Day 1: Omahaha

"You want to shoot me?" the man asked Kristin while she, Mark, and I waited outside of the café in Omaha where Ryan and John were buying coffee.

"With a gun?" she asked innocently.

"No, with that camera."

"Okay, sure." She took a photo of the man, whose shirt read "I'm too sexy for my hair, that's how come it isn't there." He proceeded to cross the street, walking through oncoming traffic, to flag down a city bus.

We had just arrived in Omaha for the first date of the tour. Last time we played in Omaha, we received a hate letter from a would-be music critic who analyzed my banter, deeming us irrelevant to the human condition. This time we were scheduled to play with Ted Stevens, formerly of Cursive, and Gus and Call, formerly of Bear Country, at Barley Street Tavern.

After witnessing the man that was too sexy for his hair nearly die, we stopped by a store called Grampy's Curious Goods to curiously inspect some goods. They were unfortunately closed, leaving us to gawk at exotic shoe-horns in the window display. Walking back, we came upon a handwritten sign advertising a sale two blocks down that included "man stuff." We left that side of the city and stopped by a downtown arts fair, where Mark lost ten bucks but gained a hat at the lottery tent while the rest of us watched Native-American-progressive-rock-band performance.

The show went smoothly. After we played our set, Gus and Call wowed the full bar with some tight arrangements and harmonies, as well as a two-song finale with the leader of McCarthy Trenching. Their take of Bob Dylan's "Tonight I'll Be Standing Here With You" had the crowd clapping along.

As Ryan and I approached the van out back to pack up the rest of our gear, we saw a girl urinating behind the building. When she saw us, she nonchalantly waved and said "Hey," before returning to her business against the cinderblock and remaining there to rest while we turned our heads and waited for directions.

Whether or not we are still irrelevant to the human condition is still open to debate but we had a great time, without hate-mail. We probably should have checked out that man-stuff, though.

Dan/the low end

P.S.

Thanks to Gus and Call for setting up a show for us (and Ted Stevens for playing as well).

Also, thanks to the Hackerott family for their hospitality.

Pics by Kristin: