29.10.08

I apologize for holding out on everyone for so long. It's been a long two weeks. We just finished doing two weeks straight without a day off. With that said, shall we catch up?

The shows have been quite amazing. The band and crew are now in a tight groove. Booders and I have set change between Annuals and The Bear down to about 10 minutes right now, so that is very much a kick ass thing within our world. I now wear multiple hats as a crew member: stage manager/drum tech/keyboard tech/monitor engineer/balloon filler-thrower/bartender/bringer of good cheer. My days are now a lot longer, being as I'm usually on stage for the opening bands through The Bear (hence no bloggy-blog in quite some time). Speaking of opening bands, Themes left us in Detroit. It was a sad good bye. Partied down at the bowling alley adjacent to the venue. We'll see those cats in Portland, Ore. We gained yet ANOTHER amazing band, and they go by the name Sylvie. These cool cats call Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada home. And these cats bring the friggin' rock. For those that are music dorks think late 90's post-hardcore, Burning Airlines/Small Brown Bike era goodness. And my goodness how much goodness they are.

We had a day off yesterday in Richmond, Virginia. Like I said earlier, we went two weeks without having a day off/travel day. Went on an adventure to Belle Isle. Belle Isle is in the middle of the James River which runs through downtown. Belle Isle has been used for many things throughout the years, but most notably it was used as a prison camp run by the Confederate army which held Union soldiers captive. Nearly 50,000 soldiers were held on this island which is only about 6 acres worth of land. Think about that. Spent about 3 hours exploring the island. Later that night a few of us headed down to the Get Out and Vote '08 concert. The Bear's management hooked it up with some tickets and All Access passes. The bill was quite amazing: The Beastie Boys, Sheryl Crow, Jack Johnson, Norah Jones, and Santogold. Get Out and Vote '08 Tour is a tour dedicated to the democratic party, traveling throughout the few swing states spreading the good word. AWESOME TIME. The Beasties blew my mind. DANCE PARTY U.S.A.!!! Norah Jones was also amazing. She played two of her original songs, and a handful of covers including two Johnny Cash songs, Wilco's 'Jesus, Etc.', and a John Pride tune. Jack played my favorite tune, All At Once, and it gave me chills. He's probably in my Top 5 Guilty Pleasures. Sheryl Crow threw down on a rockin' version of Stevie Wonder's 'Higher Ground'. All in all, an amazing day off.

Today we'll be pulling into Raleigh, NC to play a show at the Lincoln Theater. I hope everyone is doing well. Just because I don't bloggy-blog as much as I'd like I hope you realize I still love you very much.

Cheers.

.08.10.08/09.10.08

08.10.08

Watched the debate at one of Erin’s bars. Erin is the drummer I’ll be working for for the next 7 weeks. Super chill dude, good times all around. We got some ‘fufuchinos’, which is basically a frapachino (sp?) with lots of delicious alcohol goodness mixed in. The debate ended and trivia started, which made us head to the doors. We called it an early night, but had a night cap of ‘Dog Whisperer’. Anyone seen this show? The dude completely reminds me of Dr. Nick from The Simpsons (‘Hi everybody!’).

Caught a cab to the production space, and much to our luck the bus was armed and ready to go. But our luck changed quickly when Loren, our bus driver, told us the bus was a no go. It ended up being an easy fix, being the ignition harness and something to do with the computer. The bus would end up meeting us at the venue later that night. Soooo, we ended up renting a 12 passenger van and a U-Haul box truck to get us to Spo-Compton. Things could have been a total disaster, but they weren’t.

On this tour we will have several opening acts. Annuals are the supporting act, from North Carolina, and will be with us for the whole tour. Themes were the opening act of the evening and will also be with us for the next two weeks. Both bands are stellar as all heck, Annuals being a pleasant surprise.

Show wise, things went okay. It’s going to take a few shows to get things dialed in. Drums are drums, but keyboards and programs are a different story. But things will of course be a-okay. And after the hick-up this morning, I’d call this day a complete success. I mean hey, I got to throw a kid off the stage.

09.10.08

Tonight - Missoula, Montana. The drive from Spo-Compton to Missoula was absolutely gorgeous. The venue is pretty small. Probably holds 500 kids. Last nights show held about 800. Things are starting to go a little smoother with load-in. Something I've learned in this life is drama somehow never goes away, whether you're involved directly or not. This time I am not directly involved, but it still pisses me off because I have to hear both sides. Why can't people just fucking talk face to face? Yes it's confrontation, but come on. So theres that. I really don't want to go into great detail.

