photo update: i've uploaded the last of the pics i have from tour to the flickr page for those of you who have been checking them out...i included some "closing credits" to the tour of sorts...we messed around with my camera while we were waiting for our food at a restaurant the last night...so thus, lots of random pictures...enjoy!
so the last show of the tour...it was an interesting and bittersweet day to say the least...after waking up kind of late at owen's house we packed up and headed to the beach...pensacola is right on a bay but there's a thin strip of land out past the bay that borders the gulf of mexico...it's a pretty neat drive over long bridges to get out there...we spent a few hours there...coby trapped nate in a beach chair by piling sand on him...he got chris and i to join in and you can see the results on the flickr page...it was pretty comical...after we got all beached out we retired back to chris' girlfriend hailey's house...there we got some much deserved showers and rest...
we then went to this pretty alright pizza joint called "ozones" and just generally acted tired a lot cuz we all were pretty whipped at this point...the show that night was at a place called "the handlebar" and it definitely lived up to it's name if you get my drift...it was kind of a honky-tonk bar but boy did the kiddies show up...next to cornerstone i'd say this was one of the biggest turnouts of the tour...not that they were there to see us...they were mostly there to dance and get drunk to the local band that played after us, reynosa (sp?)...i wasn't a huge fan of their music and we all just pretty much wanted to get home as their set dragged on into the wee morning hours...we didn't go on until 11pm and then discover america went on at midnight...we did end up selling a good bit of cd's and a few t-shirts which was cool...i know this because i inherited much of the merch duties (along with matt) since ashten couldn't make this last week of the tour...she was definitely alot more skilled in the merch-y ways than we were...
we ended up finally getting out of there at like 2:30am...said our goodbyes to chris and started on the road towards home...just to cap off the craziness of the tour we had another hairy event happen just outside town...i had stopped at a gas station to top off the van and grab some red bull for the drive...i went inside to pee quick while the guys were waiting in the van...i came out of the restroom to find the glass front door to the station shattered...the very door i had just walked in a few minutes prior...matt ran up to me saying that some guy had just drove by and shot like 5 times into the gas station! at this point none of us were that amazed...these crazy close calls just went right along with how things went on the tour...none of the guys actually saw the shooter, i guess he sped away quick but the guys all heard the shots....i think a guy in a parked car had a ricochet or something hit his arm...it was late, we were tired so we just got the heck out of there...i feel kinda bad now that we just left that guy...but as soon as we pulled out the cops flew right by us on their way there...
so after that crazy ordeal the rest of the guys settled in to sleep while i drove all night til about 9am when we reached nashville...that red bull really helped plus the drive through alabama and tennessee was pretty amazing (just a few of the highlights: a big sign that read "go to church or the devil will get you!" in someone's yard plus a billboard for "big jim's boobie bonanza"...you can just imagine what goes on there)...i actually didn't even really feel that tired when we stopped in nashville but coby agreed to take over from there and as soon as my head hit the pillow in the backseat, i was out...i woke up once or twice on the way back but slept for most of the 8 or so hours from nashville back to ohio...
well this is where i wrap up the entire tour into a few cute little phrases that sum up the entire experience...i've determined that would pretty much be impossible, however...but i've had to encapsulize the whole trip to nearly everyone that's asked me in person how it went...so here's what i usually say: we had the time of our lives...the trip was filled with many, many incredible experiences that also included a few potentially bad situations as well...but ones that actually ended up turning into some pretty great stories in hindsight...
i'm bad at summing things up but i guess that's why i decided to do this blog in the first place...you guys were right there along with us the whole time...and thanks to those of you who kept us in your thoughts and prayers as well...judging by the few close calls we had you can be sure those prayers were not in vain...
thanks for reading, everyone!
God bless,
ryan
p.s. - there's too much merch for the church!
p.s.s. - aw, this ought to be a rippin' good time...merch sales are gonna be through the roof!
p.s.s.s. - tour inside jokes!!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
niceville, fl
since we drove about an hour up i-75 the night before our drive to niceville wasn’t too bad…i think it was about 5-5 ½ hours…niceville is a town outside of pensacola and in the general vicinity of where one chris staples was born and raised…
as soon as we got into town we met up with chris’ girlfriend hailey at this place called “turkey creek” and all went for a little swim…our a/c broke again a few days prior and we were all dying from the florida heat so swimming felt really nice…this particular creek was like a nature preserve of some sort with a boardwalk meandering through the woods…at various points there were docks out into the creek and you could jump in and float along with the current (kind of like those lazy rivers at water parks)…it was a lot of fun…
after we went to eat at a nearby pizza shop and met up with some members of the local band we were gonna be playing with that night…the group was called “gileah and the ghost train”…gileah was actually the name of the lead girl in the group and “the ghost train” was her backup band per say…one of the members was a guy named kevin who was also in the band “twothirtyeight” with chris back in the day…they were all really nice people…
this particular show was at a local church in niceville and a nice big crowd of kids showed up…we played first once again, with discover america going second and gileah and the ghost train going last…we had a pretty good response to our set but of course most everyone was there to see their hometown boy, chris staples…it was fun listening to him tell the story of us getting robbed from the stage for the millionth time…though he kind of changes it a little each time…
after the show we all went out to a local beach and hung out with a few of chris’ friends…i’m not sure what beach it was because it was dark out but it was really nice…the beaches on the gulf side of florida all have white sand so with the moonlight you could see pretty well…we ended up staying at chris’ friend owen’s house in pensacola which was about an 45 minute drive from where we played and close to where we would be playing the next night…
only one more show to go…
as soon as we got into town we met up with chris’ girlfriend hailey at this place called “turkey creek” and all went for a little swim…our a/c broke again a few days prior and we were all dying from the florida heat so swimming felt really nice…this particular creek was like a nature preserve of some sort with a boardwalk meandering through the woods…at various points there were docks out into the creek and you could jump in and float along with the current (kind of like those lazy rivers at water parks)…it was a lot of fun…
after we went to eat at a nearby pizza shop and met up with some members of the local band we were gonna be playing with that night…the group was called “gileah and the ghost train”…gileah was actually the name of the lead girl in the group and “the ghost train” was her backup band per say…one of the members was a guy named kevin who was also in the band “twothirtyeight” with chris back in the day…they were all really nice people…
this particular show was at a local church in niceville and a nice big crowd of kids showed up…we played first once again, with discover america going second and gileah and the ghost train going last…we had a pretty good response to our set but of course most everyone was there to see their hometown boy, chris staples…it was fun listening to him tell the story of us getting robbed from the stage for the millionth time…though he kind of changes it a little each time…
after the show we all went out to a local beach and hung out with a few of chris’ friends…i’m not sure what beach it was because it was dark out but it was really nice…the beaches on the gulf side of florida all have white sand so with the moonlight you could see pretty well…we ended up staying at chris’ friend owen’s house in pensacola which was about an 45 minute drive from where we played and close to where we would be playing the next night…
only one more show to go…
tampa, fl
the drive to tampa from savannah was about 6 hours…pretty much our standard driving time for this tour…i don’t think we had one drive over 6 hours and by this time we were all pretty used to it…with the end of the tour in sight though, we were all getting worn down and missing home…
these last three shows were all set up by chris and since they were in his home state promised to all be pretty good…in tampa we played a bar called the “new world brewery”…it was in an old part of tampa called ybor city…they had a working trolley and a lot of cool old buildings as well…we bummed around town for a while and had dinner before we loaded in (shows in bars typically start a lot later for those of you who might wonder about that)…
this one started around 10pm if i remember correctly…state bird played first, then discover america and then this local band called “mouse fire”…there wasn’t a huge turnout for the show but it was definitely a lot better than the savannah show…a lot of people were really into chris’ set which was cool…mouse fire was also very good…they were really tight and had a great live sound…a few of their members used to be in a band called anberlin which i’m sure some of you have heard of…
we met a few kids after the show that had actually saw us play at cornerstone a few weeks back and got wind of our show in tampa and made about an hour’s drive to come see us…so that was pretty neat…
afterwards we ended up just getting a hotel again…one of the members of mouse fire was going to put us up at his house but it was 45 minutes in the wrong direction so we just decided to head about an hour in the right direction and grab another hotel…we were usually so exhausted by that time at night that having an actual bed to sleep in made alot more sense...
these last three shows were all set up by chris and since they were in his home state promised to all be pretty good…in tampa we played a bar called the “new world brewery”…it was in an old part of tampa called ybor city…they had a working trolley and a lot of cool old buildings as well…we bummed around town for a while and had dinner before we loaded in (shows in bars typically start a lot later for those of you who might wonder about that)…
this one started around 10pm if i remember correctly…state bird played first, then discover america and then this local band called “mouse fire”…there wasn’t a huge turnout for the show but it was definitely a lot better than the savannah show…a lot of people were really into chris’ set which was cool…mouse fire was also very good…they were really tight and had a great live sound…a few of their members used to be in a band called anberlin which i’m sure some of you have heard of…
we met a few kids after the show that had actually saw us play at cornerstone a few weeks back and got wind of our show in tampa and made about an hour’s drive to come see us…so that was pretty neat…
afterwards we ended up just getting a hotel again…one of the members of mouse fire was going to put us up at his house but it was 45 minutes in the wrong direction so we just decided to head about an hour in the right direction and grab another hotel…we were usually so exhausted by that time at night that having an actual bed to sleep in made alot more sense...
