Chronicles of a Touring Girl

2009-04-30T11:16:00.001-07:00

January 2009 Thoughts

2009-02-02T14:27:00.001-08:00

Alright! Here is my first official blog of 2009!

I've been trying to think back on the times we had at the shows in January so I can bring out some fun key parts. We started it out at a bar/ski resort in New Hampshire. Apparently it has revamped itself and weened out the crazies cuz it was a really fun place to be at! All kinds of music to put on from a juke box hanging on the wall to Deer Hunter video games and a pool table. No cell phone service though! I'm so dependent on my cell phone, it's sick. The way the lights were set up in there made a cool reflection from something on the wall:

At one of the shows in Massachusetts, a woman had brought her daughter that was probably about 5 years old. She was super smart (and adorable!) and I ended up playing with her all night. She saw me taking pictures and wanted to try, so I let her put my camera around her neck and try and take some pictures. She was stealing my job for sure! She took some pretty cute pics!:

Chris with his now old school banjo.

We also ended the month with a few shows in the home state of Massachusetts! Bill's Bar in Boston is such a fun (and close!) place for a show. The band had a good turnout despite the snow falling down at a pretty fast rate! By the last show of January, Chris had a new electric banjo, woot!

Nice, eh?

The final show of January was in Vermont at a military school benefit show. I had the pleasure of sitting through almost all of the bands that played, and let me tell you, it was a pretty eclectic mix of genres! First a jam band, then a pop rock band, then a hardcore band, then a pop rock band again, then Oneside (aka pop rock with a banjo, as I like to call them :P). It made for an interesting transition, that's for sure! I lost my lenscap to my professional SLR camera, so while i'm waiting for it I have to use my point and shoot camera while on the road. I just got it so I started playing with the settings on it at this show, and I got a pretty cool raw black and white shot!:

That is all for now! I'll write more when I have a funny picture or story to tell. :)

Before Bed Thoughts...

2009-01-19T19:44:00.000-08:00

So I've been thinking about this blog and what it means to me, as well as the band. My original plan for this blog was to get people into Oneside through it. To see how fun they are and how good they are at what they do, as well as give myself a chance to write about the fun through text and photographs. But, as I started getting into writing this blog the past few months, I realize it started to lack something.

It started off funny and sarcastic, which is what myself and the guys totally are, and it came off great at first! But then I lost that spark, and it turned into merely a pictorial blog of almost all performance pictures.

Jake and I had a chat about 2 months ago about how I should try and focus on the behind the scenes stuff, not just the show. He was totally right then, and he still is now. I started to do that, yet I'm still writing the same blog entries.

I have so much more to offer. And so do these guys. Yes, I can take a few good show shots and talk about the show in general, but what about those funny moments that everyone would love to read about? Like when Ned wore the hat his mom knitted him religiously everywhere we went last time we were in Vermont, and all we did was joke about how it made him look like such a nice person. Or the time when we drove to Ned's house in the middle of a bad ice storm and had to take back roads that we compared to Narnia. Or the late night drives where Jake and I are the only ones awake and we sing along to amazing bands like Kings of Leon. I could keep going, but the story would be better with some pictures, right? :)

From now on, I think I'll write blogs a little less (as in not for every single show so that I don't lose sight of my objective), but they will have so much more fun detail and pictures.

I have about a month of stories to catch up on, we've had a ton of fun this past month (especially with all the snow), so stay tuned for my next blog, coming soon, that might even have some pictures from the stories I told above.

Point is, I spend most of my weekends (and some late weeknights/mornings) with these guys. Traveling, planning, helping, selling, promoting, shamlessly plugging, etc, and we are like family now. They are my brothers. And I want to extend our family to you, the Oneside family.

Stay tuned!

Oneside Touring Blog #13: December 3rd, 2008; Hartford, CT at The Half Door

2008-12-30T16:46:00.000-08:00

I'm back!

