Home sweet home! I woke up on the bus as it rolled into New York City. Believe it or not, it is a total pain in the butt to play New York City. Why? Well...the tour buses cannot stay in Manhattan. So...we always get dumped off in the middle of the street and have to get taxi's home. Sometimes this is not so easy. Today it was not too difficult. I managed to get in a car and head to Astoria. I did have a hotel in the city, but I wanted to sleep in my own bed! I phoned Kemp, she is in Paris again. I think she can fly to New York on Wednesday in time for the show. She has a shoot that day, but is going to leave right afterwards. I got to my door and noticed that noone had cleared off the snow. Actually, my neighbors shoveled their snow on my stairs too! I was way too tired to deal with this. I trudged up the stairs and pushed the snow away from the door. I stumbled inside and headed to my room. It was very sad to open the door and not have Haley standing there. I miss my cat! I got in my room....sorted out my laundry....checked my e-mail and went to bed. I had to send a photo to Black Lotus for their 2004 calendar. Besides that, I was too brain dead to do much else. I finally got to sleep at about 8. I woke up at around 12:30. I was still very tired. At 12:50 my vocal teacher called and said he had a cancellation. I could get a lesson at 2. Yikes. It takes about an hour to get into the city if you include my walk to the train, the train itself and the transfers. I decided I had to go. I Stumbled out the door by 1, dropped my laundry off and made it to my lesson. It went amazingly well. My teacher was so happy with my progress. I gained a few notes on my high end of my voice. I am so glad I went! Afterwards I stopped by the hotel to pick up my key and headed back home. A quick stop at my bank and local tanning salon and it was back to the snow! I got home, grabbed John The Greek in my basement and got a shovel. We cleared off my snow and I headed inside. My best friend John West is staying at my house every once in a while. He needs to see some doctors in New York and it is way easier than traveling 5 hours up north. John was inside with his Mom. They had arrived while I was out. His Mom had dinner cooking and my house spotless! Made things feel very homey! We caught up on things and I tied up some more loose ends before heading back to the city at 6:15. I had rehearsal for the TV show that night. Nice, relaxing day off. I grabbed my bag and was off again! Back on the train....back to the hotel....dropped off my bag and headed to the ABC studios. The stage area was tiny. We set up and ran through the song a few times. We had to edit Christmas Eve for TV. Everything was fine and we headed back to the hotel. We stopped in a bar across the street to watch football. I forget the name of the bar, but they had Savatage in the jukebox! I watched John West's beloved Rams beat the Bears and went to bed. This was about 1PM.

I hate waking up early. My wake up call was 6:30. This is why I played music! That is why TV shows and matinees are so weird. Matinees are not too bad, but morning shows....Yikes! We got to the ABC studios and sat in the Green Room waiting. It is always like that. Hurry up and wait! We did a couple run throughs of the song for the camera people and we were back to the Green room. I did manage to say hello to Kelly. I told her that I needed to get a photo of her for my Mom because she was a big fan of hers. She told me to tell my Mom that she was a big fan of her son! Kelly loves TSO. Kelly is hot!!!! I briefly met Regis too. He was very friendly. Looked just like.....Regis! We got dressed and headed to the set at 9:30. I don't know what time for sure that we played...but it went very well Paul joined us. Before we knew it it was all over. I ran into Kelly in her dressing room and got my picture for mom and a photo with her for myself. I also got one with Regis. Very nice people. I got my stuff together and headed back to the hotel to sleep. This was about 10:30 AM. By 1 I was wide awake. Jeff and I walked next door to the venue for lunch. Afterwards I decided to walk to Rockefeller Center to see the tree and take photos. It is pretty amusing outside of the Beacon Theater. There is a Beacon Liquor store and a Health Club! I took photos and headed south. I went with Randi Morf and her daughter. Bob Morf is my production manager....can you figure out who Randi is? I got some cool photos of the Park and tree. It was pretty cold. We headed back to the venue. I had soundcheck at 4. Union is strict in NY....we had to have the stage dark by 5. I was starting to feel run down. I then decided to go to my room and take a nap. I managed to get an hour of sleep and woke up to shower and do my vocal workout. Before I knew it...it was 7:15 and time to get to the venue. The show was a lot of fun. I knew a ton of people in the audience! The autograph line moved fast....faster than I did to the balcony! It is a long hike at the Beacon Theater! All of us headed back to that same bar and we had fun in NYCity! I left at about 2:30 to head back to Astoria! I stopped by McCann's and said hello. I left there at 4 and jumped a cab home. At this point I was pretty much wiped out. I stumbled to bed, but not before noticing the dreaded pink slip....

