02/01/2003 - "Insomnia and the Mystery Bruises"
by Stace

Welcome to Stacy�s weird world of insomnia. I add the disclaimer that any posts made with this kind of title may be long, rambling and pointless. It�s about 3:30 am (yay we�re finally back to eastern time!) and neither Tanya or I can sleep. We�ve readjusted to the western time zones and the late nights so it�s hard to get to sleep this early.

I think Tanya mentioned that we�ve split from the OLP busses again for a Finger Eleven and Seether show. We pulled into Thunder Bay around 2:00 this afternoon. We decided to take a break from the bus for an evening and grab a hotel room. The bus is very comfortable, but it can get a little cramped. We�ve also got a 16 hour drive to Toronto coming up so we�ll be spending lots of time on it in the near future. Here�s a glamorous tidbit of information about rock star travel you might not know: there is a toilet on the bus, however it cannot process solids. This includes toilet paper and any other solids that would normally go into a toilet. Gas stations are a good friend and if you�re drinking you better have a plan �b� for puking because that usually contains solids. Eww. There is also no shower on our bus, so you can imagine what 3 day long bus rides are like. Our mornings usually contain a long session of �find a shower at someone�s hotel or the venue that we can use.�

So what have I neglected to talk about in the last little while? I don�t think I�ve even begun to cover the shows! So far they�ve been fantastic. All of the running around and insanity during the day is all worth it just to be able to watch the bands perform every night. I�ve become a real fan of Seether and I�ve been a Finger Eleven and OLP fan for a while. For me this is a pretty awesome line up. The DVD shoots were a little hectic. There were a lot of people running around setting up cameras and monitors everywhere. I think everyone was a little nervous those nights. The second night of filming was a little better. By then, everyone had a full run through and some of the quirks were worked out.

We�ve been hanging out with Seether and Finger Eleven some over the last few days. We even got to do a bit of partying with them in Regina. No matter what anyone tells you, the stories of my being drunk are highly exaggerated! ;-)

After the Thunder Bay show, we head back to Toronto for a few hours before hopping on a train and heading to Ottawa. Seether will be playing at the Horseshoe in Toronto the day OLP are playing in Ottawa so we have to get there without our tour bus to bring you guys lots of great content.

If you�re in the Toronto area on the 4th though I highly suggest you head down to the Horseshoe and check them out. You can also meet the rest of our street team as they�ll be sticking around in TO to hand out lots of free stickers and CDs.

When we checked in today it was a really odd feeling to not be in a rush to do something. For the first time in two weeks I had a long shower and got to relax. It�s going to be hard to go back to a normal lifestyle after all this hustle and bustle. I�m finding that I really enjoy it, no matter how stressful it is.

I�m looking forward to Tomorrow�s show here since Regina�s kicked so much ass. There�s something about the energy of a club show that you don�t get in an arena. Having said that, I�m also looking forward to getting back to the OLP shows because there�s something very special about listening to 10 000 people cheer the bands on that you can�t get anywhere but an arena. I like both types of shows for different reasons.

I suppose I should explain the other part of the title in my post. Tanya and I were noticing today how many cuts, scratches and bruises we have all over our arms and legs that are a complete mystery to us. You think that if you ran into something you would at least remember it.

So far I�m really enjoying touring. It�s nice at the end of the day to be able to sit down and know that you worked really hard and did a good job.

I could get used to this!

Well, it�s now well after 4:30 so I should try to get some sleep. Tomorrow will definitely be a nap day!

~Stace

[Previous entry: "Winnipeg Arena - Home of the Manitoba Moose Hockey Club"] [Next entry: "Payback�s a bitch."]

* .net journal entries *
* main tour notes *