Detroit, MI (The Magic Stick)

The last stop of the tour was at The Magic Stick in Detroit. This was
the third time we hit this venue this year.

We normally dread playing in Detroit. The Magic Stick is a decent venue
and all, but it's not in the best area of town. We are always being
swarmed by bums asking for change and whatnot. There's also the issue
of the van getting broken into. We typically have someone sit in the van
the entire time we're at the venue, just to make sure no one tries to
break in. Last time we were here, another band we were on tour with got
broken into.

We got a primo parking spot right in front of the venue this time. There
were security guards by the door that were able to watch it for us. This
was a relief for us.

The show was pretty good. The guys decided to dress up kind of goofy
for their set. Matt, Max, and Corey wore bandanas. Jared wore a visor
made for a four year old, and Tim wore a stocking cap and some
sunglasses. It was nice to see them living it up the last day of the
tour. The played really well and the crowd was way into it.

The Magic Stick is in the upstairs of the building. There is a bowling
alley on the bottom floor of the building. The guys bowled a game after
their set. They did teams; The Springfield guys vs. The Quincy guys.
The Quincy guys came out victorious.

After the show, we said our goodbyes and started for our way home. It's
now almost 6am, and we're still about two hours away from home.

Overall, this was a good tour. We made some new friends, played for some
new people, and had a lot of fun. Thanks so much to Spitalfield for
taking us out on their final tour. It's going to be sad to see them
go.

We've got a few holiday shows later this month. Besides that, it looks
like we will be getting a little time off. I will spend it subbing and
relaxing. The guys will spend it writing.

We plan on hitting the road again sometime early next year!

Buffalo, NY (Xtreme Wheelz)

I don't have a whole lot to say about Buffalo, NY. We've played here
three times this year. I believe this is the first time we were here
when the weather wasn't horrible.

We used to play at a venue called 'Icon,' but that got shut down a few
months ago. Tonight's show was at a skate park called 'Xtreme Wheelz.'
This is the first time I've been to a legit skate park, so I was pretty
entertained.

This place had a ski ball machine, which I was very stoked about! I
spent all my quarters playing it. Playing ski ball took me right back to
the childhood days of endless birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese. The
thing is, I'm not sure if I've gotten any better at the game over the
years. I need to put one of these machines in my basement! With a lot of
practice, maybe I'll get good. Do they have a professional ski ball
association?

The show was pretty good. The sound was bad, but what do you expect from
a show at a skate park?!

Tomorrow is the last day of the tour. That seems crazy to me! The show's
in Detroit.

We're driving part way tonight and getting a hotel around Cleveland.

South Hackensack, NJ (School of Rock)

Ahhh what can I say about dirty Jersey? Well, South Hackensack is a
mediocre town, but they do have a solid venue.

Last time we played School of Rock, the sound was way messed up. There
was an AM radio station coming through the PA speakers the entire show.
Every time there was a pause between songs in the guys' set, you would
hear talk radio. Well, we wrote off the venue from that moment on.

It turns out we should have given the place some credit. Tonight's show
was legit! The guys' tried out a new setlist, and it was awesome. The
sound at this place was actually great this time! I'm now looking
forward to the next time we play this venue.

Julia and Jacqueline made the journey out to see the show. It was great
seeing them again. I didn't get to hang out with them much, but it's ok.
I hope we see them again sometime soon. Our friend, Fiona, came out to
the show too. She's a good supporter...she came out to two shows on
this tour!

We're now driving to Binghamton, NY to stay for the night. We're going
to crash with The Forecast at their old tour manager's place. This will
put us half way to Buffalo, NY (where tomorrow's show is).

I can't believe this tour is almost over! I have to admit that it's gone
by fast...

New York, NY (The Knitting Factory)

The Big Apple. The City That Never Sleeps. Whatever you want to call it,
New York City is a sight to see. I love the fact that I had never been
to NYC until this year, and in one year, I managed to visit it six
times! Ahhh the joys of touring the country non-stop.

We woke up in Brooklyn and headed into the city to meet up with the
label. They took us out to PJ's; an italian restaurant just a few blocks
from the office. This place has apple struedel that's out of this
world. After lunch, I hung out at the label. I always have a good time
there. I checked out some entertaining YouTube videos while the guys
were in a meeting. Seach 'Star Wars trumpet' and 'Juggling Beatles' for
some cheap entertainment...

The show was great. I always enjoy it when the guys play the Knitting
Factory. I feel like they always perform really well when they play
there. The NYC crowd consistently gets into their set too.

I had a few friends come out to the show. It was great catching up with
them.

After the show, we hit up the deli down the street. I got the crab
sandwich as usual (SO GOOD). Man, I talk about food way too much in this
journal. Haha.

We rolled out of the city and hit up our hotel (by the airport) in
Newark, NJ. That city is terrible, but our hotel was great! We stayed up
late watching tv and hanging out.

Allentown, PA (Crocodile Rock)

Allentown, PA is one city in Pennsylvania that I actually look forward to visiting. This is due to the fact that the venue there is sweet. The Crocodile Rock, or "Croc Rock" as most bands call it, is a venue like no other. It's a huge club that has a a southern atmosphere. I feel like the club lets me forget that I'm in Pennsylvania for a minute, and it transports me to straight to southern Florida.

The green room (in the basement) is huge. Another entertaining thing about this venue is that they have big rappers play there. In fact, Ja Rule is coming there in a couple weeks. I can only imagine the madness that goes on in that huge green room when rappers play the venue.

The show ended up being a bumout. The turnout was real low. We drove to Brooklyn after it and stayed with our buddy, John Lullo. The van didn't get broken into, so I'd call it a success!

Baltimore, MD (The Ottobar)

So I've come to terms with a harsh realization; MY BLOG IS BORING. I've
fallen victim to filling in a few blanks in a pre-scripted entry.

Well, I'm going to attempt to re-format my entries. This should make
things more enjoyable to read. I hope to have something funny or
entertaining to share on a daily basis.

Here's my first attempt at livening this thing up!
---------------------------------------------------------
Baltimore is one of my favorite cities to visit when on tour. This is
the guys' second home, and I feel like it's become the same way for me.
The friends, the food, the atmosphere.....they're all great.

We rolled into town a little early and picked up our friends, Julia and
Jacqueline. We hit up Wal-Mart for some essentials. This Wal-Mart had
two stories....it was madness. We rolled up to the venue and I see this
van (and trailer) with Missouri plates. Turns out some buddies of mine
from St. Louis hopped on the show last minute. Jackpot!

Julia and Jacqueline decorated our van with Christmas stuff while we
were inside the venue. The blew up a bunch of red balloons and put them
inside the van. They also put holiday stickers and some crisco (to
imitate snow) on our van windows.
It was legit!

The show turned out to be a good time. We got a good amount of free
drinks, which was nice. After the show, everyone went to the bar in the
upstairs of the venue. It was the first night the whole tour hung
out......good time! It's nice to hang out with people outside of the
'work environment.'

After the bar, we did the 4th meal thing at Taco Bell. Man, those Taco
Bell bucks really come in handy. We got to Julia and Jacqueline's place,
and they had Christmas presents waiting for us! I swear, these girls are
too good to us.

I got a book called 'Do Penquins Have Knees?' It's filled with answers
to all these odd questions....it will definitely be an interesting
read. The girls also got me (and all the band members) a stuffed
elephant doll and a homemade creature to to put on our keychains.
Sweet.

We crashed out and woke up feeling a little less than perfect. Ha. We
met up with our producer and friend, Brian McTernan. We went to his
house and saw his newborn baby, Cassidy. She's only a month old...she's
so little.

Brian took us all out to lunch an awesome restaurant. I had this pumpkin
cream cheese stuffed french toast.....it was amazing! After lunch, we
peaced out and started heading toward tonight's show (in Allentown,
PA). We're currently still in route to the show....

Hartford, CT (Webster Theatre)

Last night's show was at the Webster Theatre in Hartford, CT. We played
the Webster Underground (smaller venue connected to the Underground)
twice this year.

For some reason, I always get a shady vibe from this city. This could
partially be due to the fact that the venue is not in a great area. I
don't know, it just doesn't seem like a 'friendly city' to me.

The two shows we played here earlier this year were rather small.
Tonight's show ended up being the same way. There were 50 kids....and
the venue had a capacity of 800. Oh well, it happens.

Despite the small crowd, the guys did a good job. The people there
seemed really into the set. I had a great time running lights.....it
was a good board!

Merch sales were solid (for the amount of people there). After the
show, we drove about an hour to Norwalk, CT. We stayed with our buddy,
Tony (from our label). We watched 'Alpha Dog' and had a couple drinks
called 'Dark and Stormies' that Tony made for us. It was a good time!

We're now on our way to Baltimore for tonight's show at The Ottobar. It
should be a good one! After the show, we're going to officially
celebrate Max's 21st birthday at one of our favorite bars, 'Friends.'
It's going to be a fun night!

Erie, PA (Forward Hall)

Tonight's show was at Forward Hall in Erie, PA. We played Edinboro, PA
(about twenty minutes from Erie) twice, but we had never played in
Erie.

The show ended up being really good! The turnout was pretty decent (125
people). The guys played decent and the crowd was really into it. This
was probably the best crowd response they've gotten in the Erie area! We
did really well on merch.

Today was Max's 21st birthday, so the stage show was livened up a bit.
It was a bit more of a playful vibe, ha. Overall, it was a good night!

We're now driving toward Hartford, CT (where tomorrow's show is at).
The weather is supposed to start getting kind of bad, so we're not sure
how far we'll drive tonight....we'll just make the safest decision
possible.

Cleveland Heights, OH (Grog Shop)

Tonight's show was at The Grog Shop in Cleveland Heights, OH. This was
the third time we played here this year. We actually just played it
about six or seven weeks ago on The New Amsterdams tour.

Anyways, the show ended up being pretty solid. There were about 100
people there. The Forecast wasn't on this show, so we were direct
support (we played third). As a result, we got to play a longer set.
The guys played really well and the crowd seemed into it. We did decent
on merch.

Our show tomorrow is in Erie, PA. We're actually driving there right
now. We met some people (from Erie) at the show tonight, so we're going
to stay with them. We'll get to sleep in late and shower, so we're all
happy about that.

Max turns 21 in fifteen minutes! It seems like it's taken a long time
for this day to come. I remember meeting him when he was 16. Man,
where does time go?!

We're going to hold off the big celebration until we're in Baltimore (in
a few days). Jared is going to be our only under 21 member (until
March)...

