tour journal

10/30/08 – Mischief Night.

(walter) So today is the day before Halloween and George and I have decided to blog here in sunny San Antonio, Texas. I am not sure what I want to be for Halloween yet. My two options are Tobias Funke and Doug Funnie.

(ciukurescu)I think I’ve finally settled on Ron Burgundy, though it will take a little time for me to actually get a burgundy suit now that I’ve decided on it the day before. Hopefully I don’t have to just be “Burgundy Casual” and glue a fake moustache on my face while wearing my regular clothes, but it might have to happen if time runs out.

(walter) George’s hair already looks pretty much like Ron Burgundy’s and we have a fake moustache on hand… reference the last video update from the ‘shortest tour ever tour’ where George started off the video with it on. As George was typing I went and go a diet dr. pepper and talked to a parrot. Spirits are high, the Phillies won and it’s almost Halloween.

(ciukurescu) Let me just mention that if Brendan does decide to be Tobias Funke, he will actually shave his hair into the pattern baldness style. Last night’s show was in Dallas. The Nightbeast made a surprise guest appearance and I heard before the show he was asked to play on the whole tour but after everyone saw how much better he was than all the other bands, he was actually kicked off the tour immediately after his set.

(walter) Little does George know that I am wearing a wig and last night I went a barber shop. “one pattern baldness, please” is what I said to the gentleman who was about to cut my hair. Now I have a pattern baldness and I’m ready for either Doug Funnie OR Tobias Funke. The plan was flawless. So anyway… I posted some pictures of Vegas. George has spent his entire life savings to try and win a Prius from the Bellagio through the slot machine. I kind of feel bad, but then again he’s kind of a freakin’ idiot.

(ciukurescu) It’s true, I’ve caught the little bug we all know and love called “gambling addiction.” I couldn’t really help myself though, I really thought the Prius would come out through the slot machine and when I saw that, I had to play until I won. Or lost it all, whichever came first. I’m still truckin’ along though, one day I’ll get my Prius…

(walter) Enough of our jibber jabber… here are some pictures!

this is a hand. talk to the hand.

foosball in houston. steve, bayside's tour manager is a professional when he's off tour.

i'm actually sending hodge a text message because we don't like talking to each other in real life.

WAHP-NER!!!!

poor guy.

jd is lifting me up because i thought i saw a dollar taped to the ceiling.

blah blah blah.

i have the power.

andy's too sexy for his shirt.

the guys decided to let loose and play some yard ball in the lot outside the show. they were so crazy that day.

hodge wasn't allowed to play because they said his beard was too manly for them to handle.

max playing guitar. multi talented.

10/31/08 – Halloween.

(walter) So we decided against anything creative or funny and just to be lame and go to WalMart and get some random costumes. We are being woopie cushions. We had a huge fight over Bananas or woopies… it got pretty intense. George was all “BANANAS ARE DELICIOUS, WHAT DID WOOPIE COUSHIONS EVER DO?!?” and I was like “SCREW YOU MAN” you should have seen it. Eventually we hugged it out and settle on the superior costume of woopie cushions. We just stopped at a gas station and I was expecting to see tons of costumes… not one. So I grabbed some chick-o-stick and high tailed it out of there and we kept our way to Houston. We did see a baby dressed up as the Joker in WalMart but that was just creepy and strange.

(ciukurescu) I still can’t understand why we would pay tribute to woopie cushions when we could praise the almighty banana and the limitless amount of potassium its supplied the world, but it’s out of my hands now. The jury is out and woopie cushions it is. I’m really excited for Halloween and to play a show on Halloween, it’s all we’ve been talking about all day; how great it’s going to be to finally let loose, dress up as woopie cushions, and just be ourselves finally.

(walter) I am equally as excited. It’s going to be fun and that’s what it’s all about. I’m pretty excited to see what the other bands dress up as. I really wanted to dress up as Bayside and cover their whole set… but that may not have gone over well. We are going to be bobbing for apples at our merch table and carving pumpkins in the mosh pit and doing the monster mash on stage. It will be a truly epic Halloween.

(ciukurescu) I think our van is haunted too, so I’ll be giving tours all night for a little extra cash, We’re celebrating in Houston this year, which a lot of people will probably say isn’t the ideal place for Halloween and trick or treating and everything, but to that I say it’s time to leave that close minded idea behind because we’ll definitely be changing the face of Halloween for this town forever. That is, unless one of the other bands has a better set of costumes than us. Which is impossible.

(walter) I also heard that Hodge (our tour manager) does a great creepy crawl, so I’m excited for him to break it out. I just really hope something doesn’t happen like on that Saved By The Bell episode where they go to a dance and Zack is looking for Kelly because he’s dating her and there are several people with the same costumes on and it happens to be Screech that he’s dancing with! They were so crazy that day! Or something really scary like in the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air where they go to a costume party and Carlton gets brutally beaten by some guy in a costume and he thinks it’s Hillary and is too humiliated to tell anyone that his own sister beat him up. Man that really messed Carlton up. I hope that doesn’t happen tonight.

(ciukurescu) Halloween can be a pretty confusing time but you have to take it in stride and hope for the best. I’m excited for a real Texan Halloween and I’m sure I won’t be disappointed.

11/1/08 – Post Halloween Wrap-up

(walter) So Halloween was freaking great. We finally got our wish after 4 years of being a touring band… we got to play a Halloween show ON Halloween AND dress up. It was so sweet. We came out as woopie cushions and we were the talk of the town! We had everyone on the tour watching us and everyone from NASA came out too, since we were in Houston. it was really good to see John Glenn.

(ciukurescu) All my dreams had finally come true and I knew I was right before when I said no one else would have better costumes than us. The Matches were characters from the Dark Knight and they came close, but couldn’t compete with talking, moustache’d, shades wearing woopie cushions. What’s the correct way to spell woopie cushion anyways? Before the show we thought it was whoopee and Microsoft word doesn’t put the red line underneath that, but the costumes said woopie and that version does get the squiggly lines. I’ve opened up a whole can of worms here, this could have just ruined my All Saints Day.

(walter) I believe it is called “The Day of the Dead”, George. You ruined “The Day of the Dead” is what you meant to say, George. You were thinking of the 90’s all girl pop act! At the venue tonight in New Orleans they are going to be doing the celebration from “The Day of the Dead” and I am pretty pumped to see it. It also happens to be the Michael Jackson tribute going on there too.. it should be quite a night. Anyway, back to Halloween… I gave so many hugs and fake farted so many times, it was really something else!

(ciukurescu) Jeez louise, TWO days in a row that have something to do with death? I guess the Fall is bleak for a reason. Anyways, I took a lot of candy from a guy dressed up as a cop. My stomach hurts a lot but I really love Twix and its caramel cookie crunch so I couldn’t stop myself. My favorite costumes last night were the two people dressed as Jack and Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. I forgot it was Halloween for a second and thought it was the actual Jack and Sally at our show and I asked them for autographs and pictures. It was such a great feeling finally getting to meet some of my favorite movie stars, until someone reminded me that it was Halloween again and I felt a little silly but HEY isn’t that where the good times always come from?

(walter) Good point, George. I, too, now feel silly because until you just mentioned it I didn’t realize that guy was just DRESSED as a cop. I thought he was a cop and I kept reporting everything I saw at the show to him and expected him to dispense tickets. I reported every little issue because I was afraid of another crazy Fresh Prince or Saved By the Bell moment.. I guess it was all for naught!

Anyway, here are our pictures from our epic Halloween.