I just got this e-mail from Joshua Wade of Evelynn Rose:

We left Charlotte and flew to Frankfurt Germany, then to Saudi Arabia, and lastly Bahrain. The island is amazing — we’re having a blast with the locals as well as our new friends at the base here. Our first show was last night, and it went over very well. It’s hard to explain the feeling we get when the troops thank us! We have to respond with a resounding, “No, thank you!” The smallest piece of home really does seem to affect the moral here, and it’s been great interacting with everyone so far. We had some crazy times last night-our first “official” night on the island-but we’ll leave that alone for now haha. Luckily, we’ve captured a ton of video so far for our spring documentary release, and we have hundreds of hours more to come. Don’t forget to let everyone know about our first show back in the states at Whisky River on Dec. 11, too. Thanks for all of your support back home — we look forward to seeing you all again in a couple of weeks!

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Local band Evelynn Rose is on its way to the Middle East as I type this, with local musician Eric-Scott Guthrie in tow as their soundman.

As long as they have computer access, they’ll be sending in blog posts from time to time during their trip.

The only word so far is from Guthrie via Facebook: “Uneventful flight… it’s amazing how much sleep you can get when the in-flight entertainment system is broken. Next stop… somewhere in the middle east. heh.”

Safe travels, guys…

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I just met up with Corey Smith backstage at The Fillmore Charlotte to talk about tonight’s show:

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Tent, check. Water, check. Camera, check.

It’s almost time for Bonnaroo! I’ll be sending out Twitter messages and posting daily blogs right here from the festival site in Manchester, Tenn. this weekend. While Tweets will start on Thursday, the blogs will kick off Friday morning.

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The Avett Brothers have released the track listing for its new album:
1. I and Love and You
2. January Wedding
3. Head Full of Doubt, Road Full of Promise
4. And it Spread
5. The Perfect Space
6. Ten Thousand Words
7. Kick Drum Heart
8. Laundry Room
9. Ill with Want
10. Tin Man
11. Slight Figure of Speech
12. It Goes On and On
13. Incomplete and Insecure

I and Love and You is set to be released on Aug. 11 with a CD release party being held at Bojangles Coliseum on Aug. 8.

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I picked up a copy of Beijing’s version of Creative Loafing, The Beijinger, and found a long list of music venues. I went this route since my Lonely Planet led me to places that had evidently been shut down for some time.

The Mao Live House was billed as “the capital’s premier live music venue” and it just happened to have a rock showcase that night. So, I headed down to the DongCheng district and found the Live House on a street that was lined with small shops, restaurants and street vendors.

The Live House is named after Chairman Mao and I think the name is a nod to Beijing’s gradual forgetting of the infamous figure. On the wall behind the stage hangs a large red flag that has an image only of Mao’s hair — Mao’s face is missing from the picture, as it were. The venue was medium-sized and had a Visulite feel — a standing area in front of the stage and raised bar-stools in the back. Before getting into the music hall, you pass through a bar area and a hallway that has a foosball table and a bunch of friendly Chinese hipsters guzzling down bottles of Tsing-Tao.

The rock showcase included five bands which worked out great for me since I got to see several bands in one night. The bands got better as the night went on and I think it’ll take a blog or two to review the bands that played later in the night. They definitely deserve their own reviews.

The first band was a bit of a mess and I gathered that its regular bass-player was ill and that they were having someone sit in. However, I recorded a clip of their last and best number, “Fuck.” You’ll hear them yelling the title in the chorus.

I learned that live music shows in the capital end quite early. They tend to begin around 9 or 10 p.m. and end at midnight (this means that in a showcase, each band only gets about 30 minutes to perform).

I met a couple of young Belgians in the crowd who had lived for sometime in Beijing and they said the government requires live music venues to end their shows at midnight since they are concerned about people staying out too late and getting rowdy. This is odd since most of the dance clubs stay open until the sun comes up. Evidently live music is a bit more contentious!

Check back next week for more on the other bands.

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Now that the jet lag is over, I can sit and reflect about our excellent journey through the Middle East. I’ve learned a lot of things.

1. The troops are amazing!!!
I give them huge props for doing the tasks they do. Regardless of how you feel about the war, these men and woman are doing a stand up job. They are putting their lives on the line to protect our nation and our freedom. Every person we talked to had a great personality and deserves recognition. We salute them! Keep up the good work and THANKS!

2. America is a great nation!
Now… I always knew we had an awesome country, but I always had bad things to say about it. Bush this and Bush that, healthcare this and healthcare that, blah blah blah. Let me tell you… I will never take this country for granted ever again. This trip was a life-changing experience. I never imagined I’d see people digging holes in the ground to use the bathroom. I never imagined I’d see people mistreat woman as much as I saw in Saudi Arabia. I never thought I’d ever see minor crimes being punished with the death penalty. The highway system alone over there is insane! If I ever had to drive a car in the Middle East I’d die!

That being said, we are truly lucky to be born in this country. It’s like winning the lottery. I’ll never forget going through customs in Atlanta, Ga. As the man stamped my passport he said “Welcome Home!” It was the greatest feeling in the world.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The trip was amazing! I mean it was a BLAST! I had the time of my life with my best friends in the world. All of the bases were amazing. The tours they gave us were a lot of fun. We saw things we never thought we’d ever see and everyone we talked to where the coolest people in the world. If I had to do it all over again, I’d totally do it!

