testament
Wednesday, November 12, 2008: "Regeneration Tour, AP Europe Tour, and Now AP U.S. Tour "

I have really been slacking on writing in my journal. I used to make time to write in it but I find myself going out more and enjoying my down time more when I'm on tour. Instead of just sitting on the tour bus writing in a journal just so that I could document things. And if I'm not out living it up or exploring new places, I am sleeping because it was a long day. Regardless I haven't had the time but since so many people have been telling me that I have been slacking on my journal, I figured I'd write SOMETHING here. I've been on 2 huge tours and haven't written one word about either of them. So much has happened that I don't think I can fit it all in one entry. I was out on a tour called The Regeneration Tour with The Human League, Belinda Carlisle, Flock of Seagulls, ABC, and Naked Eyes. A whole bunch of bands from the 80s and I loved it. I was a lighting tech as well as the lighting director/designer for every band (except The Human League). They were long days of work, but it was one of the most professionally fulfilling tour experience I had ever had. Not only that but it was the biggest tour I have ever done. That's pretty much all there was to it. Long days, Huge arenas, a ton of lights for me to work it, and a 80s music. Nothing wrong with that!

After that I had the month of September off and then it was on to Europe for 6 weeks with Amanda Palmer. It was by far my favorite tour I've done because not only are the crew and Amanda like family, but we saw so much together in so many different mind blowing countries. So much to see, do, taste, and experience. I think we covered every base we could cover on a tour in Europe. Just to quickly note some of my 3 most memorable things from this tour. I've always loved Edinburgh, Scotland and it really is one of my most favorite cities in the world. We had such a blast going around the whole city. Went on a ghost tour of the underground cities that the city is built on, did some site seeing and shopping, had a great show, and went to a few bars/clubs. Second favorite was Paris...the word alone flashes everything from the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre to the wine/food to the Moulin Rouge. I was able to see/visit it all and experience everything. I ate a chocolate nutella crepe, had a cheese plate, real french onion soup, and tasty falafels. I was able to go into the Louvre, which I've always wanted to do and see the Mona Lisa along with other great pieces of art!! That was always on my list of things to do in this life time. Our sound guy "Psycho" Dave and I killed a bottle of wine in the park near the Louvre before we went inside. After we did some site seeing the whole crew went out at night to experience some of the one of a kind night life. And the third most memorable moment from this tour was the 4 days we spent in Holland; Amsterdam to be specific. I'll never forget all the time we spent in all of those places. Some of the greatest moments of my life! On this tour I was able to work with and become friends with an endlessly talented theater group from Australia called The Danger Ensemble (Steve, Mark, Tora, and Kat). Some of the most down to earth, real people I've ever had the pleasure of touring with. They helped make it so much fun and there was never a dull moment. Our crew was "Psycho" Dave, Katie Kay, Laura "Lolly" Keating, and myself. And of course Amanda Palmer. Along with her were Mr. Lyndon Chester and Zoe Keating who performed strings during a few of her songs. Zoe has toured with Imogen Heap for about 3 years or something like that. Great group to be on the road with. Oh yeah, I did a lot of shopping this cool little Germany town called Heidelberg. Some of the best shopping I've ever seen. I bought a whole bunch of new clothes and a lot of gifts for friends.

That brings us up to date. Sure I skipped a hell of a lot of details. But just writing about it makes me feel better. Today is the first day of our U.S. tour with Amanda Palmer. The Danger Ensemble, Katie Kay, "Psycho" Dave, Lydon and I are all back in action. Laura and Zoe will both be joining us later on in the tour. Filling in for Laura in the merch world is our fellow AP family member Beth, who is one great gal for sure. So happy to have her out on the road with us. We are in Nashville, TN. Yeeeee-Haaaaw! I'll definitely try harder to keep up with my journal entries here. I forgot people actually come here to read stuff.

PS - THANK GOD BARACK OBAMA IS OUR NEXT PRESIDENT!!!!!

Friday, August 8, 2008: "W.A.M., Rothbury Fest, & Boston POPS!"

All of those things could only add up to one iconic phrase; and that phrase is, "GO 4 IT!" It's been another incredibly perfect summer for me. Not only professionally, but personally as well. Where do I even begin...first off, the back to back shows that we did at Symphony Hall in Boston, MA were totally beautiful and extremely epic. Amanda Palmer was on top of her game visually and vocally (as she always does) and it was no surprise to me that she wowed the crowd to the point of being speechless. They didn't even know what hit em. It was a complete pleasure working with everyone at Symphony Hall as well as the entire Amanda/Dresden Dolls crew. Unfortunately, Jaron and Dave weren't able to run sound. They both had prior show commitments they were taking care of. Plus I think that Symphony Hall only allowed their house sound people to work the show. Either way they were missed!

For me personally, it was a dream come true to light up Symphony Hall. How is it possible for me to even be in the situation I'm in now, doing everything I've ever wanted and dreamed of in such a short amount of time? I really don't want that question to be answered because I'm just enjoying every second of it. After the shows with the Boston POPS Amanda had a huge after party at her house "The Cloud Club" and she was also nice enough to give me my own apartment next to hers for the time that I was there. Made things so much easier, especially since it was walking distance from the venue. Everyone who was apart of the show as well as the many familiar faces were at the party and it was such a perfect ending to 2 perfect shows. One of the endless reasons I love working with Amanda and with the Dresden Dolls has to be the people involved. From Amanda and Brian to the road crew to the performers to the hard working people who take care of all the details (Emily, Jen, and Beth to be specific) to those who have known them forever...I just love it.

By the way, I hope whoever reads my journal here plays the music I provide!!! Click play damn it. Trust me, it will help the reading experience be that much more enjoyable. All 3 songs are great; I promise, but I will always recommend the first one called "view of a burning city" that is my favorite. Soooo the next stop for me after the Boston POPS was to work the Rothbury Festival in MI. I would be running lights for one of the 5 stages they had at the festival. This was the first year that they had this festival so of course there were a couple of things that went a little rough, but all in all it was a blast! I roomed with my road buddy "Psycho" David Hughes. There was a huge thunder storm the day I flew in. It was so huge that it actually closed down the airport I was at that was connecting me to Rothbury. We were on the runway for about 45 minutes before we took off and because of that storm the stage I was to be working the next day was totally flooded! AND some stuff got blown away...yea it was THAT serious people. Ironically though, the next 5 days of the festival would be virtually cloudless and some of the most perfect summer days I would ever spend earning money. The shows were great and I was able to see Snoop Dogg perform on the main stage which was both awesome and totally hilarious. I mean come on...it's freakin' Snoop. All in all the days of work were fun and great, but nothing can hold a candle to the very last night we all spent there. After the last minute of the last performer had passed, myself and the whole crew went out into the festival to explore and live it up. The people who set up the festival as well as my friend Lisa and her sister Angie were there chillin, so I met up with them and we went around and just enjoyed everything the festival had to offer. That night myself and Lisa raged in in this dance dome place ironically called "The Domes". And we went into this place called Sherwood Forest. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen at any festival. All of the trees were lit up with videos, lighting, there was a hammock village, tents that look ed like the inside of a genie bottle, and flaming torches everywhere. This all inside this massive endless forest. So amazing. I loved every minute of it.

Thursday, June 12, 2008: "End of tour, Rothbury Fest, Symphony Hall, and the hot girls of summer!"

Well, I've pretty much been on tour since October with only about a month off total. It has all been totally unreal and this last tour specifically has changed my whole life (for the better). After Singapore we traveled to Jakarta, Indonesia. I was told that the last time The Click Five was on tour there, that the mall across the street from their hotel was bombed by a suicide bomber so naturally my nerves were on high alert flying in and the entire time we were there. We were told not to leave the hotel to go out because people there take Americans hostage all the time. And when we pulled up to the hotel there were 3 levels of security that had to examine our car to make sure there were no bombs or anything. Totally messed up. BUT the hotel we stayed at was like a palace. Five star hotel with some of the greatest staff in the world. Our hotel rooms were ridiculous and their pool/gym area was like a tropical paradise. So all in all, I didn't want to leave the hotel anyway! There is a lot of poverty in Jakarta too. It was mind blowing to see how some people have to live there. It is still technically considered a third world country. The night before the show the record label took us out to this gorgeous authentic local restaurant. You walked in over mini wood bridges with coy fish swimming around and candles lit everywhere on top of statues. The meal was great and I tried some more exotic foods that I'd never tried. Like, fried cow skin (kind of like funions). The main courses were spicy but very very tasty. The show was great though. At every show we do a front drop/reveal to start the show off and it is always interesting to see how each country rigs it. I have to say that the way that Jakarta did it was the most inventive I'd ever seen! It's hard to explain, but let me just say McGuyver would be proud. Jakarta is very polluted too. Breathing in the air there literally feels like you are breathing poison AND everyone...EVERYONE smokes there. It's gross. The concert was even sponsored and presented by a smoking company. They had hot chicks there literally passing out boxes of cigarettes to people. They were beautiful girls, but seeing that made me sick. The driving there is just as bad if not worse than Manila! The night of the show the label took us out to dinner again at the Hard Rock...a little taste of Americana; but I really couldn't wait to get the hell outta there and onto Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which is another paradise on earth by the way.

On our way to the hotel we passed some famous land marks like their twin towers (2nd tallest buildings in the world), some natural sacred caves, and a huge golden statue on the side of a mountain. We drove for about an hour from the airport to get to our hotel which was right at the casino because that's where we were doing the show. The casino was 6,000 feet above sea level on top of this mountain that over looked as far as the eye could see. They put us all in HUGE hotel suites that could have easily been an apartment. Bowls of all you can eat candy, free room service, fruit baskets, memory foam beds, and pretty much anything you wanted! The best way I can describe the casino was Vegas meets Disney World cause there were rollercoasters and riders all around the mountain with the casino/hotels right in the center of it all. This was my last show on this tour and it was very sad. I really took my time with my lighting focus and I walked around the stage a lot when there was no one else in the arena. And yes, of course, I took some serious deep breaths. During the last song I had a little surprise for the guys on stage...an end of tour "prank" if you will. They were blasted with some snow flake foam but instead of hitting everyone on stage it hit mostly on stage right and covered Ethan with most of it, which sucked cause it covered his pedal boards and bass a little. I felt really bad about that! But it was all in good fun and it was all good I guess. After the show myself and the guitar/stage tech Matt had to pack our bags since our flight left at 7am and we had to leave our hotel at 3am! It was the beginning of a travel day from hell! I'm just gonna sum it up by the events that took place in order for us to make it back to Boston. Ok, first, we didn't get to sleep. We were up since 9am for the show and stayed up to 3am to catch our ride to the airport. The driver dropped us off at the wrong terminal and we didn't find out until after he had left and we were inside. Normally at any American airport this wouldn't be a big deal, BUT seeing as our correct terminal was 25 minutes away made it a big deal. So we get to our correct terminal by having this super sketchy guy take us. The place was packed with people. We were waiting in line for 45 minutes because the god damn guy doing tickets and bags didn't know what the hell he was doing and was a complete piece of shit. So we get to him, he takes 35 minutes to get us tickets and tagged 3 bags and our plane was about to leave in 20 minutes. Then he has the balls to charge us for overage when our bags were exactly the correct weight. I told him off like I'd never told off a public servant before and made him feel like he was the most worthless human I'd ever come in contact with...which at that moment, on NO sleep, he was! So we get our tickets and run to customs. I get stopped at customs because of something in my passport when I came into the country. No big deal cause they let me through but it just took up more time. We ran to the gate and made it on time. BUT...the gate was one where you had to board outside by walking up steps and it was pouring rain out. So there were are, tired, pissed off, and soaking wet. The plane left 40 minutes late and was about to make us miss our flight to Chicago from Hong Kong. The airline is called Air Asia...so NEVER NEVER EVER fly with them and be sure to tell your friends if they ever go to Asia. We get into Hong Kong and has to reclaim our bags, go through customs again, get our tickets, and run to our gate. We were out of breath but we made it. We got on the plane and sat close to first class which was good cause that's where all drink and food carts start, BUT...we were surrounded by satan's offspring. Totally surrounded by crying babies. Four of them to be exact and the woman in front of me was totally drunk off red wine and was giving the flight people such a hard time. She pissed me off too by throwing her bag in my leg room area 3 times, so I told her to stop and she had some words for me, sooooo I had some very choice words for her. I DID watch my language because of the kids around. But I was close to making her cry if she said one more thing to me. We get into Chicago and of course tornadoes were touching down everywhere so our flight was delayed a little. We made it back to Boston and it was all good. What a day. It's just another of many tour stories.

