The bus ride to Baltimore was too much fun! I woke up and stumbled to my hotel room. This was an amazing hotel. First thing I did was set up my office/studio. I met Jeff and we went to the Inner Harbor to take photos. The Mariner Arena was right across the street from our hotel. We were all happy because we did not have to check out til Saturday afternoon! We returned to the hotel after a two hour walk. Then I did some e-mail and went back to bed! Dinner was at 4PM. We all met at Shula's Steakhouse in the hotel. Last year we suffered through turkey roll on Thanksgiving. This year we were lucky enough to get the real thing! The meal was perfect. I knew we planned on going out later that night so I went back to my room and entered my turkey coma! A bunch of us met in one of our driver's hotel suite. There was a poker game and lots of stupid jokes! When the game ended we hit Larry Flint's Hustler Club. A nice friendly family establishment. It was just me, Dave Z and Matt the driver! We were treated very well and had a great end to our Thanksgiving. However, we were brought to an after-hours bar that did not serve. Matt offered $500 for three drinks....no dice!

I woke up today at about 2PM. I once again finished some e-mail I also mailed out part 2 of this diary. Then I did a short workout and left to the venue. Yumm...Crab Cakes! I ate, did soundcheck and went back to the hotel for a nap! I set three wake up calls so that I would not miss the show! The show was fun. It was the first post Thanksgiving show, so I broke out the Santa feet! The autograph lines were getting longer as we hit the arenas! We finished up at about 11:30. We went back to the Hustler club...this time we took Stevie B. It was even more fun because the owner was there and treating us like true VIP's! We returned to Matt's room and hung out a bit too late. Not sure if those photos will make the site!!!!! I am going to sleep...it is 7AM!!!!!!

I only slept 3 hours!!! We had to check out at 1:30, but I could not sleep. So....I gathered my things and watched TV. When we got to the bus I decided to sleep after we left for DC. This happened after I re-set up my studio on the bus and hung some more Christmas lights. When we arrived at the venue I found out that we were really in Fairfax, VA. I dunno...I dont make the tour books!!! Bob and I had an interview and then lunch. Soundcheck was of course next. I managed to sneak some crab dip from the dinner menu. Good stuff. After soundcheck I decided to take yet another nap! I set my alarm and woke up at 6:45. A quick shower and off to the stage! The venue was a lot of fun. I had a surprisingly large amount of energy onstage. I mentioned that we were responsible for the blackout earlier in the year and ironically we blew up our light board! I told everyone that I was not lying!!!! Just a great show, the largest crowd yet. Longest autograph line. Bus was filled with barbecue. We laughed about the lights and I sit here writing to you now. I am going to go to bed right as soon as I shut this computer down! Off to North Carolina! Goodnight!

I woke up early this morning when the bus had stopped and we anchored at our hotel. We usually only get a few rooms to shower in if we are driving and play consecutive dates. The bus is much nicer than most hotel rooms anyway. However, you do have the option of going to the rooms if you are awake. I was really dehydrated and kinda choking, so I decided to leave the bus and head for the room. I did some e-mail and went to sleep. When I woke up it was a bit after noon. I ran to the gym and...ran!!! Then I returned, showered and vocalized...getting the pattern by now huh? We left for the venue and I had a bit of lunch before going to the back of the bus to record. I came up with a new loop on my Reason program and scratched down a guitar. We soundchecked and I was really achy....so I decided to see the LMT for 40 minutes. She was very good. A sports masseuse...painful, but relaxing. A quick shower to remove the oils from my hands and hair and it was off to the stage. These days move by so fast. The show was a lot of fun until it hit....my golf ball headache. Right around "An Angel Returns." I did remember to sing Happy Birthday to a girl named Jackie who's husband was away serving in the military in Afghanistan. By Figaro I was dying. Almost blacked out! I asked Kyle for some Ibuprofen or Advil I am allergic to Acetaminophen. Well, they gave me Tylenol...so 2 songs later the headache was gone, but I broke out in hives and my throat started to close!!! I was really nervous because this allergic reaction is getting worse every time I accidentally use this stuff. I made it through the show and took 4 Benadryl's...so needless to say I am very tired. The crowd was great...show was fun...I am a tired mess!!! I have a radio interview at 8AM...Goodnight!

