Road Dispatch #2

Greetings from outside Pittsburgh. I'm up early (early to bed, early to rise) after, really one of the more fun shows of the tour in Cleveland... Impossible to say why, except for the night mix of good sound, good crowd and the band ON.  The stage was a nice size but had a lot of room behind the drums, so I took a page from David Byrne in Stop Making Sense and did a few laps around the stage during a few moments in the show. We also did a RIPPIN cover of CSNY's "Ohio."  I was full of energy, which I was not expecting after a wild 24 hours in Chicago - The Office Hours Lunch Show, followed by my pal Jarred in town to film the Chicago show, and hopefully a documentary on the tour, kept me going, going, going all day. 

An absolutely beautiful moment happened before the show: A dad reached out and let me know he was bringing his SEVEN year old daughter to the show. She was a fan of the music, and listens to Fear of Death every night. Her favorite song is "Someone Who Can Handle You" and I told him, we don't have it in the setlist... BUT why not come backstage before the show and me and Ellie can do a little acoustic version for you.... So they did and it was just so great... I think she was a little scared and overwhelmed, and I was tired, so my emotional nerves were on the surface and had to fight choking up about 3 times during the song, especially when I caught the girl put her hand on her dad's leg... too much!!  Yes it was a nice gesture but also totally easy to do, and usually we're just back there on our phones or joking around... it was a good way to warm up! 

Vic is in great spirits, so glad to have him along, musically he's killing it but also the fans love to see him and cheer him on and he acts as a great foil for me on stage...  i still can't believe I get to play with Josh, Ellie and Conner each night. Truly a blessing to get to make music with these people.  

See you in Pittsburgh ---  East Coast Swing coming later this week! Wow! 

WE JUST DO NOT STOP! 

P&L, T

Oh, PS,  regarding the awkward moment with Steve Albini and Ozzy. He was totally right to call me out on that.  The shaky hands thing is just cheap and when doing live stuff sometimes you go for the laugh first... And I love that Steve had the integrity to call me on it. I think we ended on good terms, and just generally loved his honesty, humor and just respect the hell out of the guy.