Chromeo in NZ/Australia, Dec. 25-Jan 9, 2010/11

Chromeo in Australia, Dec 25-Jan 9

Dec. 25, Day 1

It's Christmas Day. What better way to celebrate than to leave all behind and fly out on tour? Apparently there is none, so this is what I do... At least I'm going to New Zealand and Australia, so sun and beaches await, warm weather and hours of sunshine.

I got to the Ottawa airport around 12:45pm, more than enough time until my first of four flights, scheduled to depart at 2:17pm. Go through security, customs, all good, waiting around. Waiting. Waiting some more... Around 2pm, they still haven't announced anything so I start looking around, and shockingly there's no plane at our gate. This isn't good. I only have a 30min connection in Washington, and if this plane is more than 10mins late, my entire trip is screwed.

After trying to find out what's going on, I overheard a pilot say they were leaving and only coming back at 2:46pm. Not good, not good at all! This is more time than I can spare. If I miss my connection in Washington, I miss my flight to LA, and then miss my flights to New Zealand. I got on the phone right away with United (better than Delta anyways...) and found out that the computer had already re-routed me through London and Hong Kong!? I told the woman there was no way I was flying through London with all the storms they've been having, and to find me a hub in the US and find one fast, time was of the essence.

After about 30mins, she barely had a workable solution that would send me to Chicago, but I'd have to stay there for the night. Awful! Unfortunately, still better than London... So I had to go to the gate, ask them to remove my bag from the plane (which had since arrived, no help to me), and then I had to go check in again, where I found out I wasn't properly re-booked and faced being stranded in Auckland, when in fact I had to make it to Gisborne (I've never heard of it either). So about 20mins at the check-in counter solved that, I went back through customs, chatted with the officer who wondered why he was seeing me again, and continued to wait 2 more hours to go to Chicago. At least I was able to get a hotel room at the airport...

Once I landed at O'Hare, I made a last-ditch effort to see if I could even get to LA, but no love tonight... That 40min delay cost me 36hrs of extra travel time. An unexpected Xmas night at the Chicago airport. Can't get that under the tree...

Turns out I had stuff to take up my time. One of the band guys was flying out of NYC the next day and the city was about to get pounded by blizzards and up to 2 feet of snow. All the airports were preparing to shut down. It took almost 5 hrs of phone calls and emails to travel agents and airlines, but I was finally able to snag a seat on an early flight that *just might* make it out on time... I had a crew guy scheduled to fly out of Boston, hoping we can sort something for him too...

Day 2/3

I woke up extra early today to make sure I could get the band member out of NYC on time, before the crazy blizzard hits. I checked all sorts of sites for flight and weather updates, and one site even said the flight was canceled! Couldn't believe it! By this time he was already on his way to the airport, so it was too late, but the airline website and the airport site both said the flight was still on, so I chose to keep my mouth shut and wait and see...

He was able to check in, so that was good, and there was no delay posted at the airport, also good, and it was with great relief that I finally got word he was sitting on the plane, heading toward the runway. I celebrated the miraculous escape from NYC by sleeping. You have to understand, this is huge. I know a number of other bands who got stuck for days, had to cancel shows, etc...

Our crew member in Boston was not so lucky, unfortunately... The storm go there faster than expected and the airport shut down. We lost a good man for at least 3 days and one show... Can't win 'em all I guess...

My flights looked good at least. I made the easy walk across the street to the terminal, my flight to LA was on time, all was good. The biggest thing is just getting away from the snow right now, and it seems to be coming together. I don't think I've ever been happier to get to LAX. Now I just have to kill 6hrs. Argh. To the lounge...

The Air NZ lounge is slightly antiquated, but decent. They have all the standard amenities - internet, plugs, alcohol, etc... They even attempted to help me track someone else's missing bag from a flight yesterday. One of the guys was traveling with a keyboard that mysteriously disappeared (and somehow ended up getting shipped back to Montreal!). The time went by a little slowly, but it went, and it was with great happiness that I finally boarded my flight to NZ. Only been delayed about 36hrs, but I'll actually make it on time...

The nice thing about this flight is that I'm in pseudo-business class. Get the meals, wine, etc... but the seats aren't quite as nice. The real bonus though, is that I was able to get a seat on the upper deck of a 747. This is gold. The plane seats 300+ people, but the upper deck only has about 20 seats. It might actually be a quiet, serene experience. And I've never been on the upper deck. I was really excited to board the plane and be directed towards the staircase. And then I saw it. My seat. Beside a 2yr old.

DAMN. Why??? Who the hell gets a small child a seat like this? They haven't earned it. They don't fly 100 times a year, hoping that just once a flight like this will be fun. ARGH. The kid was even crying already when I got in... But what can you do? I sat down, ordered a beverage and waited for dinner. I will say one thing though, the kid was quiet most of the flight... Speaking to the father at the end, he told me it was her 5th round trip between London and Auckland. 5th! Two years old! Crazy.

So I got to Auckland, adjusted my next flight a bit to make it direct, and off to the domestic lounge. I had another 5hrs to kill on a layover. I walked around outside for a bit, it was nice after the long flight, had a coffee, chatted with the barista, and eventually made my way back inside, locked away till flight time.

The guy we got out of NYC just before the blizzard ended up meeting me there and we sat around till ti was time for the next and final flight in the journey. It was a small prop plane, about 40 seats. We didn't even have to go through security to board. I guess they figure that it's so insignificant, no one would care to do anything to it... So the flight is fairly smooth, and then with about 10mins to go, the pilot announces the ride down will be a bit bumpy.

Well. That was the most epic understatement in the history of aviation. I fly 100,000+ miles per year, I'm used to turbulence, doesn't really phase me. The last 10mins of this flight were *the scariest 10mins of my life*. It was absolutely terrifying, I thought we were done. We were getting thrown left and right, hitting air pockets, falling onto updrafts and bouncing back up, fishtailing in the air, falling sideways, people were screaming, the flight attendant looked terrified (the *ultimate* red flag of flying), I was white-knuckled clutching the seat in front of me. If you can name it, we had it happen on this flight. I don't know how we landed. It mystifies me. When we were finally on the ground, I tried to reply to some emails on the Blackberry, but I was shaking so much that I couldn't type. No words could ever adequately describe what happened on that descent. I really think there's no way that plane should've been in the air, period.

But, we had landed. I was very happy to be on the ground, and also, but not quite as happy, to get to the hotel and finally be able to shower after about 48hrs of travel. Now that was an actual good feeling. After the quick shower, it was out on the town to get a quick bite. Turns out Gizzy (as the locals call it) is so small, that it took no time at all to find the only option, which thankfully was quite good. After that, back to the hotel for a couple business meetings, then out to dinner (where the waitress was slightly starstruck. haha), and then back to the hotel to rest a bit.

It's been a long 3 days, and we haven't even done a show yet!

Day 4, Gisborne, NZ

Today is going to be a little bit crazy. First show after about a month off, making sure our gear makes it from halfway around the world, etc... We still have a crew member who got stuck in Boston because of blizzards and will miss the show... It's basically going to be a rehearsal.

But, first thing's first, we need breakfast. Went out wandering a bit, tried to get into a coffee shop with a Maori reggae band playing super loudly at the doorway, only to find out that there was a 45min wait just to get a bagel. (!?) Tried a couple other spots only to find out that it was a holiday (on a Tuesday) so most places were closed anyways. Eventually found a spot that was relatively quick, had decent coffee, all is good.

One thing we realized that would make the day interesting is that we found out some of our gear got shipped to the wrong destinations. A keyboard somehow got removed from a plane and sent back to Montreal, and two other cases had a few bits and pieces we needed in New Zealand, but the cases ended up in Melbourne. So, a could of us went out to the festival site early to see what they had there that we could use, then had to go through the nightmare of getting all our gear sent to our hotel so we could actually see what we had, and then we had to find a music store open on a holiday in a tiny town. Fortunately there was a music store, is was more like a Radio Shack really, and had nothing we needed. We did however get the owner to sell us parts of his friends drum kit while said friend was away on vacation... Happy we're not there to see how that turns out... Haha.

With things somewhat under control, we headed back to the festival for the show. Simple things like ordering food were fairly difficult, but there was a duck pond, so we had that going for us... Things are a little slow in these parts, a little backwards... At least everyone here is really nice.

Eventually we get to showtime. We had a substitute lighting guy for this one (our guy was the one snowed in in Boston), so I had to give him a quick training session, and we were off. We knew it was one for the books when there was a power surge in the first song and the PA shut down. That was pretty awesome... It all came back near the end of the first song thankfully, but it made for a long night. Hopefully we got all the demons out tonight and we can move on...

