Alaska, the last frontier!

Wow, the scenery is beautiful here. One minute I'm surfing on the coast of California, and the next I'm struggling to keep warm deep in mountains of the Alaskan wilderness. It's roughly 20 degrees or so, but the wind makes it almost unbearable. None of the seven of us have ever had the chance to come to Alaska, and it's such a privilege to be able to travel to such an extreme doing what we love. We flew from L.A. to Anchorage, Alaska where we had the opportunity to play a concert at University of Alaska.
I've always loved the great outdoors and this has made our fall tour such an incredible experience. We learned so much about the state (which, really, doesn't feel at all like it is part of the U.S...) and couldn't be more thankful for the experience. One morning we took off for a radio interview to promote the concert before heading off on a journey to see what we could find in the mountains. Just the drive in itself was breath taking. The snow capped mountains surrounded us as we drove along an inlet shore taking pictures while keeping an eye out for bear and other animals. Although we did see a spout from a surfacing whale, we didn't come across any other wildlife until we stopped at a wildlife conservation center. The conservation area is there to help rehabilitate wild animals and young orphaned animals that wouldn't have a chance in the wild without some help from people. For us, it was a great way to get up close and see some incredible wildlife in it's natural environment with the short time we had in Alaska. We saw brown bears, bison, elk, musk ox, caribou and even fed a baby moose. (Not a good idea to try in the wild....) I wish we had more time to hangout in Alaska, and it was a great adventure for all of us.
We enjoyed some great food and company at a few local restaurants and had caribou burgers, elk burgers, Alaskan black halibut tacos, and other interesting foods that none of us had really tried before. This morning I set out from our hotel in the city to find a cup of coffee and came across several people going into a big conference center. Inside was a huge room just jam packed with people and natives who were selling crafts, jewelry, animal furs, photos, salmon jerky and all kinds of interesting things. Just walking through the isles was a culture lesson in itself. Hunting seals, whales, and other animals is just a way of life for these people, and I'm just amazed at how they can survive such harsh environments. My ears are still cold after writing this, and I'm ready to fly back to L.A. and be in the sun once again!

On the road again!

Wow, it has been way too long since I've done an update! Where do I even start? I had a great summer exploring Michigan and hanging out with Alecia and her family. I did alot of fishing, probably more than a person should spend time doing.. and preparing for the fall tour. We spent 3 insane weeks recording a 5 track album that is just about finished!! The next step is to get them printed and ready to sell. I've been on the road since about Sept. 2nd, and it already feels long! I'm really excited to play our show in my hometown, and see many friends that I haven't seen in more than a year. I'm also excited to go home this Christmas with Alecia! We got our tickets all lined up, and the next step is to wait patiently until the day we fly into Portland.

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Tonight is the first night with our full crew. 4 AG guys, 1 tour manager + opening act, and 2 roadies. It's a little tight space wise, but the RV makes it easy. I sat on the bed in the back reading my new fishing book for an hour or so before falling asleep to the gentle vibration of the road and the roar of passing semi-trucks. We had a late start, thanks to some last minute plumbing repairs, but we are finally on our way! This will be the longest stint of our tour so far, and a fun one! We'll be travelling East, hitting several colleges along the coast. Well, the hot tub looked inviting as I came in after lunch... I think it's time for me to go fulfill my duties of this life as a rockstar and relax in the jacuzzi. Bye for now!

THANKS MICHIGAN WEATHER. No really, I'm not being sarcastic...

On my walk home today, some kid yelled something at me through his screen door, but I couldn't make it out. "What did you say??" I shouted back at him, missing his comment the first time. "I said.. You better run dude, you're going to drown." See, what he didn't know was that I had already been running about five blocks back, but gave up quickly after becoming completely drenched to the bone in about a minute's time. I was slipping around in my flip flops as I trudged on through the pouring rain to my house. When I left this morning, I had sweat dripping off my forehead and could hardly keep my eyes open in the glare of the sun. It was turning out to look like another nice day in Holland, a perfect day for a walk downtown. However, it was unusually humid and sticky, a classic sign of a mid-west storm brewing. I should have seen it coming. It's not the first time Michigan weather has snuck up on me, and I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever learn my lesson. When I left Lemonjellos to head home, the wind picked up and the sky turned an uncomfortable color. My world was getting darker by the second, as if dusk was creeping in somehow. The trees seemed to panic and thrash in torment as the wind ripped through the leaves. I began to hear sirens and it only took a few large drops to realize the chaos was ready to begin its duties. I stood in an inch of water on my back porch while I watched the lightning come down from the sky all around me. I thought about lying out on the hammock in the rain to watch the storm, being that I was already soaked. And then I thought again. The trees looked like they were fighting for all they're worth just to keep from blowing over in the storm. And I couldn't afford to get squashed by an enormous tree trunk, I've got an exciting weekend coming up.

