fer flerida

Dear Florida :

Your rains are insane! Your girls are babes, you've got a lot of surfer dudes, your landscape is gorgeous, and your humidity is awful. Went to your beaches several times. Once at night when we could sneak Daisy in, chase her around, and get her to swim away from the shore with us. Do you have any dog beaches? If so, we probably would have beached even more. Just a thought.

Your locals are super chill....ie. The punks who hung out with Josh and John the night we arrived and ran into us the next day. Also, the random kids who hopped on the bus and hung out with us and told us about their wild hobby of kayak fishing. Those pics of what they caught? No idea! And to learn that we'd been swimming around with flounder and other fish while those huge pelicans dove for them not far from us?! Incredible. Oh, and cannot forget M, the girl who jumped out of the car after a wedding and became my new show buddy, gave me her bracelet and introduced us to other great people. Performed a “show” of her own while the band was playing. Haven't seen ANYTHING like it at a house show. It was a huge tit...i mean, huge hit!

Uncle Ron was a blast, thanks to Emily. Let us crash at his amazing place in what seemed like a tropical wonderland of crazy bugs, lizards everywhere, an endangered turtle, and a pond with frogs, fish, and at one time a sea otter. Hoped for an alligator, but no dice. Listened to Ron's incredible and wild stories of living in Florida in the seventies and eighties. The famous people he'd met, the adventures he'd been on, how Florida was one of the only states thriving economically back then due to the drug biz. (See film “Cocaine Cowboys” for starters). How “the best tasting” turtle steaks used to come from the area until they were outlawed. How they used to kill them. :( (It's disgusting and heart-wrenching). I think Ron's stories are more entertaining than most that I've heard. People like Ron the adventurous and the guy in the grocery store parking lot that bought our CD? The guy that always wished he could have jumped in a bus with a camera and traveled? They really get us. They feel what we're doing; support it wholeheartedly and remind us of how lucky we are. “You get to travel around the entire country. And can afford to! Some people don't even get to leave their neighborhood in say...Brooklyn their whole lives and you guys get to go everywhere!”

Your bands also impressed the hell out of us. Give up...nicest guys and great band! Hooked us up with a super fun house show. And then Capsule did the same for us the next night. Set up a house show for us in Miami and played for the first time since fall. Blew our minds musically. All the bands we played with in Florida rocked. The east coast has been a newfound gem and I really cannot wait to come back. Oh, and Mike's sorry for telling everyone that Orlando Magic beat the Lakers without knowing that the game had gone into overtime. His phone doesn't update quickly enough! Chins up..you guys will kill 'em in Orlando. If Jebus can walk on water in your ocean, you can beat the Lakers.