Video Games Live

Next time someone sees him they should tell him GFF is back up.

I regret not being able to go to the San Fransisco concert this month. I really wanted to go and check it out but my boss is off on that Friday so I have to stay late and cover for her. Plus all my friends who would want to go work as well. But I'm sure there will be another day in the future we can go. Or maybe another concert in this area of CA in the future (like San Jose or something).

Most amazing jew boots

Ok, so I just ordered tickets for the October 9th show in Birmingham. I swear, this is why I can never have more than just my paycheck in the bank at any given time.

Most amazing jew boots

I just went to the Milwaukee show and it was so awesome (although there was a technical glitch at the beginning ). I was so moved by Martin Leung's Final Fantasy piano arrange. I got to meet with the staff after the show, and Tommy asked me which part was my most favorite part, so I said Halo, but he said he thought I was going to say Final Fantasy. Man, he has good eyes seeing through people.

I also want to mention that Tommy's brother, Mike Tallarico is so awesome too, so be sure to talk to him when you go to the show. I asked him which of them is older, and he got upset (jokingly)... LOL (sorry Mike )

Anyway, I'm just dropping by to say that I totally recommend going to the show, and I tell you, DO NOT watch those YouTube VGL videos, because it will spoil your show so bad.

Hey, I told Tommy that the GFF is up again, so hopefully he'll come back here soon.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Miles

I regret not being able to go to the San Fransisco concert this month. I really wanted to go and check it out but my boss is off on that Friday so I have to stay late and cover for her.

It was a great show, but I think you'll be able to catch most of the new segments at other shows as well. I talked briefly about the new stuff here:

GDC08: Video Games Live.

It was awesome to finally hear Metroid live. The visuals selected were perfect. I know Tommy had been putting a lot into the segment, and it's great to finally see the result.

The best thing about the GDC shows are the meet and greets though, because they drag everyone in from the conference. I recommend VGL because it's so much fun, but even more so if it's around any sort of industry event, because that's when everyone is gathered in one place!

Most amazing jew boots

Winnipeg Concert was great last night =o Skills and I had a complete nerdgasm the whole night!

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The New York show was awesome two months ago.

As far as Metroid goes...

YouTube Video

I recorded some footage from the show. I got a couple more videos up on my page if you wanna watch them.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I saw it in buffalo and it was pretty awesome. They did one insane version of one winged angel and Tommy even got the local orchestra to headbang to a few parts. Not to mention they let a local vgm cover band play and I found a new favorite band

In case anyone wants to check them out MySpace.com - ARMCANNON (album available for purchase now!) - BUFFALO, New York - Progressive / Metal / Glam - www.myspace.com/armcannon

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Turbo

Alright. The man himself asked for it, and so I shall report. Here comes my review of Video Games Live, when they were here for two days this month. (7th, and 8th)


It started with a nice medley of all your classic games. From Pong, to frogger, joust, galaga, centipede and even dig-dug. All played in tune to the big projection screen showing footage from each game. Fast Forward.. Solid Snake surprises us by introducing Tommy. Tommy comes out, talks a little about VGL, the 'world''s thoughts on game music in general and how it's now starting to be noticed and considered as real music; not just 'bleeps and bloops from a game'. Onwards, Metal Gear Solid theme, your good 'ol Mario, Zelda, and even sonic had their music played. Civilization, WoW, Starcraft 2, Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy (was there any doubt?) Beyond Good and Evil (as a tribute to our local Ubi-Soft devs) Graet preformance, great selection (except for no castlevania )

In between a couple of songs, contests were held. The first being one guy was picked to play Galaga and beat the first stage in two minutes. Sounds easy ne? Not so, when as you were on stage, you had to run left and right to control the ship. You were being tracked. Hilarity. He couldn't get it. What was funnier was the player was french and had to use a translator to talk to Tommy.

Contest two, was a game of frogger between two randomly selected people. Highest score wins in 2 mins. (Frederic and Frederic. What were the chances of that :P) Frederic won, got a nice prize. The looser got frogger.

Intermission. (which in itself was great. I finally found a use for pictochat. So many DS's)

Act 2. More music. Tommy brought out Michael Salvatori (Halo music composer) and he spoke about how lots of people thought that the chanting you hear in the main theme were monks.. Wrong. It was M.Salvatori himself, along with a few other street performers. Halo music was played. (Didn't know Tommy played Guitar. That was rad!) Fast Forward some more.

Special Guest was introduced. The Video Game Pianist He played a really kick-ass Medley from Final Fantasy. Then graced us with some blindfolded mario.

