Andy & Christy: The Fellowship of the Ring

Christy and I met each other because of our mutual love of the Dave Matthews Band. Like most fans, we connected randomly via social media even though I lived in Massachusetts and she lived in Wisconsin. In December of 2016, I saw Christy post a video of herself singing a DMB cover and something about her really stood out to me. I decided to send her a message about how I loved her voice and gave her some advice on some other groups/platforms to share her music. We ended up having an immediate connection and talking almost all day, everyday. Sending each other different YouTube videos of it favorite DMB performances or just anything we could think of to keep the conversation going. We just really enjoyed each other’s company without even actually meeting yet. 

In late January, I was about to go see Dave and Tim in Texas. The week before while I was talking to Christy, I asked her if she thought I would be crazy if I changed my flight and visited her in Chicago before I went to Texas. She basically laughed it off and said well that would be great but you wouldn’t do that. Clearly at this time, Christy didn’t know me enough to know I was actually this crazy (in a good way). Next thing Christy saw was a screen shot of my flight to Chicago, booked just to see her. Christy was very surprised but then she also got nervous behind the scenes. She reached out to her mom and said mom I really like this guy but I don’t even know him well so I think I should back out. Christy’s mom (Gail) told her that she shouldn’t back out because she had a really good feeling about me. 

Christy and I ended up spending two days together and it was like we had known each other our whole lives. I then flew to Texas to meet my best friend Erica. As soon as I told Erica about it (and FaceTimed Christy during both Dave and Tim shows) Erica said, “oh man you’re in trouble, you’re in love.” She definitely wasn’t wrong. 

When I got back from Texas I remember texting my friend Grant. Grant is now married to an awesome woman named Renee. Before they were married I remembered him telling me she was the one right after they met. So I text him and asked him what he felt after he met Renee because that’s what I felt about Christy. I knew she was the one. 

Fast forward to many flights to seeing each other and her moving to be with me to the Spring of 2018. I started to put a plan in motion to propose to Christy at the gorge. 

Once I got the ring and it started to become real, I couldn’t contain my excitement. Anyone that knows me, knows I’m bad at keeping secrets/surprises. After texting a lot of my friends, I would then delete the text messages so Christy wouldn’t see. One night when Christy and I were at a concert, I accidentally left a text message on my phone open after a little too much drinking. Christy had an old phone at the time so we would always take pictures on my phone and she would take my phone the next day and edit them and send them to herself. Unknowingly to me, Christy opened my phone to a text message saying I was going to propose to her at the gorge. She was immediately so excited yet so sad she spoiled the news for herself. 

Christy decided to text our friend Abbye to vent. Abbye wasn’t going to the gorge so christy decided to talk to her about it rather than any of our friends going, so they wouldn’t let me know that she had found out. A week later I finally picked up the engagement ring and I was so excited. I sent the picture to a few friends, including Abbye. Abbye text me back saying how pretty it was but she told me the bad news that Christy had found out about the proposal. 

I was so upset, I called my friends and Christy’s mom freaking out. I told them I wasn’t doing it at the gorge anymore because it wouldn’t be the same without it being a surprise. 

After a few days of clearing my head, I came up with a plan. I started scripting a fake text message dialogue that would be between Abbye and I. I talked to Abbye and she luckily got on board with my plan. The fake conversation started by Abbye pretending to tell me she was going to try and make the gorge and asked for my help. She then said that since I was going to propose to Christy, she really wanted to be there. 

This is the part that made Christy hate me for 6 weeks...I responded to Abbye saying that I just had a little to much to drink that night and made up the proposal to try to get her and Austin to come to the gorge and I forgot to tell her I was joking. 

Abbye went on to be fake mad at me in the text convo and then screen shot the fake text convo between us and sent it to Christy. Christy was obviously shattered and immediately called Erica bawling her eyes out. She said she felt so stupid because she already bought a dress for it and was so excited. So Erica and I came up with a plan to say we would all go to the winery one day at the gorge and all dress up, so Christy would still be wearing the dress for the proposal. 

