Cleveland, OH (Grog Shop)

Last night's show was in Cleveland, OH at the Grog Shop. The venue was
pretty cool! I had heard a lot about it, so I was glad to finally go
there. The show went pretty well. The guys played well and the sound
was solid. They had a good crowd response.

After the show, we drove a few hours to Chris' (from Punchline) place.
We went to bed shortly after we got there.

We woke up today and went to eat at a place called 'Foster House.' It
was good! We're now on our way to the venue in Pittsburgh.

Today is the last day of the tour! This is pretty hard to believe. This
tour has gone by really quick. Tonight's show (in Pittsburgh) is in
Punchline's home town, so it should be pretty big!

South Hackensack, NJ (School Of Rock)

We had a busy day on Thursday. We woke up and drove a few hours to
Newark, NJ. The guys had an interview with PowerPlay TV. It was a
little rough, but I'm sure it will turn out fine.

After the interview, we drove to South Hackensack, NJ to play our show.
Well, the show turned out to be terrible. This was due to the horrendous
sound. Apparently it was the sound guy's first day on the job.
Regardless, this was the worst sound the guys have ever had (feedback,
etc.).

After the show, we drove part way to Cleveland and got a hotel.

Day Off (Baltimore, MD)

We had yesterday off. We decided to drive from Philly to Baltimore
after playing the Philly show. We got to Baltimore (Towson to be exact)
around 2am. We then crashed with our friends Julia, Jacqueline, and
Sara.

We woke up, showered, and went into Baltimore to meet up with Brian (who
produced 'Anhedonia'). Chipotle was our lunch spot of choice. After
lunch, we went back to Brian's studio (this was where the guys recorded
their album). I had been waiting to see this place for a while. It was
awesome!!! It was just as sweet as the guys had described.

We hung out at the studio for a while and then went to a great indie
record store called 'Sound Garden.'

After that, we went out to dinner with a friend of the band. We went to
a Lebanese restaurant. This was the first time I had been to a
restaurant like this. Apparently they were known for their duck. I
wasn't that adventurous, so I decided to get crab cakes. They were
really good!

After dinner, we went back to our friends' place in Towson and hung out
for the rest of the night. We are now on our way to Newark, NJ to do an
interview. Tonight, we're playing our rescheduled show in South
Hackensack, NJ. The tour is winding down. I'll be home in three days.

*After spending another day in Baltimore, I now realize why the guys
love that city. 'Fells Point' (area in downtown Baltimore) is awesome!*

Philadelphia, PA (First Unitarian Church)

We stayed with a new friend last night. We actually got to sleep in
today! It's great to feel fully rested for once!! We woke up, showered,
and did some laundry. After that, we decided to go into the city
(Philadelphia) to get a Philly Cheesesteak. It was great!

I'm at the show right now. The guys already played. They played well,
but the (small) crowd (of ~50) was dead. I'm surprised the turnout
wasn't bigger. Oh well.

We're driving to Baltimore tonight to stay with our friend Sara (who has
been with us the last two days). We have the day off tomorrow, so we're
going to hang out in Baltimore. It should be awesome!

Allentown, PA (Crocodile Rock)

Last night's show was at The Crocodile Rock in Allentown, PA. As I've
previously mentioned, this is my favorite venue I've been to.
(Apparently The Norva in Virginia Beach is better, bur I haven't been
there yet...)

There were 8 bands on the bill last night (4 of them were locals). Not
cool! There was a decent crowd (~100). The guys got their set cut
really short (because of sound difficulties and a local band playing
longer than their allotted set time). They only got to play four songs
(twenty minutes). Kind of a bummer. They got a pretty good crowd
reaction.

We found a girl at the show to stay with. That was great because we
didn't want to have to pay for another hotel. We drove to Upper Darby,
PA (right outside of Philadelphia) after the show and stayed with our
new friend, Fiona.

Hartford, CT (Webster Underground)

The show tonight was at the Webster Underground in Hartford, CT. Last
time we played here, there were about ten kids....so we didn't know what
to expect this time around.

We got to the venue early and I played hacky sack with some guys from
Punchline and Permanent Me. It was a good time! I hadn't played in a
long time, but I still had some of my game.

