Letters From The Road
Posted August 7, 2006
This morning I received a text from my manager informing me of an opportunity to have a short poem or piece of prose of mine inserted into a potentially widely circulated book. Immediately I looked up the book to see some examples of other artists and what they had written. The first piece in the last edition was written by William from The Academy is. I scammed over the poem briefly. Taking Back Sunday had a piece in there as well. Excited to be part of this piece of literature I grabbed my dictionary from my bunk,rushed over to an area outside of the Warped Tour grounds and plopped down at the base of a light post. Finding a quiet time to think is very rare on the tour, so I immediately took advantage of this spot and the few extra minutes I had. Once stationed, I cleared my mind and focused on what I might contribute...
*The past few days I've had a very difficult time waking up and a difficult time falling asleep as well. My head feels fuzzy. I feel as though an extra pint of blood is floating around in my head right behind my nostrils. There is an extra pressure in my face and a new scent that my nose picks up when I breath. Light is brighter and my eyes have a harder time to adjust. My appetite has almost completely gone away. My thirst has become unquenchable. It's a bit harder to breath and my feet and legs constantly ache. I'm not sick.
Not with the flu or a cold or anything. I'm just completely exhausted. I've never been physically sick from exhaustion before, but I suppose Warped Tour has
that way of bringing about new sensations. I'm not tired just from walking around all day, or moving equipment, or rocking out to two or sometimes three sets. I'm tired from thinking and pondering about what in store for me next. *
In the lunch line I ran into one of the members from Valient Thorr. He told me to watch his icy cold Dr. Pepper; glistening with frosty dew. I had the urge to take off with it. Soda is rare on the tour. All of us have been guzzling down Hansen's Diet sodas the whole tour. I promised to keep an eye on his treasure as I finished my meal. After I was done gorging my lunch, I placed my plate in the "used dishes" bin and returned the Dr. Pepper. The Valient Thorr dude was terrified that I had left his Dr. Pepper unattended for the few seconds it took me to return my dish. I argued with him that I kept a perfectly keen eye on the soft drink the entire time and in addition had my friends at the table offer their watchfulness as well. While Valient Thorr and I argued I saw Ben from Armor For Sleep smirk at our petty disagreement. After I had convinced him that his Dr. Pepper was properly taken care of I handed it back to him and proceeded to head out of the catering area. Back to the ropes for me. William just happened to join the line at that moment. "Hey, I was working on some prose for a book that I saw you had contributed to in the last addition. I was told to look at your piece as an example." Quite honestly, I didn't understand a single line of his piece but I figured there was some deep lurking meaning underneath it all that I was a bit too assuming to see. "Oh, yeah that" he replied immediately recognizing the book I was referring too. "Yeah, that can be about anything really." One thing about the artists on warped tour is they are so sure of
themselves and what they do. They know exactly what they are doing and they are so confident. That is something that I discovered I need to learn to find.
I finally found my way to the myspace tent, zig-zagging through the throngs of people. Gym Class Heroes had just begun their acoustic set in our tent. I took my position behind our merch table in the tent and tilted my head slightly in order to take in the beautiful hip-hop melodies of Gym Class. It was crowded. With all the hot and damp bodies pressed together in our polyester tent, it was the closest thing to a sauna without actually being that. I peeked through four heads immediately before me to catch glimpses of Travis', Gym Classes lead singer, animated face. As their music
filled my exhausted body and bodies of the unknown pressed against mine in that tent the music became...me. The clouds passed over the sun for a moment creating an instant calm and a few moments of serenity. That is when I realized what I was so lucky to be part of. We are in an age. An age filled
with innovative new ideas. New literature. New fashion. New food. Newdreams. New music. New faith. And so many of the bands on this tour are contributing to it. Yes even the small fries, (my band), are part of it. We
are trying to help it along. To help it move and think and breathe life into the future. I became over excited sitting there in the myspace with a smile on my face. Yes, I was hot and sweaty and my clothes were so damp they were melting into my body. Yes, my lips were so parched with thirst they might break off any second. And yes my skin was so burnt I could have broken it
off in crusty pieces. But without all this discomfort, anxiety and struggle how could I have discovered this newfound meaning. How could I have seen the bigger picture and how fortunate my band is to be part of it all. EVERY band is part of it all. EVERY person is part of it all. And I hope that through some sort of miraculous circumstance, (for me it is the wonderful crazy, Warped Tour) we can all discover it.