Afterwards we had an interesting ride back to the hotel with a driver making detours and picking up people at other stages, getting caught in the crowds a couple times, etc... But finally made it back, had a glass of wine and called it a day. Off to Oz tomorrow.

Day 5, Melbourne, AU

Today was supposed to be pretty simple. Fly to Melbourne, get picked up at the airport and drive to Philip Island. Well, not so much...

The first flight back to Auckland was fine. Auckland however, was interesting. They have this bizarre regulation about carry-on baggage that the staff themselves don't even understand. They pulled us all out of line, made us weigh bags, repack, recheck, etc... for about 30mins, and we were already rushing for the next flight. It was ridiculous. They couldn't tell us what they were looking for, what they were checking, what the rules were. It seemed there was a 10kg limit, but not including electronics or medication. We had to take all those thing out of our bags (I had 20kg of electronics alone, and I travel light!), they were weighing things individually, together, etc... It was a total mess. At the end of it, after a few yelling matches (which is not good at an airport) we just left and went back downstairs and tried to check in our bags. Even the staff down there didn't know what to do about it. It was pretty ridiculous, just a small thing that can really ruin a day. Some of the guys in the other band we were traveling with just started throwing out a bunch of books and souvenirs. And even if all our bags were under 10kg, we could still go buy loads of souvenirs and duty free stuff on the other side of security and get the extra weight there. What would they do?

So we get on the plane, fly to Melbourne, our driver meets us and we hit the road to Philip Island. The show is there tomorrow night, so we get in the night before and have all day to rest. Makes sense on paper. Thing is, reality is often quite different.

After 2hrs of driving, we pull up to this resort we're supposed to stay at. It's about 10pm, we've been flying allllll day. Exhausted. We go to the reception counter, no one there. Just a phone number for after hours arrivals. So we call the number, there's a key left for us in a little safe, we crack it open and go to check the place out. Turns out it's a tiny 2 room cabin in the woods with 3 beds. We're 6 people. This obviously doesn't work. So we start trying to get in touch with people, no one is helpful, everyone's trying to brush us off, it's pretty nasty. No one will even give us the number for the night manager to come sort it out. After about 30 mins I called the promoter and told them to get me 6 rooms in Melbourne immediately because we're turning around and coming back. Unreal, never been through anything like this.

It gets better.

So while we're making phone calls trying to sort out this accommodation disaster, our driver took the guys to get a quick bite to eat, and while doing so, wandered off and smoked a joint which, in and of itself, I don't really care about. Whatever. The problems in this instance are that A) he's our driver and B) it made him pass out, so he couldn't drive us back to Melbourne. Our local crew guy had to take the keys from him and drive us back. Insane. The driver was fired the next morning.

Finally back in Melbourne 2hrs later, around 12:30am at this point, thankfully the rooms were there as promised so we could finally relax after an epic travel day. A couple of us met up at one of the hotel bars downstairs for drink, made casual observations about the local nightlife, even had one guy give us $100 to buy a round (he had just won at the casino and was drunk), and called it a night. Can't win 'em all...

Day 6, Philip Island

After last night's drama, I spent most of the day on the phone with the promoters trying to settle our differences, of which there are now many. It took a few hours, but we reached some conclusions and the show will go on. It kind of sucked because it used up most of my free time in Melbourne, but what can you do... I am here to work after all...

So at 6pm we get in the van and start heading back down to Philip Island. They sorted out the mess from last night, so tonight we'll each get a cabin and then in the morning we get helicopters to Melbourne. (There's a much larger background to this story, but I'll spare you the details. I don't think I can even talk about this one anyways...). Tonight, the owner of the resort is supposed to meet us to personally show us the rooms, make sure all is good, etc...

Well, that didn't happen. At least we had a number to call him today, but he still brushed us off. Fortunately everything was ok this time.

Then we go over to the festival, everyone knows we're on our way. We get there, they don't have a dressing room for us (which was promised). So we take over someone else's trailer. Fun.

Then I go to the stage to check in and meet all the necessary people. The stage manager asks me to leave the stage because apparently I'm too early to check in and she refuses to let anyone watch the bands who are currently playing. I've never of something so retarded in my life of festival-going. They don't even want us to check that all our gear got delivered properly. And she specifically told me we weren't allowed to watch the band before us at all, and when I told their tour manager about that, he had a field day going off on her... Even when we started setting up in the wings while they were playing, she tried to keep us behind curtains and backdrops. It got to the point where I had to tell her she was no longer allowed to speak to my crew and I didn't want to see her near our show.

And throughout all this, the total douchebag of a local promoter who had screwed us the night before (as well as doing other things I can't speak about), didn't even come by to say hello, apologize for any drama, try to make anything right. I can't stand these people sometimes!

So the show is finally over, we're all packed up, we get rides back to our cabin at 3am and try to put it all behind us. Our crew only gets 3hrs sleep tonight before having to head off to Sydney, whereas I'll get about 5hrs as I'll travel with the band. It's not necessarily a bonus, just a different set of problems... sigh...

Day 7, Sydney, Melbourne

So this is the long one. by the end of the day, we'll have done 3 shows in 3 cities, 2 flights, 2 helicopter rides, etc... Long.

Our crew got 3hrs of sleep last night. They had to get the early chopper ride back to Melbourne to then fly to Sydney and begin setup for our early afternoon show. They're travel was relatively ok. They made it one piece, and got the job done.

I got a couple extra hours of sleep, but I also had to get the band through the same thing. We got to the helipad on time and things were looking good. As an aside, the helicopter ride was awesome. I've never done anything like it. Cruising at 110mph across the sky at a low level is pretty awesome, and I got great pics and video I'll post soon.

So, we land at the Melbourne helipad and there's supposed to be a driver to take us to the Melbourne domestic airport. No car in sight. I start calling, no answer. Many times. Nothing. I call the promoter rep, wake her up, she can't get the guy. Fortunately there's a vet down the street that's open, so I run down there and they have a number for a cab I can call. Get one on the way, and sure enough, moments later, our hero comes zooming around the corner. He was obviously sleeping because when he opened the door, his seat was in a fully reclined position. Oops.

So we barely make it to the airport on time, find out there's a problem with our reservation, and somehow it all gets fixed and we board at the last possible second. That's a little too much so far. As it is, we only land in Sydney one hour before the show.

And so we land. And the transport people have no record of us coming in because apparently the message didn't get through that we were traveling in 2 separate groups. They don't have a ride for us. This, obviously, is a problem. Thankfully, through sheer luck, A-Trak was on the same flight as us, and for those of you keeping track at home, you know that I also work with him and that his brother is in Chromeo. A-Trak has a ride and he's a good dude, so he let's us hijack it to make it to the show on time. His karma is later repaid when he's presented with a platinum plaque for his Duck Sauce record. Well deserved.

We get to the show, everything is good. It's all coming together. The production is rock solid, the kids are loving it, I can finally take a deep breathe. Everything was made 1000 times better by running into friends there who I hadn't seen in ages, one of whom spent the show in monitor world with me, which made the day worthwhile. Sadly, we have to leave right after the set to fly back to Melbourne for show #3 of the NYE Spectacular.

Show's over, pack up, load out, off we go, back to the airport. This one was fairly painless. Again, the booking was messed up somehow, but we sorted it. Got on the plane, flew to Melbourne. At least this time there was someone there to meet us and drive us straight to the show. It was even tighter on this end because we couldn't send the crew in advance; we had 90 mins from airport to show time. Nuts.

We arrive at the festival, find our stage, and are hit with the realization that the highlight of the day was Sydney, for many reasons. One of which was that because it wasn't set up properly, we actually had to build our rig on stage while other acts were playing. That didn't go over so well, but what can you do... Just have to make the best of this one and get through it...

Finally done, we head back to the hotel for the night. I had grandiose plans of going out and partying in the lovely city we were in, but those plans disintegrated almost instantly. The last 24hrs were an absolute mess, but we survived, and sleep is of great importance tonight.

Day 8, Gold Coast

Why mess with a plan that works? Woke up, went downstairs to get our ride to the airport, and of course, no van, no ride. Amazing. We tried calling everyone again, no love, so we started our day hopping in cabs to head to the airport. Awesome. It may not seem like a big deal, but when you have to travel like this every single day, this single pre-arranged car that never appears becomes a rather large headache. Especially when it happens 3 times in a row.

