Our great Korean sound crew

We played five shows while in Korea. Each night we had the pleasure of working with local sound and lighting company "Star Sound." Sim and his crew of lighting and stage techs had the shows running smoothly every night. They were so awesome to work with. We have never worked with a more efficient sound team. Each day we would show up for sound check and the stage would already be set... the drum kit assembled, guitars waiting, amps in place, mics ready to be checked. Since the board was already set from the night before, our sound checks would take maybe 10 minutes max. (In the past, we have had some hellacious sound checks that have lasted 6 hours!!) If we could've packed them up and taken them back with us to the States, you bet we would've! Thank you so much to Sim and his team. I hope we will meet up again someday.

(This picture was taken the day of our final show. Sim is in the front row with us girls.)

bz

I Love My Job!!!!!!!!

I have to say I think our crowds get a little bigger and a little louder every show........and I love it. We played Saturday night in Fairhope, AL with Alabama's very own Jeff Bates and it was a great night. I just want to say thanks to the crowd for letting us come out and jump on your tables and raise a little hell with ya. I love what I do and this is what I get to see when I stand on stage and honestly......................THANK YOU!!!!!(Tobi)

I MADE IT!!

Every Brazilian has a dream to go to Miami and Orlando.
Here in the States, if you are poor, the first thing you do to tell yourself and your family "I made it in life" is to buy a fancy car and then a house. That's the American dream.

Not in Brazil.

Over there you buy a car, and then you do the "Florida Tour", which consists of shopping in Miami, going to Disney World and then to the Universal Studios in Orlando.
That's the dream of approximately 90% of Brazilians. Because of that, (believe it or not) it is cheaper for us to go to Miami than to the Amazon. An airfare from Sao Paulo to Manaus (Amazon's state capital) will cost you around $1600, but to go to Miami, it would only cost $700. During the good ol' days (around 1997) when our economy was kicking and there was no war in the Middle East, you could buy a ticket for $250.

Everybody in Brazil knows "somebody" who is currently having their dream vacation in Florida. Some folks go there every year, no matter what. They come back to the same places and do the same tours, so they can keep their status of "cool", and trust me, it really works, because they ARE cool!

Knowing that (even though I'm part of the 10% that never cared about it), I was feeling very special to have the opportunity to go there 2 weeks ago and play with the band at Universal Studios in Orlando. Even though we didn't have too much time, I walked around, took pictures, and went on my first rollercoster ride in my life (I went secretly by myself, so nobody would make fun of me), and had so much fun!!

And then I finally got it, the Universal Studios are so cool, no wonder everyone wants to go there!

At the end of the day, as I was looking at the pictures, I called my dad in Brazil, and I said "Dad, I made it. I really made it in life. I am at the Universal Studios hanging with Zorro at the red carpet!"

kisses for all
Amanda

World Cup Anxiety #1

Ok, It's coming to that time of the year!!! World Cup is coming and I can't stop thinking about it!
This will be the first time in my life that I will not get to watch all the games, see all the interviews, talk about, discuss and get into fights with people about why somebody is playing really bad, or if eating pork before the game will make the players "slow and heavy", or how come Italy's coach had the courage to put only ONE player on attack, etc...
I have no idea how it is to not care about soccer, to not watch the games, to not be into it, because it is in me, more specifically, in my DNA.

As I am getting prepared for it (starting this week in Korea, I'll be wearing Brazil's jersey a lot), I can't stop asking myself: "Are the German players gonna be able to handle the pressure of having a World Cup at home?", "Imagine the same final as 2002 Brazil v. Germany again, at their own house?", "Are Ronaldo's knees gonna make it?", and since this year we have one of the best teams ever, the most important question : "Are we gonna win, or will we pull a 1982 all over again?".

These are just a sample of the endless questions that go through my mind. It all starts in just a few weeks. For those of you who will be at Put-in-Bay in June, excuse my anxiety... We will be in the play offs during that time...

kisses for all;
Amanda

French Fries and Rides

I think we have to be the luckiest band around. The chance to play private parties are always a bonus. But combine McDonald's and Universal Studios in Orlando. Oh Yes!!! The whole park was closed except for McDonald's employees. Yes rides and all the games and fireworks and free food throughout the whole park. The sun was shining and we thought we would take in some rides. I'm not gonna lie, we were trying to be careful about screaming on rides because we still had a show to play. But when we were riding The Mummy, I sat in between Brenda and Rachel. Brenda closed her eyes and gave a low scream during the ride and Rachel took no precautions from the beginning to the end..............Screaming at the top of her lungs. I thought it was great. McDonald's and Universal-- thanks for letting us be a part of your party.

Slumber Party on Wheels

Okay, I don't know if they still have slumber parties and if they still have the same antics or not......But I can tell you falling asleep first on the bus can sometimes mean things will happen to you. I know tradition is if you fall asleep first then somebody will take your bra and put it in the freezer, but honestly our freezer on the bus is too small for our bras......(YA!!!) So when Rachel fell asleep, Brenda and I thought we could wake her up by throwing spitballs (or little wads of paper) at her while she slept. Well as you can see, she never woke up and we took advantage of the situation. So about 30 spitballs later we took the picture then woke her up ourselves. What can you say....It's a slumber party on wheels....(Tobi)