Saturday Night Shindig

Had an Un-Party tonight. Sent out invitations for people to drop by for drinks and chow. Foy, Carina and Steve showed up and we got absolutely shit-faced drunk and watched the Bud Shootout race from Daytona.

Whoo-hoo!!!!!!

Let It Snow!

Got up at 7am. No snow falling yet, but it's not supposed to start until 9 or 10. Right at 8 o'clock, it suddenly starts to come down in a very fine powder. Great!

The bad news is that it changed over to rain around noon, then continued to rain the entire rest of the day.

Went to Northside with the Beals around 5:30 for a couple of beers. Home at 7 and watched "We Were Soldiers".

Movie Night (again)

Snow being forecast for tomorrow morning. I sure hope so. Watched "U.S. Marshals" tonight.

Movie Night

Watched "Ronin" for the 5th or 6th time.

The Day After...

The Beals finally showed up for the party. Made it about 2 this afternoon. The party was actually last night, but who cares? I put out a bunch of food and we started right back up where I left off…

Party Time!!!!!

Well, the big day is finally here. More pictures to hang today. Paige came over around 11 and took me to Costco so I could some fixin's for the hoedown.

Got finished with all the housework right at 6:30. Started prepping food immediately and was nearly finished when the first guests showed up just before 7:15.

In all, about 2 dozen people showed up. Not too many, not too few. A good time was had by all, but especially by me. This was the first party I'd thrown in over 16 years. Never ever threw one in those 2 apartments I lived in over on Wade Avenue, so I guess the last time I hosted a party would have been when I still lived in the house over in Boylan Heights that I moved out of in early '91.

Counting Down...

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of me buying this house (my first), so I'm throwing a bit of a gathering tomorrow night. Lots to do before then and yet here I sit wasting time on the computer.

Greg came over after lunchtime and brought his tool bag. His pretty good with this kinda stuff (hanging pictures). I'd just slam a spike in the wall and hang the damn thing. He's got the laser-level gizmo and a good eye for design.

I spend all day in a frenzy at the house and shopping for food for tomorrow.

Almost There...

Today is the one-year anniversary of me buying this house. Yay, me! Best thing I ever did. Couldn't have done without two people. Paige, who rode my ass about all my credit card debt for all those years and pretty much turned my (financial) life around. And Charlene, my neighbor, who called me the instant the owner put the "For Sale" sign up on the place. I was the first person to see it and pounced on it immediately.

Lots to do today. The pre-party housecleaning, that is. I just sent out the invitations to the party. Hoping maybe 15 or 20 people will show up Saturday night.

Still have lots of stuff to hang on the walls. My house is 60 years old, so it has plaster walls. I don't have a drill, and I can tell ya it's a b-i-t-c-h to hammer small nails into plaster. And I've only got about a million things to hang.

Blinds! Blinds! Blinds!

Yay! I finally have blinds up on my windows. When I moved my stuff in back at the end of May, I didn't have time to get my blinds custom ordered, much less installed. I was only here at the house for 5 nights before taking off on a tour. So I ran to Wal-Mart, bought the cheapest sheets they had, cut 'em in half, and tacked 'em up over all of my windows. It would just have to do until I had some time at home.

When I was here for a few weeks in September, I got bids from a couple of companies and in early December (while I was still on the Rejects tour) I called to have them ordered.

So today was the big installation and I gotta say, I think they look great.

Time to throw a party!!!!!

New Year's Day 2007

Up at 8am. Feel like a million bucks. Accomplish not one damn thing today, other than to enjoy another day above ground. And sometimes, that's all ya need…

New Year's Eve

Sunday paper.

Football.

Nap.

New Year's Eve at Hideaway BBQ. Blackened catfish for dinner. Decent music.

Home by 11:45.

Fuck New Year's Eve.

"Amateur Night" bullshit.

Day Off at Home

Lazy day. I'm taking today off. No running. No housework. Well, OK, I did do the dishes. Today is officially veg-out day. I'll get back on it tomorrow.

