Tucson, Phoenix & Albuquerque...

We love you Tucson!!! What an amazing crowd! The response to Windowpane was fantastic. The Rialto Theatre was a great venue. I guess it helped that Petsi flew in and had a great hotle room, because we all definitely needed showers. The pool was a huge bonus. Tucson is where we also had to break down and get an air conditioner installed in the RV. It wasn't a matter of comfort. It was a matter of being able to physically survive and be able to perform.

Off to Phoenix. It's hot. Jungle hot. But at least we have AC. (BTW, thank you Charlie. He willingly assisted in the acquisition of said 'fantastic AC') The Foundry was great. The room was electric. It's amazing how many old friends I ran into there. Even some from high scool ( and yes I graduated). After 11 glorious hours of AC, the generator runs ot of gas. So off to Albuquerque we go....

(BTW that is the last time I will spell the “querque” word ever again. It now to be know as “Al-B-Q”)

Al-B-Q is a really neat place. It's almost a mile high, and pretty flat ( a plateau you say?)I gotta say that the fans there we strong and plentiful. It was mild. We are tired. And even Sam snuck in to surprise Tony (awwwww, ain't dat so sweet it makes your teeth hurt) The Hard Rock casino was a freakin sweet venue, and packed full of 2500 responsive fans.

We think we're seeing a pattern. The more we play, the more that people like us..... Hmmmmm.... So if we divide the average show attendance by pi, the multiply by mileage, divided into the average density of a metric gallon of water, and then apply the geometric coeffecient of a trangle.... I think it equals = We Ain't Stoppin. Although it's physically and mentally taxing, at the end of a long day, when we pile into the RV for another round of endless hours of driving. There is a heir of satisfaction that we are finally getting out there and spreading our love (of what we do) all over different parts of the country.

Giggidy giggidy......

Mark

More tales from the road, 8 days in...

and here we are…

….barreling down the road in our beloved RV now dubbed "the white knuckle express". She earned that name after one to many trips down some crazy assed steep hills… Tony and I went through some "national forrest" a few days back in the dead of night…we crested a hill top and saw a sign that had two squiggly lines and read "next 99 miles"… of course that wouldn't have been so bad had the VERY next sign NOT read "8% down grade next 100 miles"…that portion of our journey came to a close at the base of "Hells Canyon"….yes..this is a real place…midway down the nastiest squirmy two lane road I've ever seen with cliff face on one side and a drop off to oblivion on the other…we could smell our brakes starting to deep fry…I eventually said hell with it…kept my feet of the pedals and said a prayer….it got so bad all Tony and I could do was laugh…our eyes were about as wide as saucers..the best part is…we had been cautioned about this route via the Queensryche camp…but thought "nahh…we'll be okay…we're in a smaller vehicle and need to save some time"…yeah…new rule: always listen to the truck drivers..

  The shows have been like a fantastic blur, the drive times in between widdleing down what little energy we have left each night. I remember at one point looking down at my stage tuner and realzing I couldn't get my eyes to focus a few shows back…then looking up at the sea of faces and feeling the adrenaline kick in. The crowds have been so, so amazingly supportive of us. Its a great feeling to be winning over so many new fans each night. We all haul ass to the merch table post set and are swamped with new friends and fans wanting their CDs signed, photos taken. Its just such a great feeling to be connecting with so many amazing people, and seeing them respond to what the 4 of us are putting out there.

  We had a day off yesterday so we could have time to travel from Sacramento CA to Flagstaff AZ. Tony's Father Pat and his wife Diane, live in Kingman AZ. So we were able to crash with them last night. It was really nice to get to see Tony hook up with his Dad. Due to the distance apart, they don't get to see each other very often (much like the rest of our camp with family spread all over the country). We arrived to an amazing steak dinner, great company, warm showers, and a lot of great visit time and laughs. We're only 6 shows in and there are already to many hilarious stories and moments to keep track of….but we certainly had Pat and Diane in stitches.

