Champaign-Urbana, the Iron Post - 04/07/07

Our gig at the Iron Post was hopeful as it's one of the few downtown clubs for studetns at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The place reminded us of a mid-west version of Eddie's Attic. Other bands on the bill included Casados, Lynn O’Brien and Dan Boehm. They were acoustic or on a piano, sans drums, and the crowd was quiet and very attentive for all of the other performances. Luckily, during the song Ribbons and Bows, Elevado managed to break them out of their shells and in a scene not too dissimilar from the 80's film "Footloose."

Wasington DC, a Day Off - 04/06/07

The band was fairly worn out after six consecutive nights of performances. But press follow-up, the details of ISP's record label + Atlanta venue, need for laundry and showers, veggie-oil deficiency, and impending 12 hour drive all presented the band with a very busy day.

Eric and Justin scoured Pennsylvania Ave for wireles internet and after over an hour of walking the streets came across Barnes & Nobles. The only positive thing to happen there was to see "This World is On Fire" in Magnet Magazine as part of their subscriber compilation and the purchase of 'Rip It Up, Start Over' by Simon Reynolds, a non-fiction clinic of post-punk's rise andn fall.



Be warned: Barnes & Nobles and Starbucks have teamed up in this annoying scam to entice patrons to pay $4 for internet, requiring them to buy bad coffee and pathetic overpriced under-sized sandwiches while paying for internet use. They told us the electrical outlets weren't working. Guess what. There were no outlets! Big Scam! Buy our overpriced coffee and get the hell out of here!

Luckily, downstairs, a kind sales desk clerk alerted us to cafe tu-o-tu - a block away where we came upon a privately owned bistro with delicious food made with care, friendly service and free internet.

Elevado left D.C. at 3pm, found a Mexican restaurant in the suburbs with an endless supply of grease and hit the road with 80 gallons of grease, driving straight through the night. We landed in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois by 6pm, checked into our first hotel of the trip, and went straight to soundcheck.

Boston, the Basement 3/31/07

On our fourth trip to Boston we were reunited with one of our most favorite artists, B.J. Snowden, who falls somewhere in between Sun Ra, Stevie Wonder and that happy lounge music a la Vince Guaraldi's Peanuts music. It was amazing to see how the audience gravitated towards her and found themselves uncontrollably doing the Snoopy Dance. As a dear friend, she will be coming to Atlanta, ASAP.