Here comes the longest update yet…I might need to segment this one.

Norfolk-The NorVa is the nicest venue in the world, period.  The back stage area has a basketball court, a weight room, five showers, a hot tub, a sauna, a kitchen, laundry, a pool table, a ping pong table, a foosball table, and more television sets than should be allowed by law.  Awesome.  Demon Hunter couldn’t play this one because Ryan was sick, but it ended up being a fun night.  Several of the guys from the bands hung out in a joint around the corner into the wee hours of the morning, and we had a blast.

Carrboro- Demon Hunter cancelled this show as well, so Living Sacrifice headlined and we all got to play longer sets.  Advent were about an hour from their home town, and they absolutely killed it.  I’m sure it was fantastic for them to all see their wives, friends, and girlfriends for one night after being gone for so long.  We had some technical issues during our set, but we still had a really good time.  Oh, Sleeper ripped the place apart.  The kids were buying what they were selling, and it was fantastic to behold.  After that, the mighty LS laid everything to waste.  For their encore they played “Reborn” with Matt from Advent playing Bruce’s guitar parts.  Of course, I was in the shower, and missed it.  I lose at life.

Nashville- The venue we played in Nashville is owned by Michael W. Smith, so we took to calling the place “Smitty’s Joint.”  It didn’t stick.  Anyway, the show was well attended, and the sound was great.  Demon Hunter was filming a video, so the kids went super crazy for them.  One of the guys from Paramore was at the show, but not the one I’m going to marry.  Enough of that.

Here is where I tell one of the two stories that define this tour.  I was driving from Nashville to Atlanta, through a storm in the mighty mountains of Tennessee.  Seemingly out of nowhere, the SUV directly in front of me begins to spin on the highway.  I have no choice but to swerve onto the shoulder of the road.  As the SUV begins to sping around in front of us, I am forced to drive us into the median, wheels slipping, trailer jacknifing.  We miss hitting the highway barrier by feet.  We ultimately come to a stop in the middle of the median, which is less of a median, and more of a gulley, complete with 20 degree slopes on each side of us, a flowing current of muddy rainwater beneath us, and an overpass with concrete pylons beneath it a few hundred yards in front of us.  No one is hurt, but we are stuck.  The guy who spun out in front of us was kind enough to turn around and come back to check on us.  He thanked me for my expert driving, and informed us that had I not taken us into the median, the truck behind us would have hit our trailer, which would have injured us, destroyed our trailer, and ended the tour.  He asks us if we need a ride, we tell him we have phones and should be okay, he goes on his way.

Mark attempts to straighten us out, only to find out that the trailer is pulling us sideways in the median.  He decides to attempt to get enough speed to go beneath the right side of the overpass, and hopefully shoot us back into traffic in the other direction.  As he is driving, he realizes that the trailer won’t allow a pass under the right side.  He screams “I’m going left!” and uses the momentum of the incline to whip us under the left side of the overpass, missing the concrete pylons by mere inches.  He then harnesses the momentum to ramp the right slope of the median, and spit us out into the fast lane of the highway, in our original direction.  Our van was filled with hair whips, and Texas yells.  Mark wins at life, end of story.  I will continue round two of this in the next post.

Yankees would have called a tow truck, thats all I’m saying.

Love,

-NIck