Waking up in a resort on the coast of southern Florida overlooking the water is about 100 times better than waking to a rolling, recycled air capsule that smells like oily boys. We have nothing to complain about today; the sun is shining and the air is fresh and moving outside our oceanside-view hotel rooms. We all swam in the warm ocean for a while; the water was so clear and blue. We’re all used to the Pacific (which is not this warm or clear where we live). We putzed around the resort a little more and made our way to the local electronics warehouse discount place to buy a new camera and some more memory. It was called Brandsmart U.S.A. It is a very brightly light superstore that basically looks like a circular casino with tons of fluorescent painted signs everywhere and merchandise covering every direction. They did have amazingly low prices, I’ll admit, but the staff had the worst attitudes I’ve experienced outside of a DMV. We’d say “hi” to clerks and they’d just stare back at us in silence. After we made our purchase, we had to go outside to the loading dock to pick up the camera. Their system basically is having customers walk to the side of the building to the loading docks which are about four feet high and giving the receipt to any worker who feels like paying attention. Then you stand around under the dock in a disorganized crowd waiting in the hot sun for your purchase to arrive while multiple workers and security guards stare down at you in lazy dismay. Okay, I complained a little bit.
Anyway, we got the goods eventually and made our way to the venue which was at a fairgrounds. The amphitheater was nestled between parking lots and old amusement park rides. Our dressing room was a huge mobile home with three empty bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and big “living room” that all smelled like mold. In all the closets were these hanging mold catchers, but apparently they didn’t work. We lit candles and incense, opened windows and turned on fans to make it smell better. I guess our efforts paid off a bit because we stayed in there and hung out. We were happy to be playing today’s show.
We were pretty relaxed from the pampering even though the hotel turned off all its electricity at 9 a.m. This was the second to last show on the tour and I think we were all trying to savor what we could. In the back of the amphitheater, lining the end of the lawn, there were a row of palm trees; it seemed appropriate to our location. Just a small thing to remind us we were in Florida. A friendly reminder at that. We had a great show. It was a similar set list to our others, but we decided on it very casually and that’s what is important. We got to hang out with some of the fellow musicians after the show. Tim, the bass and guitar backup vocal extraordinaire, had an idea of having all of us up during Sheryl’s set to play a song together. He said he’d talk to the rest of the band about it, but he had no idea. We’ll see. For the time being, we are having fun listening to music and hanging out with our booking agent (who flew in from NYC to see the show) in our incense-filled, candle-scented moldy mobile home. We all had fun tonight. Florida has been good to us.

Tonight we were all reminded how sweet life can be. It’s been a while. The two days leading up to this moment were filled with accidents and disappointments. Birmingham is a great place but unfortunately, due to lack of planning, our trip was darkened. We were to have two shows on the same night: one at the good ole amphitheater and another at a hip club in Birmingham. We had to rent a trailer to do this, which we discovered two hours before we were due at the “official” sound check. I called 411 and got the address of a place near the venue and that actually worked out pretty good. We got the trailer for a lot cheaper than we estimated, but now we picked it up much earlier than we expected which means worse gas mileage, worse handling of the van and parking the thing is a bitch. The sound check was late again because someone’s (I won’t say whose) sound check rolled over into our time. So our’s was rushed and incomplete. During the sound check, I noticed that Artie was obsessively attempting to fix the camera he was supposed to be taking pictures with, the same camera I bought for $300 + to take pictures of this tour with. Turns out it accidentally fell in the toilet for 5 seconds with the case on. It’s now broken. He is supposed to buy me a new one tomorrow. So hopefully I will be able to take pictures of tomorrow’s gig for y’all. We’ll see. After that, we all ran around doing random stuff. I was doing this blog and uploading photos for an hour or so and Scott came in while I was out and undid this long upload that was almost finished. That was another piss off. Then we played to a crowd that was barely