The Dig's van was robbed in Chicago on Sunday night and most of their gear stolen.  The band will be able to play the Gurnee and Eureka shows supporting Dashboard Confessional today and tomorrow, respectively (DC will lend our gear).  Anyone with information on the stolen gear can please contact the Chicago Police and/or the band at thedigmusic@gmail.com. The van was parked on N. Leavitt St. and W. Evergreen Ave., and a full list of stolen items is below.

Bass Guitar - Fender Electric Precision - Ivory Body w/ Black Pick
Guard   SN: 619368

 Guitar - PRS - McCarty - Dark Red

 Guitar - Fender Telecaster - blonde body w/ black pick guard -
double humbucker pickups - rosewood neck

 Guitar - Epiphone - 1967 Sorrento Sun burst hollow body

 Bass Amplifier - Ampeg  V-4    SN: 137500

 Guitar Amplifier - Fender Deville "212" Type PR247   SN: 178888

 Custom Speaker Cabinet – 2 x 10"

 Snare Drum Ludwig  14"x 5 1/4" Steel SN: 3079825

 Rack Tom - Slingerland 13" x 8" Pearl White 1962

 Laptop Computer - Sony Vaio – 2007

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To begin with, I have spent this tour with so many friends.  I have been looking forward to a tour with John Ralston for a long while now.  Back in the old days Further and Recess Theory a band comprised of my friends Nathan Jezek, Steve Eshelman, Jeff Snow(later of John Ralston) and John Ralston (later of John Ralston) did a split together (does anyone do splits now?) and toured extensively.  Later RT was renamed Legends of Rodeo and toured extensively with me in Dashboard.  Last year I scooped John Ralston, the man not the band, into Dashboard for about six months during which John Ralston, the man and the band, opened for a handful of dates. Now I have spent two great months of this fall touring with John Ralston, whose band is comprised of many of my best friends, Dustin, Nick, Jeff, and Dan (who I am in The Andy’s with and who once was the bassist for Dashboard).  Still with me?  Good.

Then there is Augustana.  I have been a fan of this band for about a year and a half, and I have been friends with Dan for about as long.  I had hoped that they would fit in with this circle of old friends without feeling left out. They have done more than that, becoming some of my favorite friends and a big inspiration to me musically. They spend equal time chasing fun and honing their musical skills.  They are never afraid to have their fun spill into your day.  They are so inviting and refreshing to our fans (to quote one fan anyway). 

Of course if you were there for the front of this tour, you will remember that Max Bemis joined us for a couple weeks. I have done many dates with Say Anything and our friendship is as genuine as I have had with anyone I have ever toured with.  I love these guys.  I love their approach to music and the challenges that they raise as they fearlessly change and grow as a band.

Then there are the surprise guests.  Fred from Taking Back Sunday has been a friend of mine from years back and has made a solo record, under the name The Color Fred, which I love very much.  I couldn’t resist having him join in for the AC show and he is here in the dressing room now with me and Johnny and I am about to invite him to perform one of his songs in this, the last show of the tour. 

And, surprise surprise, Adam from the Counting Crows is back here with us now, rehearsing with us for a guest appearance in our mega-encore of five or six songs.  All of you know of our friendship but I have to tell you how much it means to me to have a hero of mine join me for one of my shows, in one of my favorite cities, for one of my favorite audiences.

And of course the best surprise of them all was the talented John Lefler.  I think it may be no secret to you by now to know that he joined me for a third or so of my nightly set.  I haven’t said much about him in these notes to you, preferring to let those of you who didn’t know he would join me would enjoy it for the surprise he was intended to be.  There were many days in the beginning of Dashboard that I played truly solo with no other players at all, but only if I didn’t know anyone at all in this or that town.  I have always enjoyed inviting my friends up for a spell and a story, and I have always thought of that as something that always made me better.  No one has ever made me asgood as my band mates John, Mike and Scott, and no one has been as good as they have as players in this band.  Having John on this tour and watching how inspiring his performances have been to you, and I, has made me proud, and no one has ever been as entertaining to me in my life as this guy.  I hope you have gotten to know him a little better in this setting.

Then there is the audience.  Each of the many audiences that I have visited with across the country.  How I long for you and love to see your faces.  I am thrilled to have been invited to visit with you for a while and toshare my tales and tunes with you. I thank you for listening. I cherish you for your energy and your selfless nature.  I am humbled by the way you sing as one, as if into my ear alone. These are the moments that we share that no one can quite understand.  There are secrets that we share, there are truths we tell here and there are lies we allow ourselves to believe.

