yeah I got an agent, and a roadie named bart...

It took me a few days to get around to writing about one of the most memorable nights of my life. For that I apologize - it just took me that long to recover! WOW. Tom Petty, 4th row on the river in Cincinnati. I mean this guy alone is just about the biggest reason I wanted to play music when I was young. And it only took me this long to get around to seeing him live. And he was pretty much right in front of me. I debated if I should bring my vinyl records in to the show to hold up and try to get his attention. I was so freaking nervous too! Haha - but it was awesome when he looked my way and gave a nod (right at me of course) when I held up my Damn the Torpedoes record during Even The Losers. And then during Saving Grace when I held that vinyl up and got Mike Campbell's nod of approval that warranted a pick throw that woefully fell short by only an arms reach. AHHH! But he made sure to shield his eyes well enough to get a good look at the skinny kid with big hair and genuine vinyl records in the 4th row ;)

So yeah - what a night...

YOU WRECK ME
LISTEN TO HER HEART
I WON'T BACK DOWN
EVEN THE LOSERS
FREE FALLIN’
MARY JANE
SWEET WILLIAM
END OF THE LINE
BAND INTRO
BREAKDOWN
SAVING GRACE
HONEY BEE
YOU DON’T KNOW HOW IT FEELS
LEARNING TO FLY
DON'T COME AROUND HERE NO MORE
REFUGEE

ENCORE:
RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM
MYSTIC EYES
AMERICAN GIRL

I've never had a more amateur video moment than this.... As soon as he came close I almost dropped the camera.

Schooled

It's Sunday 2:30 AM and Today - by that I mean Saturday, I woke up at 4AM in Bakersfield California in a small queen sized bed with Matt. Ok that may be too much info, but I'm still awake because I bought the new John Mayer film and it's blowing my mind right now. Don't watch it. Seriously - especially if you think you play guitar. I'm going to go cry myself to sleep now ;)

... ok, i was kidding - you have to check it out. Musically it's incredible. He plays 3 back to back sets and keeps his voice and hands flawlessly in sync the whole time. I'm not into his wristwatch preferences but to each his own. I don't know how Eric Clapton can even sleep well at night after watching this.

OK

Hey, sorry for the long delay in updates lately. WOW, I'm terrible huh? Where to start ? I guess where I left off... bought the Coldplay record on the Tuesday it came out on a drive to Kentucky. Actually bought the last copy at a starbucks somewhere in Marion, Ohio - which btw is the hometown of none other than mr. Dan Gartley. He was not there on this day though, which is probably why I was able to buy the last copy. So that was fun. Also sometime in June was my birthday! Yes - I turned 18, well not quite. But I did get some sweet gifts. I'll mention two of them; an apple TV and a model airplane my dad made. Pretty awesome. We had a good old fashioned cook out and I dropped some burgers between the grate in the grill somehow. Dominique got me a sweet Reese's ice cream cake from Friendly's. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. We played some fun shows in June. One was at stone mountain in Georgia. It's called stone mountain because there is literally a mammoth stone that sticks out of the ground at this park. It supposedly stretches miles beneath the earths surface too. We got to the top via a ski lift contraption. I snapped some pictures, but it's really hard to tell what it really looked like, plus there are two dudes in the background sporting their farmers tan. Anyways, Dan and Pete decided to walk down the mountain before showtime. I think they were pretty tired. I did get a cool picture of us flying over St. Louis. Don't remember what flight that was, probably on the way home form Texas. Anyways - it's pretty cool to see the arch from a plane.... Somewhere in Colorado we were spotted on a 'no alcohol beyond this point' sign. We all got a kick out of this. And sometime in June I had a chance to pick up some genuine Mexican Coke.

Why...

..do I love this soo much right now? It's a 4 chord song. I guess it's the whole bit - melody, visual, strings, a familiar beat... hmmm.

=w=

OK - a few thoughts before I get to bed. First I need to mention that if you have seen the new episode on sanctusreality then you've probably unnoticeably seen one of the greatest bass players of all time hanging out with us. His name is Adam Nitti. Look him up on youtube.

Second - Last week I went to a big box electronic store and asked the music manager if he would tell me how many of a certain blue looking CD had sold. I was curious beacause a few weeks prior I happened to notice that they were stocked up with like 25 cds! I looked again and now there were like 3 left. I wanted to know if they had actually sold or had been sent back. I mean - wouldn't you like to know too? So as I'm talking to the guy he casually says 'I bought that CD.' Surprised I said, 'Cool. Is it any good?' He said 'Yeah.' So that was cool. Turns out that this particular store is making about 37 bucks a week in profit off of sanctus real according to their computer. Then I started to think if that might be more than....

Third - I just realized tonight that weezer came out with a new record last week. Not sure If i'm going to buy it.

Fourth - I got my hair cut today and while talking to my hair dresser (is that a proper term or is it stylist) I realized I've never seen any of the Lord of the RIngs movies or Harry Potter movies - or the narnia movies. This could explain some things. Other than that though I think I'm a pretty normal guy. I mean I love chocolate cake.

goodnight ;)

what do you think?

there it is for those of you that missed it.

Anyways - I think it might be time to go see ironman finally. Might take off this afternoon and catch a mattinee. Or maybe I'll vacuum my basement........ ok probably not.

Well it's about time Jeremy Bentham

Hello there. Where to start, maybe I'll work my way backwards. Today I bought a snazzy new wireless apple mouse. I can now move my cursor from the other side of my kitchen. Maybe even further I just haven't had time to check yet. I also purchased something else super cool today. Personal financial software. Yep - check it out. If that doesn't strike you how about this. Yeah used that on our cars this morning. And if that isn't interesting enough I have yet to mention my wife and I are expecting our first child! Bam!! Didn't see that one coming now did you? Oh, and I thought I could save that news til the end of this blog. We're super excited and we get to find out if it's a boy or a girl in just a few more weeks! So we've been pretty busy getting things ready here and having late night debates on names. Now that's gotta be one of the hardest things to figure out. Maybe I should take a poll. We'll see...

So last night was the season finale of lost. I've talked to Pete and Dan both about it already and they absolutely loved it. I on the other hand thought it was just so so. Maybe my head wasn't in the right place - it's been a busy week, but I just didn't feel the usual excitement afterwards. I'm hoping this will pass though. I think I'm bummed that they had to shoot 2 alternate endings. I won't spoil it for you, but after I saw that today It was like learning the secret to a great magic trick. I just went 'oh.' I think they did a great job of wrapping up such a unique season, but I think they'll have to get super crazy with the plot next year to keep everyone's attention.

Last weekend we celebrated Memorial day up near Traverse City, Michigan. It was great to get away and have a good old fashioned family vacation. My parents, my sister, and Dominique and I got in the car late Thursday night, put some Tom Petty in the cd player and drove up 23. Bought some dried cherries and skipped some petoskey stones on Lake Michigan.

I guess it was the weekend before that when we were in England. What a travel nightmare that was! 5 hour delays there and back and cold hot sandwiches. But the show was AMAZING. We definitely plan on heading back sometime when we can all hang out. We're also booked to go to Finland this fall - which is right next to Sweden home of the all new volvo xc70 btw. Anyways, England was great, but by the time we got there we were running a bit behind that I didn't get to take any pictures AT ALL. I had to change strings, program the set into the old laptop, figure out the gear 'sitch. Oh and somewhere in there we ate some baked potatoes for dinner.

Until next time... I gotta go check the range on this mouse.