Show starts in right now. Themes and Annuals. Go times.

Tomorrow - Casper, Wyoming.

I love you all.

Cheers.

07.10.08

Arrived in Seattle yesterday. Met up with the rest of the crew. Mr. Fuzzy will be holding down the FOH, while Ryan Buddha will be slanging guitars to the band. Me, I'll be constructing a drum set and keyboard station every night, as well as sitting behind the monitor rack. Fun times shall be had.

After catching a cab to the practice space, we packed up the van and headed to the production space. Set up the whole sha-bang, tweaked things here and there, and called it a night. David-David dropped us off from the hotel, which is two blocks from the City Center and the Space Needle. After dropping off the bags in the room, we hit up The Hurricane. The Hurricane was playing Radiohead remixes, and had pictures of hurricane destruction. Delicious greasy spoon splendidness. All in all, yesterday was a long-ass but excellent day.

Woke up fairly early for having quite a long day yesterday, though. I love traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast. Today is a fucking beautiful day. I'm mean, come on, 57 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze. And this is what we call fall, kids. I'm loving it. We hit the streets bound for the Public Market. Had some delicious assorted mini-donuts and coffee. They know how to brew a pretty good cup, ya know. Seattle is a pretty cool looking city. High five.

Tonight, watching the debate and eating Ezell's Chicken. The space is already packed, and ready to go. 9a.m. tomorrow morning we load the trailer, and hit the road for Spokane and the kick off show of the tour.

Be safe everyone.

.Boston/Philadelphia.

Didn't have internet access yesterday, so I'll be playing a little catch up here:

Day 6, Boston:

Got out of the city at about 11a.m. Dropped Katie off at the Marcy St. station, said our goodbyes and what not. She's a sweet girl. I hope everything works out just peachy between her and Justin. As soon as we got on I-95 near White Plains we hit big time traffic. It then occurred to us that it was the day before the 4th of July. Once we got into Connecticut traffic lightened up a bit, but when we got into Providence, R.I. it got really bad again. And that's when it occurred to us that everyone was heading out to the Cape for the holiday. Stoopid indians we were. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it into Boston. So we called Spencer and got some alternative routes to his house in Pembroke, and fortunately made decent time getting there. Pembroke is about a half hour outside of Boston in the woods and it's beautiful. It completely reminded me of this town called Arnold, where I spent a ton of time as a kid (my grandpa owned a cabin outside of Arnold, it's a small town in the Sierra Nevadas). Spencer is one of the most genuine doods I know. And he's now a homeowner. A beautiful huge home in the woods with a huge backyard, basement, loft, and mudroom. It'll be the perfect place for him and Darcie to raise their little girls, Amelia and Audrey. After peeping their place we headed to their apartment, which is in a town called Marshfield; not too far away from Pembroke (5 minutes actually). Hung out with the kiddos (who are absolutely adorable), and had some dinner. After dinner Justin and I had a catch, which felt great. I hadn't thrown a ball around in quite some time. We capped the night off with Rambo 4, Shocker, and homemade ice cream sandwiches. It was an amazing time seeing Spencer, Darcie, and their girls.

Day 7, Philadelphia:

Woke up early and hung out with the kiddos some more. Spencer made us an amazing breakfast of grits, eggs, bacon, and biscuits. We said our goodbyes, and were on the road to Philly at 9. We made awesome time to Philly because of an alternative route Darcie recommended, and which I'll recommend to you if you're ever going to Philly from the New England area. The route completely bypasses NYC. Holler at me, and I'll give it to you. Anyway, we got into to Philly and immediately hit up Pat's Original. Pat's is THE philly cheese joint. And my God, how good it was. I can still taste it, it was so good. Anytime you're in Philly you have to go to this joint, 9th st. and Federal. Do it. Got pulled over in Philly for "cutting someone off". The dood was a civilian cop, and probably saw that I had an out of state plate and just wanted to hassle someone. I was pretty shocked by the comment though, "cutting someone off". Nothing happened, everything was cool. He was the one that actually gave us directions to Pat's. After Pat's we headed over to Citizens Bank Park. It's a really nice ball field, only a few years old. During 'God Bless America' and the National Anthem I actually got a little misty eyed. No joke. I mean come on, think about it. I've been on this week long road trip with my best friend, we're in Philadelphia (pretty much USA-town), and I'm at a baseball game. All of those things added together equals emotion. The game was friggin' great. Phillies won in the bottom of the 9th by way of a single. All of this happening while fireworks were going off everywhere throughout the city. Such a good 4th of July.

