Tuesday, Sept 8th, 2009
"A Tour with Tapout? What was I thinking?" as I boarded the long bus adorned with logos and characters of the three men who had taken a t shirt company from a dream to a reality. I jokingly thought that as I knew I was in for an adventure over the next 10 days; we were dusting off the vehicle that hadn't been used for a tour in over a year. The undercarriage was stocked with boxes of autograph cards, t shirts for the fighters, stickers and sharpies. That left us no room for our stuff so we threw it into the bedroom at the back of the bus where no one would ever sleep, next to the shower being used as a snack closet where no one would ever shower, and a toilet that no one would ever sit on. I took stock of all of the cabinets in the kitchen area noting twizzlers, redvines, pretzels with peanut butter, snack mix, chips, candy bars, and more. The fridge was equally as stocked with waters, gatorades, and monster energy drinks.
I had arrived to the Tapout headquarters in San Bernardino at about 7pm and had a number of short meetings with the marketing department. Not only was I going on the bus with the Tapout guys to do what I do best (take photos for those of you who didn't know) I was also their tour manager for the 10 days I was on the bus with them. This meant that I had to do a lot of communicating with the Tapout guys, their marketing department, the fighters doing the autograph signings, as well as the store owners and managers along the way. I was given itineraries to follow as well as instructions of what I needed to do along the way. It all seemed well within the realm of my capabilites especially considering I am my own tour manager across the country all the time anyways!
Punkass was at the warehouse when I first got there but had to take off to run some errands before we got on the road. Skyskrape was still in Huntington Beach but was en route not long after I arrived. I made a request for some gear to wear out on the road (I really hadn't brought much Tapout stuff along with me) and was shortly escorted out into the warehouse where Laurel walked me up and down the aisles and helped me pick out t shirts and tanks to wear; It was like I was on a shopping spree! After I had about 10 pieces (one for each day of the trip) we headed back over to the marketing department so I could grab my camera and take pics around the headquarters.
If you've never seen the Tapout show, you wouldn't know how the place was decorated. In the same dark, edgy style that represents the brand as well as it's founders, the offices and hallways were painted and adorned with all different murals, statues, instruments, motorcyles, etchings and paraphenalia. Laurel humored me as I spent the next 20 minutes wandering around the hallways shooting photos of everything I found including pictures of Skyskrape and Mask's offices. Skyskrape's office looked like a nightclub with his desk set up like a bar and his sitting area a lounge.
Mask's office was newly remodeled prior to his tragic passing. You walk into it and feel like you were transported to the Kryptonite cave in a Superman movie. They even have the super man theme song playing in there. I was quiet in my thoughts as I looked at the room that was so representative of this man's life.
Deep in thought, we continued back to where I was debriefed on my duties on the trip, as well as handed the intinerary; a multipage document with at least 50 appearances and signings over a 5 or so week period of which I was responsible for the first two weeks. It wasn't long before SkySkrape was dropped off at the office, Punkass had come back, and we were loaded with all our bags on the RV. With one last stop at Punkass' house to grab his bags, we were soon hitting the open road with a destination of Phoenix, AZ on the GPS.
I had every intention of staying awake and getting work done but if I'm not driving, I'm like a baby in a car seat and found myself nodding off rather quickly. We stopped for the night in Blythe, CA at an Econolodge and as hard as I tried to work again, I was passed out within minutes of our arrival.
We still had a couple hours drive to go in the morning so we woke up around nine, took advantage of their continental breakfast (oh yeah, they had free internet too!)and got on the road. Stops for gas became fun adventures as we shopped for state magnets (they had a collection on the dash) and quirky items that could only be found at that particular stop. Sometimes we bought nothing. Others, we came out like we had just robbed the place.
There was an alligator head on the dash of the bus and I asked the guys what it's name was. Skrape promptly responded, Ali Gator. I said, "That's stupid!!" and proceeded to suggest a twitter contest. He offered a prize of a box of Tapout gear to the best name and I started getting response after response. The name would be chosen after finishing up in Dallas.
Carlos Condit was the first fighter we had signing on the tour. He met us in the parking lot of the Arizona Mills mall where we were signing at a store called, No Limits. When we walked in, UFC Fighter, Aaron Simpson was standing there waiting to say hello.
I had met the owners of this establishment at UFC 100 and was very impressed with the design of the location as well as the product selection. I wasn't the only one and since the signing was slow because it was thrown together last minute, the Tapout guys had plenty of time to look around; they loved the place!
We got out of there pretty quickly and headed to the second signing with Carlos; Shield Store at Tempe Marketplace. This signing was a bit busier but after making sure they were settled I escaped to go get smoothies for the guys. They were in and out of there by 5.
TUF Season 8 winner, Ryan Bader met us at the bus in the parking lot before we journeyed to the other side of Phoenix to Arrowhead mall in Glendale. They had roped off a parking spot right out front for the RV and a number of fans were waiting there as we parked the beast. The guys sat down at the table that was set up, I got the pens and signing cards out and off they went. There was never a huge line at this signing although there was a steady stream of people the entire two hours including my friend Penny and her son Mazatl.
Now, doing three autograph signings in one day after driving a couple hours is no small feat. The guys are "on" taking quite a bit of time with each and every one of the fans. I don't have to be on, and although taking photos and keeping up to speed with their time schedules and getting everything set up and broken is tiring, its no where near the exhaustion that the guys had to feel after a day like Wednesday.
On the way back to phoenix, I got a hold of a bunch of the AZ Combatsports guys to meet us for dinner at RA Sushi in Tempe. Skyskrape decided to have each of the fighters sign the refridgerator in the RV in spite of what Punkass would think about it; Ryan Bader was the first to do it.
I hadn't gotten to know Skrape very well over the last few years; I could tell right off the back that he was going to be a ton of fun and I needed to watch my back from his pranks and jokes. As the tour continued on, it became more and more apparent.
We arrived to Mill Ave in Tempe and amazingly enough found a spot close by to park the RV. It's often a hassle and I have to account for an extra 15-20 minutes for parking the thing. But Wednesday night this wasn't the case and before long we were seated with carlos Condit, Ryan Bader, and Aaron Simpson enjoying food and conversation over plate after plate of sushi.
After we finished we made our way back to the RV. Little did Punkass know that the guys came with so they could sign the fridge. As we passed people on the street I could tell by their reactions that they recognized some, or all of the crew that we were rolling with. Not one of them came up and said a word thought. As the tour progressed, you would see that all change.
So far so good, we knocked day one and two out of the way. And in heading out of town, I navigated the way to Albuquerque, NM. It was at least 30 minutes before we realized that Punkass had headed in the complete wrong direction and we had to turn around to get back on track. We ended up pulling off at a Hampton Inn in Flagstaff, AZ before getting rooms at a Hampton Inn.
Day 3 to be continued!
