The Tastes of Takoma Festival was . . . different for us. Fun, though. The audience was composed mainly of soul people, but they seemed to enjoy it. Got a lot of good feedback. I believe they're also going to air our performance on the Comcast TV channel in Takoma, so make sure and check that out. Oh, and sorry about the power cutting out at the beginning . . . I don't know what the deal was. Thankfully they got it fixed.

As we were setting up, the sound guy asked Nathan what kind of amp he had, so Nathan said, "Orange." The guy started cracking up with laughter, and we didn't quite know what to make of it. Then we realized that he was probably unfamiliar with Orange Amps and thought Nathan was referring to the color of his amp. Poor cute little curly-haired Nathan, all excited about his orange amp. I'm sure the guy thought he was adorable.

Then Tuesday, April 11th, we played in Norfolk with Army of Me, Tokyo, and Red Anthem. Army of Me was great, nice guys too, and we wish them the best of luck as they head out on tour with O.A.R. under their newly-formed relationship with Atlantic Records. Yeah, that's pretty substantial. Also be on the lookout for Tokyo . . . these guys were outstanding.

Hope to see a lot of you out tonight for the last Harrisonburg show of the semester @ EMU! We have some brand new material we hope you'll enjoy. Share the love. Oh, and don't forget about the free e-single download . . . www.shapiropeople.com/leaving. Email me at john@shapiropeople.com for the password. You are all special to me.

It’s 10:17 a.m., Sunday morning, and I’m riding shotgun in the van on the way to the Taste of Takoma Festival in Takoma Park, MD. The last two weeks have been filled with radical awesomeness. Here’s a quick recap.

Friday, March 31st - Drove to Dover, Delaware, to play a show at the Venue. Due to traffic congestion, and an oil tanker that slammed head-on into a toll booth, the trip took 6 hours rather than 4. The venue itself is an Assembly of God church, but the show wasn’t too . . . for lack of a better term . . . churchy. So that was nice. They just asked that we keep it clean on the mic. And as anyone who has seen us knows, that’s tough for us to do. GOSH DARN. Anyways, there were a few hundred kids there, so that was nice. The people were also very nice. Nice niceness. Rolled back into Harrisonburg a little after 4:00 a.m.

Saturday, April 1st - After disturbingly little sleep, we headed down to Blacksburg to Soundfest. Everyone played well, the PA sounded great, and good times were had by all. We’re just waiting to hear from Mae about when they want us to come on tour with them. JK!!! Thanks to the Soundfest crew for treating the bands so well. We’ll come back any time!

MACRoCK weekend - Oh yes. MACRoCK was a fantastic weekend as usual. Thanks to everyone that came to see us so early at Guzman’s! I was really excited about the turnout; with so many other great bands playing, it’s quite a compliment that so many of you would take the time to see us. So many other great bands played as well . . . too many to name here, but I must mention one: Man Man. If you missed this band, I’m sorry. I think my life was changed forever. Their live show is unbelievably good. And very friendly guys as well. This band is going places.

As many of you know, MACRoCK marked the release of our first e-album, “The L.e.a.v.i.n.g. Single.” Postcards were given out with the password to download the album from www.shapiropeople.com/leaving. The password was also announced on WNRN on Saturday night. Did you still miss it? E-mail me at john@shapiropeople.com and tell me your favorite color and I’ll hook you up.

Well, we’re almost at the festival. And go to www.turbotax.com to get your taxes done. The radio just told me that. Thought you might want to know.