On Sunday we had a battle of the bands competition in Muskegon Michigan. Needless to say, we rocked some serious face and got 1st place in the event. The winners get to share a spot on the mainstage this Saturday, and we'll be opening for one of my favorite bands of all time. Switchfoot. I remember watching them when I was in 7th grade at this middle school ski retreat at Mount Hoodoo. My buddy Jordan and I thought to ourselves, "Man, that must be so cool.. If only I was in a band like Switchfoot.." Later that day, I remember sharing the excitement with Jordan as we watched one of the dudes from the band make his way to our lift line and ask if there was room for him to ride up with us. If there wasn't room, we would have made room. We were sitting and talking with a real-life rockstar and there was no where for him to escape until we got off at the top. This was it. Our chance to tell him about our own band. Well, we didn't actually have a band yet.. and Jordan hadn't actually gotten that electric guitar from his parents quite yet.. But I'm sure we impressed our rocker friend by sharing all about our future-nameless rock group based out of Salem Oregon. It was just another moment that fanned the flame of passion I've got burning deep inside to live out my dream of becoming a successful musician. It's in my blood, it's in my soul. We'll see what happens next! Is that sun I see peeking through the shades?

Catching up

Where do I even start? This week has been absolutely insane. A few days ago, Jon and I were on our way to the practice space to get ready for our first concert of the summer. We spoke loud, trying to hear each other over the roar of my car which was gifted to me. "The Taurus-Saurus" is what we named it, naturally. It was a 4 door turquois Ford Taurus with a trailer hitch on the back end. I never had to tell people when I was arriving at their house because the car sounded like an army vehicle and they could hear me coming half a mile away. You would think it was maybe a dump truck, an old school bus maybe, or some kind of prehistoric dinosaur, but no.. It was just me. Notice how I'm describing it in the past tense?? Let me tell you the story..

So on our way to the practice area, something close to my feet exploded, ripping the front left tire and sending us to the shoulder of the road. We had no idea what happened, just that it was very loud and my tire was gone. We put the spare on and took it across the road to a nearby farm. Appearently, the farmers heard the explosion from the field they were working in and were laughing at the site of my beloved Taurus. Later that evening we came back to the farm to pick up the vehicle, and on my way out I managed to get stuck on some train tracks while pulling out of farmer Joe's property. We called 911 to stop the trains, because there was no way I could get off the sliding rocks. Thankfully, farmer Joe was able to attatch some chains to my trailer hitch and pull me to safety with his truck. The Taurus Saurus now rests in peace at the scrap yard.

All that to say, I got a new car! A Mazda Millenia, in very good condition. It's strange though, I'm not used to driving by people without getting strange looks. And I don't have to worry about setting off car alarms with the growl of my engine, or getting stopped by police because they couldn't hear their calls coming in. I don't have to hold my rear view mirror to keep it from vibrating to see behind me, and I never have to worry about my doors randomly opening while I'm driving. I can actually listen to the radio at a reasonable volume, even when I'm accelerating.

The same night the Taurus kicked the bucket, we had a fun adventure at the house. Earlier that week, Jon and Necia spotted a bat flying around in the house. They took after it with a couple of tennis raquets, but it managed to sneak away somewhere. On my way to my room in the basement, I found the bat. Or, I guess it found me. As soon as I turned on the light, it swooped up the stairs right at my face. I freaked out a bit, and it flew at me again. The adrenaline was pumping as Jon and I crept down the stairs with tennis raquets protecting our faces. It swooped around as I took a few swings. It was too fast. I noticed it would land on the wall from time to time, but it wouldn't let us get close enough to wack it. So I went to my little friend under the bed in my room, a fully automatic airsoft assault rifle. I came out of my room wearing my camo safety glasses, locked and loaded to defeat the monster that terrified the Ornee household. Jon was doubting the stregnth of the bbs, but if anything, I thought it would be fun. I found the bat clingling to the wall above the laundry table, and got down on my knee to take a shot. My first shot dropped him on the table where he lay motionless.