I was in Boston for 2 1/2 days doing some pre-production for Amanda Palmer's 2 day performance at Symphony Hall on June 19th and 20th. It is going to be a very epic and entertaining couple of nights. I can't wait to light and design it all. It felt so good to be back in my beautiful city. I was introduced to this limo/private jet company owner and he hooked me up with a free chauffeur all day and all night. So I rode in style from Boston to Connecticut. I had the driver take 2 of my friends to the movies, then after that I had him take myself and my buddy Justin to Mohgen Sun to do some gambling and I won $100! It was incredible. Sometimes I wonder how it's possible for me to have a life like this. After Symphony Hall I am doing lighting the entire weekend at the Rothbury Festival in MI. Dave Mathews Band, 311, Snoop Dogg, and so many others will be apart of the weekend. It's gonna be one of those classic summer time concerts. After that I think I will be taking the rest of the summer off to relax and spend time with my friends and my dad up in Vermont since it looks likes I will be on tour for an entire year starting on Sept. 29th with Amanda Palmer. She is doing a solo world tour and I think our first stop will be in Europe (which I can't wait to get back to)!! But until then I'm going to enjoy the girls of summer, the beach, my buddies, fishing in VT with my pop, cookouts, going to the movies, and summertime weekend parties. oh-ye!

Thursday, June 5, 2008: "My eyes, lungs, and mind filled with the absolutely best, most perfect tour experience of my entire life!!"

Of course I am talking about none other than my experience in Singapore. I've been touring for over 2 years now and out of all every city across the world, every show I've designed light for, all of the people I've met, and believe me there have been a lot... Singapore is hands down the greatest and best out of them all. There is no question about it. It is paradise ...period! The hotel we stayed at had a pool on the rooftop over looking the whole city with a little bar right by poolside. The city itself is a natural work of art. Everything is perfect. From the trees being like something out of a painting to the streets being completely free of trash, to the friendliness of ALL of the taxi drivers, Singapore is incredible. On my day off I went to a place called "Little India" which is literally what it sounds like. A little slice of India right in the middle of Singapore. I had some Indian food, did some site seeing, and smelled all of the B.O. of many of the people selling stuff on the streets. It was all a great experience. There was even this one guy who started talking to us and telling us about this shop that he owned down the street. He wouldn't leave us alone! So we felt bad and went with him. We actually thought we were going to die because he led us down this odd street, through some shopping building that smelled like incense and bad B.O. But we went into his store and he introduced us to the people there working for him. They tried to sell us silk and suits and batteries. We said...ummm...NO THANKS!! And left that place. We then went to this store across the street from it which has these works of Indian art of people and "Gods". The cool thing about each piece is that no matter where you walked in the store their eyes AND faces followed you. It completely freaked the hell out of me. But I almost bought one. ALMOST! After our Little India adventures, we went to this area called Orchard Street where there were literally hundreds of shopping stores and malls and a whole bunch of people. It was like LA meets Miami meets the mall of America. I bought this squishy tomato thing that is solid when you hold it, but when you smash it on the ground it splatters only to reform again. Aaaaah yes...the simple pleasures of life. The next day we had a sold out show at the Indoor Arena. It was hands down the best show of the entire tour. The guys received plaques because their album went gold there!! The crew there were on top of their stuff and were a complete pleasure to work with from start to finish. Everyone, from the band to the crew nailed the show and hit a home run. The band also invited myslef and the rest of the crew on stage for a group photo in front of everyone. The photo came out so cool! They introduced all by name and we all got our own little cheer which I got a kick out of, but to be honest I was little nervous being on stage in front of so many people. After the show, we all went out to a restaurant that was outside, under a perfect sky filled with stars in a rain forest. There were waterfalls all around us, palm trees, ponds with fish, and perfect accent lighting ;) on all of the trees. I had this incredible sushi platter with all kinds of FISH. It the most perfect dinner I've ever had in my life. Singapore was the experience of a lifetime and it will always mean a lot to me. I think I'll always be comparing anywhere I go to it.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008: "Taiwan, Philippines, South Korea, and the most perfect, gorgeous place on the entire planet...Singapore."

I am completely at a lose for words right now. I'm just having the most incredible time of my life and I've made & have been making some memories that will truly last the rest of my life. The places I've been, the things that I've seen, the food that I've eaten, the people I've met, the work that I've done, the moments I've breathed in, and so much more have made this tour/experience one of the greatest that I'll ever be apart of. Closing my eyes and breathing it all in is intoxicating for me. Every time I do that...then open my eyes, I still can't believe where I am and what I am doing. My life's meaning and purpose is to be doing what I am doing. I know this without a shadow of a doubt now. I've doubted it before, but it has become so much more clear after being here in Asia. My life is on course and I have no plan to stop...EVER. So let me backup a bit and tell you about Taipei, Taiwan. I did in fact go up to the top of the tallest building in the world; the 101 building. It was very cool to see a 360 degree view of all of Taipei. It reminded me a lot of when I was on tour in Ireland and went to the top of the Guinness factory and saw all of Dublin. Going to the top of the 101 was familiar and yet completely unique in it's own way. The show there was packed and I got some of the best photos I've gotten of my light show there thus far. Strangely enough, while I was behind my lighting board waiting & counting down the minutes before show time, about...35 people (mostly girls) came up to me and asked to take a photo with me. They said "Can I take picture wiff you?" And of course I said yes! I mean come on - why/how could I say no?! I had nothing else to do and I got a huge kick out of it. But ever since that day those people have found me on facebook and myspace and talk to me a lot. I really have no idea what to say to em. Anyway, the show was great. Afterwards, we all went out to this really chill bar to relax, have some snacks, and have some drinks. I met some really cool people there and talked to them for awhile. There was a cool balcony there too which I spent a lot of my time on. The next day we had a day off and we got 90 minute massages at this extremely tranquil spa that the record label took us to. Fresh, hot, green tea to start off with and then we found out that there weren't enough female masseuses to go around for all 8 of us. So we started to flip coins to see which of us would get stuck with the guy masseuse. Turns out they called in extra girls for us and we were all set with females rubbing us down and it was one of the best massages I've ever gotten. After we were all done the spa had the band sign their wall. Also, in Taiwan 80% of the population ride scooters everywhere!! There are literally huge lots and streets filled with thousands of scooter bikes. I'm not even close to exaggerating. It was pretty mind blowing actually. Taipei is a lot like New York City meets Puerto Rico. There were ancient temples there. We went to one of them and I got blessed by an old lady who blesses people with smoking sticks. You tell her your name and when you were born. You then think of something you want, need, or want to get rid of. Then they bless you by saying some ancient words and motions with the smoking sticks. After i had it done...and this will sound totally unlike me, but I felt a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders and I had a wave of heavy emotion come over me. At this point I decided to write it off as being all my head; seeing as I am in a magical place in the world that has existed for longer than any religion besides the Egyptians and the Mayans. At night we went to this famous place called the night market where it is best described as a shopper's carnival. If you wanted or needed to find/buy ANYTHING you could find it there. And the best part was that you could argue prices with the sellers. It was something I'll never forget. Tons and tons of people packed down this road for at least 3 miles buying/selling cool clothes and nick knacks. A lot of hustle and bussle if you will. When the night was over we made our way back to the hotel (which was a 5 star Hyatt Hotel) and had dinner under the stars with the 101 building right next to us. I looked up at it while drinking my drink and made sure that I'd never forget any of it.

We were basically in and out of South Korea. All I can say about it is that I did my laundry there for 30 bucks, had a rockin' show, ate delicious korean BBQ, and met this girl that looks EXACTLY like Gogo from Kill Bill. I was totally obsessed. She was a waitress at this place we ate at two days in a row. Her mother owned the cafe. Her mom kept trying to get me to talk to her more and more and kept telling me how old she was (21 by the way). I think that is just how they do it over there. Mothers I mean. They want to marry off their daughter(s) to best possible scenario so that they will be set for life or at least get out of South Korea. I kept calling her "Mehoe" for some reason. It is just another dose of culture shock for me. Bottom line is...."Gogo" was incredibly hot and spoke only 6 words of english and literally laughed at everything I said...because...she didn't know what I was saying!

Manila in the Philippines was...scary and eye opening to say the least. They gave us 3 jacked body guards the entire time we were there. The crew even got their own body guard that followed us anywhere we went and made sure that they were in the hotel lobby waiting for us 24 hours a day just incase one of us wanted to leave the hotel to go out and about. It was a total ego stroke. They have the absolute WORST driving laws and drivers in the entire world. And I say that with complete confidence. They use their horn honkers like they were missile launchers. And if they the drivers want to be totally immune to any traffic laws (even though there aren't any there) all they have to do is put on their hazard blinkers and then they can do whatever they want! The show we did there had 6,000+ people in attendance and it was at the same arena where the "Thrilla in Manila" was held when Muhammad Ali fought Joe Frazier in 1975. It was the biggest show of the entire tour and it went off like clock work. Being able to light arena shows and make them look epic is my muse. It makes me feel validated. I love what I do for a living and I love the people that I work for. I can't count the number of times that Kyle (the lead singer of The Click Five) has introduced me as "JeffMaker.com" or said "JeffMaker.com" on TV, radio, and at live shows. It's pretty cool. But I don't know what I will do when their fans actually start coming to this site to read my rants and see my photos. Luckily my site is still a little secret that only a few people know about. Which is fine. I made it simply to document my life and times on tour and if people want to read all about it they are more than welcome. The venue smelled like kitty liter and the crew there were extremely lazy and almost impossible to work with. It took me about....17 times asking for something to get done before 6 hours passed and it still wasn't done. I had to start yelling and swearing at the local crew to do the job so that it would get done. I've never ever had to do that on any tour before. I felt bad, but then after I remembered the size of the venue the band was packing I didn't feel so bad. At this point it's all good and the show was extremely epic and there were about 7,000 people there. Also, while the guys were doing their TV promo on one of the promo days, we walked outside of the TV studios and got bum rushed by little kids begging us for money. They would say "sir? sir?" and hold out their little hands. It was one of the most depressing things I've ever seen. I felt so bad for them. Before I go off on a depressing tangent, let me bring it back to something more uplifting...for me at least. The guys did this show called "WoWoWee" and it is the biggest game show variety show on TV there. It was the strangest thing to watch. They just had 1/2 naked girls dancing around with big inflatable balls the entire time (except when the guys performed of course). It was something I'll never forget. We then went to this Mercedes car store (cause the show there was partially sponsored by them) and we got to try out all sorts of cars. They even drove us around the entire time we were there. It was pretty awesome!

I'm getting tired and there is too much to talk about when it comes to Singapore. So I will write about it when my plane lands in Jakarta. Oh-ye! I have so so so so so so much to say about Singapore. I mean the subject of this journal entry should and pretty much does say it all about Singapore. Seriously! It deserves it's own personal journal entry from me.

