Sick

I am writing this from a very small university in Albany, NY called Saint Rose University. We are playing in one of the university buildings tonight with some friends of ours in Aficionado. It's been a while since I've sent out an update, so here's a quick recap:

Last I left you we were pranking in Wyoming. We spent a night in Boulder, Colorado at Ben S's cousins place the next night. He made us a delicious dinner, and it was the first time I have ever had brussel sprouts. The next night we played a mediocre show in Colorado Springs. To make up for the crappyness of the show, I remembered I had some Marriott rewards points saved up from what seems like a lifetime ago and was able to swing a room in a nearby Fairfield Inn. It was nice to have a clean shower and some HBO to cool every ones nerves. I also stole a shit load of bagels, single serve strawberry jelly's and plastic silverware. Well, I don't know if I would consider it stealing. They do refer to it as an 'all you can eat buffet' not specifying when or where you eat it. We left Colorado Springs and headed straight for the mountains. A few weeks prior to this, we were struggling with a gap in our tour between CO Springs and Illinois. Ben Miller remembered that he has a cousin who lives in Frisco, CO and decided to give him a call to see if he could help us out in any way. Well, as it turns out, Ben's cousin is not just a restaurant owner in Frisco, but owns the living shit out of the entire town. The next thing I know, he has booked us a gig with a $200 guarantee, secured a 2 bedroom condo for us, and promised to feed us at his restaurant. This was the highlight of the tour. We spent two days there, kicking them off with a meal at Chris's(Ben's cousin) restaurant. I had a filet mignon, 2 margarita's, a glass of wine and a shot of top shelf tequila. My meal alone had to be at least $60-$75, not including the appetizers we all shared. This set the tone for the remainder of the weekend. We left Frisco refreshed, and slightly hungover. We made our way to Illinois for a show in Champaign, followed by a show in Madison, Wisconson. Neither were exceptional. Our show in Chicago was decent. It was nice to see some familiar faces, and the venue we played, Martyr's had the nicest green room we've come across thus far stocked with free beer and bottles of water. We left Chicago and headed for Ohio. Dayton was a great night. There were tons of friends in the crowd, we got half price food at the venue and played great. We drove back to Columbus that night to sleep in familiar beds, although not for long. I pulled up to my parents house around 6 in the morning, and had to wake up at 11 to do my taxes and eat lunch with the fam before we left for Morgantown.

That was only a few days ago, and not much has happened since. Oh, except that I'm sick, and have probably infected everyone else in the band. You're welcome guys.

April Fools Day

One of the most successful April Fools Day pranks I've ever executed. We were driving towards Colorado from Montana, and got stuck in a huge snow storm. We pulled over the van in Bolder, Wyoming and found a Super 8 hotel to post up for the night. Once settled, myself, Austin and Will ventured over to a Mc Donalds across the street from the hotel to get some grub, and swung by the gas station next door to scope the beer situation. Apparently in Wyoming, you cannot purchase alcohol in gas stations, and liquor stores close at 10pm. It was 11:15, and our only option for a quick nightcap was to stop in a bar located in the hotel across the street from ours. We got our fill of cheap beer and great conversation with some locals whom we managed to sell 3 CD's to. At around 2, the bartender brought it to our attention that it was officially April Fools Day by closing Will's tab and stating that his card had been declined, and asked if he had another. Will’s face dropped and he replied, “Uhhhhhhhhh, no. Uh Oh.” Then the bartender laughed and said, “Gotcha! April Fools Day!” Now fully aware that it was official, we all came to the conclusion that we need to get the guys who were back at the hotel, as they would surely be as unaware of what date it was as we were. We plotted our scheme. It was flawless. The bar tender picked up the phone and dialed. “Um yes, is this room 108? Ok, well this is officer Spielger down here at the Jackson County Precinct, and I have a William Vokac in custody. We picked him up for public intox and disorderly conduct. He told us this is the room he is staying at, and I want to let you know that you can pick him up from the station tomorrow anytime after 9am, and bail has been set at $5000.” He hangs up the phone, turns to us and says, “All your friend said on the other line was “Okey Dokey”.

Myself and Austin immediately leave the bar to head back to our hotel room to complete the prank with Will straggling behind us. We take a moment outside the door to straighten our faces. The key went into the door and we walk in to a dimly lit room with three very concerned, and awake prankees. “What the fuck happened,” one of them asks, to which I reply, “I don’t know, me and Austin walked outside, and the next thing we know we see Will being cuffed and put into a cop car. How do you guys know, did Will call here?” “No, but the cops did. His bail is set at $5,000. The tour is over, what the fuck are we going to do?” At this very moment Austin loses his composure and bursts into laughter. “What the fuck is so funny about this,” one of the guys sternly asks. “What’s so funny about this is that today is April Fools Day,” I said. “Gotcha.”