Daily Adventures of wakingNorman

Yes, we did work too.

2005-07-15T10:06:00.000-07:00

Realized we don't have pics of the guys actually doing a show, so here you go. Yes, we worked too.

Membership night.

Fourth of July....check out the mountains in the back.

A few more pics to tie you over...

2005-07-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

Standing at the edge of the world...

Rosie, Jerry, John, Mikey, Chris and Nick at the Ice Caps.

Check out these hotties at the 4th of July show.

Conquering Mt. Dundas

2005-07-08T23:12:00.000-07:00

Mount Dundas, yes we climbed it!

View from the foot of the Mountain.

Chris and Mikey half way up.

View from the top of Mt.Dundas, yes that's the car down there.

This is just a preview of more pictures to come.

Back Home

2005-07-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

Well, today was a long travel day and we are back home in good ole Texas. Hot, but not 100 degree hot, only 90 something...but HUMID...yuck!

I have to send a shout out to all the good people of Thule for another fun and successful trip. Again it was great seeing things we didn't see the last time we were up there. Thank you to Msgt. Dan Hampt for hauling all of us around Thule and being ever so patient with a bunch of musicians. Thanks to Rachel, Mike x 2, Jesper, DJ, Connie, Jeff, Chuck and the rest of the TOW club staff for all your help with EVERYTHING...especially exposing us to new drinks. Thanks to the folks at Det 3 (esp Sgt.Perez...I hope I have the rank correct), BMEWS (Major Gibson and the second shift guys and gal) and Marie and Allan from the Community Center for the tours of the facilities and Thule. Thank you to all the people who came out to the shows and checked out what the "new" wakingNorman was all about. "Tak" to all the Danish and Greenlandic contractors who keep Thule running. Thanks to the Security Forces for not stopping a bunch of drunk tourists at 1am walking back from the TOW club..really I tried to keep them quiet.

Congrats to Colonel Haven and Colonel Buck. Colonel Buck takes over for Colonel Haven at Thule Air Base and I am sure will have a good time with the people there. Also Congrats to Major Wedding and Major LaCasse. Mikey and I went to the Change of Command on Thursday as Major LaCasse took command of the 821st Support Squadron from Major Wedding. That was an interesting ceremony, Major Wedding kept his speech how I like them, short and sweet. Colonel Haven and Major Wedding were on the plane back with us. I will post a picture as they boarded the plane, everyone was out to say their last good-byes, pretty cool.

I would like to give a shout-out to all the people that I got to see again and meet for the first time. You are all great and props for spending a year (or more) up there. You can email me at rosie@wakingnorman.com if you want, definitely want to keep in touch. Anyway, I am tired and should be asleep by now, but once I get online it's addictive. I will be posting come cool pics too...even Mt.Dundas. It's a mountain that we all climbed our last night in Thule...yes all of us.

Rosie

Touring Greenland

2005-07-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our first tour trip. We went to the Ice Caps...sooooo out of shape =). We had to climb up this mountain and on the other side was complete whiteness. It was said that Camp Sentry was out there, which was an underground base but that didn't last too long with the snow and ice. It was amazing, we were truly on top of the world! Got some great shots that I will be posting when we get back. Then we went to P-Mountain and got another great view of Greenland. Finally ended our day at Det-3. There they track the satellites along with 7 other strategically positioned bases. They are able to download and transmit data, but all encrytped, which then gets sent to the main base in Colorado. Some cool stuff.

Last night we had an acoustic show in the casual bar of the TOW club. It started off slow, but by the end of the night, everyone was having a good time.

Today we went to D-Launch, an old missle site. We got to go down into the tunnels where they lived and launched missles back in the day. I wouldn't be surprised if that place was haunted. We are hanging at the Community Center right now before we head out to BMEWS. Mikey, Nick and I did it last time, but we didn't get to see much, this time we get to see the only place where three glaciers meet. We also get to go on top of the satellites and take some cool pictures. Later we hope to climb Dundas Mountain.

