Ever get hold of that last bastion of reserve energy your body has somehow been hiding away despite almost 3 days of little to no sleep and it feels like you’re cruising around in some kind of harness being held up just enough so that your feet still touch the ground?

That’s me right about now. Rocking out in the van to Temper Trap while barely being able to keep my eyes open. If the above depiction didn’t make any sense, that’s probably because you’re rested with a brain that’s actually functioning normally.

Currently in between India-no-place and Chicago en route to Packer country, Ran is at the wheel again cutting Blanche through a mix of cow pastures and post-harvest winterized corn fields.

Ah the sweet aroma of the Midwest..

Last night’s show in Columbus was surprisingly upbeat and fun despite the COLD COLD bite from the weather outside. We thankfully had had a quick little two hour window for a nap at the hotel beforehand though following the 11 hour drive out of NYC.

Every second was needed too

This having been only my second excursion through (and first real visit in) the Big Apple, I’ve learned one thing for sure: existing and moving through that town is taxing.

From the train to the subway to the cabs to walking 3 full miles with my luggage, I feel pretty confident in saying that I’ve done the New York thing at least for a hot second. More power to the people that love it, but I’ll take Texas, the Dixie Chicks and their wide open spaces thank you very much (or at least just Texas and the wide open spaces).

I had flown to Corpus during the weekend for some time with the family while the fellas took off from Nashville to West Virginia and on to Philly. In the span of about 10 hours, my world went from little coast community to concrete jungle of noise.

The Mercury Lounge show was quite the surprise with a great crowd and stellar stage vibe. The guys had gone to see a couple of their buddies in the Foo Fighters play the night before and it seemed like everyone was in the mood for another all out rock show. They got it too.

Then things got really real with one of the most insane load outs I’ve experienced yet being on the road. It’s probably not something you’d think about much, but if you can imagine CARRYING a trailer full of gear half a city block to an illegally parked van while dodging hundreds of people and cranky bouncers at 1am in the heart of New York City, you’ll get a rough idea.

I’m still stressed out just thinking about it.

With seven people now in our tour party, we had pieces of the group scattered all over Manhattan and the lower east side that night as well.

Ricky and I crashed at a friend of a friend’s place, spent three hours parking and re-parking the van, and slept until 2pm the next afternoon. I probably could’ve stayed in bed until next week but we had places to go and people to see.

Thankfully the band had the night off with our only obligation being a meet up with the Katy Perry crew for their show at Madison Square Garden and their “almost end of tour” after party.

Lost would too strong of a word, but Ricky and I definitely took our sweet time navigating the subway system en route to meet up with some friends for a couple drinks before heading to MSG.

One thing I can really appreciate about NYC is the sheer volume of variety in people we passed moving around town. Millions of faces swerving left, cutting right, and weaving through each other en route to their individual destinations.

I love to observe and people watch. Every person has their own story, concerns, loves, struggles, and joys. Some people stare at the ground when they walk, some hold their face up. Some smile, some frown, some stare blankly off into space.

Few actually seem to make eye contact or treat you as much more than an impediment to be navigated around and the funny thing is I totally understand it. In a place like New York, there are just too many foreign stimulants encountered in a given excursion for the brain to process all of them with concern and consideration.

Thousands of little decisions to step left around this person, take the 6 train, grab this seat, hold this pole, get off the 6 transfer to the L, remember your wallet in the cab, listen to the cello player in the underground walkway, step on to the crosswalk, nope - step back on to the sidewalk to avoid getting run over by another overly aggressive cab driver, let the old woman go through the door first, act like you can’t hear the homeless guy yelling at everyone that they’re all now under arrest, hold your breath while passing the trash bags on the curb in front of the Thai restaurant, and on and on.

Everything becomes part of one big obstacle course. If you watch closely, you can actually see people concentrating on their next move. I think folks in NYC are less friendly than other places almost out of necessity if that makes any sense.

That alone is one of the biggest reasons why I enjoy the South. Living life is flat out EASIER which makes it more accessible to having the option of consideration for others and being a little less stressed with the everyday. You just don’t have to deal with so much of the overload.