Headliners (Toledo, OH)

Last night's show was at Headliners in Toledo, OH. The show turned out
to be pretty good! The guys played well and the crowd was into it. We
did decent on merch. After the show, we ate dinner at Big Boy's. It
was pretty good. After that, we went and stayed with some friends. We
had a blast!

We're now on our way to our show in Cleveland Heights, OH. We just
figured out that this is our sixth time in Cleveland this year. Crazy.
The Forecast went home to play a special show tonight, so we're direct
support for this show.

Urbana, IL (The Canopy Club)

The second leg of the tour started up this Thursday at The Canopy Club
in Urbana, IL. We were really looking forward to the show since it was
so close to home for us.

The show ended up being really good! There were about 180 people there.
The guys played really well and the crowd was way into it. We finally
got new merchandise (new hoodie, t-shirt, etc.), which was a big
relief. We did pretty well on merch.

After the show, we went out in Champaign for a little bit. It was a
good time. After that, we stayed with a friend nearby. Overall, it was
a good night!

Chicago, IL (JBTV Performance)

This past Monday, we went up to Chicago to play a concert for a contest
winner and some of her friends. The concert was held at JBTV studios in
downtown Chicago. We had done an interview and an acoustic performance
with JBTV earlier in the year. Since then, they moved locations. Along
with the location change came upgraded facilities. Their new place was
awesome! They built a stage and had lights, fog, etc. to create the
concert environment for bands who performed on their show. We were the
first band to play on their new stage.

We got there mid-afternoon and set everything up, soundchecked, etc.
After that, we did an interview with JBTV. After the interview, we
performed the concert for Sarah, the contest winner, and a few of her
friends. At the end of the set, we gave Sarah an autographed guitar.

The performance was shot with 9 different HD cameras. It will be edited
and later aired on JBTV. The final product should be great!

After the performance, we packed up and headed to dinner at Portillo's,
a famous Chicago hot dog joint. After dinner, we made our way back
home. Overall, it was a good day!

Lawrence, KS (The Bottleneck)

Last night's show was at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, KS. This is the
second time we've played the venue (this year), and the third time we've
played Lawrence (this year).

Before I get into the show details, I want to discuss the newscast the
guys appeared on today in Topeka, KS. They decided to play 'Sit & Sink'
acoustic. It ended up going really well! After the broadcast, they let
us play around on the green screen. We all took turns playing around
with the weather. They turned on a soap opera, and we acted like we
were in it! Ha. Anyways, it was a good time.

The show was decent. The guys played well and got a good response.
There were about 100 people there. The mix was good and all, but I'm
just not too impressed with the sound in this venue.

Corey and I got up on stage and sang on the end of The Forecast's song,
'West Coast.' It was a good time!

This was Ludo's last night on the tour. We're going to miss those guys.
They're a fun band and some of the nicest people I've ever met. They got
a present for every band on the tour. The Forecast got an indian
statue, Spitalfield got a fake saw with a Christmas scene painted on it,
and we got a dolphin statue. .

My cousin, Stephen, and his girlfriend, Alison, came out to the show.
It was great to see them!

After the show, we headed for home. It's currently 5:55am, and we're
about 45 minutes from home....oh yeah, it's now THANKSGIVING!!

The tour is taking a break for six days, and it will resume in Madison,
WI next Wednesday.

We're doing an in-studio performance for JBTV in Chicago on Monday, so
I'll make sure to report in on how that goes!

Omaha, NE (The Roxbury)

Last night's show was at The Roxbury in Omaha, NE. We had never
actually played Omaha. (We'd played Papillion, NE....which is about ten
miles from Omaha.)

Anyways, the show ended up being pretty good. The venue was a big dance
club. The sound and lights were pretty good. The guys tried out a new
set list. I think it went over really well!
We did ok on merch.

After the show, we drove Topeka, KS. We're playing a mid-day television
show at noon today - WIBW-TV (CBS) "Midday in Kansas" (Channel 13).
We'll be doing a short interview and playing one song. The whole
broadcast is live...hopefully it goes well!

After that, we'll drive about thirty miles to Lawrence, KS to play
tonight's show at the Bottleneck.

Denver, CO (Marquis Theatre)

Last night's show was at the Marquis Theatre in Denver, CO. I really
like this venue! We played here in May with The Audition (and about 300
people were there).

The show was decent. There were about 75 people there. The guys played
really well. Everyone in the crowd seemed to enjoy it. We did decent on
merch.

My cousin, Paul, and his wife, Colleen, came out to the show. It was
great to see them! We got some time to hang out and catch up. (*Paul
and Colleen - Thanks for the continued support! It means a lot.)

After the show, we went back to Longmont and stayed with our friend
again. We hit the road at 7am this morning. Tonight's show is in
Omaha, NE. We're about 7 hours into the drive, and we're not too far
away...

Colorado Springs, CO (Black Sheep)

Sunday's show was at the Black Sheep in Colorado Springs, CO. This was
our first time in this city. The venue was decent. The sound was
pretty average. Unfortunately, the crowd was pretty small (40-50). The
guys played well and we did decent on merch.

After the show, we drove to Longmont, CO (not far from Boulder) and
stayed with a friend. We stayed up too late playing Guitar Hero 3. It
was great.

Salt Lake City, UT (Avalon Theatre)

Last night's show was at the Avalon Theatre in Salt Lake City, UT. This
was our second time playing SLC (we played it once this summer).

We'd never played the Avalon Theatre. The venue was pretty cool! It
was pretty big and the sound was solid. There was a decent crowd (~80).
The guys well and got a good crowd response. We did decent on merch.

After the show, we stayed with a new friend. We woke this morning and
started our nine hour drive to Colorado Springs, CO. It should be a
pretty scenic drive.

DAY OFF (Las Vegas, NV)

After the L.A. show, we drove straight to Las Vegas. It was about a
four hour drive. We got to Vegas around 5am. The Forecast has a fan
from Vegas who is really generous....he let us stay at his neighbor's
summer house. We all slept for a few hours and then headed into the
city. The Forecast's friend hooked us up with two hotel rooms at the
Hard Rock Hotel. The place was amazing!

We hung out for a while and then I met up with my cousin, Mark. We went
back to his house and had dinner with his family. It was great to see
my relatives!! Mark and I went back to the strip and met up with the
band at the Treasure Island casino.

I only gambled for about three minutes. I lost $20 and decided to throw
in the towel. Ha. Some of the guys were doing well for a while, but by
the end of the night, Max was the only one to walk away with a profit
(of $20).

After the Casino, some of us walked the strip for a while. The scenery
in Las Vegas was awesome! After of couple hours of walking, we caught a
cab back to the hotel.

We're now driving to our show in Salt Lake City, UT.

Los Angeles, CA (Knitting Factory)

Thursday's show was at the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles. We had
never played this venue before. (We've played Knitting Factory New York
multiple times though.)

The venue was nice! We played in the main room. The sound was solid.
The show was really good! There was a good crowd (~200) and the guys
went over really well. We did pretty well on merch. Overall, good
show!

We walked around the area and saw the stars on the sidewalk. We also saw
the building where Jimmy Kimmel films. The big event of the evening was
the Victoria's Secret fashion show. We didn't go to the show or
anything, but we tried to watch famous people entering the show.
Apparantly this Spice Girls, Seal, Kanye West, and Will.I.Am were all
there.....pretty cool.

Phoenix, AZ (That One Place)

Last night's show was at a venue called 'That One Place' in Phoenix, AZ.
We played this place once before (in January). Fortunately, the venue
was fixed up since we had last been there! The sound and lights were a
lot better than last time.

The show ended up being pretty small. Part of that may be because the
MySpace tour (Say Anything/Hellogoodbye) was in Tempe, AZ last night as
well. Anyways, the guys played well and the intimate crowd seemed to
enjoy it. We didn't sell much merch.

After the show, we stayed with some college friends of Corey's. It's now
about 7:45am on Thursday. Matt and I are going to get the van's A/C
checked out. We got an entire new A/C unit this summer when we were in
Phoenix.....lately, it hasn't been working to well, so we're taking it
back to the place that installed it to get it checked out. Hopefully
they can fix it today!

Our show tonight is at the Knitting Factory in L.A. We've never played
this venue. Pre-sale is around 150, so the show should be good!

Albuquerque, NM (The Launchpad)

We Monday yesterday off. We used it as a driving day. We drove from St.
Louis to Amarillo, TX (about an 11 hour drive). We woke up Tuesday
morning and drove from Amarillo to our show in Albuquerque, NM (about a
four hour drive).

This was the band's first time playing Albuquerque. They were supposed
to play it in June on The Audition tour, but we had to skip the show to
get the air conditioner fixed. Anyways, the venue wasn't bad. The sound
was decent. We got meal tickets to a restaurant down the street called
the 'Black Bird.' It was pretty good!

The show was decent. The crowd was small (around 60). The guys played
pretty well, and the crowd was into it. We did well on merch
(considering the amount of people there). After the show, we drove a few
hours and got a hotel.

We're now on the way to Phoenix. The MySpace Tour (Say
Anything/Hellogoodbye) is in Phoenix tonight too, so our show could be
interesting!

Sauget, IL (Pop's)

We played at Pop's in Sauget, IL last night. This venue is outside of
St. Louis. I've know about the place for a long time, but I've never
been to a show there, and the band had never played there.

The show was good! There were about 240 people there. We had a lot of
friends and family come out. The venue was nice! It's definitely a step
up from the Creepy Crawl (where we normally play in St. Louis). The
sound was solid and the lightboard was good.

The guys played well. Corey had some vocal issues, but with some rest,
he'll be fine. The crowd was real into the guys' set! Merch sales were
good! We always do pretty well in St. Louis, and we really enjoy playing
the area.

After the show, we hung out with some friends for a while. We went to
Steak 'N Shake, and it was great. We then went to our friend's apartment
and stayed the night.

We woke up this morning and started toward Albuquerque, NM (where
tomorrow's show is). We were going to play a morning news show in
Albuquerque tomorrow, but we had to cancel that....Max isn't feeling
well and Corey's voice could use some rest.

We'll drive until 1 or 2am and then get a hotel tonight. We'll do the
rest of the drive tomorrow.

Lafayette, IN (The Venue)

Last night's show was at The Venue in Lafayette, IN. The place was
pretty small, but it was packed (SOLD OUT)! There were about 270 kids
there. It was a blast.

