Sunshower Tour w/ Regina Spektor (Day 42)

Houston, TX @ The Verizon Wireless Theatre

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We woke up to Mr. Colwell's famous potatoes and ate breakfast in the backyard like some fancy people do sometimes...

Mr. Colwell explained the derivation of each artifact Mrs. Colwell had collected and placed outside....3 hours later, we had covered them all. Lots of culture in that yard! Nice work Carolyn :)

We had a show in Houston, TX that night so we grabbed our things and drove to the venue...on the way, Zac cut his finger :( What are we gonna DO?!??! HE"S GONNA DIE OUT HERE!!!!!

Wait, wait...no he's not! Our dear friend Nurse Peggy had given us a First Aid Kit back in Florida...it's been living under the BLaze passenger seat....he's gonna be OK!

You saved his guitar career Peggy.

The Verizon Wireless Theatre is a really big place that sounded kinda weird. The space itself didn't have any charm so it's a good thing the PEOPLE at this show had plenty to go around....We were especially happy to see our friends Cassandra and Nydia there! Thanks for coming girls :)

(we don't know Nydia's friend on the right,

but I'm sure she's plenty charming too)

After the show, we went back to Zac's parent's house so we could wake up bright and early in our favorite city, AUSTIN!

D

Sunshower Tour w/ Regina Spektor (Day 41)

DAY OFF in Austin, TX

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Damn Right!

We had the day of so Zac high-tailed our asses out of the hotel and into Austin faster than you could shake a stick....at...or something like that. Pat and I hopped out at the Post Office to mail a broken cymbal back to Zildjan and Zac and K went to Chez Colwell's for some peanut butter sandwiches.

Pat had some high school friends to meet up with and I had plans with so we decided to join forces and start the night a little early on 6th street. Pat's friend Marcus came by to join us for a spell...

Next we headed out to the "Matt's El Rancho on Lamar" for a good old fashioned Caesar Rodney Reunion...(Go Riders!)
Here's the ex field hockey star Krista with Patrick...

And here she is with her husband Ricky....(who's last name also happens to be Patrick)

That's me and Carrie who's recipe for "Hippie Tea" is famous all over Austin... (with her friends and AT LEAST 3 people who never even met her)

Please keep in mind that any expressions you see (or bad jokes you hear) are the result of Pat and I drinking since 3 in the afternoon.



We had so much fun with all our new friends...No one could believe that we were all basically strangers meeting for the first time, (with the exception of Krista and Pat who once sat next to each other on "Pizza Day.")

We also felt kinda bad cuz it was only about 7 o'clock and we were trashed. (no judgements...you guys are the best) Hope we see you again soon!

After dinner, Carrie took us to BIRD's BARBERSHOP in her grandfather's car cuz her wheels broke down the other day :(

Pat sat shotgun while I just rolled around in the back...

Jessica let us in for an after hours hang with hot records and cold beer...

Meanwhile back on the ranch, K and Zac were sipping fine wine and eating artisan cheese (whiz) with Alice and Chet...

Goodnight Austin...we're happy to be back!

D

Sunshower Tour w/ Regina Spektor (Day 40)

Travel Day (Denver, CO to Houston, TX)

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The drive started out pretty confusing...mostly trying to recall the catastrophic events from the previous night (sorry Scott!). We had plenty of wind turbines and desert landscapes to relax our fretted nerves....

The Pastures of Colorado a rich in history...here's a detailed account.

We made a pit stop for some Gas and Cheeze-Its in the most metropolitan of cities we could find:

The management was extremely articulate and well-spoken.

We drove as far and long as we could before finally stopping at our hotel. NO more Red Roofs!

We're all sorts of high class now....

...we took fancy showers and watched Robot Chicken on a giant TV.

ZZzz

D

Sunshower Tour w/ Regina Spektor (Day 39)

Denver, CO (@ The Fillmore Auditorium)
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The three of us cuddled up in his bed like Huey, Dewey, and Louie...

We woke up around noon and headed over to the venue....the show was a lot of fun and we got to see Zimmer's cousin and Pat's buddy "Schimmy!"

It's Jupiter One tradition to bring the frisky chics backstage after a show....my buddy Marshall's Mom was the lucky lady that night....

Mrs. Gilkes!!!

We went back to Scott's house for "after hours" where he let me and Pat drive his super, bad-ass, red, sporty-sportster sport car. The next morning we awoke to this guy...

