spickler's blog

So. Driving through Nebraska absolutely sucks. They call that area of the United States the Great Plains, but really...they're not so fucking great all. It all looks the same. It all smells like cow shit. It all is completely desolate. What I found kind of weird and interesting is cow piles. The cows just huddle together and kind of lay on each other. They pile up a bit. Very weird. I tried to get a picture, but it's very hard to get a picture of something while you're driving by at 70 miles per hour.

Eli Manning just got a $97 Million, 6 year contract extension. I hate the Giants. I forsee Alex and I butting heads this football season. Hail to the Redskins.

So now we've got Chicago and Grand Rapids in the books. Speaking of books, thank you to Aimee for bringing me her favorite book, and to Kristian's Mom and Aunt for the bag of books. Those will all really come in handy in the next couple weeks.

Chicago was fucking awesome. I love that city. One of my best friends, Billy, came out to see me and hang out for a while too. Also got to see Carlos from South Florida and Rita from Orlando. Good hanging out with them. My man Jordan Lyon is on tour with the Mongoloids, so I get to hang out with him every day now too. I love stage diving.

After the show, we did some partying at this place called Delilah's where Scott Vogel DJ'd for some reason. $5 for a highlife and a whiskey and coke? Perfect. The Eric and I went out with some friends of mine from the area. I stepped in a giant mud puddle. Now one of my brand new slip on vans is pretty much grey. So it goes...

Grand Rapids was kind of boring... Very tame show. Not a whole lot of people there, actually. Though I did meet two awesome dudes, Jesse and Ryan. Thanks for hanging out with me at the merch table, dudes. Thanks for buying JFS shirts, too :D

We left after Grand Rapids to get a jump on the long ass drive to Albany. Decided to stop about an hour and a half outside of Albany and get a hotel for the day. It was nice to have the entire day off just to chill and watch tv. I got to catch up on so much of my internetting. If it wasn't before, that is now a word. Caught up on True Blood and Entourage, now I just need to see Hung and Weeds and I'll be good for another week.
 
For some reason, at a truck stop the other night, I decided to buy some venison jerky. I haven't opened it yet and am starting to get a little bit afraid of it. But if anyone wants to try and brave this with me at any of the upcoming shows, please, feel free to come up to the merch table and say, "LET'S DO THIS!"

Crime in Stereo goes on first in Albany today. So come out early if you're trying to catch them. Tomorrow: NEW JERSEY!

(This was written on August 2nd. Being posted now because I only just now have internet. We're actually almost at the Chicago show.)

First 10 For 10 show in the books for me. At the second one in Englewood, CO right now, which is just outside of Denver I guess. From here we have a day off to get to our show at The Metro in Chicago. It is god awful hot outside and I've seen more open spaces and farmland than I knew existed. I find myself thinking about all of the crazy shit that could be built on this land, new homes, new high rises, new shopping centers, factories. Homes and jobs for all. But then where would we get the goods that would have been grown there? It reminds me of terrace farming. I forget what civilization started this, but they had no land for traditional farms, so they put steps in the side of mountains and farmed on them. Pretty inventive of them.

I wish I had some more time for sight seeing and picture taking. Kansas City had some nice architecture. Haven't seen much of Englewood yet, though, but apparently there's a Jamba Juice here.

CIS just played and it sounded great. Good setlist too. Explosives, The Contract, Stateside, and Is Dead all got touched. A sweet mix of everything. Kids here seemed to be really into it too. Thanks for the support, Denver. Now tell me why a bunch of you are wearing Hawaiian shirts.

Alex leant me the book he was reading. It's called "A Dirty Job," by Christopher Moore. I'm about 3 chapters in and it's already pretty damn good. Nobody's brought me any other books though, but I suppose it IS only the 2nd day on this tour for me.

Hey, I know it's not on the site yet, but if you didn't know, Crime in Stereo is participating in the first ever official Bridge 9 Tour. It's the entire month of October with Strike Anywhere, Polar Bear Club, and Ruiner. We'll be alllllllll over the country. I'll post those dates and locations up soon.
 
See you in Chicago.

Last night we played a house show in Punxsutawney, PA. I've never in my life been to such an area. I saw Amish people riding horse-and-buggies. That's not something you see, EVER, in Florida. I saw legit farms, with corn and wheat growing as tall as a man. There are orange groves in Florida. That's the closest thing we've got. Culture shock is amazing.

The house show went over real well.

Sidenote: We're at the show in Dayton, OH right this second. Crime in Stereo is actually on the stage performing while I write this. Kristian just called a girl a, "handsome young lady." For some reason, I find that to be such a funny thing to say to a girl.

Back to the house show. Very awesome people in Punxsutawney. Nice little mini-ramp and trampoline. Shout out's go to Chad who put us up for the night, let us eat his waffles and pizzas, and let us take all of his hot water. He likes comic books too. Chad, if you're reading this, don't forget to pick up Identity Crisis.

Another shout out goes to Adam, who was the only person to buy the limited edition JFS/CIS shirt at the show. That's completely ok that only one person bought one. I want to spread them around the country. He also bought us some drinks. I'm always ok with that.

The Dayton show is going over really well right now. A bunch of people are here and seem to be really enjoying themselves. There was a band called The Pledge that played earlier, and they were really fucking awesome. The singer is a really nice guy, too. He bought a JFS/CIS shirt, and let us shower in his house. His fiance made us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That's pretty tight. Good people.

Off to Kansas City, tonight. Looooooong drive. I think it's about 10 hours? We're back on the 10 for 10 Tour starting tomorrow. So if you're gonna be at any of the 10 for 10 shows, come up and say hi to me.

Also, if anyone wants to be nice, I'd really love it if people brought me some books. I made the mistake of only bringing one book, that I was almost done with already, ("Slapstick," by Kurt Vonnegut. It ended disappointingly) and I've already finished it on the second day out. So, whatever you think is an awesome book, I want to read it.

Finally, if you're coming to the Englewood, CO 10 for 10 show from the Denver area, and you bring us Illegal Pete's Burritos, (one of which must be veggie), we will give you free shit. Seriously.

Pics coming soon...

JFS OUT!

Hello!
 
I'm Josh Spickler, Crime in Stereo's new road dog. You'll be able to find me at the merch table (and on some completely awesome limited edition CIS shirts) for much of the future. I'm gonna be giving updates from the road every so often, so check back here for tour news, pictures, changes, updates, and maybe some random other things here and there.
 
We leave first thing in the morning for Punxsutawney, PA where we'll be playing a house show. I love house shows. It's at 51 Oak St., Punxsutawney, PA.
 
Also, I wanna see the groundhog. Is that cheesey? Who cares. 
 
See you on the road.