Saturday, July 7, 2007
savannah, ga
so as we learned in little rock, some bad shows can be partially redeemed by awesome events surrounding the show…in that case it was a sweet place to stay afterwards but in savannah it was just the chance to hang out in the city itself…if you’ve been to savannah before you know what i mean…it’s just a really cool old “deep south” town…a lot of brick streets, old buildings and mossy trees…
we only had a 2 hour drive or so from our hotel in florence to savannah so we took off a little earlier than we normally would of so that we could grab some lunch and check out the town…chris had been there a few times before and i had been there once with my family…we wanted to eat somewhere cool and chris knew of this good lil bbq place somewhere in the historical district so we scoured around for a good hour before we finally found it…coby and chris got a rickshaw ride from a guy we met at the bbq place to this huge park that was near where we played at…we all met up there, threw a frisbee around and just generally chilled out for a couple hours til we had to load in for the show…it was a very relaxing afternoon…
but it couldn’t make up for the disappointment of our show that night, however…we had all kind of wondered how a show would go over on the evening of july 4th and the obvious answer was: not well…you just can’t compete with fireworks…heck, we all would have rather watched the fireworks than a couple of bands we didn’t know much about…surprisingly, a lot of people showed up for the opening, local band…they were called “unsolved mysteries”…they must have liked the tv show…they were a little different but nice folks…after they were done about 75% of the people there left with them…i’ll omit the exact attendance totals for embarrassment reasons but let’s just say we pretty much played for ourselves…it wasn’t fun but was kind of expected…
we’re not sure why the promoter wanted the show on the 4th…we had an off day the 3rd and said we could switch to that day if it would be better but apparently he had something else going that day…he must of also had something going during our show because he took off sometime during it as well… we ended up getting an offer for a place to stay afterwards but opted to just grab some dinner in town and then a hotel on our way to florida…
so the show was a letdown but at least it was in an interesting city…
we only had a 2 hour drive or so from our hotel in florence to savannah so we took off a little earlier than we normally would of so that we could grab some lunch and check out the town…chris had been there a few times before and i had been there once with my family…we wanted to eat somewhere cool and chris knew of this good lil bbq place somewhere in the historical district so we scoured around for a good hour before we finally found it…coby and chris got a rickshaw ride from a guy we met at the bbq place to this huge park that was near where we played at…we all met up there, threw a frisbee around and just generally chilled out for a couple hours til we had to load in for the show…it was a very relaxing afternoon…
but it couldn’t make up for the disappointment of our show that night, however…we had all kind of wondered how a show would go over on the evening of july 4th and the obvious answer was: not well…you just can’t compete with fireworks…heck, we all would have rather watched the fireworks than a couple of bands we didn’t know much about…surprisingly, a lot of people showed up for the opening, local band…they were called “unsolved mysteries”…they must have liked the tv show…they were a little different but nice folks…after they were done about 75% of the people there left with them…i’ll omit the exact attendance totals for embarrassment reasons but let’s just say we pretty much played for ourselves…it wasn’t fun but was kind of expected…
we’re not sure why the promoter wanted the show on the 4th…we had an off day the 3rd and said we could switch to that day if it would be better but apparently he had something else going that day…he must of also had something going during our show because he took off sometime during it as well… we ended up getting an offer for a place to stay afterwards but opted to just grab some dinner in town and then a hotel on our way to florida…
so the show was a letdown but at least it was in an interesting city…
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
norfolk & virginia beach, va
well we initially thought we were playing virginia beach but the show actually ended up being in norfolk...they're right next to each other but i thought i'd just clear that up for the record...hah...the drive from harrisonburg to norfolk was about 3 hours...the show was set up by this really cool guy, james...he had done a few shows with chris in the past and definitely knew what he was doing...it's always nice to do shows with good promoters...they make a huge difference...
the place we played at was called "the boot"...it was this neat bar/restaurant...i guess as neat as norfolk, virginia can be...the show went pretty well and quite a few people showed up for it...the best part of the night thought was the sleeping accomodations james hooked us up with...he didn't really have a place for us to stay so he set up some tents at these campgrounds on the chesapeake bay...it was very rad...we roasted weenies and smores and all that good stuff...a few of his friends came out and we told some stories around the campfire...it had been a while since i had "traditionally" camped out so it was fun for me personally...
the next day was an off day for us...the next show we had to play was savannah, georgia so we just kind of kicked it around virginia beach for the day...james took us to the beach and we just walked around and had a few smoothies...he also took us to this cool burrito bar as well...we then started driving towards georgia...we initially planned to stop for the night and get a hotel in fayetteville, nc but ended up going all the way to florence, sc before we felt like stopping...we took our time though and stopped at some cheesy interstate outlets along the way...really taking in all the sights, ya know...
we got a hotel in florence and then made the short drive to savannah (about 2-3 hours) which is where i am now...so i'll stop there...we're playing tonight at this cool coffee shop called "the sentient bean"...it's in the historical (aka uber-cool) district of savannah...but i'll talk more about that tomorrow...
i can't believe i'm actually caught up on the journal...i'm so proud of myself...
only 4 more days til we're home...
the place we played at was called "the boot"...it was this neat bar/restaurant...i guess as neat as norfolk, virginia can be...the show went pretty well and quite a few people showed up for it...the best part of the night thought was the sleeping accomodations james hooked us up with...he didn't really have a place for us to stay so he set up some tents at these campgrounds on the chesapeake bay...it was very rad...we roasted weenies and smores and all that good stuff...a few of his friends came out and we told some stories around the campfire...it had been a while since i had "traditionally" camped out so it was fun for me personally...
the next day was an off day for us...the next show we had to play was savannah, georgia so we just kind of kicked it around virginia beach for the day...james took us to the beach and we just walked around and had a few smoothies...he also took us to this cool burrito bar as well...we then started driving towards georgia...we initially planned to stop for the night and get a hotel in fayetteville, nc but ended up going all the way to florence, sc before we felt like stopping...we took our time though and stopped at some cheesy interstate outlets along the way...really taking in all the sights, ya know...
we got a hotel in florence and then made the short drive to savannah (about 2-3 hours) which is where i am now...so i'll stop there...we're playing tonight at this cool coffee shop called "the sentient bean"...it's in the historical (aka uber-cool) district of savannah...but i'll talk more about that tomorrow...
i can't believe i'm actually caught up on the journal...i'm so proud of myself...
only 4 more days til we're home...
harrisonburg, va
it was really nice to get one good night's sleep at home in ohio sat.. night/sun morning...i slept in til around 11am or so, did some laundry and then repacked into a smaller bag...i had just enough time to enjoy dinner w/ my folks before heading to the guy's house to get ready to take off for virginia...
coby returned the uhaul trailer because there was only going to be 6 of us and a lot less gear for the last week of the tour...he also managed to get the a/c fixed in the van so that was a definite plus...unfortunately, ashten wasn't able to make the last leg of the tour with us due to a wedding...she's definitely missed...
we headed out for harrisonburg around 3pm and got in at close to 9pm...it was a pretty good haul to down there...we were playing kind of a last minute house show at our good friends' ryan and dustin miller's house...we played probably our worst set of the tour so far...we all took our shirts off and were generally acting like idiots the entire time...so that definitely factored in...but it was still fun...our friends dave, marcie and sarah all made the trek down from ohio as well to be there so it was good to see all of them...
after getting a good night's rest at the miller's spacious house we packed up the next afternoon for our show in virginia beach/norfolk...
coby returned the uhaul trailer because there was only going to be 6 of us and a lot less gear for the last week of the tour...he also managed to get the a/c fixed in the van so that was a definite plus...unfortunately, ashten wasn't able to make the last leg of the tour with us due to a wedding...she's definitely missed...
we headed out for harrisonburg around 3pm and got in at close to 9pm...it was a pretty good haul to down there...we were playing kind of a last minute house show at our good friends' ryan and dustin miller's house...we played probably our worst set of the tour so far...we all took our shirts off and were generally acting like idiots the entire time...so that definitely factored in...but it was still fun...our friends dave, marcie and sarah all made the trek down from ohio as well to be there so it was good to see all of them...
after getting a good night's rest at the miller's spacious house we packed up the next afternoon for our show in virginia beach/norfolk...
