Hello from Arizona.
First off, thank you for the amazing response to that last blog. Your kind words mean so much. Thank you for embracing those stories.
The tour is going great. The days have been going by so fast, too fast. We’re out of the cold and into the warmer west now, enjoying each new day, all the many new faces and places.
This may sound funny, but we’ve become a family. The four bands and crew and us. I’m not sure exactly when or how it happened, but it happened, and it’s great. We eat together and tell stories and we’re constantly laughing. We tell each other to drive safe and there’s a lot of hugs happening. To give you a feel for how supportive these guys have been, last night there were three TWLOHA shirts on stage (including Chris from Bayside in a purple Title). We love these guys. Some of the kindest, most humble wonderful people you could ever meet, not to mention four incredibly talented bands. I suppose that tour is like summer camp for (semi-) grown ups. It’s wonderful. I highly recommend it, and I don’t want ours to end. : )
Did you see Anberlin on Ferguson? Well, you should watch it below. Deon is a good man.
Some highlights from the last few shows:
1. In Detroit, Stephen went out into the crowd during Anberlin’s set, first time. Nate (drummer) says he only does that when he’s having a lot of fun.
2. In Chicago and again last night in Albuquerque, Dia came out and sang on Anberlin’s “Unwinding Cable Car”. Very cool.
3. Dia crowd-surfed, her first time ever, in St. Louis. It kind of happened by accident. Very small stage, she just kind of walked out into the crowd…
Here’s a bit more…
Chicago: Lauren and David flew to New York, to film something for MTV – they are reality television stars, after all (ha ha) – so it was just Trisha, Jake and I. Wind blew and snow fell all day. Coldest I’ve ever been. Show was at Metro, which is a famous club with a ton of history, located a block away from Wrigley Field. It was crazy to see the stage for the first time, as the only other time I’ve seen it was in a Jeff Buckley Live DVD from a concert he performed there in 1995. (I am a huge Jeff Buckley fan.) I mentioned this to Stephen, to which he responded “I know, the first time we played here, I kissed the stage.” (He is also a fan)
I volunteered not to speak in Chicago because the show was running late, and we all had to be out by 10 to make room for the late show. I was sad, as some friends had driven from Grand Rapids, but it seemed the right thing to do. One cool thing from that night, I had dinner with my author friend Pete Gall, and some folks from the world of publishing. It’s a recent dream of mine to see TWLOHA brought to life in book form, so it was exciting to sit across from people who can make that happen. That whole world (publishing) is new to me, and it will be a patient process, but it’s one I’m committed to.
Sorry St Paul:
We were very sorry to miss the St. Paul show, but we felt it was just too dangerous to drive. Jonezetta and Meg & Dia missed it as well, but we hear it was one of the best shows of the tour, with Bayside playing an extended set.
St. Louis:
Every single restaurant in St. Louis closes on sunday. It’s very respectable but also frustrating when you’re on tour, in St. Louis on a sunday, and you’re hungry. Our gang and Meg & Dia were running all over downtown trying to find dinner, and we must have looked like kids at Christmas when, next to the Arch, we finally found an open TGI Friday’s. We met some of the guys from Story of the Year that night, as St. Louis is their hometown and they came to say hello to Anberlin.
Lawrence:
Lawrence, Kansas is a wonderful place. It surprised me so much. So many cool shops and places to eat. We loved it, and we loved the warmer weather too. Anberlin had to miss the show to go play the Ferguson show in LA, so I had the privilege of introducing Bayside that night. Hard to put into words how much it meant to me. It was such an honor. Those guys know so much about pain and hope and recovery, about dealing with loss, learning to continue, strength, the importance and power and potential of honest music… I had a great moment with Jack from Bayside, two in the morning, no one around, him thanking me for introducing them, me telling him that it was difficult to express what it meant to me, how much I believe in their story, how grateful I am that our paths have crossed… (if you’re not sure what I’m talking about, check out the Conan blog)
Albuqurque:
We had a day off after Lawrence so Jake drove through the night, I took over in the morning, and we arrived in Albuquque a day early. Thanks to Priceline, we stayed at the Hyatt for 40 bucks. The girls ran into Christian Slater (actor) in the lobby, so that seemed to make their day. We ran into the guys from Showbread (band) on the way to dinner. Totally random as we had no idea those guys were in town, and had not seen them since our trip to India… so we ended up going to see their show down the street. If you ever have the chance, go see Showbread. They put on an amazing show.
Day 2 in Albuqurque: We found a great pizza place, I rode my skateboard, everyone else did laundry, we borrowed internet at the venue until doors opened. Great show last night. Really cool venue. Huge tall ceiling. Crowd was great.
Now: I am sitting at the venue in Tempe. Meg & Dia just started their set.
MySpace Impact Awards:
Please vote for “To Write Love on Her Arms” by clicking [url2=http://www.myspace.com/impactawards]HERE[/url2]. This month’s category is Health & Safety, and well, it sure would be cool to win. (Please don’t vote for “TWLOHA” as Tom might not know what that is. You gotta spell it out!)
San Diego tomorrow! My friend Matt is going to pick me up and we’re going surfing. Very excited about that. Excited also about this west coast run, as we’ve heard from so many of you and it will be good to finally meet you.
Peace from Arizona.
jamie
PS: Tempe, Arizona is the home of Jimmy Eat World. I once saw them play at the Glass House in Pomona, California. We will be there in two days : )