Rolling through Kansas..

Howdy folks.. It's 10:46 pm, and I'm not sure what day it is, but Steve and I are keeping it real by driving the box truck. We're jammin country music, and cruising out in the middle of nowhere. Not even any cars really. Pretty cool. So, I figured this would be a good time to reflect on the tour.... I gotta say, this has been one interesting tour. Started out driving from TX to Philly with no air conditioner while it was over 100 degrees. Had 3 blowouts, broke a belt on the truck, ac leaked on our bags, and various other events. But, we're still here, and we're still rockin.. We've all hated each other at one point or another, and we've all threatened to quit at least 5 times each. That's just how it works in this business.

Anyhoo, I'm just rambling because I'm bored. On our way to Fort Sill Oklahoma. Should be pulling in around 4am.. I haven't been home in almost 6 weeks, I'm tired, I stink, I miss my wife a lot, and I have a cold.. Later..

L.J. Young

Occupation : Sound Engineer / Driver / Crew / Whatever Else

L.J. was born a poor child of Russian immigrants that arrived in the U.S. via UFO in the late 1800's. We don't belive that at all, but he insists that it's true. No one is sure what the L or the J stand for, including him. Seriously. L.J. is happily married, but unlike Larry and John, L.J. hates long walks in the park, hates poetry, and enjoys hunting Yaks in the Smoky Mountains with a slingshot. L.J. is a former NFL quarterback, and went on to win last years Superbowl for the New Orleans Saints. But, due to type-o by the Associated Press and NFL, Drew Brees was actually credited for all of L.J.'s hard work. After several months of therapy he moved on, and realized that multi million dollar football contracts and endorsements wasn't really his thing. He used some of his football money that he had stored in his piggy bank to buy a microphone, 2 - 12" speakers, and a Cerwin Vega P.A. head. He soon hit the wedding circuit as a DJ, crankin out the best of yesterday and todays dance hits. After he was attacked by Bridezilla, and thrown in a dumpster, he realized that wasn't the answer either. It wasn't until Larry was online late one night watching reruns of Sex And The City that he came accross an ad for a sound guy. He was surprised that a band as awesome as JUNIOR would advertise on the Lifetime channel website. But, the band is really sensitive, and likes sensitive employees. So, long story short, L.J. flew to Baltimore, JUNIOR picked him up via hot air balloon, and the rest is history.

Side Note: At 5:30 P.M. August 27 The NFL called the world headquarters at JUNIOR LLC begging L.J. to come back. They also said they would offer the rest of JUNOR and their crew starting positions in the NFL. So, the future of L.J., JUNIOR, and everyone else involved is still unknown..

John Sitarski

Occupation: Public Relations / Social Networking / Marketing / But mainly loading gear

John is a recent college graduate from Pennsylvania with a degree in nuclear engineering, but figured that working for a rock band would be a better move. John was the guy in college that stole your girlfriend. It appears that his entire family works in the entertainment industry, and John will more than likely be one of the most powerful men in music industry if he survives the tour he is currently on.

As seen in this photo, John is a thinker, and likes to ponder the meaning of life over a cup of Joe. He is a jovial guy, and does a spot on impersonation of legendary Chicago Cubs announcer Harry Carry. It makes us giggle. John also trained for 4 years in Hong Kong as a professional sushi roller. Once he realized there was no future in that he set his sites on joining the women's US Olympic Curling team. He was in charge of properly storing the rolling thing and brooms. That didn't last long either.

Long story short, John is where he belongs. He'll steal yo woman, he likes movies, and enjoys TV dinners by the light of a candle. If you are a girl, he'll talk to you. If you are a guy he'll fight you, if you aren't awesome, he won't hang out with you.

Jeff Larry "Larrollton" Newbern

Occupation: tour manager, driver, loader, worrier, dancer.

Larry is a single guy, who enjoys long walks in the park, and poetry slams at the local coffee shop. He has a pet giraffe named Winnie, and often reminisces about his days as a Navy Seal. After spending years studying Jujitsu in Japan, Larry decided to try his hand at rock-n-roll. He figured it's gotta be a better paying job than anything else he's tried in life. So, Larry surfed the internets, and found an online class called "Learn how to tour manage over night". Shortly thereafter, he was tour managing. All of his dreams had fallen into place. He was now in charge of trying to control one of the most divalicious bands in the world. BUT, when he saw he had his own bunk, he knew they cared deeply about his feelings, and accepted him as one of their own.