So we get to the airport, get our flight, everything is ok, thankfully. Get to Gold Coast, have a ride (!) and begin the long drive to the festival. The drive itself isn't actually long in the physical sense, but with all the traffic, it took almost 2hrs. Should've been about 30min. At least we were early, so we had a chance to stop by the hotel for a bit to chill out and have a quick bite to eat.

And so we go to the festival, and lo and behold, it all makes sense. Rock solid. Same people that ran our stage in Sydney yesterday. Everything is really a million times better when you don't have to argue with people over details that should've been looked after in the first place. And, with all this going for us, the show was actually great.

We had some time tonight, and a lot of friends playing at this festival, so we hung around for a long time. It was good too. We made our escape before the throngs of Gold Coast mutants (if you've been, you know what I mean), and in no time at all, I was sitting in the jaccuzzi in my room with a bottle of wine. Nice.

Tomorrow, off to Sydney for 5 days. Awesome.

Day 9, Sydney

Today is a nice, easy travel day to Sydney. Got up for breakfast at the hotel, was served by a Canadian ex-pat who was thrilled to talk hockey, made our way to the airport, all was good. Even the flight went well.

When we arrived, we went out for a quick bite, then decided it was band movie night. There wasn't much to see, so we hit Tron 3D. It was awful, don't waste your time or money. Most of it isn't even in 3D anyways.

Afterwards, I took a couple of the guys around the town trying to find a cool pub to hang in. Turns out Sydney is pretty slow on Mondays, so it wasn't a smashing success, but we did find a Irish bar where a dude in a pink shirt took off his belt and started whipping the floor. Interesting approach, made better when he took off his shirt and displayed some of the worst tattoos any of us had ever seen. Sigh...

Day 10, Sydney

Today is press day. Usually I hate press, but today is great because our PR person is a dear friend who I never get to see given that we live halfway around the world from each other. We were able to make the time count by getting breakfast before we had to work, and the schedule itself was actually quite easy. A couple quick things in the morning, a long lunch and then the afternoon outlets even canceled. Bonus!

Found a great wine bar to get through the evening, followed by a great restaurant and then a dive bar with incredible people watching. All in all, exactly the kind of day I needed after the craziness of the last 3 days.

Day 11, Sydney

Today is press day #2. It's easy though, only one live interview in the afternoon. I spent the morning working, with breakfast and coffee interludes, before heading off to the radio station. It went quickly, barely even noticed.

Afterwards, we were invited to a bbq by some friends at one of the local promoter companies. We went over for a couple hours, had a great time time with all sorts of people. Once we left, we stopped by the wine bar I had hit the night before, then up to a place call the Clock Hotel (where the bouncer asked us if our parents knew we were out late) and then slowly made our way back to the hotel.

Day 12, Sydney

Almost a day off today. The only real event is a boat cruise in the evening. I have mixed feelings about it as I've done a number of them before, this is 4hrs, can't bring a couple friends and I'm a bit tired and would just like a full day with nothing on the sched. Anyways, I went, it was fine. It's hard to complain about getting driven around in a boat in Sydney harbor with free booze and food.

Once we got off, I tried to hook up with a friend, it fell through, so I ended up at the Metro. The Rapture and Erol Alkan were playing there tonight, it was sort of the feature event for the touring folks. Always good to make an appearance. The AC in the venue was broken though, so it was insanely hot and sticky. I survived a couple drinks before I'd had enough and just had to get out. An early night wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Day 13, Sydney

Alas, back to work today. We had most of the day to chill though, so a couple of us hopped in a cab to go to a good breakfast spot, then went for a wonderful round of coffees and started making our way back to the hotel for the inevitable. It was a great day to walk around, even added a nice long tour of the botanical gardens, and got more than our fair share of sun.

And so the momentary freedom comes to an end, back to work we go. Today is more like a normal show though, we're supporting NERD at the Hordern Pavillion, no festival craziness for once, nice to get back to normal. The show was reasonably smooth, seemed to go well by all accounts. We were done nice and early too, which is good because we have an early-ish flight to Perth tomorrow, and also because it gives us time to hang out in Sydney.

Though no one else went, I did meet up with other friends at a club for 90's night that went a little longer than planned, but fun. Quote of the tour, from the bouncer who checked my ID upon entry: "F*ck you're old!". Great way to end our stand in Sydney.

Day 14, Perth

One final show in Oz, and of course it's a 5hr flight away. So we get our stuff together and make our way to the airport. Personally, I could've used a little more sleep, but whatever...

The flight was uneventful, always good, and before we knew it we were in the most remote capital city in the world. Or something to that effect. Either way, it's Perf. We didn't have a whole lot of time, stopped at the hotel for a few mins to drop our bags, and then off to the site. It was what it was, nothing to crazy, not bad, show happened. We were all just happy to have it done.

And of course, as soon as I started to taste a bit of freedom, I heard that one of the guys' flights home the next day had been canceled. Argh. So I had a quick bit to eat at the festival (they graciously served me leftovers as catering closed at 8pm ?!), and went straight back to the hotel to start calling airlines, etc... Took a while, but it worked out, and I just started relaxing for the rest of the night. I'm staying in Oz for another week, in Sydney, for relaxation purposes. Can't wait, getting started right away...

Yoko Ono, Reykjavik, IS, Oct. 9, 2010 - John Lennon's 70th Birthday Celebrations

Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, Oct. 9, 2010, Reykjavik, IS

Today started off in a pretty standard fashion, save for the fact we were out till 4:30am in various bars in Reykjavik... After 4hrs sleep we awoke in our boutique-style apartments, ran across the street to get some amazing coffee at Kaffatir, and it was off to load in at the theater, whose name I still don't know. The morning and early afternoon were really smooth. If anything, I was shocked that I had better gear in Iceland than I did in Los Angeles. What's the deal with that? Anyways... the band came in to soundcheck around 2pm, ran a few songs, and by 4:30pm we were going back to our rooms to relax for a bit.

One of the main reasons we even came to Reykjavik in the first place was for the yearly lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower, which is a tribute in part to John Lennon. This would've been his 70th birthday, so it was a little extra special this year, hence the show. It's also Sean's birthday (they share the same day!), so there's no shortage of events for the weekend... So at 7pm, we all meet up to go to the reception/ceremony to light the tower, which is essentially high-powered beams of light that will stay on until Dec. 8th, the anniversary of John's death. The reception was a smallish number of people - the band, Yoko, various friends, local politicians, Ringo Starr... etc... I had heard rumours he would be coming, but it was still a bit of a shock to see him walk in the door. He greeted everyone he met with a standard line: "I'm Ringo, I'm the drummer!" It was good that he cleared up any confusion... So we hung around for a while, eating hord d'oeuvres, drinking wine, mingling, and eventually it was time to light the tower. Someone made a speech, Yoko read a poem, and they shut the lights out so we could see clearly. (We were actually in a building about 2 miles form the tower site - it's cold in Iceland, so we were all inside.) While the tower lit up, they played "Imagine" (of course), and once that was done everyone sang Happy Birthday to Sean. We mingled a few more minutes and then it was off to the theater, time to work!

It was a little different this time around as there were no plans for special guests, but in a way that's more relieving... Fewer things to worry about, fewer people to please. Everything went really smoothly, and for the last encore of the evening, Give Peace A Chance, they called up a few of their friends to sing along, notables were Mark Ronson and Ringo. Quite a way to finish the night, never thought in a million years that I'd mix Yoko Ono, Ringo Starr and Sean Lennon at the same time.

After the show, there was a surprise birthday party for Sean, so we all stopped by that for a little while. Once that started winding down, we hit the town again, specifically our favourite spot - Boston Bar. We spent a good chunk of the night there, met the owner, she brought us around to a couple other places that stayed open after the 3am last call and finished off the night hopping around to a few different bars, hot dog stands, waffle stands, meeting people and staying entertained along the way. It was almost 6:30am by the time we got in. Success!

We knew there would only be about 4hrs of sleep, but that was ok as we have the Blue Lagoon on the schedule tomorrow. Relaxation for a couple hours anyways...

Oct. 10.

Fours hours of sleep go by pretty quickly. We rushed to get our bags packed, grab some coffee (priorities) and head out the door. We were on our way to the airport to fly home, but via the Blue Lagoon.

It's quite the spot - cold outside, freezing mark, but the water was 40 C (about 105 F). Very weird sensation to be in the water, body completely warm and comfortable, head and shoulders freezing. Nevertheless, it was a very relaxing way to get ready for a flight home. We spent about 90mins in the water, got some sort of fruit energy drink at the swim up bar, stood in a waterfall, very enjoyable.

