Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 265

Year Two – Day 116 – August 4th 2010

Chicago, Illinois

Back on the Road...the more I do this the more unencumbered I feel. The less I'm concerned with happenings back home, don't get me wrong I still have business to take care of back in Philadelphia, but that's the only thing I'm concerned with these days. What I mean by happenings is the drama that I often subject myself to at home. I was able to avoid a lot of it by spending time with Nikki and Aydan last week followed by a great time at The Plateau Jam. Home for a little over a day to do Philly Rising and then yesterday we were headed towards Chicago. It was quite the long ride to the hotel We pull in and get some much needed rest.

Today was a very big day. First Boy Wonder gig ever in Chicago (I had been here previously with Bang Camaro at the Double Door), first night of the tour, first night playing the tunes from Animated, I'd been nervous for pretty much the entire day. We decided to get up early and see the city, I had originally bitched and moaned about going out last night, but after a good nights rest I was up to spending some time with the guys and seeing a city I missed out on last year. We'd planned to meet up with our friend Ed who was going to give us a tour of the media arts school he works at. It took a lil bit to park but it was worth it, it was a pretty awesome facility. We went back to the lot, grabbed the van and headed towards The Tonic Room.

The Venue was small, but it had an awesome vibe. We at at the Thai Place next door as we watched other bands and their fans come inside. Our people start to trickle in Ed and Lindsay, Kibra from Minneapolis surprised us with her buddy JaJa, and Sophia Dilberakis even showed up. Sophia's been an e-friend of mine for almost ten years (She, I, and a few others bonded over our love for a certain bass player/singer) so it was nice to finally meet her and chat face to face. The whole internet thing is kinda weird, in the sense that you meet these people and you have a connection with them, but you've never actually met. But we chatted and laughed just like we did on-line, it was really really cool.

We spent some time talking to our friends and then at 8:30 we hit the stage. I say hello Chicago and then we're off to the races

Set List

Ex-Girlfriend
Get Me To California
Wasn't Supposed to Be This Way
God May Forgive You But I Never Will
Psycho
Surrender
Feels So Good
Sexy Machine
I Don't Dance

Encore
Walking on The Moon

I was pretty rattled the entire time, I generally don't do nerves but for some reason I was so eager to please this evening. The guys played well but I didn't play as well as I wanted to and there are some adjustments that need to be made to the set but all in all the people seemed to like it and that's all that matters in the end. I know things in Toledo will be even better tomorrow.

We saw some great bands and headed back to the hotel. A flurry of txt messages and leftover thai food was followed by me passing out. Toledo's tomorrow...we're gonna rock it.