too late

*This was written on the last day, obviously, and I never actually posted it. My bad.*

I've gone full circle. We're back in LA now and I'm gearing up for the last show of the tour. I woke up with some sort of chest congestion this morning and a pretty zonked feeling all around. I hope I'm not seriously sick. I could handle a cold or something, but the last thing I need is to be sick the entire time I'm off.

Anaheim was cool, I guess. A lot of the cast (and management in general) were really hyping this show. Being so near Disneyland, they thought the show would be an absolute amazing night. Truthfully, it was pretty "blah". Nothing special. In fact, the crowd may have been more reserved than most of the other shows.

On to Fresno. Fresno was a dump. Catering was outside, under a tent. There was no running water in most of the building. Load-in was a pain. The freight elevator, which we use a lot, was all the way across the building from the loading dock. I'd really rather forget Fresno. It ranks way down there with Bakersfield. Save for one thing. Midge's daughter, Isabella, was the lucky kid that Lucas picked to sign the basketball for during the show. She was absolutely adorable. Midge found me the next day and gave me a big man hug for being the one who shot his daughter on the big screen. Isabella was a diamond in the rough dirty pile of nothing that was Fresno.


**********
And that's where it stops. I guess I had to do the show or something.

The day after Fresno, we hit Las Vegas. The most memorable parts of the Las Vegas show are as follows. First: As soon as we got pretty deep into load-in, Sisse (the audio girl) ran backstage yelling for someone to call a medic. Three layers of staging had fallen on a stagehand. The staging pieces were pretty huge and he was pretty much crushed against the concrete floor. An ambulance came and they rolled the poor guy out on a stretcher. I hope he's okay. He was awake and responding on the way out, I believe. Ugh. NOT a good way to start the day. But the show must go on. Second: We had In-N-Out burgers for lunch. This is the exact opposite of the first memorable moment. Pyro Rob's stagehand volunteered to drive us to get some of the best burgers I've ever had in my life. I bought a shirt, they were so good. Third: Michael Jackson came to the show that night. I was about twenty feet from him at one point in the evening. How weird is that? If you want to know my real feelings on the fact that he was welcomed like a hero into a coliseum full of kids, I don't know... talk to me personally. I saw the Vegas strip on the way out of town. It seemed a lot smaller than I expected it to be. Then again, I only saw it from the bus.

On to LA!

So remember how I was pretty zonked? Well, I barely made it though the day. I was pumping TheraFlu and ThroatCote and hot tea and coffee and anything else I could, just to stay awake and stay active. The night was filled with farewells and well-wishes. I was really spaced out, though, and felt like I was floating through the evening. As soon as we hit the bus, I hit the bunk and tried to sleep. I still had a lot of adrenaline pumping, I guess, 'cause I ended up just getting up and hanging out in the front lounge. When we got to the hotel, I went to my room, packed and repacked and passed out on the bed. I definitely did not make the most of my final evening on my first tour.

Took a late flight the next morning and made it back to Nashville by 5:30. Kayla picked me up. I couldn't have been happier. Except for the fact that I was sick as a dog. And I remained sick for about a week. That was the worst flu I've ever had. I slept all day, every day, until Saturday or so. I kept forgetting to eat... but never forgot to take medicine. I think I combined a couple things that shouldn't have been combined. It was a rough week.

Then I was home for a while. Another week and a half of non-sick off days. I think I'll write about those later.

NEXT!

ol' Walt is probably spinning in his grave

We're in the final days now. Four shows left. I'm in Anaheim, California, just minutes from Disneyland.

So guess where I went today?

Disneyland! In an unbelievable fit of generosity, we were given free passes around noon today. Jody, Steve, Sisse, Happy Jack and I. Running amok in Disneyland. We rode what rides were worth riding and pretty much got out of there. I was kinda disappointed, really. I always imagined Disneyland as this incredibly huge themepark, packed to the gills with excitement. What I found was a slightly large-ish themepark with twenty times more souvenir shops than rides. I'm sure the park was a lot different back when it was new. We rode Space Mountain twice. The lines were super short and we hopped right on to most of the stuff we wanted to ride. I kinda liked it that way. The park had enough people in it to create excitement, but not so many as to make you feel cramped or claustrophobic.

We've had two days off here in Anaheim. We flew out of snow and ice in Kansas City yesterday, straight into the cloudless perfect weather of LA. The smog here still grosses me out in a very real way. It's disgusting.