And with that, our time in Iceland was up. 4 days in Reykjavik just flew by. Looking forward to coming back one day...

The Stills @ 2010 Winter Olympics, Feb. 26-28, 2010

The Stills @ Olympics Day 1, Feb 26 2010

After one day back in NY, I'm flying right back to Vancouver for round 2 at the Olympics, this time with The Stills. Haven't seen the guys in a little while, so I'm looking forward to it.

I just don't know if I'll see them! The weather in NY today is brutal, we got pounded with snow. Almost every flight out got canceled, no flights are coming in, it just looks bad. When I got to the airport and looked out at the runways, I didn't think there was a chance. It was a little reassuring when the security folks told me that Air Canada was the only airline flying out today, only one that could deal with snow! So I patiently waited out a couple delays, and about 90mins late, we were finally airborne.

Fortunately I had time between flights, so I wasn't too worried when I got to Montreal. I got through customs and everything really easily and before I knew it, I had met up with the guys and a couple of us went up to the lounge to chill before the flights to Van. I was also a bit more relaxed because I was able to get my seat upgraded, so I was in business class for the long one. Always a nice touch.

It was a smooth one, we got in a bit early, our ride was waiting for us, it was all coming together. And to top it off, I found out one of my old friends from Ottawa was also in town and out that night, and I actually had time to head in and meet up for a couple drinks. A couple of us went in together and stopped for food on the way, then we split up with plans to meet up again later. I ended up at the Sutton Place hotel bar and I ran into loads of people I knew but rarely see. This whole Olympics thing is like a reunion for touring guys. It's awesome. I ended up being out later than I wanted to be, missed the last SeaBus back to the hotel, but I was able to split a cab back and all was good.

Day 2

Today is show day, but we're actually free till about 5:30pm. I woke up a little early due to the ridiculous time zone changes I've gone through in the last week, but that was good because it gave me time to hit the gym and meet up with a couple of the others for coffee across the street. Good times had by all. After all that we went in to town as a group, I gave a bit of a guided tour from my experience last week, but we still had to miss out on visiting a couple of the provincial houses and Russia House because of ridiculous lineups to get in. I'm sorry, but 7hrs is not worth it. I don't care what's inside. I ended up getting in touch with my cousin again, and with perfect timing we all met up and went for a big lunch together. I hit Wicked Cafe on my way back to the hotel after before we had to head down to Richmond for the show.

The venue is actually really nice. It's on a great athletic field near the Olympic Oval for speed skating, huge stage, great PA, and then I find out there's a ridiculously low sound level limit, but it's the last night and no one seems to care so I didn't worry about it.

The show was actually a lot of fun, and it sounded really good. We tried to get into the Holland Heineken House during our dinner break, but that didn't go so well and there wasn't much else to do. Saw some hockey on a big screen outdoors and that was pretty much our night. It took an eternity for our ride to come pick us up afterwards, but eventually we made it out. There was no going out tonight. We were all beat and we have to head to the airport at 9:30am. Painful.

Day 3

And so my Olympic experience comes to an end today. I briefly considered changing my flights to stay for the men's hockey gold medal game, but flying out tomorrow would be a nightmare. Instead I settle for watching it in the lounge at the airport, which was actually a really interesting experience. There were dozens of people crowded around the lone tv, screaming and yelling for either team, and everyone looked disappointed when it was their turn to leave for their flight. Interesting, but fun experience. I ended up watching with a bunch of NBC guys, but didn't feel sorry for them at the end...

I had to head down to the gates with about 5 mins left, which really hurt, but my plane was late so I was able to watch the end of the 3rd near the gate, and we all cursed Luongo together. It was the most alive I've ever seen an airport. Overtime was really painful because I had to go about 7 mins in, but at least I heard the good news of Canada winning right when we walked on the plane. I really wish I had waited an extra 90 seconds before boarding... Oh well... At least I have a fairly unique story for the whole thing...

Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, Oakland, CA, Feb. 23, 2010

Yoko Ono, Oakland, CA Feb 23 2010

Show in Oakland with Yoko today. When I landed I went straight to the train to ride into Oakland. I was told that was the only surefire way to get there quickly, as all the bridges down there have ridiculous amounts of construction all the time. It was pretty easy, and once I got there I hadn't missed too much and was able to get right into it.

The show today wasn't as involved as the ones last week. Only 2 special guests, Jaron Lanier (dude literally plays over 1000 instruments), and once again, Harper Simon. The soundcheck was alright, got through some last minute surprises, but everything worked out. We didn't have a whole lot of time to kill, so I just ended up staying at the venue till showtime. Today is the Fox Theater.

The Fox Theater is stunning. It's a beautiful vaudeville era building, maintained perfectly. It's amazing. Backstage is a xanadu of the touring world. The bathrooms all had showers, and they were better than most hotels I've stayed in. And that's saying something. You could live down there and feel at home. And the catering was great. I will always look forward to seeing "Fox Theater" on my itineraries from now on. Great crew too. Turns out one of the audio guys did monitors for Prince for 2yrs. That's impressive, especially given that he didn't even mention it himself and there was zero ego. Love this place.

The show went really smoothly tonight. It was more of a standard show, i.e. set + encore, as opposed to acts, and it seemed to fly by. Once done, I went out to the lobby bar where a friend of mine from the area was waiting. Sometimes things work out and you can hook up with people just when you think there's no chance, which is always nice when you're in so many cities all the time. Familiar faces always make you feel a little more at home. Unfortunately we had missed last call though, but there was a place down the street where we were able to get a quick one before I had to go.

I got back to the venue just in time for our shuttle to the hotel, really looking forward to crashing after such a loooong day. So, naturally, it was fitting that the front desk was closed when we got there, no one on duty to check me in. Awesome. And, a couple of the band members were locked out of their rooms, and one didn't have electricity! Boutique hotels aren't always what they're cracked up to be. We started dialing every phone number we could find, we were knocking on the doors and windows in the lobby, no answers anywhere. Finally, after about 10mins, one of the band members got through to someone, and sure enough, a guy pops out from one of the back rooms of one of the doors we had been pounding on. Would it have so hard to just show up in the first place? Sigh... So anyways, I got my room key, the band members who were locked had already climbed into their rooms through the fire escape and a window, and the power was back on for #3. Wild way to end a night.

Yoko Ono Day 2, flying home

I tired to get up early enough today to go for coffee at Blue Bottle, etc... but I was warped. Just dead from the last few days. About 30 min before we were supposed to go, I pushed everything back a few so I could at least caffeinate myself. We weren't that far away from the Blue Bottle Kiosk, so I had to make the trip. I needed beans for home anyways, so it all made sense. I power walked there and back, felt a million times better after the whole thing and hopped in a cab to go to SFO for an uneventful flight. I made it home by midnight, had a small bite to eat and I was out.

Chromeo @ 2010 Winter Olympics, Feb 19-23, 2010

Chromeo @ Olympics, Day 1, Feb 19

Back with the Chromeo kids again, and their tendency to do cool shows does not disappoint. I'm flying to the Winter Olympics today, going for gold in the category of "Monitor Engineering for an Electro-Funk Two-Step Band". It should be pretty amazing.

And of course, some things never change. The day started out with us getting pooched by Air Canada with canceled and re-scheduled flights. It didn't make a huge difference, but annoying nonetheless. But - and this is groundbreaking - Air Canada actually did something right today. When we got off our first flight (NYC-TO), there was actually and Olympic Games escort waiting for us! Unbelievable! Then we went through all the security stuff in priority lanes (but I do that anyways with my status... ha, pretentious!) and she arranged for an upgrade to first class for me and priority seating for everyone else (again, I had the status... still pretentious...). For the first time EVER, Air Canada made me happy. Incredible. (I don't expect this to last very long...)

And so on to Vancouver, the flight was pretty good, and once we landed we were literally at the hotel, staying at the Fairmont in the airport. The view from the window was an airplane, nose to nose. Wild. It was fairly late at this point, definitely on the tired side, so it was an early night. Not like there's anywhere to hang out in an airport anyways...

Day 2

First thing's first. It's time for me to get back to the gym, and given that the gym here is directly across the hall from my room, I have no excuse. So after a bit of time there, we got some guys together and hopped on the SkyTrain to go into the city and check out what Olympic Fever is all about.

Turns out it's just a load of people wearing Canadian flags. It's like walking around Ottawa on Canada Day. It was a good vibe, everyone was happy, but to be honest, not a whole lot happening. We did see the Olympic flame, that was cool, stopped for amazing coffee at a couple of my regular haunts, also cool, and aside from that we just walked around for a couple hours. Eventually we had to head back so we could get ready for the show tonight.

