Editor’s Note: J. Tom Hnatow from These United States is writing a tour diary for DCist chronicling the band’s latest national tour.
July 30, 2007
We take scenic route 1 up to Portsmouth, NH, skipping the interstate entirely. When we tour, we try to take as much local scenery as possible, from small roads to food to art. In this increasingly homogenized world, we have to work to find the differences. It’s sad to me how easy it would be to travel the country on nothing but bland interstates, eating nothing but McDonalds. I think that as we travel as artists, attempting to bring our art to places, we owe it to those places to try to be as much a part of them as we hope they will be to us.
We stop in the fog on the rocky coast. It feels like we’ve landed on another planet. Then off to the Red Door, one of our favorite places to play — a tiny martini bar with a Monday night concert series. Portsmouth has an inordinate number of artists, from musicians to painters to photographers. It feels like half the people at the show are taking pictures of us. It is more than a little strange to find out that my pedal steel and hand were the cover of a flyer for the concert series. On the positive side, if this music thing doesn’t pan out, I can always become a hand model. I also sit in on a song with Ben (Cartright) for the first time tonight. Over our various tours, there has almost always been a point where I become a part of their set. I love it. I’d much rather play than sit at the bar and drink.
July 31, 2007
We’re in the last week of tour now, and headed southward on our “grand finale” run. I’m really excited about all the shows this week – Providence, 2 NYC shows, Philly, then our homecoming show on Saturday.
Providence is a cool town with an eclectic music scene, and we always have fun here. We crash with Tom Inhaler (of Sage Frances). Tom is a great guy –- we hit it off immediately. Fellow musicians are always the best people to stay with. They’ve been in the same situations. Also, it’s a chance to swap tour stories: to compare towns, venues, people, and all the strange situations that inevitably arise. After an hour or so, you’d never guess that we all just met.
