Saturday, June 13
Austin, TX

The tour officially kicks off this afternoon. We took over Zilker park early this morning and the first band went on around one thirty. There were the usual bullshit first day issues. No matter how much you rehearse, at festivals there is always something that goes wrong with setup. We have two stages set up - the headlining stage and then the alt stage. Mostly local bands are playing the local stage and getting to know these guys is a lot of fun. Makes me wonder if I was ever that young. Crushed Souls was on the bill at the alt. stage right before the setup with Time Machine and whoever agreed to that is a fucking asshole. Wait, that was me. Never mind. But we had a great set and the three-song EPs we have for sale (for five bucks by the way) sold like CRAZY. I tell you, it was my first time as a front man and the rush I got after. I now understand Marc and Phil so much better. But it was nice to go hang out with my guitar for Time Machine's set. We went on at 8:30 and rocked it until about 10:30. We ended the set with Crack Street and Staredown and the place went CRAZY. I swear, I saw someone take an elbow to the temple and go back for more. The pit was HUGE. After I crawled home and into bed with my wife. That's the hard part about touring - not getting to take the coolest people with you.

Monday, June 15
Houston, TX

For those of you who don't know the tour schedule - we're doing every other day (it's festival, you gotta have time to set up.) During the week, we're set from 3:00 to either ten or midnight, depending on the noise ordinances in each city. On the weekends, we go on at 1:00-1:30 and rock until they kick us out. Each band gets a longer set and we have more people performing on the weekends, rather than a rotating schedule. That rotating schedule had Crushed Souls hanging out while Sasha Martin kicked some serious ass over on the alt. stage. Holy fuck. I've known Sasha since she was sixteen. Hell, I dated her for a long, long time. (NOT when she was sixteen, stop thinking like that assholes.) I've watched her grow into the musician she is, but I had no idea she could rock it out like that. Damn.

The Time Machine set was pretty damn cool if I do say so myself. We did an hour and a half (had to be done by 11:00) and there were some problems with my rig, but nothing a new cord won't fix for Wednesday. The wind whipped up pretty hard during the middle of the show and messed with the sound, but I don't think the crowd noticed. My oldest daughter is on the tour with us and she had her own review to give after the show: "Poppa, it was almost perfect. You need to fix the cord that's bad." I contemplated selling her to the gypsies and then just loaded her and my gear up onto the bus and after a brief meet and greet (where I signed some dude's chest) we headed for New Orleans and got here about seven in the morning. I'm looking forward to having Tuesday to show AJ around. I love this city. First though I need a nap!