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

11/10/06: Show #9 Erie Civic Center – Erie, PA

"It was a seemingly endless drive from Ft. Wayne to Erie. The normally five hour trip timed out at a little over seven hours. Why? Because we ended up having to wait for on of the other buses to go back to Ft. Wayne to pick up a band member who was inadvertently left behind. Two words: HEAD COUNT. We finally pulled into Erie at 7:30 a.m. Rather than taking advantage of the day room, I just decided to stay on the bus and in my bunk. Dragging my big suitcase to get situated in a short term hotel room just didn’t seem as tempting as going back to sleep. I was already comfortable there.

When we got to the venue I noticed a laundry room. A little information about me: laundry is like a girl that doesn’t like to have sex; I know nothing about it. Looking at the washing machine and all of the settings (cold/cold, cold/warm, warm/hot, delicates, colored, whites) makes me want to just wear my dirty clothes for the rest of the tour. Luckily, my fellow band mates understand laundry and kindly imparted that knowledge to me. Though I found it odd that their first question was how big my load was. My response was rapid. I told them emphatically, I’d rather keep that between me and the girl I’m with. Personally, I think I’ll stick to paying a laundromat to do my laundry.

Now for the show…Unbelievable! I know I was excited about the crowd in Ft. Wayne, but tonight’s crowd completely trumped them. It was complete mayhem in the arena tonight. There was shouting and whistling even during the slow numbers. At the mid-point of the show during the band introductions, the crowd was on their feet and stomping on the ground. It sounded like a charging army. When asked to take their cell phones out during the song 'Carmina Burana' the arena was completely lit with the modern day, concert 'lighters'. And they did it again at the end of the show no prompting. Now that’s what I call taking the initiative.

Speaking of the end of the show, I had a bit of a slip-up if you will. As I was running back from the riser at the end of 'Sarajevo 12/24', I ran up the front stage steps and slipped on the top stair. My entire body along with my very expensive bass went crashing onto the stage for the entire crowd to see. I only made it worse trying to get up. I was moving so fast that I kept slipping on the floor that was slick with all the falling snow and fog. I felt like a cartoon character: my feet were moving but I wasn’t going anywhere. After I finally got up I brushed it off by rubbing my knee and making a sad face to the audience when in reality I was in excruciating pain. When I got back to my dressing room after the show I saw that my knee was bleeding. It’s not a big cut but I wonder how I’ll be for tomorrow night’s show. I never thought that I would take the saying 'break a leg' so literally."

11/11/06: Show #10 Rupp Arena – Lexington, KY

"I usually eat a lot when I’m on the road but I need to make a special mention of today’s intake. I’m quite proud of myself. For lunch I had a chicken sandwich, a hamburger, three hot dogs, a bag of chips and a bowl of soup. Only two hours later for dinner, I had two chicken legs and nine spare ribs. Some people drink away their pain but I believe in eating away my pain. Unfortunately, it didn’t work until the very end of the show where I was able to run again with my bruised knee. Unfortunately, for most of the show, I was hobbling on stage with one good leg and the other stiff and in a brace. I’m sure I was sexy tonight, pulling my leg around behind me."

11/12/06: Show #11 & #12 EJ Nutter Center – Dayton, OH

"Another matinee day. Boy, are these draining. It’s times like these where we start to get a little bit goofy. Suddenly, every in and around the arena that are very funny to me. One thing in particular that always makes me laugh is seeing the big snow clumps falling on people in the audience during the song 'First Snow'. There’s nothing like a big white glob falling on some girl’s face during the show. Now after the show, that’s a different story completely. Other things I noticed for the first time are effects during the show (don’t forget, I’m looking at the audience, so I miss some of the effects) like the lighting trusses moving or that there are small red flames behind us during the song 'Sarajevo 12/24' that look like intense candles being lit. I’m so tired it feels like I’m a bit 'lit' as well."

11/13/06: DAY OFF

"I spent this day off the way a musician should spend his day off. I had me some R&R; in true rocker fashion. I had my bed for the rest part and had some female companionship (and the bed again for the matter) for the relaxation part. The rest I’ll leave up to your imagination…or any rocker story you’ve ever heard for that matter."

11/14/06: Show #13 Cricket Arena – Charlotte, NC

"'Hot women in the audience' is what I need to say about this show. North Carolina has definitely got its share of southern bells. One girl in particular caught my eye and I couldn’t stop staring at her. It was definitely a nice way to hit it again (no pun intended) after coming off a day off. I was so distracted I hit a couple of sour notes. But don’t let the word spread (this’ll just be between us). I should have known that this state was going to rock when I saw the janitor dancing during our sound check like that kid and his mop in the movie Breakin'. The only thing that can get a man going like that is music or women and, in this case, there was both."

11/15/06: Show #14 Greensboro Coliseum – Greensboro, NC

"We spent the night in the same hotel because today’s show is only a couple of hours away. Before heading over there, I took a trip over to a big gym in the area with two of our bus drivers and one of the singers. The part that sucked was that the bus drivers were jacked. I looked like a toothpick in comparison. Apparently, I’m just going to have to hit the gym more often to keep up with those boys. Who thought when they were told they needed diesel for the buses they would take it literally.

The show tonight had a couple of anxious moments. For starters, when the band was announced the opening keyboard note that starts the show wasn’t played. We looked on from side stage to see that the keyboard player wasn’t even on stage yet. The lighting rigs started moving before any of us ever hit the stage. It was a horrifying moment of uncomfortable silence. Another nerve-wracking incident happened when I heard one of the singers singing their song in the wrong key. For some reason the song was being played about two steps higher than normal. Happily for us (and the audience), the TSO singers are professionals. What would have otherwise been a disaster wound up being a nice surprise. We got to hear an old song sound brand new."

11/16/06: Show #15 Hampton Coliseum – Hampton, VA

"Very loud crowd tonight and they did a great job on the cell phone bit during 'Carmina Burana'. The stage set up was a bit different tonight. The side platforms were lower and there was a step down from the stage and only one rather than two steps up. It was great for us because it brought us closer to the crowd. I’m wondering if it was great for the people in the back though. A little harder to see the band over everyone else’s heads.

After the show was great! There were a lot of familiar faces on the signing line tonight. One friend in particular was Leigh Ann who started the official ZO2 fan site where, as a reminder, we will be doing a live online chat on December 11th. She came with a couple of friends all wearing ZO2 shirts and chanting ZO2 while waiting in line. That’s what I like to see ladies. Kudos (and ZO2 pins) to you all. Which makes me think again of how much I love seeing our ZO2 friends at these shows. I know I keep mentioning it but it’s really worth the extra mention each time."

To read Dave Z's previous reports click the following links: Week 1, Week 2.