[van playlist]
The Goo Goo Dolls - Let Love In
The Matches - Decomposer
Flyleaf - s/t
Spitalfield - Better Than Knowing Where You Are
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Good morning U, S and A...I still like you; do you like me??? Apparently the whirlwind we commonly refer to as the last few days has left our family
speechless. Thus it falls to me to somehow recap this recent turn of events for your enjoyment, or whatever it is you wonderful folks out there at home
like to do with your history lessons.
Following a magnificent and undeserved advanced Thanksgiving feast courtesy of the Mama and Papa Ogren down in Jersey, the Over it van made
its way North into New England. I came to at some time in the two o'clock am hour, jolted out of a deep chocolate chip/mystery cookie :) induced coma
by several sharp quick blasts of our horn. James turned to me, looking like he had seen s gang of ghosts and explained that for the past few hours we'd
been careening through an extended path of moose infested forest. Apparently each blast of the horn signified the arrival of another beast in our path,
and James was both keeping his senses about him and detering the beasts from destroying our van with every honk. Either way, it was both creepy and
beautiful, and chilling to the bone to leave the woods and arrive at our Bangor, Maine best Western.
And so we begain what was without a doubt the coolest day of our collective lives so far. Not only did we wake knowing that some great force was
treating us to a complimentary show by the universally beloved Goo Goo Dolls- this same force had deemed us worthy of warming the stage for these
Dolls. We had a full forty five minutes of rock and roll to deliver to the sweet denizens of Bangor, Maine, and, God willing, we were stoked to do the job.
After a relaxing morning, and a brief, unsuccessful quest for a lobster roll (i thought these things came a dime a dozen around here, we'll see about
Portland), we made our way to the Bangor Civic Center. Now, for years, and you may not realize this, but Bangor was the Lumbering hub of the Galaxy,
chopping, exporting and tooling the finest lumber in North America. This we learned rolling up to the auditorium, whose guard is none other than a
looming seventy five foot axe wielding statue of the ever adorable Paul Bunyan. Im not gonna lie, the massive axe was intimidating, but the warm
grin on Paul's face seemed to say it all: we were welcome here. There was no trace of Babe the Blue Ox. Must have been her day off.
On to the show. Minutes before our performance, John (the Goo Goo Dolls singer) paid us a visit in our dressing room to introduce us and welcome us
aboard. Needless to say, it took all of our energy not to freak out and be groupies ( we all are at heart). So we took the stage and rolled through a
brand new set comprised of both oldies and jams hitherto unperformed from the new record. It was especially cool for us, because although we were
faced with a seated crowd seemingly of all ages, i think they were actually into rocking with us. By the closing numbers of our show, "Come Out With
Your Hands Up" and "Siren on the 101", much of the crowd had either left there seats or clearly desired to do so to join in our antics and shake it with us.
It was truly amazing for us to say, "ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your love, but here come the Goo Goo Dolls." So we did what we came to do,
and truly Bangor, we couldnt have asked for a better crowd to ease us into this, without a doubt the most one-of-a-kind, life-changing experience YET
in the life of Over It. Bangor was so warm and receptive, that following our onstage wishes for everyone to have a rad Thanksgiving, we found
ourselves swarmed by warm invitations out by the merch. It was so heartwarming to hear from the mothers of Bangor, Maine that we all look underfed
and would be welcome at their tables alongside their families. It doesnt get much sweeter than that. Either way, a new chapter has begun for us.
Wish us luck people, because after these next few weeks, we will truly never be the same. With that, i bid you all adieu for the moment. Go and be
with the ones you love and if you have a moment, give thanks for us too; we're stuck in a van, and although i couldnt ask for better company in the end,
all we have is eachother, and oh soooo much to appreciate. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
(Peter)
[van playlist] The Goo Goo Dolls - Let Love In The Matches - Decomposer Flyleaf - s/t Spitalfield - Better Than Knowing Where You Are |
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So it's been a while since we last updated our tour journal... Pete's camera has been
in the shop for a bit and we were able to swing through northern Virginia and pick the
thing up! With camera in hand, we were off to Greensboro, NC. The drive was smooth.
Nick was our captain for most of the haul and we showed up perfectly on time. There were
even a handful of freezing kids standing in line 3 hours early. Once the show kicked off we
all had a lot of fun. I spent most of my night with Valencia, Boys Like Girls and TJ from Spitalfield
crowded around the Photo Hunt machine. I personally paid for 12 games. Luckily they're only a
quarter. This is the second tour in a row we've been lucky enough to have our homie Craig with us
doing merch. He's part of the family (you can see him wearing the white hoodie in one of the photos)...
and this is also the second tour in a row we've been fortunate enough to have the man the myth the
legend, Josh Stern, on tour with us. Judging by the pictures that showed up, it's safe to say the guys
had a few beers at the bar and used the venue to it's maximum potential!
By the end of the night we had met some cool North Carolinians...
but i was pissed off that we didn't run into more NASCAR fans. I wore my Matt Kenseth t-shirt and no
one really seemed to care. He's been the points leader all season! What the hell. Greensboro was
fun and we'll have to come back again sometime soon...
(Ghoul)
[van playlist] Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell III The Matches - Decomposer Head Automatica - Popaganda |