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Tour Diary: June 28th-August 28th

June 28th-July 2nd-Sleepy relax only time in Florida. Yay!

July 3rd-This day we did a crazy rained out radio show in Orlando on an island in the middle of a lake…100,000 people who we couldn’t even see attended…oh and they couldn’t really see us either, way out on that tiny island. We went on right after Hanson, which was cool. I’ve always wanted to see them play live…they were really good. I got a chance to meet them and say hello. The whole gig almost didn’t happen because of the massive storm that came through, flooding the floating island stage. I got to see some fans who I hadn’t seen in forever…Thanks “Devil Horns” girl for wearing those silly things again and bringing back good memories.

July4th-A nice long flight to Paris…let’s see, what to say…it sucked!

July 5th-We arrived in Paris late afternoon, raced directly to sound check for a big indoor radio show that was scheduled for the following day. Sound check was sound check, blah blah blah.

July 6th-We played the massive gig in the biggest venue in Paris, 30,000 people, and it was live on TV. It was the first frikken gig in over a month we played that didn’t rain! Yay! Well, we were inside…so, uh, that helped. Anyway, this radio show kicked serious ass! There was like so many screaming fans and of course our lovely French Street Team there to support us. Avril Lavigne went on after us and I got to watch some of her show…She’s definitely come a long way since I saw her two years ago playing for a hundred people in a little club in Germany. We met our opener Katy Rose, who’s going to be the opener for the rest of the Europe tour we’re doing. After the crazy gig, we drove all night to Amsterdam.

July7th-We arrived in Amsterdam early morning and went straight to do an early ass radio visit with Chops and Arms…hey if I change my name to “off”…well then we’d be “chops, arms, off” now wouldn’t we? OK, stupid…moving along. We did two different stations and played acoustically at both. Later that night we played a really little club for like 250 people! It was still a fun little show. I ran into a lot of fans I hadn’t seen in years. After we showered, well, after some of us showered, we then started our late night drive to Cologne, Germany.

July 8th-I did a bunch of different press at the venue for a while in Cologne, and then saw my Mom and my little German brothers. They brought so many of their little friends too. It was so cute! Anyway, the gig was awesome, really great crowd. After the show I really wanted to sign for everyone that was waiting outside, but we had to start our 12-hour drive to London. We had to wake up at 4AM to get off the bus and on to a ferry that carried us and the bus across the water. We were all total zombies when we woke up for the boat ride and went through customs, which took like an hour. Why couldn’t we just stay on the bus asleep while floating peacefully along? Well, with security concerns these days, everyone has to get out of their vehicles (I didn’t though! Ha! I was the only one too cranky to come out of my bunk!).

July 9th-Today was Top of The Pops day, or Pop off the Tops as we like to call it…an all day event that pretty much comes down to a measly 4 minute performance, well a 3 minute and 15 second performance to be exact. It’s hard to cut down a song that was originally 5 and 1/2 minutes to 3:15…you can’t do it without losing something special. It was for our new single “Things Will Go My Way”, that was only to be released in the UK. The show went fine, although my voice was pretty shot from all the air-conditioned tour bus late night drives and all of the long plane rides too…not to mention a whole lot of singing everyday. That night after work, we drove to Birmingham.

July 10th- Before I woke up this morning, Sacha searched high and low to surprise me with a morning cup of Starbucks coffee! We pretty much sat in the dressing room of the club we were playing at that night and did a whole lot of nothing all day. Showtime finally came and it totally rocked, best one so far. The sound was great, the gig was happening, and the audience was so into it, singing every word to every song…making our job easy. Man, before the show let in there was the biggest line outside I’ve ever seen at one of our own shows. It went around the block three times! After the show, the band and I tried to sign a bit until people started getting pushy. We drove that night back to London.

July 11th-Today was Party in the Park day! I’d been looking forward to playing this show again ever since we did it 2 years ago…I mean where and when else can you play for like 130,000 people who actually want to see you? We got to play 5 songs this time which was a big step up from the two songs we were allowed to play 2 years prior. I did hours of press afterwards. Hey, and there was no rain while we were on stage! Amazing! They had Krispy Kreme donuts for all of the bands backstage…I think I ate too many- felt like I was going to Karf! After the show, we went back to our day room hotel we all shared and slept until 4AM, then got on the bus and drove to Manchester.

July 12th-I woke up in Manchester feeling tired and beat up by this point. We were in this cute college type area. I ended up doing phoners all day to God knows how many strange countries and then we finally played the show. Looking back at it now, I would say the crowd at this show was the best by far, totally enthusiastic and excited…the band and I had a really great time. I had a little energy left in me afterwards, so I went into some small room that had a door to the outside of the club where people could line up. I ended up signing for about an hour…it was great to meet a lot of cool people. We really do have the best fans! It’s funny though, I find people either hate The Calling or love them, no in between. Anyway, after the night was over and I was fading, we jumped back on the weird double-decker bus and drove back to London.

