It’s been four months since we’ve been on the road, so we are all itching to get back at it. We are also extremely fed up with this winter, it’s been a particularly nasty one in Toronto, so any excuse to change latitudes and see some bare ground is welcome.

We got our wish about seeing bare ground when we arrived in Ann Arbour this afternoon, but it didn’t last for long. By late afternoon the snow was coming down hard and by the time we pulled out of here there was six inches on the ground. It’s just following us around.

The bad weather didn’t deter Skippy, who had his sausage stand all set up when we pulled up to the venue and fed us all a hearty lunch of sausage and gumbo. Even when the snow began to fall in earnest he kept at it and fed us all a dinner of paella with shrimp, avocado, and sausage. Quite the sausage stand. As always, we were all very grateful for his generousity.

The Ark in Ann Arbor is an excellent place to start a tour, especially after a long lay off. It is small, but comfortable and known as a listening room. The small stage and lack of any separation between the band and audience give it all a very informal vibe, which minimizes those first gig jitters. We had two shows tonight and both were lots of fun with excellent audiences. It felt great to be back on the boards.

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The Southern Theatre in Columbus, Ohio is one of the most beautiful theaters that we play. It was built over one hundred years ago and was renovated at the end of the 1990’s. It is a beautiful building and a perfect size for us (right around 900 seats). The added bonus is that it is attached to an equally beautiful and renovated hotel, which makes our lives just that much easier.

Columbus is a hard town to get a handle on. It seems to be cut up into distinct districts. There is the university area, which very obviously caters to the student; there is the downtown area, which has had a lot investment over the past ten years, but lacks the residential aspect to give it a vibrancy; there is German-town (or something like that) which is a very cool little area off of the downtown, which, from what I’ve seen, is the most interesting and unique area, architecturally speaking; and then, like a lot of these middle-american cities, there are the ubiquitous pockets of urban decay and the sprawling suburban areas on the outskirts of it all. It all adds up to an odd place to visit, and like I said, hard to get a handle on.