The Dreaded Pink Slip!!!! It is the thing you get from the post office when you miss a package. I was waiting for some Christmas hats to give out onstage. They showed up and I was not there. So, I woke up at 10, went and stood on the frickin line at the post office.....only to find out that the package was in the truck and they were attempting delivery. Tired, I stumbled home. Stopping along the way to grab my laundry. I talked to Kemp, she could not make it to NY. She had to fly to Rome on Thur. to do a shoot for Vogue I think I was bummed out, but I think she will make it to a show the last week! From there it was back to bed! I dumped my new vocal lesson onto my computer and burned some CD's. Other than that, I was too tired to do anything! Jeff came by to say hello to John West, we ordered some Chinese food and hung out 'til 5:30. After a quick shower, it was back to the city. Yup....before you knew it....lights off and "In an old city bar" Tonites show was better than the night before. Just in feel. The audience was louder and more festive. The band seemed more excited. There were a bunch of Chris Caffery relatives in the crowd. I said hello to them from the stage!!!! The run to the balcony was interesting, I had to go at it alone. Morf was nowhere to be found. So. I had to open doors and get people out of the way while running and trying to play! I made it back to the stage and the show was over. The autograph line moved quickly once more. Finally the buses returned and we loaded up our stuff again. I met up with Andy Hilfiger to talk about some business and we met everyone else at another bar that I also forget the name of. Debi from my management office was there. We always laugh because she bought me my first ever mixed drink when I was 17 at a place called Nirvana in Times Square. It was just about the coolest place to hang ever. I had legal ID at 17. My brother was 19 and the drinking age was too!!! No photo licenses yet!!! Ah...the good ole days! By 12:30 we were called to the bus and heading to Virginia. We ate some Benny's burgers and John West venison jerky and watched Joe Dirt. That movie kills me!!! Goodnight!

The weather on this tour is so weird...One day it is freezing, then it is 50 degrees. I am surprised that I do not have pneumonia by now!!! I woke up and loaded in my NY photos and diary entry into the old computer. Then I wandered over to the hotel. Everyone in this town was so nice! The hotel gym was very good. I did an hour workout and headed to the venue for dinner. The Metzger's were in rare form! Shrimp and scallop ka-bobs!!! I tried a new hot sauce called "Mega Death!!!!" Too cool! Very hot! I then headed to the bus after soundcheck and did my new vocal exercises. I spent about an hour singing to my tapes and some of my music. The throat was a bit sore from being out every night in NY. Before I knew it, it was 7:30 and I had to get ready for the 8PM show. We had no pyro tonite. The stage was pretty small. We could barely move around. The Carpenter Center was sold out this year! Fun show, nice crowd...."Carry me back to Ole Virginny!!!" I almost knocked Joe C over trying to get back onstage for the solo at the end of The 12-24 reprise! I found out that we have to change buses tomorrow. That sucks! I was so moved into this one. I have to tear down my studio and my Christmas lights! Goodnight

Bus trauma day!!! Things started out normal. I got up, went to the gym and then to my day room to shower and vocalize. The hotel was right on an inlet of Chesapeake Bay. Very picturesque setting. My new vocal workout has not been dropped to disc, so...I am doing it with a cassette walkman. Well, the batteries decided to die and I could not finish it. So, I decided to go finish packing up my stuff on the bus and go take some photos of the water. There was a little museum called "The Cousteau Center". Marine thing. The girl working there had little to no information on what the heck the place was!!! We headed to the Coliseum and awaited the new bus. The dressing rooms were interesting here. It was a model home out side of the venue. Brand new with an Oriental flare! The bus showed up at 4:30. It is a very nice bus. But...the bunk configuration is a bit different. Large beds, but no storage space. We shall see if we decide to keep it this way or not. It seems like we may go to the way it was. Everyone has way too much shit on the bus. We had to do soundcheck, so I dumped my stuff on the bus and awaited the chance to settle in. After soundcheck I set back up my studio and tried to get everything back to normal ASAP. Before I knew it...it was time to get ready for the show. I broke my foot in this venue last year. I was trying to decide if I should jump off the front again. Of course I did! The show was a lot of fun. Allie's parents were in the crowd. Pediford almost missed his cue for Prince of Peace. Other than that the show was great. I did not break my foot!!! The follow spot guys were on glue tonite. They never found me when I returned to the stage. The autograph line was really frickin long!!! Very nice people. We loaded up on the new bus. Right now....Jeff, Skippy and I are watching the Columbia show. Cool show! Two shows tomorrow and Sunday...yikes!!!! Off to Wilkes-Barre!

