[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.

[Liberty Blog] Cornell and NYU

Just spent the last few days in New York (yes, Ithaca is in New York), and needless to say, New Yorkers know how to put on a good show. Like I mentioned in the last post, we spent the weekend with my brother at Cornell, and the show there was ridiculously insane for lack of a better phrase. The organization and planning were impeccable, and the setup was amazing. Big big big shoutouts go out to everyone on the Cornell NK Focus core team who apparently did nothing the entire summer but plan this event. The show was a huge morale boost for all of us and really raised the bar for every other campus on this tour (no pressure, but they gave us our own green room with individualized care packages! but seriously…no pressure)

Our next stop was the Big Apple, a place that’s a bit more familiar and always fun for us to play. Our friends from NYU sponsored the event, but the show itself was at Sullivan Hall (formerly known as the Lion’s Den), a bar/club we’ve played a few times in the past. Our friends from a local band, Bearsomy (pronounced Bears O My), opened the night with some songs off their soon to be recorded EP (I made that up, but they really should record an EP). They’ll be booking shows in the area soon, so if you haven’t heard them yet, definitely check them out when you get the chance. It was great to play for a packed house, and it’s always good to see our friends in the city. We say this every time we’re there, but there’s something really great about playing music in New York. There’s just this unexplainable vibe there that’s hard to find anywhere else (then again, our frame of reference is pretty limited). Thanks again to NYU for putting on a great show as always. We’ll definitely be back soon.

Looks like this concludes the Northeast leg of the tour…hello to the dirty South! (Colin forced me to write that)

[Liberty Blog] Middlebury

Hey all! We're now wrapping up our first full week on the road...I think the long drives are already starting to take a toll on our bodies, but it's been great getting to know Andy, Liam, and the entire LINK crew. More and more, I think there's a growing sense of solidarity among all of us that really makes every show that much better. We spent most of yesterday driving up to Vermont to play a show at Middlebury College. It's a really beautiful campus located pretty much in the middle of nowhere (no offense)...if you are ever in the Vermont area and are looking for a place to get free food, definitely check out the dining halls at Middlebury...the food is amazing. Other than stealing from school cafeterias, we've resorted to eating PB&J pretty much every meal unless our manager eddo decides we deserve something a little more luxurious. Big shoutouts go out to Jamie and Susan at Middlebury for organizing a great show...and for Sarah, we expect to see you in a few days at our show in Chapel Hill. It would've been great to stay in Vermont another day, but the team decided it would be better to drive through the night and get to our next destination, Cornell University. We spent most of today checking out the campus and gearing up for tomorrow night's show which looks to be pretty amazing...as much as I hate to admit it sometimes, my brother is pretty much the man when it comes to organizing events like this. More to come after the show...we'll see everyone at Duffield Hall at 7 PM tomorrow night.

[Liberty Blog] ... aaand Back to Philly

Hey friends. We had a pretty cool first few days -- starting off at Penn, then heading over to Boston to play for the BU crowd, then going back down to Philly to play for our new friends at Villanova. Turns out the Gordon College show was regretfully canceled, so we took a day off to rest up in Philly before we headed out for Vermont tomorrow.

The LiNK folks and Andy had a good time with Jase in the city exploring South Street. I wish I had pictures for you, but I ended up spending my free day running errands around town. In any case, we're all rested and pretty stoked to play for Middlebury and Cornell this weekend. Those two shows should be a lot of fun.

Thanks for continuing to check in. Jase is taking some pretty funny video footage, so we'll try to get those up for you guys soon too. By the way, our Myspace is finally up-to-date with all the show information. Check it out; we also made it easier on the eyes with a more streamlined layout to make it seem more like a digital press kit.

[Liberty Blog] Philadelphia

On Repeat:

• Coldplay "Viva La Vida"
• Arcade Fire "Neon Bible"

Liberty Live began in full swing tonight at our home base. It's great to finally see the several weeks of planning and labor amount to something exciting and real. All of us are pretty stoked about the 23-city tour we have planned.

We finally met Andy Grammer, singer-songwriter from Los Angeles with great music and personality. He's here with his videographer Liam, and they're both really great guys. It's a lot of fun talking to these guys over a range of topics like the music scene in LA and the Ba'hai faith. We're thrilled to be working with these guys for the next few weeks.

In any case, we played a great first show to our friends at the University of Pennsylvania. We started off the night with "The Roadie" and played some classics like "Thirty Years." Lots of fun. And we're all pretty beat now and spending the night at Brian's place before we head out to Boston tomorrow morning. That's going to be one crazy trip. Lots of photos to come, I'm sure.

It'd be great to see you guys when/if we pass through your city. Come and listen to some fun tunes from Andy and our band, but also come to get a healthy reality check concerning the situation in North Korea from LiNK and the flagrantly offensive human rights abuses that are happening under the radar over there. It's a shocking discovery for those of us that don't know much about it, but there's no better time than now to be learning about the situation and finding ways that we can all be involved for the sake of a happier tomorrow for our North Korean friends.

We'll see you tomorrow night, Boston University. I promise there will be more pictures as the days go on. Stay tuned.

This might be the coolest thing I've seen in a long while. And strangely enough, one of the most touching things I've seen in a long while, too.





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The Last CD Release Party

This weekend marks the end of the whole series of CD release concerts we've done around the Philadelphia area to celebrate our sophomore album with our friends and families. Thank you to all who've come out with your vigorous support.

Now we rest and we pray. In just a week from today, the Liberty Live tour commences.

We'll see you in a week, University of Pennsylvania!

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