June 23, 2007

Dear Diary,

The NORVA in Norfolk Virginia is the best venue in the world. The coolest part about it isn't the stage or the room or the place itself (although that was really cool too)…the coolest part is their philosophy. They believe in catering to and taking care of the artists. Their main goal is to make us happy and make us comfortable. I'm game!!!!

Upstairs, where the backstage area is, there is a whole other world. There is a basketball court, a game room (which I'm sitting in right now while Hal and Randy are playing ping pong…neither are winning) with three arcade video games, a HUGE big screen tv, three leather couches, a marble coffee table, a pool table, ping pong table and a foosball table. And that's just the game room. Then there is a catering room with a bunch of tables, another big screen tv, full meals (lasagna, salad, shrimp, and a bunch of other things), full fridge of sodas and water, a condiments. Then, the main dressing room is insane. Even more couches and TV's, a huge wooden hot tub and steam room, and a separate lounge room with more leather couches. Upstairs is a basketball court, raquetball court and a full gym. The guy, Frank, who showed us the tour of the back stage area was telling us about his touring career…Led Zeppelin and all Jimmy Paige's solo stuff, plus many many more. He came back here to work at this venue because it's the best in the world. IT feels really good to be taken care of. OH!!! And they have a washer and dryer and a girl who does our laundry. Places to sleep. Anything we could want. It is truly incredible. We felt like we died and went to Rock and Roll heaven! ?

So the rest of the day, leading up to that point, was pretty uneventful. We drove and drove and drove from Nashville to here. Well, I slept and slept while they drove. Domo first, then Dave then Kyle and Randy. We stopped at a Starbucks and subway on the way in. Got to our hotel around 5 ish and had van call at 6. When we got to the venue we had some time to sit and chill and actually hang out with the Tesla guys. I can't tell you enough how amazing they've been to us. They are just the coolest people and I feel really thankful that we're on tour with them. They treat us like friends, they watch our shows, they are interested in our well-being. It feels really good, especially since most of us grew up listening to them.

The actual show was really fun. The crowd went nuts, so much so that there was a line at our merch table for people wanting to buy stuff, talk to us, and have us sign their new cds and shirts. Everyone we met was so cool. After tonight, we'll go back to our hotel and Tesla will go to Europe. Then we have a bunch of stuff planned for the12 days in between until we meet back up with the guys. Monday night we'll be in Baltimore playing at Fletchers bar. We've never been….have any of you guys? Wednesday I think we'll be in North Carolina, and then Friday we might be in Boston. I'll keep everyone updated as soon as I find out the details.

Overall, I keep feeling so happy to be here, playing with Tesla. They are such amazing people and their fans have been so cool and so accepting to us. I've come to the conclusion that Tesla fans are the best in the world (other than Poets fans of course ;-) I think it's a really great fit and I'm not homesick at all, although we do miss all our sex ninjas out in La la land. Keep checking in and sending your good vibes. We're definitely feeling them.

Love, Sally