"That was the first time I heard a white power band", he said to me. He was making me feel a little bit uncomfortable.
Nara Sushi, which is, from what I've been told, one of the few places in Richmond currently hosting shows, was having a metal show this night. A metal show with the ghost-punk of Northern Liberties sandwiched in between, like an unexpected mint center in the middle of a cheeseburger.
"Yeah man", he continued, "you know how it is in Jersey - I mean, there was me and my band - a bunch of anglo saxons - and everyone in the neighborhood is Jewish.... so they're all gawking at us..."
Don't get me wrong - this guy never said anything that outright offended me, but I got the sinking feeling like he was "fishing" to see if I was "down" with whatever idiot cause he may have been trying to propagate.
After making small talk about music (metal) for a while with this guy, I went in to investigate the layout of the sushi bar that was about to be sonically devastated by the "brutal" (brutal was the adjective of choice al evening for describing any positive quality in music, this being, after all, a death metal show) metal bands, and Northern Liberties to boot. There were, right away, before anything began, about 40 people inside. A table of approximately 20 unsuspecting patrons of the sushi restaurant had sat down and ordered food. They seemed perplexed by the influx of the all-black band t-shirt death metal hordes. It was hilarious. "FAMILY OUTING SPOILED BY BRUTAL DEATH METAL ASSAULT"! I felt bad for both parties - the show-goers and bands wanted to get things underway, and the folks who ordered sushi just wanted to eat their food in relative peace. Eventually the sushi patrons were ushered out by the staff, some of them loudly moaning about the fact that they never were able to finish their meal, and refusing to pay.
People began to filter in. A *lot* of them! Apparently the headlining band, "Battlemaster" was quite popular. At some point it became simply ridiculous. There were more than 200 people crammed into the building like sardines. There was not a spare inch in the room, except for a little path near the front door.
I saw a good share of people who we knew from past shows in Richmond - some whose names I can' remember, but whose faces I remember. People knew who were there included Curtis (who gotus on the show), Bucky, Ashley, Andrea, and even our friend Brandon, who last saw us three years ago!
The show got started with Inter Arma - in my opinion the best bad of the night. I'm no death metal expert - in fact, I hardly listen to metal, but their power was undeniable. The drummer especially impressed me - every beat was audible (a difficult feat in the genre, due to the incredible speed of the music), and his playing was more imaginative than the majority of drummers doing similar stuff. People were into them, but it was impossible to see anything, since there was no stage, and the band was set up in an odd spot, causing there to be essentially two audiences, one to each side of them, while only two rows of people could actually face the band. I think this was done out of a concern about the sound escaping to the street, but it was awkward.
We played second. I had basically two options for what to wear at shows on this tour - either a polka dot dress featuring the band name along the bottom and a pigeon floating above, or all white. I liked both of these "looks" - the all white was designed to conjure images of ghosts, the dress to provide the correct alchemical element of ghost-mind formula, to focus our aether ray with an energy both of and beyond all dichotomies. On this first night I opted for the all white. Pretty much everyone there was wearing all black, so I figured I could provide some needed balance. I applied thick blobs of white face paint (known in the death metal scene as "corpse paint"), assisted by Andrea and a friend of hers. I also donned a nurse's cap with the red cross design. Some people seemed put off to some degree, but I figured that I was giving them fair warning that they were about to experience the ghost-punk spirit-mind-electricity phenomenon, take it or leave it.
It was a struggle to set up our equipment amidst the throngs of people. I placed a chair near where I was to be singing, so that the audiences could at least see one of the people making the music.
Our set was a little sloppy musically due to there being absolutely no room to move. Predictably, I fell backwards off the chair at some point, unbalanced by an advancing wave of death metal warriors. My brother (our drummer) who is normally pretty oblivious to his surrounding while playing suddenly got a look of terror on his face - while I was backed into a tiny corner wrestling with a piece of equipment, I crushed his glasses! But not badly! Luckily the frame was the only thing damaged, and it could be bent back into shape.
Both of the next bands were good in their genre, but the first band was my favorite. It's hard for me to judge the merits of a death metal band by the standards that most would use, though, since I'm not an ardent follower of the genre.
After the show I talked to some people who were on the wavelength with us. Some people who did not reach our vibration heckled me in a passive-aggressive way - for example, a guy walked by, and while looking at the ground mumbled "you fck'n asshole". That was pretty funny, and made me feel like I had performed my task up to par.
We went to a cool little pizza place afterwards with Curtis. I ran into Andrea and some of her friends. They were talking about "Sabrina the teenage witch", and I told them about the time I had one of my drawings published in the "fan mail" section of the Sabrina comic book.
Pretty soon we were off to stay at Curtis' place. At the last minute Andrea said "O Justin! We went ghost hunting... but we didn't find any ghosts"!
I watched the documentary 'Fog Of War' with Curtis that night. It was a great first date of the tour!

