mattwertz

So here we are, a week into the tour- 4 shows under our belt, as well as an additional 5 lbs, it seems.  It'll be a miracle if we still fit into our tight pants 3 months from now.  Chancho! get me some
sweeeaats! We've gotten a lot of use out of our outerwear as we've been met full on by sub-zero degree wind chills in Boston and now Pittsburgh.  Chad, Brad, Rufus, Jason and I have logged some serious hours in the Red Rover (i haven't called her that since Beh Beh was
behind the wheel...)

College Park, Maryland was the first stop, and proved to be the tallest stage i've ever played on...probably WILL every play on, too.  Chad had his own drum room, which conveniently doubled as a sauna, which was awesome for him. the show was great....

but couldn't compare with what was ahead at the hotel we stayed in. The first clue that we should have loaded up the van and tried somewhere else should have been the fact that it took literally 30
minutes to check in.  Everyone spoke english, our credit card works, i mean- c'mon, how hard can this be?  But we shrugged it off, knowing that sleep was hopefully only a few more minutes away.

We climbed up the stairs to our room only to find our extra cot sitting OUTSIDE (in the 20 degree weather) or room. (see exhibit A)

Amused, we slid the key card into the lock and entered the room. "Cool! Adjoining rooms!" We open the door on our side of the wall to find... WHAT!!?? (see exhibit B)

That's a stack of compressed towels that had been sandwiched between the two doors for Lord knows how long.  We didnt have the courage to see what lay amongst them, especially before stumbling upon EXHIBIT C!

This is where we were expecting someone to come out of the bathroom with a knife and start slicing us up.  I mean, WHAT IN THE WORLD!  In case you can't see what's going on, here, this is a random high heel hidden behind the chair in the corner of our hotel room.  We all felt a little dirtier waking up the next morning, but glad to have gotten sleep.

One of my favorite things about the Northeast is Dunkin Donuts. I know I may offend some people here, but i want you to hear me when I say that Dunkin Donuts is a superior donut to Krispy Kreme.  Not to mention the fact that their coffee is phenomenal.  We made some friends at one of our many Dunkin Donuts stops and assured them they would see themselves on the internet, so ladies, here's your 15 minutes...

This week has been all about us gel-ing as a band, figuring out parts, choreography, when to set the pyro off, you know- same ol, same ol.  Jon McLaughlin is sitting in on keys for us and that has
been rad.  He and rufus and I were taking some time to tickle before the show at BU the other night.  Notice the scarves.  We found out it was literally like 18 below with the windchill that night in Boston.
Someone please help.

oh, and we drove past the New Balance headquarters on the way to Holy Cross where we played the best show of the tour so far... great crowd, great cause (raising money for Africa) and everything was in black and white that night... weird. (and yes, my back IS covered in sweat... one of those nights).

That's all i've got for now.  We're playing tonight in Pittsburgh after a few days off and we really can't wait to drop kick it.  It's been snowing all morning here, and it feels like Christmas should
have felt.  I'm proposing we push Christmas back to the end of January.  Any takers? It's finally getting cold enough to feel like Christmas.  Would that mess things up with retail?  They might still
need some 4th quarter help... we could start a new holiday, or just give presents for New Years... Bueller, Bueller?

Wertz '07