TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA bassist Dave Z (ZO2) has filed the following road report, recapping the east coast company's eighth week on tour in North America:

12/15/06: Show #44 Richmond Coliseum – Richmond, VA

"My buddy from TKL cases came bearing gifts today. Christmas came early when he handed me a brand new dual bass gig bag with my name and the ZO2 logo embroidered on it. I was so excited that I went to call Paulie and gloat about it but, alas, there was absolutely no reception in the venue. What a bother. Every time I wanted to make a call, I’d have to walk out the back lot of the arena, through the underground parking garage and up to the street level. As it turned out sound check ran so long today I didn’t have much opportunity on the phone anyway and it saved me from devouring my precious minutes."

12/16/06: Show #45 & #46 Wachovia Center – Philadelphia, PA

"Today, I have but two words: John Anderson. Yes, that’s right, I said it. And I’ll do it again: John Anderson. I might keep doing it. Why, you ask?! John Anderson from YES joined us on stage for both shows today. That’s why our sound check was so long yesterday. We rehearsed 'Roundabout' to make sure it would measure up to his standards. And, boy, did it ever. Both the matinee crowd and the evening crowd went absolutely ballistic. We played the song just like the original recording including all the vocal harmonies. We later found out that even Yes never performed it that way. It must have been pretty cool for John to get to do it just like the recording since we have so many singers to comp all the parts. And for those music savvy folks among you who have been paying close attention to my journalz, you might by now have guessed that that’s why the Rickenbacker bass was brought on to the tour. Chris Squire played one so they got me one to play specifically for this song. The next step is to break that bad boy out and play some RUSH tunes on it."

12/17/06: Show #47 & #48 Dunkin Donuts Center – Providence, RI

"It’s very weird sometimes to witness the difference between a matinee crowd and an evening crowd. It’s the same city, so why is it that tonight’s crowd was so much more involved than this afternoon’s crowd? Suddenly, today the answer hit me… like a linebacker: FOOTBALL. I always forget that Sunday afternoon crowds have two things on their minds; a Christmas show and the football scores. I suspect some of the cheers we got were from people listening to a game on their in ear radios like at Church. Come to think of it, we did have some outbursts of cheers during very quite sections of some songs. I didn’t put two and two together until right this very moment."

12/18/06: DAY OFF

"It’s home sweet home for our two days off. We pulled in to New York City at around four in the morning and, much as I would have liked to go straight home to sleep in my own bed, I had to stay in the hotel for a 9 a.m. lobby call. We had to go to ABC studios to shoot a segment for Good Morning America. We usually shoot it live but this time we were recording it for a later broadcast. We got to do two songs and during the first song my brother surprised me by showing up at the studios. It was great to see him after all this time. After the taping, he and I went over to Rudy’s music store and I bought my very own Rickenbacker bass. I was so taken with the one I was playing on the road that I decided I needed to one myself. The rest of my day was spent at home with my family. We all got together and just spent time as family. Definitely a fitting precursor to the holidays."

12/19/06: DAY OFF

"I took advantage of the day off to visit with some special friends (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) since my schedule keeps me so busy during the holidays. It’s always good to get some time at home."

12/20/06: Show #49 Nassau Coliseum – Uniondale, NY

"Ah, living the life of a rock star! LOL. Today, through a connection, I had a stretch limousine to take me to the venue. Unfortunately, I didn’t really leave myself enough time to get there. Sound check was at 5 p.m. and at 4:15 and I was still on the Belt Parkway battling rush hour traffic, phone in hand trying to calm down my road manager who was freaking out that I wasn’t already there. My imagination kicked in and I started thinking how awful would it be if I went to the wrong arena. What if I read the schedule wrong and we were playing the Continental tonight and Nassau tomorrow?

Fortunately, I was just being paranoid and, at about five minutes to five, I finally saw the arena. However, we pulled into the front of the venue rather than in back at the stage door. I asked the driver to wait a second while I jumped out to ask a security guard for directions. By this point there were already fans parking in the lot, watching me come out of the limo. Total rock star moment!!! …though very short lived… As the security guard began to give me directions, the limo began to drive away. The door was still open along with my jaw. At first I thought he might have just been pulling up a little. That thought quickly dissipated as I saw it begin to haul ass away from me with the door banging open and closed. My 'rock star' image destroyed, I raced after it, arms flailing, trying to get the driver’s attention. I chased it around the entire arena until I saw the limo stopped at a security check. The guard was about to wave him through until I screamed out 'STOP THAT LIMO!!!' He held the limo until I got there. When I did, the perplexed driver rolled down his window and casually asked, 'Dave, what are you doing out there?' He never even knew I left the car in the first place. You can’t make up this stuff up. Happily, I was only a couple of minutes late for sound check.

And tonight we got to play with another special guest. In the words of Paul O’Neil, 'before there was TSO, there was ELP' and Greg Lake came on stage and rocked the hell out of the ELP song 'Karnevil #9'. His voice was incredible and his playing was just as good. He kind of looked like Alex Lifeson with his blond hair and white blazer with the sleeves rolled up. There I go again with the Rush references. I think next year we need to make them the special guests."

12/21/06: Show #50 Continental Airlines – East Rutherford, NJ

"I woke up extremely early this morning to go to my friend’s house and have him fix problems with my laptop. I don’t know if that was the smartest move on my part being that it was like 5:30 in the morning and he had two cats (to which I am allergic). In the end, the laptop got fixed but I was broken. I was tired, my eyes were red and watery and I had a drippy nose. We went to breakfast and, in the state I was in along with shooting myself with a needle full of insulin, I must have really fit the rocker stereotype.

And tonight’s show was definitely the best night of the tour for me. I had close to 20 family and friends there to see me. It almost didn’t make a difference what the rest of the crowd sounded like, I was so happy to see everyone that I was completely energized and on cloud nine. To add to my euphoria, the Z-team and ZO2 fans were out in full regalia. Everywhere I looked I saw a ZO2 shirt. And directly to my right, there were the Z-Team girls with shirts, signs, headbands and all. Not only did they represent in the venue, but they had an entire ZO2 tailgate party set up outside the venue in the parking lot. Their van decked out with lights and logos and they were working the crowds like pros, handing out flyers to anyone who happened to pass anywhere near them. This was the idea they came up with for a contest that we had looking for the best promotional idea. You girls definitely earned your prize. Seeing that much love and support for ZO2 meant more to me than anything else on the tour so far. It was… wow, there’s no word that doesn’t sound girly so I’ll just say it… It was emotional."

To read Dave Z's previous reports click the following links: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7.