Date
  Title
  Another fine day...
  Thank you..
  Dream Weekend
  Opening Night
  Vegas Baby!
  REO ROCKS!
  Thank you, Survivor...
  On the road--OFFICIALLY!
  The Today Show Odyssey
  Another Day in the Life
  Last night at Pine Knob...
  The Day After Springfield, MO
  Morning in Minnesota...
  Land spreading out so far and wide...
  Pursuing perfection in the prairie...
  Thinkin' of Lincoln
  On the road...
  Smiles, Hemlock and Magic...
  Psyche Delicacies...
  Roll Them Bones...
  The road to 47...
  Helplessly Hopped...
  Laughing at land mines
  Happy, nappy people...
  Delawareness
  Jumpin' & Jivin' in Jersey Baby...
  Another day in STYX...
  Konocti to Canada...
  Benjamin Orr...
  North Bay newcomers...
  North Bay to Quebec City...
  A rite of passage...
  Train kept a'rollin'...
  That voodoo that we do...
  Day off in Munich...
  Last day in Germany
  London today, LA tomorrow ...
  Looking at you from Lowell
     

5/26/00 - The Today Show Odyssey

When we finished the show in Virginia Beach, that in itself was enough to declare it an unforgettable day. In reality, it meant the day had only begun.

We hit the ground running as soon as we changed into our street clothes backstage. One of our two band buses had left for NYC with the bulk of our personal luggage at 2:00 PM in the afternoon (I somehow packed all my shoes so I was barefoot all day until I made it to my wardrobe case--what am I--new?). We all boarded the 2nd STYX band bus and headed for the private airport 20 minutes away, with the help of a police escort, who took every and any open lane to get us there. Once we arrived we heard that our first jet had arrived from NYC and was not mechanically sound enough to get us there. Enter NBC jet number 4... REO had already left on NBC1, and our crew was behind us racing to get to the big NBC2 (large enough to haul the gear we needed for the Today Show as well as the crew). As the clock ticked towards the inexorable closing of the runway at 1:00 AM, we waited for NBC4 to arrive from Dulles. We had no way of knowing if we would actually get to NYC to play the Today Show. But 15 minute later all was back on track as NBC4 taxied towards the bus, opened its door and urged us to board. There was a storm cell we were also trying to stay ahead of! Before we knew it we were being pushed into the backs of our soft leather seats aboard the luxurious Citation as the pilot put the pedal to the metal. The food we had counted upon was in NBC3, so we dined on peanuts and cookies. At Teterboro we boarded limos and made our way across the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan and our midtown hotel.

After 1 hour and 15 minutes of sleep, we awoke, showered and met in the lobby to get to NBC for sound check at 5:30. Zombie-like, we guzzled coffee and stuffed our faces with muffins in the dressing room. Katie Couric and Matt Lauer strolled in, passing through the gauntlet of sleepy Rock folk looking much more rested than us. JY gave Matt a STYX T-shirt and I gave another to Katie who promised to use it for sleep wear (by the way, Katie Couric is a real doll).

The next step was to do a sound check and we used that time to rearrange Come Sail Away and Too Much Time to fit them into the 4+ minute slots allotted. Thanks to our Ninja Crew, the sound check was a breeze.

Back to the dressing rooms where we unpacked our gear, got dressed and lined up at the make-up chairs, hoping to erase some of our drowsiness any way we could.

Kevin and I were chirping our way through vocal exercises and noticed we were both doing the same type of strange bird-like noises. Turned out he studied with Seth Riggs and I studied with Seth Riggs' wife, Adrian Angel--and had an unexpected laugh at how the world had just gotten smaller.

All made up and dressed, we headed downstairs and out into the street to our respective stages. As we waited, we surveyed all our friends and fans and encouraged them to sing and clap their hands as enthusiastically as possible, which was probably not necessary. They were PUMPED!

Matt came to our stage, checked with me to make sure he got our names right and soon we were on the air. I was thinking, I didn't tell him Lawrence's name and as Matt greeted me, I said, "Nice to be here Lawrence---I mean, THAT'S Lawrence on the end..." Who needs sleep? Me? Nah...

We played, Reo played, we played and REO played again. BAM. We made our way to REO's stage and joined them in a jam on Roll With The Changes and suddenly it was over. Well, almost. We figured since we were there we would play one just for the fans, so we switched REO gear around, got Todd on drums and me on Dave's Les Paul and played Blue Collar Man, with Kevin singing the second verse. It was pretty darn cool.

That was it. Finished! Back in the van to the hotel, and now it seems like a dream...

To our amazing crews--thanks a million for once again making it look so easy. You guys are the best!

Now off to Jones Beach for a big ROCK SHOW!

© 2000 STYX and ArtSite Design. All original photos in site design by MARK WEISS/ANGLES

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