2 hours later.. Best part.
Tommy: "So, usually when it comes time for the last song, in a normal concert, people would pull out their lighters and wave them around. But we're all gamers here. Lets see those DS's and PSP's! If they boot up quick enough!"

All those backlights sure lit up the theater. It was pretty neat. End song was of course One Winged Angel. More guitar playing by Tommy. And with that, the show ended.

Afterwards, the meet and greet. Bought a T-shirt. Got it signed by M.Salvatori, Leung, and Tommy. Heh, told him I was from here. He remembered me. We spoke for a bit, snapped a picture (Which is crazy lol. my expression is priceless) and then I left.

What a crazy fun night that was. It surpassed my expectations a hundred fold, and I do urge anyone that gets the chance to go, to go. Don't wait for the last moment to get tickets. Get them ASAP. It'll surely be a night you'll remember for a long time. (And say you're from GFF too :P)

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Haven't been on this thread for long time. Thought the forum was closed down again.

Lots to catching up to do. Sorry for the multiple posts.

T.T.

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Yo Turbo!,

Thanks so much for the kind words. Next time we're in Montreal I PROMISE to play Castlevania!!



T.T.

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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Turbo

Yeah. He opened the cd case. Pulled out like 3 books. one advent rising, one other one. and poked martin to look at his crazy looks back then. saying that it was his first album, and *the first* Video game music album ever. haha, it was you. That's awesome. You should've said you were from GFF too. He wanted us to.

I remember that!!



T.T.

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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Josiah

I'd be interested in coming to check this out if VGL comes to Philly this year. (I see it on the list of places for 2008, but everything else about it is still TBA.)

I've been skimming through so maybe you have an answer for this already and I just don't know it, Tommy: seeing as how Zelda music has been featured, has any consideration been given for having a go at Star Fox music? The original has some wonderful stuff, and the more recent Star Fox Assault has some fantastic orchestrations of tunes originating in Star Fox 64, along with some beautiful new tracks of its own (like those that play of the game's cinematics, particularly toward the end of this one or this one).

And....stupid(?) question, but does VGL sell CD and/or DVD albums of their performances, or does that involve more licensing red tape?

Yo!,

Hold tight a little longer. Philly date should be announced within the next month or so. The show may take place this November during the VGEXPO.

CD will be released in the U.S. at the end of July. Europe & Asia in August.

Thanks,


Tommy

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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Chaotic

I actually can't wait to attend this. My brother got me tickets so we can go see this for my birthday in NYC.

Did you see the show in NYC?

We had a great time!

Here's the story we posted about it on our site:
Video Games Live | www.videogameslive.com


Tommy

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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Miles

Next time someone sees him they should tell him GFF is back up.

I regret not being able to go to the San Fransisco concert this month. I really wanted to go and check it out but my boss is off on that Friday so I have to stay late and cover for her. Plus all my friends who would want to go work as well. But I'm sure there will be another day in the future we can go. Or maybe another concert in this area of CA in the future (like San Jose or something).

Yep! Two shows coming up in San Jose in August! One is already sold out so hopefully you'll be able to attend the other.


Tommy

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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Xardion

Ok, so I just ordered tickets for the October 9th show in Birmingham. I swear, this is why I can never have more than just my paycheck in the bank at any given time.

Cool! Thanks so much for the support!

Who would have ever thought video game music with a symphony would be coming to Alabama! Pretty darn cool.



Looking forward to performing with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. We understand that they are a really good bunch of musicians.


Tommy

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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by oldcactuar

I just went to the Milwaukee show and it was so awesome (although there was a technical glitch at the beginning ). I was so moved by Martin Leung's Final Fantasy piano arrange. I got to meet with the staff after the show, and Tommy asked me which part was my most favorite part, so I said Halo, but he said he thought I was going to say Final Fantasy. Man, he has good eyes seeing through people.

I also want to mention that Tommy's brother, Mike Tallarico is so awesome too, so be sure to talk to him when you go to the show. I asked him which of them is older, and he got upset (jokingly)... LOL (sorry Mike )

Anyway, I'm just dropping by to say that I totally recommend going to the show, and I tell you, DO NOT watch those YouTube VGL videos, because it will spoil your show so bad.

Hey, I told Tommy that the GFF is up again, so hopefully he'll come back here soon.

Yo!

Thanks for coming to the show and being so helpful!

I tried coming to GFF right after that (back in March) but the board was down... although I could have had the wrong URL saved because it still doesn't seem to work.

Anyways... thanks for the kind words. It was great meeting you!


Tommy

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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Traumatized Rat

Winnipeg Concert was great last night =o Skills and I had a complete nerdgasm the whole night!

nerdgasm? eww... gross. Hope you brought a towel along!