Party at Suzanne's neighbor George's house tonight. A trivia party. They were just about to start when I got there. I didn't officially get in (with a $5.00 entry fee), but I should have. Tracked my answers myself and I would have won by 2 points. D'oh! Next time I'll get in the game.

After I drove my car back to the house, I walked over to Northside for a little redneck karoake action.

Got home around 2:30am.

Snnnnzzzzzzz…

Day Off at Home

Really haven't gotten much accomplished this week, just putzing around the house trying to finish the tour paperwork and get settled in.

My new stormdoor was installed today, leading out onto the deck at the rear of the house. Bit-by-bit, bit-by-bit…

Cable dude came out and swapped my DVR, the hard drive of which was starting to take a shit.

My buddy Foy came over mid-afternoon. We sat on the porch and slapped back a couple of beers before he split. Those 2 beers sure made my 6pm run a lot more interesting. Today was the 3rd day I've run – started back Wednesday.

Went to dinner with Jeff & Kim at Salsa Fresh. My friend Gretchen and her husband Chris are in town from Maryland, and they joined us.

Drove my car home around 10pm, parked it, and walked over to Northside. Next thing ya know, it's 2am, so I walk home and sat up watching TV for a bit. Woke up in the chair around 4am, and crawled off to bed.

Christmas Day

Had to be at mom's place at 11am to pick her up and take her to Doug's house, where we're having Christmas. Taking her somewhere involves the wheelchair and the oxygen tank, so it takes a few extra minutes to get her out the door.

Doug is my sister Donna's boyfriend. In attendance at his house are he & Donna, mom, me, Sherry & Ed, and Tim Young (former neighbor) and his girlfriend Monica.

I split around 4:30 to head back to Raleigh. I have to drop by the house and then make it to the PourHouse by 8pm. That's where Terry Anderson's annual birthday party is.

Home around 1am…

Christmas Eve

Got to the rehab center mom's currently in around 5:30. Hung out with her for a few hours. Don't really like this place – hopefully she won't be here for long.

By 9pm, I'm heading up to Pat Willey's house. Pat's my "ex Mother-in-law", sorta. Her daughter Sherry and I were together for 10 years and she always referred to me as her son-in-law. Pat lives with Michelle, one of Sher's two sisters, and Sherry & Ed (her husband) are in town from California. Lots of drinking and talking and hanging out. I finally split and drove the 3 miles back to my hotel around 1am.

Day Off at Home

My first full day at home since late October 1st. Man, I've got a bunch of stuff to get done around here.

My neighbor Charlene (without whom I wouldn't even have this place, as she's the one who told me it was on the market) offers to drive me downtown to pick up my rental car. My car's been just sitting for the last 12 weeks, so I'm not sure I trust it to get me to Charlotte and back for Christmas. Charlene gave me an awesome gift bag full of her homemade baked goodies.

Run by the grocery store for some vittles as there's not a shred of food in the place other than the Charlene goodies. Believe me, they're so good I could eat them for a meal, but I want to save some of them.

Run into Tom Cuthbertson at the Harris-Teeter, Jennifer's husband. He's pushing around a shopping cart with the entire polar icecap in it. Not really, but it must have 47 half-gallons of ice cream. Tom and Jen's baby is due on Monday, Christmas day. Spend a few minutes with Tom, then call Jen after I check out and get to the car. She's in good spirits for a woman with a bowling ball in her stomach and doesn't seem to care if the baby comes Monday or the next day, or the next.

Putz around the house doing this and that all day. Paige calls and says the neighbors are coming over for drinks this evening and that I should, too.

Make it over there around 9pm and stay for a couple of hours. Head home sometime past 11, but decide not to stay there.

Run downtown to see Night Prowler, some Bon Scott-era AC/DC cover band that's playing at the Lincoln. No one's taking the cover charge at the door, so I just stroll in. Stay for a couple of beers. The band's neither good nor bad, just there.

Swing by Northside for a nightcap. Jennifer the karaoke lady is there, doing her thing. I spend most of my time there chatting with her daughter, who's a big fan of some of the bands I've worked for over the past few years.

Home around 2…

Travel Day Home - Headin' To The House

Uneventful morning and trip to the St. Louis airport. Ran into Patrick Murphy in the terminal and hung out with him for about an hour. Flight was a little bumpy as we neared the bad weather over the Carolinas.

