Acoustic Showcase @ Milkboy Bryn Mawr

If you're our Myspace fan, you might've already received this bulletin. If not:


Hey there Myspace [edit: blogspot?] friends! Jason and Joe here.


We're simply writing to let you know that we'll be playing an acoustic showcase at Milkboy Bryn Mawr this Thursday (11/6), as well as two following Thursdays on 11/20 and 11/27. We'll be playing some new tunes as well as some familiar ones. Not to mention, the acoustic shows are always special because they're far more conversational and relaxed than our full band shows. Come and hang out with us while listening to some good tunes.


Hope to see you all there!

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MISS VINTAGE
myspace. com/missvintage
SUPPORT LIBERTY IN NORTH KOREA
www. linkglobal. org

Khyber Show is CANCELED

Sorry everybody. Not sure who was gonna make it out tonight with the World Series and all, but some of us in the band are coming down with something. We'll see you next time.

Go Phillies!

Gear Purge

To our guitar-playing friends: I'm trying to sell off some of my gear to clear some funds. If you're interested, click on the link to access the eBay auctions. Thanks.

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/jc4tc_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdoZ

Now on iTunes

Well, we blasted Myspace with a bulletin that went out to our 8000+ supposed electronic friends with this update. But for those that are keeping tabs on us through this blog, just wanted to let you know that "Our Lives Are Not Through Just Yet" is finally available through iTunes for $9.90. Of course, the real fan would want to buy the actual CD, artwork, and lyrics for only $12 off of our website. But hey, no pressure or anything!

Oh, and also, we're playing our first show back in Philadelphia this coming Monday the 27th at The Khyber in Olde City, and we're headlining! We're playing alongside BAD NEWS BEARS, ME AND MY ARROW, and CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS. $8 cover, 21+ to enter. Hope to see you guys there.

[Liberty Blog] I Left My Heart in California

Bittersweet times for us here in Miss Vintage. Tonight we wrapped up the final leg of the thirty-day tour in California. It's now 2:20 am and we're all pretty beat, resting up for our trip back to Philadelphia. But this might be a good time to update our blog and conclude our Liberty Blog series while the memories are still pretty fresh.

Colorado was really fun -- great place with really great people. Got to see our good friend Sarah who generously housed us for an evening. We then made our way west, since our next show was at UCLA, so of course that meant an obligatory stop in Sin City. All of us lost money playing games, mostly hold'em and roulette. Except Colin. Somehow, he lost no money and got two free beers. It's alright, though, life goes on. This is all good practice for our "starving artist" lifestyle, anyway.

All of our California shows were so much fun. It's always a real pleasure getting to come back to our first home. Thanks to our friends in Seriously the band who opened the show for us. These are some of the nicest guys you'll ever meet in the LA area, so definitely give them plenty of love on their Myspace. Also be sure to go support artists like Jennifer Chung and Tetelestai, who are also living this reality with us in their own unique ways. Thanks guys; you made the California leg of the tour unforgettable. And to our new friends and supporters at UCLA, Berkeley, and Irvine - we can't thank you enough. You guys are so wonderful.

It was a pretty sad night as we said goodbye to our LiNK counterpart and our friend Andy. It's pretty unreal to think that the tour's finally over and we now transition with difficulty into our goodbyes. It's not easy, I'll tell you that. And despite the inadequacy of printed word sometimes; to Justin, Kira, Jimin, Esther, Joe, Jane, Rob, and Jenny: do know that we're now departing with the fondest memories of some of the most generous, sincere, passionate, and inspiring people we've ever met in our short lives. We're thrilled that you all are doing something so instrumental in making this world so much more human. Thank you for allowing us to share these past four weeks with you and for inviting us so warmly into your lives. We love you dearly, and can't wait till we get to work together again.

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So what's next? I guess we wait for the numbness to leave our bodies first. Some of us will then fly back, some of us will be driving our equipment back the 3000 miles back to the east coast. There'll be our Philadelphia families waiting for us; all of whom we're really excited to be with again. Some of us will be seeing our girlfriends, someone will be getting married. All of us will be frantically gathering our dollars and cents to pay those worrisome bills that are haunting our mailboxes. We'll all take a few days to gather our thoughts and collect ourselves. It'll be a good time for reflection and regrouping.

And then? That's when the real fun starts. We've got some great songs and ideas that have been brewing in our hearts and minds for the past few weeks, and can't wait to get back into the studio to practice, practice, practice, and record, record, record. Don't dare to start think that with the tour now complete, our band's consequently finished as well. We're all excited to get back to work, and work hard, so that we can continue to share our stories and songs with you in a continued effort to welcome you all into our lives.

We're just getting started.

[Liberty Blog] 40 Days in the Desert

O, the joys of touring. I’m currently sitting in a bug-infested motel room called The Camelot here in Amarillo, TX after watching Jase put down over 50 ounces of sirloin steak at The Big Texan. It’s probably the furthest removed from charming, but it is admittedly nice to have a quiet space to sit back and reflect on what’s been going on the past few days. And if that news about Jase baffled you at all, be sure to ask him for the details. It’s a very amusing and painful story all wrapped up in one.

Was anyone curious when Jase announced the car crash? That was me. Yep. I crashed the van, the trailer, and horribly bent the hitch that connects the two. It gets better: that same day, I watched as my keyboard slipped off of my keyboard stand to smash onto the floor in sparks and smoke. That might’ve been the most difficult moment of the tour for me. I kid you not, I wept (the keyboard is thankfully safe).