It took me a while to get these up since things were so busy with the holidays and all! I'll try my hardest to update more often now that things are settled with with Christmas and tomorrow is New Years Eve! The guys are playing a show in Maryland, I couldn't make it down with them so I hope they have/had an amazing time. :]

Anyway, for this blog we are back at the Half Door in Hartford, Connecticut. We made it there just in time for the guys to load in, sound check, and play. The place was packed when we got there, especially pretty packed for a Wednesday. (the 2 dollar Irish drafts that night might have had something to do with it, but I'm betting they came for their Oneside fix also ;) ). There were some people there who had been there previously when the band had played here, and they were really excited to see the show!

And here are some pictures from the night!

My merch set-up. Oohhhh ahh!

Writing the set-list before the show.

Grafton clearly wraps cables better than anyone else.

That's all for now! Stay tuned for a Vermont blog, coming ASAP! :)

Thanks for reading!

Oneside Touring Blog #12: November 7th, 2008; Northampton, MA at WWII Club

2008-11-12T10:05:00.000-08:00

The place that the band played at tonight was pretty cool (and close to home, yay!). It was part function hall, part bar, with a hallway that had bathrooms connecting the two. The guys played in the function hall room, with another band opening for them called Appalachian Still. More about them later. :)

There was plenty of space for everything tonight as far as merch goes, and I even got to use the banners from the release party again! They make the table look so sharp!

Before the guys played, they hung out. They shot some pool, ate some pizza, then hung around and watched the openers. Here are some candid shots of some pre-show action:

And here are some show pictures! :)

Hahahaha Chris!

Once the show was over, music was still in the air! Members of Appalachian Still as well as Chris (and later Ned) played some acoustic sets together!

They started in the corner, but people who stuck around wanted to watch them, so they decided to get on stage.

This was where Ned decided to join them and sing. :)

Last but not least, we sat around a table and had another jam session. :)

Such a fun night!

Check them out if you haven't! http://www.onesidemusic.com

Oneside Touring Blog #11: November 1st, 2008; Burlington, VT at Red Square

2008-11-05T19:54:00.000-08:00

The Red Square in Vermont was a cute little place that had a very nice atmosphere to it! It was actually located right near Ri-Ra. We were really crunched for time that night and running late, but got there just in time to set up and go! There aren't really many details from this night for the trip there, so I guess we'll just get right to the pictures! :)

My merch set-up!

The Group! The stage was kind of awkward where it was placed, so it was kind of hard to be standing there taking pictures because you were in everyone's way it seemed!

Ned. He decided he likes the jacket look! Snazzy, eh? :)

Grafton. Although not at the best angle. But like I said, pictures were kind of difficult here!

Jake. I love this shot!

Hahahah Chris!

A cool shot from behind the band!

And now since we don't have a chicken sandwich review for this night again, it's time for "Who's Sleeping In The Van This Week?"!!

Except he wasn't really asleep when I took this picture. He was about to be. He got comfy against the van window and he was just too comfy to not capture this moment. We stopped to use the bathroom before we left, and even people on the street were noting how comfy he looked in there! They were jealous and wanted to buy the van! Haha. :)

Here's a video of "Into The Night" as a closer!:

Oh and also, I met a man and a woman there who said they read the blog, so I wanted to give them a shoutout! I hope you guys enjoyed the band and hopefully we will see you again soon. Thanks for your support! :) It was nice talking with you guys!

That's all for this blog! Check out the band: www.onesidemusic.com

xo until next time!

Oneside Touring Blog #10: October 31st, 2008; Hartford, CT at The Half Door

2008-11-02T19:21:00.000-08:00

The Half Door in Hartford, CT was hosting the band's special Halloween show! The weather was much better this time around! If you've been reading the blog, then you know the last time we were at this venue there was torrential rain coming through which made things much more difficult. And if you don't know or remember this experience, just scroll down! The pictures were quite amusing from that night. This blog will probably top that one though, considering we were all decked out in costumes!

I know that's what you came to see, the amusing pictures from the night! :) We had some dinner and got to bringing all the gear in and getting everything ready. I usually have pictures of just the show, but I decided to start documenting more of the process!

