Sucky.

I have so much to write about I can't even write a full blog. My parents are leaving for over a week and now I will be without a car, granted it's my choice to be getting rid of the car. What an awesome Christmas time. WOO! Now I really can't wait to get out on the road, I just wish I didn't have to leave Erin at home when I do go out, things are so much better this time around.

Mr. Blue Sky.

I've been obsessed with the song Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra lately. Funny thing is also that I have been hearing it everywhere too. It is awesome. It starts out similar to Nine in the Afternoon by Panic at the Disco too, check it.

Update.

Wow, I haven't wrote on here in awhile. Things have been busy and I really just haven't felt like blogging. When I am on the computer I have just had work that needs to be done and not much time to write.

I am really excited for winter, I applied to be a snowboarding instructor at Mt. Brighton and I had a training meeting last Thursday and have another this week. I got an email last night from the director saying that if the hill is open on Thursday we are training on the snow, sooo excited, I haven't been able to snowboard since last December. Hopefully I can get the job, make some extra cash and be able to just go snowboard in the mornings after we get some fresh snow, there's nothing better than that. Even if it is just little Mt. Brighton it's great to just ride around.

Lots of shows coming up that I am excited for, Forgive Durden, Murder By Death, Manchester Orchestra, The Hard Lessons, the list goes on and on.

That's it for now, I am going to watch The Sandlot and try to fall asleep.

Cha. Cha.

So I signed up for a job as a "guide" with Cha Cha. It's a new thing where people text in questions to a number (242242) and then you receive an answer back via text. Pretty much what I will be doing is when ever I am on the computer I have program open and when a bell goes off a question pops up on my screen and I have to research the question then answer back. Right now I am doing what they call a readiness test, which includes answering 10 live questions from people. So far it's been kind of crazy. For each question you answer you have to find a valid website that you can cite for the person to look at for more information. What sucks is you can't use Wikipedia or other Wiki sites which most have valid information and are the easiest to access. People like to ask question that have multiple answer or answers that are always changing so it can be hard to find them the right answer. If I get this right, which it seems like I will, this could be a cool way to make extra cash while I am already working on here.

Really?

So I just got back from our Jeffree Star show. I ran my ass of managing the stage and keeping everything in order. The show went really well and kids had fun. I don't quite understand the Jeffree Star/Brokencyde/Medic Droid/Breath Carolina thing, but kids like it so we bring it. Anyway, right before Jeffree went on I was running to the bar to one of his band members a beer and Jeffree comes running out to take the stage and slaps me in the ass haha. Weirdest thing that ever happened to me I think, I just didn't know what to do. Oh well, I didn't really talk to him but the guys in his backing band were super cool and down to earth and he has the best tour manager I have ever met, she rocked. That's all for now, I am beat.

Oh and I got Razia's Shadow so I am listening to it now with my in ear headphones so that's all I can hear. It's so friggen sweet, buy it, it's the best thing to happen to music in a LONG time.

Fortnight.

At Scott's house. We made a fort again and are sleeping in it... Well him and Brian are and Zach is sleeping on the bed. I on the other hand am awesome and wide awake writing a Blog on my phone because my computer is dead and on the other side of the room. Tomorrow is Forgive Durden I am so pumped, although they did call is to say they were having some van trouble but they are pushing hard to Michigan and getting it fixed when they get here. I will cry if they don't play tomorrow.

Well I should try to sleep.

Do Work.

SO friggen much work to do and it just keeps piling up. Oh well hopefully it will all pay off in the end. I wish I could make two of me to get it all done.

I am more than excited for Thursday, I just hope there is people there to see how amazing it will be. TV/TV just got added and I've wanted to see them since they came through and January.

I should go to bed, I really want to read or watch The Shining though.

Reading.

I haven't read a book in forever, but I just started reading Stephen King's "The Shining." I have always loved the movie and the remake has been on a lot lately so I decided I should finally read the book so I downloaded it on here and just read 2 chapters. Now I am pretty tired, time to go to bed so I can wake up and get some work done in the morning.

The Shining.

The made for TV remake sucks. It isn't as raw as Stanley Kubrick's version. That is probably one of my favorite movies ever, I think I just have something with big mysterious places. I'd love to own a big house with secret passages and rooms one day, that other people would get lost in haha. That would be a dream.

I love Halloween, but what happened to all the hype it used to get? Maybe it's because I am older now but I remember everything used to be about Halloween, everything on TV would be Halloween themed, McDonalds would give out Halloween toys and those big plastic candy buckets. People are boring these days, too busy for fun.