Monday, July 2, 2007
marion, in
ok so the last night at cornerstone i knew i just couldn't sleep on the cold, hard ground again so i enlisted the help of my good friend colleen...she works for the management of the band cool hand luke and they put her and another merch girl up in the swanky days inn in nearby macomb, illinois...they just so happened to have an empty bed on said night so chris and i got the hookup...we didn't get a lot of sleep but it was at least nice to sleep on a real, live bed...
we had to take a shuttle van from the festival to the hotel and the four of us had signed up for the last one of the night...while we were waiting for chris to get his things and meet us at the transportation tent none other than shane claiborne walked in...turns out he was staying at the same hotel (actually most of the bands and speakers from the festival stay at that hotel)...so we got to ride over and back with him...he really is a great guy, real down to earth and a lot of fun to talk to...i'm hoping to pick up his book "irresistible revolution" soon...you all should too if you haven't already...
chris and i got back to the campsite saturday morning and helped everyone load the van back up...we took off on the 5-6 hour drive for indiana after getting lunch in bushnell with all the record machine guys...we played at some place in marion called "803"...i'm not sure if it was a church-run place or what actually...the people were nice but it was kind of a weird place to play right after all the craziness of cornerstone...about 20-25 people were there...a far cry from the 200-250 we got at cornerstone...we made it really fun though as this was winston jazz's last show with us on the tour...they all got crazy and danced around during our set with their shirts off...then we had the whole crowd come up with us on the last song...that was pretty cool...
afterwards we packed up and drove through the night back to ohio...we dropped winston jazz off in mansfield, said our goodbyes and then continued on home...we got in around 4:30-5am and all went to sleep at our respective homes...
the rest of us are continuing on in the tour for another week...winston were only planning on doing two weeks because they had to get back to their jobs/etc...i'm going to really miss all of them and am especially going to miss hearing them play every night...they're such cool guys and i hope we get a chance to tour with them again sometime soon...
we had to take a shuttle van from the festival to the hotel and the four of us had signed up for the last one of the night...while we were waiting for chris to get his things and meet us at the transportation tent none other than shane claiborne walked in...turns out he was staying at the same hotel (actually most of the bands and speakers from the festival stay at that hotel)...so we got to ride over and back with him...he really is a great guy, real down to earth and a lot of fun to talk to...i'm hoping to pick up his book "irresistible revolution" soon...you all should too if you haven't already...
chris and i got back to the campsite saturday morning and helped everyone load the van back up...we took off on the 5-6 hour drive for indiana after getting lunch in bushnell with all the record machine guys...we played at some place in marion called "803"...i'm not sure if it was a church-run place or what actually...the people were nice but it was kind of a weird place to play right after all the craziness of cornerstone...about 20-25 people were there...a far cry from the 200-250 we got at cornerstone...we made it really fun though as this was winston jazz's last show with us on the tour...they all got crazy and danced around during our set with their shirts off...then we had the whole crowd come up with us on the last song...that was pretty cool...
afterwards we packed up and drove through the night back to ohio...we dropped winston jazz off in mansfield, said our goodbyes and then continued on home...we got in around 4:30-5am and all went to sleep at our respective homes...
the rest of us are continuing on in the tour for another week...winston were only planning on doing two weeks because they had to get back to their jobs/etc...i'm going to really miss all of them and am especially going to miss hearing them play every night...they're such cool guys and i hope we get a chance to tour with them again sometime soon...
cornerstone music festival (day 2) - bushnell, il
so we spent two days at cornerstone but actually only played once each...winston jazz and state bird were both slated to play "the decapolis stage" from around 9-10:30 or so on what was called a label showcase...discover america was then slotted to play at around 11:30 on the "anchor stage"...
so since twjr and us are both "record machine" bands most of the record machine guys were there to help promote the show and run the merch table, etc...i had only met nathan before but he's actually only 1/4th of trm...mike and mark are two of the other co-runners i guess you could say and they both made the trek from nyc to be at c-stone...it was good to meet them both as they are really cool guys and doing alot of nice things for our respective bands...
i spent alot of the day just walking around and taking in the whole cornerstone experience...i caught two sessions given by shane claiborne in the speaker area so that was really cool...i hadn't actually heard him speak before but had heard alot about him so i was really glad to finally have a chance to hear him...he drew a pretty big crowd and had alot of good things to say...i'd go more into it but this is a tour blog so i best be moving on with talking about the tour...
we started getting ready for twjr and state bird's shows around 8pm and then winston went on at 9pm...we were a little scared when we first got to the stage because the band before them did not draw a very big crowd at all...but as soon as 9 rolled around the kids started flooding in...the turnout was really great...i'm not sure how many people were there but i'd venture to say 250-300 or so for winston...a few people peeled off before our set because we were playing the same time as alot of other popular bands like the myriad and switchfoot...that was kind of a bummer for us but there were still probably 200+ around for our show...the crowd got really into our set which made it a blast for us...it was also dark out so they had the stage lights going...that feeling is just incredible i have to say...the lights, the crowd and the energy...it's pretty amazing...we even had an encore when we finished so they allowed us to play one more song...
i took quite a few pics of the winston boys set but didn't have anyone to take pics with my camera of our set...there were a few people taking pics during our set though so hopefully i can grab a hold of them and put them up on the flickr page...
mewithoutyou played directly after us on the same stage...we finished around 10:30 or so and they didn't go on til 12am but already people were getting in front for their show...that probably helped our turnout as well which was cool...they played an incredible set and have an amazing live show if you haven't ever seen them...i only got to catch a little bit of it but they packed the tent out...there were people standing outside in every direction...i could barely see the stage from where i stood...earlier in the day after one of shane claiborne's sessions, aaron from mwy took anyone who wanted to out to look at their tour bus which runs on used vegetable oil...they also played a generator show earlier in the day thursday which is pretty rare for a band of their stature...
i got the chance to stay in a hotel friday night but i'll save that explanation for the next post as this one is getting pretty long and we're about go on stage here in virginia beach in a few minutes...
p.s. - thanks to everyone who's expressed concern following the incident in kc...we all appreciate your prayers and thoughts while we're out on the road...
so since twjr and us are both "record machine" bands most of the record machine guys were there to help promote the show and run the merch table, etc...i had only met nathan before but he's actually only 1/4th of trm...mike and mark are two of the other co-runners i guess you could say and they both made the trek from nyc to be at c-stone...it was good to meet them both as they are really cool guys and doing alot of nice things for our respective bands...
i spent alot of the day just walking around and taking in the whole cornerstone experience...i caught two sessions given by shane claiborne in the speaker area so that was really cool...i hadn't actually heard him speak before but had heard alot about him so i was really glad to finally have a chance to hear him...he drew a pretty big crowd and had alot of good things to say...i'd go more into it but this is a tour blog so i best be moving on with talking about the tour...
we started getting ready for twjr and state bird's shows around 8pm and then winston went on at 9pm...we were a little scared when we first got to the stage because the band before them did not draw a very big crowd at all...but as soon as 9 rolled around the kids started flooding in...the turnout was really great...i'm not sure how many people were there but i'd venture to say 250-300 or so for winston...a few people peeled off before our set because we were playing the same time as alot of other popular bands like the myriad and switchfoot...that was kind of a bummer for us but there were still probably 200+ around for our show...the crowd got really into our set which made it a blast for us...it was also dark out so they had the stage lights going...that feeling is just incredible i have to say...the lights, the crowd and the energy...it's pretty amazing...we even had an encore when we finished so they allowed us to play one more song...
i took quite a few pics of the winston boys set but didn't have anyone to take pics with my camera of our set...there were a few people taking pics during our set though so hopefully i can grab a hold of them and put them up on the flickr page...
mewithoutyou played directly after us on the same stage...we finished around 10:30 or so and they didn't go on til 12am but already people were getting in front for their show...that probably helped our turnout as well which was cool...they played an incredible set and have an amazing live show if you haven't ever seen them...i only got to catch a little bit of it but they packed the tent out...there were people standing outside in every direction...i could barely see the stage from where i stood...earlier in the day after one of shane claiborne's sessions, aaron from mwy took anyone who wanted to out to look at their tour bus which runs on used vegetable oil...they also played a generator show earlier in the day thursday which is pretty rare for a band of their stature...
i got the chance to stay in a hotel friday night but i'll save that explanation for the next post as this one is getting pretty long and we're about go on stage here in virginia beach in a few minutes...
p.s. - thanks to everyone who's expressed concern following the incident in kc...we all appreciate your prayers and thoughts while we're out on the road...
cornerstone music festival (day 1) - bushnell, il
so after the big heist in kc we decided not to stay at that same house another night (obviously)...we all piled in to the house the other half of the bands stayed at the night before which was the home of our friends aaron and andrea...they were very hospitable to us and we thank them for it...
we then got up the next day (thursday, june 28) and headed for cornerstone music festival in bushnell, il...it was about a 5-6 hour drive from kc...we ended up taking off a little later than we were hoping and didn't get to see a few of the bands i had wanted to catch...thursday had the best lineup of artists that i personally enjoy...we missed page france but got to catch most of rosie thomas...starflyer 59 played next and i caught a little of them...i wasn't very impressed w/ his (it's really just one guy) live show and so i roamed around and checked out a few other bands...most of them hardcore (that's really all c-stone is turning into anymore)...but i also met up with my good friend colleen who was working the merch table for cool hand luke and the myriad...so that was cool...
