Starting off this blog I want to point out that it is a good idea to post a blog after you type it. Don’t wait, don’t dilly-dally. Just post. This is kind of like calling a friend back who you haven’t talked to you in awhile. I learned this because I had to re-write this blog after I didn’t post it when I finished writing it, the first time, and now it reads past tense from where we are…I digress and write a new one.
So, lets talk O.A.R.
I’m supposed to recap our summer shenanigans. Talk about the things we experienced. Well, going back deep into my memory banks isn’t so easy, but I’ll try.
Summer began at Bonnaroo and then onto the west coast. Can’t really say how much I appreciate festivals like Bonnaroo. I just won’t do it justice. First of all, it’s a congregation of people who are there to enjoy music. Environments like this are ideal for a professional musician, however these fests do present challenges in their own unique ways. Every crowd is different, and must be regarded as such. As much as we try to flow with the feeling of the audience, we absolutely know that reacting and changing things up can be beneficial, when appropriate. The show at Bonnaroohoo had a great vibe this time around, if I remember correctly. We’re really happy they invited us back, and hope to be back again next year. But if you go by how things have happened we won’t be back til the year after next. That’s okay, plenty going on if it doesn’t happen.
Ok, so we’ve discussed how festivals are great. Now we move onto some shows of our own. Portland, Vancouver, San Fran for a couple nights, one of which I missed for a best friend’s wedding. Then down through LA and San Diego. A whale’s ?@$#@. Memory. I remember when we were leaving San Diego to drive to Phoenix, it was very hot out. The kind of hot for a band that wears only denim, some members that day chose shorts! So I took this one photo that shows the road we took, its on ofarevolution.com/photos somewhere. Totally worth a look, shows the heat of the desert on the road.
Anyways, we moved on from there and headed to Summerfest in the great state of Wisconsin in the great city of Milwaukee. I do not know what it is, maybe its something in their beer, but that is a place and time where rock concerts happen. Summerfest takes place over eight or ten days in an area of Milwaukee only used for Summerfest, or so I hear from family Skogg. Go Geebz! The various individuals who attended our concert were wonderful about making the two nights of our performances energetic and unforgettable. Thank you!
So after Summerfest, it was rest time, and special time for Chris. Secret that I’m not sure if I should mention. X marks the spot. When we started up again in St. Louis and the Midwest, we were welcomed with some fireworks at the end of our show. That is a nice memory. And hey, I have pictures too.
Following that, things got a little crazy. We had a flight canceled on us and we needed to get to Colorado. It was just too far to drive in the few hours we had available before our performance at the Mile High music festival, so we had to do something we’ve always wanted to do…we got a private jet to take us there. It was only 50 bucks so we thought it was worth it. I attribute this to the ruling powers of Earth keeping gas prices so low.
Later through the tour things were pretty exciting musically, we were on the road with the band, Ozomatli. These guys are great, both onstage and in life. Yes, they are different things and cause people’s personalities to change. Hmmm. So anyways, we got pretty friendly with them through the tour. After a few shows we worked out having them up with us during a song off our new record Whatever Happened. It was a lot of fun, and we were fortunate enough to have Will-dawg take over the bass parts for me. Man can that guy play!? The whole band though is ridiculous and it goes without saying we were lucky to have ‘em all up on stage with us. Thanks to OZO for this. And also, check out their new LA based radio show, you’ll get a sense for their personalities if you listen…
Another cool part of our summer tour was the Green Dream. Our band made efforts to ‘green’ our summer tour through a program where we supplied recycling options at the venues for our listeners. We had some great help from a company called SAIC, and also the EPA chipped in. They really added a lot to the initiative/program and helped us accomplish our goals with this program. Check out
SAIC.COM/OAR for some more info. And also keep an eye out at our concerts for more Green Dream setups.
So summer moves on and our tour comes to a halt. We had a few days off before a few shows at the Gorge in Washington state with the Dave Mathews Band. During these days we heard of the passing of LeRoi Moore. We send our love and respect to his family, friends and those that knew him through his amazing contributions to the music community at large. He will be missed. Those shows were fun and all but there was something heart-wrenching and different about them.
Now we’re kicking things off in Fall. We just played Portland Maine and Burlington Vermont. It is definitely not summer up there anymore. I was cold in Portland and yesterday it was rainy. I’m not complaining, these are just the weather systems around the parking lots that reside in the cities we’ve been playing in.
And I end this blog. Now.
Thanks, Benj