To get back to my city-by-city breakdown, we'll go back to Philly. Pittsburgh was horrible. Now that's settled.

Charlottesville, Virginia. This was almost two weeks ago. I can't believe that. Anyway. Charlottesville was really cool. Since the arena was situated on a college campus, most of the crew consisted of crazy college cids- I mean, kids. One of my stagehands had a moped shirt on, so we talked two-stroke for a while. He knew a lot of the scooter scene around Virginia, including Chelsea at Scomo (a scooter parts store). John Paul Jones Arena was barely eight months old. It was great. Everything still seemed so new. To go from the grimy, dysfunctional Spectrum in Philadelphia to such a clean place as John Paul Jones was a great pick-me-up. Everyone seemed to breathe a little easier and the day went by without a hitch. I didn't get out and walk around at all, though, because it rained all day.

Cincinnati, Ohio. My time in Cincinnati was unbelievable. Kayla, her mom, my mom, my sister and her friend all came up to see the show and hang out beforehand. I got some free tickets from AEG that were pretty close to the stage and even procured some meet and greet passes for Emily and Brittnee. What a thrilling day. First of all, I was able to see my wife for a few hours. Second, I was able to see my family during those hours as well. Third, all of the above saw what I've been doing for the past couple months. I felt successful. I haven't felt that way in a long time. I finished my load-in duties just as the whole gang arrived at the arena. We went to their hotel to check-in and hung out there in the room for a while. It was a great room, too. It had a full kitchen and everything. Kayla booked it online for a really cheap price. But none of that is really all that important. What is, however, is the day I spent with the people I love. Emily and Brittnee met all the main players from HSM, who graciously gave in to hugs and photographs. The girls absolutely froze when Corbin came around the corner and I called him over. He's a great guy and hung out for a while just to talk to everyone. Ha! I just thought about what happened at the end of the show. At the very end of the concert, I usually shoot a lot of the crowd dancing and singing and all. For the Cincy show, I ran over and shot my family group, complete with Mom dancing and waving. Kevin (the director) yelled, "Mom shot!" and put it up on the big screen. I was all smiles. All smiles, all day. After the show, i loaded out and took the family to hang out on the tour bus. It was a hoot. The crew made everyone feel so welcome in our little traveling home. Then... then Midge came on the bus. Midge the merch man. He's hilarious. He had Mom worked up about living in the hills of Alabamy. He really keeps me laughing sometimes.

(Sidenote: Midge and I stayed up 'til arond 3 or 4 a.m. a couple nights ago, talking about music. We have a lot of the same taste in music, despite Midge being twenty-some-odd years my senior. 'Twas a great night with some really good musical insight and excellent conversation.)

So I bid my family farewell and hit the bus to head to Cleveland. The bunk seemed especially lonely that night, but I had to be thankful for being able to see anyone at all.

I don't remember Cleveland. It was the fifth of a five-in-a-row stretch. All I was concerned with, especially after a fleeting glimpse of normal family life, was the day off we would have in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Auburn Hills, Michigan. Snow. Cold, cold snow and ice. I went to the mall in a taxi and spent a little of the bonus money we'd received the night before. I ate terrible sushi in the mall. Bought Wayne's World 1 and 2. Bought a sweater and some new jeans for $25. Steve text messaged me while I was eating, asking if I remembered the street our hotel was on. I told him and asked him where he was. Turns out, he was about a hundred feet away from me, eating at a different place in the mall. We met up and considered watching a movie. Nothing good was playing at a time that we were happy with, so we caught a taxi and hit the hot tub at our hotel. When I was getting in the hot tub, two tattooed, seemingly redneck guys were hanging out there with their girlfriends. One of them was telling the other about a shot glass he bought that said, "American by birth, Southern by the grace of God". We ended up talking to them and I learned that both of them were born and raised right there in Michigan. True rednecks. About as far from Southern as possible, but playing the part so very well. They reminded me of the guys in high school who claimed to be country and redneck but listened to an awful lot of rap music. The guys at the hot tub were nice, don't get me wrong, but it was kinda funny to me, a Southerner, to listen to them talk.

