So much to reflect on. Let’s talk about some things.

I’ll start by saying that the drive to Detroit was pretty brutal. We left New Jersey around 5:30 in the morning, and got to Detroit around 5:30 in the evening. It is a fascinating thing to be trapped in a car for any length of time greater than ten hours. We passed the time by playing games like “How Much Water Can I Drink Before the Next Rest-Stop?” and, “Can I Actually Find a Decent Place to Sleep Inside This Van?”.

But we got to Detroit without a hitch, aside from the fact that Spencer got deathly-ill and spent the entire evening in a haze. The show did not go off without a few hitches, but the microphone didn’t get unplugged, as it so often does, which I counted as a personal victory. The people at the show that we got to speak to were really cool as well, which is always a nice bonus.

Unfortunately, due to Spencer’s condition, and the fact that we had to drive from Detroit to Chicago that evening, we had to leave during The Like’s set, before the Futureheads played. The average bear might consider this to not be a big deal, because I have already in the past two weeks seen the Futureheads live almost as many times as I’ve seen Tokyo Police Club, but we have all become strangely dependent. We ended up just listening to a bunch of Futureheads songs in the van.

We arrived in Chicago around 4 in the morning and got to the apartment of the lovely Jessica Sheft-Ason, who was actually back in NJ for the weekend. Needless to say, we promptly trashed the place. Just kidding.

After having a decent number of hours to sleep, we wandered the Hyde Park neighborhood and stumbled upon the UChicago graduation ceremonies. Can you say free cookies and champagne for the Static Jacks?!? Yeah you can. Do it.

Lincoln Hall was a very cool venue, and all the people working there were accommodating and kind, which was great. There was a special treat in that when we came onstage, they started playing “Titus Andronicus Forever”, by none other than fellow NJ indie-rockers Titus Andronicus, which has been my dream walking-out-onto-the-stage song for quite some time. What an awesome coincidence.  What an excellent way to start the last show of the tour.

To mark this historic event, the Futureheads called us up onstage with The Like to sing their cover of Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love”, which was a great honor and outrageously fun. Singing and dancing ruled the night. We’ll post a video once we find one. (If you have one, email it to us!)

After an emotional goodbye (the Futureheads cried like babies), we departed for the apartment, where we slept a precious few hours before hopping back in the van for the drive home, which took 16 hours, of which Spencer drove a heroic 14. Really, the only exciting thing that happened on this portion of the trip was seeing an Amish horse-and-buggy around the 9th hour of the trip. So it goes. So it went.

Celebrity Death Tour 2010 is over. It was a bit top-heavy on the deaths, but it had an even distribution of good times. Farewell to the Futureheads and The Like, may our paths cross again someday. Now we must prepare for some dates with We Were Promised Jetpacks and Bear Hands!

Some pictures will hopefully come soon.

To infinity and beyond.

UPDATE: Jimmy Dean is dead.

This post will attempt to cover the events of June 7th and 8th, highlighting the concerts performed at the Paradise in Boston, and Bowery Ballroom in NYC.

So we wake up on the 7th, and we are itching to get back on the road after a relaxing day off. Before we leave, however, we have to pick up our new spare tire and see if it fits properly. After removing our real tire to put on the spare, the mechanic looks us in the eye with a little smirk, and says “I just saved your life.” We found out seconds later that he was talking about our brake pads, which had split in half, and which would have stayed that way had he not taken off our tire.

So a few hours later, we were back in business, bound for Boston. B. We made it there with no problems, and played our set right on time (which was actually really early, unfortunately). We got to meet some lovely people from Fenway Recordings, who are a management company with whom we have developed close ties as of late. We would meet up with even more the next day back in New York!

We then returned to where we would sleep that night, which was at the Lewis residence in Dover, MA, where we were met with an unbelievable spread of food both that night and the following morning. I would be remiss not to publicly thank Ms Lewis for hosting us, and our buddy Jen Lewis (not from Rilo Kiley) for setting us up with her lovely home, while she wasn’t even there.

We got to NYC early, so we made some stops for pizza and cheap clothing in Brooklyn.

We hadn’t played at Bowery Ballroom since our show with Tokyo Police Club there two years ago, and I had almost forgotten how cool of a place it was. Luckily I got to be reminded. The show went quite well, and whatdyaknow? Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys was once again in attendance, as was famed model Agyness Deyn (who was coincidentally at our last Bowery show as well), as well as members of British comedy act The Mighty Boosh. I’m seein’ starZ!

