Day Off in Auckland, New Zealand

While walking through the terminal at LAX on the way to the security checkpoint on Monday night, a couple of photographers sprinted by me and started snapping shots of 2 girls who were walking about 20 feet in front of me. I figured they must be somebody because those guys were just shooting and shooting. I wound up right behind them at the X-ray machine and it turned out to be Michelle Rodriguez, one of the hotties from the TV show "Lost." She was also in the first "Resident Evil" movie, which is in my all-time Top 10 movie list, as well as "The Fast And The Furious", "Blue Crush", "S.W.A.T." and bunch of other stuff. See if these shots ring a bell…



So, anyway, she was with another gorgeous babe, and it was taking them forever to get all of their shit out of their bags & pockets, and get their shoes off to put through the machine. Michelle was trying to hold her 17" Apple MacBookPro in one hand and pull her friend's boot off with the other and having a hell of a hard time doing so, so I grabbed her laptop and held it for her so she could use both hands to pull off the boot. She thanked me, and a minute later, started chatting while we were standing there.

Turned out the she and her friend Alex (Alexandra) were on their way to Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, and were on the same flight I was. I saw them in the first-class lounge, and they were both friendly and chatty, so I wound up talking to them about all kinds of stuff, and I invited them to come to the show on Friday. Don't know if they'll show up, but I'll sure hook 'em up if they do. It's not everyday you get to meet a famous actress and she turns out to be a nice person.

So we didn't have anything to do today. We'll load in to the gig tomorrow. I spent a couple of hours wandering around the shopping district near the hotel. Bought some chewable vitamin C and a big floppy hat at the Billabong store. Baseball hats just won't cut it here with all the walking around I'll be doing at all the festival sites. Need more coverage and protection from the sun.

On the way back to the hotel, I ran into Yvonne, the band's masseuse, and she asked if I'd like to join her for a drink and an early dinner. Sounded good to me, so I tossed my stuff into my room and off we went. She wanted to go to the nearby alleyway, which is where we found an outdoor table at the Queen's Ferry Hotel Pub.What a great place. We got a fruit and cheese platter – amazing local cheeses.

Eventually, a bunch of other crew folks joined us. Much revelry ensued, many pints of Monteith's Golden Lager were downed, and local folks became friends.

Made it back to my room around midnight…