Tour photo dump

Hey gang. Our tour with Okkervil River wound down about a week ago, and I am now feeling suitably decompressed as to share with you some media that will enhance yr understanding of what it was like. Firstly, here is a video of us in Toronto doing our thing - this should be a reasonable enough representation of what our performances were like on this tour. This video was taken from the blog of one Chris Eclectic, who has got some more videos and nice pictures and a summary of the concert and all that.



Yep, that's us, all right. Below, you'll find a video of OR's mouthpiece Will Sheff performing "A Stone" from that perennial '00s classic Black Sheep Boy. Man, I'll tell ya - back in the day, that record was my jam. Freshman year of college, I was as big an OR fan as you'd be likely to find. In fact, most of the good ideas on that old Airing of Grievances album were lifted straight from BSB - listen to our song "Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ" and you might see what I mean. "To Old Friends and New" is another OR-influenced song from that era (even if it was released on an album later). Damn, if only that confused little man could see me now. Anyway, here's Will singing "A Stone" in Seattle. A full-band performance might be a little more representative, but this clip has got good audio and video quality for ya.



Of course, I have to also give mad props to Julianna Barwick, the supernaturally gifted singer who rounded out the bill for a little while. I've been enjoying her great record The Magic Place since we've been home - highly recommended for the next time you want to space out and float off into supreme relaxation. Also, you might not necessarily guess from her music, but she is a wonderfully light-hearted and affable pal who is great to goof around with when off the clock. Sounds like a winning combination to me! Here she is doing her thing at the beautiful Bluebird Theater in Denver (big shouts to my cousin Janelle who came out to this show - hey Janelle!).



If you seek to be still further illuminated, this time with words, head on over to Amy's blog, where indie rock's pluckiest journalistic investigator took the time to interview Okkervil River's primo guitar slinger, one Lauren Gurgiolo, as well as Iowa rock heroes the Poison Control Center, with whom we played a few dates on our way home. Neat! Informative!

So here's something crazy. I had a camera with me on this tour, for the first time (OK, I had a camera on the last tour we did, but I abandoned it in Milwaukee - some employee of the Riverside Theater is making some good-ass home movies). Now, I am no great photographer, but the machine did allow me to capture some magic moments. Let's start with funny t-shirts. One kid was wearing a shirt of a "Communist Party" - tee hee. Here it is.



Then this other time, this kid was wearing a t-shirt with our guy Abe Lincoln fighting a gang of tough looking bears. No sweat for Abe, who, as a young man, won the trust of the people of New Salem, IL with his supreme wrestling skills. Doubt not the gangly rail splitter, for he was strong as an ox.



That is tight. Then there was this other kid in Minneapolis who made this funny t-shirt, which tried to bridge the cultural divide between our latest hit single and the latest rap music phenomenon to sweep America. I respect this guy's ingenuity, even though I am no fan of blindly hateful music. We DO need to escape from that bullshit, know what I'm saying? Here's the cool shirt.



There is little in the world I love more than walking into some Titus Andronicus concert and seeing a homemade TA shirt. What a great way to show love! Never fails to warm my heart. Hey! Next time you come see us play, why not wear a homemade t-shirt? That's fun, and it sticks in the craw of the evil t-shirt industry. Also, I'd like to go on the record and say that wearing a Titus t-shirt to one of our shows is definitely NOT a lame or stupid thing to do - we welcome "that guy" with open arms. Homemade, or bought from us, whatever! Let the colors fly! Show us, by yr shirt choice, that you are ready to get down!

On our Photobucket page, you can see full body shots of the guys who modeled these shirts. Handsome boys!! Loving it!!!

Now, where my dogs at? First, here is an awesome painting that now hangs on the wall of my old friend Lucie's house in Seattle - apparently, this masterpiece was found face down in the street! No respect! Thank heavens a goodly art patron happened upon it at the right time. I mean, look at this thing - it's great!



Then there was this one other time, when we were at a coffee shop or something (I do believe it was in Omaha, Nebraska), when tied up outside there was this dog. Look into the eyes! They're two different colors, baby!! Big props to this dog for being a most excellent and cooperative model - my furry friend allowed me to take lots of good shots with the wild eyes staring right into my camera, and indeed, into my soul.



Later on, we were graciously invited to spend the night at the home of Lauren Gurgiolo's parents in the greater Dallas/Fort Worth region. Great folks, remarkably generous and inviting - no suprise that young Lauren is such a pleasure to be around. Anyway, they had some dogs too, including this little rascal, who also had those crazy eyes! This pooch wasn't as much of a photo shoot pro as his Nebraska counterpart, but it's all good. Man, I love dogs. Great animals!



Here's yr boy stunting on a dinosaur, at the great rest stop in Little America, WY.



Here I am again, doing it big on a pink elephant. I forget where this was.



Later on in the tour, after these pictures were taken, I came upon a pink dinosaur near the club we were playing - I think this may have been in Arizona? Who knows. Anyway, I said, "Man, if I get a picture with that, it'll be the perfect thing to complete my series with the other dinosaur and the pink elephant! YES!" Then I forgot about it, or did some other shit, and soon, it was too dark to take a picture. Oh well!

One of the ways in which Okkervil River showed us kindness and respect was by letting us sometimes spend the night in their hotel room. You see, fancy bands like OR often spend the night tearing up the highway in their tour bus, so the hotel rooms they might get to shower, or to let the bus driver sleep, or whatever, would otherwise end up going to waste after the show. Naturally, we in Titus Andronicus were always most grateful to make sure each bed was full of happy, sleepy bodies. Thanks, OR! One night in Boise, I observed that there was some other kind of weird mirror by the more traditional mirror, and so I set it up to take this crazy photo - does this freak you out at all?



Lastly, here is a "class picture" taken on Future Islands' last night with the tour, when we were partying big time outside of Minneapolis. These guys sure are great - can't wait to kick it with them again at the Hopscotch Festival in their native North Carolina! Look at us having fun:



By the way, second from the left in the back row is our main man Joel, brother to FI singer Sam and the man to talk to if you want to get one of their hot-ass t-shirts. Getting to know him, and taste the sweet fruit of his friendship, was an unexpected treat. Even less expected - my man can straight up RAP. Check out the music he makes under the name Plucky Walker.

All right, well, that's probably enough for now. I'll be back on here soon, maybe with some videos for y'all! That'll be fun, yeah? Great. See ya then!

Yr friend,
Patrick