Oh Omaha..

<><><> Written 7/12 <><><>

News from the state that looks like a fish:

After driving all night from Minneapolis, we arrived in Omaha around 9 in the morning and grabbed a greasy, greasty breakfast at the 11-Worth Diner. With full bellies, we found a golf course which provided a scenic venue for some much-needed naptime.

Omaha generally seemed rather run-down, but it was sprinkled with a certain vibrancy in some areas. Through the ever-amazing couchsurfing.com, we found the dozen-or-so lovely guys and gals at Hotel Frank. The house boasts a non-stop rotation of Omaha's best and brightest (and friendliest) musicians, artists, students, short-order cooks, and other ne'er-do-well-ers. Hell, Bright Eyes even lived at Hotel Frank for a while.

Some of the best touring bands frequently stop in Omaha, but the locals complain that the ticket prices are rising rapidly. One Omahanian complained fervently about having to pay ten bucks! for a show recently. In fact, many of the bigger aritsts that used to sell out shows are having a hard time filling up even very small venues because the Omaha kids will boycott shows that cost more than a couple dollars.

Another alternative to the rising ticket prices is to DIY. As we saw in Detroit, warehouse spaces in Omaha are being appropriated by young, creative people for use as art/music/party zone spaces. This makes us very happy. To a degree, these venues seem to embody Hakim Bey's concept of the Temporary Autonomous Zone. The loft party in Detroit was overflowing with spontaneity, conviviality, and immediacy that is rarely seen since the so-called death of the festival. "The [freely organized loft party in a post-industrial city] is already 'the seed of the new society taking shape within the shell of the old' [...] these are already 'liberated zones' of a sort... the party is always 'open' because it is not 'ordered'; it may be planned, but unless it 'happens' it's a failure. The element of spontaneity is crucial."

Also, shout out to the house dogs, two of the most lovable animals we've seen on the trip so far.

Up Next: Austin, TX. (!)

A Des Moines City Brief - 7/12

Written on the beautiful morning of thursday 7/12:


Yeah so the sunrise was really incredible today in Des Moines. We drove all night from Minneapolis, which was an awesome city, but we had no place to stay, the spot we planned fell through because we miscommunicated among ourselves on the dates. We're now in Omaha, but the travel brought us through Des Moines, which has some really interesting architecture, much of it seems very new. Minneapolis actually as well seemed to be developing all these new contemporary styled condos with cables, stained wood, and metal panels. Des Moines though was sort of a strange city, in fact I'm discovering that most cities are. It seems cleaner than Omaha, but just laid our flat, like a peddler laying out his wares on the streets. So many of the buildings have this great new feel to them, even if there are sort of modernist from the 1960's, and the whole vernacular of the cityt seems to fit together, though in a bizzare eclectic way for sure. I experienced next to no life there, but the built environment and the sky really spoke to me and it was beautiful.