The sweet sign advertising the show!

Grafton loading some gear in. Doesn't he look excited?!

Setting up the gear.

A candid shot!

That's pretty much it for pre-show visuals! People had all kinds of amazing costumes, and they were ready to dance. The guys opened the show with Ghostbusters, which was pretty amazing, especially considering there was a man there dressed as a ghostbuster! Here's a video of them opening with that song:

Amazing, right?!

Others had costumes like Amy Winehouse, Cartman and Lucy from South Park, Greek Godesses, etc. My personal favorite was a man dressed as Turd Ferguson. The guys always joke around that character so I guess that made it that much funnier that someone actually dressed up as him. There was actually a contest that the band judged, and the person who won got a pair of skis. The person who won was a man dressed as the second amendment, the right to bare arms. He literally just had fur up his arms. Quite creative, eh?

Here are some pictures from the performance:

Grafton dressed as Pooh. Aww!

Ned dressed as dead Buddy Holly.

Jake just ended up being himself.

Father Chris. :)

Group shot!

Dancing! :)

Another group shot at a fun, funky angle!

And of course the best shot of the night that I will close this blog entry with, our group shot! :

We make quite the bunch, don't we? hahahah. :)

Such a fun night!

Stay tuned for more, and check out the band!

www.onesidemusic.com

Oneside Touring Blog #9: October 24th, 2008; Camden, ME at Gilberts

2008-10-29T17:06:00.000-07:00

It was back to Gilbert's in Camden, Maine tonight! The place was extra crowded tonight since there was a tech convention down the street and all of the visitors were looking for cool places to hang out. A lot of them were drawn to Gilbert's and the fun everyone was having with Oneside! I got to meet a lot of interesting people from all over that night, as well as saw some of the regulars.

We got there early enough to play a few games of ping pong again, and up first were Jake and Grafton.

After they played, a man played in a really intense game with Grafton (since he was the winner). So intense, that I didn't even stop to take pictures of it, now that I think of it! Jake and I were just standing there watching, wondering what would happen next. I honestly forget who won that game, but it was fun to watch for sure! Maybe next time I'll take a ping pong video! It'll be like a tour diary. That could be a fun idea! What do you guys think?

Once ping pong was over, it was time for the band to take the stage, and they got the crowd dancing instantly. The best part of the night was toward the end, there was an older gentleman dancing and he came over to me, grabbed my arm, and said "if I have a heart attack, call my doctor in New York!" then he grinned and said "I can't think of a better way to go!" then went right back on to dancing. Definitely a good laugh! He made it through the night, in case you were wondering. :P

Here are some pictures from the band's performance!

My merch set-up. OOOOOHHH AHHHHH! :)

Chris.

Ned.

Jake.

Grafton.

Jake and Grafton. (such a cute pic!)

And the band!

People really dug them, and many of the bar regulars had said they never saw the band before there and didn't understand why, but also said that they would be coming back next time they came around!

No chicken sandwich review! I have a feeling that will be phased out soon, with the rate we are going with those. We'll just have to find something to replace it with. Maybe "who's sleeping in the van this week?"

Awwww Ned! (He is going to kill me for this but he Grafton thought we needed a picture of this, and I of course had to agree!)

This Friday the band will be playing in Hartford, CT for a special Halloween show! Stay tuned to the blog, you know the pictures from that night will be outrageous! :)

And if you haven't already, check out the band!

www.onesidemusic.com

xo!

Oneside Touring Blog #8: October 18th, 2008; Burlington, VT at Ri-Ra

2008-10-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

It had been a few weeks since the guys' last show, so it was good to hang out again! I had never been to that part of Vermont before, and it was so cute! The bar was located in a little center that had all kinds of things and nightlife. It reminded me a lot of Fanueil Hall in Boston.

Anyway, the night was chaos because the Red Sox were playing a very important game, and everyone was freaking out that the game wasn't broadcast when it actually started, so we got there and ordered food early hoping to relax and watch the game for a bit before the show, and our food took a while to come so things were kind of rushed after that.

