It is fairly early in the morning and we are on a working sheep farm in Peru, NY, just outside of Plattsburgh, where we played last night in an amazing community gallery space called ROTA. We played with a local band, Doomfuck, who are far nicer than their name would suggest, and an awesome band from Vermont called Gorgon. And of course Retreevers, who are along for this leg of the tour. Plattsburgh has a population of less than 30,000, much of which is accounted for by a SUNY campus. I'm always awed when people can sustain spaces like that in towns this small and remote. I remember a lot of places like that in the 1990s, and I've seen newer ones recently: small town, friendly, DIY to the bone, and there's no fashion policing going on. Everybody in the area who is looking for something a little different turns up at a DIY show on a Friday night. Anyway, ROTA rules and I hope it outlives us all.
But you're probably wondering about the sheep. Why are we on a sheep farm? It's a long story, but let me just say that by my count there are six adults and four or five babies. One of the adults has a charcoal-ish coat and when I went outside earlier he was sitting way off by himself, away from the other sheep. Is that where the expression "black sheep" comes from? If so, whoa, sheep are dicks. I don't wanna make assumptions though. Maybe he was just having a quiet moment, away from the other sheep. Anyway, it's really quiet and beautiful here, and I wish we could stay longer. I also wish there was cell coverage, but I'm guessing that kind of goes with the (literal) territory out here.
In a few hours we will attempt to cross the border into Montreal. I say "attempt" because, even though our paperwork is in order, the thing with American bands crossing into Canada is, you just never know.
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