...and some breakfast burritos delivered to us by the man himself. After eating our way back into consciousness we hit the road for Houston, TX.

Thanks for taking care of us Scoooooooooooooooott!

D

Sunshower Tour w/ Regina Spektor (Day 38)

Salt Lake City, UT (@ In The Venue)

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We woke up fully refreshed from the fancy-pants treatment of the hotel and headed to the club for load-in. We arrived to an amazing lunch spread and my new pals Greg and Keith had my 2nd drum set all lined up and ready to hit. Me and K did a long soundcheck/rehearsal with Regina, then set up Jupiter One town. We didn't know what to expect in Utah (our first time playing here), but I have to say the crowd in Salt Lake City was killing...we had an amazing show. Unfortunately, we forgot to take pics, but we met A LOT of real nice folks and look forward to coming back.

K and I played with Regina next and everything went smoothly....We were just super psyched to be eating all this good food (now that half the band is Regina's)....hooray for nutrition and stuff!

Our show tomorrow night is in Denver, CO so we had to drive through the night. (when I say "we" it should be noted that it REALLY means "Bandit and The Cat." Pat and Zac respectively.) K rides the fancy tour bus cuz he's a big lazy puss-puss who doesn't respect the SilverBlaze anymore...whatever!

As you know, my primary function during these long drives is Mayor of Screen Town. I managed to pick up this handy device at a gas station to maximize Night-Screening™

The drive through the mountains was incredible....

The only thing MORE incredible than the scenery, was the police officer who stopped Pat for doing about 40 mph over the speed limit. The guy was SO psyched to pull over a rock band from New York that he just hung out asking questions about music, traveling, and girls and stuff. We gave him a copy of our album and he sent us on our merry way with a wave and smile. HILARIOUS! It took me and Pat about 2 hours to believe it wasn't a dream. Zac was sleeping in the backseat through all of this...

As the sun came up, we just stared at the universe with a smile....

We arrived to the city of Denver and headed straight to Pat's friend Scott's house. This guy is THE all-time bro of bros hailing from Mount Brolympus. He woke up at 6am to let us sleep in his bed while he headed over to his friend's house to finish sleeping. He also had his fridge pre-stocked with 100 PBR cans in anticipation of our arrival. What a fucking hero! This is Scott....

D

Sunshower Tour w/ Regina Spektor (Day 37)

Blaze to Utah

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There's a searchlight fixed to the midnight sky...it's beaming a symbol of the Blaze and we MUST get to Salt Lake City in 24 hours.

Regina, Dan, and K will be waiting there to run through the songs, cuz we have NO time to fuck around before the show at "In The Venue."

Here's where the teamwork of Jupiter One really shined. Allow me to break it down:

Seattle- we get the call. I need to learn all Regina's songs in 24 hours. Zac took the wheel and started for Utah.

Pat (the Berklee Audio Engineering Grad and the only man besides Zac and K who knows I'm way too technologically inept to do this) takes a huuuuugely big file of Regina's show in Massachusetts and cuts it up into bits and pieces. He worked through the night, while I got some shut-eye... I awoke to find, what laymen call, "tracks" on the computer.

At this point, Pat sleeps and Zac (the fearless pilot) still drives...

Meanwhile, I take the tracks from Cecil and upload them onto my iPod. This is where I spend the next 15 hours listening to her music and trying to visualize how I'd play it. There will be no drums in sight until I play this music with her for the first time in Utah...

I had headphones on, writing out drum parts while we made our way across Washington and Oregon.

We made maybe one or two stops the whole way...

Awake from his sleep, Pat now relieves the colonel....

...and continues driving.

Zac's turn to sleep after a long shift of keeping her steady.....I'm still learning the music.

Basically, Pat and Zac killed themselves driving on little sleep, little food, and NO alcohol. It was only fair that they be provided with a super deluxe hotel room....

We made it to the rehearsal with time to spare...."Bandit and the Cat" did it again! Heroes amongst men....they delivered me safely and hit the streets hard to celebrate.

I was back at the studio playing with Regina, Dan, and K....

The music all came together like fine wine spilling onto an expensive, short party dress. Along with K, I was now gonna be doing double duty for the rest of the tour, but the Boys of the Blaze would be laying our heads on bigger, softer pillows. (ahhhhhh...)

D