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

Saturday, November 22, 2003

Rock and roll to the beat of the funk fuzz

Another great Lloyd Dobler performance and awesome time with good friends. I have always thought that LDE is a much better live band than their studio stuff. But then again, after hearing their new studio recordings, its safe to say that both aspects are a force to be reckoned with.
So yeah, they lit up the stage with two sets of originals and some fun covers. The crowd livened up after a bit and towards the middle of the night, everyone was on their feet. A lot of drunk women came up to me and asked about the band. I overheard one of the girls, after she stopped talking to me, say "i haven't seen a band this good in a while!". Aw, that was great to hear! My favorite was the 30 year old who kept falling over her self and gave me her business card so that she could book the band for a private show. "Private Show". Boom chika boom bah. Kinda reminds me of my rock and roll porn idea. Oh wait, why doesn't Phil tell everyone we are around about my idea ;-). Haha, we are going to break into the business, watch out, it's gonna be hot and fly off the shelves. Hey! It's an untapped market!
Breaks over...back on stage to start the second half off right with my new favorite LDE song -- (Kangol Black still has a special place in my hear.. ;-) Millenium Music Conference) -- "Meet Me in London." So good. As I was grooving to the song, I noticed this character walk in, and I did a double take because I couldn't tell if it was male or female. This person was short, chubby, long black hair, a black sweater, and a black and white skirt. It was either a tranvestite or a really ugly woman. I decided it didn't really matter and ignore the mystery person. I glanced back over, and here this person is, dancing and cheering away, staring intently at Phil, with an immense hard-on. Yes, in a skirt!! I don;t think he noticed at first. Everyone on stage, except for Phil noticed, it was craziness. yeah, this lasted throughout the night. The guy kept trying to cover it up, but dude, you're in a skirt and we can so tell you are not a female now. So gross. If you're going to wear a skirt, at least tuck it or something so that kind of thing doesn't happen in the future. LDE did their cover of "Friends in Low Places" and brougth Dave up on stage to sing the chorus. Dave doesn't listen to the radio or anything popular at all (sorry, but he doesn't!) so he hummed the words and shoated out "Oasis!" at the end of every line. Pretty damn funny. Then Phil spilled the secrets that were previously shared at the Grape Street into the mic at the Logan House. Granted, I doubt the audience cared about any band dramatics that are going down, but still...principles!! ;-)
After the show we hang out and talk, and this really drunk older guy felt the need to tell the band how great they were numerous times. So Phil took me and introduced me as their manager and left! Way to leave me with the creepies! It's ok though since we were married in a previous life.
Craziness outside in the cold then back home to Newark with a stop at Aurora's in between.
"I say...is there a party going on?!?!"

Give me Friday night apartments with red-faced tears of laughter.
Jumping up and down, drinking happy ever-after
Build a wall of good people and you can’t beat a young man’s pride
So I’ll be one of them, I’ll be one of them this time.
ryan montbleau

"can i get in? no you can't!" (tribe guys altered for the evening)

So Aurora and I have established a list of do's and don'ts when it comes to the pre and post show activities.
Let's add a new one to the list:

"When one is underage and meeting up with the band to get in through the back door, do not call attention to yourself by shouting out a band members name in hearing distance from the bouncers. Also, do not run upstairs to the back door in clear view of the bouncer man running towards you."

We learned that lesson last night.
Aurora and I headed up to the Logan House, where she did the above action, and got caught. But at least she saved herself and wasn't lying when she said she was just saying hello to a friend. So away we went back to Newark so I could drop her off then go back up to the Logan House. At least we were 15 minutes away instead of 4 hours ;-). It's ok, we all make mistakes and we learn from them!

Friday, November 21, 2003

clickety click

So I got a while roll of film back yesterday where every picture I am in, I am plastered. Why do you guys let me do that? It was the roll from the impromptu party upstairs and philly. Aurora and I were looking at them last night and realize we have more pictures of each other where we are half lit and goofy then anything else. Oh well, that makes it fun :-). And Oliver is like Where's Waldo. He can be found somewhere in more than half the pictures. Haha. Once I hook my scanner back up, I will post them online for all to enjoy. Next investment is a digital. Yeah, that and EZ Pass. And a Powerbook.

