First, I would like to welcome anyone reading this to our tour blog. The members of Paper Route will be blogging weekly from the road for the entire month of July, and we’re looking forward to sharing some stories. There is no shortage of interesting things happening in America. There never has been, never will be. Anyway, I’ll get you caught up to speed. Our first date of the tour was at a festival in Des Moines, Iowa, called the 80/35 Festival. I’m still trying to figure out why they call it that. Regardless, it was one of the best festivals that I’ve ever been to. Here is why:

1. It was moderately sized. There was always a band playing, and there was never a band playing that I wanted to see but had to miss. 2. The beer was local, fantastic, and we got some for free. The Scottish Ale was particularly delicious. Who knew Iowa such made good Scottish Ale? Not me. 3. Everyone was relaxed. Normally festivals are disorganized and hectic, but this one was not. This made for an enjoyable and relatively stress-free festival experience. 4. Man Man and Broken Social Scene played entertaining, unique, and inspiring sets thoroughly enjoyed by the entire Paper Route crew.

The next night we played in a venue that hosted Elvis and countless presidents throughout history. Coolest looking venue I’ve been to in awhile with portraits of said presidents lining the walls. A wonderful band called Mia opened the evening and rounded everything out for a fantastic night. Afterward we played the first of what will become many acoustic performances.

We drove to Detroit after that and played in a bowling alley. It kind of blew my mind. I’m standing on a stage and playing a song while bowling balls are crashing into pins below me. It’s like playing in the middle of a blue-collar thunderstorm. Our song "Gutter" was remixed by a rapper named Dasit recently, and he joined us on stage for this song. You can check him out here. After we played, we invited everyone to come up on stage and take a picture with us. It was an interesting and memorable night indeed.

When we played in Cleveland, I met a man named Pete whose brother took him to see Elvis when he was five years old. The very next day (he told me through tears), his brother was shipped off to fight in Vietnam. I told him about the venue in Kentucky that Elvis performed in. He said that was exactly the place where he saw him. It sent a chill over my body, and I began to question big things like fate and free will.

Tonight we played in Columbus. I feel like this city should be a sister to Toronto. Downtown at least. Just a feeling. I saw my friend Mike there, and he helped film us for a little bit after the show.

We’re all over the place for the rest of the month and should be in a city near you soon. You can check the tour dates on our MySpace. I hope to see you soon.