_________ Nickel

Buffalo was COLD! And it was the second time we saw some real snowfall, which was nice. Like I said earlier, this winter is doing something to me. I’m really enjoying it. Moving from the warm-er climate of Philly to the higher latitudes of Chicago was a bit shocking at first, but luckily I came equipped with a scarf, gloves and a heavy coat!

Our hotel was pretty nice, and when we first got there the guys went down to eat some lunch and I stayed up to take a much-needed shower. After I was done with that, the guys came up shortly after, fairly dissatisfied with the quality of the meal, and we watched some murder mystery shows on TV until it was time to go to the venue.

MOHAWK PLACE
December 1, 2007
Buffalo, NY

Conveniently located on Mohawk St., this place is very much what I'd call a picturesque small rock club complete with a bar, show posters and stickers everywhere. When we first got there, Rono drove around to the side looking for a loading dock to bring the van into, and as we found one this guy came walking up to the car talking to us. We all thought he worked at the venue, turns out he was just a bum off the street. He took Rono’s cigarette right out of his hand! It was actually pretty hilarious. He was like, “C’mon c’mon c’mon c’mon c’mon” and just took the thing. Ha! He also told us he was the baddest drummer in Buffalo.

Anyway, this night was the first time I met Junko. She’s a Redwalls fan that came all the way from Japan just to catch a few of these shows on tour. She’s been out here a few times before, so the guys know her well, but this was our first meeting. She’s awesome… AND she bought me ninja socks for Christmas!

So this show went well, and many of the fans there were present the last time The Redwalls went through Buffalo with Hot Hot Heat, and made it known too. I sold some sweet merch goodies and after the show we hung out at the bar for a little bit. The place was open until 4AM. I know one of those after-hours places that exists in Philly, but sorry folks, restaurant personnel only.

Other highlights of the night include a chicken finger sandwich from a few blocks away. Deeeee-lish!


3/4 standing around.


Performance, you can see some of the Whigs in there too.


Hanging out afterwards with some dudes from Handsome Jack.


Ew, wet snow.

Boo!

For those of you that haven't noticed yet, the NYC and Philly posts are up down below. The Baltimore one will be up eventually...

The Northern Country!

Boy, we were worried as to whether or not we would make it over the border. How many horror stories have I heard about bands getting pulled into secondary for six hours while they open everything and send dogs in to sniff stuff… too many. Luckily, I was on top of the whole passport situation, meaning the ones who don’t have them didn’t need them, and kept things in order for a smooth crossing. Rono handled the questions and took care of business, and before we knew it we were driving through Ontario.

Our hotel was located on top of a large underground mall, and it gave me something to do for a bit while we waited for load in. I went down and bought a couple tapes to use with this video camera I have, hopefully I can get some good footage of these gents. I also bought some gummy bears!

EL MOCAMBO
November 30, 2007
Toronto, ON

When we arrived at the venue we were searching for a load in spot when Rono decided to pull down a tiny alley with no outlet, and we proceeded to get stuck in there with the trailer for a good 20 minutes. I was worried we weren’t going to make it out, but luckily Rono can drive this thing and maneuvered the beast through a series of K, X and Q turns to the road once again. Then moments later, we pulled down second alley with no outlet. This time it was the right place to be, though the venue guys made us wait to load in while they grabbed a few cases of beer from the hummer behind us. They said, “Sorry! Beer’s the priority!”

Psh.

I guess the second floor of the venue was having construction done on it, because the entire night the whole place was ice cold. I absolutely hate having to sit by the front door for extended periods of time. Why can’t they put me someplace warmer? And then the bar never has anything warm to drink. Ah, the woes of a merch person…

All the money I made was in Canadian. Their money makes me happy. It has children ice-skating on it and people playing hockey. Ours is one color and has dinosaurs. I heard they signed some sort of declaration about our indifference… or maybe it was independence. Oh well.

I met Maria who is on the street team, as well as her friend. I forgot his name though, sorry! Tell me and I’ll fix it. His name is JUSTIN!

It snowed here too, and as much as I’m usually seasonally depressed, I can’t help but realize how much better I feel this year for some reason. I am enjoying aspects of winter I used to loathe. It’s weird, but I’m going to ride it out. I also realized how not-cold Philadelphia actually is. Stop whining, peers of mine.


Approaching T-ronto.


Something tall and pointy.


Damn beer Hummer.


Rockin'.


Logan and Rob.


The Wizard of Robz. I tried...


Outside this landmark club. The Stones played here!

Day One, Tour Two

Last night was the first night on this tour, and I think we’re all satisfied!