Tonight we're at a place called Code 1, which is unfortunately at the end of the world, in the warehouse district on the east side. Once we got there, we were there for the night. Soundcheck was nice and quick, then we had 4 hrs to kill with nowhere to go, so we just hung out, got some food delivered and waited it out. Apparently this is one of the first shows that sold out during the Olympics, and tickets were being scalped for as high as $1,200. This could be a good show...

And it was. The kids were crazy, tons of crowdsurfing (which never happens at a Chromeo show), and it all went off without a hitch. At the end of it all we just went back to the hotel and called it. Given that we're staying at the airport, it's a little hard to go out and do stuff, and we figured we may as well save ourselves for a day off tomorrow anyways.

Day 3

Full day off in Van. I like it. Did the gym thing again today, and then back to the city to hold court at Wicked Cafe and Templeton diner. It all went brilliantly, just as planned. After eating I walked around for a bit to check out what was happening, hopefully find a couple things going on, and eventually met up with my cousin. We were hoping to go find a bar to watch the Canada-US men's hockey game today (only the most important game of the whole thing), so we went a little out of our way to find a quieter part of town where the odds were better.

Not so much, turns out... We thought we were being a little eager going to places a couple hours before game time. Seems we should've reserved some spaces 2 days before! We walked for about 2hrs, tried countless places, and eventually gave up. The lineups everywhere were ridiculous, unlike anything I've ever seen. We even had to wait in line at a liquour store to get beer to drink at home. After a bit of time, it all came together and we were no doubt more comfortable sitting on couches instead of standing in bars. Disappointing game, but whatever... wait for a rematch. Afterwards we went to the Delta hotel for dinner. I had a $200 credit for their restaurant and we did out best to max it out. Fantastic.

Day 4, Whistler

Today hurt a little bit right from the start. We had to be up at 6am to get on a shuttle bus to head up to Whistler. It was the only time the Olympics would send us. Bastards! It was not what I would call fun... So we all piled in a bus, picked up a couple other groups on the way, and 4hrs later we arrive (that's twice as long as usual). The nice part was that we pretty much had the day off - the guys just had a dj set at 9pm, and we don't really have to do anything for that.

When we got there, our rooms weren't ready yet (shocking), so we all went for breakfast, and then just wandered around the village. I asked around and found out that we were right at the foot of the bobsled track, so I went and tried to get tickets to see that only to find out that this is the only day of the whole thing that there's no scheduled events. So basically the only thing I can do all day is walk back and forth across the village, which really only takes about 10mins. Nice. I was able to kill some time by taking a couple pictures of things like Olympic logos, trying to jump in the background of live CTV broadcasts, trying to find coffee (though I already knew that was futile).... It was a nice day though, so it was pleasant being outside checking stuff out. Later in the evening I saw a medal ceremony (I don't know what event, but Austria won gold, Norway silver, Germany bronze), saw Devo play live (weird) and then went over to the Chromeo dj set. The guys were spinning with skiers doing tricks on the mountain behind them, jumping through flaming Olympic rings, etc... and there were about 5,000 kids there, and they eventually broke through the barricade. Nice. After all that, I stopped for a pint at the local brewhouse, appropriately named Brew House, and then crashed. Have to be up at 3am to drive to YVR (thanks Olympic Committee).

Day 5

Wow this sucks. Up at 3am to drive 3 hrs to wait 3 hrs in an airport to fly 3 hrs to San Francisco. PAIN. Thankfully I slept a bit in the van on the way down, and once there just groggily went through the motions. I slept through most of the flight, thank god, and landed in SF to go do a....

Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band, Feb. 15-16, 2010

Yoko Ono Feb 15, Brooklyn, NY

So after 5 days of being locked up on a rehearsal space, we finally moved into the theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music today. The last few days have been interesting watching things come together, as a number of the special guests for the show came through to try stuff out, and it was cool to see how some of them worked. Bette Midler is particular is something else. She whipped that band together like nothing I've seen before. No bullshit, to the point, get in get out. It was gold.

Anyways, after all that, here we are. It's a long one today as we're really building the show for the first time, not only on the audio end, but there all kinds of lighting and video as well. It's probably the biggest production I've been a part of. Of course, with all this going on, things feel behind a little bit, and it was a bit stressful because there was a dress rehearsal tonight with an audience. Who bought tickets. Interesting. Whatever, right? It's called a "rehearsal" for a reason... There was lots of stress over it though, some justified, some silly, but what can you do? Sometimes shit happens during a show that you can't prepare for, so you run out and fix it. It's not rocket science. I wish people could chill out a bit more...

And so the show goes on. Oddly enough, everything worked, and thankfully everyone relaxed. It wasn't the full show today though, some guests are only coming in for the "real" show tomorrow. Tonight we had Scissor Sisters, Justin Bond, Sonic Youth, and some of the original Plastic Ono Band. We were all pretty beat, so we got out of there pretty fast afterwards to try and get some sleep before heading back early in the morning.

Feb 16, BKLN, NY

Today is the big one. I came in early to check and re-check everything. It's all going up a notch and I want to be ready for what gets thrown at me. Yesterday was a bit on the intense side, but things will get interesting when Eric Clapton, Paul Simon and Bette Midler come in. I think this might be the biggest lineup I've ever worked with, so it's gotta be good.

With everything in order, we open the flood gates and start an afternoon of random soundchecks. To say this is a technical nightmare is an understatement. I had to pull out some tricks I haven't needed in years. Had to add a console in monitor world as well in order to handle all the extras that kept popping up. All said, it was really cool to see Eric Clapton playing a couple feet away, Paul Simon was amazing (and really short!) and Aaron Ween was a surprise favorite. It's a massive lineup.

We got through the afternoon unscathed and the show starts with a 15min movie, and then it's on. It's in 2 acts, the first is the new Plastic Ono Band playing the new CD, and the second act is all the special guests. So crazy to see all these huge names one after the other. All said, it went pretty smoothly, and it was in no part thanks to the number of house crew we had that were able to run around the stage moving mics, monitors, etc... for us. We were about 30 people working on this production, and we needed every single one. Could've even used more.

Once the show was over we sat around for a couple minutes, packed up our stuff and bailed. We were just too tired to really go out and do anything or go to the afterparty. I'm really looking forward to sleeping tomorrow.

We Are Scientists, Jan 20-23, 2010

We Are Scientists Jan 20-23

Day 1, Jan 20, Philadelphia, PA

I'm starting a new one today and I'm looking forward to it. A couple years ago I met these guys in Paris, had a couple drinks, and then about a year ago, we (The Stills) were on tour with them and Kings of Leon across the US, and we all had a great time. So I'm looking forward to working with We Are Scientists the next few days.

Today we're off to Philly, to the classic Johnny Brenda's (just when you thought you couldn't get a small place, there's JB's)... We all met up at their rehearsal space in Brooklyn, packed the van, hit a deli and hit the road, stopping en route to grab some merch. The drive down was painless, and the load in sucked, but it didn't seem quite as bad as I remembered...

Once in the room, nothing was really as I remembered. There was a proper front of house booth, the PA was better, green room cleaner, just overall kind of improved. They even had a lighting guy with a couple real lights to use (and it did look pretty good). I was especially surprised when I walked away from soundcheck thinking that it sounded pretty good in there.

The dinner part was good, that was normal, as they do have a really good restaurant downstairs. After eating we had a fair bit of time to kill, so a couple of us went walking in search of coffee. I pulled up a couple places on Google Maps and decided to proceed cautiously as the last time I was there, the staff told me not to walk further than a block away. Anywhere past that was risking serious danger. Awesome. So with eyes wide open, we began the trek.

We weren't ready for what we came across... It was an actual livable neighborhood! This wasn't what we were expecting at all. The whole area's been gentrified, restaurants and coffee shops everywhere, yuppie central it has become. Crazy. So our spirits lifted and all of a sudden we were enjoying the area. We even found a cool little spot called Aroma that stayed open late for us, just wish the coffee wasn't wretched cause everything else about it was great.

Back to the show we go and the place is pretty full, which is a really nice way to start. It ended up sounding better than I ever remembered that room sounding, and the guys played a pretty good show. We were all pretty happy after, but tired nonetheless, so we didn't waste much time before getting to the hotel.

