Your Favorite Blog by Chris Fafalios

Delightfully Blogged, Part 3.

2010-09-07T17:39:00.001-07:00

Roller Coaster Smoke

Lost-mania was at its peak during the recording of Delightfully Pleased, and of course we are all fans (except for Cory who hasn't watched it yet, but I'm sure he will eventually). We had the musical ideas down for the song long before we ever decided to make it about Lost, but it just seemed to make sense, considering we would stop practice to watch it if we practiced on Tuesday nights. Once we even hinted at the idea of making a song about our favorite television show, there was no going back. We pressed record on Garageband at practice to record the music, and within a few days Steve sent back the same file with his vocal ideas over top of it. It went from his head to my ears, and there was no way it was coming out once it was in. I really like the way he made the first verse the "Jack" verse and the second verse the "Locke" verse. "We'll live together, or we will die alone" seemed so obvious to sing in there, but how could it be anything else? It was perfect.
The second verse of the song had a few revisions, and Steve borrowed an idea for the "you don't control me, I'm on my feet again" line from a demo of an amazing song he sent me probably well over a year ago. The demo song that he sent me just wasn't right for this album, but I hope that we record it someday. Its very Kanye West "808s and Heartbreaks" style, which may have been strange to include in this collection of songs. The line in the demo was "you don't control me, you're not my manager", but "I'm on my feet again" made way more sense for a John Locke verse.
I really enjoy playing bass on this song, and I really like the way it turned out in the recording. I love the long single notes in the chorus, and I love moving my head the way that Beck's bass player moves his head when I play it. I also got to sing the "yeaaaaahhhhh" s in the post-chorus, which I think is really fun. I don't even cringe when I listen to it, I think it sounds pretty good.
It was cool doing some things in the song that the writers of Lost would've done if they wrote the song. Secret messages, flashbacks, and strange effects all seemed very appropriate, and we had a blast coming up with little things to add in the studio. Flashing back to the Rewind EP in the end of the song seemed like the perfect thing to do, not only because it sounded good, but also because we knew that long-time listeners of Punchline would really appreciate it. Working on this song with Jamie was fun too, because he was also a Lost fan. He knew what the heck was up.
Despite all the indirect Lost references in the song, we were careful not to make the song too specific to the point that a) we'd be sued, or b) a non Lost-viewer couldn't appreciate the song. I think that if Lost never existed, the song would still be cool and put very vivid visuals in your head when you listen to it. Plus, I think the main lead of the song is one of the catchiest things we've ever written. I hope that Roller Coaster Smoke plays at the Lost cast reunion 10 years from now.

Joe DeWitt made a pretty amazing music video for the song:

We also have fun playing it:

I didn't like the ending of Lost, by the way.

Into The Mouth

"Into The Mouth" was originally supposed to be nothing but a short interlude on the album right before "Whatever I Want, Whenever I Want". Put the four of us in a room with Jamie Woolford and Mike Ofca though, and an interlude soon becomes a highlight of the album. Largely inspired by Queen (obviously) and the punk rock bands we all grew up on (obviously), this is the song that I knew all our close friends would love.
Steve wrote the very strange and descriptive lyrics pretty much on the spot, and no one even questioned them. I thought it was very Propagandhi of us to say "politefully dead" and then burst into an all-out fast punk rock song. And not to be cocky about my bass-ing, but how damn good does my bass sound right after that? Cory was the master of the punk beat, and the fact that we even used the punk beat on the album says a lot (I think it does anyway). Cory also sings the highest part in the beginning harmonies....bet you didn't know that! Paul gets to rip it up during the verse a little bit as well. He is a great guitarist. Of course all of us were very excited about this song.
I thought that having the fastest/most punk song on the album come right before the most straight-up pop song on the album would be a cool dynamic. I also think that if we sell a couple hundred thousand copies of Delightfully Pleased and have money to make a big budget music video, you'll see the best music video of your lifetime to this song. Superheroes vs. Giant Hell Monsters. Sounds cool, right? So yeah, spread the word so we can make it!

Oh yeah, and of course this song goes along great with our album cover :)

Delightfully Blogged, Part 2.

2010-09-06T09:18:00.001-07:00

Here are some more of the stories behind the songs on Delightfully Pleased...

21 Forever

When we first wrote this song at practice, I thought it was going to be the best song on the album. By the time we finished recording it, I thought it was the best song we've ever written. Not only was it super relevant and relatable, but it was also that song I'd been waiting for...an all-out rockin' song in which Steve and Paul trade vocals. Steve had written the first very catchy verse and had the framework for the chorus, which was another one of those very "natural" choruses that just kind of happened (much like the chorus for "The Hit"...it just happened...no long discussions, lyrics changes, or anything....what it was from the beginning is what it ended up being). We had been playing the music for the second verse the way it is for a while, but we didn't come up with the melody and lyrics for it until we got into the studio. Paul came up with a great melody for it and we all collaborated on some lyrics that fit perfectly in there ( I think that's how it happened). I remember sitting on the back porch of the studio with Steve and an acoustic and really working out the intro of the song, and the whole idea of "Katy White" (or Katie White, I forget how we spelled it). "Katy" would be a girl who turns 21 and gets out of control, and we would be sort of her Jiminy Cricket conscience / guy who is in love with her. You can both of those things at once when you're writing a song, I just decided that.

My favorite part of this song is the bridge. There was much discussion about whether the bridge part should "swing" or just stay straight-forward. Steve really fought for it to have the swing feel, largely inspired by Toto's song "Africa". Jamie (Woolford, our producer, duh) very much opposed this, and I actually leaned toward Jamie's side because we hired him to produce us. Looking back, I'm glad that we did go with the swing feel because I think it sounds great. Steve wrote what I think are perfect lyrics for this part, especially since he put in a reference to The Streets. We had contacted Patrick Stump about singing the bridge, and he pretty much agreed to do it. We were pretty psyched about that, and Jamie sent him the song files and we waited as long as we could to get them back but they never came. I am sure he's a very busy guy, or maybe he thought the same thing that I did...Steve had sang the part great, and taking it away from him would be silly.

The part that gave me chills in the studio was Paul's final chorus. He sang it the way he had the whole song, and I suggested (I try not to suggest things often, but when I do, I like to make them count) that he really get to the top of his vocal range on the last chorus. There was a part in our really old song called "Play" off of The Rewind EP where Paul was going to go really high but then decided against it. It always bothered me that he didn't because I loved it, so I wasn't going to keep my mouth shut this time. Of course he nailed it, and I feel like it really gave the last chrous a very "HELL YEAH" kind of feel.

We will very soon have a music video for this song that we shot at our CD Release show in Pittsburgh. I think we very easily could have made a standard music video with a plot that really goes along with the lyrics, but I thought it would be much cooler to have a video that shows how cool our hometown is and how cool the people are who come out to the shows. I think its going to be great, and I am excited to have it out there in a few weeks.

Maybe this should be the music video for the song instead, complete with non-current band lineup! I also love the part where it has a picture of Unsung Zeros with our lyrics over it.

Greatest. Party. Ever.

We wanted to write a song that really got the party goin'. We wanted the party to get going our way though, complete with vegetable trays and Scrabble boards. I wanted to mention Mario Kart but Steve shot it down. Also, the movie was originally "Waterworld" instead of "Forrest Gump", even though Forrest Gump is my favorite movie and I've never even seen Waterworld. This was during the time where I was really into the idea of having a birthday party where everyone comes over and just watches Waterworld, which looking back still seems like an awesome idea.

I really like the chorus of this song a lot, and I think it was enhanced even more by a lead that Steve added in which really makes it sound more like something that The Pixies would do instead of just a standard pop punk chorus. We had a lot of fun with putting ridiculous ideas into this song, like the very faint Kurt Cobain-ish "hey" sounds in the bridge, and the "hey girl let me get your information" part that I got to shout very loudly into the microphone. I did a lower take and then a take where I was at the very top of my range and my voice cracked a lot, but I think it added to the craziness of the part.

I think the chorus of this song really keeps it in check. This song could have been an all-out cheese-fest, but I do think the chorus is deeper than you'd normally hear in a "party" song (but not as deep as Ween's "Your Party", which I think is the greatest song about a party ever written). All in all, its a song about living your life like every day is New Year's Eve, which wouldn't be such a bad thing, unless you were really fall-down drunk every day of your life, which would be bad. Maybe the best way to put it would be "live each day to its maximum potential". There wouldn't be anything wrong with that.

Party of the year at my house, there's no place you'd rather be.

All I want to do is inspire everyone who ever lived.

2010-09-01T16:43:00.000-07:00

I want to be the damn RUDY of bass playing and blogging.

I want everyone in the world to accomplish everything they want to. I want to see 90 year olds climbing Mt. Everest and 10 year olds building the Eiffel Tower out of Legos. I want to see less whining and more doing. I want to see everyone in the world making strides toward what they want. Nothing is insurmountable. I mean, look at this damn dude...

I want to see everyone being cool to each other too. Being a good person and just generally nice to other people can go a long way for all of us getting where we want to be. I hope that I have been nice to everyone reading this. If I have done you wrong, please let me know so I can apologize and buy you a damn pizza.

I love common sense too. Churchin' it up is cool and a lot of good people love churchin', but I think it would be cool if everyone practiced the religion of common sense! Don't kill anybody, don't hurt anybody, don't rape anybody, be nice, help people out, do your best, don't waste your life, don't be a jerk to people who don't have the same opinion as you, make the world a better place. I think those are all common sense things that people were probably trying to convey in religions before they got all mixed up through thousands of peoples' translations.

I'd love to see everyone in the world leave the world a better place than it was before they existed. Here's something I like to read that inspires me that was written by the BADDEST DUDE EVER!

Draw a crazy picture,
Write a nutty poem,
Sing a mumble-gumble song,
Whistle through your comb.
Do a loony-goony dance,
’Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain’t been there before.
-Shel Silverstein

AMERICAN CLASSIC

2010-08-31T14:51:00.001-07:00

Today I posted on facebook that I'd really like to see a sticker of Calvin peeing on the cast of "The Big Bang Theory", and luckily a nice person named Obed Vetter made this for me...

It really got me thinking about other things I'd like to see Calvin pee on. Here is just a short list...

- A pickle.

- A swastika.

- A pickle with a swastika on it.

- Mad TV.

- Glenn Beck (but only a very small stream of pee, so it kinda looks like a single tear running down his cheek).

- The band "Metrostation".

- The band "Never Shout Never".

- A cup that Jesus is holding, but then in a second sticker you see that Jesus has turned the pee into wine.

- The entire Family Circus family.

- The world "reading".

I really like the idea that my friend Dane came up with too, where Calvin is peeing on a sticker of Calvin peeing on something that you actually like. It could get very confusing, but could also be a really cool way to show you like something. For example, Calvin could be peeing on a sticker of Calvin peeing on a Pittsburgh Penguins logo. I think that could be a lot like the movie "Inception". Taking it to a third level would be really unnecessary and awesome. For example, have Calvin peeing on a sticker of Calvin peeing on a sticker of Calvin peeing on a Ku Klux Klan member.

The Calvin peeing on something decal is an American classic.

I need to have a #1 album, pronto.

2010-08-26T20:12:00.001-07:00

I don't ask for much. All I want is to have the #1 album in America. Is that asking too much? Hell no! I've played bass in this damn band for 13 years, and I think that asking for ONE DAMN WEEK at the top of the DAMN BILLBOARD CHARTS is not too much to ask! If we got to #1 on the charts just for one week, it would mean a whole lot of things. First of all, we'd get to spend every hour of our day WRITING SONGS and be able to put out TWO ALBUMS PER YEAR. We have the ability to write FOUR ALBUMS PER YEAR but that might be pushing it. But yeah, we could easily put out a couple albums per year, and isn't that what bands should be doing anyway? Why do all these damn bands that get all huge and have millions of dollars not put out more music? Why do they wait years between albums? I think that's a bunch of C#$%!!!! (crap)

I suppose that I've never cared too much about being the biggest band ever, I've just always wanted to be able to continue making music and hopefully reach more people with each album. But F#$% that!!! I think its time that everyone burns our albums for 20 of their friends and insists that if they listen to Punchline, they'll be instantly more HANDSOME and/or GORGEOUS! With that kind of word of mouth and false/possibly true promise, there is NOTHING STOPPING our album from being #1!

Okay, so our album debuted at #41 on the Billboard "Heatseekers" Chart, but I don't even know what the heck that means. i am very appreciative that many people bought it, don't get me wrong. But seriously, we need to sell 1 million of these so that we can put out more albums and, of course, I can get ON TV and possibly GET MY OWN DAMN TV SHOW.

You wanna help us keep being a DAMN BAND for another 13 years? Well we need to get this dang album to #1. Here are some things you could do to help if you feel like it, which I really hope you feel like it.

1) You can go on all your friends Facebook pages and post a link to our Purevolume page (www.purevolume.com/punchline) and insist that they go download "21 Forever" on there. Tell them that there are also a whole bunch of other songs they can listen to as well.

2) We need to get on the DANG RADIO, and the perfect place to start is in our hometown of Pittsburgh. That means that all of you should call and request "21 Forever" on our hometown rock radio station, The X. The number is 412 - 333 - WXDX. Just call and request it. 10 times a day. And tell everyone else to do it too! Maybe if enough people call, they will play a Pittsburgh band who has been around for a long time instead of ALICE IN CHAINS. Who is calling and requesting Alice In Chains?

3) We don't have millions of dollars like a lot of these "sexy" bands do, so we rely purely on WORD OF MOUTH to get the word out there about our dang band. Tell everyone you know, and play Delightfully Pleased for them! Burn them a copy of the CD, but insist that owning the actual album is way cooler. Tell them its also on iTunes and available in stores like The Exchange and Hot Topic. Also let them know that we're a real band.

4) Let ALTERNATIVE PRESS know that you like Delightfully Pleased! You can do that by going here: http://altpress.com/ap_readers_chart/ . Tell them that you're feeling us. Tell them that you like our songs and that you think I should be on TV.

5) Leave us some DANG REVIEWS on iTunes! Just go to Delightfully Pleased and leave a review. I like reading them. Everyone is so dang nice. It'll build my confidence to try to GET TO #1 ON AMERICA'S BILLBOARD CHARTS.

We'll have some new dang music videos pretty soon. Hopefully they'll play them on TV, like maybe on Fox right after The Cleveland Show, or maybe on halftime of Monday Night Football.

I hope you all like me. But in all seriousness, please help my band make ten more albums because I love playing bass on them.

I need to get on TV.

2010-08-26T19:29:00.001-07:00

I just decided that I want to be on TV. I think that everyone should start a movement to get me on TV because I think I'll be the best guy who ever was on TV. I have so many ideas of cool things to do. Here are just a few of the things that I'll do when you guys get me on the TV.

1) On Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, I will answer the first question correctly and just decide to take the money.

2) On Saturday Night Live, I will tape up the picture of the Pope that Sinead O'Connor ripped up. I will then proceed to rip up a picture of myself wearing a Pope-style hat and declare myself the NEW POPE.

3) On the MTV Music Awards, I will call out everyone on the fact that MTV doesn't play music videos, and therefore should not be giving out awards for music videos. I will then have a small tirade about how MTV needs to bring back my favorite VJ, Jesse Camp. And also Puck.

4) On Good Morning America, I will confront Juju Chang on how offensive her name is.

5) On WTAE News, I will deliver Erin Kienzle's child live on the air.

6) I'll smoke crack in the Cash Cab.

As you can see, its pretty important that I get on TV. See what you guys can do for me.

Delightfully Blogged, Part 1.

2010-08-25T19:20:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't blogged in here in a long time, but I'm back.

My thoughts on Delightfully Pleased, in case anyone wants to read them.

Seventy

In general, i don't like when bands have songs about being a band, because I think its a subject that most people can't relate to (unless they happen to be in a band). I think one per album is acceptable though, and why not make it first? I was extra excited about a) this song being on the album, and b) this song being the first song on the album, because I had contributed more to this song writing-wise than I had on any of the other songs. I had sent Steve a not-that-good demo of it that I did in GarageBand with an acoustic and 5 tracks of my own vocals, and I was psyched when he liked it a lot. Steve is the best songwriter that I know, and its always exciting when the best songwriter that you know encourages you to write songs, and then helps you make them better. What I had sent him was the first verse and chorus, and I always had a vision of the chorus turning out EXACTLY like it did on the recording. The first line of the song/album, "You won't find songs of hopelessness on this record" (which it seems every review we've gotten on the album so far has quoted) was inspired by an interview that I read with Bjork where she talks about how she only likes to write songs of hope, and she was ashamed that she had written a "sad" song (referring to "Possibly Maybe", which is actually one of my favorite songs of all-time). Once Steve shared my vision on the song after jamming on it at a few practices, adding Paul and Cory to it just brought it full circle. Steve added the bridge, which was something he had written for another song but worked perfectly in context with the song. We all contributed lyrically to the second verse. In fact, it was Cory who suggested that we mention "Laga", which is the Pittsburgh club (which no longer exists) where we had our first good shows. We also started the reoccurring "space" theme with the line "we shot for the moon and missed, so we discovered our own planet". The song has lots of "chicka chicka chicka chickas" in it, which I think adds a lot to the air drummingness of the song. I had fun splitting the second verse with Paul, although I was a little bit shy about it because I tend to cringe when I hear my own voice recorded. Jamie (Woolford, our producer, duh) added an effect on my voice so I wouldn't feel so self-conscious (plus it sounded cool). Paul sounded great singing his part. I was excited that we were all singing on the first song, and I thought that people who have listened to us for a long time might be reminded of a song like "Play". There is actually a small musical reference to "Play" in this song, and I hope that people notice it on the 75th time they listen to it. Actually, I'll just be happy if people do listen to it 75 times!

