Noah's Drum Journey

The Today Show

I realize I'm a bit behind on the blogging. Life just barrels onward, and I can't seem to catch my breath. Having a great time though.

So, a couple weeks ago we played The Today Show (which along with The Tonight Show, completes the set for us, I suppose). The concert took place smack dab in the middle of Rockefeller Square, with approximately 12,000 people shoehorned in there, which was sort of like dropping the entire Pacific ocean into a drinking glass.

I got to play with the brand new, delicious keyboards that Roland supplied me with, in exchange for my Miley-related face. They're much easier to play than my old keyboards, with the added benefit of making Schmid Island look like a totally pro vacation destination.

Mike - stunned by the keyboard greatness.
Nate - bored behind his drumset.

This was another whirlwind trip for us. We got in late at night, and the morning of the show, we had to soundcheck at 5am. Miley only got a few hours of sleep, but of course she was still brilliant. And of course, so were we. That's what we get paid for. The complaining is a free bonus (I like to call it "added value").

In the dressing room, they had a big spread of donuts, fruit and sandwiches. So of course, I had three donuts. When the show began, I had a stomach ache (what am I, five? "Mikey can't resist the candy", eh?).

Jaco is constantly asking me to take his picture

But this time he returned the favor.
I'm apparently ready to fake pounce, or something.

Nate and I became fast friends. If you happen to have the show Tivo'd, you can see at the beginning of Miley's dressing room interview, Nate and I are sitting on the couch behind her, having some fun with his iPhone. He had installed the Magic 8-Ball application and we were asking it some questions (at the most inappropriate possible time). First, "will we be a complete trainwreck on stage?" It's answer: "Of course!" Second, Nate asked, "will I be responsible for this?" The ball replied, "Absolutely not." So Nate was off scot-free, but who was going to ruin the show?

We went back out to the stage and played our faces off. It was a pretty typical show: Kay and Nadia shook their little booties, I held down the Island, Nate banged on some stuff, Jamie and Jaco got way too much camera time, Vashon intimidated little girls, Stacy looked on with a broken arm and a tear in his eye, and Miley belted like the charismatic little rockstar she is.

Turns out the only thing that went wrong is that the host didn't know we were playing another song, and tried to throw to commercial. But really, 8-Ball -- "train wreck?" That may be pushing it.

Before the flight home, Nate bought me a book of Sudoku, as we were talking about how I didn't understand the mass cultural fascination with it. Of course, I also thought it was about math, and we all know how I run screaming in the other direction when confronted with simple addition. Nate explained that there is no math involved, and that even a total knob-monkey like myself could understand it. I was addicted within five minutes, and spent a good part of my return flight filling in puzzles. The rest of the time was spent watching Curb Your Enthusiasm on my iPod, attempting to sleep with my head rolling from side to side, and holding those Terra Blue chips up to the light to admire the special pearlescent chemical compound that I probably shouldn't be eating.

Stadium of Fire

Ah, Utah: state that I never planned to visit. First we filmed our big 3D movie in Salt Lake City, and now we were performing at the Stadium of Fire 4th of July Spectacular in Provo. What a unique place. The state slogan is "Home of Mormons and Meth Labs."

Upon arrival we were greeted by the strangest street fair I've ever seen. For sale: BBQ chicken, Miley Cyrus paintings, marshmallow cannons, Mormon prophet dolls (he recites scripture when you push him!), all manner of pyrotechnics, swords and katanas, and a variety of BB guns. Jaco was eyeing the BB shotgun with laser sight - only $5!

Provo is home to a large amount of ethnic restaurants. Stacy was sure that most of them were terrible. Wandering for nearly an hour, looking in windows for any sign of authenticity, the whole band eventually decided to eschew the Mexican, Italian, and blah blah blah places, and went for the yummy smelling Indian place. It was a surprisingly tasty meal. We all left stuffed.

Afterwards, I walked around town with Nadia, the new background singer. Candice has left us, and Nadia came in to take her place. I had a nice long talk with her about life, love, god, etc. A good night.