The Crofoot was the first venue on the last tour as well, but this time we headed upstairs to something called The Pike Room. It was the smaller, but more rock and roll sister room in the place. Highlights of the night include a giant greenroom for the guys, my Italian grinder and the enthusiastic fans there to see The Redwalls. I’m sure as we move along the crowds are only going to get bigger.

Not much to say about the place otherwise.

The night was an introduction for us all as well, and we got a chance to meet the guys from the Whigs and Jonathan Rice, both of whom are putting on great shows. I’m really looking forward to the rest of this tour!


Philly sunset minutes before departure to Chi-town.


He looks cheery.


Where The Redwalls practice kind of.


Who da man? Thanks Rono :) Mitch looks like he's about to pee.


Mr. Mitch.


Piling in.


The Pike Room.

Grind. Back To It, That Is...

For those of you steaming over the last few posts that I’ve neglected to put up yet, I will appease you with an update!

I landed in Chicago at 6:02 last night.

That’s right folks, I’ll be joining The Redwalls on their ten day headlining tour with The Whigs and Jonathan Rice! I’ll be hoping to see a handful of familiar faces and a plethora of new ones. Don’t be frightened to come say hello, I’m a friendly guy, and I’ll sell you merch too.

We woke up around 7:00 this morning to get moving, so as I battled the holy-crap-it’s-cold-18-degree-weather while loading some stuff into the trailer, I began to get excited…

We finally left and picked up a frail and bundled Justin who is just getting over sickness before reaching the practice space and grabbing the rest of the equipment and guys. First to arrive was Andrew, then Rob and Logan with Mitch. One thing I was glad to see is Logan now has the smallest suitcase. His last one had to be around 100 pounds… and bright red.

Oh and the new posters are really cool, too. Peter Mars, the artist who designed and screen printed the cover of the most recent Redwalls release, did a series of screened poster specifically for this tour, hand numbered and all, making each one one-of-a-kind. I’m going to pick one up, and I suggest you do too.

Maybe the guys will even sign it for you.

So now we’re on the road towards Pontiac, MI. It’s weird, almost like I never even left, went back to Philly for a week, crashed some classes, worked a few days, played SNES, pet a cat, closed a bank account, ate at Wawa (if you don’t know what it is… well, I just feel sorry for you), slept in my own bed with new flannel sheets applied, and wrote a new song. I said almost.

You’ll be hearing from me frequently, I promise, so keep up with it! And comment this stuff with questions and thoughts, I will do another answer post in the next week or two. If you want to see something, don’t hesitate to tell me either. You’re just as big a part of this as me, why would I write this is no one is reading it? And why not read what you want to read? That one’s hypothetical, but I look forward to hearing from you kids!

Apologies...

For not having the remainder of the blogs up sooner, they really should be. I'm honestly taking a day or two to relax here at home before I get the rest of the stuff up here.

Some updates:

The absinthe is awesome.
Jalepeno chips are awesome.
A Redwalls fan named Lisa and I hung out in Philly.
I am going on the headlining tour with the boys... tentatively. I haven't acquired a plane ticket yet, but once that happens I'm on my way.
My favorite ninja turtle is Raphael.
I just realized how unfriendly Philadelphians are upon my return. It's extremely disappointing.
Unfortunately, I won't be present at the gallery thing. Please come to the Metro so I can meet all of you anyway?

The Little Black Box

You guys want a picture of my little black box? Well it’s going to be another day or two before I can put it up, but maybe I’ll make some sort of contest out of it or something. Keep your eyes open.

Green Gahd-Damn-Delicious

New York. New. York. What a wonderful way to close out the tour for everyone. Actually we have one more show before it’s completely over with, but having this towards the end was a good idea. There were almost 2000 people at this show, and that’s quite a good amount.

When we first got there we encountered an angered BMW owner who came and broke into our van to yell at me. Actually he just opened the door without knocking. The band was yelling to lock it, but seriously, who opens a door without knocking on the window? We were parked in front of the exit to this tiny parking lot. The nut was trying to enter the exit. Durrrrr man it’s an exit! Instead of buying BMW’s maybe he should look into anger management… I just told him it wasn’t a big deal and smiled. So essentially we were having some parking trouble, and the venue was having difficulty providing us with adequate space for the van and trailer. Unfortunately none of the surrounding lots would accept our outfit for less than a ridiculous amount of money and it seemed we were going to get a little screwed by that city. Luckily Rono pulled out his little bag of tour manager dust (don’t worry, it’s nothing illegal) and sprinkled some on the sitch. Oh wait, maybe he used his Jedi mind tricks… I can’t remember. We ended up with this pretty cool film license that allowed us directly outside of the place. Score!