Many people have already asked us about the "I've seen friends become successful and then be a friend no more" line, and who it is in reference to. In all actuality, I kinda thought it would be a line that anyone could relate to, not just us. I also kinda think that if we were complaining about any person/band in specific, we'd sound like a bunch of whiny babies. The point of the song is that despite any setbacks and disappointments we may have faced, we're still making music and enjoying it more than ever. Plus, if someone was your friend and then forgot about you after some "success", they weren't really your friend in the first place, right?

The Reinventor

I have loved this song since Steve sent me an all-out demo he had done of it over a year ago. He played everything on it, including programming the Reason drums, and to tell you the truth, the demo actually sounds pretty damn great. I remember being on tour and running on a treadmill at a hotel in the morning while listening to Steve's demo (which at the time was called "Get Me Out Of The House") and noticing how much faster it made me run. It made me excited, and I really thought that the subject matter of the song was great. By the time we recorded the song for the album, we really had barely changed the structure or lyrics whatsoever...it was that good already (hope that doesn't come off as cocky, but I really like this song and Steve wrote it, not me). That's not to say that we didn't all do our best to make it as badass as possible when it came to our own individual parts though. Paul added some very subtle but very awesome (in my opinion) leads in the verse, which reminded us all of the band Bracket (which is a very good thing). Steve had written the bassline on the demo, and it is my favorite bassline to play on the entire album. I did my best to play it incredibly and really make him proud. And last but not least, there was Cory. He ABSOLUTELY TORE IT UP on this song. The beat he plays during the intro and a couple more times throughout the song is my favorite on the entire album. I loved watching him play it in the studio, and I love watching him play it now. I think he shines from top to bottom in this song. I also really love Paul's backup vocals in the second verse, which ends up being the part I sing when I sing along to the album (I'm not really allowed to listen to our own album anymore, but I was allowed to before it came out, and sometimes I sang along, and I don't think there's a damn thing wrong with that!) Plus, when we play it live I sing it with him and just double it. So yeah, i was just practicing, not singing along to my own band's CD.

I love the whole feeling of this song, and also the message. I hope that this song inspires people who are in a bad place to take a break, take some time to themselves, make some great plans, and be the best person they can be. Yeah, that would be awesome.

I'll write more later.

My all-time weirdest dream.

2010-02-21T08:39:00.000-08:00

Last night I had a dream that we were playing a festival in the parking lot below my house. For some reason, tons of people who were going to the show thought that they could stay at my house, which for some reason was also my Aunt Jeannie's house. There were lots of huge artists playing the festival, including Lil' Wayne. I went outside and there were big white beds with pillows on them. I accidentally dropped a white pillow from the bed on the ground and into some blood, and I was afraid that someone was going to think that I killed someone on the bed. I was a little bit nervous also because Janice Carnevale pulled up in her car and saw me holding the bloody pillow. I went back to the house, where even more people had gathered. I saw Lil' Wayne up ahead, and a couple of rednecks were giving him a hard time and telling him he sucked. The redneck guys were big, so I didn't say anything. After they left, I went over to talk to him and as I did, some guy with glasses came up and acted like he was going to give Lil' Wayne a compliment, but then proceeded to try to be clever and say really unfunny things about how bad Lil' Wayne was. I was pissed off and I called him a nerd and told him to get out of my house. He looked surprised, and I hoped he didn't recognize me because I think he was a Punchline fan. Lil' Wayne was appreciative, and then we had a fun wrestling match. He thought I was really cool, and he told me that he was going to come out during our set at the festival. I thought this was really cool. He then gave me a hug and left. He held the hug out a little bit uncomfortably long. A few minutes later, I saw a guy I went to high school with - Mike Stitch - and he told me he was a banker now and asked me if I golfed. I said no, because I don't. For the next few minutes, I told everyone that I saw my story about Lil' Wayne. I told my good bud Jeremy Ortolona about it, but I had to tell him twice, because both present day Jeremy Ortolona was there, and also Jeremy Ortolona from high school when he had really curly hair. I told my cousin Anna about it and she screamed and was very upset that I would be friends with Lil' Wayne. I sat in a room with Sarah and Shivey and recited the story again, but they didn't really care. Next thing I know, I'm outside with a group of people that included Steve. We stood around talking by a car, and then Steve lit a match and dropped it. There was a big pool of gasoline on the ground and it caught on fire right next to the car. I took off running, and everyone else didn't start running until a little later. The car blew up in a giant explosion, and Steve's body went whizzing past me. I ran as fast as I could toward it, and I saw that Steve was decapitated. His head was still alive though, and he was smiling and came floating toward me. I grabbed his head out of the air, and then I woke up and typed this.

Night Lights, the descriptions by Chris Fafalios!

2009-12-01T17:03:00.000-08:00

I was very inspired to write my quick thoughts on each of the tracks on Night Lights by reading Steve's blog. Steve did a great job on the blog, and I hope that I do a great job as well.

1. "Heart Of Gold" - This song is so Punchline-Americana. When we were writing this song, I pictured the troops coming home from Iraq and this song blasting as they landed on U.S. soil. I'm not sure if this song will be on our new album, but I kind of think it should. It is very easy and fun to play. I would like to play this song on Regis and Kelly, or even Regis and Kathy Lee. My favorite part of this song is Steve's quiet singing part toward the end - I think he sang it very well.

2. "Changing Lanes" - This song should've been on Action. We wrote it for the movie "Gepetto's Secret". I hope that Gepetto's Secret comes out eventually, because it definitely featured the voice of Tom Bosley from Happy Days. There are so many parts in this song. I would love to have songs with lots and lots of parts again. This song is like a musical journey through a Pixar world. I also really love the key change at the end of this song and the guitar parts at the end, they make me feel good.

3. "Pretty Petty" - This song wanted to be on one of our albums so bad. Unfortuneately, its wish didn't come true. This was the second version of the song that we recorded during the Belan era. We altered the original meaning of the song to be about bad music/bands who are all about their image. I wish we cared about our image. We are normal dudes. Can someone come up with an image for us? I wish rapping clowns wasn't already taken.

4. "Over You" - This song's lyrics originally were "she'll never get me over you", which I thought was a cool lyric with a double meaning. We changed it though, obviously to make it less confusing. This is a love song. I hope we stick to our guns and make a whole album without love songs. There are way too many other things to sing about.

5. "She Always Leaves" - Steve wrote this song and sent me a demo he did of it, and I loved it. I even remember re-writing all the lyrics to it in my old LIVEJOURNAL back in the day. Such a fun song that puts me in a good mood. We wrote the bridge last, and it kind of sounds like a whole different song. This is the only Punchline song with the word "ass" in it.

6. "Castway (punk version)" - This is fun. Some people like it, some people hate it. I'll take the album version any day. I do like Steve's talking second verse, where he adds in little "ums" that we just left in there.

7. "I Live A Lie" - I really like this song. I'd have liked to see how this song turned out on an album. I think it the long run I would've liked this song more than some of the songs that did make 37 Everywhere. Very fun and party-like ending, it kind of makes me want to mosh.

8. "Behind The Scenes" - We blew it not recording this song for an album! One of my favorite songs we ever made. I like the sexy beginning, and I think the whole song should be like that, with slammin' choruses. I always pictured a music video for this song, that is like punk rock Wizard Of Oz. I thought that I would be The Tin Man.

9. "Downtown" - This song is so PUNK. Not really. I wrote a bunch of the lyrics in this one, and one of them is about a monkey in a tree. Not exactly my shining lyrical moment, but this song would be decent to MOSH to.

10. "Let A Lion" - Steve was probably on some weird drug I never heard of when he wrote this. I'm just kidding. I love this song because it sounds like something I've never heard before. I like music that doesn't sound like other things.

11. "Battlescars (acoustic)" - I like this better than the album version (maybe). I love the keys at the end, and I also love the hits before it goes into that. One of our most personal sounding recordings, I think.

12. "Coldest of Calendars (piano)" - I like this. I always like piano.

13. "Getting There is Getting By (acoustic)" - "See these circles under my eyes, I think of them as part of my disguise, cause getting there is getting by". Those are the additional lyrics. If those would've been there in the original version, I'd have liked it more.

14. "A Trip To The Other Side" - A song for an old friend. We wrote and recorded it at our Manhattan apartment during the recording of 37 Everywhere after we found out our friend John Beatz had passed away.

15. "Icicles" - What a mess of a song! Its just parts all put together, with big stops. Regardless, people seem to always ask for this song. Maybe its the subject matter, about feeling alone on Christmas, that people really relate to. I wrote a bunch of these lyrics and I'm not especially proud of them. I think that songs should give people hope, and this is just a very non-hopeful song. I think Steve does a great job of writing hopeful lyrics. Maybe I'm not seeing the "hopefulness" in this song.

16. "All Hopped Up On Jinglebells" - I am very proud of this song. I wish it could become a CLASSIC Christmas song! It reminds me of going to my friend Shrimpman's party on Christmas Eve. I like this song way better than Icicles.

17. "Don't Try This At Home (acoustic)" - Only Punchline song ever with a harmonica. We need to use harmonica more. Steve sang great on this, good job Steve.

18. "Greenlight (acoustic)" - We were trying to fool you and make you think this was actually recorded live. It wasn't. That's all tracks of us in the background, being the audience of our own band. At least I'm not trying to convince you its real!

19. "Pretty Petty (2005)" - Where's the chorus? Greg Wood is really good at guitar.

20. "Punish or PJ" - PJ is amazing in this. My Mom thinks he has a good voice. I do too.

That's all my descriptions. Enjoy!

NIGHT LIGHTS: a collection of previously unreleased Punchline songs.

2009-11-29T09:49:00.001-08:00

This Tuesday, December 1st marks the release of the first ever Punchline b-sides album called "Night Lights". We have held out for a very long time without putting out a b-sides album, but the time has finally come. We have decided to release it digitally only, as to not confuse people and make them think that this is indeed the new Punchline album. Sometimes, b-sides albums can end up being one of a person's favorite albums by a band...two really good ones I can think of are Nirvana's "Incesticide" and Ween's "Shinola". Being as there are 20 songs spanning the past 6 or 7 years, I really think there is a good chance that people who like our band will really like this collection.

We are releasing the album the same way we put out our song "Heart Of Gold". Basically, it'll work like this: You can have the first 6 songs of the album for free, and you can have the other 14 for a donation of at least 6 dollars. We are leaving the option to donate more if you feel generous, because all of the money we make from this will go toward the recording of our new album. We started our own record label with the release of "Just Say Yes" called Modern Short Stories, and since the release of the last Punchline album we have also released a book (Whistle Pig) and an amazing album by a solo artist from Massachusetts (Justin Oliver's "For Rose"). Whether or not we release the next Punchline album on our own label or another label is still up in the air, but we surely NEVER IN OUR LIVES want to try to impress record label people and try to convince them to PLEASE PUT OUT OUR ALBUM and MAKE US BIG. What we do want to do is go and record our best album on our own terms, and if a team of people want to invest their hearts and budgets into it because they absolutely believe in it, we'll consider doing that. If not, we'll put it out on our own label again, because our label is awesome anyway.

Basically, I want to say thank you in advance for your donation should you choose to get "Night Lights". A lot of my personal favorites are included on this collection, including "Changing Lanes", "Pretty Petty", and an acoustic version of "Battlescars" which rivals the real version in my opinion. Another favorite of mine which never saw the light of day before this collection is "Behind The Scenes", a demo that we recorded for 37 Everywhere which we decided was a little too different to be included on that album. We'd definitely love to hear your feedback on the album as well...maybe a song that didn't make the cut years ago can be given a second chance if people think it should.

We are playing a show on December 29th in Pittsburgh in which everyone who was ever a part of Punchline will be playing together. This should be a very special night. Steve and I will also be putting together the stories behind each of the songs on Night Lights, in case anyone is interested in reading about the writing, recording, and possibly even the meaning of each song.

We have been a band for 12 years, and we look forward to being a band for another 12 years. We hope you enjoy our b-sides album, and we look forward to recording a new album very soon. Thanks for listening, because we love to make music!

2009-11-06T07:17:00.000-08:00

I wonder if I'll ever stop getting the Christmas morning feeling before we play a Pittsburgh show. We got to the hotel last night around 3:30 AM, and I was awake this morning by 8 because I am already filled with adrenaline. I am always happy to be able to play music in front of a room of hometown folks. I am also happy that I woke up so early because I got to enjoy a Continental Breakfast. I had myself a belgian waffle, a blueberry muffin, and a banana. Bananas are my favorite fruit.

We had a very great show in Louisville, Kentucky last night. In all our years of touring, we have never played in Louisville before. Obviously it was great to hear people singing along and see people enjoying themselves. We certainly enjoyed ourselves. We even had a van party before we played. Paul and I hid from Steve in the back of the van. We basically act like we're 8 sometimes, which I think is incredible. I wish I had a bed tent to set up in the back of the van. Remember bed tents? I had a He-Man one. On the late night drive, we discussed the Universe and things like Black Holes and the Speed of Light. In case anyone didn't know, we're also geniuses.

Its pretty crazy and pretty awesome that there are no days off on this tour. I am actually happy about that. As much as I would like a day off to go to the movies and see "The Blind Side", I am totally cool with a show every day.

Can't wait to see "The Blind Side" though.

SO MUCH SALMON

2009-11-04T08:14:00.002-08:00

We had a show last night in East Lansing. Oh man, I ate SO MUCH salmon there! It was a very cool show other than the fact that we were competing with a Taking Back Sunday/All-American Rejects show in the same town. Do you think that stopped us whatsoever from rocking? No way. I also ran 3 miles again this morning on the "Elliptical Machine", which should probably make up for my mass consumption of salmon last night. Paul and I hung out in the van and listened to good music after Steve and Pat "hit the hay". I like listening to Derek White recordings and being amazed by them. We are heading to Pontiac, Michigan today. I hope that Green Day isn't playing Pontiac tonight too. I don't think they are. I like this tour a lot, and I also like this hat a lot.

THE BLOG IS BACK!

2009-11-03T06:46:00.001-08:00

Back to tour means back to blogging! We kicked the tour off in Cleveland last night. I can't imagine a better place to start a tour. Obviously we had a fantastic set playing for lots of great people in Cleveland. It kind of felt like a friend convention. I liked it. I also like the bands we're touring with, so far all good dudes. This blog is so generic so far. I liked when I was a kid and we'd use the word "generic" as a really derogatory term. Here's an example of how it could be used:

"Hey, do you like the Green Bay Packers?"
"No man, the Packers are GENERIC!"

That's a true story.

So far on this tour, I have been eating like a child who was left at home and ate whatever he wanted. I ate candy and chocolate bars and taquitos and burritos. I drank beer and Red Bull. I'm going to change that today. I'm in search of the PERFECT SALAD (which often times is an Olive Garden salad, although that thing tastes way too good to be good for you). I woke up at 8 AM this morning and ran 3 miles on an "Elliptical Machine". Its the first time I ever used one of those. I'm not sure if it worked. We'll see if I'm really ripped in a few hours.

Playing our first show with Paul in like 5 years was very monumental. I enjoyed his singing, guitar-ing, and v-neck t-shirt. He needs to get caught up on some good music though, I think I'm gonna make him a mix CD.

I think I'm gonna try to find some food before I drive to East Lansing, Michigan. I'm going to scavenge like a vulture. My Mom gave me a big box of candy bars to take on tour. I'm going to resist the urge to eat a Baby Ruth right now. "BABY RUTH!" - Sloth.

Here are some pictures of my friends.

Practicin'.

2009-10-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today is October 21st, 2009. I think its strange that it'll never be October 21st, 2009 again, except for today. I'm making the most out of this once-in-a-lifetime kind of day. First of all, Andre got a bath today, which he needed very badly. If there's one thing Andre doesn't enjoy, its getting a bath. Giving Andre a bath is bascially like water-wrestling with Andre for 15 minutes. Once its all said and done, he definitely smells way better.

Today is practice day. We only have a few more practices left before we head out for our November tour. Playing with Paul again has been very nice. He is a very talented dude and it feels good to rock together again. We have a lot of songs to choose from when deciding what to play on tour. The decision of what songs we'll play each night will be very difficult. I wish we could play 15 songs per night. How about everyone buy 10 copies of our CD and give them out to all of your friends so that our shows get 10 times bigger and we can play 15 songs per show? Yeah, that's a perfect idea.

I saw a great cartoon today called Adventure Time. It inspires me to want to make cartoons with my good buds Tony and Justin. In a perfect world, I would live in a big mansion due to my bass playing and cartooning. Once I conquered both the bass playing and cartooning world, I'd like to try my hand at game show hosting. I'm going to create my own game show.

Here are a list of things I want to accomplish in the next 6 months:

Release a Punchline B-sides album
Release a Punchline 7 inch limited edition record
Make sure that everyone hears the new Justin Oliver album
Film a pilot for a kids show
Complete a very introspective and all-encompassing Punchline DVD
Record a new Punchline album

I know a lot of those goals are Punchline related. What else do you expect me to do? I'm the freakin' bass player of Punchline dude.