Thursday, May 22, 2008: "Eating snakes isn't THAT scary, but imagining falling of the tallest building in the world is - AHH! I'm totally in Asia right now!! "

There is only one thing I can say at the beginning of a journal entry like this and that is this...I'M IN FREAKIN' ASIA!!!!!!!! Totally insane right? I'm on tour with Atlantic recording artist The Click Five. They are such a great bunch of guys and I seriously can't get their music out of my head. Their CD is perfect summer, fun time driving music. Get into it! So officially, to start off the tour, I missed my flight to Hong Kong because of my own mess up on scheduling and times. It sucked so much. I felt like such an ass! That has never ever ever happened to me in the 2 1/2 years I have been touring. But it happened, and the only excuse I have is that flying from Australia to the west coast, to the east coast to catch a flight to west coast then onto Hong Kong can really play mind games with ya. But regardless, it shouldn't have happened, but lessoned learned. On the flight we flew so close to the northern area, further north than Alaska and when I looked out the window I saw the whole ocean frozen below me. It had some cracks in it, but it was one of the most beautiful, yet scary things to see out of a plane window. Anyways, now I am here and I am working my ass off to make sure I do a great job for these guys. We are doing 3,000 and UP sized venues. They are literally like the Beatles over here. They have swarms of fans waiting for them at the airports for when we get off planes and then they get followed to the hotel where fans camp out in the lobby. It's pretty cool though. Our first show, which was on Tuesday, May 20th was in Hong Kong at an arena called the Star Hall. The place was pretty packed. About 2,200 kids showed up. The show went great and I have a couple of sweet photos of it. Go check em out in my photo section (which is the second biggest butterfly link above). I have all of my own lighting with me on this tour, which is the first time I have ever been able to pick, choose, and pre-design a tour. I have about 20+ movers (depending on which venue, since some are bigger than others), 4 atomic strobes, 4 molefays, 60+ par cans, and so much more. Who ever just read that stuff who isn't into lighting must have been bored out of their mind for a hot minute. GEEZ! After the show was over we all went out on the town in Hong Kong. It was the lead singer Kyle and drummer Joey's birthday. There was a chill after party that we all went to. We had some drinks, got into some trouble, and just enjoyed the night. After the party Kyle, Dave (our tour manager and sound guy), and myself went down to explore the "pink light" area for the sheer fact that it is full of funny price signs about...um, purchasing hot woman for their company. We just looked and snapped some photos. In our beer drinkin', photo snappin' adventures we came across an all night soup place on the street that sold snake soup!! Sooo, yea we ordered some, sat down next to huge bottles of snakes, and all 3 of us ate some snake soup. It was pretty tasty actually. Like a cross between fish and chicken. Then we found a bar where they taught us how to play that dice game from the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I GET IT NOW! What a memorable night.

The next day we flew to Taipei, Taiwan, which is where we are right now. We have a show tomorrow and then one more day off before we leave on Sunday for South Korea for a sold out show. The tallest building in the entire world is here. It's called the 101 and our hotel is right next to it. On our day off Saturday we are going to the top of it to check out the view and also to that we can say, "HEY you! I was at the top of that thing! What you gotta say about that you stupid?!" yep! That's what I would say about it all. The label people have been treating the band and the whole crew so so well. I have had some of the most delicious food I have ever had in my entire life while I've been here and it's only the second day. This city is beautiful in every way. Huge green mountains (reminds me a little of Puerto Rico), nice clean new york style city with a bunch of cool clothing shops, and the best part...THE INSANELY GORGEOUS WOMEN! I'm totally and completely obsessed and I don't mind admitting it one bit. The people here are very nice and make every effort to speak the english language and if they can't then they find a way to help you. Ideally we Americans should learn their language, but hey, I don't have time to learn a really hard language right now. The show tomorrow is gonna be so sick, I can't wait. I love it here so much and I can't believe I am here. Life is so so good and I am enjoying every minute of it. With that being said you KNOW that I am closing my eyes and breathing in every moment I can because I always live it as if it could be the last moment I ever get. So why not take it all in with a deep breath cementing it in my mind. Perfect.

[SIDE NOTE FROM AUSTRALIA TOUR]: The tail end of The Last Goodnight tour in Aussie was incredible! We went to Sydney and I got to see the famous opera house by the harbor, I got a bunch of really expensive clothes and shoes for FREE because the people there treated all of us like kings. It's good to work for such great bands who include you in on cool perks like that. We also went to Brisbane, which was another beautiful city. Our hotel had a great view overlooking everything. We had some great parties there, went to some clubs, did some shows, and I met couple of great girls.

Thursday, May 1, 2008: "A new year, more tours, sweet shoes, kangaroos, and a hell of a lot of memories!"

It's almost a testament to how busy I have been since this is my first entry in my journal here for 2008. I have done a holiday tour with The Last Goodnight all over the U.S. We did shows with David Gray, Duran Duran, 3 Days Grace, Finger Eleven, and Sarah Bareilles. I also did a 3 week winter tour with the Dresden Dolls. It was great to ring in the new year with them and the whole DD crew in NYC. That was my first time in New York City for the new year and it definitely didn't disappoint. Such a freakin' blast. We criss crossed the country from the mid west to north east and south east. It is always a therapeutic experience when I'm on tour designing/running lights for the Dresden Dolls. Not only because of the creative freedom I have but also because of the music they make. The last night of tour was at a venue called the Norva and the venue is complete with a basketball court, spa, game room, catering room, laundry, and anything a touring artist/crew could/would ever want provided by a venue. We visited a few of the venues we went through on a previous Dresden Dolls tours, which was nice because I got to see some friendly faces that I haven't seen in awhile. As always, I had a blast and made some memories that I will never forget my entire life.

Currently, I am once again on tour with The Last Goodnight as their LD/stage tech (I also did some tour managing for them) since March 30th. We started out in the north east and worked our way down south to Orlando, FL for Grad Night at Disney World. We had 4 performances in the Magic Kingdom right in front of the famous castle in the park. Huge stage, tons of lights for me to work with, and the best part...Disney completely spoiled us rotten. We were there for 10 days. In between the shows (which were on Fridays and Saturdays) we had the whole week off at Disney. We were assigned a park guide who took us to the front of every ride line in every park we wanted to visit anytime that we wanted. It didn't matter how long the wait was. We basically were able to go and do anything our hearts desired. I think I rode every ride I wanted to ride about 9 times each in a matter of 2 days. I'm still waiting for Disney to send me photos of my lighting design from all of the shows. I will post those as soon as I get them here on my site...like anyone really cares except for me. When we weren't doing shows or riding rides, myself, Brendan, Mike, Anton, Kurtis, and Leif were playing some serious volleyball on the hotel beach area. We had a tournament going on with our teams called...ready?...The Walt Cup...hmmm not funny? Well, it is when it's said right. I swear!! "I'm not so sure Walt would want to see us fighting like this." It was my team called "The Chicos Del a Muerte" (myself, Kurt, and Brendan) and we went against "The Noodlers" (Mike, Anton, and Leif). There were some tough, well fought battles on the court. The shows went great and there were about 20,000 kids watching every night. After we were done with Grad Night we flew out west to LA where we had 2 days off to chill. I was able to meet up with Rachel one day and then Jaron the next day. I hadn't seen either of them in so long. It was so good to see and chill with such familiar faces in a place I was totally lost in. Before we left, I said as many goodbyes as I could on the battery I had left on my phone and then flew to Australia; which is where I am writing this right now. We arrived today and the flight took 15 hours. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'm forcing my body to get used to this time change (which has a 10 hour difference from back home). I'm STILL up at 9:25pm (which is 7:00am back home). I'm having such a great time even though it's just the first day.

We will be doing a red carpet event on Sunday, May 4th (day before my birthday) called The Logies (it's the Aussie version of the Emmy Awards). Since The Last Goodnight's single "Pictures of You" was #1 for 6 weeks and since that single has gone platinum they will be performing live at the event. Today ALDO clothing company gave us 2 pairs of any shoes by them that we wanted AND measured suits for us so that we look sharp for the carpet. It's only the first day here and I'm already making memories that I know I will wish I could come back to in the future. But that is my goal with everything I do in life. I want every moment and every memory and every experience to be something I wish I could come back to when I look back on it. I breath in every moment so I'll never forget it only to breath out and make room for another one. I miss everyone back home and I can't wait to see you all again! So now I am off to casino to hit the tables. "GO 4 IT!"
Sunday, October 21, 2007: "Do it! Vodka Martini...DO IT. Do it! Not to mention the Red Sox = World Series!"

It's been almost 2 months since I've made a journal entry here, but that's because I have been extremely busy at home in Boston and on tour as we speak. I'm somewhere in Texas and we are on route back east to TN and then to New Orleans and then to Florida (including 2 days at Disney World!). Then we start heading back north. The more and more I'm on tour the more I realize that this is going to be what I'll be doing for a long time. It's getting harder now that I'm realizing that I won't be able to see my best friends that much. I'm afraid that we are all going to have totally different lives when it comes time for me to come home after being on tour for so long. We've been playing a lot of poker on the bus and it's been fun chillin' with the guys. I've become really close with The Last Goodnight guys. They are a great bunch of peeps and I'm very happy to be working for/with them during all of this. The shows have been going great! Elliot Yamin's tour manager is not the nicest guy in the world and since he has been kind of a dick to us I call him Dick Richards (his name is john for the record) and when I talk like him I do the voice that Ben Stiller does in Starsky and Hutch when he says "Do it." Dick Richards doesn't let the venue give us a freakin' case of water and he always uses up most of the channels on the sound board. So the joke is (and this is probably not gonna be funny without doing the voice) that Dick pretends to help us but he is really screwing us. For example, Dick would say "ok here's da deal boys. I know you haven't had a drink of water in 2 weeks so what I did was drain the blood out of 2 dead people and pissed on it. Dat should do it. I decided to spend the extra money on putting my dead daughter through college. Just cause, you know, I'm here for you guys." Something like that...trust me it's a lot funnier if you hear it. We just watched Game 7 of the ALCS and the Red Sox won and now are headed to the WORLD SERIES!!!! So excited and so proud to be a sox fan and live in the city of champions (BOSTON). I've met a lot of cute girls on tour. I've said it before and I'll say it again, girls in chicago have the best booooobs! And the hottest girls live in Texas!! God Bless America. Speaking of which, people down south and in the mid-west are waaaaaaaaaay too religious for their own good. So much so that they are a joke. I mean I could start going off on how almost everything that they believe in is made up and that evolution IS INDEED a fact of life and that with so many religions that most people in the world (IF IF one of the religions is actually correct) are so wrong in what they believe in that they are wasting their lives worshipping something that isn't real and not actually enjoying/living their lives to the fullest because they are afraid of 'sin' - gimme a freakin' break. BUT I won't go there. ;) I could go on all day about that stuff, trust me. Don't get me wrong, I believe in a higher power, but first and foremost that higher power has no gender, has no skin color, and it is NOT in the shape of a human being. How egotistical can mankind be to think that. ok ok, I'll stop now. Bottom line, GO RED SOX!!! And Dick Richards can eat a dick!
Friday, August 25, 2007: "I'm a man of my woooooord and I love my city of Boston!!!"

I've hardly taken any new photos because there isn't much that I have wanted to snap a shot of; but I am enjoying seeing parts of the country I have never seen before. We are in Florida tonight f andor a few more days as well. I've never been here before so everything here is all so exciting and new to me. I KNOW I KNOW..I've never been to florida! I had 3 huge parties at my place when I was home in Boston. It felt so great seeing all of my best friends and my boston peeps. My ex-girlfriend from 4 years ago (jessie) was there.....and that is all I will say about that. I'm not gonna brag, but I throw the best parties ever!! haha I have no idea how I pulled off all of that planning while I was busy on the road. I was looking forward to the 3 days in Boston for so long and when they finally arrived it was worth the wait. I miss everyone already. The Last Goodnight's music video premiered on VH1 and MTV a couple of days ago and is also currently on MTV.com as well. Their album comes out next week and everyone on the road is getting very amped about it hitting stores. Their single "Pictures of You" is all over the radio and is also a theme for the ABC tv show Brothers and Sisters. It's the song that played during the fall preview for the next season. Just by me saying this or by you reading this you may not believe me now, but trust me, these guys are going to be everywhere extremely soon and they are going to be huge! From what I have been hearing they are, one of, if not the Virgin Records priory band right now. It's amazing that I have known these guys for so long and to be on the road with them and working for them is extremely awesome! Getting paid to see the world with some close friends is the best job on the planet. I hope I get to do this with the throne boys at some point as well. I've seen tons of places and done many things, but to be honest I'm starting to get a "been there, done that" feeling. I love to party and explore and meet new people and work every show to perfection - trust me - but with this being my 5th tour I feel very seasoned now and know what to expect. But no matter what, I love this work with all of my heart. Chicago, Atlanta, and Nashville have had the best girls on tour so far hands down! The florida girls aren't to shabby either. ;) That last line sounded like a lyrics from California Girls.....in a few days the band's main label rep will be coming to Florida to travel with us as we make our way to the CD release date. She got all of us all access passes to Disney World! So we will be doing that on one of our days off, but I'm not sure which one. I will definitely take tons of photos that day, After our Florida run is over with we will be in New Orleans, ANOTHER place I have never been. Everyone is telling me they are gonna show me the best time there since it will be my first time experiencing Naaaa-Lins. On our drive last night we drove on a stretch of highway called Alligator Ally. The highway has massively long fences on either side so that the alligators don't come out of the wetlands and onto the highway. We decided to stop and see if we could find any gators. No luck...aww nuts. Maybe next time I'm here, which will be in like, 5 weeks! I have posted the tour dates for the next tour on the schedule section. Go check them out if you wanna see where I will be heading.
Tuesday, July 23, 2007: "yo doot soup, boiler, the ol dust trail, and breathing in the moment"

It's been awhile since I've checked in on my site here with an update from the road, so here it is! A lot of stuff has happened so this one is gonna be a long one I think. Not much happened in San Diego or San Fran since we weren't in either city for that long. I always enjoy the scenery there though. I would love to live in San Diego some day. As we traveled up north to OR and WA we saw some incredible sights. HUGE mountains, lakes, and forests. The drives have been beautiful and I'm really enjoying them. In Oregon we stayed at this very nice hotel with an outdoor pool. Mike and I chilled and drank all day by the pool. There this restaurant called Steamers and we ate lunch and dinner there, so good. The last night at the hotel we got ripped and had a huge band/crew dinner and then went out to do some drunk gambling at some really sketchy place with this drunk asian guy always looking over our shoulder and trying to tell us how to gamble. We've also started to compile a huge database of UFO, ghost, and mystery videos from YouTube when we are drinking late at night in the hotel rooms. So by the end of tour I will post all of the goods we have come up with. We are looking for stuff that looks real and filtering all of that other crap out. HEY, we're nerds, we're on the road, not everyday is a blackout rock star party...I swear! It would be if we were on a bus, but that will be the next tour this fall. After OR, we headed up to Seattle and played a venue that I did while I was on the road with the Dresden Dolls called the Crystal Ballroom. After the show there was a cool indy 80s party in a club downstairs and right across from our dressing room. We chilled there and drank and rubbed elbows with some chicks. We've had sunny days every day we've been on the road and it's only rained twice while driving. The drummer on the road with the guys (his nicknames are Skeeter and Shred) is one of the funniest nicest guys on the road. He has all of these phrases like "yo doot" and "convenient". Such as, "yo doot, that girl is convenient! Dead up." Such a great guy too. One of the sickest drummers I've ever seen.

One of my new nicknames on the road is "boiler" because of the beers that they drank at the diner in Dumb and Dumber, the beers were called "Boiler Makers"...cause you know, my last name is maker and all. It works in a weird way when you hear it. We went to a Seattle Mariners game on our day off in Seattle. It was really cool seeing a different ballpark besides Fenway Park in my city of Boston. We had 3 days off after Seattle, but we had to drive to Chicago which was a 37 hour drive, so we used up those days off real quick. I'm totally in love with Chicago. If I was going to move, I would move there. Takes my breath away every time I'm there. On a side note, I knew they were shooting the new Batman movie "The Dark Knight" there the week we were there so I did go snooping around but came up with nothing. We had 2 days in the windy city and they were all a blast. Anton and I had a lobby party the first night in Chicago and it was such a good time. Blasting music on our laptops, Walken, drinking, talking to chicks and laughing up a storm was so classic. The House of Blues in Chicago is one the best music venues in the country. Bar none! On par with the 9:30 club in D.C. There wasn't much to do in Indiana so we just chilled and caught up on some rest. We are now in St. Louis at the Crown Plaza hotel - very posh! I'm very tired and have so much more to talk about, just don't have the energy. I think I hit on a lot of the good stuff that has been going on for the past couple of weeks. Mike, Leif, and myself have an ab contest going on that ends the last day of tour. The person who has the best abs by August 31st wins $300!!! I'M GONNA WIN!! WEEEELP, time to hit the oool dust trail; gonna breath in the moment. nite!
Saturday, July 7, 2007: "seven"

yep, there are new 7 wonders of the world on 7.7.07....SEVEN!!! Today there are a lot of 7's in the date and 7 this and 7 that. George Costanza was going to name his kid 7 as well. WOW. Lucky number 7. What a cool day it is............................yea, sure is. I'm in San Diego, CA right now and we are going to see Transformers finally. Maybe I'll see it 7 times! GET IT?!? hmmm

Thursday, July 5, 2007: "Drive across the U.S. in 55 hours PLUS 'I won da money!' vegas vegas vegas!"

I left Boston, MA on Monday, July 2nd at 1:40pm and arrived in Hartford, CT at 6:00pm (took the train). then Doug and I hit the road for the west coast. We went through CT, NY, PA, OH, IN, IL, MO, OK, TX, NM, AZ, and then ended up in Las Vegas, NV which is were I am right now, typing away in my hotel room in the early AM. On the way here we saw the meteor crater in AZ that wiped out most of the dinosaurs, we saw the Hoover Dam, many cool rock formations in AZ and TX, some extremely flooded rivers in OK, countless truck stops, and a couple sunrises and a few sunsets...speaking of sunset, I hit up the sunset strip last night and went to the MGM Grand, Rio, Luxor, and Excalibur to do some serious gambling. Now I didn't win much, but I did kick ass in Black Jack. But in the end I only won like $65. Still, better than being another victim in vegas! The sites, the sounds, the people, and the weather...this is my kind of town and I think I will be planning a Scottsdale, AZ / Las Vegas, NV trip in the fall or late summer depending on the funds. It is so hot here! Yesterday it was 109 and today it is 116!!! We went to the Bellagio (the one with those sweet shooting water jets in front you see in movies) and got a VIP tour cause Doug knew a guy there that he knew from Foxwodds in CT. Then I sat down the black jack tables and won $110!! I really likie daaat. Next we are off to LA to meet up with the band (they had a radio show in Orlando, FL on the 3rd and flew out to LA yesterday). We have a day off in LA tonight so maybe some hot Hollywood parties, then the show in LA tomorrow. This tour JUST started and I have seen and done so many things that I have wanted to for so long. This has been such a great experience thus far and I hope it can only get better. bye bye for now - pictures coming soon!
Monday, June 25, 2007: "The Dresden Dolls and Cyndi Lauper tour wrap-up + my next tour w/ The Last Goodnight"

So I got back from the short 1 week tour with the Dresden Dolls and Cyndi Lauper on Tuesday, June 19th. I had a really great time and it was great seeing everyone again. This time around wasn't as wild and crazy as past tours have been though. Maybe that was just because my time on the road was so short. The highlights and most memorable moments from this tour were: sitting in between two boring business people on the way to philly where one of them asked me the typical "did that hurt" question about my lip ring and then he asked me why I got it done and before I could answer he was like "nothing better to do?" and I said no, I did it because I felt like it and then he said "must be hard to get a job with that in though huh?" and I said, "actually not in the line of work I do. I'm on my way to tour with the dresden dolls and cyndi lauper. I get paid to see the world with rock stars. how was your college beverage convention in boston? fun?" He then gave me this look and I put on my headphones to listen to some music. Then when I landed my cab in philly got a flat tire on the highway, maybe karma paying me back for mouthing off to that ass-wad on the plane? Whatever. The first night was a day off and it was spent with the band/crew going out on the town. We all went out to dinner and then had a few drinks. We found this coffee shop that was open with loud music playing. We were asked to go in and it was the owner's birthday and she had bottles of liquor on the counter and all of her staff were dancing and drinking. Free drinks? yes please! So we danced there for a few then went to a dive bar, then back to the hotel. The next day we traveled to Atlantic City for my first day on this huge tour. I got to program my lighting and meet the crew. I got to see Margaret Cho again - she is so cool! Last time I saw her was at the Roundhouse DVD shoot in london (which hit stores soon - click here to pre-order!). I got to meet cyndi lauper as well - kinda strange since I remember watching her back in the 80s on MTV and also just listening to her during the Goonies movie. Classic. The girls at the Borgata hotel/casino were incredible! After the show was over the hotel put together a huge VIP party for all the celebs, bands, and crew. Red carpet, open bar, and believe it or not before security took me and some other crew members into the VIP section photographers had us stop on the red carpet to take photos of us! Never had that happen to me before. It was nice to pretend I was someone famous, even if it was for a few minutes. The party was very cool, we all danced and lived it up for the night. I wanted to do some gambling but the tables were so packed that I just stayed at the party. The next day it was back to Boston for the hometown show on the ocean at the Boston Pavilion. So beautiful! I have lived in Boston for about 7 years and have never ventured down to that part and I found myself just staring out at the water taking in deep breaths of everything. Then we went to this place in the woods on Washington D.C. and there was this artist lounge by a pond with hammocks and chairs and wild raspberries. So peaceful. The venue actually had a couple massage tables setup so that anyone could get free massages when they wanted. Of course I got one and it was so perfect! Rosie O'Donnell was back on the tour at this point and I got to meet her very briefly and I was also able to have dinner with cyndi lauper and the crew which was nice. After the show was over and everyone had left, becca (the merch girl for the dresden dolls on this tour) and I walked around the dark outdoor venue and tried to break into a food stand to get some nachos but weren't able to do it. We then sat in the middle of the dark, empty theater staring at the stage pretending the ghosts of the doors were playing and then we decided to be completely cheesy and catch some fireflies. We caught one and named it tinker bell. And I don't care if you think that sucks or it totally stupid; it was fun and I love stuff like that! The next day it was the mecca of all music venues (next to the garden)...Radio City Music Hall!!!!! When I walked in it literally took my breath away. Just knowing how many musical greats have graced the stage I stood on and how many of them received awards on that same stage was very overwhelming. I took a lot of photos and took a lot of videos of that place. It was my last date on the tour but was by far my best light show of the week I was on the road. After the show was over Margaret Cho gave me a bottle of vodka as a going away gift. Awww! :) My best gal pal friend Rachel called and I got her into the show to watch cyndi's set and after we went to the after party for the show at this really really odd place that kinda freaked me out! It was made fun though. The band/crew had to be on the bus at 1am but since it was my last day and I had the hotel room I just went back after it was all over. The next morning I caught a bus back to bean town and that was that. It was over so quick but in those few days I was able to meet so many great people and work some great iconic venues. I will never forget any of that for the rest of my life. You can check out some photos from this tour on my photo section (click the 2nd butterfly down above).

