Pre Tour/Day 1

Before the start of every tour I feel the need to have lunch with a friend, or drinks with some other. I think I do this to remind myself that I do have a life outside of the band, because while we are on the road everything else seems to disappear, both for the better and the worse. Before leaving for this one I wanted to see little baby Ann(e?) and Kathleen. I had not seen either of them since the day after she was born and wanted to see the little one with her with her eyes open.

While both Kath and Ann(e?) look beautiful, crazy Gracie in the background might be my favorite part of this picture.

After seeing the two of them, and before one last practice, I rushed over to Ryan's house to help him hitch the old trailer to the new van--more on the van later. At practice we ran through a new song that we are still working the bugs out of called, "Wearing the Collar." The other purpose of the practice was to make absolutely certain that all of our equipment was working, and to inventory all of it before stuffing it into the trailer. Over the next 15 days we will be loading and unloading this equipment everyday. Think Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the mountain.

On Thursday I wanted to get one last bike ride in before leaving town so I rode down to the neighborhood coffee house on my bike that Jack Stevens has so graciously set up for me.

Compared to past tours, I have experienced much more trepidation about leaving town because I have just moved into an apartment in South City by myself, and feel the need to nest, as Kiley put it. For the past year I have been staying at friends houses (thank you Tim, Kath, and Brian) because I have been extremely weary about settling down due to the amount of time we spend on the road. But, I finally did and I for the first time in my life I am concerned with wall clocks.

We were to leave at noon that day, but Eric was trying to find a cure for his CDIF infection, and we ended up leaving at one instead. We used the extra hour to fawn over our new van which includes, but is not limited to, recessed mood lighting, a DVD player, cup holders that can both cool and heat any beverage, ample foot room (oh the foot room!), a back bench that mechanically folds out to a full size bed, captain chairs, built in headphone jacks, and much much more.

The first half of the five hour drive to chicago were spent exploring all of the nooks and crannies of the van. And as the Cardinals played on the radio I fell into the most blissful nap I have ever enjoyed in a tour van. Did I mention the foot room? We arrived late to the venue and loaded directly on stage to preform a sound check with one of the nicest sound guys we have ever run into. For what is it worth, The Abbey Pub is two for two when is comes to sound guys, and having a polite, hardworking, sound guy means a lot when you are on the road.

The Abbey Pub. This will probably be the only picture of a club I post, because by the third day they all start looking the same.

After the Abbey it was off to our friend Stefen's house, who has the hardest hardwood floor I have ever slept on, and plays in a band called Yea Big and Kid Static. We went on a midwest tour with them last summer and have stayed friends with him since. He writes Haiku's about scandalous things, and secretly wishes for (*edit*) the populace to rise up and overthrow the current government (even though he voted for the person in office!?)

In this video Stefen is the smaller box...err robot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alsWsZ6x6W4