TERMINAL 5
November 16, 2007
New York City, NY

As I said earlier, the show was large! The merch was rushed several times, and I used my merchandising expertise to help out the Rooney kids as much as possible while still regulating my universe. There were a good bunch of Redwalls fans there, you can tell because you’re always smiling! And you’re older than twelve!

So after the show The Polyphonic Spree was having an after party at the Beauty Bar and it was an open bar… cabbed it and we were there in a jiffy. Which is an actual measurement of time.

I hung out with Genevieve and her roommate and friends. She brought me some tasty Thai. Mmmmm. I don’t know what happened to the rest of the guys though; they ended up disappearing to some other bar or something. I stayed at the place and enjoyed freedom until it was time to go back to New Jersey and sleep. Ah what a good night!


Like a small worm, we burrowed our way into the big apple.


Andrew backstage. Cool picture by me.


Dressing room... mirror standing on floor?


The view from right outside the dressing room. Like a hawk!


Stage shot.

It Was The Pitts…

Eh, not really. I love Pittsburgh. It’s another gorgeous city that fits up there with Portland for me, but why do they both have to be so cold?! It actually snowed while we were there. We had to get there pretty early to claim our reserved parking space, and when we finally arrived a white car was pulling up into our spot. Rono leaned his head out the window and said, “Hey brother, you can’t park there.” If you ever meet Rono, he will call you brother at least once. The guy was kind of wild eyed and looked like he was thinking a lot, but he yelled back, “No! I’m the guy that pays you! I park here!” to which we were all like whoa! We weren’t expecting that response to say the least. Later we got a good laugh with the guy out of it though. Ah, sweet misunderstandings!

I also met a girl named Lauren who wanted to go to Drexel for music industry, she was very cool, and shadowing venue people already. I wish I had gotten started that early… Marcy and Terry you may remember her, she was in the summer program.

The street that the venue was on was called Carson, and it was full of things to do. A pizza shop that was amazing, a magic shop (where the hell do you find those now a days!), tattoo parlors everywhere, a costume shop, a culture shop with silver and handmade clothing and some cool trinket type stores with those silly t-shirts that say you have voices in your head.

REX THEATRE
November 15, 2007
Pittsburgh, PA

The show was great. There was a crowd of Redwalls fans that showed up, one with a sweater that he made with iron on letters sporting the band’s name. The whole time the guys were on they would chant between songs and scream “Redwalls!”

My favorite part of the show was when Tim from the Polyphonic Spree did an impression of Scotty, Rooney’s tour manager.

“Right Scotty? Seriously, hey. Seriously. Hey. Seriously… hey.”

When we got back to the hotel Justin asked if Rono and I had created our own language of gibberish to which I replied, “Waaaaaaah.”


Yo Ron-O!


View from the hotel.


I liked this building.


Rob and Andrew.


Close up.


Look at the smiles on their faces!


Snowy Pittsburgh.

Home, SWEEEEEEEET Home!

This was a quick tease for me. I got to come home for a few hours, sleep in my own bed, see the people closest to me, and then leave at seven the next morning again. It was so nice to see familiar faces though, and I even met a few new ones! Hey Lisa!

Me and this weird kid named Steve (Hey Steve!) went over to McD’s to grab some food and catch up proper. It was nice to see him, I’ve known him since the 6th dang grade! We even got the same meal. Cute.

It was really cool being at the Troc on the other side of things. I’ve always been there to see shows, wondering what was backstage, how they ran things, etc. Now I know. I was a part of it.

THE TROCADERO
November 14, 2007
Philadelphia, PA

Once again, I was left out in the lobby to handle the merch. But I was amongst friends, colleagues, maybe some enemies. In which case I destroyed them accordingly.

From what I heard the show went well, maybe the bass was a little low. Or the vocals could have been louder in the mix. But honestly, The Redwalls never disappoint.

My best of friends kept me company for the extent of the evening until it was time to go home, and then we did just that. I stopped at a hotel to fax some sound scans out and after that I was bound for torn leather couches, dust and cinnamon incense! Oh boy, oh boy! We spent a good while hanging out in the living room before I realized I still had to get up at 7 the next day and I went to sleep.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.


Since I didn't get to experience Autumn in the traditional sense, I got an accelerated version driving up the coast. It was really gorgeous to watch the leaves change hour by hour.


The view from our hotel room.


Merchin' it.


Logan with Lisa and Erica.