Our first show of the tour is in Cleveland on November 2nd. What a perfect place to start a tour. I plan on watching the hastily made Cleveland tourism video before that. I also plan on rooting for the Cavs.

Time to practice.

A blog about one of my favorite songwriters.

2009-10-18T06:56:00.000-07:00

The first time that I met Justin Oliver was in Myrtle Beach at a venue called The Lazy I. Basically, The Lazy I was a room in the back of a record store where bands would play. We probably played to about 10 people in that little room, but something very important happened that night...we experienced Heaven and Breakfast (featuring Justin Oliver as lead singer) for the first time. We hit it off instantly, enjoyed a night at the beach together, and the Heaven and Breakfast EP became regular listening in our van - a soundtrack to our crazy first tour in 2001. As we would sneak into hotel pools late at night and clunk across the country in a white van with big purple letters spelling "punchline" on the side, the Heaven and Breakfast EP was in regular rotation.

Over the years, we developed a great friendship with all of the Heaven and Breakfast guys. We would play together in each other's towns, which was always a day we looked forward to...the day would start with bro hugs and end with beers. We were always happy to talk about our good buds up in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and spread their music to everyone we knew.

Before Heaven and Breakfast ceased to be a band anymore, they released a full-length CD that once again went on to become a staple in the Punchline van. I couldn't tell you how many times we recited the lines...

"All alone
I'm never anywhere I call my home
These four seats are my furniture
The road it holds me like a lover"

When we recorded our Action album, we had a spot in the bridge of a ballad called "Coldest of Calendars" for some intelligent, poetic, moving lyrics that would give you chills. Who else would we ask to do it but Justin Oliver? We sent him the track, and within a few days he sent us back the song with his part added. What he laid down on the track went on to become one of my favorite parts of the whole album.

Justin went on to be a part of another great band called The Casual Lean. They made a lot of great music over the years, including "We Are The Deer", a song from the first person perspective of a deer being hunted and killed. The song to this day still remains in all of my top song lists (because I love to make those). I've talked to Justin about the song before, and it seems like he wasn't too crazy about that song. I would beg to differ with him, bigtime.

I can't remember exactly when it happened, but I remember hearing the news that Justin had been in a bad accident. It was a very scary time for all of us, and I can remember the relief we felt when we heard he was going to be okay. Once we knew he was alright, we very guiltily (is that a word?) looked forward to the music he would write about the terrible experience (sorry Justin). He didn't let us down.

After his time in The Casual Lean, Justin would send Steve songs that he would record himself, purely for our enjoyment. Every time we got a new song or two, I more and more couldn't believe that this dude wasn't HUGE. He had a voice and lyrics deserving of international recognition, yet we were only part of a small group of people that ever got to hear these songs. He also did a kickass cover of Prince's "I Would Die 4 U". How cool is that?

I am extremely proud to say that we'll be releasing Justin Oliver's new album "For Rose" on Modern Short Stories. Anyone who loves real music from the heart is going to love this album. This collection of songs is a masterpiece from an under-appreciated artist who I am going to do my darndest to make sure IS appreciated! I will be spreading the word hard in the coming weeks about this album. I know everyone will dig it.

FISH TACOS IN YBOR CITY

2009-10-02T08:06:00.000-07:00

Last night we played in Tampa, Florida...Ybor City, to be exact. Ybor City is definitely a place that I could see myself getting into. The show was great, and I kinda felt like it was the best we've played all tour. There were lots of old friends at the show, including Greg Miller who has come to see us play for over a decade now. We met him at Memaw's Alaskan Tacos, where I had my first ever fish tacos. I actually really like fish tacos now, and I'm thinking of getting on a fish taco diet. I'm sure I could eat all the fish tacos I want now that I am running every morning! My last sentence was a lie, I don't run EVERY morning, but most mornings. I ran about 3 miles today, which I thought was damn awesome. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Downtown Tampa thanks to my favorite website of all time - Priceline! We are about 2 blocks from the arena where the Tampa Bay Lightning play. Maybe they'll let me play goalie tonight.

We are going to Sarasota tonight to play at a place called Powerhouse Ministries. It sounds like probably one of the toughest and most blessed places ever. Obviously I'll say a prayer that everyone enjoys my blog.

Tomorrow we head to Orlando to play at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney. I have a feeling that this is going to be the best show of the tour. We'll be staying the night with my Aunt Jeannie, Uncle Mike and Cousin Anna, who are my very top-notch family members. I'm also looking forward to hangin' with my puppy-cousins Sid and Eva. They're very nice Yorkies that think I'm a cool guy. Also, thanks to my wonderful family, we'll be spending Monday morning at the MAGIC KINGDOM, which is obviously one of the most magical places of all-time. I'll obviously be going into Tinkerbell's shop and asking if I can call Tinkerbell. I obviously WON'T be going to the Hall of Presidents, an attraction that I have held a grudge against since I was a small child because my parents made me go into it in 4th grade. No 4th grader should ever be made to go into the Hall of Presidents, that's just wrong.

On a side note, I hope to someday have my own talking robot in the Hall of Presidents.

I'm gonna go walk around Tampa now and see if I can find a Fish Taco Store.

TREADMILL RUNNING PLAYLIST:

"Wreckless Love" - Alicia Keys
"I'll Get There" - All
"Panic Attacks Are Normal" - Barely Blind
"Heist" - Ben Folds
"Ten Speed (Of God's Blood and Burial)" - Coheed and Cambria
"Good Good Things" - Descendents
"America's Suitehearts" - Fall Out Boy
"My Head" - Goldfinger
"Enough To Be On Your Way" - James Taylor

MY FIRST FESTIVAL AS MAYOR!

2009-10-01T10:05:00.000-07:00

Here is one of my ideas for improving Belle Vernon in a small way. I think it would be really great to start with Graham Street Park. I think that a summer festival at the Park would be a great way to raise funds for many improvements I'd like to make. I'd like to buid a nice makeshift stage and hire a great local sound company for that stage. I'd like to bring in a few great bands that people would travel from all over to come see (I definitely could pull some strings to get some great bands, and with my newfound Mayor-dom I could probably get them to play for free with a promise of a great time and helping the community). I'd also have a couple of the best local bands come and play at the festival. I'd make tickets affordable, and have all of the proceeds go toward the improvements I'd like to make. I'd also have all local churches and businesses be able to set up tents and booth to sell whatever they'd like to sell, which in turn helps out a lot of local businesses as well. All I would ask is that each booth charge 1 dollar more for every item they sell. For example, at a gyro stand, charge 6 dollars instead of 5 for a delicious gyro. That extra dollar from each gyro, or hot dog, or basket of chicken fingers will go toward the park improvements. Obviously food and bands would not be the only thing going on. I would definitely have a 3-on-3 basketball tournament going on during the festival. The entry fee would be 15 dollars per team, and the winning team would take home a nice prize purse. A percentage of the entry fees would also go toward the Park improvements. I would time the tournament so that the final game would happen during the headlining band, to make sure that the game has an AMAZING soundtrack! I'd also have many other tournaments and contests going on that would interest a lot of people. Some of my initial ideas: a Connect 4 tournament, a Scrabble tournament, an Arm Wrestling competition, a Freestyle Rap contest, a Bench Press competition, and a Grilling contest. I'd like to have something that would interest every single person in Belle Vernon. When it was all said and done, and everyone in Belle Vernon had the time of their lives at this amazing Park festival, this is what I'd like to do with the money raised...

- Build a nice amphitheater in the Park for future festivals and events

- Renovate the basketball court and tennis court

- Hire a local company to build a small fitness center for everyone to use, because not everyone can afford expensive gym memberships

- Hire a security officer to keep the park safe and free of crime

Steve brought up the question of basketball nets for the court. Well, I have the answer for you. I will pay for new nets out of my own pocket, because that's how much I believe in the Park!

Steve, being my Vice-Mayor candidate, also brought up the point that the things that I want to do would be expensive. My answer to Steve is that I want to raise 100,000 dollars with this festival, which is not a ridiculous thing to think if I could get a cool band like Aerosmith to play. I'm sure Aerosmith would play for free if I promised them a few gyros and let them stay with me.

Obviously I'd be wearing my tux at the FEST.

BEAUTIFUL GREEN FEST!

Please leave me comments letting me know some of your ideas. That's one thing about me being mayor, I will ALWAYS welcome suggestions of how to make the FESTIVAL better!

FAFALI-YES!

2009-09-30T22:12:00.000-07:00

Today I decided that I want to run for Mayor of the town I live in. That's right, I am going to run for Mayor of Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania. I was driving from Pensacola to Jacksonville today and it just came to me that I would be a GREAT Mayor. Picture this: me dressed in one of the finest Italian tuxedos, complete with cumberbund and top hat (a monocle is also a possible accessory). Now picture me standing on a fire truck, leading a parade right down Broad Avenue. I'd have pockets FILLED TO THE BRIM with delicious candy for all the kids lined up on the street to see the parade. Its a wonderful thought that has me inspired to run one of the hardest campaigns, maybe of all-time.

I just laughed to myself thinking about my opponent in the election reading that first paragraph and using it against me.

I'm really taking this seriously and I was thinking about what a great experience running for Mayor could be. I'd definitely be able to run a great campaign. Thinking about making commercials alone gets me very excited. I also think that we could have some KICKASS rock n' roll fundraisers. I honestly do think that I could do a great job as Mayor. Here are some of my initial ideas for Belle Vernon:

- Obviously I think BV needs a movie theater. Everyone in town has to drive at least half an hour to go see a movie, and I think that having a movie theater would bring people from all over the Mon-Valley, just like Wal-Marts does. It would also create more jobs for people in the Valley. I would do everything in my power to make this happen, although I have no idea if a Mayor has anything to do with this. That's beside the point though, because I will be a very special Mayor who could make the impossible possible.

- I think I'd like to get funding to get Graham Street Park fixed up really nice. Last time I checked, there wasn't even nets in the basketball hoops anymore. That's completely unacceptable. I think that Graham Street Park could be one of the nation's finest parks with a little work. I would like to get funding for a security officer for the park to keep it safe for all the kids. I'd also like to get a stage built there for outdoor events and concerts that could help with funding for upkeep with the park.

- I'd like to do everything in my power to create more things for younger people to do in the community. The Mon-Valley, and Belle Vernon in specific, has had a major problem in recent years with young people and drugs. Many people turn to hard recreational drugs as an escape from the monotony and boredom of life in a small town. I think having a center where concerts could be help and clubs could meet would be very beneficial to cutting down on drug problems in our area. I'd like to help create more clubs for people to join, even if they are for a very specific thing. How about a canoeing club? Or an arm wrestling league? Maybe a Nintendo Wii organization? These all seem like silly examples, but if 10 people are into anything, there's no reason that they shouldn't have a place to meet and have the whole community have the chance to be a part of.

- I would personally take care of all disputes between neighbors in the community. I would like to be like "The Wolf" in Pulp FIction for all of Belle Vernon. If there are any arguments about zoning, or neighbors getting mad about someone planting a tree that hangs over their property, I would be great at resolving the issue. I have had to deal with compromise with my occupation for over 12 years, I feel like I have become quite an expert at it.

- I want to have MANY COMMUNITY DINNERS to benefit the less fortunate. I'm really good at making burgers now, and I'd love to have a big HAMBURGER DINNER to benefit the less fortunate. Obviously we'd also get some great entertainment...maybe I'd even try to get the TUMBLE MONKEYS from the Lion King show at Disney World to come in for it. Obviously we could raise enough money to feed all the hungry people in the Valley. That would make me feel good about the community.

- I have travelled all over the United States, Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom over the past 12 years. I have seen the best and worst cities in the world. I know what makes for a great city, and although I think that BV is a very good city, I do think that improvements can be made. There are a lot of things about being Mayor that I will have to learn as I go along, but I think that I can handle it.

- Steve Soboslai will be running as my Vice-Mayor. I also appointed him my campaign manager.

My Mom was very against me running for Mayor, but I convinced her by asking her how I was supposed to run for President if I don't start somewhere! Obviously I want to be President, it has always been my main goal. This will be a good start. I think I will have a good chance to win if I can inspire young people to get out there and vote for Mayor. I doubt anyone under the age of 60 really bothers to go out and vote for Mayor, but I want to make it happen. I want to inspire people to go out and practice democracy in its most pure form!

Keep my tuxedo/parade dreams alive! I'll throw out CARAMEL CREAMS!!!!

Fafali-YES! in 2009

Snuggie Beaumont

2009-09-29T00:46:00.001-07:00

Right now I'm using my Snuggie as it was fully-intended. I am laying in bed with Steve and he is under the covers, and I don't necessarily like to be under the covers with him, so that's one benefit. The second benefit is that I'm on my laptop, and I can be under my covers with my computer on my lap, but I also have my hands free to type at the same time. I really do think its a pretty great invention, even if it is only a big robe without the belt.

We hung out with Barely Blind tonight down in good old Beaumont, Texas. They are my good buds. It was Brad's birthday at midnight, and he wanted to go to Waffle House for it. It was a perfect ride where we all sang to him. Reid's parents made us a delicious spaghetti dinner earlier, but our second dinner at Waffle House was great as well.

Steve beat me at ping-pong, which makes me want to retire.

We went and saw Inglorious Basterds today and it was incredible. Quentin Tarantino is the greatest director of all-time, "and you can quote me on that" (John McQuilkin). By some crazy coincidence, Farewell happened to be at the same theater. We didn't see them, but their van was outside. They must have been seeing another movie. We decided to write a note that said "Get out of our town freaks. You are not welcome here" and leave it on their windshield. We even smeared a little of Pat's blood on it. I'm sure it really freaked them out.

Beaumont, Texas is probably in my top 10 places that I could probably live. I don't like the mosquitoes and ants though. I wish mosquitoes would go extinct.

We gotta drive all the way to Pensacola tomorrow. Maybe I'll write an insanely long blog. Or a book.

Its Enough To Be On Your Way

2009-09-27T00:27:00.001-07:00

We spent the day today in Dallas. First off, I was pretty happy that people in Dallas are pretty much oblivious to my fame. I didn't even have to wear any kind of disguise - I could just walk in public without a fake moustache and Oakleys without any sort of problem. At first I thought that maybe I just wasn't that famous in Dallas, but then later I realized that its just because the people of Dallas are so respectful of celebrities' personal space.

We played at around 2:30 PM at this sort of "festival" of bands at the club called "Live @ Mocah". Any club with an ampersand in its name is obviously cool with me. We obviously rocked extremely hard, despite the fact that I had to wear my glasses during our set for the second show in a row. I think they're a good luck charm though, because we once again played flawlessly.

My old buddy David Swann came to the show, and later hooked us up with some delicious food at the restaurant where he works - Dick's Last Resort. I couldn't resist the crabcakes, and I'm glad that I didn't resist them because they were delicious. People were throwing napkins all over the place, and I didn't know if that was allowed or not. Turns out that it was allowed. Our waiter was really awesome, and he said some really funny things like "kiss my black ass", "where you goin' whitey?", and other things that wouldn't be nearly as funny if I said them. It was a great dining experience, and I hope to someday do something really cool for David Swann to thank him.

I listened to the James Taylor song "Enough To Be On Your Way" about 10 times tonight. I heard it for the first time tonight, and I found it to be very mysterious sounding. I could not for the life of me figure out what the song was about, but I was definitely impressed to hear JT say the F word in it. I'd definitely be interested to hear peoples' takes on what this song means.

San Antonio, Holmes!

2009-09-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

Hey, I'm in Texas. I'm actually on the way to Dallas from San Antonio. Tonight was a cool show in San Antonio. It was a very "intimate" show, but that is nice sometimes. I got to see my buds Joel Hennig and Matt Adams at the show tonight, which is always great. I like that both of those guys are great runners too. I learned that 125 Texians and 527 Mexicans died at the Battle of the Alamo. I'm glad that I decided to never die, nor get the swine flu. I had to wear my glasses at the show tonight because my right eye is bothering me. The reason for that is probably because I have disposable contacts, but I barely ever change them...maybe once every 5 or 6 months. Its okay though, because the people of San Antonio got a special treat with a special "glasses" show from me. I think I played even better in my glasses. It doesn't bother me that they sit crooked on my face either, because I think that's stylish and cool. I also decided that I'm getting pretty famous now. I decided to start my own mailing list, and I definitely decide to make it INCREDIBLE. One thing that I decided today is that when I get really HUGE, I'm going to have an entourage of cool looking dogs that follows me to press conference and awards shows. I've really been getting extra famous over the past couple weeks or so, and I gotta say that it really has its up and downs. People always expect such great things out of me. I really feel the pressure to keep producing excellent podcasts, blogs, video blogs, and most importantly, FACEBOOK STATUS UPDATES. I think I'm handling my fame well though, and really not letting it get to my head. I think one of my best qualities has always been my INSANE AMOUNT OF MODESTY.

We all ate lunch at Wal-Marts today, which is a great place for lunch. You can really stretch your money out at Wal-Marts. I ate chicken for both lunch and dinner today. I don't have a problem with that at all. Someday I might stop eating chickens, but not yet. I definitely feel a little guilty lately about eating cows, because I kinda think they're gorgeous. I'll tell you right now, I'll never eat a horse.

I have 4 mosquito bites. I see no reason why mosquitoes should exist. I don't think it would mess up the ecosystem if they were all eliminated. I am going to start constantly applying Off spray to avoid these itchy red bumps. I hate them.

