"we all walk the long road..."

Greetings, and welcome to my second official blog! Whereas Attend the Tale of Stephen Johns was designed as a general forum my ramblings on any number of topics, Touring Steve 2005 has a much more specific purpose: to document my life from September 8-19, 2005, during which time I'll be chasing Pearl Jam around the province of Ontario (with Montreal thrown in for good measure). The trip is still more than three months away, yet already the anticipation has me on tenterhooks. Check out this itinerary:

• Sept. 8: Toronto-Thunder Bay
• Sept. 9: Thunder Bay; Pearl Jam at the Fort William Gardens
• Sept. 10: Thunder Bay-Toronto
• Sept. 11: Toronto-Kitchener-Toronto; Pearl Jam at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium
• Sept. 12: Toronto-London-Toronto; Pearl Jam at the John Labatt Centre
• Sept. 13: Toronto-Hamilton-Toronto; Pearl Jam at Copps Coliseum
• Sept. 14: Toronto; Toronto Blue Jays vs. Boston Red Sox
• Sept. 15: Toronto-Montreal; Pearl Jam at the Bell Centre
• Sept. 16: Montreal-Ottawa; Pearl Jam at the Corel Centre
• Sept. 17: Ottawa-Toronto; U2 at the Air Canada Centre
• Sept. 18: Toronto; Toronto Blue Jays vs. New York Yankees
• Sept. 19: Toronto; Pearl Jam at the Air Canada Centre

Like I said: I'm on tenterhooks. The details are slowly falling into place; I got my official ticket confirmations earlier this week, I've booked flights to and from Northwestern Ontario, I've found places to crash in the cities where I'll be staying overnight...the organization will be nothing if not meticulous. I'll sure I'll have about a zillion things to write about in the weeks and months ahead; when the actual tour commences, I'll be using this blog to post reviews, setlists, pictures--the works. For the time being, I'll confine any tour-related news to this blog; I wouldn't want to bore you with the details, and I'm not exactly keen to show you just how insane I actually am when it comes to Pearl Jam. When I do update, however, I'll be sure to make note of it on my other site; that way, those who love me unconditionally can have a peek. For the time being, there are only 102 days until I walk the long road (or fly it, as it were) up to Thunder Bay for the first of seven shows.

(By the way, I'll also be experimenting with the setup for this page in the next few days, so if it looks unprofessional my apologies. Also, the name is a blatant reference to Pearl Jam's 2000 DVD, Touring Band 2000...and you thought I wasn't a geek!)