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The peculiar thing about Fantom Island is that it is but a mirage – an Imaginary oasis isolated in the confines of our brainwaves. We shall gradually reveal morsels of our folklore here, so please visit often. To return, simply bring your Imagination as your passport.
Fantom Island
Goodbye, CA
Greetings, Internetlings.
I am reporting live at 3:31am from a Travelodge in Williams, AZ just 45 minutes from the Grand Canyon. We left California on a gorgeous Sunday morning. Destination Brooklyn where we find our new home. We said our goodbyes and snuck out of the state with little noise. People kept asking when our farewell party or last show would be. We told them we’d be back soon.
*BTW, I’m aware of the extremely distracting mural of a geisha with Chinese letters written backwards, courtesy of the hipsters in my West Oakland neighborhood. More incentive for me to leave.
I told everyone to pack light, and of course no one really did. Though Nico, Ada Clock, and I are coming back in a couple of weeks to ship off our stuff, Dahlak’s going straight from NYC to Europe for a month, so he basically had to pack his life and then some. I’m not going to make any comments about how hilarious it is to me that he owns watermelon colored luggage.
Meandering down Cedar in Berkeley, it occurred to me that this would be the last time I’d make the route from my spot to Nico’s, which I’ve become so accustomed to when picking him up for rehearsals, studio sessions, and airport runs. Nico’s mom packed us cheese puffs. May any assumptions that we are thugs be nulled at this point.
It’s four of us in my Camry for the next four days. The first leg wasn’t so bad, a 12-hour drive to Arizona filled with plenty of Pac and DJ Quik. Do we need to cop Relapse for when we hit middle America though??
Tomorrow we check out the Grand Canyon for a bit (not sure how long it takes to look at a giant hole in the ground), and then we head over to Denver for the evening. I’m SOOO glad we deaded the idea of trying to do a show in each of the cities we hit! The last thing we need is a soundcheck while trying to get over the Taco Bell hangover that I’m sure we’ll all be having tomorrow morning (we were desperate! You try to find healthy food on Route 66!)
And yes, if you haven’t familiarized yourself with our road dawwwg Ada Clock, do so now. He is our maestro, vegetable provider, and most importantly, nook sleeper-inner.
See you soon, NY.