I need new shoes.

Here's a cool truck I saw.

Okra-homa City!

2009-09-23T23:32:00.000-07:00

Had yet another BLESSED show tonight in Oklahoma City. I knew that the show was going to be BLESSED because when we were at the laundromat, a guy said to us "I hope y'all tour is BLESSED". He definitely knew what was up! I love when people say "That's what's up" in kind of a southern way. I am very happy to have all of my FAVORITE SHIRTS completely clean again. They all smell so good and look so cool. We have a day off tomorrow to drive, and there's a chance that we might go camping with our good buds in Between The Trees. I really hope this happens, because I love to camp. Maybe I'll get the license plate "LUV2CMP" when I get home. I'll be the first one in line for Smores! I went to Wal-Marts twice today. I'm glad I got some great stuff. One of my favorite parts of going to Wal-Marts is when I got some breaded okra from the deli and Belan thought that okra was octopus. I actually wish it was, but alas, its only a vegetable. We went back to Wal-Marts later and we got stuff to make sandwiches for the entire tour for $30.03. That's quite a deal. I also got lots of great snacks that are delicious and economical, like: chocolate chip pop tarts, cream cheese and chives crackers, pumpkin muffins, whole wheat bagels, and some kind of fiber bars. Also, I've worked out on the treadmills for 3 mornings in a row. I went 1.5 miles the first day, then 1.75 miles the second day, and 2 miles today. I am planning on doing it again tomorrow. I can't believe how hunky I'll be if I keep this routine up. We had a great show in Oklahoma City tonight. One cool thing was when Steve rubbed his guitar against some girl's head during our set. I'm sure she thought it was cool. This tour is a tour full of good dudes. Here is a picture of the dudes.

Let me also note that 1) people at clubs don't flush toilets, and 2) I will never get the swine flu. I promise.

Love of Horses and Fear of Frogs

2009-09-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

I'm in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Today I saw 4 really great/gorgeous horses frollicking in a field. It really made me think about how cool/gorgeous horses really are. Yesterday, we also passed two cows that were being very romantic. It seemed like they really liked each other. I went running again this morning, and I think I'm very good at running. I plan on going tomorrow morning as well, and maybe not eating a big burrito and three pieces of pizza and a gas station sandwich as my diet. I also learned the very hard lesson that Punchline is not a popular band in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Maybe the fact that we've never played in Tulsa didn't help. Other than that, today was rather uneventful. I'd probably say seeing those horses playing was the best part of the day. Sarah informed me that Andre saw a frog and cowered in fear when he saw it. I like that I have a dog that's afraid of frogs. I'm looking forward to getting to Texas. We plan on camping out on Thursday night, which could be very awesome. I don't plan on sleeping on the ground though. I am very spoiled when it comes to hotels these days. We are at the Hilton tonight. Belan gets very upset about the fact that these fancy hotels charge you to use the internet. Luckily, I have my AT&T USB connect which allows me to always be connected to the internet. I'm so connected that at some point I'll probably snap and destroy all my technology and go live in the woods in an old abandoned bus. Hopefully there's a bus I can sleep in when we camp out. Also, I definitely hope there's no frogs because I'm terrified of them. Hey, whatever Andre thinks is cool, I think is cool. Except for peeing on the carpet.

OKLAHOMA!

2009-09-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

We are heading to Oklahoma City today. I'm sitting in the lobby right now to use the INTERNETS. I would love a bagel, maybe I'll try to get one after I finish BLOGGING. Liking things on facebook makes me really happy. I had myself a nice WORKOUT this morning. I worked up a nice sweat, which made me feel good about myself after eating Arby's and Texas Roadhouse last night. I do enjoy a good Texas Roadhouse sweet potato though. The way I figure, sweet potatoes HAVE to be amazing for you. They're orange for god's sake. I bet they have lots of BETA CAROTENE. I have no idea if I spelled the correctly. I hope Oklahoma City is as cool as I remember. I hope to ride a mechanical bull while I'm there. My buddy Kevin from Farewell did some real bull-riding in his day. I promise that I'll never do that. It seems very unnecessarily dangerous. Kevin is a real country boy. I like that about him. I'm going to get my picture taken with him today. I also want to have all the bands on my podcast. I'm going to get Ryan from Between The Trees to do an acoustic song on my podcast too, because that dude can really sing his you-know-what off. Before you know it, I'll be in Texas. My good buddy Tony has a great nickname for Texas. Steve and Pat LOVE to sleep. This is a very scatterbrained blog. I don't care though, because its my blog and I'll do what I want. I really enjoy this blurry picture of Sarah and Andre.

The World's Most Perfect Mix CD

2009-09-19T23:30:00.000-07:00

If I had to make a mix CD for all my friends to show them how much I like them, this would be it. Feel free to make this CD, and think about me while you listen to it.

1) "I Want You Back" - Jackson 5
2) "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" - Stevie Wonder
3) "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man" - Prince
4) "What A Fool Believes" - Michael McDonald
5) "September" - Earth Wind & Fire
6) "The Tears Of A Clown" - Smokey Robinson
7) "Your Smiling Face" - James Taylor
8) "Here It Goes" - Jimmy Eat World
9) "Beating Heart Baby" - Head Automatica
10) "Touch The Sky" - Kanye West
11) "Jailhouse" - Sublime
12) "Your Party" - Ween
13) "New Mistake" - Jellyfish
14) "Hymns For The Heathen" - Cursive
15) "Heaven For The Weather" - The Streets
16) "Million Bucks" - All
17) "Italian Sun" - Triangle Shirt Factory
18) "God Only Knows" - The Beach Boys
19) "More Than A Woman" - Bee Gees
20) "A Day In The Life" - The Beatles
21) "Emaline" - Ben Folds Five
22) "Hide and Seek" - Imogen Heap
23) "My Juvenile" - Bjork

I hope you all enjoy my mix CD. I hope that all fits on one CD. I'd put Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T." on the bonus disc.

News Day

2009-09-17T22:49:00.000-07:00

I am writing this blog from the Best Western in La Crosse, Wisconsin. This is a very special Best Western, because it has an INDOOR WATER PARK. We got here late, so the pool is already closed, but I can guarantee that I will be up at 7:00 AM to take advantage of the WATER SLIDE and BASKETBALL HOOPS IN THE POOL. I'll be tearing it up for at least 5 hours tomorrow morning.

We are about halfway through this tour, and tonight we announced three very big things. The first big thing is that for all of November, we will be touring with Hawthorne Heights, Just Surrender, Monty Are I, and Nightbeast. Obviously that tour will be great. The second big thing is that after this tour, Belan is leaving the band. That was the bad piece of news. Belan is a good bud, so it sucks to see him go. I don't like his decision to leave, but I'm not going to hold it against him either. The third (and probably most surprising) piece of news is that our old friend and former bandmate Paul Menotiades is going to be playing with us again. I am looking forward to playing music with Paul again. He's a very talented guy, and it'll be nice to see and hang out with him again after seeing him only twice in the past 4 years or so.

I had a great burrito on our way to the show today. It has sweet potato puree in it, which I think it an excellent idea. When I eat a sweet potato, it makes me want to write a song.

COWS N' PUPPIES

2009-09-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

We had a nice little quiet night at the hotel last night with the Farewell guys. You gotta make the best of days off, and I do believe we did. I took a swim, and accidentally slipped and fell on my side. My leg hurts today, but in a very cool way. I guess it also wasn't necessary to note that I accidentally slipped, because I would assume that most slips are accidental. We also took a nice trip to the Olive Garden, where I enjoyed the NEVERENDING PASTA. Unfortuneately, that only meant one dish of angel hair pasta for me. I really got JIPPED on that one. I'm trying to say "jipped" more because its a great and under-used expression. I hope that it doesn't have any offensive undertones, because I don't mean it that way.

I am currently sitting in the van in the parking lot of Mojoe's in Orland Park, Illinois. On the drive here, we announced some important news, but we did it in a very vague way. We let the WHOLE INTERNET know that someone will be leaving Punchline after this tour, and someone else will be coming to join us on a tour in November that we have yet to announce. I will clear up all of the mysteries very soon, but we figured that building suspense would be VERY COOL. I am pretty sure that a lot of people will think that the news is all very cool.

As many of you know, when we're on tour, Steve and I share a bed every night. We usually have no problems/accidental foot touching, but we did have a problem last night. In the middle of the night, Steve slammed into me and awoke me from my deep slumber. He almost knocked me off the bed. I tried to push him off of me, but he refused to move. He laid very lifelessly against me. I then yelled and him and pushed him harder, to which he opened his eyes slightly and mumbled something about how "he sees how it is" and mentioned something about "The South". This morning he had no recollection of it, but Belan experienced it too. I will get my Revenge on Steve. Indeed.

Steve also got a WRITTEN WARNING for speeding today. He is out of control. Here's a pic of me holding it.

Shout out to Hardee's Thickburger! A nice surprise at an Ohio rest stop. Also very psyched about a KICKASS new Andre video in which he barks at some cows. He also sneezes a few times, and the cows look at him and OBVIOUSLY think he's nuts!

Confusing train analogies.

2009-09-15T07:24:00.001-07:00

Cleveland is a great place to play music. It was a Monday night and it was a pretty laid back show, but I talked to some real sincere people who got me all psyched about what we do. I got some good pep talks yesterday. My band self-esteem is doing well and I am looking forward to the things that we'll be doing for the rest of the year. I went and had a big continental breakfast this morning, and then got a shower. While I was in the shower, I was thinking about train analogies. I was thinking to myself at first about whether the train ride was nearing the end, and it was almost my stop. Then I thought to myself that maybe the train ride is just beginning and I'm about to step onto it. Then I realized that neither of those things are the truth. The truth is, I've been walking beside the train for years. I don't have a ticket, but I have a destination, and I also have one of those sticks with a handkerchief tied to the end with a few of my things in it. One of the things in my stick/handkerchief is my laptop computer. As I'm walking along beside this train, I've met many other railroad-walkers. I've also slept in the woods a lot, and seen some pretty cool sights. One time I even saw a baby deer, but I never told anyone about it...until now. This analogy makes perfect sense to me. That being said, I think I'm about to step up to the ticket window and tell the guy selling tickets to give me a ticket to anywhere, and I'll see where it takes me. I might not have enough money for a ticket though, in which case, I'll just continue to walk beside the train. I think I'll get there eventually.

BEYONCE MADE ONE OF THE BEST VIDEOS OF ALL-TIME!!!

2009-09-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

Dang, the shows have gotten REAL good. Pittsburgh was insane. Toledo was great as well. I'm looking forward to Cleveland tonight, Cleveland RARELY disappoints. Plus, I'll get to chill with my good bud Tony tonight. Obviously we'll probably do some videobloggin' or something of that nature.

Pretending to take Kanye's side in the Kanye/Taylor Swift controversy is really entertaining to me.

I want a Spicy Chicken Sandwich. I am always hungry. That's one of the two things that Sarah really loves about me...that's I'm always hungry, and that I can ice skate really well.

Here are some pictures.

Toledoans.

Lovin' Belan's cell phone.

BREAKFAST IN BED FOR MY GOOD BUDS

2009-09-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

This morning started out amazingly. I woke up and went down into the hotel lobby, where I saw my good buddy Pat Dee sitting and enjoying some CB (Continental Breakfast). I had some eggs, sausage links, toast, and a warm biscuit. I also had some cranberry juice. While we were sitting there, Pat came up with the BEST idea I've ever heard...that we should surprise Steve and Jon with BREAKFAST IN BED! I couldn't stop smiling when he suggested this. I was in charge of Steve's breakfast, and Pat was in charge of Belan's. We did it this way so that we'd each be getting breakfast for the guy we share a bed with. You should've seen the look on their faces when we walked into the room we heaping helpings of breakfast food for them! They woke up with the biggest smiles and immediately dug in. I even got Steve some OJ, and that's his favorite!!!

The tour has been going pretty great so far. My favorite show of the past few days was New York City. I always have fun in New York City. I have so many COOL BUDS in NYC. One of my cool buds in NYC is Vinnie Caruana. He is like The Fonz of guys in bands. I strive to be cool like Vinnie in every day life. We went to The Continental and did shots of tequila. They were delicious!

I'm also always very excited to see Timmer, Hoo Daddy, and BB GUNZ.

One show that was not so great was Baltimore. The people that were at the show were great (obviously), but I guess we did something to make the city of Baltimore mad because there weren't that many people there. What's up Baltimore? What did we do? Being Monday night probably didn't help, but that doesn't usually stop Baltimore. At least we ate at the Paper Moon diner with our friend Janice. She got the turkey dinner, and I don't blame her. I LOVE SWEET POTATO FRIES.

I think all the bands on the tour are very cool. So far I'd vote Kevin from Farewell as tour MVP. One cool skill he has is that he can restore tractors.

I am looking forward BIGTIME to our hometown Pittsburgh show tomorrow night. Its going to be "VERY NICE" (say that in a Borat voice). We played in Poughkeepsie last night, and after we played, we went to the bar next door with all the other bands and watched the Steelers win. A group of guys that were bigger than me were saying "F*** the Steelers!" and the YINZER in me came out and I yelled at them "SUPER BOWL CHAMPS" and a couple of cuss words. Belan was worried they were gonna beat me up, but after I said that they really backed down. I think they were intimidated by my Mickey Mouse shirt I was wearing.

Well, that's all I'm gonna blog for now. Sorry I didn't blog the past few days, I was too busy doing MANY COOL THINGS. I'm gonna go to Allentown now. My very nice girlfriend is making the drive all the way out to see me play bass. She loves my bass skills!

Vienna Fingers

2009-09-06T23:53:00.000-07:00

I have to say that this tour is really great. We played in Vienna, Virginia tonight at Jammin' Java. Needless to say, I jammed the #&@! outta my Java. I think we have played better every night on this tour so far, and tomorrow things will be running on all cylinders. I will be fueled by some delicious sweet potato fries tomorrow night as well. Pat is looking forward to redeeming his last Baltimore show. I hope we can find that pack of hooligans that held him down and forced him to drink Margaritas before our last Baltimore show. They need to pay! I had a great mozzarella and tomato sandwich tonight, as well as a bowl of chili. I have been eating decent food, but spending way too much money on food so far. I'm a little confused as to why none of the clubs so far have provided any food or drinks whatsoever. I'm gonna go broke eating sandwiches. Its okay though, because I love sandwiches. We are sleeping at Cory's house tonight in Baltimore. Cory is cool, and he has a cool dog named Sadie. We played with the Diesel Pigeons tonight, and I think I want to adopt them and make them my sons. I think all the bands are having a good time on this tour, because the shows have been great so far. I plan on turning things up a little bit more each night. Tonight I did a funny little dance on stage, I just made it up on the spot while we were playing. It was kind of an ode to Josh Bonner/Old-School Steve, in which I kicked my legs up very high and to the side. I think it really won the crowd over. People cheered very loud tonight, which is always a great thing. I want to keep stepping it up each night, so that by the end of the tour I'm hanging from the rafters and punching my bandmates in the face during our set. That would be great. Maybe the shows will get so good that my head will just explode and glitter shoot out all over the crowd. I have big dreams. When I was taking a shower tonight, I was wondering whether anybody hated me. I hope not, because I would like to be well-liked. Let me know if you know anyone who hates me. On second thought, don't.

Raleigh Caps

2009-09-06T00:18:00.000-07:00

Well, North Carolina turned out to be a great state to have the first two shows of the tour. I have to give NC mad props for being full of great shows. I definitely realize that being belligerent and obnoxious onstage is the PERFECT way to be when you're playing the bass. I took off my shoes and threw them at Pat tonight during "My White Collared Shirt". He only dodged one of him. I threw them at him because I don't respect him. Our old buddy Zach (bassist of the band Sullivan who is no longer a band) took me to a great place to eat called CookOut. I got a burger with some chicken nuggets and hushpuppies. Dang, it was great to eat hushpuppies again. About 2 hours later, we went back there with the rest of the band and I ate again. This time I got the BBQ sandwich, which was also fantastic. After we played tonight, I met a lot of nice people, including a nice man who told me he wanted to be best friends with me. Maybe I'll take him up on it, who knows? I fully realize that I'm writing about food way too much in this blog, but I also have to mention that we ate lunch in a Japanese/Italian restaurant today. It was the first Japanese/Italian restaurant we ever ate in, and I had a wonderful sushi lunch. We also got our van washed, quite possibly for the first time ever. I figure at 180,000 miles, its time for a wash. I think it recommended a wash at 180,000 miles in the manual. Tomorrow we head to Vienna, Virginia, another town that we have never played music in. The grammar is this blog is pretty awful, I'm ending with so many prepositions and wording things very awkwardly. That's what I get for blogging at 3:07 AM.