Well, that's all for now. Hello to everyone back home!

Rosie

2 down 2 to go

2005-07-04T09:53:00.000-07:00

Two shows down and two more to go. The first one was okay. We were having a few technical issues, but last night's show rocked! Everyone likes the new sound. We were a little worried because there are still a few people here who have heard us before, but even those folks enjoyed the "new" guys.

Yesterday was fun. The TOW (Top of the World) club had membership night last night. They had all sorts of fun summer-like type of stuff going on. The ballroom had a jungle/luau theme to it. Nick and I went to the Pavillion and enjoyed some of Art's barbeque. That man has been here for 27 years. Nick played a little dominoes with Red Velvet (BD), George, Lonnie and some other guys. When we got to the club they had a scavenger hunt and at the end, the teams had to make shots. It was Jerry, Nick, John, Chris and Mikey's call on who won the scavenger hunt by determining who made the best shots. I think Colonel Haven's team won that won. Nick and Mikey participated in the Limbo contest. Mikey and one of the guys up here were the last two. They were competing for a 19" TV/DVD/VCR combo thing. Unfortunately Mikey lost, wonder how we would have transported that thing back.

Today is the Fourth of July celebration. The guys are playing outside. I think it's 40 degrees today. They were supposed to have the Polar Bear Swim earlier, but the bay was frozen over so they cancelled that. The water temp is only 29 degrees! No thank you! They have a softball tournament by the Community Center and we we play around 5:00, the guys are outside setting up as I type.

Tomorrow we start one of our many tours around the area. We are going to the Ice Caps then Det 3. Wednesday we go back to BMEWS and sometime we will head out to Dundas Village and hopefully get to climb Mt.Dundas.

That's the update for now. Going outside to check on the guys.

Rosie

Is it 12am or 12pm?

2005-07-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

We have arrived. It's crazy....we were walking around base at midnight and it's as bright as if it were 12 noon. Things are going well. The weather is beautiful. 40 degrees isn't so bad with the sun. It's cool to actually see things and the base is so much smaller in the light. What took us 5-10 minutes to get to last time, now only takes us 2. There is definitely a different vibe with the daylight. You can see more smiling faces. They have a few tours planned for us which we are excited about including Dundas Village where the Inuits live, back to BMEWS, Det 3, and some other places. That'll all happen next week. We were hoping to explore the ice caves but I guess the road to there is under water with all the snow melting. I hope it snows while we are here. They actually had a snow storm a couple of weeks ago. Snow in the middle of June...crazy?!

The guys are rehearsing right now. I'm in the TOW club's office checking email. Our first show is tomorrow night. There is a buzz over us being back. Everyone is interested in hearing the new sound. Of course, the big question is over Troy, he must have made some impression the last time we were here ;-). But the guys are ready to bring the ROCK! There are alot of events going on this weekend/week so they are busy all over the base. They had a change of command yesterday, a couple of other high ranking officers are leaving also so they've had a few going away parties. It's the 4th weekend, they have a membership appreciation party at the club here on Sunday so they are keeping busy.

Anyway, I'm going to go check on the guys and give Rachel back her computer. Will post more again later.

Rosie

One the Road Again...

2005-06-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Well, we are on the road again for AFE. Right now we are in Baltimore waiting for our flight to Thule. It's midnight. We don't board until 1am, not bad, we've kept ourselves entertained. It's been an interesting day to say the least. Check in was a breeze....we're old pro's being our third time. Pete you will be happy to know we saved ALOT on MCO's. Anyway, one band member left his bag at Security. Not until after we ate lunch did he realize he was missing his bag. Then one other band member lost his boarding pass. Then our flight got delayed and we waited on the runway for about a half hour. Finally took off. They showed Hitch on the plane. We get to Baltimore and we are missing part of John's drum kit. They must have forgotten to put it on the plane at DFW. Luckily it made the next flight here and we now have it. So now we sit and wait. We must enjoy the darkness because for the next week all we will see is daylight. Will update you more later.

