October 31 2005: The Mountain Goats, Grizzly Bear, The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers – Knitting Factory, New York NY

The last night of the tour. Culmination of the entire month. And I don’t remember a goddamn thing. You know how you’re not supposed to realize you’ve got a drinking problem until you hit rock bottom? This was it. You don’t know what rock bottom is until you completely black out for the last night of the tour you’ve followed all the way through, and on the night which is by almost all accounts its high point. Rock Bottom is blacking out for a Halloween rock show in which the singer is dressed as a priest, the bassist as Death, and the lead guitar player is a toilet paper mummy. Fuck me. I guess that’s what happens when you start drinking at 3pm and the bartender keeps comping you shots of Maker’s. I mean, I’m only a man and free whisky is free whisky. I take solace only in the fact that my buddy Josh tells me it looked as if I was having a hell of a time. The next morning I awoke to find photographs of myself with each member of both bands. Josh tells me I got a kiss out of everyone too. And that in between sets I tried to get a toast going to the 1-4-5 chord progression. Reportedly everyone avoided my eyesight and no one would drink with me. And that’s a shame, because if there’s one thing worth drinking to it’s the goddamn 1-4-5.