The people hanging out in the parking lot told me it was called a 'writing spider'. It spins a series of runic looking patterns in the center of its web. The folk wisdom is that if the lettering ever spells out the word "WAR" it will inaugurate the beginning of armageddon. The spider had bright yellow flame-like patterns on its abdomen. At some point someone caught a cricket - I marvelled at the horror of reality as the spider encased the cricket in an inescapable silken prison within the space of one second. This was more brutal than the brutal death metal show, for sure. I tried to convince Kevin to videotape the event, but he seemed (as usual) with more pragmatic concerns, like parking the van.
It was our friend Ed, who masterminds an incredible project called Projexcorcism (which employs a small army of film projectors to weave onlookers into an encasement of imagery and sound), who made this show happen for us.
We talked to the owner, Neil, who seemed like a kindred spirit, as well as the other bands etc.
We played first. An interesting thing about this show was that although the show was in a small venue, and there were about 30 - 40 people in the building, there was a "barricade" in front of the stage. The story I heard was that it was constructed in 2006 when The Melvins played, and the venue decided to keep it up. It was a good decision. For more quiet or introspective musics, it could serve as a good spot to rest elbows and/or drinks, and there were ashtrays on it. For us (and many others, I'm sure) it served as an ideal plank on which to balance and fall from, as the music commanded.
I had wanted to shave my head before the tour began, but I never managed to make it happen. Our friend Chris L. Childley was there to videotape our set, and he said he might have a pair of scissors, at least, in his car. It turned out that he did, but they were tiny fabric scissors, able to cut just one small piece of hair at a time.
I decided to incorporate the cutting off of my hair into the set in a ceremonial way. I was giving audience members chunks of my hair throughout the set - I hope none of them decide to put any kind of curse on me.
Following us was U.S. Christmas. I loved them. They had a powerful atmospheric presence which would swell and ebb, and they had an apocalyptic vibe, which always wins me over. They had a couple of projectors running while they played, and projected things like ancient Egyptian imagery and the surface of Mars. I am a fan of U.S. Christmas!
After U.S. Christmas was a band called 'Dirty South Revolutionaries', who were hilarious. They were sort of a cross between street punk ala The Exploited and nu-metal ala Limp Bizkit. Their between song banter consisted of them railing against people who were "P.C.", although their rage seemed unwarranted, as no one brought any "P.C." attitude to them at any point that I knew of, nor was anyone doing so during the course of their set. They had a guy who filled the Flavor Flav role, who was basically a nu-metal back-up singer for the street punk frontman. The whole thing was just insane and a laugh riot. They had a song called "Suck My Dick" - how un-P.C.! Someone call P.C.911!
Everyone was really friendly, and the show had a great vibe, especially for a bar. I gave someone the web address for Enid Crow, because they wanted to know who made the dress.
We stayed with Ed from Projexorcism. I made the ride back to his place with him, and told him all about the 'Toynbee idea' stuff. We all hung out for a while talking, and then went to sleep.

Well, I am back in Philadelphia from tour!

I am going to be typing and uploading the rest of the tour diary over the course of the upcoming week. If you want to keep up with the adventure, subscribe to the blog! And now, with no further ado, I bring you.....

Day 4 - Nashville, TN.

A hole in the wall bar in Nashville TN. on a Monday night is the place to be, depending upon who you are, and where your life has led you.

We got to Nashville a bit early in the evening, but there wasn't a lot to see or do, that we could find. There is a replica of the Greek Parthenon, settled in a large and scenic park near the bar. It would have been interesting to see, but it was closed on Monday. Athena sleeps in on Monday. The giant flock of geese wandering around nearby in the park provide the pre-show entertainment for the evening. It's balmy and cloudy..... Nashville has a weird, lonely vibe, despite the joggers and people enjoying the park.