- Rosie

Love in the Wasteland

2005-01-23T22:00:00.000-08:00

I keep forgetting to post this, but the people in Thule have adopted Love in the Wasteland as their song. If you listen to the lyrics, then you'll know why. Oh and when we did the radio show up there, Doc Jim had a surprise for us. He had an autographed Benjamin Allen Band Mile One CD in his possession. Yes, all five of the original members. How crazy is that...in Greenland!

Greenland Pictures have been posted

2005-01-13T07:47:00.000-08:00

Pictures from our trip to Greenland are up! Go to www.wakingnorman.com/photos.html and check out all the fun we had.

Ironically I complained about the internet connection in Greenland and the past day and a half I haven't had a dial tone on my phone line at home so I haven't been able to log on. But I have found a way to get things posted.

Rosie

Home Sweet Home

2005-01-09T23:22:00.000-08:00

Well, we are back in Dallas and recovering. It's great to see daylight again. Time to get back into the swing of things. Keep checking the website and the blog. I will be posting pictures soon and will try to post highlights from our trip that I didn't get to post while up there. See everyone on Friday!

Rosie

Final Days

2005-01-06T14:18:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we did a final unscheduled gig at the TOW club casual bar. It was a full band show but stripped down. Everyone loved it. Thanks to Randy at BMEWS for another RMO and the t-shirts. We have had a blast here and thank everyone here for their hospitality. We have met alot of great people up here. Please keep in touch with us, you are amazing people for dedicating a year of your lives away from home and daylight (at least for part of the year). I wish I could name everyone we have met these past few days but the list would be enormous. You know who you are!

See you in February??????? (February 26th is the first official day that they will see daylight).

(on behalf of Troy, Mike, Nick, John, Wes and Billy)
Thanks again,
Rosie

New Music

2005-01-05T13:29:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let ya'll know that the guys are rehearsing right now. They are working on some new music. I just typed up some lyrics for a new song by Nick and last night typed up a song that John wrote. They have also put a new twist on Sacrifice that you might enjoy. They have been rehearsing Sacrifice so much that the staff at the club is walking around humming the tune. Time to go check on the progress of the new tune.

Later...
Rosie

Show Updates

2005-01-05T08:34:00.000-08:00

Let me update you on our shows up here.

New Years Eve was fun. They had a big party at the TOW club. There were probably more Danish and Greenlandic contractors than Americans, but everyone still had a good time. The guys played "Auld Lang Syne" and invited one of the Air Force's own John Link to play the sax. At East Coast midnight Troy invited all the US Service Men and Women to the dance floor and Mike, John, Troy, Wes and Nick handed out CD's to them. We got many comments from them to Thank all of you back home for donating the CD's to them.

Monday we had a show. We weren't sure whether people would turn out since it was a Monday night, but we had about 40/50 people show up. The Colonol presented us with Greenlandic certificates saying that we've been to the Top of the World and have crossed the Arctic Circle. Jeep gave us each an RMO (Round Metal Object). It's a coin given to people for outstanding service. It was definitely an honor to receive. The people up here have been great.

Tonight, by popular demand, we added an extra acoustic show. They have done a great job advertising our shows. I was watching one of the informational channels and it mentions our show tonight. We were at the fitness center last night and someone came up to us and told us that an email was sent out. From what I've heard, plenty of people will be out to see us one last time.

I will be adding some pics today that show Thule during the day. It's what we would see if there was light out. Thanks Doogie for the photos.

More later...Rosie

Pictures from the First Show

2005-01-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks Jeep for these pics. Since we are on dial up it takes about 4-5 minutes to upload two photos....ugh! Needless to say we have alot more. But here are some from the first night we played. We made alot of new fans and friends. Enjoy!

