Show Day in Chicago

Wow! I don't think I've ever spent 9 hours in a bunk. I'm usually only good for about 5-6 hours max. Musta really needed some sleep.

I step off the bus to scope out the lay of the land and suddenly an airliner buzzes right over me, maybe 100-125 feet up, LOUD AS HELL! We're right under the approach path to one of the runways at O'Hare, which is right across the street. Jets continue to buzz us every minute or so for the next 12 hours.

Today we're at the Allstate Arena, in Rosemont, IL, a Chicago suburb. There's a Target right next door. Might have to do a little shopping later.

Still have 2 hours before load-in, so I wander inside and find a shower. I want to make sure I'm all caught up on work early in the day because I have several guests coming out today.

My "daughter" Evie's coming to visit, and she'll be working here today, too. She's a massage therapist and will be on call to take care of touring personnel throughout the day.

Also, my buddy Dan's coming out to see the show. He plays guitar in the band Disturbed. I worked for them back in 2001 and we still keep in touch. They just released a new CD Tuesday a week ago and right now it's the number one best seller in the U.S.

Evie shows up mid-morning, sets up her massage space, and I get to spend some time catching up with her world.

Her old running buddy Kim shows up around noon to spend the day also.

Dan and his posse show up during Mars Volta's set, and so does the entire gang from Anthrax. They have the night off and are opening up tomorrow night for Judas Priest, 90 miles away in Milwaukee. We got us a whole mess of rockstars backstage tonight.

Watch a few songs from out front with Evie and Kim, then head back to settle the show. This will be the last night of the tour that the band will make any overage money. The rest of the shows aren't selling well enough for us to make any backend, so my job gets a little easier from here on out.

After the show, Evie and Kim come hang out with me in the office until a little after 1:30am. Then it's out to the parking lot for goodbyes.

We've got over 1000 miles to drive tonight to get to Denver for our day off. We won't get there until around 6pm, so really it'll just be a night off.

I crawl into bunkyland and read a few pages. Lights out around 3…