Alas, all this to say that we finally made it to the KP show to jump around an arena like a bunch of idiots with thousands of teenie bopping 15 year olds decked out in blue wigs and glow light necklaces. It never ceases to amaze me.

Once the show was done, we shipped off to the after party to hang for a bit, dance for a bit, and stay up way too late for no good reason. At around 5 in the morning, Svend managed to pull the van out from the other side of the island and get everyone packed back in the box on wheels to high tail it out of the city.

With an aggregate of MAYBE eight hours official sleep time over the past three nights, my brain is really a bit on hiatus. Not to be deterred though, I’m stoked to power through these last two or three shows.

Tomorrow is our last day off before heading home for Thanksgiving. Going to recharge and try to come up with a solid end of tour prank to pull in Chicago. Any ideas are welcomed…

The older I get, the more I realize how quickly the time flies. It's like the week of summer camp on a grand scale: Monday would always seem to take FOR-EH-VAH and you'd be digging every moment. Then the next morning you'd wake up and have to pack up because it was somehow already Saturday and time to go home. In between was a blur of pool cannonballs, water balloons, awkward "check yes or no" notes, clumsy arts & crafts, an overturned jeep, and silly string draped over EVERYTHING.

Good times, good times... but I digress.

This coming Monday I'll be heading out again with The Daylights on the 2011 No Reverse Tour co-headlining with one of my favorite Nashville artists, Andy Davis. I'm still trying to get myself mentally prepared to hop in a van with 5 other dudes for a full month, but am very much looking forward to another run of shows and all the shining faces (both new and familiar) that we'll get to see along the way.

In case you haven't already seen it, here's the tour promo video we shot at the lodge last week:

Things to note:

• the champagne cork is actually from a bottle of whiskey... the original cork got lost during a previous take when Ricky shook the bottle too much and it exploded over the entire room... including my camera...
• the tour poster that Andy crumples up was probably the 9th or 10th victim in a barrage of prints destroyed during practice. thankfully you can't see the graveya...err... tidy pile of discarded props hidden in the next room
• listen closely while the drinks are being poured and see if you can decipher what Ran is singing (plus SOMEBODY's botched note in the BGVs during)
• we made Svend cut the fireworks down practically to a nub so he didn't burn the house the down. When he came out of my room with a big grin on his face and one of the 2 foot long sparklers we had picked up on the last tour, I knew things had just gotten real
• listen closely again during the camera's sweep pass around Andy after the champagne toasting and you can totally hear me bump into the mic stand while trying to navigate around everything
• Laura Bell Bundy had walked in about 3 minutes prior to this take and was immediately promoted to lighting director (somewhat against her will) in charge of the strobic effect in the 2nd half of the video

I'm pretty stoked at how the tour poster itself turned out. Ricky hand sketched the various elements before handing them off to me to be photographed, cropped, and composited together. The tour dates (minus Green Bay and Columbus shows) are listed below and the guys are giving away a free tour poster with purchase of a presale ticket. If we're coming to your area, definitely grab one and come say hi! Should be a great run of shows from both the Daylights and Andy.

Oct 24 - Las Vegas, NV - The Royal House
Oct 26 - Salt Lake City, UT - In The Venue - http://tinyurl.com/43gvhb9
Oct 29 - Roswell, NM - Pecos - http://tinyurl.com/3msa8zu
Oct 27 - Denver, CO - The Soiled Dove - http://tinyurl.com/3fxr59s
Nov 2 - Dallas, TX - HOB Cambridge Room - http://tinyurl.com/3fpxu4a
Nov 3 - Corpus Christi, TX - House of Rock - http://tinyurl.com/5w4bze3
Nov 4 - San Antonio, TX - 502 Bar - http://tinyurl.com/3v2umcj
Nov 5 - Austin, TX - Emo's - http://tinyurl.com/daylightsAustin
Nov 10 - Nashville, TN - Exit/In - http://tinyurl.com/6znyrdv
Nov 15 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge - http://tinyurl.com/6gjzk35
Nov 21 - Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern - http://www.schubas.com

The Hotel Cafe residency shows from the past month were such a blast as well with various guest musicians sitting in. I thought the guys really pushed the envelope (in a good way) on their second show with a very different array of tunes and an accompaniment of string players. April (cello) and Paul (violin) stopped by the house a couple days before that show to rehearse. I shot a few quick images while they were here and thought I'd share a couple.