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/rosie276/album?.dir=bc0d

Rosie

Radar

2005-01-03T13:29:00.000-08:00

Hello all, Nick here.
Woke up this morning and took a tour of the radar facilities up here - BMEWS. Drove 13 miles up an icy mountain to find it. BMEWS is Thule AFB's pride and joy and primary mission. Here, the Americans, Canadians, and Danish survey the northern skies for satellites and missiles using radar. Pretty informative tour. I was surprised to find how old their computer systems are - ancient. Old, but they work. Contractors and military folks up there regularly get snowed in. So, they have a few amenities on site for them including dorm rooms, work-out facility, cafeteria, basketball court, driving range simulator.
Somehow managing to keep warm up here. Thanks Cindy for the hat. Thanks Carly for the gloves. Thanks Thule for the parka. -Love, Nick

Hello from The Top of the World!

2004-12-30T11:36:00.000-08:00

We have arrived in Thule (pronounced "too-lee") Air Base in Greenland. As expected it's coooooollllllddddd (today -16F...with the windchill at about -31F) and dark. The time difference is only two hours ahead of Central Time, but 24 hour darkness. It's weird getting off the plane at 9am and it looks like 9pm. Not sure which is better though 24 hours of daylight or 24 hours of darkness. But they say you get used to it. We'll see what happens over the next few days.

I am in MSgt. Dan Hampt's office checking email. He was so kind to bring me here while the guys are rehearsing. We have a radio interview later this afternoon and a show tonight. The base is pretty excited about us being here. There are about 140 US service people up here, very different from the cold war times when they housed about 10,000 US service people. The rest of the 600 or so people up here are Danish and Greenlandic contractors that run the place. It's a cool little community.

We got here yesterday after a full day of traveling. We started off at DFW, went to Baltimore and took a DC-8 to Thule. There were about 14 people on our flight to here. The front part of the plane carried cargo and the back part with about 7 rows carries passengers. They even gave out snacks, breakfast, and showed a movie, "The Alamo". We got to chat it up with one of the flight attendants. I let her listen to my wakingNorman CD so she could get a preview of the guys. She loved them. The other flight attendant is from Colleyville. What a small world.

Upon arriving we had a small briefing about safety up here with weather and our itinerary for the next week and a half. They have 4 levels of storm status. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and one I can't remember at the moment. At Charlie status you are not allowed to go out. Basically the wind kicks up major, there's lots of snow and you can't see in front of you. We were briefed on that at least three times. I would love to see a storm, but John is all about avoiding danger. He called me crazy.

Anyway, we all went back to our rooms after the brief and took little naps. We then had lunch at the dining hall where the food isn't so bad. We then proceeded to a briefing about what they do here at Thule Air Base with Colonel Haven. They basically provide missile warning and space surveillance information to North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) command centers in Colorado. After we went back to our hotel rooms and took longer naps. Later in the evening, we headed to the club where we are playing at and set up equipment and did a small sound check. Yesterday was a looooong day to say the least. Today everyone is refreshed and ready to go. Not sure who is more excited about us playing, the band guys or everyone on base. I will try to keep you updated as much as I can.

By the way, I want to THANK the wakingNorman fans who generously donated funds so we can get CD's, t-Shirts, and hats to these guys up here. You guys rock! THANK YOU!

If I don't get to post before tomorrow, have a Happy and Safe New Years!

Anyway, if you have any specific questions, you can email me at rosie@wakingnorman.com and I'll try to answer them for you on here. I'm going to try to get the guys to post also. But I must get back over to the club.

Take Care and see you from the Top of the World!
Rosie

BTW, I'm going to try to figure out a way to post pictures online. So stay tuned! It's crazy/funny seeing Wesley in shorts with an arctic parka. Yes, he had shorts on yesterday!

On the Road Again....