Indianapolis, Indiana. Arnold told me that Indianapolis was one of his favorite cities. It seems like a great place, but I didn't get to see too much of it. I walked over to a downtown mall at one point in the day, to get something to eat, when I had one of the funnier experiences I've had this entire tour. Picture this. I'm standing behind two little girls in the line for Chik-Fil-A. They keep turning around to look at me then turning around to giggle and whisper. It was painfully obvious that every single kid (and there were tons of them) around me would be at the show in an hour. Eventually, the two girls notice my All Access HSM badge. One said, "are you going to the show?" and I told them yes, I'd be working it. We started talking back and forth, and I was getting them pumped. Asking if they knew all the words and dances and such. At one point, one of the girls looked across the food court to where her mom was sitting and yelled, "It's OK! He's the cameraman for High School Musical!". I guess mom had been giving her a questionable look. They told me about how they won backstage passes and that they were sitting in the 7th row. I told them I would do my best to put them on the bigscreen. They took their food and scrambled away. I took my food and went to sit alone in an empty section of the food court area. As I was eating, I saw the two girls and their moms walk by in the distance. One of the girls pointed at me and waved, so I waved back. Then, the group started walking towards me. When the two little girls got close, one of the moms says, "She wants to have her picture made with you. Is that alright?". Haha! It was awesome. I smiled for the picture and probably kept the same smile for the next three hours. This single event reminded me of how happy all these kids were to be seeing their favorite actors/singers onstage. I thought about all the kids who would have a great time that night. And I thought about how I could make several kids lose their composure when they spotted themselves on the huge screen upstage. I thought about making those kids happy and it made ME happy. I thought about my future... and how I want to teach. I can't lose my focus. Gotta keep my goals in full sight. I saw the girls from the mall at the show that night. They were waving and smiling. I waved and smiled. What a weird life this is.

The next day was Columbus, Ohio. I can't think of anything spectacular that happened here or in Chicago, Illinois the next day. It was REALLY COLD in Chicago. I can tell you that much. We weren't downtown for the Chicago show, which was a little disappointing. I walked over to a Target nearby, where I ran into Lucas, Marc and Sterling shopping around. That was really the only place to go within walking distance. Especially when the wind was ice cold and in full force.

From Chicago, we took a short trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a day off. Milwaukee was pretty fun for me. I found an independant record shop a couple miles away and took a taxi to check it out. Amoeba Records. Cool little place. Tiny. I bought some music and a shirt there. I was more than happy to support an indie record store, since I've been jones-ing for a Grimey's visit for three months now. On the way to Amoeba, I spotted a Vespa shop right around the corner from our hotel. So after my music fix, I went for my scooter fix. They had the newest GTS 250 in the window, of which only 250 made it to the US. At seven grand, it's not really in my price range at the moment. I talked with the store owner for an hour or so and he talked me into trying out his Segway. It was an interesting ride but extremely dorky. You know the Segway, right? The weird stand-up scooter-like thing that Gob from Arrested Development rides? At any rate, it was fun to talk scooters and such for a bit. The owner didn't really do vintage stuff, but he did own another business where he dealt in high-end cars like Maseratis and Ferraris and all that. Interesting guy.

We were staying at The Pfister in Milwaukee, which was a really, really nice hotel. We're talking $300-a-night nice. The room wasn't spectacular, though. Just nice, I guess. A lot of nice old stuff. I went with Kevin to eat at Mader's, which might be the best German restaurant in the country. They also had a lot of medieval armor around the place. Mader's was the real deal, authentic German steins all around the room, interspersed with axes and full suits of 15th century armor. The food was great, by the way. A little expensive. A little great.

When we got back to the hotel, I searched for a good local show. A metal show was going on near the Amoeba, but I kinda wanted something closer, so I started looking for a metal show advertised as being right down the street from where I was. After a taxi ride in the wrong direction... and a long cold walk in the snow in the other direction, I gave up on finding the show. It must've been a house show or something, because the address was non-existent in the midst of apartments and non-descript university housing. Oh well.

Milwaukee secured its good favour (in my eyes) by having the most incredible catering of the tour so far. I'm talking full-on spreads of super-moist turkey and dressing, chicken and dumplings, great veggies, unbelievable desserts, and the list goes on. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all amazing. Every single bite was delicious. Have I said how good catering was in Milwaukee?

The Missouri shows in St. Louis and Kansas City were both pretty good, I guess, since we're all on the downhill slide to the final show now. Nothing seems to be so great as to depress us. We're all looking forward to being home again in less than a week.

