I'm getting behind!

I think I left off with our day off in NYC. Then of course we had to play a show in NYC…  Once again, we were FINALLY going to be on the second level for a change instead of the downstairs stage. Once again, that didn’t happen. This time it was because Metallica was playing a special show for their fan club on the top level, and they needed the entire second level for production…

We didn’t have the same sound guy as last time, but our usual sound guy did stop by and say hi earlier in the night, and said bye to me before taking off. The sound guy we did have turned to me at doors and asked if I had any requests for house music. I blanked and all I could think of was silverchair, but when Kim tried playing a “silverchair” station while we were packing for tour, we kept getting all of these terrible 90’s radio songs. I can’t remember what the guy said he ended up putting on, but it played a lot of Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails, which would have been other go-tos if I could have brained at the time. AND, the station ended up playing not one, but TWO silverchair songs.

Speaking of NIN, Jack has this epic 90's Trent Reznor look in the photo (see next photo)

See?

I also wrote a little note to myself about something that happened that night but I can’t read it. Clearly that means it was super important and we’re all going to die now since I’m not writing about it.

While we’re all waiting to die, I’ll tell you about the next show in Cambridge, MA. There’s not a whole lot to say. There was a giant AC vent blowing on me at merch all night, so I spent a lot of my free time in the back of the crowd dancing around to stay warm (and because it’s what I do). I ended up getting a really bad cough that night :(

The next night was Long Branch, NJ and one of the saddest nights ever because it was Open Your Eyes’ last night *cries* Kim and I surprised them with hand made Fangirl shirts.

I got mine signed :D

This place was a tiny, tiny little bar. I’m not sure why they booked a 3 band tour package plus 2-3 locals. Ben had to store the drums in a back closet and walk them through the audience to set up the stage.

Comron's backbend while playing

One-Eyed Doll sounded really good in the audience though. 

Kim (you can see her knee) playing for a beaming/laughing (?) Sandra!

There were chains hanging from the ceiling above the stage (you can see one hanging above the OED banner in the next photo), and at one point Kim whipped her hair around and it got caught on one.

After the show Kim prepared a feast and we had a "Good Bye OYE"/"Welcome to the crew Joe" party on the bus. It was fun, but also really, really, Really, REALLY sad :(

The first show without OYE was in Duncannon, PA. The venue was HUGE compared to the last place, but the staff there was kind of weird about everything. It was also a smoking venue. My lungs still hadn’t recovered from the AC a couple of nights before, and this just made my cough worse :(  This was the first show with the band Fractured Fairytales who would be joining us for a week of tour.

Take your little rock-n-roll talons...

Bury them into your little rock-n-roll chests
And rip out your little rock-n-roll hearts
And thrown them at my feet

*picks up heart*

Tour’s mostly over, so I feel like I’m not really ruining any surprises. Wednesday 13 “ends” their set, everyone leaves the stage, then the crowd usually starts some sort of encore chant/yelling for Wednesday. They come back on and play 1-3 more songs, starting with the song “I love to say F*ck.” This night, when they first left the stage, half of the crowd was chanting “F*ck” while the other half was chanting “One more song.” Eventually it was just a room full of people chanting “F*ck” in unison.

They also must have had an issue with someone trying to get on stage or something, because during the last song there was a security guard standing on stage awkwardly behind Roman the entire time watching the crowd. It was super distracting and awkward :/

Philadelphia was another weird one. We played at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown. That meant we couldn’t load in until they closed the restaurant at 5, and there was no where to park. We had to pull up on the street blocking a lane, unload, then park in a lot somewhere else and be driven back to the restaurant. Merch was all awkwardly set up, on the registers/their shop area, but we made it work. Um… I don’t remember much about the show other than it was short because the conditions were weird, no one could use fog, etc. I did grab a pic with Wednesday just in case I don’t have another chance to before the end of tour

Hopefully I do because this one is slightly blurry…

Even though it was a short show, it still ended up being just as late of a night, and we had an early day the next day. We were playing a festival in Sinking Spring, PA called Shocktober Fest. We were supposed to “load in” at noon and the festival started at 2. However, when I woke up, super tired, the coffee maker wasn’t working. I hid in my bunk under the covers until Junior got it working again. Because it was a festival, it was a loooooong day. Between that, and all of the smoking going on, I hid on the bus several times for a break. Over all it was fun and a good show. No pictures though because there was so much going on. I do have a funny story. If you read my blog over the summer you know we played The Gathering of the Juggalos. For those that don’t know, during their set, a few people threw ears of corn on stage. This tour we have a pumpkin full of goodies I throw out into the audience, including plastic food and gardening tools Kim got from the dollar store. One of which was a mini ear of corn. Since this was another festival, I thought it might be appropriate to bust out the corn. It got to the part where the audience yells “Trick or Treat,” Kim looked over at me, I pulled out the corn, looked at it, and threw it at Kim. She just started cracking up. I’m pretty sure someone got it on film and uploaded it to Facebook. I’ll have to see if I can find it.

*Just spent way too long looking for it and couldn't find it. If someone has a link, let me know*

After the past few stressful shows and a loooooooong festival, we luckily had a day off. I think we did laundry that day, then headed to Richmond. We found a cool downtown area which had an Insomnia Cookies and a local place called Red Eye Cookies. Originally we were going to go “cookie-hopping” and try both. But we got to Red Eye and found out they had been there about 2 years, and a year ago Insomnia (which is a chain) moved in across the street, so we ended up just staying at Red Eye and supporting local business. Plus they were better, cheaper, and had milk combos (including almond and soy milk!) The guy working the register had never had a macadamia nut on it’s own, and Kim & I had some hidden on the bus, so Kim went a brought a little cup for him to try. He introduced us to the owner who we got talking to. He ended up giving us 2 free shirts and offered to bring 5 dozen cookies to the show! He was such a sweet guy, if you’ve ever in the Richmond, be sure to stop into Red Eye and grab a cookie!

The next show was in Richmond, VA, obviously. We can’t load in until W13 is all loaded in, so Ben, Joe & I ended up wandering over to the Edgar Allen Poe museum.

Red Eye delivered 5 dozen warm, delicious cookies to the show! Originally we were going to have them for VIP, but as soon as VIP started, the local started sound checking, so they went outside. The staff and W13 guys got some cookies though, and we passed them around at the merch table during meet & greet.

After the show, in order to repay them for their generosity, we had an after party at Red Eye. Well, Kim & Junior did, I was tired so I stayed on the bus doing merch numbers and my restock list. The point of having the after party there was to bring them business, but the owner insisted on giving everyone cookies on the house. He is way too nice. Seriously, go support Red Eye!!!

Next was Charlotte, NC. We weren’t sure how this show was going to go because Korn and someone else were also playing that night, and if I remember correctly, there were no locals. It ended up being a really good show though!

Love the colors in this, even if it's not in focus

Colors and fog are epic in this!

And more epic fog swirls in this!

Next we were off to Huntington, WV. We parked near by over night, and load in a bit later, so I had some free time after I woke up. I wandered around and found Ben’s cleaner’s.

Ben's cleaners!

My merch was awkwardly set up between 2 booths, and the green room was BEHIND the stage upstairs. I don’t remember anything specifically interesting that happened at the show, but there was a girl wearing a TARDIS dress. I never got a chance to tell her how cool it was :(