chris practically knew everyone at cornerstone...he told alot of bands he knew there to plug all of our shows which was very cool...discover america got an impromptu slot on a newer stage called "the anchor stage" so he was happy for that...he didn't have one going into the festival...starflyer even allowed him to jump up on stage during their set to plug his show and twjr and state bird's shows as well...
we threw together a makeshift campsite made up of a tarp on the ground and another tarp suspended between our car and van (we didn't have alot of room to pack camping supplies for the whole tour)...i posted some pics of it and other events to the flickr page...it's quite a site and made for a fairly uncomfortable night...but it's cornerstone and we all expected that coming in...one thing that was unusually comfortable was the temperature...i always remember cornerstone as being very hot and steamy...but this time the weather was pretty cool and bearable...
i personally went to c-stone back in 2001 and 2002 with a group of my friends but went only as a spectator...i haven't been able to make it out since due to my job but have held out hope that one day i could make it back...so it's definitely a dream come true to not only be attending c-stone once again but to actually be playing it as well...
we then got up the next day (thursday, june 28) and headed for cornerstone music festival in bushnell, il...it was about a 5-6 hour drive from kc...we ended up taking off a little later than we were hoping and didn't get to see a few of the bands i had wanted to catch...thursday had the best lineup of artists that i personally enjoy...we missed page france but got to catch most of rosie thomas...starflyer 59 played next and i caught a little of them...i wasn't very impressed w/ his (it's really just one guy) live show and so i roamed around and checked out a few other bands...most of them hardcore (that's really all c-stone is turning into anymore)...but i also met up with my good friend colleen who was working the merch table for cool hand luke and the myriad...so that was cool...
chris practically knew everyone at cornerstone...he told alot of bands he knew there to plug all of our shows which was very cool...discover america got an impromptu slot on a newer stage called "the anchor stage" so he was happy for that...he didn't have one going into the festival...starflyer even allowed him to jump up on stage during their set to plug his show and twjr and state bird's shows as well...
we threw together a makeshift campsite made up of a tarp on the ground and another tarp suspended between our car and van (we didn't have alot of room to pack camping supplies for the whole tour)...i posted some pics of it and other events to the flickr page...it's quite a site and made for a fairly uncomfortable night...but it's cornerstone and we all expected that coming in...one thing that was unusually comfortable was the temperature...i always remember cornerstone as being very hot and steamy...but this time the weather was pretty cool and bearable...
i personally went to c-stone back in 2001 and 2002 with a group of my friends but went only as a spectator...i haven't been able to make it out since due to my job but have held out hope that one day i could make it back...so it's definitely a dream come true to not only be attending c-stone once again but to actually be playing it as well...
sorry
i want to apologize for the lack of updates...i guarantee you life didn't end for us after we got robbed but according to this tour blog, it has...
a combination of alot of travelling, no internet and spending a few days at cornerstone made it nearly impossible to dedicate time to writing on here...we're in harrisonburg, virginia right now and we're heading to virginia beach tonight so hopefully i'll have time to write there...
hope you all are doing well...thanks for your patience and for taking time to read about our silly adventures on the road...
take care...
a combination of alot of travelling, no internet and spending a few days at cornerstone made it nearly impossible to dedicate time to writing on here...we're in harrisonburg, virginia right now and we're heading to virginia beach tonight so hopefully i'll have time to write there...
hope you all are doing well...thanks for your patience and for taking time to read about our silly adventures on the road...
take care...
Thursday, June 28, 2007
kansas city, mo (off day)
so we got robbed today...
i figured i'd just come out and say it rather than build up suspense or anything dramatic like that...actually, mugged would be the more proper word...mugged at gunpoint...that makes it sound just that much more intense...
the good thing is that i'm still here to be typing this post...and i'm typing it on my laptop...it could have easily gone a lot differently but i don't like to think about that...i'm still processing so much of it still...it hasn't really sunk in, though...but i can't stop thinking about it...it might be good to rehash it all while my memory of it's still fresh...
so half our group stayed at our friend seth's house in kc last night...we all slept in nice and late and then got up and went to this area of town called westport or midtown or something like that to go shopping...we stopped at some pretty cool thrift stores, book stores and record shops...then we ate at this nice local deli called "the bronx"...afterwards we met up with the rest of our group and most of us went back to seth's place to kind of chill out before we decided what we were gonna do for dinner/etc...twjr's nate and ryan both stayed in town to read at a coffeshop and were coming back over later in nate's car...
so most of the group was inside the house napping and watching tv but chris and i decided to possibly go do some laundry at a laundromat...we thought we'd take nate's car to go do this so while we were waiting for he and ryan to get back we were sitting out on seth's front porch just tooling around on our laptops...we both noticed two kids walk by on the street and kind of eye us a little bit but i tried not to snap to my smalltown conclusions of what that kind of thing looks like...the kids came back by just as nate and ryan pulled up and they asked chris and i about the house (it had a for sale sign in the yard)...we didn't know anything because we obviously were from out of town so we kind of made small talk with them while ryan and nate came up on the porch as well...
once again my smalltown mind was making all kinds of snap judgments about why two black teens were trying to talk to a group of four middle-class whities and we probably should have been smarter...luckily chris and i had both packed up our laptops by the time the kids came up to the porch...i tried to be cool to them and talk to them like they were human beings and not just try to quick get out of it and avoid them like i'm prone to doing in similar situations...we told them we're in a band on tour and we're just staying here for the day...they asked where we were from in ohio and we told them...they said they knew some people from akron and so on...so when the talkative one of the two pulled a gun on me it came as a pretty big shocker...though it really shouldn't have...i guess i never thought a mugger would initiate smalltalk before he robs you...they never teach you that in school...
he told all four of us to get down on the ground and flashed what looked like some form of a semi-automatic weapon at us...it kind of looked like a fake to me but my fight or flight instinct wasn't letting me ask questions at that point...we all kind of crouched on the ground and i'm not even sure what we said...i think i might have said something like "dude why are you doing this?" but i can't remember...i'm pretty sure this was just as new to them as it was to us because he first asked for our wallets but then let us just give him our cash...instead of asking for our credit cards he asked for all our i.d.'s which didn't make a whole lot of sense...
i forked over $30, ryan and nate only had a few bucks on them but chris had $300 on him, unfortunately...the kid tried to get chris to give him his laptop but chris said "dude i'm a musician and all my music is on this...be cool man" so the kid actually let him keep it...the whole time i'm praying he doesn't ask for what's in my bag that was sitting in plain view right behind me...my laptop and ipod were all in there...i'd part with that $30 plenty of times over before i'd give up that bag...chris later said that he was appealing to whatever was left of a soul in them to not take his laptop...luckily it worked but he's obviously pretty bummed about the cash...the kid also took the keys to nate's car which was pretty dumb because they just ran off anyways...afterwards i realized i had the van keys (which was sitting just out on the street with thousands of dollars worth of gear in it) in my front pocket and my cell phone on me as well...like i said, they definitely seemed like newbies...
they said "don't be dumb and call the cops...we know who you are and where you live" and all that kind of tough talk...though that's the first thing our scared little, whiteboy butts did...we ran inside and woke everyone up because they didn't know a thing was going on out there...we called the cops and they came over right away but obviously couldn't do much...there were two big shootings in the same precinct so all their detectives and k-9's were being used for that...
so all in all the kids walked away with about $330 in cash...three ohio drivers license, one washington drivers license and the keys to a car they didn't even steal...the cops were baffled as to why they took our licenses and not our whole wallets...i'm very glad they didn't but still i don't like the fact that they know all that info about me and that i'll have to go through the hassle of getting a new license...what a pain that is...chris is also gonna have problems when he tries to fly back home w/o a valid i.d. for the airlines...luckily nate had a backup set of keys for his car so that was no big loss...
words can't describe what it's like to have a gun to your head in a moment like that...i sometimes run through scenarios like that in my mind and think how i wouldn't be scared because the mugger is just as scared and usually the gun isn't real or the mugger doesn't even know how to shoot it or something like that...it's all a load though when it actually happens...and it all happens so quick...you don't have time to run through how you could take the guy down or talk him out of it...we're just lucky that more wasn't taken from us because it very easily could have been...
if nothing else it gives us all a good story to tell for this tour...hah...so far we've witnessed a stabbing...had our trailer break down...and got mugged...
the things we do for rock 'n roll...
i figured i'd just come out and say it rather than build up suspense or anything dramatic like that...actually, mugged would be the more proper word...mugged at gunpoint...that makes it sound just that much more intense...
the good thing is that i'm still here to be typing this post...and i'm typing it on my laptop...it could have easily gone a lot differently but i don't like to think about that...i'm still processing so much of it still...it hasn't really sunk in, though...but i can't stop thinking about it...it might be good to rehash it all while my memory of it's still fresh...