Day 1 of Tour, obviously

2009-09-05T07:34:00.000-07:00

Tonight was Day 1 of our tour with Between The Trees, Farewell, and Action Item. Our show was at the Soapbox in Wilmington, North Carolina, which is where they filmed a show that Nick really likes, Dawson's Creek. We walked down by the water and saw a very large ship. We anticipated meeting the other bands, and by the end of the night we probably left a very strange first impression. We all drank quite a few Pabst Blue Ribbons before we played, and we played what I would consider a GREAT set. I definitely took my shoes and socks off, and even played one song without a shirt (which is something I haven't done in the 12 year existence of our band). Belan had one too many and messed up quite a bit on guitar, but I forgive him. It really doesn't matter. Of course I dedicated the whole show to the greatest performer of all-tme (MJ). Overall, it was a great first show and I think we hit it off with all of the bands. I met a lot of cool dudes. One guy that I'm unsure of whether he likes me or not is Bingham, who was Between The Trees' merch guy/tour manager. I really wanted to be good friends with him, mainly because I've never known anyone named Bingham. I hope I can win him over, but I get the feeling that he's not the kind of guy who's into antics, and I am sometimes full of antics. We'll see I guess. We are staying at a hotel recommended by our good bud Jim Logrando. Its called the Carolinian, which is a great name for a hotel. I made sure that Steve and Jon drank plenty of water before bed. I'll be mad if they get sick. That's all for now, please enjoy this great picture of Belan and I.

Long Time, No Blog

2009-08-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in quite some time, but I think I will start again now. I am spending my Sunday riding in the van on the way to Penn State to play a Sunday night show, obviously the best night of the week to play a show. We played at UConn last night, where I ate a cheese sandwich. I also wished a whole lot of people "Best Wishes" on facebook, which was great. We (Punchline) put up a new song called Heart Of Gold for download. Joel Hennig made the biggest donation for the song. He's a great guy, as is everyone else who got the song! I'm full of Dunkin' Donuts today. It was a really healthy breakfast. We have big Punchline news that I'd like to tell everyone but I'm not going to yet. We are home for 4 days before we leave for the Absolutepunk tour. Its going to be a good one. I look forward to spending some quality time with Sarah and Andre before we leave. I'm glad we have Netflix now because I got to see that new movie "Se7en" with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman.

I also recorded a new podcast on ChrisFafalios.com where I read stories I wrote when I was 8.

PENS

2009-06-12T21:20:00.000-07:00

The Pens just won the Stanley Cup. I feel like I'm 12 again. Incredible.

PENSBLOG

2009-06-12T14:17:00.001-07:00

This is my very own Pens blog!

The videos I promised.

2009-06-12T09:13:00.001-07:00

Here are the videos from last night in Toledo that I promised in my blog 10 minutes ago.

Game 7

2009-06-12T06:49:00.001-07:00

We had an incredible first show of tour in Toledo last night. I'm going to try to get a video up soon. I also had an awesome dream last night that the Pens won the Cup tonight, and then I got my name on the Cup too for some reason. I guess because I had played for them before. I think that's going to be a new lie of mine, that I used to play for the Penguins. Here is a picture of me with some AWESOME bedhead.

We play in Hazel Park tonight, which is near Detroit. I am going to feel bad for all the Red Wings fans after the game, but I'm hoping we can still be friends.

I spent $7.87 on food yesterday. That got me 2 cheeseburgers, a large french fries, and a 6 inch tuna sub on wheat with american cheese and a little bit of sweet onion sauce.

I'm gonna edit video now and hopefully get one up before we have to leave this hotel.

Ole' Toledo.

2009-06-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of the Major/Minor Tour. We are kickin' it off in PARTY CENTRAL aka TOLEDO, OHIO. We will be partyin' even a little bit harder tonight because not only is it the first day of tour, but its also Pat Dee's birthday. I like how I act like I party real hard.

Starting a tour also gets me in the mood to blog, which is why I'm returning to blog mode.

The following video also gets me in the mood to party and blog.

texas and toast twitterin' scene from tony hartman on Vimeo.

That's right, the first episode of TEXAS AND TOAST will be finished soon. The world doesn't know what's coming!

Travellin'

2009-04-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a short list of all the places that I've been in the United States in which Ticketmaster has sold tickets for that particular show. I wish I also had the list of shows without Ticketmaster tickets and shows in other countries because I think this list would be 5 times as long!

Sun 08/13/00 Club Laga Pittsburgh, PA
Mon 08/28/00 Club Laga Pittsburgh, PA
Fri 09/29/00 Club Laga Pittsburgh, PA
Fri 10/20/00 Club Laga Pittsburgh, PA
Sat 03/16/02 Club Laga Pittsburgh, PA
Wed 05/01/02 Club Laga Pittsburgh, PA
Fri 02/21/03 The Palace Gainesville, FL
Sat 02/22/03 Jannus Landing Saint Petersburg, FL
Mon 09/08/03 9:30 Club Washington, DC
Wed 09/10/03 Webster Underground Hartford, CT
Fri 09/26/03 9:30 Club Washington, DC
Sat 09/27/03 Metropol Pittsburgh, PA
Thu 10/16/03 Showplace Theatre Buffalo, NY
Thu 11/06/03 Riviera Theatre Chicago, IL
Sun 11/23/03 Bogart's Cincinnati, OH
Tue 11/25/03 Electric Factory Philadelphia, PA
Sat 11/29/03 Club Laga Pittsburgh, PA
Sun 11/30/03 Fillmore New York At Irving Plaza New York, NY
Fri 12/26/03 Trocadero Theatre Philadelphia, PA
Mon 12/29/03 Webster Theater Hartford, CT
Tue 12/30/03 Fletcher's Baltimore, MD
Fri 01/02/04 Fillmore New York At Irving Plaza New York, NY
Sat 02/28/04 Club Laga Pittsburgh, PA
Mon 03/01/04 Lincoln Theatre Raleigh, NC
Wed 03/03/04 Recher Theatre Towson, MD
Mon 04/19/04 The Palladium Worcester, MA
Tue 04/20/04 Mr. Small's Theatre Pittsburgh, PA
Wed 04/28/04 Webster Theater Hartford, CT
Sun 05/02/04 Flanagan's Dublin Columbus, OH
Tue 05/04/04 Jillian's Entertainment Center Covington, KY
Fri 05/07/04 Shelter Detroit, MI
Sat 05/15/04 House Of Blues Chicago, IL
Fri 06/11/04 Theatre Of The Living Arts Philadelphia, PA
Sat 06/12/04 Webster Theater Hartford, CT
Fri 06/18/04 Starland Ballroom Sayreville, NJ
Sat 06/19/04 Mr. Small's Theatre Pittsburgh, PA
Sun 06/20/04 Klub Phenomenon Freeport, IL
Mon 07/26/04 Shelter Detroit, MI
Wed 10/20/04 The Quest Minneapolis, MN
Sat 10/23/04 The Intersection - Showroom Grand Rapids, MI
Sun 10/24/04 Knights Of Columbus Hall Indianapolis, IN
Tue 10/26/04 Clutch Cargo's Pontiac, MI
Wed 10/27/04 Odeon Concert Club Cleveland, OH
Fri 10/29/04 The Chance Theatre Poughkeepsie, NY
Sat 10/30/04 Chameleon Lancaster, PA
Sun 10/31/04 Starland Ballroom Sayreville, NJ
Mon 11/01/04 9:30 Club Washington, DC
Thu 11/04/04 Trocadero Theatre Philadelphia, PA
Fri 11/05/04 Webster Theater Hartford, CT
Tue 11/09/04 Newport Music Hall Columbus, OH
Wed 11/24/04 Theatre Of The Living Arts Philadelphia, PA
Sun 12/26/04 Webster Theater Hartford, CT
Tue 12/28/04 Starland Ballroom Sayreville, NJ
Thu 12/30/04 Trocadero Theatre Philadelphia, PA
Sun 01/23/05 Agora Ballroom Cleveland, OH
Fri 02/11/05 The Roxy Theatre West Hollywood, CA
Wed 02/16/05 Rock Island Denver, CO
Mon 02/21/05 Webster Theater Hartford, CT
Sat 04/09/05 House Of Blues Cleveland, OH
Fri 04/15/05 Meridian Veterans Club Butler, PA
Sat 04/16/05 The Orange Street Garage Akron, OH
Sun 05/01/05 Convention Hall Asbury Park, NJ
Mon 05/02/05 Living Room Providence, RI
Tue 05/03/05 Valentine's Albany, NY
Wed 05/04/05 Higher Ground - Ballroom South Burlington, VT
Thu 05/05/05 Axis Boston, MA
Fri 05/06/05 The Vault Port Jervis, NY
Sat 05/07/05 The Continental New York, NY
Sun 05/08/05 Webster Underground Hartford, CT
Mon 05/09/05 Dave Glicker's Downtown Farmingdale, NY
Tue 05/10/05 Ottobar Baltimore, MD
Wed 05/11/05 Tremont Music Hall Charlotte, NC
Fri 05/13/05 Thee Imperial Jacksonville, FL
Sun 05/15/05 Orpheum Tampa, FL
Mon 05/16/05 Will's Pub Orlando, FL
Tue 05/17/05 Planet Rock Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach, SC
Wed 05/18/05 123 Pleasant St. Morgantown, WV
Thu 05/19/05 Rex Theatre Pittsburgh, PA
Sun 05/22/05 Agora Theatre Cleveland, OH
Mon 05/23/05 Shelter Detroit, MI
Tue 05/24/05 Shorewood Legion Hall Milwaukee, WI
Wed 05/25/05 The Bottom Lounge Chicago, IL
Thu 05/26/05 House Of Bricks Des Moines, IA
Fri 05/27/05 Community Center Jefferson, SD
Sat 05/28/05 Creepy Crawl St. Louis, MO
Sun 05/29/05 El Torreon Kansas City, MO
Mon 05/30/05 Bluebird Theater Denver, CO
Tue 05/31/05 Club Boomva Ogden, UT
Wed 06/01/05 The Boardwalk Orangevale, CA
Thu 06/02/05 The Fillmore San Francisco, CA
Fri 06/03/05 Majestic Ventura Theatre Ventura, CA
Sat 06/04/05 House Of Blues West Hollywood, CA
Sun 06/05/05 Glass House Pomona, CA
Mon 06/06/05 Modified Phoenix, AZ
Wed 06/08/05 Galaxy Club Dallas, TX
Fri 06/10/05 The Brickhouse Saint Albans, WV
Wed 06/22/05 The Palladium Worcester, MA
Thu 06/23/05 Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel Providence, RI
Fri 06/24/05 Starland Ballroom Sayreville, NJ
Sun 06/26/05 Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom Hampton Beach, NH
Mon 06/27/05 The Baycenter Dewey Beach, DE
Thu 06/30/05 Theatre Of The Living Arts Philadelphia, PA
Fri 07/01/05 Webster Theater Hartford, CT
Sat 07/02/05 Water St. Music Hall Rochester, NY
Wed 07/06/05 Odeon Concert Club Cleveland, OH
Thu 07/07/05 Newport Music Hall Columbus, OH
Fri 07/08/05 St. Andrews Hall Detroit, MI
Sat 07/09/05 Bogart's Cincinnati, OH
Sun 07/10/05 9:30 Club Washington, DC
Wed 07/13/05 Jannus Landing Saint Petersburg, FL
Thu 07/14/05 Revolution Fort Lauderdale, FL
Fri 07/15/05 Hard Rock Cafe / Hard Rock Live Orlando, FL
Sat 07/16/05 Coca-Cola Roxy Theatre Atlanta, GA
Sun 07/17/05 House Of Blues New Orleans, LA
Mon 07/18/05 The Meridian Houston, TX
Fri 07/22/05 House Of Blues Anaheim, CA
Sat 07/23/05 House Of Blues Anaheim, CA
Sun 07/24/05 House Of Blues San Diego, CA
Mon 07/25/05 House Of Blues Las Vegas, NV
Tue 07/26/05 The Fillmore San Francisco, CA
Wed 07/27/05 Roseland Theater Portland, OR
Thu 07/28/05 Showbox At The Market Seattle, WA
Fri 07/29/05 Croatian Cultural Centre Vancouver, BC, CANADA
Tue 08/02/05 The New Oasis Sparks, NV
Thu 08/04/05 Mesa Theater & Club Grand Junction, CO
Fri 08/05/05 CityLights Pavilion Denver, CO
Sat 08/06/05 Beaumont Club Kansas City, MO
Sun 08/07/05 Cain's Ballroom Tulsa, OK
Tue 08/09/05 The Pageant St. Louis, MO
Wed 08/10/05 The Blue Note Columbia, MO
Thu 08/11/05 The Quest Minneapolis, MN
Fri 08/12/05 The Rave Eagles Club Milwaukee, WI
Sat 08/13/05 Wheaton Grand Theatre Wheaton, IL
Sat 10/01/05 Rex Theatre Pittsburgh, PA
Tue 11/29/05 Knitting Factory New York, NY
Thu 12/01/05 Grog Shop Cleveland Heights, OH
Fri 12/02/05 Rex Theatre Pittsburgh, PA
Sat 12/03/05 NorVa Norfolk, VA
Sun 12/04/05 Toad's Place New Haven, CT
Mon 12/05/05 North Star Bar Philadelphia, PA
Tue 12/06/05 Ottobar Baltimore, MD
Thu 12/08/05 The Loft Poughkeepsie, NY
Fri 12/09/05 The Palladium Worcester, MA
Sun 12/11/05 Icon Buffalo, NY
Mon 12/12/05 Alvin's Detroit, MI
Tue 12/13/05 Beat Kitchen Chicago, IL
Wed 12/14/05 House Of Bricks Des Moines, IA
Thu 12/15/05 Ascot Room Minneapolis, MN
Sat 12/17/05 Hi-Dive Denver, CO
Sun 12/18/05 Black Sheep Colorado Springs, CO
Mon 12/19/05 The Clubhouse Music Venue Tempe, AZ
Tue 12/20/05 The Clubhouse Music Venue Tempe, AZ
Wed 12/21/05 Chain Reaction Anaheim, CA
Sat 01/21/06 The Hangout Edinboro, PA
Fri 01/27/06 Shelter Detroit, MI
Sat 01/28/06 The Journey Madison, WI
Sun 01/29/06 Metro / Smart Bar Chicago, IL
Mon 01/30/06 Ascot Room Minneapolis, MN
Tue 01/31/06 Sokol Auditorium / Underground Omaha, NE
Wed 02/01/06 The Bottleneck Lawrence, KS
Thu 02/02/06 Marquis Theater Denver, CO
Sat 02/04/06 The Avalon Theater Salt Lake City, UT
Sun 02/05/06 Bourbon Street Saloon Boise, ID
Mon 02/06/06 El Corazon Seattle, WA
Tue 02/07/06 Rock-N-Roll Pizza Portland, OR
Thu 02/09/06 Slim's San Francisco, CA
Fri 02/10/06 The Boardwalk Orangevale, CA
Sat 02/11/06 Jerry's Pizza & Pub Bakersfield, CA
Sun 02/12/06 The Alley Las Vegas, NV
Tue 02/14/06 SOMA San Diego San Diego, CA
Wed 02/15/06 Troubadour West Hollywood, CA
Thu 02/16/06 Chain Reaction Anaheim, CA
Fri 02/17/06 Club Congress Tucson, AZ
Sat 02/18/06 The Clubhouse Music Venue Tempe, AZ
Sat 02/18/06 The Starlite Room Edmonton, AB, CANADA
Sun 02/19/06 Launchpad Albuquerque, NM
Wed 03/08/06 Shelter Detroit, MI
Thu 03/09/06 House Of Blues Chicago, IL
Fri 03/10/06 Creepy Crawl St. Louis, MO
Sat 03/11/06 The Rave Eagles Club Milwaukee, WI
Sun 03/12/06 The Quest Minneapolis, MN
Mon 03/13/06 Concert Hall At Ramada Winnipeg, MB, CANADA
Wed 03/15/06 The Starlite Room Edmonton, AB, CANADA
Thu 03/16/06 MacEwan Conference And Event Centre Calgary, AB, CANADA
Sat 03/18/06 Richard's On Richards Cabaret Vancouver, BC, CANADA
Mon 03/20/06 El Corazon Seattle, WA
Wed 03/22/06 Hawthorne Theatre Portland, OR
Thu 03/23/06 Senator Theatre Chico, CA
Fri 03/24/06 Downtown Brewing Company San Luis Obispo, CA
Sat 03/25/06 House Of Blues Anaheim, CA
Mon 04/10/06 The Crowbar State College, PA
Tue 04/11/06 Knitting Factory New York, NY
Wed 04/12/06 North Star Bar Philadelphia, PA
Thu 04/13/06 Axis Boston, MA
Fri 04/14/06 Ottobar Baltimore, MD
Sat 04/15/06 School of Rock East South Hackensack, NJ
Mon 04/17/06 Webster Theatre / Underground Hartford, CT
Tue 04/18/06 Chameleon Lancaster, PA
Wed 04/19/06 Icon Buffalo, NY
Thu 04/20/06 Rex Theatre Pittsburgh, PA
Fri 04/21/06 Grog Shop Cleveland Heights, OH
Sat 04/22/06 Shelter Detroit, MI
Sun 04/23/06 Metro / Smart Bar Chicago, IL
Tue 04/25/06 The Quest Minneapolis, MN
Thu 04/27/06 Marquis Theater Denver, CO
Sat 04/29/06 The Avalon Theater Salt Lake City, UT
Mon 05/01/06 Hawthorne Theatre Portland, OR
Tue 05/02/06 El Corazon Seattle, WA
Thu 05/04/06 Slim's San Francisco, CA
Fri 05/05/06 The Boardwalk Orangevale, CA
Sun 05/07/06 Chain Reaction Anaheim, CA
Mon 05/08/06 The Epicentre San Diego, CA
Tue 05/09/06 Rock N Java Las Vegas, NV
Wed 05/10/06 The Clubhouse Music Venue Tempe, AZ
Fri 05/12/06 The Door In Dallas Dallas, TX
Thu 06/22/06 Emo's Austin, TX
Fri 06/23/06 Skate Park Bridge City, TX
Tue 06/27/06 Amphitheatre @ Sandcastle Pittsburgh, PA
Thu 06/29/06 Mississippi Nights St. Louis, MO
Fri 06/30/06 The Blue Note Columbia, MO
Sat 07/01/06 Sokol Auditorium / Underground Omaha, NE
Sun 07/02/06 Hawkeye Downs Speedway Cedar Rapids, IA
Tue 07/04/06 Summerfest Grounds Milwaukee, WI
Wed 07/05/06 Metro / Smart Bar Chicago, IL
Thu 07/06/06 Temple Club Lansing, MI
Sat 07/08/06 Rex Theatre Pittsburgh, PA
Wed 07/12/06 9:30 Club Washington, DC
Thu 07/13/06 Trocadero Theatre Philadelphia, PA
Fri 07/14/06 LCMR Auditorium Cape May, NJ
Sun 07/16/06 Starland Ballroom Sayreville, NJ
Mon 07/17/06 Toad's Place New Haven, CT
Tue 07/18/06 Saratoga Winners Cohoes, NY
Wed 07/19/06 Water St. Music Hall Rochester, NY
Thu 07/20/06 Chameleon Lancaster, PA
Fri 07/21/06 Ritual Live Levittown, NY
Mon 07/24/06 NorVa Norfolk, VA
Thu 07/27/06 The Masquerade Atlanta, GA
Sat 07/29/06 Culture Room Fort Lauderdale, FL
Sun 07/30/06 The State Theatre Saint Petersburg, FL
Tue 08/01/06 House Of Blues New Orleans, LA
Fri 08/04/06 White Rabbit - Main Stage San Antonio, TX
Sat 08/05/06 River Stage Pavilion San Angelo, TX
Sun 08/06/06 Dos Amigos Odessa, TX
Tue 08/08/06 Club Congress Tucson, AZ
Wed 08/09/06 The Clubhouse Music Venue Tempe, AZ
Thu 08/10/06 House Of Blues San Diego, CA
Fri 08/11/06 Troubadour West Hollywood, CA
Sat 08/12/06 Jillian's Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV
Tue 08/15/06 Glass House Pomona, CA
Sun 08/20/06 WOW Hall Eugene, OR
Mon 08/21/06 Hawthorne Theatre Portland, OR
Tue 08/22/06 El Corazon Seattle, WA
Wed 08/23/06 Knitting Factory Concert House Spokane, WA
Fri 08/25/06 Kruzer's Parking Lot Twin Falls, ID
Sun 08/27/06 Ogden Theatre Denver, CO
Mon 08/28/06 Midnight Rodeo Amarillo, TX
Sun 10/15/06 Knitting Factory New York, NY
Sat 10/28/06 Mr. Small's Theatre Pittsburgh, PA
Sat 11/04/06 School of Rock East South Hackensack, NJ
Sun 11/05/06 Webster Theatre / Underground Hartford, CT
Mon 11/06/06 The ICC Allston, MA
Wed 11/08/06 Ottobar Baltimore, MD
Sun 11/12/06 Greene Street Greensboro, NC
Tue 11/14/06 Sector 7G Augusta, GA
Wed 11/15/06 Back Booth Orlando, FL
Thu 11/16/06 Culture Room Fort Lauderdale, FL
Fri 11/17/06 Fuel Jacksonville, FL
Sat 11/18/06 1982 Bar Gainesville, FL
Mon 11/20/06 Walter's On Washington Houston, TX
Tue 11/21/06 Stubb's Bar-B-Q / Waller Creek Amph. Austin, TX
Wed 11/22/06 The Door In Dallas Dallas, TX
Fri 11/24/06 Skrappy's Tucson, AZ
Sat 11/25/06 The Sets Tempe, AZ
Sun 11/26/06 Hot Monkey Love Cafe San Diego, CA
Tue 11/28/06 Knitting Factory Hollywood - Front Room Los Angeles, CA
Wed 11/29/06 Chain Reaction Anaheim, CA
Thu 11/30/06 The Boardwalk Orangevale, CA
Fri 12/01/06 Rock-N-Roll Pizza Portland, OR
Sat 12/02/06 El Corazon Seattle, WA
Sun 12/03/06 Bourbon Street Saloon Boise, ID
Tue 12/05/06 Bleachers Provo, UT
Wed 12/06/06 Marquis Theater Denver, CO
Thu 12/07/06 Grand Emporium Kansas City, MO
Fri 12/08/06 House Of Bricks Des Moines, IA
Sat 12/09/06 The Loft Madison, WI
Sun 12/10/06 Headliners Toledo, OH
Mon 12/11/06 SoZo State College, PA
Fri 03/02/07 LaBele Theatre South Charleston, WV
Fri 04/06/07 The Loft Madison, WI
Sat 04/07/07 Magic Stick Detroit, MI
Mon 04/09/07 House Of Bricks Des Moines, IA
Wed 04/11/07 The Rock Papillion, NE
Thu 04/12/07 Creepy Crawl St. Louis, MO
Fri 04/13/07 The Basement Columbus, OH
Sat 04/14/07 The Hangout Edinboro, PA
Sun 04/15/07 Icon Buffalo, NY
Mon 04/16/07 School of Rock East South Hackensack, NJ
Tue 04/17/07 Ottobar Baltimore, MD
Wed 04/18/07 Knitting Factory New York, NY
Thu 04/19/07 Middle East Restaurant & Nightclub Cambridge, MA
Fri 04/20/07 The Station Portland, ME
Sat 04/21/07 Living Room Providence, RI
Sun 04/22/07 Webster Theatre / Underground Hartford, CT
Mon 04/23/07 Crocodile Rock Cafe Allentown, PA
Thu 04/26/07 School of Rock East South Hackensack, NJ
Fri 04/27/07 Grog Shop Cleveland Heights, OH
Sat 04/28/07 Diesel Club Lounge Pittsburgh, PA
Sat 07/14/07 Italian Club Charleroi, PA
Fri 07/20/07 Metro / Smart Bar Chicago, IL
Sat 11/17/07 Diesel Club Lounge Pittsburgh, PA
Thu 01/24/08 Safari Sam's Los Angeles, CA
Tue 03/25/08 Knitting Factory New York, NY
Fri 06/27/08 Harpers Ferry Allston, MA
Sun 08/31/08 Gravity Cheswick, PA
Wed 09/17/08 FYE on Broad St Philadelphia, PA
Thu 09/18/08 FYE Record Store Pittsburgh, PA
Fri 09/19/08 Hot Topic Harrisburg, PA
Fri 09/19/08 Champion Ship Lemoyne, PA
Sat 09/20/08 Apache Cafe Atlanta, GA
Sat 09/27/08 Diesel Club Lounge Pittsburgh, PA
Fri 10/10/08 Club Paradise Buffalo, NY
Sat 10/11/08 The Hangout Edinboro, PA
Fri 10/24/08 Marlboro Rec Comm. Marlboro, NJ
Sat 10/25/08 Crocodile Rock Cafe Allentown, PA
Sun 10/26/08 Tink's Scranton, PA
Fri 10/31/08 Jaggard Methodist Church Altoona, PA
Wed 11/05/08 Agora Ballroom Cleveland, OH
Thu 11/06/08 Frankie's Inner-City Toledo, OH
Fri 11/07/08 Portage 9 Portage, IN
Sat 11/08/08 Metro / Smart Bar Chicago, IL
Sun 11/09/08 Mac's Bar Lansing, MI
Wed 11/12/08 Water St. Music Hall Rochester, NY
Thu 11/13/08 Point Beach Clubhouse Milford, CT
Fri 11/14/08 Community Center Penacook, NH
Sat 11/15/08 Vibe Lounge Rockville Centre, NY
Sun 11/16/08 Middle East Upstairs Cambridge, MA
Fri 11/28/08 Belle Vernon High School Auditorium Belle Vernon, PA
Fri 12/05/08 Sterling Community Center Sterling, VA
Sat 12/06/08 Harmony Grange Wilmington, DE
Sun 12/07/08 Pikesville Bowling Center Pikesville, MD
Thu 12/11/08 Skelletones Grand Rapids, MI
Fri 12/12/08 Hayloft Liquor Stand Mount Clemens, MI
Sat 12/13/08 E.S. Jungle Indianapolis, IN
Sun 12/14/08 LaBele Theatre South Charleston, WV
Sat 03/07/09 Diesel Club Lounge Pittsburgh, PA

