I have officially lost count of tour days already, since we threw in a day off it made things even harder to remember. Anyways, team stink finally cleansed themselves from the grease, grime and sweat of week one. We are currently at a venue in Baltimore that has a really nice shower which means this week is off to a GREAT start! Last week was brutal, showering needs to remain an essential part of human life. On Sunday, our day off, I awoke ready to shower but because we all had a late start, we quickly headed off to the instore signing in NYC. Showers were postponed and more sweat was added to our already disgusting bodies. It was sunny and warm out and of course there was no A/C inside the store so we marinated a little bit more. Eventually after a mile walk and a long hot cab ride back to Jersey (we found the only cab driver that *didnt* have a GPS system to take us to our hotel) we cleaned up. Best shower ever.

Shows have been good, I’m getting the hang of the table more and more. I just calmly help people one at a time and dont feel pressured to rush anymore. And of course right after I typed that I had a ridiculous mishap with my damn spreadsheet. I have NO idea how last nights sheet got so confusing so fast. Mixing the instore sales with the show sales on a newly formatted spreadsheet with 2 separate venue fee percentages was a little too much I guess. And to think I used to be in accellerated math.

On the upside I got drunk last night, instigated some roughousing and can safely say I probably freaked out a few of my busmates. I am good at making friends People must realize that I like to wrestle, everyone knows my parties always end up having wrestling matches in the front yard…and the back yard…and sometimes in the living room. Its just how it goes. But I can see how it would make people  a little worried.

As such, I can’t tell if I am slightly hungover or just having an offkilter day but I feel super disorganized at the moment. I took a 5 hr energy shot (actually only half of one) which should help, yay for B vitamins!

This venue in Baltimore, the Quarter, is really nice. Not only do they have a nice shower but the entire layout of the building is great, there are multiple rooms, bars and other areas for people to populate. Most of it will be closed during the show but I could see this being a great bar with the right promoter and the right events. Check out their website, they should have photos up. I should link it but I am entirely too lazy to do so at the moment. The Quarter in Baltimore Maryland, check it out!

Go team stink! Its day 5 (I think) and I have yet to take a shower. Seriously, venue showers give me the creeps. Since most of you already know that venues/clubs  somehow get away with having the most disgusting bathrooms in a public place, you should also know that their showers aren’t much better. Some have argued that gas stations have the potential to be worse but ultimately venues win, at least in the ladies room. The doors don’t  even lock half the time! Who likes to do a balancing pee squat while holding a door shut? Not me. But I digress, my point being their showers are just as bad as the bathrooms. Period.  I am not alone on Team Stink, myself and the other members (who shall remain nameless) are anxiously awaiting a nice hot shower.  Agh, my hair is drivin me nuts, it feels so gross! I have been using some “ghetto blast,” the waterless shampoo stuff that Chibi picked up. It works great but I think I still appear more greasy than I am.  Maybe that’s why my tip jar has been less than full? *shrug*

As the tour progresses we are all starting to get to know the other bands better.  I am starting to remember more names but still haven’t mastered them all.  Chad and Justin from I Am Ghost keep me company between their set while the merch tables are slow.  Overall the shows have had a small turnout, only about a 100 kids or so based on my estimate, but have had a lot of energy. The table business has remained constant and I have started to get 99%’s on all my tests!

I’ve been excessively tired the last two days, the bumpy bus ride overnight has made sleep a lot less restful . I end up taking naps during sound check and busting out 5 hr energy shots.  Ohhh 5 hour energy, how I love thee. If you haven’t tried this magic potion, you should. I was saving my last 3 bottles but today will require a boost for sure. I woke up at around noon and the bus was still moving, which confused the hell out of me. Typically we are done moving around 10am (I think)  and when you are in a bunk that’s pitch black and has no windows your concept of time is completely shot.  Ended up waking up around 1:30pm.

Being on a tour bus is like being at camp. I’ve never been to camp but I assume it would be a lot like this. Goofing around in your cabin before lights out. Then of course one person wants to sleep and everyone has to be quiet. Booooo…. That’s totally what happened  last night, but good times—good times.  A girl could get used to this :oD

Another night completed, last nights 18+ show at The Middle East (downstairs) went fantastic. Our table looked much better (I’ll post a photo soon). Now this may sound ridiculous, but despite the simplicity of selling shirts and CD’s I am still in training when it comes to writing it down right after I sell it. I have worked in retail for about ten years now so selling things is easy, but remembering to put a little tick mark on a piece of paper slips my mind easily. I was a little off 2 days in a row now, mind you only a t-shirt here or a CD there, which we deduced what was missing afterwards, but still!

