So our lead singer got the flu. A serious flu in fact because we've canceled five shows. That's 10 days off. 10 days off for a roadie is dangerous. Right about now I guarantee you half a dozen roadies have completely depleted their bank accounts due to excessive alcohol consumption (as well as other party favors...we are near the Mexican boarder after all) and another half are crawling the walls from trapping themselves in their hotels rooms to NOT deplete their bank accounts. Either way you lose. We are not the sort to be lazy, so when you give us all this time off, and we have nothing to do, we go crazy. And it would be one thing if we had real "time off" and we could go home, or even take a few days off to travel to the coast and relax, but we're on call, waiting for the next chess move in this game and we are at the mercy of the band, so we need to stay put and wait it out. Waiting it out today means in a Hilton hotel room downtown Houston. Have you ever been downtown Houston? Did you know it the fattest city in America. When you ask a local what you do here they answer "eat and shop". Here, you get arrested for skateboarding, there are signs everywhere that say "this is not a camp ground" and there is zero culture. It's almost like some strange reality show they've got us on, we're on candid camera. The plot: How long till they loose their minds.

Everything is sand beige. Everyone is sand beige as well...so boring. BUT the highlight so far...the hotel was hosting a Chess competition! Grade school kids, running around with enormous statues for winning chess tournaments! that looked THRILLING!

My friend met a girl in a Thai restaurant who had tattoos, he asked her where to go to have some fun in this town, she smiled and said, you mean where people are...."open minded". Yes. That is a key ingredient, especially in Texas. Open-mindedness is so often taken for granted in the circles we swim in, and yet, two days with nothing to do in Houston will tell you exactly where your mind is.

I needed to do laundry today, since it had been 10 days since my last load. So my friend and I took the hotel shuttle over to the only Laundromat in the downtown area...a nice ten minute ride from the hotel, and as we pulled up, there were 8 other roadies doing their laundry! Laundry party! Liquor store was next door...it actually WAS a laundry party! Leave it to us to make anything into a party.

So tonight is some arcade bar where there is skee ball and PBR. Perhaps we'll have some fun. Perhaps I'll come home early and watch more episodes of Mad Men on my laptop. Either way, we're off to Dallas tomorrow...so we can wait some more...so we can fly to Vegas...so we can wait some more. Have you ever wanted to work this bad? Does it sound strange? Perhaps, but it totally puts into perspective what you enjoy doing, and one of those things is putting on a rock show, and damn do I love putting on a rock show....I can't wait till the next time I get to put on a rock show. Get better soon lead singer...please God...get better soon....