From Mitchell Lee:

Our tour with O’Brother, La Dispute, Thrice, and the dudes from Invisible Children is over. Without getting overly sappy or cheesy, I’ll just say that this tour has been one of the greatest experiences we’ve ever had as a band.  We’ve had a ton of fun just hanging out and playing music but we also got pretty deep at times talking about music, touring, life, families, relationships, happiness, careers, and faith.  Traveling the country with these guys has been an inspiration.  

Here are some tour highlights:

-Dojo Gelato in Cincinnati makes some scrumptious Sriracha/peanut butter gelato.  This flavor was custom made for O’Brother and given to the whole tour.
-We finally got to see Wrigley Stadium in Chicago and play the Metro.
-Sauget, IL must be the strip club capital of the world. There were 3 clubs and an OTB within walking distance of the venue.
-Everybody on the tour dressed up in costume for Halloween in Denver.
-The Invisible Children dudes were a Juggalo and some sort of weird Fu Manchu coconut bra wearing thing.
-Greg, Josh, and I were demons while Nick was a Werewolf.
-O’Brother were Prisoners.
-La Dispute were Cops (Vass wore a woman’s adult “naughty officer” costume complete with miniskirt while Jordan wore a little boy’s police costume that was skin tight and much too short).
-La Dispute’s tour and merch managers, Dave and Lazur, were Gumby and Pokey, respectively.
-Thrice were Party Animals.  Think Beastie Boys’ “Fight for Your Right” music video with everybody wearing various animal masks (lion, zebra, chicken, sheep, etc.).
-Being at Saltair in Magna, UT on a cloudy day feels so gloomy and eerie, you feel like you’re on middle earth from Lord of the Rings.
-Seattle is a gorgeous city.  We got to hang out at Pike Place market, see the original Starbucks, eat our faces off with a variety of different market foods, and try free samples of various honeys and jams.
-Voodoo Donuts in Portland, OR is the only place I know where you can get bacon on your donut. 
-San Francisco is a beautiful city but even if you’re in a good neighborhood, all you have to do is turn the wrong street corner before you’re swarmed by drug addicts, crazies, and bums.
-We got to see Minus the Bear and The Velvet Teen @ Ace of Spades in Sacramento, CA the day after we played Ace of Spades.  Epic show. True story.
-Let’s say you’re having an after show party and you’ve had a “couple” of drinks.  If you think it’s a good idea to spray a potato chip with pepper spray and eat it, DON’T! It’s still way too spicy and dangerous for human contact. 
-The Mayan Theatre in LA is the living reincarnation of Nickelodeon’s TV/game show, Legends of the Hidden Temple
-Downtown Disneyland is pretty small, really expensive, and feels like an outlet shopping mall with a few Disney characters strewn here and there.  Candy apples are $9.95! Rip!
-People in San Diego hate it when you make Anchorman jokes. Especially the “whale’s vagina” joke.  No, I mean they REALLY hate it.
-End of tour pranks in San Diego:
-O’Brother got pranked by a man with a bunny mask during their performance.
-We got toilet papered on stage and about 10 dudes from the rest of the tour came out on stage with guitars that weren’t plugged in.
-We (along with others on the tour) attacked La Dispute on stage during their set with a huge pillow fight.
-We (along with others on the tour) brought out a couch, love seat, chairs and signs that said #occupythrice and we just sat on the stage in protest during Thrice’s last song.
-Invisible Children’s offices are located in downtown San Diego.  A big thank you to them for inviting us for lunch and giving us a tour of their organization.  The thing I really dig about this organization is that they use their donation money to create projects involving education and technology to empower those in need to solve their own problems.  So many other western organizations just seem to give handouts and throw money at 3rd world problems.  Instead of fixing problems, this money often seems to go to waste once it gets to the 3rd world due to corruption or misappropriation.  It’s like the old proverb: “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” Go Invisible Children!

Thanks to everybody that came out! It was great blah, blah, blah.

*I apologize if there are any typos, misspellings, or if nothing in this blog post makes any sense.  I’m rushing so I can go play Mario Kart, The Settlers of Catan, and Starcraft with Metal Mike and everybody else on our day off in Albuquerque. NERD ALERT!!!