Monday, August 25, 2008
I uploaded all of my pictures....
Overall, the tour was a huge success. I had so much fun and so didn't everyone else. The guys in Heartbreak Kid were amazing. I hope we get to see them again sometime in the near future. I hope the US dollar gets better soon so I can come back, hopefully with Ashley, and not have to spend ridiculous amounts of money. I am going to go shower now because I feel like I just jumped in a pool. There is a link for my Photo Gallery below. See everyone soon!
Favorite Places We Stayed:
1. Berchtesgaden, Germany
2. Jonkoping, Sweden
3. Berlin, Germany
Favorite Shows We Played:
1. Ieperfest - Ieper, Belgium
2. Jonkoping, Sweden
3. Salzburg, Austria
Favorite Food Along the Way:
1. Yellow Sunshine - Berlin, Germany
2. Beanie's House - Berchtesgaden, Germany
3. Tacki's House - The Only Nice Place In, Poland
Favorite Bands Sets We Played With:
1. Heartbreak Kid - everynight
2. Stone Heart - First show in Poland
3. Amen Ra - Ieperfest, Belgium
http://picasaweb.google.com/cpetersonx
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Back in Germany
The best part of tour was about to begin though. After the show we headed to Salzburg, Austria. Right in the Austrian Alps. The drive to the venue was soooooo beautiful. The club was called the rockhaus. It was really awesome. It was a legit club but had a smaller stage in a longer narrow room. The turnout was amaying and the crowd was into everyband that played. We ended up selling a ton of merch and played extremely well. Best set of tour in the best venue so far. The show got out fairly late and luckily, the guitarist and drummer from Heartbreak Kid grew up in a place called Berchtisgaden right on the Austrian border, where Salzburg is. We ended up staying at their parents places for the night and hung out in the Alps for our day off. It was absolutely amazing. Their house was beautiful and as soon as you walked out the door to their yard there were huge mountains everywhere. Berchtesgaden is located right in a valley in the Alps. It blew me away. I had never seen anything like it.
For our day off we all drove around town in the van to see some sights and then went to a Nazi Museum where the drummer of HBK's mom worked. We all got in for free and got to see some really interesting stuff about Nazi rule in Germany and specifically in Berchtesgaden. Hitlers vacation home, the eagles nest, is at the top of one of the mountains that surround the town so there is a lot of history. Most of the stuff at the museum was boring but there was a part where you could go into a bunker that was carved into the side of the mountain. It was incredible to walk through a nazi bunker and think that at a point in time it was filled with Nazi soldiers. Apparently the whole bunker goes so far into the mountain but we only got to see a certain part which was still very cool. After the museum we were all really hot and wanted to go for a swim. The guys in HBK too us swimming in one of the few rivers that runs through town. It was awesome. The water color was this weird green color but was super clear and clean enough to drink from. I did not drink from it though so don't worry.....at least now intentionally. We went to the part of the river where there is a 20 foot waterfall or so. There we could jump from a rock on the side into the base fo the fall. The water was cold but definitely not as codl as other water I had been in. It was very refreshing. After swimming for a good while we walked to the lake that was nearby. Going to the lake you walk down this boardwalk type thing except its like a little bavarian village which is really cool. After hanging out and finding out at someone had accidentally stepped on my X watch when it fell out of my pocket after swimming, we went back to their parents place for dinner and to sleep.....I am really bummed about the watch. I don't care about not having an X watch, even though its pretty awesome, I was just bummed because Ashley gave it to me as a present and I really held that close to me.
After finally leaving Berchtesgaden against everyones desire to not to, we headed to Manheimm where we played a bumout show to maybeeeee 1 person who wasn't in a band playing that night. I ended up staying awake all night LARPING with a sweet crossbow and flaming nerf-like arrows, and talking to Ashley in a webcam party. It was kind of stupid because I couldn't see her and it was just a pic of me typing with Sean sleeping behind me on a couch. It was really nice to talk to her though. I kind of can't wait to get back to see her again. Oh, I also talked to Nicole, which was awesome. I hadn't talked to her pretty much all tour so it was really nice to just say hi even though it wasn't for too long. I miss everyone back home. Though I am really enjoying everything here and taking in everything I can, I am really excited to come back home to see everyone.