The place to go hang out is the local mall. We go there. I buy a desperately needed new pair of shoes. It's a pretty hollow experience. The mall has these really depressing ducks with clipped wings that float hopelessly in the centerpiece water fountain. It makes me want to die. But I have new shoes. We joke around and make up an imaginary Jello Biafra should-have-been song called "Shop And Awe".

We drive back to the safety of the little bar.

The bar, while certainly being of the dive variety, is situated in a vast souless expanse of monocultural attractions - chain coffeeshops, chain bookstores, chain restaurants.... and so a little divey bar is actually a welcome sight, and it seems strange that it hasn't been edged out by some kind of chain sports bar yet.

After they open the doors, we spend some time hanging out before bringing our equipment in. I have no idea what to expect from this show. I am prepared for the worst - but I also don't really want to imagine what 'the worst' could entail, so I upgrade my lowest expectations to simply playing to an empty room, and edge out thoughts of bar brawls with enraged redneck zombies.

Eventually we get our stuff set up - we'll be playing first, so we're instructed to go ahead and get everything ready on the stage, which has a really cool red tastle curtain backdrop! I love that type of thing, and it's what often gives these 'low class' bars more style than the hipster-oriented clubs. We once played a strip club in NYC (which got shut down due to a shooting during the show, but that's another tale for another day) that had the coolest stage I've ever seen anywhere. Unfortunately they didn't have a PA, but who needs vocals when you have enough tastle to cover an entire ocean?

Anyways.... after we get most ofour equipment set up, someone orchestrating the show runs up to tell us that there's been a change, and we need to move our stuff to the side, fast! We do so. Our stuff is in a big pile, albeit a neatly arranged plie (thanks to Kevin, resident band logician), and another band soon shows up and gets their stuff set up.

After a while, people file in, and the show starts. There end up being a fair amount of people there, especially for a Monday (maybe 35 people), and it's a cool mix - glam rocker types, mutant hipsters (the hipsters here a little cooler than in NYC or Philly, because thay can't get the look quite perfect, making them oddly endearing), and bar regulars.

The first band is pretty good. I can't remember their name offhand, but they played pretty solid indie rock. Their guitar player built his own guitar, and was into instrument making, which reminded me of the bass player in my old band Eulogy.

The next band was funny. They seemed to be going for more of a top 40 rock type of thing, but modern top 40, like 'emo', or whatever it might be called. Their singer was bold, and making these hilarious boasts inbetween songs, such as "like it or not, we're bringing ROCK back to Nashville"! At one point he tried to pull this woman up who was sitting in a chair right up near the center of the stage, and she wasn't having it. She was old enough to have been his mom, and there was some serioud humor value in watching her gently scold him for trying to force her to rock, when she just wanted to sit! That was a great little 12 second mini-drama.

We were on next. It didn't take us too long to set up, since all we had to do was deconstruct the pile.

Right before we're ready to play, the guy who was making up the line-up of the bands etc. charges up to the stage, and in a confrontational tone says 'guys. we have a problem'. It strikes me as a little funny due to the similarity to the famous 'Houston, we have a problem' line, but this guy seems seriously upset/pissed, so I don't make any jokes about the space program. It turns out he thought we stole the stage microphones. We always use our own microphone (it's more sanitary, plus it allows one to do ridiculous stunts which endanger the mic without club owners freaking out), so Kevin had set aside the house microphones. I guess this guy didn't see them at first, and assumed the worst. It was weird, because if we were going to steal the microphones, wouldn't we wait until the end of the night? Anyways, Kevin pointed them out to him, and he scooped them up, hurridly apologizing for his ass-umption.

I decided that tonight was prime and perfect night to wear the polka dot dress and corpse make-up. If it was ever going to weird anyone out, this might be the place.
We launched into our music with 110% conviction, and what do you - people dug it. The energy of the whole room was really there, and any fears I had of ugly confrontations with crazed rednecks were proven to be utterly unfounded. There were a few people who may have fit this mold, but, perhaps feeling themselves outnumbered, they beat a hasty retreat pretty early on. The energy was really crazed. It was, in a way, the most 'punk rock' show of the tour, in that it seemed like there was some real tension that turned into some real fun, and it was a grand time for everyone who wanted to have a grand time on a dreary Monday night in Nashville.