Crown Point was the only town in Indiana that we've played, so it was
nice to play in Lafayette. The guys played well and the crowd was the
most responsive yet on this tour. The sound was decent.

We did pretty well on merch. After the show, we went to a party with
Spitalfield and The Forecast. We stayed for about an hour and then
drove home.
We stayed in Springfield last night.

We're now on our way to our show at Pop's in Sauget, IL (right outside
of St. Louis). It should be a good show! We've wanted to play this
venue for a while, so hopefully it goes well!

Glen Ellyn, IL (College of DuPage - Turner Conference Center)

Tonight's show was in Glen Ellyn, IL. This is Spitalfield's hometown.
The show was awesome! It was in a huge room in the Arts Center at the
College of DuPage. There was a big stage and a great lighting rig.

There were about 500 kids there. The guys played pretty well and got a
decent crowd reponse. We did decent on merch.

We're now driving to Chicago....we'll be staying there tonight.
Hopefully tomorrow night's show is as good as these first few!

Iowa City, IA (The Picador)

The Spitalfield Farewell tour kicked off yesterday in Iowa City. The
show was at The Picador (formerly know as 'Gabe's Oasis'), and it was
really good! The guys played well and got a really good crowd response.
The sound was pretty decent.

The line-up of this tour is pretty sweet. Ludo is opening for the first
half of the tour. They're from St. Louis and they bring a unique style
to the tour. The Grad plays second. Our good buddies in The Forecast
(from Peoria, IL) play third. It's always great to tour with them.
Finally, Spitalfield closes out the evening. They sound great and are
definitely ending their career on a high note (by doing this farewell
tour). I would have to say this is the best kickoff show of any tour
we've been on! P.s. I love that the tour is all midwest bands!

There were about 170 people at the show. We did well on merch, which
was a big relief. After the show, we stayed with some friends in
Davenport, IA. The Forecast stayed with us too. Our friends had a house
party. It was great. We stayed up too late and had too much fun.

We got up today and drove to our show in Glen Ellyn, IL (Chicago
suburb). Glen Ellyn is Spitalfield's hometown, so we knew the show would
be good! The pre-sale was like 350!

We're now at the show, and it's going well. I'll give the full update
in the next blog!

Los Angeles, CA (Guitar Center West Los Angeles GRAND OPENING)

We flew out to Los Angeles this past Wednesday. We left Corey's house around 5:30am to make it to the St. Louis airport in time to catch our flight. We arrived in L.A. around noon. We picked up our luggage and got our rental car. After that, we made our way to the hotel and we met up with Kurt (he's the one who hooked us up with the gig). We made our way to the Guitar Center. Before going in, we stopped by a popular L.A. burger joined called "The Apple Pan." This place was great!

After lunch, we checked out the brand new Guitar Center. This store was amazing! It's the biggest Guitar Center store in the whole country. It was two floors tall and filled with musical equipment. The guitar room was insane. The ceilings were about 30 feet tall and there were a good 200 guitars hanging on the wall. It was awesome.

Anyways, the guys picked out all the guitars, drums, and amps that they wanted to use for the gig on Thursday night. After that, we made our way back to the hotel. We all relaxed for a little bit and then met up with some friends from L.A. It was Halloween, so we knew we had to get out and do something. Most of us went to this huge festival in West Hollywood. We saw Hanson play. I must admit, they sounded pretty good! The festival was crazy. There were thousands of people running around in crazy costumes.....some people wearing next to nothing. We witnessed a big fight between about eight girls. It was entertaining to say the least. After the festival, we went back to the hotel to chill out and go to sleep.

We woke up Thursday and went over to Guitar Center. We spent most of the day getting ready for the show that evening. We met up with our booking agent, Andrew, and went to lunch at The Apple Pan. If you couldn't tell, we became fond of that place real quick. ha.

The show ended up being pretty awesome! We played in an empty building right next to Guitar Center. Kurt tried to get us to play on a rooftop, but it wouldn't work logistically (the city of L.A. wasn't compliant with our needs). The room fit about 400 people. When the guys played, there were somewhere in the area of 300 people. Guitar Center was giving away TV's, stereos, PS2's, etc. all night. All the giveaways were done in the room where we played. The guys got a good crowd response and played pretty well! We didn't sell much merch, but I think that was due to the fact that everyone there was in "free" mode. (They were getting free things all night.)

This event was advertised like crazy! There were 20,000 mailers sent to homes (the mailers had the band's picture and myspace site on them). There were also full-page ad's (with the band's picture and myspace address) in the L.A. Weekly for three weeks in a row!! KROQ (biggest radio station in the country) sponsored the event. They said the band's name in their advertisement as well!

I actually got to meet the owner of KROQ!! She was really nice. I hope to be in touch with her down the road.

We went back to our hotel after the show. We just hung out and went to bed. Our flight was at 12:15pm on Friday. We arrived in St. Louis around 6pm. From there, we drove to Corey's house and then back to Springfield.

Overall, the trip was amazing! We had a blast, got some great exposure, and made some new friends. I hope that this show ends up benefiting us down the road!

*A big thanks to Kurt French and Guitar Center for giving us the opportunity to play this event!*

**The guys' performance on Boston's "Fox 25 Morning News" can be seen here!

Dekalb, IL (The House Cafe)

Tonight's show in Dekalb ended up being kind of a bummer. The guys
played fine, the venue was cool, the sound was decent, the promoter was
cool, but the turnout was pretty low.

On a good note, the crowd that saw the guys' set definitely enjoyed it!
A few fans even got up on the mic and sang some gang vocals at the end
of the set.

After the show, we packed up and headed out pretty quick. We're now on
our way home. We'll be home until Halloween day (when we fly out to
L.A. to do a one-off).

DAY OFF (I <3 Ap.net)

Yesterday was our day off. We spent the majority of the day driving
from Boston to Dekalb, IL (where Sunday's show is). It was a nice little
17 hour drive. We decided to drive all night and we arrived in Dekalb
around 6:30 this morning. We parked in a parking lot and slept for a
while. We're now at the venue killing some time before load-in.

Tonight's show should be fun. We're playing in a college town (NIU),
and the venue is close to campus. We're headlining the show, so I
really hope it goes well! After the show, we'll be going home (for a
couple weeks).

*My journal got mentioned today on the ever-so-popular
Absolutepunk.net!! Check out the post here:

http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=273512

**Hello to all who just found out about my journal from
Absolutepunk.net! Thanks for checking it out.
I keep this journal for two reasons: 1) To log everything for myself,
and 2) To give others an insight into the life of an up-and-coming band
on the road.

Feel free to email me at alex@wearethegraduate.com if you have any
questions, comments, etc. Special thanks to Julia Conny for the post!**

Allston, MA (ICC Church)

We drove all night to get to Boston. We made it to the TV filming right
on time. The taping ended up going really well! The guys played two
songs (Anhedonia & The City That Reads). Anhedonia is set to air on
November 1st, and The City That Reads will be an online-exclusive
video.

After the tv shoot, we went into the city to find some parking. Well,
parking was impossible to find, so we just went to the venue. We hung
out and grabbed lunch.

The show was the last one of our mini-tour with The New Amsterdams and
Anathallo. It ended up being alright. It definitely wasn't the best
show of the tour, but hey, you win some, you lose some.

After the show, we hung out at a friend's place in Boston. It was a good
time.

Washington D.C (Rock & Roll Hotel)

We stayed in Towson, MD the night of the Philly show. Our good friends,
Julia and Jacqueline, let us stay at their place (once again). We had a
blast! We stayed up until 6am talking and hanging out.

Thursday's show was at the Rock & Roll Hotel in Washington D.C. This
was the first time we've played in D.C.

The show went well. The guys played first, and they had a decent crowd
there. People seemed into it. We had a crew of friends from the
Baltimore area make the trip out to see us. It was great to have some
familiar faces in the crowd. This tour has been interesting because
almost no one in the crowd has ever heard us or seen us before.

The club was pretty cool. We got to order food from their menu, and I
got a grilled peanut butter and marshmallow panini. It was every 4 year
old kid's dream meal!

After the show, we drove straight to Boston. We were filming two songs
for Boston's 'Fox 25 In the Morning' program at 9:30am...

Philadelphia, PA (Northstar)

Yesterday's show was at the Northstar in Philly. It ended up being a
pretty good show! There was a good crowd (160) and the guys went over
well. We had never played this venue before, but it was pretty cool.

We didn't do great on merch...I have to say that the food there was
really good! I got some awesome potato skins.

After the show, we drove to Baltimore to stay with some friends. We
stayed up way too late last night, but we had a blast!

We're now changing out another trailer tire. (One of our tires was worn
down and looked like it could blow any minute...) After this, we'll be
heading to our show in Washingto D.C. We've never played D.C., so
hopefully things go well!

Cleveland, OH (The Grog Shop)

Today was the first day of our mini-tour with The New Amsterdams and
Anathallo. The tour started in Cleveland. We left home around 6:30am
and made it to Cleveland right on time. Unfortunately, we blew a trailer
tire about an hour into the drive. Luckily, we had a legit spare!

This little tour is different for us because the guys are playing
(somewhat of) an acoustic set (acoustic guitars, bass, small drums set,
keyboard). The set tonight went really well! I really liked the vibe.
The songs were re-arranged from their normal (electric) versions. It's
great to hear everything stripped down.

There was a good crowd (150). Only a few people had seen us before. It
was good to play for new ears and eyes. We did alright on merch.

Anathallo and The New Amsterdams were both awesome! We're really excited
to be out it them!

We're now driving a few hours to our hotel (outside of Pittsburgh).
We'll have about a five hour drive left tomorrow (to the show in
Philly). Overall, it was a good day!

New York, NY (The Knitting Factory)

We played a show at The Knitting Factory in NYC last Thursday (10/4). We started our drive to NY on Wednesday. We drove until we were about two and a half hours outside of the city and got a hotel. We finished the drive on Thursday morning. We arrived in the city around 1pm. We went to the label and said hello to everyone. After that, we (the band + everyone at the label) went out to lunch. We ate at a nice italian restaurant called "PJ's." This place was good!

After lunch, we went straight to the venue for load-in. It took a while to find parking (surprise surprise). We eventually found parking, loaded in, and soundchecked. This show was special because we were the only band on the bill. Our label actually rented the room out for us. The show was basically a talent showcase to people in the industry. It was a free show, open to the public, so there were a good amount of fans there as well. Oh yeah, did I mention there was an open bar?!