 Out in Sacramento I had decided to sleep it off for a while. I had been bought many a drink by new friends and fans while watching Queensreyche's set..so yeah…I needed a little "nap"…Kevin Mark and Tony went to a local bar around the corner from the club we'd played and had a blast hanging out with more of the QR gang. As I understand it, at some point Mark climbed a tree while Tony tried to knock him out of it while a large crowd gathered howling with laughter and commenting on what lunatics the Windowpane gang is.

   The QR crew has been just phenomenal, the sweetest group of guys, looking after our every concern, just treating us like family. I can say the same for the band members as well, all such great, warm and welcoming people, and being so good to us. It's a hell of a thing seeing those guys do what they do night after night. So much talent, and so much humility. We all feel very honored to be a part of this tour and be among this group of people. 

 The venues have varied from large clubs to theaters, I gotta say..i think we all LOVE the theaters…just the size of the stages and the sizes of the rooms, sounds incredible in those venues. Chico CA was a hot one…that was the Senator theater. We rolled into Chico and it was about 101 degrees, the theater was an older building so…no AC…I went up to the second story balcony and found some box fans…I turned them all on and literally sprawled out on the floor in front of them…venue staff kept coming by and asking "…are you okay??"….I would moan.."yep…the world is my oyster".. I eventually fell asleep face down on the floor for about an hour…. funny part is I found out a few hours later that there was a green room downstairs with couches and cots…lol…perfect. Chico wouldn't have been so bad except that we were all VERY hung over after Reno…Eddie Jackson (QR Bass player) Michael Wilton (QR lead Guitar) and Parker Lundgren (QR Rhythm guitar) as well as my old friend Kenny Bender (QR guitar tech for Eddie and Parker) and Kelly Gray (QR monitor engineer and our FOH guy) all invited us to this hotel room where some "mega fans" were having a party for the band…Windowpane and free booze??? brilliant. so yeah…we had a ball…but we hit Chico in 100 degree heat with a series of hangovers that could have dropped a rhino. no complaints though….at least not now…lol…it was worth it for such a good hang.

  a really memorable moment happened a few nights back…we rolled out the loading door of the theater after the meet and great and final "idiot check" of the night…(idiot check - when band members return one last time to the venue, stage and dressing room to make sure nothing was forgotten…thus AVOIDING being called an idiot the next day for forgetting said item)… as we came out the loading door, three teenage kids who had been down front rocking our set and whom we'd met at the post show meet and greet to get their CDs and T-Shirts signed…were jamming. One was playing a jembe (hand drum) one was on bass and one was on guitar…we stood there for 10 minutes or so just watching them jam…we had thrown down for them, now they were trowing down for us. It was killer…they could all really play. The youngest was the bass player…all of 14 years old…and slapping and popping on this acoustic bass like Flea on his best day..they were all REALLY good…when they finally ended their 3rd tune..we stood there in awe clapping and thanking them…there was a mutual inspiration at play…as they looked up to us, and we looked up to them…just a bunch of people who love music sharing what they do with each other and for each other. I'll never forget that moment. That's the thing I'm feeling most out here…the people…the people we've been meeting who are so excited about our music and so excited to meet us…and I think it's really coming across just how mutually stoked we are to be meeting them, and how grateful we are to have the opportunity to play for them..this thing…it's not about how many notes you can play, how well you landed that change, how great your tone was that night, how well the set flowed…it's about the people..the exchange of energy..the amazing feeling of sharing a genuine hug with someone you've never met before…they are so happy to meet you..and you are so elated to meet them…it's always been the heart and soul of this band…the fans…the people…and meeting them and embracing them night after night has been one of the greatest feelings of my life. God bless you f*ckers one and all….you're all the reason the four of us aren't dead in a ditch somewhere…thanks so very much for your love and support…

   Tonight we're in Flagstaff, looking forward to the gig and getting loud with my boys again. The tour is going great and we really are killing them night after night, feeling the love and respect from the QR staff and band members has been a tremendous reinforcement to what we've been feeling from each new crowd…we're killing it for you all out here….more to follow… 

  Cheers and much love ~ Glenn

  Final thought ~ last night we were at yet another random gas station..as we pulled in a rather large and expensive looking dual level tour bus with a big "Las Vegas Tours" logo down the side was pulling out….there were lots of very happy looking tourists visible through the tinted windows..watching flat screen TVs..enjoying their journey..as the bus pulled out of the gas station and headed up the freeway…a young pretty brunette in a pink sweater came SCREAMING out of the gas station…running at full pace…yelling "WAIT!!!!….WAIT!!!!…WAIT!!!…" she ran out on to the shoulder and continued sprinting up the road after the bus….as it faded into the distance...