The scenery was really pretty that weekend, with all the fall foliage at it's peak, etc. Here are a few pics i took on the way up!

Pretty sky! :)

This is a cute little street we went down when heading through New Hampshire. I thought the street lights were cool!

Ooooooo foliage from the highway! Cept this picture isn't as good as it could be cuz you can see all the things on the dashboard of the van reflecting in the glass! hahah look closely!

And now, for pictures from the show!

This picture came out so much cooler then I thought it would! The inside had Oneside in it, but I didn't like the picture as much as this one.

My merch set-up, oohh la la! It was a battle trying to find good placement for that, let me tell you! The set-up was hard to find a good place to put merch. Jake ended up dragging a table off of the back of the stage and we put it in a pretty perfect place right at the stage. Highly visible and I made a lot of friends there! :) I know some of you from that night are reading this, so HI! :) Thanks for coming!!

Ned.

Grafton.

Chris.

Jake.

Oneside from the front!

Oneside from the back!

I took much more pictures then this, but I wanted to get a blog up ASAP since I had no way to load my pictures until today. I will get the rest up on my photo bucket soon and update this entry.

Ned's chicken sandwich review is back! (And quite humorous this time, but true!)

RI Ra VT "Chicken Bistro Sandwich"

Score: NA

I think it tasted like eating a cardboard sandwich on cardboard with extra cardboard.

(To to fair to Ri RA and my readers, I cannot adequately comment on this sandwich in a helpful manner. When I ordered my chicken sandwich last Saturday night, I was in an agitated state due to lack of a proper lunch and a persistent low grade cold. I just wanted a decent chicken sandwich to comfort me. But there was a problem getting the Red Sox game on which lead to a a complete breakdown of the Ri RA food service system and my food didn't come for 25 mins. By that time I was 4 Guinness deep so not only were my taste buds numb but I was so hungry I barley remember eating the sandwich. I just remember not tasting much of anything and still being hungry. I imagine that is what eating cardboard is like. I'll try again if we ever back to Ri RA VT)

And there you have it!

Please check out the band if you haven't already at http://www.onesidemusic.com

Until next time, cheers! Thanks for checking out the blog! <3

PS - Sorry I resized them to so small! I didn't realize my dimensions were off this time. Next time they'll be easier to look at!

Oneside Touring Blog #7: October 3rd, 2008; Cambridge, MA at The Middle East Upstairs

2008-10-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

We had been talking about it so much, the day was finally here! The hometown show, the "First, To Last" CD finally officially released to family, friends, and fans alike. Needless to say, there was an amazing turnout. I'm pretty sure the place was sold out. If it wasn't, it was damn near close.

They had some banners made for the big night, and it was hard trying to figure out how to hang it without poking holes in it, but we got it eventually! I tried, couldn't figure it out, so Jake tried, then Ned, then Grafton got in on it. How many Oneside members does it take to hang a banner? The world may never know!

Tada! :)

View with the banner behind it.

Closer view of the table.

Of course this was an exciting night for us all, so this blog is choc full of show pictures this time! Get ready for it!........

This was the best angle I could get for a crowd shot. See yourself?! Leave a comment!

I love this angle! :)

It was such a fun night! Easily the best night on the tour so far for me.

Check them out. I told you I'd keep saying it! :)

www.onesidemusic.com

or

www.myspace.com/oneside

Until next time, cheers!

<3

Oneside Touring Blog #6: September 20th, 2008; Montpelier, VT at Langdon Street Cafe

2008-10-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

This cafe in Montpelier was nothing like I had ever seen before. Reason being, is it was literally a cafe, they sold coffee and such, but they also sold alcohol. I have never been in a cafe that has coffee, grilled cheese assortments, and alcohol! Kinda cool! The place definitely had the coffee shop vibe to it, and it was on the cutest little street.

So artsy! I love it. And I don't know what The Army of Fun Street Festival was, but Oneside is obviously much more important! :P

Speaking of artsy, here's a picture of the outside of the cafe.