We leave Monday for Vegas. Praying for safe travels and hoping to see you out on the road sometime in the next month!

Go Rangers.

I admit getting a little excited about it since the last time I'd been to the studio for a live taping, I was 15, on vacation with my mother, and couldn't actually get in to see the show due to an age restriction. This time around was definitely more fun. The studio crew were all very welcoming and the NTB guys killed the performance.

Thought I'd share a few quick shots from the day.

OneRepublic at the Ryman Auditorium

If you’d have asked me 7 months ago what I’d be doing in 7 months, I probably wouldn’t have been able to call the ball too well.

It’s funny, interesting, and a bit unnerving how life can throw you a big curve ball from time to time. Occasionally it ends up being right where you were aiming though and the ball goes screaming down the 3rd base line.

Having been on the road with the Daylights the past six months, this is what my iPhone photo map looks like:

And to think that there are several states along the way that I didn’t even take a picture in while we were trucking through… crazy…

While it’s true that we don’t get to really dig in to most of the cities we visit, just the opportunity to get a small glimpse at such a large variety of America is more than so many will ever see. I am supremely grateful for the experiences I’ve been able to enjoy lately… even amidst a ridiculous amount of driving, abnormal sleeping schedules, unpredictable food options, and extremely varied venue environments.

The last tour run with the Parlotones took us through the South into Florida and all through the east coast, much of which I had never visited before. As of the last entry, we were just coming into New York City (my first time) to play the Bowery Ballroom. In the days that followed, we would drive circles around the dreaded New Jersey turnpike heading to Washington DC, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and back on home to LA.

Amidst all of the different spur-of-the-moment events of the tour, our romp through DC was far and away the most rewarding for me. After driving into town straight to the venue, loading in, playing the show, breaking down, and loading out, we were a bit stripped of travel time needing to be in Philly earlier than usual the next day.

Despite it already being past 1am, I really wanted to make a quick stop by the nation’s capitol before we left town. Ricky and Ran were both insistent that I needed to see it as well so Svend drove the van down to the National Mall area and parked on a side street after being stopped by cops on the capitol entrance road which you apparently can’t bring a trailer down due to security concerns.

Being the proud Dane that he is, Svend decided he was more interested in sleep than a late night glimpse into American history, so he decided to stay with the van while the Jackson brothers and I set off on foot.

“Back in 15 minutes.” Ricky told him.

Two hours later we had walked (and at points had run) the entire two miles of the National Mall. From the Capitol to the Washington monument to the WWII memorial to the Lincoln memorial (and the unfortunately drained reflection pool currently under renovation), we took everything in with only a few other night owls drifting around and I don’t think I’d have had it any other way.

The last show in Philly was an odd venue for a rock show, but as official tour prank night, both bands still managed to have quite a show with Kahn (Parlotones’ lead singer) coming onstage for an interpretive performance during “Boy on the Moon” while the guys and I replaced the Parlos’ red ties with baby blue versions and then dressed up as them (complete with black makeup & fake tattoos) for a rampage during their last big number.

By the end of the tour, we were so exhausted that we ended up spending an entire extra day at a friend’s place outside of Philadelphia without even discussing it (I woke up at 5pm in that afternoon and never left the house).

The 2,800 mile drive back west was a beast, but we met up with a few good friends along the way, pulled over in the middle of nowhere a couple times to look at the stars, and all made it home safely in one piece.

As tour manager, I don’t get the chance to pull the camera out much at every show anymore. There are just too many proverbial plates to keep spinning that take precedence, but I think we still managed to come away with a few good images.

Big ups to Drew Shirley from Switchfoot for pinch hitting while Ran was on the DL at the beginning of the tour.

