… and I’m talkin’ about the road

It’s the third day of the WIL WHEATON VS PAUL AND STORM MEGA ULTRA SUPER TOUR 2014, and we are in New York City tonight.

IMG_0126Last night in Philadelphia, we played one of the best shows we’ve ever played. I haven’t put together precisely why, but something just felt solid and locked together on the stage in a way that it hasn’t in the past. We always have fun, and we always feel good about our performances, but last night we all just felt connected in a way that we haven’t before, like we were sharing a brain.

The audience was great, and even demanded an actual for realsies encore from us!

Here’s a couple of shots from the theatre:

Paul and Storm doing a soundcheck.
Paul and Storm doing a soundcheck. (Bonus Anne Wheaton photobomb.)
Backstage, there's a wall covered with setlists from the bands who have played there.
Backstage, there’s a wall covered with setlists from the bands who have played there.
Storm's rockin' the house.
Storm’s rockin’ the house.
Obligatory artsy photo from backstage.
Obligatory artsy photo from backstage.
Intr.oducing the show
Introducing the show.

We stayed up very late, and didn’t get into bed until almost 3am. BUT! Before we left the theatre, we made another tribute to a classic American film:

Then, today, while we were on the road, we made two more featuring a pair of classic commercial jingles:

We keep joking about being “on the road, man”, knowing full well that driving for a couple hours at a time doesn’t really count, but it’s been really fun to hang out together as we drive from city to city. I’m getting to see a lot of, uh, refineries, and trees and also trees, and even some trees. We’re driving over lots of beautiful rivers and past houses that are older than the city I live in. I’m getting a real perspective on just how much of a dystopian urban sprawl I live in back in Los Angeles, and taking some small comfort in knowing that drivers near Washington, DC, are even worse than the ones we have at home.

IMG_0101
Refineries. Refineries everywhere.

Last night, the manager at the Live Café in Philadelphia told us that he loves it when nerd crowds come to shows, because they’re always awesome and polite and really fun to be around. I told him, “We have a wonderful audience, and I love to perform for them, because we all love the same things, and we’re basically here to celebrate those things together. And, as a general rule, nerds tend to be more awesome than dudebros.”

It sounded better in my head, and the post-show bourbon probably didn’t help with the translation, but my point was that we are very lucky to perform for the audiences who come to see us, and I’m grateful that I get to do what I do.

In a few hours, we’ll be on stage in New York, and tomorrow, we’ll be back on the road to Boston.

because I’m talking about the rooooaaaaddddd….

WIL WHEATON VS. PAUL AND STORM SUPER MEGA TOUR 2013: Day One.

Last night Paul and Storm and I did our first show of the first half of our WIL WHEATON VS. PAUL AND STORM SUPER MEGA TOUR 2013 in Virginia, at a great theatre called The Birchmere.

The house was completely sold out, and I’m pretty sure the audience had a good time. I know that we did.

Paul and Storm played some new songs that just killed, and I did a short stand up set, followed by some storytelling with musical accompaniment from them.

The audience was just wonderful, and stayed up very late for us. Everyone made me feel welcome and at ease, and it was a fantastic way to kick off a few days of shows.

But the very best moment of the night, the most entertaining and pants shittingly funny moment, happened after the show was over and we were just about to leave. I was cleaning up the green room, and when I was about to toss some old chicken wings into the trash … this happened:

If you can’t see the embed, you can probably see the silly video we made right here.

Tonight, we’re in Philadelphia, and then New York on Saturday. We finish up in Boston on Sunday.

William Penn’s Wiener (or: Hello. I am 12 years-old. Again.)

Last night, we stayed in downtown Philadelphia. Our hotel room had a great view of city hall, which is topped by a giant statue of William Penn, holding a proclamation about the city’s commitment to fighting off bears or robots or something.

BUT! When you look at it the right way — like out our hotel window, for instance — it looks like he’s wagging his wiener at New Jersey.

William Penn's Weiner

He was truly a great American.

Marlowe and Riley say OH HAI GUIZE

Seamus went to daycare today, so he could play with dogs his own age (he loves to play with Marlowe, but she’s got that puppy energy and it can be a little exhausting for him).

While he was gone, Marlowe spent most of the day looking at the front door, waiting for him to come home … except for a few moments when I was able to take this picture of her:

Marlowe Wheaton
Do you know where Seamus is?

And, because she was just a few feet away, here’s Riley:

I'm a dog!
I’m a dog!