Amazingness of the day(s):
1) Spencer, Darcie, Amelia, and Audrey
2) Pat's Original
3) The 'Memory Lane' at Citizens Bank Park which was open THE WHOLE GAME. Thank you, Philadelphia Phillies, for being rad.
4) Missing NYC traffic
5) 4th of July in Philly

Next up: Dropping Justin off at the bus station, and a long drive back to Casselberry.

Cheers.

Sincerely Yours,
Niles C. Anderson

.NewYorkCityPt2.

Woke up this morning around 9a.m. and headed into the city with Katie. She had to be at work, so Justin and I decided to spend the majority of the day romping the streets. We ended up walking through pretty much all of China Town, SoHo, and the East Village. For breakfast we had Ray's Pizzeria, and the pizza was most excellent. Next, we headed over to Washington Square Park (which is directly across the street from NYU). Chilled on a bench, read, and took a quick cat nap before heading back towards SoHo where we were meeting Katie for lunch. But first, we stopped by the Mister Softie cart for a vanilla cone. I've got to tell you, it's the best vanilla soft serve you'll ever have. I promise. For lunch we had pizza again. I can't get enough of the stuff, especially NY style pie. It seems like even the worst NY pie in NYC is still better than a lot of other places to claim they are "NY style pie".

After lunch we headed up to the Bronx on the #4 train. The train is the way to go around NYC. It's really simple once you get the hang of it. The #4 dropped us off directly in front of Yankee Stadium. The place is literally like a cathedral. It's pretty darn beautiful. Found out that we couldn't take our bags inside, so we had to check them across the street at the bowling alley. Random and weird. I'm pretty sure I wore a smile the entire time we were there. I can now claim that I've been to the OLD Yankee Stadium, since the NEW Yankee Stadium is opening next year and they are tearing down the old stadium. Pretty sad that that's what they're doing. I'm hoping that the City of New York or the U.S. Government steps in and claims it as a national historic landmark.

After the game we hopped back on the #4 and headed back into Manhattan where we transferred to the J to get out to Brooklyn.

Bummers of the evening:
1) Monument Park at Yankee Stadium is only open for the first 15 minutes after they roll doors. Which means you have to get there mad early to stand in a specific line. I had no idea about this, so we didn't get to see Monument Park up close and personal. For those that don't know, Monument Park has plaques of all the retired New York Yankees. It's a pretty elite club: Miller Huggins, Jacob Ruppert, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Ed Barrow, Joe D., Mickey Mantle, Joe McCarthy, Casey Stengel, Thurmon Munson, Elston Howard, Roger Maris, Phil Rizzuto, Billy Martin, Lefty Gomez, Whitey Ford, Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra, Allie Reynolds, Don Mattingly, Mel Allen, Bob Sheppard, Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry, Red Ruffing, and Jackie Robinson are all honored. Super bummed I didn't get to check it out.
2) Came home to cat piss on my new sleeping bag. Luckily there's a 24 laundry mat, and it's being washed right now. But still, it's cat piss. And no one likes cat piss, you know?

Amazingness of the Day:
1) Mister Softie Ice Cream
2) More NY style pie
3) The train
4) Watching baseball in THE Yankee Stadium

Next up: Boston

Cheers.

Sincerely Yours,
Niles C. Anderson

.NewYorkCity.

We hit the road this morning around 10a.m., and made wicked good time to NYC. I had been doing all of the driving up until today, so it was nice to sit back in the passenger seat and nap a little.

Pennsylvania is a really pretty state. So far all of the states I've driven through have been amazingly gorgeous. I'm not meaning to hate on California, because it's super diverse itself. I mean, California is the only state that I can think of that in a matter of 4 hours you can see desert, mountains, city, and coastline. But from being around it so much I guess it got a little boring. And these places that we've been driving through probably look boring to the locals too. But I love them.