there (besides a row of overly enthusiastic teenage girls). Jayson accidentally ended a song in the middle and we still ran out of time. Afterward, we loaded all our gear into our new trailer and went to get something to eat at catering where we picked up the fliers of a new artist. We started to poke fun at them, not knowing they were eating right behind us. I left, and Artie and Evan made nice with them. They had a coincidental New Jersey connection: Evan and the band’s singer were born in the same hospital. After the show, we were to be at the other club by 9 p.m., but we were stuck waiting for a second attempt at an upload for another hour. It sucked. Everyone was waiting to leave in the van while the timer’s little green bar snailed across the screen in tiny jumps. We finally left and took a new unknown way into downtown Birmingham in the dark, late. We got to this amazingly cute and tasteful indie club: The Bottletree Café that is artist owned-and-operated. We loved all the employees as much as the venue itself. There were original works of art on the walls, vintage lunch boxes around the bar, vintage 60s couches with a stack of indie zines on a coffee table and clever paint schemes on all the walls. It was strange to be back in a club after so many shows of the sound going out into a big manmade canyon. It just sounded so different. Everything was more in your face and raw. We made an announcement during the big show about our Birmingham performance and a few people from the club came out to hand out flyers for it. In the end, only five people came out to the show. We felt like shit about it because we had a guarantee which we needed for gas and no one was there to make it for the club. They were so sweet though. We had a blast talking to them and listening to old Bee Gees records and drinking, but we felt really guilty and disappointed in the end. Our set was pretty fun, though. We played some songs we’ve never played together and those were the thrilling ones. The bartender requested “Empty Room” after we finished and we got back up and played that for her. We didn’t get out of there until 4 a.m. and we started to drive to Florida. The way to the freeway was unknown and the directions didn’t feel right so it was a uneasy feeling. Eventually, we realized we were on track and drove into the deep South as the light crept in. The drive was neverending. There were a lot of empty construction zones and cops out. The scenery was interesting and a bit foreign at least. I think everyone was feeling the drudge of the last 24 hours. In the morning, Evan, Scott and Artie ate at a broken-metered gas station with a small diner attached. Next door was a “Western cowboy” store with dusty cheap souvenirs, nice hats, Levi and wrangler jeans only, western shirts, suits and new cowboy boots with an old white man behind the counter in front of glass cases of knives and belt buckles. The waitress was “sweet as pie” and the food seemed homemade. I ate nothing and floated between the wood-panelled, local-filled diner and the barren, humid rural parking lot. Most us spent a decent time trying to get that horrible post-beer morning breath out of our mouths with toothpaste and mouthwash. I stopped in Tallahassee for some American-chain Mexican Baja grill food and then the Guitar Center across the street for a gear fix. Scott and Evan got magazines for the van at Barnes and Noble and the we were back on the freeway. Our directions led us to a toll freeway where we got charged double for having a trailer for a grand total of $26 just to drive on the already existing road. After that, we could only stop at toll road “plazas” to eat, pee or get gas without getting charged extra. We drove until 9 p.m., then reached the hotel that Jayson’s nepotism got us. A neighbor’s uncle manages a Hilton “resort” on the ocean in West Palm Beach, FL (our next gig). He got us half off Oceanside suites. We were all feeling groggy and uptight by the time we arrived. A shower, a swim in the warm ocean, a glass of wine, room service and an old Low record will relax any sane person. After being pampered, we are all remembering just how fortunate we are. Tomorrow’s show should be good.

We are 18 miles from downtown Nashville staying at a Ramada Limited with a 200-year-old cemetery across the parking lot and very much outside our window. On the other side of the driveway is three stored trailers from big rigs. The weather is beautiful: a perfect fall day- not too hot or cold, an easy breeze always moving and lots of leaves left on the trees. We are all excited to play Nashville; it’s such a big music town, so many legends. A lot of the crew are from around here so they are happy too. (Sheryl has a ranch around here somewhere as well.) A lot of them went out to bars and whatnot last night and stayed up very late.
