Tour Journals
October 2005

Saturday, October 08, 2005
Cincinnati, OH

The Panik With A 'K' Tour kicked off today at the King's Island Theme Park near Cinci. As always, it was a rough start to the tour for us. But, we still managed to have a really good time trying to figure out what we were trying to do. We were feeling pretty down after the show, cause we messed up so much, but then we looked at the TV and realized that we probably didn't feel anywhere as near as bad as the players for the Ohio State Buckeyes felt. Wow. They dropped one to PENN STATE. Ouch. We're really excited for this tour. Mxpx and Rufio are amazing. As a matter of fact, so are you. And YOU know who YOU are. Thats right, I'm talking to YOU. Love you. Matty T.

Sunday, October 09, 2005
Whitestown, IN

Hey. Today's show turned out SO much better than I thought it would. We played in this huge kinda lame building, and I was really worried that there wouldn't be that many people at the show. How broad my smile became when I walked out on stage to be greeted by one of the best crowds we've had in a LONG time. Fun stuff. The Bills and the Browns both won today. I was on cloud 7 when I woke up, but each victory vaulted me a cloud apiece. 9 is by far my favorite cloud to be on. Matty T.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Nashville, TN

Today was the first sold out show of the tour. It was nice. I've always said that I have more friends in Nashville, TN than anywhere else in the galaxy. That makes playing Nashville a good time based on social interaction alone. I got to eat a ton of sushi before the show, and my buddy Chris paid for it cause he said he 'missed my birthday two months ago'. I guess I better send him some expensive raw fish in the mail come his bday, November 26th. The show itself had its fair share of bumps and bruises. We made it through though, and I had a good time. Some kid in the crowd had a little flower that looked like our album cover. I bet it smelled like sweat. I sure did. Matty Thiessen

Thursday, October 13, 2005
Springfield, MO

So we played this Shrine Mosque for the third time this year. I don't think its a good idea for us to play there. Every time we've done so, things have gone terribly wrong. One time John and I fell down (not on purpose) at the same time during Chap Stick. The whole show today can be over-viewed as a metaphorical 'falling down', if you will. Many many things went wrong. But, we did, in fact, finish the set without any of us spontaneously combusting. Phew. Earlier in the day, Jon Schneck and I went to the mall and liberated all the animals in the pet store. What a weight off my shoulders. Matty.

Friday, October 14, 2005
Grand Prarie (Dallas), TX

Tonight was by far our favorite night of the tour so far. The people observing our music and actions were so so so good to us. We played in this HUGE place near Dallas, and we really appreciate the turnout. Tonight was House Of Hero's first night of the tour, and they killed it. Those boys are so good at their rock and roll craft. If you don't have their record yet, I advise obtaining it legally. We played poker this afternoon to kill some time. It was Rufio vs. Relient K. Clark from Rufio walked away with the victory. Congrats to our new buddy. The last time we played Dallas, I was sick and my voice was on the back of a milk carton. It felt really good to come back and be able to play a real show. Thanks again to our TX friends (intentional rhyme). Matty T.

Saturday, October 15, 2005
Austin, TX

Wow. What a fun show. Tonight was our Austin, TX debut. Its crazy to know what we were missing. The weather was absolutely gorgeous today, and we were more than happy to play outside. We played this place called Stubbs. Hoopes and I actually got to see Copeland play there a few months ago. They're really nice, and they fed us for free. Today was Saturday, so I sat around and watched a lot of football. I'm sure I'll do that tomorrow too. Hope our TV works. Thanks to all the folks that made it out to the show tonight. We had a really great time. Matthew Arnold Thiessen

Sunday, October 16, 2005
Pryor, OK

Not many of you know that this town is actually named for the comedy legend Richard Pryor... they picked a small town in the middle of OK to populate with up and coming comedians and start the Pryor School for Comedy and Mathematics. Unfortunately it shut down in 1987 and is now offices for a paper company. Anyways. thanks for everyone that came out to the show. i guess they kinda turned our tour into a mini festival, equipped with a petting zoo, and a whole slew of dodge trucks on display. no joke. Ryan (our new guitar tech) and i "borrowed" a golf cart and got into some trouble. we actually got raced down and cut off by a cop on a 4 wheeler cause we didnt have proper wrists bands on... he said "surely you're not one of the members of Relient k", and i said "yes i am, and quit calling me shirley." after an hour of interrogation he let us go and we rocked out until a farmer came over from across the street and said we were waking up his chickens... god bless the heartland. love, jon schneck

Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Atlanta, GA

Tonight's show was probably the holiest one of the tour. We played at a has-been tabernacle complete with a hundred-pipe organ and balconies up the the ceiling. During soundcheck Thiessen got on the organ and started playing Phantom of the Opera, his favorite dark showtune masterpiece. In fact he has a signed poster from one of the shows. Ask him. As for me, I rigged up some ropes to fly me around the room a la Dante's Inferno whilst the dolorous melody built to a crescendo. A most chilling scene.
John Warne

