Brooklyn. I thought we would never make it. After getting through road construction on I-78, we thought we'd have plenty of time. Oh wait. We forgot about how poorly constructed the Holland Tunnel intersection is. New York is not made for automobile traffic, that's for sure. We made it to Pete's with about 45 minutes before our set time. Whew.

The PA was tiiiny: one speaker, one moniter. I think this place usually has more acoustic-type acts. Ones that don't emit as much . . . loud noise. But it worked. Thanks to everyone for being so supportive. And thanks for requesting more songs after our set. It makes me feel like sometimes our music is, at the very least, listenable.

Thanks to Pete's, the Bombshell Trio, and Basement Band for letting us play. We look forward to coming back again in August!

A lot of you know that I'm going to Europe for the month of June. I leave in 4 days. It's going to be crazy. I hope I don't die. But DON'T WORRY. I am going with a group of people. Included in this group is the Jesse referred to in "Jesse's Song."

"You've forgotten / You don't remember how we lost ourselves / In the world but mainly in Holland"

My alternative lyrics.

Jeremy will be working on new material while I'm gone. We will be playing up and down the coast in July/August. Dates are already confirmed for Knoxville, TN, and Augusta, GA, for July. We will have info up as we get it.

I will try to post on here regularly during my trip. You should read it so I'm not just talking to myself.

Finally . . . done with school for the semester. Jeremy and Carl both graduated.

So what's in store for Shapiro? Mind-blowing awesomeness.

Well, at least some summer touring and album writing/recording . . .

We're heading to New York in two weeks, perhaps playing in Philly on the way up, so check the websites for updates. This summer I am going to Europe for a month with some friends to backpack around and explore. You know, adventure stuff. It should be fun, given that I don't run out of money halfway through the trip.

I should have taken up a collection. A "Send John out of the US" collection. I'm sure lots of people would have contributed to that fund.

Summer touring will tentatively be for a week in July and a few weeks in August. We will update the websites accordingly as we know more details.

I will also try to post on here some during my traverse in the mother country, so hopefully that will prove to be at least somewhat amusing reading to y'all.

Oh, and thanks to the tons of people that came to the last Harrisonburg show at EMU! And sorry about the sloppiness of Shakira . . . it was hard to read that lyric sheet after they turned on the psycho-lights.