Larry recently tried his hand at dancing. Actually he was forced to go onstage and do his own little dance called The Larrollton. It was a hit, and he soon started signing autographs, and even introducing the band at shows. Rumor has it that he has been in talks to portray Burt Reynolds in Smoky And The Bandit 4. He's also eyeballing Simon's vacant seat in American Idol.

Greetings from North Carolina

So, where do I start..  Well, yesterday we had a much needed day off.  So, we went to Wal Mart, ate at a Chinese buffet, and washed the RV.  Exciting huh?  Anyhoo, I finally slept in a hotel room, ad it was kinda awesome.  Didn't sleep long, but what sleep I did get was awesome.  And, apparently at about 5 am this morning some bum started beating on the side of the RV telling them to turn it down. Turn what down?  Regardless, it was entertaining I'm guessing.  I was in the room though so I don't really know.

 

So, this morning we get up, head to the gig, set up, and rock.  Cool show, and we had the greatest opening band EVER.  It was the actual NC State Wolfpack marching band complete with the flag corp.  Awesome!!  So, it was about a 14 hour day of sweat and work.  BUT, the show was cool, and our future hype man Motormouth Mike was here with us.  He's awesome.

 

Well, that's about all for now folks.  I'm watching Big Brother on my laptop now, and I'm in the hotel room again tonight.  I gotta get some sleep because we have a nice 12 hour drive to Kentucky tomorrow.  Later Yo!!

Finally time to blog..

So, normally I'd say Im just being lazy abou these blogs, but I'm not.  this is honstly the first time Iv had any time to do anything.  I know what your thinking - "Is Kiley laying in his bunk while typing this on his laptop in the RV that has WiFi?"  The answer is yes I am.  And yes, our bus has WiFi.  Pretty cool.  Anyhoo, we adde a new guy to the crew named L.J.  He's our new sound guy from Cincinatti, and he's awesome.  We just played at Fort Lee yesterday and Fort Eustess today.  Both were cool shows.

 

So, I can't remember the last time we talked, so I'll try to bring you up to speed.

1. If there are any tpos its because Steve is driving, and we are on some backroad in either Virginia or North Carolina.  Or at least I think we are.
2. We are headed to the University Of South Carolina for a sow Tuesday.
3. It's Hot here too.  But nowhere near as hot as Texas and Louisiana.
4. We spent a week in Washington DC at a sweet resort hotel. Saw lot's of sites.  It was nice.. And hot,,
5. We have Monday off.  Thats nice, because we have been going solid for several days.
6. We're starting to realize that living on an RV is harder than we expected.  The whole having to grab your clothes out of the suitcase that is in a compartment under the bus gets a little old.  BUT, the AC works now and it is like a meat locker back here in the bunks.  So, we sleep very well.
7. That's about it.

 

Well kids, thats bout it for now.  I'll type more soon when we arent driving down what feels like a dirt road. 

Finally, time to blog..

Hello bloggerers, or whatever you're called if you read blogs. So, I thought I would have to blog every day, but apparently I had mistaken. So, for those of you that don't know what's going on, we are on the Coke Zero Music Tour. We are playing a lot of Army bases, colleges, etc. We left home Tuesday morning, and arrived in Philadelphia at 7:30 Thursday morning. We then headed to Fort Detrick, Maryland. We got there at 6:45 am, woke up at 9:45 am, rocked, went Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, rocked HARD there, and are now in Philadelphia, and waking up and heading to Washington DC. Still following me?

Ok, so far I don't really remember much because we've had little sleep. But i know the shows rocked. Made us some new fans, an had the greatest road crew ever in Aberdeen. 50 U.S. soldiers helped tear down and load up everything. It was awesome, and they keep calling us "sir". I also learned that when hundreds of soldiers yell "HOOAH" it sounds awesome. So, we did a little version of "I Got A Feeling" by the Blackeyed Peas, an instead of saying Oooohh Oooohh during the chorus they all said Hoooooooaaaaaahhhh. Hard to explain, but it was awesome.

Anyhoo, not a lot of interesting stuff to say yet because we're only 2 shows in. I'm sure it is going to get more interesting as time passes. And, I realized that we definitely need a reality TV show. We seriously are characters. No, seriously..

Ok, That's all I got folks. I'm tired. Holla!!