My goal is to get 100% on this test tonight. Mark my words, it will happen. In my defense for being completely new to the system I am doing alright

Overall I’m having a great time so far, everyone in the band and the crew are really rad and fun to hang out with. I am a little surprised there hasnt been as much alcohol consumption yet, but then again they probably think I’
m an alcoholic :oP Our after show activites have mostly been relaxing and hanging out in the lounge. No complaints there!

This entry is pretty lame, I must admit but I just rolled out of bed *shrug*

Tonight - Toad’s Place in New Haven, CT

Lets go for a brief review of my first day on the job –

I have never seen a band with so much merch! We had a brand new shipment of 3 new shirts, 1 new CD as well as girls boyshort underwear. Thats not too bad, right? well after sifting through a dozen boxes/hundreds of shirts we had to take a look at the merch from last tour and get that organized. Needless to say there wasnt enough time to get it completely organized so we ditched some older merch and stuck with new stuff for the first show. Tonight we will try to get everything up there in a much more organized fashion since the other bands came in and slapped down some amazing merch displays in minutes. It was overwhelming considering ours was so disorganized, but since we were the headlining band I dont think fans needed a fancy display to draw interest in the merch.

Tonight will be better. We WILL have a fancy looking merch booth complete with a bitchin tip jar. I def didnt have one last night annnnnnnd I prob coulda gotten some tips from some of the super nice people I helped out. A girls gotta eat—tips = food! So for all you concert goers who may have avoided the tip jar in the past ( I am guilty of it myself) now you know that the money does indeed go for day to day stuff, like being able to buy lunch.

The bus took off from Buffalo around 3am, just as we all started to crash in our bunks. The rocking sensation of the bus wasnt too distracting but it transcended into my subconscious, and I dreamt that I was in an earthquake when we hit a rough area on the road. I have a feeling these accomodations will do just nicely. We even have little dvd players in our bunks to keep us entertained when we cant sleep! Much more entertaining than my last road adventure

Greetings. I am one of the dark overlords of the universe that is slowly taking over Tina’s body and mind, which in turn means her blog. Actually, I just really wanted to write something about the dark overlords of the universe because I just watched Howard the Duck last night. Yup, I’m that cool. My name is Michelle and I am a new quest to Audio Taco. Actually I meant guest, but quest is pretty rad considering the reason why I am here is my new quest. My quest to sell merch for a band on my first tour. I am heading out on the Show and Tell tour with my friends The Birthday Massacre (the tour also features I Am Ghost and Dommin). I’m hoping that some of you have heard of them, but a brief description could possibly be ‘a semi gothic synth powerpop’? I am terrible at classifying music according to standard definition. They spawned from the greater Toronto-land area and are currently based there. They formed around 1999 , their first demos are admittedly quite rough but have since evolved and harnessed their sound. Their first full length release was Nothing and Nowhere, folewed by Violet and Walking with Strangers.  This tour is promoting their first full length live album, called Show and Tell. Since I feel I am not doing them the justice they deserve, take a look at their myspace (www.myspace.com/thebirthdaymassacre) . You can find legions of fans all over the world and the web, including myself.
Who am I? Well I am a Chicago native, recently relocated to the northern Los Angeles area. My passion level for music is pretty high, I spend a lot of time investigating new music, talking to people about music, going to shows (many with the lovely Tina herself). Other than that I am trying to find my niche in the film/tv industry out here in LA after 18 months of production work in Chicago. My life has led me to this journey through a lot of little nuances and connections, and I am delighted that it has. I can’t wait to share this experience with such a great band!
And my tour story begins…
I am anxiously waiting in a (fairly) quiet are of LAX to get on a red eye flight to Chicago’s O’Hare Int’l Airport. From there I will wait about 2 hours before catching a short flight to Buffalo, NY to meet up with the band. The tour kicks off tomorrow night at Mohawks Place . As much as layovers suck, I am glad it will be in my hometown airport that I am familiar with. LAX is always an interesting mix of people; My TSA security agent was hopped up on some Prozac, spouting off all sorts of “thank you for pulling out your electronics,” and “we do appreciate you keeping us on our toes.” I mention the Prozac because in response to a comment of mine about being on the ball tonight he brought it up as the source. I’m not surprised, it is LA right?
As I am sitting in my chair, I’m mulling over my packing arrangements in my head. Since I am new to the whole tour itinerary, I am not sure if I should have packed lighter. My only time on the road was a brief outing with theSTART last July. At the time I was in town visiting friends so I packed for a normal vacation and simply brought what I had with me. I realized afterwards that I was slightly unprepared, most strikingly in the pillow department. This time I was assured there would be a pillow waiting for me in my bunk when I arrive in New York. Overall, I am confident I have what I need, plenty of clothes to cycle through, tons of clean socks and underwear (I was told this is VERY important, as expected) as well as plenty of entertainment (books, movies, ipod, PSP freshly modded with some Nintendo games). I have my tour itinerary somewhere around here but at the moment its not important. I plan on focusing on where I am that day and where I’m going the next day. And tonight I’m flying to Chicago and Buffalo. As the days blend together I will continue to update Audio Taco readers about my experiences on my first ‘real’ tour!