When I got to the airport hotel in Kansas City, almost everyone (cast, dancers and crew) was gathered at the tiny hotel bar, celebrating whatever it is that we celebrate now. Drinks were given, bought and passed around and made for a fun night. I ended up at the post-bar party in Nick's room, which ended up finishing me for the evening.

Which leads me to now. I've had two good days off in Anaheim. We flew in yesterday, everyone on the same small plane, and arrived at LAX around noon. I walked up the street and back yesterday. Not too much excitement but the weather's so great right now. My waiter forgot about me, sitting outside, waiting to order a burger at Red Robin yesterday. I got my burger for free because of it. I left ten bucks on the table, though, since I didn't really mind sitting alone, basking in the California sun and cooling breeze for an hour. Heh.

I need to get in bed now. Ahhh... a bed. Not a rumbly, swaying bunk. A bed. Two nights in a row.

Oh! Lest I forget... I'm booked for the rest of the year, most likely. I'm doing the Wiggles tour for a month in Feb/March. I'm not super excited about the Wiggles, but hey... it's work. Then, miracle of all miracles, I'll be working the Kenny Chesney tour through September. It's a weekend-warrior tour, too, based out of Nashville, so I'll be home half the week, most every week. I couldn't ask for a better tour at this time in my (married) life.

So my eighty nights is turning into more than eighty nights. Should I continue to post during the Wiggle age?

And last, but not least, check out this picture. Emily, Corbin and Brittnee. Made my day.

times

Don't trust the timestamps on these entries. It's 2 a.m now, not 10 o'clock. How I wish it were 10 o'clock...

catch up

I'm way beyond recovering now. Too many cities to recount.

The days/cities/shows are blurring together. Today, I came over to video world, looked at the monitors and asked what was wrong with my camera. My monitor was the only one that was still black. Jody said nothing was wrong with the camera. In fact, it was still sitting beside the switcher, about four feet from where I was standing. Oops. I just knew I had already taken it out to the floor.

Nine shows left! Single digits!

Things I remember about the cities I've been in:

Albany, NY. Jody and I walked around a lot in Albany and talked about real estate. We ran into Lucas and Mark (his roommate and tour photographer) downtown. They're nice people. I think we could probably hang out if we weren't already in a work environment together. While Jody and I were walking, I noticed that we kept going downhill. Eventually, we decided to make a circle and head back for the arena. We took a HUGE set of concrete stairs to get back to the main street level. The neighborhoods around downtown Albany look just as you would expect. Three/four floor townhome style houses all in a row, all touching. The thing I didn't expect was this.

A huge tower, absolutely dwarfing the city underneath. The four towers surrounding it were all the same height as each other. And the little egg looking building to the right? The locals call it "The Egg". How 'bout that.

East Rutherford, New Jersey. I saw the Empire State Building for the first time in my life.

The arena was right across the river from New York City. The stagehands represented Jersey well, quick witted and pretty hard workers (if you could interrupt their conversation long enough to give direction). I even had a father/son combo working for me that day. I thought of Keeves several times while in Jersey. Remember that crazy drive through-the-night, Keeves? Now THAT was an experience. Philadelphia almost did me in on that trip.

The next day we had a day off in lovely Worcester, Massachusetts. Pronounced "woosta". Woosta was really, really boring. I tried to walk around the city, but I could find absolutely nothing to do. Plus, it was super cold. Why would I want to walk around a strange place with nothing to do... and freeze while doing so? I ended up eating at the restaurant connected to our hotel. It was called Uno Chicago or something like that. I would really rather forget the place altogether. The fish sandwich I had was undercooked. Just say no to slimy fish sandwiches. The waitresses were helpful, though, and pointed me to the nearest movie theater, which ended up being a twenty dollar cab ride away. They also told me about a little punk rock bar called Ralph's Diner. Unfortunately, there were no shows there for my one night in town. It looked like my kind of dive bar, too. Oh well. Maybe next time I'm in Worcester... no... wait... I don't really want there to be a next time. Since nothing was happening at Ralph's, I went to a movie. Twenty bucks there, twenty bucks back and a ten dollar movie ticket. Ugh. The movie I saw was Children of Men and it was excellent. Worth the fifty bucks, really. Sure beat a night in the hotel room. I finished off the night with some microwave ravioli and Cup O'Noodles from the convenience store across the street. Ah... the good life! I don't remember the show at all.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We played the Spectrum. Which is nicknamed "the Rectum". It totally deserved the nickname. A poorly designed arena that should've been torn down thirty years ago. One way in, one way out. The slowest load-in yet. I think I started on my screens around noon. I usually start around 9:30. So we had a couple crappy days in a row. Compound this with the fact that these were shows 1 and 2 of 5 in a row. We made it out alright, though.

