i keep a diary

September 10, 2016

On Tour with The All-American Rejects

Back in September of 2012, I hopped on the All-American Rejects tour bus and had a legendary time.

Four years later, the band was out on an arena-tour supporting Blink182 and Tyson invited me to come meet them on tour and hop on bus for a bit! I flew out to meet the band in Denver and then traveled along with them to see shows in Denver, Boise, Spokane & Seattle (with a day off in Montana!).

Saturday, September 10th

Headed to Jfk on Saturday evening. Arrived just in time to see the sunset.
airport ˆ sunrise
Picked up a plane meal.
airport ˆ food
Made sure to check out the crazy apocalyptic murals at the infamous Denver Airport when I landed.
airport ˆ art ˆ mural ˆ wtf
Thy are every bit as creepy and weird as people say they are!
airport ˆ art ˆ mural ˆ wtf
Made it to Denver hotel by midnight.
bed ˆ hotel
me
Travel face.
me
Rolled around on some balls to shake off the plane before bed.
chair ˆ foam roller ˆ hotel

Sunday, September 11th

I flew into Denver a few days ahead of the band so I'd have a chance to explore a bit on my own.
park
Spent the afternoon walking around downtown Denver.
flag
Went to City O City for lunch.
restaurant ˆ sign
Had a delicious lunch while....
food ˆ phone ˆ sandwich
...I read this very weird and excellent book. Liber Null by Peter Carroll.
book ˆ magic
It's filled with a very cool flowchart to illustrate the growth and branching of magical lineages over the years.
book ˆ magic
Good chapters on demystifying some of the Kabbalist beliefs
book ˆ magic
Decided to walk to a local dispensary for the first time in my life after lunch.
walking
Fun to browse a giant flower selection. Picked out a few new strains I'd never tried. Matanuska Thunderfuck and...
dispensary ˆ weed
...Hash of Blues.
dispensary ˆ weed
Went up onto my hotel's roof to run around the track, exercise and rip a few doobers.
doober ˆ hotel ˆ roof ˆ track
Then had an excellent massage at Lodo!
massage ˆ sign
Post-midnight hotel room service dinner for the win.
food ˆ hotel

Monday, September 12th

On Tuesday morning I rented a car and drove about an hour outside of Denver to go hiking.
driving
Got to Eldorado Canyon State Park around 2pm.
park
My cool, weird BMW Zipcar.
rental car
Had an excellent afternoon of solo hiking.
hiking ˆ mountain
I love hiking a new spot with no idea what you're going to see.
hiking ˆ mountain ˆ scenic overlook
Trail loops was a little over 3 hours.
hiking ˆ mountain
About halfway point.
hiking ˆ mountain
me
Fresh (thin) air!
hiking ˆ me
Admired the mountains on my drive out.
driving ˆ mountain
gravy
Went back to the hotel to relax and have dinner, the headed out to a retro arcade bar...
pinball ˆ gravy
gaylor
...to meet up with the guys who had just arrived in town.
arcade ˆ videogames ˆ gaylor
They also had a great showcase of old systems and games.
museum ˆ videogames

Tuesday, September 13th

On Tuesday morning I headed back to the dispensary to stock up on goodies before heading out on tour.
dispensary
Crazy to see a dispensary with ipads giving you details on all the strains.
dispensary
They had a whole section filled with waxes and shatters and all sorts of other exotic marijuana derivitives that I have never fucked with.
dispensary
But renting a "titanium rig" in order to try it seemed a little beyond me.
dispensary
Checked out of my hotel and on the walk over to the area...
buildings ˆ masonic
...passed the Masonic Lodge.
buildings ˆ eagle ˆ masonic
Found the Pepsi Center and walked around back to...
sign ˆ tour
...the tourbuses and dropped off my bag.
bus ˆ tour
Picked up my badge...
backstage ˆ tour
...and then I walked right into the backstage of the arena...
backstage ˆ tour
blink182
...and up to the side of the main stage just in time to watch...
band ˆ tour ˆ blink182
blink182
...Blink182 sound-check to a completely-empty arena. (This was a crazy, surreal experience to have!)
band ˆ tour ˆ blink182
I've been backstage a bunch, but never at a show that had a whole crew for...
backstage ˆ tour
...pyrotechnics!
backstage ˆ tour
Awesome to get to see the band play for such a big crowd.
crowd ˆ tour
scott c
After the Rejects played, they gave the band & crew tanks of oxygen to help catch your breath due to the high altitude.
backstage ˆ oxygen ˆ scott c
gravy, jesse d
The Rejects had the excellent Jesse Delflorio along with them as tour photographer....
backstage ˆ tour ˆ gravy ˆ jesse d
jesse d, mike k, tyson
...and everyone gathered to watch some of the footage he'd recently grabbed.
tour ˆ jesse d ˆ mike k ˆ tyson
me
Getting in on that sweet oxygen. Turns out that it's one of the many...
backstage ˆ best ˆ oxygen ˆ me
gaylor, tyson
...sweet, sweet perks of being backstage!
best ˆ naked ˆ shower ˆ tour ˆ gaylor ˆ tyson
Went back out to see Blink play.
Awesome to be a backstage fly on the wall at such a huge production.
band ˆ tour
Also very excellent to see Matt Skiba play with Blink182. (I was a huge Alkaline Trio fan back in the day).
band ˆ kick
Cool to see cell phones have replaced lighters at concerts. This is old news now, but a few years back this was the first time I'd seen them turn off all the lights in the arean and only have it lit by the light from peoples' phones.
band ˆ crowd ˆ phone
This guy caught a drumstick that Travis Barker threw and was STOKED.
band ˆ crowd ˆ tour
florida
After the show, we headed back to the arcade bar...
pinball ˆ florida
gaylor
...for a few drinks and games.
arcade ˆ gaylor
And then we went out dancing at a club!
the klerb ˆ tour
Made it back to the buses before 2am roll time.
bus ˆ tour
Ready to depart / sleep!
bus ˆ tour