July 13th- I was really excited about playing at Shepherd’s Bush Empire again, since last time we played there it was so awesome, about two years ago…that was one of my favorite gigs of all time up until now. Honestly, I forget what insanity went on during this day…I did interviews and all of the same old routine. Our crew and some of the band were throwing random things out of the second story dressing room window to fans below, waiting to get into the club…I don’t know how a band member’s shoe made its way outside, but that’s when the game ended. The show was outstanding. It was so funny to watch Chops and Arms’ concerned faces when girls would pass out right in front of us and be carried away. I was like, “This is how it is here, don’t worry dudes, they’re OK”. Just like two years ago, I went outside to the back alley to sign…it was pandemonium! I tried to do my best and get to as many people as I could. There were fans there from all over the UK that had come in to see us. Some from Scotland, Ireland, and even Wales. Now, that’s dedication! Late that night, after we were all finished, we drove to a hotel right next to the airport, since we were suppose to fly home the following morning.

July 14th-We got up early and made the long trip back home to LA. It was great to see Aaron after so long, and especially my family and my sweet cats!…Well, and my car. If you’re someone who likes to drive like me, getting driven around for months on a tour bus can make the experience of driving yourself around way more exciting. Anyway, once I got to my sweet little home I crashed and slept for like 18 hours!

July 15th-Man, it was nice to wake up in my own house for a change and then go to work. We did the Ryan Seacrest show in LA, right over on Hollywood Boulevard…a five-minute drive from where I live. It was good to see Ryan after so long, it’s really too bad that his show is canceled now. Everyone was really nice working there, and we got to hang out with Marie Osmond all day! She was really cool and gave us some good advice…that’s right, Marie Osmond gave me advice! She’s been in the business for a long time. After the day was over, I said goodbye to the band and headed back to the airport to fly to my other house, in Florida. It was time for me to get married and have a vacation!

July 16th-August 3rd- Vacation time! Getting married time! It was crazy! I can’t believe I got married! It was a very sweet and small wedding, with only our closest family and friends. The ceremony was right on the beach outside of our house at sunset. Aaron was my best man of course. It was perfect and beautiful. I promised I’d give you all a wedding picture of Jennifer and I, so it’ll be put it up on the Loft for you guys to see ASAP. Me in a suit! I hadn’t worn or owned a suit since I was 8 years old…Aaron had to put on my tie for me! Anyway, we went on our honeymoon for a few days and as expected, with all the amazingly good that was happening, there had to be bad too. I found out, as you all know now, that one of my family members became sick out of nowhere and was going to need a new liver at some point soon, due to a strange illness. It was a hard decision to make, but I had to cancel most of our August American show dates to spend some important time with my family. I apologize again to all of you who had bought tickets and made plans already. I promise that we are in the process of re-booking an American tour soon and we will make it up to you all. Anyway, I returned back to LA after our honeymoon and with the exception of a few gigs, spent the remaining time with my family.

August 4th- I arrived back in Los Angeles. The following day I was scheduled to do the one headlining show that we kept booked in August, since it was only an hour’s drive from LA. Of course, to top things off, I came down with the flu and could barely get out of bed at that point, but I was determined not to have to cancel the one frikkin show that remained.

August 5th- I made my sick ass way out to Anaheim, home to Disneyland, to play the headlining show at The Galaxy. It felt like so long ago that we started our first headlining tour ever, for our first record, here at The Galaxy. It had been almost three years ago. I remember showing up at this same venue and seeing our very own tour bus for the first time. I was so in awe over the bus. I have it on film somewhere, from three years ago, me running around through the bus filming every detail…”And here’s the little TV’s in the bunks! And here’s PlayStation! And a shower! And satellite TV! Etc.” Good times, then. Well, today I wasn’t quite as excited to say the least…I was bummed about canceling all the dates and I felt like total sh*t with the flu. I knew I could get through playing the show, but it would make me even sicker to do so…but hey, I had plenty of time off the next few weeks to sit around and be sick:( Surprisingly enough, the show went great, and I was riding a Tylenol cold and flu medication high on stage, so I got through it. We hadn’t played our own show in LA in so long, so it was great to have all my friends and family and business partners there to see us. Aaron even came on stage to play a song with me, which was great. After the show was over, I said my goodbyes and threw my sick body in my car and made my way back home to sleep forever.

August 6th-19th- As expected, I spent most of this time off, sicker than I’ve ever been in my whole life, with a lovely sinus infection:( But hey, I got to hang with my sick family member, and I was sick too, so it worked out nicely. I was just starting to feel better when I had to leave LA and go to Greeneville, South Carolina to play a radio show that we had to keep booked. Once I saw my completely insane schedule for the rest of the year, I knew that once I left LA now, I won’t be back for 2 and 1/2 months…and even then, sometime in November, I’ll only be home for one day before leaving again until the end of the year.