Then there is, of course, you.  You, the reader of this note.  I know there is more than one of you.  Judging by the comments there are atleast like 30 of you.  In my mind you and I are becoming friends. I think of you throughout the day.  Things occur in my day and I think,"I can’t wait to recount them. It seems like nothings happened till I’ve shared them with you” (cheap I know, but funny to me and I couldn’t resist!) 

As for me, I am taking the week off to get ready for Europe.  You will be hearing from me while I am over there.  I hope you have had fun sharing in these memories with me. 

Have a great Thanksgiving.  Enjoy your family and friends and send them my best.

I hope this letter finds you well.

Thank you for this.

Chris  

As you may know, Philadelphia has been one of my favoriteplaces to play in the wide world. The show was at the Electric Factory, one of my personal favorite venuesfor shows.  We had two nightsthere, so I knew I would be in for much fun. 

The first show was a fun, particularly the first half, butthe second show was something to write home about.  I mean to tell you that I gave everything that I had in meto make this show special.  I amnot sure what came over me, but something about it being the second to lastshow gave me this feeling that if I didn’t walk off of that stage barelyhanging onto my voice, than I would have cheated the audience in favor ofsaving it for the last show.  Ifelt that I could not do that, so I gave and I gave until I was sure that therewas nothing left in the well.  Iloved it.  There are nights toremember and this was one of them. When I look back on this fall, this night will be one that I remember asepitomizing the spirit of this tour.

Chris  

I don’t know about you, but I came out ahead in AC.  It may be that I never made it to the tables, but it may be because I had a windfall of a show.  I was invited out on stage not only by John Ralston, who has invited me on stage many times in our tenure together, but Augustana invited me up for the first time for a song as well.  I was honored and it brought a spirited vibe to the whole night. 

This set the stage for me to mess around in a lot of ways I wasn’t planning on.  I tweaked the set several times on the fly to include what the audience got in their requests (the ones I could hear anyway).  What was my favorite part of the night?  Right before my set time My friend Fred who I have been friends with for many years and who you know from Taking Back Sunday came to surprise me at the show.  I think I have already told you how excited I am about Fred’s new solo project “The Color Fred”.  I had to put him on the spot.  As I walked to the stage I told him, “Hey Fred, don’t wonder to far from the stage door buddy, you’re on after ‘As Lovers Go’!”  He looked unsteadied by my proclamation but he came out with that good old Fred stylehome spun confidence that we all know and love.  It was an honor to get to invite you to listen to one of my favorite musicians play one of my favorite new songs during my set, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. 

On to Philly!

Chris  

The good old Palladium in Worcester, MA.  I love this place.  I have been playing in this room from the very beginning of my career.  I opened for NFG in the small attic part of the room, opened for Face to Face in the main room, and had maybe ten of my favorite shows of my own as well.  This was a night of friendly faces.  Members of my family had traveled to be there. Friends and extended family came to visit, including my friend Al who was there to see her first rock show. The audience was there in its beaming fashion.  It had all the ingredients for an exciting show. If you were there I am sure that you could tell.  The dead give away was the fact that I couldn’t even wait for my own set to go out there on stage.  I think I jumped into at least two or three of Ralston songs.  Some nights are like that. You just need to be out there.  That is the thing that makes me do this.  That craving for connection, I crave that connection on an individual basis, and I feel like I get that with the audience.  I always look at an audience as individuals as apposed to a faceless mass.  I see your faces out there.  I come to recognize them over the years.  I come to know you and Iget as excited to see you as you get about seeing us. 

The show was one of the top shows of the tour.  The feeling of a show like that is hard to explain, but here is something that I think will convey a little bit of it to you.  I play songs every night to people who want to hear them, but I never stop trying to make the songs the best they have ever been.  I try to make them better than they were on the album and better by far than the last night’s performance, no matter how good they had been that night before.  I play them like everything depends on it.  I play them like I am proving them for the first time, like a ten to one underdog.  But every now and again I walk off stage thinking, “How can I top that tomorrow?” This was one of those nights.  I can’t tell you what exactly brings it out of me, but I know that every time I am in MA I get there, so it has to have something to do with the people there.  Thanks for getting me to that place.  I hope you enjoyed it as well as I did.

