of Detroit Vegan Soul which was some of the best vegan soul food I ever ate in my whole life. California and NYC, I love to visit you but would hate to live in you, that said, when I am there, I fucking love it! In NYC all I want to eat is Paulie Gee's and in California I am trying my hardest to get to Mr. Charlie's. Both locations have a million great restaurants, but these are my favorites. Recently I got to go to Portland and Seattle and in Portland I got to eat at Mis Tacones which was so good I might have gone back a couple times and in Seattle I got to eat at Twede's Cafe AKA the Twin Peaks dinner (actually in North Bend) and El Chupacabra where I had the best vegan chimichanga of my life. I will probably think of a million other places after I sign off but I will leave it with this...touring these days is about laughing in a van with my friends until my stomach hurts and everywhere and everyone I get to see along the way is icing on the cake!
PS: I love you Reno and SLC, you are two of the mightiest cities I have ever been to or will ever go to, and you are both filled with my favorite people on earth. You all know who you are!