August 20th-I arrived in Greeneville, SC late, the night before the gig. The following day I did some radio work and prepared for the show. It was a small radio show outside by a river. We were the headliner and were slotted to close the show that night. We hadn’t played in like two weeks and I was still slightly sick, my voice still horse, but once we hit the stage it all came back. The audience was great this night and of course, since this was an outdoor gig, the rain started to pour in the middle of our set...well, actually, right in the middle of “Could It Be Any Harder”. It was a really cool experience though. There was something magical about it starting to lightly rain on all of us while I sang the most passionate part of the song. Most of the crowd stood their ground, continuing to listen to the song while getting drenched, which I found to be really endearing. The rain let up after that song and we finished up the rest of our set and ran back to our dressing rooms. I guess right once we got inside, the real storm came…massive rain and wind that brought the whole stage down and was flooding the area. Sacha, our tour manager, came running in the dressing room, completely drenched and stinking like I’ve never smelled before, saying, “You won’t believe what just happened out there!”. Apparently, there were a few port-a-potties outside that everyone had been using all day at the radio show. When Sacha made his way back to our dressing room, running in the pouring rain, he saw that one of the port-a-potties had fallen over, front door first. He heard a little girl, trapped, screaming and crying from inside, “Help! Somebody help me please! It’s horrible in here! PLEASE!” Sacha used his manly muscles and lifted the port-a-potty back upright, you-know-what was pouring all over him as he lifted. He got the little girl out, who was completely covered in you-know-what. She was beyond happy about him saving her. Apparently, some asshole guys thought it would be funny to tip the port-a-potty over once they saw the little girl go inside. That is some mean sh*t. Anyway, I guess the cops came and found the guys that had done it and arrested them! That’s what you get fools! Well, Sacha was the super stinky hero for the night, and we made sure to make it known to everybody! Anyway, we got back to our hotel and I went to sleep feeling pretty crummy, since I was still kind of sick. I was supposed to fly to Florida the following morning to spend the final 6 days I had off there.

August 21st –28th-These days off became anything but. A not so friendly guy named “Charlie”, well a massive hurricane to be exact, was making his way through the Atlantic, right towards our house in Florida, so we had to prepare for the worst. Between watching the weather channel in anticipation, putting up storm shutters, and getting all our irreplaceable items out of our house, I got to watch a lot of the Olympics as a distraction, which I really loved. There were definitely some amazing moments throughout all the days of the Olympics in Athens…America kicked serious ass! And let me tell you, to be sitting there, watching the closing ceremonies at home, just hanging out, when all of the sudden “Our Lives” comes on as the theme song, playing along all of the highlights from the last two weeks, it made me cry. Not in a bad way of course, I was just so surprised and proud to have our song, a song Aaron and I wrote and created ourselves in our little studio in Aaron’s little house, to be the song to close out the frikkin Olympics, watched by hundreds of millions of people, was an incredibly emotional experience. At that moment for me, it didn’t matter that “Our Lives” wasn’t a “hit” at radio in America, and it didn’t matter that MTV didn’t play the video that much, and it didn’t matter that our record wasn’t flying off the shelves in stores…I felt like I had won. The next day, I packed up everything I needed for the insane journey that was ahead of me. It was back to work and I was excited to go after all this time off. I was headed into an insane tour through America, Canada, Korea, Japan, America again, then Brazil, a month through Europe, and finally back to America to finish the year off. With only one day off at home, somewhere lost in the middle of the mess of all that, it was sure to be another crazy ride. I kissed my cats goodbye, and smelled their stinky breath one last time for a while, (they both have gingivitis! They’re just not interested in letting me brush their teeth!). I took one last look at my house in Florida before I drove away and just prayed that it would still be there when I retuned some day in the future. With a new single to be released worldwide, another chance at greatness, and another chance to see all of you guys across the globe, the most devoted and greatest fans in the world, I was ready…and it was time to rock.

P.S. The second hurricane to hit the Florida coast more recently, Frances, destroyed much of the little town on the small island that I live on. It was an extremely sad sight that I fortunately didn’t get the chance to see, I only heard of the details since I was already gone. Amazingly, my house wasn’t damaged too much, but there were many that weren’t as fortunate. That’s what you get living in Florida though, hurricane capital of the country. And now we’re awaiting hurricane Ivan, which is coming straight towards Florida yet again. All these poor people on the opposite coast that I live on will be hit for the third time in one month! Nothing like this has happened in over 50 years. I just hope that this will be the end of the hurricanes for a long while…we don’t need any more!