The next day, we arrived at the stadium... OF FIRE! --(Sidenote: every time I heard the words "Stadium of Fire," I also heard a big 80's drum fill and some squealing guitars accompanying an "Eye of the Tiger"-like vocalist. STADIUM OF FIIIIIIIRE! It's EXXXXTREEEEEEME! MONSTERRRR TRUUUUUUCKS!)-- I digress.

We came. We soundchecked. We conquered.

We also tested out some giant columns -- OF FIRE.

Jamie refreshed Miley's memory on the chord progression for "I Miss You."

Some of you have also noticed that Stacy wasn't there. Well, he actually was there, just not on stage. He broke his arm playing softball, and has to sit out for six weeks. But he's still the Musical Director, and still bosses us all around. His replacement is an awesome guy named Nate, who previously played on that Rockstar TV show.

The big (drum fill) STADIUM OF FIIIIIIRE!!!!! show equaled the weirdness of the previous day's street fair. It was hosted by right-wingnut, Glen Beck, and included a performance by Blue Man Group.

Much fanfair.

Much FIIIIIIIRE!

Some flags

And fighter jet flyovers

Close call

The best part though -- during the show, the words "Stadium of Fire" came up on a screen all fiery (of course!), and then my dream came true. Out from the speakers came a huge 80's drum fill, and nearly note for note, the beautiful symphony of cheese, exactly as I heard it in my head (minus the "MONSTERRRRRR TRUUUUUUCKS!" part). I laughed for nearly a half-hour after that.

Speaking of fire, check out the hotness (L to R: Kay, Nadia)

At one point, 1300 dancers filled the field and acted out all the sports of the summer Olympics in 7 minutes.

Why? Umm, dunno. Just seemed like a good idea at the time.

Oh yeah, and we played some music too.

Then we had pizza and went home.

NetJets & JetBlue

Show #2 in NYC:
This time, we didn't have to trek out to Jersey. This time, we just walked five minutes from our hotel to the Hammerstein Ballroom for a special private engagement for the NetJets crew. NetJets sponsored our tour, and apparently they're huge Miley fans, so they booked an exclusive show for their families.

Hammerstein was the smallest venue we've played so far (which, for Miley, isn't really that small):

The band dressing room was up four very narrow flights of stairs, which was novel ("it's oh so New York!") the first time, and became progressively more annoying every time I had to go back and fourth, which was quite a lot.

This show was the first one since the tour that was a double Miley/Hannah show. Unlike the tour, however, we had no other act to fill the time during the Hannah-to-Miley quick change. So Miley had to seriously book it backstage and get dressed in a flash while a brief video clip played.

She came out right on time, much to my surprise. I don't know how she did it. But part way through the first song, it became clear that the change wasn't absolutely complete. One of her in-ear monitors was dangling loose. Miley spent most of the first song fiddling with that ear, trying to put it in as she danced around. Didn't work.

I heard lots of loud chatter backstage, as Mick and Omar tried to find a quick solution.

As the song ended, Miley excused herself and ran offstage. We all looked at each other. With yesterday's monitor disaster fresh in our minds, Stacy mouthed "Right Here" to the band, and we vamped on that song for a minute or so. Miley ran back onstage sans dangling cords, and the rest of the show proceeded as usual.

And they all lived happily ever after.

I spent the evening in Spanish Harlem partying with a bunch of old friends, playing Guitar Hero and drinking enough to make my early morning JetBlue flight a bit unpleasant.

Said flight turned out to be quite pleasant despite that. I sat in my assigned seat, and the girl sitting next to me asked if she could get something from the overhead compartment. I moved out of the way, and she grabbed it. It was a ukelele. Suddenly, I noticed she looked very familiar. "I'm Mike," I said, hoping she would give me her name.

She replied, "I'm Ingrid."

"Michaelson?" I said?

She looked puzzled. "...Yeah. How did you know?"

For those of you who don't know, Ingrid Michaelson is a singer/songwriter who's song, "The Way I Am," became quite a hit after playing on Grey's Anatomy. I'm a fan of hers (but not of Grey's Anatomy).
I told her of the strange coincidence: one of the A&R guys at her label, Original Signal, is none other than Stacy Jones. Our Stacy, drummer extraordinaire and musical director for Miley. We found that wasn't the only thing we had in common as we talked about everything from Flight of the Conchords to our careers for the duration of our six hour flight. We even traded iPods and played our unfinished demos for each other.

