the new journal is up but...

[deb]

Unfortunately I can't read it in it's entirety due to not having a password and serial number for Windows Office 2003?

Hmm

[deb]

Could someone cut and paste the journal here?

[brad]

it comes up in word for the moment, until Lydsteen can make it to the correct format...but you can read it if you have microsoft word for the time being. It will be fixed soon =)

[deb]

I'll wait til Lydia fixes it

[Lydia]

I'll fix it either today or tomorrow. I don't have my computer at my new place so it's making it challenging to do anything. I hope to move it next week. Thanks for trying anyway Brad.

[xElleNx]

Deb, I dont know if I sent the right one, but it came up wierd.. I PMed you..

[Lydia]

Mini-east coast tour- The Norva (Norfolk VA), The Music Farm (Charleston SC), The County Line (Melbourne FL)

There comes a time in a bands life when it’s members say to themselves “Hey guys we have no money, no capitol, and a little bit of merchandise….Let’s go on the road for a few days!” So after careful consideration of the vehicle situation for the Alabama trip, we decided to take a more reliable vehicle to the great state of Virginia and back.(Those of you who read the Alabama journal know what I’m talking about!)

After leaving the gas cap off and having to pull over on I-4, we were making good time through the southern part of Georgia when it happened. You guessed it, Engine blows up in the car! So here we are in Brunswick GA, with 1 day to get another car and get to the 1st show in VA. So selling a CD to one of the diesel mechanics at the truck-stop, the miracle of day 1 happens. Brad still has AAA! Well good thing we did because they came and towed us 100 yards across the street to the other truck-stop.

Then taking the car to a shop and leaving us stranded with no car and a trailer. Fortunately miracle 2 was on its way in the form of Pops Melton and my brother Greg, driving all the way from Orlando to bring us a car to tow the trailer with. So 3 hours later and $20 poorer due to the star trek shooter game in the arcade, they arrived in Brunswick GA with the car and saved the day.

Hooking the trailer back up and getting under way we were off to Norfolk VA. We arrived at about 7:30 in the morning in the frozen tundra, and finally got some sleep. We got to the club at about 4:30 for load in and sound check, to find out that we are opening the show. Usually this is not the best news in the world when you just drove 12 hours, but by the time we hit the stage the club was packed and we rocked out to some of the coolest fans we’ve ever met. With Big Red <Dark New Day’s soundman> running sound for us we had a killer show at the Norva. We spent the next 2 hours after the show back at the merch booth, with our new found friends and listened to the other bands rock out.

Another cool thing that I have to mention about the Norva is the backstage area. It was huge, with a ton of dressing rooms, a buffet laid out, a game room, and a basketball court on the 3rd floor…all backstage. After the show we left right away for the next show in Charleston SC. Driving all night again we arrived in North Charleston and got a room to crash in till sound check. Waking up a little earlier we decide to get some breakfast, and from the moment we walked in to the restaurant we knew we were not in the best area of town that Charleston has to offer.

We’ll needless to say we got out of there after a quick breakfast and were on our way to sound check #2 at the Music Farm. No surprise there….going on 1st again! With Big Red behind the sound board again we proceeded to crank out a great set and kicked as much ass as we could have hoped for! Special thanks to the lovely Shannon for taking care of out merch for us while we rocked and did a great job! Well we stayed all night and listened to all the other bands and our friends from Dark New Day. Having tired and delirious drivers from the night before the group consensus was to sleep that night and get up and drive to Melbourne Fla. in the morning… So we get the trailer back to the motel and step out of the car when all of a sudden what sounded like an explosion went off like 20 feet from us! Being confused we looked over to see a guy in a beat up old car holding a handgun over the roof of his car with his left hand and started to fire off 6 more rounds at the waffle house! Hearing the shells starting to hit the ground we did the same thing, seeing as the guy was right next to us, and most of us have ever been that close to a drive by shooting before! Well after he sped off we got back to the motel room and vowed that we would not be coming back to North Charleston for a vacation any time soon.

So in light of all that happened we managed to get some sleep and were on our way a little later than we would have like the next day for our very close to hometown gig. Now when you are your own driver, road manager, roadie, guitar tech, and drum tech, you get pretty tired playing and loading gear day after day at a breakneck pace. But thanks to our friends in Dark New Day, they let us use their back line so our pain of carrying heavy cabinets was cut in half. So with their help and a little bit of speeding we got to the show at the County Line in Melbourne and we ready to rock. Being 1 of the only 2 bands on the bill we got a longer set and were able to crank out a few more tunes for our friends and fans which were responding like dynamite on fire. After probably the best show on this tour we hung out with all our family and friends and watched DND tear it up.

Well halfway through their set Dave decides that we should all go stage diving and crowd surfing. So Corey from DND calls us chickens and Dave is the first one flying right through the air into the crowd! So one by one the rest of us jump out in the crowd and for the first time ever all of us made it back to the stage without getting dropped! Awesome! So being pumped up and having a great tour we had some drinks and said goodbye and happy holidays to all our friends and fans. And for a change we all made it home that night WITHOUT having to Donate to Florida’s state trooper fund <a miracle in itself>. Till next journal! Brad

[deb]

I would have loved to seen you guys jumping off the stage...or better yet pictures!?!

[xElleNx]

oh yeah, thats the one i pmed you, lol

[deb]

I read the pm version and I pm'd you back Ellen!

Thanks everyone....

[deb]

Did ya'll have to drive to California? None of you took car mechanics in high school did you? :lol

[dragon]

They don't offer that in high school here. Too bad really. They barely offer driving corses and it shows! Eitherway, yeah, we drove and what an interesting time it was. It was my first road trip with these guys and boy what an eye opener. I just hope our luck changes sometime soon!

[Lydia]

deb said:

Unfortunately I can't read it in it's entirety due to not having a password and serial number for Windows Office 2003?

Hmm

It's all better now.