So I stayed up till 730am talking to ashley and woke up at 10am to eat and head to where I am now to hang out and have a decent place to shower and sleep. Its 1:20AM now and we are heading to Voice of Art Festival tomorrow at 9AM, I believe. I know I am leaving so much stuff out but hopefully I can explain it all better when I get back. I have a problem with time so I'll start typing stuff and then realized I left an entire adventure out so i would have to go back and place it in the right order. It's a real pain in the ass so sometimes I just leave little things out. Sorry my writing isn't superb. I have very bad story telling skills. Just wait till I get back and make you listen to everything I did......your head will explode. I'm heading to bed. I've been trying to upload my pics to a photobucket but it won't let me so next time I have a lot of time on kyles computer I will try again. I come home in less than a week. Ill write a couple more times before i get back....I hope. Goodnight.
ps....i didn't reread this so its probably sooooooo confusing. im sorry. ill clarify later.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Hello from the good part of Poland...
So far tour has been awesome. Some good shows, some amazing shows, some awful shows, some shows that we think will be good and turn out only decent, and some shows where we think are going to suck and we end up playing well and selling a lot of merch. By far my favorite city so far has been Jonkoping. I want to go back so bad. It was awesome, not just the show which was amazing also but the city was beautiful. I can't get over it. Just a little town on the tip of a giant lake. My favorite drive so far had to be the drive I did through the night from Germany through Denmark and into Sweden. I know I said this already but it was awesome. Sunrise while crossing the bridge from Denmark to Sweden. Amazing. The worst LOOKING show so far had to be Leipzig. Wow...you would have ran. First off it was on a street where there gross punk were just laying around everryyywhere and squa buildings everywhere. Through this little doorway from the street you walk through a hall that smells like urine. That is because at the end was a little urinal under the stairs where piss just sat. Ughhh....i almost puked a couple times, no lies. Once you walk out the back of the halway into a little open area outside you can see almost like jail bars on these windows to a TINY room with a brick stage which was almost impossible to NOT roll your ankle. Once the show started things went well. This was one of the shows where Sean rested and Bill and I sang a couple songs each. We ended up selling a bunch of merch and the promoter made us some awesome breakfast. By the way....I love tomatoes for breakfast. The worst drive so far was definately anything through Poland. We saw the worst of Poland I think and if it wasn't the worst I don't want to see or hear about the worst. There aren't really highways so everytime you drive through a place that isn't all farmlands you go through like 10 red lights. Makes the drive 100000000 times longer and overall horrible. The place we are now is actually awesome. The venue fell through and the singer for Stone Heart, who are awesome, let us play in his garage where we made close to like 200€ for the show and we sold a TON of merch. His place is awesome and the little part of town we saw was really cool. Everything is tiny and looks like its made for midgets.
I am really starting to miss home. I want to stay in my bed. I miss Ashley, I miss my family, I miss being able to sleep without waking up 100 times because my back kills. This tour is awesome though. I am really happy with my situation right now. I am so excited I am seeing Europe right now and want to see so much but I also have so much to look forward to when I get home. My family, my girlfriend, school and work. I think it will all be a really good fall/winter. I got to class from 11-3 only 2 days a week and have 2 online classes. All the classes are toward my major and aren't filler classes. I got all the classes I wanted and needed to take and at the best times. I can work full time and still do really well in school. I am really going to start screenprinting once I get back also. I'm sick of waiting for money to get everything I need so I am just going to outsource the screen making process. While I was first getting into screen printing I read to not stress yourself out by doing everything yourself and I never took that into consideration because I thought it would be too costly. I did the math and this all works out. I am very excited for everything at the moment. Can't wait to get back and see everyone. Hang out with Ashley, tell my parents and sisters everything, and play with my dog. This blog only lets me post 5 pics at once so I'll pic out some good ones and show you. Hope everyone is well back home. See you soon.
-Chris
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Hello from a boat...
My allergies have been killing me lately. Other than that I've been pretty healthy. Ive been taking my two multi vitamin pills a day and having a lot of vitamin c and water whenever I can. I haven't bought one soda since i've been in europe. waste of money if you ask me but I don't neccesarily like soda to begin with so thats a big part of it too. Computer is going to die soon so I am off. I keep saying I am going to post pictures but I never have time to. Hopefully soon. I am going to buy a phone card soon also so you'll hopefully be getting a call ver soon....I hope. The end.
-Chris
Monday, August 11, 2008
Hello from Sweden
We got to the city we were playing in and walked around for a little bit. It was absolutely amazing. Jonkoping is located right at the tip of a big lake in the southern part of Sweden so it is right on the water. The city is beautiful with a great landscape looking over the water and into the hills. The venue is located right in an area of town were there is a good amount of shops and restaurants. Its almost like a Downtown Crossing kind of thing but smaller, cleaner, nicer, better smelling, etc, etc. So I guess it is nothing like Downtown crossing besides its a closed off street with stores. I wish this place was closer to home. It is amazing. I am so siked we stopped here.
