DMB Summer Tour 13': Saratoga Springs

My traveling for the summer kicked off in Saratoga Springs, NY. On Friday May 24th my friend Kevin picked me up early in the morning and we were on the road. Four hours later we arrived at our campsite, Pop's Lake Campground. A few months prior to this, we arranged for multiple people from the DMB Family to all stay at this camp site. Unfortunately when we arrived, it was cold and raining. Every year prior to this, it was beautiful weather. We didn't let the weather bring us down though, we were there for DMB and that made us smile either way. After we set up shop at the campsite, we all headed to downtown Saratoga for dinner. This was one of the coolest experiences of the weekend. We had 25-35 members of the DMB family all in one spot. Getting everyone together and seeing some old friends was very cool. After dinner we stayed for awhile to catch the DMB cover band playing at the bar and then headed back to camp to rest up for the show the next day.

On Saturday I woke up to the smell of Bacon. My good friend William was cooking us a feast of maple bacon, Canadian bacon, and eggs! After breakfast we spent most of the day hanging out, listening to music and having a few drinks. Once again, the weather was cold and raining but we made the best of what's around. We headed to SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center) around 4 to meet up with other friends. For anyone that hasn't been to SPAC, it is a beautiful venue. Located in a state park, there area is just a great place to see a show. Once inside the venue we got together on the lawn to see friends and take pictures. Before we knew it, the house lights were off and the band was on stage. I ran up to the balcony with my friends Grace, Jacob and Ashlie to get to our seats. DMB went on to open with a twenty minute version of Seek Up. The biggest surprise of the night for me was when the band played Joy Ride. It is a song that isn't played often and I had never heard it before. Some of my other highlights of the show were So Right, Idea of You, Say Goodbye, What You Are and the Little Thing tease in the encore. After the show we attempted to go to Boyd Tinsley's gathering but the crowd was too large so we headed back to camp to call it a night.

On Sunday I once again woke up to the smell of bacon frying! I must say, William is one hell of a cook! On this day we had better weather and decided to head to the venue early to tailgate. We met up with a bunch of DMB family around noon and had a giant tailgate inside the park. I was able to meet some new friends as well as see a lot of old ones. The highlight of the tailgate was when my good friend Ian showed up wearing his Superman costume. After the tailgate we all headed inside the venue. A lot of us decided to just get lawn tickets, so we had one big lawn party! The band came on and blew us away with their first Tripping Billies opener since 2009. Then they continued to blow our minds with their first live performances of JTR, Recently and Water Into Wine since 2010. After Ants Marching, the last encore song, we started to head up the hill to leave. We then turned around and heard the crowd screaming and the house lights still weren't on. We ran back down the hill, passed the security that wasn't paying attention, and into a row of seats that were close to the stage. All of a sudden the band came back on stage and busted out Halloween...DOUBLE ENCORE. The band has only done a double encore a few times in their 20+ year history. It was epic to say the least.

Although the weather wasn't great, Saratoga was an awesome time. There was a lot of memories made with some great friends and music. The next day we packed up and I started my journey for Toronto, which will be my next blog post!

Summer Tour Warm Up

Are you getting excited yet? DMB Summer tour kicks off this week in Texas! I am here to talk about my upcoming summer and what I will be doing. I am WICKED excited about the traveling and adventures I will be having this summer! If you thought I went crazy last year, wait until you hear my plans for this summer! I want to be able to blog and even get some video footage of my entire summer tour traveling so I can share my experience with everyone!

Although DMB kicks off their tour this week, my adventure will begin in Saratoga Springs, NY on Memorial Day weekend. My friend Kevin and I will make the drive to Saratoga on Friday May 24th and kick off the summer in style. We got a camp site at Pop's Lake Campground in Galway, NY and we will be staying their with many members of the DMB Family! That weekend will consist of grilling, drinking games, campfires, singing, dancing and two DMB shows at the famous SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center.)

In my original plans, we were to stay until Monday and head home then. Now plans have changed drastically, but I am not complaining! I was offered a chance to head on an epic road trip from Saratoga and I couldn't refuse. That Monday I will be traveling to Toronto and will heading to the DMB concert on Tuesday. But wait, it gets better! Recently I was made an Admin on the awesome DMB fan website DMBConnect.com. I have been thinking of ways to help out the site for the summer. So I reached out to Boyd Tinsley of DMB and he is allowing me to interview him for the site in Toronto! I am beyond excited and honored! I am going to be asking for help from fellow fans to submit questions to me that they would want to ask Boyd. I will be going through and selecting a few questions that I like! To do this, I will be asking you join DMBConnect.com if you haven't yet and post your questions in this link http://www.dmbconnect.com/forums/topic/76/submit-your-questions-for-boyd-t/view/post_id/279.

From Toronto I will be continuing my road trip to Scranton, Pennsylvania. After Toronto, my buddy and I are just winging it. No lodging plans, just a ticket to each concert and the wind at our back! The DMB show in Scranton is the following day after Toronto so we will be hustling to make it there. After the Scranton show we have some time to chill before the next part of our trip brings us to Burgettstown,  PA. We plan on camping for two nights and going to the DMB show on Friday night. After that, we take our travels to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio for the DMB show at Blossom Music Center. All along the way we have multiple members of DMB Family we will be seeing and meeting for the first time. Besides SPAC, these other four venues I have never been attended. After Blossom, our road trip is just about over. He will drive me to Buffalo on Sunday and I will get on a plane and head back to Boston. But that isn't the end to my summer!