Wednesday, October 19, 2005
St. Petersburg, FL

Back in Florida. We will have played 13 shows in this state before the year is through. Thats a ton. Today's was really fun. I had some buddies in town, and we hung out, all the while laughing and talking of memories past. I bought the new Tony Hawk game, but didn't have time to open it up yet. After the show, Tom (mxpx) and I threw our friend Cassie's shoes on top of our bus. I had to get hoisted onto our trailer, and then take a running jump to get on top of the bus. Jon Schneck said I looked a lot like Spiderman - minus the spandex & movie magic. So, I got the shoes, but more importantly, the respect, love, and envy of my peers.

Thursday, October 20, 2005
Orlando, FL

Turns out that I banged up my legs a bit jumping on our bus last night. Walking was the chore of the day. Any movement from me on stage tonight was minimal. We were at Universal Studios again today. Our fourth time playing here since May. Wacky stuff. Today was Tom Wisneski's (mxpx) birthday. I played the chorus of "Move To Bremerton" and subbed the lyrics with "Happy Birthday Tom Wisneski - We wish you all the very best we - Hope that you will live till the end of time". Pop in your "Life In General" album now and sing along. I think its a funny thing to hope that someone lives till the end of time. I don't think I'd want to unless they invent rocket boots. If I had a pair of rocket boots I could probably have a something close to an infinite amount of fun with them. Roughly. Matthew T.

Friday, October 21, 2005
Myrtle Beach, SC

We came to the realization that we haven't played in Myrtle Beach since the summer of 2000. Despite the years that have come and gone, the memory is still quite vivid due to an abnormally excruciating sunburn that was ailing me at the time. We had a good time at the show tonight. Unfortunately, its still slightly challenging to do that whole walking thing. I don't know if we've mentioned this previously, but our entire band and crew are infatuated with a TV program entitled 'Lost'. This summer, we all watched the first season at different times.... when the last of us finished, we all came to the conclusion that we were slightly addicted and craving the start of the second season. So, that brings us to the present. 5 episodes into the second season of 'Lost' and we don't have network TV. THEN, we discover that iTunes is selling episodes of Lost for $1.99. Consider them purchased and watched. We all huddled around the TV in the dressing room today, and by hooking up a computer to the screen, we watched episode 5 as a family. It was quaint. Matty T.

Saturday, October 22, 2005
Doswell, VA

Today's show was held at a park in one of the territories in the Dominion of the King. Which King, you ask? I'm not allowed to tell you explicitly, but I can say that he comes bearing the Enormous Omelet Sandwich™ and scoring touchdowns. Probably my favorite thing that happened today was watching a group of people standing around trying to tune in to the World Series game. It was on this really crappy radio with (gasp!) actual tuning knobs. The procedure is this: someone manually controls the knobs while the rest of the group shouts out STOP STOP! IT'S GOOD THERE! NO, GO BACK! Good times. Showers and terrible pizza capped the day to make it a thoroughly enjoyable experience.
John Warne

Sunday, October 23, 2005
Buies Creek, NC

i woke up this morning in a field with picnic tables topped with fly ridden donuts... i didnt expect such an awesome show. we played at campbell university today. i must say it was one of the best days on tour so far. after we sound checked, ryan (our guitar tech and former front man/guitarist of dont look down) and i went to a dorm on campus and had a table tennis tournament. i of course won this challenge, beating him 2 games to 1. after we played ping pong, we went back to the park and we had a magnificent game of wiffle golf. its basically golf, but just playied with golf ball sized wiffle balls. it was fun. we played about 5 holes until it got dark. hoopes of course won. the show was pretty amazing. i think everyone in the town turned up, and it was great. on old friend of mine b-mac came out and it was a good time. the catering was just like thanksgiving dinner, which reminds me... Next Thanksgiving, here is a fun trick to play: When the mashed potatoes and turkey are being served, take some of both. But hide your turkey under your mashed potatoes. When your family asks "Don't you want some turkey?," pull the turkey out from under the mashed potatoes and yell "I tricked you!!" Jon Schneck

Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Rochester, NY

John Warne and I aptly renamed today's city Rockchester. At first, we thought our nickname would be pertaining to the amount of rock and roll goings on that were occurring on the date above. Unfortunately, it turns out that it was so cold, rainy, and disgusting outside that Rockchester meant that your chest was going to get rocked. John is sick. With a chest cold. Oh, how the sadness prevails. However, we had some fun today (despite mother nature's desire to teach us a thing or two about misery). We splashed in puddles. We played a make-shift game of scrabble with some hot and steamy alphabet soup (accompanied by grilled cheese samiches). Mike from Mxpx read to us out of a selection of Dr. Seuss novels (miss ya). After that we were told to take a nap, but we were naughty, and stayed up to secretly stage a war between our Transformers and G.I. Joes. Finally, we grabbed our big boy guitars, walked onto the stage, and played a show. Fun, fun, fun on a rainy day. Matty T.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Worcester, MA