Christy went on to promise Erica and Abbye that she wouldn’t tell me she knew that this all happened. Fast forward to two days later in my truck, Christy turns the radio down and says we have to talk. Immediately, being the stubborn guy I am, turned the radio back up and said no we don’t! Christy went on to tell me she knew it all happened and that I was a jerk for lying to my friends and for getting her hopes up. I had to play it off like I was a jerk and didn’t think it was a big deal, because I’m a terrible liar and I didn’t give it away yet again. So needless to say, Christy wasn’t very happy with me for the last 6 weeks heading up to gorge. 

A week before the gorge my friend Kevin came over. I asked him to do me a big favor and carry the ring with him to gorge. I had thought about it and realized that airport security might search my bag so I didn’t want to take the chance. Kevin gladly accepted his role as Samwise Gamgee and took the ring for me and kept it safe. 

Fast forward to our last day in Bend, OR before we drive to gorge. Kevin couldn’t get the time off for the full Bend trip so he was supposed to fly there that night. His connecting flight in San Francisco got delayed and he missed his flight and couldn’t make it to Bend that night. All the early flights the next day were booked up and Kevin almost didn’t make it. Luckily they fit him in on an 8am flight and our plan was back on track. But days later all my friends reminded me that KEVIN HAD THE RING AND ALMOST DID NOT MAKE IT! All the while I was busy looking for flights to get him to us, I forgot he even had the ring! Luckily for me I didn’t even process this or I would’ve been freaking out. But it all ended up making this for a better story. 

Saturday at the gorge was my planned day to propose. We all got up that morning and got dressed up and headed to the winery. Christy mentioned that it was cold the night before and didn’t want to wear the dress at the concert. Luckily at the winery, she got a million compliments on the dress so I told her we had to stick to the plan to take nice pictures on the top of the hill. When we got back to the camp, our plan was to eat and head to the venue for pictures on the hill. Of course, Christy then bites into her hamburger and a big glob of ketchup came plopping down onto her beautiful white dress. Now she really said she wasn’t wearing the dress. Unfortunately I had to step in and be stern with her about wearing the dress for pictures, because I knew she would be so upset if she went up there and I proposed to her and she wasn’t wearing it. She bought the dress for that moment so I had to make sure she was in it. After being mad at me about it, I said just bring a change of clothes and we will take a couple quick pictures and she could change. Luckily she obliged. 

We started our walk to the gorge. Erica now carried the ring, like Frodo on his way to mount doom. She took me aside and said she was nervous they would search her and Christy would see the ring, so I told her I’d create a distraction. As we got in line for security, I let Erica go ahead and then I stopped christy and said I think I forgot my tickets. I stood there for a minutes pretending to search my stuff until Erica got through and then said oops they’re in my wallet, and we continued on. 

At the top of the hill I was wicked nervous. I had the ring in my cargo shorts pocket. The plan was to have Christy and Erica take their traditional picture of their backs facing the camera and their faces looking into the distance and I would get behind Christy on one knee. They went for their pose and I couldn’t the stupid box out of my pocket and panicked. By the time I got it out, I didn’t realize I had the box backwards but hey, it just makes for a better story. Christy turned around and her face said it all. The rest is history. We ended up getting a setlist that night and a used Carter drum stick the next. 

Thank you to everyone that was a part of this journey. This would’ve never happened if it wasn’t for YOU. From my friends pushing me to go see Christy when I hadn’t even met her yet. To the friends helping me pull off the almost impossible proposal after it was pretty much ruined. Everyone has their own path in life and mine wouldn’t have led me to Christy if it was for the people that help lead me down it. SO MUCH had to fall into place for us to even meet, never mind pull this proposal off. I am so thankful, you have no idea. I love you all.

-Andy

Fundraiser for Progeria Research

Brendan Santry and I have created a fundraiser in honor of Sam Berns to help raise money for Progeria. All proceeds from the fundraiser will go to Progeria Research. We have a goal of $3400. I started by donating $41. We want to make this fun. We'll be giving away Salty Surfer merch & Boyd Tinsley Autograph. 

Please donate and spread the word!

http://www.crowdrise.com/RememberingSam/fundraiser/bendo7732 …

Summer Tour 2013: Toronto and More, Eh?

From Saratoga, I jumped in the car with my friend Danielle. We hit the road to Toronto, where we were meeting our friend Grant. Long story short, I had only known Grant for about a month or two. We met via the Internet when he saw my post about the Saratoga campsite we were staying at for DMB. He told me he was solo so I invited him to come camp and hang with us. After talking for a few days about DMB, we immediately hit it off and he told me I should join him on his road trip from Spac to Toronto to Scranton to Burgettstown to Blossom. I jumped at that opportunity and that brings us back to the road to Toronto.