Another strange coincidence: she was headed to her manager's house. I know her manager. She lives on my street. So I gave Ingrid a ride home, along with Jaco (who was parked at my house). It was nearly 100 degrees in L.A. and we were all grouchy and whiny. It was actually kinda fun to see a singer/songwriter that I'd only seen glammed up in music videos, all sweaty and complainy.

She's quite a sweetheart. Hopefully I'll meet up with her again sometime.

Z100 Zootopia

New York City welcomed us with a bleak, cold rainstorm. A rainstorm with which we became very familiar as we waited soggily for our shuttle to come pick us up from the JFK airport. It didn't show. After over an hour, Stacy made a phone call to the shuttle service. The service replied, "He's been waiting for over an hour. He couldn't get in to the gate, so he's around the back."

No one called to tell us this?

The only thing worse than waiting in a chilling rainstorm for a shuttle is waiting in a chilling rainstorm for a shuttle that's parked around the corner.

We made our way to the bus marked "Krystal." Their slogan was "a 'gem' of a ride!"

Kill me now.

After boarding and finally leaving the airport, the driver swerved and tailgated his way into the city. Nearly a half-hour later, we pulled over near a basketball court in what was clearly the ghetto. This was not our hotel. The driver exited the bus. He slowly walked around the side and looked closely at the front tire. Then the back tire. Then he went around the other side and did the same.

And then, without a word, he got back on the bus and resumed driving.

Okay then.

He had a strong preference for the right lane on the freeway, adding at least 15 additional minutes to our ride. When we finally reached the hotel, he parked at the entrance that was clearly marked "closed after 7pm." It was nearly 9pm.

He started pulling all our bags out of the back of the bus, when he finally heard us all screaming, "We need to move!" and "Put the bags back!" and "Why are you so dumb!?"

So he drove the van around the block to the front entrance.

Not quite a "gem" after all.

My room at the Affinia Hotel was spacious, with a full kitchen and a high ceiling, but tempered by the customary miniscule New York bathroom: you can only take a shower if you suck in your gut.

The pillows were comfy, but in case they weren't, the Affinia had a pillow menu to put that other place to shame (click photo to enlarge):
What to do when you're in New York City? Well, same thing I always do: see my buddy Ben. The two of us slogged through the wet city to some country steak joint that oddly smelled like warm brownies, which is never a bad thing. I say "oddly," because brownies were not on the menu.

I had the burger.

Just like last time, it was garbage night in the city.

I'm convinced this is an everyday sight. Trash sprawled up almost every street. And trust me, there's nothing like the smell of wet garbage in the evening air to rid your brain of brownie thoughts.

The following day, we were slated to play Z100's Zootopia. Z100 is supposedly the most widely listened-to station in the world. I'm not sure how anyone can prove this.

The festival was being held at what was previously the Meadowlands Arena in Jersey, now annoyingly renamed the Izod Center. During the tour, I grew weary of arenas with names like the Dunkin Donuts Center, the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater and the FedEx Forum. Are there any venues that haven't been bought by The Man?

We had our soundcheck early in the morning and everything went very well. I can't say the same for Jessie McCartney, who spent his entire half-hour listening to Pro-Tools tracks while his playback guy tried to fix some completely inaudible problem. The band looked impatient, and Jessie looked like he was about ready to blow.

At noon, they commuted us back to the hotel for an entire day of freedom in the city. I went to the park.

The Krystal bus picked us up again at 8:30pm and drove us back out to Jersey for the big show. Also performing, the Jonas Brothers, OneRepublic, Danity Kane and Simple Plan. We got back just in time for me to check out Sara Bareilles. I really like "Love Song." Good thing too, cause they only let her play that one tune, even though everybody else was playing half-hour sets.

After her, all the girls swooned for New Kids On The Block. Yes. That's not a typo. New Kids. And how they did swoon. Some of our female dancers (and I won't name names to spare their dignity) knew all the lyrics and were very excited to see their childhood idols all growed up (read: old and depressing) and still dancing the same dance steps. It was like Bring Your Dad To Work Night at the Apollo. But I'm happy for them, I guess. They just grabbed themselves another 15 minutes.