Day 2, Washington, DC

I tired to get up early enough today to run for a coffee before we left town, especially since we were right near the Reading Market. It's easily my favorite food area, and they have Old Town Espresso, which is a solid brew. So I dragged myself up and power-walked there and back, very happy for having done so. I tried to make sure I was back on time because having not toured with these guys before, I was unsure of their lobby call routines and timings. Of course, when I got back to the hotel, it turned out that the others were all just getting up and needed food, so I suggested the Reading Market and back we went! Really nice way to start a day, and I'm really into the relaxed vibe.

After eating we were off to Washington, a short hop down the 95. We're at the Black Cat tonight, which, legend has it, is co-owned by Dave Grohl. I'll have to get back to you on that. Anyways. Decent room. Sort of a warehouse style place on the second floor, but it was setup reasonably well and sound alright. In-house catering for dinner was fine, no coffee in the area though, so we had to default to Starbucks (ugh!). Show was smooth again tonight, and again we wasted little time getting out and heading to the hotel. Tonight was a luxurious Days Inn which included used soap in the shower. Nice.

Day 3, State College, PA

Today we all woke up hungry about the same time and we had no options. Our hotel was in a weird area, only thing there was Subway. After everyone swore up and down we'd never eat there again, we drove around the block, found nothing, so gave up and went to Subway. Incidentally, the ordering area at this particular Subway was enclosed by bullet-proof glass. Only place I've ever seen that. It was impossible to hear the "sandwich artists" speaking, so it took about 4 tries to get it right. Somehow my 6" whole wheat started out as a 12" on white, but we worked through our differences and soon enough we were on the road to Upper Darby, PA.

I was surprised to find out that the show wasn't actually in Upper Darby. Oops (happy I'm not TM'ing this one...). We were actually going to State College, PA, a small town, home of the Nittanny Lions, where I had actually been before, about 3 yrs ago almost to the day. I remembered a decent theater with a 24hr diner next door. But we were playing the acoustically awful ballroom on campus. Oh well... At least we had hoards of volunteer "loaders" so we didn't really have to touch anything. We survived the brutality of the room only to find out we were miles from any food, so we had to eat in the cafeteria downstairs. $6 for a slice, eh...? Nice.

The show actually did go well though, and it wasn't so bad after all. When we did get out, we were pretty hungry, so after checking in to the hotel for the night, we went out and found the 24hr diner I remembered. Still there, still open, waitresses were playing with hula hoops. Ok... We had been invited to a house party thrown by the student union, and we were tempted, but really skeptical. We are after all about 10yrs older than these kids, and from what we saw during the day, we weren't sure what to expect. After eating, we actually walked all the way over to the door of the building, stopped and talked about what we were doing. Our plan was to bail.

So we did the opposite and went right in. We found an apartment filled with kids, Jungle Juice, cans of Coors Light, strobe lights, neon lights, etc... It was a step back in time for sure... But, against all odds, it was actually alright and we had a good time. Before we knew it, it was about 4am. Once we did know that, we got the hell out because we have to get up and drive 5hrs to the next gig...

Day 4, Hoboken, NJ

And so, feeling like conquered warriors, we got up and did the only thing one could do in our situation. We headed straight for a waffle joint. And it was good. I think it was actually called the Waffle Palace, but I can't be sure... And then we drove 5hrs to lovely Hoboken to throw a party at Maxwell's. Another place I don't remember being too fond of, but really not that bad in the grand scheme of things. Definitely a dive bar vibe though, but at least they had good food. Had to default to Starbucks again for coffee though...

Afternoon was smooth, show was really good. Lots of kids singing along, crowdsurfing, etc... This time we really wanted to get out because we could all go home tonight. We packed the van, drove back to BK to unload at the rehearsal space, had a quick beverage and hopped in cabs.

All things considered, it was a really good 4 day run. Look forward to working with these kids again.

Noah and the Whale, Oct. 17-Nov. 6, 2009

Noah and the Whale, US/Canada, Oct 17-Nov 6

Day 1 LA

Today is a schelp. I finished a Chromeo show in NYC at 4am, and I have a 7:30am flight to LA to start a new tour with Noah and the Whale, a British band I've met a couple times. Usually it's a friend of mine that looks after them, but he's out with Pete Yorn right now, so I'm stepping in. And so far it hurts just a little bit.

After about 90mins of sleep I find myself in the familiar confines of LaGuardia airport, waiting for the fun to unfold. The flight through Denver to LA was alright, all things considered, and I got to our hotel fairly easily. Turns out that my friend who I'm covering on this run is actually in LA today, so after dropping my bags, I hooked up with him and we made a drive out to Silver Lake for coffee and food. It was great. Love the Intelligentsia cafes. After a couple hours of good times, I was back at the hotel to work for a bit while I waiting for the Brits to arrive on their late flight from London.

They were suitably jet-lagged when they got in, but I thought they should go for dinner to a classic Mexican joint called El Compadre. I told them a friend of mine would give them a lift, but neglected to mention that friend was their former ™. They loved it, great surprise to start the trip. We had a great meal to kick things off.

After it was all done, I was actually able to meet up with someone who I had been meaning to meet for some time. A few months ago, a common close friend passed away. We had always heard stories of each other through this friend but only met for the first time at the funeral, sadly. Anyways, this guy lives in LA and we were able to make it work so we could finally hook up and have a couple drinks at the end of the night. Had a great time at the classic Barney's Beanery, shared stories, drinks, games of pool, etc... Felt good.

Day 2 LA

Today is a full day off, and as such, will be treated leisurely. We started with an amazing breakfast down the street at the Urth Cafe, which has incredible coffee, thank god. Way to ease into it.

They guys all went out guitar shopping for the day, and I sort of stuck around the hotel to do some work. Somehow over the course of the day, I found out that a friend of mine was in town with Snow Patrol. We always try and meet up but it never quite works out, so we made plans to hook up for drinks after dinner.

We found ourselves at some little courtyard jazz gig in Hollywood, but before long we were at a house party. Their tour had just ended, so the buses all pulled up in front of one of the crew members' places and emptied all the extra booze in to the fridge. 2 buses with 20+ people carry lots of booze, and makes for a large party. It ended up being a really good time. When that started dying down, we made our way back to the hotel (we were staying in the same one!) and hung out on a balcony for a bit before calling it a night.

Day 3 LA

Another start at the Urth Cafe. Don't fix what isn't broken after all... Again after food, the guys went out guitar shopping for a while. It's important to note that all their gear had recently been stolen in the UK, right before they came over, so they were replacing a fair amount of gear. They came back early afternoon for press at the hotel, a photo shoot, and then we had to go to a movie screening.

When they released their latest record, they also made a film to accompany it, i.e., the music is the soundtrack that runs the course of the film. As part of the promo, the record label has set up a couple screenings in LA and NY, so here we are at the LA one. The guys were kind of dreading it, but it turns out that it's in a really cool little open air courtyard area. And there's a good restaurant attached so we can sit and have dinner while we watch. At the end of it all there was a quick Q&A with a couple of the guys.

After we were done work, the label took us out to the El Rey to see La Roux (who I've seen at festivals almost every 3 days for the last 3 months!) and then we went out to Barney's for a couple drinks to kill the night.

Day 4 LA

Well, it was bound to happen. After 3 days in LA there had to be a show, and tonight it's at the Roxy, an absolutely classic venue. We got everything together, spent some time on the rooftop patio at the hotel where we ran into Dog the Bounty Hunter. Weird. He has a rather large bald spot I think you should know about. I didn't try and get a picture. He could kill me.

So we head to the venue, set up, soundcheck, etc... back in the groove. We had some dinner next door at the Rainbow, also legendary. Unfortunately Lemmy wasn't hanging out tonight. Pizza was ok though.

Next up is show time, and the place is packed. It actually went really well for the first time with a new band playing on all new gear. We considered it a pretty serious success, and a large monkey off the back. After the show everyone scattered to meet friends. I met up with my new friend from the first night. He came to the show and we ended up back at the Rainbow. We only had time for a couple before our bus showed up to pick us up.

We've done a show, we have gear, crew, a bus... it's official: we're on tour.

Day 5 San Diego

I woke up this morning in the scenic Greyhound parking lot in downtown San Diego. Amazing. I've got a good cafe nearby, so that saved my morale. After a quick trip over there, I met up with a couple of the others and went for a weak lunch at the Hard Rock. Why I don't know... there are so many better places in the area. The afternoon was a fairly leisurely walk around, shower, etc...

The show tonight is at the Casbah. Equally legendary but for very different reasons. Everyone was cool and they treated us really well, so we overlooked the decrepit nature of the club in which we found ourselves. It wasn't so bad at the end of it all. I managed to squeeze in a decent dinner nearby too, so all was not lost. We didn't stick around long after this one; 10hr overnight drive to San Fran. Nice.