bananas.

2009-02-20T05:59:00.000-08:00

Today is Day 3 of shooting for the Ghostie video. Everything is going great so far. I was in makeup a whole lot yesterday. First I had to get a second face put on top of my regular face. It took about 2 1/2 hours. Then after a very quick shoot, I had to scrub lots of glue off of my face and then get painted orange and have a banana attached to my forehead. I definitely enjoyed having a banana head. If humans got to choose what they looked like and everyone had a real original look, I think I'd go with the orange skin/banana forehead combo. I think it looked good on me, and Sarah thought the orange really brought out my eyes. Even if I can't be orange or a banana head, I would still like to definitely try to start wearing that all white sweatsuit that I got.

Andre did great in his part of the video. I think he's the next Benji or Beethoven. My face hurts from scrubbin'.

Fantastic Valentine's Weekend.

2009-02-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

Had an absolutely great weekend. Tony came down on Thursday and we practiced our Whistle Pig set for the big show on Friday night in Altoona. We practiced it ourselves, and then in front of a great audience which included Sarah, Andre, and Andre's toy Mason. Here is a video from Thursday night.

Tony and I then stayed up very late leaving a ton of videos on people's facebook walls, and we also did some great video responses to some of our favorite Youtube celebrities (like John McQuilkin, Christiethepup, etc...)

Friday was a very big day. Tony and I once again practiced, and played Tetris on Wii. I got 428 lines on Tetris, by far my best score of all-time, including when I was in middle school and would go down to the computer lab every morning and turn on all the computers for Mr. Romanchak and spend my entire homeroom period playing Tetris.

"I'm gonna put you in the garbage can, sir" - Mr. Romanchak

The show went very well. I was a little nervous about my singing parts during the Punchline acoustic set, but I think I ended up doing alright. I have this thing where I can sing my harmonies perfect when its just Steve, Belan and I in the room playing together, but when you bring microphones into the equation I sometimes don't sing as well. I think I did well though. I should have some of that footage up soon. Here is a little after-show footage...

Anthony and Trevor were both great at that show as usual.

I think our Whistle Pig set went well too, especially for our first one ever (other than our set in Red Lion, PA with Seether at some sort of arena).

Here is a clip from it.

I spent Saturday with Sarah celebrating Valentine's day. I got her a Sheetz breakfast burrito and hash brown which she totally loved. Later on, I cooked a fancy dinner of Rosemary Chicken and Balsamic Raviolis. I capitalized the fist letter of each word to stress the fact that it was Fancy. I think she really enjoyed the dinner. We also had some Fancy Wine and watched the perfect Valentine's Day movie - Hot Rod starring Andy Samberg. I hope it was the best V-day of her life. Maybe she'll leave me a comment and let me know if it was.

On a side note, Sarah and I can also eat an entire shrimp ring in about 5 minutes (but only while watching The Secret Life of An Amercian Teenager). On another side note, The Secret Life of An American Teenager is one of the worst shows I've ever watched, which is probably what led me to so ravenously eat shrimp. The one good thing about it is that Bacala from The Sopranos is on it. I love Bacala. Here's one of my favorite Bacala scenes!

The show of all shows tomorrow.

2009-02-12T11:18:00.001-08:00

I have been neglecting my blog for over a week now. That's not even right. Its mainly been because I've been way too busy writing songs and making animations to be spendin' any time at all bloggin'! I'll be headin' down to Pittsburgh in about half an hour to have one more acoustic practice with my buddies Steve and Belan, and then I'll come home to spend the night rehearsing with my good buddy Tony Hartman for our first Whistle Pig show tomorrow. It'll surely be a great show, I'm just really hoping that I don't mess up my singing parts during the Punchline acoustic set. I also hope that I don't read Whistle Pig poetry with anything less than pure ferocity. Here is an animation I made.

Next week, we'll be filming at new music video for Ghostie at the Tom Savini school. I can't wait to paint myself orange and have my arm fall off. Should be very very great. I'm also planning an all-out animated video for My White-Collared Shirt. Speaking of that song, its probably my favorite song to play live now.

I watched American Idol last night and I hate the scenester-lookin' kid with the tight red pants. I'm so mad he made it into the final 36. My favorite dude was the big bald dude with the fu manchu. He's awesome.

I made a commercial today.

2009-02-04T19:33:00.001-08:00

Today I woke up very inspired to make a great commercial for our March 7th show at Club Diesel. This is what I came up with.

I'm looking very forward to our upcoming shows. Our next show is an acoustic one in Altoona next Friday. Tony and I will also be doing our first WHISTLE PIG set, and I'm pretty sure we're going to BRING THE HOUSE DOWN. I'm also pretty sure that we're going to make a Whistle Pig television show.

I think a lot of my goals are outlined in this tube.

Its Whistle Pig Day!

2009-02-02T10:41:00.000-08:00

How could I possibly not blog on Whistle Pig Day? Today marks the official release of Whistle Pig. I hope Tony is enjoying this day as much as I am. Even though I didn't make the trip to Punxsatawney today, I still watched it on TV. My favorite member of the Inner Circle is definitely The Ice Man. Here he is.

I have to also mention in my blog that the Steelers won the Super Bowl last night. People celebrated the right way in Pittsburgh by burning couches in the middle of the street. I tried lighting mine on fire but it wouldn't catch.

I guess I haven't blogged about another important thing that happened, that being that PJ left the band. I didn't completely see it coming. Its pretty weird, but I'm doing my best to remain positive about everything. Jeff Kopanic is playing with us at all our upcoming shows, and after just one practice he could easily play a show with us. His first one with us will be on February 24th. I think he's ready.

I've been spending the past week writing a whole lot of songs. Writing songs is fun.

Gorgeous Books!

2009-01-21T14:43:00.000-08:00

Today was a very eventful day in my life. First of all, I got a copy of Whistle Pig in the mail (which means that Tony and I are now officially on our way to GETTING BIG IN '09). Here is a picture of me being genuinely happy to have written a book with my good buddy.

Today was also very eventful because I went and bought a new vacuum sweeper. Its a Hoover, and I think Hoover is a brand you can trust. I bought a Bissell from Wal-marts a few months back and it already broke. Life rule: you cannot get a quality vacuum sweeper for 40 bucks at Wal-marts. For quality, you at least gotta drop a Benjamin on one. I even bought a warranty for my new Hoover! I was going to take a picture of it because its gorgeous, but I don't feel like it at the moment. Maybe next blog.

Last night was a very eventful night as well. I will soon blog about what happened, but not yet. Its big.

Tomorrow I plan on meeting Tony in Cranberry, PA to make plenty of blogs, commercials, and Whistlepods. We also are going to figure out how to sell 400,000 copies of our book so we can just write great kids books for a living. After I meet with Tony, I plan on meeting with my bandmates in Pittsburgh to make some more plans. I will follow up both of those meetings with friends on Friday with a meeting with my old friend Josh to plan on making a great video. That last sentence may have been a bit confusingly worded. Well anyway, Josh has access to a great green screen. This is a good thing.

Steve wrote and demo'd four songs that I think are amazing. I can listen to them on repeat even though I'm in the same band with him because I love the songs he writes. I am very proud to be in a band with him! I think we will make another 9 or 10 albums together in the next 9 or 10 years. I'd like to be part of making 10 albums, 15 books, 3 movies, and 14 cakes over the next 10 years. Yep, sounds like a plan.

Here's a great video I blog I made, featuring some great Andre bath footage.

Lana and Sue

2009-01-21T05:21:00.000-08:00

I emailed the people at Pets Without Parents (the place where I got Andre) and sent them some pictures and videos of him, and they've sent me a bunch of emails back, but this is one of the best ones...

Hi Chris,

I forwarded your video to Lana and Sue who are the owners of Springwood Cabins in the Hocking Hills area and also the women who fostered Andre and his litter since they were 5 days old! Needless to say they loved the video as they'd gotten very attached to them. Below is their email address. They asked me to give it to you in the hopes that you'd continue to send them updates, pictures and of course....more videos!!

Email address:
info@springwoodcabins.com

In case you're unfamiliar with Andre's story, he and his littermates were found alone in a field at 5 days old. No mother in sight and Lana and Sue bottle fed them all until they were old enough to eat on their own (6-7 weeks old). If you are unfamiliar with what this entails - let me tell you, it's a lot of time and sleepless nights! These women are the best rescue workers we know. They are very committed. Emails like yours make their day and validate all the energy they put into their work.

Thanks again Chris for your willingness to "share" Andre with all of us.

Meg
PWP Volunteer

Great old journal entries

2009-01-20T06:18:00.001-08:00

I found some old journal passages that are funny...