2004-11-09T13:50:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

We did so well in Alaska that AFE has commissioned us again. This time we are going to Greenland. We will leave for Greenland Dec 28th, and return Jan 7th. Keep checking here for our adventures. For now, check out where we'll be playing.

http://www.thule.af.mil/index.htm

Ketchikan Island

2004-11-01T11:07:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone in blog land – greetings en route to Ketchikan Island. Today is Sunday, travel day, a very long travel day. I am in flight with 5 really tired guys, all asleep. We are unfortunately on a most inconvenient routing down to the island today. There are only two flight choices each day to get from Fairbanks to Ketchikan. The best routing however is a flight we would have to have been on at 6:00am, meaning I would have had to get the guys awake, packed and in the lobby at the base ready to roll at 3:45am. The second choice (which AFE booked us on) is a shitty routing, but better time. I had the guys in the lobby at 7:30am, but we have this ridiculous flight pattern of going back to Seattle to get to the Island. Kind of like if you wanted to fly Dallas to Houston, and you routed yourself through Mexico City. Anyway, we’ll be in tonight maybe around 10:00.

Show at Eielson last night was OK, but very small, maybe 20 people. Everyone loved it and the guys played like it was a crowd of 100 people. Air Force has been by far the most accommodating for us. Yesterday was the best tour we have had ever, a visit to the A-10 fighter jet hangers. You’ll see lots of pictures on the WEB site from this. We had the extremely rare opportunity to have an escorted tour of the A-10s from one of the jet mechanics. I was at the club while we were setting up and just small-talking with some of the guys. I always ask the guys what they do, as their stories are always very interesting. This guy, Mike, said he was an A-10 mechanic. I commented that I always wanted to get up close to a fighter jet, but never could. This guy was unbelievably nice to us – he made phone calls, borrowed a truck, opened up locked down fighter jet hangers, and gave us a guided tour and taught us all about what these jets do. We will never forget Mike and this tour. This blog cannot really express how cool it was for all of us – I hope the pictures give you all a little feel for it.

Now arrived on the Island... We are now in Ketchikan, a very windy rainy place. This place gets 15 feet of rain a year. In September, it rained the equivalent of Hurricane Francis + Ivan. We flew sideways into a rainstorm and 30 mph winds, but made it ok. After a late night binge at McDonalds, the only thing open on the Island at 10:00, we made it to lodging. Last show is tonight at the coast guard station.

Since we come home tomorrow, this will be my last blog. I’ll put new photo album up today, with all my shots from Eielson, mostly from the fighter jet tour. I stopped taking many shots of the guys playing cuz, well, you’ve seen enough of those.

Hope you all enjoyed the blog updates. Looking forward to seeing you all at Sullivans Friday !
Pete