Soon after I got back, I got the call from The Last Goodnight tour manager (band formerly known as Renata) asking me to do some tech work and lighting for them. They just got signed to Virgin Records early this year and are getting a HUGE push by the label. They just shot their music video for their first single "Pictures of You" - heard it should look pretty sick! So now I will be on tour for a little over 2 months non-stop and possibly again in October. There are 2 huge tours that I might be up for in the fall and if either or both work out it will be incredible! I will obviously keep updates going on my lil site when I get more info. You can check out The Last Goodnight by clicking here. I will make the usual journal entries from the tour. Very excited. Oh-Ye!!!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007: "Summer '07 tour w/ The Dresden Dolls and Cyndi Lauper"

I just got the official word today. I'll be leaving for tour on June 14th and will return on June 19th. It's a short 4-6 day stint with the Dresden Dolls in June. They will be on tour for 3 weeks with Cyndi Lauper throughout all of June. But since most of their shows are outside and in the middle of the day it would be tough for me to design and work a lighting show for them. You can't fight the sun people! So I will only be doing the last few dates (which are indoors). Here are the dates I will be doing:

Friday, 6.15.07 @ Borgata Hotel Casino in Atlantic City, NJ
Saturday, 6.16.07 @ Bank of America Pavilion in Boston, MA
Sunday, 6.17.07 @ Merriweather Post Pavilion in Washington, DC
Monday, 6.18.07 @ Radio City Music Hall in New York, NY

I'll be doing lights at fucking Radio City Music Hall!!! WTF! That is so freakin' sick! If you are in any of these cities hit me up and let's live it up and chill. Can I just tell you how excited I am to see the whole crew again?! Amanda, Brian, Katie Kay, Jaron, and Laura - I miss you all so much. I wish Emily was gonna be there with us too, but she is taking the summer off from the road. I can't wait to finally be on the road while I'm single! ;) See you in June!
Sunday, February 4, 2007: "Tour #3, P. Diddy, Rocky, Home Alone, and a little something I like to call waking up strong"

I just got home from my third tour. This time I went out with an Atlantic artist by the name of Paolo Nutini. We hit NYC, Philly, and Boston. Not a long tour for me obviously but it was great to get back on the road for a little while. I took a train into NYC on Wednesday morning and checked into the hotel early. The hotel was probably the coolest hotel I've ever been in. I literally laughed out loud when I walked into the room because it was so awesome. And it was all for me me me! Once I was all done checking in I hopped in a cab with Clive the monitor tech and we were off to Bowery Ballroom. As soon as I arrived all of the lighting that we rented was there waiting for me, so I got right to work with setting everything up. I rented 6 MAC 700s and a Pearl board (my favorite board to work with). I met the rest of the crew and the band shortly after. I literally didn't stop working until 1 hour before doors. Once I was satisfied with my programs I went to the green room make a sandwich and then go meet up with my friends who were in the city for an artist showcase. The show went great and I got to meet Puffy Daddy and Zach Braff. So odd to see them at this show. But it was kinda cool. The day after the show we had the day off in NYC. So I wondered around the city like a tourist taking photos and going shopping. I went into Central Park, right where Macaulay Culkin stood in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Nice little piece of nostalgia for me. I went into Times Square and met up with Rick (tHrOnE's manager) for some sushi and then some Mexican food in the village. We found this awesome bar that was like a funhouse. It was called Jekyll and Hyde's. Inside, it's like a fun house where you can drink alcohol. You sit down and all of a sudden a statue that you thought was a statue is actually a person who has been standing still for 30 minutes and they jump out at you. Then you find you table starts to move up and down very very slowly. So one minute you are taller than the person across from you and the next you are shorter than they are. Best bar ever! Check it out. It's in the village. In Philly we all ran up the steps from the Rocky movie and took some photos by the Rocky statue that was at the bottom of the steps. Then it was off to Boston at the Paradise Club and then back home after the show. Very fun, very short, very memorable.

Monday, October 23, 2006: "Am I Loucetios? Or am I just a really, pretty ok, kind of good dancer sometimes when I'm drunk on the bus or on stage once and awhile?"

"God of Light" or "Angel of Light" are two of my new nicknames on tour given to me by venue people and random people on the road with us. I guess I like it, but it's kind of over the top and kind of embarrassing but that's ok. Not too much has happened lately. It's been business as usual these past couple of days. Wake up, load in, setup, re-gel, focus the lighting, program the board, chill on the bus, drink a couple of drinkies, show time, load out, more drinkies on the bus, sleep, and then repeat. Haven't had much time for random adventures. America is a great place but not nearly as fun as running around Europe. I'm having a blast though! I cannot wait to have my one day off in Boston with Jillian and just be home with her and with dr. boscies. I miss everything and everyone so much. I haven't been gone very long, but long enough to miss it all very much. If you ever want to listen to the best chillin' out song ever, I suggest you download "Waiting in Line" by Zero 7. It is becoming the theme song of this tour for me. I've also been listening to a lot of new tHrOnE demos. They will actually be recording their new album in November down in D.C. I can't wait to hear the finished products cause the demos are sounding great! I miss my friends a lot too. Beaker, Millie, Cesel, and Antwan; such a great bunch of super friends. Tonight was the longest set that the Dresden Dolls have ever played on any show that I have done lights for. They played for 2 hours and 36 minutes here in Knoxville, TN. It's the longest anyone from out of town has stayed here since the 1982 worlds fair. Knoxville still has that golden globe tower still standing which that episode of the simpsons is based on where bart, milhouse, nelson, and martin rent a car and come to knoxville, TN to go to the worlds fair and they find out it was in 1982 and that the golden globe was now a wig globe. Booooooring....what's not boring is that I put up some new photos INCLUDING photos of Chicago where Batman Begins was filmed and I stood under Wayne Tower and I also took the train over the bridges that raised when the narrows was over run with insane people. If you're not a Batman fan then this doesn't make any sense, BUT if you are then you totally rule!! But what makes you rule even more is that you are actually reading all of this! Wowie! So far, the best cities I have been in are San Fran, CA and Chicago, IL and I have a feeling that NJ and D.C. are gonna rule cause I know people there. I have no idea why I'm drinking Scottish whiskey cause it's pretty gross! The Red Paintings (opening band on the tour) make art work on stage during their set every night and the painters makes some great art work! They usually sell them for $500+ and I don't wanna blow 1/2 a weeks pay on that so I struck a deal with them. The deal is that I get 3 paintings (red, black, and white) at the end of the tour if I do lighting for them for the rest of the tour and in London, I pay for the canvases, and that I dance on stage during their set to Eye of the Tiger at the D.C. show. It's totally worth it for some cool new art work for my apartment in bean town! I'm sure someone will shoot video of it all and if so I can put it on my myspace page for everyone to see. I think I'm gonna have to have a couple of redkas before I hit the stage because I have better dance moves when I'm kinda drunk. I'm sure I'll have photos of it on my little site here as well. Enjoy all my new photos!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006: "I feel invisible when I'm in the middle of no where."

These past couple of days we have been traveling pretty much non-stop on the road. We had two days off to travel from Portland, OR to Minneapolis, MN. It has been a lot of fun watching movies with everyone, sleeping in, eating food, exploring truck stops, reading books, taking in the country side, playing cards, listening to music, and thinking about things. I got offered to tour with Story of the Year today but I had to turn it down because they needed me right away (because they are unhappy with their current LD) and I am obviously on the road with the Dresden Dolls. It would be awesome if their tour started some time in 2007. Story of the Year is already 3 days into their tour and already looking for a new LD. Looks like my name is getting out there a lot more which is very flattering and exciting. I called a lot of my friends today and it was just my luck that no one answered. That kinda sucks - I thought I was supposed to be the busy one on the road, touring, and all. I guess not! I've met a lot of cool people on this tour and seen a lot of great places. Tour is almost over already which is weird because I just left! I'll be home on Oct. 30th for about 20 hours before I leave and spend 5 days in London, UK. Very excited to go back and see all of the ENGLISH FISH! ;) Worst food ever. We watched Willow today and it is such a great movie. Everyone was happy that I brought it with me. I don't have too much to say today because ...well....we've been on a bus and staying at hotels the past couple of nights. I spent $75 on dinner tonight - I'm a high roller...I guess. :-/

I'm waiting for that serious adventure to happen, like we had in Europe. Man...we had sooooo many over there last tour. I think it's because we knew we were foreign and could play the "I don't know what you say, I'm American" card. So we had more balls to do whatever we wanted. hehe. Well I guess it's time to go party in the hotel room. Here I am making a journal entry while there is a serious band/crew party taking place. bye bye for now.

Friday, October 13, 2006: "Jason, Freddy, Leather Face, Mike Myers, and Patrick Swayze's goldfish"

This is our last night in San Fran, CA. I've had so much fun in this city. The ONLY thing that I didn't have time to do that I wanted to do was see the Golden Gate Bridge up close, but I did see it from far away when we came in the city so at least I can say I saw it. We stayed at the most famous hotel for touring bands in San Fran called The Phoenix. They shot scenes from Almost Famous there and Andy Warhol designed the pool. There was a courtyard patio place in the center of the hotel with a pool, mini huts with mini tables, palm trees, bamboo trees, old asian statues and pieces of art work from artists that have come through there. It was so incredible and so perfect. There were little speakers hidden all over the place and during the day time they would play exotic bird sounds through them so it sounded like there were birds all around you at different areas of the courtyard and then as night fell the sounds would change to crickets and little tropical noises. If that makes any sense - bottom line it was the coolest rock hotel I have ever been to!! We had a day off as we arrived and I made sure that I was sitting up front on the bus next to our drive John (who is the coolest driver ever) so that I could see all the sites and landscape of CA. We passed a lot of orange orchards on the highway and as we crossed the bay bridge into the city I was the Golden Gate bridge in the distance covered mostly by mist/fog because it was still early in the morning. I also got to see Alcatraz. Very cool. On our day off we went shopping and I bought a lot of t-shirts, new shoes, some gifts, and a dvd. I went for a walk in the park after but that was short lived because there were homeless, drunk people everywhere talking to me and making me feel really awkward. So I met up with everyone again where I felt safe and warm. We ate a really awesome burrito and then we came back to the hotel. We then partied drinking in the courtyard all night long and I peed on a few things. We all had a blast and partied like we should have in the coolest rock hotel around. Then I went to bed watching Adult Swim. I love that lobster professor on Futurama! His little tentacle lips flapping around. Love it! The next morning the hotel setup free breakfast under the palm trees. So I got a bagel, grapefruit, and buddha green tea, sat in a hut with my legs crossed, and ate breakfast at the mini table. I was one with nature - shiny black birds were hopping around me so I fed them some pieces of my bagel. So relaxing! Soon after that it was time to load in at the venue (Bimbo's). The inside looks like it is from Scarface and you expect Al Pacino to be sitting at the corner table eating a steak with a side of cocaine surrounded by guys with guns and women on his arms. It looks so old school. The show went well, but could have better on my end. I had trouble with my strobe lights because one of the side performers tripped over it during the Dresden Doll's set. We didn't have to pack up after the show because we are at the same venue again today. After the show we just chilled on the bus a little and then I went to bed early so I could get up early to go around the city to do some more sight seeing and shopping. I went to Union Square and then through China Town. In China Town Dave and I went to this little tea bar where you sit down at a little asian bar and they serve you little samples of fresh teas for free! It was very nice (took photos of it all). I bought some tea called Golden Throat. Tasty! We then went back to a little dive bar we were at the day before and the same old lady was there behind the bar. She was excited to see us again. You know you had a great time in a city when you become regulars at a bar in two days. At this point we were so close to the venue that we didn't head back to the hotel and we just met everyone at the venue. There wasn't much to do except check on everything and make sure everything was a-ok. So after that Dave, Jaron, and I went out to this really nice Italian place where I had homemade ravioli with a four cheese sauce with a Pepsi. The show tonight went perfect for me. I guess it just takes four shows to get back in the swing of things with timing and getting used to how the band extends certain songs. Tomorrow we will be in Seattle, WA and then after that we will be in Portland, OR. Maybe we will see bigfoot. I hope so...if we do I'm gonna punch him in the face for not being around more.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006: "Plane rides, first day of tour, jeffie feelin' sick."

Hello friends! So I'm in Hollywood, CA right now sitting in the back of the bus. This is a HUGE bus!! 12 beds, 2 lounges (with huge tvs), full kitchen, nice bathroom, and mini TVs in every bunk. Very very nice - I will take photos and upload a video tour of it all very soon. I just feel under the weather right now. I had a very high fever last night which broke around 2am - no fun at all, and I have a headache, and a mini soar throat. Feel bad for me OR ELSE! I started feeling like this on the plane ride from Boston to AZ. Plane rides always make me feel a little ill and always give me soar throats. AND they didn't serve any meals on either plane ride! Damn it all to hell. That is one of my favorite parts of flying. The show went pretty well yesterday. The only problem I ran into was that the house lighting board lost data single three times, thus giving me no control over the lights and blacking out the stage. Sucky! But at least my strobes looked nicie nice. I ate at a place called In & Out Burger and it was incredible. San Diego is such a beautiful city. Last time I was there was with one of my best friends Justin. We had so much fun - brought back a lot of great memories. We are parked in front of our day room hotel but we are traveling with 10 people on the bus and 10 people showering in 1 room while we have 45 minutes to get to the venue and load in kinda sucks. So I'm not gonna shower today. I got no one to impress out here. I don't care if I smell. I think there is a shower at the venue anyways so if I have time after my focus and programming I might wash myself and all of my nooks and crannies just so my bunk doesn't start to smell too bad. All in all I am having a ready great time so far. I love living on tour buses (for short amounts of time). I spoke with Steve Stevers (co-owner of Level 27 Clothing) and he is in LA today and will be coming down to the show with his girlfriend. I haven't seen him in like a year or so. YaY! I don't have any photos taken YET and I don't have too too much to talk about cause hey, it's only the second day. So as we get deeper into the tour I'm sure we will have adventures and stories. I'm off to clean up my bunk and get something healthy to eat. My body needs veggies or fruit. I miss my friends and jillian a lot already! mmhmm

After show note @ 12:58am: This venue we played was an old theater style place and they shot one of the scenes for Spider-Man 2 inside. The scene where Mary Jane is acting in a play and Peter Parker doesn't show up. Michael Jackson also shot that gross naked music video with Lisa-Marie. Yikes! OH - and Slipknot came to the show (not in costume of course) but they were there. They are on the same label as the Dresden Dolls.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006: "London, UK = style, cheese & onion sandwiches, music, and great times!"