Artie and Evan went out downtown last night to a club and Jayson and I (Wayne) went into Nashville this morning and got a tour of the world-famous historic Studio B recording studio owned by RCA. I was totally geeking out. I’m a huge fan of some of these early recordings: particularly of the Everly Brothers stuff. I wish I could live in this place, so it was hard to leave. I believe that studio is magical or something close to it. We made our way back to the hotel and on to the venue. It was a very relaxed day for everyone. There was a common area backstage with red picnic benches and a small basketball court with two ping pong tables. Adults and children were playing catch on the lawn, sitting under trees and at the benches, playing basketball and ping pong … it was a little utopia. Not the norm, but much appreciated. The catering was Southern-style: baked beans, biscuits & gravy, greens, catfish, chicken, mashed potatoes, etc. I guess all-in-all it was a down-home experience, especially because of the Crow camp family guests. Our dressing room was a trailer on the other side of all the action surrounded by four running semis and tour buses. It had a country bumpkin couch, fake wood paneling, a box of 500 promo Trojan condoms, old venue ponchos, a drawing table, a strip of Christmas tree lights around the ceiling, a filing cabinet and a tan rug that smelled like cat pee over the linoleum floor. Not the most glamorous of greenrooms. The stages and seats of these amphitheaters are all starting to look alike. We are more east now and it’s getting dark earlier which means it’s dark during our set. That was fun; it added to the mood on stage. We had a good show. The crowd seemed a little confused at our sound. A lot of staring. Maybe we are too spacey or psychedelic for Nashville’s pop audience. That wasn’t the best feeling, but it was to be expected. Sheryl seems to be more at ease in the South. She had a good set. Keith Urban came out and they played the Petty/Nicks classic “Stop Dragging My Heart Around,” and Urban played on another song after that. They sounded great together. Two pros being pros. Nicole Kidman was hanging backstage, attracting groups of people purposefully having conversations near her to bask in her aesthetic glory. We shot the shit with the band a bit after the show and took off to the hotel.

We took a small interstate highway from Austin to the venue in Houston. It was frustrating because the speed limit would be 65 and sometimes 70 mph and then there would be a long stop light where rural traffic could cross the highway. East Texas is more beautiful then I remember and much more green than I remember. There were nice little ranches with groomed rolling lawns, white wood fences and happy cows under trees. Once in a while we passed a ranch that looked very wealthy. All in all it was actually a nice drive through the countryside but it took a while. The venue was in a yuppie area near a big lake with big houses and new condos surrounded by new malls and complexes. At least it was still sort of in the countryside. Our dressing room was very colorful and comfortable. It had two blue chenille couches that were some of the softest I’ve ever sat on. We had nice big tiled shower and a big TV on the wall. A lot of these big venues have laundry facilities, so we sought them out hoping no one else was in line already. This time they had three machines, one of which had a moldy old towel in it that no one bothered to take out. We were going to, but it smelled too bad so we closed the door (like everyone else whose encountered this stinky machine). Some of the crew was extra nice to us today and it made for a strange show. We were all a little out to lunch during the performance. It could’ve been great or it could’ve been off. We couldn’t tell but we had a good time, I guess. It was nice to be back with the tour. We had 3 or 4 days off and it was starting to feel like it was all over. The people in Houston were great. The audience was very responsive and a lot of fun. After the show more of Scott’s family (if you can believe it) came back. There were 10 or so of them. This kid’s got more family around the country than we do friends. We hung out for the rest of the show and decided to drive straight to Nashville, TN through the night. We stopped to use the restroom at a gas station but they all close their doors at midnight. One of them had a Wendy’s next door. We walked around a little bit and got mad dogged by a couple of guys in the parking lot. In line at the drive-thru, we watched a police car come up and arrest one of the mad doggers. I guess North Houston isn’t the best neighborhood. Artie and Evan (the night crew) plowed into the morning. They had a great drive through New Orleans. On one side of the sky the sun was rising and on the other a full moon. I wish I could’ve seen it (I was sleeping). We stopped by the side of the road in Mississippi to rest for a few before I took over the wheel. Jayson realized he lost his cell phone around 9 in the morning. It must have fallen out the door in one of our late night roadside pee stops. Jayson has never lost a cell phone and was very unhappy about his mistake. He was quiet all morning. I listened to early RCA Elvis for 2 or 3 hours and drove through the rest of Mississippi and into Alabama. Finally we stopped in Birmingham for some food. After a quick try downtown, I drove straight to the university district to find some healthier food. It was a score. We found a healthy grocery store, a smoothie place, a hippie pizza place and some guitar stores. Evan bought a pedal and we played a lot of amps. We stopped by the club we are playing on Monday to say “hi” and check out the venue, and then drove to a hotel in Tennessee after.