The Winnipeg show was really cool. We recieved so much awesome local support from both the fans and the media. We did a post-show write up about it here: Video Games Live | www.videogameslive.com

Hope to see you next year!


Tommy

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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Chaotic

The New York show was awesome two months ago.

As far as Metroid goes...

I recorded some footage from the show. I got a couple more videos up on my page if you wanna watch them.

Oh! Cool! Glad ya liked it. Ignore my previous question and comment.




T.T.

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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by NinjaguyDan

I saw it in buffalo and it was pretty awesome. They did one insane version of one winged angel and Tommy even got the local orchestra to headbang to a few parts. Not to mention they let a local vgm cover band play and I found a new favorite band

In case anyone wants to check them out MySpace.com - ARMCANNON (album available for purchase now!) - BUFFALO, New York - Progressive / Metal / Glam - www.myspace.com/armcannon

Yo!,

Thanks for attending the show! Yeah... Armcannon was awesome! They'll be playing with us again!


Tommy

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What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'm not even sure if this is the place I should mention things I'd love to see in shows to come, but you know what would be fantastic? F-zero music.

It seems the likes of Big Blue and/or Mute City would fit with the energy and spirit of the concert pretty well, but I have no idea how difficult it would be to orchestrate, or if getting the rights to it would be overly difficult, or whatever.

PS, The Winnipeg show was fantastic. It made my month. So awesome.

FELIPE NO

Are there any news on the concert in Leipzig? It's taking place in less than 2 months and I have seen no promotion whatsoever.

Any info on the line-up? The special guests?

Unfortunately I won't be able to attend the show 'cause I'm at Symphonic Shades in Cologne, but I'd love to be up to date on VGL in Leipzig, too. Last I heard was GC coming to Cologne next year so there might be another opening show. However, I'm afraid of cosplaying Solid Snakes roping down from the roof and that stuff.
News about the music and guests will ease my concerns.

How ya doing, buddy?

I didn't even know this thread existed, but now that I do I'll say that I really enjoyed the Vegas show. The Command and Conquer music was entirely awesome, even if that guy's Vash coat was a little small.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Hey Tommy, I've been a big fan since watching the Electric Playground from the late 1990's. I was wondering with all the success that the Video Games Live concert has been getting over the last few years. Would you guys ever consider coming to Newfoundland & Labrador.

I kind of doubt it since it is much smaller than practically a lot of the other places you've played at. Even if coming to Newfoundland was out of the question, could you consider Halifax or any of the other Atlantic Canada provinces if you felt it could be a positive venture for your concert. I think the furtest east you've gotten in Canada is Montreal with your concert.

Its not a big deal, I hope someday I can see your concert. I wish you nothing but the greatest success. Take Care.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Disregarding the last comment, Tommy.

I definitely wanna catch the show again when it rolls around Newark, NJ in December.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

A few friends and I are going to the Newark NJ show in December. I forgot this concert/tour/show even existed until my mom randomly saw an ad for the Newark show in a magazine. At these concerts, are there things going on before or after the show?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

About Video Games Live: Greatest Hits Volume One... Someone know when and in what brazilian cities were performed the songs "Medal of Honor" and "God of War Montage"? The official site doesn't says.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by VitaPup

A few friends and I are going to the Newark NJ show in December. I forgot this concert/tour/show even existed until my mom randomly saw an ad for the Newark show in a magazine. At these concerts, are there things going on before or after the show?

I suppose, gift shops, registrations for the costume contest, arcade cabinet demos... All those kinds of things. Nothing too blown out of the water.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Here's a look at the San Diego performance for Comic Con:

Original Sound Version » Blog Archive » Comic Con 08: Video Games Live Rocks, Plus Tommy’s ‘Precious’

Awesome new Guitar Hero segment. Plus, I think Tommy is turning into Gollum!

FELIPE NO

I ordered tickets yesterday to go to VGL at GenCon. This will be my first time attending so I can't wait !

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There is a very interesting article about the Video Games Live Show in Leipzig at D-Frag.de.

It will be interesting to see what the show will be like in Cologne next year.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Pew pew pew

I'm not even sure if this is the place I should mention things I'd love to see in shows to come, but you know what would be fantastic? F-zero music.

It seems the likes of Big Blue and/or Mute City would fit with the energy and spirit of the concert pretty well, but I have no idea how difficult it would be to orchestrate, or if getting the rights to it would be overly difficult, or whatever.

PS, The Winnipeg show was fantastic. It made my month. So awesome.

