I think often social media prioritizes metrics that reflect temporary distractions over real-world action. People may see one post that is memorable after several minutes of scrolling in a stupor, then hit follow, then continue to scroll in a stupor. I’m not saying there isn’t a place for slipping into a stupor — it’s been a gift to have some pockets of nothingness on tour — but I think social media is incentivized to put us all into a stupor for much too much time to be healthy. But this night in Karlsruhe let me spend time with several remarkable people I never otherwise would have met. So, grey areas.

We’ve played in Karlsruhe two times before, both at Cafe NUN — it’s a community-run bar that hosts music and performances pretty regularly in the neighborhood, and it feels just like home at this point.

We met a few people who knew us from Instagram too! Luisa was a fan of our music and was following us on Instagram, but hadn’t see our content for a while. After we started putting out more journaling videos, we reappeared on her feed and she found out that we’d be playing nearby! She’s involved with a group called Girls Gone International that organized meetups with women in the area — she was born in Colombia and moved to Germany later in life. At one of the events (maybe a Galentines Day style thing if I remember correctly) she made gifts for other members featuring my journaling mission statement: “I aim to ease loneliness in myself, my community, and people I may never meet. This led to a bigger conversation about journaling, how more men should journal, and being vulnerable online. She brought her partner Pablo to the show, and I loved being able to hear all about how songs and journaling brought things together for us.

I also met Bonnie in person as well — she found our music through one of the posts that caught fire recently and does music interviews on her channel from time to time. She traveled over an hour to come see the show, and we’ll set up a recorded interview when we get back to the states.

I also ran into someone I went to high school with! Blake now works at the Max Planck Institute doing some very cool stuff that I don’t understand. He and his partner both went to college in Ohio, and mentioned how nice it was to hear Ohio accents onstage during the show. It was a gift to have a beer with them afterwards as well.

Simon acted as the hostess with the mostest and Johannes made everything sound like gold. The room was cozy and full of people for a laid back show. We also met up with Jens who we met on a previous tour. He makes music under the name John Steam Jr. and has been an absolute joy to spend time with — and he makes great songs to boot. More on him later.