Sarah Dope

I will be at tomorrow's Warped Tour (Pomona), doing photography for Alternative Press Magazine!

I will also be at the Ventura show, just relaxing and enjoying the show.

If you're around, COME OUT! And if you see me, feel free to come introduce yourselves and say hello.  :)

So some of you might have noticed, our (Strata) tour with Finger Eleven and Chevelle has come to a close recently.

The last day of the tour in Minneapolis was kind of a bummout. Not just because it was the last day, but because I woke up to the news that the label would temporarily be taking our bus away. Which kind of sucks, and not just because of the whole luxery factor. But eh, whatever. We'll all suck it up and tough it out in a van again. We still have fun.

Anyway.

After the Minneapolis show, we were scheduled for two other shows with different bands. One was in Madison, Wisconsin with Fair To Midland. Great band, and it was great to see those guys again (I was on tour with them for a bit when I previously worked for Dir En Grey). Who knows, we might be touring with them in the future.

After the Madison show, the bus took us to St. Louis, MO on June 16th. The boys had a day off there. I booked it two and a half hours south of there into my little tiny hometown to catch one of my best friends' weddings.

Now, I normally don't cry during those things, but I almost did this time. Then again, when you've known a guy for 24 years... you're bound to be more emotional about him than anyone else. I'm soooooo happy for him, though. And the reception was rad. It was like a class reunion, too. I ran into so many people I haven't seen since 2001.

A few hours later, I would book it out to Joplin, MO to meet back up with my boys for our show at a weird Christian venue that made Eric sign a contract, promising not to cuss. Uhm. Needless to say, it was an... interesting... night. Ah well. It makes for good stories.

June 18th. I had to cancel my second photoshoot with Eyeworks because the label screwed up my flight request day. Eventually get to Los Angeles. You would think I would rest, right? Try again.

I ended up being invited out to a magazine party at one of the clubs. Snoop Dogg and Ja Rule were scheduled to stop in and perform. Too bad I got bored and left long before they arrived. Whooooops. I still had a bit of fun, though.

June 19th. I was invited out to a phone event. The LG TV-Mobile Party at Paramount Studios. If you search Wireimage and a bunch of similar sites, you'll find plenty of photos of red carpet arrivals, and more importantly, the atmosphere. They set it up all 70's lookin'.... and even had the oldschool Batmobile. You know, the one from THE TV SHOW. HAHAHAHAHA. YESSSSS.

June 20th. I hung out with my good friend Shaun Carty. He's quite the musician that recently moved from Phoenix to Los Angeles. Trust you'll be hearing more about him and his music when the time comes... Anyway. His roommate was drumming for an R&B act. We decided to go check it out and have a few drinks. Well.... we ended up at this bar in NoHo... that was just so... bizarre. It's one of those places where strange things happen with strange people and you and your friends are left looking at each other thinking, "Uh... Where ARE we???"

June 21st. Started the morning with M Cafe and Pinkberry with Shaun and Jeffree. Both Jeffree and I have been so incredibly busy doing our own thing and touring and whatnot that we haven't seen each other in freakin' ages. So it was nice. Plus, Shaun had never had Pinkberry before, and he is now addicted; just like the rest of us. Later in the night I had dinner at one of my favorite sushi/shabu spots with a friend... then ended up at one of my favorite hip hoppers' houses? Yeah, talk about crazy.

June 22nd. Went out to lunch with good ol' Buzznet-Steve and Miss E.... then eventually the Helio office to pick up my new toy that had been waiting for me to get home (aka the Ocean). Then Pinkberry with one of the Helio peeps afterwards, haha.

June 23rd. Went to lunch with Angie and Audrina. Checked out the Honda Civic Tour w/ Fall Out Boy. I was bummed we missed Paul Wall because of traffic. Damnit. Enjoyed the show, hung out, caught up with people. The production was pretty rad... Ended back up in the hills afterwards.

June 24th. Now, I am not really into the porno thing, but I ended up with a free exhibitors pass to the L.A. Porn Convention... so why not go stop by? hahahahaha. Angie and I spent a couple of hours either wandering or talking to some friends before heading back to my apartment for a lazy day.

...Tomorrow, What We Do Is Secret screening. Tuesday, working for Strata at Cinespace. Wednesday, working for Strata at Spaceland. Friday, working (photographing for Alternative Press Magazine) at Warped Tour in Pomona. Saturday, enjoying Warped Tour in Ventura.

Oh, also Tuesday.... the release of my friend's movie/documentary: Phil Varone's "Waking Up Dead". Check it out!

In the words of my wonderful Miss E...

Yup, that's right. When we started the site, it was to do something positive. But we didn't have a good name for the site so we just went with our nickname as a crew. Now, the most common question we get is "why are you hated"? There is a lot of talk about how we think we're hated and the subject of hate (or envy or something else negative) comes up all the time. We don't want to stand for anything negative, even if its just in a name. So we have a new layout ready to go, we just need a new domain name.

