I’m consolidating for the sake of my own interest. On the highway of endless emptiness, space and space and space now known to me as the path from Western PA to Ohio to Indiana. We’re on the way to Chicago. And I-80 cuts through miles and miles of flat farms for what seems like forever. We’re frequently the only car on the road filled with trucks. It’s beautiful but mainly it’s eerie. We drove through hail and rain and snow, through sun and blue skies, changing on a dime. It’s tornado country and you can feel the contradictions in the air. I asked Christina (my dear friend of over 20 years, my oldest “Americani friend,” who’s accompanying us as driver/photographer/videographer the first half of this tour)  what she thinks they’re growing on all this farm land, and she said, “Corn, probably. That’s all America is made of.”

Bringing Christina along has reminded me the gift of long long friendships, a shared memory exists between you. Stories can weave in and out of narration and characters can pop in and out without explanation: Estranged family, ex-friends, high school teachers, soccer coaches, “fuck-ass college boyfriends,” foreign lovers, who hooked up with who at the 2022, and 2018, New Year’s Party, what road trip with what dog went where, that party in LA with those people who rock climbed and how our “abrasive” affect really didn’t vibe with theirs, did it?

It was with this that I, for the first time since being road-rage attacked in 2020, drove in any significant capacity. I drove from Clearfield, PA to Fremont, IN (across Ohio). I thought I’d be more stressed about it, truthfully I expected panic to rise from my gut to my fingertips, but instead I felt calm. So calm. At peace. Maybe the zen of driving, that sort of constant focus combined with the general emptiness of I-80 and its bad weather, made for a meditation. I was interested and not anxious. I have considered however that maybe it’s as simple as: I wasn’t looking at my phone.   

With this thought I gave driving back up to Tina so I could write on the highway of forever emptiness, bad weather country of Midwest America. It’s my first time in Chicago and we’re playing Cole’s tonight. If you have friends there, maybe you should tell them to come say hi?

What we listened to driving 3.14 Philly to NYC:

1.        LUX – ROSALIA

2.        After the Gold Rush – Neil Young

What we listened to 3.15 NYC

1.        Immaterial – SOPHIE

2.        SAOKO – ROSALIA

3.        Berghain – ROSALIA, Bjork, Yves Tumor

4.        It’s Not Up To You – Bjork

5.        Isobel – Bjork

What we listened to 3.16 NYC to Akron, OH

1.        What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye

2.        Pet Sounds – the Beach Boys

3.        Fancy That – PinkPantheress

4.        Your Day Will Come – Chanel Beads

5.        The Fame – Lady Gaga

6.        Songs of Love and Hate – Leonard Cohen

7.        Because Dreaming Costs Money – Mitski

8.        No Burden – Lucy Dacus

What we listened to driving to and fro dinner in Akron, OH

1.        God – Prince

2.        Airplanes – BoB and Haley Williams

3.        The Big Sky – Kate Bush

4.        Samba Pa Ti – Santana

5.        CUFF IT – Beyonce

6.        One Kiss – Dua Lipa and Calvin Harris

What we’re listening to right now (Akron to Chicago)

1.        Revolver – the Beatles

2.        Moon Safari -Air

3.        If My Wife New I’d Be Dead – CMAT

4.        Norman Fucking Rockwell – Lana Del Rey

5.        Hasta la Raiz – Natalia Lafourcade

6.        MOTOMAMI – Rosalia

7.        Changes – Justin Bieber