Day 6 SF

We actually got in at a decent hour which I was really happy about. That meant time to walk over to the Blue Bottle Cafe for some serious coffee with one of the guys. (Ok, I know this sounds like such a lame thing to talk about on tour. It's just necessary is all...). On the way back to the venue, we walked by a cool little rockabilly bar called Lucky 13 that I know and love. We stopped by and sampled a couple fine local brews, cause, well, why not? And then it was off to load in.

Today was a bit of a weird one. It was sort of like playing a church. It was an older building, microscopic stage, definitely not meant for a rock show. The guys re-tooled a bit and played a more acoustic style show and the crowd went nuts for it. It was sold out, on their feet all night. Definitely not what we expected.

After it was done, we all headed back to Lucky 13 where we were able to set up an after-show party that included free booze for us. Sweet deal. Then we hopped on the bus to drive overnight to Seattle...

Day 7 Seattle

The last couple days have been a little heavy, so we were happy to pull into Seattle and have a night off. We had quick showers and then a handful of us regrouped for dinner. My travel agent is based in Seattle and she recommended an awesome French place in the market. Good food, good wine, good relaxing night off.

Then, as luck would have it, my travel agent was across the street at the Showbox, so we made plans to hook up for a drink after dinner. Only a couple of us went over and before we knew it, we had our drink and we were inside watching the end of the Gossip show with a new group of friends. When it was done, we went around the corner to a bistro for a nightcap, and that led to a million dollar condo on the waterfront where we had someone else's drinks. Good night overall...

Day 8 Seattle

Tonight is show night in Seattle. We woke up slowly and went to a place called Lola's for a quick breakfast before I had to take a couple guys to do some press. That kind of kills the afternoon vibe a bit, but what can you do? Gotta do some work sometimes...

After the radio, I was starving, and somehow stumbled across an amazing wood burning pizza joint in a weird part of town. I had a great pre-load meal, then it was off to work at the Crocodile Cafe, another legendary venue that recently re-opened after renovations.

We got throughout the soundcheck and I disappeared to the hotel for a bit to chill out and shower. Back to the venue and we had another really good show. It's been a good streak so far. Afterwards we went around the corner to some bar that looked like it was straight out of Coney Island with weird clowns, decorations, etc... Weird vibe, but alright. We had time for a couple drinks before everything shut down. We had nowhere else to go really, so it was just back on the bus where there was already a classic rock bus party underway, which (embarrassingly) featured Rush Live in Rio and some sort of Journey dvd... Departure time for Portland couldn't come soon enough...

Day 9 Portland

We pulled in to town right in time for lunch, which was at the always good Doug Fir Lounge. We spend some time lounging, showering, etc... and then a couple of us made the walk in to town to hit Stumptown coffee. Have to take advantage of all the west coast has to offer, naturally.

Back at the club, we found out that there we were the early show on a two-show night. Interesting. Glad they told us about that. Surprises are always fun. Either way it went well. Afterwards everyone scattered and went out to a local haunt, and I was actually able to meet up with my buddy who works for Snow Patrol for the second time in a week. He came over and met me at the venue and we went out to a cool little underground bar for a couple drinks. After a little while it was time to hit the road again. The long cross-country drive starts tonight. It's a 3 day drive to lovely Madison, WI.

Day 10 Evanston, WY

Today we drove. And drove. And drove some more. It was fairly late by the time we actually pulled into Evanston for our first stop on the epic voyage. We were barely out of the bus and going for dinner when the driver called me. He had looked into the weather for the next couple days as we're right in the middle of storm country for this time of year. It turns out we have a huge one right on our tails. So much for a leisurely dinner and drinks night. We figured we had to be out within 4hrs to miss the storm. We had a quick bite at the Best Western down the road (which is sadly the best meal in town), and then a couple incredibly cheap pints at their hotel bar. Back to the bus, back on the road. Next stop, Lincoln, NE.

Day 11 Lincoln, NE

Well, we made it. We're a cranky, smelly, somewhat depressed bunch at the moment, but we made it. There was a quick stop on the way in to town to drop a trailer we hauled for the bus company, and then we set up at the hotel for the night. Pretty nasty area though. The highlights were the laundromat and the pawn shop where you could buy used guns. Awesome. We did find out that there was a Fun Center though, and that sounded like the only real option, so we went for it. We could eat there too, so it seemed like it was all coming together.

The first sign was on the way over when I stepped into a knee-deep puddle. That was fun. And I had just put on fresh clothes. But whatever, I shake it off and we go inside to what is the weirdest, most messed up family fun center any of us had ever seen. It was like Chucky Cheese did forty lines of coke and woke up with a terrible hangover. Our options being limited, we head to the restaurant in the back thinking we'll have a drink to drown our sorrows over dinner. But they don't serve alcohol. It's a family place. We order anyways, most of us get hot dogs, and then they tell us they ran out of buns. (Not done yet...) So they offer us a choice of anything else for free, but they still serve us the dogs. One guy got a single dog on a paper plate. I was given 2 dogs in a plastic basket sitting on roughly 18 fries (photo is on my twitter page). It hurts. Not only does it look bad, but it tastes worse. So we move on to the bowling lanes.

What a mess. The balls are warped, the lanes randomly reset themselves, it's just awful. And there are kids playing there thinking it was the greatest thing they'd ever seen. I felt so bad for those kids... We played a couple rounds and go the hell out. Even sitting on the damn bus was better than this. Thankfully on the way back, we found a lame little hole in the wall called the Tack Bar and Grill and we stopped by. Apparently we were the only ones with that idea tonight. We sat a the bar like weird locals and took turns selecting tracks on the jukebox. We basically shut the place down.

We were still a little hungry though, and the only thing around was a MacDonalds, so we went over to try and grab a bite. The "restaurant" itself was closed, so we went up to the drive through, but the girl refused to serve us because we didn't have a vehicle. We tried to explain that we had a bus, we just can't drive it, we're a band, etc... but there was no love. They threatened to call the cops because "we were just a bunch of stoners looking for a high". Well I never. Completely insulted, we went back to the bus and sulked. And then decided to try again.

We went back with a different lineup. In fact, I was the only repeat offender. And apparently I was, because as soon as they saw me they actually did call the cops. During this time, we had also found a guy driving through who would place our order for us, so we said we'd pay for his in return. Perfect plan. And then the cops showed up. We had to tell our whole story, they took our ID's and ran our names through the system. It was so weird. Getting stopped trying to get McDicks. There's something inherently wrong about that. Anyways, in the end, the cop laughed about the whole thing and told them to serve us. Nice.

So, cardiac arrests waiting to happen, we went back to the bus and waited for it to roll away to Madison. 

Day 12 Madison, WI

Today started off right, with a stop at Cracker Barrel for a classic CB breakfast. It's been a while since I've hit this and I was really happy. We all were. And it was exactly what we expected. American grease at it's finest.

After breakfast we rolled into Madison. I spent most of my afternoon picking up supplies (like toothpaste), showering at the hotel, etc... then back to the venue to soundcheck. We found a really good place for dinner after too and it seemed like things were really falling into place for us after a couple rough days in the bus.

The show tonight, at the Majestic, wasn't too bad. Good amount of people, but it was a really oddly-shaped ancient theatre and it sounded bizarre at best. We fought through it and went straight to the brew pub across the street when done. We didn't stick around too long. We're going to Chicago tomorrow, one of my favourite cities ever, and everyone wants to have most of the day there.

Day 13 Chicago

It was with extreme pleasure that not only did I wake up in Chicago, but I woke up across the street from an Intelligentsia cafe! There's only about 6 of them, they're my favorite, and we were parked right across the street! Incredible! There is no way this day can go wrong.

After starting the day that nicely, I spent most of it wandering my old haunts, checking out some old faves and doing a bit of work somewhere in the middle. So far so good.

We were getting through soundcheck when things changed a little. I got a call from the tour manager for our support act that there were some cops staring at the bus, with a weird look in their eyes. So I had to stop and run over and see what was up. I didn't think it would be too bad; earlier in the day a couple traffic cops asked to see our permit and were a little surprised to see that the city of Chicago had given us a permit to park in a no parking/bus zone. They laughed it off and that was it. This was a little more intense. The shift supervisor was here and he wanted the bus moved.