Lessons Learned


I’m a big Matt & Kim fan and i thought that their last record Grand was such a wonderfully fun record. They also put on a really energetic show. The video for their new single “Lessons Learned” is one of my favorite tracks off the record. I don’t know how they shot this (they probably aren’t really naked) but the look on people’s faces as they walk by are priceless.

The free show was sponsored by KPRI for its listeners who picked up free tickets from locations around San Diego. Fresh from Coachella, Paolo and his band played an outdoor set in Del Mar Plaza which overlooked the beach. It was the perfect day and really reminds me of why i love San Diego so much.

Playing a 9 song set of mostly new material, Paolo went off the set list playing a few extra songs for the increasing crowd that had gathered. The new songs sounded a lot more folky and featured a greater variety of instrumentation than his debut record These Streets . His band included the addition of a harmonica and sax player. I’ve always been impressed by his soulful voice especially on the slower numbers like “Last Request” but it is clear with the new material that he’s heading in a away from the rock/ pop direction.

Set List

Alloway Grove
High Hopes
Candy
Growing Up Beside You
New Shoes
Pencil Full of Lead
Coming Up Easy
Down in Mexico
Jenny Don’t Be Hasty

I am excited to announce that The Audio Taco will have a guest contributor for the next few weeks. Michelle, one of my musical soul mates, will be posting (hopefully often) her own column as she goes on tour with the Canadian synth- pop band The Birthday Massacre where she will be tackling merch duties and whatever else they throw her way. So, keep an eye out for Michelle’s posts about what its life to be on tour and what it takes to put on a show. Be sure to check out the Birthday Massacre on tour.

The stage was adorned with a plethora of silk flowers, orchids and stuffed animals. It was like an exotic garden to set the tone of rachael’s newest release Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart. She kicked off the set with a beautiful rendition of “Elephants” and followed with some of the more well known numbers which really got the crowd going. During “Reason Why”, members of the audience who could sing were invited onstage to sing along. I have to give props to the girl on center stage because she actually knew all the lyrics and did a good job. I was really happy with the song selection tonight since i was able to hear all my favorite songs including an instrumental version of “Elephants” which i didn’t expect. Also a nice surprise was “Duet” which was not a duet but featured Rachael singing both vocal parts. I also really enjoyed the harder rock numbers like “Sidedish Friend” which really gave the band a chance to rock out.

Set List

Elephants
Be Your Love
What If I Leave
Faster
Worn Me Down
Letter Read
Elephants (instrumental)
Even So
Duet (solo)
Little Life
Over + Over
Sidedish Friend
Accident
Sunday Afternoon
————————————-
Reason Why

First off, thank you to whoever DJ’d before and in between sets because the song selection was SO GOOD! Probably the best I’ve heard. Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head was a really fun opening band with a great presence. They managed to get most of the crowd dancing to their catchy beats. Anyways, onto Lily’s set.

Her set was so much fun! Not only did she have this great stage set up (lights/ letters spelled out Lily) but her voice was in great condition and she couldn’t have been more involved with the audience. Most of the crowd was singing, clapping and dancing to her music. Her set consisted of mostly new material with partially remixed versions of several songs and medleys which really helped to move the show along. Some of the remixes had too much bass but they were fairly short segments so it was ok. I wished that she played the full version of “LDN” but that didn’t happen. I think she is one of the few people that can sing “Fuck You” and still have it sound cute. Oh and not to mention she is really cute onstage. I’m a big fan of Lily’s music and tonight was another reason to add to the list.

Set List
Everyone’s At It (House Remix)
I Could Say
Never Gonna Happen
Oh My God/ Everything’s Just Wonderful
Him
Who’d Have Known
LDN- Dance Wiv Me
Go Back To The Start
He Wasn’t There
Littlest Things
Chinese
22
Not Fair
Fuck You
Smile- Drum & Bass
The Fear- Day & Night
Womanizer (Britney Spears Cover)

Lily Allen @ HOB SD

Lily Allen @ House of Blues San Diego 4/1/09

Lily during "Him"