Chris  

In the beginning of my touring career in Dashboard, I spentmuch of my time in Long Island and New Jersey.  Many of the bands that I toured so much with then were fromthe tri-state area.  These bands,like The Movielife, Midtown, Saves The Day, and Hot Rod Circuit to name a few,were not just my friends, they were like a gang or a family.  We played countless shows togetheracross the country but the ones that stick out the most to me are the ones thatwe played in New Jersey and Long Island. I remember all the shows that we had at the LI Zoo, which was a VFWstyle hall in the suburbs that had no character at all until the kids from thescene, the very kids who helped to build the scene to what it is now, filledthe room with more character than it could hold.

I was curious if this L.I. show would compare at all tothose great times.

The show was held a goofy joint called The Crazy Donkey,which looks like a sports bar with a stage shoved in it.  So in a sense I would say that the roomhad character.  That charactercould be described as goofy.  Butonce the crowd was in, it became glorious.  It was beaming with energy and the crowd came with that LongIsland enthusiasm that I had come to love so well over all these years. 

Ok, I did find it odd that the club refused to turn of thebig screen TV’s that were silently broadcasting ESPN for the beginning of theshow, but once they were off, I felt that old familiar feeling come rightback. 

The show was another no barricade, sweat your ass off kindashow.  By now you know those theseare my favorite kinds of shows, and this one came with another one of myfavorite kinds of live show moments, a guest performer.  For a few years we have been covering asong, Teenage Dirtbag, every now and again by a band from Long Island calledWheatus.  To my surprise, when Igot to the show I found the singer of the band Wheatus, Brendan Brown, had cometo visit with us and to check us out. So I did what I do when friends in bands come to visit with us, I puthim to work. We hadn’t played Teenage Dirtbag in about a year, but it all cameback when he joined us on stage for a joint performance.  It was an honor.  

The show was a real winner in my book. A true throw backto what things were like in the beginning stages of this circus.

I am not sure why the folks in this part of the East Coastare so dedicated to music, and the people who make it, but I love it and Icrave it and I can’t wait to be there again.

Chris  

The first two of the three New York shows were exactly whatI had hoped for them to be.  I haddecided when I put this tour together to place the New York shows in some verysmall rooms, and to do three of them. 

Last year our shows were in huge rooms like Radio City MusicHall and then a few months later at Madison Square Garden.  Those shows may have been my favoriteshows of all time, so when I set out to plan this tour I couldn’t help butwonder how to make this tour’s New York shows match last years. 

I weighed out all the options, like Carnegie Hall, an iconicand ornate venue, on one end, and Pianos, a tiny East Village venue, on theother.  It took some pondering, buteventually I came to the conclusion that, knowing that the goal was not tomatch the grandeur of last year, but to play intimate and memorable shows inrooms where the room itself wasn’t the story.

I decided on a few rooms around the city that would fit thespirit.

The first night was at Webster Hall where I had seen the GetUp Kids do their farewell tour.  Itook the stage at sound check and I was surprised that I found it a bithaunting to be on a stage where I had seen some of my friends play their finalNew York show.  I wondered if itwould cause my set to be bittersweet. Thanks to the kids at the show it was anything but.  It was a crowd that smiled and sang andseemed to know what I was feeling in every song, though I think this audiencewas better versed in the last few albums of our catalogue.  I even caught the bartenders singingalong and laughing to some of my more self-deprecating rants.  As I left the building I bumped into afew patient fans who had stayed long enough to chat about the show and sharewith me some things that they had worked on, including one girl who had drawnan incredible portrait of the band and her friends, and another lovely lady whohad made me a shirt that said “Brown Coats” which if, you watch firefly, youwould appreciate as much as I do, and another who was thoughtful enough to bringme some of her favorite tea.

The second NYC show was held at The Highline Ballroom, whichis an intimate room with no barricade, no separation at all between the crowdand I.  This crowd seemed to knowthe first records as well as they knew the latter ones and I was inspired byit, I must have added six or seven songs into the set that I hadn’t intended ondoing in reaction to the crowds enthusiasm.  I could see the audience individually that night, whichalways makes for a more memorable show in my experience.  I could see the last row, where Ispotted Chad Neptune from Further Seems Forever, as well as the folks in thefront row.  I couldn’t help ribbingChad a bit over the fact that I had offered Further what would come to be thefirst batch of Dashboard songs, and at the time his response was something tothe effect of, “ Chris, I don’t think that people are going to like thesesongs”(Ha!!!)  He is a good friend,and a good sport to take this retelling with a big grin.