I'm going to bed now. We're headed into Columbus, Ohio. I have plenty to tell you about the days I missed.

sideways adventures at wayside

I just noticed that half of the pictures I posted ended up sideways. Please turn your monitor on its side for optimum viewing pleasure.

Thank you.

far away trains passing by

Whoa. Almost a week and no post. I'll just take up where I left off in Toronto.



After my Steam Whistles ("That's Good Beer, Folks!"), I went back to my room and hit the hay. The next day, everything came together without any trouble and I actually had a lot of time to kill. Oh. Almost everything came together. The catering company that was hired to feed us breakfast, lunch and dinner never showed for breakfast. Production had to run next door to a fast food place and buy a bunch of breakfast sandwiches to feed our crew. I guess the caterers forgot they had a show to work. Lunch was also bought by production. I didn't see it, though. Jody and I walked down to the subway station next door and bought our lunch there. I had a huge sub from Mr. Sub. Jody ate a Pecanbon from Cinnabon. Kids were already lining up outside by the time we came back from lunch. There was also a Lamborghini parked outside.

Weird, eh? I walked around Toronto a lot after lunch and tried to get a real feel for the city. I love the absolute variety in Toronto. It was so refreshing to see people of every color, every race, every culture... all living together. Rob (a Canuck, himself) spotted a big difference in Canada and the US. Here, we've been trying to make our country a melting pot. America says "Let's blend everyone together in equal parts and muddy things up so we don't seem so different". Canada, Rob believes, lets everyone celebrate their differences. Whether Canada does a better job of this than the US does, I have no idea. I do think, however, that we should be able to take pride in our cultures. Not to the point of belittling another person's lifestyle or heritage, though. The "politically correct" mindset needs to die a quick death. We are all different. There's no need to compensate for these differences. Let's just work through our misunderstandings and respect each other's belief systems and cultures. Ugh. No more soapbox. I'm not feeling especially eloquent with my thoughts tonight, anyway.

So Toronto was great. I can't wait to go back.

On the way back into the US, we were boarded at the border. The customs guy came on the bus and demanded that each of us wake up (since it was around 3 or 4 a.m.) and physically hand him our passports. My passport was taken out of the nice manilla envelope (that worked so well going into Canada) and handed to me. I gave it to the officer. He took a look and handed it back. Then I went to my bunk muttering something about God Bless America, good to be back.

January 3rd. Rochester, NY. I finished early again and walked around the city. Not too much going on. Some good looking buildings every now and then. The bridge beside the venue was pretty cool. We were about 300 feet away from a hydroelectric dam with all kinds of rushing water and rapids. I stepped through a hole in a fence and took a look around under the bridge. There under the bridge, for as far as I could see, was the most awesome graffiti.

And this.

I love finding the little secret spots in a city. Reminds me of the little underpass in old Decatur where we would go hang out occasionally, feeling punk rock. After walking for over an hour, I had worked up an appetite. Right across the bridge was Dinosaur Barbecue.

Legendary Dinosaur. I should've bought a t-shirt. They had the best ribs and a great selection of microbrews on tap. I had some sort of Rohrbach's Scottish Ale. Delicious. I ate alone, listening to the truck drivers beside me give their perspective on the tour. One of the guys had driven for a Lynyrd Skynyrd tour recently.

Which brings me to an interesting fact. The bus that I'm on was last used by Queen when they were looking for their new lead singer. Brian May's guitar was in our back lounge. I'm still in awe about all this, people.

Back to Dinosaur. As I was leaving, I heard someone behind me say "Hey Josh!". It was Corbin and his dad, eating lunch with a couple other people. I walked back to their table, gave Corbin the weird handshake/highfive and made smalltalk. He's a really good kid. He could've completely ignored me and I would've never known the difference. I have to think that his dad is a major factor in his humble personality and all-around good nature. I hope we see Corbin around for a lot longer. We need people like that in entertainment.