Danielle is from Upstate New York, but I had never been, so she took me to Niagara Falls. This is where my argument that "traveling just for DMB" loses its validity because you can check off many other bucket list things at the same time. So we stopped there and took some pictures and I checked Niagara Falls off my bucket list.

When we got to Toronto we met Grant at the Hotel and decided to go grab a bite to eat. At the restaurant we all sat around and pondered what we should do that night because the DMB show wasn't until the next day. While we waited for our food, we hopped on our handy-dandy IPhones and got on twitter. Right at that time, Jeff Coffin randomly had just tweeted that he was playing a show with a local band right down the street. Extremely excited, we ate quick and hopped on over to the Orbit Room to see Jeff play.

Everyone has heard and scene Jeff play with DMB, but playing on his own and in a tiny venue was something special. The Orbit Room fit only about 100-150 people and it the only seats in the house were right in font of the Beard himself. Another cool part of this night is that I met Josie, or better known as the "DMB Family Momma." We watched Jeff play and I swear the sounds Jeff made come out of the Sax were not from this planet. Afterwards we just hung around and had a few beers. Everyone , for the most part had left, and then Jeff comes strolling back out. We didn't want to bug him but we went up and thanked him. He was very cool and down to earth, I had met him before but hadn't had much time to talk. We talked to him about Spac and he said something that was hilarious. He said that after the horrible weather at Spac, if he didn't have a drink when he got home he would've been under the table and sleeping and there would be no dreaming involved. It was cool for him to throw in that little DMB reference and hear him joke with us. After we chatted for a bit and snapped a few pics, we left and called it a night.

We woke up the next day excited and ready to go. I had never been to Toronto before so we went to the Hockey Hall Of Fame, another thing crossed off the bucket list. Growing up, my parents were friends with Bruins legend Ray Bourque. So I was always big into hockey and had never been able to get to the HOF. It was really cool to check out the history and see everything they had on display.

After the HOF, we were walking around looking for somewhere to eat when we came across the DMB's buses. Sure enough, there was Carter and Tim walking by us and getting on their bus. We didn't bug them, we just said hello and that was that. As any fan would, we decided to eat at the hotel where the buses were in hopes to see any other band members. When we walked inside, we saw Bus Driver Jerry. This was perfect, because I had just bought his book in hopes of seeing him and having him sign it. After he signed it and we chatted for a bit, we parted ways and we went and had lunch. After we left, we realized we went the wrong way so we turned around, which made us pass the hotel again. As we passed the hotel, guess who came out of the front door...Boyd Tinsley. We were about thirty feet away and stopped and I yelled, "BT!" He was carrying some things and just gave us a quick head nod and kept going. Then he did a double take, stopped, dropped his stuff and yelled, "Andy? What's up!" If you know BT, you know what happened next. Yes, you guessed it…a big ass Boyd hug. At this point, I had known BT for a little while, and although I didn't take it for granted, I was used to this. Danielle had also met BT before. But Grant on the other hand stood there mesmerized as I hugged Boyd. He had never met anyone in the band before, so he stood there like a child waiting to open his present on Christmas with a shit eating grin on his face. Grant got his first BT hug, and it was great to witness. After we said quickly said hi to BT we let him be on his way. Because if you know BT, he was already late for rehearsal without us bothering him.

We headed to the show, but again it was crappy weather. Temperatures were in the 40s-50s and t was raining. But nothing could bring us down after the last two days that we had. And the funny part is that we had pit tickets, did all that stuff instead of getting soaked in the pit line with everyone else, and still were railed right in front of Boyd when we walked in. And guess who was right there next to us, Josie! Now if you follow Josie and I on twitter and see our interactions, now you will know why I call her "Pit Buddy." Me Josie and the rest of the gang danced and sang to DMB all night. You wouldn't think Toronto would have a "great" setlist, but it was a killer show. The show included a Tripping Billies opener,the liberation of Captain, The Stone, JTR, and a wicked awesome rendition of Recently.