This week on Wednesday I explored around in Grand Haven, a very popular area of West Michigan. I walked a mile trail with my new found lady friend, Alecia and wound up at some dunes along the shore of Lake Michigan. We got there just in time for the sun to go down, and it reminded me of the Oregon coast where I've spent so much time over the summers riding the waves and exploring beaches. The trail went up and down hills through dense deciduous forest, leading to an amazing lookout and an army of stairs that led down to the sandy beaches. This whole Michigan adventure has been eye opening, and I can't wait to explore more places like this in the midwest.

Summer Time

Yea.. summer time, where is it? I've at least been pretending it's summer.. I spent most of last week on the river, fishing and enjoying the short bursts of sunlight that poke through the clouds. It's been a nice vacation from the demands of life on the road, but we're very excited to kick in gear for the fall! The video footage from our home show in Holland is up and ready at agsilver.com/cleanwater. Check out our plans for raising money this fall for thousands of Africans who are deprived of clean water. If you are moved by the video and would like to help in some way, shoot us an e-mail! Or if you are just bored and want to say hi, send it our way! The best thing you could do to help us prepare for the fall would be to send this video to as many of your friends as possible, the more the better!

Check out the video, show you're friends, and get excited for the release of our new EP this fall!AG Silver Clean Water For Africa Tour '08!http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vYWdzaWx2ZXIuY29tL2NsZWFud2F0ZXI=

La Crosse, WI

I'm sitting in this cozy little coffee shop in downtown La Crosse, one of my favorite cities so far in WI. It's been a great couple of days, and we've met all kinds of interesting people. We had a show two nights ago at a venue called "Crossfire." The whole place has been remodeled and turned into a positive place for troubled youth. The owner, Joe, had a rough start to life and began dealing drugs and eventually was arrested. When he got out of prison, he decided it was time to start over and became a Christian at some sort of conference. He started his own business that became very successful, but something was still missing. He started the non-profit teen center and it is very clear that it is making a difference for several youth in the area. The concert was great, and they want us to come back! Tomorrow we'll have another show, and I'll be venturing into Kansas for the first time.. The guys and I had a convo last night about recording songs in the summer, I can't wait! I've had so many song ideas stirring in my mind, and I can't wait to write them out and tweak them into perfection. Here's a song I recently wrote about how you can have happiness, but it's nothing if you have no one to share it with.

I still remember what you told me
The day that I fell into my dreams
You told me that this love would last forever
It brought me back
To
Life

When you're standing here with me
It feels like there is nothing
That I couldn't do
I know the seasons change
But I'll never let it rain

I know a story of a boy who
Gave all he had to live his dream
Though nothing in the world could change his feelings
He needed someone
To
Love

When you're standing here with me
It feels like there is nothing

That I couldn't do

I know the seasons change

But I'll never let it rain Someday

Somehow
We'll make it there
We'll make it there

Don't you think it's time

To live your life
It's just passing by
You should follow through
See your dreams come true
Like there's nothing left to lose

Sleep? Please?

Jon: "Alright Aakon, what do you think? Should I give it a roll, or throw it high?" Aaron: "Definately roll it.. Cause if it comes down hard and fast in a mole hole you're screwed."

That was an exchange between me and Jon during a very intense game of bocci ball. It was the Jon and Awesome, shoot.. I mean, Jon and Aaron team vs. Chris and Craig team. We had a relaxed day of traveling mixed with some frisbee and bocci ball, followed by a very intense night. After playing a show in Rochester MN, we had to pack up and be on the road by 10pm to make to our next destination 4 and a half hours away. Not a big deal right? Since we're usually up till 3am anyways.. Well that next morning we had to be at Dordt College by 9am to set for Chapel. It ended up going really well though, and we had a great time! Although the atmosphere was a bit.. putrid smelling at Dordt, but the actual school was one of the coolest we had been to yet! They had a bowling alley and we bowled several games for FREE!! And no joke, I bowled a 223 somehow. Anyways, We've got another show tonight at 8pm at Morningside college, we'll see you there!

Love, Aaron

AG Silver -- Live at the Park Theater