Matinee Day!!! Actually Matinee Weekend! We woke up in Wilkes-Barre. The buses were parked at the venue. I got up at about 10:30 and went in for some cereal. Sound check was scheduled for 11...I knew that meant 1!!!! A good friend of mine named Megan stopped by to see soundcheck. Her family was going to see the early show. I think they were going to see the Nutcracker at night. I got to watch a bit of Ace Ventura "When Nature Calls" and headed to get dressed. The early show was fun. Jeff had a lot of his family there. His sister's family was in the crowd. I was happy to see them and get to say hello. Someone actually asked for his money back this afternoon. He thought we were playing to tapes! Too funny! He must not have listened too closely! Dave Whittman our soundman is also our studio engineer...but I assure you, we are very live! It is frickin freezing here. My Mom is coming to Hershey tomorrow and there is a huge snow storm on the way! I hope her and Butch make it there safe. My friend Butch and his wife are driving her. I bought them a suite at the Hotel Hershey for the night. I hurried to catering and ate dinner. Before I knew it....it was 7PM and I needed to shower for show #2! Hello Wilkes-Barre again. The radio people that introduced us last year were here again. I remember that the one female DJ announced our check presentation amount as 7 thousand one hundred and thirty five thousand dollars last year!!! A big check! We joked about it and went to work! The show was a lot of fun. I did not fall onstage this time. I did once in Wilkes-Barre. Slippery surface! We finished up and headed to the signing line. It was moving quick. I promised to mention that a girl named Dana told me I get funnier every year! I was also told by some female employees at the venue that one girl that they knew was a lesbian and that I made her want to be with men again! I take this as a pretty big compliment. We are watching Saturday night live and getting ready to roll. We re-configured the bus for junk bunks! I told you! Next stop....The Land of Chocolate and snow!!! Goodnight!

I was a little worried about the weather. Butch picked up my Mom at about 9AM. It was snowing pretty hard. Butch's truck is pretty large, so I was not too worried about them making it to Hershey. I was more worried about the people showing up to the show! I wanted my Mom to see an arena show. I did not want it to be empty!!! I woke up at about 11:30. The snow seemed to be turning into sleet. Butch called at around 12:30, they were close by. Great news. They checked into the suite and headed to the arena for lunch. We did our soundcheck for the day. I was so happy to be able to get my Mom out of NY for a day and to see her have some fun. She works so hard running a house on her own. Butch and his wife seemed to be having a great time too. They were amazed at just how well we eat on this tour! Once again it was almost show time! Both shows were sold out today. About 8,500 people a show!!! Mom's tickets were 4th row center. I almost cried watching her from the stage. She seemed so happy. The situation with Jeff and his family really has us all on heightened family awareness this Christmas. Not that anyone needed to be aware, but we all seemed to be clinging to each other and our families more. Once again I had the crowd sing "The Great American Chocolate Bar" song!!! It was a great day for America. We all were very aware of the news and the fact that Saddam Hussein was captured. I did not want to bring this up onstage. However, when I wore my Uncle Sam hat.....everyone had a different response today. First show was great. I was surprisingly awake and ready for the next. We all ate dinner. Afterwards we headed to see the Hershey "Sweet Lights" display. The weather canceled the Christmas Village at Hershey Park and closed Chocolate World. So.....this was all we could see. It was all I had time for anyway. I think my Mom can get a factory tour tomorrow. The Hershey people are so nice. Rick Weimer took great care of my family and friends. I got back to the arena at 7:30. Sweet Lights was really .....Sweet! Lots of lights and displays, set near the Hershey Hotel and in a forest. Something I would want in my yard! I took another shower and got ready for show #2. Mom sat to the side of the arena this time. The night show was really amazing. I sat with Mom during "Old City Bar". She was so proud and content. Plus, Butch bought her a glass of wine! Mom is a light weight...We finished and headed to the signing line. Mom got a book signed and decided to head to the suite to rest. I would have if I could. I never even got to see the room. Apparently it was amazing! I stole the giant Hershey bar that the band was presented with and headed to the bus. We got our briefing on border crossing and prepared for the trip north. The weather was pure rain by now. We were spared the storm. We watched "Scary Movie 2." Too funny!!! I decided to take the night off from working. Day off in Toronto tomorrow. Well....two TV shows and interviews....some day off!!! Goodnight!

