Days 17-25

Hey blog world. It may be old news at this point, but here's what we've been up to:

Day 17 

Show Day- Greensboro, NC

Again, I'm always so skeptical about theater shows. There's something so 8th-grade-talent show about playing to people sitting down in an auditorium. With the duo-set that Ryan and I do, "listening" rooms don't bother me and are sometimes preferable. But people are forced to be more energetic when their on their feet. All that being said, Goo Goo Dolls have some incredible fans that seem to take to us very nicely. Once again my expectations of a listless theater show were crushed by the Greenboro fans.

Day 18

Drove to Atlanta, GA. 

Ate at one of our most favorite Thai restaurants in the whole country- L'Thai. Check it out if you're in Atlanta area. Red curry tofu is ridiculous, so is the grass fed garlic beef with string beans.

Day 19

Day Off in Atlanta

Dan found a place called Muss and Turners.  This place wins for the best hamburger on tour, according to grass fed burger aficionados Ryan and Artie. I had a salmon salad that was most likely the best salad I've had on tour. Being gluten free absolutely sucks when all your friends are eating yummy burgers... but this time I was pretty damn satisfied with my meal. That night we worked on a few new songs in the hotel.

Day 20

Tupelo, MS

Fun half-amphitheater show! Met some nice folks with amazing southern accents.

Day 21

Drive Day to Gainsville, FL.  

Playlist: Stevie Wonder, Muddy Waters, Silverchair, The Weeknd (still really into it) and Elliot Smith.

Day 22

We pulled up to our hotel in Fort Myers, FL and to our surprise it was social hour at the Fairfield Marriott! Free wine, beer, chips, salsa, and of course... socializing. We met a guy who works for Kru Vodka who kindly donated a "sample" bottle to our cause. This was at about 7:30, and by 8:30 we were a hot mess. Our promises to show our Kru friend a crazy night at a strip bar dwindled rapidly, and I personally was in bed by 10.

Day 23

Fort Myers, FL

Holy shit Florida! Drunk Floridians love Ryan Star Band!

Day 24

Stay in Orlando

I came down with a mild cold and was therefore banished from Disney World adventures!!  I live in a van and hotels with several germ-a-phobes. When I'm healthy, I love their fear of bacteria because it helps me stay healthy with all of the devout sanitation rules. But once you say you're sick and so much as breathe without covering your mouth without an antibacterial antiviral barricade of clothes, tissues, jackets and blankets - the complaints begin to fire and don't stop until you're swearing by your grandmother's life that you will never cough again.

Day 25-

Headlining Show in Orlando

Maybe our most rock'n'roll show to date. Everyone of us were either high on Theraflu or completely inebriated. At one point Ryan was on the floor.

Day 26
Melbourne, FL
Our best show of the tour was in Melbourne, Florida.  A lot of people came up to us after this show and told us that they really felt our energy. It's something I've never had with any other group I've played with. After nearly four years of living on top of each other and performing almost every other day, we've gotten to a point where that connection is inevitable. Combine that with a venue with good acoustics, a talented monitor engineer, a talented sound guy,  a little light show,  a spirited crowd and I promise we can take on anything.

Days 15 &16

Day 15 was Williamsport, PA. We always run into some sort of trouble in these parts of Pennsylvania.  A few years ago in Mansfield, we almost got arrested for taking a cow prop from under the stage and smashing it on stage.  This year, we made a joke over a walkie talkie that we thought was turned off. Not only was it on, but 5 giant security guards came bursting through the doors looking for the "situation" (no not Jersey Shore, even though we were 10 miles from Jersey Shore, PA...which is totally a real city.) You can read more about it on the tour archive:
http://www.rstar.net/event/b49250-community-theatre-oct25-2011/

Backstage in Williamsport, PA

Last night we played the Jone Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, VA. I'm always a bit skeptical about seated venues. From the stage its much more difficult to get a read on the audience, especially when you're an opener. In these situations, everyone sort of feels like they are on a blind date. We're all timid at first, feeling each other out. Then someone gets brave and makes the first move. In this case it was Ryan, towards the end of the set during Start A Fire. After giving it our all for most of the set and the audience was still seated… Ryan fell back, sat on the stage and yelled, "You know why I'm sitting? Because you guys are still sitting! When I get up, you better mother fucking stand up!"  From that point on, the audience got it. Everyone stood up and stayed up for the rest of the set. We left the stage feeling pretty good. So Charlottesville, we're definitely interested and hope you are too.

Days 9-14

Hello blog, its been a week or so. I wish I had some great excuse like, oh, our band was eaten by the tigers we just missed in Ohio, or I lost all my Internet devices and phones due to some spectacularly fun night.  No...I was just busy. And lazy when I wasn't occupied with being "busy".
So, here are the cliff notes, and my promise to not slack on subsequent tour days!


Day 9: Show Day in Ithaca, NY at Ithaca State Theater

Great show! Last time I was in Ithaca I was auditioning for schools and excited about headshops on every corner. Post-college-Dallin is not necessarily excited about the headshops, but the characters running them. I mean, we encountered some seriously tripped out dudes. 

Anyway, we had great coffee at Gimme Coffee (originated in Ithaca, now in Brooklyn and Manhattan as well). After meeting as many kind folks as we could, we drove an hour to Syracuse. 

Day 10: Off day in Syracuse/Utica.