We have so many concerts this week. We have 6 shows in 6 days. I most excited for Forgive Durden, I've been missing this band since I saw them 2 days in a row in 2007. The show is even better because Tiger! Tiger! is playing their first show in months, granted I've been to practices but it's not the same as a live show.

Whadda Day.

Pretty good day, but super long. I woke up at 9:45am or so and got ready and left with Irv for the Michigan VS Toledo game. Got to the game and found our seats, row 10 right on the 20 yard line, PERFECT seats for what should have been an easy win for Michigan. Well that really didn't work out, the game went down hill and Toledo had great passing and we had terrible offense which killed us. They lost 13-10 by missing a short field goal that could have tied it up, Oh well, it was still a game at The Big House so it was good. I also got a slight sunburn on the left half of my face.

After the game I headed out to Clutch Cargos to see the Reliant K, Ludo, This Providence, House of Heroes tour. I picked up Kimberly and we got there a little late due to me getting home a little late from the football game and the show starting early. We missed House of Heroes but got there a bit before This Providence went on. They were good, but played a shorter set because they had some problems with sound check, I wish they would play more old songs, I kind of like one of their new ones but it's still a bit too cookie cutter for me. Ludo was amazing, I have been listening to them a little bit for 3 years or so and I've always wanted to see them live. Reliant K was also pretty solid, I never REALLY got into them but I know some of their songs and they played "Sadie Hawkins' Dance" which is the only one I HAD to hear.

Overall it was a pretty good day, really long but fun. Now I am super tired and have a lot of work ahead of me tomorrow. Sunday will be a great day of work and football watching.

Miles.

8.5 to be exact. Kimberly called me this afternoon wanting to go for a walk around Kensingston and I had been working on stuff all day and decided to take a break and get outside since it was nice out and I had have only seen her once in almost a month. Well we started walking and eventually got halfway and it was starting to get dark, so we got stuck walking the entire 8.5 mile path that goes around the lake. It took us a little over 3 hours to do it but other than our feet hurting really bad by the time we finally got to the car it was a nice walk. The weather was nice (other than getting a little cold toward the end), the sunset was nice, and getting to catch up a bit was really nice too.

In other news my want to get out on the road and tour manage is getting worse. The tour manager for This Providence the other night has been on our with a couple of the band we've had lately including Sherwood and The Classic Crime. Today I found our he is the same age as me, how friggen awesome is that? I envy that guy. Being out on the road with such awesome bands and in a new town each night, no matter how crappy the show or town is, that has to be awesome. I know after I go with Tiger! Tiger! for their weekend at the end of the month it's just going to get worse. The only thing holding me back right now is a damn car payment. Never buy a new car unless you have lots of money and like to be tied to paying monthly payments.

Going to the U of M football game tomorrow with Irv, it should be sweet, they are playing Toledo so they should have an easy win. Later tomorrow night I got guestlisted to go flyer at the Reliant K tour which has This Providence on it too, should be a good night.

NyQuil.

NyQuil used to knock me out for a whole day, now it does the opposite. What the heck.

Yuck.

I woke up this morning sick. It sucks, I have a feeling it's just because of the changing weather. I am super stuffed up and it sucks.

This weekend was good for the most part, The show Friday went decently for going against 2 Homecoming football games. Sunday we had an all day photo shoot for the new Siren the Escape album art. It involved me going in to the lake and wow it was way colder than I thought it would be. I was so cold and numb afterward that may be why I am sick. The photos turned out awesome though.

Yesterday we did photos for Gwen Stacy and they also turned out pretty sweet. I am getting excited for all this work coming in other than it's exactly that, A LOT of work.

Lately I feel really passive like I am just letting everything happen, I think it's just that time of year. I can't wait to snowboard, too bad I won't have enough money to go to Colorado this winter.

Beauty.

I am addicted to the new Jack's Mannequin album. I loved the old album and listened to it over and over again since Andrew put up his first demos under the name Jack's Mannquin. I've seen Jack's twice this year and hopefully will be seeing them in November too, such an awesome live show. This album is defiantly different I would say a bit deeper and more mature. Throughout the CD you can tell it's influenced by his battle with cancer, but I think that helps make the album that much better.

With the first listen I wasn't sure if I would like the new album, it isn't as raw as "Everything in Transit", but I have been completely won over. It's a very emotionally driven album and very diverse with a solid mix of upbeat and slower songs. I have listened to the CD a few times though and I can't pick a favorite song. I am pretty partial to the single "The Resolution" which should be a huge song in a couple weeks and on every radio station, but I am also digging the opening track "Crashin."

