Tour Journals
May 2007

5/3/07
Cleveland, OH

What a day! Cleveland is definitely the closest to home we'll get this whole tour, and the venue was packed with a ton of our favorite friends and family members. It was our first show back from a short hiatus, and we had a good ol' time. I had just been up in Cleveland a few days ago to see the Indians stomp all over my precious Toronto Blue Jays. However, today's experience was a lot less depressing. I spent most of the afternoon picking up stones and gravel in the House Of Blues parking lot. You know......Cleveland Rocks. I love 'em.

At one point during the show, I came down from the stage to sing with and smell the crowd, but for some reason, I couldn't find my way up onto the stage again. I felt quite the fool. Unfortunately, for me, Mr. T. pities the fool. Unfortunately for him, I pity Mr. T. for judging me without really getting to know me.

After the show, I got to hang out with my sibs and some other good friends, and we watched the Golden State Warriors upset the Mavericks. This did not upset me. I'm a big Cavs fan (check out the song Lebron Top Of The World), and other than that, I like underdogs. More than hot dogs or the occasional updog. Whats updog, you ask? Not much. Whats up with you?
Matthew Arnold Thiessen

5/4/07
Rochester, NY

Rochester New York is my new favorite New York city that starts with an R. One of the reasons that this statement rings true is because of all the cool kids at WaterStreet. We had a grand ole time playing our show for the patrons that came out to the venue that is named after the street on which it is located. I can't remember exactly the last time that we played there, but I remember that we did, and it was also awesome. We met some girls that came to the show that made these amazing hoodies with song titles and lyrics on them. It must have taken them at least a long or a short while. I'm not sure because I wasn't there when they did it, but it was cool and they had very nice penmanship. Here's one of em....

One of the guys that worked the show took Eric (our stage manager) and I to a comic book store that was located in some sort of old warehouse. After we left there, we went to Taco Bell. It has been over 8 months since I have been there because of the now defunct bet that Dave and I made, and it was just as glorious as I remembered. Our lighting designer Will Kent, who is from there, has been talking about this show for a while. We all got to meet some of his friends, including his girlfriend... I had to give him five bucks cause I swore he made her up... I guess you really can trust a guy with two first names. Overall, we had a great time in Rochester and I know I can't wait to get back... See ya next time! js

5/5/07
Albany, NY

We had to work a little bit harder to not be "on the verge of going insane" bored in Albany, NY today. I don't know if everyone knows this, but the town may or may not have been named after Al Bundy. Interesting. Later on, John W, my girl, Shannon, and I went to the Dollar General. While we were there, we purchased a Zoom Copter, 4 kites, some toy airplanes, a Glamour magazine, and 5 jars of Hellman's (it was, in fact, Cinco de Mayo). We took our new items around the corner a had a great time playing with them until they quickly broke. The Zoom Copter was broken, repaired, and finally broken beyond repair before I went all Godzilla on it and stomped it to bits. We got bored with single kite flying, so we tied the My Little Pony kite to the Diego kite, which we then tied to the Spiderman kite. The glorious triple kite was a wonder to behold. Our show, on the other hand, was donkey drivel. It was not RK's best. Boo for that. Everyone that was watching was way cool, but we weren't able to rise above the technical problems enough to feel really good about the show. Sorry about that.

Matty T.

5/6/2007
East Rutherford, NJ

We pulled the wool over someone's eyes today... at Bamboozle festival. The day started early with Thiessen and me meeting up with a guy named Steven who has a rock show entitled "Steven's Untitled Rock Show". He's a nice bloke. That being done we rushed back to the stage because our set was pretty early on in the day. It felt very short to us since we only got to play 30 minutes, and we're used to having over an hour. I think the only notable thing that happened was that Hoopes' guitar started belly-aching, mostly with the complaint of being under too much tension. If it were a balloon it would have let out all its air, going flat.

Watching bands we like to watch was an enjoyable way to pass the remainder of the day. For a significant number of us the most anticipated was Weird Al. He's great as a novelty act, and seriously, that guy can sing. Thanks for the shirts, Albert!
John Warne

5/7/07
Washington DC

Matt Hoopes and I woke up and went to Voice Of America (a government funded radio station) and played some songs for Larry London. It was fun, but I was too sleepy to sing worth a proverbial darn. The weariness carried over into the set, but we still managed to have a really fun show. Most of this can be attributed to the majesty of the people singing and sweating along with us. They were, as the kids say, far out. We had a fun game of poker after the show, and after that, JP (Mae's merch guy), some other pals, and I went to the Lincoln Memorial, The Washington Monument, and some other famous DC sites. The thing that was cool about it, was that it was 3am. It was a gorgeous night, no one was around (save a few security guards), and it was quite the surreal experience. Here's a crappy pic I took with my celly from the steps of the Lincoln. Its the Washington Monument smaller than ever. I was also standing where Forrest Gump was standing when Jenny waded through the

Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. So cute

Matty T.

5/8/07
Baltimore, MD

I never realized how often we don't play Baltimore. I know that sounds funny, but on most tours, we swing by Philly and Washington DC, and then just forget about Baltimore. I'm quite pleased that this tour remembered Baltimore. Its kinda like the Alamo... gotta remember that stuff. We had a really fun show, and here to tell you more about it is Baltimore's own, Edgar Allen Poe.


Matty T.

5/10/07
Norfolk, VA

As I'm writing this, Hoopes and some of the Sherwood guys are having a hot tub party in the next room. Kinda funny. Thats one of the many many perks of playing The Norva in Norfolk, VA. (although sitting in a hot tub with a bunch of dudes in their boxers may not be a perk) We had a really fun day today, and a great day off yesterday. We've made some really good friends in this town over the years, and we always enjoy hanging out in this fine city. A rad band called Hot Vegas opened up the show today, and Sherwood played a longer set in the second slot of the evening. Unfortunately, Mae couldn't play tonight's show. I'm tired, so I'm going to go call it an early night. PLAY

Matthew Thiessen

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