We got there with plenty of time to enjoy some grilled cheeses before the guys took the stage. I really liked the lighting on the stage in this place. I think you can tell some of the colors from my pictures.

Again, my infamous merch setup. It was SO hard trying to squeeze everything on that little corner counter, but the owner said there's where they set up merch tables in there, so I had to go with it!

There's the band!

I love this shot of Ned!

Grafton's hand might be a little blurry from him moving, but I had to post this as his picture for the night, his smile is too contagious in it, no? :)

Did some pretty sweet pictorial effects on Chris for this one!

Sorry Jake! All of the pictures that I took of you from that night came out kind of bad. :/ Boo!

As for Ned's chicken sandwich review, if we don't get on that soon, it might get phased out! We haven't had one for quite a few blogs! I guess we'll see what happens. :)

Check out the band:

www.onesidemusic.com

or

www.myspace.com/oneside

<3

Oneside Touring Blog #5: September 19th, 2008; Lebanon, NH at Salt Hill Pub

2008-10-04T19:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry it took me so long to update!

The Salt Hill Pub in Lebanon, NH was such a cute little place! They served great food, all the people there were great, and the fans were fun from the get go.

We got there a little late (what else is new? :P) so they had to setup, eat, then get on stage!

They had that banner hanging right at the door. :)

And there's my infamous merch set-up!

The band.

Grafton.

Another one of those symbol in focus, Jake isn't. Love these!

Almost normal picture of Jake. It was pretty fun being able to stand over him and take pictures with this stage set-up. Although he did say I was freaking him out. HAHA. :P

Ned.

Chris.

There was a very nice man (his name escapes me right now, so if by chance he is reading this, comment with your name! :)) who played harmonica with the band, it was awesome!

All in all, it was a great night! Like I said, great place, great people, great band! Ya know... :)

check out the band. now!

www.onesidemusic.com

or

www.myspace.com/oneside

No videos from now on because my camera died. I'm in search of a new one with comparable quality to my videos posted. Any suggestions? Send them my way! :)

<3

Oneside Touring Blog #4: September 14th, 2008; Bristol, RI at Roger Williams University

2008-09-17T20:02:00.000-07:00

Roger Williams University is located along the water and across a really cool bridge in Bristol, Rhode Island. The day was kind of rainy out, so the show got moved from a field outside to the gym inside the rec center. It was a lower turn out because of it, but it was still a good show!

When we got there, we unloaded and then went to the dressing room to hang out. They stocked it with all kinds of food and (non-alcoholic - damn!) drinks for the bands. There was also a poster for the event sitting there with markers. I figured it was implying for the performers to sign it, so I asked the guys to. :P

Grafton signing it.

Jake signing it. (He signed and moved too fast :P)

After we were done hanging out, we got to unpacking and setting everything up.

That was a flashing sign near the band's dressing room advertising the show.

The table set up with free stuff that was next to the merch table.

My merch set-up.

The lighting in the gym was so great! A lot of the staff had gushed about the band, saying they were listening to their CD all week, and it showed when the band hit the stage. Everyone was dancing and having a good time (if they didn't choose to sit in the bleachers, ha).

Oneside.

Chris.

Jake. (This picture came out AMAZING, no?!?! It's my favorite shot from the night!)

Grafton.

Ned.

No artsy pictures from that night, and also, we never ate a meal together since we all went straight home, so no Ned's chicken sandwich review for this blog either! Sorry to disappoint. At least I gave you some pretty pictures to look at until next time. :)

Here's a video of "Into The Night" from the show!

All of the pictures from the night can be found here:
http://s114.photobucket.com/albums/n280/musiclover224/Oneside%20Tour%202008/Sept%2014th%20Bristol%20RI%20at%20Roger%20Williams%20University/

If you're reading, comment with your thoughts! What do you like? What do you not like? What do you want to see pictures of the band doing? Let me know!