June 14, 2000 - 1:30 PM (This is a post about how I got a real bad reaction to a sunburn while on vacation with my buddy Johnny's family)

I am lying on the beach in Kitty Hawk right now. Steve, PJ, and Johnny are in the water with girls, but I am just lying on the beach with my shirt on. The reason I'm not in the water is because the first day we were here, none of us wore sunblock. Everyone got burned, but I got it the worst. On Tuesday, I got so itchy that I started freaking out. They took me to the emergency room at the Medical Center. I had been rubbing ice on myself to try to stop the itching at all. The gave me a prescription, and by taking that and Benadryl, I was okay for a while. But that night, we were eating at Jockey's Ribs and it happened again. I was flipping out and making a big scene, but I really couldn't help it. Eventually it calmed down though and I was okay. I really hope it doesn't happen again today. I wish I was swimming right now.

September 6, 2000 - 7:30 PM (A very inspiring/cheesy entry, and also a very bold claim at the end about how people don't usually have outlets for their feelings!)

Well, I'm still in class and yep, I'm still bored. We reordered another 1000 CDs this week. Its pretty cool that we've sold 1000 copies of our CD in about 7 months. This next back of 1000 CDs will be pure profit too, so I'm excited. We also have a lot of new shirts coming in, so we should be pretty much set. If some people come out to Roboto's on Saturday, I'll really feel good about how we're doing. the band is really what keeps my hopes up about everything. I can't imagine what I'd do if I wasn't in Punchline. I still truly believe that music is what I'm going to do with my life. I hope I'm not being unrealistic. I've been trying to write some new stuff lately, but for the most part coming up dry. I think I need something major to happen in my life to inspire me. I did write "Cold As You" a while back and I think its pretty good and people seem to like it, but since then I haven't brought a song to practice that caught on. Music is definitely what keeps me sane. Having an outlet for my feelings and writing makes me a very lucky guy...most people don't have that.

Funny stuff! I'll be posting more old journal entries from time to time if I feel like it.

Fantastic Monday!

2009-01-19T13:52:00.001-08:00

Its a great Monday today. First of all, the Steelers are going to the Superbowl. Second of all, the hardback edition of Whistle Pig went on sale at WhistlePigBook.com. Third of all, through the place where I got Andre (Pets Without Parents in Columbus, Ohio), the family that adopted one of Andre's brothers got in touch with me and sent me some pictures of Andre's brother! This is Captain Jack...

He definitely seems pretty cool, though I highly doubt that he can be as cool as his brother! Through our emails, it seems like Andre and Captain Jack have a lot in common. Speaking of Andre, he is featured playing in the snow in my new video blog (which I definitely think is my best video blog ever)...

I am looking forward to filming a commercial for Whistle Pig for next week's episode of Geekscape. I'm pretty sure I'm going to make it ridiculously great. I am very inspired to sell 1.2 million copies of Whistle Pig.

Whistle Pig Preorder Day, A New Holiday

2009-01-16T05:25:00.000-08:00

Today is the biggest day of my book-writing career (and also the coldest day of the year)! Whistle Pig is now officially available for preorder, and I couldn't be more happy to finally get it into people's hands. I'm also very glad that Tony and I will be immortalized on people's bookshelves forever. It seems like almost yesterday that Tony sent me a poem about a Whistle Pig on my sidekick. I think it was probably our destiny that we would write our first book together. I am also very excited that once February 2nd rolls around, Whistle Pig will be out in full force. I look forward to doing live readings from the book, and I also look forward to starting our next book.

Obviously, I would like to get a book deal. It would be incredible to really live out the Whistle Pig poem "If This Were My Job" (which hopefully you'll soon be reading). I'm spending my whole day today spreading the word about The 'Pig, which is my cool abbreviated name for the book.

THIS is where you can order the book of books.

I also figured the best possible video blog I could do would be in French, as to really get the word out to all our fans in France.

You should also look to the right at my links and go read Tony's bloggings.

Videochat Wishes

2009-01-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

I have been editing Punchline studio footage for the past 5 hours straight. While I've been editing, I've also been thinking about how cool it would be to videochat with someone famous. I don't really care who it would be, just as long as they are famous. I'd videochat with Kelsey Grammar, Ed Harris, Darryl Hannah, Chevy Chase, Marilyn Manson...literally, anyone famous. I'd even videochat with Puck from The Real World. In fact, I'd preferably chat with Puck from The Real World. No, preferably would be Kelsey Grammar.

Early Mornin' Bloggin'

2009-01-13T04:57:00.000-08:00

Its 8AM and before I get my shower and head down to the 'Burgh for a majorly constructive day with Steve, I figured I'd do a quick blog. Last night, Sarah made some baked ziti and we had 3 friends (Johnny, The Sneak, Duke) over for dinner. It was a nice dinner. Sarah and The Sneak did not eat salads. I had 2 plates of Ziti. We ate a lot of cookies after, courtesy of the big plate of cookies that my Mom made. Duke does not like Andre. Andre chases Duke all over the house, and Duke just spent the whole time trying to avoid him and get away. Duke was so happy to leave. I thought for sure that Duke would like Andre. Maybe someday they will be friends. To Duke's credit, Andre definitely was in Gremlin-mode.

My good buddy Adam has a blog now. You can see it HERE. I think I'm gonna put up links for Anthony and Adam's blogs, because they're definitely strong blogs. I like a good strong blog.

I am going to be recording Steve's narratives for our DVD, as well as building a little set in his attic to film a homemade music video for "Maybe I'm Wrong". We're also going to be doing an all-out big-budget video for "Somewhere In The Dark" in which hopefully every person we've ever been friends with will come be in.

Okay, I'm gonna go get clean and then go to Steve's (but first I gotta stop at Walmarts and get clothespins).

Here is a classic Duke-tube.

Music is real bad sometimes.

2009-01-11T09:27:00.000-08:00

I think there is a ridiculous amount of awesome music in the world. Probably so much, in fact, that no single person could ever listen to it in their entire lifetime, even if all they did was sit around and listen to music all day and night. That being said, I really don't think there's ever an excuse to listen to bad music. Here is an example of bad music (I found this 'tube on the antpants tumblr). This is almost unwatchable. Please let this song and performance just all be a bad youtube dream I had.

Let me post an example of good music.

I already know that everyone who reads my blog knows the difference, I'm just sayin'.

Forgot My Toothbrush

2009-01-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

I had a good time last night. We saw many good buddies and we played loud rock music at a huge crowd of people. I had a somewhat "off night" as far as talking to the crowd went, so I of course resorted to talking about my favorite vegetable onstage (sweet potatoes). Of course I probably should have stuck to the standard things to talk about (like having a new album out), but I figured I had some fellow sweet potato enthusiasts in the crowd. I was somewhat right.

I found out that my good buddy Anthony also has a blog. You can find it HERE. I was going to buy him a domain name last night but I couldn't think of a good one. I want to get some more domain names.

I am terribly bummed about so many of my youtubes being taken down because of songs used in them! 3 episodes of Texas Toast have become casualties of this raid. I blame Atlantic Records. I even saw today that someone's Punchline video was taken down for using a Punchline song! What the heck. I thoroughly encourage everyone to use songs from Just Say Yes in their youtubes. Hilariously, Texas Toast Episode #4 was taken down because we used George Lamond's song "Bad Of The Heart". I still think the awful awful stand-up comedian Dane Cook is behind all of this.

Here are some pictures.

This is me and the man.

This is AntPants. You know, from Tumblr.

This is Adam. He knows Diddy.

This is what I look like when I'm bloggin'.

Here is a video blog from the backstage Winnebago last night.

Croozin' in the 15 Passenger

2009-01-09T10:52:00.000-08:00

I'm riding in the van on the way to Long Island right now to play a show with Bayside tonight. It'll be real good to really rock the bass guitar on a show with those guys. I'm hoping to also make some great new youtubes with Jack O'Shea and something that begins with a B, like some of my favorite youtubes I'm made like "Jack O'Shea of Bayside with a bird" and "Jack O'Shea of Bayside with a bug" and "Jack O'Shea of Bayside with a beer and a bone". I also videoblogged my 20th videoblog a few minutes ago, which hopefully will be uploaded by the time I finish typing this so I can include it in my blog. I'm really happy that no matter how bad my video blog happens to be, I still get over 100 views. I must really have a solid videoblog fanbase. I also like to switch between the 2 word "video blog" and the 1 word "videoblog".

Today was also a big day for another great reason - my Mom got text messaging! Its about time. Now the next step is getting my Dad to start texting. Just the thought of my dad text messaging makes me laugh as if I was making Video Blog #20.

Only a few more weeks until the whole planet is gonna be WhistlePiggin' so hard! I have decided that if Punxsatawney Phil sees his shadow, we're going to sell 1 million books. If he doesn't see his shadow, we'll probably only sell 800,000 of them or so.

A song I'm really not enjoying but listening to anyway today is "Christmas Shoes". I love how specific it is, and also how blatantly depressing it is. I want to write a very specific and depressing song about meeting Jesus.

I posted a great new Andre video of him fetching his rope toy. The dude loves to play fetch. I can't wait to get him in frisbee training. I'm guessing he'll be a world champion frisbee dog. He has been being a very good boy lately, except for last night. I fell asleep on the couch and woke up to find he had peed twice in the living room and also was under the television chewing on the wires (this was a first). I gave him a good yellin' at and put him in the kitchen. He then proceeded to whine for a while, and then go rip up the newspapers that he is supposed to go to the bathroom on. I then gave him another yellin' at and put him in his kennel. He didn't like that at all. He proceeded to flip out and be very loud at a very late hour. I then took him downstairs, where he was even louder. I dealt with it for a while, and then I couldn't take it anymore. I took him out and yelled at him, and saw that there were tears coming out of his eyes. I felt real bad and gave him a hug. Then I took him up and put him back in the kitchen. He was good after that.

Some guy in front of me in line at the gas station used the expression "Yeah, I could stiff talk a banana boat too". No idea what that expression means.

Oh hey, here's that videoblog!

Puffins in '09

2009-01-01T06:37:00.001-08:00

Its 2009 now. Went to Nick and Lynn's house last night, it was a nice time. Probably my favorite part was the guy in the Fender thermal undershirt who would come up and say annoying things. I stopped and got Steve some Sour Patch Kids along the way, but as it turns out, he didn't even really want Sour Patch Kids. I couldn't have guessed that though, considering he sent me a text that said "if you come down bring some sour patch kids".

When I woke up this morning, it was a very happy and then sad time. I was at first happy that Andre did not go to the bathroom in the living room on his first night of officially being allowed to stay in the living room at night. My joy was then quickly shot down when I realized that Jeremy the Goldfish had died. I said a prayer and gave him a proper burial. I am going to miss that little guy. I also feel bad for Lil' Mama, who is now swimming alone. I'll give her some time to grieve, and then consider getting her a new bowlmate.

I'm glad the first thing I did on the internet in '09 was blog. I had a dream about being at a hockey game where a puffin took a penalty shot. He obviously scored, mostly because the bird that was playing goalie came out way too far to try to cut off the angle.

I didn't know this before, but there was a Pittsburgh Women's hockey team called the Pittsburgh Puffins.

Last Blog of 08

2008-12-30T06:06:00.000-08:00

I just realized how long it has been since I blogged. It kinda reminds of that old adage "a day without blogging is like a day without sunlight" that I just made up right now. Also, I may have completely misused the word "adage". That being said, there's a new puppy that lives with me now. His name is Andre and he is already the star of a hit music video.

If you don't believe that Andre's first music video is a hit, maybe you should read up about it on Edward Mendoza's Blog. Granted, I'm not really sure who Edward Mendoza is, but you can bet your butt I'm gonna be readin' his blog regularly. I'm hoping to get more shout-outs in his blogs as well.

The new year is just around the corner, and I have desperately been trying to think of really great and original New Year's Resolutions. Here is what I got so far...

- Obviously GET BIG in 2009, with the help of Punchline and Whistle Pig.

- Stop wearing hats, although this would require a cool haircut, which I have not had since about 1992.

- Update my blog as much as Kasey McIntyre (seen below) updates his twitter (probably a pipe dream).

- Post 365 youtubes in 365 days.

- Continue to never lose to Sarah at Scrabble

- Continue to only occasionally beat Sarah at Find The Mii on Wii Play, and maybe also beat Arctic Tale

- Teach Andre to Freestyle Dance (aka Put On The Ritz) with help from page 111 of "The Complete Guide to Mutts"

I also finally got an Ipod Touch from my Mom and Dad for Christmas. It is a big step up from my MP3 player from the year 2002. I vow to not put any bad songs on it. Some of the best songs on it so far are probably T*Baby's "Its So Cold in the D" and the karaoke version of Jermaine Stewart's "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off". Good start!

Also finished up Season 5 of Sopranos last night. *Spoiler Alert* I can't believe Adriana got whacked! She had it coming I guess. I'm looking forward to the final 20 episodes.

I'll leave you all with one last completely amazing picture of the animal I live with now.

Charleston Chew

2008-12-14T20:18:00.001-08:00

I had a great time playin' bass tonight in Charleston, WV. I also had a great time calling out Rishi from the Spacepimps multiple times about hitting "not attending" on my event invitation for the Whistle Pig Stimulus Package download. It was real fun and semi-awkward. The Steelers won the AFC North and we were all happy about that. We had a great time playing music tonight. I got everyone to stomp at one point, and I assume they were doing it but I'm not completely sure. Here is a picture I took during the set by whipping out the ol' Macbook onstage...

I also made a really great Video Blog today at Arby's with my good buddy Nightbeast. Here it is.

Here is a picture of me hangin' out with my buddies the other day.

And here is the person I'm going to be hanging out with in about 3 hours, and I'll probably have on my video blog this week!

I am looking forward to a visit this weekend from my good buddy Tony Hartman, and possibly also Whistle Pig cover artist Justin Will. We'll definitely watch Latin Spring Break (if I can find it), play some Wii, go to the Guys Next Door show, and film many Whistle Pig commercials.

I'm bloggin' all over the place now.

Indy 5 Million

2008-12-13T16:14:00.000-08:00

I am sitting "backstage" in a basement of a church in Indianapolis. I am going to be playing bass here tonight, obviously! Tonight is PJ's birthday, and I got him the gift that keeps on giving...a video blog!

Its nearing the end of the year, and I need to start making my "best of" and "worst of" lists for 2008. Here are some of my decisions.

Best flavor of '08 - Pomegrante

Worst restaurant of '08 - Buffalo Wild Wings (ya know, BW3s for all you people who don't realize there are only 2 Ws)

Restaurant that made the best comeback in my opinon of '08 - Steak N' Shake

Worst category of '08 - That last one

Best purchase of '08 - Macbook Pro

Worst purchase of '08 - 6 DVDs for 20 bucks off of Mark Feinagle at the Flea Market in which 2 of the DVDs had burnt DVDs of the wrong movies inside of them and 2 of them didn't work because they were too scratched

Best gift of '08 - Dolphin blanket

Best adverb that Belan uses incorrectly on a daily basis of '08 - "ironically"

Worst food of '08 - pickles, of course

I'll think of more favorites and non-favorites later. I should probably be watching this very out-of-tune band cover a Silverstein song right now. Happy birthday PJ, I know how you're always readin' my blog!

2008-12-11T22:08:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting up in the hotel room in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I'd like to see those rapids and see how really grand they are. I am of course listening to Tha Carter III album that came in the Whistle Pig Stimulus Package. We had a fun show tonight. I'm really happy that I talked about buck knives on stage tonight. My favorite thing to do now is read reviews of buck knives on Cabelas.com. I especially like when people talk about knives cutting through deer like butter, and also details about being up the elbows in guts!

Sarah and I saw a really great episode of Saved By The Bell today, in which Mr. Belding's brother Rod comes and teaches the class. Everyone thinks he's a really cool dude, but he really isn't. Sarah and I also have been making chicken noises at each other lately, and I gotta say that it feels really good. I love letting out a real great BA-GAWWWWK every once in a while. I'm also really into this youtube today.

I also made a few Youtubes in the past few days, and both are obviously incredible.
First of all, here is a passage from Whistle Pig that will make your toes curl.

And of course I made this amazing tube of our Pre-Thanksgiving Christmas Party!

I'm looking forward to going to Detroit tomorrow and singlehandedly saving the auto industry.

Christmas Bloggin'

2008-11-23T14:25:00.000-08:00

Last night we got our Christmas on bigtime. Sarah and I made many great foods such as pumpkin dip, which I gotta say was the hit dip of the party. I like providing the hit dip. Here is only part of the spread...

I made some really great "wassel" too. I could really go for a cup of wassel right now while I blog. My favorite thing about wassel (other than the taste) is the name "wassel". Here is a picture of me and my good buddy The Sneak looking very above-averagely cool...

Here are some pictures of guys looking very below-averagely cool...

This morning I woke up from a dream that I was in Scotland with my friend Ed Sellers and he told us what to name our new album. I'm pretty sure that we'll probably name our new album "Delightfully Pleased" because of this dream.

I was most definitely delightfully pleased with the good time I had last night. Here are some more pictures, I hope you all enjoy the great moose eating a shrimp.

Blogic.

2008-11-19T10:16:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of my new band that I will be playing in starting (and ending) on November 28th.

DJ Ezzo spinnin' (as usual)

Droppin' the beat to kill.

Representin' PRIMETIME screenprintin'

Obviously if you don't like my new band, I'll laugh in your face. Oh yeah, and check out our bio.

