November 25, 2006
Dave Melillo: "How many of you ate lots of turkey today?" Crowd: "Yeah!!!!!!!!" DM: "Well I'm a vegetarian so I think that sucks." What an awesome way to open a set on thanksgiving.
The rumors of the venue cooking for us yesterday turned out to be a farse, the truth was that they wanted load-in to be later so THEY could eat. Bummer. At least they gave me some bread to make a peanut butter sandwich.
Bury Your Dead stopped by to spread the holiday cheer. They loaded up on some Cute merch for their next photo shoot, admitted that Cartel rocks their socks and jumped in some costumes for Hellogoodbye’s “Touchdown Turnaround” finale.
This morning I woke up to what I thought was the bus losing control and me dying but after I didn’t hear anyone else screaming I fell back asleep for 4 more hours until Justin woke us all up to tell us that the trailer had fallen off hours ago and that we’d been sitting in the lot of a repair shop trying to get it fixed. The steel hitch on the back of the bus snapped and ripped all the wiring from the trailer (way to go Pittsburgh). Only the chains kept it attached.
There’s no way it was going to get fixed in time to make it the 6 hours from Rancho Cordova to LA so a Suburban was rented to get the band to the show and Magann and I were left with a broken trailer and a tour bus all to ourselves. We decided the best thing to do was to go back to bed for another 3 hours, waking up at 3pm Pacific time (6pm real world time). I’m effed when I have to go back to work on Tuesday morning.
November 21, 2006
So after that show HGB's tour manager came on to our bus to say that he's gotten a call from Richard (Drive Thru owner) because some kids at the show saw the girl flash and told their parents who called the venue who called Richard who called the tour manager to yell at him about it. So I guess it's the parents that are conservative in UT. No more rock shows for those kiddies.
Another story that I forgot to convey was the night that the other merch dude saw a girl with a blood sugar monitor in her pocket and asked "Is that a Diabetes IPod?" Girl: “Haha, yeah” Merch dude #2: “You got insulin’s greatest hits on there?” Generally after that kind of abuse most kids would shy away but she ended up bringing him to buy video games and then buying him dinner. Sometimes I just don't understand kids these days.
November 19, 2006
I figured Salt Lake City was a small conservative city filled tons of wives and few husbands. I was wrong.
The view was pretty sweet to one side with a nice mountain backdrop and to the other side, absolutely nothing. The venue was next to a soup kitchen and “The Bridge,” an awesome vegan café. The first people I met happen to be Straight Edge kids who are legendary for being insane but this these dudes were wicked cool. Within 4 minutes of meeting them they asked if we needed a place to crash. No swords, no chains, just BMX bikes.
Cute is not a band that many 18+ people are into so most shenanigans are limited to general making fun of dudes for buying merch and calling girls myspace whores. Honestly, shows get redundant if you can’t find a way to amuse yourself. Last night the amusement found us. What we thought would be nice Mormon girls turned out to be girls jumping out of their shirts, literally. To this point on the tour the nudity was limited James from Reggie but this all changed. We (the merch tables collectively) had groups of girls asking to show their goods for free stuff. Generally turned down the offers due to paranoia of finding ourselves featured on the next “To Catch a Predator” but one table was willing to risk it to a girl that definitely looked of age.
Later in the evening a girl came over to the Reggie table to tell how she tried to throw her bra at James but some kid hit her arm and her shot was deflected. Where’d she go to school? BYU.
I have a feeling that the tour is going to start getting a bit crazier.
Today, Boise Idaho, after show fun POTATO FARMING!
November 16, 2006
Lawrence, Kansas may sound like a town east of nowhere but it truly does rules. Those that know their emo history know that the Get Up Kids are from this area east of nowhere and with Reggie coming through town out of the woodworks came the ex-Get Up Kids to catch the show. Reggie was in full effect hamming it up with the addition of a second guitarist, Cory, formerly of COALESCE (reunion coming soon btw) and they were absolutely insane. Highlight of the tour so far was when Matt Pryor got pulled onto stage by James during the Hellogoodbye encore to sing “Action Action.” This is probably the closest thing we’ll see to a GUK reunion for quite some time.
So the Granada Theatre is on “Massachusetts” which is like a Newbury St w/o the eurotrash. Totally hip but wicked laid back. This city rules.
November 14, 2006
All it took was watching Brendon from Panic! At the Disco shred to Avenge Sevenfold to convince them that they NEEDED this game. Jeff seems to be the best. I've yet to have a turn.
Oh yeah, tour not really cancelled.
November 12, 2006
Monday we've got a day off in Alabama. We're going Leprechuan Hunting....