so half our group stayed at our friend seth's house in kc last night...we all slept in nice and late and then got up and went to this area of town called westport or midtown or something like that to go shopping...we stopped at some pretty cool thrift stores, book stores and record shops...then we ate at this nice local deli called "the bronx"...afterwards we met up with the rest of our group and most of us went back to seth's place to kind of chill out before we decided what we were gonna do for dinner/etc...twjr's nate and ryan both stayed in town to read at a coffeshop and were coming back over later in nate's car...
so most of the group was inside the house napping and watching tv but chris and i decided to possibly go do some laundry at a laundromat...we thought we'd take nate's car to go do this so while we were waiting for he and ryan to get back we were sitting out on seth's front porch just tooling around on our laptops...we both noticed two kids walk by on the street and kind of eye us a little bit but i tried not to snap to my smalltown conclusions of what that kind of thing looks like...the kids came back by just as nate and ryan pulled up and they asked chris and i about the house (it had a for sale sign in the yard)...we didn't know anything because we obviously were from out of town so we kind of made small talk with them while ryan and nate came up on the porch as well...
once again my smalltown mind was making all kinds of snap judgments about why two black teens were trying to talk to a group of four middle-class whities and we probably should have been smarter...luckily chris and i had both packed up our laptops by the time the kids came up to the porch...i tried to be cool to them and talk to them like they were human beings and not just try to quick get out of it and avoid them like i'm prone to doing in similar situations...we told them we're in a band on tour and we're just staying here for the day...they asked where we were from in ohio and we told them...they said they knew some people from akron and so on...so when the talkative one of the two pulled a gun on me it came as a pretty big shocker...though it really shouldn't have...i guess i never thought a mugger would initiate smalltalk before he robs you...they never teach you that in school...
he told all four of us to get down on the ground and flashed what looked like some form of a semi-automatic weapon at us...it kind of looked like a fake to me but my fight or flight instinct wasn't letting me ask questions at that point...we all kind of crouched on the ground and i'm not even sure what we said...i think i might have said something like "dude why are you doing this?" but i can't remember...i'm pretty sure this was just as new to them as it was to us because he first asked for our wallets but then let us just give him our cash...instead of asking for our credit cards he asked for all our i.d.'s which didn't make a whole lot of sense...
i forked over $30, ryan and nate only had a few bucks on them but chris had $300 on him, unfortunately...the kid tried to get chris to give him his laptop but chris said "dude i'm a musician and all my music is on this...be cool man" so the kid actually let him keep it...the whole time i'm praying he doesn't ask for what's in my bag that was sitting in plain view right behind me...my laptop and ipod were all in there...i'd part with that $30 plenty of times over before i'd give up that bag...chris later said that he was appealing to whatever was left of a soul in them to not take his laptop...luckily it worked but he's obviously pretty bummed about the cash...the kid also took the keys to nate's car which was pretty dumb because they just ran off anyways...afterwards i realized i had the van keys (which was sitting just out on the street with thousands of dollars worth of gear in it) in my front pocket and my cell phone on me as well...like i said, they definitely seemed like newbies...
they said "don't be dumb and call the cops...we know who you are and where you live" and all that kind of tough talk...though that's the first thing our scared little, whiteboy butts did...we ran inside and woke everyone up because they didn't know a thing was going on out there...we called the cops and they came over right away but obviously couldn't do much...there were two big shootings in the same precinct so all their detectives and k-9's were being used for that...
so all in all the kids walked away with about $330 in cash...three ohio drivers license, one washington drivers license and the keys to a car they didn't even steal...the cops were baffled as to why they took our licenses and not our whole wallets...i'm very glad they didn't but still i don't like the fact that they know all that info about me and that i'll have to go through the hassle of getting a new license...what a pain that is...chris is also gonna have problems when he tries to fly back home w/o a valid i.d. for the airlines...luckily nate had a backup set of keys for his car so that was no big loss...
words can't describe what it's like to have a gun to your head in a moment like that...i sometimes run through scenarios like that in my mind and think how i wouldn't be scared because the mugger is just as scared and usually the gun isn't real or the mugger doesn't even know how to shoot it or something like that...it's all a load though when it actually happens...and it all happens so quick...you don't have time to run through how you could take the guy down or talk him out of it...we're just lucky that more wasn't taken from us because it very easily could have been...
if nothing else it gives us all a good story to tell for this tour...hah...so far we've witnessed a stabbing...had our trailer break down...and got mugged...
the things we do for rock 'n roll...
kansas city, mo
this was our third time as a band (but only my 2nd time) playing kansas city...it's the home of the winston jazz routine and our's label, the record machine...so they book some really good shows for us here...the place we played at was this cool bar/venue we've played at each time we've been here called "the record bar"...it's always a fun place to play because the sound is top notch there and they also know how to treat band's right with complimentary food and drinks...
we didn't have a local opener which probably hurt the turnout somewhat but the show still drew a good bit of people...i'd say more so than when we opened there the last time w/ the starlight mints and minus story...they were both big draws but unfortunately most of those people they drew didn't show up for our 8pm "early" set...this time around the show started at 10pm which was kinda crazy late for a weekday show but there was only us 3 bands and they had an early show at the venue that went from like 7-9pm...discover america went on first because chris wasn't feeling that great and didn't want to play last...we then played second and the winston jazz routine brought up the rear...
after the show we split off into two groups because we had two places to stay at...one house was that of a guy named aaron who lives in overland park so coby, ashten, derek, nate phillips & caleb all went there to stay....the rest of us stayed at a guy named seth's house...it was the same place that state bird played a house show at the last time we were in kansas city...it's kind of community type house because alot of people hang out there from time to time...chris and i got to stay in the only air-conditioned room in the house which oddly enough was in the attic...
the next day was going to be our first day off on the tour...we were supposed to play a show in springfield, mo which actually sounded like it was going to be very cool but apparently the promoter thought the show was july 27th and not june 27th so he didn't have time to promote it at all...we were all pretty bummed about it but glad to have the extra day to rest up before cornerstone...
and then there was our off day...
p.s- i finally am on a steady, non-stolen internet connection so i've uploaded a ton of photo's from the last few shows so be sure to go check them out via the "tour photo's" link to the right...
we didn't have a local opener which probably hurt the turnout somewhat but the show still drew a good bit of people...i'd say more so than when we opened there the last time w/ the starlight mints and minus story...they were both big draws but unfortunately most of those people they drew didn't show up for our 8pm "early" set...this time around the show started at 10pm which was kinda crazy late for a weekday show but there was only us 3 bands and they had an early show at the venue that went from like 7-9pm...discover america went on first because chris wasn't feeling that great and didn't want to play last...we then played second and the winston jazz routine brought up the rear...
after the show we split off into two groups because we had two places to stay at...one house was that of a guy named aaron who lives in overland park so coby, ashten, derek, nate phillips & caleb all went there to stay....the rest of us stayed at a guy named seth's house...it was the same place that state bird played a house show at the last time we were in kansas city...it's kind of community type house because alot of people hang out there from time to time...chris and i got to stay in the only air-conditioned room in the house which oddly enough was in the attic...
the next day was going to be our first day off on the tour...we were supposed to play a show in springfield, mo which actually sounded like it was going to be very cool but apparently the promoter thought the show was july 27th and not june 27th so he didn't have time to promote it at all...we were all pretty bummed about it but glad to have the extra day to rest up before cornerstone...
and then there was our off day...
p.s- i finally am on a steady, non-stolen internet connection so i've uploaded a ton of photo's from the last few shows so be sure to go check them out via the "tour photo's" link to the right...
oklahoma city, ok
so this is gonna be weird talking about the show two days ago and not blogging directly about the events that transpired today in kc...but i guess that'll build anticipation for the entry about today...
so we played okc (as the locals call it) on our last tour in the spring and did so with a pretty great local band called "the non"...they're an instrumental group and are young but incredibly talented...we made sure to get a show again with them this time around and they did not disappoint...you all should definitely check them out (if i haven't gushed about them to you already) and get their new cd...i believe it's available off their myspace: www.myspace.com/thenon ...we also are also working on getting a show together with them up in ohio so stay tuned for that...
the venue we played at was a place called "convergence" and it's basically a back room in a department store...it's cooler than it sounds, though...the non opened up the show (though they very well could have headlined) and brought their nice, big local following along with them...most everyone stuck around even though there were 4 bands on the bill and the show didn't start til 9pm...twjr played after the non, then state bird and discover america was last...it was a good time but there were a few technical snafu's that didn't get ironed out til discover america's set but all in all the show was a success...
rob (who runs convergence) was putting us up at his place once again but on the way over to his house our uhaul trailer decided to take a nice big dump on our luck so far this tour...apparently the leaf spring that supports the axle gave way on one side which in turn caused one of the tires to rub against the wheel well...it wasn't really driveable so we called uhaul (luckily coby and chris got the insurance on it) and they paid to put us up in a hotel for the night...it was also lucky that we were right next to one when it broke down...so we got a nice free hotel stay and got our uhaul fixed first thing the next day...