Afterwards I hung out and sold stuff at the 'merch table' (o how I despise that term - let's call it a 'music-craft booth' from now on, shall we?) and met the locals. I actually sold more of my giant posters this night (five) than on any other night of tour. Nashville appreciates art! I didn't sell a single poster in San Francisco or Portland, but folks at the 'dive bar' in Nashville were way into it! A guy from the bar, who didn't even watch us play, bought two.... he bought one, and then got into a debate with his buddy at the bar about whether or not the posters were drawn that size, or whether I had them enlarged from the original. I promised him they were not enlarged, and he said 'you're shittin' me! OK, let me get one for my buddy then'!

I hadn't seen it coming, but there was actually another band after us! They were my favorite of the evening - a surf rock band with a girl singer called 'Brat'. They had some fantastic songs that got stuck in my head right away, but no album yet.

One of the folks from one of the earlier bands was kind enough to give us a floor to crash on that night. I feel so guilty for forgetting names etc., but I am writing this from memory, and things become quite a blur when you're meeting 20 or 30 people every day. At any rate, he made us some delicious food, and we talked about music like Zappa for a while.

The kindness of strangers is such a blessing on tour, and it's so cool that this person, which had never net us before, could have this little experience with us for a night. It reaffirms that there is a good side to people, even if I get used to seeing the bad side while riding the public bus etc.

In a nutshell, Nashville undercut any negative expectations, and turned out to be one of the best shows of the tour.

"Music City" came through!

The fifth show of the tour was at a place in Little Rock Arkansas called Vino's. It was a large bar/restaurant, with a huge (and tall) stage in a back room. It had a very 'hip' vibe, but in a good way. Sometimes that can come off as exclusive, but it had a fun kind of underground thing happening, like a big clubhouse. We got there pretty early, and found parking right outside, always a blessing.

We met some of the locals pretty early on, and they were very friendly. Marc and Kevin got wrapped up in conversation with them on the sidewalk in front of the place, while I concentrated on applying the first 'ghost mind electricity' tile of the tour. The idea is lifted from the TOYNBEE TILES, but I was using the kind of tape used for marking lines on driveways instead of a linoleum tile. To see an example of how mine turned out, check out THIS PHOTO, of one I put down in San Francisco.

At any rate, we eventually go in and sit down. The place is huge, and has a great atmosphere. They serve food and coffee.... so I feel like I can kill some time and relax.

I notice one of the free local papers, and the cover says 'HOLLOW EARTH THEORY'.... a theme that will, weirdly, follow me for the rest of the tour. The paper has an article that basically covers the history of hollow Earth theory, and has an incredible cover that is a cartoon drawing of UFO's flying out of a chasm in the Earth... one is piloted by an alien, one by Hitler, and one by Santa Claus. Incredible!

My cold has reached its peak. I feel congested, and definitely feel the effects of a mild fever. I'm in a good mood, but I can't help but fell the creeping psychosis of the fever state.

I think we were the first band to play. This was a strange night in that I just felt so 'off' from being sick. I tried to use the feeling as part of the music, but it worked against me. It was hard to forget my body, since it was not functioning well. I attempted to go in the other direction, and use a hyper-awareness of my body, and of my feeling under the weather, to reach the right place, but it just wasn't going to happen. Nevertheless, I stumbled through the songs, mustering all I could from whatever psychic energy reserves I had left. Marc and Kevin played exceptionally well, from my point of view, so I think it went down well overall. Either way, it was what it was. I've learned to accept whatever unfolds, since it will have only been that way once. I'm just glad my voice didn't give way completely.

Afterwards, I could barely talk. It was my job on this tour to operate the "merch table", and it hurt to yell over the loudspeaker music (*why* do clubs play music way too loud between bands at shows??) while talking to people. We sold a good amount of recordings etc., but I think maybe the cover was high or something, because a lot of people were telling me how much they loved it, but only had $3 or $5 etc.

The next band was called 'Sleeping In The Aviary'. I liked them quite a bit. They were a good indie-rock kind of band. The first batch of songs were acoustic, and then they switched to electric guitar. They had good songs, which is the deal-breaker with music of their kind. They also had a tangible energy, which came off as being very sincere. Their guitar player would jostle his guitar around while playing as if it was an oar on a rowboat. I don't know how else to describe it. It was cool.