The last thing I wanted to do was piss these guys off, so I tried to be as pleasant and helpful as possible, but I still had to call the driver, wake him up and come move the bus. Turns out the guy in the diner across the street didn't like the bus blocking his view all day. He called some high-up friends at city hall, and before I knew it, I was bargaining with the alderman, police chief and a couple other positions I had never heard of. It was full on Chicago politics, and it was sort of fun to be honest. I sort of ended up winning too. They were going to put our bus in a lot further down the street, but my new police friend (who's cell number I have incase of emergencies), said to park anywhere I wanted (I chose directly in front of the venue in a no parking zone), and he would make any problem disappear. I like!

So that solved, we went back to doing a show. Quickly finished up soundchecks and for dinner I took one of the guys a few blocks away to Giordano's to give him a taste of a classic deep dish pizza. It was awesome.

And to top it off, the show is sold out tonight. Lake Shore Theater. Never heard of the place, but it's a nice little community style theater and it was full, so that's what counts. The show was really good, the kids ate it up, and my bus was parked in front of the venue, which was also next door to the bar we would go to after the show. Perfect. And then it turns out the Chromeo guys got to town today for a show tomorrow night, so one of my good touring friends was able to make it over to have a couple pints as well.

Love Chicago.

Day 14 Ponitac, MI

After the high of Chicago, it's only fitting that we come crashing down, hard... Welcome to Pontiac, MI. Home of, well... nothing. It's essentially a deserted car town outside of Detroit, but somehow they have a real venue. Weird.

Make no mistake though, it was awful. There was absolutely nothing to do all day, and I looked. And it was raining. By some stroke of luck there was a coffee shop across the street that didn't suck, and we were able to do laundry at the venue, so all is not lost...

Oddly enough, the show at the Pike Room was packed. So weird! We obviously had nowhere to go after the show, but there was some entertainment. While we were waiting to load out, a huge hip hop night ended next door. Night before Hallowe'en, so everyone is in costumes. All the guys were pimps and all the girls were ho's. It was hilarious in the worst way possible. They were all pushing each other around, guy were groping the girls, the cops were out shutting down streets, just crazy. There may have been a knife fight, but it could also just be heresay. I'd believe it though.... It was with extreme pleasure that we got the hell out of Pontiac and made the drive up to Toronto. They woke us all up at the border, but it was a small price to pay...

Day 15 Toronto, ON

We got in early this morning as our day started with a lovely in-store performance at Criminal Records. I hate in-stores, and so does the band. Thankfully it's so small that everything had to get scaled back and it didn't end up being too bad, at least we got it done. We parked the bus behind the Horseshoe, where our night show was, and I promptly got the guys in cabs to go to Aunties & Uncles for breakfast with a couple stops around the corner at Manic Coffee. Wicked.

It took a while to get the food but it was so worth it. And the coffee made it even better. And I was really happy to be back in Canada; it's been months and it feels good, even if it's only for about 16hrs. I was hoping to hook up with a couple friends, but turns out everyone was out on the road already, oh well...

So it ended up being a really good afternoon and we eased into the load in and soundcheck, etc... We didn't have time for a real dinner tonight as the guys were going to get makeup done for their Hallowe'en costumes. Tonight is the night after all... That took a serious chunk of time, and we basically had to rush back and get on stage as soon as it was done. It all went fairly well and we stuck around the 'Shoe for a couple drinks after. Every now and then it's nice to do something familiar. When they shut down we found a place a couple blocks away that was taking advantage of the time change tonight, so we indulged for a last one, and I was able to squeeze in a Sleeman's. What a Canadian day.

When we finally hit the road again, we made it through the border fairly easily, and then the guys wanted to make a McDicks stop for food. And then it happened again. They refused us because we couldn't drive through. And this time we had the bus right there!! It took some convincing, but we were able to work something out eventually. I had to take everyone's cash, approach the counter alone, leave the cash and walk away. They made it more like a stick up than it could ever have been. So insane. Anyways, it worked out and before long we were back on the road towards NYC. Going home, nice.

Day 16 NYC

It was good to be home, even with all the work coming up. We got to the hotel, got the guys checked in and set up, and then I finished up all the bus paperwork, got the driver paid and on his way. And I got to go home for a couple hours. Amazing. It was good, but still a bit short-lived. We had another one of those movie screenings tonight so I had to turn around and head back to meet the guys and head over to the screening at Piano's.

We got there a little early, so we went next door to the Living Room so the guys could build up some courage. Once back at the movie, it actually went fairly well and it was over before we knew it. We all went for dinner after with some label people, stopping at Smeltzers, and then went random bar hopping for a bit. Somewhere in the middle of it a couple of us ducked out and we ran into Sean Lennon, who I had toured with for most of 2007. Amazing. A quick chat on the sidewalk and we went our separate ways. We went back and had a couple drinks with the others and called it a night.

Day 17 NYC

Today is multi-show day in NY. We have an early recording session for this thing called Fearless TV, so it's an early call to head over to Crash Mansion for the taping. Once we were there and in, it wasn't so bad. It kind of ran itself. Out on the sidewalk I ran into another friend I used to tour with, so it's 2 random run-in's in 2 days. Love this city. Aside from that, most of the afternoon just moved along at it's own pace and soon enough we were heading over to the Mercury Lounge to set up for the 3 night stand. We had a little time once we got over there so we went over to Katz's to get the guys a classic overrated deli sandwich, and managed to stick in a coffee stop in there too.

After soundcheck we went to dinner a few blocks over to Il Posto Canto, an Italian wine bar I really like, we took our time, enjoyed a great meal, and then back for show #1 of 3. It was packed, a really great way to start a string of shows is with a sellout, and it was a great show. And the best part is that there's no load out! Amazing. After the show we headed a few blocks over to Black & White and had a couple drinks to cap a successful night.

Day 18 NYC

Another early session today, this time at CBS Radio. I go meet the guys, grab the pair I need for the session and we head over. It's all fairly painless, actually filmed in Howard Stern's old studio (ha!), and then we even had an hour or so once we were done. We were able to find a cool little sandwich shop, which actually isn't that hard in Greenwich Village, had a bite and went over to the venue. After soundcheck we went to dinner at an Italian place our guitar tech really liked, went for a coffee afterwards at Ost Cafe and slowly made our way back to the show.

Again, it's slammed, way over sold, and it's great. We're having a really good streak here in NY. After the show tonight, everyone was a little tired, so to keep things in check, we just went back to the hotel bar. They were staying at the Jane, which is where some Titanic survivors actually stayed back in the day, and they had just finished renovating the bar/lounge area the day before. It looks really incredible, and we were meaning to stop by for a drink, so it all made sense. It was a cool little vibe we had going and a good way to end the night.

Day 19 NYC

Another day, another afternoon press event. This time I went down to meet the guys and we had to go all the way back up to the Bronx to Fordham University to do their radio show. That was a trek through parts of the city I'd never seen, nor care to go back to. The show itself was cool though, the interviewer actually had a clue, which was a nice change. We made our way back asap and had a bit of time to kill, so we walked around the village a bit and ended up stopping at a place called Amy's Bakery where we had great sandwiches and even crazier cakes. Then back to the real world of soundchecks, etc...

The guys had a business dinner tonight, so I went out with our guitar tech and the TM for our support act. We ended up finding a really cool little Italian place on 2nd or 3rd and we had a really good meal. And then back for the show.

This one was off the charts. By far the biggest crowd, and that's saying something when the first two nights were over capacity as it is. Really great way to end a tour. 3 sold out shows, everything went really well, the guys were really happy. And then we still didn't have to load out! The club let us keep our gear there overnight so we could just pick it up on the way to the airport tomorrow. Probably a good thing too because our guitar techs truck got towed so he was indisposed for a while trying to get it back... Oops... Should've paid attention to those parking signs...

So we ended up at The Spotted Pig in the west village, right by their hotel. They kept the place open for us, I had a couple friends come over, the food was amazing, the bar was open, what more do you need? But, like most places, they too must close, and I walked the guys back to their hotel where we spent a little more time reminiscing before I hopped in a cab and went home.

Day 20 NYC

Finally a day with no press at all. The only thing we have to do is get to the airport. So I go down and meet up with the guys, throw everyone in the vans and we make our way to JFK stopping en route to grab the gear at the club. It was all rather painless, which was nice, and in no time at all I had the Brits checked in and through security, goodbyes said, promises to reunite exchanged. I hopped in a cab and headed home.

Oddly enough, after spending 3 nights this week at the Mercury (and that's also where I ran into Sean a few nights ago, so 4 nights really), I had more friends in town who were playing there tonight. So back I was,  the staff knew me well at this point, I was treated amazingly well by all involved. I think it just might become my hangout when I'm in town these days...