The show went really well! The guys played about a 45 minute set, and they killed it! I was really happy. After the show, we mingled with people for a while and eventually loaded out.

Matthew and Amena (both from the label) then took us out to dinner. We went to a cool place called "Morocco" (or something similar to that!). It was good! The lighting in the restaurant was really cool. It reminded me of the lighting that was on the back cover of the guys' cd, 'Anhedonia.'

After dinner, we went to our hotel in Elizabeth, NJ (right outside of the city). We slept in late the next day and then made the drive back home to IL.

Overall, it was a great trip. Our time in NYC was short and sweet, but we definitely made the best of it!

Minneapolis, MN (University of Minnesota - The Whole Music Club)

Friday night's show was in the student union at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The club was really cool. It had this industrial feel, but it was still really clean.

We got to the venue and did the normal show routine. There were two other bands on the bill. One band was from Michigan and the other band was from St. Louis. The St. Louis band, Ludo, is going to be on half of the tour we're on in November. It was nice to meet the guys and get acquainted before that tour.

The show went pretty well. There were around 120 people there. The guys played well and they got a good crowd response. After the show, we drove home. It was about a nine hour overnight drive. We're now home until our press show in NYC on October 4th.

Laramie, WY (University of Wyoming - Union Ballroom)

We played our first college show (ever) at the University of Wyoming
yesterday. This was also our first headlining show in the US (excluding
IL).

The show was pretty good! It was a free show (open to both students and
the general public). There was a pretty good crowd (~100). The guys
played the longest set they've ever played (it was a full 60 minute
set). It went well! The crowd enjoyed it and the guys performed well.
Merch sales were pretty good.

The university bought us two hotel rooms about a mile from the college,
so we stayed there.

We have today off. We're driving all day. Tomorrow's show is in
Minneapolis, which is a 13 hour drive from Laramie...

Cardiff, UK (Barfly)

Our last show of the tour (on Monday)was in Cardiff. The show ended up being pretty good! There were about 60 people there. The guys played well and went over well with the crowd. We sold a good amount of merch.

The venue was across the street from a huge castle. Pretty awesome. That's definitely something you wouldn't see in the US :o)

We flew out of London on Tuesday morning. The flight was fine. We landed in Chicago and made the drive home from there.

Overall, the tour was great. We had a lot of fun and saw a lot of new things. Hopefully the crowds will be a bit bigger next time (as well as the cash flow, hah). It's all good, though. It was our first trip over there, and we were just getting our feet wet. Next overseas tour, we'll have a better idea of how to do things! I hope we get a chance to go back over sooner than later...

Amsterdam, NE (Melkweg)

Friday's show was at the Melkweg in Amsterdam. This venue was awesome!
We got most of our rider and everything.

The show ended up being really good. There was a solid crowd and they
really dug the guys' set. They were cheering for another song after the
set, so the guys came back out and played 'Justified'. We did real well
on merch.

We went out in Amsterdam after the show. It was a good time.
Definitely a lot different than going out in the US.

We had yesterday (Saturday) off. We just stayed at the hotel most of
the day and hung out. It was a nice relaxing day.

We're now on our way back to Viper's place. We're going to stay there
tonight. Tomorrow is our last show of the tour (in Cardiff, UK). It's
pretty crazy that this trip is already coming to an end!

Glasgow, UK (Barfly)

Last night's show was at the Barfly in Glasgow. The drive there wasn't
bad at all. This barfly was a bit bigger than the previous ones. The
stage was bigger as well. I thought it would be really hard to
understand people in Glasgow (because of their thick accents).
Surprisingly, it wasn't that hard to understand them. The people in
Liverpool were actually harder to understand!

We got everything set up and then went to eat dinner. We decided to have
Pizza Hut. This was the one American food place (also located in the
UK) that I hadn't had yet. It was great! We all got appetizers, pizza,
and dessert for 5 pounds a piece! Pretty good deal. The food was really
good. This was the first food place that I liked BETTER in the UK (than
the US).

The show ended up being pretty good. There were about 50 kids there.
The guys got a good crowd response and we had our best night in merch so
far. After the show, we went out to a club called 'Cathouse.' It was a
punk/metal type of place. We had a pretty good time. It was an
interesting environment, but definitely a fun time. We had to meet at
the van at 1am to start our trip to Amsterdam. We drove all night and
got to the venue in Amsterdam at 4:30 this afternoon.

We're now at the show in Amsterdam. This venue (Melkweg) is awesome!
It's really nice. We have a sweet backstage room and we actually got a
decent amount of stuff that's on our rider!

We're going out in Amsterdam tonight after the show. It should be a
good time!! I'll fill you in (on select details, haha) tomorrow.

York, UK (Barfly/Fibbers)

Yesterday's show was at the Barfly in York, UK. This barfly had the
nickname 'Fibbers.' Anyways, we got into town a few hours before
load-in. We went to our hotel. This place was awesome! It looked like
a huge castle. There was a huge chess board and croquet in the lawn
outside.

The show ended up being so-so. The door count was 30 people. The guys
played ok. Though the crowd was small, the guys got a good response.
We did alright on merch (for the amount of people there).

This was my favorite barfly venue so far. I just thought the atmosphere
was great and the staff was really friendly.

The town of York was really neat. A lot of old buildings and whatnot.
I got the chance to walk around downtown for a little bit, and I really
enjoyed it!

We're now on the way to our show in Glasgow, Scotland. We're almost
there. From what I've seen so far, Scotland is cool. Big green rolling
hills, etc. Exactly how I imagined it would be.

Liverpool, UK (Barfly)

Yesterday's show was at the Barfly in Liverpool. We got to Liverpool
early in the day. We ate McDonald's for lunch. I thought it tasted
pretty similar to McDonald's back home. This is interesting because most
of the fast food (Burger King at least) over here tastes a lot different
than back home. In my opinion, it tastes better in the US.

After lunch, some of us went to The Beatles museum. It was really
cool. We walked through the museum with headphones on (to hear audio
commentary). Each exibit had a number, so you typed that number into
your little device, and you could hear more about it. The museum took
you through the Beatles story from beginning to end.
I'm really glad I went.

After that, we got two hotel rooms at a place called Formule 1. It was
the most basic hotel room I've ever seen. Ha. The bathroom and shower
weren't in the same room. They were down the hall. Kind of interesting,
but it's all good.

The show last night didn't end up being too great. By the time the guys
went on, there were maybe 15 or 20 people there. You win some, you lose
some.

We went out in Liverpool after the show. We hung out with some locals.
It was a good time!

We're now on our way to York, UK. That's where tonight's show is...

Camden, UK (Barfly)

Last night (Monday) was our first Barfly show. It was in Camden (which
is right outside of London). There were 100 people through the door and
35-40 people there when the guys played. Not too bad. We did alright on
merch sales. Viper had a friend from Kerrang magazine (it's a big music
magazine in the UK.......it's the equivalent of Alternative Press in the
US) come out to the show. She did a show review and supposedly she
really liked it! It should be printed in about 2 weeks. Viper also had
his friend from the Victory Records UK office come out. She was really
cool.

Viper's a riot. He's really funny. Everyone gets along with him and
vice versa. I'm really glad we have him along.

The UK is cool so far. Everyone is having fun.

We're driving to Liverpool right now.

Random fact: I had fish and chips yesterday for the first time! It was
really good!

It's pretty cool that we're playing in the same city where The Beatles
got their start! We plan on driving by The Beatles museum today....

Hopefully the show in Liverpool goes well tonight!

DAY OFF - Tunbridge Wells

We stayed at Viper's apartment on our day off (Sunday). He lives in
Tunbridge Wells, which is about thirty minutes outside of London.

We were pretty lazy for most of the day. We slept a lot, went out to a
pub, and watched movies. It was great.

Konstanz, DE (Bodenseestadion - Rock Am See)

We flew from Chicago to London on Thursday. It was quite a task getting
all our equipment checked, but somehow, it all worked out. The flight
ended up being right around 7 hours long. We arrived in London at 6am
and met up with our driver, Viper, around 7:30 or 8am.

We ran a few errands around London, and then we started our 13 hour
drive to Konstanz, Germany. The drive was pretty cool. We hit some
mountains that were pretty tough to drive through. We got a hotel about
two hours outside of Konstanz.

Rock Am See was awesome. I'd say there were about 4,000 people there
when the guys played. We didn't do that great on merch sales, but it's
all good. The guys got a good crowd response. They were clapping along
to multiple songs.

The singer of Nine Inch Nails walked right by us when we were backstage
(right before Nine Inch Nails played). That was pretty cool. The
catering was really good. The promoter liked us a lot too, which is
great.

Germany was pretty awesome. It was very different, but I liked it a
lot! I met a lady who worked for a big radio station in Germany and
talked to her a decent amount. She spoke pretty decent english. I gave
her some cd's and she said she'd play a song on the air. Pretty cool.

Rock Am See festival was cool. I hope we get the opportunity to play it
again.

Breastretchers (Springfield, IL)

We played our hometown venue, Breadstretchers, on Saturday night. As always, it was a good time. There was a decent crowd (not as big as we hoped, but still solid). I think the crowd size was due to a lot of kids going back to college and us booking the show last minute. Regardless, the guys played well and the crowd was way into it. They were clapping along during "The Formula" before Corey even instructed them to! They were also singing along to a lot of the songs. We did alright on merch. Overall, it was a good time!

*We are leaving tomorrow for our overseas tour. We will be playing Germany, the UK, and Amsterdam over a ten day time period. I will do my best to update the blog from over there. The time has finally come for The Graduate to go international!

Bloomington, IL (Coffee Nation)

We played Bloomington, IL last Wednesday. The show was pretty decent. Our good buddies in Asteria were on the bill as well. There was a pretty good turnout and the guys got a good crowd response. We did ok on merch.

After the show, we hung out and stayed the night in Bloomington. This is the town where I went to college, so I still have a lot of friends there. I hung out with some friends and had a good time. Overall, it was great evening.

Tour Ends Early

So we stayed in Chicago the night of our House of Blues show. We wake up the next morning and start our drive to Papillion, NE. We only make it to Dekalb, IL when we smell something weird coming from our van. We immediately know this is bad news. We go to the nearest mechanic and get it checked out. It turns out that our transmission was shot. The van wouldn't go in reverse. Also, our transmission fluid was supposed to be red, and it was black. Not good.

We end up driving (slowly) all the way home to Springfield. Every time we hit a red light, it took about a minute to get the van to go forward in drive. Luckily, we made it all the way home.