We stayed back at the warehouse in NoCal again after the Shoreline show. Everyone woke up pretty late and so we got a late start. So late, in fact, that we didn’t get on the freeway until 4:30 p.m. or so. This is after an hour-long shopping trip at Whole Foods for food for our long drive to Texas. We started down the 101 because it was the only freeway near us and attempted to cut across the state to save time and get to the 5 freeway. Long story short, we were going 35 on random back road hills for 2 and a half hours. Finally we got to the 5 and drove through the desert all night. We stopped as the sun was coming up and took some pictures and a piss. One stop at a New Mexico gas station / Dairy Queen / Indian-Western souvenir place to get ice cream, gas and fireworks. After twenty minutes of waiting in the fly-filled van for Artie, he comes out with a grumpy store employee carrying two boxes of moccasins and two big pieces of agate. We drove through the day, going through New Mexico until we hit El Paso, TX at around 6 p.m. We got to Texas, at least the very edge of it. We stayed at a Sleep Inn (get it?) with an indoor pool on the outskirts of town. We all took long-overdue showers, watched “Annie Hall” and got ready for dinner and a movie.
P.F. Chang’s was the best place we could find for dinner. Some of the boys got some alcoholic beverages and trouble ensued (not real trouble though). After annoying the waitress (again) we left and Scott climbed to the top of one of those big horse statues in front of the doors, and then off we went to see “Jackass 2.” After that madness, we went to find a place to light off our fireworks. We got directions to a street that dead-ended a few hundred feet from a small casino on a man-made pond with two 24-hour adult arcades / “gift shops,” and an abandoned fairgrounds just feet over the New Mexico-Texas state line. I was very nervous because I thought it would be a high cop-traffic area. The boys had their fun lighting bottle rockets from their hands and old vitamin water bottles. (Scott was on his cell the whole time.) The party continued to one of the hotel rooms and then we crashed to the “Colbert Report.”
We left the next morning after a trip to a great Goodwill thrift store and a small-town gear store. Needless to say, it lasted longer than we anticipated. We didn’t get into Austin until 2 a.m. or so. We stayed at a Country Inn where we had to sneak three of the band members into the room because we had a two-person rate. We tried using the side door but it was locked, so Jayson had to let us in and we all crept down the hall with video cameras watching. Not the most pleasant thing to do when you haven’t eaten for 8 hours and you are tired. We called around to find a hip 24-hour diner. We found the Magnolia Café, a “sorry, we’re open” type place. The food was okay. Thank God it was there. They were semi-veggie friendly. We went to bed full and content.
Me, Jayson and Scott went into Austin the next morning to the same neighborhood. It was a very cute strip with great-tasting restaurants, antique stores, boutiques and a tattoo place. Jayson and I decided to get some tattoos later on in the afternoon. It was the first Thursday of the month and there was some sort of outside street fair being set up so we picked up Artie and Evan and headed back to the neighborhood for tattoos and more food. After some pleasure and pain we all headed to the gig at The Cactus Café on the University campus. It’s a historic folk club that serves alcohol on the campus. I believe it’s been around since the 70s. The staff was really friendly and we got free drinks. Unfortunately, no one showed up due to lack of promotion, so Evan played a solo set and we hit the town. We went to another college diner and then a video arcade. We all loved Austin (aside from the flying cockroaches). It was a good time.