One important detail about the Hoboken show I never mentioned was that a young Irish fellow named Tiernan, after obtaining Nick’s drumsticks and having a bit too much to drink, became the star of the Futurehead’s portion of the show. He acted out so much, the Futureheads promised him a guestlist spot at Bowery if he came sober. And thank goodness he did, because Barry, the singer of the Futureheads, had a very tired voice after a long day of singing for various promotional things, and needed help singing a few songs. His bandmates stepped in wonderfully, but at one point they pulled our buddy Tiernan onstage, where he sang beautiful lead vocals with them. The Futureheads fucking rule. Can you imagine?? One of your favorite bands bringing you onstage to sing with them? That’s some Mark-Wahlberg-circa-“Rock-Star” shit right there. Good guy, that Tiernan. We were very happy for him.

Annyywayyyyy, the night ended with us finding out some douchebag tagged our exquisite van with his lame-ass graffiti (photo courtesy of according2g.com). Its actually probably a good thing we didn’t catch him in the act, because we carry a Louisville Slugger and an extra tire-iron around for dealing with situations like this, and jail-time is not conducive to touring.

Now we have two days of rest before we meet up with the Futureheads and The Like again in the Motor City, Detroit, Michigan!

Kick out the jams, motherfucker.

UPDATE: here is a video of Tiernan being a hero at Bowery

We have played Maxwell’s a few times before, but I think I can say with confidence that tonight’s show was high up on my favorite-shows-played-at-Maxwell’s list. Big shout-out to our boy Carson, who did an awesome job on our sound this evening. Good guy. Also a shout-out to whoever made my penne vodka, because although it was bowties and not penne, it was really quite splendid (much like my jukebox selections, if I do say so myself).

In other news, while making the rounds, chattin’ up some folks, our dear Nick ran into Alex Turner, famed vocalist of Arctic Monkeys, and his lovely ladyfriend Alexa Chung! First Craig Finn of the Hold Steady at our Brooklyn show, and now this?? Can’t wait to see what the future holds for these music-celeb-sightings at the TSJ shows.

Tonight, we return to our own beds for a day of rest/repairs before heading up to Boston on Monday for the start of the second half of Celebrity Death Tour 2010. We’re quite excited. We just really love Boston.

Secret Hint: If you want to meet the person “Defend Rosie” was written for, come to our show on Monday at the Paradise!

Last night we were at the Black Cat in DC with our mates the Futureheads and The Like, and I must say, we had an awesome time. First off, we were fed a delicious meal, on the house, which is always great. Secondly, our refrigerator was stocked with the craziest sodas you’ve ever seen, and as a lover of weird soda, I was quite pleased. No alcohol for us (besides Mike) at the venue, because it was an all-ages show, but I would gladly take an all-ages show over an age-restricted show where I got to have a few beers. We made up for it later anyway, when we got back to where we were staying, and unspeakable chaos ensued.

During the day before the show, we walked for hours around DC, seeing the sights, taking it all in, and loving our great capital. We also got to see The Like when we were hanging out on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, which was a real treat. A real treat indeed.

More celebrity deaths yesterday, but I can’t remember all of them by myself right now, and there is also some debate about who counts as a “celebrity”. We’ll get some names to you soon.

Tonight we are back in our home state of New Jersey to play at Maxwell’s in Hoboken (my personal favorite venue for concerts), which should be a blast! Come and hang out!

So last summer, on Celebrity Death Tour 2009, we lost Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, David Carradine, and probably some other people.

This summer, we start things out losing our dear Golden Girl, Rue McClanahan (Betty White is the Highlander). Gary Coleman and Dennis Hopper died, like, right before we left, so we’re gonna count it. So we’re already almost even, and the party has just begun. Can’t wait to see where this goes.

So last night was our show at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia with our boys the Futureheads, and the first show with our girls The Like. We set up Nick’s drums close to the front of the stage with the rest of us, and exciting times ensued.  We tried to get some Philly cheesesteaks after we played, but all the places were closed. What a letdown.

Celebrity Death Tour (CDT) continues tomorrow at the Black Cat in DC. Tonight, we enjoy an evening of relaxation and debauchery at the apartment of our old friend Claire Harris. Party on, Wayne.