the whole ordeal felt alot like our last time in okc back in march...we had just got on the road heading for kc and our van blew a spark plug and ended up causing a whole heap of trouble for us...we had to rent a van while ours got fixed so that we could play our two shows 5 hours away in kc...we then drove the 10 hour round trip back to okc to pick up our fixed van, return the rental and then head back to kc before making the 12 hour trek back home to ohio the next day...not much fun...we were definitly very fortunate this time around...
and then there was kansas city...
so we played okc (as the locals call it) on our last tour in the spring and did so with a pretty great local band called "the non"...they're an instrumental group and are young but incredibly talented...we made sure to get a show again with them this time around and they did not disappoint...you all should definitely check them out (if i haven't gushed about them to you already) and get their new cd...i believe it's available off their myspace: www.myspace.com/thenon ...we also are also working on getting a show together with them up in ohio so stay tuned for that...
the venue we played at was a place called "convergence" and it's basically a back room in a department store...it's cooler than it sounds, though...the non opened up the show (though they very well could have headlined) and brought their nice, big local following along with them...most everyone stuck around even though there were 4 bands on the bill and the show didn't start til 9pm...twjr played after the non, then state bird and discover america was last...it was a good time but there were a few technical snafu's that didn't get ironed out til discover america's set but all in all the show was a success...
rob (who runs convergence) was putting us up at his place once again but on the way over to his house our uhaul trailer decided to take a nice big dump on our luck so far this tour...apparently the leaf spring that supports the axle gave way on one side which in turn caused one of the tires to rub against the wheel well...it wasn't really driveable so we called uhaul (luckily coby and chris got the insurance on it) and they paid to put us up in a hotel for the night...it was also lucky that we were right next to one when it broke down...so we got a nice free hotel stay and got our uhaul fixed first thing the next day...
the whole ordeal felt alot like our last time in okc back in march...we had just got on the road heading for kc and our van blew a spark plug and ended up causing a whole heap of trouble for us...we had to rent a van while ours got fixed so that we could play our two shows 5 hours away in kc...we then drove the 10 hour round trip back to okc to pick up our fixed van, return the rental and then head back to kc before making the 12 hour trek back home to ohio the next day...not much fun...we were definitly very fortunate this time around...
and then there was kansas city...
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
abilene, tx
ok so i only had time to get one post in while we were in okc...and now i'm sitting in the attic at our friend seth's place in kansas city stealing one his neighbor's internet connection...i don't know why i feel the need to always say where i'm at while i'm writing these tour journals about past shows...i just suck at intro's i guess...
anyways...abilene is always one of our favorite places to play...the folks there are just too cool and always show us a really good time...this particular time was no different...the same dustin that set up our denton show also set up this abilene show...he's attending abilene christian university as are alot of the folks who came out to see us play this particular evening...he warned us that not that many people would show up since school is not in session but there was still a really good turnout...not as good as when we played there this past spring but still good in comparison to other places we've played thus far...
the show was at this cool coffehouse called "monk's"...dustin is doing a really good job of booking great bands to play there...last month one of my favorite bands, "the album leaf", performed there and next month "joy electric" is playing...this month they got to see the fine musical stylings of one chris staples and discover america...and of course the winston jazz routine and a lil ol' band called state bird...we "headlined" again, i guess...i still don't think that means anything...i just think that dustin likes us alot...
speaking of liking things alot...one thing i get to see alot of on this tour is chris staples in his underwear...yes indeedy...i'm the envy of you all i'm sure...in fact he and i are sharing this nice air conditioned attic as i speak (er, type)...which also reminds me...it's late o'clock and i'm resorting to talking about guys in their underwear...
only two more posts and i'm all caught up...
anyways...abilene is always one of our favorite places to play...the folks there are just too cool and always show us a really good time...this particular time was no different...the same dustin that set up our denton show also set up this abilene show...he's attending abilene christian university as are alot of the folks who came out to see us play this particular evening...he warned us that not that many people would show up since school is not in session but there was still a really good turnout...not as good as when we played there this past spring but still good in comparison to other places we've played thus far...
the show was at this cool coffehouse called "monk's"...dustin is doing a really good job of booking great bands to play there...last month one of my favorite bands, "the album leaf", performed there and next month "joy electric" is playing...this month they got to see the fine musical stylings of one chris staples and discover america...and of course the winston jazz routine and a lil ol' band called state bird...we "headlined" again, i guess...i still don't think that means anything...i just think that dustin likes us alot...
speaking of liking things alot...one thing i get to see alot of on this tour is chris staples in his underwear...yes indeedy...i'm the envy of you all i'm sure...in fact he and i are sharing this nice air conditioned attic as i speak (er, type)...which also reminds me...it's late o'clock and i'm resorting to talking about guys in their underwear...
only two more posts and i'm all caught up...
denton, tx
i'm sitting in our hotel room here in oklahoma city and i'm going to attempt to write about three shows ago in denton but the details may be a little fuzzy...it's been a combination of late nights, long drives and alot of hanging out with our texas friends that have prevented me from getting on to post about the tour...my apologies...i also have alot of pictures to upload but the connection here in this fine days inn is a little spotty...suprising, i know...i'll try to get them up next time...
we played at a pretty cool club/bar in denton called "hailey's"...we didn't get the greatest turnout to the show in the world...but what we didn't get in quantity we made up for in quality...the show was set up by our good friend dustin, who also set up our show in abilene...he also helps head up the production company that is putting out the "murkville" compilation we are going to be apart of with alot of other great bands...which by the way is slated to come out oct. 27th...
so for this show state bird actually "headlined" i guess...which is just a big way of saying that we played last...which really doesn't mean much on a tour like this but it still was kind of cool to get "top billing"...i'm throwing out all the industry words here...i'm so hip and with it...anyways, winston jazz played first, then discover america and then us...the guy who opened up the show was very good as well...his name was jeremy and was kind enough to let most of us stay over at his place in denton...
the big story from this show was what happened afterwards, though...apparently there was a big shindig going on at someone's house nearby and all of us bands were invited...so we headed over there along with dustin and as we got close we could tell it was going to be a pretty crazy party...probably not one we needed to be at...and that was confirmed as we were driving by said house looking for a parking space and heard a guy shouting "hey someone call an ambulance...this guy got stabbed!"...we couldn't tell if it was a joke but we just kept on driving anyways and it was a good thing we did...the cops weren't far behind and dustin's car got pinned in as he got there a few minutes before us...turns out it wasn't a joke and it was a pretty big deal...some of the other guys in the band actually saw the bloody kid slumped over and trying to get help...pretty crazy and unfortunately for the fine people we met in denton, it's probably going to scar our memories of the place...we're just lucky we didn't get there sooner...
so that was denton...good times and crazy stories...
we played at a pretty cool club/bar in denton called "hailey's"...we didn't get the greatest turnout to the show in the world...but what we didn't get in quantity we made up for in quality...the show was set up by our good friend dustin, who also set up our show in abilene...he also helps head up the production company that is putting out the "murkville" compilation we are going to be apart of with alot of other great bands...which by the way is slated to come out oct. 27th...
so for this show state bird actually "headlined" i guess...which is just a big way of saying that we played last...which really doesn't mean much on a tour like this but it still was kind of cool to get "top billing"...i'm throwing out all the industry words here...i'm so hip and with it...anyways, winston jazz played first, then discover america and then us...the guy who opened up the show was very good as well...his name was jeremy and was kind enough to let most of us stay over at his place in denton...
the big story from this show was what happened afterwards, though...apparently there was a big shindig going on at someone's house nearby and all of us bands were invited...so we headed over there along with dustin and as we got close we could tell it was going to be a pretty crazy party...probably not one we needed to be at...and that was confirmed as we were driving by said house looking for a parking space and heard a guy shouting "hey someone call an ambulance...this guy got stabbed!"...we couldn't tell if it was a joke but we just kept on driving anyways and it was a good thing we did...the cops weren't far behind and dustin's car got pinned in as he got there a few minutes before us...turns out it wasn't a joke and it was a pretty big deal...some of the other guys in the band actually saw the bloody kid slumped over and trying to get help...pretty crazy and unfortunately for the fine people we met in denton, it's probably going to scar our memories of the place...we're just lucky we didn't get there sooner...
so that was denton...good times and crazy stories...