Ft Wainwright and Clear AFS

2004-10-29T11:57:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, from Ft Wainwright, just outside Fairbanks. 17 whole degrees earlier this morning. All snow covered here. Thought I'd take a minute and update everyone. Some updates may be redundant to Billy's, who is doing a great job sending his perspectives.
The guys are holding up really well. There is tremendous energy at these shows, and I find the guys sincerely psyched to get up and play again. I know we all miss home, but it is really clear to me that these guys are cut out for this, touring musicians - this is what they set out to do in making the Band. For most of them, this is their first real serious tour away from their own home territory, so it's all new. Other than the occassional glitch I run into into in keeping them all on-time, it's going smoothly. Everything we do is military timing, like when they say the truck leaves at 0800, they don't mean 0805 ! You all know the guys, so you can relate to my challenge with that.
Ft Wainwright is home to the US Army's Stryker Brigade. We have been watching, and eating with some of the troops who will be deployed to war in November. It is a humbling feeling, sitting at lunch with a table of troops right behind us, who may very likely be the folks you see on CNN in Iraq fighting an active war for us. Whether or not you agree with the war, or whatever orders whatever President says, all that is totally irrelevant, at least to me, when you actually interact with these people assigned to do it, whether we agree or not. We are spending our time with people who wouldn't have much tolerance for political opposition - they have to go to war. Anyway, not trying to get too patriotic again, but this is the feeling we get up here with these guys. We will entertaining troops tonight who will be at war in a month.
Tomorrow we go to Eilson AFB. I finally figured out the difference between an AFS and AFB - Air Force base and station - Base has jets, Station does not. Clear AFS is a radar sight - they tell you they just "watch space" (and thats all they tell you - it is pretty classified out there). Clear was a very important piece of our missile defense in the cold war time. It is very secluded out there, almost 2 hour drive in a blizzard to get there. More moose than people, they only house 120 active duty.
I started the stay here at Ft Wainwright by nearly smashing one of our hosts little car. She took me to get us a van - a big, very cold, frozen solid old military van. The vans heater fan is possessed, and blows only liquid nitrogen I think. I had to follow her back to the base, and thought I was on pavement as we approached a stop sign, when really I was on black ice. All I could do was pray as I slowly skated this very big very ugly van towards her pretty little sports car. Anyway, missed her by a foot.
The guys are pretty much relaxing today - everyone was beat yesterday, and we were very thankful for a much needed day off of performing. Most of the guys, including me, were just falling asleep everywhere we went.
I have a few more pictures from Kodiak and Clear I'll get to Rosie to load to the WEB site soon (thanks Rosie for doing this).
We will be coming home with new music ! At least one song many of you have never heard. Also, after each sound check, the guys are rehearsing new twists to the tunes you know. Next few shows you hear will surprise you I think - the performance is getting really tight and I've really pleased with it.
Rosie- maybe put out an email to whole list early next week talking up the Sullivans show for next weekend. Tell everyone it's our debut show after the tour and they should all be there... I'll set up slide show on my laptop and show a bunch of pics from the tour.

Who is reading these blog updates anyway ? We have no idea if anyone is even reading all this ? Send us comments (I think you can just select to post a comment) - let us know who out there is following the tour !
Thanks...
Pete

A Sight to See

2004-10-25T23:18:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

Here are some pics from Anchorage! Thanks to the ever hard working manager Pete DuPre' for the awesome shots.

Thanks,
Rosie

Message from Nick

2004-10-25T23:05:00.000-07:00

Check out Billy's Blog for an audio message from Nick.

Thanks,
Rosie

Safely on the Island

2004-10-25T08:10:00.000-07:00

About 10:00 last night, I think Wes finally got the color back in his face. We landed - well, the plane slammed into the ground on some pavement, on Kodiak Island at about 4:00 yesterday. It is just a little windy out here, like if you just stand there you will be blown over. The plane at some points of approach was flying sideways. Wes does not like to look out the window of a plane and see the scenary coming towards him. Anyway, all safe and sound, just a little shook up on landing. One of those where the cabin gave round of applause to pilot.

Coast Guard station looks out over one of the most beautiful places any of us has ever seen. We just keep stopping and looking out windows at all this. The club we are playing at tonight is right on the water. Just down the dock a little is several cutters (ships) where the guys who will be hopefully at the show all work. We have no idea what we'll get for audience - it is Monday night, and this place is very small (the whole Island is small).

We are trying to get on radio today. More later... gotta run now.
Pete

Travel Day

2004-10-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Travel day today, off to Kodiak. Show at Ft Rich was small, but the few there loved it and the guys did great. Although a small show, we had all the brass from AFE, and also the Club manager from Elmendorf join the show with her husband.
The guys are tired, some very tired. I am glad we have no show today and just have to get to Kodiak.
Flying in to Kodiak will be the next story, possibly or so I hear. Turns out we are on a prop plane, which may or may not be able to take all our gear in one flight. Also, only about half the time can the plane actually land at Kodiak - half the time they turn around and return to Anchorage to wait for fog and storms to lift. So, this should be interesting.
I will say, thank God I could get Billy on this tour. This entire thing would be a totally different experience for all of us if not for having someone we know and trust and knows the guys.
We actually made it off base to a dinner in town last night. Nice to get some civilian, not-fast food. Little treat for the guys (and Major Turner and one of her staff) from Moonrise - so Bob and Ernie if you are reading this, special thanks from all the guys for a taste of Alaska seafood. We were very fortunate to have Major T with us.
Looking forward to seeing Kodiak - gotta run and feed the guys.

