Really, the following is like reading historical accounts as if they were happening with the current clocks. It’s dated, but it’s how the winds take things on occasion, to the back and then they send them swirling around to the front like a headache. The Harlem Shakes were recently featured on this very site with a session that did a bang-up job of explaining why they’re not to be ignored better than plain words and gushing compliments could ever do. They did it themselves, especially with an unnamed song that they refer to in the tempo-ed beat that it suggests – a waltz. You know what’s really great? It’s getting drunk right up to the point before the bottom drops out, while everything still feels magnificent. Lexy Benaim sings these lines, “We can get drunk at the movies/We can get drunk in my room.” They live in that passage of time when drunk is good, when the lights make you look like a million bucks and the without even knowing it, you’re singing at the top of your lungs, turning your cheeks all rosy. Bassist Jose Soegaard takes us into a vacation by way of a tour that likely feels like a billion years ago. – Sean Moeller

5 things I/we liked about touring
One — Listening to music as a group in the van. We have a few rules in our van. No social phone calls (this one is loosely adhered to), quiet time every once in a while, and music faded to the front to accommodate readers or iPod listeners in the backseat. I usually find myself in the driver’s seat or, because I’m usually navigating, in the shotgun seat, so I’ve had the good fortune of being privy to some great new music or fist-pumping classics on the “communal player” (stereo). Highlights from this past tour include: OK Computer at night in the
Arizona desert, the fantastic new Electrelane album (_No Shouts, No
Calls_), and Brent’s post-brownie “hit singles DJ Hour.”

Two — Cracker Barrel
Southern-style cooking isn’t really my idea of good eats, but this was one of the most pleasant surprises of our tour. We love Cracker Barrel. And we’re proud of it. I think we ate there three times and I don’t think one person had a bad experience, which is very, very rare.

Three — The Great Burrito Challenge
Speaking of food, I love burritos. I searched out the “best burrito in town” in a whole lot of places. I’m such a geek that in San Francisco, as we prepared to drive ten hours to Portland (with little promise of healthy/cheap/tasty road fare), I got a burrito to go. Eight hours later, as the rest of the guys were munching on Denny’s chicken tenders, I had the best burrito (though lukewarm) of the tour. Winner!

Four — Three “shows” in one day
Well, if a Daytrotter session counts as a “show,” then we did three in a day, doing an early-morning taping with Sean and the gang in Rock Island before doing a day-night doubleheader
in Chicago at the Abbey Pub. This was easily the best day of the tour. We wanted to play a fourth.

Five — Waking up in a random person’s house every morning
Not what it sounds like. We’ve been super lucky to have met some great people on tour who randomly agree to let us invade/infest their homes for an evening and crash on various couches and floors. We try to stay with friends as much as possible, but we usually end up with friends of friends, old friends from high school or college that we haven’t seen in a while, godparents, or strangers who kindly respond to “we need a place to stay.” Thanks, everyone.

5 Things I/we didn’t like about the last month (brief, but worth mentioning)
One — Not getting into Canada.
Two — Losing my glasses and having to wear prescription sunglasses for a month.
Three — Having an emergency appendectomy in Ohio.
Four — Crazy guy (“D”) in Santa Cruz.
Five — Getting rained out at a Chicago White Sox game.