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.

Anybody Remember Hey! Arnold?

Eugene is boring. I don’t want to put across the wrong impression though. I’m a big city kind of guy. This place is quaint and nice, very pretty too, but not my kind of place. Thankfully we didn’t spend much time there!

THE MCDONALD THEATRE
October 28, 2007
Eugene, OR

And it’s back to the nice big theatres with lobbies for me to sit in. I don’t mind swapping back and forth between lobby and actual room where the music is. It helps me remain underwhelmed by similar sets all the time. I haven’t gotten sick of the show yet though, and I strongly recommend going if you can.

A cool girl named Sarah Jane, a recently acquired Redwalls fan and acquaintance that I shared an easygoing and fun conversation with via Portland, showed up to this show as well. It was a surprise visit and very nice to see her a second time before I disappeared into the mash of time that a tour creates. Eugene was a quick stay overall, and I packed up merch right after the set and we headed out for a late night six hour drive down to Redding, CA.


Outside the McDonald Theatre.


Shot from the balcony... this place was spacious!

Footage From The Vic (Chicago)

Here's a few little clips of The Redwalls playing new songs at the Vic from backstage. Enjoy!

Frederick Pabst Owns Milwaukee

It’s rainy and grey beyond the van windows, just an unexcitable day overall. It is only nine in the morning though; there are still plenty of hours remaining. We’re already on the road to Minneapolis, which happens to be one of the longer-average drives we have, maybe around six or seven hours? I’ll tell you once we’re done. Thank goodness I have all this car time to do the little things I can never seem to dig up the seconds for back home… I’ve been reading (House of Leaves, Alice In Wonderland + Critical Essays, etc.), thinking and writing (this blog specifically, without this time I doubt you’d be hearing much from me!).

I’ve become pretty attached to my sleeping bag, and it’s one of the few things where the basics suffice. I like gadgets with capabilities, and I’d prefer to do everything from one little machine, but I’ve decided I don’t need a sleeping bag with a heater and flat screen in each of the separate rooms and even a self-rolling feature. Well not yet, at least.

My favorite part of being on the road is the exposure your brain gets to all kinds of people and music and ideas. Not to mention the professional input I can get anytime I want from any of these guys. It’s really interesting to catch bits and pieces of potential licensing deals, what kind of sponsorships exist, and tons of top secret uber-classified intelligence that I can’t release to you because The Redwalls are actually spies working for the Czech Republic. Oops!

As a side note, Ricky Gervais is hilarious.

PABST THEATRE
October 18, 2007
Milwaukee, WI

This show was one of my favorites so far. The crowd topped out at around 650, and The Redwalls killed it in merch. I also received my all-access pass for the tour, which is pretty awesome. There were constantly people bouncing around the merch area, swaying to and fro between Rooney and myself, trying to decide what they wanted to buy. So I flash ‘em a magnetic smile (no I do not have braces) and draw them in to buy things! Oh wait… it was just the band standing beside me signing CD’s that did it. Still, I like to think I’m helping the matter!

The show was sat in by one of The Redwalls old drummers (circa Universal Blues era), Jordan. He was a great player, knew the songs by heart, and you could tell he was excited as early as the night before when he and I stood side stage during the set and he was humming lyrics/guitars and slapping his legs in the same fashion he would a kit. When we walked through the load in door it led straight to the stage, and whilst looking out over the 1300-seat venue I wondered if I would ever get the chance to perform in a place like that.

After the show we returned to the hotel, and I got a quick catnap before Rob showed up from Chicago with his drums ready to be loaded into the trailer. It was late, so as soon as we finished it was back to bed with me.


Andrew and Logan outside of the Pabst.


That place was massive!



Peace.

Going Home to Home...

I got that feelin' again...
- Nick Onorato

Great song, you should hear it.

After spending my day exploring Chicago all by my lonesome (my blog), it was time to head back to home base and head in for load in.

THE VIC THEATRE
October 17, 2007
Chicago, IL

The Vic Theatre is this really cool place with a classic marquis out front and a mezzanine inside. It looked like a converted playhouse, and besides the floors and walls being painted black, it remained classy with red and gold carpets, curtains and everything else. Last night was the biggest show yet, somewhere around 750 or more showed up to revel in the music. Unfortunately the crowd didn’t peak until TPS hit the stage. Once again The Redwalls put on a show, and I should have videos up of them soon.

The coolest part of this date by far is that it’s the first chance I had to hang out backstage. The venue had an assigned merch guy, so I was pretty much left with nothing to do but check on the stock every once in a while. In the mean time, I sat downstairs in the hallway amongst the various offices and green rooms on my computer, or upstairs taking pictures from far stage right. I still haven’t met everyone, there are so many people running around constantly it doesn’t leave much time for conversation. But it is only the fourth day in or so, I have plenty of time left.


The Vic at night.