It's the drive home that kills me. Every time. No matter how long or how short, the same thought circulates around and around: Did I make enough of the time I had?

For thirty days I traveled one end of the United States to the other and back with eight fantastic gentlemen. Yet for 3/4ths of this summers tour I was unable to shake the though of missed opportunities.

It was in Austin Texas that I decided to no longer live behind a wall while in the company of people I travel with, people I call family. We rolled in Eric's old apartment at 2am, after a 14hour drive from New Mexico. The majority of the traveling party went straight to bed. Dave, Eric, Andrew, Ty, and I stayed awake. We were doing nothing more than relaxing, conversing about bands we liked and the good people in them, record labels we liked and did not like, and again, the good people in them.

Around 4am, we decided that it would be a good idea to take a dip in the developments pool, again sitting around, talking about moments, men, and places. At the time nothing else really mattered-no worries of home, money, school, dogs, girls-but the moment. As deliriously tired as I was, I knew I was in the company of good people, bonding, feeling as if I was making the most of the moments I had with them.

Upon laying down on the hardwood floor of the vacant apartment(we were basically squatting), I could not help but reflect on days past, on how much I would have liked to have stayed up with the guys in North, or spend more time with Davy and Andre Weiss, just like I did tonight.

The later stress of tour would prove this new mantra hard to follow. The last leg of tour was plagued with poor promotion, poor payments, and poor decisions by promoters themselves- as in putting together a 5 band bill that starts at 10pm. This really destroyed my attitude and I found myself hidden behind a book for days at a time, talking to no one, interacting with people only to sell a CD or shirt.

Coming home however, and realizing how important personal interaction is, and how much I've actually missed out on these past few years has been somewhat liberating. I'm going out more, checking out random shows, “just because the article in the paper sounded cool”, and I'm actually calling people instead of holding up behind Ableton Live 8 on a Saturday night.

Now that I have a house-I'm a homeowner now- I might even have people over. But lets not take this too far just yet. Brick by brick I'll remove my own wall down.

Day one: Detroit

The van blew a coolant line, causing the engine to overheat. This cost us close to $200.00 to fix and tow, and about 4hrs of drive time.


By the time we ended up back on the road, our estimated arrive time was around midnight.
All was well in the end. We did arrive at midnight. While this should have killed the evening for us, a bunch of kids stuck around and waited for us. They also had a meal waiting for us that was greatly appreciated. While we never expect to be fed, it's always a plus.

We stayed with a friend in Ann Arbor. Most people were up late drinking moonshine and listening to The Talking Heads. A few of us felt sleeping was more appropriate as the 14hour drive from Philadelphia proved exhausting.


Water Report: Detroit drinking water has a heavy taste of lead. This has been the worst tap water I've ever had.

Mirror

Mirror is a new project I'll be involved with. It's a collaboration between the following people:
Justin Wiggan, Mick Harris(Scorn, Napalm Death), and a few others. I've yet to receive the demo recordings yet, but I'll be adding soundscapes and vocals. More later.

Recently I've taken to feeding this stray cat. Each day at 6:30 she greets me at my door when I leave to walk my dogs. Upon my return from school, I can usually find her at my door. When Rosetta gets back from tour, I'll be moving into a house in Germantown that I bought. She will be accompanying us.

Where on Earth is Kevin Stewart-Panko?

If someone knows....please have him call me. It seems as though the great flood of self proclamed music reviewers have finally swallowed us whole......and spit us back up. Thank you internet(or should I say Al Gore?). Since the leak of A Determinism of Morality some months ago, Rosetta has been receiving a mixed bag of feedback; from “album of the year”, to “It's another boring pile of crap”. the reactions have been very polar if one reads the message boards. Neither the former nor the latter lend constructive criticisms of the album and tell me nothing about it's reception by the music community(if we have one anymore).

I'm happy for the people who choose to share their enthusiasm for ADOM on line with us and eachother. Even the funny(yet critical) comments about how we “hump Neurosis on the daily” are fun, entertaining, and most of all, welcome. However my problem rests in the fact that those individuals who are destroying this record on message boards, (saying that we'll never do anything as good as TGS), are the same individuals that are going to come to Rosetta shows this summer and tell me how awesome they think ADOM is, and how great our back catalog is, and.....

“Oh.....by the way man, I just so happen to have a copy of my bands new demo for you”.

Nothing enrages me more than insincerity. So thank you to all the John Gnesons' out there who have honestly reviewed the record and not asked for a thing in return. Thank you to all those who have written about the record itself, and not some oddball rambling that has nothing to do with the record.

And Mr. Kevin Stewart-Panko, wherever you are, please lend your authority here so I can stop myself once and for all from sifting through the BS.

I'm done touring with a computer.

After 4 or 5 years of touring with a computer, I've decided to leave it at home. My two Roland sp808s have proven more reliable on tour: No skips in a hard drive, no blue screen of death. The machine is simple and reliable. It is also loud as hell.
While I will be continuing my work using Ableton Live, all files for shows will be transferred to 100mb Zipp disks and I will operate that way. This will make my life easier, as each night I often worried if the computer was going to hold up.
One day when I can afford a laptop with a solid state hard drive and enough memory and ram to suit my needs, I will one again reformat my touring gear. So for now a clean, loud, and reliable old friend will be accompanying me while we play.

Rosetta U.S Tour Dates.

So this is all I really know of your upcoming summer tour with City Of Ships:
July 5th Chicago, Ill @ Metal Shaker ** w/ In Runes
July 6th Steven’s Point, WI @ TBA **
July 7th Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club **
July 8th Fargo, ND @ The Aquarium ** (21+)
July 9th Moorhead, MN @ House of Wang** (all ages)
July 10th Sioux Falls, SD @ Nutty’s North **
July 11th Lincoln, NE @ Pi House
July 12th Denver, CO @ High Dive w/ To be Eaten
July 13th Salt Lake City, UT @ Bar Deluxe
July 14th Boise, ID @ Confirmed (TBA @ Red Room or Gusto)
July 15th Spokane, WA @ The Boulevard
July 16th Portland, OR @ Plan B
July 17th TBA
July 18th Eureka , CA @ Little Red Lion w/ Not to Reason Why
July 19th Santa Rosa, CA @ TBA w/ Litany for the Whale
July 20th San Francisco, CA @ The Knockout
July 21st Chico, CA @ Cafe Coda w/ The Makai
July 22nd Pomona, CA @ TBA
July 23rd Los Angeles, CA @ Vacation Vinyl (Rosetta at 7pm)
July 23rd Los Angeles, CA @ The Blvd (all ages)
July 24th Phoenix, AZ @ Rogue Bar w/ Hellas Mounds
July 25th Tucson, AZ @ Skrappy’s w/ North + Long Live the Smoking Gun
July 26th Albuquerque, NM @ The Launchpad w/ Distances + Hellas Mounds
July 27th San Antonio, TX @ The 1011
July 26th Austin, TX @ Red 7
July 29th Oklahoma City, OK @ The Conservatory w/ Kamarov
July 30th Wichita, KS @ Eagles Lodge ICT FEST
July 31st Columbia, MO @ Cafe Berlin w/ Cascades + Lungs
Aug 1st Saint Louis, MO @ Fubar
Aug 2nd Newport, KY @ Southgate House
Aug 3rd Columbus, OH @ Carabar

From what I hear, we are playing in Indiana on the 2nd, and have two other shows confirmed before we play Chicago, but I don't know where they are.

I'm excited to play the states again, see old and new places, and old and new faces.