Got word today that I will be also traveling overseas once again for two very big, very important Dresden Dolls concerts in London, UK. Here is the mini schedule:


Tuesday, 10.31.06 - DEPART FROM BOSTON, MA
Wednesday, 11.01.06 - ARRIVE IN LONDON, UK
Thursday, 11.02.06 @ DAY OFF
Friday, 11.03.06 @ The Roundhouse in London, UK
Saturday, 11.04.06 @ The Roundhouse in London, UK
Sunday, 11.05.06 - RETURN TO BOSTON, MA USA


So I guess that I will be on tour this fall for a total of 4 weeks, give or take a few days. Very exciting to be able to see the U.S. and then travel back to the UK for a bit. It's a lot of traveling and it could wear me out really quick, but I'm looking forward to every minute of it. I have a feeling I will be breathing in many great moments while on tour. I still have about 3 weeks until I leave, but with my work schedule, along with having fun, I know that time will fly by and before I know it I will be at the airport kissing jillian goodbye again before I get on a plane. As much as saying goodbye at the airport sucks and is sad, there is something romantic about it. Something classic, and very hollywood movie moment. But I guess that's how I look at a lot of things in life. As I've said before I can't wait take more photos, videos, and type journal entries for everyone to read and see. mhmmm :)

Monday, August 28, 2006: "It's time to hit the road once again! VERY excited!"

About a month ago I got word on the new Dresden Dolls fall tour schedule and I will once again be joining them on the road as their lighting director!! EXTREMELY excited about that. I now know that I did indeed make the right choice by turning down the Panic! At The Disco tour so I could take care of stuff here in Boston before I took on more time on tour. I really miss the road, working in new places every day, seeing new things everyday, meeting new people everyday, and simply, the whole lifestyle. When you're on tour you tend to think a lot about home/friends, but now that I have been out there and now that I know what to expect I know home is home, my friends are the greatest in the world, and everything will be here when I get back. Of course I will miss everyone, but I will be in the U.S. and able to use my cell phone and from what I hear we will have internet on the tour bus. Bottom line, I can't wait to once again look out my bunk window while we travel from state to state and just continue living my dream with a bunch of great, talented people. I miss everyone in the Dresden Doll camp - amanda, brian, laura, and agent M (emily). I haven't seen them all since June in TN. It's safe to say that I am craving the road right now. I am pretty much all moved into my new place in boston by Fenway Park, I have trained a new intern to cover my shifts at Axis and Avalon, and my feet are firmly on the ground here in Boston which means I'm totally ready once again to lift them up and continue to see the world. I have posted the tour schedule on the schedule butterfly link, but here is:


DRESDEN DOLLS FALL U.S. TOUR 2006:
Sunaday, 10.8.06 - DEPART FROM LOGAN IN BOSTON, MA
Monday, 10.9.06 @ Soma in San Diego, CA
Tuesday. 10.10.06 @ Orpheum in Los Angeles, CA
Wednesday, 10.11.06 @ DAY OFF
Thursday, 10.12.06 @ Bimbo's in San Francisco, CA
Friday, 10.13.06 @ Bimbo's in San Francisco, CA
Saturday, 10.14.06 @ Showbox Theatre in Seattle, WA
Sunday, 10.15.06 @ Crystal Ballroom in Portland, OR
Monday, 10.16.06 @ DAY OFF
Tuesday, 10.17.06 @ DAY OFF
Wednesday, 10.18.06 @ First Ave in Minneapolis, MN
Thursday, 10.19.06 @ Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee, WI
Friday, 10.20.06 @ Vic Theatre in Chicago, IL
Saturday, 10.21.06 @The Pageant in St. Louis, MO
Sunday, 10.22.06 @ DAY OFF
Monday, 10.23.06 @ Bijou Theatre in Knoxville, TN
Tuesday, 10.24.06 @ Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, GA
Wednesday, 10.25.06 @ DAY OFF
Thursday, 10.26.06 @ Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh, NC
Friday, 10.27.06 @ 9:30 Club in Washington, DC
Saturday, 10.28.06 @ Electric Factory in Philadelphia, PA
Sunday, 10.29.06 @ Starland Ballroom in Sayerville, NJ
Sunday, 10.29.06 - RETURN TO BOSTON, MA (late night)


There you have it! Soon, I'll be on the road and I'll have more photos, stories, and videos. I'm still going to try to put together a small lighting budget and bring some extra stuff with me if I can. We shall see what or if I can. YaY!!!!


Sunday, June 18, 2006: "BooBooBaDoo Bonnaroo!"

We flew into Nashville, TN on Friday. We first had a flight to North Carolina, then connected to our flight to Nashville, TN. We were delayed in NC for about an hour or so which sucked, but to kill some time I talk to Millar and also ate some lobster bisque which was awesome! We picked up our rent-a-car at the airport then went to our hotel for check-in. The Holiday Inn where we are just got bought by a different hotel chain so the whole inside is being renovated and it almost looks like the place isn't open. But there is a pool and a hot tub and we are surrounded by every fast food chain ever invented! mmmm FAT! After check-in we hopped a shuttle van to the festival grounds which is about 30 minutes away because Bonnaroo is on this huge farm grounds in the middle of nowhere. When we got there we got our passes and meal tickets and proceeded to go to the artist party tent behind the main stage (there are like 7 stages total). We grabbed some free beers and made our way over to some seating for artists and crew near the stage for.............TOM PETTY & THE HEART BREAKERS!!!!!!!!!!!! Seeing them was incredible and I have to be honest when they played "Learning to Fly" acoustically with piano it totally got to me. Such a great song and they sounded just like their CDs. Stevie Nicks came out to perform some songs with them as well. Tom was totally cool and totally just happy to be there and very gracious towards the whole crowd. They played for about 2 and 1/2 hours. Such a great start to this short, insane weekend of music, beers, bands, and food. There are literally 3 huge tent/rv cities each about 3 miles long where a ton of people are camping out right by the festival grounds. Walking through them and talking to people and eating food and drinking beers after the show was totally awesome. Everyone was so cool. It was awesome doing lights in front of 8,000 people last night. The whole grounds could hold 80,000. Sometimes I get nervous to do my job in front of so many people, but after the first song or two I settle down and forget that there are so many people watching. The Dresden Dolls set was at 2:00am-3:00am; before they took the stage we were able to watch Beck and then.............RADIOHEAD!!! Totally surreal. Radiohead had the best/moody light show/design I have ever seen. I wanted to talk to the guy but couldn't find em. I was able to talk to Radiohead's sound guy at dinner though. He also does sound for NIN. Beck had these mini puppets of each band member on the video screens on either side of the stage acting, moving, and mouthing everything the band did. It was a great concept and light heartedly funny. The puppets even did a skit in between the main set and their encore. So funny! I can't even put it into words. Hilarious! This festival was the craziest, oddest, coolest, most surreal, friendly, awesome, sensory over load I have ever seen and been around. I want to come back here next year (even if I'm not working it) and just camp out with everyone and enjoy it all. OH, there was also a tent filled with arcade games from the 70s! I played Galactica a lot and Pac-Man once. I have to catch my shuttle to the airport in an hour or so. We are 1 hour behind the east coast...which was odd. We passed by the place where all Jack Daniels is made and I got to drink some while I was here. Whoop-tee-do. All in all I had a blast and the Dresden Dolls played great; the crowd loved em as usual. I'm gonna go eat some subway and finish gathering my stuff up. bye bye.

Monday, June 5, 2006: "The end is the beginning is the end; europe tour '06 is a done deal"

A month and a half one the road...33 shows...13 different countries...countless memories & adventures...tons of great people and incredible food...done and done...I'm on my way home...

TOP 10 BESTS FROM TOUR:
- Best Meal: Paris, France (roasted duck, steams veggies, covered in a dark wine sauce and a ice cream, chocolate sauce thing wrapped in a thin pancake thing. mmm)
- Best Show: London, England
- Best Country: Spain
- Best Adventure: Glasgow, Scotland on my 25th birthday breaking into a haunted graveyard/castle and then seeing the sun rise over the ocean
- Best Memory: The entire tour!!
- Best Hotel: Berlin, Germany
- Best Scenery: Ireland and Scotland
- Best Beer: Brussels, Belgium
- Best Beach: (we went to 3 of them)...but the ones in Spain were picture perfect
- Best Shopping: Believe it or not...Edinburgh, Scotland! Paris is a close 2nd though

Saturday, June 3, 2006: "The return of Axl, moink-man, and Germany: Rock Am Ring Festival"

Just wrapped up the 1st of the 3 end of tour festivals here in Germany. Tomorrow we will be at one call Pink Pop, and then our final tour stop is back here in Germany at the Rock Im Park Festival. Today was my first really big festival in my lighting career. Throughout this tour I have worked venues from 300 - 2100 capacity, but today was like 70,000 people. Kinda nervous but not so much. The Dresden Doll set was in the middle of the day so the lights (even though they were top of the line stuff) couldn't punch through the sun light. But I did my best. The best part of the day was meeting up with one of my good friends Steve "Moinkie" Amaro who is the tour manager and does foh for Dredg. It's weird how Dredg played Avalon in Boston on my last day of work before leaving for tour and now they are here with me again when the tour is pretty much over. It was so great seeing Steve. We were both pretty busy the whole day but we met up before Dredg's set and I ended up doing lights for them. Considering I had 20 minutes to program everything I think it looked pretty good. I took a couple of quick photos of it. Today I got to watch the Deftones right from on side of the stage and as I look to my left there was James Headfield of Metallica standing there...hmmm...and across the stage is the bassist from Korn...and yet I wasn't star struck. Maybe cause I don't like their bands. I think if I met Jim Carrey I would be star struck. The Deftones were great; that was my third time seeing them live (I don't count the times I saw Team Sleep). I also got to see the new Alice in Chains and believe it or not Guns 'n' Roses headlined this whole thing. The cool thing is I will get to see them all again on Sunday on the last day of tour. I love festivals. Only sucky thing is the showers, meal schedules, and the bathrooms. I keep trying to slow these last few days down but things just go so quickly. Seems like I just woke up and now I'm in the bus lounge typing about everything. I hope I don't seem like a different person when I get back to Boston. I don't think I've changed at all; how much could a person change in one month anyways. I've heard stories from everyone here on tour with me about how I should expect to feel when I get home. We shall see if they are right. It could be 1 of 2 different feelings. Either I will love being home the first day and then as a few days pass I will wonder why I'm not on the road, OR I will fully embrace everything even stronger than I did before I left and really come to appreciate home and everything/everyone that comes with it. This crew and this band have made me feel extremely appreciated this entire time I have been on the road with them. By the way in Italy we took on the real mafia outside of the club trying to sell fake Dresden Doll T-shirts. It was kind of freaky...I'm almost on my way home. AND I ate more squid in Italy. I likie daaaaaat!

Thursday, June 1, 2006: "Out of phase, off center, and off cell."