Rochester was a good show. Nothing out of the ordinary. I've just been practicing my popzooms with the zoom set to manual a lot lately. It makes for some seriously dramatic shots when you popzoom from wide to close. Kevin is really happy with it and says that I've "got what it takes". Hope so. I'm betting on a big-name country tour in a month or two. It'd be weekend warrior, which means I'd be home half the week, every week. Rock. I'm crossing my fingers.

I don't remember much about Hartford's show. The city was nice and old. I took lots of shots of buildings and walked to the park to find some peace and a huge tree.

I also met this guy.


On to Pittsburgh. I had the day off in Pittsburgh. Here's the view from my room.

My only real plan was to see the Andy Warhol Museum. Lucky me, they were having Good Friday, which means they were open 'til 10 Friday night with half-price admission. Before heading to the museum, I did my now-routine walk through the city. It was rainy and cold but not bad enough to keep me inside. I walked everywhere looking for a good local place to eat and ended eating a block away from my hotel two hours later. It was worth it, though. I wanted to eat at Weiner World, but it was closed.
Instead, I ate at Mike & Tony's Gyros. The portions were gigantic and it ended up being the only meal I ate in Pittsburgh. Mike & Tony's felt like a great diner should. Walk up ordering. Classic menu above the grill.
Friendly waitress who was probably the cook/owner's daughter. All the right ingredients. I drank a lot of root beer while I was at Mike & Tony's. I hit the hot tub at the hotel with a full stomach. One long shower later, I took a cab to the Andy Warhol Museum. I loved it. Here's some pictures. Made me want to listen to the Velvet Underground, but I forgot to put it on my computer/iPod before I left Nashville.

When I got back to the hotel, Steve called and said he was going to a bar to see Lucas play a show. Apparently, Lucas had booked a show at the Firehouse Saloon (or something like that), knowing that we would have the night off in town. We went downstairs to the bar for some pre-drinks. I had a couple of Guinnesses to start the night. Around 9, Steve, Nic, Rob and I all piled into a cab headed for the Firehouse. Most of the cast, band and dancers were already there with a couple of production people freckled about the place. Lucas played an awesome acoustic set of jazzy singer/songwriter tunes with a couple of winners at the very end. First he covered "Part of Your World" from Little Mermaid. Then he ended with a song about Nintendo that he wrote when he was young. I wonder if he'd let me record that song with my computer setup. It had a great, catchy chorus and lyrics to please any oldschool gamer out there. I had way too many Newcastles at Firehouse. If anyone's reading this and feeling a little surprised about the drinking stuff, I'm sorry. I waited 'til I was 21, crazy enough, and now I honestly enjoy a good drink every now and then. Sometimes, though, I find a danger beer. Newcastle is my danger beer. I lost count early in the evening. People were buying for me. I was buying for others. It was a great atmosphere and everyone around seemed to have a lot of fun in Pittsburgh that night. I have a few really awesome pictures that I'm a little afraid to post on here that I'll show you when I get home. Nothing scandalous. Just funny.

I overslept the next morning. I distinctly remember getting back to the hotel the night before but the cab ride there is still a fuzzy memory. Anyway. Nic, Rob and I all overslept the next morning. Our call time is so ridiculous, though, that by the time Nic and I arrived by taxi, I walked right into when I was needed. I was only 45 minutes to an hour late, and we usually use that time to eat breakfast while the other trucks are dumping. So I was alright. Whew.

It was a long day. I wasn't hungover (amazing, I know), just a little more tired than usual and a little scatterbrained. I took a nice nap that afternoon and got back on track.

Let's start with Albany tomorrow. I have to be up in four hours.

16 shows to go! 20 days 'til Nashville!

p.s. I'm in Worcester, Massachusetts tonight and tomorrow. Bo-ring.

22 shows left in 26 days

I'm in Rochester, New York today. We're in a smaller arena than usual, making our workload a little lighter. I only needed two screens in the air today. I took my six stagehands and built the screens in no time. Sent four to Arnold and kept two to help me build camera risers. I was probably finished with everything by around 10:30 this morning. It's been a great day so far. Instead of taking a nap, I've been walking around the city, taking it all in. I walked down to some area called High Falls and then turned and came back. There's some great architecture and I've been taking a few pictures here and there.

