Day the First, April 23rd, New York City

When I woke up on this morning, I wanted to do one thing and one thing only – not go on tour. I had been tired and melancholy all winter and all I wanted to do was climb back into my bed, hit the lights and sleep for three days. However, I was committed to the trip and even partially packed, so I got myself together and trundled off to work to make a little money before we headed to New York.

Anywho, about halfway to work on the train my Rio Riot sprung to life with the song “Welcome to the Jungle.” Holy good god damn is that song a tune. Within about thirty seconds all I wanted to do was play rock music for the rest of my life. So, one problem solved.

On the way to NYC I realized another problem. I had been very careless in my packing and had forgotten many important items, such as extra shoes, deodorant, any number of stomach medicines, glasses cases, saline solution, guitar strings, guitar picks and adequate amounts of underwear. Dag.

Anyway, despite being underprepared for this trip I found myself having a good time. Pete and I played a bunch of Incredible Machine on our laptops, Jordan crocheted and we got our band morale up with the knowledge that we wouldn’t see our bosses for two weeks.

The show that night itself was pretty blah. We were all tired and the crowd was kind of lame, two factors that when added together usually equal mediocre show.

But after the show super-fan Laurel solved problem #2. She came up to me and gave me an extraordinarily generous gift bag full of all kinds of medicines, soft core porn and toothbrushes. Dag. She’s a champ.

Towards the end of the night I had a pastrami sandwich at Katz’s Deli and then took my bag of goodies and hit the van to relax. I know this probably pissed off some people who had come to see me, but I have a hard time hanging out in crowded bars these days. I tend to get panicky in crowds and have always combated that with excessive drinking. However, I don’t drink anymore, so I’ve found a little quiet time in the van to be my new cure.

We ended the night at our friend Noah’s pad, where I slept on a fold out couch with Gordon. I’ve probably mentioned it before, but Gordon is the best bed partner in the band. He doesn’t snore, doesn’t fidget and weighs about three pounds, so he doesn’t bug you when he gets up to pee.

All in all, a good first day….