After them was a band called 'A + Set Up'. They seemed to be the band everyone (or most people) came to see. People really filled in when they played. Actually, a few times already people had asked me if I was selling stuff for them. People would come over to the table and say "I'd like two records, two shirts, and a button"...... I'd start to try to gather all the items, and then they'd realize I was selling Northern Liberties items.....(them:) "O, you're not selling stuff for A + Set Up"? (me:) "No, I was in the first band"........(them:) "O, I missed you guys. Sorry man".

At any rate, they deserved the hype, they rocked! They had a sound that was something like Devo meets Wire meets Joy Division. The singer would do really fast, staccato vocalizations, the drums were airtight and jerky, the whole sound was very angular, but fast and danceable. People went wild for them, including me. Despite my cold, I danced on my chair at the table. It's awesome to be able to see good bands on tour.... I don't go out to see bands very often at home, and when I do it's (of course) usually bands I know of, or friends bands.

We (the bands and their friends) all stood outside after loading out and talked for a long while, exchanging funny tour stories, and goofing on nu-metal. There was some talk of heading back to someones place, but it seemed like that was just the beginning of the party for them, and we had to be up early the next day to drive to Dallas. We ended up getting a hotel room somewhere between the two cities. It was the first time we had sprung for a hotel, and it felt good to be able to unwind in relative silence/calm, especially while trying to kick the cold/flu thing.

I had a strange dream that night, most of which I forget. I did write down that part of it involved people vomiting some sort of glowing gel. The gel could make anything it touched invisible. Someone said something like "this is what the new aeon will be made of". I can't make much sense of it now, especially since I don't remember the bulk of it. I also drained about a gallon of phlegm into the sink. Now I understand.....

Show number six of the tour was at the Lakewood Bar & Grill in Dallas Texas. I was excited to know that for sure, for certain, we had broken the record for having gone the farthest from home we had ever been on tour. It felt good. Texas didn't Texas has a weird vibe.... basically, it seems like somewhere that someone like George Bush (Sr. or Jr.) could come from.... it's got a lifeless feeling that's hard to put into words. Sometimes a lifeless feeling can be a good thing, if it's an inspiring kind of lifelessness..... but Texas just has a soul sucking quality to it that has none of the 'romantic' element of desolation. Strangely enough, I am reminded of this passage from 'The Fall Of The House Of Usher', by that master of romantic desolation, Edgar Allan Poe:

"I know not how it was --but, with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit. I say insufferable; for the feeling was unrelieved by any of that half-pleasurable, because poetic, sentiment, with which the mind usually receives even the sternest natural images of the desolate or terrible. I looked upon the scene before me --upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain --upon the bleak walls --upon the vacant eye-like windows --upon a few rank sedges --and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees --with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveller upon opium --the bitter lapse into everyday life-the hideous dropping off of the reveller upon opium --the bitter lapse into everyday life --the hideous dropping off of the veil. There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart --an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime"............

But at any rate.... all my disheartened feelings in regards to the inexplicable malaise of the state of Texas aside, I was happy to have finally pretty much recovered from my cold.

We arrived early, and did basically nothing..... walked around town a little.... nothing too remarkable was seen. There were a few pigeons. I walked past a 'vintage' looking theater where a sign advertised that Henry Rollins had done a spoken word engagement few nights earlier. I wondered what the 'punk scene', or whatever they're calling it these days, was like in Dallas.

As the day grew later, the other bands and some of their friends showed up. The show was set up by the wonderful experimental duo 'Electric Brown'. Electric Brown are Dallas locals who seem to have created their own little insane world within the city, consisting of them and maybe four friends. It was a cool world. Their set was great.... lulling, croaking, atmospheric sounds of all sorts were coaxed forth from various instruments and electronics. They explained matter-of-factly that 'not a lot of people et us' in Dallas. Some friends of their theirs who played in more rock/song oriented bands played as well. hey were very proficient musicians, and fun to watch, as well. The drummer in one of the bands was great, and seemed like he was going to explode with real, actual, unadulterated rage at any minute, the whole time. He made some imperceptible error near the end of a song, and insisted on playing the entire song over again, from the top. The guitar player indulged him.... and judging by the look on the drummer's face... which was like a rabid hyena on PCP, it was a wise course of action. They were awesome. Sadly my memory won't allow me to conjure the name of the band right now.