Cool. Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed he Winnipeg show. I'll check out tha F-Zero music for sure. Thanks for the tip.


Tommy



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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Jessykins <3

I didn't even know this thread existed, but now that I do I'll say that I really enjoyed the Vegas show. The Command and Conquer music was entirely awesome, even if that guy's Vash coat was a little small.

Hehehehee... I'll let Frank know that you think he should get a larger coat!



Thanks for enduring the heat in Vegas with us!


Tommy


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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Angel Of Light

Hey Tommy, I've been a big fan since watching the Electric Playground from the late 1990's. I was wondering with all the success that the Video Games Live concert has been getting over the last few years. Would you guys ever consider coming to Newfoundland & Labrador.

I kind of doubt it since it is much smaller than practically a lot of the other places you've played at. Even if coming to Newfoundland was out of the question, could you consider Halifax or any of the other Atlantic Canada provinces if you felt it could be a positive venture for your concert. I think the furtest east you've gotten in Canada is Montreal with your concert.

Its not a big deal, I hope someday I can see your concert. I wish you nothing but the greatest success. Take Care.

Yo!,

Thanks for the kind words. We're currently planning a complete Canadian tour for 2009 including a bunch of places we haven't yet been to. Hopefully your area will be one of them. I'm not exactly 100% sure on all the cities and provinces just yet. It's all being worked out over the next month or so.

Thanks for the support.


Tommy


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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Chaotic

Disregarding the last comment, Tommy.

I definitely wanna catch the show again when it rolls around Newark, NJ in December.

Cool! Hopefully I'll see ya on the 27th!!


T.T.


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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by VitaPup

A few friends and I are going to the Newark NJ show in December. I forgot this concert/tour/show even existed until my mom randomly saw an ad for the Newark show in a magazine. At these concerts, are there things going on before or after the show?

Yes. Every show we do has a pre-show festival and post-show meet & greet. The size of each one depends on the size of the venue and the city/country we're in. I don't have any data so far on the size of the one in Jersey just yet.

See ya in December!



Tommy

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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Revoc

About Video Games Live: Greatest Hits Volume One... Someone know when and in what brazilian cities were performed the songs "Medal of Honor" and "God of War Montage"? The official site don't says.

I believe it was either Rio or Sao Paulo. I don't remember exactly, I'd need to go back and check the original recordings. We had so many recordings that I forgot which one we used.


Tommy

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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Josh_1

I ordered tickets yesterday to go to VGL at GenCon. This will be my first time attending so I can't wait !

We had fun at Gen Con. Please let me know what you thought of the show. Which night did you go?

Thanks,


Tommy

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Additional Spam:

Originally Posted by Teioh

There is a very interesting article about the Video Games Live Show in Leipzig at D-Frag.de.

It will be interesting to see what the show will be like in Cologne next year.

Seems like the writer was expecting more of a classical type of show. As I've always said from the beginning... it's not what we're about. We prefer to put on an event that is more mainstrem and entertaining as opposed to strict classical style event. I commend the other concerts for achieving that, but it's not our goal.

One of the reasons we've continued to grow over the years is because we feel we are catering to a wider mainstream audience.

What all the conerts are doing for the game music industry is fantastic.



Tommy

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There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Tommy Tallarico

Wow! I must say, you really know how to spin a tale! Every statement above is incorrect in some way or another. I'll tell you what I find to be most interesting though... Some people on this forum (like yourself) bitch, moan and complain that all the game concerts can't get along and how sad and woeful it is. But I think it's people like YOU who conjure this crap up and it is people like YOU who should be ashamed of your trite fanboy behavior.

Let me just take the time to addres (and pull apart) each and every one of your statements so that the folks in here are aware of your biased nature and clear negativity towards our show (which it seems like you've never even actually seen).


1. "The Symphonic Game Music Concerts sold out instantly before you decided to spitefully take the GC concerts over."

Aside from being completely out of line, you're also completely wrong. Shame on you for spreading such negativity. As I've mentioned a number of times previously, the Games Convention folks saw our show 2 years ago at the Game Developers Conference and asked us to perform and be a part of their convention in 2007. They had already signed Thomas and his show and were thinking of doing both. Me & Thomas discussed this and decided it would be best for EVERYONE if that wasn't the case. I was the one who made the decision not to play there in 2007 and wait for 2008. Does that sound spiteful?? Hardly! We DON'T want to muddy the waters and compete in the same market at the same time. We've recieved thousands of e-mails from people in Germany wanting us to perform there. How is any of this spiteful?? PLEEEEEEAAASEE! Relax... chill out and do everyone a favor and keep your outlandish conspiracy theories to yourself.