After my epic road trip including six DMB shows in nine days, I get a nice three day break before I am back on the road. My friend Kevin and I will pack our things and head out to the DMB show in Holmdel, NJ on Thursday June 6th. The next morning we will make a mad dash back to Hartford, CT and hit the two DMB shows there on Friday and Saturday. This is another show where we have a lot of friends and DMB family that will be there! From there it is back home for a week then off to the two DMB shows in my home venue at Mansfield. This will be a special show for me because I was chosen to hold the LoVE sign in the pit by the LoVE foundation! Also, I will be having friends from all over coming to these shows!

After Mansfield I have a little over a two week break and then it is on to Darien, NY for the DMB show there on Wednesday July 3rd. I will be road tripping with my friend Bob from Mass to Darien that Wednesday. After driving back home on the fourth, I will go home and pack for my flight to Milwaukee on the fifth of July. This trip will be to the epic venue, Alpine Valley. My friend Steve lives in Minnesota and will come pick me up in Milwaukee and we will head to the venue. The two DMB shows are on the fifth and sixth of July. Instead of heading home after the shows, I will be heading to Minnesota with Steve to check out his home state of Minnesota. I have never traveled there so it will be nice to visit the Twin Cities.

Following my Wisconsin/Minnesota road trip, I have about 9 days to relax. On the nineteenth of July I will be boarding a flight with Kevin and heading to West Palm Beach. If you remember, West Palm Beach is where all the magic happened last year. We will be reuniting with old friends, and meeting some new friends at these two DMB shows.

Once West Palm is over, I have the longest break in my travels. I will have the month off until my next adventure, Colorado. I will be flying to Colorado for the first time on August 22nd. I have some nice DMB family that will be picking me up and letting me crash with them. I will be attending the two DMB shows there on Friday and Saturday. Then I will be staying until Wednesday, exploring the state of Colorado for the first time!

From Colorado, I will immediately boarding a flight on Wednesday and setting out for Seattle. This will be my last but most favorite adventure of the summer. The always epic trip to heaven's amphitheater, the Gorge! My friend will pick me up at the airport and we will head on the three hour drive to one of the greatest concert venues in the country. We will be camping for four nights and seeing DMB three times during this awesome weekend. If I can give you any advice, it would be to please make it to the Gorge in your lifetime.

I am going to try and be more active with my blogging, I have been slacking. I am going to be blogging through every step of my adventure and being more detailed. I want the true DMB fans out there that can't experience it for themselves get a good taste of what it is like. I only hope that my experiences convince others to take risks and make their dreams a reality like I try to do. You will never regret doing something you love! I will also be trying to do some blogs that involve helping people with traveling to different venues and how to camp at certain venues. If you have any requests that you would like me to blog about, please let me know! I hope you enjoy reading through my adventures!

Be kind always, no matter

Hello friends, enemies, and stalkers. Just kidding...kind of. I try to be funny sometimes. It's mostly just nonsense that pops into my head and it translates into visual nonsense. Anyways, some people have requested that I get back to rambling on my blog. Until recently I haven't had much to say, but I've had some new found motivation. There are some things that are very important to me that I'd like to share.

I've come to realize that no matter what state of mind you are in personally, being kind to others will make you a better person. I went through a rough little stretch of feeling pretty down. Whenever anyone gets in that mind set, it feels as if you will never be get yourself out of that rut. It feels like no matter what you do, this dark cloud will follow you around always. This is where the power of kindness comes into play. I had a lot of great friends that went well out of there way to put a smile back on my face. Although many of them didn't know what was going on in my head, they reminded me to be positive no matter what the issue. And like Dave says, "Don't let the troubles in your head steal too much time you'll soon be dead." I can't stress the importance of that quote enough.  There are going to be bad times and things you can't change. It's up to you pick yourself up and hopefully even have some good friends to help you on your way up. A good friend of mine said to me, "Pain is inevitable. But, don't let it dictate your life. You will get through this and what ever other heartbreaks you encounter. Don't hide your love away." That was one of the wisest things I've ever had said to me. Don't let pain get in the way of the love you have to give. Learn from your past experiences and grow from them. Don't regret anything in your past, instead remember the good experiences that came along with it. Don't waste your time with negative feelings towards anyone. Use that energy to be positive and help others, as well as yourself. 

Recently, even when I was down, I made a conscious effort to help others. I really started to appreciate the nice people in my life. I wanted more than anything to give back the love that a lot of people gave me. Knowing how it is to have that hopeless feeling, I didn't want to see anyone else go through the same thing. It is amazing what a simple kind gesture can do for someone. Taking a second to put a smile on someones face can turn their day around. Going out of your way to help other's won't only make their day, it will make your day too. You will see that bringing a smile to others face's will bring a smile to yours too. Treat others how you'd like to be treated and you will hopefully receive the same. Some of the friends I've met the past year are the most loving people I've ever known. Seek out other loving people and you will find yourself being a better person. As Dave says, "once you give, you begin to live." Take the time to help others, be positive, and be kind always...no matter :)

*Disclaimer: I'm half asleep...spelling and grammar is probably atrocious...read at your own risk!