Much love to the Parlotones and their crew: Kahn, Glen, Neil, Paul, Willem, and Grant. Thanks for the laughs our new South African brothers. Hope to see you guys soon on the other side of the pond. It’s all lekker.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who came out, supported the band, helped with the merch table, opened their house to us, joined us for dinner, showed us around your town, watched the Mavs destroy the Heat with us (Tyler), or met us at a random gas station in Oklahoma to share some fears and dreams.

Mahalo.

Today we drove into the belly of the beast that is New York City. I don’t think I’ve ever been as simultaneously enamored and stressed out by one place as I am by the small morsel of metropolis that we experienced today.

Being a small town fellow at heart, I’ve always been a bit overwhelmed by exceptionally large crowds of people all in a hurry going no place in particular. The busyness and frantic pace of the city dwellers here all sums together into one huge cacophony of white noise for me… white noise and incessant car honking. I can’t get over how so many of the NYC motorists’ first inclination is to just lay on their horn should the person in front of them (or sometimes 5+ cars in front of them) make the slightest hesitation. Seems just a bit too Darwinian for my liking. I despise driving around Hollywood, but New York makes LA seem like a Sunday drive through Gruene, TX.

I’m getting all flustered just writing about it.

Oh, and GOOD GRIEF does the northeast like their road tolls… Seems like we’re shelling out $5 or $10 every fifteen feet. You’d think maybe they could use that money to build some roads that don’t make the van dance around like a pogo stick for the ENTIRE drive… Sheesh…

Svend thankfully took the wheel during the trip into the city this afternoon while I took turns taking pictures and hyperventilating over about 1,500 near sideswipes from impatient taxi drivers.

We miraculously were able to get a parking spot right outside the Bowery Ballroom which turned out to be a fantastic old style venue. With a strong turnout for all three bands on the bill, the show was definitely one of the most exciting and enjoyable dates on the tour. Also, despite my apprehension with all the seemingly needless hullabaloo of the city, I admit a strong fascination and eagerness to come back at some point in the future with a bit more time to really get a handle on the proverbial Apple.

After doing the Columbus show a few days ago in a super cool underground room (appropriately named “The Basement”), we made our way out through Chicago (the deep dish wasn’t as spectacular as I was led to believe), Cleveland (stick to the Heights area, the rest was slightly underwhelming), and Pittsburgh (a surprisingly attractive town with a great river area).

Besides the ridiculous lack of sleep one is subjected to on the road for so long, the main health drawbacks are the limited food choices available in many places and very odd eating schedules (translation: fast food WAY too often). Keeping our girlish figures together is a supreme challenge.

While in Cleveland, Ricky and I at one point decided to make use of a little extra time available before the show that night to test out the p90x DVDs he’s been lugging around the entire tour. With no free weights at our disposal, Yoga X seemed the logical choice.

Aside from what must have been a rather comical scene of two dudes doing yoga together in a hotel room at 3 in the afternoon on a weekday, I’ll freely submit that that p90x nonsense is TOUGH. We were only able to make it through about 30 minutes of an hour and a half long workout video before having to leave for load in at the venue, but even then I was drenched in sweat and really exhausted… The good kind though. Thinking we’ll have to make that workout a more regular occurrence as possible…

Moving on, Pittsburgh’s show at the Hard Rock Cafe was definitely one of the more interesting gigs since the venue is, first and foremost, a restaurant.

Having now tour managed for the guys at such a varied group of venues, I’m beginning to learn some of the subtleties of what can either hold a performance back or really help put it over the top. Tables around the edge of or in the back of a room are killers for encouraging people to jump up and get more engaged with the band. While the HRC show was still a lot of fun, I definitely enjoy dedicated performance venues all the more.

With only four shows left on this run with the Parlotones, I’m actually finding myself a little bummed for the tour to be coming to a close despite the road weariness and need to recharge.

It’s amazing how quickly you can become good friends with other bands while touring together since you’re seeing each other pretty much everyday and working more or less side by side to bring the best performances and music experiences possible to the fans.