We stopped for lunch at a mediocre brewery that served local foods.... Empire Brewing Company. Great beer, clean food, though it lacked in flavor. Then we continued our journey to Utica where we set up our instruments in the hotel room and wrote for the evening. I can't wait til these songs take shape and we can share with the world. 


Day 11: (Cancelled) Show Day in Utica

We were on stage about to sound check when we got word that a member from Goo Goo Dolls was sick. So the show was rescheduled. We were forced to let our show energy settle and made our way back to NYC.


Days 12, 13, 14: Home in NYC

Before tour, I started working on a project with Dan. We've played a few shows and are finishing up a 6 or 7 song EP. Through this project we've met a lot of great musicians, producers, engineers, writers. On my days off from tour, I spend my time writing for other artists and bands with some of these talented folks. So my weekend off turned into a few long (but fun) writing sessions.


Back in the van tomorrow...

Day 8

Driving Day
Nashville, TN to Erie, PA



Today I found the best restaurant of this tour so far... Silly Goose in Nashville. This place is insanely delicious. They serve local & organic homemade sandwiches salads and couscous dishes. Their menu was really well thought out, mostly healthy and just incredibly delicious. I recommend the Sparky wrap-  A sun-dried tomato wrap with local turkey, brie, cranberries, walnuts and a side salad with a house made balsamic reduction. For dessert, try anything, but my favorite was the Sex. Sex is a dark chocolate mousse, milk chocolate vessel, blackberry cream, white chocolate rum sauce and hazelnut crunch. Like the real thing, just the thought will turn you on, and afterwards you'll be completely satisfied. It also makes for some amazing jokes... "Hey, you wanna have the Sex with me?"


I finally bought the new James Blake EP- Enough Thunder. Listening to new it is like listening to 14 radios playing 14 of your favorite songs while trapped in a Dali painting. There are never really any traditional "songs" (verse/chorus/bridge/etc) except the Joni Mitchell cover. Rather, there are layers and undercurrents of noises and melodies, flowing seamlessly from one concept to the next. Like the self titled ep, its all about the emotion. Not always positive ones either. For instance, the Joni Mitchell cover of "Case Of You" makes me completely uncomfortable. It sounds like he learned a version of the song where the cd was skipping. All in all, I actually love how fraught the Enough Thunder makes me feel.

Days 6 & 7

Show in Morgantown, WV and Nashville TN

In two days we played 2 amazing shows, drove a total of about 20 hours, ate 2 "real" meals,  and somehow drank two bottles of Yager and a case of beer. 

The Morgantown show was at The Waterfront Center- the stage was in a giant standing room auditorium right on the river. West Virginians are super fun. Last time the band was in Morgantown they claimed it was like martial law... drunk (underage) college kids running the streets- yelling or throwing things at our van and trailer. This show wasn't quite as rowdy being that it was a Sunday, but there was definitely an animated energy in the room.

Ryan at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville

Yesterday we played the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville which is actually the Grand Ol Opry. Even though its been renovated, this place was one of the coolest venues we've ever played. It looks like an old church with two levels of pews and staind glass lining the back wall. Our dressing room was the Johnny Cash room, right across from the Hank Wililams room. It was amazing to play on a stage where so many legends played.

Being a musician in Nashville is like being a politician or doctor in Washington DC, or anywhere else in the world. People treat us like we're real people with real jobs. There's a different kind of respect for music there. The Nashvillians at our show last night were attentive, considerate but also rocked out when we needed them to. 

Well done Tennessee, we'll be back soon.

Bane of my existence this morning

Johnny Cash dressing room

Exhausted back stage

Day 5

Show Day

Lexington, KY at Buster's 

Hell yea Kentucky. Thank you for making our first headlining show of the tour really fun. We played Buster's front room, a grimy warehouse bar in downtown Lexington. Buster's front stage is a big room with gratified walls and sticky floors. The stage is just a corner of the room behind the PA with hardly any lighting once the house lights go off. They serve beer, liquor and a special cinnamon whiskey shot (which tastes much like taking a shot of liquefied Big Red). I'd play there again tonight if I could.

Tomorrow we head to Morgantown, WV. Last time the band was here was 2009, first run of our David Cook tour. I had a 102 fever, so I stayed home in NYC while the boys tried one without me. Ask them how it went without their keyboardist holdin it down :)

Day 4

Day Off 

Today we woke up, worked out, and went to Stella's Kentucky Deli in downtown Lexington. Everyone had local burgers except Michelle who hasn't had a burger since 1990 or maybe never.  We ran a few errands (I hate Guitar Center!!! I don't care about your payment plans!!) then came back to the hotel room to write/jam and drink for the rest of the night. 

Should we be worried about New York? I was there only a few days ago, all seemed well and normal. I've read about some crazy happenings in my hood. Sounds exciting. Anyone have any run ins with hyped up protesters or cops? Or is this the same type of hurricane hype we had a few weeks back?

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I just found this video of one my favorite new artists, James Blake, at SXSW last year:

This is from the self titled album, one of my favorites from last year. This record reminds me of the first time I heard Kid A. Fierce, soulful and epically hypnotic. Not so great to listen to at your cousin's birthday party or in a super market, but definately amazing in headphones on a train, or right before bed.

Anyway, James Blake just came out with a new EP yesterday, called Enough Thunder. Downloading right now...

What are you listening to? Any incredible new artists I should be hip to?

Tomorrow is our first headlining show of the tour! Can't wait to play for a few hours.