Fort Richardson

2004-10-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. I am in the office of the manager of the club we are playing at tonight over at Ft Rich. Guys are setting up - well, I mean when I last saw them they were all hanging out listening to a new CD Mikey bought at the BX. Club is in the cellar of one of the base buildings, called Down Under Club. Low ceilings, small venue, we are pretty much going to blow this place off the base tonight! The PA we got is awesome, so the guys are sounding really good. As Billy said in his note, last night's show was killer. I gave out over 45 CDs - wish I had 250 more up here. I did bring a couple extra boxes in case we got a gig at some record store or whatever, but tehre will never be time or energy for that, so - I am tempted to just give these people the CDs anyway. These people are so appreciative, and so cool to work with. I can only wish venue managers and promoters back home could be like this.
The guys have been great to work with - everyone is working really hard - its kind of non-stop setting up, tearing down, getting lost, sound checking, getting lost again, take a little time for shitty food, messed up jet-lag sleep (real jet lag, not like just that one hour feeling). Imagine this - John called me this morning at 8:00. Yesterday Nick came over to my room at 6:30am !
We never, ever want to see another Burger King, ever.
Again I cannot begin the explain the feeling of standing with the guys yesterday outside in the cold hanging out during set-up, and all of a sudden hearing two F-15s warm up, taxi, and then gun it right next to us, head off towards the white mountains, hang out upside down for a while, then disappear. Pretty cool those are the guys we are here to entertain.
I hope you all herd Troys voice blog. That bus ride was an adventure. So, tell me though - you local DFW folks - why in the hell would a driver take 121 from Troy's place to get to Billy's - yeh, at 8:00 AM ??? ..."sir, please sit down, I am a professional driver, I know where I am going..." - Yeh I told him, 121 is a parking lot, why the F would you take it when I am trying to get 7 guys and 1500 pounds of gear on a flight, and you are sitting on 121, to go South in Plano ??? So this guy gets out on 121, sees it is going absolutely nowhere, and gets off. Anyway, was very funny. He slept the rest of the way to the airport, except when he fell.
Tonight I hope to have time to take the guys into Anchorage off the base to get some civilian food. We start here at 9:30 and play as long as people are here. Funny talking to these venue managers - nothing like clubs we play at home - I ask when do they want us to start and how long do we play - answer is just whenever you want and as long as you want. I ask when the club closes, and it is just - whenever everyone leaves.
Well I'm off to set up gear for tonight and get this place ready to rock...
More later.. Pete

Message from Troy

2004-10-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

Check out Billy's Blog for an audio message from Troy.

Thanks everyone!
Rosie

They have arrived!

