why have i been crying, or at least getting teary eyed every day since i've been back from tour?
i'm sure its mostly due to my current fluctuating mental state (the tour was more emotionally draining than i could have imagined), but it is also the catalysts i chose. sometimes you need some things to help draw it it out of you.
i saw fahrenheit 9/11 on sunday, cat on a hot tin roof on monday, and dr. zhivago on tuesday. jeez. what am i doing to myself here? all 3 of them are crazy good and moving.
so my tears today come courtesy of a post on my childhood friends website.
it is a review of our show at house of blues in new orleans. She hadn't seen me in almost 10 years. these are tears of joy.
love,
gg
well, i am back. and back at work and it is kind of lame, but at least i am makin' money.
here are some things i learned on tour:
1. you can open a beer bottle with a water bottle or another beer bottle. its the same principle as opening one with a lighter. if you're not familiar, ask me next time you see me and i will demonstrate. i've kind of become the master of it.
comes in very handy in the dressing room or hotel room.
2. if you are at a club waiting to soundcheck and want to play pool for cheap, put your money in, rack the balls, and then get plastic cups and put them in all the pockets. you can play forever, or at least until club doors open.
you can also do this for foosball, but you need to use newspaper instead to make little nests inside each goal to catch the ball so it doesn't disappear.
pat figured out the foosball one. the pool table already had cups in it at first ave in mineapolis. so now we know.
3. the shins are a kick ass live band and continue to get better and better. their cover of 'destroy the heart' by house of love really did destroy me every nite.
that and them pulling out 'Eating Styes from Elephants' Eyes' from the nature bears a vacuum 7" on omnibus. that ruled.
4. the less cheese you eat, the better you will feel riding in the van.
5. the less caffeine i consume, the less it feels like my heart is going to explode.
6. take everything that was left for you in the dressing room. you paid for it and it may just end up being your midnight snack or breakfast the next day.
except for the sliced fruit trays, that stuff won't keep. (duh)
7. the shins can outparty rogue wave any day of the week.
8. it is OK to keep playing the same songs on the Ipod in the van becuz then you all get to know each others favorites and it becomes like a virtual mix tape for the tour. after a few weeks, put your ipod on the top 25 most played and set it on random and see what you get. it's fun.
9. the innocence mission, damien jurado, the moore brothers, cass mccombs, and the fruitbats are awesome to listen to when you are driving all day almost every day.
10. shots after midnite are bad. bad.
there are many more things i learned on tour, but these are the most fun ones.
another really good one that is really hard to do is to listen twice as much as you talk. you'd be surprised what you learn by keeping your mouth shut a little more.
there is a reason we have 2 ears and only one mouth.
cheers,
gg
it is 8:30am mountain time. we rocked denver last nite. i am on the computer at my old friend sparkle's house. he has already gone to work. i just happened to wake up before the rest of my band calls me to come get me. they stayed at sparkle's friends house, ted & brandy, now thats good english.
so here they come and we drive 540 miles to salt lake city. to most likely play to almost no one, which is fine. we did it last nite, and in des moines. yet every show has had something totally awesome in it. so there you go.
we head back out in august. after our july 31 cd release party @ bottom of the hill, also starring citizens here and abroad and two gallants. that'll be awesome.
this is an amazing time for me to be alive.
august will consist of rogue wave touring with a.c. newman, that one dude, carl, from new pornographers. that kinda rules. a lot.
he gots a new record on matador and we gots a new one on subpop so's i's guessin' that works itself out.
love,
gram
hi folks,
i am the happiest boy in the world this morning. i am in rockford, AL at my parents house in the woods and it is swell. pat and sonya are with me too, zach is flying to atlanta from a wedding in CA right now. my mom gave me a haircut, and we got a homecooked meal, some mint juleps and a hot tub session last nite. so good. it rules.
today we all drive to atlanta for the show @ the variety playhouse. i get to see some cousins and stuff. itsa gonna be rad. the shows are killing, the tour is awesome, i've been meeting some real kick ass new folks and seeing some good old friends too. i love the shindersons. they are my favorite band right now.
well, i can't talk too long, i gotta go take a walk down to the creek once pat and sony get up.
thats all for now.
love,
gg
04.06.03
well, we did it. we blew them away. that was one of the most fun things ever.
sonya said it felt surreal. its true, it was hard to believe it was actually happening.
we sold exponentially more merch than we ever have. and we rocked hard.
the ventura kids were screaming. it was insane, if the rest of the shows are even half as good as that one, we are in good shape.
i love the shins, the music and the people.
after the show, the shins went on to LA cuz they were recording the next day.
so we went around the corner to winchesters where we were the only folks there.
its on main street, we got bushmills on ice and the bartender poured some very gen erous portions. when pat mentioned it, the bartender said he has irish arthritis, once his hand turns, he has a hard time wrenching it back down.
we closed that place out and went back to the vagabond innn and watched some mr. show before passing out. we were all amazingly tired from packing the nite before. i got up early and went running and did some yoga on the beach. it kicked ass. we had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, also called the vagabond. i got carded for my pacifica and my credit cards fell out and slipped down behind the booth, which took about 15 minutes and the help of an awesome busboy to pull the booth out and dig around with a flashlight to find them. now we're on the road to LA, the wiltern is huge!
carb options. a whole new line of food designed for the carb conscious.
inlcuding lipton low carb lemon flavored ice tea.
the worst carb things we have seen so far is the tea, the low carb flavored water, and the real topper, low carb dog food. really, we saw it in the window of a pet store in LA. insanity. when will it end?
carbs are good for you. you need some.
also, pat & i learned from the back of the heinz ketchup bottle that lycopene is a powerful antioxidant. and guess what? its found naturally in heinz ketchup. naturally. isn't that amazing? who knew? i would have thought it found naturally in tomatoes, but i guess i was wrong.
these entries last 2 entries are old, but this is the first chance i've had to get to the interweb. more soon.
love,
gg
04.06.02
on the road. to ventura.
somehow our car top carrier came open and someone honked to let us know. so we pulled off and everything was still in there so we're good.
except the backseat doesn't have shoulder seatbelts. they were mistakenly removed when we got our back window grills installed, it'll work out though, i've got the middle lap belt for now.
last nite the shins were awesome @ the warfield. we were all too freaked out about packing to stay around and hang out.
yesterday was weird. an emotional rollercoaster. i didn't find out if i still had a job until an hour before i left work. crazy. my new boss said don't even think about this place and i'll see you when you get back.
that, among other things, had me feelin' kinda iffy and weepy. luckily, my friends were there for me. i got whisked away from work and was given a kick ass home made dinner, a few PBRs, and all the hugs i could handle. it was just what i needed.
i was feelin so crazy though, we were hanging out making dinner when 3rd planet by modest mouse comes on the stereo and i just lost it. just curled up into a ball and started crying.
tonite, we play 2nd. and we'll be playing in front of the shins for the first time.
we're gonna do our best to knock their socks off.
love,
gg
here i go. i leave in 30 minutes for ventura. to go on tour with the shins.
it is all so very rad to be sure. somehow, i still have a job, so i guess thats good. we rocked @ du nord on monday. we are going to rock the whole tour.
some people are going to have their fannies spanked. hard.
much love,
gg