I’d add a picture of Seamus, who is home now, but he’s so exhausted from playing all day, he’s just a blob on the couch, and I wouldn’t dream of disturbing his beauty sleep.

 

our wiggle waggle walk

“Hey, wake up,” I said, gently shaking Anne’s shoulder. Her iPhone buzzed and chimed on the nightstand beyond her, out of my reach.

“What are you doing?” She mumbled, pulling out one of her earplugs and pushing her eye mask up onto her forehead.

“It’s 630. Your alarm is going off.”

“I didn’t hear it,” she said, the tone of her voice changing as she woke up.

“It was probably your sleep cocoon,” I said as I pushed the covers back and sat on the edge of our bed. On the floor next to me, our dog Riley lifted her head and looked at me. “Good morning, Piles,” I said. She sighed and went back to sleep. On the foot of our bed, Seamus and Marlowe snuggled next to each other. Seamus snored softly. Neither of them moved as we got out of bed.

I walked out into the kitchen and began to make some coffee. “You know what’s going to be awesome?” I said, “the nap I’m going to take in about six hours.”

“Oh yeah, we’re going to take the hell out of a nap,” Anne said.

We made breakfast and drank our coffee, and got ready to take Marlowe down to the Rose Bowl for the Wiggle Waggle Walk.

It was so early, none of the animals quite knew what was going on. After we’d been awake for about a half hour, Marlowe and Seamus came out of our bedroom, looking as confused as dogs can look. “You have no idea what a big day you are about to have,” I said to Marlowe as I pet her wrinkly little head, “you’re a very big deal, you know.”

She wagged her tail before laying down on the living room floor next to Seamus, who was still trying to figure out why we were up so damn early.

“Man, I suck at mornings,” I said to nobody in particular.

Montage: Anne dries her hair, I shower, we put on our shoes, realize we’re wearing almost identical clothes, try to change them, realize that we have a lot of dirty clothes, feed the dogs, put Marlowe in the car, drive to the Rose Bowl, meet up with our friends.

It was an absolutely beautiful morning. The cool, clean air of early autumn wrestled with the lingering heat of summer beneath a brilliantly blue and cloudless sky. Thousands of dogs and their humans excitedly walked around a park, waiting for the official Wiggle Waggle Walk to begin. I saw everything from giant Great Danes and tiny teacup Chihuahuas, and a ton of seriously adorable dogs in costumes. My very favorite was the one dressed up like a taco. Tons of people came over to us, so they could meet Marlowe (she’s pretty popular, thanks to the video I helped her make last year, and she was chosen to be the dog on this year’s T-shirt). She was such a good dog, so excited and happy to meet everyone. (I wished that Seamus and Riley could have been there, but Riley is too old and cranky to make the walk, and Seamus gets overstimulated easily, so Marlowe was the only canine member of Team Wheaton in attendance this year.)

marlowe wheaton is a very good dog

We walked with our friends Pixie and Brady, Mari and William, and Jenna, Bobak, and Rileah. Pixie took all the photos for Anne’s calendar, and she took some really great shots yesterday, too, which was awesome. Jenna got to walk an absolutely adorable shelter dog named Barkley J. Peabody, who we’re all trying to help find his Forever Home — he’s part Ewok, nerds — and how can you say no to this face?! We also walked with our friends Troy and Marie, who brought their rescue dogs Digby and Ziggy. Digby is a PHS alumnus just like Marlowe and Seamus.

By the time we got all the way around the Rose Bowl, the lingering heat of summer had pushed autumn into the shadows of a few trees. We all got to have a beer from Stone Brewing Company (Stone very generously donated beer for the volunteers and some of the fundraisers), and then we went to lunch with all of our friends, where Marlowe made even more new fans.

We walked into the house about 8 hours after we’d left it. Marlowe went directly into our bedroom, hopped up on our bed, and fell asleep. A few minutes later, we joined her … and we took the hell out of a well-earned nap.

sleepy marlowe is sleepy

Yesterday was a very big day for Anne and me, the culmination of months of hard work on her part to make the celebrity pet adoption calendar, and the celebration of the kindness and generosity of a lot of people who made contributions large and small, totaling just over $42,000 to help Team Wheaton help the Pasadena Humane Society.

All I want to do with the time I have is make the world a little better, and you who supported our team and the PHS made it possible for us to do some really good stuff. Thank you, from all of us humans, cats, and dogs in Castle Wheaton, for making this the most amazing Wiggle Waggle Walk we’ve ever had.