Check 'em out here:

www.onesidemusic.com

www.myspace.com/oneside

cross posting of the blog is here:
www.theywillrockyou.com/blog

Cheers! :D

Oneside Touring Blog #3: September 12th, 2008; Camden, ME at Gilberts

2008-09-17T13:31:00.003-07:00

We got up kind of late on this day since we only had under a two hour drive to the venue from where we stayed. When we were finally all awake, we got clean, went out for breakfast. We got two tables in the corner, acted like idiots the whole time (which is probably why they stuck us in the far corner, we joked) and by the time we left the whole place probably hated us, but we didn't care! We had quite an entertaining breakfast. Then it was time to get on the road!

The views off of the briges in Maine are really pretty!

We got to Camden in no time, and searched for a hotel. We ended up staying in one that the guys stayed in last time they played there. It was a cute little hotel that was right on the Maine coast. We got a room with a "partial view" of the ocean, and it had a wet dog smell. (Just felt that needed to be mentioned. :P) I really don't think hotels should allow pets after this.

Looks cute, eh? :)

Theres a shot I snapped of Chris from down the hallway. I think he was admiring the partial coastal view. ;)

After a few hours of down time, AND Ned writing his chicken sandwich review, it was time to do a little practicing before heading off to the venue. They all played their instruments in the hotel room, although the only one you could really hear was the banjo since the rest of them need amps and Jake obviously couldn't set up a drum set in the room. :P

Ned practicing.

Chris practicing. Photo credit to Jake, he took these last 2 with my camera.

the whole band practicing. :)

Once they were done practicing, we sat around the hotel for a little longer watching a Rocky marathon. Rocky is not my favorite movies to watch, but the guys made it so funny! They were making comments about everything the whole time and cracked me up.

We headed to the venue, which was only about ten minutes from our hotel. It was raining again as we loaded in, except not as much as it was the previous weekend!

There's the sign and outside of Gilberts.

After we loaded in, Grafton and I decided to play ping pong for a little bit before he unpacked his stuff. I honestly don't know the rules, and Grafton didn't enforce them, so really we just hit the ball back and forth, ha. :)

Once they were all set to go, the guys played some ping pong too, but actually played by the rules.

Jake and Grafton playing.

Ned played the winner which was Grafton.

After playing a few more games, they had to hit the stage. Here are some of the pictures from the night!"

Oneside. That pole placement on the stage was kind of awkward. At the end of the night Ned wrote "oneside" on the back of that pole in chalk. :)

Chris.

Jake.

Grafton.

Ned.

Ned and Chris.

In the middle of the show, guys who had been dancing all night disappeared for a bit, then returned looking like this:

THAT was my favorite part of the night! ;) The guys sure didn't know how to feel about that, but i LOVED it. Ha.

There was a disco ball running for almost all of their set too, so of course I took the opportunity to take a shot of that.

After they were done playing, we hung out for a bit and then played our usual van Tetris with the gear after packing it up. We got back to the hotel and went to sleep not too long after, considering we were all exhausted! At 7:30 AM, there were kids running up and down the hallway making a ton of noise and waking us all up. It was quite frustrating, and we really wanted to find their parents and teach them a few things. :P So, if you're reading this, keep your kids quiet at 7:30 am in a hotel hallway on the weekend, geez!

I took a few photos before we left of the coast a little closer up:

That's my favorite shot. :)

And here's the moment you've all been waiting for, Neds chicken sandwich review of the day!:

The Black Bull, Camden Me
Margarita Chicken Sandwich

Very clean, subtly sneaky sandwich, with a long finish due to ample
fresh pico de gallo sauce . The fresh ciabatta was a good choice of
bun, if they were looking for something not to interfere with the
sandwich's subtle flavors.( But I doubt much thought was giving to
that) The bread could have been slightly warmer.Not very innovative
but flavorful, light and refreshing 7.8 out of 10

and again, your guide to the ratings:
5-6 gut rot
6-7 does the job if your starving and really craving a chicken sandwich
7-8 pretty satisfying choice if nothing else on the menu looks good
8-9 worth a try even if you are not particularly in the mood for a
chicken sandwich
9-10 must haves

And I shall leave you with a few videos I took that night!:

Got To Go.