Saturday, June 23, 2007
tuscaloosa, al & little rock, ar
i'm going to combine the tuscaloosa and little rock entries to save myself a little time...we've been doing alot of travelling the past two days and i haven't had that much time to get on and post...and to be honest, there wasn't a whole lot concerning these two shows to write home about...
there were many positives about both shows but a whole lot of negatives to go along with them...we played at a relatively small, modern christian coffeehouse in tuscaloosa called "the pour cafe"...there was a decent turnout but the sound wasn't that great and got us a little frustrated...though we did take a few funny pictures afterwards with some vacation bible school props that you all can see on the flickr site...
we then got to hang with the really cool folks that put on the show...their names were buddy and haily and they showed us as good of a time as i'm sure you can have in alabama...we stayed the night at buddy's very hip loft apartment in downtown tuscaloosa...it seemed way out of place in alabama...i was going to snap some pics of it but didn't get a chance as we had to ship out pretty quick in the morning for our 6 hour or so drive to little rock...
we were a little nervous about the show in little rock, arkansas as it was going to be at another christian coffeehouse called "the rhythm & brews" and we don't usually fit in well at those venues...this one wasn't much different but once again the night was redeemed by a terrific place to stay...
we ended up getting to the venue a little late and we could tell they were already a little peeved at us for that...there were alot of bands/groups on the bill for that night and our styles didn't really mesh up well with any of them except for maybe one other band called "garage voice"...they're from seattle and were super nice guys so that was a bonus...
we then took off for the place we scored to stay at...we didn't quite know what to expect but our expectations were definitely exceded...it was by far the nicest place we've stayed at all tour...it was the home of a very nice family who had plenty of rooms w/ beds, showers and even a heated swimming pool...and when i say this house was nice, i mean it was "mtv cribs" nice...paige (the matriarch in this fine family) showed us that the best part of little rock was definitely at their house...
they had donuts waiting for us when we woke up and packed a cooler full of cold beverages for our trip to denton, tx today...bands like us are very grateful for families like the jenkin's who know how to make us feel like a million bucks...if you ever want to know how to treat a band right, i'm sure they could teach you a lesson or two...
so tonight we're at this really cool bar/club here in denton, tx called "hailey's"...it was set up by our good friend dustin and promises to be a great show...but that's about all i can fit in to this entry for these two little shows...i'm sure these next two texas shows are going to require texas-sized posts to cover them, though...
tune in next time...
there were many positives about both shows but a whole lot of negatives to go along with them...we played at a relatively small, modern christian coffeehouse in tuscaloosa called "the pour cafe"...there was a decent turnout but the sound wasn't that great and got us a little frustrated...though we did take a few funny pictures afterwards with some vacation bible school props that you all can see on the flickr site...
we then got to hang with the really cool folks that put on the show...their names were buddy and haily and they showed us as good of a time as i'm sure you can have in alabama...we stayed the night at buddy's very hip loft apartment in downtown tuscaloosa...it seemed way out of place in alabama...i was going to snap some pics of it but didn't get a chance as we had to ship out pretty quick in the morning for our 6 hour or so drive to little rock...
we were a little nervous about the show in little rock, arkansas as it was going to be at another christian coffeehouse called "the rhythm & brews" and we don't usually fit in well at those venues...this one wasn't much different but once again the night was redeemed by a terrific place to stay...
we ended up getting to the venue a little late and we could tell they were already a little peeved at us for that...there were alot of bands/groups on the bill for that night and our styles didn't really mesh up well with any of them except for maybe one other band called "garage voice"...they're from seattle and were super nice guys so that was a bonus...
we then took off for the place we scored to stay at...we didn't quite know what to expect but our expectations were definitely exceded...it was by far the nicest place we've stayed at all tour...it was the home of a very nice family who had plenty of rooms w/ beds, showers and even a heated swimming pool...and when i say this house was nice, i mean it was "mtv cribs" nice...paige (the matriarch in this fine family) showed us that the best part of little rock was definitely at their house...
they had donuts waiting for us when we woke up and packed a cooler full of cold beverages for our trip to denton, tx today...bands like us are very grateful for families like the jenkin's who know how to make us feel like a million bucks...if you ever want to know how to treat a band right, i'm sure they could teach you a lesson or two...
so tonight we're at this really cool bar/club here in denton, tx called "hailey's"...it was set up by our good friend dustin and promises to be a great show...but that's about all i can fit in to this entry for these two little shows...i'm sure these next two texas shows are going to require texas-sized posts to cover them, though...
tune in next time...
Thursday, June 21, 2007
jackson, ms
what do you call an egg on the beach?
a sandy eggo...
not make sense? that's because it's supposed to be a waffle on the beach...but twjr's nate messed it up from the stage a few nights back and hasn't lived it down yet...chris has since came up with his own clever version of the joke:
what do you call a hamburger on the beach?
a sandy patty...
fun times from the road...right now we're hanging out at "the pour cafe" in tuscaloosa, alabama...we just got some free pizza and we're in air conditioning...a very welcome respite from the confines of our steamy van...i think it's in the 90's today...the humidity doesn't seem too bad but that really doesn't mean much down here in the south...
last night we played in jackson, ms...i was trying to figure out if that's where johnny cash and june carter were wanting to go in that song of theirs...nate quinn seems to think it was jackson, tennessee...either way, we had a good time down in this jackson...the show was at a place called "swell 'o venue"...i already made a few jokes about it's name in yesterday's post so i'll spare'm today...it was actually a pretty cool place...it was a venue/skate park/skate shop/coffee shop...a very interesting concoction for sure...
the show was set up by a guy named dan who's a friend of chris' and currently plays in a great band called questions in dialect...he was a very nice guy...we had a pretty decent turnout for the show and actually played outside in the skate park...our set spawned a deep south dance party spearheaded by chris and the jazz boys...it had all the makings of a hoedown although it didn't quite reach that level...it was fun nonetheless...
dan got us a place to stay at another member of questions in dialects' apartment...i forget his name but it was a pretty small place and we all had to cram in on the floor...they had a swimming pool at their complex though which more than made up for that in my mind...
tonight promises to be another good show...we're up first though and i need to get set up...
there are some pics from last night's show up on the flickr site...
until next time...
a sandy eggo...
not make sense? that's because it's supposed to be a waffle on the beach...but twjr's nate messed it up from the stage a few nights back and hasn't lived it down yet...chris has since came up with his own clever version of the joke:
what do you call a hamburger on the beach?
a sandy patty...
fun times from the road...right now we're hanging out at "the pour cafe" in tuscaloosa, alabama...we just got some free pizza and we're in air conditioning...a very welcome respite from the confines of our steamy van...i think it's in the 90's today...the humidity doesn't seem too bad but that really doesn't mean much down here in the south...
last night we played in jackson, ms...i was trying to figure out if that's where johnny cash and june carter were wanting to go in that song of theirs...nate quinn seems to think it was jackson, tennessee...either way, we had a good time down in this jackson...the show was at a place called "swell 'o venue"...i already made a few jokes about it's name in yesterday's post so i'll spare'm today...it was actually a pretty cool place...it was a venue/skate park/skate shop/coffee shop...a very interesting concoction for sure...
the show was set up by a guy named dan who's a friend of chris' and currently plays in a great band called questions in dialect...he was a very nice guy...we had a pretty decent turnout for the show and actually played outside in the skate park...our set spawned a deep south dance party spearheaded by chris and the jazz boys...it had all the makings of a hoedown although it didn't quite reach that level...it was fun nonetheless...
dan got us a place to stay at another member of questions in dialects' apartment...i forget his name but it was a pretty small place and we all had to cram in on the floor...they had a swimming pool at their complex though which more than made up for that in my mind...
tonight promises to be another good show...we're up first though and i need to get set up...
there are some pics from last night's show up on the flickr site...
until next time...
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
chattanooga, tn
i'm sitting here in jackson, mississippi watching the boys from the winston jazz routine sound check before their set...after them we'll go on and then discover america will round things out...we're playing at a pretty swell venue called "swell o' venue"...a very descriptive name if you ask me...
last night we played in chatt-town as it's affectionately dubbed by the locals...the jazz boyz played at a joint called "the barking legs theater" which looked pretty cool...discover america and ourselves rocked out a coffee shop called "cafe mi aroma" on the campus of the university of tennesee chattanooga...there was a pretty good turnout and a nice faithful group of chris staples/twothirtyeight fans...i think that kind of weirds him out sometimes but luckily he wasn't in the room when the band following him gushed praises for everything he's ever done...good times...
i snapped a few shots of chris/da performing at the cafe and put them up on flickr...there are also a few other random shots from the road as well as some from this sweet local bar we went to after the show called "the pickle barrel"...it was in a flat-iron building of sorts so it kind of just tapered off and was all kinds of rustic and cool inside...then we stayed at the very pimp dwellings of some of nate phillips' family friends just outside of chattanooga...there was ample space for us all to lay our weary heads which is always a plus for a travelling group of 11 people...
twjr just got a request to play some skynyrd...we're definitely in the deep south, my friends...
later ya'll...
last night we played in chatt-town as it's affectionately dubbed by the locals...the jazz boyz played at a joint called "the barking legs theater" which looked pretty cool...discover america and ourselves rocked out a coffee shop called "cafe mi aroma" on the campus of the university of tennesee chattanooga...there was a pretty good turnout and a nice faithful group of chris staples/twothirtyeight fans...i think that kind of weirds him out sometimes but luckily he wasn't in the room when the band following him gushed praises for everything he's ever done...good times...
i snapped a few shots of chris/da performing at the cafe and put them up on flickr...there are also a few other random shots from the road as well as some from this sweet local bar we went to after the show called "the pickle barrel"...it was in a flat-iron building of sorts so it kind of just tapered off and was all kinds of rustic and cool inside...then we stayed at the very pimp dwellings of some of nate phillips' family friends just outside of chattanooga...there was ample space for us all to lay our weary heads which is always a plus for a travelling group of 11 people...
twjr just got a request to play some skynyrd...we're definitely in the deep south, my friends...
later ya'll...