After the show, well after it in fact, I finally left myfriends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in a year, and met some of the people thatwaited to chat with me.  One groupwere a female rugby team and their coach who looked like they needed some coatsto help them through the cold wait, and one girl who had made (yes MADE) me ascarf.  I am grateful for thesegifts, but I need to remind you that I am happy to meet you and you don’t haveto bring me anything at all, but when you do, I really appreciate it, and whenyou have made them yourself I am very impressed. 

I have one more New York show on Wednesday and if you canbelieve it, it will be our last show of the tour.  It is the first time ever that I am ever that I am notlooking forward to my New York show. I really don’t want this tour to end.

Chris  

Columbus was a real blast!  Old school!  Oneof those shows where I left feeling like I did when I first started all thisnonsense.  This statement amountsto the best compliment   thatI could pay to an audience.   Those days were filled with an unrestrained excitement   both from my end and from theaudience’s.  Funny how often thesedays and the good old days feel like exactly the same thing.  Maybe it was the fact that Ohio State wonthat day, or maybe it was the fact that the setup of the room helped me to beable to look directly into the eyes of nearly every person there, but whateverit was, led to a feeling in that room that I wish I could bottle, and if I hadthe occasion to meet you, I would spray you with it so you could sense it too.

Chris

I am sorry to have been out of touch this week guys, but the reason is a good one.  I have been writing songs!  While I apologize for my absence from the board, I have to let you know that I MUST drop all other hobbies and responsibilities to chase these creative moments.  I know you understand.

So, a quick recap.  Since we last spoke I have visited Kansas City, St. Cloud MN. Chicago, Toronto, and last night in Pontiac Michigan.

Kansas was great.  I had a nice conversation with a girl named Kate who brought me something nice, I visited with some friends who used the show as a birthday party (fun idea) and I jumped on stage with John Ralston during his set and I think I scarred the life out of Dustin.

St Cloud.  We had a nice day off in the sleepy town of St. Cloud.  I found a guitar shop a comic book store that stayed open even though we tried to walk in at closing time, and a place for a haircut.  What more do you want on a day off!?!  I invited the girls from the hair saloon to come to the show the next day.  They were lovely and gave me tons of ideas of what kind of trouble I could get into in a town like that on the Sat before Halloween.  I left their names on the list, but I don’t think they came to the show.  If you read this girls, thanks for the tip about The Red Carpet, we had to carry one of my friends out of there by the end of the night!

Chicago was Chicago.  It is almost like a second home to me and the audiences there feel like old friends.  The kids I met out side were fun to chat with and one even made me a care package of cold weather gear to help kick this darn cold away once and for all (it still lingers).

Toronto was a fine display of the Canadian spirit.  If you haven’t been to Canada you have been depriving yourself of some of the kindest and most interesting people in the world.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the government gives grants to artists there in Canada that causes a ration of creative and intriguing people there, or maybe it is in the water.  Either way, the scene there is of no small inspiration to me.

Pontiac: This is how much we love the Detroit area:  We started our tour there over a month ago and booked another one there near the end of it.  The first one was at Meadowbrook Amphitheatre in Rochester.  That was the tone setter for this whole tour.  Last nights show in Pontiac was like a house party!  Loud, hot, and without restraints.  It was if the parents were away on vacation and we had the basement to ourselves.  The only drag was that I had thought that I had kicked this sore throat, but it keeps coming back.  Because of that I couldn’t really speak to the kids that I met after the show.  I was glad that they understood and I found it funny that they kind of whispered when they spoke to me, as if it was they too who were fighting a sore throat.  Thanks for the empathy guys!  Thanks as well to the girl (the robitussin has caused me to be unable to remember details such as her name) with the Sunnydale High School t-shirt (so jealous!) who brought me the latest Buffy season 8 book.  It is nice of you guys to bring me things, (though not necessary!) but when you bring me things like this I feel like you really know me.

So that’s it for now.  I am working on another entry that I think you will find very insightful but I need to take my time with it because it is something I am really interested in.  It has to do with the evolution of a song from demo to record and how most of the time it improves the song but how in at least one case it may not have.  This song of mine that I am referring to is not a song that you have heard any other stage than the end result album version.  Therefore it is taking me a while to pull it all together.  But that is for later.

Be good.

