As someone who grew up in Reading (and left for college about the time you moved there), you couldn't be more spot-on with your assessment of the state of the city. It is blight at its purest description, but it is still a cuturally rich area whose good folks keep on trying to make it. There has been some progress, but there's definitely a long way to go. My folks still live there (just outside of town in Exeter Twp.), and I'm only an hour away these days, so I still get up to town quite often. The Taproom was one of my many havens (as was the Brass Lantern, the Silo, and Santino's), but I held the Taproom in the highest regard cause I could get a glass of Wee Heavy and head up to the back for a rousing game of Connect Four with my pals.

Happy Tour Eve and see everyone at the show!