The downside is that it is going to take a while to get fixed. As a result, we are forced to drop off the remaining dates of our tour with June and The Higher. This is definitely a bummer for us.

We didn't want to sit on our hands for the next week, so we've already pulled together three central Illinois shows for this upcoming week. We're playing Bloomington on Wednesday, Quincy on Friday, and Springfield on Saturday. Hopefully these shows will help us pay for the transmission...

*Sorry to all the kids who were planning on coming out to see us on the remaining dates of the tour. We'll do our best to make it your way as soon as possible!

Chicago, IL (House Of Blues)

Friday's show was at the House of Blues in Chicago. Before we get to that, let's talk about the earlier portion of our day...

We drove overnight from our Minneapolis show to Chicago. We got to our hotel in Oak Brook around 4:30am. We all showered and went to sleep for two hours. It was then time to get up and head to our commercial shoot in downtown Chicago. The guys filmed a thirty second commercial for their upcoming single, "Anhedonia". The commercial is going to serve as a teaser for the next music video they'll be shooting. It's other purpose is to keep the hype going around the band and to get kids stoked on the next single.

The commercial shoot ended up going really well. We were there from 10am-4pm. After the shoot, we rushed to House of Blues to start loading in. Well, on our way there, we got into a little fender bender. I won't go into a ton of details, but the side of our trailer got a pretty decent gash. It's still totally functional though, so it's all good. For the record, I wasn't driving this time...

The House of Blues show was awesome! There were around 800 people there. The guys went on third, and they killed it. They were really energetic and spot on. The crowd was way into it. I've never heard so many girls screaming for this band before! haha. My parents, little brother, and six relatives (from St. Louis) were all there for the show. I'm really glad that everyone got to see the guys play in this environment!!

We did pretty well on merch. Overall, it was a good night. Chicago is always great to us. I can't wait until we play the House of Blues again!!

*Thanks to all my family who came out and supported me and the band! It really means a lot.

Minneapolis, MN (The Varsity Theater)

We played the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis tonight. We layed this
venue a few months back. In all honesty, this is the nicest venue we
have ever played. There are plush couches and stuff everywhere. Pretty
cool.

The show ended up being ok. The sound guy didn't seem to have a clue
what he was doing. As a result, none of the bands sounded their best.
There was a decent crowd. We did ok on merch.

Overall, it was an alright show.

We're now driving to Chicago. We have a comemrcial shoot tomorrow from
10am-4pm. The guys are filming a 30 second spot for their next single,
'Anhedonia.' It should be pretty cool! After the shoot, we're going
straight to load in at the House of Blues.

Tomorrow's show should be awesome! I've got a bunch of family and
friends coming. I'm really looking forward to the whole evening!

Madison, WI (The Loft)

Yesterday's show was at the Loft in Madison, WI. This was also the
third time we've played this venue since January.

The show ended up being really solid. There were 210 people there. The
guys played well and a lot of people were singing along. It seems like
visiting the same cities/venues multiple times is finally paying off! We
did well on merch. Overall, it was a good show!

We went to iHop after the show. After that, we went to a friend's place
to crash out.

Des Moines, IA (House of Bricks)

Tuesday's show was at the House of Bricks in Des Moines. This was the
third time we've played the venue in a matter of five months.

The show ended up being pretty decent. There was a decent crowd (~100).
The guys played pretty well and they got a good crowd reaction. We did
decent on merch.

As always, I had their potato skins for dinner. They were great.
Overall, it was a good show!

DAY OFF - Home

We had an off day between our Columbus show and our Des Moines show. We
got to go home for the day. I relaxed and hung out with a buddy. It
was a good day.

Columbus, OH (The Basement)

We played the Basement in Columbus, OH tonight. We actually drove from
Cleveland to Columbus last night after the Cleveland show. We stayed at
Matt's cousin's place. We got to sleep in today. It was great!

We went to Guitar Center today and picked up some necessities. After
that, we went to the show. It ended up being a really good show! We
got a legit sound check before the guys played, so they sounded a lot
better than the last time the played there! (We also had a much more
cooperative sound guy than last time....)

There was a good crowd (~170) and they really dug the guys' set! We did
really well on merch. The promoter was awesome! Overall, it was a great
night!

*Bonus: we got hooked up with a few cases of the new Vitamin water
energy drinks. They'll definitely come in handy for the overnight
drives!

We had a day off tomorrow. We're currently driving home. (It's
basically on the way to our next show in Des Moines, IA...) Some of our
instruments suffered some damage in the storm at Cleveland Warped Tour
last week, so we need to get some repairs done at home tomorrow...

We're also planning on making tour tags (laminates) for everyone on the
tour tomorrow. We need to make this thing legit! Haha.

Cleveland, OH (Agora Ballroom)

We kicked off our tour with June and The Higher yesterday at The Agora
Ballroom in Cleveland. We left home around 6am (in order to make
load-in on time). The show ended up being alright. There were about 110
kids there.

The guys played pretty well. It was one of the best sets they've played
(for a first night on a tour). There were a few technical difficulties
(that were out of their hands), but what can you do?! The crowd seemed
to dig them.

The venue was pretty cool. The promoter was cool. The sound was so-so
(the sound guy wasn't too cooperative...).

We did ok on merch......not bad for the amount of people there. The
other bands on the tour seem really cool. I think this is going to be a
fun two weeks!

Chicago, IL (Grant Park - LOLLAPALOOZA)

We drove overnight from Philly and got to Chicago around noon on
Saturday. Four of us went to Lollapalooza that day. I saw Silverchair,
Cold War Kids, and Muse that day. They were all great!

There was an awesome 'Artists Lounge' backstage. Free drinks and whatnot
all weekend. We hung out there for a while on Saturday. It was a
blast!

We got up real early Sunday morning. We had to be at Grant Park at 8am
to load in for our show. The guys played at 11:15am. Well, the morning
started out rough. It downpoured on our way to the van. Once we got in
the van, it wouldn't start. Someone had left a power converter plugged
in overnight and it drained the battery. We had to have AAA come jump
us.

We made it to the park by 9am and everything was fine. The guys played
pretty well. They had a good crowd by the end of their set. It was a
bit frustrating because doors were supposed to open at 11am sharp, but
they didn't open until a few minutes later. As a result, some people
were rushing in to catch the guys' set.

At the end of the set, Corey threw down a snare drum stand. Well,
things ended up backfiring on him. The stand broke, bounced back up at
him, and hit him in the head. He ended up getting two staples in his
head. Bummer.

The rest of the day was pretty sweet though. The guys did a signing at
the F.Y.E. tent and they did a photosession with fans at the MySpace
tent. Both events went well. I snuck off for a bit and watched Modest
Mouse with my friend, Laura. I hadn't seen her in over a year, so it was
great to catch up.

We ended up staying in Chicago that night. We went to the Lollapalooza
after party at the Hard Rock Hotel in downtown Chicago. It was awesome!
I got to catch up with my Fueled By Ramen buddies, Johnny and Erick. It
was a great time!

Overall, Lollapalooza was amazing. I had an awesome time, and I hope we
get to play it again next year!

Camden, NJ (Tweeter Center - WARPED TOUR)

Camden, NJ was the final stop of our Warped Tour stint. It was a pretty
normal day Nothing too crazy. The guys played a good set and got a good
crowd response. We did pretty well on merch.

Overall, Warped Tour was a good experience for us. It was really brutal
to do in a van, but we got it done. Hopefully we will be able to do it
in a bus next year. That would make things much easier.

After that show, we drove overnight to Chicago. We had Lollapalooza to
play on Sunday!

Cleveland, OH (Tower City Amphitheater - WARPED TOUR)

This day ended up being crazy. It was a normal day at Warped tour until
about 3:30pm. The guys were at the stage getting ready to play. All of
the sudden, some horrible weather hit.

There were really high winds, heavy rain, and even some hail. Wegs and
I were at the merch tent trying to hold everything down. In the end,
our merch tent got ruined. Our equipment tent also blew away. The
kicker is the we had to buy a new tent for our final day of Warped.

This was not a very fun day, but we made it through.

Cincinnati, OH (Riverbend Music Center - WARPED TOUR)

The Cincinnati warped stop was pretty good. We got a good merch spot
and the guys got to play on the amphitheater stage. We got a pretty
good crowd response and did decent on merch.

I got to see a friend that I hadn't seen in a long time. It was great to
catch up with her.

Overall, it was a good day.

Milwaukee, WI (Marcus Amphitheatre - WARPED TOUR)

Yesterday's Warped stop was in Milwaukee. It was on the same grounds as
Summerfest (the festival we played a few weeks ago). The day was pretty
decent.

We didn't have a great merch spot, but we still did decent on merch and
cd sales. The guys played in the amphitheatre at 4pm. I didn't get to
see their set, but I heard it went over really well. They had a good
crowd and a lot of the people were singing along. I think that
Summerfest helped bring us some new fans today.

We're currently driving to Cincinnati. I'm captaining (sitting in the
front passenger seat) while Jared is driving. We're about to finish our
shift. Overall, today was good.

Milwaukee, WI - DAY OFF!

We had our first day off yesterday. It was awesome! We got to Milwaukee
at about 4:30am. We stayed at Max's older brother's condo. It was
nice! We all slept in until about 2pm. The rest was much needed.

We just relaxed all day, watched a few movies, BBQ'd, and went to bed.
It was a great day :o)

Minneapolis, MN (Hubert H. Humphrey Stadium - WARPED TOUR)

We were in Minneapolis on Sunday. We drove all night to get there. The
day ended up being decent. It was a hot one!

The guys didn't play until 8:20pm. That's basically the last slot of
the night. There ended up being a decent crowd for them (~50). The
crowd was really into it! We did decent on cd and merchandise sales.

Chicago, IL (First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre - WARPED TOUR)

Saturday's Warped date was in our home state of Illinois. This was the
Warped show that we were looking most forward to playing. The day ended
up being awesome!!

The guys played mid afternoon. They had a good crowd and the kids were
really into it! You could tell that the guys were really pumped on
stage. It was a lot of fun to watch!

The guys also did an acoustic set at the MySpace tent and they did a
signing at the Shirts For A Cure tent. Both events were a success! The
guys had good crowds for both things.

We killed on merchandise and cd sales. This was actually our best day
of merchandise sales to date! After the show, we drove overnight to
Minneapolis, MN.

*Thanks to all of our friends who came out and supported us! It means a
lot.