We crossed the George Washington Bridge to get into the city. The G.W.B. is north of the city and crosses the Hudson River, and from there we took the Henry Hudson Freeway which parallels the river. As soon as we got onto the H.H.F. I rolled down the window and was hit with the stereotypical NYC smell: sewer and water front. It was exactly what I thought it would smell like. We drove into Manhattan, with me hanging out the window half the time snapping photos of the skyline. Stopped by Union Square for just a minute where we thought we were meeting Katie, but she ended up heading back out to Brooklyn. So we hopped back in the car and headed over the Brooklyn Bridge and into Brooklyn. We met up with Katie at her place, and that's where we will be crashing for the next two days. After dropping off our bags and hanging out for a minute we hit the streets to go get some food. Went into Williamsburg, which is considered the "hipster" area. And HOLY SHIT WAS IT. Stopped at Food Swings, which is a vegan "fast food" joint. Good times. Katie is in the process of looking for a new place to live, so we stopped by a building while we were out. Ended up going on the roof where a bunch of kids were hanging out, drinking beers, and playing music. It would be the perfect little show spot. But the selling point of the roof is the view of Manhattan, upper and lower. 'Twas breath-taking. After we checked out the apartment we got on the subway and headed towards Katie's place. Right by her apartment there's a killer pizza joint. I hadn't had a good slice of NY pie in quite some time, so it definitely hit the spot. Now we're relaxing, hanging out with 3 cool cats (literal cats, not people).

Amazingness of the day:
1) The New York skyline at sunset
2) The Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania
3) Katie setting up this little sleep area for me in her living room (such a sweetheart)
4) New York thin-crust pizza (plain, no b.s.)
5) Riding the train

Next up: Riding the train into the city, walking around, and the Yankees game tomorrow night

Cheers.

Sincerely Yours,
Niles C. Anderson

.Ann Arbor/Niles.

So we're in Niles, Ohio right now. Did not plan it. I swear.

Things were most stellar today. Woke up at 5a.m. to get a jump on traffic, which we did. And we made it to Ann Arbor in record time. We had some time to kill, so we walked around the U of M area for a bit (which is where Name Brand Tattoo is located). Ann Harbor reminds me of Berkeley a lot. And not just because of their school colors. But the vibes. Meet up with Jeff Zuck at 1p.m. He had a drawing ready to go, but wanted some input about the flowers. It's an incredible tattoo. The man is a genius when it comes to the gun. And he's an absolute sweetheart: he likes making people feel real comfortable in his shop, e.g. introducing new folks to old folks, small talk, jokes, singing along to Leon Redbone. He's a dope dude. Small world: I was sitting there waiting for Jeff to finalize some things with the drawing and a familiar face walked in the door. His name is Stephen, and he's from Flint (which is about an hour north of Ann Arbor). He plays in a band called Empty Orchestra (good good good), which is a band my old bandmate Chris Thibs played for when he moved back to Flint. So I introduced myself and tried not to be a creep, but he was as blown away as I was (Chris had played Stephen some of the material we recorded together, blah blah blah). He's a sweet dude, and so is his wife Pam. They were both getting tattooed by Dawn Cooke; Pam getting some of her chest done and Stephen some of his left arm. AND to top off the tattoo day, Chris Thibs came down from Flint to hang out. It was so nice seeing that dude. It's been close to 3 years since I've seen him. Good hearted dude, that Chris Thibs.

After getting tattooed we went to this amazing deli, Zingerman's. Amazing. Smoked-applewood BLT. That's right. And man, did it remind me of Berkeley. And I missed Oakland/Berkeley a lot while we sat outside in the beautiful evening enjoying our sandwiches.

We said our goodbyes, and off towards Pittsburgh we went. Smooth sailing the majority of the way. Bad news struck from Willy, who we were suppose to be staying with tonight. A water line busted in his house and flooded the place out while he had been gone most of the day. So now we're crashed out in a Super 8. We didn't know anybody else in this area. So my plans to stray away from hotels from foiled. It's alright, I can't be mad. This has been a most amazing trip so far, and it's only going to get better.

Amazingness of the day:
1) Buddy Joe & Agnes Marie
2) Zingerman's Deli
3) Organic Orange pop
4) Journey, Phil Collins, and Eddie Money as passangers

Next up: NYC

.Chicago.

Woke up this morning at 0630. I wanted to make breakfast for Jared and his roommate, but they insisted that I not (not in an insulting way though). So last night I said my goodbyes so I didn't have to wake anyone this morning. And my heart goes out to Jared and his roommate Matt for taking me in last night.

So I set out for Chicago after grabbing a cup of coffee and one last view of Nashville. It's a pretty rad looking town in the early morning. And I've come to the conclusion that Tennessee is a beautiful looking state, in general.