   …at that moment I knew…with all of my heart…I knew….that our tour….was going a shit load better than hers…." 

Day 2: Spokane update & Missoula Montana

It's 12:30am and we just hit the Montana highway. We had little signal all day and there is no 3-G anywhere so I'll just have to post this tomorrow, lol. Glenn's at the wheel and we are starting our 10 hour drive to Boise.

Last night's show in Spokane was killer! We didn't quite know what to expect as it was the first show of the tour. We were dealing with so much prep the week prior that I think we had lost touch of what it was we were about to begin… don't get me wrong, we were excited, just that our focus was so "zoomed in" that we had temporarily lost a bit of the bigger picture. …but walking out to the side stage area pre-set and looking out to a packed Venue whipped us right back into "oh yeah, it's just a rock n roll show… we got this" lol…  we felt right at home and had a great set :) 

Post show we got into a bit of "Windowpane celebration mode" …and some may have drank a little more than we should have, (surprise) lol… but man, after last week, we needed that! Queensryche was absolutely flawless… and we got to enjoy their set with a lot of friends that made it out to the show. Kevin (the sober one) drove us over to Montana after load out… and during this drive… we saw one of the more amazing things that we have seen in a while!! Cruising at about 70mph Mark was some how able to cook burgers on the stove… this may not sound like much… but you have to imagine… the pan was frantically bouncing across the stove like a 'dropped basket ball' and Mark, somehow, was standing straight and completely UNAFFECTED by the motion of the vehicle… somehow his over served ass was flawlessly "surfing" the road WHILE attending to the burgers without breaking conversation, eye contact or even LOOKING at what he was doing AT ALL… just every time the pan was about to fly off the stove at high speeds... a hand would somehow expertly extend, grab the handle and place it back on the burner! It was as if we were talking to Mark's head... atop of someone else's body that was focused on attending to the task at hand! And... the burgers were fantastic! !! We... are still... in awe…lol

The drive in this morning was beautiful. Tonight's show at the Wilma Theater in Missoula was a full-on BLAST! Great venue and those guys really know how to ROCK!! People were REALLY getting in to it, made us feel extremely welcome and we sold a TON of CDs :) The venue reminded us of the Moore Theater in Seattle. After our set we had the chance to meet and hang out with some genuine, good people. ...Queensryche, was once again, flawless. 

~Fantastic town, can't wait to go back! AWESOME night!

…well we just passed a sign that said "Winding Road next 99miles",  we have seen a ton of deer on the side of the road and we are headed DOWN a steep hill! The shit they leave out of the video game "Rock Band" eh? …I better get back to being a good co-pilot ;)

Much love guys~

T

Queensryche/Windowpane Tour- day one

So here we are in Spokane WA, sitting in our RV parked curb side to tonight's venue along with Queensryche's rigs. We loaded the gear (guitars fit nicely in the shower ;) and hit the road last night... Kevmo has us STOCKED with movies for our down times and we watched "Raiders of the Lost Ark"on our way out...  was a warm and fuzzy trip here ;)

After rolling into Spokane at 3:30 am and meeting the crew at 11am post last week's chaos of preparing for the tour... we ...are... tired...and quite... cloudy today! ...so...if... sentence... make sense not... that is reason for...

The entire crew has gone out of their way to make us feel welcome. We are already getting the sense that this is a tight family out here.. and we are going to be well taken care of :)

We just had lunch and are about to load in. Queensryche's crew is setting up their stage for the night... looks like they have quite the production! ...this...is...going..to...rock!

There is a quiet yet strong "calm before the storm" feeling among our camp...

Have to go load.... will check in with yall later ;)

The entire crew has made us feel extremely welcome