Zazoo's in August 2008

In August 2008, my girlfriend and I took a small vacation in which we went to Columbus, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee. The show I played during our vacation time was, by far, the worst part of the vacation. The band who had invited us were very kind and it was no fault of their own. Spacehooker was the band. But, I played some Third Class stuff solo and got heckled. It sucked.

The B & O Station in July 2008

Dog Ok invited us to this show. It looked, for a while, like not many people were going to show up. However, half-way through Dog OK's set The Zou (generally) and a few of their friends graced us and, essentially, saved the night as far as I am concerned. The friends that showed up, whether of the Zou Crew or of some other persuasion, were all really cool. We got to see Sam, Cathy, Corey, Mindy, Suz and many more who really made the night fun.
The venue was amazing. Originally a trainstation, this place actually had trains rumbling over some tracks by the rooftop windows as we were performing. It was a very fun, atmospheric experience. B & O had some sort of old-style quality.

Aldo Coffee Company in June 2008

There were about 10 people tops at this show. And, that's the combined effort of people who just stopped in for coffee and left as well as any people who were at tables. Our friends came up and supported us and we were grateful for it. We felt a bit disappointed because, apparently, there was an art festival of some sort happening in downtown Pittsburgh during our performance.
Aldo Coffee is just outside of downtown in Mt. Lebanon.
Afterwards, we walked around the sidewalks briefly and Pepe took a look at the Aladdin's Eatery in the neighborhood.

The Upper Room Fellowship in May 2008

This was a show that we played because some of the kids in the youth group at The Upper Room Fellowship Church requested us. We were flattered; happy to play any show, let alone a show for a younger crowd. Our strong points, as far as a local fan base goes, are and always have been children and old people. People our own age do not get us in most cases. Furthermore, the ones who do get us always turn out to be gigantic odd balls, such as ourselves. So, it is few and far between that we meet them anyway.
I got a bit nervous around the time that we performed the song "Rainy And Stormy" because there are lyrics that criticize the American conceptualization of God in the verses. Jack later pointed out that I had crooned that particular part of the song quite loudly over the microphone. I don't think anyone noticed and those lyrics certainly, whether considered in the context of the performance that night or the conception of the song in general, did not apply to all churches or organized religion for that matter. More so, they apply to the ignorance of assumption by some people that everyone is of one belief system. People that assume this are close minded.
After the show, we ate some pizza and snacks. Then, we took a tour of the new wing that was being added to the church.

The Nouveau Rock Festival in May 2008

This was one of the best Nouveau Fests because The Zou arranged for a really cool stage to be put in the back room of Cedars Lounge, unlike just playing on an non-elevated floor like we had done at the previous Nouveau. It had really great sound and the show featured a lot of fresh new acts such as, one of our favorites that we got to meet, The Sewing Machine War. We played a couple of the new songs and the high-lights of the night were "A Drug Inside Your Wrist" and "Painting A Picture Over And Over."

Susan's Gourmet Coffee in April 2008

On April 25, we drove to Kent, Ohio to play Susan's Gourmet Coffee, a coffee shop just off campus. We had a surprising turnout, not a big one, but a good group of people. We had some of our closest friends/significant others, such as Ellen Frost, Cory Foster and Mindy Strawn, drive up from the Youngstown, Ohio area and I had a couple people I knew from the Kent State branch in Salem, Ohio come up to see us as well as a couple students that Brandon Hull, our friend, knew and had spoken too at our previous on-campus show with The Zou.
This mention of friends that came to see us makes me pause and want to sincerely acknowledge the people that support/put up with Third Class' antics and have for so many years. People such as the above-named and others such as Chrissy Bailey, a good friend and frequent show attender, and others who have been there especially when we were starting out as a band such as Craig Beight, Derek Baker, Steve Boyle and Karen Boyle. There were also so many that joined along the way and recognized our sound for what it is, people such as Cathy Miller, Megan Whinnery, The Zou, Posture Coach, Brandon Hull who went on tour with us and has become a really good friend in the past few years, Erin and Jessica Kane, Abby Kondas, Samantha Hoover, Kristin and Elizabeth Reeves, Pete Drivere, Dog OK, Emily Elser, and many many more.

The Highlands Taproom in April 2008

We drove to Columbus, Ohio and visited our friends Amy Erdmann and Billy James, staying the night at Billy's place on April 4th and then heading towards Louisville, Kentucky on April 5th to play, once again, at The Highlands Taproom with a band called Dying Indiana. When we went on, the crowd started to leave so I told them, over the microphone, that they just needed to give us a chance and stay until the music started to make sense to them. Some listened and seemed to enjoy themselves by the end of the set. Before the show, Pepe and Jack and I went and ate a cool place called Just Fresh that serves really really fresh, good food. The drive home was pretty fun but tiring because of having to stop to drop Jack off in Wooster, Ohio where he was going to school. Jack and Pepe remarked to me that this one, semi-empty show wasn't really worth the trouble we went to and I agreed and promised to book more sensibly in the future. Overall, it was a fun time though.