How's it goin' eh? We made it through the border crossing with no problems at all. Always better to be safe than sorry. We arrived in Toronto today at about 12:30 PM. I had a TV interview at 2:30. So...I managed to get to my room and get a shower. Before I knew it...TV time. The interview was just me and Bob. It lasted about 15 minutes. Then we headed to the set of the Mike Bullard show. It was in a different studio than the last tour. We did this show before. The soundcheck was painless. Kidd Rock was a guest on the show also. He has seen TSO a couple of times. I had never met him. This would change soon. Bob and I had to run to another radio interview. This lasted about 30 minutes. I got 10 minutes in my room after this before we returned to the Bullard set. While we were waiting to go on I was introduced to Bobby...AKA Kidd Rock!!! He was so frickin' cool!!! He just said, "Hi, I am Bobby." We talked a bit and he left to do his spot. He is a very funny guy. We played after him. He invited me to a party later that night. The show was really cool. Bullard is a big fan. I said good-bye to Bobby and we were to hook up later. I went back to the hotel. Canada is very famous for its Gentleman's Clubs. A bunch of us decided to go visit a couple. It was either that or Bingo! Ummm....Bingo lost!!! Eventually it was just me and Stevie B and we were on our way to a place called "Revival" to meet Kidd. We actually arrived at the same time as Bobby. The night was still young at 1AM. There was a band jamming at the club. I was amazed when Bobby hit the stage. He was frickin incredible. This guy could play and sing with anyone. I was blown away by his charisma and versatility. He lit the place on fire! I had never seen him live before. Eventually I made my way to the stage and he called me up to jam "Sweet Home Alabama" with him. I solo'd with a quarter as a pick and a completely clean sound. Not my optimum playing situation, but it was a "Hoot", to coin a Canadian phrase. Kidd was playing drums too. I must honestly say that he was one of the most genuine people I have ever met in my life. I am hoping to see him in Detroit. He wants us to pull the bus up to his house instead of a hotel! I respected him as an artist, but now I am a huge fan of his, as a person and a performer. I made it back to the hotel at about 5AM. I had a 6 o'clock wake-up call for a TV show called "Canada AM." Ummm....I don't think I am going to get much sleep.

I stumbled my way down to the lobby for the ride to the TV studio eh. We did this show last tour also. I forgot how long the ride was to the studio. It was about 30 minutes. I was so tired! We arrived and did soundcheck. I tossed a bagel down my throat and headed for make-up! Thank God for that!!!!!! I was even given the mic to talk. The show filmed at about 8:30AM. It went very smooth. I was delirious by now and we headed back to the vans and eventually the hotel. I think we were stuck in a lot of traffic, I would not know, I passed out right away. We got back to the hotel at about 11AM. This left me about 4 hours to sleep. Check out time was our usual 3PM. The phone rang a few times, but I still managed to fall asleep. Three o'clock came way too soon! I was not ready to awaken. But....the show must go on. The only frickin' thing that sucked was that our buses were in a lot far away from the venue. I wanted to crawl in my bunk and sleep. No such luck. I ate lunch and headed to the mall with Skippy. Nice place, but I was in no mood to shop. I bought one shirt from the Hard Rock and headed to soundcheck. The show was completely sold out. But, we were not able to use pyro and a lot of our lights had to be left off of the trusses because of weight restrictions. I took a nap for about an hour and headed to the shower to wake up! Let me tell you one thing....the lack of lights and special effects did not hurt this show. It was by far the best crowd of the tour. We were all so happy to see and hear them. Stevie had an amazing show. I had fun with my Canadian rap eh!!!! I mentioned Dick Shatto during the show. This was Chris Caffery father in law. He passed away this year. He was a member of the CFL. A legend! In the Canadian Football Hall of Fame!!! I dedicated the show to him. What a great crowd. Left me speechless, I could play here for a week! We finished up and headed to the signing line. There were kids there from Hungary, tons of Canadian Savatage fans too. Just a great night! Afterwards we stopped in for a few more minutes of Bingo and headed back to the bus and our trip to Toledo! Good night Eh!!!!