Detroit, MI (Comerica Park - WARPED TOUR)

We ended up getting to the Detroit Warped show around 3:30pm. (If you're
wondering why we were so late, refer to the previous blog.) We actually
got a really good parking spot on the street. We loaded equipment and
merchandise in as quickly as possible.

The guys played well and got their best crowd response yet (for this
tour). They had a good sized crowd (~300+). We did really well on
merch sales (especially considering the fact that we didn't get there
until 3;30pm). We packed up and headed to Chicago.

We got to Chicago early in the moring. We all got a couple (as in 2-3)
hours of sleep and then headed to the venue for the Chicgo Warped tour.

Scranton, PA (Montage Mountain Amphitheatre - WARPED TOUR)

Yesterday's show was in Scranton, PA (home of NBC's TV show, 'The
Office'). It ended up being pretty good! The major downside was that
the guys played at 8:15pm. This was the closing slot for their stage.
By this time of night, most kids have either gone home or they're
watching the final headliner of the night. As a result, the guys had a
small crowd.

They played on the Hurley.com stage. (They had been playing on the
Smartpunk stage for the first week of the festival.) We actually found
out yesterday that the guys have been upgraded to the Hurley.com stage
for the rest of their time on the tour! Pretty cool! We sold a lot of
cd's and talked to a lot of kids.

In the past four days, we've averaged around 100 cd's sold/day. This is
awesome! We're really excited that this tour finally shaping up!

After the show, we started our drive toward Detroit, MI (our next
stop). Well, at about 5 this morning, we pulled into a rest stop to go
to the bathroom. We heard a really loud noise coming from our front
right van wheel. It sounded like metal scraping on metal. We weren't
sure what to do. Well, a tour bus from the tour had happened to stop at
the same rest area. We flagged down the driver and had him check it out.
He said we'd be ok to drive it like 50mph the rest of the way to Detroit
(and then find a repair shop).

Well, we decided to try it on the highway. We made it about a mile and
the noise was still there. Next thing we know, we smell a really strong
scent coming from the van. We decided to pull over immediately.

We called AAA and had them tow us to a nearby repair shop. It turns out
that our front right hub on our van was loose. If we would have driven
20 more miles, our tire would have fallen off! The nose of the van
would have dived into the ground. Luckily, we were smart enough to stop
driving.

In addition, we had a broken leaf spring on our trailer. We didn't even
know about this, but the repair guy caught it. We're lucky he did,
because the trailer wheel could have fallen off if the other leaf
springs broke.

Anyways, we were really lucky to get all those repairs done before
things got worse! Well, about four hours and $500 later, we're finally
continuing our trip to Detroit. We should get there around 2pm. I
called Warped Tour and told them what was up. They hooked us up with a
7:05pm time slot so we could make it in time! Loading equipment through
the crowd is going to be chaos, but we'll get it done. I hope the
second half of this day is a lot better than the first half!

*Thanks a lot to the guys at Rich's Towing & Service, Inc. in Middleburg
Heights, OH! They worked really fast and cut us a good deal!

Columbia, MD (Merriweather Post Pavilion - WARPED TOUR)

This Warped Tour was pretty good! We played early in the day in the big
amphitheater. There were a lot of kids there when the guys played! Our
merch spot was at the top of the hill in the lawn seating. We were by
some bigger bands and we actually got a lot of foot traffic! We also
got our highly anticipated booty shorts in. They sold really well that
day. In addition, we sold a lot of cd's!

The layout of the show was terrible. We had to park our van (and haul
our equipment and merchandise) a good half mile away from where we
played. Not cool.

After the show, we went to Baltimore to meet up with our friend, Brian.
He produced the guys' album. We grabbed a drink at a bar called
'Friends.' After that, we went back to the studio where the guys
recorded 'Anhedonia.' We showered and slept there for about two hours.
Then we hit the road for our next stop in Scranton, PA.

Virginia Beach, VA (Verizon Wireless Amphitheater - WARPED TOUR)

Virginia Beach was pretty cool. We got a decent merch spot and
everything. The guys played later in the afternoon. They had a good
crowd! They played well. After their set, they did a signing at the
Absolutepunk.net/Capitol Music tent. They had a small crowd of kids
come up to meet them and get posters signed. Overall, it was a good
day!

After the show, we drove to Towson, MD (right outside of Baltimore) and
stayed with our great friends, Julia and Jacqueline. We caught a few
hours of sleep and then headed off for the Columbia, MD Warped Tour.

Charlotte, NC (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre - WARPED TOUR)

We had an 8 hour overnight drive from Orlando to Charlotte. It wasn't
fun, but we got it done.

This Warped stop ended up being our best one yet! We got the opening
time slot, and we thought it was going to be a bad thing. We were
wrong! There were a ton of kids there when the guys played. I think it
was partially due to the fact that they were the only band playing at
that time slot. That was fine with them though!

We hustled cd's all day long and it paid off. We sold 127 cd's!!!
Anways, it was a great day. I got to see my friend, Simpson, again too!
Overall, Charlotte was great to us.

Orlando, FL (Tinker Field - WARPED TOUR)

We played Orlando Warped Tour on Sunday. Before I get into that, let me
tell you a funny little story that happened last night....I was doing my
leg of the drive from Miami to Orlando. We stopped at a rest stop to go
to the bathroom. Only a few of the guys got out (the rest stayed
sleeping in the van). Well, we left the rest stop and got back into the
van. I drove another 45 minutes toward Orlando when I got a call from
an unknown phone number. It ended up being our drummer, Tim. WE
ACCIDENTALLY LEFT HIM AT THE REST STOP! He had gotten out to go to the
bathroom and no one knew. We all thought he was sleeping in the van the
whole time. Anyways, I turned around and went back to get Tim. We ended
up getting to the hotel at like 3am and had to leave by around
7:30am...

Anways, the Orlando Warped show ended up being pretty decent. The guys
had a good sized crowd and they played pretty well. There were a few
sound issues during the set.

We had a helper named Laima who helped us sell cd's all day. She did a
great job! We sold like 41 cd's that day, which was our best yet of the
tour. Overall, it was a good Warped show.

Miami, FL (Bayfrony Amphitheatre - WARPED TOUR)

Today's Warped Tour was in Miami, FL. I had never been to Miami. It
seemed like a cool place. The nightime scenery was sweet!

Anways, we got there a little early and set up our new merch tent. We
got situated and started promoting for the guys' performance. They had
been playing between 2:45-3pm the last few days, but they played at
7:45pm tonight. They were the last band to play on their stage.

I was told that the guys played well. (I held down the merch tent while
they played.) The crowd was small (~50), but they were really into
them!

We didn't do very well on merch sales today, but that happens every now
and then. We lowered the price of our CD's, so hopefully sales will
increase dramatically.

There was one point in the day when it rained really hard. Winds were
pretty strong. We all had to get in our tent and hold it down.

Overall, it was a decent Warped show. It was probably the most
populated warped show we've played yet! I hope Orlando is good to us
tomorrow.

St. Petersburg, FL (Vinoy Park - WARPED TOUR)

Yesterday's show was in St. Petersburg, FL. It's only about thirty
minutes from Tampa, which is my old stomping ground. Anways, I was
familiar with the place because I went there last year to watch Warped
Tour.

We stayed with our buddy Caleb the night before the show. We got to the
grounds right on time and staked out a merch spot. The day went pretty
smoothly. There was some heavy rain for a little bit, so that put a bit
of a damper on things. The guys played well and the crowd was into
them. They had a pretty decent sized crowd. It was especially fun
because most of my Tampa friends were there for the guys' set. They
were singing along and having a good time.

After the day ended, we went to Wal-Mart to pick up some supplies. We
bought a new tent because our old one broke (in three days).

After Wal-Mart, we went to Caleb's apartment (again). We showered and
slept there until 2:30am. At that point, we got up and drove to
Miami....

Overall, St. Pete Warped Tour was pretty decent. I was glad to see a
lot of my Tampa friends! I hope we're back in Tampa soon!

Jacksonville, FL (Renyolds Beach Yacht Center - WARPED TOUR)

We drove through the night and got to Jacksonville right on time. It
took us about an hour to park. We finally parked and went to scout out a
merch spot. We thought we had a good spot, but we were wrong.

The day went fine. It was extremely hot. This venue was a lot
different from Atlanta. We were on grass and dirt here. By the end of
the day, we were all covered in sweat and dirt.

I didn't get to see the guys play yesterday, but they said it was a lot
better than the first day. They went back to their setlist from last
tour, and they said it was much more comfortable for them. Apparently
the crowd response was also better yesterday. I heard the crowd was
rather small.

We didn't do very well on merch sales yesterday. I don't really know
what the deal was. Hopefully that will shape up soon.

The guys did a signing with my friends' clothing company, Stereobear.
They only had a couple kids come up to the table. It's ok, though.
That's what happens when you're a new band.

After the show, we drove to Tampa and stayed with our buddy, Caleb. We
showered and got a solid five hours of sleep. We're now on our way to
the show in St. Petersburg, FL. Hopefully today goes well!

Atlanta, GA (HiFi Buys Amphitheatre - WARPED TOUR)

Today was our first day on Warped Tour. None of us had ever played the
festival before. We were warned that it's a lot of hard work and can be
very tiring, but also very rewarding.

We got to the amphitheatre around 7am. We went to the production office
and got our pictures taken. I was given a lot of information in a
little amount of time, and I was on my way. We picked up some cd's and
merchandise that was shipped to the venue. After that, we searched
around for twenty minutes looking for the guy in charge of
merchandising. We finially found him, and he told us where to put our
tent.

We went to the van and started unloading everything. Some of the guys
loaded their equipment to the Smartpunk stage (where we were playing
later in the day), while others helped me gather our merchandise and
claim our spot for the day.

We went to set up our tent, and a few metal bars already broke.....not a
good sign! Haha. Anyways, we got the tent and merchandise display all
set up. After that, we wrote the time we were playing on about 1,000
cards. We then dispursed these to the crowd of kids waiting in line to
get in the gates.

The guys made picket signs (advertising the time they were playing) and
also walked around with discmans and headphones, attempting to get kids
to buy their cd.

They ended up playing at 3pm today. (The time they play changes every
day --- and we don't find out what time they play until each morning on
the day of.) There were probably about 50 kids standing by the stage
and another 750 people sitting in the amphitheater seats.....so it was a
pretty big crowd!

The guys didn't play that well. I think it was a mix of multiple
factors. Anyways, things should be all good with their set tomorrow.