We took the stage around 10:30 and Miley proceeded to melt some faces. Everything went well until the song, "Right Here," when my ears went out. I looked around and noticed that I wasn't the only one. Jamie was mouthing to Stacy, "No ears!" Jaco looked at me and mouthed, "Did you lose your ears?" We kept playing despite the fact that none of us could hear much of anything, as our ears block outside sound, so when they turn off, you can't hear very well. A while later in the song, the ears came back on, and of course we were off the click, so they had to stop the click track. Again, we kept playing.

Looking at the faces in the audience, nobody noticed the numerous heart attacks that just occured on stage. Those crazy kids just wanna have a good time. And a good time they had.

One show down, one to go. Tomorrow, the big NetJets show.

Bee Bee Queue

Last night was the "little party at Candice's." Or at least that's how she presented it. We were picked up at the hotel by a big stretch Hummer limo, complete with an indoor laser show. When we arrived at the gorgeous Accola compound, we enjoyed an elaborate spread of quail, conch fritters, fondue and fried turky, which is super delicious. I made a playlist (for this very occasion) and tried to include something for everyone, which meant some Posies and Nirvana for the band, some Amy Winehouse for the dancers, and a little Neil Finn for myself.

It was quite the happening event. Lots of toasted marshmallows and toasted crew members.

Progress Report

Thank you, dear readers, for inquiring about our health.

Miley definitely had a rough time last night. She was feeling very sick and actually left the stage at one point. We weren't sure what to do, cause this show runs like clockwork, but that's why we have a Musical Director. Stacy was on the ball and told us to go into "Right Here," so we vamped and goofed around for about three minutes till Miley came back. Candice busted out some genius phrases along the lines of "let's make some noise for Miley to come back out!" A stagehand pulled out a bench for Miley and she performed "Right Here" sitting down. It ended up being quite poignant, and we all had fun being spontaneous for a change.

I hear Miley's doing quite a bit better today. She went with a bunch of the dancers to Disney World and had a little adventure. Sounded cool. They got to go in the back entrances of the rides, and were allowed to ride them twice in a row if they wanted. And they had a van drive them to each ride. That is the way to do Disney World.

Kay is much improved today. She looks like herself again. Stacy seems fully recovered. Me, not so much. I feel like I got hit by a truck with spikes on its wheels. But I still had a great time at Candice's barbecue. I'll tell you more about that later.

But for now, I must sleep.

Surrender

You guys asked for more video, and how could I deny you?

Occasionally during soundcheck, we like to change it up. Stacy pulls an American Hi Fi and becomes lead-singer guy, Jamie puts down his guitar and plays drums and we all join in playing some random tune.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

So that was that. Aly and AJ are gone. Everlife has joined us. We were definitely saddened to say goodbye to A&A's band. They were very nice guys and we were just getting to know them. Notice I only mention the band. It's not that A&A were mean, they just barely said one word to any of us. Whatever.

Everlife all seem to be genuine, sweet and kind people. We're looking forward to our tiny sliver of time with them.

We played Austin last night and Lafayette tonight. Now we're in New Orleans. And it's Mardi Gras! But we've all gotten sick again, so we won't be going out.

Yes, it's true. Stacy is still getting better, but Kay came down with a nasty flu within the last day or so, and now Jaco and I are feeling extremely blecchy.

But it's actually kind of great. Poetic. We were sick at the beginning, we're sick at the end. Oh, how I DO like symmetry.

Leaving the Lights Behind

We just finished a wonderful three-day run in Vegas. The longest run we've had on the tour. It was nice to stay in one place for awhile.

So what happened while we were in Vegas:

1. Stacy got a bronchial infection. Currently coughing up neon green.
2. Kay passed out and hit her head really hard on the floor. Freaked us all out.
   
