The last few days we have treated ourselves to catering for lunch; yesterday we ate with the Tour Manager of Cobra Starship, Tom. Very fun guy and as it turns out, he lives in Dublin, CA. Yesterday was a red letter day because Cobra Starship performed for their one and only time. It was great. I was stage right and danced through the whole show. Alec and Liz were on stage opposite of me and couldn't tell me to stop. Gabe was a bundle of energy, by all means the best dancer of the entire Warped Tour crowd....well perhaps Sean of 3Oh3 is also right up there. Great show. Afterwards, Alec interviewed Gabe who was pretty funny.

Since yesterday (Salt Lake City) was our first day back, it was like a home-coming and everyone was very happy to see the girls. Of course I also got many condolences and hugs. The ATT folks were especially kind; they have become our Warped Tour "home base" for sure. The whole experience would not have been nearly as pleasant without them. Today, their semi had troubles and they were left without their stage set up. But they rallied and last I was over there they had a packed tent of fans awaiting a Devil Wears Prada signing. Big John was totally decked out today in all black. He was totally styling.

Denver, Colorado

Today is Sunday and our last Warped Tour Day until they arrive in Ca. Its been a good day. First, NO RAIN...its a first! Also, Alec has made today count. She interviewed Nat and his parents (3Oh3), filmed After Midnight Project, Shut Up and Deal and Forever Sickest Kids.

We actually spent quite a bit of time with the After Midnight Project chatting about the technical side of Warped Tour among other things. I hadn't realized that the Kevin Says stage is solar powered, which partially explains the variation in sound quality there.

Tinley Park

Every Avenue just played on Smart Punk. Their good and besides Matt the base player is wearing his CF bracelet Liz gave him back in November at her Make A Wish. Pretty cool! He gave me a nice hug yesterday too.

Scotty from Living The Dream

Right before we were heading out from Milwaukee, we finally met Scotty of Living The Dream. This is an organization that he started with the sponsorship of Hurley which is similar to Make A Wish. Scotty is a 42, buff x-musician with a bundle of energy and a very big heart. He also has cystic fibrosis! In fact, Lizzi had entered a contest with Living The Dream to be able to spend a day with any band you wanted at Warped Tour. This was back before we knew that Alec's proposal would be accepted by Kevin Lyman. Lizzi won the contest and so since the Scranton show, when we found out that he attends some of the shows with his winners, we have been trying to catch up with him. What a great guy! He basically said that for the first 40 years of his life, he lived it according to his wishes knowing that his life might be short. At 40, he decided that he had done everything he hoped for and outlived his life expectancy so for the rest of his life he would give back. He founded Living The Dream to accomplish this goal-to help other chronically ill kids enjoy their lives too.

We talked to Scotty for at least an hour and when he found out that the girls were not getting catering because it was cost prohibitive on their limited budget, he offered to put Alec and Liz on his tab for the remainder of the tour. This would be great because they are definitely loosing weight on a diet of Monsters and Spagetti O's. It will be a relief to me for sure. I will be forever indebted to Hurley and now that I know more about all their philanthropic endeavors and what a wonderful person Bob Hurley is, I will certainly support their causes too. Hurley just put on a huge surfing tournament in So Cal last week apparently. Anyway, Scotty is going to be really fun to get to know better. He is inspirational to be sure! And another member of the Warped Tour Family for sure.

Oh, one cute thing did happen yesterday when we went to volunteer at catering. We were directed to Frank who referred us to Robin who owns TaDa catering. In his radio message to Robin he said, "Robin I have two awsome members of the Warped Tour family here who want to help you out today. " So I guess we are family too! Feels good.

Detroit cont.

In the afternoon we went to listen to Christopher Drew who joined yesterday. His band is called Never Shout Never, though really its just him with hired musicians. He's a 18ish "love child" or at least that is his personna. The crowd went wild. Alec caught a lot of it on film, crying teens etc. Then we listened to Forever the Sickest Kids and Cash Cash. Cash Cash is often a parking lot neighbor-very nice group of guys.

We thought we were going to the Mustacho Basho party last night where I was looking forward to sporting a mustache for the contest (I had a plan) but as it turned out, it was held in a downtown bar and was over 21 only. Girls were bummed but that's a predicatable downside to being 16. We wondered about the band members under 21, there are lots...but maybe they get in with fake IDs or something....who knows....

So instead we headed down the road about 9:30. At 2:00 AM we had whoppers and around 3:00 AM feel asleep in the Indiana Visitor Bureau's parking lot overlooking a nice lake. It was an easy hour into Tinley Park this morning, and here we are!

Detroit

Detroit was pretty interesting. We were down town surrounded by high rises though a number of them looked abandoned. Our parking set was great, behind a fenced in area with security guards posted all the way around. It was also a quick walk to the Tigers Stadium where Warped took place. I spent the morning cruising around and then before lunch, Lizzi and I decided to go volunteer in catering which was fun. She and I ran the salad bar, re-filled etc. It was a social job and fun to small talk with everyone. We didn't realize it, but afterwards we were also offered lunch. Alec happened along with perfect timing and also got to eat. I have to admit it was great to sit down to a hot meal in comfort.

Tinley Park, Illinois

Lizzi and I are sitting in the VIP section of the amipheater watching everyone working hard to set up Smart Punk and Hurley.com stages. This is perfect though, great view, privacy and an electic plug to charge everything up. Alec is off following Erin who works for one of the non profits.

Liz is excited because she just spotted Tony, the tour manager of The Academy Is which was Alec's Make A Wish band. We knew that their tour ended yesterday (we didn't make it to any of their shows) so were hoping they may come today to visit with band friends.

In the mean time, we have had luxurious showers and a breeze is blowing clean hair dry. We aren't going to put Destiny up today; we are parked on the edge of the tour bus area with not much security and also, I'd like to leave a little early today to go check out University of Chicago. We may also try to hit Pizza Piazzo again (they were closed when we tried 3 weeks ago) and/or Angels and Kings too.

The college tour portion of this adventure has been a fail as of late; we've been by many but all between the hours of midnight and 6 am at which point there isn't much point to veer off. Plus the last item on the list is more driving time/miles. So last night we missed Purdue, Unversity of Michigan and Michigan State. Did see Wayne State in Detroit since it was across from the venue. Maybe Jacky will want to come on a long summer road trip with me where I can see more sites/colleges. I'll have to start working on her.