We are staying the night here tonight so tomorrow we can either hang out in the town again or we can head back a couple hours to Malmoe which is right over the bridge from Denmark. I don't really care either way because im sure that city will be just as nice. Heartbreak kid is starting to play now so hopefully ill be able to write some more soon.....and post tons of pictures because they rule.
-Chris
Monday, August 4, 2008
BERLIN!
Another thing that is cool around the city is the recycling program. For one, they have these big mound looking things on the sidewalk every so often where you can throw your recyclables. Then for the redemption program you get .15€ for the smaller bottles and .25€ for larger liter bottles as long as they have a certain symbol on them. Instead of having to bring them to a redemption center or one of those machines at a grocery store (which they do have also) you can bring it to any store as long sa they have the same product and the cashier will give you the deposit back. It is awesome and very easy. The US should have a program like that. Way more people would recycle then since it is ridiculously easy but the businesses would HATTEEE it.
The train and bus system here is awesome too. We paid 4€ each for a bus and train pass for the day which isn't too bad seeing that one train ride in Boston is $2 which is ridiculous. They kind of have a system like the Charlie card with the ticket but you get this ticket and then when you get to the station or bus they have these machines that stamp it with the date and time. Then, supposidly, someone on the train will come and check the ticket but so far we haven't seen one person check tickets. The system is kind of confusing for us but I think it would be a lot easier if we were here a little longer. the U-bahn is the underground train, the S-bahn is the above ground train and the bus is...the bus. At every station and bus stop they have little signs that tell the bus number and when it is arriving. It will say U1 arriving in 2 minutes and they are very accurate which is awesome.
Yesterday was our day to actually explore the city and see alot of historic Germany. First we took the train to Alexanderplatz which kind of reminds me of a larger Government Center in Boston. From there we saw the huge TV tower and a fountain of Poseidon. I can't remember the actual names of things but we saw a very old cathedral which was amazing and then we walked down this long street that reminded me of Newbury or Boylston. At the end is where part of the Berlin wall was. Right on the other side in West Germany is the REichstag which was beautiful. You could walk right up the front steps of it. It was awesome. From there we walked over to the part of the Berlin wall that is still up. You couldn't touch it or go near it because it was fenced off but you could see it from the other side of the street. On the other side was the Topography of Terror which told the history of the Gestapo I belive. It was so messed up. We were wicked tired so I didn't get to read all the poster because there were soooo many of them but the pictures pretty much told the story kind of. They crazy pictures of just a hold in the ground with dead bodies and the gestapo would take people to the edge and just shoot them then they would just fall into the hole. After that we walked over to the Holocaust memorial which was just a bunch of rectangular blocks of stones scattered around this piece of land. I didn't get the significance but it was really cool. Well as cool as a Holocaust Memorial could be I guess.
The others are itching to get out of here so I think I am going to end it for now. Today we are going to the Zoologica Gartens (sp?) which is across town. I've picked up a little German since I've been here so I can have a little conversation when I get back. I don't know how to write it though. Well, Im off.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Almost there...kind of
Hello Europe......
Aug 7 - Merksplas, Belgium
Aug 8 - Vilvoorde, Belgium
Aug 9 - Osnabrück, Germany
Aug 10 - Frederica, Denmark
Aug 11 - Jönköping, Sweden
Aug 12 -Malmoe, Sweden
Aug 13 - Berlin, Germany
Aug 14 - Berlin, Germany
Aug 15 - Gdynia, Poland
Aug 16 - Mikolów, Poland
Aug 17 - Stuttgart, Germany
Aug 18 - Salzburg, Austria
Aug 19 - München, Germany
Aug 20 - Mannheim, Germany
Aug 21 - TBA, ?????
Aug 22 - Hohenstein, Germany
Aug 23 - Ieper, Belgium
Aug 24 - Walsrode, Germany
FIN
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
COMPANIES: Using Animal Testing
The following companies manufacture products that ARE tested on animals. Those marked with a t are currently observing a moratorium on (i.e., current suspension of) animal testing. Please encourage them to announce a permanent ban. Listed in parentheses are examples of products manufactured by either the company listed or, if applicable, its parent company. For a complete listing of products manufactured by a company on this list, please visit the company’s Web site or contact the company directly for more
Similarly, companies on this list may make some products, such as pharmaceuticals, that are required by law to be tested on animals. However, the reason for these companies’ inclusion on the list is not the animal testing that they conduct that is required by law, but rather the animal testing (of personal care and household products) that is not required by law.