Chris

It had been a while since we had been to Portland and I regret that.  What a scene.  Great small coffee shops, book stores, bicycle shops, record stores, comic book shops, sneaker spots, Nike headquarters.  Its hip and the hipsters there are actually hip. The girls are gorgeous and the guys seem happy because of it.  I know I was! 

Augustana played a song that I had never heard them do live.  I was listening to them rehearse in the dressing room before the show and I was so impressed.  It was already apparent to me that all the guys in the band can really sing.  That is what made me a fan even before I heard that Boston song on the radio.  Dan is such a talent and that shows to even the most casual listener.  But listening to that rehearsal I couldn’t believe what great singers each of these guys are.  I honestly got chills listening to it.

I saw John Ralston play his set from the front of house.  I had gone out to watch and decided to sit at the merch table (on it actually).  I got to meet many of the crowd while sitting out there.  Locals and folks who had traveled hours, even crossed boarders to be there.  I met a guy who had me sign his license plate that read 4U2NTCE.  I tried to remain under the radar and not distract them from watching John.  It is something to watch somebody you believe in, introduce themselves to an audience who has never seen them play.  I am a big believer in Ralston and I find his songwriting to be an inspiration to me.  I am glad I get to help him share that with you on this tour. 

I hope that if you were at the Portland show, you will remember it as fondly as I do. I am looking forward to the next tour, even as I am only half way through this one, because of the nights I have spent with you all on this tour and the memories they have made.  It has been a pleasure to play in your towns and cities. It is a pleasure to call you all friends.  I look forward to seeing you again soon.  Thanks for inviting me.

For those of you in cities that I haven’t gotten to on this tour yet, I look forward to seeing you and I will bring what I have learned from all these shows and share it with you there.

Chris

The lights went down the crowd roared. I felt revived as I walked on stage. I felt rejuvenated as I sang the first note. As the crowd sang in such utterly joyful voices, I felt invincible and I sang my heart out through the first chorus. I felt indestructible as I sang the second verse. I felt inspired as I sang the last chorus, and as the audience swept up the last lyrics of the song without me, I felt cured. I thank you SF. You are the miracle drug I was searching for. We sang without trepidation, they with their impossibly loud, impossibly tuneful voices and me with my painless unhindered throat.

It didn’t last after the show. The strained feeling in my throat came right back once I was out of their presence. I fell asleep for hours on the couch in Jerry Garcia’s namesake of a dressing room. I woke to find the bus had left me! Don’t worry Portland they came back for me.

I now sit here thinking of how, this time, I know that the tight feeling in my vocal chords will be treated to another round of pain relief when I hit the stage.

I live to sing my heart out for you guys. I am fool enough to not hold back even when I should. I don’t ever want to sing with less passion than you do. I am so glad I have all of you to inspire me even when my body is doing its best to revolt!

Thanks San Francisco and thanks in advance to Portland and to Seattle. It’s so good to know that I can always count on you!

I have been wondering how many new songs to do on this tour.  I don’t want to do too many because I know how good it is to hear a band you love to the songs you love, but the new record is so suited for a tour like this.  You should hear the song “The Shade Of Poison Trees” live.  We have been checking with it.  I look forward to you guys getting to know this record so we can share these tunes together.

As for older tunes, as I said I intended, we brought “As Lovers Go” back into the set for the first time in a year or so.  It went over so well you would have thought it had been played in Grey’s Anatomy or The Hills or Heroes or something.  It actually makes a good acoustic song.  I may record it again for fun one day.

I also mentioned The Drowning EP on stage tonight and the crowd went nuts.  I didn’t actually play any of the songs cause I didn’t really think that anybody really listened to those songs too much.  I can’t tell if the crowd cheered for the “vintage” nature of the EP or for the songs themselves. It’s hard to say.  I like those songs and I feel warmly towards them for starting my career.  Hard to believe that three little tunes led me to get to a place where I would be able to get to know all of you.

As a little surprise Mike Marsh joined the show for El Scorcho from The Wire Tapes (if you don’t know what The Wire Tapes is I will explain the what’s and why for’s of it later, for now check around the boards for info).  It was great to see him today.  It is really weird to be out on the road without Scott and Mike.  You can’t imagine how close we have become after all these years of music.  Its fun to be out here so stripped down, but it does feel like something is a little off without them there throughout the day.

Of course the other big news of the day is the arrival of Augustana on tour.  They knocked my sox off with their first set.  They are one of the best bands we have ever heard live.  Its great to have cats like Ralston and Augustana to inspire us before we climb on stage. 

Until next time….

Yours,

Chris