Uber-Update

Alright... buckle up and hold on...

Hammond, Indiana

This day was quite the milestone. Pouring rain was only the beginning. Matt G., who's been with the band since the beginning (for real, 1988), left the tour that day. It happened pretty quickly. We had about an hour's notice. This left Kory and I doing it all for the show. It was hectic, but we didn't miss a beat. The rain subsided, and the band had a great show.

In addition to Drum tech and Bass tech duties, I am now tech-ing for Ed (lead vocals), he plays acoustic and electric guitars throughout the show. I'm much busier now, but things are going great. If you know me, you know I like being busy, especially on the road.




Cadott, Wisconsin

Another memorable day. This was a festival show with Plain White T's, Switchfoot, Live, Goo Goo Dolls, and Stone Temple Pilots headlining. It rained again... a lot. But it finally let up, and we had another great show.

The highlight was, without a doubt, getting to meet Jon Foreman (again). I'm not normally phased by popular musicians, but Jon is pretty much my hero right now. His music is changing my life. www.jonforeman.com

Here's a pic with Jon and his brother Tim





Duluth, Minnesota

Cold. Really cold. I would find out a week later that I caught pneumonia in Duluth. Beautiful city, though, right on Lake Superior.






Rochester, Michigan and West Bend, Wisconsin
I can't remember these shows. Seriously


Kansas City, MO

We started the day with new gear and another musician on stage. The band added a keyboard player at this show. Luckily, we also welcomed our good friend Kasey to help out. With the addition of the 6th person on stage, Kory and I would've been overwhelmed.

It was a pretty full day, setting up new gear, the band sound checking with the new guy, and Amanda and the kids coming to visit...


Then it started raining...again. This time it was bad, complete with golf ball sized hail and lots of lightning. Just when they going to pull the plug, it stopped. The show went on as planned, and turned out pretty well. Lots of die-hard fans.



This guy was my favorite...


The big regret was not getting to spend much time with the family. But even an hour or so was worth it. I appreciate Amanda so much for making the trip, I really needed to see her and the mo's. Thanks also to Amber and Madi for tagging along to keep them company.



Florence, Kentucky (outside Cincinnati, Ohio)

I have no pictures from this show. My fever went full blown, and I barely got through the day. But according to Freddie Mercury, the show must go on. haha

Columbus, Ohio (day off)

I went to see a doctor today. I'd had enough fever and shaking. Sure enough, it was Pneumonia. I got a shot and 5-day antibiotic. The show the next day was tough. I ran on 50% for about a week.

NYC, baby !!!

Started to feel like myself again, just in time to enjoy New York City. The venue was the Hammerstein Ballroom, which is a beautiful house. We had a few minutes to get out and about. We had NY style pizza at a walk-up place that you would normally not even want to touch. It was great.



This is Terry, our Front of House engineer


The next day, Kory, Kasey, and I went out on the town. We went to Central Park (for about 5 minutes), Ground Zero, the Statue of Liberty, Grand Central Station, and Times Square. All in a day's... work.

...from the ferry out to Liberty Island



Grand Central Station


Times Square



Hershey, Pennsylvania

An arena show, for once. Here's a pic of my world now. Drum kit, ProTools, Guitar amp, Bass rig, 2 acoustic guitars, 1 electric guitar, 3 basses. All in a day's...work


During the song "Heaven", Ed brought the kids on stage...all of them. Ed's, Chad T's, and Patrick's kids were all there.



Bethlehem, PA

Better known as Bug-lehem, to me. I've been cleaning bugs off gear for days! Here is a pic that Hana took for her site. www.hanabobana.tumblr.com




Tom's River, New Jersey

This was a festival with 2 stages. Our stage...Day of Fire, Collective Soul, and Live. The other stage... Avril Lavigne and Chris Daughtry. The Day of Fire guys are super cool. The drummer uses 18" crashes for hihats. That's crazy.

Daughtry came out and sang Walk the Line with the band. Ed and Chris have been friends since 2006, when the band performed with him at the American Idol finale. (yea, I was there). Here's an excerpt from wikipedia on how it all got started:

...Daughtry's March 21 [2006] performance caused controversy when the apparently original rendition of Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line" garnered much praise from the judges. However, viewers noted that the rendition was very similar to a version by Live; however, there was no mention of that in Daughtry's pre-performance interview. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Daughtry defended himself, saying "It wasn't my doing. You say a lot of things in the [pretaped] interview, and when editing gets involved, things get cut out for time constraints. I did mention in my interview that I'm doing a different version from a band I totally respect. The lead singer of Live, Ed Kowalczyk, called me to say, 'Man, don't listen to that.'...It was really cool to get that kind of respect."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Daughtry

Here's a terrible cell phone pic. (what do you want? I was working)



No pics from Baltimore and Wallingford, CT. I'm running on autopilot right now, so some shows are a blur. I'm on a day off in Philly...we had REAL cheese steaks for lunch. I'm reading "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction" by Eugene Peterson. Ed gave it to me after he finished reading it. Pretty cool.

whew... I'll try not to let so much build up next time. I apologize for the marathon update.

Thanks for visiting