The First Update of the Tour

Hello Kelly,
We're finally out on the road again, and it feels fantastic! Last night Josh was a gentleman and offered to sleep on the hotel room floor so that I could have a bed, (there are six of us in this room) so I'm feeling particularily chipper, thanks for a good night's rest. James, Ryan and I woke up early to get free breakfast. Raisin Bran, bagel and a banada = Breakfast of Champions!

We're all really excited to be out here. Yesterday, we woke up at 5:00am in Canada and drove all the way down to Maryland in the USA. The lady at the border wasn't the most pleasant we've ever experienced, but Josh turned on the charm and managed to make her budge. I expected to be there for hours but we were in and out in minutes. Oh, Josh - what a smooth operator ...

By the way - I just watched the Season 3 recap for "How I Met Your Mother" in preparation for Season 4, which starts on Monday - and I can feel the excitement swelling up inside of me. It doesn't equal my excitement for The Office, but that should go without saying. Will Jim propose to Pam after all??? Dun dun dun!!

The other bands on this tour are Eleventy Seven, Manic Drive and The Great Transparency. Yesterday's show was pretty rushed and a little stressful, so I didn't really get a chance to spend time with Manic Drive. (They're running sound and lights on this tour - VERY hard workers!) We DID get to meet the other two bands though, and it was really great. Eleventy Seven's style of music isn't what I normally listen to, but when I saw them perform last night, I think I finally caught the vision for what they're earning and developed respect for those guys. Their new record is really shimmery and poppy, but I was happy to see them still retain that hyper-punk feel for the live show.
They're also REALLY great guys - so that was refreshing. It's encouraging when you show up for the first show and everybody's friendly. Phew.

The crummy part about last night was that the electricity wasn't very reliable. The power cut out for The Great Transparency at the end of the show, and for us right at the beginning. It was a little discouraging to start a show like that, cause - and anyone who's in a band can probably relate - once you lose a crowd, it's SUPER tough to get them back. But, I'm VERY happy to report that even after that little disaster, we put out an extra dose of energy and, by the end of our set, everybody was really into it. Sure, it was a bit of a stressful show with all the power issues, but I was proud of us for pulling it together!

Then the power cut 4 times for Eleventy Seven. Sigh. But they dealt with it like champs. (You really need to come out to a show to see these guys - if for nothing more than to just witness the experience. I can't really describe it with words.)

Sorry about this journal entry coming across as a little spastic. Everybody's yelling at me to shut the computer and get going. Sooooo ... I suppose I should do that.

Talk to you soon!

francy