What can be done about animal tests required by law?
Although animal testing of pharmaceuticals and certain chemicals is still mandated by law, the arguments against using animals in cosmetics testing are still valid when applied to the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. These industries are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, respectively, and it is the responsibility of the companies that kill animals in order to bring their products to market to convince the regulatory agencies that there is a better way to determine product safety.
Arm & Hammer (Church & Dwight),
609-683-5900; 800-524-1328; www.armhammer.com
tBic Corporation,
Boyle-Midway (Reckitt Benckiser),
Chesebrough-Ponds (Fabergé, Ponds, Vaseline),
Church & Dwight (Aim, Arm & Hammer, Arrid, Brillo, Close-up, Lady’s
Choice, Mentadent, Nair, Orange Glo International, Pearl Drops),
Clairol (Aussie, Daily Defense, Herbal Essences, Infusium 23, Procter & Gamble),
Clorox (ArmorAll, Formula 409, Fresh Step, Glad, Liquid Plumber, Pine-Sol, Soft Scrub, S.O.S., Tilex), 1221 Broadway,
800-227-1860; www.clorox.com
Colgate-Palmolive Co. (Hills Pet Nutrition, Mennen, Palmolive, SoftSoap, Speed Stick),
Cover Girl (Procter & Gamble), One Procter & Gamble Plz.,
Dial Corporation (Dry Idea, Purex, Renuzit, Right Guard, Soft & Dri), 15101 N. Scottsdale Rd., Ste. 5028,
Helene Curtis Industries (Salon Selectives, Thermasilk, Unilever),
Johnson & Johnson (Aveeno, Clean & Clear, Listerine, Lubriderm, Neutrogena, Rembrandt, ROC), 1 Johnson & Johnson Plz., New Brunswick, NJ 08933; 732-524-0400; 800-526-3967; www.jnj.com
Lever Bros. (Unilever),
L’Oréal
Rubinstein, Lancôme, Matrix Essentials, Maybelline, Ralph Lauren
Fragrances, Redken, Soft Sheen,
212-818-1500; www.loreal.com
Max Factor (Procter & Gamble), One Procter & Gamble Plz.,
Mead, 10 W. Second St., #1,
Melaleuca,
Mennen Co. (Colgate-Palmolive),
New Dana Perfumes,
PA 18707; 800-822-8547
Noxell (Procter & Gamble),
410-785-7300; 800-572-3232; www.pg.com
Olay Co./Oil of Olay (Procter & Gamble),
800-543-1745; www.oilofolay.com
Oral-B (Gillette Company),
415-598-5000; www.oralb.com
Pantene (Procter & Gamble), One Procter & Gamble Plz.,
800-945-7768; www.pantene.com
Pfizer (BenGay, Desitin, Listerine, Lubriderm, Plax, Visine),
Physique (Procter & Gamble), One Procter & Gamble Plz., Cincinnati, OH 45202; 800-214-8957; www.physique.com
Playtex Products (Banana Boat), 300 Nyala Farms Rd.,
Procter & Gamble Co. (Clairol, Cover Girl, Crest, Gillette, Giorgio, Iams, Max Factor, Physique, Tide), One Procter & Gamble Plz., Cincinnati, OH 45202; 513-983-1100; 800-543-1745; www.pg.com
Reckitt Benckiser (Easy Off, Lysol, Mop & Glo, Old English, Resolve, Spray ’N
Richardson-Vicks (Procter & Gamble), One Procter & Gamble Plz.,
Sally Hansen (Del Laboratories), 178 EAB Plz.,
Schering-Plough (Bain de Soleil, Coppertone, Dr. Scholl’s), 1 Giralda Farms,
S.C. Johnson (Drano, Edge, Fantastik, Glade, OFF!, Oust, Pledge, Scrubbing Bubbles, Shout, Skintimate, Windex, Ziploc),
800-494-4855; www.scjohnson.com
SoftSoap Enterprises (Colgate-Palmolive),
Suave (Unilever), 800
800-782-8301; www.suave.com
Unilever (Axe, Dove, Helene Curtis, Lever Bros., Suave),
Legend
t The company is currently observing a moratorium on animal testing.