No storms this go round, and no construction until I got near Chicago. Mapquest is a piece of shit. They don't give you alternate routes when there's construction. So I ran into three snags, and had to fight my way through. So Mapquest can fuck off.

Indiana, lots of corn fields. Louisville seems like it'd be a cool city to stop in for a day. From the interstate I could see lots of old buildings, and old buildings are pretty fascinating. Gary, Indiana is an industrial hub-and-a-half. Gary Works, which is owned by U.S. Steel, calls Gary, Indiana its home.

Chicago...Chi-Town. What a dope city. I got into town around 3, and walked around for a couple hours. It was really nice walking around a big city. Cities like NYC, Chicago, and San Francisco have a certain feel to them. Anyway, I knew I was going to be going out to dinner later that night, but I HAD to have some Chicago deep-dish pie. AND IT WAS DELICIOUS. Tons of sausage, cheese, and tomatoes. After walking around and snapping a few photos I headed down to Navy Pier to meet up with Justin at the tattoo convention. Tattoo conventions are...interesting. But anyway, it was way dope kickin' at the booth with my boy, Baba, Rick Walters, and some kids from St. Louis who were super cool kids. Let me tell you about Rick: he's a tattoo legend. He's been in the business for over 50 years. And when you talk to him, it's like taking a ride in a time machine. And he's a fucking crack up. After the convention we went out to eat at some cowboy steak house where the waiter had the mouth of a sailor. You could tell he enjoyed our company: when we left he thanked us for not being stuck-up bluehaired assholes.

Awesomeness of the day:
1) Rick Walters
2) The Piano Bar
3) The Chicago sky line
4) A wicked case of drivers arm from yesterday

Next up: Ann Arbor to see Mr. Jeff Zuck and to get tattooed, then on to Pittsburgh for the night.

.Nashville.

I spent pretty much all day today driving from Orlando to Nashville. I planned on waking up at the butt crack of dawn to get an early start, but my bed was feeling way too good to do that. So instead, I woke up at 7a.m. (which I know is still the butt crack of dawn for most of you out there...) and hit the road at 9a.m.

Smooooooth sailing through Central and Northern Florida. Saw signs for Silver Springs (I've been wanting to go BIG TIME) up near Ocala and wanted to pull off, but forced myself to hold steady.

As of right now Georgia and I aren't the best of friends. Well, Southern and Central Georgia that is. Northern Georgia, I love you. There was massive amounts of construction on I-75, especially near downtown Atlanta. It took me a little over 2 hours to get from Macon to Northern Atlanta, which should have only taken me an hour. MASSIVE storms as well. One in particular, the whole interstate was shut down for a half hour because you couldn't see past the nose of your car. Scary shite. At least people were smart about the situation.

Driving through Northern Georgia and into Tennessee was absolutely gorgeous, especially Chattanooga.

Now I sit here in Nashville. And I'll tell you, I pulled one of THE ballsiest moves I've ever pulled. I didn't have a place to stay here, and getting a room at a hotel was my last resort. So I'm walking through the downtown area and there's an Irish pub, so I go in and sit down at the bar (real quick, downtown Nashville seems like a super rad place: waterfront, ball parks, TONS of music). There's a group of "younger" folk sitting next to me, tattooed, bearded. So I turned to the dude directly next to me, whose name is Jared, and said "You look like a guy who appreciates Jameson, let me buy you a shot", and he replied "What's the occassion?". I replied "It's my first time in Nashville", and his response (which was absolutely hilarious) "Fuck, first time in Nashville? I've got the next round!". Jared introduced me to his friends who were way chill and seemed like good folks. I ended up telling him about the road trip and not really having any place to stay for night, so he offered me his couch (what a dope dude, right? holmes doesn't even know me and totally took me in).

So here I am resting my head in Nashville, TN. Tomorrow, Chicago, IL.

Thoughts at this very moment:
1) Lucero
2) How stoked I am on getting to see the Ryman Auditorium
3) The mix of hardcore, soul, and 80's in my RoadWarriors playlist is crucial right now
4) Need to get some wiffle balls and wiffle ball bat before getting to Chicago

Hope everyone is well.

Cheers.

Sincerely Yours,
Niles C. Anderson

p.s. The battery in my digital camera is completely dead, and I really don't feel like buying a new one, so no pictures for now. I have my 35mm, so all remaining pictures will be taken on good old fashion film. That's right. Remember that stuff? Be patient, and after a week or so of me being back from the road trip I'll have pictures posted.