I was dead after Toronto. I wrote the Canada diary entries right before this. It is actually the 17th now! Skippy is watching the Sopranos. We just ate some good junk food and watched a movie on Ted Bundy. Not exactly Christmas, but it was very intense. I woke up at 11:30 this morning and wandered into the venue. The bus was parked in the lot. I grabbed some soup and a sandwich and headed to the bus to get my bag. Shortly thereafter I headed to the hotel. I checked some e-mail and headed to the gym. Time was running out. I returned to the room and showered. The showers at the venue were pretty frightening! I did my vocal workout while looking at the newly falling snow and scenery. The scenery was the Toledo Mudd Hens Stadium! Remember the TV show MASH. Clinger was from Toledo. Mudd Hens Baseball and Tony Paco Hot Dogs. I first went to Tony Paco's with David Ellefson and Nick Menza on the Mountain King Tour! I never made it there today. I was hoping to get it as bus food. No luck....it was closed! The show was totally sold out. I visited my friend Maria who was there as the LMT again. I needed help with the old legs...Not really a day off in weeks! The venue was freezing in the AM, the stage was an oven! The show was fun. Pretty usual. I have been changing up things here and there in my playing, mostly to challenge myself! The autograph line was not too long, but I am still tired. I am going to sleep as soon as I finish this sentence.....Goodnight!!!!

This arena was really tall. I was surprised to learn that we had sold over 8,500 tickets here! Typical day...hotel, gym, lunch, a visit with a local dentist (new addition), vocal workout, soundcheck, business...check presentation....wait!!! This is where it got to be a bit different! The check presentation was with Ronald McDonald! I like that charity a lot. They are always so appreciative and enthusiastic! I was thinking about the number of shows left tonite and was a bit sad. I hate seeing the end of the tour. This room was a huge college basketball arena. We were in the girls dressing room. I think my locker was Juanita's! It is so amazing to watch this band grow. Ohio has been such a special place for TSO. Strange thing about tonite is that I really can't think of anything too interesting to talk about. Great show, great town, I have to wake up at 7AM to call Greece...Goodnight!

Today has to have been the weirdest day of my life. I woke up at 7 to do some business with Black Lotus. Unfortunately time moves ahead in Europe while I am on the road! We finalized my paperwork and I signed my recording contract today!!! I am so excited to get to work on this CD. I walked into catering and saw a very funny charicature of me on the cover of the entertainment section of the local paper. We laughed about it and I ate some eggs... I decided to go to the hotel at about 11AM. The buses were parked at the venue. I wandered to the gym. Bad idea!!! After a workout on the free weights I went to return my weights to the rack. Someone had placed the weights below very hastily. The 60 pound free weight above me fell on my foot! OUCH! I iced it down and continued my workout. At the end I decided to go tanning. Bad idea!!! I fell asleep in the tanning bed and after 20 minutes I burnt my back. OUCH!!! Afterwards I took a cold shower and went out to lunch with some friends. I returned for soundcheck and immediately went to the bus for a vocal workout. I really needed a nap, but never got one. Tonite we sold more tickets than any TSO show ever. It was very exciting to walk onstage and see all of the people. It truly was good by most standards! I was headlining a sold out arena and just signed my first ever solo recording contract!!! The show was amazing. The crowd was the loudest we ever had. I did have my overdrive get swamped with fog and short out and my monitor blew up...plus...I jumped off the stage and fell to one knee because of the slippery floor. But, I decided to return to the scene of that crime and slide across the floor before returning to the stage for the end of 12-24! Grand Rapids....thanks for an amazing day!

