Well I just got back from my hometown of Houston, Texas where I saw our heros play at Number Night Club! And guess what I met all three of the guys and got to talk to them for a while...but I"m getting ahead of myself... There I was sitting in Philosphy at 4:45 itching to get out since we had a 3 hour drive ahead of us to Houston. Finally Mr. Professor man sends us off and I sprint across campus into the waiting getaway car...(my twin brother...infront of our dorm). Lucky for us we had about the worst rainstorm we've had in months between the Houston and Austin area so the drive was just wonderful. The plan was to meet my mom at the venue (she had my tickets...and we were late) but we ended up behind her on the freeway so we're honking and yelling for her to pull over so we can get our tickets. Alright so then we finally make it to the club...the doors haven't opened yet but there's a huge line and crowd of people in front...we get in and are confined to the second row...*&%$. Opening band Remy Zero was not to bad at all...really good songs and well played guitars...the singer interacted well with the crowd. And then our boys came out...and delivered an amazing set...highlights were Delicious...Dan was acting silly during the woo hoos and playing with the crowd...and everyone just really responded. He said afterwords..."That was pretty f***ing good", and If I Run was great. That man can sure swing those hips...They played these songs FNT, SIMS, Never You Mind, DND, two cover songs which I was not familiar with, If I Run, Completely Pleased, She's Got it All Worked Out, In Another Life, Delicious, Closing Time, Secret Smile and the Encore was suppose to be California, and This Will Be My Year but someone was yelling out Temptation so they played that instead of California... Ok fast forward to the end of the show...we go to the back door of the venue where the buses are and we wait...and wait...and wait...Actually now where quite chummy with the Security guards (Turns out one of the guys had worked an Oasis show last year and we have him in 30 of our pictures of that concert so he's pretty much a part of the family.) We also met a couple of really great fans...(hard to find in Houston for some reason...) so time well spent...but I'm thristy and I haven't eaten in 9 hours...so I tell my bro that I'm gonna run down the street and get some drinks...I'll be right back.....(10 minutes later) I come back to the backdoor and nobody is there....I can't understand what happended and then suddenly I hear people talking over behind the buses...so I run over there and my brother and two other cool guys we met inform me that I just missed Jake....apparently they had a great conversation with him...a bit upset I yelled an explitive and then vainly yelled at the bus something to the effect of "Jake I love you"...(I am a guy) and then we all heard some kind of response to that....not sure what though...10 minutes later John emerges from back stage...just hanging around drinking some water...we all (4 people) run up to him and exchange some pleasant conversation and he signed our ticket stubs...(Jake had also done this) I told him that I was gonna see them again in Austin and informing him I had class in about 6 hours but I had driven 3 hours here to see them...he was just really nice. And so when it was time for the pleasantries to end we asked John about Dan and he told us he was online and it could take awhile. At this point things get so weird because Jake gets off the bus and is walking back and forth carrying boxes and John is kinda doing some stuff and we're all just standing there while these guys who we love are just doing all these kinda mundane tasks and we're just staring at them...scared where gonna wear out our welcome...It was just weird. Finally Dan (sharpie in hand)...my hero, my man, comes strolling out...I almost flipped out...He made a comment about everytime he leaves a room someone hands him a sharpie. We told him they had a great set and talked about how silly he was during Delicious...he replayed his earlier manuerisms and we laughed. Then we asked him about Secret Smile...he said they were halfway done doing it...the concept is like Dan is taping him wife in a room and they're just fooling around and then suddenly somebody comes in and starts taping them...so they run away and then somebody tapes all that or something...sounds trippy...I asked him about possible next singles and he said it'd either be DND or Never You Mind...as most of you know DND is his favorite and he said something about NYM being unlike anything else on the radio so it's less likely that will be released. My brother made a crack to Dan about how I had driven our whole house crazy figuring out Never You Mind...and he said "so did you get it!" and I was happy to say yes. And then it was time to say good bye...what a night...as we walked off we said goodbye to our new friends and yelled one more farewell to Jake...(I told him I couldn't wait to read another Road Diary). I finally get home...fool around on the this little 1/2 size guitar (the only one I have in Houston) and eat and then lay in bed for 2 hours trying to get to sleep but just being to excited. Of course I had to get up 2 hours later to get up and drive back to Austin for class this morning...so now I'm dead beat and writing to all my Semisonic friends and looking forward to seeing the guys again on Saturday...if I get the same oppurtunity I will have to bring a CAMERA!!!

Marwan