"I'm spinning round the room in awe" ryan adams

Sunday, July 06, 2003

Washington DC - June 20th
Yesterday was 95 North, today is 95 South...
This day was bittersweet for me, it was pretty much the final time I was able to hang out with the tv crew and film a concert. We filmed Jonasay headline at one of my favorite venues, the 9:30 club.
So hello again monsoon!! Aurora came over early and we waited for everyone else. When we realized that the clouds could not drop any MORE rain, we left early to go get the vehicles since we figured that we'll probably be behind schedule because of the rain. Yay for the go-go Durango and the van...off to the studio!! Go to the studio, then I get three phone calls all at the same time...Marissa, Jay, and Jen saying they were stuck in traffic and will be a little late. I wanted to be on 95 by 3 and we were, and all is good. I was banished from driving in the monsoon since I didn't have my glasses on me. There was also blood shed. Aurora was driving-her and I battle for the most interesting driver award, this is why our road trips up and down the coast are always so fun- and we all decided it was not a good idea to look out the window while she was driving. So I look up and death was almost near so I did the imaginary brake thing and my foot got caught under the glove compartment and I cut it. Going about 90 mph in torrential rains was exhilerating. And exhilerating means going to DC was spent trying to beat the other van.

So we arrive in DC. The 9:30 club is not in the best of neighborhoods, our lives were threatened. So we get there, unload, set up, the usual. And like at every venue, I get yelled at.

Aurora caused sparks from her comm box. And the production went wonderfully. We definitely are a fabulous crew.

We stopped at a rest stop on the way home, where Aurora gave me a card signed by everyone and she had a goodbye memory box of all of our musical endeavors together. It was purple and silver and had music memorabilia in it as well as fun little quotes written on purple and silver stars....if I wasn't so exhausted, I would have definitely cried from an overwhelming sense of joy and sorrow. It was one of the best gifts I have ever received all because it reminded me of what an incredibly amazing year it has been and the time spent with such wonderful people. I will share...

First and foremost...a Wawa cup, pretty much my fuel for any roadtrip or marathon editing session
Aurora and my business card, yes, we have business cards haha
Matches...because at the Millenium Music Conference (again, one of the best weekends, revert to mid February blog) at 7:30 when everyone finally leaves your room and you're tucked in by the GTT guys, you just need something to make fire...
Plastic boots...because these boots were made for walking......you never know what you see fans wearing...
Batteries..because who randomly has two batteries in their pockets when Justin asks for them, oh yeah, Aurora haha
A plastic dinosaur. No, not for the obvious, but for the dinosaurs we saw in the snow in Maine during Spring break
A horse, because sometimes you just can't find your horse at 3 am in the rain...
A LAMINATE
The words to Eminem's "Lose Yourself" because I don't know the words
And lastly, a purple loofah. Again, we will go back to the MMC, where we remembered everything but loofahs. Nothing like going for a beer and loofah run with LDE

And the purple star quotes...
-"The Captain gave us mono" again, refer to the music conference where the whole dman Hilton shared our bottle of Captain and Aurora and I got so sick the week after..and hell, we still went to NC anyways...
-"Can I say shit? Shit! Shit! Shit!" interview quote
-"Why we love SWIFT... 1) Swift Holly 2) Seany's nickname 3) Our favorite truck drivers"
-"The Boys of LDE next door -- 'Yo, Phil, we're in room 521, what room are you guys in? 520!?!??! NO WAY!'"
-"Zombies!!" Don't drink and do drugs and dance.
-"Aurora: 'You locked the keys in the car didn't you?' Mark: Yeah...'" At a gas station in Maine...
-"It looks like a puppet show!" Again, scandelous behavior in Maine...
-"If I stay with you, will you stay with me through the nighttime" - So Aurora and I have this thing that we have to play the same songs throughout our car rides together, whether we go to Towson or Maine, we have to hear the same songs. And of course this line was fitting while Ken and Steve kept us up all hours of the night at the MMC haha
-CENSORED, but it has to do with NOASIS and NORTH KACKALACKI!
-"I eat my words well" Aurora, on the fact that no matter what she says, she gets disproven ;-)
-"Yeah, we don't clap"
-"Are you done? It's always about you....I'm the lead singer and I masturbate! Can we talk about my masturbation now?" Mike to Justin in the CS interview
-"What a coinkidink" maybe we shouldn't talk about what we do in front of other people....
-"I could marry Bono..he's not too old for me" Aurora, saying this I think in Connecticut. One of the many reasons we're friends haha.
-"We'll always have Maine" Mike to Aurora...in Maine
"He's the quy and shiet type" Amazing Aurora said this as we left the Seeking Homer show at Fletchers and neither of us had been drinking haha
-"You don't fucking know what I do"
-"This is Justin Sheehy from the rock band Jonasay" voicemail left on Aurora's phone
-"This is Mark Williams from the rock band Jonasay...left by Phil (of LDE)" repeated v-mail on my phone
-"This is Phil Kominski from the Lloyd Dobler Effect....left by Mark" repeated v-mail on my phone
-"Top 5 car trip albums: 1) SDFD, Jonasay 2) Portrait, Jonasay 3) Waiting for my Rocket to Come, Jason Mraz 4) Joshua Tree, U2 5) Forty Licks, Rolling Stones" Aurora and I spend thousands of miles in the car together and no matter what, these albums get mega spins. Green To Think's EP comes in close on that list as well. Nothing beats trying to sing "Better" nonstop to Towson from Harrisburg with an already raw throat...

So yay for an awesome excursion to DC with the posse.


New York City - June 19th
So you know when you see someone from the car and you kinda play car tag, dodging in and out of traffic and making a point to adjust the mirror at the light just for kicks? Driving back to the apartment before heading out to the big apple, Karen and I decided to mess with this guy in a Camero after he kept staring over at us. She got his number. It was smooooooth.
We stopped home, then hit 95 N to the city. We met up with our friend Mike Clarke and Ryan, a coworker of his to see the sights, hit the bars, and experience some music. It was when we actually parked the car when we realized that we had no idea what we were doing or where we even were. The day was brought to us by the colors red and black which all of the city decided to join us in wearing. Through a marathon phone tag session with Mike, we met up with the guys and hit an original pizza place then off to a bar. Yay for beer. Then another bar. Then another bar. Subway to Tribeca. It's pretty bad when you have four drunk people not knowing where they really are in the city and its still daylight out. Saw the band outside and found another bar. This time it was Cuban. We hit up Tribeca shortly before Jonasay went on. What an awesome little club. Again, it reestablished my desires to run my own venue. Yeah, it might happen. Good drinks, good people, good music. After Tribeca we hit another bar with world jazz music. I think I stopped drinking at this point, but Mike definitely did not, whicle his antics on stage evidenced how much he drank. It was great. Then more pizza. We went to go grab my car in the lot when I suddenly remembered that I had no idea where I had parked. Not a good thing to do in NYC! Despite my absentmidedness, I have a stellar photographic memory and was able to orient myself after seeing a gas station sign. My mind works in odd ways. The trek home was extremely slow due to the monsoon that met up with us as soon as the tires met up with 95. I went about 40 miles an hour half way there just because I couldn't keep in control of my car, nor see. The highlight of the highway span was when Karen had to have me pull over on the interstate in the hurrican so she could throw up. Now she is initiated in the "puking on national highways" club.