2004-10-22T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
I was talking to Pete while he was lost on Elmendorf Air Force Base a little while ago. Turns out he only needed to go one mile down Fighter Street, but ended up totally headed the wrong direction on Artic Warrior! It took him 20 minutes to get turned around and headed for the PX, but it gave me a chance to get a report on what's going on today. They don't have internet access in their quarters, so he asked me to post something. They will look for the library tomorrow and try to get something posted from themselves.
They got in fine last night and were only missing a couple of trunks. By the time they loaded in this morning, everything was there, so set up went great. It went so well as a matter of fact, the guys didn't want to stop playing, so they were working on a new tune while Pete ran out.
They wandered around the base for a bit, which turns out to be a fully functioning city nestled in the middle of vast, snow-capped mountains. One nice thing about the white background is that it lets them see all the Black Hawks and F-15's that are flying around the airspace! Pete said they were sitting outside talking when everything around them started to shake. They were close to the runway, and when they looked over, they saw 2 F-15's taking off together. It sounds very cool!
For lunch, they headed into Godfather's Pizza and visited with men and woman in full flight gear on their lunch breaks. It sounds like quite the day-job, so I can only imagine how much these soldiers are going to enjoy an evening with the band!
While they were doing sound check, a group of people walked up to them. One of them was Major Turner, the woman responsible for making our whole tour happen. She and her boss (the Colonel) took an early flight from Japan and made it in to see the show. The Colonel is responsible for Armed Forces Entertainment for the entire US Military stationed worldwide. This is a fantastic opportunity for the band, and from the sound of it, they are pretty stoked! There's no telling where this could lead us next if she likes what she hears.
Just about now, while I am writing this, they are all sitting down to dinner with the Base Commander and several others who invited the guys to join them. They have been given Officers credentials, so they have access to all parts of the Base. There were rumors of fresh salmon and haddock, so they were counting the minutes till dinner when I talked to Pete. (lucky dogs!)
He mentioned he saw quite a bit of advertising for the gig tonight, so hopefully The Kashim will be packed. there are posters all over, and we made the local Guide too. Our first CD donation went to the bar Manager, and the first piece of merchandise (one of the tour hats) went to the son of the MP who picked the guys up at the airport. He came out to watch sound check.
With all the donations that were made both in cash and purchased merchandise, they were able to take 250 CD's, 50 shirts and all the Tour Hats that were made! Thanks again to everyone who had anything to do with helping us out. Whether you were a fan who donated an extra $5, or Patrick with Allied Vaughn who worked with White Tiger to reduce the cost to us substantially on the purchase of our CD's, there will be a lot of soldiers who will benefit from your generosity! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Well that does it for what I know so far! I know I've been excited all day today about this show, and I'm still stuck in Dallas! Rosie, Beth and I were talking earlier and I'm sure there are more than just the 3 of us who wish we were in Anchorage tonight!
Keep checking back for more from the road in Alaska.

If you have any questions for the band about the tour, send me an email at ma@wakingnorman.com and I'll get it to them to answer for you.

We should also have the tour shirts on the website for sale soon, so check out the store! There are a limited number left, so get yours soon!

Take care,
MA

Waiting in Seattle

2004-10-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody. After a 4 hour bus adventure around DFW, we actually made it to DFW on time. Took another 90 minutes to check our 1000 pounds of gear. All went smoothly though. We are in Seattle for our layover, eating again. Mikey is on his 4th bag of pretzels and refuses other food I've offered him. Troy is nowhere to be found. I think I am on my 4th sandwich, thats basically all we are going to eat for weeks, sandwiches. But, American Airlines was kind enough to give me another one for free on the flight, a nice fresh one where the bun was so fresh it actually seemed wet. I was able to get the American Airlines Admirals Club to let me in with my 6 guests (except Troy who vanished upon arrival here). Nice thing is that they have sadnwiches here in the admirals club. It's 18 degrees in Fairbanks, so the topic of conversation so far has been jackets. We are going to Anchorage first for a few days, where it is a much warmer 23 degrees tonight. So, more from Elmendorf AFB - thanks again to everyone for helping us bring hundreds of CDs to give the soldiers up there. All your donations and CD purchases allowed us to bring two trunks full of merch and CDs to hand out up there - no way we could afford it without the help ! Special Thanks again to everyone who helped get us out here - Beth, Rosie, MA, Major Sherry Turner, Allied Vaughn, White Tiger, CC Creations for helping us with the CDs and merch.

More later from the road...
Pete, and all the guys

Welcome!

2004-10-03T11:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks for checking out our blog. We hope to post our daily adventures while we venture North to Alaska. We will try and keep you updated with each stop. Please check back here everyday.