After the show my nerves started to kick in. I was set to meet up with Boyd to interview him for DMBConnect.com. Although many people think Boyd and I vacation on the Cape together and have BBQs on the reg…this was the first time I was going to actually hang out with him one on one. Boyd and I have always kept close in contact on twitter and have a good relationship but other than that we had only hung out at gatherings. So needless to say, I was pretty nervous. He is the nicest guy in the world but when it comes down to it, he is still a celebrity in your favorite band. So it was pretty hard to keep my nerves in check. We headed over to the gathering and the bus driver told me to come on the bus. I then just about soiled my undies as I walked onto the bus. As I lifted back the curtain, there was BT at the back of the bus. He said, "Hey Andy, what's up, come sit down back here." I went back and gave him a hug and started conversation. I must have sounded like a bumbling idiot trying to think of things to talk about, or at least that is how I feel like I sounded. LOL. Being the nerd I am, I pulled out my manila folder with the interview questions and started the interview. Oh boy, I have audio of this, if you ever want a laugh you need to hear it. I sound so awkward, it's priceless. Anyways, after the interview I got more comfortable and we just sat around and shot the shit for awhile. He told me how cool it was that everyone shows so much love to him and to all DMB Family on twitter. He stressed that stuff a lot and that is why I try to do the same. He just thought it was so cool that we all come together, no matter where we are from or who we are. It really is cool the bond that DMBFamily shares and Boyd definitely loves and appreciates it. Then he told me some funny story about hanging with Andy Roddick at WPB the previous year and we were both in tears from laughing. I made it short but sweet, because I didn't want to take to much of his time and people were waiting for the gathering. So I gave him a hug, told him I loved him like a brother, and got off the bus.

The next day, Grant and I were leaving for Pennsylvania. But needless to say, Toronto didn't let me down and will be one of the greatest memories in my life.

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!

Fate Part 2: The Tattoo

After the Mansfield DMB shows I had one day off in between and then it was straight to SPAC. I spent that day packing up my stuff and then the next day we drove to Saratoga. This time it just so happened that my new friend Kevin, from Mansfield, was staying at the same campground as us. No one ever believes me, but in person I am shy. Up to this point, I had always just gone to concerts with my friends. So stepping out of my comfort zone and meeting fellow fans was refreshing. The Saratoga shows were fun, but came and went with nothing out of the ordinary happening. I have been to SPAC multiple times, so besides the awesome shows and the camping, nothing notable happened.

After Saratoga, my next stop was Chicago and Alpine Valley. This is where the "everything happens for a reason" phrase comes back into play. I met a girl in the spring that is from Chicago but goes to school in Boston. I told her my favorite band was DMB and she told me she goes to see them at Alpine Valley every year. After we hung out a few more times she told me i should come out in the Summer and visit her and go to Alpine Valley with her. Now if I had still been with my ex-girlfriend, this would've never happened. Alpine Valley had always been one of the places I dreamed of going, but she held me back from doing certain things. So I talked to my friend Dan and he said as long as we get to check out Chicago a few days then he would join me. So both of us took our first trip to Chicago and we did a lot of sight seeing in the few days we were their. We went to Wrigley Field, Navy Pier, The Bean, Millennium Park, Buckingham Fountain, John Hancock Observatory Building and Willis (Sears) Tower. After an awesome time in the City, my friend and her sister picked us up and we headed to Alpine Valley. At this time, this was the farthest west I had ever been so the car ride for me was pretty cool. We pulled over and took a picture at the "Welcome to Wisconsin" sign, which sounds corny, but it was so cool. Besides my drive to the Gorge, which will described later, this was the coolest drive I've ever had. There wasn't any rolling mountains or huge bodies of water, but it was just the anticipation of arriving at one of my dream venues. Finally arriving at Alpine Valley was an awesome feeling. Seeing that sign and knowing that you are literally in the middle of no where but surrounded by thousands of fans was surreal. The tailgating scene over there was nothing like I had seen before. On the east coast, I am used to tailgating on pavement and with cops everywhere. This was in the middle of a field with thousands of people going nuts, it was awesome. After the tailgating fun was over, it was time for the show. Now this walk isn't HALF as cool as the Gorge walk, but it was pretty exciting. At this point, ever have I ever been to a venue where you have to walk up a hill to get to your seats. Getting to the top of the hill and seeing the stage was pretty damn cool. Alpine Valley is such a beautiful place to see a show. The band came on and didn't disappoint. They played an awesome set and one of their longest ever. Definitely an experience I will never forget.

