It’s been a long week in Texas.
I don’t know what you have heard about Texas, but there are some of the kindest people in the country here. We started out in Houston, then headed to Austin, Granbury, and Arlington. In each of these cities (besides Arlington I guess) we stayed with the most generous people. It’s amazing how much people want to lend a hand when they barely know who you are. In Houston we stayed with our good friends the Nespers. Rene and Dave took care of us for the second tour in a row, offering up their home, feeding us, and giving us whatever medicine/supplements our bodies could ever need. Rene gave me an entire bottle of organic pills that are supposed to help arthritis (I was complaining about my elbow and fingers hurting). Oh, and their dog was even excited to see us…
The next few nights we stayed with Steve Conrad, who has become one of our good friends over the past year. He works for Apple, and really helps us out whenever any of our stuff needs repairing or replacing. He let us stay with him in Austin, after showing us around town. He is wise beyond his years. He left us by saying, and I’ll paraphrase, “When you guys are California, remember that you’re there for each other. Take care and of each other, and don’t get distracted by other things.” He said it more eloquently than that, but you get the picture. The next night we stayed with another Steve in Granbury. He and his wife (and kids) had to their home before the show and fed us a 5 course meal. Including some red, red, wiiiiiinneeee (Shea’s been singing that all tour. He’s a big UB-40 fan). Steve and Steve, you guys rule.
Anyways, yesterday we played at 6 Flags over Texas. Highlight of the day: line cut passes. We went on some boss roller coasters, fo’ free, without waiting in line. However, it was probably top 5 most awkward shows I’ve ever played. The most random assortment of people walking by the stage. Grandma’s, 10 year olds, people that definitely don’t enjoy rock and roll, batman, etc. The highlight of the show itself was Brendan replacing the word “drunk” with “crunk” during our song Surroundings, in an effort to protect the innocent young kids. The thing about this is that I believe the word “crunk” is even more implicative than the former.
This is the type of flower that Brendan dreams of giving girls…
We only have about a week until we reach our destination. We’re playing in San Diego on the 30th, and then it’s off to L.A. to start pumping out some new jams. We’re excited about being able to work on songs with the stress and time commitment of work and school. We feel like the producer we will probably be working with will help us get the sound we’re going for. We’re excited about seeing what will happen this year. I’ve been trying my best to keep what’s important in focus. It’s easy to get lost in the work and stress involved in making/playing music, sometimes leading me to forget why I wanted to do it in the first place. Life is really short, and as time goes by I realize more and more that it’s important to spend the little time you have here doing things for others, and loving others, spending time with the people you love. Emo sounding, I know, but I’ve realized how many people get sick so young. If that happens to me, that’s fine, but if you look at life with a little foresight it makes you want to waste as little time as possible. “The longer you wait, the more it goes to waste” -good lyric from a great album by Circa Survive.
Anyways, that’s probably enough for today. Gotta shower up before jumping in the van for 5 hours to drive to Tulsa, OK. P.S. I slept in the van the other night…pretty hot in these rhinos:
To keep the Ace Ventura jokes going, here is a picture of Ace’s gay brother, Gayce Ventura:
I love you guys, and hope all is well wherever you are.
ryan
