Travel

Flew west just in time for NYC to cool off and Denver to heat up.

Somehow got bumped up to first class. All travel griping suspended until further notice.

Lady in obscenely long line: “Maybe we should have eaten after going through security.” Oh, do you think?

Sweet Jesus, La Guardia is a shit show. 4sq.com/MaXNtu

On the train to the train to the train to the bus to the plane to Denver.

It is an election year, and as our president and other political incumbents across the country dust off their dirtiest tricks to retain their posts, so too do our returning regional air guitar champions. Of our first six cities this year, only Portland and Boston are sending new blood to the finals, and neither of their winners from last year returned to defend their titles. So as we pulled up to Washington, DC’s legendary 9:30… See more →

Boston’s air guitar faithful assembled at Brighton Music Hall on Friday night. They came to talk loudly over the judges’ commentary, and they stayed to marvel at performances that were by turns inspiring and reviling.

The air guitarists of Boston have long toiled fruitlessly in the glittery shadow of four-time champ McNallica (Erin McNally), whose charisma and fire was insurmountable even on the rare occasion she faced a worthy challenger. But with McNallica’s retirement came… See more →

There are two things that make New York City one of the toughest markets in US Air Guitar:

1. The staggering amount of top tier talent, both local and imported, and
2. The Daily Show’s Jason Jones, whose commentary has reduced all but the most thick-skinned competitors to quivering heaps in the backstage bathroom.

Alongside ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner and music biz free agent Leigh Lust, Jones returned on Thursday night to his perch in the… See more →

Every Amtrak Acela Express train I have ever taken arrived at its destination very, very late, if it arrived at all.

Just Like Being There

Scout Shannon

One of the smartest things Just Like Being There does is to go out of its way not to ignore the “gig” part of “gig posters”. The film is thick with music in both the background and foreground, and the handful of live performances it features do a good job of capturing that certain kind of magic that only a great rock show can provide. Capturing that magic is… See more →

This is not why I come to Texas in March.

The New Jersey Turnpike really must be the least scenic, most depressing roadway in these United States.

Dude next to me on the bus is reading espn.com, e-mailing, IMing three people, and talking on the phone while watching The Tree of Life.

A reasonable person might wonder why they were able to see their 10:15 bus leave without them at 10:14.

Stellar weekend in the mountains of western North Carolina with moonshine, bluegrass, and @ AVL Asheville Municipal gowal.la/c/4UHR9

A huge thanks to @usairguitar, @NordicThunder, and my friends and fellow competitors for another very memorable visit to Chicago.

The Mastodon burger at Kuma’s Corner has won the battle, but not the war.

Damn, Chicago, has it really been three years? Let’s not let that happen again.

This four-foot-tall kid is obsessed with getting an Extra Leg Room seat.

The TSA has once again kept us safe from the tyranny of the Windhammer belt buck @ JFK John F. Kennedy International gowal.la/c/4DkBg

Two days ’til I leave for Chicago. vimeo.com/26669407

Back in Boston for the first time since I moved. They still have that river.

3 states, 3 planes, 3 trains, 2 shuttles, 2 cars, 1 cab, 2 friends, 1 relative, 4 legendary thrash bands.

Waiting to see if I can do better than the red-eye I booked. Could be a very long da @ LAX Los Angeles International gowal.la/c/45zbq

First time the TSA has taken no notice of the Windhammer belt buckle. @ JFK John F. Kennedy International gowal.la/c/3HXyG

For perhaps the first time ever, I have successfully timed the depletion of all perishables to coincide with a few days out of town.

Amtrak, I wanna father your children. Mostly so I can murder and eat them and bludgeon you with their bones.

Attempted a 2D scale drawing of my 2008 road trip: x-axis distance (9403 mi), y-axis altitude (766 ft). Not my best idea, as it turns out.

When waiting tables, I often reminded myself, “We’re not saving the world. It’s burgers and beer.” Free advice, Canadian Border Patrol.

Bolt Bus really ought to stop claiming it has wifi. Related: Hey, AT&T, how’s that iPhone tethering coming along? Hello?

Lady, your hubby doesn’t need a blow-by-blow recount of your phone call after you treated the entire bus to your side of it the first time.

Just passed Zakk Wylde on I-95.

96 hours, 3 cities, 2 buses, 4 subway trains, 3 cabs, 2 cars, 1 plane, 5 brokers, 5 apartments, 3 concerts, 24 friends, 5 family members.

Dude. Kid. The train has stopped again for the same reason as the other fifty times it stopped in the last five minutes. Give it a rest.

And the radio man laughs, because the radio man fucks a model too. — at LAX Los Angeles International gowal.la/r/5Do7

A sleepless red eye flight proved the perfect environment to finally spend some quality time with The National. Consider me convinced.

At JFK, whose speakers are treating me to Tears for Fears, Escape Club, Journey. I am 12 and anything is possible. Must I get on the plane?

Hey, San Francisco. I will be visiting you this weekend. Tell your people to gimme a shout if they wanna hang.

JetBlue, I love ya, but burying your web check-in process in Flash is a total dick move.

Bolt Busing back to Boston after a stellar weekend in Brooklyn, hoping to catch up with friends attending @aneventapart.

"Chick magnet right there, dood," he says, referring to his seatmate's Chihuahua, apparently oblivious to his own cockblock.

It would be worth going to hell to verify that Amtrak made it there too.

Hello again, Philadelphia. I thought we talked about getting some deodorant for your cab drivers.

We have not even left the station, and the grown man behind me is narrating every aspect of what is apparently his maiden voyage on A Bus.