March 2011
26 posts
Last night of tour.
Saturday, March 27
Home.
I woke up in my own bed which felt great, but at the stupidly early hour of 8am. Sure, I typically get up around then when I’m at home, but as exhausting as this tour was I’d wanted to at least break 11am. No such luck; I walked around my empty, barren and disorderly house having no idea what to do with myself. It would have been far less confusing had...
LAme.
Friday, March 26
As had become our routine, we rolled out of Vegas at 9am sharp. Running on about 4 hours’ sleep, we were mostly fueled by the fact that today’s drive ended at home. We still had two shows left in the tour - Los Angeles and Carlsbad - but would be able to sleep in our own beds and, in most cases, with our significant others. I’d be returning to a completely...
21 Patty Finn.
Thursday, March 24
TMR had played Vegas’s Double Down Saloon once, but that was before I joined the band. This would only be my third time in Vegas ever, and while it’s certainly an overwhelmingly sad place I’ve also had some fun times there. The 7 hour jaunt from Salt Lake City was helped along by the 80 MPH speed limit on the I-15 and before we knew it, we were arriving at...
WatchBaby gas station ducks for sale in Utah.
"Utah! We stare at you!"
Wednesday, March 23
The title of this post should seriously be Utah’s motto and on every license plate. I’ll get to that in a minute.
We departed Fruita, CO bright and early as we were anxious to get to Salt Lake City and play again. The two days off were good for many reasons, but we were ready to be back onstage doing what we do best. It wouldn’t take long at all to reach...
A tale of two passes.
Tuesday, March 22
I’d booked the tour in such a way that we had 2 back-to-back days off after the Denver show in case the weather up north was nanners and lengthened our drive time to Salt Lake City. So on our third day off, we decided to depart in the AM and drive 5 hours to a halfway point of Grand Junction, CO. We pulled out of Denver and “Ooohed” and “Ahhhhed”...
Our second day off.
Monday, March 21
Darby and I slept on the bus last night which, I have now decided, was unnecessary. Did I decide this because we’re really not in the worst part of Denver after all? No- I decided this because I woke up at 6am and not even my 20˚ rated sleeping bag was keeping me warm enough to stay unconscious. I thought I’d checked all the windows for closure well enough, but it...
Mile high Might.
Sunday, March 20
The wind of the plains sure was nice to blow us right out of Lincoln and onto the I-80 toward Denver. I’m accustomed to driving the more southern routes (I-40 and I-10) across the US and dealing with either a reliable head or tailwind, but up here it’s more of a WHAP! from either side in no predictable pattern. With a careful grip on the wheel and an attentive eye on...
WatchNebraska.
Commemorative Coin Sets
Saturday, March 19
Anytime I think of Lincoln, NE I think of every TV ad I saw as a kid for any sort of commemorative, collectible “sure-to-appreciate in value” set of coins or plates. Ronald Reagan coin sets, U.S. Olympics sets, Bill of Rights sets…there may have even been a Tina Yothers set at some point but I can’t confirm that. I certainly remember them all being made...
Chi-town shuffle.
Friday, March 18
The Ballydoyle Pub comped our rooms at the nicest Comfort Inn & Suites I’ve ever had the fortune to visit and it was a bummer to check out in the morning. Getting in bed at around 2am and having an 8am bus call also sucked, but we had a full pattern today: in-studio live set at Northwestern (Paddy’s alma mater!) and then a show at Reggie’s Rock Club on the...
Party on, Reege! (St. Pat's Day in Aurora)
Thursday, March 17
We departed Ann Arbor at 10am and aimed the bus at the greater Chicago area. One of two primary anchors (along with Shamrock Fest) and financial windfalls of the tour was on the docket for the evening and it was gonna be a marathon. We’re accustomed to rocking 3 hour pub sets, but tonight we were pulling a 4 hour shift. We’d have to conserve our energy and keep our...
St. Pat's Eve
Wednesday, March 16
After a nice day off in Ann Arbor, we took full advantage of our first day with no checkout time hanging over our heads. I woke up around 11:15 and opted to buy a guest pass at Bally Fitness across the street to get the blood going. There was also a mall across the street, and all of us ended up there on our own and decided to meet for lunch. After that it was back to the Red...
Our first day off.
Tuesday, March 15
The day began with a bang as I had some vocal session work to do for a composer friend back in LA. As a composer myself, I’ve written music for TV and radio commercials and all manner of things for the past 10 years. So while there are a lot of jobs I can’t accept while on the road, basic vocal/guitar session work for other composers is certainly doable. Wanting to...
St. Pat's week begins in Toledo.
Monday, March 14
Having a very manageable 5 hour drive to Toledo, we were able to indulge a bit with our Pittsburgh morning. Ryan, Darby, Gavin and myself all descended upon the hotel’s fitness center to beat ourselves up a bit and sweat out over a week’s worth of toxins. Since I usually work out 5-6 days a week and being on the road doesn’t lend itself to keeping that...
Pittsburgh...you just plain rock.
Sunday, March 13
Ah, yes….back in the land of Dunkin’ Donuts. Our day started with the best coffee in the world and delicious breakfast sandwiches. With the long hauls of the first few days behind us, we now have much more manageable journeys each day which is a huge relief. Also still buzzing [from what we all agreed was not only far more good than bad but a welcome contrast to the...
The ups, the downs and the Regis.
Saturday, March 12
So after the general anti-climacticism of returning to rock my homestate, we were all looking forward to playing Shamrock Fest in DC. At the absolute least, we were guaranteed a huge turnout of people primed to become fans. And having played Columbia, MD and Virginia Beach, VA on last summer’s Warped Tour and made some new fans in both cities, we’d also gotten...
In my P Wags, I'm goin' to Carolina...
Friday, March 11
So I got us to just east of Nashville last night and I won’t lie; the shit hurt. Left Memphis at 1am and powered through until nearly 5am before giving up and pulling into a Pilot truckstop parking lot.
Everyone else except Gavin had long since passed out and were expecting to arrive/check in at a motel but I decided we should just pull over and recharge for a few...
Memphis. Just....Memphis.
Friday, March 11
Simply arriving in Memphis was something of a victory and we had a little time to breathe and relax before showtime. This meant casing the neighborhood on foot in search of grub. Unfortch, a very awesome-sounding BBQ joint closed 10 minutes prior to our arrival and we settled instead a Chinese buffet. At 9:30 pm; you know, when buffet items are plentiful and piping hot. The...
We didn't rock Tulsa.
Thursday, March 10
Perhaps an hour after I finished typing the last entry, tragedy struck the Paddy Wagon. We pulled off I-40 to hit a Subway (aka. the most healthy/affordable tour lunch possible) and upon climbing back in, it just wouldn’t start. I can’t begin to explain the barrage of thoughts and emotions one has in such a place as El Reno, OK in this predicament but I’ll...
Watch ol' Regis run.
Wednesday March 9
Greetings from Oklahoma. We departed Los Angeles yesterday morning at 10:30am when we really should’ve left around 8am. This means we’re really having to bust ass to get ourselves to the first stop in Tulsa on time. As it stands now, we’ll arrive around 5pm and have 2 hours to check into a hotel and make ourselves appear ready to rock. Seeing as we only stopped...
'Twas the night before tour...
and holy fucking shit all through the house. I couldn’t possibly be less mentally prepared to embark on this outing and it seems like only last week I damn-near-killed myself booking 90% of it. This is the concurrent tragedy and beauty of being in a band that’s hungry as all hell to make it, but just not quite at the tipping point yet. We do the research, the networking, the more...