3. Almost all my aunts were in town, as were my sweet parents. Family reunion!
   
4. All the Hollywood Records and Disney execs came to show #1. Scary. We were told to bring our "A" game. So we did.
   
5. John Mayer came to show #2. Cool.
   
6. Johnny Depp came to show #3. Very cool.
   
7. We spent a night clubhopping, as Cowboy the rigger got us an amazing VIP booth at Moon and VIP treatment at some other clubs as well, and Jamie complained (in an entertaining way) the entire night.
8. We had a big jam session in the desert, at drum tech Benoit's house, funking out with Aly and AJ's band. Dancers on drums, guitarists on bongos. A very fun mess.
   

And now we're on the bus, trekking to Phoenix for a day off. Sweet sleep, how I've missed you.

Good Times Square: Part One

New Years Eve was certainly the most bizarre birthday I've ever had. I woke up around noon (this part was pretty normal, unfortunately) and did the daily food scavenge. Didn't find much in the minibar. So I went back to Cafe Europa, where I had breakfast with Jae and Robin the previous day. "Stick with the safe choice!" That's what I always say. Who cares if you're in a city filled with a multitude of delicious options?

Then I celebrated my birthday by going to the Sprint store and activating my brand new (to me) Treo. Very exciting. While I was in a celebratory mood, I decided to swing by Best Buy on the way back to the hotel to pick up a Spoon record I really wanted. As a present to myself. I went in and found the CD immediately. And then I looked up and realized that Best Buy + NYC + New Year's Eve = NO. The line stretched all the way through the store and out the front door. So I put it down and left.

Later, we all hopped in the van (minus Candice and Kay who unfortunately were replaced by dancers for the day, as there wasn't going to be much room on our tiny rooftop stage). Luckily, Times Square was only three blocks from our hotel, so even with traffic we anticipated a short ride. Unluckily, the police re-routed us at every intersection in some cruel display of misplaced power. It took us almost 45 minutes to get there. Stacy and I thought we should just get out and walk, but for some reason, nobody seemed to want to. This was absurd.

We showed our top-secret Dick Clark passes and were ushered into the ABC building into a tiny room that (strangely enough) had a washer and dryer in it. This was our dressing room.

They brought in some Virgil's Barbecue, but I didn't really like it. Despite everyone saying it was some world-class restaurant, nobody really enjoyed the food in front of us.

Around 5pm, they escorted us all up to the roof for a sound check. It was freezing up there.


The dancers quickly cobbled together a routine, adapted for the tiny stage. We were all very impressed with them.

(R-L: Christina Glur and Ashlee Nino)

To our right, we could see that a massive crowd had already gathered in Times Square. However, we weren't performing to them. Though it looks, on TV, like we're facing the crowd, this is what was directly in front of us:

A lot of people, equipment, and (oddly enough) a UFC billboard owned by CBS. (Why was this on top of the ABC building?)

Stacy began arranging his kit, Jaco was playing with his amp, and I was setting up my keyboard, when BAM, they just started the ProTools tracks and we had to go go go. Nobody even told us we were playing yet and off we went.

Everybody felt frazzled but we got it together quickly. By the time the song ended, we weren't sure if we'd just done a rehearsal or a pre-tape. I think it was both. We did it one more time and then headed back downstairs to the warmth of the Barbecue Laundry Room.

Jack then notified us that we had five hours till the show. Great. Let's go explore! Except, ABC + NYC + New Year's Eve = NO. We weren't allowed to leave the building. The whole place was on lockdown. Nobody really brought anything to do. Except Jamie. He had a deck of cards.

So this is what the next five hours looked like:

Notice, behind Jack is Times Square. We had a great view of all the people wearing their red hats (sponsored by Pontiac!) and the acts performing. We had a TV in the room with a feed of what was going on outside. So we could watch Carrie Underwood on TV and hear the bass and the crowd screaming from outside, and poke our head out the window and looky -- there's Carrie Underwood!

Mostly though we just played cards.

At precisely 9:50pm, we were hurried back up to the roof. Tiffany gave us heating pads to stuff into our clothes. I had previously bought some cut-off gloves from H&M, and I quickly stuffed the pads into the palms. I thought I'd leave my coat behind since we were only playing two songs and I wasn't going to wear it during the broadcast (who wants to look like a puffy porpoise on national TV?).

Little did I know we'd be standing there for a full 20 minutes before we played.

