For those of you who did not make it out to any of the shows on the release tour, I thought I'd tell you a little about it here.

The Zipper Theatre

On Tuesday, October 14th, we kicked off the tour with one of the most amazing shows I've ever been a part of so far. The Zipper Theatre release was so absolutely amazing. I wasn't sure what the turnout was going to be like considering it was a late Tuesday in New York City. It's hard enough to get a decent crowd on a weekend in New York. After a quick soundcheck, I spent a good amount of time in the dressing room clearing my head and my throat for the show. As it got closer to showtime, I began to hear quite a crowd gathering. At one point I walked over to the stage curtain to look, then changed my mind at the last minute knowing that I'd rather see them all for the first time when we all walk out.

As the lights dimmed and the guys took the stage, I began to really hear how many people had come out to celebrate this moment with me and the guys. It was seriously like a beautiful frozen moment to me as I looked into the crowd and across the stage and saw all the wonderful, beautiful people I have surrounded myself with. Then everything returned to real time when I got a nod from Tim Grace from behind a baby grand piano and we dove into our opening song, "Hollywood".

The set list continued as a perfect soundtrack for a perfect evening, and Joseph Sommers, our newly appointed manager had congratulated me with a bottle of Cabernet waiting for me at my mic stand.

October 14th Setlist:

Hollywood
Rape Of Conscience
Welcome To The Show
Dancing In The Rain
King of the Silver Screen
Déjà vu
Sideshows
30 Pieces
Beautiful
The Girl Who Saved The World
Vampires of Vaudeville
The Entertainer
Karma Girl


Personal highlights for me on this show were:
1. Seeing Andrew Thornton singing every word to the show and enjoying it as much as anyone on stage.
2. Walking to the piano to sing the sweetest, most gentle song of the night and hearing Tim tell me, "I loosened her up for you".
3. Leaving the stage after the set and receiving the most genuine, relentless encore that I've ever received. I generally hate encores because they feel so coaxed and insincere, but this was such a beautiful unexpected moment. Tim and I ended up returning to the stage and playing Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released".

pictures of this night can be viewed on my myspace page thanks to Anthony from Memento Photography.

October 15th - Columbus, OH

After realizing at about 3:00 a.m. that our vehicle for the trip would not be large enough for all of our gear, we ended up renting a vehicle that cost way too much money and stress. Then we travelled to Columbus, OH to play the most disgusting trashy venue I think I've ever played. It was called Bernie's Distillery and we all had to get tetnis shots after playing there. But it was worth it for the few friends we made that night.

October 17th - Fayetteville, AR

This was such a crazy busy day. Got up really early and sat waiting for my publicist to pick me up and take me to a radio interview. He never showed, so I found the phone number for the radio station and called in. Then we all went to Jones TV where we began recording a documentary with live performances in their Television studio. This was great because it felt like a scene from "That Thing You Do". However, I sang so much that I was afraid I had thrown out my voice before the big show that night. So I spent the rest of the day relaxing my voice and preparing for the evening.

That night was another wonderful show. I was, again, shocked at the turnout. A lot of wonderful people came out to support and buy the new CD. We had to cut 2 songs out of the set because of the early closing time in Arkansas of 2 a.m. After that, we partied till the sun came up.

October 18th – Fayetteville, AR

Umm… more partying.

October 19th – Fayetteville, AR

Benjamin and I finished shooting the documentary on this day at a tattoo parlor where we both got new ink while simultaneously being interviewed. After the tattoos, we went to D's on Dickson where Tim and I set up and played a stripped down set. This really turned out to be an amazing night. While we were playing our first song, I noticed Gavin DeGraw as he walked in. He sat listening intently, and after a few songs, ran over to me and handed me some money which I tried to refuse as I handed him a CD instead. He insisted on giving us some gas money to get back home and said that the music was incredible and amazing. So I took the money and thanked him. I later reached in my pocket later to figure out what we had made that night and realized that Gavin DeGraw had tipped us $100. What a guy.

October 20th

After an early interview at The X morning show, Tim and I rounded up the rest of the guys and headed North to St. Louis. By the time we got to St. Louis, I realized that all of this running without sleeping had finally kicked my ass. I was sick. In fact, I thought I was too sick to play the show. I felt terrible and it was getting worse. So I dealt with it the only way I knew how to… I took 8 Alkaseltzers and turned on "The Show Must Go On" by Queen. hahaha. This left me very dizzy, but I was able to play the entire show with the exception of a drastic change in the composition of "Hollywood". I damn near rewrote that entire song on the fly that night. hahah. I'd like to thank Tim, Joshua, Gabe and NIc for persevering with me through those terrifying 2 minutes.

That about wrapped up the trip. We're heading back through most of those cities again in late November and early December. Now we're back in New York getting well and preparing for the next 6 months of touring. Can't wait to see all of you out there.

I Love You All,

Randall