"and all i want to be is the minute that you hold me in"

Last night Matt Nathanson played at the Scrounge. Michelle came down to see the show and it was just like old times, except that it was free and at our alma mater rather than costing money and in Philly.
Aurora and I met her there, along with five hundred million other people. But we are swift and went from behind the stage to standing up right in front of the door. Go us. The guy next to me smelled an awful lot like Parrot Bay and we were relieved that other people are as much of boozers like we are. Though we didn't drink before this show, no time.
Matt Fish and Matt Nathanson took the stage and played an hour and a half of new and old stuff. Matt Nathanson has been a long time favorite artists of mine, but I haven't seen him perform in about a year, so it was a much welcomed show, though I think he still used 75% of the jokes as before. But it's ok, he is great. Definitely one of the strongest songwriters out there, simply beautiful. It's refreshing to see that so many people appreciate and enjoy good music. Especially since I have been overwhelmed by the inordinate amount of twenty-somethings purchasing the new Britney Spears.

2

iopaklnm

**I am now downstairs at work. As a result of my ineptness with my breakfast yesterday morning, the above letters are the only ones that work. The 2 is my backspace. I'm not laughing.

Thursday, November 20, 2003

nostalgia

REMEMBER KOOSH BALLS?!

The klutz strikes again

Aurora and I have this rule that whenever we are talking with each other online there is to be no eating or drinking while typing. We have established this rule because far too often, we make each other laugh, then we don't hear from the other, and we think that the other may have started choking on their food or drink in the midst of laughing. Don't laugh, this has happened before. Many food particles have eneded up on the screen because we can't eat or drink or laugh at the same time.
But today, I have eastablished that rule for myself for all online instances, not just talking to Aurora on AIM. Here I am, calmly sitting at my computer, then my cereal falls right onto my keyboard. Yeah, gross. I just spent the past 5 minutes cleaning it and surprise surprise it works.

Angie Aparo at The Point

Ahhh...yet another Center Stage taping and another good night. Tonight we were a bit short on people, but it all turned out ok since we actually weren't allowed to bring our whole setup.
And of course, it DOWNPOURED and we were under a Tornado Watch for most of the evening. It wouldn't be a CS taping if there wasn't the rain to try break us down. We hit a monsoon when we taped Jonasay in June, avoided tornadoes tonight, Blizzard of 04 - BRING IT ON.
What is usually a 45 minute trip took double that time, but we were able to set up and get everything underway just on time. Again, it wouldn't be a CS taping if we didn't have to run somewhere and get something, whether it be blank tapes in the ghetto, coffee at Wawa, or RCA to XLR cables at the local music supply store.
Angie put on a great set and I can't wait to see how the footage turned out. Unfortunately we were limited to only two cameras, but hey, we're old pros!
The highlight of the evening had to be Mullet Man. This guy had an intense mullet. He was hardcore. So naturally, Marissa and I followed him with our camera. Then!!! The best idea ever for a commercial!
Oh just you wait....Center Stage brings new meaning to the mullet catch phrase, "business in the front, party in the back".

Phil is quick with the journal entry

Here is the LDE point of view of the night...


November 18th, 2003: Grape Street Pub, Philadelphia, PA.

So, Donnie and Rod and I had to get from New Canaan, Connecticut to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2 hours during the later part of rush hour. Somehow, I eluded our friends from the law enforcement agencies and made to the Grape Street Pub only five minutes late. Donnie says says that the only reason we left the recording studio was to pick up a few Philly Cheesesteaks.

We got to the Grape as fast as we could and set up the stage. By the time we began our set, we only had enough time to perform about 5 songs. So, I didn't even bother setting up my acoustic guitar and we started our set as soon as we were set up on stage. No soundcheck. We played KANGOL BLACK PARTY, NO VOY A LLORAR, CONTROL, STRANGER, DOIN THE BUTT and BETTER THAN YOU EVER DREAMED WAS POSSIBLE.

