THOM DAUGHERTY

I WANNA PUT YOU IN A BLOG

TORONTO - 09.10.11

I don’t know how this happens, but every time I’ve made it to Toronto, it ends up that I go the whole day without getting a chance to experience the city.  And this time is probably the most pathetic of all, because we were right smack dab (that’s Hoosier-speak for “precisely”) in the middle of downtown, as the picture above denotes. 

Fantastic show though.  As you surmised from the last blog entry, there’s a lot of “newness” on this tour, and I think having one show under our belt with all of the new-icality helped us de-newify and relax a little.  KP had a few ideas about re-arranging the flow of the set, too, and it all worked together much better than the previous evening.  Newtastic.  

The show was at the Air Canada Centre - home of the famous Toronto Maple Leafs!  Maple Leaves?  Maple Leafs. 


Neil from the tour’s catering showed me how to properly make a mocha latte using the tour espresso machine (complete with steam wand), and I’m exceedingly grateful, because knowing how to make these on my own from now on is going to save me a lot of money.  Not that I still won’t make the occasional visit to Tim Horton’s while we’re up here, but this is something I’ve really, REALLY wanted to learn how to do for a long time.

Speaking of, the tour’s catering crew is comprised of Kara, Christian, and the aforementioned Neil.  Good people that we’ve taken to already.  And I was able to work out a little understanding with them that while most of the dining hall is shut down by 8:00PM, they leave the coffee station up long enough for me to pack up my stuff and make a mocha post-set.


While in Toronto, several of my friends were back in Indiana celebrating the marriage of Chris and Bri Thomas.  Really wish I could’ve been there for it; thankful that everybody understood my being out on the road.  Congratulations to Chris and Bri though!

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HAMILTON - 09.11.11

Several of us in the band and crew try really hard out here to get a workout in every single day, but sometimes it requires a logistical miracle.  The logistical miracle that we all needed on Sunday though was simply to wake up about an hour earlier.  I didn’t want to pay $10 to work out at a gym for only 45 minutes, so I opted to get a Spinach, Mushroom, and Swiss Omelet at this cool little local breakfast nook next to the lot where we were parked.  Fantastic mocha there, too.  

We loaded into the Hamilton Convention Center around 1PM to set up for a Canadian Country Music Awards performance later that night.  Soundcheck went quickly, so we had plenty of time to get a workout in for free at the hotel’s gym.  

After cleaning-up, it was pretty easy to talk Andy Davis into grabbing a little Tim Horton’s on the walk back.  

Played the Awards show, then packed up to jettison across town and play the Gibson Guitars Afterparty.  You know me, right?  So you know how excited I was to play at this?  The stipulation was that you had to use Gibson guitars during your two song performance (one original, one cover.)  Busted out the Goldtop for “You Lie,” and used the Deluxe for “Fat Bottom Girls.”  

Luke Bryan and a few of his boys were there to play at the afterparty, too!  I regretted not making it back to the Tim McGraw tour in time to say goodbye to everybody, so it was good to see LB and his boys again.  

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LONDON - 09.12.11

Up in plenty of time, Boone, Fitz, and I grabbed breakfast inside the John Labbatt Centre, and found a YMCA within walking distance afterward.  I gotta say… I’m a huge fan of the Stationary Handcycle, and wish they were standard at every gym.  

Fitz, our violin player, is the biggest Oakland Raiders fan in the world.  He refuses to refer to them by anything except “My Beloved Raiders.”  For weeks, we’ve been warned that if it’s a Raiders gameday, he will commandeer the back lounge and TV, and will scream and jump and cuss for the duration.  Tonight is especially important, because it’s “the only night that they’re guaranteed to have an undefeated record.”

As I type this, the Raiders are about to kickoff to the Broncos.  Fitz is ready to go with all manner of Raiders paraphernalia and about 4 Barq’s Rootbeers.  I’m standing in unity with Fitz tonight, but still keeping my distance.  Thirty seconds into the game and he’s already racked-up about $2M worth of FCC fines.

Anyhow… fantastic day and show here in London, Ontario - a particularly beautiful city.  Every time I’ve been here, I’ve gotten a good vibe from it.

And to top things off, Keith’s videographer - The One They Call “Buttergold” - scored some Pearl Jam tickets for us on our day off in Vancouver!  Zeppelin and Pearl Jam are always fighting it out to be my favorite band.  I’ve never seen PJ live, so this is earthshaking, people.  Dan, Keith’s utility player, caught Pearl Jam last night in Toronto (they played the ACC the night after we did), and said their show was totally boss.  I.  Can’t.  Freaking.  Wait.  

Long entry, I know.  Sorry for cramming three blog entries into one.  Would a few more pictures appease you?  If yes, look below.

Au Revoir,
Thom

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Catering.


My girlfriend’s favorite color is “indie green.”  I use an indie green plate for every meal.

This is a picture of a salad.


J.B. goofing behind Boone’s kit.


Solidarity.


“We got a line in the sky. We got a thing that’s called…”


I shined her up today.  She looks good, doesn’t she?


John Labbatt Centre.