itchy

the odd thing about living on a train is that, from time to time, it moves. it's a mobile home in all senses of the word. even more so than what we're used to knowing as mobile homes. i've actually lived in mobile home a couple of times in my life - interesting times, great stories, but it Didn't move, not once.

now, the interesting thing about living on a train for an extended period of time is that, if it Doesn't move, it feels .... well..... weird.

we played East Rutherford, NJ, then NYC, and today we're loading into East Rutherford ... again. The train has been spotted in Seacaucus, NJ which is a 10 minute amtrak ride into NYC and a 15 minute bus ride from our engagement in East Rutherford.


so, we've had no reason to move for the past 3 weeks or so, and we're going to be moving until this upcoming Sunday night/Monday morning.

now, if a train doesn't move, then it's just like any other place that people live in and doesn't move - and really, considering the sizes of our quarters and general change in living conditions, the MOVING is the coolest thing aBOUT this place.

no train runs apparently manifest itself in humdrum, agitated, weary circus folk.
guess i've gotten used to to those weekly rides and wonderful sleep. maybe i could suggest that just once a week in those cities where we play this long - they could just take us out for a quick lap ... you know, just so we can keep our heads on straight.

New York City

so, now we're here in NYC and it's a pretty exciting thing to be playing in Madison Square Garden. we just loaded in today and despite the rain and a little cold - i'm pretty pumped. this looks to be a hectic schedule and there'll be all eyes on us because NY is our biggest market for the tour.

the Times is supposed to reviews us, and from what i'm told, that's a big barometer for how the rest of the tour will go.
a crazy piece of trivia, is that, as of the middle of March we've already done ONE HUNDRED shows !! that's crazy to think, but it's true. so, the difficulty now is that the show is starting to run on auto - speaking for myself i suppose and no one else, but i imagine it might be similar for others. the show is definately running more smoothly now, and people are hitting their cues right on - and it's that exciting part of a production where the show kind of starts to become what it's going to become.

all these things are great, but it's part of the job to make the repitition sound fresh i suppose. i'm excited about the city - gotta see some broadway shows and i'd like to go to the Met. the empire of course, but i've noticed that the statue isn't that high up on my wish list - i suppose if there's time sure ... we'll see - either way i'm sure it'll involve as little sleep as possible.

birthday continued

after recouping from the Super Karaoke madness we drove up the mountain. the air was crisp, our spirits were high, our bellies were full and the windows were down.

check out the christmas trees! ->









John and Kevin took us up these two trails, Lost Cove Cliff and Harper Creek Falls. Now, they're both from here and these, we're told, are the best trails taking into account time available and the hiking comfort of the group.



firmly confident that our day will be a good one, and that our guides are trustworthy and knowledgable of the mountain- we press ahead

now, i forget which trail we took first, but i do know that the first one wasn't as steep as the second one. it was a relatively easy walk - don't get me wrong, we were breathing heavier than is usual and were definately sweating, but it was a good - you feel your whole body working, kinda way.

after treking up the narrow, leaf covered, slightly moist, sometimes tree root riddled path, we got to our first great view.
there was this waterfall and we came out from our trail at the top of it where we enjoyed a relaxing moment.

we all laid on our bags with a shirt covering our faces and just breathed in the scene.
after going back down, we went back the other trail which was significantly steeper to climb though the payoff was great at the end.

halfway-ish up this beast was an apple orchard albeit dead for the season, it was a nice break spot seeing as we were pretty out of breath by then. But, of course a steep climb means a great view and that's nothing less than what we got!

Sure, the walk was rough and slippery in places. Sure, there were times when we wanted to turn back, thought we could climb no more. True, I had doubts that my legs would last, but it was that faith in our comrades and knowing that no one is going to admit outloud that THEY'RE tired that kept us pushing forward. And, in the end we were on top of the world!

going to work

i am seriously almost done with a new post, but i wanted to put this video up since it's quick and easy. I finally got my new camera - and it does video as well, so this is just a trial from that. we're there in Hamtpon, VA and we're just getting off the bus headed into the arena, the Hampton Colesium if i remember correctly.

nothing fancy, I'm just meandering backstage looking for the band dressing room when i run into Shawn, our drummer who kindly directs me. looks like he's enjoying some lovely pie car food, which just got a new paint job! it got a little banged up a little while back, and we had to endure local roach coaches in the meantime. We were excited to have our beloved pie car back and it's back to normal complete with complaining about pie car.

catch up

alrighty ... so, winter quarters has long been done, and with that, followed a period of decompression. i think that period just completely drained everyone, and even just now do i feel recovered. it feels more like we're touring again. our first few cities after WQ were all in Florida, a state which, is nice but not when you only see the state fairgrounds and train and that's it, that's it!, that is IT!!!

the plan is to travel up the east coast - as of now, we're in Virginia - norfolk, to be exact. but we'll get there . first, some 2008 highlights

this was my first new year's in a train yard - and it turned out not to be so different from a regular train yard party - and f.y.i. there really AIN'T no party like a train yard party. no fireworks though ... i know, it sounds like a such blasphemy, but it's true. there was lots of music and wonderful cookies from a very special friend. (thanks again!) however, so, all in all, i give it a thumbs up. remember, new year's was not only new years it was also one of VERy few days off, so everybody was really just too exhausted to get really crazy. we did 6 day weeks and 10-12 + hour days .... yada yada yada, did i mention the bisque?

right, so new years... good.