Logic is a Hip-Hop/Hardcore band based out of Pittsburgh Pa. Since Logic formed in late 1996, they have been gaining added respect from fans and fellow bands in the Pittsburgh underground music scene. Bringing a variety of musical backgrounds together under one common goal is never an easy task, but Logic creates a melee of music that has since been unheard of. Logic's music has strong influences from hardcore, hip-hop, metal, punk, and anything else they can pick up along the way. Although their style is diverse, it never compromises its heavy groove or its appeal to Logic's ever-faithful fan base.

Since the release of their debut CD, "Straight Up Chaos", in May of 1998, Logic has enjoyed a host of great reviews and extensive touring in Pennsylvania and throughout West Virginia, Ohio, and New York. Da' Core magazine (Pittsburgh) says, "These guys kick hip-hop/hardcore that closely rivals national acts like Downset and Dog Eat Dog. Being as young and talented as they are right now, I can't imagine what will come out of these guys in the future. They are a definite find for any label that wants to grab a new young band."

In the past year, Logic has worked its way into the close-nit family of the Pittsburgh heavy music scene. Playing shows with Pittsburgh best hardcore bands and opening for national acts such as Biohazard, Clutch, System of a Down, Face to Face, Candiria, Straight Faced, and Shutdown has helped Logic develop their style as well as their infamous live show. In the next few years, Logic plans to continue touring and spreading its musical message to all who will accept it. With another CD slated for release sometime in the summer of 1999, Logic will certainly continue to give the music scene and its fans all it can give at every show. Logic is currently in search of an established record label to help with their next album and to help them gain more exposure on the national level.

LOGIC

707 Fayette Ave.

Belle Vernon Pa. 15012

logic724@hotmail.com

http://members.tripod.com/Logic724

2008-11-16T14:58:00.000-08:00

We are leaving Boston (Beantown) now and driving 10 hours toward our great hometown of Belle Vernon, PA. Beantown provided us with a great show filled with great friends. It feels good to hear people sing along to your songs...that most definitely never gets old. I played my second show in a row wearing glasses. I'm practically Rivers Cuomo at this point, except I'm the Rivers Cuomo of bass. If I was a fisherman wearing these same glasses, I'd be the Rivers Cuomo of bass (different pronunciation). I love when the same word has different pronunciations and meanings based on context. Here's a good example of a sentence that would surely confuse someone trying to learn the English language: "I live for seeing bands play live". I'd really appreciate if someone could leave me a comment letting me know what those kinds of words are called. I should seriously know this because I did very well in English. You wouldn't know it by some of my run-on sentences and dangling propositions in some of my past blogs though!

The Years Gone By and Let's Get It were both good bands and good guys. It was nice sharing the past 5 days with them. I also really appreciate all the people that came out to the shows over the past couple weeks. I really think we need to do a good support tour though. Someone call Jimmy Eat World and tell them to put us on their Clarity tour! Oh man, could you even imagine? We decided the other day that one of the worst bands out there is "Default". Pomegrante flavored drinks are my favorite. I'm getting off on a tangent here. Here are some pictures from tonight

This guy had marker on his face for some reason, you can't see it in the picture though.

Some nice people in Beantown who enjoy the blog!

My good buddy Matt, I'm gonna check out his songs in a minute.

Another good buddy named Matt. The other guy in the picture is some guy named "PJ".

Tour picture...all looking off to the side, and kinda blurry. Perfect!

The Blog Days of Winter

2008-11-15T15:53:00.000-08:00

I am once again sitting at one of my favorite places to blog - behind the merch table. I'm thinking we need to start selling merch items that no other band has, like maybe some coffee mugs and lava lamps. I also bet that people would buy Punchline stuffed animals. We should have a little Build-A-Bear Workshop on our merch table. I think people would be into that. I also woke up this morning dead seriously thinking that I should run for President in 2016. I figured if I started my campaign in 2009, that would give me a good 7 years of campaigning. I'm hoping that by then all incriminating videos and youtubes of me will be deleted as well. I started a text file today of ideas for my book about what I'd do as President. I also wrote a poem about what I'd do as Prez in Whistle Pig that will out in January. That will give people a little introduction as to what I plan to do, but in my full book they'll really know my plans. I guess that in the next 7 years I'd also have to run for some offices so that people can't claim that I'm inexperienced. Maybe I'll try to be the mayor of Belle Vernon. That would be pretty sweet, I'd have SO many parades on Broad Avenue and also really try to pass legislation to bring a Taco Bell to BV.

After tonight's show, we'll be making a late night drive up to Boston because we have a show there that starts at 1:00 in the afternoon. I always enjoy Beantown, and I also always enjoy calling it Beantown. My favorite beans would probably be Baked Beans, followed closely by French Cut Green Beans. My middle school shop teacher's nickname was "Beans" as well. My Uncle Gus also once told me a story about a guy named Beans giving him shit. Beans wasn't too happy about Uncle Gus throwing him in the puddle though. The funny part was that Beans' Uncle Hippo watched the whole thing and didn't do shit.

Fun with Photobooth in New Hampshire

2008-11-14T16:14:00.000-08:00

I was inspired to take photobooth pictures with many nice people in New Hampshire tonight. I am still at the show and sitting behind the merch table. I think tonight will be a great show, judging by the friendly people I have met so far tonight. I am looking forward to the Roast Beef sub that Belan is bringing me back from Subway. I think its going to be delicious. Here are the pictures...

That's all I got for now.

I love penguins, especially baby ones.

2008-11-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to go eat a DELICIOUS continental breakfast at my favorite place to eat continental breakfast - the Super 8 lobby. Of course I couldn't resist the individually packaged bagels and muffins, so I went ahead and had one of each. I also had a styrofoam cup full of ultra-sugary cherry Kool-aid. I think everything tastes just a little bit better when you drink it out of styrofoam. The taste of the Kool-aid reminded me of the smell of the new shampoo I started using...Suave Kids 2 in 1. It smells like magical candy. I also love the fish listening to an Ipod on the front of it! (Although I'm pretty sure that in this picture I found of it on the internet, the fish has chosen to leave his Ipod at home.)

Yesterday at the show, I found myself enjoying the music of the opening bands while looking at pictures of baby penguins on the internet. I would definitely have to say that baby penguins are the coolest baby animals, which is probably what spawned that urban legend about the kid going to the zoo and stealing a baby penguin and bringing it home in his/her backpack. Of course I talked about looking at pictures of baby penguins on stage as well, which I think is much better stage banter than going up there and talking about such trivial things as "our new album". Its DEFINITELY better than going on stage and talking about your band's myspace page, and how everyone in the crowd should go "check it out!" At every show that we play, at least one band ends their set by going "Thanks a lot everybody! We're So-And-So! Check out our myspace...www.myspace.com/so-and-so!!!" I am glad that we don't end our sets with URL addresses. I am also glad that this gorgeous baby penguin is now the desktop background on my computer...

We are going to New Hampshire now, a state of which I only have one strong memory. In the summer of 2005, we were on tour with Reel Big Fish and we played at Hampton Beach. My good buddy Trevor and I were looking forward to hanging out on the beach and playing guitar in the sand. We headed down there after we loaded in, acoustics in hand. He began to teach me how to play an awesome song he wrote called "Too Close", but before he could finish, a very drunk man kept insisting that we play some Pearl Jam. Then it started to rain. That being said, here's Trevor playing at the college I graduated from.

I'd rather be blogging.

2008-11-13T17:55:00.000-08:00

Now that I have internet everywhere I go and also a totally kickass new computer, I'm very glad that I can blog from everywhere that I go. Today I'm blogging straight from a couch in the back of a place called "Billy Baloney's" in Danbury, Connecticut. If it wasn't for my dedication to playing the bass, I'd probably never have been in Billy Baloney's, let alone Danbury. I'm glad that this place is named after a really great Pee-Wee character.

I spent 26 dollars today, and I don't have much to show for it. I spent 6.95 on a turkey sandwich at a rest stop today, which seemed ridiculously overpriced, but I absolutely could NOT let myself stoop to eating ROY ROGERS (quite possibly the worst of all fast-food restaurants!) I also bought myself a Hershey bar with almonds (mmm) and a copy of the new Time magazine with the new prez on the cover because my subscription just ran out. I had a magazine subscribing phase this past year, and I learned my lesson pretty well. Here is my list of good and bad magazines:

Good:

Mental Floss (my favorite magazine, of course)

Time

Nintendo Power

Bad:

Entertainment Weekly

Sports Illustrated (mainly because my subscription spanned the length of the Olympics and baseball season, my 2 least favorite sporting events)

Bass Player (I mainly subscribed to this so I could set it on my coffee table to humorously make my friends think that I love reading about bass playing)

I'm real glad that Sarah decided to start blogging as well. You can check her blog out over in my list of links on the side of this blog. Its worth checking out, especially for her great picture of her dog King. I think after she blogs ten times, I'm going to buy her a domain name (the gift that keeps on giving!)

Tony and I really started getting the word out about Whistle Pig today. I really think that our book is going to change the way people look at the world. I also think its gonna change the way people look at groundhogs, gnomes, hitchhikers, well-water, and zebras. I also think that its pretty amazing that David Wain did a reading of "Pregnant Guys" for us. What a great and cool famous guy. As soon as I get as famous as David Wain, I am surely going to be that cool to people trying to aspire to be as cool as me.

I'm hoping to get to hang with my bud Greg Wood tonight after the show. Here is the coolest youtube that Greg Wood and I probably ever made.

Rochestering.

2008-11-12T14:43:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting behind the merch table with Belan right now in Rochester, NY. We are listening to "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" by Sophie B. Hawkins very loudly so that everyone around us gets to enjoy it as much as we are. I'm taking a break from listening to "So Cold in the D" for the first time today, what a great song that I discovered in Michael Ireland from IATA's blog! I hope that some people discover great songs and youtubes from my blog as well. I think I need to get the word out about my blogging more, so that someday I can sit and blog at political events (which obviously would be a dream come true). Sarah almost got a blog yesterday, but then she completely wimped out when it was time to pick a username. I'd definitely like to read Belan's blog if he had one. I'd also like to read his book someday when he writes one. It will be awesome because he can document his entire life...he definitely told us that he can remember being 1 year old and having his diaper changed the other day. I wish I could remember being 1. Belan is now playing the piano, and that's another thing that Belan can do that I wish I could do. Dude is seriously an awesome pianist.

I noticed lately that Steve has been wearing blazers a lot.

The dude sitting next to me doing merch for another band is the most antisocial person ever. I asked him if he likes the new Jimmy Eat World and he gave me a look like he never heard of Jimmy Eat World. To get back at him, I listened to "So Cold in the D" at full blast. Hopefully he's downloading it right now on his Iphone.

Well, here's me tearin' it up.

Let's Give 'Em Somethin' To Blog About

2008-11-10T05:01:00.000-08:00

I have become quite the early morning blogger. I spent an extra night sleeping on the floor due to an unforeseen blizzard in Michigan last night. Luckily, the Best Western had a much more comfortable floor than the Super 8 we stayed at for the past 2 nights. Someday when I'm rich I'll get a cot and bring it with me to all hotels! I'll also hire someone to carry my cot around. I'll be creating a cot-carrier job, doing my part to help the economy.

You would think that with all the skills and titles I've acquired that I should have at least a billion dollars by now! I was trying to figure out a list of them in the shower (but the paper kept getting wet), so I'll list them here...

- bass player

- back-up singer

- scrap metal yard worker

- forklift operator

- youtube creator

- video director

- blogger

- video blogger

- above average ice skater

With the Jaunary 2009 release of me and Tony's masterpiece "Whistle Pig", I'll also be able to add the following to that list...

- writer

- author

- cartoonist

- poet

- fableizer (a word I just made up, it means "one who writes fables")

These are some of my past skills that I would need to brush up on to really still consider a current skill or title....

- ice hockey goaltender

- landscaper

- guy who untangles ridiculous piles of mining cable

- soda pop shelf stocker at Pechin's

I'll get that cot, just you wait and see.

Double Fisting

2008-11-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

Last night I had the pleasure of playing the bass guitar at one of my favorite places to play the bass guitar...The Metro in Chicago. What a great club! I played electric bass super enthusiastically last night and I was pretty sure that people enjoyed it, although I wouldn't really know for sure because I seem to have developed a habit of always playing with my eyes closed now. I'm hoping that I can start to do more things with my eyes closed as well as I play bass with my eyes closed, like maybe cook spaghetti or drive a forklift. I think the ultimate thing to do with eyes closed would be change my contacts.

After the show, we hung out with some friends for a while at the place next door called "The Gingerman Tavern". Definitely a great name of a place to hang out with friends. I didn't have any cash on me, but luckily my good buddy Joel Hennig (who had flown up to the show all the way from Houston, Texas) bought me a Strongbow cider. At the very same time, my good buddy Kyle Lewis bought me a bottle of Lone Star beer, so it was instant double-fisting for me. I couldn't wait to finish one of them so that I would once have a free hand again so I could do cool things like texting and "flipping the bird". It took me at least half an hour to drink one of them, and I was very happy to finally finish the cider. Just as I was about to rejoice in the freeing of a hand, Joel Hennig surprised me with another cider, and it was right back to double-fisting. Joel Hennig is a great friend. I didn't get drunk at the Gingerman Tavern, but I did leave the place with a great stomachache!

I'm now riding in the van on my way to Lansing, Michigan. I'm pretty sure I've played in Lansing before, but I really can't remember anything about it. After the show, we will start our 6 hour trek home (which shouldn't be all that bad because the show is supposed to be over by 9). During our two days at home, I plan on watching crazy amounts of The Sopranos with Sarah. Her favorite character is Meadow. I hope for her sake that Meadow doesn't get whacked.

This youtube is incredible.

Dream Catcher

2008-11-08T06:49:00.001-08:00

Those of you who know me know that I hate nothing more than when someone decides to give you the full details on a dream they had the night before. It always ends up just being a random assortment of people, places, and things, and the person telling the dream story always expects you to be so interested in this very strange dream they had. These days, I can't even pull myself to feign interest in these drab stories, so usually once the person is done telling the story I'll muster up some sort of grunting noise and go back to what I was doing. That being said, let me tell you about this dream I had last night...

I was at a show at this very small club on top of a hill, hanging out with my favorite Canadian band Propagandhi. I didn't recognize any of the guys in the band (because they had an all-new lineup...I was disappointed that the guy from The Weakerthans wasn't in the band anymore, but his replacement was very friendly). I then had to use the restroom, but there was no restroom at the club. I had to get in my car and drive through the snow back to my house (which obviously wasn't my house). Once I got there, I went to open the bathroom door, but right before I did I noticed that the door was slightly cracked and I heard someone in there. I waited outside the door, heard a flush, and who comes walking out? None other than Angela Lansbury (of Murder She Wrote!)

If someone can try to explain to me what this dream means, I'd really appreciate it. I bet Dr. Melfi could. I'd also like to give a shout out to the guys in my band for turning the heat completely off in the middle of the night so that I could wake up multiple times because of the cold. If it wasn't for that, I probably wouldn't have remembered this monumental dream.

I'm gonna go get a shower and go to Chicago now.

Looks like my blog is really takin' off.

2008-11-07T16:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, since I'm in Portage, Indiana and listening to The Streets new album, I figured it was time to start my new blog. I named it "Your Favorite Blog" for very obvious reasons. I was also very inspired by reading Michael Ian Black's great blog every day for the past few days. Tony and Steve also have pretty great blogs. My good buddy Zach Gehring has a very confusing blog which I have not yet been given a shout-out in yet, but I'm taking care of shouting him out in my very first post.

Shout out to my boy Zach.

That being said, I'm sitting behind the merch table at a show in Portage, Indiana and I'm really hoping to slang some tshirts tonight. What better way to spend your hard-earned money than on a great new t-shirt? We even have some t-shirts with squirrels on them. Or maybe its a chipmunk. Whatever. Either way, I figure I spend about 500 bucks a year on t-shirts. Definitely a worthwhile investment.

We played a show in Toledo last night, and it was a surprisingly great show despite the fact that we did not go on until after midnight. Toledo is definitely the city that never sleeps. I had a Pabst Blue Ribbon on stage, which made me feel really cool. After we played, I also had a Bud Light, so I'm going to consider that a successful "mix". When it was finally time to leave, we played the "who's alright to drive?" game. I decided it was me, so I slipped into the driver's seat for our 5 miles drive to the Comfort Inn (the floor there is PURE COMFORT). We missed our turn, and I decided to make a left turn where there was a No Left Turn sign, mainly because it was close to 3 AM. Big mistake. Sirens and lights are behind us, and I instantly think back to my Pabst Blue Ribbon and Bud Light in regret.

I pull over, and the officer steps up to the window shining his light of heaven directly into my eyes, which I'm sure were beat red as they always are after we finish playing and they've been doused with sweat. As I fumbled through my wallet for my license, the conversation went something like this...

Officer Lovely: Do you know why I pulled you over?

Me: Uhhhh...was I not supposed to turn left back there?

Officer Lovely: Do you think you can turn left even when a sign says you can't?

Me: Well, I saw there were times under the sign and I wasn't sure...

Officer Lovely: Do you think you're special and you can make left turns even when there's a sign that says you can't?

Me: No, I mean, I just thought...

Officer Lovely: You have Pennsylvania plates, what brings you out this way?

Me: We're in a band and we just played at Frankie's.

Officer Lovely: Well I see your career is really taking off. Have a nice day.

He let us go, out of sympathy for our music careers. I knew that we were doing this for a reason! Another perfect example of being above the law for being so famous. Hell yeah.

Needless to say, I really like this guy...