Overall, it was a pretty decent first day on the tour. We didn't sell
near as much merchandise as we had planned. CD sales were also much
lower than expected. Hopefully that will all shape up in the real
quick! We're on the tour until August 3rd, so we've got some time to
work out the kinks.

We're now driving to Jacksonville, FL for tomorrow's show. I'm hoping
to get 3-4 hours of sleep at some point....

Springfield, IL (Breadstretchers)

The guys were supposed to play a big show at Capital City Bar and Grill
on Saturday night. It was the Junior Varsity's CD release show. There
would have been 400+ people there. Unfortunately, some angry mother
called the fire marshall and complained about the venue filling over
capacity and underage drinking. As a result, the fire marshall made some
harsh demands, and they couldn't be met. The show was cancelled 24 hours
before it was supposed to happen.

We were really bummed about the show being cancelled, so we tried to
book our own show. We lucked out and booked one at Breadstretchers.
This venue was our old stomping ground. Everyone's old bands (J.A.C.K.
and Best Of Winter) used to play there all the time.

Anyways, we booked the show 24 hours in advance. It ended up being
really good! We packed the place as much as we could. It's probably
about a 100 capacity venue, and we fit like 144 people through the
door. There were also like 30-40 people standing outside, watching
through the glass.

The crowd was way into it! The guys played a long set again. It went
over really well. We did well in merch. It was an especially nice show
because we were running it. It was really relaxed. Overall, it was an
awesome show!

P.s. I don't think I ever mentioned that WE WON the MTVu 'Freshmen'
contest! Hopefully the video for 'Sit & Sink' goes into rotation ont
MTVu soon :o)

Quincy, IL (Turner Hall)

The guys played a show last Friday at Turner Hall. The show was in
Corey and Jared's hometown of Quincy, IL. It ended up being really
good!

The guys played like twelve or thirteen songs, which is the longest set
they've ever played. There was a good crowd (~250). The sound was
pretty good. People went nuts for the guys. I would have to say that
kids went the most crazy when they did an encore and played
'Justified'. Overall, it was a great night!

Rochester, IL (Sparks In the Park)

Last night, the guys played in my hometown of Rochester, IL (population: 3,000). The show was part of the town's 4th of July celebration, 'Sparks In the Park.' The guys played a little bit later than expected (sound to a while to set up). Anyways, there was a decent crowd (150-200). The guys played well and the kids were way into it. They were chanting along to a lot of the songs. We did well in merch sales! The major downfall of the set was the sound (the sound guy kept trying to tweak levels when they didn't need to be tweaked). Regardless, the guys still had fun and the crowd enjoyed the set.

I announced the guys before they played. Kind of cheesy, but I was excited to finally show them off to my hometown. I'm glad that people (from my hometown) got to see what I'm doing with my life! Overall, it was a good night!

Milwaukee, WI (SUMMERFEST)

We played a show in Milwaukee this past Thursday. It was a big festival called "Summerfest." It's actually ten days long and has a lot of big name acts. Apparently it's the largest summer festival in the world! This was the first day of the festival.

We were on the US Cellular stage (which is a real legit one). We were slotted to play at 7:15pm...right before Say Anything and Jack's Mannequin (they're both pretty big). Well, Say Anything dropped off a few days ago, so we got bumped up to their spot. This put us right before Jack's Mannequin. Perfect!

The show ended up being amazing! This was the biggest crowd the guys have ever played for. There were around 3,000 people watching them! The guys played well, the sound and lights were great, and the crowd was way into them! We did pretty well on merch sales.

There was a contest going on that day called the US Cellular "Emerging Artist" contest. The crowd voted (by text messaging) on their favorite band to take the US Cellular stage that day (I believe there were 8 bands on the stage that day). Anyways, we weren't really too aware of the contest...

Well, next thing we know, after the guys are done with their set and chilling in their dressing room, Andrew McMahon (singer of Jack's Mannequin) comes in and tells us that we won the contest! We were stoked! The guys won a guitar, two really nice microphones, a cell phone, and a drum cymbal! In addition, that should ensure us a good slot on the festival next year. This night couldn't get any better!

We didn't get out of Milwaukee until about 1:30am. We drove all the way home (and got there around 8am). Overall, it was a great time. I can't wait to go back next year!

Chicago, IL (House Of Blues)

Last night's show was at the House of Blues in Chicago. This was the
last show of our six week tour. We had been looking forward to this one
for a long time! The show ended up being everything we hoped for and
more.

The guys played in front of a crowd of at least 800. This way by far the
biggest show on tour! They had never played Chicago House of Blues, so
this was a pretty big deal for them! A lot of friends and family came
up for the show.

The guys played well and kids were really into it! We ended up doing the
most in merch sales (out of any show on tour)! The sound was awesome
and the whole performance was just sweet! I stood sidestage during their
set. Corey actually brought me on stage part way through their set and
thanked me for all my efforts. It was really cool.

I don't mean to get all sentimental, but I was really proud of the guys
last night. Playing at that venue was a new landmark for them
(especially in front of that size crowd). (There ended up being about
1,000 people there by the end of the night.) We have always wanted to
break into the Chicago scene, and it seems like that is finally
happening.... The show was a perfect way to end the tour.

Overall, I had a great time on this tour. We all experienced a lot of
new stuff and saw some new sights. We met some great people that I hope
to tour with again. We've got some exciting things coming up in the next
few weeks, so I'll make sure to keep this thing updated!

Detroit, MI (The Magic Stick)

We played in Detroit at The Magic Stick on Friday. We actually played
this venue a few months ago (on our last tour). The show ended up being
pretty good. The guys played well and the kids seemed into it.

We're not a fan of Detroit because there are always a ton of bums and
thugs to deal with. Actually, Monty Are I (one of the bands on the
tour) got their van broken into when we were at the show. The had two
laptops, an ipod, and two bookbags stolen.

We had someone sitting in the van almost the entire show (just to make
sure no one messed with it).

Anyways, the show was pretty good. We drove to Chicago right after it.
We stayed at Jared's girlfriend's place.

Edinboro, PA (The Hangout)

Last night's show was at The Hangout in Edinboro , PA. We played this
venue on our last tour. The show ended up being great! It sold out
(415 kids)! This was our third sold out show on this tour...pretty
sweet!

The guys played well and got a way better crowd response than the last
time they played there. The sound was ok. We did really well in merch.

After the show, we drove to our hotel in Cleveland. We drove the rest
of the way to Detroit today. I'm now at our show in Detroit...

Day Off - Driving Day

We had yesterday off. We went to Niagra Falls (on the Canada side). It
was awesome! The scenery was unreal. I had never been there, so I'm
glad I finally got the chance to go. We hung out there for a while and
then went to a cassino right by the falls. I just spent $15 on slot
macines. (I'm a high roller, haha.) It was a good time though. Max won
$50 (and it was his first time at a cassino)!

After that, we made our way back into the U.S. We went to Erie, PA and
stayed with our friend, Matt. We're now eating at a diner in Erie.
After this, we're heading to our show in Edinboro, PA. Tonight should
be a good one!

Toronto, ON (El Mocambo)

We played in Toronto a few days ago. The show ended up being awesome!
We got to Toronto early and hung out. Most of us went to a local bar
for a while before the show. It was a good time!

Canada seems a lot different than the U.S., but it was pretty cool!
Everything seemed to be a bit more expensive there. The people were all
really nice. Sort of random, but I realized that not many people smoked
there. I really enjoyed that.

The show was great. There was a decent crowd (135 kids). The guys
played well and got a good crowd response. We did awesome on merch.
The sound was decent and the staff was nice.

After the show, most of the tour went out to a bar. We had a lot of
fun!

CORRECTION

The link to vote for The Graduate's video is:
www.mtvu.com/music/freshmen

Boston, MA (Axis)

Yesterday's show was at a club called 'Axis' in Boston. This was our
third time playing Boston, but we've never played this place. It was
really cool. It was definitely the largest/nicest venue we've played in
Boston.

The show ended up being pretty good! There were at least 200 kids
there. The guys played well, the sound was good, and they got a pretty
good crowd response. We did really well in merch.

After the show, we stayed at our friend, Karen's, new apartment. We
hung out in Boston for a while today and then started heading for
Canada. We just crossed the border. It went pretty smoothly. We were a
little nervous because Matt misplaced his passport today, but it wasn't
an issue. There was also a $450 fee that we wanted to avoid, and
luckily, we avoided it. We're now about an hour and a half from our
hotel.

Our show tomorrow is in Toronto. This is my first time being out of the
country, so I'm pretty stoked!

*The Graduate is in a contest (called 'Freshman') on mtvU this week.
They're currently at #1 (the contest goes until Friday at midnight).
Please go to the following website and vote for them as many times as
you'd like!

www.mtvu.com/music/freshman

If they win, the video could get added into rotation on mtvU and
possibly mtv2!*

New York, NY (The Knitting Factory)

Last night's show was at The Knitting Factory in NYC. We got into the
city around noon. We met up with our A&R guy, Matthew, and went out to
lunch. We hung out for a while and then went to the venue. The
weather got bad, so we had to load in really fast. After that, the guys
did an interview/acoustic performance.

The show ended up being awesome! This was the second time we've played
this venue. The show SOLD OUT (400 kids)!! The guys played well and
kids went absolutely nuts for them. This was probably the best response
they've gotten all tour. Kids were singing along and having a good
time.

The sound was decent, but there was some type of feedback throughout the
set. Luckily, it could only be heard when there was silence inbetween
songs.

We killed in merch. This was the highest grossing night of the tour for
us (so far)! After the show, we grabbed some sandwiches from a local
deli and headed to Conneticut. We stayed with Jared's girlfriend and
her family.

We're now on the way to our show in Boston. If tonight is anything like
the last three nights, it will be awesome!

Philadelphia, PA (First Unitarian Church)

Yesterday's show was in Philadelphia at the First Unitarian Church. We
played this venue a few months back on the Punchline tour. The show was
in the basement of the church.

The show was great. There were a ton of kids there (~300)! The guys
played well and got a great crowd response. We killed in merch. The
sound was alright.

After the show, we went to Jake's house (he's the drummer of New
Atlantic - one of the bands we're on tour with). He lived in downtown
Philly. His (parents') house was awesome! It was 5 stories tall and
about a block from South Street.

Anyways, we all went to South Street for a little bit and picked up
Philly cheese steaks. They were good! Then we went back to Jake's house,
hung out for a bit, and went to bed.