Also some awesome info that I didn't share before.... The guitarist is Rich from As the Sun Sets AND the bassist is #2 from Slipknot. How sweet is that?????
November 11, 2006
Pictures from the House of Blues last night.
November 11, 2006
The whole concept of the internet celebrity is ridiculous but it’s so apparent when Justin the tour manager and Magann the merch dude get people screaming their names just because they’re in someone’s top 8. It’s sort of a legend thing that doesn’t require you to do anything cool except to know people. LAME. At least the dude from Hope Con killed a dude to get his status or at least that’s what I’ve heard.
I’ve met some cool dudes on this tour, Matt Squire was really quiet but wanted to know why Kurt from Converge dissed him. Tom formally of the Academy Is is a sweet dude. But Matt from CKY is probably the highlight of people so far. He told us that the last CKY tour bus was formally Journey’s bus and he had the bunk that the bassist died in. The driver, who was a dead ringer for Captain Lou Albano, would tell him ghost stories and discuss how he was possessed by his spirit. So rad. He (Matt) is from Springfield Mass but we can’t hold that against him.
November 09, 2006
When you're 18 and drive a Z3 that your daddy bought you, don't give me the keys. This girl did and boy did I do some sweet donuts.
November 09, 2006
Some things happen on tour that people aren't proud of. Tonight one of our buddies on the HGB bus decided it was time to lower his age limit to 17, or at least them saying they're 17.
Along with this general theme is the "Get naked or get off the bus" mentality for people that aren't associated with anyone on the bus, either entertain or get off, otherwise you're just an extra person in an already cramped space. Most of the dudes on this bus have gf's but our bus is the party bus so shenanigins will happen (Forrest keeps the HGB bus locked down from what I hear). 9 out of 10 times efforts are fruitless but it's something to keep the bus occupied until Call.
"Green Tea and Red Bull, who wants to do shooters? I don't even know what that is." spoken like a true underager.
November 08, 2006
To desinger crap. Maybe I'm just a boring norm but Bape hoodies that look like the Mickey Mouse and Goofy shirts you find at your local Wal-Mart are not only hideous, but not worth the hundred$ they pay for them. Seriously, even the knock-offs are $100.
Next on my rant.... Nike Dunks. Jesus, I own 7 pairs of Saucony's in different colors but at $15 a pair that barely ammounts to one cheap pair of Dunks. On the bus right now, with 5 Dunk wearing people there are over 30 pairs. Lets figure they average $150 a pair (off the shelf, not special orders/ebay) so.... $150 x 30 = $4500 in freaking shoes!!!! Not to mention that everyone one has been raving about the new "Day of the Dead" ones that were only released in Canada and Mexico. Those are going for $400-$500 on ebay.
And last but not least, where are these 12 year olds getting these $50's and $100's. Everyday I get atleast a few $100 bills and a bunch of $50's. The last time I had that kind of money was never.
November 07, 2006
Today we're in Maryland somewhere. It's a day off so its a combination of showering for the first time in a few days, doing inventory and creating a niggaspace account. Yesterday when attempting to build a new merchboard the drill jumped and decided to go into my finger. Bad for me, good for the tip jar.
This bus is powered by mac nerdz
November 06, 2006
Just like Cinderella’s ride, most of the rock clubs we hit turn into a totally different entity come midnight. Our bus was still parked next to Toad’s last night and when the hoochies hit the streets and we were ready to get some of them on the bus. One of them was so drunk that the left her camera. I guess legally I can't post the pictures (I wonder how FOUND does it?) but here's what they looked like......
Oh yeah,we told them that we were hellogoodbye! They probably won't remember that in the morning though.
November 05, 2006
Tonight we (the three Boston kids on the bus) introduced CIWWAF & HelloGoodBye to Boston Beatdown and did our best to convince them that Boston is one giant fist fight. We then proceeded to explain how most of the dudes in the video were actually nice guys. We're throwing mixed messages fo-sho.
November 04, 2006
Lastnight I met up with everyone at Avalon. I didn’t have a laminate yet so I snuck in the backdoor unnoticed. I manned the merch table, which we couldn’t keep stocked at all because the kids were eating it up.
After the load out we hopped on the bus and ordered some food. Trying to explain that you’d like a delivery to a giant bus on Lansdown street is easier said than done. Luckily the tour mgr was thinking earlier in the day and got us all tickets to see Borat. Sooo good. There was even a fat broad sitting next to us giving her bf the dome. The dude was happy to take a picture with us but the broad was no where to be found.
Also on tour with us is Michael Jordan, such an awesome dude.
Quote of the day: “My mother-fucking father fucked me so hard……….” Not the best way to start a conversation
