Dear Teamers,
Strasfuicheh, Hallo, Guten Tag, and Ciao!! I'm writing this from the back of our LUXURIOUS Ford Transit van. It's no '96 Vanhool, but there is a makeshift double bed above and behind me, from which Pat's bare feet are currently hanging off the edge. It's overcast today and comfortable outside, and for some reason, the German air always smells and feels "fresher" than the air at home. I guess I should point out that we're driving from Mannheim, Germany to Prague, Czech Rep.
The tour has been AWESOME!! Honestly, if not for the fact that I've been taking pictures non-stop (as you all know), I'm sure that the whole trip would be wasted on my crummy memory. There have been so many unique experiences over the past 4 weeks, that it feels a little like trying to remember a series of events from sophomore year high school! We've been on every single mode of transportation, including a ferry ride from Helsinki to Stockholm that was more like a pleasure cruise. And the train rides through Russia.... Wow. When I was a kid and saw "Dr. Zhivago" for the first time, I certainly never dreamed that I'd ever be on a train headed to Moscow in my lifetime.
As far as the places we've been, at this point we've all seen more of Europe than most Europeans even see over the course of their lives. We've seen the entire spectrum of lifestyles and living conditions, and although I can't speak for everyone, I certainly feel as though I've learned a lot about the world. That feeling comes from traveling to those countries which were recently ravaged by war, and/or political upheaval. Since American television is a commodity that is not found here, our viewing is limited to CNN or the BBC news. For me, it's fun to watch the world news stories, and realize that we're driving right through them, while family and friends are watching at home. I tried to explain this to my mother when I was home last, and it's really a neat feeling. When you watch a news story that concerns an area of the world not near to you, you feel sort of disconnected from it, at least versus a story that takes place in your neighborhood. Now, when I watch the news and see a story that takes place outside of my "hometown", a lot of times it still feels like it's close to me. Kind of like my neighborhood has stretched to include all of these places we've visited. One example of what I'm talking about concerns our big drive from Greece to Latvia. We had to drive through Serbia (actually twice) and shortly after getting through and stopping for a couple of days, I caught a news story about the situation taking place in Serbia, even as I write this letter. Kosovo is attempting to declare its independence, and the rest of Serbia doesn't want to let go. This is the stuff that wars are built on. It's HUGE world history happening right now, and we drove straight through it. A bunch of long-haired, American rockers driving through Serbia to make the next Kiss show on time, while the country fights a freedom battle!
Then there's the scenery! Oh, the scenery. And the locations too. In a matter of weeks, I've stood on a 2000 year old Roman Arena, the even older Greek Parthenon, the deck of a ship on the Baltic Sea, and a few nights ago, a stadium built for Hitler, and ruins created before recorded time! We've really been incredibly lucky to experience all of these things and believe me when I say that I'm relishing in it as much as humanly possible.
Anyway, now that I have each of you day-dreaming at your desks or in front of your computer screens about being magically whisked away to somewhere exciting, let me talk about the band and all of you teamers! First of all, we want to thank ALL of you for sticking by us even while we're away from the states and all of you. If you're reading this, then you're one of the ones I'm talking about! I know that it probably feels fruitless to spend a bunch of time on a band that you have maybe only seen once or twice, or even not at all! But believe me when I say that NOTHING could be further from the truth. We don't mean to turn our backs on the fans although I'm sure at times it may seem like that. We go for long periods of time without being in certain cities, and that can surely be frustrating or at least un-motivating. But the fact is, we can't be everywhere inside of a month, let alone at the same time! So let me apologize to any and all of you that may be feeling "disconnected" from us. WE LOVE YOU ALL, and certainly aren't hoping to alienate anyone who is willing to help promote us.
What we need: Right now, more than ever we need your effort and hard work. Meaning requests, votes, stickers, even just word of mouth. Don't forget the most basic/easiest form of advertising is talking. Make a new friend at the office? Show them the cd. Giving someone a ride? Play the cd. If enough people start saying the name in daily conversation, it's going to be heard and tours will appear. The most important thing however, is simply to not give up on us because you feel like we've given up on you. We haven't given ANYTHING up and certainly have no intention of it!
I've very recently taken up the responsibility of being the link from the band to the street team. I offered to do it for a few reasons, but mostly because I LOVE being connected to the fans, and secondly because I'm really the only person in the band who has the free time to do it. I'm hoping that I can do a better job of keeping everyone in the loop, and feeling like they are connected to the band. I hope to provide more content from us, be it letters like this, or personal diaries, videos, pictures.... just any content I can think of that can be passed to all of you, and hopefully remind you why you spend your extra hours (or the ones when the boss isn't looking) doing odds and ends for us!! That being said, I am TOTALLY open to suggestions that ANY of you might have for things you'd like to see or hear from us when we're not close by. Also, those of you that were part of my street team know that I did "Ask Mac" questions. I'm going to continue to do those, only now I will happily answer personal questions, as well as Band related questions. (submit "Ask Mac" question to askmac@cinder-road.com). In addition to this, I want to come up with better competitions/contests, and more interesting prizes than simply meet n' greets. At this point we've met just about all of you, so simply coming up to the bus to say "hey" might seem a little lack-luster (at least I would think so). I'm very open to suggestions here as well.
I sincerely hope that this letter reminds you why you signed up to be part of the Cinder Road Street Team in the first place. Like I said before, we are so appreciative of each of you, because we know that time volunteered is usually time given-up out of benevolence. You're receiving this letter because you WANT to, and not because you're getting paid to read it, and for that much we owe all of you a trip to Europe!!
Best wishes to all, and hope to see your smiley faces soon... ON THE WARPED TOUR!!!
