As previously reported, TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA guitarist Chris Caffery (SAVATAGE) is keeping a tour diary for the duration of the east coast company's North American tour. He has issued the following update:

"Hi...

Sorry it has taken me a night to get the latest installment. Long story short...PAUL! He kept me at the venue 'til 2AM last night in Indy. We were talking about the live shows, my CD, business, etc.

I woke up on Wed. and did some work as usual. I talked to Alex and we were meeting at noon to go to the Indain buffet down the street. Indian in Indy...not planned! The stuff was good, the place was packed! Not too spicy, this is prolly why. PLUS, the onion baghi?sp was ONION RINGS! So, it was definitely catering to the yuppie working lunch crowd!

From there it was a trip to CVS, more work, then the mall with James Lewis. He needed a new phone. Some guy tried to steal his room key thinking he left a credit card on the Sprint counter. The Sprint place was in the middle of the mall. Not a store. Kid working said many people have tried to steal from there!

We walked to the venue at 4:00, arrived at 4:20, found out Paul wanted a surprise band meeting at 4:00! Oops! They waited for us. Of course the meeting lasted 'til 5:00 and I was unable to eat dinner! We soundcheck at 5:00 and that lasted til 6:00 cuz of...PAUL!!! So, I had a protein shake and got ready for the show.

Show went great, crowd was really good. The best so far by the end of the show. The line hit #172, the longest yet. I went to the bus and got the message to wait around to talk to Paul. He was happy with everything, just had some different approaches for me to incorporate in a few introductions and raps. Keeps me on my toes. I got back to the hotel at 2:00, everyone was asleep. I followed suit.

Today (Thur) I woke and started to pack my things. We had been there just about four nights so I was pretty much moved in. I have my computer, my MBox Pro Tools studio, speakers, my Roland Cube practice amp...those things kick ass for a tiny little amp, a Jackson Rhoads, Christmas lights, clothes, shower stuff, etc...it was an adventure! We checked out and got on the buses at noon, I had a little bit of breakfast and went back to work and talked to E til we arrived in Ft. Wayne. It was incredibly nice outside, which is good and bad! Good because it is nice out. Bad because the warmer it is outside, the hotter it is onstage!!!! The stage has been much warmer this tour. Has a lot to do with the weather and a lot to do with the large increase in moving lights and motors. They throw off so much heat.

Mark Wood was not playing the show tonite. He was in NY with his family. As most of you know his Mother passed away on Sunday. We had our TSO back-up string master Alison Zlotow. She was so nervous and excited. It was kinda cute. She had never been on the road. It was strange with me because I had never done a TSO live show without Mark. Now Bob is the only person besides me that has been on every TSO East show. Jeff had missed a single show when his sister passed away. I have never done anything TSO without Bob! TV, shows, radio performances, etc. Anyway, it was a bit strange at first, but Alison did an amazing job filling in. She was full of energy and so happy to be in the show!

I actually got to eat dinner tonite. It was very good. . As I was finished they brought out the sushi....figures!

Soundcheck, shower, NAP, showtime!

The crowd started off a bit reserved, but by the end of the show I feel they were the best so far! I nicknamed them Ft. Wayne's World! They seemed to like it! I was given a Ft. Wayne Comets Caffery Jersey by a fan! It was so cool! I will thank him by name eventually. I also wore my Manning jersey for the encores! Great night, I feel I had my best performance yet, the crowd seemed to agree in the line. We hit #184 tonite. Longest line yet. Lots of people with the numbers too, had to be well over 500 people.

I am going to finish this and then get to some of my email/MySpace hell!

Tomorrow is Erie, confidence is high on an amazing crowd. they are always in the Top 5 of the tour!"

Peace and goodnight!

C

To view all TSO 2006 tour dates - east and west coast touring companies - go to this location. Links for ticket purchases can be found at the same location.