After the show, we hung out with three of my heros, who are DAVE PITTENGER, MIRANDA HAFFORD and SAMMIE FROM Y-100. Dave Pittenger has a great band in Philly called THE DAVE PITTENGER BAND (www.thedpband.com). Donnie wanted to eat a really good Philly Cheesesteak so Dave drove me, Miranda, Donnie and Doug somewhere deep into the back ghettos of South Philly to a tremendous cheesesteak place. We bought the food, ate and I have had the shits all day. Thanks alot Dave! I thought the only part of my waste that was supposed to be runny was supposed to come out of the apparatus on the front of me.

Then, we return from the high integestion to Manyuck (where Grape Street is) and we find that Miranda's car has been locked inside the garage she parked in! No luck. Rusty said that he would drive her home. THEN, on the way home, Rod runs out of gas (...I guess he could have borrowed some of mine from the cheesesteak). He ended up having to call the police to help him (I never thought I'd see the day). I wonder what the cops thought when they smelled the van's "air freshener" (heh heh)...

...OH, somebody end our misery, please!

-PHIL from The Road

Wednesday, November 19, 2003

"meet me in london for a drink"

I needed last night after my awful day on Monday.
Got up to Grape Street and was walking to the venue when I heard LDE playing from someone's car. Very odd because it was so loud and I couldn't find where it was coming from and must have twirled around the cobblestone a few times trying to detect which car was causing the ruckus. Couldn't find it. Met up with Dave and Rusty and hung out while we waited for the other half of the band to get there. Supposed to play at 9, it was 9:10, so we play the load-in game while waiting for Phil. When he arrived, he nearly died when he saw Dave and me since he had no idea we were coming. Surprises are always good. We wanted to go up to the Grape to show the guys support, especially since they haven't been in Philly in a while, and especially because they are such good people. They played a short set, but enough to get people off their feet and to get some awesome pictures. Phil, Dave, and I hung out, caught up, and shared secrets in the back alley. We were all in usually high spirits and it was great to share that with such good company. It was time to hunt for food, so we grab Doug and traversed Main Street while we found every place that had food closed. So Phil and I walked arm and arm entertaining the others with our concept of rock n' roll porn instead of dinner. We get back to the Grape where Javi meeted us with a bag of warm Pabst. We all took three sips then chucked them into the alley of the Grape in hopes of hitting something resembling a trash can but was more likely a wall. We get Donnie and decide to head into the city in the Pittenger van to show the guys a real Philly Cheesesteak. As Dave circled South Philly, which we call South Philly and not da ghetto, and showed us the "South Philly Slide", we finally found Genos. We all cram into a table for good eats (note, I had cheese fries, not cheesesteaks...nothing with a smile). Afterwards, Donnie had to pee, so we find a 7-11 where Phil, Dave, and I make some trouble and take more pictures. Slurpees and hot chocolate are so good on so many levels. We get back to the Grape and Dave is driving me to my car first where we find out that OH NO THE GARAGE WHERE MY CAR WAS KEPT IS CLOSED!! It was 1 am!! Who closes a garage at midnight when bars around there stay open till 2?!?! Argh. So Phil calls the garage number for me to no avail. Well, Phil was going north to Connecticut, the Godinez brothers were heading to DC in the van, and Rusty had his car. So Rusty and Doug said they would drop me off in Newark en route to DC. So sweet. So we're bumping to some go-go, and just got onto 495 when Phil calls me and tells me the LDE van broken down somewhere in PA. Through multiple phone calls, we realize the van ran out of gas. Sigh, not a good day for travelling! So I get home around 2:30 and woke up at 5:50 so I could go grab my car in Manyunk this morning. Good thing my mom had off the past few days. Sigh.
And today was spent getting things accomplished, so no sleep was to be had. Tonight we're filming Angie Aparo. We rock.
Oh and watch the F out, great things are in store for LDE. GREAT THINGS.

