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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GRASSHOPPER TAKEOVER'S The Official Grasshopper Takeover Email Newsletter To the Mighty Swarm, What up?!? Firstly, and as is customary with each new Swarm issue, I would like to extend a 'Welcome' and 'Thanks' to the many new Swarm recipients that have joined flight with the uniquely independent and ever-burgeoning world of Grasshopper Takeover. Since our tour began over five months ago, GTO has been to nearly every state in the country, put over 35,000 miles on our van in 5 months, slept on floors from LA to NYC, stayed in hotel rooms that accommodated the likes of Elvis and Prince, met the broadest range of people we could have ever hoped to meet, eaten enough diner food to kill an average man, endured heat waves in the van that had us wishing we were doing hard time in Antarctica, and played some of the best and weirdest shows of our lives at some of the best and weirdest clubs in the country. But throughout everything and everyone we've encountered, it has been most cool to meet and watch such a positive network of friends and fans develop nationwide through the music, live shows, the Internet, and lucky chance encounters that may have had you legs up in the back of your parents' '77 Pacer. For those of you who are receiving the Swarm for the first time, and are not so familiar with what to expect, you can visit our Road notes section on the website and read some back issues if ya wanna find out more. The last issue I wrote was back in May or June about the "Parable of Bugs and Fish," which was admittedly a pretty funny story in real life, and in print. For those of you more familiar with the Swarm, I do not have to tell you that the issues are usually quite lengthy and at times, possibly, just a little too philosophical. Such can be forgiven when understanding the environment and mindset in which they are written. You see, I'm often by myself at the helm of my computer typing away for days, a couple packs of cigs at my side, hopefully a bowl of kind bud near the mouse, drinking a two-liter of warm and flat Mountain Dew out of the bottle, eating maybe one square meal a day consisting of delivered pepperoni pizza, and a phone at my side in the event I need to call my Mom for some grammatical advice. As I am not the most vocal person, generally speaking, I appreciate forums such as this one, and performing live, to talk to those that support us and express myself through art/music and words. As we drive down the Interstate from one city to the next, and in times when my conscience is plaguing me to write a long overdue newsletter, I get a plethora of ideas about what I'm going to say, how I'm feeling, how I'm going to cleverly relate myself to you, and how you're going to like me all the more for it when you're done reading. I feel this incredible, and yet undue, need to expel the philosophies of the universe beyond this one, inspire all of you with wisdom beyond that which is wise, and conclude in a manner that couldn't leave you feeling any better than how you felt after watching Patrick Swayze reappear with Demi for their last magical moment in the awe-inspiring movie "Ghost." ...Not. But this time, (though you'd never know it from the 5 paragraphs I've already written above), I am at somewhat of a loss for words. For in the last week, GTO has been through some very difficult times emotionally, spiritually and otherwise. It was on the morning of Monday, September 4th that I received a call from my Mom in which she told me some very upsetting news. The type of news that had me crying for the first time in as long as I can remember. Briefly explaining the situation that led to this point, I tell you that Bob's father, approximately 3 years ago, acquired a rare and progressive lung disease that offered little hope of recovery. Throughout this time the family endured more than one scare regarding his father's health, and flights for Bob's family to and from home at the drop of a hat were frequent as the situation progressed. So, it was that Monday morning in which my mother's call to me was to tell me that my best friend's father had passed away. I was so sad for Bob. I shake my head to myself at how hard it is for anyone who has experienced the death of a parent or family member, and my heart goes out to those who have found the strength to move forward in such a situation. And for those of you who this has not happened to -- and I speak for you because I am one of you -- it is absolutely unfathomable. While we have all been touched by death before in one way or another, these times when it is closest are the times when we all become greater proponents of its opposite: life. Such a precious privilege it is. To Bob and his family, our thoughts and prayers are with you, now and always. Spread your wings and fly,
GTO has temporarily postponed its tour until approximately the beginning of October and, as a result, will be bypassing its leg around the East Coast and down to the Southeast and South. Most likely we will be resuming the tour in St. Louis, Nashville, or Kansas City, in which event we'll be heading west towards Colorado, up to Washington State and down the West Coast towards Los Angeles. Yeah!!! We're all super excited to return to LA and play shows, see friends and party. What else do you do in LA besides that? Despite Bob's loss, we did play a show at the Metro in Chicago last Saturday which was one of the best shows we've had in a long time. We played with a great band and great friends of ours, Lucky Boy's Confusion, and the place was sold out at 1400 people strong. It was super rad. The fans were pumped, the bands played great and it was one of those shows that makes us say to ourselves, "That's why we're living in a van playing music for people." As an FYI, Lucky Boy's Confusion will be playing with GTO at an all ages show at the Ranch Bowl in Omaha on Wednesday, Nov. 22nd, the day before Thanksgiving. I know it's a couple months away, but I wanted to mention it now cuz the show is going to be huge. Also, I want to give props to Shauna who flew in from California and Rachel who drove up from Atlanta, both coming in to "experience" (as they put it) GTO layin' it out in Chicago. It was absolutely our pleasure meeting you and we can't say enough to express our appreciation for that kind of support. I must add, too, that the Metro in Chicago, along with the Fox Theater in Boulder, CO, are the most rad clubs/theaters we've played in the country. Much props to Rob Thomas at the Fox, Dan and Chris at the Metro, and, naturally, the fans that are there to support us.