Greg Howard picked me up at the airport and delivered my butt home by about 6pm. Met the gang at the Ale House for dinner, then I went back home for some unpacking action.

Blew out of the house around 10 to hit 3 Christmas parties.

First up is the Deep South/96-Rock FM shindig at Tir na Nog. John Custer's new cover band Marvel is playing. All good players. Interesting choice of songs. Best version of "Ziggy Stardust" I've ever heard. Run into Dave Rose and hang out with him for a while. Meet "Crash", the afternoon DJ from 96-Rock. Funny guy. Went to ECU, so we start swapping Attic/Joe Tronto stories. This guy had me in stitches. Joe Tronto's an old buddy of mine and he owned the Attic for many years. One of the best clubs in the state. I have many memories of working for many bands in that joint.

My second stop is the Guitartown party out at Hideaway BBQ, the new cool restaurant and venue in town. I ran into a bunch of folks I know there, too, including Mark Lynch from Charlotte who's playing in the band when I walk in. I'm told that damn ol' Carina ditched just before I got there. Fucker!

Last stop of the night is the party at Northside, my home away from home. Got there about 1:15 and spent the remainder of the night posted up at the bar catching up with Skin. He's the King of Regulars at Northside – he's pretty much always there when I drop by. Skin doesn't drink; he just enjoys the place and the people.

Finally make it home sometime after 2:30am. G'night…

Show Day in St. Louis

Well, here we are – it's the last day of the tour. I wish this tour could just keep on rolling. I am genuinely going to miss everyone. Absolutely the nicest band I've worked for in a long, long time.

Lots of chaos today, typical of a last day. Packages of excess acquisitions being shipped home by all. Gear being labeled to ship here, there, and everywhere after the show is done tonight.

Got a big, fat Christmas bonus in the middle of the afternoon. Way cool!

The show was probably the best of the entire tour. Because the show was already sold out, I was able to settle early and watch most of it.

Man-hugs all around after the show, both at the venue and at the hotel. Molly threw an impromptu party in her room that I slipped out of around 2am.

Show Day in Champlaign

I've updated the December 18th blog entry (scroll down) with a few photos. Check it out.

The venue du jour is Assembly Hall at the University of Illinois. One more show after this one…

I screwed up and shipped the "Accountant Of The Year" trophy home today before I took a picture of it, so you'll have to wait until I get home to see it.

Somebody (probably Tyson, our singer) got the bright idea to send out for a Tiki Bar to set up onstage tonight. Like, during the opening bands' sets (but not the first band, who are being punished tonight). So it gets put up during the first and second bands, and all of our band and crew wind up onstage hanging out at the bar and drinking. And I mean it's on the stage, among the bandmembers who are playing at the time. Funny as hell. Here's a few shots:


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Show Day in Chicago

The lovely (NOT!) Aragon Ballroom in Chicago is the site of today's show. Only holds 4500 people and this show has been sold out for weeks.

After sound check is finished (around 4:30pm), everyone in the crew is called to front of house, the area where the sound and lighting consoles are set up. Our tour manager Shabba makes a speech to everyone and then proceeds to start pulling out some hilarious trophies for us. Robert Long (the production manager) and I got the biggest ones. Mine proclaims me the "Accountant Of The Year, Bob Davis" and underneath that it's engraved "Don't Fuck With My Money". Awesome. I'll get a photo of it before I ship it home and post it here.

I shipped a couple of other boxes home earlier today. One full of backup files and the other full of schwag I've accumulated.

My friend Evie is our masseuse today, but she doesn't get much action so she hangs out with me a bunch until she splits during our set.

Our bottom-of-the-bill support band, "Boys Like Girls" completely trashed their dressing room tonight after the show. I saw it well after the fact. It was disgusting. All kinds of shit thrown all over the place, a broken lamp, about 60-70 empty beer cans and bottles, furniture overturned – just a fucking mess. I was told that they had opened the windows (2nd floor, overlooking a very busy street) and were throwing trash out of them.