We're now a few miles outside of New York City (where tonight's show
is). We've got some stuff to do before the show, so we're geting there
early. Tonight's show should be good.

Baltimore, MD (The Ottobar)

Last night's show was at The Ottobar in Baltimore. We got into town the
night before and stayed at Salad Days studio (where the guys recorded
their latest cd). It was awesome! It's sort of like a smaller real
world house (with a studio).

During the day, we met up with the guys' producer/friend, Brian
McTernan. We all got lunch at a place called 'Isabella's' in the Little
Italy area of downtown Baltimore. It was great! After lunch, we hung
out for a bit. I finally tried the famous Baltimore beer,
'Ressurrection.' Everyone raves about it because of the taste and the
fact that it has an alcohol content of about 8%. I personally didn't
dig it, but I have a bad taste in beer. Haha.

After that, we went to the show. It ended up being an awesome one! The
guys played great and got a really good crowd response. There were a
lot of kids there. We killed in merch. We got a new girls' t-shirt in
yesterday, and it looks great. It sold well at the show. Overall,
awesome show. We really needed a show like this. (The last few dates
were a little shaky for us.)

After the show, we went back to the studio for a bit and then we went to
a bar called 'Friends.' The guys used to frequent this place when they
lived in Baltimore for a month (while recording their cd). It was a
good time. All in all, it was a really good night!

This morning, Matt and I got up and took our van to get an oil change
and two new trailer tires. We ate lunch at Isabella's again. We're now
on our way to our show in Philadelphia. Pre-sale for the show is
already at 275+, so it might sell out. It should be a good one!!

Wilmington, DE (Tremont Music Hall)

We played at Tremont Music Hall on Wednesday. We were really late to the show (due to bad traffic). We got there a few minutes before doors opened. Luckily, a few of the other bands were late, so we didn't look so bad. The show ended up being alright. There was a decent crowd.

The guys played pretty well and got a good crowd reaction. The venue was just a big hall. The sound was ok. We did ok on merch. After the show, we drove to Baltimore to stay at the studio where the guys recorded.

Charlotte, NC (Tremont Music Hall - The Casbah)

Yesterday's show was in Charlotte, NC. It ended up being pretty
decent. There was a good crowd (~160). The guys played really well and
got a good crowd response. Unfortunately, we didn't do so well on
merch.

The venue was decent and the sound was good. I got to see my friend,
Charotte. She interned with me at Fueled By Ramen last summer. I hadn't
seen her in a long time, so it was great to catch up.

After the show, we drove five hours to our hotel in Richmond, VA. This
morning, we woke up and continued our drive towards tonight's show in
Wilmington, DE. We're currently still on that drive and running an hour
and a half late (due to terrible traffic from Washington D.C and
Baltimore). Hopefully we make the show on time!

Atlanta, GA (The Masquerade)

Yesterday's show was at The Masquerade in Atlanta. We stayed at a nice
hotel at the Atlanta airport the night before. We woke up, showered,
and went to eat at Mellow Mushroom. I was stoked we got to eat there
again!

After lunch, we went to the venue and did the normal routine. The show
ended up being ok. The attendance was rather low and the guys didn't
play their best. It was weird...something sounded weird during various
parts of their set, but I couldn't pinpoint what it was. I think it was
a combination of a few different small things. Anyways, they got a
decent crowd reaction and we did alright on merch.

My friend, Megan (who is from Atlanta, but now lives in Tampa), came out
to the show. She was back in Atlanta visiting for a few days. It was
good to see her again!

After the show, we went to a new friend's house. We hung out for a while
and then went to bed. We're now driving to our show in Charlotte, NC.

Day Off (Driving Day)

We had yesterday off. We were in Tampa. We slept in late and then went
to Tijuana Flats. After that, we cleaned out the van. It was really
dirty. Not cool.

Then we hit the road and headed for Atlanta. We pricelined a 4 star
Hilton Hotel at the Atlanta airport. We got an awesome deal on it!

We slept in today. We're going to get some food and then go to the
venue. Hopefully tonight's show is good!

Orlando, FL (The Social)

Saturday's show was at The Social in Orlando. I had been here a few
times for shows last year (when I lived in Tampa). The venue is pretty
cool!

Before the show, I took the guys to one of my favorite Florida
restaurants, Tijuana Flats. It's a great mexican place. The guys loved
it.

The show was an early one! The first band started at 4:30pm. Anyways,
there was a solid crowd. The guys played well and got a really good
reaction. We did really well on merch.

After the show, we went back to Tampa. When we got back, we went out. I
got to see all my Tampa friends again. I even ran into some old
co-workers from the restaurant I used to work at when I lived in Tampa.
It was great catching up!

Overall, it was a good time. We stayed at Caleb and Dave's place again.

Fort Lauderdale, FL (The Culture Room)

Friday's show was in Fort Lauderdale. It ended up being pretty good!
The venue was really cool and there was a good crowd.

The van was extra full because we had our good buddy, Caleb, ride with
us. In addition, Corey's girlfriend flew in from Illinois to be with us
for the weekend.

The guys played pretty well and the kids seemed to dig the set. We did
decent in merch.

We did an on-camera interview/acoustic performance before the show. It
went well.

After the show, we drove a few hours toward Orlando and got a hotel.

Tampa, FL (The Orpheum)

Yesterday was a good time! We played at The Orpheum in Tampa. This was a
great day for me because I got to go back to Tampa. (I lived there for
seven months last year.)

We went to eat a late lunch at Mellow Mushroom. Most of the my Fueled
By Ramen friends met us there. It was a good time! After lunch, I took
the guys to the FBR office. We picked up some t-shirts and hung out for
a bit.

After that, we went to the show. We did the normal routine. The show
went pretty well. I had a lot of friends (15+) come out. I got to see
my whole Tampa crew plus my good friend (Ryan) from home. It was great
to see everyone.

The guys played pretty well. They seemed to get a real good crowd
response (from a crowd of ~150). Unfortunately, no one seemed interested
in buying our merchandise.

After the show, we went to a club called 'Prana.' It was actually really
cool. We got in free because my good friend's band was playing. It was
a five story club and we partied on the rooftop! It was a good time.

After that, we went back to out friends' place and crashed. Overall,
great day!

Jacksonville, FL (Jack Rabbits)

Yesterday's show was at Jack Rabbits in Jacksonville, FL. It was a
pretty good show. The venue was decent, the sound was good, and their
light board was sweet. The guys played pretty well and got a good crowd
response. There were a good amount of people there (150+). We did ok
on merch.

After the show, we drove to Tampa. We got there around 3:30am. We
crashed with my good buddies, Caleb and Dave. Overall, good night.

I'm stoked to be back in Tampa!

Day Off (Drive Day)

We had Tuesday off. We drove a few hours and stopped at Gulf Shores,
AL. We hung out on the beach for a while. It was awesome! We ended up
driving all the way to Jacksonville, FL that night. The Audition had a
tire on their trailer fall off, so we went and picked them up. They
rode with us the rest of the way to Jacksonville. It was a good time!
We got to stay in one of their hotel rooms for the night. Overall, good
day off.

New Orleans, LA (House Of Blues Parish)

Yesterday's show was at the House of Blues Parish in New Orleans. It
was in a smaller room (not the main stage). Did I ever mention that I
love the House of Blues? They're always fun venues to go to.

The guys played well and the sound was great! There was a good sized
crowd and they were really receptive to the set. We did decent on
merch. Overall, solid show!

After the show, almost the entire tour went out on Bourbon Street. It
was a really good time! It was fun to finally get to hang out there. A
few of us went to a jazz club for a little while and saw some amazing
musicians play. It was great.

We have today day off. We're now driving to Gulf Shores, AL to hang
out. I've heard the beaches there are great! I guess I'll find out
soon....

Houston, TX (Java Jazz)

Tonight's show was at Java Jazz in Houston, TX. We got to the venue
early and hung out. It was really hot outside! Anyways, the show ended
up being pretty good.

The guys played pretty well. Corey is finally getting his full voice
back. They got a good crowd response and we did pretty well on merch.
We're staying with some new friends tonight.

Tomorrow's show is in New Orleans. It should be good!

Dallas, TX (Day Off)

We were supposed to have a show in San Antonio yesterday.
Unfortunately, it fell through. We had a relaxing day. We hung out,
went swimming, and saw the movie '300'. It was pretty good!

The house we stayed at was amazing. They made us breakfast and lunch!
The owner of the house owned three airplanes...pretty crazy!

We left that house around dinner and went to another friend's house for
the evening. We had some awesome hospitality there too! They had a
bunch of pizzas waiting for us. We hung out and did some laundry,
watched tv, and just relaxed. It was great! Overall, I wish we could
have played the show in San Antonio, but it was still great day off.

Dallas, TX (The Door)

The show tonight was at The Door in Dallas, TX. I had heard of this
venue for a long time, so I'm glad we finally got to play it.

The show ended up being pretty good! There was a good crowd (~215). The
guys played well and got a really good crowd response. We did really
well on merch sales.

The venue was cool, the sound was pretty good, and the staff was nice.
We also had some really good catering! Overall, it was a good night!

We're staying with a friend tonight. Unfortunately, tomorrow's show (in
San Antonio) got cancelled because the promoter was flakey, and we
couldn't lock down a venue to play. We're planning on staying with a
different friend in Dallas tomorrow night.

Driving Day (Day Off)

We got our A/C fixed this morning. It cost way too much, but it had to
be done. We were supposed to have a show in Albuquerque, NM tonight,
but we dropped off the bill. We couldn't make the show in time (because
of the repair this morning). We've been driving since about noon
today.

We're driving about 2/3 the way to Dallas, TX tonight (that's where
tomorrow's show is). We're going to drive for another three or four
hours and get a hotel. We'll finish the drive in the morning. Overall,
it's been a relaxing day. I hope Texas treats us well...

Tempe, AZ (Day Off)

Today was our day off in Tempe, AZ. We had a laundry list of stuff to
get done. Our main priority was to get our van's A/C fixed. Matt, Tim,
and I went to the repair shop early in the afternoon. We knew we had
blown a hose, and we thought we were looking at about a $400 repair.
Well, we were WRONG.

We had also blown out the compressor and some other parts. We are
looking at a $1400 repair. BUMMER! We're getting it fixed in the
morning. We're supposed to be playing a show in Albuquerque, NM
tomorrow. Unfortunately, we're going to drop off the bill because we
won't make it in time (due to the A/C repair).

Tonight, we're just going to relax and try not to let this A/C repair
get to us.