As I froze my bony booty off, I enjoyed this view of the revelers:

The revelers happened to be reveling without any alcohol this year, as Times Square is dry for New Year's. They still seemed totally drunk.

We got a 10 minute warning. Then 5. Then 2 minutes. We were all waiting for the 5-4-3-2 countdown before we start playing.

It didn't come. BANG! The ProTools started again. WHAT!? We all just ran with it. Live television, ladies and germs! When you watch it, you might be able to notice that we're all a little surprised at the beginning.

Needless to say, Miley was great. She was energetic and a total pro in the arctic weather. She's a little 15-year-old powerhouse.

My fingers were frozen, and I had a painful hangnail on my thumb which I had to slam all over the keyboard. None of this felt good.

But what a thrill it was to look to the right and see us playing on all the Jumbotrons in Times Square.

And then as quickly as it began, it was over.

Here it is, as seen on TV (only grainier):


Then we all practically ran out of that building.

But the night wasn't over yet. Part Two coming soon.

Don't Eat The Lobster

The Little Rockers were pretty rowdy. We had a great show, despite the hardships.

The hardships being: Stacy (drummer/musical director) and Charlie (road manager) both enjoyed some chow at yesterday evening's aforementioned Benihana experience. And then they proceeded to throw up all night. It was the lobster. They both looked like ghosts this morning and were sick all day.

Stacy had to keep a giant trash bag by his drumset during the show, just in case. And I only saw Charlie once, which is very unusual, cause he gives us our show calls ("twenty minutes," "five minutes," etc). Hopefully he was napping somewhere.

Also, I'm still sick. It just never ends. I occasionally go to sing and let out a hearty cough instead...which I try to play off as a laugh.

But at least I don't have food poisoning.

Band Lingo

While on the road, in close quarters, the band has shared more than just germs. We've all adopted many of the same phrases. And a lot of these phrases come from Jaco Caraco, crazy hippie guitarist.

NOT PRO

Aside from regular surfer/hippie/Topanga-resident sayings like "you got hosed" and ending conversations with "PEACE!", Jaco has contributed "not pro." For instance, when I pull out my ghetto cellphone, which gets crushed under the weight of simple texting, Jaco says "dude, that is so not pro."

Here are some other things that are not pro:

• When Kay inevitably almost misses the bus
• When your hotel key doesn't work, and it's 4am and you have tons of luggage
  
• When Vashon has glitter on his arm during the show and nobody knows why
  
• When there's no bottled water on the bus
• When somebody poops in the dressing room bathroom
  
• When Candice opens her mouth
  

OIL SPOTTING

This one comes from Stacy. When somebody's late for bus call (was me once, usually is Kay or Candice), Stacy will say "let's oil spot Candice." Ironically, the only person who's every been oil spotted was me, as I was referring to the "Book of Lies" (what we call our tour book with all our scheduling info, as it's always changed). They left because nobody noticed I wasn't on the bus. They all assumed I was online in my bunk or something. Can you believe that?

Links Aren't Just For Sausage

Those links on the right-hand-side of the page aren't just there to make it look like I have friends. I highly recommend you check out the blogs of two other wonderful people on the tour.

Kay Hanley, one of Miley's background singers and incidentally one of the coolest people alive, writes a blog (oops, Stacy hates that word...he wants us to call it an "e-journal") called "Strange Life". It chronicles her Red Sox fandom, tour partying, her other life (over Thanksgiving she's flying to New York to sing in the Macy's Day Parade. She wrote the new Care Bears song. Watch her on TV!), her family (complete with adorable children), and various other awesomeness. Kay is rock n' roll to the core. If she looks familiar to you, you were probably a huge Letters To Cleo fan. I know I was. (Look at Stacy on the drums with his blond hair!)


Or else you just really love Tigger & Poo.


Gregg Garbo, the bassist for the Jonas Brothers, writes an awesome e-journal called "Let's Go On Tour." He wittily covers everything from alligators to Steve Jobs to how Joe Jonas was featured on South Park last week.

This blog is delightfully droll. I love how he writes on the pictures. Gregg is an awesome guy, and hilarious to boot. We've been meaning to hang out, but we haven't gotten the scheduling together yet, as those Jonases are even busier than us. Some days, they play a show after the show! Crazy people.