The second most difficult moment wasn’t that far behind. In our wonderful crew of bands and nonprofit, it’s safe to say that I’m the most introspective person here. Which is fine. I have no misgivings or holdups concerning my personality; it’s the way the good Lord made me. But it does get kinda lonesome at times when your energy reserve gets depleted and you decide to remove yourself from the crowd to collect your thoughts but find yourself alone. It got pretty hard when I had one of those difficult moments, and there was a war raging inside my skin that was compelling me to think that this specific quality of my personality was case enough to depart from the band or do something intensely irrational. I know, pretty wild, right? But it kicked my ass when I was having that battle during one of our shows and I had to watch as my bandmates got depressed over my lack of stage charisma and concede defeat long before the set was over. I wept, again.

Things are, for the large part, pretty calm now.

But it’s strange.

I’m a pretty spiritual guy. A story that I was taught in my spiritual upbringing was one of how Israel’s patriarch Moses brought the nation of Israel out of Egyptian slavery, but into a harsh forty years of wandering living in the arid desert. What seemed like a forlorn existence on the surface was actually a honeymoon period-of-sorts between God and his chosen people. It was in what was arguably the most difficult time of their lives that God taught them valuable lessons and showcased how much he loved and cared for his chosen people before steering them into the promised land of security and happiness.

Without a hint of drama, I think this tour is my desert.

I left the tour with no job security and with zero dollars in my bank account. What was supposed to be the most romanticized trip of my short life is turning out to be the hardest. I’m trying to figure out how the hell I’m supposed to pay for the damages on the van. I’m learning daily to combat my insecurities and celebrate my personality instead of lamenting it. This was supposed to be the kickass journey of my life, and suddenly I’m finding that my deepest insecurities and struggles are being explored.

Crazy times, huh? What a ride.

It’s interesting. I can’t say that I have everything figured out. There isn’t a happy ending to this story just yet. But here’s to the hope that there is one. The promise land is waiting for me, somewhere. And until then, I’m still with the four guys who I can’t imagine being without while I’m hating life and cursing God.

Hope you guys enjoyed the story. Colorado and California, we can’t wait to share our music and our stories with you.

Tonight, help my unbelief.

[Liberty Blog] UNC/Duke, Harmony Hills Community Church, UVA, and Emory

Hey all, sorry about the late post…it’s been difficult to get online recently not to mention the fact that when we do get some spare time, all we’ve wanted to do is sleep. We’ve been on the road now a little over two weeks, and I think it’s finally starting to take a toll on our bodies. A typical day on tour looks something like this: wake up at 7AM, hit up the nearest Starbucks (we’re getting to the point where we won’t drive unless we have coffee in our bodies), drive for a few hours, stop at some horrible fast food restaurant for lunch (if someone made a documentary on our eating habits for the last two weeks, it would literally give Supersize Me a run for its money), drive for a few more hours, stop for gas (this is also where we stock up on chips, beef jerky, soda, and everything else that will shave a few years off our lives), arrive at the venue, load in and sound check, play, pack up, then head to another horrible fast food restaurant where we celebrate the night’s accomplishments. It’s a pretty repulsive lifestyle if you ask me. In some strange way, though, I don’t know if I’ve ever been happier.

Last week, we had the chance to visit some schools in the South. After our show in North Carolina, Brian had to fly back to Philly for a few days, which meant the next couple shows would be acoustic. And while I love playing with the full band, it’s always nice stripping it down to two acoustics once in a while. People who hear us live often complain that they can’t hear the words to any of our songs…this is always sad for me to hear because I’ve always believed that one of our greatest strengths as a band is our songwriting, not necessarily our noise-making capabilities. Acoustic shows are always fun because we’re able to spend more time talking about the songs and the stories behind them. For the shows at Harmony Hills Community Church and UVA, we decided we wanted to spice up our acoustic set a bit by having Colin play bass and percussion on a few of the songs. We even introduced a new song we just wrote on the road… stay tuned for album #3 ☺

After the UVA show, we drove straight through the night to Atlanta for our show at Emory on Sunday. We were a bit nervous about attendance with the gas shortage there and all, but the show turned out to be a huge success. The turnout was great, and the students there seemed super excited for the cause. A big thank you to Joan, Angela, Hannah, and the rest of our friends at Emory for their southern hospitality…you guys are awesome.

Oh and btw, we crashed the van…but we’re okay. Pics coming shortly.

[Liberty Blog] Maryland

Hey ya’ll.

So we are in the van on the way to UNC Chapel Hill. It’s raining. Gross. We left real early this morning so we’re all a bit tired. Nothing some coffee can’t fix though. I want to say a quick thanks to the kids at UMD College Park. You guys were such a huge help and the whole night was really enjoyable for us. I hope you all had a good time too. I’d like to personally apologize on behalf of our manger Eddo and LiNK’s Justin Wheeler for rapping uncontrollably after the show. I almost just wrote “they aren’t normally like that” but that’s not true at all. They are ALWAYS like that. It’s pretty intense actually.

We got the day off yesterday to hang out in DC. It was great to take a break and catch our breath for a minute. This tour has been pretty tiring so it was nice to just hang out with each other. I wandered a bit by myself and then made my way back to Borders where I found the rest of the guys. Jason and Joe are writing again so they had their notebooks out and were brainstorming away. The rest of us were flipping through magazines, reading, sleeping, just doing nothing for a little while. I made my way to my brother’s apartment and hung out there for the evening. His wifey made us dinner, which was also great. Its sad that I can count the amount of vegetables I’ve had since we left on one hand. Gotta work on that a bit. Seeing family in the middle of tour was a great way to step back and recharge.

I wish I could read in the car. I get super car sick though and that just ruins everything. There is so much down time sitting in this van! It’ll be nice to get away from the east coast soon so at least the scenery is a little different. Anyway, enough of my rambling. We look forward to playing tonight, as always.

More soon,
Colin

PS. This is my first post since we started this blog. Its actually kind of fun. Maybe I will write more. I’ll try to think of some good stories for all. Seacrest out.