The show ended up being ok. There were (maybe) forty kids there when
The Grad played. The guys were bummed, but they played decent. They got
an ok crowd response.

We still need to figure out where we're staying tonight. I'm guessing
we'll have to get a hotel somewhere between Hartford and Allentown, PA
(where our show is tomorrow).

I'm stoked for the show tomorrow. We're at The Crocodile Rock in
Allentown, PA. That venue rules! Hopefully it's a great show!

Providence, RI (The Living Room)

Last night, the guys played at The Living Room in Providence, Rhode
Island. The show turned out to be ok. The crowd was small, but that
happens.

We got to the venue early and a bunch of guys on the tour decided to
play basketball. My team lost by one point, but we put up a good
effort. It was nice to get a little exercise on tour. I could use a lot
more of that!

After the show, all the bands got rooms at the same hotel. I hung out
for a while and then went to bed. Overall, it was a fun day!

Portland, ME (The Station)

I visited Maine for the first time in my life yesterday. We played at a
venue called 'The Station' in Portland, ME. The place was pretty cool.
The guys played well and got a good crowd response. The crowd was
smaller than most of the crowds on this tour. This could be due to the
face that we were in Maine (and bands don't tour there too often).

Overall, it was a decent show. We're in Providence, RI tonight.

Boston, MA (The Middle East)

Yesterday's show was at The Middle East in Boston. We got to the city
early and stopped by the Purevolume office. (For those of you who don't
know, Purevolume is a huge music website that has helped launch a lot of
bands' careers. It allows people to hear bands' music online.)

The guys did a videotaped acoustic peformance for Purevolume. It should
be featured on the front page sometime in the next month or so!

Speaking of videos, the guys' new video for 'Sit & Sink' is being
featured on Myspace right now. It's the featured video on the 'Spotlight
On Indie Videos' section.

Anyways, the show was pretty good. The guys played well and the sound
was pretty good! The guys got a good crowd reaction. I got to see my
Tampa friend, Kristen. She made a big cookie cake for everyone and it
had all our pictures on it. Thanks so much Kristen! You're awesome.

After the show, we went to our friend, Karen's, apartment. We hung out
for a while and then went to bed. We are now on our way to Portland,
Maine. I've never been to Maine...hopefully it's sweet. I'll give you my
review soon!

P.s. Be careful where you park in Boston...we already got two tickets
(totaling $70). Not cool.

New York, NY (The Knitting Factory)

Yesterday was pretty crazy. We woke up in Brooklyn and made our way to
our hotel (a block from Times Square). We had a taped television
performance (for Fearless Music TV) at 1pm. Unforunately, we had a lot
of trouble finding parking (never bring a van AND trailer into NYC). We
finally got stuff figured out and made it to the performance right on
time.

The taping went really well. After that, we grabbed some lunch and
headed to the club to load-in. The show went really well. Basically
everyone from Icon MES (the record label the band is signed to) was
there. I finally got to meet Ken (the president of the label), which was
cool. It was really great to see everyone again!

The guys' set was awesome. They killed it! This was crucial, considering
they had a lot of pressure to perform well at this show. They
definitely stood up to the challenge.

I also got to see my buddy Erick at the show. He was my mentor when I
interned at Fueled By Ramen last year. He just relocated from Tampa, FL
to NYC a few weeks ago. It wad great catching up!

After the show, most of the bands went to a deli together to get
sandwiches. We hung out for a while, then went back to our hotel to
crash.

This morning, the guys did an acoustic performance for the fine people
of Music Choice. It went pretty well! After that, we hit the road. We
are now on the way to Boston! We're taping an acoustic performance at
Purevolume and then playing a show tonight at The Middle East. It
should be a good night!

Baltimore, MD (Ottobar)

Baltimore was good to us. We stayed with our friend Julia (who lives
right outside of the city). We woke up and ate at Blue Moon Cafe. (It's
a really good breakfast place located in Fells Point - downtown
Baltimore.) The food was awesome!