In Austria right now and in a few hours we will be in Italy. I've been living in the future for over a month. I guess I'm a world traveler AND a time traveler....hmmmm...pretty lame way to look at it but hey! come on now! It's a good time. I'm kinda nervous about flying back home alone cause I've never flown alone before. I feel like I'm gonna end up on the wrong plane and end up on Mars and my bags will end up inside a whale. That would kinda suck since there is no air to breathe on Mars and I wouldn't have any clean clothes to wear. So far on tour I have dealt mainly with Hog boards and Pearl boards. I know and love working with both of them. It's tough to take photos of my work since both of my hands are always doing stuff on the board. I'm starting to put together my design/layout for the Dresden Dolls fall U.S. tour. I'm trying to get personalized risers made with clear tops and lighting underneath along with smoke machines that would rise through holes drilled through it thus creating a beam cage around Amanda and Brian. I also want 6 Mac 2000 Profiles, 6 Mac 2000 Washes, 6 Atomic strobes, 4 PAR 64 floor cans, maybe a few boom trusses, and a couple other small knickknacks. I have to get a good deal together in order to have even 1/2 of that. So I have been working and researching it to get a proposal ready in time for their headlining U.S. tour after their one in support of Panic! at the Disco. Very excited to make that happen. They are also getting a huge new banner made. It will be a huge theatrical, rock show production. I've been listening to "Off Cell" by Pinback and "Boston White" by the Umbrellas and "Suzie" by Boy Kill Boy a lot lately. Those have been on repeat on my laptop and on my iPod for about 2 weeks. I feel so cool when I listen to "Off Cell" for some reason. Just a great summer/traveling song and "Suzie" is the best shoulder side-to-side groove song ever! Man I wish I had time to write more but our bus call is in 10 minutes and then we will be on our way to Italy-Land. BTW - I learned that the one word that is the same no matter where you go and no matter what language you speak is....taxi. Yea..fun fact...hmmm...OK! Time to eat pasta, meat-a-balls, and such. mmmmm. bye bye!

Monday, May 29, 2006: "First you get the sugar, then you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women"

I've been eating a lot of squid while I've been on tour... I am in Switzerland right now and tomorrow we have a day off in Austria. So we have pretty much come full circle at this point and will soon be in Italy. I'm really looking forward to that; everyone on tour has been there before and they keep telling me how amazing the food is there. Very excited to go, see, and taste everything there..including the streets. I'm gonna taste the streets...that's gross! It is raining outside today and that is only the 3rd time on tour it has rained, we have been so lucky with our weather. It has been beautiful. By the way, Red Bull is illegal in France. The reason? Apparently there are ingredients in it that are equal to a small dose of speed...hmmm...that's weird. I always feel normal when I drink those with wodka so I don't know what the heck they are talking about. ;) I'm actually drinking a vodka called "Xellent" which is made in Switzerland and has water from "pure glacier." Very tasty, very strong. I need to shave. I still can't believe I'm going to be home soon! I'm totally expecting everything to do be in disarray; such as my apartment, my cable, lights at Axis, and a few other things as well. But if that is the case it was all still totally worth it. I can't wait to hit the road again at the end of summer in Australia and Japan, and then all of the U.S. in October. I will have November and December off though which will be some much needed rest time. So at this point it looks like I will still be able to have my SEVENTH annual boston new years bash!! YES!!! Wait until everyone sees what I have in store for them. I have sooo many special guests planned it is messed...UP! Well it's time for us to go now. See you soon.

Friday, May 26, 2006: "You've got that look in your eyes; I'll paint it for you"

Europe and the UK run on military time. I've been around it for over a month now and I'm still not used to it. I'm always counting on my fingers to see what time it is. It's totally easy to remember right? Anything after 12:00pm just subtract 1200 hours and you have the time. Easy...and yet I still count on my fingers. FISH! Well I'm home in 11 days; I can't believe all of this is almost over - I will be back on the road again in mid August and then again in September. Part of me doesn't want it to end and the other part needs rest, relaxation at home, static scenery, and my friends. I miss those things/people a lot. On a sad note, I found out some really weird, bad news about a girl I went to school with from 1st grade through 12th grade. She was a deaf girl named Melissa Dykas. On Tuesday, May 16th she passed away from internal bleeding due to chrones disease. Ever since I could remember she had always been in and out of the hospital. The fact that she is dead is bad enough, but ever since elementary school people (including me I'm sorry to say) made fun of her for the way she talked and because teachers had to wear a device around their neck in order for her to hear them speak. She even tried to ask me out once in 8th grade and I was so digusted by it. This means nothing now, but I wish I could have said I was sorry to her. Other kids used to make fun of her to the point where I even had to tell them it was enough, but then I would catch myself doing it to my friends as a joke. It was a fucking joke to us and now she is dead. I made someone's life worse off than it should have been just because I could and because everyone else would do it. We all do awful and dumb things when we are younger and in high school but knowing what I know now and being the person I am now I am disgusted at myself for what I said about and to her; now she is dead. Totally messed up. I never really talked to her or knew much about her because I didn't want anything to do with her; but I knew of her for almost two decades. I don't want to be hard on myself, but I need to type this out. People should think twice before they say things. I won't step up on my soap box, but...if you have something to say to someone just fucking say it and don't wait because death waits for no one. R.I.P. Melissa. I'm sorry. Ok, now that I've depressed myself and everyone (if anyone DOES read this) onto some happy times! On Wednesday we had a day off in Spain on the ocean. It was a perfect day with no clouds in the sky. We ate food and had drinks on the beach, sun bathed, and explored the whole day. Incredible, it all looked like Puerto Rico! Clear blue water, soft sand in between your toes, salt water taste/smell on the air...it was perfect! A lot of girls were topless on the beach...BoOoOooOBs! There was this fort at the tip of the bay where the beach was and on top of it was a huge statue of Jesus over looking it all. After the beach, we went back to the hotel and hit up some Internet and then took a 2 hour nap. I woke up, took a shower, and we all went out on the town. We found this cool little bar with some cheesy lighting, stones walls, tons of people, and awful American top 40 music playing. 1/2 the people in there were from America. We had a lot of drinks there, made friends with some people from Greece, and then went to a different bar. After we were all pretty juiced up, we decided that we were going to break into the fort and go chill with Jesus for awhile. So we made our way there, climbed the huge fence and entered a maze of paved and dirt paths, tunnels, gates, trees, stone walls/towers, and hills. So fun and kinda scary to be honest. It was so dark out and when we went into tunnels it was totally pitch black; we used our cameras to light the way. As we made our way to the top of the fort, we had to climb through a square area that was missing from a gate at the end of a tunnel staircase about 3 feet by 3 feet. We squeezed through, got to the very top, and were right below the big Jesus statue. It over looked the ocean and there was a light house on an island in the distance with it's light going around and around and the view we had over looked the entire city. There were so many lights that the city looked as if it were on fire: "view of a burning city." Mind blowing!! So far we have broken into a haunted graveyard, a botanical garden, and a huge Jesus fort. Kinda surprised we haven't gotten arrested yet. BUT there are still 11 days left! ;) After we some how found our way out of the mountain fort maze, we went on a merry go round in the middle of this empty playground. My camera died after that. It was another incredible night with scenes from some movie. We then went back to the hotel and I went to bed. That was our last day in Spain. So far I love Paris, Manchester (UK), and ALL of Spain the best so far! :)

Monday, May 21, 2006: "There's something magical waiting right outside the door... "

So far I've been able to see the sunrise in London (UK), Paris (France), Barcelona (Spain), and Glasgow (Scotland). They have all been unique and beautiful in their own ways. On Saturday we were in Barcelona and it is a gorgeous city right on the Mediterranean Sea. I got to walk in the surf of it on the beach and it was so nice. There were also a ton of shopping streets with outdoor shopping markets. Along these market streets were at least 40 living statue performers. Later I found out that Barcelona is very well known for it's living statues. One thing to always remember is to never try to take photos of them unless you put money in their little buckets (I knew better since...well...at every dresden doll show we have living statues!). I did see a lot of tourists attempt to take photos without tipping and the statues literally put up their hands to block your camera shot. BUT if you tip them they come to life and do their performance piece, talk to you, and allow you to take photos of and with them. They put so much time into their costumes and performances - it was so cool to see all the different kinds. I took some photos with some of them. Most of them spoke english; I was glad to speak some spanish to some people though. I am very rusty and the Spanish language is a little different here than in Puerto Rico (which is what I'm more used to). I understand more than I can say to be honest. We visited this huge, old church/castle thing while we were there too. It looked like it was melting in the sun. It had these tall towers with spiral staircases leading to the top and it had balconies that over looked the whole city from the mountains to the sea. The show went well - but the lighting I had to work with wasn't the best. But again, I did what I could and made it look as best as I could using the materials provided. Simple, basic type of show. Smaller venue, but totally packed. After exploring and being in the sun all day I was so tired and drained after the show was over. I literally made some phone calls and fell asleep listening to my ipod only to wake up looking out my bunk window at the sun rising over mountains, fields, and hills covered in mini gorges, bush trees, stone shacks, green grass, and steep cliffs. I listened to the Gypsy Kings as I watched this. :) Yesterday we had a day off in Madrid. We found a huge fenced in garden with flowers, forests, paths, ponds, ducks, exotic birds, and even a huge panther-like black cat. We also ate at an outdoor cafe across the street from our hotel called La Maria Parrilla while soaking in the sun. I hope I look tan when I get home. Another thing I forgot to mention earlier is that over here they have the BEST fresh orange juice. Most places in Europe/UK have this orange juice squeezer machine. You put oranges in the top and when you turn it on it splits, squeezes, and pours fresh oranges juice. SO GOOD!!! Best OJ of my life....not too exciting but it is a nice change from Tropicana. ;) Last night we went to T.G.I. Fridays cause we were craving some good old fashion American crap food since we have been eating mini squids, shrimp, rice, pastas, fish, and such. We had a ton of drinks and food and made friends with these two girls from Spain who also spoke english. We had no idea what to do or where to go for the night life so we told them we were from America and needed help getting around. They took us to this festival that was going on like 4 blocks away and we had no idea it was going on! It was awesome. So laid back...dogs running around, people playing bongos, playing football (soccer), and just chillin'. There were all these rope lights hanging above us...soo....SPANISH! :-D So fun! Today is our show in Madrid and then tonight we travel to Portugal; I think we will be near a beach! YaY!!

Friday, May 19, 2006: "Paris"