I highly recommend both of these e-journals. I read them every day. Just one warning: these humans are funnier than me. You may never want to come back.

On The Bayou

Despite the mania and excitement provided by Ally and Stormy, the Dallas audience was shockingly sedate; the quietest we've experienced so far. Towards the end, Miley was saying things along the lines of "come on guys, don't fall asleep on me."

In contrast, tonight's audience in Shreveport, Louisiana was a rambunctious bunch that would have been swinging from the rafters if there were any to swing from.

After the show, Jaime, Stacy, Vishon and Jaco all packed and left the band bus to board the management bus. They're flying back to L.A. to film Miley's video for "Start All Over." Apparently there was not enough room on the stage for a keyboard player or background vocalists. Boo.

A group of us got tired of waiting for the buses to leave, which was going to be a couple hours, so we took a van to a local casino and quickly gambled away all our income from the tour. Okay, that's a large exaggeration. Gambled away a tiny bit of today's per diem. We're a practical bunch.

Kay, Candice and I are on the bus headed to Florida right this second, and we have three days off while the guys film. This marks the very first time we've ever had more than one day off in a row.

And when in Florida, what are a bunch of singing pacifists to do? We're gonna go shoot some guns. Oh you wish I was kidding!

StripHouse/MuteMath

Last night I went a-wandering the streets Houston looking for food. Once again, the pickings were pretty slim. I straggled into a steak place called The Strip House. Other than the dicey name, it looked pretty nice, and as I wandered in I saw Stacy, Jaime and Kay at the bar. A while later, Charlie (asst tour manager) and Vishon (bassist) walked in. I would say "what a coincidence!" but it was truly the only thing open.

We had a lovely (albeit extremely pricy) meal of delicious strip steak, goose fat potatoes, and about 92 different side dishes.

Then as if by magic, we found ourselves at the Warehouse watching MuteMath play their little hearts out. It was an incredible show and it really inspired all of us, even curmudgeonly Jaime, who doesn't generally like any music released after 1975. The lead singer was doing handstands on his Rhodes, they were picking up pieces of the drum kit and reconfiguring them, climbing the rafters, it was pretty crazy and pretty awesome. I was already a fan, but many of the other band members were converted. These guys are amazing musicians and amazing entertainers, which is a tough combination to find these days.

Tonight's show in San Antonio was a blast. Miley brought her cute little doggie to soundcheck.

And now we're headed to Dallas. I'm looking forward to seeing some friends there.

Blacking Out The Friction

After the self-pity-fest that was yesterday's blog entry, things have gotten better. I've been trying to connect more with the peeps on the tour. Last night after rehearsal, I was dead tired and feeling sick and all I wanted was to conk out in my room, but instead I went to the bar with the band. I'm glad I did. I got a little buzzed for the first time since college (I'm not really much of a drinker) and that lowered my inhibitions just enough for me to be myself. Everybody was getting a little drunk so Kay (Hanley, lead singer of Letters to Cleo, singing backup on this tour) had the waitress bring crackers....tons and tons and tons of crackers, in packets. Stacy (the drummer) does this thing called Pay-Per-View, where he dares somebody to do something for money, and he Pay-Per-Viewed me $20 to eat all the crackers on the table. Kay said she'd kick in another $20, so of course I said "absolutely." I started scarfing them down and Stacy revoked his Pay-Per-View. I'm told this is very rare. He said, "I don't want you to get sick and I don't want you to lose your buzz." Very kind of him, but I wanted my $40! No, I was happy to stop. If they were Saltines it would be another story, but these were Zesta crackers and they tasted like shoe.

This morning, Candice (background singer), Jaco (guitarist) and I went to the City Museum. It's basically a big playground for grown-ups, with all sorts of art that you can climb. (The Blogger Uploader is being fussy, so you can see pics on my Flickr stream).

We had a blast and basically spent the day climbing up, sliding down and spelunking through man-made caves. If you're ever in St. Louis I highly recommend it.

Full rehearsal tonight, with about a thousand people in the audience. Tomorrow night it'll be more like 30,000.