Yes, I am bad and downloaded this the day it leaked but just as I did with the new Panic at the Disco album and The Matches' new album I am going to go buy this ASAP. Andrew deserves every cent that he makes, dude is a true musician.

P.S. Right before I posted this I had the worst case of deja vu ever. I hate that.

BORED.

I've been in the house and on a computer pretty much all day. We got my mom a new HP laptop for her birthday and I set that up and then I just installed some new programs on my phone (finally got an AIM that works for free). I could work on some ADs that are due on Monday but I really have no want to be on the computer, I want to go out and do something but I live in Brighton and there is nothing to do here ever, PLUS there isn't really anyone to just go hang out with. I hate days like this.

Slacker.

So as I write this I am laying in bed. I woke up around noon but laid in bed watching. I feel like such a bum on days like this, but this is my lifestyle. It's nice not have to conform to the 9-5 grind that so many people deal with everyday and I think many hate whether they say it or not, it's just how things are "supposed" to be. I like my life for the most part, things are going to get crazy soon though, but I think I am ready.

Weezer.

Weezer last night was awesome, they have been one of the bands I swore that I must see before I died. Our seats were a little far away but everything sounded great without getting my ear drums blasted out. Nate found these vouchers for $20 tickets so it was defiantly worth it. They played an awesome mix of songs and all their hits. Angels and Airwaves was way better when they played at The Fillmore, with all the effects they use it doesn't really work well in an arena. Tokyo Police Club wasn't too exciting, most of their songs were very similar and they didn't have fun stage presence.

Tonight we have the Breathe Carolina, Every Avenue, Brokencyde tour in Lansing. I'm not too excited for it other than hopefully to make some money, I'm broke.

The new Jack's Mannequin album comes out today, go get it, it's amazing.

Waiting.

I am sitting at Panera bread right now enjoying some awesome soup. I felt like I should write a blog. We are about to have a meeting for Clockwork, just waiting on the other kids. I'm seeing Weezer tonight for $20, that should be sick.

End.

Changes.

Things seem to be in a transition period lately.

Shows were doing really bad but from the looks of it the next couple of shows should be great... I hope I am right.

Friday Nate and I went and played sticks and pucks at the Hartland ice rink and I finally bought myself some skates and a new stick. I really can't wait to play more often, I haven't skated since March and I need to build my ankles back up (I tore all the tendons and ligaments in my right ankle when I was younger) and get my skating back. When I was younger hockey was my life. Everyday the neighborhood kids and I would play Hockey until we absolutely had to go in, when I was stuck at home I would play NHL94 and NHL95 on Super NES and make sure all the rosters were up-to-date (yeah, I was such a nerd). I broke my ankle one year (I broke a lot of bones when I was little) and as soon as they took the cast off and gave me the air cast I was putting my rollerblades on and in the street ready to play again. Sadly we never had enough money to where I could play ice hockey on a league and I didn't want to play roller hockey and pay for it when I could play in the street everyday for free. Gosh I miss hockey.

Anyway, today I went with my parents and my little sister to go look at a house. We've lived here since I was like 13 and we've been renting the whole time, since the cost of housing is down so much my mom figures it's time to get their own place. The house itself was decent, it was a two story with decent size bedrooms a good size living room and a hot tub (although the hot tub looks like it needs some major cleaning and work to make it usable). The house is almost double the size of the place we are living now so that would be nice to have that extra space. The house definitely needs some work, but that's expected. I am excited though because it's close to a lake so hopefully some sweet pond hockey can take place. Even if we do move here though as soon Matt can get a solid job and Fusion and Clockwork prove I can make a steady income I need and want to get out on my own. I'm pretty sure my mom thinks it's because I hate them but I just need to be out there living on my own, I feel it's time.

November 4th, pick up Alternative Press magazine, one of our photos of Fear Before will be featured in it. Hopefully that helps get us some more business from some bigger bands!

Busy week coming up, I'm ready!

Go Crazy! Go Crazy!

I feel like I am going nuts. So much has been thrown my way this past week or so. So much work has just taken over my life. At any given point in the day I have like 8 things that I COULD be doing, that's a fun feeling. Most of the things are good and are making me some money, where shows are NOT right now. Tonight's show was pretty much awesome musically, Jukebox the Ghost was just perfect and Say Hi was just talented. I don't get what some people see in music, why are bands that talk about "Gettin' Crunk" popular.... YOU aren't cool!