You Can Call Me Al.

All of the pictures from the night can be found here:
http://s114.photobucket.com/albums/n280/musiclover224/Oneside%20Tour%202008/Sept%2012th%20Camden%20ME%20at%20Gilberts/?start=0&mediafilter=images

Leave me some comments! And be sure to check out the band! I'm gonna keep reminding you like I said I would! :)

www.onesidemusic.com

www.myspace.com/oneside

and the blog is cross posted here:

www.theywillrockyou.com/blog

cheers! ;)

Oneside Touring Blog #2: September 11th, 2008; Portland, ME at The Big Easy

2008-09-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

My second night of touring didn't involve buckets of rain like the previous weekend, but it was still equally as exciting! These guys are so much fun to be around, and their music is so fun and enjoyable! I love spending time with them!

Alright enough of my gushing, I'm sure you came to see my blog told mostly by pictures, so here we go!

We hit the road a little later then expected, and ran into some traffic on I-93 along the way.

The traffic didn't help, considering we were already late and crunched for time!

There's Grafton driving the van. They take turns driving it. I'm the only one who can't! I have no idea how to drive a van at all, and they say they'd never ask me to anyhow.

There's Chris in the van. He's reading a book called "This Is Your Brain On Music", which I actually read a little of during the weekend. It's really interesting, it kind of dissects the way we listen to music. It's scientific, but if you have ever played an instrument, you would totally understand the technical lingo in it. :)

Ned, Chris, and I hadn't eaten yet, so once we got to the venue and loaded in and had everything set up, we went out to dinner down the street. Ned told me he ordered a chicken sandwich every place they went, which eventually turned into us joking around about writing a review. Eventually that joke turned into a reality, and we have made it a goal of the tour for Ned to write a review of the chicken sandwiches he eats. We might even start taking pictures of them, we'll see! Later on in the blog, you will get his review of the food from that night.

They played close to where they had played last month (I believe it was) at someone's wedding, so I got to meet a lot of the people who had been at the wedding who came to see the band again. Everyone was really sweet, and they were fun when Oneside hit the stage. It was cool standing in the very back and watching every single person in there dancing. It was a good size crowd too, so it was amazing to see that everyone was into it!

Here are some of my pictures from the show:

Oneside.

My attempt at getting the people dancing from almost the very back. :P

Chris.

Jake.

Grafton.

Ned.

After the show, we hung out for a bit before packing up. The bartender offered to help us find a hotel outside of Portland, which was wicked nice of him. Yes, I used wicked in that sentence. That's my Boston accent coming out in text form. :) Once we were packed up, we waited to get the hotel booked on the phone and hung out on the empty stage.

Chris chilling on the empty stage. Don't mind the crappy quality, I took this one with my point and shoot.

Ned on the empty stage. Again, ignore the quality.

Once we had the hotel booked, it was time to load the van up with the gear. They play Tetris pretty much every night when packing the van.

Oh and Jake raises his hand when volunteering to do things!

Don't ask. Haha. :P

All of the pictures from the night can be found here:
http://s114.photobucket.com/albums/n280/musiclover224/Oneside%20Tour%202008/Sept%2011th%20Portland%20ME%20at%20The%20Big%20Easy/

And, the moment you've all been waiting for! Neds chicken sandwich review of the night, written and e-mailed to me by Ned himself!:

Sabago Brewery, Portland, ME
Big Daddy's Hot Chicken Sandwich

Not so hot. The chicken was reasonably well cooked and tender. The
bacon added some much needed crunch and smokiness. This sandwich
could have benefited from some avocado to give the texture some
fullness. No spice up front and a fairly bland finish too. Tangy but
forgettable sauce. Not unenjoyable but fairly boring.
7.2 out of 10

And here is your rating guide:
5-6 gut rot
6-7 does the job if your starving and really craving a chicken sandwich
7-8 pretty satisfying choice if nothing else on the menu looks good
8-9 worth a try even if you are not particularly in the mood for a
chicken sandwich
9-10 must haves

So, there you have it!

