Photo: We met Donovan in Cork, Ireland. Did this really happen? Was it not a dream?

Have you ever been on a ferry for 19 hours, more or less? Ferry rides are a unique and rare experience in my life, so much that I can count the times I've been on ferries on one hand, I think. Every ferry I've been on (excluding the recent France-Ireland ferry) has been an almost soothing ride with just the right amount of time to space out and feel the spit of the ocean touch my skin. This ferry was really horrible. Something was happening in the ocean, something of a bad force that was deliberately causing nausea in the majority of the passengers aboard, including yours truly. Luckey and I were bunked together in a tiny cabin where I was left to my own set of new devices for "keeping my cool." This included (but wasn't limited to) some deep meditation, breathing "weirdly," and taking systematic trips to the top deck where I could at least see the ocean and feel its movement in a way my body could understand. I tried to watch the horrible magic/clown show.. I tried to play video games.. It finally came down to watching Batman Begins.. this is what returned my body to normal. Who would've of thunk it?

CORK, IRELAND: DURING

When we got to Cork after the ferry ride it was rainy and we were pretty much all exhausted to the point of crumbling. Cork presented us with the greyest of skies and a wall of rain that most people would interpret as "bad weather" or "a bummer." At first I felt these calls, but then inside I realized that this weather is exactly what I wanted. I wanted to stay in a warm room with the rain outside. I wanted to start reading and let the introspective mood that touring and traveling seems to put all of us into just take over. Cork and all of Ireland presented me with a gift and I thank the land for it, deeply.

We found an amazing vegetarian restaurant and store called the Quay Co-Op (pronounced "key") and we recommend it to anyone visiting or living in Cork. We went back for a second time before we left.

Then we played a show in a teeny bar. Then Donovan came up to our dressing room and sang songs and hung out with us. No big deal.

Here's an MP3 of a jam with Donovan, Hairy Fairy, some random people, and our Ireland/UK tourmate, Sir Richard Bishop:

Here's a one minute and thirty-five second peak into our short and crazy time with Donovan. UPDATE: This link was broken! Sorry! I just fixed it. It works now! It works!

GALWAY, IRELAND: BEFORE & AFTER

Galway. Home to the dirtiest river I've ever seen. It was filled with shopping carts, countless beer cans, chairs and a couple of other random metallic objects that had sunk to the bottom. Sadly, we didn't really get to see much of Galway at all. The promoter, Gnubbins, was one of the nicest guys we've met on this tour. He DJ'ed after the show and we danced hard and uninhibitedly for an hour or so before retiring in our makeshift apartment around the corner from the club that Grubbins has set up. Dancing really is an almost religious experience for me at times. I need to focus on its emotional healing powers and forget about the social consequences one faces while dancing uninhibitedly. It really doesn't matter.. not much does. NO BAD DAYS. That old trick? It's back!

Here's a website review of the show in Galway with photos, courtesy of Cian!

DUBLIN, IRELAND: BEFORE & AFTER

Speaking of healing dances, Alissa sure knows how to make a person feel nice! Check out this dance girl was doing while maintaining her office as senior merchandise saleswoman. She tells me that she rarely dances and Andy confirms this.. but man, she should! She gets her arms swinging and the earth sort of stops spinning... in a good way.

After the show we were greeted with tons of loving and excited people, as we were after every show in Ireland. The people are just plain kind! After the show in Dublin we met a nice man named John (I wish that we got to hang out with Goodtime John, a super-sweet man I'd met last summer at WTH Fest) that talked to me about book sales and the medicinal/pharmaceutical train-wreck our countries have become; a topic that has come up a couple of times on this trip with politically-minded new friends. It's always nice to meet people that are aware and thinking of the space and time around them similarly to the way you are at present.

Here's a website review of the show in Dublin with photos, courtesy of Cian!

Alissa is a bit of a savior among all these boys, which to their credit aren't "dudes" or "bros" per say, but they are still boys from America with America boy blood running through American boy veins. You can only hear stories about their "cool trucks" and how many trees they've cut down with their bare hands so many times, you know? Alissa has shown me the secret to eternal positivity and physical enlightenment.. enter hand-jive/clap-games/whatever-you-call-them:

I love these boys! Luckey and I have been pretty much exclusive roommates on this trip and I couldn't have found myself with a nicer and more calm person. He turned me on to the reading genre of the "religious thriller," i.e. Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, the latter of which I read in an intense 2-day mind-tryp where I found myself reading while sound-checking the drums, eating, bathing, counting my money, performing surgery, etc.

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND: BEFORE & AFTER

Belfast felt pretty crazy. We played in a beautiful venue to beautiful people. Luckey and I witnessed a male strip-show, firsthand, on the sidewalk in front of our hotel.

Below is a mish-mash of some Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland moments:

Few places are more conductive to internal conversations than a moving plane, ship or train. There is an almost quaint correlation between what is in front of our eyes and the thougts we are able to have in our heads: large thoughts at times require large views, new thoughts new places. - Alain de Botton

And now I leave you with our friend and driver Kelly and his goodbye.

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