This is the second South African band the Daylights have toured with and both have been great groups of guys that I hope to head out with again sometime in the future.

I’m excited to still have DC, Boston, and Philadelphia on the upcoming docket but it will be good to sleep in my own bed…

Maybe then I can actually get to finish most of the books I’ve brought with me too…

Before I left LA on this tour run, someone told me to “enjoy [my] vaca” which almost made me laugh outright.

I must admit that before venturing out on the road tour managing, I assumed that it would be a bunch of music, fun, and games with the hardest part of touring being spending a few hours in the van every other day. (come to find out it’s more like a BUNCH of hours EVERY day in the van).

In my rather limited experience, the largest overall challenge is simply the huge variety of situations and unforeseen circumstances that arise that you have to be able to adapt to on the fly (not to mention the intense manual labor during load in/out, lack of sleep, occasionally cranky venue staff, constantly shifting logistical concerns, budgeting, managing personal obligations while being gone for weeks on end, etc)

We drove into Nashville two days ago for the Exit/In show (having since driven to Atlanta and back as well in between) and were hit with the first rain on the tour. And boy was it coming down.

With all we’ve been seeing over the past few months of the flooding in Mississippi, tornado destruction in Joplin, and the like, one tends to be a bit more on edge than normal when plowing through another nasty thunderstorm and golf ball sized hail.

From Austin on through the Jacksonville, North Carolina, Nashville, and Atlanta shows, the weather had been exceedingly humid and decently hot. I brought a couple pairs of shorts but when you have to pack for a month on a trip crisscrossing the country, packing is pretty much all just guesswork.

I’ve pretty much given up trying to look presentable for shows as I’m more than likely going to be covered in sweat within the first 15 minutes of loading in… More than likely within the first 5 minutes if it’s as humid as it has been in most of the places we’ve stopped at so far.

With this being my first legitimate adventure up the east coast of the US, I’m trying to get out and explore as much as possible too.

After the Jacksonville show, I dropped the guys off at the airport for their fly date at a festival in Maine and started heading north up through Georgia into South Carolina.

A college buddy of mine recently joined the Navy and was stationed in Charleston a couple weeks back after basic training which gave me a great reason to stop off for a day in the area.

Despite the aforementioned heat and humidity, we drove down to the old town area for lunch and ended up walking around the historic neighborhoods by the water for a couple of hours (Tyler in his khaki unis and me in Dirk colors of course representing for Game 6 that night… both of us getting worked like being a steam bath).

It’s so fascinating to move past houses that yield that much history. Every other home front had a plate on it noting establishment in 17-something-or-other with rich foliage and ornate colonial style finishes on the windows and fencing.

Having grown up steeped in Texas history with extended roots in the Civil War remnants of Georgia and Tennessee, it’s a treat to be able to experience relics of the revolutionary era of American heritage.

And then…

Later that evening…

Two Texas friends travelled to a sports bar to watch their Dallas Mavericks undress the Miami Heat…

And they saw that it was good…

I’d elaborate more on the win, but sufficed to say, I was in a pretty epic mood going to bed that night.

The next day I continued on to Raleigh to pick the guys back up at the airport. With our show scheduled in Chapel Hill, Katy Perry’s tour also happened to be stopping about 30 minutes away at the RBC center.

With a few hours to spare that afternoon, we trucked down to the arena to hang with their crew and grab some lunch. A few of the folks I had met before, but even the new faces were warm and welcoming. We milled around for a few hours before getting to watch Angela do her dress rehearsal as Kathy Beth Terry live on stage which was pretty comical. The denim jumper and headgear from the video are even more ridiculous in person.

After playing the Daylights gig in Chapel Hill, we ran back to catch the end of the KP show and see the real version of what they’d been running through earlier.

The show is quite a spectacle and there were definitely some interesting characters in the audience to say the least, but overall their operation keeps a lot of good hearted, talented people around. I’m hoping to run into some of them again down the road at some point.