First of all Vodka is called Wodka in Berlin, I forgot to mention that before. Ok, so yesterday I fulfilled three of my goals in life: 1 seeing/going to the top of the Eiffel Tower, 2 seeing/touching the Louvre, and 3 just being IN Paris! I had WINTAGE Chum-pain-ye, wine, roasted duck, french fried potatoes, and of course tons of cheeses. I woke up a little early to look out my window at the city landscape. After we all got up and loaded in, I did the usual gelling, focusing, and programming, showered, ate some catering, and then went out on the town to see what I've always wanted to see. On our way to catch a taxi flower peddles were falling from these flower trees all around us...you think movies and books are romanticizing Paris when they describe it, but in reality that is exactly what Paris is. So many fountains, flowers, statues, old buildings, beautiful landscape, and beautiful people. We got a cab and we were off to the Eiffel Tower; I know - EXTREMELY tourist of me, but come on!! First stop was the Eiffel Tower...took my breath away. Such an iconic symbol and to be there, under it and all the way at the top of it was unreal. You see this thing in movies, photos, and read about it in books, but once you are there your eyes just get so wide and you have to pinch yourself. The wait for it wasn't too too long. Waited in line for about 30 minutes or so. The scenery alone makes the time fly by though. When you look up at the top from the bottom as you are waiting and the little clouds are blowing across the sky, it almost looks like the tower is moving back and forth or going to fall or something. I took tons of photos and videos of all of this. It was only 11 euros to go to the top level, but you could also go to the first and second levels if you wanted to just take your time. The elevator lift is the only way to go cause the walk alone would have taken like 3 hours or something. From the top you could see all of Paris and beyond to mountains and forests around France. I saw the original mini statue of liberty, the Louvre (more on that in a bit), the Arch de Triumph, the river, and so many beautiful buildings that I had no idea what they were. We spent about 45 minutes in the tower. It was like a dream seeing and being there. I kept on thinking of National Lampoon's Europe Vacation and the Superman movie. When we spotted the Louvre from the tower I was like, aaaah yeaaaa that is the next stop! I'm not gonna lie, I kinda felt like Robert Langdon for a bit. After we got back to the bottom of the Eiffel Tower we went across the street to get a quick snack at this tourist trap snack bar. I had some cheese with bread and a coke aaaand then got an ice cream cone. HEY! I figured if I'm gonna be a tourist I might as well embrace looking like one. I even wore my #1 t-shirt (which has a British flag on it) so I def looked like I was from out of town. We then hopped a cab to the Louvre. When we arrived there was no line which was weird. But come to find out it had just closed!!!!!!! AH!! But I took some great photos in front of it and around it. I touched it and YES even knelt down like Robert Langdon did in the Da Vinci Code. OK fine I'm a cheesy little boy. Kinda broke my heart that I couldn't go inside, but we went across the street to the garden and there were all of these naked statues posed all around it. I think I scored with one...well...I cupped a boob of one of em. She is having my child. It's a boy and it's made of marble and flesh...that's gross. After we left the Louvre garden we went back to the venue, and on the way we passed by Notre Dame and saw the bell towers! I think the story of the hunchback of Notre Dame is just an exaggerated story about an old teacher who had back problems and all of the kids made fun of him for sneaking up to the tower to check out some porn magazines and some kids walked in on him all hunched over jerkin' it and he was so surprised by it that his bad back locked into a hunched over position...um...moving on. So the show went very well! Cool lights for me to work with and it was a huge venue (1100 people there). I got some more compliments on my light show too. I will never get sick of hearing feedback, especially when it's really good feedback! :-D After the show was over we met up with some of Amanda's friends and we went to this perfect French restaurant. I didn't know what to get so I consulted Emily (the leader for the France section of the Dresden Doll street team); since she spoke ENNNGLISHHH she explain to me what was good. I wanted to have a true french meal. So I ordered roasted duck and lamb with steamed vegetables all covered in this dark wine sauce. EXTREMELY good! We had french wine and bread and I picked off of other people's plates to try everything else too. I ate some french fried potatoes, some salmon, and a little bit of pasta. For dessert I had ice cream covered in nuts and hot chocolate sauce encased in this thin pancake/crepe stuff. Heaven!! OH YEA - and of course after the show was over we had some wintage chum-pain-ye. MTV France was there too and I did some back lighting for their shoot and lit up the stage with dark blue and no color to make it pop yet be subtle in the background of the balcony where the band was getting interviewed. All in all Paris is perfect and to the surprise of some people the French are very nice and very helpful and get excited when talking with Americans who speak or try to speak their language. I know enough to get by now. But still it was always helpful having someone who knows both french and english. Amanda and Emily know french. Amanda knows Germany, French, and English - totally blown away by that. I need to come back to Paris badly. We are now in a small french town called Toulouse. Not much here except the venue and a small town. The venue turns into a major dance club after the show is over though and we don't have to be back on the bus until 5:00am soooo sounds like a party night to me before we get to me hente in Spain (me hente = my people). So excited for Spain. We are 5 minutes from the beach tomorrow - so it's load in early then hit the beach in the Latino heat on a perfect Saturday afternoon. I'll take some videos and photos of course. Time for me to head back into the venue; I'm on the bus now relaxing. Wow - only 2 weeks left of tour.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006: "The choice..."

So today is the day that I was told to have an answer about the summer tour with Panic! at the Disco...Without saying why and without building it up, my answer is: I will NOT be going on the summer tour. I would like to go on tour beginning in September though - if the offer is still on the table after this. I just need to get my feet on solid ground back in boston so that I have some sense of stability and home in my life if I am to take on life on the road any further. I need to make sure I have a new place to live, I need to make sure Axis/Avalon is cool for the summer and give me time to properly train a new sub to cover my shifts when I leave again. There was so much more to consider - I wrote it all down. I wrote down the pros and the cons of every aspect of each choice. This was one of the toughest choices I've ever had to make in my life. There would have been consequences no matter which choice I made. I wish I could cut myself in half and stay in Boston and also go back on the road all at once. I know many people will think I'm nuts for turning this down, but knowing what I know and knowing the pros and cons - I know in my heart that I have made the correct choice. I feel drained already. I only hope that this decision doesn't close the door to any future tours involving me with the Dresden Dolls. I love the band (musically and as people), I love the crew, I love the experience, I love it all. With all that being said - this is my final 100% choice and there is no going back on it..........

Sunday, May 14, 2006: "London, Belgium waffle fork, and...YEA! Berlin!"

The show in London on Friday was one of the best lighting shows/designs I have ever done in my life! I had great equipment and a crap load of stuff to use. I made great use of it all. This show was sold out for like a month and tons of label people, managers, and other industry types were there. I got to meet The Dresden Dolls manager finally. He was real cool. After my focus and programming were done I took a shower and then hit the town to go shopping. I found so many awesome clothing, book, and shoe stores on literally every street I went down. I got lost a few times but I found my way back. Although there were a ton of great stores, there wasn't much that I wanted to buy. I did however buy a gift and a shirt...but come to find out I left them both at the venue in London!!! AHHH! fawk! :-/ My timing and my design throughout the whole show was the best I have ever done. I got sooo many compliments on how it looked. After the show was over the Dresden Dolls manager took me a side and told me so many nice and cool things about how I lit the band. He was like "dude, seriously, you have what it takes, whatever 'it' is...the X factor, you're the real deal. So what do we have to do to keep you on the road with us? In the five years I have worked with the Dresden Dolls I have never seen anyone do a light show so perfect. It has been what I've had in my mind for them and you nailed it!" I was totally blown away. Makes you feel needed and validated in your choice of work when you hear stuff like that. In two days I will make my final, 100% choice for the summer tour. After the show was over we hung out with Imogen Heap's manager and some label peeps on the bus and had some drinks. After that we went out to this cool club/bar and we had our own table all set for all of us. All I know is people kept bringing beers and shots over to us and at some point I was dancing on the booth seats to some Michael Jackson song and everyone was cheering me on. I think I might have humped a lamp in front of me too. I also did one of my many awful trademark funny dances in this group of people who would cheer on anyone with the balls to get in the center of their circle. That was fun. After the bar we had to find our bus because parking sucks in London - meaning there really is no parking for a bus. So some of us were looking for the bus in some produce packing parking lot in the middle of no where! Finally I was able to call our driver and he told us where to go. So we went but there was no bus - WAIT all of a sudden we are walking and vrrrrooom there goes the bus driving by us in front of us. So we start chasing it down the street...but he didn't see us. Finally we see it again and we flag him down at a stop light and get on the bus. Thank god! Then we come to find out that we are still missing 2 people and bus call is in 20 minutes! So we had some more beers in the bus lounge under the dim light from the millennium ferris wheel and Big Ben. Pretty sweet! In the end everyone found the bus and then it was time to leave the UK for Belgium. We only got two hours of sleep on the bus because we had to board the ferry to cross the ENGLISHHH channel and when you board a ferry you must get out of the vehicles and go to the main decks of the boat. I just took my pillow and my hangover to the front of the boat and slept in the lounge....Belgium was great. Waffles everywhere..the buildings were made of waffles...I'm serious. I ate the venue. We had to cancel the show. Is that even funny? I can't tell anymore. AHH! ok, the venue was perfect! 1400+ kids showed up to this 3 level venue with this huge stage. Wireless internet EVERYWHERE, great food, showers, and it was the kind of venue you find in heaven. The show went great. Another great lighting show I was able to put on. I'm not bragging - just saying I know when my shows are OK, good, great, or one of my best. I got some great video of it too. Go check it out! After the show was over I tried calling some people and was only able to get in touch with Justin. It's nice to chat with him about everything going on over here. Definitely helping to keep me sane. HERE! HA?! After the phone calls and phone call attempts we went out to this huge plaza, square type place with these ooold buildings surrounding us all. It looked beautiful. And I had the best tasting beers I have ever had in my entire life!!!! So FUCKING good!! Only had time for two cause we all had to get back to the bus for bus call. Today we are in Berlin. Yea...Berlin. The venue is this old merry-go-round tent thing. After I did all my usual lighting stuff we went across the street and saw what is left of the Berlin wall. It goes on for a few miles and is covered with tags and spray painted art work. As we walked down there was a section missing and on the other side was this oasis of sand, fountains, a river, a boat, and this cool little outdoor bar with coffee, teas, and beers. We walked down the plank leading to the boat which was a sitting area right on the river. So beautiful. I got photos and video. When I walked in "Surfing on a Rocket" by AIR was playing and it was the perfect song for the mood of everything that surrounded me. With every new day there is a new adventure unlike any other before it. Incredible!! I will write more about Berlin later since it's still a bit early and we also have a day off here tomorrow. YaY!

Thursday, May 11, 2006: "Pork chops, raindrops, belly flops and hatin' cops"

The day after my birthday I learned that a beautiful, hot, or cute person here in England is called "fit." I never knew that. So our first date in England was in Manchester and it was great! It was totally a sold out show and afterwards we went out to this very cool and hip dive bar with a bunch of indie rock type people. I started talking to a few of them and they came to hang out with us after the bar closed down. I learned a lot about how English youth see American youth. Americans seem cheesy over here, but that to us we are being sarcastic. So they see that as being cheesy I guess. But it was very cool to see myself from a different point of view and culture. At the show in Cambridge, England there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was so beautiful outside! I went around the town and took in the sites. Most everything there closes at 6:00pm, so I couldn't go into many places, but there were so many parks and people sunbathing and playing football (soccer) it was great. The air there is so fresh and sweet. I caught myself (as I always do) closing my eyes and taking deep breaths; just breathing in my surroundings and realizing where I was. Sometimes I take a few minutes out of everyday to remove myself, and just go out alone and blend in with the people. I'm loving life, living it up, and enjoy every second of it. Watching the country side pass by us while we travel on the bus from city to city is amazing. Everything is in full bloom here so all of the flowers, trees, and grass are so alive and make everything look perfect. We watched Euro Trip on my laptop the other day - I know - cheesy but I HAD to watch it while I was actually on a Euro Trip myself. :) Two days ago I was given my deadline for when I have to make my final decision on the Dresden Dolls summer U.S. tour with Panic! At The Disco. I know in my heart what I will do...cause I know which of the two choices would make me the happiest in the long run....stay tuned to my little site for my 100% final decision on May 16th! :) I had my first official fish and chips meal here in Brighton, England. It was....nice to write about it at least. I really don't like fish and chips but I wanted to eat them since I'm in the land of bad food and I'm trying to submerge myself in as much of every culture as I can. Last night after the show we went out on the town and ended up at this little bar that kinda sucked, but on our walk home we past this HUGE botanical garden...yep, you guessed it, we hopped the fence, whipped out our torches (flashlights) and explored this endless maze of bushes and trees and streams and flowers...it was AWESOME!!! It was the whole crew too. So much fun - and when we were trying to get out this nun opened her window and started yelling at us and in a Mrs. Doubtfire voice I said "oooooh deaaar, bless these little hooligans. Oh sister mary...ooh dear" And at that moment a spike from the fence went through my shoe and pricked my foot. Yep, I deserved that. FORGIVE ME!! It seems like these randomly awesome adventures keep popping up in the most unexpected places. Today the venue we are at in Brighton is on the ocean!! There is a nudist beach up the street and in the other direction is this cool amusement park at the end of this board walk pier thing. I took some photos. The beach is all medium sized rocks and then there is this one square patch of sand where I guess Fat Boy Slim plays a free show ever summer. I can just see Christopher Walken dancing to Weapon of Choice on the beach kicking up sand or stones and you know...having a good time. The lights last night were great haha. I'm only saying that cause the past couple of shows I didn't have much to work with but still made it look good. I love when a venue has nice things for me to design with. Well I'm going to go hit the beach and soak in the rest of what is left of the sun and the beautiful weather.

"By the way this is Jeff Maker, and he runs JeffMaker.com..." - Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls introducing me to Imogen Heap's web site guy.


Friday, May 5, 2006: "Last night was out of a movie and I didn