August 8th - 11th

08/09/2010 - ST LOUIS, MO


Right after the doors opened, a girl no older than 5 and her mom ran to the merch table. She bought the smallest Phoenix t-shirt they had (a men's extra small - it still went all the way down to her ankles) and kept saying, "hurry mommy, we're going to miss the concert!" She also knows every word to every Phoenix song. It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Patrick's sister, Chloe, and her boyfriend flew to St Louis for the show and we hung out after the show in their fancy hotel (before driving to our crappy hotel).



08/10/2010 - DES MOINES, IA


Until Des Moines, I had never been to a strip club. I never saw any eroticism in a girl passionlessly dancing nude and making awkward small talk, while draining the small bills from my wallet. But where do you go in Des Moines after 2 AM if the bars are closed? Apparently a B.Y.O.B. strip club. The two girls (one of which was flirting pretty hard with Andy) took us there, and before we knew it they were up on stage (oddly enough, when a Phoenix song was played). The giddy manergy of watching our two new acquaintances get naked quickly faded into pale-faced shock when the dancing turned to touching turned to a threesome between the two girls and the stripper. Another fun fact - one crew member (who will go unnamed) from the headlining band's production team got pink eye the following morning. I guess that's what happens when you get a lap dance at the Lumber Yard. Oh, and one of the girls is a Playboy Playmate.




08/11/2010 - DAVENPORT, IA


After having our minds blown the night before, we woke up and drove to Davenport for a Daytrotter session. This was my favorite part of the tour because I got to play guitar and piano. After the session, we drove to a town an hour or two away and saw Inception. Pretty mellow day.

08/08/2010

After a few hours of rest, I walked around the corner to TJ's Family Diner. I drank coffee and ate pancakes while letting my phone charge for a while. Once I assumed it was safe to turn on my phone, I found out exactly where I was supposed to be.

I never have any time to enjoy Chicago, and when I do I don't. Today was no exception. Essentially my two options were: sit around the house and relax or take Patrick to the Verizon store. I chose the latter. Patrick now has a Blackberry, and within a matter of hours he discovered it is possible to watch porn on it (as well as provide any argument-ending information necessary). I gave him shit for being glued to his new fancy phone, but it was honestly because I am jealous (my phone is soooo 2007).


A Mexican dinner was consumed, then we headed to the venue. After the initial "getting it together" rush and some technical difficulties (which involved Willie and I running back to his apartment to get an adapter) I was able to get the merch table situated. The doors were not yet open, but I guess that doesn't matter for the A-listers. My first two shoppers were none other than Jason Schwartzman and Michael Cera. Both had to find an ATM (I tried to give them the merch, but they insisted on paying for it). Apparently Mr. Cera had to split in a hurry, but Jason Schwartzman is now the owner of the complete Toro table package. Later on in the night, I went to the green room to charge my phone and grab a beer and some water. When I walked in, Jason Schwartzman was hanging out! I snapped a picture of the whole gang with Chaz's camera, then pouted all the way back to the merch table... I want to drink beers and hang out with Cool Ethan...



The show ended, the drunk people stopped telling me the ideas they had to "get Toro Y Moi more exposure," and we were finally able to drive back to Willie's apartment for my first real night's sleep in almost three days.

08/07/2010

I am going to give the "tour journal" another try.

I am one hundred percent certain that my grandfather has patriotism and heroics embedded in his genetic makeup. There is no way he attempted to weasel his way out of serving in the armed forces or had any conscious objections to the conflict. He gave up full control of his life and let destiny run it's course.

I, on the other hand, have a Nickelodeon game show mentality forever stitched into my logic and reasoning. I object to and avoid conflict regularly. But I somehow justify my overdeveloped passive wimpiness by accepting most physical challenges thrown my way. Eating large portions of cake in a single bite, shotgunning a beer, jumping over things - all are feats I accomplish on the regs. As unfathomable as my latest "Agrocrag" (another Nickelodeon reference) may have seemed to my war veteran grandfather, I still spoke about it without the slightest hint of realization that it may have actually been a horrible idea.

After an abbreviated Friday in the accounting office of "Moneyball," I hopped on a redeye flight from SFO to Columbia. From the airport, I rented a van, loaded up some equipment, and then made a 12 hour drive to Chicago.

Long drives are boring. Especially when you can't DJ the soundtrack of endless interstate. Fortunately there was satellite radio in the van. I juggled "PrmCntry", "90s on 9", the garage station, the "cool indie music" station, and filled any gaps with long winded erotic stories on the Playboy station. I was also hit on by an over-apologetic timid waiter at a Pizza Hut somewhere in Kentucky.

Most importantly: I did not crash. Sometime after 4 AM I arrived in Chicago with a dead cell phone and an uncertainty of which apartment we were staying in. So sometime after 4:30 AM, I decided to go to sleep in the van.

Chris Gardner

The rest of the Toro tour (part 4)

June 5th, 2010 : Chicago, IL
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June 6th, 2010 : Lawrence, KS
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June 7th, 2010 : St Louis, MO
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June 8th, 2010 : Louisville, KY
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June 9th, 2010 : Cleveland, OH
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June 10th, 2010 : Knoxville, TN
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I started getting sick sometime after Cleveland. In Knoxville I felt pretty bad. In Columbia I felt horrible. When I feel like garbage, it is hard to get too excited about taking pictures. So I apologize for the lack of documentation of the last two days of the trip. To make up for it, here are two pictures from my camera that I did not take.

Andy took this photo in the green room at the venue in Victoria, BC.

Chaz took this one in the morning at our hotel outside of Cleveland. Patrick was being a kicky sleeper, so I grabbed my pillow and slept on the floor. His soccer dreams worked to my advantage and a couple hours later most of the sheets were on me.

until next time...
THE END

The rest of the Toro tour (part 3)

May 27th, 2010 : Seattle, WA
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May 28th, 2010 : Victoria, BC
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May 29th, 2010 : Vancouver, BC
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May 30th, 2010 : Banff, AB
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May 31st, 2010 : Calgary, AB
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June 1st, 2010 : Edmunton, AB
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June 2nd, 2010 : Saskatoon, SK
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June 3rd, 2010 : Winnipeg, MB
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June 4th, 2010 : Somewhere between Winnipeg and Minneapolis
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...more to come soon...