Frontalot Tour Diary: Pax Prime 2010, pt. 2

I admit it: I failed to live up to my promise.  There was no tour diary entry yesterday.  That said, there is a good reason: I’ve been having a @#&% blast!  I decided to have my cake and jump out of it too on Friday night by watching the Protomen tear down the hall with their theatrics and then taking a cab to see my pals On The Tundra play the Mars Bar.  Did you know that OTT has a new album coming out?   It is called Echolalia and it will be available soon.  I have a copy, and I can verify that it slays demons with its awesomeness.  I can also verify that what they call “mac & cheese” at the Mars Bar is actually an amazing penne with mozzarella, some other fantastic cheeses and cayenne pepper.  Holy smoking Jeebus it was good.  I needed it, too, as the turkey rolls had run out many hours prior.

Afterwards I headed back to the hall to catch a bit of the Minibosses and hang in the green room with Commander from the Protomen, who seemed utterly unimpressed with the kickstand on my Evo 4g.  What does it take, Commander?  I mean, it stands up on its own!  Alas.  We agreed to disagree.  I headed back to the hotel and made it an early night since sound check was the next morning at the ungodly hour of 8:45am.  After getting our levels set, the Sturgenius and I wandered around the expo hall, looking for fun.  Sturg found it at the Logitech booth where he races the minutes away in an outrageously expensive driving simulator.  I failed to find it at the PowerGig booth.  What kind of rock and roll game has drum sticks that you can’t bang together without fear of breaking them?  LAME.

Then it was back to the hotel for a nap and a swim, followed by a late lunch, followed by a trip back to the hotel to get dressed for the gig, followed (are you sensing a trend here?) by a trip through the Artist’s Entrance at Benaroya to our dressing room, where we waited for the show to start.  There is something simultaneously nerve-wracking and euphoric about hearing 2,500 screaming audience members from backstage.  The show was packed to the hilt.  We started it off with the world premiere of Front’s new video for “Spoiler Alert” and then rushed the stage to deliver 45 minutes of nerdcore sweetness.

Highlights of the show included appearances by special guests Beefy and Rai Kamishiro, along with a walk-on cameo by fan and freelance writer Jamie Gower, who played a butler delivering Front a fancy new phone during the intro to “First World Problem.”  I also used that song to plug my Kickstarter project, to a mixed reaction from the crowd.  Too soon! Oh well.  I’m sure I more than made up for it by using my auto-tune pedal to rock the “Double Rainbow” song at the end of “Diseases of Yore” with JoCo and Paul & Storm singing backup.  It was epic, as was our percussion-laden exit into the lobby during the “Yellow Lasers” finale.  Hopefully some of this will end up on YouTube.

With my responsibilities performed and behind me, I headed up to the lobby to procure some liquid courage and made a long, twisty beeline to Wil Wheaton in order to ask him a burning question: what is Gates McFadden like?  Motherly, apparently.  He also added, without prompting, that people used to ask him if he wanted to, uh, get all Oedipal with her during the TNG days.  He did not, if you were wondering.  That’s the sort of classy guy Wil is.  Before I could follow up on that comment I was whisked away to watch JoCo perform with his new band and then to a party thrown by our good friends the Enforcers, who always treat us way better than we deserve.  We were joined by protomasters Reanimator and K.I.L.R.O.Y. along with Kirby from Metroid Metal, all of whom know how to have a good time.  I don’t, apparently, because I left at about 3am to go to bed.  At 5:30am the party moved to my room and I was transferred to another room where no partying was allowed.  Harumph!

Today has been predictably fuzzy and full of noteworthy conversations like “Yo man.” and “What’s up.” and “My head hurts.”  Of note was an appearance by the girls of GameCrush.com, who are sort of like on-line gaming escorts.  As in, you pay to play games against them online while video chatting.  WEIRD.  I mean, just look at the model who gave me her card.  Otherwise, the day is like all other end-of-con days, replete with pattings-on-back and promises to keep in touch and so on and so forth.  All in all it has been a fantastic experience and I look forward to doing it again at PAX East this spring.  Fear not, though: more tour diary entries are on their way in less than two weeks!  We’re playing KOLCon 7 and Fantastic Fest in Austin before embarking on a tour of the northeast in late September.  Stay tuned for details!