We played last. Not a lot of people were there, but there were enough that it didn't feel totally lonely. The reaction was a little underwhelming, but it was a Wednesday in a dead-seeming town, and, as they say "you can' win 'em all". I enjoyed playing quite a bit, although this was the first and only night of tour where I just wasn't feeling using the marching drums. Most of the songs we played didn't require them, and the few that did, I concentrated most of the rhythms onto the rototom.

There was a very funny moment during our set -- a group of maybe six people got up to leave about two songs into our set. I'm not the type pf musician or artist who is offended if people choose to leave midway..... certainly what we do isn't for everyone, which is a crucial element of its being...... but anyways, as the people were leaving, I decided to stand up on top of a barrier near the door, which divided the stage from the doorway. This was not in any way related to the people leaving - in fact, when I ascended the barrier, I hadn't even noticed them yet. The barrier turned out to be much more precarious and flimsy than it looked. As soon as I found myself perched on top of it, it began to sway wildly, threatening to come crashing down into the doorway area. It just so happened that the people trying to leave found themselves trapped in front of the thing.... as our eyes locked, I truly feared that I would find myself on top of them within the space of a breath. I could also sense that a burly looking guy in the back of their entourage was ready to take me to task for this, were it to occur. I flung myself back, causing the barrier to recoil along with me, and we all lived happily ever after. But I'm sure the people leaving thought I was in some way confronting them for trying to escape our music, and I would love to have heard their conversation on the way home!

The folks from Electric Brown graciously put us up for the night, and directed us to an authentic Mexican food joint for breakfast. We would soon be on our way to Albuquerque, New Mexico, with one more show under our collective belt.

On Thursday, we made a special pilgrimage to Roswell, NM. Roswell is known for pretty much one thing.... OK, it's known for absolutely one thing, and that is that a 'UFO' (of whatever type pf origin) supposedly crashed, and was recovered, near this town in 1947. The drive into Roswell was the opposite f the drive through Texas. This was a scene that was utterly awe inspiring.... it was creepy, and incredibly epic, all at once. The landscape became gradually more interesting and twisted as Texas was left behind. The sky, likewise, became so totally mysterious..... a vast globe, like an upside-down ocean full of infinity. It's easy to see why visitors from outer space, parallel dimensions, the hollow Earth, etc., would choose this part of the world to swoop down from the sky. I kept seeing UFO's in the sky, of all types. I saw an actual 'auto-harmonic airship' 'mechanical zephyr' type ship, but no one else could see it, so I guess we'll say it wasn't 'real'. We stopped along the road and posed for a picture. The breeze felt awesome in the most literal sense of the word. There was a weird puddle near where we were standing full of milky colored liquid that looked just like cum. We were laughing about its potential use in a porn video, and it was really pretty creepy looking. I kept thinking it must be that the Earth is a giant egg, and these pools of semen will impregnate it.

We arrived in Roswell at night. It felt odd to not be playing a show. we had fun unwinding in an extraordinarily 'David Lynch-ian' hotel.

The next day we saw the extremely kitschy tourist town that is Roswell. They certainly milk the UFO thing for all it's worth, and then some, and then some more still. Even the street lamps are shaped like the heads of the now-familiar Alien 'gray' face - the big, blank almond eyes, the balloon shaped insect-type head.

The coolest part of all the tourist stuff, by far, was the "official (international) UFO museum". The museum featured really thorough archival material from the time of the Roswell UFO incident, and gave all sides of the story - something for the skeptics, the believes, and anyone in between. There were all sorts of unbelievable dioramas, of alien abduction scenarios, Nazi UFOs from the hollow Earth, and recreations of the famous ranch 'crash site' near Roswell. Roswell is a very kitschy kind of town, but the fact that the all the kitsch is based on alien abduction and bizarre conspiracy theories gives the kitsch a redeeming quality. It probably gets pretty tiring to those who actually live there, but it's worth seeing, without a doubt. The best part of the museum was the UFO lending library. They had pretty much every UFO related book *ever*, plus a lot of 'zines' and general weirdness that were obviously one-offs, or printed in editions of 50. Such photocopied manuscripts as "1982: THE YEAR OUR ANTICHRIST MASTERS RISE" made for a library that I wished I could take home with me.

I made and glued two copy-cat Toynbee tiles in Roswell! No reports yet as to whether or not they survived, but I figured Roswell could use such things.

As the day began to wane, we headed on our way to......
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