Despite some super late driving nights/mornings (see “challenges” note referenced above), the past couple shows in Nashville and Atlanta were great with solid venue crews and good crowds in attendance. We’ve had the chance to hang with the Parlotones guys a bit more as well which continues to build into the camaraderie of the tour overall.

Yesterday’s time off was a much needed recharge with the chance to see my brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew for a bit while in Franklin. I love spending time with them and know that I don’t get there often enough.

After the kids went to bed, Jason and I hit up the theater late night to see Super 8… The main character group of teens in the movie are hilarious, Kyle Chandler is awesome as usual, plot line was a bit too half baked for my taste. Rent it…

And so, with a bit of discombobulation and more than a few details (thankfully) left out, that brings us to the current trek over the hills and through the woods en route to Columbus for tonight’s show at The Basement. This begins the leg of the tour to places I’ve not yet visited before. Really stoked for NYC, Boston, Philly, and DC all coming in just a few short days.

Pretty sure we just crossed the state line into Ohio. I’m currently keeping my eyes open for Jim Tressel hitchhiking along the highway with Terrell Pryor, a knapsack and some tattered pride in tow…

Will try to get a picture if I see them… Maybe I can trade it for a free tattoo somewhere…

What a great condescending phrase. My favorite part is that I’m at the age where it’s a double edged sword to be wielded for or against me depending on the situation.

For example, I refuse to abbreviate normal words in text messages, insist on correct punctuation, and prefer to call a girl I’m interested in on the phone or talk in person rather than using Facebook or email, etc.

I also listen to a fair amount of rap music, act goofy at inappropriate times, and quote lines from Anchorman more than is probably good for my sanity.

A little balance (or imbalance perhaps more appropriately) seems good to keep life interesting.

Being stuck in a van for hours at a time provides more than ample opportunity to ponder. I love the dichotomy of swords & castles while moving sideways at 70mph. I am grounded by amazing experiences mixed with ongoing struggles. I am awed by natural beauty hovering all around and outside of withering human monuments.

Perhaps the largest blessing of the road is the extremes that somehow seem to sit comfortably next to each other as opposed to the more even keeled comforts of being home.

But enough philosophical mumbo jumbo…

The Mavericks won last night and I was in Dallas with a bunch of likeminded friends and fans yelling and shouting, enjoying good music from The Daylights and Parlotones, and enjoying some amazing B-level Mexican food (thank you Fuzzys and late night Taco C).

The Door show was an absolute blast (as expected) with everyone in the room running back and forth between the concert floor and the bar area where the TV was with the game on. I even got chided for taking my Dirk jersey off while loading out… Love it…

Two of my college buddies (who managed tickets to the actual game…. So jealous…) stopped by afterwards and the whole Daylights/Parlo crew headed to the Loon for a drink and to revel in our big Finals game win.

Easily the biggest highlight of the outing was meeting Dirk’s German shooting coach, Holger Geschwindner, who just happened to stop in. Everyone of of us, of course, were immediately resolved to get a hand shake and give the requisite “thank you for making Dirk’s game awesome” kudos.

Ran ended up talking to him for almost a half hour with the bulk of the conversation surprisingly about literature, mentoring, and the unique adventures Holger and Dirk have shared all in a quest to stretch themselves far beyond the basketball court and be renaissance men of sorts in a great variety of subjects from writing, history and art as well as the free throws and fade aways.

It definitely gave me a new found respect for Dallas’ favorite German and was a great reminder for how we should associate ourselves with so much more than just current trends and pop culture.

I have 6-7 books with me on this tour run in an effort to push myself to take more in from a variety of sources.

I read a quote today about originality:

“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original, whereas if you simply try to tell the truth you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.” - C.S. Lewis

As usual, Mr. Lewis seems to be on to something; however, I also think that the more we are able to expand our own horizons, the more innately creative we are equipped to be and the more we can have the perspective to be dedicated to what we do.

I may not have all my dots completely connected just yet but hopefully you get the gist of my thought process. End point of the story: I think I need to be reading more to be able to write more. The reading is likely to be reward enough in itself anyway…

Looking forward to some good Texas BBQ tonight in Austin.