Rob is always doing something like this.

Oh, Oh, Oh!

I didn't know what to name this post.

We’re nearing the end here, folks. What are you ever going to do without me? Well, I may be back in some time, for the future holds many uncertainties! On this home stretch of home stretches we’re beginning our deceleration at the cradle of cats in North Carolina. Not to say we’re slacking at all, definitely not, but I miss my cat for one, and my friends too sometimes, I guess. I miss cheese steaks, I miss the skyline, I miss not having anything else to do all day but lay around on couches, I miss Sopranos with Kemp, books with Cris, Lost with Cort, Taco Bell with EJ, Brandon’s incessant noisemaking… I even miss class and work. Now, I’m not THAT homesick, but I think we’re all going to be extremely happy to get back to home base. Philadelphia, how I feel for thee.

THE CAT’S CRADLE
November 13, 2007
Carrboro, NC

This venue was a little different than most of the places we’ve been. It wasn’t a theatre; it wasn’t a large-scale place. It was one of those cool clubs that’s made a name for itself in a location where there isn’t much going on other than what they’re putting together and can somehow snag all the cool acts that come through. Hoots and Hellmouth are playing there in a couple weeks. Hey Biff!

I was located on a kind of pedestal, where I damn well should be. Seriously I was raised off of the ground, I guess it was more of a platform, but I didn’t have a chair. Enough of this!

The show went wonderfully, and the guys grabbed plenty of new fans this time around. Two girls came to interview them, and a bartender that was playing their CD in his bar earlier in the day showed up too thanks to Rooney letting him know they were coming through. The Spree ended late, even after they had shut the water off, and we left to go to this bar built between two rail cars. I think it was called the Southern Rail. It was a nice little location for an after show drink, and then we transported a few Spreesters back to the buses and went to the hotel.

The end of a long day came with Justin asking why he had to sleep next to my creepy and dusty black box that I bought at the Texas Junk Co. Now that he mentioned it, it is kind of creepy. It smells a little funny too.


Mmmmm Canon color swap.


I spy a Christianna...


Ghoul!


Rob.


Zee stage.


My corduroid legs?


Hanging by the merch. Justin and Andrew with Carrie to the right.


Road trip.

Wax On, Day Off

Oh boy, another long drive. How long? Just as long as the last long drive, maybe longer. Though length can sometimes be relative and determined by moods and how awake you are and etcetera. I was pretty average, so the drive was probably about as long as it should be. Anyway, guess who drove the whole thing again. You got it! Me!

I mean Rono, he’s intense.

What did we eat, you ask? Well first was Chick-Fil-A, where a woman questioned us about being musicians, to whom Logan said we were just on holiday. Her little boy was a trooper; he tumbled down the whole spiral staircase in the playpen and got right back up to climb again.

That was the end of that and then the next place we ate was Outback where we had large steaks and bread and a blooming onion and Logan and Justin shared a sundae.

The end of a long day happened in a hotel room with the six of us squeezed in, and free wireless internet. None of that $10 a day crap, I won’t have it I tell you!

The next day we passed this place called South of the Border that I stopped at with my Mom, brother and sister once. They had a bathroom for pets, like a fake yard with Astroturf and a cartoonish white picket fence. It brought back memories...


Walking to dinnaaaaaah.


Awwwww.


This place! Looks out of place!

Back To The Grind

We moved on to St. Petersburg, and joined up with the Polyphonic Spree and Rooney once again. It was nice to see those guys after a few days off of the tour. Before the show I ran down the street to this place called Angie’s Café at 1st Ave. and 2nd St. right next to Jannus Landing where Chiodos happened to be playing, and grabbed my first cheese steak in over a month. I just couldn’t resist any longer; thankfully it was good.

THE STATE THEATRE
November 11, 2007
St. Petersburg, FL

The show went well, and we even got to see some friendly faces from the night before! It’s always nice to meet fans that support the band like that. I hung out at merch, and met another person who reads my blog. Her name was Michelle and she recognized me. I love it when that happens. Turns out she’s moving to Portland, so we had a bit to talk about. Why? Because I love Portland, that’s why!

And then I found a cigarette case and Jackie the merch girl said my white hoodie was stylin'.

Afterwards we stood out back and talked for a while with the Polyphonic Spree before finally deciding to get some fast food because it was like 3am.

Tomorrow’s a wonderful day off, tell you soon!


The State Theatre.


Smiling Logan con fans. Spanglish.


What the hell?


Like a deer in headlights.


Spree party! Everyone loves spree beer. Spree admission? Are you catching on?


Adam on a bike.