Justice from our production manager was swift. No dressing room items for them tomorrow, in fact, no dressing room at all. No nothing. And they'll have to leave the building after they load their gear out.

Fucking morons…

Show Day in Ypsilanti

The show today is at the Eastern Michigan University Convocation Center, which is where the school's basketball teams play. Kind of a bland day, just counting down the days until we all fly home.

Tyson decided to get dressed up for the show tonight. Here's what he looked like in the production office:


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And here's his onstage date for tonight:


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A shot of Tyson onstage. Chris in the background wearing Ty's hat:


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Day Off in Detroit

Today's the last day off of the tour. Our gig tomorrow is in Ypsilanti, MI, but nobody wanted to stay out there, so we're staying at the Marriott Renaissance. It's right on the Detroit River, across which is Windsor, Ontario.

The Marriott is part of the GM Tower complex, which is a bunch of really cool looking buildings. I get a couple of good shots of the complex as the sun is going down:


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We're throwing our end-of-tour party tonight because there's no more nights off. I've been planning to go to Tom's Oyster Bar for weeks, but can't do it now since the party's on. It just got planned a couple of days ago, but I don't wanna be the guy who doesn't show up.

Almost everyone showed up and a good time was had. Can't tell you any more than that as it might incriminate someone…

Show Day in St. Paul

We have a 30-person video crew on hand today to shoot footage for the band's next DVD. Vidiots always think the band and crew are gonna bend over backwards for them and reinvent the show on their behalf. In fact, the band won't do one single damn thing any differently from what they've been doing every night of the tour. The video crew will just have to adapt.

A couple of shots of their crap getting all in the way:


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Show Day in Milwaukee

Today we're at the Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee. Shit gig of all shit gigs. Any roadie reading this is shaking his head in agreement. Disgusting place. You'd think as many years as this place has been around that they would have made some improvements by now. But, no…

Fucking crook of a promoter, too. We made the decision weeks ago to click the doors tonight. By that I mean we'll have people positioned at each entry point with "clicker counters" to count the number of people coming into the building. This building is notorious for putting far more people into the building than the number of tickets sold, which is just plain stealing money from the band. I'm taking the main entrance myself, which I always do when clicking.

When the promoter heard that we we're clicking, he went through the roof. He sent his people to click as well, thinking that we were trying to pull a fast one on his sorry ass. He also called me pretty much every nasty thing you can think of.

I wound up at the door for almost three and a half hours. I personally clicked 3,963 patrons while I was there. Around 7, the city attorney showed up at the request of the promoter, and I overheard dickwad ragging on me again. The shithead was still so pissed off at the end of the show that he sent his flunky to settle with me instead of doing it himself. Assface…

Show Day in Green Bay

I haven't mentioned here previously, but my mom's not doing too well right now. She's in the hospital and today she's supposed to have a stent put in her carotid artery. Easy enough for most folks, but she has some particular difficulties that could complicate matters.

Later on today…

The procedure's postponed until tomorrow morning. I hope that's a good thing. We'll see.


Today, we're at the Brown County Veteran's Memorial Arena. It's right across the street from Lambeau Field, the longtime home of the Green Bay Packers, and famous for it's "Frozen Tundra." One of our building folks has access to the stadium and takes us over there for a private tour. Us being me, Robert and Marcel. We got lots of inside poop, and got to walk out onto the field to take some shots:





Went to the stadium's Pro Shop after the tour. All 3 of us bought stuff. I got some cool Packers thermal pajama pants.

Yes, I'm a Carolina Panthers fan AND a Panthers season ticket holder. But I always liked the Packers growing up, and YES, I remember back when Vince Lombardi was their coach. (Remember, I'm an old guy.) I bought the pants. So there.

I guess out of guilt I'll need to buy some more Panthers stuff.

Got a new gig today. Got a call around 6pm to firm up something that's been in the works for a couple of weeks. Can't say just yet who it's with, as someone is being fired and that's why I'm coming in. I CAN say that it's a huge band, and I believe the tour's gonna start in mid-February in Russia. I was also told that the band will likely only tour overseas next year – no U.S. dates. How strange is that?