Wednesday, September 14th

gravy
I awoke on the bus the next morning to find myself in Evanston, Wyoming...440 miles from Denver! The bus drivers needed to sleep for the day, so everyone else had the day to relax.
bus ˆ gas station ˆ sign ˆ tour ˆ gravy
Stretched for a bit while we figured out a plan for the day.
bus ˆ feet ˆ stretch
Cool abandoned RV parked near our bus.
rv
Caught a taxi into "town"....
driving ˆ taxi
...to check out the Bear River Greenway.
park
jesse d, mike k, scott c
Started off strong with...
bison ˆ park ˆ jesse d ˆ mike k ˆ scott c
...some bison.
bison ˆ park
...and elk.
elk ˆ park
jesse d, mike k, scott c
We decided to wander further into the park and see what else it had to offer.
hiking ˆ jesse d ˆ mike k ˆ scott c
jesse d, mike k, scott c
If you're walking around with 3 dudes in a band...
hiking ˆ jesse d ˆ mike k ˆ scott c
jesse d
...and you come upon a lonely and desolate train bridge overpass , it's required by law that you....
bridge ˆ emo ˆ jesse d
jesse d, mike k, scott c
...take some pretend band album covers from the 90s. Just imagine this in black and white, ok?
band ˆ best ˆ bridge ˆ photo shoot ˆ tour ˆ jesse d ˆ mike k ˆ scott c
scott c
Giant pile of sticks in the woods? This is what band promo photos ARE MADE OF. Here's the metal version.
band ˆ emo ˆ photo shoot ˆ scott c
scott c
"Keys by Scottie" version.
band ˆ photo shoot ˆ scott c
jesse d, mike k, scott c
After another fifteen minutes of walking or so...
park ˆ jesse d ˆ mike k ˆ scott c
...we made it to the river portion.
river
Exited the park right near Route 80 (which goes through the town in Jersey where I grew up!)
highway ˆ sign
We grabbed lunch a bar we passed...
food ˆ sandwich
mike k, scott c
...then made our way back to the bus.
hotel ˆ mike k ˆ scott c
Passed the very scenic Hillcrest Motel.
hotel ˆ sign
And a storefront with some serious steel on display.
shopping ˆ sword
gaylor
When ironic interest turns serious. You can tell that I caught Gaylor thinking about rounding out his sword collection. (UneekStore.com is unfortunately no longer a working domain!)
shopping ˆ sword ˆ gaylor
florida, gaylor, jesse d, mike k, scott c, tyson
Afternoon bus hang.
bus ˆ tour ˆ florida ˆ gaylor ˆ jesse d ˆ mike k ˆ scott c ˆ tyson
tyson
Went for late night drinks at a local bar!
bar ˆ tyson
florida
A few drinks in turns into tattoo show n' tell...and eventually segued into some of my favorite conspiracies about banking cartels, government kompromat schemes, and whether or not men walked on the moon during the Nixon administration. (Sorry everybody!)
tattoo ˆ florida