To all that have joined GTO's nationwide Street Promotions Teams as GTO Ambassadors of Sound and Sonic Emissaries, we cannot express our appreciation enough. You are keeping us alive and on the road. If anyone would like to join our street team please email my sister, Kelly Grubb, at kellygto@aol.com and she will set you up. If you would like to sign up, please email her the following information:
GTO will provide you with CDs, posters, and anything else you need to help spread the word about GTO. We're looking for people who want to be more intimately involved with the band on national and local levels. Currently, street team members have been helping out in a variety of ways from contacting college and commercial radio stations and taking CDs to them, hanging up posters around the city in advance of live show dates, making flyers of their own decor, contacting local 'zines to do a write-up on the band, turning their friends on to the band and bringing them to live shows, creating fan-sponsored websites, and much more. It is awesome. You all are the eyes and ears for GTO in your city and are helping to create a very cool and cutting edge, underground network of friends/fans unique in your support and similar in your taste for great rawk music! :) A note to those of you who emailed us semi-recently regarding wanting to be on the GTO street team, and then were not contacted... Well, we had a minor computer malfunction in the transferring of your contact info from hard drive to disc and lost some data. So please email us back and let us know if you're still wanting to be a part of it all and we'll get back to you right away. GTO would like to wish the following street teamers a very Happy Birthday, a little belated or soon coming:
Lastly, if you're on the GTO street team already and are going to college and have changed addresses, please notify Kelly at kellygto@aol.com so we can stay in touch with you.
If you'd like to get ahold of any T-shirts, baby dolls, or spaghetti strap tanks in miscellaneous designs, colors, and sizes, email us at info@grasshoppertakeover.com and we'll set you up for only $12, including shipping and handling. Same goes for our CD, International Dance Marathon. You can order either or both by sending dough and a return address (neatly written so we can read it) to:
(If you want to get both, you can have a shirt and CD for $20.) Also, while we're diggin' the designs on our merchandise that we currently have, we will not be wanting to repeat ourselves upon re-order of more shirts. So, GTO wants you!!! What better way to come up with new and cool images and ideas than to have our fans design them, and further represent GTO? If you're so inclined, please send us any design ideas you may have whether you doodled them down in your notebook during History class at school, or are savvy enough of a computer designer to put them onto Zip disc, we'd love to put your designs on our T-shirts. If ya got somethin', you can mail to the same address mentioned above, and label it "GTO Design." If we use your idea, we'll send you lots of cool junk.
Check out Lucky Boy's Confusion at www.luckyboys.com. They're a great band from Chicago that just got signed to Elektra. They're soon to be heading to California to record their major label debut and will be in a city near you soon enough. Check out our producer's band at www.gabrielmann.com. Awesome songwriting, killer melodies, great guys, and GTO's favorite unsigned band in LA. Congrats to Gabe and Allison on their recent engagement. Check out the Bret Domrose band at www.bretdomrose.com. Bret is the lead singer of Dog Star and has branched out with an excellent debut solo album. Our friend, Mike Nightingale is the drummer for that band and owner of Nightingale Studios in Burbank. For any bands needing a rehearsal space look no further than Mike's place. It's everything you need and comes with a talking toucan in the lobby! We'll be sharing the stage with the Bret Domrose Band at the Viper Room in LA on Friday, October 20th. Major props to our web designer Brian Wetjen, who keeps you all up to date with the latest GTO happs through our website at www.grasshoppertakeover.com. Check out our most important affiliate to date: ACA/Netjammer at www.netjammer.com. They sponsor a whole host of killer bands from across the country and have recently released a compilation CD with GTO on it, along with Dog Fashion Disco from D.C., Jepetto from Annapolis, Margret Heater from Baltimore, Sonny Bones and Bionica from LA, and many others. Also, major props to our agent, (the best independent agent in the country), Duffy McSwiggin. Thanks to Jeff Munoz for the 3 HUGE boxes of food that he gave us after our show in Lincoln, NE. If you want to get in touch with us, just email us!
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