Last show of the tour - Los Angeles, CA - Cat Club

Our tour has ended. After 89 days of rehearsals, photo shoots, gigs, tv appearances, all night drives, hotels, celebrity meetings, sabbaths, reunions, blogs and tweets, the end is here. . This experience has been invaluable to me as a musician and a person, and I will use this summer as a reference for a long time I think.

Last night we played at the Cat Club on the Sunset Strip in LA for the 'Sunset Strip Music Festival'. The gig was a great last show. Great crowd participation, cool little club. The Cat Club's owner, Stray Cats drummer 'Slim Jim somebody', looks like a skinnier Fonz decked out in rockabilly gear; leopard print suede shoes, flaming pink shirt, black tux jacket and hair that was combed back only on the sides. He greeted us as we loaded our gear into the club and even held the door for us. Seeing him hold the door for us was kind of a celebrity moment. He had played drums alongside Lemmy (of Mötorhead) and a guitarist in a blues set during the previous night's entertainment.

The kickoff the night before was really to honor Slash (guitarist in Guns n' Roses/ guy who always wears sunglasses and a top hat) who was this year's special guest. The city of West Hollywood elected to make August 26th 'Slash Day'. They had it at the House of Blues and was pretty much insane. I met childhood idols Traa and Sonny of the band P.O.D., a band I listened to on repeat for two or three very important years in my development. And I saw from afar Nikki Stikks of Motley Crüe and the guitarist of Alice in Chains. There were tons of people there, I have no idea who could've been there and I just didn't notice.

Getting back to the show, knowing that it was the last time I was playing with the guys for a while made the set move slower. I savored it. Tried to make it really, really good. Over the summer we've figured out the exact spot where Taylor liked to lay back on the beat, where Dave and I would have a moment, where Blake and I would do a lick at the same time. Getting that close with a group of guys was really cool. I'd never had the opportunity to spend that much time learning a group of people musically like that.

This summer was fun, but I think I'm ready now for a break and then some time in one city for a while. I've got some things to tie up in Kansas City while I'm there, and then I'll pretty much be ready to head down to Austin. More to come,

Jon