I woke up once again at the hotel. I was not too motivated to do anything today. Jon Oliva was coming into town. I did about 20 minutes in the gym and headed to my room to watch football. A good friend of mine came by and brought me breakfast. We left for the Palace at 3PM. I immediately had to go and do an interview with Steve Black on WRIF radio. They were broadcasting live from the venue. This place was huge! Savatage was Steve's first interview in 1990 when he worked for Z-Rock Radio....ahh...the Glory Days! It was really amazing to step into the Palace and see just how huge this place was. Again we had over 10,000 tickets sold. The shows since New York City have all been standing room only. We rehearsed "Cleveland Rocks" in soundcheck...it is almost that time. I was so tired that I decided to blow off my vocal rehearsal for a nap! I woke up at 6:45 and it was that time again. I saw Oliva before the show. We are having some important Savatage meetings this weekend. He will be with us tomorrow also. We hit the stage and did our thing. The show was great for me until the end of "Beethoven". I broke a string on Santa! When I gave my guitar to Kyle, he handed me another one and left both wireless transmitters on. I had a mix of me playing and him tuning! This nightmare only lasted for a little while, soon it was the Pseudo Encore segment! This was the longest run I had to do all tour. It was a long way from one side of this arena to the other. I made it back onstage on time for the end of 12-24 and we finished up. We headed to the signing line. It was another long one. Sometimes the arena lines are not that long because people are afraid themselves that it will be too much! I was given a really pretty hand made necklace by a girl named Nikki. Her Mom asked if I would mention her on the site. Everyone is so friendly on the lines. It is fun to watch the faces of the little kids. We definitely hit a very large age group here. Another line with a lot of Savatage fans. I wish I had more answers for them. Maybe soon! We hit the bus and watched "King Pin." I bought the DVD in Toronto. Too frickin silly! I am writing you as I await my arrival at the hotel in Cleveland. Two shows tomorrow! Goodnight!

Cleveland Rocks! Yup....it was that time again. We arrived in Cleveland and checked into our hotel at 4AM. I could not fall asleep! Even though we had a matinee to do. I think a closed my eyes at 7AM. I had to wake up at 10:30 for soundcheck. A quick shower and I was off to the venue. It was a shame to wake up, the bed was too comfortable in the hotel! We walked into the venue and saw that Clear Channel had bought us champagne for Christmas. I finished soundcheck and met with Randy to get some more Christmas hats. He and Carlos had a surprise....my new Christmas art! It is so cool! Before long, it was that time again. Bob Kinkel gave me a box of Starbucks Chocolate covered expresso Beans! They were my best friend these past 2 days! We sold out three shows in this arena here. Amazing. Cleveland was the first place to ask TSO to play live. WNCX was the radio station who got it all rolling. Bill Lewis, Dave Jockers, Casey, Michael Stanley....these DJ's are so important to where TSO is now. The matinee was fun, I did not use all of my energy, but I was tired. Paul missed my introduction for him! Tristin fell off the stage and busted his ass! His guitar too...OUCH!!! I tried to nap after the show, but there was too much going on. Oliva was still there...Paul was there...there was a little girl who was in our TV special and DVD. Her family was there. I took a picture of her and her sister. We all ate dinner and I headed in to get another shower. Mark Weiss was in town to take more photos. He is the greatest rock photographer I ever have worked with. Wolfgang from CMM Promotions was in from Germany. We talked about the promo for my CD next year. It is so exciting. We hit the stage and show 2 was on. Ripper Owens showed up a few songs into the set. He was bringing me my computer printer! We were playing the song Cleveland Rocks at these shows. It is a lot of fun for the singers to let loose on this one. Jen was very sick...she missed the autograph line. The line was pretty harmless...we had a party being held by Clear Channel afterwards. Champagne and sushi! Elliot our tour coordinator gave us all some silly awards. I was commended for my truck stop shopping! We finished up and hit a local bar for the night cap. I got back to my room and called Kemp, she was safe and back in the US...I believe she will see me in Newark. I fell asleep at about 6AM.