The warehouse that we stayed in last night was pretty incredible. Scott’s dad is really into Burning Man and spends money and time making things here to bring to the festival. It’s a hang-out as well, with a full-sized Jacuzzi and a balcony filled with coaches, a drum set (with a double bass pedal), keyboards, refrigerator, freezer, a fluorescent painted homemade bar and large pictures of Burning Man on the walls (and a computer or two pieced together by the genius himself). Soon it will have a shower installed and his electric-powered space carriage stored there will have iron wheels instead of small rubber tires. The venue is very close to Mike’s place and we drive back to give him a key and eat a homemade breakfast. My beautiful young wife, Nikki, came up yesterday from LA to help take photos and such. It was nice having her around. She’s a love.
This show meant a lot to Scott because he grew up around here seeing shows at this venue. The Shoreline Amphitheatre has an amazing feel to it. The stage, backstage and part of the bleachers are covered by an amazingly huge tent that goes very high above it all. The light still comes through the thick white material. It sort of feels like a little village in the middle of the woods. On the backstage perimeter there are huge props made by Bill Graham for an early 80s Grateful Dead New Year’s Eve show. Such a great place to play and hang out. The dressing rooms are all in little villas with fake stained glass windows and a common courtyard. There were free video games and two free pinball machines right outside our dressing room. The catering rocked, the weather was perfect, and the crowd was thoughtful. We had a blast playing this show. Evan brought a new song unrehearsed into tonight’s set: “Songbird.” We had a long space jam at the end that freaked out the crowd but we loved it. Sheryl Crow came on after to do “Hold on to You” and gave us a look like “what was that?” A great night. A lovely way to make up for our last show.

We awoke to the sound of a half-flattened, wind-carried Shasta can clanging through the parking lot of the roach motel we mistakenly chose to reside in last night.
Due to our poor planning and the fact that Godsmack was in town that evening, all the decent hotels were booked up. This was the kind of place where you didn't even want to take your shoes off for you might want to throw your socks away afterwards. More than one convict has most certainly fled out the bathroom window here and escaped through the field of debris that comprises the grounds. Artie found a roach on his bed upon entry into his and Scott's room, while Evan, Wayne and I were afraid to even turn on the lights for the fear of what we may see. So we stripped the beds of their comforters and laid down our sleeping bags and slept in our clothes. All that drama aside, we played a fine show, though I believe the road was wearing on us. Too many long drives and sleeping on floors for our own good. Don't get me wrong, we count our blessings to be able to be on this tour and once we are at each venue we have it very good but I can't lie, we're a little beat. We had to get our back tire fixed because it was leaking air. We drove to the venue to see how far from town it was before we took the time to fix the tire. Marysville was very strange (at least what we saw of it). The stretch we saw included more sketchy bacteria-filled, Lysol-reeking motels; a sad, gray closed-down mall and movie theater from the 80s with a big empty parking lot; our Lee Schwab tire place; a small donut shop (that sold out of fucking donuts by noon) associated with the Asian market next door (with a methhead rap metal guy bothering the clerk as we browse through) in a small mini mall across the street; aaaannnd a new Wal-Mart. There was a middle-aged woman on an 80s scooter wearing a motorcycle helmet driving only on sidewalks on her way to the new super center. We followed her to get our own supplies: tennis sweat bands, running shoes, flip flops for showers, sunglasses for Scott and power strips. Inside we found a truly frightening American experience. We got lost when we drifted apart and had to have clerks page each other over the intercom. At last we escaped. Our tire was fixed and we were on our way back to the venue which was an amphitheater surrounded by dry old farms with a few cows in the middle of nowhere off a small interstate. It was a strange show. We were all distracted. These shows can be rushed and then it goes by too fast. We actively have to sit back and get some perspective to slow down and enjoy it. Didn’t happen this time. We got to meet a lot of nice people afterward, though. We drove back to Scott’s dad’s house after the show to pick up a key for his warehouse to crash out in.

