Let me start this post off by saying that I intentionally did not plan this trip at all to force myself to rely on my wits, follow my heart, and meet more people. That being said, I showed up in Tempe knowing that RxB were playing a show in the city that night, but that’s it. I had no idea where they were playing, what time the show started, and I didn’t have a ticket. After consulting a man working at a liquor store and some shady looking kids hanging out at a bus stop, I found my way to the Marquee Theater at 4:30 pm and bought my ticket for $23. Wow, that was easy…

As I was purchasing my ticket, RxB were doing their soundcheck, so I got to sit in the shade and listen to them rip through a couple of songs from Progress and do some killer jams. The show didn’t start for another couple of hours, so I made myself a sandwich and walked down by the river to wash my feet and cool off. On my way back up the stairs to the parking lot, I met a really nice couple named Mitch and Caroline. When I told Mitch about my trip, he immediately invited me to crash at his place in downtown Tempe after the show, depsite the fact that he wasn’t sure that he was even going to be able to get in to the show.

Later on, I got a text from Matt offering me a free ticket to the show (I was on the guestlist +1), so I sold Mitch and Caroline two tickets for $20. Yep, I spent $3 on a show and a spot to crash. Bam.

During the opening bands, I met a beautiful woman named Sherrie who drove up the 2 hours from Tucson, despite the fact that she had to work in the morning and had to be up at 6 am. We got to hang out and chat throughout the show, and we hung out until about 1:30 am down by the river, chatting about music and life in general. I’m pretty sure she was hanging out mostly so that she could meet Matt (which never happened because the security guards at the Marquee were assholes and cleared the parking lot out within a half hour of the show), but regardless, we got some really good conversation in :)

As for the show itself, the music was fantastic! Happy Body Slow Brain is this fantastic ambient/mathy band from Northern Cal, and Maps and Atlases were fantastic. As for the Bandits, they absoloutely killed it. They played the first, second and last track from Progress, Resignation, ATBB and Mandala and, if memory serves, they did Infection, Overcome, Only for the Night and To Our Unborn Daughters for their encore. There was a lot of positive energy coming from the stage.

The crowd in Tempe, however, was a different story. The Bandits are the best band around at consciously creating a beautiful and positive vibe with their music. When the crowd is open and accepts/resonates with that energy, it’s a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, there was an energetic wall put up by the crowd, and the vibe was very un RxB like. Lots of people pushing, very few people dancing, and I can’t believe how many guys I saw feeling up on unwilling girls who didn’t know how to tell them to stop. At one point, I even saw a guy in dreads, who was clearly way too fucked up, feeling up on this girl. Every time he would go for a boob grab or try to kiss her, she would push him away and try to get him to dance. At one point, I even saw the dude reach his hand down between her legs. When she pushed him away after that, I danced over in between them and asked the girl if she needed any help with the dude who was being inappropriate. Her response was probably the most apalling thing about the whole situation. She said “oh, no, he is a friend, he knows when to stop” ……

Needless to say, it continued for most of the show, but what can I do? Is the rape culture so strong in Tempe that this is normal?? What exactly was the dude expecting? For her to drop to her knees and blow in him in crowd during the show? Is that the end game there? I really don’t get it. Ladies, don’t put up with that shit. ESPECIALLY at an Rx Bandits show, who are one of the few bands out there who are consciously trying to change that culture. I sincerely hope that the crowds in the upcoming cities will open their hearts and let RxB fill it with the love, respect and positivity that the band offers every single night.

Here’s to dancing replacing pushing and to symbiotic love vanquishing unidirectionally motivated heavy petting. In the eternal words of Matt Embree, “the positive will always overcome the negative.” Right?

I woke up, sleep deprived as all hell to 110 degree Phoenix. I made some breakfast and started the 3 hour drive to Bird Camp, where Christi Kruse is doing some research on small mammals w/ 20 bird researchers up in the Coconino Forest outside of Flagstaff. Although it was only 3 hours away, the weather up there was very mild and amazingly beautiful! I met some beautiful human beings (one in particular that stands out is Marta, a 32 year old woman from Granada, Spain) and had some much needed rest.

Christi and I spent the evening hours around sunset out on the rim of the Colorado plateau, which is above 7500 ft of elevation (Phoenix is below 2000, which would explain the temperature difference!), looking out at the rolling hills below. Up there, Christi and I had one of the most amazing conversations of our long and storied friendship. It’s incredible to be able to connect with another soul on such a deep level despite the fact that we only had a few hours to hang, and we hadn’t seen each other for over a year.

Birdcamp was just what my sleep deprived soul needed, and I got to take a nap, go to bed early and sleep until I needed to. That night, I even woke up because I was cold! I relished that fact and will remember it fondly on my July trip through the south…

In the morning, I made a breakfast burrito and got to hang with Christi for a couple of hours before it was time to descend from the beautiful mountains. After a drive that saw a decrease in elevation of over 5500 feet (and an increase of over 30 degrees), I arrived in the sauna that is Tempe, AZ.

