What?

I just saw that the new kids on the block have a new record coming out. OK.... really?

what's new?

Hey there. It's been a busy couple of weeks over here. Since the last time I wrote I think we've been in Seattle, Nashville, Virginia, Maryland, Texas, and Oregon. There were a few places there between - 4 hour layover in Phoenix (allowed for a cab ride to In N Out) and late night driving through the great state of Pennsylvania. I've definitely seen more of PA under the moonlight than during the daytime. Dominique and I decided to head north for the weekend and made it up to Frankfort Michigan last week. Her parents have a great place up there so we try to hit it up when gas dips below 4 bucks. We love to look at furniture - neat huh? There's a cool place up there we always go to called Betsie Bay Furniture. Yeah, nothing in there is too affordable so we just look. Everything in this town is on the main strip really, including an old movie theater - with one showing during the weekends. We decided to walk down and see hancock one night and it was a good little movie. Hit up the beach in Empire and talked about baby names. WHICH by the way is the hardest thing to figure out. The biggest news right now is that we found out we're having a BOY! Yeah - check him out...

How crazy is that!! We can't wait. Between shows and traveling we've been getting some things ready for the little guy around here. Took a trip to the outlet mall and got him this guy at pottery barn... I think he'll dig it. We have some awesome baby furniture coming next week too. Can't wait to put that all together ;) I might have to get Dan Gartley to help since way back when Dominique and I got our first place he helped me move all the furniture. I think it was like his first trip to Toledo - we had just met and I had him help move heavy things in the rain. Really, I was just preparing him for life on the road. So far so good. Now I just need to sell him one of my cars ;)

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 ;)