Tour Diary: Sterr from Denver, CO

2/27/09 - Denver, Colorado

As the first leg of this tour winds down, I feel the need to take stock in the last 3 weeks and reflect.  So far, I've only lost my camera once.... but it was quickly located at the Library in ....Laramie, WY, and is hopefully being shipped as I write this.  I've misplaced my phone once, but was quickly found as well shortly before the bus left....

But in all seriousness, so far this tour has been quite fun and successful. The five of us know our roll (for the most part -  lol) and make it a point to get the job done night in and night out.  Touring is the best because you very quickly become a finely tuned machine... all the parts working together to make the whole a monster of a force to be reckoned with.  It’s a great feeling.

Another cool thing about being on tour is when somewhere along the line you realize that you are very, very far from home and there's no way that you are going home anytime soon... this happened to me while driving from Jackson Hole to Laramie, WY.  As we crossed the Togwotee Pass, going from a very cold and wooded, snow covered geography to an arid, red rocked, quite warm environment it was like entering into a different world... a world very different from not only the previous, but one that is very unlike the humid, cold, flat confines of Detroit.  Going through Lander is always a treat (home of the best second hand clothing store in the country), but as soon as we got through this great little town it quickly became what I would imagine it would be like driving through a lunar mountain range of solitude. Check out the couple pictures that I took while driving... they aren't great being that it was getting dark and they were shot through the windshield as I drove, but they'll give you an idea.  So it was at this point where I realized that I was very, very far from home. It was also at that point that I was wrapped with a simultaneous feeling of piecing excitement of the constant movement and being able to professionally do the thing that I love the most, and an overwhelming urge to see my wife, family and dogs... but this catch 22 to me is a metaphor for life and no matter what you do... there is something wrong if you don't wake up everyday and make a sacrifice here or there... whether it be having 2 hard boiled eggs for breakfast instead of a gigantic bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch in order to achieve a "heroin sheik" body for SXSW, or skipping a shower to finish "Top Gun" before load in even though you know that Maverick really is the best of the best (as well as that Kelly MgGillis will never make a movie worth watching again... or Tom Cruise for that matter), and Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" still gives you goose bumps).... Sacrifice... that's the name of the game...."To sing the blues you've got to live the dues... and carry on..." (thanks to my man, Stephan Stills).

So to conclude, as we enter the second leg of tour, I look forward to the continued travel and playing (duh) and meeting/seeing people/fans new and old. Come check us out when we come to your town, and check out the new album, "Forward". It's a little something we threw together last minute so we felt like we had a purpose or reason to go on tour again..... (yawn).... it's available on iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, available atall of our shows on tour.  See ya there!


Chris