Editor’s note: this is part three of a four-part series documenting the trials and tribulations of a musician’s life on the road – the trials and tribulations inflicted by reporter Boonie Boone.

Boonie bravely decided to enter this world by signing up for a 10-day trek across the Midwest with New Yorker Bari Koral.

Koral was generous enough to take Boonie out on the road. Little did she know what she was getting herself into.

I knew I should have written smaller entries over the past week instead of trying to recall all of the events in one sitting as I’m doing now. First off, I haven’t seen any of the debaucheries that I did in Minneapolis. (I know you all really care about my drinking habits.) But don’t tell my mom that. I’d hate to have Patti put her mind at ease over me for even the slightest period of time.

With that said, I’m going to try and make sense of the last five days. Hopefully there’s something here for you Mensa members that whets your palettes. I’m sure I’d catch hell for writing a pretentious, introspective “how rock ‘n’ roll is so glamorous” piece as well. I guess you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.

Wednesday’s drive to Omaha from Minneapolis was rather uneventful. Upon arriving into town, we immediately headed down to the Old Market in Omaha for dinner with the promoter, Sean, who insisted on dining at Old Chicago, where they have a World Tour of Beers program. They have something like 135 beers available and they award you for drinking a tour of 120 of those beers with your name on a plaque in the restaurant. The first thing that came to mind was, “what’s the shortest period time it’s taken to complete a tour?”

After dinner we headed over to the club, the 49r. Think of Lost and Found, but a little more open and not as much of the dank. The people were really nice and gave me my fill of free Old Style . on tap, nonetheless! Bari played a solid set of eight songs and we dashed with the promoter Sean to stay with his parents, who live south of Omaha in Bellevue. Bari was exhausted and headed to bed. Sean and I had some beers to kill, though, and headed outside. We started talking music and he confessed to having been a huge American Music Club fan years ago. I told him I’d just recently gotten into them and have been obsessed with their album “Mercury.” Like a champ, Sean pulls out a copy of their album “Engine,” and pops it into his Mustang. For the next hour, we slam beers, puff cigarettes and talk music. For a lawyer, Sean is pretty hip to bands like Taking Back Sunday and Thursday. On that night, Sean became my new best friend.

Thursday, we headed back to Omaha to check into our room at the Marriott Courtyard. With the afternoon free, Bari opted to go clothes shopping and I went looking for albums. Those familiar with the Old Market know the names Drastic Plastic, Homer’s and the Antiquarium quite well. After the previous night’s activities with Sean, I was in search of nothing but Eitzel, front man of AMC, related discs and wax. Drastic Plastic and Homer’s were a bust, but the Antiquarium came through with three pieces of vinyl including Eitzel’s English-only release of “Songs of Love Live” on vinyl.

Before the night’s show at Knickerbockers in Lincoln we stopped at Presto Studios just off O Street in downtown. Presto is home to many of the Saddle Creek recording artists such as Bright Eyes, Cursive and the Faint. A.J. and brother Mike Mogis were busy with the Faint member Joel mixing a solo project of his, but were able to coerce A.J. into coming out to the show to check out Bari and Vancouver’s own the Clumsy Lovers.

I’d never been to Knickerbockers, but had heard plenty about it. It’s set up similar to Hairy Mary’s in Des Moines, where the bar is in one room and the stage and PA are in another room. Bari’s reception was good and she ended the set with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” backed by the Clumsy Lovers. It was the first time I’d seen her with any sort of a band backing her, and I must say she seemed even more at home in that environment. Playing with yourself is fun, but having others with you can be a lot more fun. (Yes, that came out exactly how I wanted it to.)

After the gig, we headed back to the Marriott in Omaha to rest up before heading to South Dakota for a 3 p.m. gig at the Sioux Falls Rib Fest on Friday. For those genuinely concerned, Collin finally called on Thursday to let me know he was okay. He doesn’t remember head-butting stools at the 7th St. Entry and asked “Did I fall on my head the other night?”

Boonie Boone is a senior in pre-journalism and mass communications from Madrid.