JULY.27.2009

Wanted to reach out to all our fans… both of you. Well we played the second date for The Revolution Tour in support of Forsaken Generation at Thornden Park in Syracuse. The goal is to spread the word about youth homelessness and hopefully raise some funding for homeless shelters in the area. The day was pretty good and the weather cooperated for most of the day. Overall it was a decent day and we met a lot of great bands.

Let me take you to the story before the story. This trip was one more than I could have forseen. It’s a tale filled with tragedy and triumph, passion and pain, blood sweat and tears. And that was just trying to get a trailer. So I showed up at the U-haul place to pick up the 5x8 enclosed trailer because I needed to haul our gear and the front of house sound system for the whole show. Lo and behold, the trailer was stolen from the U-haul lot the night before. No trailers in the Rochester area at all. So I got their $50 guarantee added to my checking account. That’s great that I just made $50 for doing absolutely nothing, but now I don’t have no trailer.

So in a mad scramble, I called everyone I could think of. No one owns or knows of anyone who owns a trailer. So I meet up with Seven12 from Unusual Suspects and we pick up the system at the House of Guitars (Thanks guys!). We head to my house and unload what we have. In the meantime, Flora, my lovely bride finds out that another U-haul place has a 4x8 trailer. So I take off after it and bring it home. That’s good news, right? Well I’m thinking it will in no way fit all of the stuff. But by sovereign wisdom I fit everything into that trailer with inches to spare. It was amazing!

I eat a little dinner and run out the door to meet up with Unusual Suspects for rehearsal. Their bass player was out of town and I got to play for them (AMAZING!). We didn’t leave Ra-cha-cha until 3:30am. Yeah – 3:30. We hoofed it to the ‘Cuse and crashed on Wildrick’s parents’ living room floor. So after both hours of sleep we headed out to the park. Just before we left the house, Wildrick’s sister came over and a dear friend in the family had just passed that morning. That just sets the mood for the day.

Now, this venue was really cool and things were looking up. But then we had this incredibly strange set of circumstances. Apparently the tent company brought the wrong tent. We only discovered this after the 3-1/2 hours it took for them to lay it all out and take it away. So much for starting on time!?! There was basically no monitor system and threats of thundershowers.

My favorite moment of the day was the sign for Dinosaur Bar-B-Que that read: Dinner $8. Drink $1. Dinner + Drink $9. Now that’s good math. I wasn’t quite sure how much it was going to cost for the dinner and the drink together. But I must say I have taken note of the recent clothing trends of a lot of the bands now adays. I’m not saying if I like it or not, but I must have missed the memo describing all new band uniforms as skin-tight capri’s and white flip-flops. And here I thought being in a band meant loving music and being good at it. Apparently that no longer is required as long as you are skinny. I guess it comes on when you have kids… I look and just shake my heads – just like my parents did when I was that age. BTW, look for Wildrick in the capri’s and the Hello Kitty shirt that is obviously 3 sizes too small!

I must say this is way more fun than I ever imagined it would be. We are making some of the best friends ever and we get to play our music. Thanks so much to Sean at LifePlace and Unusual Suspects and Index Patient. You guys ROCK!

Catch us out at Joy Community Church on Friday, Aug. 14 and then at Trinity Alliance on Saturday, Aug. 15 and then Sunday at Water Street Music Hall Sunday, Aug. 16. Until next time – walk in love!