2. "4,000 people is poor given how popular its predecessors and Symphonic Shades were."

You truly are uneducated about this. Do a little homework and find out how many seats are in those other venues, (also consider how much the ticket prices were). This isn't meant to demean any of the previous shows, I'm just trying to show you once again how out-of-line and completely off-base you are with your assine remarks. 4,000 people were the most people that have shown up for a video game concert in Germany.... fact.


3. "Furthermore, a large proportion of those attending got free promotional tickets..."

I don't know what you consider to be a "large proportion" but normally the promoter puts aside at least 200 free comps for press, schools, VIP's, sponsors, convention partners, etc. I believe for this show there was more than that because of all the different sponsors and because the Games Convention was so big and they wanted to invite a lot of special guests.


4. "...and you really needed to put a lot of effort to promote this one even with the GC being such a big event."

Hahahahhaa!! That's funny. Yeah, lets demean our show and call it a failure because we "put a lot of effort" in promoting it. Interesting. Let me guess, you would have been the first one to complain if it tanked and we didn't "promote it enough". Either way we would have lost in your eyes.


5. "Public sources say the GC apparently offered to revive the Symphonic Game Music Concert series after the commercial / critical failure of Video Games Live at Leipzig."

As previously mentioned and stated... your public sources are clearly lacking. I'll leave it at that.


6. "I'm not sure whether Thomas will take them up on that offer, but I guess that means you lost."

Once again, an immature and biased statement fueled by what seems to be some strange hatred for our show? Not sure... you'll have to search your own feelings to come up with the answer to that one. We lost?? Hmm?? Why does anyone have to win or lose? Let me again state for the record... I think it's some of the people in HERE that try to pit the concerts against each other.

We have enough things on our plate to be worrying about others. We have over 50 shows all over the world this year and that number will continue to rise in 2009. We also have a successful album on the Billboard Top 10 charts and many other VERY positive things happening in the pipeline. So, no matter what YOU may think or say... I've WON because I'm successfully creating and spreading video game music all over the world to hundreds of thousands of people.

We accomplished many great things in Leipzig and garnished much national television, newspaper and radio press. We are excited about returning in 2009 and touring more parts of Germany. For a first time show in a brand new country... it was a great success for everyone. Something that your negative words and off-base opinions will never be able to take away.

At this point, your uninformed banter isn't really worth the time I would spend on dispelling them once again. It also isn't fair of me (or you) to take this up in a thread that is celebrating the Cologne concert. If you have other issues, problems or questions you want answered... PM me and keep it out of here.

Hope you can still try to have a positive day and re-think your eletist game concert attitude. Just remember, it's okay for game concerts to be unique and different and it isn't a war with winners and losers. The only battle (fought by ALL the game concerts) is to spread the word to millions and raise awareness... which we are already on the path of achieving. Your clear anti-approach and negativity certainly doesn't subscribe to that point of view.


Tommy

Not to fuel the fire here, but according to a comment by Böcker himself, he was not informed about the plans for the 2008 show in Leipzig.
A user asked him if the planned Symphonic Shades date was his revenge for the previous people not being able to do the GC opening concert. This is what he said in response:

Originally Posted by Thomas Böcker

"Das würde aber voraussetzen, dass man die 'bisherigen Leute' (weit im voraus) über die neuen Pläne informierte."

"However, that would require that the 'previous people' were informed about the new plans (a long time in advance)."

It just doesn't sound like he was involved in the decision.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Prime Blue

Not to fuel the fire here, but according to a comment by Böcker himself, he was not informed about the plans for the 2008 show in Leipzig.

Not true. He was aware in 2007 that the Games Convention wanted us to perform. I know he reads these forums. I'm sure if he were to come in here and talk about it he would confirm that.


Tommy

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Hey Tommy, I know it's a long ways off but do you have an idea when you'll be playing in Washington DC? Just wondering because an already planned vacation around the time frame that I'm guessing VGL will be occurring in DC may make it a better idea to go to the Richmond concert instead so I don't miss out on all the fun.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by AcerBandit

Hey Tommy, I know it's a long ways off but do you have an idea when you'll be playing in Washington DC? Just wondering because an already planned vacation around the time frame that I'm guessing VGL will be occurring in DC may make it a better idea to go to the Richmond concert instead so I don't miss out on all the fun.

Hi!,

I'm not 100% sure just yet, but I'm pretty sure it will be in the summer time.

Hope to see ya there!


Tommy

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Hi Tommy,

I know it's only been casually mentioned before, but I'm curious. Are there plans to come back to Winnipeg and do another show there in '09?

How ya doing, buddy?