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
nashville, tn
this was our third time as a band going through nashville while on tour but our first actual time playing here and let me tell ya...nashville didn't let us down...the place we played at was called "the 5 spot"...it was a very hip little bar in town...this was the nashville version of twjr's cd release show so alot of their friends from down here came...the place was pretty packed which made the show that much more fun...a very cool guy/band opened up for us...his stuff was very good...i believe his name was brian militana...
i just started up a flickr account to house select photos that i've been taking from the tour...it seems to be the easiest way to share pics with you all...i tried to post some in the last blog entry but was getting all kinds of a hassle...this is much more simple...you can look at them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9116489@N06/ ...i'll let you know when i put new ones up...
tonight we travel to chattanooga, tn to play...unfortunately we couldn't fit on the same bill as where twjr got booked so discover america and us are playing at a some form of a coffee bar maybe? the venue where twjr is playing sounds pretty cool...they're also playing with a guy by the name of aaron roche whose house i along w/ coby, matt and nate (from twjr) stayed at last night...he and his wife were kind enough to shack us up while a few of nate's other friends from down here housed the remaining members of the bands...but anyways...aaron is a fine singer and guitarist...i really wish i could catch his show...he played a while back at the renovare in dover and i really enjoyed it...oh well, maybe next time...
over and out,
ryan
i just started up a flickr account to house select photos that i've been taking from the tour...it seems to be the easiest way to share pics with you all...i tried to post some in the last blog entry but was getting all kinds of a hassle...this is much more simple...you can look at them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9116489@N06/ ...i'll let you know when i put new ones up...
tonight we travel to chattanooga, tn to play...unfortunately we couldn't fit on the same bill as where twjr got booked so discover america and us are playing at a some form of a coffee bar maybe? the venue where twjr is playing sounds pretty cool...they're also playing with a guy by the name of aaron roche whose house i along w/ coby, matt and nate (from twjr) stayed at last night...he and his wife were kind enough to shack us up while a few of nate's other friends from down here housed the remaining members of the bands...but anyways...aaron is a fine singer and guitarist...i really wish i could catch his show...he played a while back at the renovare in dover and i really enjoyed it...oh well, maybe next time...
over and out,
ryan
Monday, June 18, 2007
lexington, ky
well we finally got the heck out of dodge and made it to lexington...we played at a little bar/restaurant called alondra's...it seemed like an alright place...unfortunately not that many people decided to show up...oh well, you get a few bad apples in the bunch...we just hope there aren't that many more bad ones...
everyone played very good sets...state bird played first, then twjr and discover america played last of us three...a local band closed the show...they were supposed to be a "big draw" as the promoter put it...big in kentucky must mean 25...because that's about how many people were there...
at any rate...the guys in the last band were pretty cool and offered us a place to stay for the night...that's no small thing when you have a group of 11 people...luckily they had a big basement and one cat per person on the tour...mostly all little kittens which were fun to watch wrestle around and kill small animals...i even rescued one from a tree after he thought he could climb it and actually get back down...rascally lil devil...
we're in a small coffee shop in nashville right now killing some time before our show tonight...should be a good one we hope...i took a few pictures of twjr and da's sets last night plus a few more from life on the road but don't have time to upload them now...should have time tomorrow...
until then...
Sunday, June 17, 2007
bellville, ohio
well, i'm posting from my own home once again...it seems we've had a few hitches (literally, ha) in our tour plans already...there were some issues with the hitch and trailer the guys are renting to haul all the gear in so coby and chris (from discover america) were running around all day trying to get it figured out which in turn meant we couldn't pack up for the long haul like we were hoping to...
thankfully they got the problem fixed just in time for us to make it to the show in bellville...which was pretty great i must say...the place we played at was actually an old opera house complete with a raised stage, curtains, wooden floors, etc...bellville was a very quaint, picturesque little town...right on the town square was a gazebo where a bluesgrass/country type group was performing for the locals...i kind of wished that i could've checked that out as well as listen to another fine round of performances from twjr and da...everyone's sets are sounding much tighter and we're getting alot of the pre-tour kinks worked out...
i forgot my camera down with my bags in new phila otherwise i would have taken some photos of the venue and posted them here...oh well...maybe i'll remember to snap a few tomorrow when we play in kentucky...
which reminds me i need to get to bed as we are taking off in the early afternoon...
so long all...
thankfully they got the problem fixed just in time for us to make it to the show in bellville...which was pretty great i must say...the place we played at was actually an old opera house complete with a raised stage, curtains, wooden floors, etc...bellville was a very quaint, picturesque little town...right on the town square was a gazebo where a bluesgrass/country type group was performing for the locals...i kind of wished that i could've checked that out as well as listen to another fine round of performances from twjr and da...everyone's sets are sounding much tighter and we're getting alot of the pre-tour kinks worked out...
i forgot my camera down with my bags in new phila otherwise i would have taken some photos of the venue and posted them here...oh well...maybe i'll remember to snap a few tomorrow when we play in kentucky...
which reminds me i need to get to bed as we are taking off in the early afternoon...
so long all...
Saturday, June 16, 2007
dover, ohio
well here we go...
the big tour has officially begun...the discover america/winston jazz routine/state bird summer tour...although, i'm still at home...in my pajamas...typing on my computer...buuuut this afternoon we take off for lands unknown...the great wide wonder that is the u. s. of a...from sea to shining sea...
i've kind of forsaken this whole world known as digital bloggery for a good little spell...but in the hopes of keeping a daily (or close to it) log of the happenings of our life on the road for future nostalgic purposes i'm attempting at resurrecting my journaling sensibilities...i apologize in advance to anyone outside of myself that may end up reading this...
alright well i've got to keep this short...i haven't actually packed yet...i keep putting it off because i don't know how to pack for being on the road for three weeks...i think i'll just blindly throw clothes out of my drawers and into my suitcase...tonight we play at a place called the "bellville opera house" in bellville, ohio...it's a small town just outside mansfield where our fine friends "the winston jazz routine" hail from...this is going to be their cd release show and what a fine cd it is i must say...i feel honored to be their friends and to have gotten a chance to lend a little helping hand to one song on the album...i highly recommend you pick it up...you can do so here: http://www.merchline.com/therecordmachine/
ok friendly band plugging aside...for the kickoff show last night we played at the renovare cafe in dover...the whole night consisted of somewhere in the region of 7-9 bands or so...it was quite a great night...thanks to all who came out and stuck around for us last three bands (the schedule was running a bit behind)...but it was good to have such a large turnout and see all our friends before we take off...our sets were a little rough but they usually always are at the start of a tour...it's going to be crazy playing a show every night of the week for the next two weeks...which also means i get to hear the fine music of the winston jazz routine and discover america every night as well...what a treat...
ok, time to get to that packing...thanks to all those of you keeping us in your thoughts and prayers while we're on the road...
God bless,
ryan
the big tour has officially begun...the discover america/winston jazz routine/state bird summer tour...although, i'm still at home...in my pajamas...typing on my computer...buuuut this afternoon we take off for lands unknown...the great wide wonder that is the u. s. of a...from sea to shining sea...
i've kind of forsaken this whole world known as digital bloggery for a good little spell...but in the hopes of keeping a daily (or close to it) log of the happenings of our life on the road for future nostalgic purposes i'm attempting at resurrecting my journaling sensibilities...i apologize in advance to anyone outside of myself that may end up reading this...
alright well i've got to keep this short...i haven't actually packed yet...i keep putting it off because i don't know how to pack for being on the road for three weeks...i think i'll just blindly throw clothes out of my drawers and into my suitcase...tonight we play at a place called the "bellville opera house" in bellville, ohio...it's a small town just outside mansfield where our fine friends "the winston jazz routine" hail from...this is going to be their cd release show and what a fine cd it is i must say...i feel honored to be their friends and to have gotten a chance to lend a little helping hand to one song on the album...i highly recommend you pick it up...you can do so here: http://www.merchline.com/therecordmachine/
ok friendly band plugging aside...for the kickoff show last night we played at the renovare cafe in dover...the whole night consisted of somewhere in the region of 7-9 bands or so...it was quite a great night...thanks to all who came out and stuck around for us last three bands (the schedule was running a bit behind)...but it was good to have such a large turnout and see all our friends before we take off...our sets were a little rough but they usually always are at the start of a tour...it's going to be crazy playing a show every night of the week for the next two weeks...which also means i get to hear the fine music of the winston jazz routine and discover america every night as well...what a treat...
ok, time to get to that packing...thanks to all those of you keeping us in your thoughts and prayers while we're on the road...
God bless,
ryan
Thursday, June 14, 2007
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