then.... there came something called my birthday - this occured circa February 7th - that was a thursday, but i started celebrating around Feb. 3, a Sunday, as SOON as our last show for the city was over.

i completely skipped out on load out and load in. load out was right after the show sunday night. load in was, i believe, on tuesday. the point is, we had from sunday night till wednesday when sound check was scheduled at 1:00pm.

plenty of time for
1) Super Bowl Watching - i'm not a huge fan, but it Was a great game.
2) Karaoke House Party
3) aMAZING food
3) cool house with a porch swing and
4) hiking in the Appalachians



these first few are from the house of John's stepmom's side of the family's house .... they were having a Super Bowl party
and were most accomodating.


now, i've never been much of a karaoke guy, but, as you can see, that's exactly what took over the evening after the game. they also had a pool table in the garage and a BBQ grill out there, so you really couldn't escape the food.




Some folks got down with some songs in Tagalog, which we didn't really understand, but enjoyed fully, nontheless. Joon (someone PLEASE correct me if i spelled that wrong) got stupid on the mic to a song that i dubbed Tagalog Tool! He was rockin' That's him in the orange shirt.



everybody got their turn on the mic, but when melissa played MC and started doing the robot to Technotronic's big 90's hit : "Pump Up The Jam" it's safe to say the party got crazy. Admittedly, i got in on the action when i found Radiohead's "Creep" on the playlist. and we all brought the house down with Ace of Base's "I Saw The Sign" simply ... NUTS!












a great homecoming for fulk, and a great start to my birthday week.

---

here's a shot of Fulk's house in Boone, NC. it's so cozy it's ridiculous. we got there the day after and recouped from the Super Bowl madness. I mean, just LOOK at this place! How could you NOT relax?! And what better place or hosts to show us around North Carolina?

just look at this lovely living room and porch. John grew up in this house and another in the same area. the mountains around here are beautiful, it's the start of the Appalachians - the Blue Ridge, I believe.

I'll put all the hiking Pics in another post, so ... don't fret!

no excuses

but, really, there are some good excuses why i haven't posted in far too long. my woes with electronics seem never ending - but isn't that the way with em? so, as people may or may not know - i lost my lil' sony camera back in Boston, circa last october. i've been making do with photos from my camera since then, but my search for a new photo taking device started promptly and i'm happy to say i'll be purchasing the Canon S5 camera this upcoming friday! i'm quite excited about it and have already purchased a camera bag and accesories!

anywho, my computer is the next victim - my laptop has lived a long and glorious life and i fear the end is near. the screen has started to black out and some applications don't like like they oughta ... with help from my good friend, Eli and his "radio shack in a bag" i'm able to use my comp, vie my magnavox TV screen, which ..... works, though it's annoying, and certainly compromises the mobility of said laptop. it does buy me time, though, and i'll still be getting the camera and back to taking wonderful photos and making more stop motion movies, which is really quite fun.

again, i aplogize for the lack of posts, there are several great stories, involving characters with names such as Terrell, Heather, Kevin, Boone and events such as birthday pies, appalachian hiking and phillipino karaoke. no joke :)

please be patient.

a semi- normal christmas

so, i ended up going with shawn and mona, over to their friends' debbie and petes' house. eli and i , that is.
shawn warned us that it'd be rather boring : "it's just gonna be some people sitting around, watching movies, and they've got kids - so, we're just waiting for santa to come around"

well, that just sounded fantastic to us. back at the train, we had the next day off, it was christmas, and it was one of the dancers birthdays - all this means, loud, crazy party at the train. now, for the past few weeks and off nights, it seems people have chosen to gather right outside of 90 car (car 190 - i.e. the car i live on)

after work, we were all pretty beat, and i was looking forward to a nce quiet night og blog writing, movie watching and chess playing ( quick plug here for GAMEKNOT it's my new addiction and i invite ANYONE reading this to play a game or two, it's an online chess site, and it's awesome, and they don't pay me)

anywho, i know such a quiet evening would NOT be had given the afore mentioned factors, so this normal evening sounded perfect.



check this place out! there's a chirstmas tree, wood floors, a tv set, and best of all .. COUCHES! the kids were hayley and ethan and were very charming as they were all excited about ol st. nick's arrival- hayley organized a plate of cookies with a generous variety of pastry and a glass ready for milk. the glass was decorated in greek images - a "greece" glass, in case santa hadn't been to greece yet, of course. like i said, charming. they reminded me of some former piano students of mine so i was very entertained and pleased with the evening.

mona is, perhaps, the most complimentary of this here blog, and i truly appreciate her readership. everytime she visits shawn she mentions a recent post, and how much she enjoys it - that's cool and feel good to hear since i have such an incredible ego that needs stroking quite often. at the house i told her i just posted a new one (the last one) and she rushed to grab a computer ( about a 10 on the ol ego-stroke-a-meter) i thought this a perfect oppurtunity for a little slice of carnia history.



this is a photo of mona (the bloggee) taken by me (the blogger) of her reading the blog, while being told by the blogger (me) that this photo would then be used to blog said moment, THUS the pun of mona seeing a photo of herself doing what she is doing at the very INSTANT of reading these very lines, while reading text descirbing what she's doing both NOW and THEN, but with the then and now boundries being crossed as she is temproally disected while remaining consciencely where she is now ... is complete.

so, to recap - christmas:good
house : awesome
kids : great
shawn : great photo subject/satisfactory chess player
lists : convenient
company : perfect
pictures : funny