I tried giving Adidas a try on this tour. I really did. I gave the Top 10’s like 6 or 7 shows to make me feel comfy. Didn’t work. After giving 96% of my Nikes to Planet Aid and/or the garbage can, I have realized that I f’d up. So this show in Colorado Springs was dope, the fans were hardcore, and somebody got punched in the nose. I had the great pleasure of meeting Laura, a girl with our Egoclapper tattoo on her leg. Being a leo and an egomaniac, I love seeing shit like that. Laura, you rule!

Egoclapper Pterodactyl

This dude who travelled from Mexico for the show rocked as well…

YES YES YALL COLORADO SPRINGS VIA MEXICO

The next day we headed to Des Moines, Iowa where the only rest stop was Hooters (sure it was) and to be honest, it was atrocious. There were a few Nascar dudes in there, waiting to close the place. You know, those guys who wear those thin-rimmed sunglasses on top of their DIY wiffles and argue about engine sizes and shit. Our waitress looked like she had two different haircuts on one head but she was very nice. Beyonder’s up-to-the-minute rock star look always gets girls asking about our “band” and shit, so naturally once acquainted the girls asked if we did hip-hop like Lil Wayne. We gave the appropriate answer. Then Nascar dude #1 asked us to rap. I told him “nah, it’s our only day off” but the main reason was because “Cotton Eye Joe” was blasting in the background and I could tell he wouldn’t understand if I took the time to explain that it wouldn’t work with this shit in the background. He then asked me if I heard of two rappers I never heard of and that was that. The girls there referred us to a strip club named Big Earl’s and we thought it was Big Girls. That took awhile to straighten out. She said it is b.y.o.b. and the past owner got shot in the face. That is just shady as fuck to us East Coast cats so we skipped it. Now we’re in Minneapolis getting ready to rock at the Varsity Theater. Checked out the Mall of America today (like I need more shitbag stores cluttering my brainspace) and it was pretty uneventful. Yeah. Sooo umm, I have no friends in Minneapolis so the first person to direct message my twitter account (twitter.com/mcesoteric) gets on the list plus 1 for tonight’s show. Peace!

8/26 - Santa Barbara, Cali - Velvet Jones - As I’m writing this, I gotta be honest I don’t remember too much about the show but I know you SB repped for AOTP! I think it was one of those venues where they separated the 18+ crowd and 21+ crowd which always make for strange arrangements of fans and merch and food and drink. One thing I do remember was the beautiful area on State Street where we performed and did some shopping/sight seeing during the day. Oh yeah, I remember that I changed my lyrics in Battle Cry this time because the moshpit led to a crazy distraction that just forced me to pause in amazement then chant “pit! pit! pit!” That was fun and SB was live!!And peace to the cat I met at the end who was “for the dogs” like myself. I can talk about dogs all day everyday. And oh yeah, Beyonder, rape jokes are never funny…but especially when they are Kobe Bryant rape jokes and we are IN cali! Crowd no likey that.

SANTA BARBARA!

8/28 Utah, Murray Theater - Me, Reef, and Outerspace hit up Brisk’s studio to lay down some vocals for Pure Presure in the afternoon. Reef and Planet nailed their shit in one take. Pretty impressive, but I expected it. After that, we got ready for the early, early show (doors were at 6:30). We had a good time here! No pics for proof though. Damn. I thought I snapped some photos here. The crowd was wild, alcohol FREE, and a female most pit started during some of our Esoteric vs. Japan tracks. Yeah, all girls banging into each other to the music. Tough to concentrate with that happening, but yes, it is always encouraged! Oh and happy birthday to Ginny, you and your husband are real cool peeps!

8/29 Boulder Colorado, Boulder Theater - We had a long-ass drive out here, cutting through Wyoming we had the breakfast of champions:

TACO BELL X KFC X WYOMING = PUKE

We also hit a rest-stop in the middle of nowhere for gas and saw what many determined to be an addict with a little 4 week old pit bull. It has no name and she wasn’t interested in naming it. She told us she bought it for $80 in Mexico and planned on selling it for a $1000 in Denver. This girl sickened me. She had it running loose on the island where truckers pump gas (like a moron.) so I snatched her up and told her how to treat a dog. I had a real urge to bring it with us on the tour, but I think that would have enraged half the crew so after doing what I could with the irresponsible owner, we bounced.

Cute Fucker

The Boulder show was a blast. The fans out here are great and the city itself is dope! I feel like living here is a good move. Each time we’ve played here has been a great experience and kids really rep. That sounds cliche, but it’s true. Boulder will tell you! We decided to throw “Watch Me” and “Deathgrip” back into the set tonight. Sound system was a banging one too. I threw my Akomplice hat to the crowd (good lookin Akomplice!) and cats tore it up, but I found myself signing it at the end so I guess it survived. We had another pit break out during Battle Cry, and that is always a spectacle. Loved this show. Peace to my man B-Ill for coming out!

CRAZY BOULDER KIDS

This morning we got ready to head to Colorado Springs. I woke up and found this pic on my phone:  Nuff said.

The X-man

I miss him!!

BIG UPS TO UPPER PLAYGROUND

Fresno was crazy though, yall definitely showed us a lot of love and the pit that broke out during our AOTP encore was nutty!! On a Monday night too? You really gotta respect the women in the front though people, they aren’t trying to throw elbows like you! That was definitely good to see some wild shit though, because the energy you give us really motivates us to give it back to you (how cliche does that sound? It is true though). It’s been a lot of fun working the merch booth too, meeting a lot of cool and interesting people (re: mohawks, face-piercing, home-made 7LES t-shirts, etc). Lots of people asking about 7L’s whereabouts, and I let them know he is back in Boston doing his thing, working on beats, djing benefits for my man DJ Kon (best wishes to you man), and holding it down like no other. Besides, he looks like he is in good hands below:

7L GETS IT IN

San Luis Obispo 2/25 - We checked in the hotel, hung out by the pool then decided to do a little shopping because I left my coffin full of sneakers in Fresno. Also, if anybody comes across the classic green A’s fitted hat with the yellow brim at size 7 1/2 or 7 5/8 please yodel at me! You would think that would be easy to find out here! I keep trying to shop for Xavier, but I’m not coming across anything that I can’t get in Boston yet. I see all the same baby clothing stores and have yet to come across that shady kiosk that will sell me the “My dad rapped in San Luis Obispo and all he got me was this undersized onesie” piece. We were very excited to rock this venue because we have heard so many crazy stories about SLO, and I believe Jack Kerouac spent some time here. Speaking of that, one of Kerouac’s biggest fans, Jawn P of Top Choice Clique was the subject of some backstage talk as Vinnie Paz grilled me for a historical overview of their career. He likened them to Philly’s Tuff Crew. I liked that comparison. While we’re on the subject of phenomenal writers, please don’t judge me on my writing on these blogs, I like to think I’m better than this and my head is pretty much pounding every second that we are not on stage. I’m not sure if we have any of the Esoteric vs. Gary Numan cds left for the rest of the tour because for some reason that disc is a hit in SLO county. We had a blast and the turnout was dope!

FANS IN SAN LUIS OBISPO REPPIN!

BEYONDER MAKIN FRIENDS

Santa Barbara is tonight yall! See you there at Velvet Jones on State Street! The show is gonna be ill!