Wags' 2005 Tour Diary: Deluxe Expanded Reissue, Volume I

In 2005, Earwig went on a U.S. tour in support of our DVD ‘Year Of The Drag’. I was persuaded to let an outside party do all of the booking for the 5 week tour which took us to OH, IL, NY, NJ, PA, NC, LA, FL, NM, AZ, CA, OR, WA, UT, KS and back to Ohio. That was a BIG mistake. Most of the shows sucked balls and we were stuck sharing the bill on the majority of the dates with another Ohio band that , how shall we say, left something to be desired. It was a learning experience and we did have a lot of fun. All’s well that ends well, I suppose. Prior to the first date of the tour, Earwig flew to Chicago for an awesome corporate gig and recorded in Engine Studios. Now that was a GREAT idea.

We liked it so much that we returned to record most of ‘Center Of The Earth’ there as well. Along the way, Matt kept a tour diary which he posted regularly to our now defunct message board. We though it might be fun to re-visit some of those entries here.
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During Earwig's summer 2005 tour, I kept a diary in my little Mead composition notebook. Various details were tweaked or omitted altogether, just for my own amusement. Whenever we were at a place with internet, I would post these diary entries on the Earwig message board with added commentary. It was fun: it gave me something to do and entertained literally dozens of people, who also posted their own words of encouragement. It also ensured our families we were still alive, without us actually having to speak to them (I left my phone in North Carolina and had to have it shipped to New Mexico).
Sadly, shortly after our return home the message board was poached to death by hackers (which is not nearly as bad as being hacked to death by poachers, but painful nonetheless). All of the colorful added commentary is lost to the world forever, but the Mead composition book remains in my possession. Here, for the first time in three years, is the first installment of my tour diary. Take a stagger with me down memory lane, won't you?

Earwig Confidential

7/20/05
NON SMOKING ROOM MY ASS

12:20 am central time DOWNTOWN CHICAGO club quarters hotel. Not very breezy for the windy city. So we all got rooms, courtesy evil tobacco LLC. Apparently I've got the best one, here on the 23rd floor - watching, to my right, The Hold Steady on Conan O'Brien (okay, I guess), and to my left, the fucking downtown Chicago skyline. I'll choose the left. Actually, the hold steady sucks. Chicago towers above me and here I am, spitting on the speedy little hotwheels below me. Ridiculous. Magnificent.
My bandmates are presumably asleep. Justin had a long, stinky night yesterday. Lizard's in his room too. Me, I've got a bottle of Jack that I need to find something to do with. Maybe one more drink. How the hell am I going to get half a bottle of JD on the plane tomorrow? Creative thinking. Gonna be a bumpy ride. Street noises in Chitown are surprisingly loud - even 23 stories up. Tomorrow we make the hits at the (rented out) Metro. But I'll be up all night. ->How the hell did I get myself into this? ->And I wonder if I can get myself into this again?