Tomorrow is Brand New at MSU and we aren't sure if we can get in or not, we were supposed to be guest listed because we know their agent but the school is being stupid. I better get to see them again, for some reason I have a feeling they won't be around much longer.

I found out today I am probably going to see Weezer on Monday for really cheap. They have always been one of those bands that I said I MUST see before I die. Hopefully that works out.

Well I have to go finish editing some Fear Before photos from Friday, their label rep e-mailed us today saying she needs photos by Friday so they can be in AP Magazine! Talk about friggen awesome!

Oh No.

I haven't been able to blog since Friday. This weekend was pretty good. Fear Before was awesome, the photos from that turned out pretty sweet and they are really cool guys. I also got to hang out with the guys from Damiera a bit. They are relocating to Chicago for the fall to practice and do some recording I guess and they want to come to Michigan a lot so that should be sweet.

Saturday I saw The Swellers and We Are the Union in Ann Arbor. The Swellers were awesome as always despite Nick being super sick. They played a new song that reminds me of the Polar Bear Club, which gets me pumped for their new album. We are the Union killed it, they should be touring with Set Your Goals. We ate way too much food including Qdoba and Jimmy John's (I had my first Garg and it was way too much).

Sunday I woke up at Scott's, ate dry Cookie Crisp and then drove home and took shower then drove to his parents watched Tiger! Tiger! practice a bit then we headed to the PAC to setup for the Solidarity show. Overall it was a sweet show, it was cool seeing Wes play with Saints Never Surrender. Solidarity was awesome and their new singer is the drummer from Life in Your Way. They were awesome guys and all they were worried about after they played was watching the Green Bay VS Dallas football game. They are all about the Packers. After the show Scott, Irv, Justin and Brock (from Siren the Escape) along with Saints and Soildarity went to B Dubs to get some food and watch the game, it was a good time.

Monday, I didn't really do much other than sit at home and work on various projects that needed to be done. We have been confirming some really awesome shows (some not so much my favorite bands, but more of the level bands that we should be working with).

Today I just did more work and got some flyers printed and took to get passed out at the Sigur Ros show tonight. I have been so tired lately but have been sleeping pretty well, hopefully I'm not getting sick again.

Say Hi (To Your Mom) is tomorrow, that should be a cool and really chill show (Scott I hope you read that! haha).

That's it for now. Thanks for reading my ramble.

4:30am.

I can't believe it's 4:30am. I have to be up, showered, everything ready and to Nate's by noon and I probably won't fall asleep for another hour. I am pretty happy with the MySpace layout I am working on right now though. It's not really my style but this is my job haha. Let me know what you think. Click here to check out the layout I am working on!

Just a heads up, it is no where near done, that's just what I have done tonight, there will be wings incorporated with the moon somehow and there are still a bunch of other tweaks, images and info that will be added to the page.

Hope.

Big show tomorrow. Fear Before, formally Fear Before the March of Flames. I don't know why people are pissed about the name change. Everyone calls them Fear Before anyway, they are still the same band, oh well. Anyway, I am hoping tomorrow's show goes well, musically it should be awesome, I've never seen Fear Before but I really like their music and Damiera is in my top 10 list of favorite bands, it's always good to see Dave. On the business end of the show tomorrow I really hope it does well, I don't mean to be greedy but I need some money, I have bills to pay and lately shows have been slow which equals not much money for me to live on. Doing all that work and nothing to show for it sucks. Come on kids, come out to a concert that doesn't involve a band that is on the radio or has a video on MTV!

Slammed.

So much work that needs to be done. Between Fusion work piling up with the constant flow of flyers and posters that need to be made for all the shows we keep confirming and high school is back in so that means high school newspaper ads and this year we are advertising in more than last year oh and most of them are different sizes so it's not just copy and paste work haha. On top of that Clockwork is getting a flow of people wanting myspace layout and other artwork and then we are doing some shoots for bigger touring bands including Fear Before this Friday which I am super excited for. So much going on but I am excited, that means more money and hopefully more exposure!

I left my Four Year Strong CD (awesome disc, check it out) in Nate's car after going to our show tonight and was forces to listen to the radio since most of my CDs were in my case in the back window and luckily some Nirvana was on for most of the way home. That band makes me happy, I know it's cliche but really they influence either directly or indirectly many of my favorite bands, thanks dudes!