After I got back from Alpine Valley, my new friend Kevin contacted me and asked me how it was. During our conversation he reminded me that he was going to the DMB West Palm Beach shows. He told me that he already has a room with two beds and a rental car and i should join him last minute. So I hopped on my computer and found a cheap flight and two weeks later I was at the airport and he was picking me up. During this time, Boyd Tinsley's movie "Faces in the Mirror," was starting to get a lot of attention. They were in the process of getting the word out about the movie via twitter and by having some pop up events. While waiting at the airport and killing some time, I saw that Boyd was having a contest for West Palm Beach. The contest was to post the best picture of your face in the mirror. So basically, Boyd finally made it cool to take a picture of yourself in the mirror. As I was sitting there at the airport I thought there was no one I could take a cool picture of myself in an airport mirror. I thought about it for awhile and then I remembered I had something cool saved on my phone. A couple weeks back, my friends and I had gone to the beach. We stopped at the grocery store to get ice for our beer and this young girl stopped us and asked if we would take a picture for her website. She worked for a company called "Pirate Booty Potato Chips" so she gave us these eye patches and had us take a picture. After the beach, my friend and I were a little sauced up and decided to put the pirate patches on and give people "the hook" as they drove by. As we were hysterically laughing, I took a picture of both of us in the car mirror with the patches on. That picture I happened to have saved on my phone, so I tweeted that picture for the contest. After that I kind of just forgot about it and carried on with my day. Kevin and I got some beers and hung out in the hotel for awhile before we headed down to tailgate. We got down to the parking lot and met up with my new friend Jordan, who had my tickets, and we continued to party. About three beers and two shots later, my phone started to vibrate. It was a tweet from the Faces Film account saying I had won the contest and got to go backstage after the show to meet Boyd. I literally could not talk for fifteen minutes. I just showed Kevin and Jordan my phone and stood there for fifteen minutes without words. It was the coolest and scariest feeling at the same time. I was obviously pumped to meet Boyd but at the same time I was wicked nervous. We went into the show but I don't even remember it because I was still in shock I was about to meet Boyd. After the show, we went down and met up with Boyd's main man, Steve. He took the ten of us contest winners into a small room backstage. There was just enough chairs for all of us, plus Boyd, and a TV. All of us in the room had never met each other and were all in the same position. We were all nervous and just kind of sat there and laughed in awe. Finally Boyd came walking in and shook all of our hands and sat down and begun telling us about the movie. He described the thought behind the movie and then showed us the trailer and one scene from the movie. After, he signed stuff for us and we all took some pictures. Probably the coolest part was when Boyd talked to my new friend Jen's mom on the phone. It was her mom's birthday, Jen left her party just to go see Boyd. While he was on the phone with her, we all started singing happy birthday to her, it was awesome. After he hung up, he said that was so cool. Then Ryan Orr chimed in, "Now that's a Narnia birthday right there." That was a wicked cool moment, and I do have it on video if anyone would like to see. After this happened it was time for them to leave. Right before Boyd left I blurted out, "Will you do me one more favor, will you sign my calf so I can get it tattooed?" Boyd looked at me and said, "Are you serious...that's fuckin cool!" Then Ryan starts slapping my hand over and over again. That moment is something I will always remember for sure. I left the venue with the biggest smile of my face. I woke up the next day and I told Kevin to drive me to the closest tattoo parlor right then. He tried to tell me to think about it for awhile, but I had already had my mind made up. We went to the closest parlor and I walked right in and got my first tattoo. I immediately tweeted to Boyd and Ryan about the tattoo after, obviously. As you can see from the pics below, Boyd loved it and said it was the first tattoo of his signature. I went to the second show that night on a natural high. I also got to meet my good friend, Ian Miller, that day. He was the first one that got to see the tattoo. So without even having to say it, that was one of the coolest experiences of my life and something I will never forget. Without reaching out to Kevin and having him come hang out with me in Mansfield, I would've never went to West Palm Beach. I would've never met my now good friends Ian, Ryan, Steve and Boyd. Like I said, things might happen in weird ways, but everything happens for a reason!