After lunch, we loaded into the venue and did the whole show routine.
The show went really well. They guys played well and the kids seemed to
like them. Brian McTernan (who produced the band's new cd 'Anhedonia')
was at the show. The guys were anxious to see what he thought of their
live show......luckily, he really enjoyed it!

After the show, we drove to Brooklyn and stayed at an old friend's
apartment. We got there at like 5am and had to get up at 8am....not
cool. We had a huge day ahead of us...

The Big Update

OK, so I've neglected this journal for the past week or so. I apologize
to anyone who was following it. I'm going to do a big update now to
catch people up to speed.

After Easter, we played a show in Des Moines, IA at the House of
Bricks. The place was cool and the show was good! The guys got a good
response.
*This place has awesome food! (Potato skins all the way..)

Next, we played in Papillion, NE at The Rock. This place was a few
miles away from Omaha. The show was pretty small (~60 kids) but we still
had a good time. After the show, we stayed with some buddies at
Creighton University. It was a blast.
Only downfall...some of us stayed with a kid who broke his toilet during
the night........the guys woke up to a flooded room. Not cool!

After Papillion, we played St. Louis, MO (Creepy Crawl). The show was a
lot of fun. The guys played well and the kids really got into them. My
uncle came to check it out....I think he actually enjoyed it!! I ran
into an old friend from St. L that I hadn't seen in three years. Pretty
crazy! We stayed in St. L with a good buddy of ours. Overall, it was a
great night.

The next show was in Columbus, OH at The Basement. This show was
great. The guys played decent, but they had a terrible sound guy.
Despite the sound issues, the crowd loved them! We did really well in
merch and the guys were signing stuff all night. I think part of the
great response was due to the fact that we played a huge show in
Cleveland (with Jack's Mannequin) a month ago. We had some kids come
back, which is awesome! We stayed with Matt's cousin in Columbus. It was
a good time!

Saturday night, we played in Edinboro, PA at The Hangout. This venue was
pretty cool. There were like 300 kids. The guys played well and I got
to use a really cool light board for their set. This was Punchline's
23rd time playing this venue! We stayed with some kids in Erie, PA that
night.

The next show was in Buffalo, NY at The Icon. The show was pretty
decent. There were about 100 kids there. Unfortunately, the sound guy
was sub-par. The guys were bummed about the sound during their set.
After the show, we started driving towards South Hackensack, NJ (where
our next show was). We hit some bad snow and decided to get a hotel
part way through our trip.

The show yesterday in South Hackensack, NJ was cancelled due to
flooding. We decided to make our way to Baltimore, MD (where our next
show would be). We made our way through some bad weather (snow) and got
to Towson, MD (right outside of Baltimore) last night. We stayed with
our friend Julia who works at Absolutepunk.net (my favorite website)!
Hah. This leads up to where I am right now. We have a crazy next few
days. I'll do my best to keep everyone up-to-date on how things go.

Detroit, MI (The Magic Stick)

On Saturday, the guys played in Detroit. To be completely honest, I
wasn't looking forward to being in Detroit. I've always heard that it's
a rough city. Well, it seemed to be true. Luckily, we stayed safe.

The show was decent. There were about 60 kids there. The guys had a big
mess-up on one of their songs. Matt forgot to switch guitars between
two songs, so the guys were playing in different tunings for a
minute....not good! Haha. It was still a fun night.

We drove home after the show (for Easter). We landed in Springfield
around 7am.

Madison, WI (The Loft)

So yesterday (Friday) was the first day of the Punchline/The
Fold/Permanent Me/The Graduate tour (a.k.a. 'The Boys Club Tour'). We
played at The Loft in Madison. We had played this venue a few months
back on our first national tour.

The show went really well. There was a decent turnout and kids really
dug The Grad's set. This tour, I am tour managing AND running
merchandise. Tonight was my first night juggling both duties. It
actually went really well. We sold a lot of merch, which is always
good!

We are now driving to Crown Point, IN to stay with our buddies in the
band 'Asteria'. We have a show in Detroit tomorrow. After that, it's
back home for Easter.

*Unfortunately, Punchline couldn't make the show tonight. Their singer
was sick. We'll get to meet up with them in Detroit tomorrow though.