It was nice to be back on the road. We left LA kinda late for a drive but it was only a 5 or 6 hour drive. We decided to stay at Scott’s dad’s house which was an hour and a half away from the venue. We arrived at 3:00 a.m. and Scott’s dad, Mike, woke up and hung out with us for an hour or so. We should all be so lucky to have a dad like that. He was so sweet letting all of us stay there and even acquainting us with his hot tub. We crashed on the floor and woke up semi-early and left for the gig. The drive up was really nice. We went from a suburb out into rolling golden California hills with lone trees scattered sporadically. Up in one of these hills was our venue. It was a real laid back atmosphere besides the fact that there were baby rattlesnakes to look out for. Everyone in the crew seemed to be happy to be in Northern California. Maybe because they knew they’d be staying in San Francisco for four nights with one off. The hills surrounded the backstage area and made it seem more park-like. Nothing to complain about. A fine venue, a fine show. Some of Scott’s family came and we hung out in our under-stage dressing room for a good portion of the night. We went outside to meet people and a few said “hello.” There were not that many people in their seats when we played, but the people who were there really seemed to listen well and that made us happy. It got cold at night; the water from the bay moved east with the breeze and we all bundled up. After the show we decided to drive to the next venue and find a hotel nearby. Artie and Evan drove. We got into town late around 2:30 a.m.

This show was a bit crazy for us. First of all, it was the closest to our home town and everyone and their mother (literally) wanted to be on the guest list. It’s not easy telling friends they can’t come see your experience at such a show, but what can you do? There was talk at the last show of Sheryl maybe singing a song with us and we were all really excited by that prospect. When sound check came around she was there and ready to give it a try. Evan’s and Sheryl’s voices sounded great together and she was a lot of fun. Mike, her keyboardist, sat in on Rhodes too. The two brought our song “Hold on to You” to the next level (I’m not sure where that exactly is, but I think it’s up). The Verizon Amphitheatre was huge. There were a lot of seats and the lawn seemed to go up for a long time and it was all so steep. Another sound check with the sun in our eyes (Sheryl’s too). We were all a little giggly when Sheryl came out. Her voice sounded great immediately on the song, like a pro’s does. It’s been hard staying mellow in such a professional environment. It’s constantly moving from the time we arrive to the time we leave. We all have to have a moment to reacquaint ourselves and get some perspective. That may sound lame, but it’s important to roll with it on tour and not fight or bicker.
Either LA people are laggers or traffic just sucks, but most people in the assigned seating were really late. It was the least attended show yet, I’d say. A lot of empty red plastic seats. The lawn people are always there early to claim their stake in the grass, but I wish they were closer. Some of our friends were stuck in their cars and didn’t make it. Sheryl sounded great and told people to buy our album or she’d hunt them down. (Unfortunately it didn’t work.) Mike sounded fabulous. We all had fun and that’s the point. We hung out with all our friends and families afterward (and some industry people- remember it’s LA).

We all had time to go home between the last show and tonight. It was good for everyone. This show was behind the San Diego Civic Center on a tiny peninsula in a harbor. We were surrounded by clean white boats, the downtown city skyline and the sun reflecting off the shimmering water. It was very windy too. The stage was all metal scaffolding on the end of the peninsula. This was the only show that didn’t have seating (there were a set of bleachers way back but nothing in front). People were all crowded up front and they just kept coming throughout our set. By the end, the peninsula was full of heads facing us lit up by the stage lights. Off to the side there were a bunch of boats parked / anchored next the venue on the water. We called them freeloaders in between songs and one of them honked during a soft part of one of our songs. Fuckers! They got us back. The wind blew the sound of our speakers away. It was a bit difficult to hear exactly but it added something to the atmosphere. I have to say it was a very cool show: staring at a harbor while the sun sank behind us. We had a view of a bridge with lights on it in the distance and the night lights of the floating and strolling boats were eerily steady in the darkness. I’m sorry to say I don’t have any good pictures of this because we were all out of it. Maybe someone else does and they’ll add them. Lunch was fish and chips (or tofu and chips for the vegetarians). Dinner was more fish and whatnot. It did get cold once the sun was gone. The wind didn’t help either. After the show I (Wayne) went home sick and everyone else went out for drinks with the bands at an open bar in San Diego. They stayed up until 4 a.m. and had a blast. I’ll never eat a Burger King veggie burger again.