I woke up choking from the dry hotel air! This was at about 10:30. I was going to meet some friends for lunch at my all time favorite junk food restaurant. The Winking Lizard. They named chili fries after me one year. "Chris-mess Chili Fries!" I hit the gym for a quick run. Then it was into the shower and off to the Lizard. Mark Weiss, Skippy, Jeff and Dave from WNCX went with us. Ribs, spicy barbecue wings and some chili fries. I had to leave early to go to WNCX for an interview. Jen was too sick to sing. Paul and Stevie did "Old City Bar". Darryl did Prince of Pilsner....I mean Peace!!! After the interview I had just enough time to grab some e-mail and check out of the hotel. I took a nap on the bus and woke up to get ready for the final show. Jen was not going to sing tonite. Dina was going to sing "Promises to Keep." Allie Sheridan got sick and had to go home....so Dina Finai came out here in Toronto....Singers! I doused myself in water and dried off to go to the WNCX corporate party for a few minutes. Then it was check time and off to work! Bill Lewis gave another great intro. Last year he was the Grinch! Paul asked me to step things up to make up for the loss of Jen. I finished my box of magic beans and hit the stage! This was the best of the three shows, The crowd was amazing... Dina did a great job filling in. We cut out "Christmas Canon, Angel Share and World The He Sees." This was to cover for Jen and make the set flow. A couple got ejected from the venue for um....being really bad in the audience...if you use your HEAD you can figure out why...I routed a special route for my run at the end. I barely made it back to the stage! Funny competition between the Indians and The Cavaliers here. I wore my Cavaliers Jersey for the Matinee....The Indians sent me a shirt for the night show. Tonite I wore them both! Everyone wore Indians shirts for the encore! I was asked to go to Cleveland this summer and throw out a first pitch at an Indian game! Too Cool!!!! I gave away last years hat in the Sunday night show. I am not ever giving away this years hat! The Metzger's gave us carry on bags for gifts. I will miss their food when we finish!!!! The autograph line was very long! We finished up and said our Good-byes. Thanks to Barry from Belkin/Clear Channel! Thanks to WNCX...Thanks to you Cleveland....Cleveland Rocks!!!

I made the mistake of trying to get work done last night. I turned on my computer and started to work on a new song. I built my drum loop and tried to record some guitars. My computer picked up some sort of bug on the road. So...two days ago I tried to up my security. I installed a Norton program to tighten up my ship, so to speak. Well...it confused my audio engine and screwed up my studio. I was awake 'til 6 trying to fix it. I woke up at 10 and got into my hotel room to try and get technical support. I took a break to vocalize and went back at it. By 4PM I figured it out. I had to uninstall the program and re-boot. We were playing the Igloo....now called the Mellon Arena. This is where the Penguins play. It was dinner and soundcheck time when I was finished computer hell. Reb Beach stopped by to say hi. I really like Reb, he is such a rock star! A good friend of mine dropped me off some Steelers clothes and I got ready for the last show before Christmas. I think everyone needs a few days off. I could not get a Penguins Jersey. No luck from management...I do want a Devils Jersey when we get to Newark...can anyone help? Jen was still sick....Marilyn Villamar came here to help fill in. She sang on last years tour. I know Jen was so upset, I really want her to get better for the last week. She is such an intense singer. The show was fun, a bit calmer than Cleveland. It was a tough arena to run around because it had a weird seat configuration. I did make it back on time and we finished up to hit the audience line. There was a security guard named Sal that was so cool. He tried to help me with the jersey...Thanks! I am on the bus now listening to Skippy and Brian Hicks argue about life. We had some Outback Steakhouse food and started watching Gladiator. I need to pack up some stuff so I can start to clear out the bus! I am so not into it...I hate the end of the tour. I suppose we will get dropped off in the city at about 8AM. I will sleep for a few hours and visit a good friend in the hospital. Then it is off to Butch's house. He is driving to Mom's. I cant wait to see her and Haley!!!! I miss my kitten! Thanks to everyone for an amazing tour to this point. I am going to be so busy next year. I start my CD right away...I may take a few days to go to Florida and write for Zak and the next Circle II Circle CD...yes....I never stop working!!! Goodnight! (Skippy and Brian are driving me nuts!)

Chris