The wake up call for radio or TV is always painful! It came at 7:30AM. I was in a room with Darryl Pediford. He is very difficult to wake in the morning. Bob, Jen, Darryl and I loaded into a van with John, our tour manager and Kyle, my guitar tech. It was a simple interview/acoustic performance. The DJ's were a lot of fun. Of course I forget the frickin name of the radio station. We played, "Promises To Keep" with Jen and "Prince of Peace/Music Box" with Darryl. A quick trip afterwards to the venue to eat breakfast and I returned to the bus to sleep. Just a few hours later I woke up and went to the YMCA attached to the Hilton hotel we had day rooms at. Nice gym, really packed for a Monday afternoon. Charlotte was just about the cleanest city I had ever been in. I mentioned it onstage. I said "The streets were so clean I could eat off them, but I am afraid my food is too dirty." The crowd liked that one. Beautiful venue. Sold out show. Nothing too unusual onstage, actually it was just a great show. We were kinda in a hurry after the show because we were dumping our buses and taking rooms for the next 2 nights in Columbia. Our bus food was salad...BOO!!! We packed our day bags and headed for Columbia, South Carolina. This was to be our first show in this state. I got in my room, did some e-mail and went to sleep.

My room was kinda funny, huge....with nothing in it. I woke up and ran to run...My friend Morgan was in town visiting her Mom, so I had to finish up so I would not be late for lunch. I have a photo of Morgan on the Savatage/Florida photos page. She arrived at around 1:30 and we went to the hotel restaurant to catch up on things. They sat us right next to this 80 year old lady blasting Christmas songs on the piano. She was great...but I could not hear Morgan at all....we switched tables and finished lunch. Afterwards we walked and tried to find the venue. We actually did not find much, I found a fast food place called "Drakes Duck Inn" with...."Quackin' Good Food." I tried to explain to Morgan that this was a very important find. Since she had only seen the Memorial concert in Florida and the TSO DVD, she had no idea what my job was with this thing live!!! We never found the venue. But, we returned to the hotel to watch "Head of the State" with Chris Rock and Bernie Mack. Very funny, but we never had time to finish. We went to the venue and Morgan went to her Mom's. I went to do soundcheck. Our caterers made their famous Peanut Clusters for me...yumm!!!! Show...way more people than we thought since it was our first time. One of the best crowds I had ever seen with TSO. I had the crowd chanting "Quackin' A Chris!!!!"...Morgan brought her Mom, her little sister and her Grandma....they loved it. Afterwards we did the autograph line and I headed back to the hotel with the bunch to hang out. Morgan and I sat and watched Darryl entertain everyone for a while...she had to leave for Florida early the next day, and I had a flight to Providence, so we said our good-byes and I tried to watch the rest of the movie from earlier....I fell asleep!!!! Day off tomorrow....or is it????!!!!!

I had the annoying wake up call at 9AM. We checked out about an hour later. Off to the airport. We had a connecting flight, which was from Newark, NJ to Providence. Not a huge layover...but, we thought it should be OK. Darryl, Stevie and I headed to the airport bar for breakfast...bloody mary and chili fries....breakfast of champions!!! The flight was delayed...we were almost sure we would miss our connection. I had a radio interview during the connection!!! The layover actually. We managed to leave about 60 minutes late. The layover was 60 minutes! It turned out that the plane we were connecting to was right next to the plane we just left. Very lucky. I took some photos of all of this. I did my radio interview as the flight attendant gave her speech. We took off and headed to Providence. I met my brother at the hotel. He teaches and works at Brown U. We went to dinner with Dave, Dave Whitman, Allison, John Debuque and our merch guy. It was in Providence's Little Italy. Good food....different!!! Afterwards we all met up at this bar across the street from our hotel....which is right across the street from the venue! The Dunkin Donuts Center. I suppose I will have a ball talking tomorrow night. Darryl Pediford had been there for hours with some crew members. It was Joey, our bus driver...Matt...the other band bus driver....Kyle, Tristin(Pyro), Frasier(Lights), IMY(Jeff's Tech), Big Dave, Allison, Dave Z and Stevie B....plus me and my brother, I am sure I forgot others....sorry!!!! Darryl sang with this Irish Folk Band. I decided to give myself a curfew. I needed sleep....which is where I am going right now!!!!! Goodnight!

Time to make the Donuts!!! You could see the Dunkin' Donuts Center from my hotel room. I played this place when it was called the Providence Civic Center. This was way back in 1987 on the "Hall of the Mountain King Tour" with Savatage. We were opening for Dio and Megadeth. It was my very first concert ever with Savatage. Oh how things have changed!!! I woke up and finished my last weeks tour diary editing and sent it off to the site. I did not have my camera cable on me, so I could not dump the photos in. Another trip to the gym and I returned to my room. I wanted to do my vocal workout. I remembered that there was a hot tub in the hotel. I accidentally took the elevator to the basement level last night! I brought my CD walkman and sang in the hot tub! Cool acoustics in the pool room! I returned to shower and check out of my room. Once I was in the venue I had Chris Lepurage, Tristin's tech, take some photos of me for Black Lotus' 2004 calendar. I love this record label. They are so cool to me! My brother showed up and we ate dinner before soundcheck. After soundcheck I showed Phil my new studio stuff and played him some music. He actually liked it! He is a tough critic!!! I had an interview to do at 6:30....then I got dressed and had a photo thing with radio and the check presentation. It was kinda amusing right before we went onstage. They could not get one of the house lights to go out. They kept trying, but it kept coming back on. Very Spinal Tap. Then, after "Boughs of Holly," Bob Kinkel played the intro music for "An Angel Came Down." OOPS!!! Bryan Hicks handled it well and Bob switched over to the music for the narration!! It was a bit like a car with loose lug nuts in the beginning. But, we had a great show. I added another saying to my list of fan favorites! "Dunkin -a- Chris"! I said good-bye to my brother and we hit the autograph line. Back to the bus...a quick late night feast on Indian food and I am off to bed!!! The weather is supposed to be interesting in the days to come. It is frickin' freezing here Mr. Bigglesworth!!!