I've definitely been to Boston in the fall. Many times. Today we weren't quite in the city, but close enough. Today was a sad day because it was House Of Heros' last outing with us. I LOVE their music. I CHERISH their friendship. They will be missed. I'll say it again, if you're not acquainted with their stuff, go to lengths to check it out. There's a good review of their self-titled record on Absolutepunk.net. Our show was fun. This guy in the audience, Tyler, accidently flung water on me (which doesn't mix with the amount of electricity that I have on my person). I jokingly called him a jerk in front of everyone, but we made some special eye contact that said "Haha. You know I love you, Tyler." His reciprocating eye contact told me "I know, Matt. I thought you looked too flammable. The water was simply my way of trying to keep you safe." Matthew Thiessen

Thursday, October 27, 2005
Atlantic City, NJ

Today's show was cool. We knew going into it that we were going to have a record low attendance. The vigor and prestige of the crowd more than made up for it. We were joined my my good good buddies, Over It, for their first show of many on this North American tour. Our first show ever with Over It was in Atlantic City at a casino. We were doing the exact same thing today except in a different casino. Thanks to the House Of Blues in AC for taking such good care of us today. Hmmm... this is a boring tour journal. Sorry. I'll include a poem called 'No Explanation' from my favorite poet, James Tate. "Down the street they are pulverizing the old police station. They started by crushing it, then they beat it, and then they proceeded to grind it up. I walked by it just a few minutes ago. All that's left is a mountain of woodchips... 'Where are the policemen?' I asked one of the workers. He pointed to the mountain of woodchips and said, 'We never saw them.' I walked on thinking about Officer Plotkin, how he'd arrested me when I was guilty, and how he'd come to my aid when I'd needed him. I stopped and looked back over my shoulder. I longed to be arrested, to be saved" - poem by Tate/tour journal by Thiessen

Friday, October 28, 2005
Washington, District of Columbia

We got to play the 930 club in DC today. I've wanted to play there for a long time, so I was overjoyed because that dream came to fruition. I also have dreamt about being pregnant with a baby beagle, and I'm extra happy about that dream not coming true. We played extra early today, and it was really weird to be done with the show in time to watch Jeopardy. I haven't watched Jeopardy in about 4 years, but if I wanted to today, I could have seen it. It feels good to have options. After the show, a good friend took us out for delicious Lebanese food. I just realized that none of you probably care about that. But it happened. While we were on our way to the restaurant, we got pulled over for going through a red light. We also had too many people in the car (laps were being sat upon). The police officer was very nice, and after our driver told her that she was new to the city, he let us off with a warning (and a tip of the cap). Our friends Derek and Matthew from The Evan Anthem were also with us, and it did my heart well to see my friends again. 2+2=4, hue, tea, son

Saturday, October 29, 2005
New York, NY

Start spreading the news (or if your pet isn't house-broken, start spreading the newspaper). New York, New York. To me, this town is like a holiday. Its so great, cause it only happens a few times a year. If I lived here, I would move. Probably to Ohio (cause thats where my stuff is) or somewhere else that isn't NYC. Its just too much metropolis for a lil' ol' country boy like me to handle. The show tonight was pretty much our first substantial show in NYC. We played CBGBs once a few years back, but only about 24 people witnessed the event. Tonight was a lot better attended, and a lot more fun. I can't wait to play in The Big Apple again (or any other large fruit, for that matter). I got sushi today, which is cause for celebration alone. I also celebrated getting sushi. Good thing, too, because I had nothing else to celebrate, and getting sushi is cause for celebration alone. This tour journal is going downhill fast. I should've let one of the Jo(h)ns write it, and I shouldn't have used so many of these things ( ). Matthew Thiessen

Sunday, October 30, 2005
Philiadelphia, PA

City of brotherly love for cream cheese. I hate cream cheese. I honestly do. I guess thats why I'm not a Philiadelphian. However, I really enjoy cheesecake. Isn't that weird. Thats like saying "I hate horses, but I LOOOVE horseradish. Ehhhh... nevermind. We played our beloved Electric Factory today. I can honestly say it was the best crowd of the tour to date. Gotta love Philly. They always represent, yo. I woke up really late today, and soundchecked in my pajamas. I got really embarrassed when I realized that there was a crowd of 8 or more watching us check. I then decided to put on pants. A good choice, I think. Don't you think Elton John and John Elway's names are a little TOO similar. Sniff sniff. I smell a conspiracy. Matty T.

Back