Thursday, September 15th

Woke up the next morning in Boise, Idaho outside the Taco Bell Arena. (mmmm).
bus ˆ tour
gaylor
Hey brah....FUCK YOU.
the bird ˆ gaylor
Cool to get to wander around in the morning and watch everyone unpack everything and get the new venue set up for the show.
tour
florida, gravy
Handsomest techs in the biz.
sunglasses ˆ tour ˆ florida ˆ gravy
Hi, where can I poop?
backstage
Later in the afternoon Gaylor and I took a car outside of the city and went up a mountain...
driving
The center was very cool. Got to see a lecture with some in-person bird visits.
bird ˆ museum
Sup.
bird
Got to see a California Condor up close!
bird ˆ condor
The largest North American land bird!
bird ˆ condor
And lookalike for the Skeksis in the Dark Crystal.
bird ˆ condor
There was a whole section about how Middle Easterners have been hunting with hawks for hundreds of years.
hawk ˆ museum
American Bald Eagle.
bird ˆ eagle
Before leaving, we hiked out to the scenic overlook.
hiking ˆ scenic overlook
Backstage to watch the Rejects....
backstage
...take the stage!
backstage ˆ band
tyson
Such a treat to get to watch...
band ˆ tyson
gaylor, mike k, tyson
...the show from the side of the stage.
band ˆ tour ˆ gaylor ˆ mike k ˆ tyson
gaylor, gravy
Post-show bus hangs with Gravy & Gaylor
bus ˆ tour ˆ gaylor ˆ gravy
Late-night skating in the empty arena before bus call!
backstage ˆ confetti

Friday, September 16th

gaylor, jesse d, nick, nick w
Woke up the next morning in...
tour ˆ gaylor ˆ jesse d ˆ nick ˆ nick w
...Spokane Washington
sign
Watched the crew raise up Blink's stage lighting rig and felt like i was in the video for Sweet Child O Mine. Lol.
backstage ˆ tour
scott c, tyson
Love getting to watch the show...
band ˆ scott c ˆ tyson
gaylor
...night after night.
drums ˆ gaylor
mike k
So interestingto see how the different audiences bring different energies to everything.
band ˆ crow ˆ tour ˆ mike k
After the show we walked from the arena...
walking
...over to the downtown area.
river
Crossed the lovely...
river
...Spokane River
bridge ˆ river
On our way to the restaurant, we passed some kind of light art-installation. This was one of them. Not sure if this is always there?
art
Had a great meal together.
restaurant ˆ tour
jesse d, tyson
Tyson always stopped to say hi to fans and take a pic. Always sweet to see.
jesse d ˆ tyson
tyson
After we ate, we hit a nearby barcade.
videogames ˆ tyson
gaylor, gravy
Bro, hold me back, bro.
gaylor ˆ gravy
After the bars closed, we walked back to the buses and threw dice.
dice ˆ tour
florida, gaylor, gravy, tyson
Cee lo and LRC. Big winner! (This photo basically sums up tour pretty good)
best ˆ dice ˆ excited ˆ florida ˆ gaylor ˆ gravy ˆ tyson
gravy
Smoked a giant doober with the Gravester...
doober ˆ lifted ˆ gravy
...and then skateboarded this perfect giant hill over and over again until the bus call at 4am!
best ˆ skateboard
florida, me
Everybody on board and...
balloons ˆ bus ˆ tour ˆ florida ˆ me
scott c
...ready to roll!
asleep ˆ bus ˆ tour ˆ scott c

Saturday, September 17th

gravy
Woke up in Seatte on Saturday and bought a ticket on a flight back to NYC the next day.
bus ˆ laptop ˆ tour ˆ gravy
tyson
Met up with Tyson...
walking ˆ tyson
...and we headed towards the water to explore Seattle a bit.
walking
tyson
Out of all the venues I saw, Seattle had the most epic tunnel entrance to the stage.
tyson
gaylor, scott c
Caught my fourth and final show on tour!
band ˆ tour ˆ gaylor ˆ scott c
Watched Blink from the other side of the stage.
band ˆ tour
When the confetti went off...
confetti ˆ crowd ˆ tour
...I went out back, grabbed my bag off the bus...
bus ˆ tour
...and walked under the Space Needle a few blocks over to my hotel.
buildings

Sunday, September 18th

me
On Sunday I was up at 530am to pack and head to the airport.
hotel ˆ mirror ˆ me
Had a crazy travel day. Flight was delayed and they landed in Washington DC instead of NYC. Took a train from DC, but then there was a bomb scare and the train stopped in Trenton. Ended up taking a cab from Trenton for $170!
driving ˆ taxi ˆ wtf
And managed to make it home before 2am! Long travel day!
nyc ˆ skyline
I edited together all the video footage into a seven-minute movie! Thanks for having me along, everyone! It was like the summer-camp for grown-ups I've always dreamed about and I had an awesome time! <3
band ˆ best ˆ tour ˆ video