I leave you with a video of "The Letter" live from the show that night. :)

Leave me some comments! And be sure to check out the band! I'm gonna keep reminding you! :)

www.onesidemusic.com

www.myspace.com/oneside

and the blog is cross posted here:

www.theywillrockyou.com/blog

cheers! ;)

Oneside Touring Blog #1: September 6th, 2008; Hartford, CT at The Half Door

2008-09-07T13:48:00.000-07:00

I just started working with a new band called Oneside, and I am going to be touring with them and selling their merch, as well as photographing and recruiting for their street team that is up and coming. With this being said, I decided to start tour blogging for the site! You can see what it's like to hang with this band through my perspective, and hopefully it will help you get to know them and love them!

Last night was the start of my touring with Oneside, and man what a night it was to start on, with Hurricane Hanna bringing torrential downpours and strong winds! It makes for a good story now, though!

After traveling from Boston to Hartford against the rain, we finally arrived at The Half Door a little later then we expected. As soon as we walked in, we discovered they had put a new gaming system in! We just HAD to test it out.

There's Chris taking his turn bowling.

Grafton taking his turn bowling.
That machine was so fun! It took me a while to get the hang of it, but soon after I was hitting strikes over and over! I didn't win the game, but it was a fun little competition. We DID beat high scores, so Grafton put "Oneside" for all of our names! :)

After eating dinner, it was time to load in. This would be a challenge, considering Hanna was bringing down buckets of rain! We stood outside with Grafton's giant umbrella until we came up with a game plan. In the end, we tied a tarp from the van and attached it to the ceiling of the bar.

Here's (from left to right) Grafton, Ned, and Chris underneath the tarp.

And here's the whole band (from left to right again) Grafton, Ned, Chris, and Jake.

Once everything was loaded in, it was time to get down to setup. I setup and organized the merch while the guys got ready to go. Below are the pictures of my merch setup!

One half.

The other half! Ta da! :)

oh, and just to throw this in here, I couldn't help myself and took a sweet picture of the candle on the table in front of me.

Jake and I loved that picture.

They took the stage around 10, and people all around were into them instantly. It was really great to see that people actually came out during the hurricane rain and saw the band! At first people were reluctant to dance, or they danced right near to their tables and seats, but eventually people migrated to the front of the stage and danced. I even got suckered into dancing with people. When someone comes up to you with their hands out asking you to dance, you can't exactly say no! :)

During one of the band breaks, Jake decided to take a nap on stage...

Here are a few pictures from their set:

Oneside.

People dancing to Oneside. :)

Chris.

Jake.

Grafton.

Ned.

And of course, my favorite shot to take, a view from behind!

All of my pictures from that night can be found here:

http://s114.photobucket.com/albums/n280/musiclover224/Oneside%20Tour%202008/Sept%209th%20Hartford%20CT%20at%20The%20Half%20Door/?start=0

They played until about 1:30 am, we hung out for a bit, and then packed up. Thankfully by the time the show was over, so was the rain! The wind was a little bad coming back, but other then that it was smooth sailing!

I hope you enjoyed this first installment of my tour blog! Be sure to leave comments, and make sure you check out the band (especially since you're getting to know and love them through my blog!)

www.onesidemusic.com

www.myspace.com/oneside

and this blog will be crossposted here:

http://theywillrockyou.com/blog

until next time, cheers! :)

Welcome to my Blog!

2008-09-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

Hey there!

Thanks for visiting! This blog is going to be my backup blog, most of my posts will be done at the website I work for, theywillrockyou.com, but I will also be cross posting them to here!

Currently I am working a tour with the band Oneside. These guys are amazing. They hail from Massachusetts, just like myself, and they are going to be taking the world by storm pretty soon!

Check them out, and frequent my blog to get to know the band more from my perspective, and what it's like to be out on the road with them!

www.onesidemusic.com

www.myspace.com/oneside

Get ready for it, first blog post [complete with pictures!] coming later on today!

-Ellen