I woke up early to send my photos off to Greece. I had to do it in the hotel. The internet connection was so slow. It took 1.2 hours to send a 6 Mb file. Yuk!!! Next up was the e-mail and then to the gym. We were planning to go to the Dinosaur Bar-b-que for lunch. Syracuse and Rochester are favorite stops for this reason. Stevie, Dave Z, Darryl and I were the only ones who decided to go this time. It was another feast. Ribs and chicken for me. I skipped dinner! I took a quick nap before soundcheck and headed to the bus afterwards to vocalize. Before I knew it, it was show time. Raymie, my old tech was at the show. He and his wife Krista live in town. Rochester always has the best crowd. I love playing in this city. The show was tight. The follow spot guys needed a smack on the wrist! The autograph line was fun as usual. I got a marriage proposal, a fishing proposal and I was informed that Kim Fowler wrote the "Nutrocker" for ELP...time to add that to the intro. We just hit the bus and had some more Dinosaur Bar-b-que!!! Tomorrow is 2 shows...we are driving into the snow storms tonite. I hope everything gets up and running on time!!! I am sure you will find out soon! I am going to work on my children's book a bit and try to get a drum track down for a new song before bed. Goodnight!!!!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!! We woke up in Wallingford and it was definitely a winter wonderland! I love this venue. I was worried about us getting the show up in time. The caterers here are very cool. I wandered in at about 10:30AM and had breakfast/lunch. I talked to the caterers and caught up on the last year. Our first show was at 3PM. The crew was working extra fast. We hit soundcheck and got ready to do show one. We sold a ton of tickets, however only 2/3 of the crowd were able to make it there in the snow. It was a great show, no autograph line...we dont do them at the matinees. I ate dinner and headed to the bus for a 30 minute nap. On the way off the bus I decided to grab a pizza box and play in the snow. I found the closest thing to a hill and turned myself into an icicle in no time! I was totally awake after freezing myself! I hopped a quick shower and got ready for show #2. The second show was sold out. However, same story....about 3/4 of the crowd made it in the snow! All together we sold more tickets in Wallingford than any city yet! We finished the autograph line and headed to the bus. I had to call into "The Tour Bus" radio show. Ralph Sutton the DJ is a good friend. He had his Christmas special. I was the last guest to call. I mentioned the tour, and my solo CD. Everyone is excited about it. I wrote song #55 last night. It is called "Jealousy". Those of you reading this who helped inspire it, thanks!!! Chinese food on the bus...recap of the gig amongst friends. I loaded some new pics in the computer...sat and wrote this....I will play Stevie B "Jealousy" and hit the bunk....Next stop Boston. Lots of people who are going to love my Yankee hat!!!! Goodnight!

I was so frickin tired when I woke up this morning! I opened my eyes at 10, then I opened them again at noon! I decided to sort out my luggage. I wanted to drop off some stuff in NY. Half way point of the tour...I will drop off laundry and grab some new clothes tomorrow! We have to do the Regis and Kelly show on Tuesday. It is a very early show. NY is fun to play, but a pain in the ass. We lose the buses...have TV...it is a mess!!! I entered the hotel and took some photos of the atrium. Then I ran for a bit and before I knew it ....it was bus call. We headed for the Fleet Center. This is where the Celtics and the Bruins play. Huge room. I took photos in soundcheck. It was Sue Metzger's birthday. I ate dinner and went to the bus to vocalize. I also sang to my music. The voice is getting really good. A quick shower and it was that time again. My brother Phil came to the show once more. He lives in Mass. He brought me a Patriots jersey to wear. They beat Miami 12-0 today. This went over very well onstage. Killer show....but I am so tired now. I need a day off. However, tomorrow we have to do soundcheck for Regis and Kelly at 7PM. Then I have to wake up at 6AM to get ready for the show....we are driving to NY in a few minutes. Goodnight!!!

Chris