Monday, November 17, 2003

"chin up, cheer up"

When it rains, it pours.
I don't want to be here anymore.

stupid microwave

So I usually only have time for one decent meal a day, which is usually breakfast if I am up in time since I usually start my mornings at home rather than at work or on the road. Oat meal has been posing a problem to me lately. It keeps exploding in my microwave. I even put a paper towl over it to catch the explosion, but it still doesn't help. Today I did four, one minute intervals and dammit during the last minute, there was a mess. Argh. Its still ok, but how do I not get soy milk all over my microwave!?

Sunday, November 16, 2003

"welcome home its so nice to meet you"

Saturday night was spent with more musical goodness and good times with great friends. Our motto has always been work hard...play hard. Seriously now, I think we all attract one another due to our penchant for emmersing ourselves into everything we do...music, tv, drinking, radio, work, what have you.
Off to East End for the evening to see Omnisoul - yes, again, and Ike perform. We like Ike. A lot. Premium malt beverages were had and crazy dancing and singing ensued. We enjoy making John laugh at his "delaware crew" while onstage. Between sets we all chatted in the back, then made our way back near the front for Omnisoul. Oliver, Dan, Chris, and I have seen them three times in four days, merely by convenience ;-). If they keep it up, they may break the PMB 4 show, 5 day record. And we can't be having that.
Great Omnisoul show, as usual. And Dan got his Paranoid Android. Complete with the Shaka of Love. After the show, it was off to Derek's. Aurora, Jen, Hillary, and I got into the car and decided the next best place to go was Wawa. Ok, so again, I am sure you all know my obsessed love for Wawa, and one of the most joyous things inside the Wawa is the "incident free" sign educating the costumers on just how safe Wawa is. Well we pull up and I see an ambulance. APPARENTLY I freaked out wondering if there was an incident. APPARENTLY I was really excited about that. I don't think I did anything of the sort and they are just exaggerating. I am always calm and collected. Always.
So then we go to Derek's for more drinking and talking when we figured that the best thing to do at that moment was to walk across the street to the diner. Nice. Until early Sunday morning, I have never seen anyone drink it up at a diner. Chris conveniently replaced his water with vodka at the table in a valiant effort in hardcore drinking. Hey, the booze travels with us wherever we go. Mr. Flask does not like to be left home alone.
When all was done and well, it was 5 am when I went to bed. And again, I had to wake up super early to open up the record store. The word of the day was "hardcore". It was uttered about 80 times from five different people. Yeah, we're all hardcore.
5 am seems to be the magic number.

illadelphia, yo

Friday was same old, same old. Record store, radio station, show of some sort.
The radio show went ok, for the most part. Somehow I seem to lose my voice on Fridays where I have to broadcast for two hours, rather than any of the other 6 days. It was comforting to hear all of the phone calls to the station wishing that I felt better. Thank you.
Afterwards, Chris, Dan, and I headed to the Grape Street to see Omnisoul before going to South Street. Derek and I were talking about, I think, at my place the other night...or was it somewhere else...I can't recall...all days lately seem to blur together, how much his band has evolved since I first started hearing their music years ago. Whoa, we are definitely old. I just said the word "years". Yikes! But they put on a good show and thankfully the room filled up pretty nicely for them during their set.
We, the "we" has now grown to Chris, Dan, Oliver, Matt, Jess, and I, left the Grape and followed the river down to South Street for some food and more music. Green to Think was playing at the Pontiac and since its been MONTHS since I have seen a full-on GTT show, I had to be there. It was good to see the guys and the GTT girls again, such good people. They're all going to make living in NYC even better. GTT played the whole Sundays EP, plus "We Are Stars", "She Won't Let Me Be", "1, 2, 3...", and "Nineteen". And when I say "the whole Sundays EP", I mean it...including Allison Rose. Yeah acoustic geetah.
I almost hit a deer coming home from Chris's. It had antlers!! :::proceed to wave hands above head signifying actual antlers::: Everyone would be glad to know I stopped and waited for him to cross the street, as opposed to actually hitting it like other furry creatures that cross my path. I think it was around 4:30 am when I went to bed this time, yay for going to bed early. Or earlier than 5. Stupid 10 am opening the store crap.