Arrivederci,
Mac
Strasfuicheh, Hallo, Guten Tag, and Ciao!! I'm writing this from the back of our LUXURIOUS Ford Transit van. It's no '96 Vanhool, but there is a makeshift double bed above and behind me, from which Pat's bare feet are currently hanging off the edge. It's overcast today and comfortable outside, and for some reason, the German air always smells and feels "fresher" than the air at home. I guess I should point out that we're driving from Mannheim, Germany to Prague, Czech Rep.
The tour has been AWESOME!! Honestly, if not for the fact that I've been taking pictures non-stop (as you all know), I'm sure that the whole trip would be wasted on my crummy memory. There have been so many unique experiences over the past 4 weeks, that it feels a little like trying to remember a series of events from sophomore year high school! We've been on every single mode of transportation, including a ferry ride from Helsinki to Stockholm that was more like a pleasure cruise. And the train rides through Russia.... Wow. When I was a kid and saw "Dr. Zhivago" for the first time, I certainly never dreamed that I'd ever be on a train headed to Moscow in my lifetime.
As far as the places we've been, at this point we've all seen more of Europe than most Europeans even see over the course of their lives. We've seen the entire spectrum of lifestyles and living conditions, and although I can't speak for everyone, I certainly feel as though I've learned a lot about the world. That feeling comes from traveling to those countries which were recently ravaged by war, and/or political upheaval. Since American television is a commodity that is not found here, our viewing is limited to CNN or the BBC news. For me, it's fun to watch the world news stories, and realize that we're driving right through them, while family and friends are watching at home. I tried to explain this to my mother when I was home last, and it's really a neat feeling. When you watch a news story that concerns an area of the world not near to you, you feel sort of disconnected from it, at least versus a story that takes place in your neighborhood. Now, when I watch the news and see a story that takes place outside of my "hometown", a lot of times it still feels like it's close to me. Kind of like my neighborhood has stretched to include all of these places we've visited. One example of what I'm talking about concerns our big drive from Greece to Latvia. We had to drive through Serbia (actually twice) and shortly after getting through and stopping for a couple of days, I caught a news story about the situation taking place in Serbia, even as I write this letter. Kosovo is attempting to declare its independence, and the rest of Serbia doesn't want to let go. This is the stuff that wars are built on. It's HUGE world history happening right now, and we drove straight through it. A bunch of long-haired, American rockers driving through Serbia to make the next Kiss show on time, while the country fights a freedom battle!
Then there's the scenery! Oh, the scenery. And the locations too. In a matter of weeks, I've stood on a 2000 year old Roman Arena, the even older Greek Parthenon, the deck of a ship on the Baltic Sea, and a few nights ago, a stadium built for Hitler, and ruins created before recorded time! We've really been incredibly lucky to experience all of these things and believe me when I say that I'm relishing in it as much as humanly possible.
Anyway, now that I have each of you day-dreaming at your desks or in front of your computer screens about being magically whisked away to somewhere exciting, let me talk about the band and all of you teamers! First of all, we want to thank ALL of you for sticking by us even while we're away from the states and all of you. If you're reading this, then you're one of the ones I'm talking about! I know that it probably feels fruitless to spend a bunch of time on a band that you have maybe only seen once or twice, or even not at all! But believe me when I say that NOTHING could be further from the truth. We don't mean to turn our backs on the fans although I'm sure at times it may seem like that. We go for long periods of time without being in certain cities, and that can surely be frustrating or at least un-motivating. But the fact is, we can't be everywhere inside of a month, let alone at the same time! So let me apologize to any and all of you that may be feeling "disconnected" from us. WE LOVE YOU ALL, and certainly aren't hoping to alienate anyone who is willing to help promote us.
What we need: Right now, more than ever we need your effort and hard work. Meaning requests, votes, stickers, even just word of mouth. Don't forget the most basic/easiest form of advertising is talking. Make a new friend at the office? Show them the cd. Giving someone a ride? Play the cd. If enough people start saying the name in daily conversation, it's going to be heard and tours will appear. The most important thing however, is simply to not give up on us because you feel like we've given up on you. We haven't given ANYTHING up and certainly have no intention of it!
I've very recently taken up the responsibility of being the link from the band to the street team. I offered to do it for a few reasons, but mostly because I LOVE being connected to the fans, and secondly because I'm really the only person in the band who has the free time to do it. I'm hoping that I can do a better job of keeping everyone in the loop, and feeling like they are connected to the band. I hope to provide more content from us, be it letters like this, or personal diaries, videos, pictures.... just any content I can think of that can be passed to all of you, and hopefully remind you why you spend your extra hours (or the ones when the boss isn't looking) doing odds and ends for us!! That being said, I am TOTALLY open to suggestions that ANY of you might have for things you'd like to see or hear from us when we're not close by. Also, those of you that were part of my street team know that I did "Ask Mac" questions. I'm going to continue to do those, only now I will happily answer personal questions, as well as Band related questions. (submit "Ask Mac" question to askmac@cinder-road.com). In addition to this, I want to come up with better competitions/contests, and more interesting prizes than simply meet n' greets. At this point we've met just about all of you, so simply coming up to the bus to say "hey" might seem a little lack-luster (at least I would think so). I'm very open to suggestions here as well.
I sincerely hope that this letter reminds you why you signed up to be part of the Cinder Road Street Team in the first place. Like I said before, we are so appreciative of each of you, because we know that time volunteered is usually time given-up out of benevolence. You're receiving this letter because you WANT to, and not because you're getting paid to read it, and for that much we owe all of you a trip to Europe!!
Best wishes to all, and hope to see your smiley faces soon... ON THE WARPED TOUR!!!
Arrivederci,
Mac