This has been quite a trip so far. Plenty of synchronicity and love to follow out on the open road. I have made it a point to say ‘yes’ as much as possible and commit to the experiences along the way. The first instance of this was agreeing to pick up Tammy and her family (husband and five year old son) from Santa Rosa, NM and take them down to Phoenix. I made a post on the craigslist rideshare outlining my trip, and they were the first people to contact me. They offered me $200 to pick them up from the motel 6 along the highway and take them to their new home in Phoenix. Their car shat the bed along the way, and for some reason, there are no buses, trains, or public transport of ANY kind that goes through Santa Rosa (as I found out, Santa Rosa is one of those old route 66 towns in the southwest, but more on that later…) I’m wearing a bracelet that says “Make Mistakes” on it that I got from Gemini (all night electronic music show in the woods in CO), and I certainly made my first mistake of the trip on the way down to meet them! I was supposed to take I-25 to highway 84 which puts you straight down to Santa Rosa.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t plan it out well enough, so I took I-25 all the way down to Albuquerque and had to backtrack 100 miles west to Santa Rosa. I almost turned around and went to AZ without them, but I had given my word (and, frankly, I needed the $200 they were offering… gas is EXPENSIVE).

Of course, it wasn’t all bad. I picked up a hitchhiker outside of Las Vegas, NM and took him and his dog down to Santa Fe. We stopped at the Old Santa Fe brewery and had an awesome IPA. Despite my mistake, I feel that I was in the right place because the brewery played Railroad Earth (song by the eponymous band… a song that speaks to my soul in ways that only 2 or 3 songs ever have). After realizing my mistake and getting all flustered and frustrated along the sweaty highway, I finally picked Tammy and fammy (jeez, that was bad…) up around 7:30 pm. After a 9 hour drive (thank GOD they were willing to drive, and they drove most of the way), I crashed out on the hardwood floor of their refrigeratorless new home. After less than 3 hours of sleep, I got up early and headed up to the mountains outside of Flagstaff to visit Christi Kruse!

bad ass. I wanna learn to play the Giant Dorito!

I have recently fallen in love with the band Railroad Earth. They have a few songs that speak directly to my heart in ways that few artists can. This song in particular seems appropriate considering my outlook on life and my upcoming summer “plans”. The attached song is from a concert I saw at Copper Mountain this winter. This is a cover they do from an artist named Tim O’Brien. Enjoy.

Put one foot in front of the other
Steppin into the here and now
I’m not sure just where I’m goin
but I will get there anyhow

I got this far with no direction
Followed my nose to where I stand
My heart’s still strong, I know I’ll make it
Sit right down in the promised land

Sister come and walk beside me, until our pathways do divide
Nothin much but love to give you, even less have I to hide

When you left me in the spring time
So many questions in my mind
Summer came and left me waitin
Not one answer could I find

I see you in the Rocky Mountains
I feel you on the great North Sea
It’s a lonesome road I have to travel
But you will always be with me

Brother come and walk beside me, until our pathways do divide
Nothin much but love to give you, even less have I to hide

I hear laughter in the thunder
I feel comfort on the wind
I see hope in hopeless faces
Someday they will love again

People come and walk beside me, until our pathways do divide
Nothin much but love to give you, even less have I to hide

I had a conversation with a good friend tonight about the difference between letting things happen and making things happen. I’ve found that I strongly prefer the latter to the former. This is often frowned upon, as it seems like a total passive approach to life - but I don’t believe this is true.

I have spent the past year or so with full intentions to go to South America this summer. The plan was to show up with a backpack on my back and a smile on my face and see what happened. I have been really excited about the openness and the endless possibilities. Would I end up teaching for a year in Chile? Would I be a ski instructor in Argentina? Who knows? In the words of Bjork, “I can decide what I give, but it’s not up to me what I get given. Unthinkable surprises about to happen, but what they are… it’s not up to you (well, it never really was).”

Living by this philosophy certainly forces me to be flexible in making decisions, but I absolutely love the life that following this path has allowed me to create, so I’ll continue to follow my heart and its interpretation of what the universe is trying to tell me and see where I end up.

Recently, the winds of change have been blowing pretty hard. Last Tuesday, I read that the Rx Bandits will be parting ways after this upcoming summer tour. This has been difficult news to digest, as this band has been a huge part of my life for the past eight years. I have now seen the band 25+ times in 10 different states, and every show leaves me in an absolute spiritual place. I have shared some amazing experiences with a lot of beautiful people because of this band (directly or indirectly).

I don’t think that I need to describe what this band means to me, because if you have seen this band live once or thirty eight times, you know. You know.

So, I’ve decided to postpone the South America trip for another summer and hop in my car and follow the tour. I have no idea what this trip will look like or how many shows I’ll actually go to, but again, it’s not up to me.

At first, this idea seemed completely insane. I chalked it up to being in some state of mourning over the idea of saying goodbye to such a big piece of my life and my heart. To admit that going to see this band live and using them as an excuse to travel and have some of the greatest experiences of my life is a thing of the past has been difficult to say the least. But, the more I contemplated camping out of the back of my car, the more I thought about the beautiful people I would reconnect with, the beautiful people I would meet, the abundance of love that is sure to follow every single night of this tour… the crazier it becomes to NOT follow the tour in some capacity.

So, this is an open invitation to all true Bandits fans out there to join me. I don’t care if it’s for a night or for a week. This is going to be a beautiful tour. Every night will be an absolute joyous celebration of everything that the Rx Bandits has meant to so many people, and I want as many people as possible to enjoy as much of this momentous tour as they possibly can.

Love and Respect.