But worldsmosthated.com was our best idea. So we're asking you guys to help up come up with something. We need a cool domain name, like icanhascheezburger.com or something. Since our stupid board refuses to do what I want it to, the nice people here at Buzznet took care of making the contest for us so a big thanks to them because I was really, really annoyed and they saved our asses. To enter, just click on the banner above to go to the group. You'll have to make a buzznet account to enter. Submit your entry to the forum. We'll pick the best names right after Harry Potter comes out {:D} and then we'll have another contest were you guys vote on the top 10 names. The top ranking name (or something close too it, if its already a website) will become our new website and we can get away from any last vestiges of negativity.

So help us out, guys! We really need it!

THANK YOU!

E's recent blog reminded me of the geeky Warcraft moment Scott (Finger Eleven) and I had last night.

So. We went to a late night dinner... It was me, Yeti (F11's tech), Scott, and Ryan (Strata). Scott and I have been trying to convince Ryan to get WoW, and he was talking about possibly finally getting into it with us.

Scott: "Ooo! You could be a druid! We need a druid!"
Ryan: "What? Like R2D2?"

[silence]

Me: "...a DRUID. Not a DROID."

We had a day off in the city of Chicago last night.... When I originally found out we were spending our day off there, HeyChris was, of course, one of the first people I would hit up.

What perfect timing, I must say.

I started my day early, going with my roadcrew to a Pancake House for breakfast; then some chilltime and showertime in the hotel... before we would head out for sushi dinner and then a coffee house for Chris' reading.

It's always great to see that kid.

We exchanged hugs and books-- I gave him a copy of Eric's "Coma Therapy," and in return, he sent me back with all kinds of stuff of his for both myself and Eric.

I'll post a couple pics soon.
No video of us together, though. There wasn't any time. Sorry, Steve. ;)

Afterwards, Jesus (one of our techs) and I wandered the Chicago streets a bit before retiring back to the hotel until bus call.

Day off in Sioux Falls, South Dakota today....

Recently confirmed:

Beginning July 17th (also the same day of STRATA's new release-- hint, hint) and ending in late August, we (STRATA) will be out with SICK PUPPIES and FINGER ELEVEN across the States!

You can find dates on my MySpace. We have a few confirmed, and all of the gaps you see will be confirmed shortly. Stay tuned!!

See some of you soon!

Yesterday we were in Norfolk, VA. Supposedly, there were tropical storm and hurricane warnings. I was actually looking forward to going through a tropical storm.

Unfortunately, all we got was a light drizzle.

The Norva was a really cool venue. My first time there. The backstage was amaaaazing. Hot tubs and pool tables and stuff. Plus, they don't take percentage from merch sales.... which is just rad.

After work, I found myself being kidnapped to a nearby bar. Those pesky, troublemaking Finger Eleven boys! ;)

Today we had a day off in Towson, MD. Earlier in the week, Circa Survive had hit us up and asked us to come to their secret MySpace show in Baltimore since we'd both be in town. I definately skipped out to relax and be lazy at the hotel with Hrag's girlfriend. and do laundry. and catch up on some paperwork.

Show at Ram's Head Live tomorrow.

And thank you all for the "get well" wishes! I'm doing MUCH better... still a little groggy, but my cold (or whatever it was) is slowly going away.



P.S.... I have recently become addicted to rock candy. You know, the pure sugar candy on a stick thing.

I don't think the South likes us very much.

It started with quite a few of us having our allergies act up in Knoxville, TN. The pollen in the air was ridiculous.

This resulted in me waking up sick on our day off in Myrtle Beach. Yeah, talk about a bummout! Everyone else on the tour enjoyed the beach... I enjoyed the hotel bed, completely groggy and out of it.

Pete from Chevelle's sinuses were acting up, so he went to a doctor who gave him all kinds of meds.

Yesterday was supposed to be our show in Myrtle Beach. Everything was loaded in and set up. Door time came.... and we received confirmation over Chevelle's radios. Pete had a bad allergic reaction to some of the meds and had to be rushed to the emergency room. The entire show was canceled.

We packed up our gear, and to give the kids at least something, we moved to the patio of the House of Blues. Free acoustic jams from Finger Eleven and Strata. It's not much, I know... but at least it's something. It was actually kind of cool. The sun was setting, a nice breeze came in, and everyone just sat around enjoying some beers and wine coolers.

Afterwards, I stumbled my way back onto my bus to lay low. Even though my fever was gone, my throat was no longer sore, I was still a little groggy and didn't want to make it worse again. I remember laying in my bunk and hearing a bunch of racket in the front. I open my curtain and poke my head out... to see a drunken James Black (Finger Eleven) spitting out a bunch of mumbo jumbo and "Hey wait.. This isn't my bus."

He was quite drunk, but entertaining. haha.

I think I passed out somewhere around 1:30 AM....

Today we're in Charlotte, NC. We're all waiting on Chevelle to arrive and to give us the word as to whether we're canceling another show or not.... Oh boy.

P.S.... a merch table collapsed on my pinky yesterday. It's nice and swollen.. and pink, blue, and purple. Ouch. At least it's not broken, right? hahaha