I'm getting used to being alone. Occasionally, I'll feel lonely and even sad... I miss Kayla constantly, of course... but now I'm settling in to who I am out here. I'm not the type to sleep my days away. I'm not the type to drink or smoke away my troubles. I'm not the type to sink into perversity. Not that I blame anyone for doing so. I'm just not the type. I'm determined to stay positive. It helps to be able to walk around outside. When your day consists of sleep, bus, venue, work, bus, sleep, bus, venue, work, etc., you can really get stuck in a rut. In Toronto, I decided to go out no matter what. I passed so many couples, giggling, cuddling, talking... ugh. I can't wait to see new cities with my wife again.

Hmm...

Nothing special about the DC show. The next morning we were on Long Island in New York. Sure didn't feel like New York, though. I didn't see the city at all while I was there. We were in Uniondale, 20 miles out of Manhattan. The one thing that makes our New York shows different from the rest is the local and Union crews. And Teamsters. Don't forget the Teamsters. Teamsters on the truck. Union stagehands. Local (IBEW, I think) cable handlers. Every task was split between the various groups. One of our stagehands tried to wrap a cable and had it snatched out of his hand by an IBEW guy. It's a weird system, but effective to an extent. It was nice to work with the same stagehands for two shows. Most of them remembered the load in/out from two days before and jumped right in wherever we needed them. Between the two New York shows, we traveled to New Hampshire and back.

Snow! When I left the building to nap on the bus, the ground was clear. It was cold. Oh yes. It was cold. They left bags of ice outside with no worries. When I woke up later that afternoon... snow. Inches of snow. All over the place.

So anyway. Those shows from Greensboro through Uniondale (NY) flew by and I hardly noticed the changing of days.

We were driving from New York to Toronto on New Year's Eve. We got pretty drunk in the back lounge to celebrate. It was an early show that day, so most of us were really considering going to bed around 9 or 10 that night. It took determination to make it to midnight. We missed the big ball drop in New York City, thanks to me. I couldn't get the remote to work. It's huge and controls several different digital consoles. I was the "sober" one they said, but I still messed it up anyway. We popped a bottle of champagne and started calling people we knew. Most everyone I wanted to talk to ended up at the same party. Stephanie passed her phone around and I got my fill of friends on New Year's. Kayla was partying in Murray, Kentucky with old friends and we were only really able to exchange a few text messages occasionally. There's always next year.

We arrived in Toronto at 7 a.m. on January 1st and straggled into our hotel. Which was a very nice hotel. The Westin Harbour Castle was right on Lake Ontario, 30-something floors and all the nice additions like pools hot tubs and such. I slept in 'til 3 that afternoon and needed every minute of it. The week had been long and tiring and we all needed the comfortable beds to sleep away our stress. When I woke up, I took my time getting showered and dressed and eventually hit the town. I walked down to the harbor and chilled for a few minutes. Then, over to a corner market across from the hotel. I withdrew some great looking Canadian money from an ATM and started walking up Yonge Street. Tons of Christmas lights still in the air over Yonge. Most of the shops were closed or closing, unfortunately, since it was New Year's Day. I still had a great walk through the city and even enjoyed a tasty falafel dish at a place called Red and White. I listened to The Radio Dept. on my iPod almost all the way back to my hotel. It just seemed to fit the mood. I hit the hot tub and pool at the Westing when I got back. There weren't too many people around and I was able to relax for the most part. After this, I went to a bar across the street, determined to have some genuine Canadian beer while I was in town. I sat at the bar and drank a couple of Steam Whistles. Steam Whistle is a really great tasting pilsner that comes in an awesome green bottle. It's brewed at the bottom of the CNN Tower, if I'm not mistaken. A couple beers in, I heard someone behind me say "on tour"... I turned around to find Chucky (the choreographer), Kim (his sister and dancer) and Todd (an audio guy). I joined them for the rest of the night. It's fun to hang out outside of work. You learn so much more about the people around you.

I'm going to take a break now. I've been trying to post this entry for a couple days. So when you read "I'm in Rochester" up there at the top... I'm not in Rochester anymore. I'm in Hartford, Connecticut now. The town looks kinda nice, so I'm going to go walk around for a bit.

toronto

I haven't posted in a few days and I'm sorry. Again. Ugh.

I'll do my best to post in the next city.

Toronto is beautiful and I think I could spend a lot more time here in the future.

Happy New Year, everyone. I couldn't do it without you.