Too much work to really dive into what my full day included but to summarize, normal computer work, postering, disc golf with Nate and Jono, show in Saginaw that had 4 people at it, crappy diner, home, more work! More work in the morning then hopefully some Madden 2009 with the guys sometime later in the day.

Wow.

Some people are so predictable. It cracks me up when people are just so empty that you can predict almost their every move. There's not much else I can say, but it just makes me laugh inside and feel more grounded. This blog makes me sound kind of full of myself but I feel deserving of this.

By the way, I don't sleep.

Metro Detroit.

So I pretty much spent my whole day in the "Metro Detroit" area. I woke up and took a shower then headed to Nate's house to go spend the day postering and flyering for our shows this weekend, especially for Fear Before (which I am really excited for). On the way out to Pontiac I remembered that Chiodos was shooting their music video downtown today so we had some flyers made up and got there and passed them out to the 300+ people who were hanging in line to be in the video.

For the video they had a smaller stage with big construction lights and their gear set up on the roof of Phoenix Plaza which is this big amphitheater on the roof of this parking structure in downtown Pontiac. I heard there was also going to be a helicopter flying over to act like they were breaking up a riot in the video.

After flying we took off and headed flyer in downtown Royal Oak and at some of the malls in the area. While putting stuff up we noticed that people had already put some posters and flyers in places that we were going. It's a cool feeling to see that people other than your street team care about shows that you are putting on and help promote the shows. While on this adventure we stopped at a couple Hot Topics because they are sponsors for the Emarosa tour that we have in October. Now I remember Hot Topic being very dark and almost gothic from when I used to frequent the mall in high school and what not with my friends, now Hot Topic has some pretty cool stuff in there, tons of shirts of some awesome bands, they have a music section with an awesome mix of bands and they even carry some vinyl. They also are cool with people hanging up concert posters and have place for local flyers and what not. We met a guy there who knew about us and our shows and was all about helping us out.

After running around putting up stuff we headed back to Pontiac to check out the rest of the video shoot and see if anymore kids were there that we could promote to. We got back and all the kids were on the roof and not many more had shown up. So we just ended up hanging out and watching some of the shoot. The kids who were there were going crazy and stage diving and singing along. They really picked the perfect day for the shoot, not a cloud in the sky and the sunset was amazing. At night they kicked the lights on and they even paid a guy off at a building near buy to use his huge spot light to back light the band, from the front it looked awesome. It was getting kind of cold and nothing was really going on so we decided to take off.

On our way back to the car we ran in to our friend Chad from Manna & Quail and formally the frontman of the band Heirs (which I miss terribly). They happened to be practicing at the building right in front of where we parked so we went in and hung out for awhile while they were setting up and just hung out and talked about music and art stuff. After hanging out they were about to practice and we were ready to head home to we took off. After a long day running around promoting we got back and I headed home from Nate's, stopping at Scott's to give him some posters. Now here I am writing this blog that probably was total shinfo to you. I will post some crappy cell phone pictures to make it a little more fun.

P.S. Although I am not a big Chiodos fan I wish I would have taken a camera with me, it would have been awesome to shoot some photos there tonight.

Starting Fresh.

So originally I had a blog on here, but then I wanted to be able to post photos and what not from the road from my phone and only LiveJournal worked with Flickr. So I deleted everything on here and switched over. Well I don't have my PRO account on Flickr anymore so I switched back, I like this site way more. Even though I don't write blogs often I like to have one, especially when I travel so I can write down things shortly after they happen, it helps me remember my travels.

Speaking of traveling, I hope I can get on the road again soon. Having a car payment is a terrible thing, it's really held me back from getting out and exploring while I still can, I wish there was a way to just get rid of it, but I can't really sell it at this point. I want to figure out a way so by this time next year I can hit the road and try my hand at tour managing a mid-level band and combine two of my loves, traveling and music. My friend Brandon is working on taking off on tour this summer just taking photos and I hope it works out for him, I would love to do that.

Right now my life is such a rush, so many concerts and promotional work for them (yes.... FLYERS, my life). We are getting some awesome offers I just hope they can all pull through and help me make a enough money, I really want this to be my life. I just wish kids would open there eyes to some of the not-so-mainstream shows that we do, there are some really talented bands out there that get passed up because kids haven't heard for them or whatever (I do it sometimes too and hate myself when I find out how sweet a band is). For being a company for under a year we are doing pretty solid, I can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for us.

That's it for now. If you want to check out some of my old blocks hope over here: http://ronhowardmi.livejournal.com/