I’d like to take this time to thank AFE for making this dream a reality. We will always remember this trip. We had the time of our lives! Well… That’s a Wrap

Until next time,
Adam

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We have currently lost track of all dates and days, so now each update will be by country instead of day.

We left Qatar and headed to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Our first show was at Al Dhafra Air Base. After we arrived at the base, we were given the rest of the day off. We were all in bed by 8 p.m., and got about eight of nine hours of sleep. It was so nice.

The next morning, we got a tour of the base. First off, we went to the K-9 section. They brought out a German Shepard and showed us all the tricks he could do, including the chasing and attacking modes he went into. They asked for volunteers so Josh and Adam both put on the arm sleeve and let the dog latch onto them. Both admitted that you can feel the teeth all the way through that thick sleeve.

Next, we went to visit some airplanes — KC-10, AWACS and a U2. We then went to EOD, which showed us all their toys they use when called out for a bomb. We got to play with a few of them, and Adam put on the bomb suit. Then the Army came and picked us up from the AF side, and took us out to the Patriot missile site. Gotta say that was pretty impressive.

After all that, we all went and took a nap (so rock star of us, huh?). The show was fun, good crowd and we gave out a lot of CDs. We got a girl from the crowd to come sing The Ramones with us. This was the first night we did two shows, we were asked to also do an acoustic show at 1 a.m. The base had acoustic guitars we could borrow, so Adam, Shaun, and Jacob played for about another hour. Adam was so tired he was fighting off falling asleep during the songs. During the three hour break between sets, we watched Tony Stewart win the All-Star race that was going on in Charlotte.

The next day we flew to Dubai! Although this tour is sponsored by Armed Forces Entertainment the show in Dubai was gonna be a USO show. On the way to the hotel we got to see the largest building in the world, which was cool. The architecture in that city is amazing!

We found a Irish pub right outside our hotel to get some food. Then we started drinking… Shaun got an abortion for $6. An “abortion” is a shot consisting of Baileys, Amaretto and Grenadine. And Shaun just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy a shot by that name. Poor Jacob was the only one to get carded. They actually played Weird Al Yankovic while we were there, which we all thought was funny.

Then we went to check out the bars in our hotel. We came across one that was having a band so we decided to check it out. Devin had to teach the bartender how to make a Jaeger Bomb and an Irish car bomb. The band consisted of a singer and one guitarist, they played along with a programmed beat. It was entertaining at least. They were really cool and said they had been playing there for three years straight. They mostly played classic rock, so we all sang along and had a good time with it.

We have noticed there are a lot of Filipino bands around here. We saw one Filipino band later that night (it was a long night) that had one of the best guitarists we have ever seen.

The next day, we played a show for the guys and gals on the USS Boxer. Supposedly this was the group helping out with that Pirate situation awhile back. We did two sets that night, the first was kinda slow, then things really picked up for the second set. It started to get rowdy, people on the stage singing “Sweet Home Alabama.” They wanted an encore so we decided to try “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” we actually halfway pulled it off. Nobody cared though, the crowd was rockin’ out. Some were just singing along, some were in a mosh pit and one guy smashed a chair right in front of everybody…

Afterwards, we met some of guys/gals and gave away some CDs and actually signed a guy’s ass. Not sure why, but thats what he wanted so we did it. Shaun bought the new Green Day CD for our 45-minute ride back to the hotel. Definitely recommend getting it, although Shaun lost his the very next day at the airport.

Thats it from UAE, next up is two shows in Bahrain…

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So, we are about half-way through our tour and figured we could take this time to talk about living conditions and such. The food everywhere has been outstanding. The only bad food we have had was the airline food. We have been fed steaks twice, most dining facilities have grills in them. One especially good DFAC in Qatar actually had a Krispy Kreme in it. People are definitely getting fed well over here.

The rooms we have been given have all been nice as well. Mostly it’s two per room, a couple of times we have had our own rooms, and once all six slept of us in a room with three bunk beds. Which was fun, except our sound guy Devin snores ridiculously loud, and Adam somehow imagined to hit his head on the TV stand. Although nobody can figure out exactly how he did it…

Everybody so far has been extremely grateful for us coming to play for them. We have to remind them we are way more thankful for what they do for us. Thats why we wanted to do this tour.

CDs! We have a new CD. Its called Takeout and Leftovers, and it looks like an advertisement for Burger King or something. We made the CD especially for this trip. We took a few of the songs we had recorded that weren’t on a CD and packaged them up and made a six song disc out of it.

Track List —
Janeane
The Bad Guy
Save Me
Doomsday
Late Afternoon (Acoustic)
Bloodshot Eyes (Acoustic)

We have been playing most of those songs out and about except “Save Me” which is new. We are giving away these CDs to the troops as a sign of our appreciation for what they do for our country. BUT, we will also be giving them away at our Welcome Home Show at Amos’ Southend on June 4.

Everybody who comes will get a FREE copy of the new CD, after that they go up for sale. Our ladies in Triple S Booking have gotten some awesome bands to come play with us! Flagship Brigade, Hot Lava Monster and Parallel.

So come hang out, hear some great bands and get a FREE CD!

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Qatar:
Both shows were really cool and we got presented plaques by the base commander. It was the first day that we got to hang out, do laundry, take naps, go out to eat and stuff like that. Then we gave out a ton of CDs and signed a bunch of them.

When we went to customs we were told it was really strict so people were ripping pages out of their books and deleting movies off their phones and stuff. It was really funny.

That’s pretty much it. Now, we are headed to UAE and Dubai.

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