dancing on a friday night - oh yeah!

Radio show went well. Spent half of it talking to Chris M. (looks I need to start putting clarifiers since oddly enough in the past few months I have met 5067 chris's) and Maryellen via emails as they helped me pick my setlist and the other half juggling the million callers that called the station. And Maryellen called from NYC, so that was awesome, WVUD needs to be aired on our holds now haha.

Chris L. came down to the station to play some recorded live tracks and talk on air. Madanant doesn't do his show anymore, so I have some openess after my show to play around with. So we played some tunes and informed the listeners what's going on in the Marlon Spike world. Chris aptly named the hour "Marlon Spike Radio" and did my legal stuff with flying colors. It was hilarious. I forgot I had traffic, so it was an interesting segway after Gary told us about the snarl on Casho Mill Road, that I asked Chris about the roadways going to the Grape. And problems on Casho Mill!? Smallest road in Newark? Chris was all organized with his list as I was the usual disheveledness. But we crossed off everything on his check list, including talking about my mother on air. And Clay Aiken and his mentoness. But yeah, a fun, random, crazy time on air as we pirated WVUD.

Chris dropped me off at home and I hit up the store before heading to my place so I could talk to Charise. I love Charise because she knows all about my craziness and we'll talk about one thing which will lead to eight others. In the midst of four different stories, my phone rings, and though I expected it to be the customary call from my mom after my radio show, it was Phil. Phil! One of my favorite people ever, and I haven't spoken with him since Dec 6. So he's all excited and I run outside and I have no idea what the point of the phone call was, but we chatted and he introduced me to Chris, the newest member of LDE, and I spoke with him for a while, then back to Phil. Phil said something that we should all get drunk and be crazy and then I said we'll run through the streets with our clothes off. Yeah, I said this outside my store loud and a few people turned their heads. I wasn't serious!

I picked up Melissa and she feared for her life before we even picked up dinner. I got in the wrong lane and I didn't appreciate her screaming for her dear life as I cut across the other lanes in front of fastly approching cars. And my u-turn rocked as I burned rubber. I swear the girls knuckles were white, but it was fun :-). Hit up Wawa for subs and the Newark Wawa is still incident free for 69 days.

We ate and watched the Newlyweds marathon before Tanya came over. Melissa also was brave enough to go into my fridge and found eggs that I have had in there since August growing fur. Maryellen called me and it was almost as great as Phil's call. She was a bit tipsy in NYC and we talked about boys and being gutsy and how we really are good people haha. I meant to call her at some point in the night, but the evening flew by, so perhaps a phone call tonight...

Tanya came over and we plotted - hehe sounds devious - and started drinking. Rick, Chris, Dan, Matt, Jess, and Derek came over to find us pretty much almost hammered. Tanya had to be up super early to teach, but that didn't stop her. Having fun and losing ones self takes priority over responsibility. Chris started hardcore and owned the raspberry vodka, downing quite a few shots before we all headed out to Continental. We decided that bringing the cranberry vodka bottle with us was a good idea.

Hung out at Continental for a while, which is incidently Derek's old apartment. The complex reminded me of the time that Derek terrorized someone from his window and feared for his life. I forgot that I wasn't supposed to tell anyone, but it was over 2 years ago, so all is fair. Feels weird that Derek and I trade off old college stories from back in the day. Derek mentioned that he was moving to NYC in May which snowballed into talking about the music scene here and there. And how we try to kid ourselves that there is a semblance of a scene here in Delaware, but we are all pretty much the scene. And when we all relocate to NYC, there will be no scene - haha. Sorry, Delaware.

Rick knew someone at the party and turns up the kid worked for him, so he felt weird. With a school with over 18,000 people, you'd be surprised how small it really is. So unfortunately Rick and Melissa left a little early. Tanya and I team up for some beer pong against Dan and Matt and were doing pretty well, I thank Tanya's song and dance. But of course they get the same cup which means automatic defeat for Tanya and me.

I think some guy was being a jerk, so we left, but not before Dan stole a beer for him and me for the walk home. We leave and drink for the trek back to my place then busted out the vodka bottle and each of us hit that up while walking on Main Street. What is wrong with us?!?!

Get back to my place and Chris works his iPod magic and we make concotions in the kitchen. For some reason we found it necessary to badly sing Biz Markie while it wasn't playing and only the chorus. The PB & J was busted out as was chains of drinking. Tanya caught all of this on film, so they will be on my site shortly. Tanya had a vodka bottle with her the whole time and kept misplacing it. Matt gave us an entertaining rendition of Ben Jelen's song as we watched the music video. Dan was calmly standing around and his drink exploded on him and Jess. Around 4:30 everyone left except for Aurora.

We were both plastered and a bit afraid to sleep because we may die if we close our eyes by spinning around too much. So we stay up and talk about the paths our lives have taken in the past few months and whose we have intertwined with and realize that lifes been good.

Pass out around 6ish and wake up around noon for work. We can barely function and decide that going to the bagel shop is the best thing to start our days. We couldn't even bear to hear the word "drink". I think our bodies are like sponges and they just couldn't absorb anything more.

There ends my Friday's festivities. And as soon as I get out of work - which is hopefully soon...Aurora and I will be jetting down to Baltimore to see LDE. I'm looking out the window and the snow is quickly falling, but that is just an added adventure. I think we are more excited to hng out with them since its been way too long, than we are about actually seeing the show. But their new stuff is so damn good. And of course, its a different lineup than the last time. Goodbye Javi and hello Chris. You know you are way too involved when some changes bring sorrow...

But hey, Phil tells everyone we are around I am his tour manager and he called me up so I could meet and talk to Chris, and they are all so excited for tonight. Phil knows we are leaving as soon as I get off of work, so he said they won't play until I get there. So we must a cause a scene when we get to the funk box.

Ok, my boredom has allowed me to write enough, so I am outta here. More adventures tomorrow.

an uncertain chain of mistragedies

I will not start this blog off with what I want to say. In fact, I may not even address it on here.

But after work, I went to the bar. I needed to get out, so the girls - Aurora, Tanya, Melissa, & Karen - went to the East End for beverages and appetizers. Chris, Dan, and Jen met up with us shortly afterwards as we plotted against our sucky waitress, repeated statements, embarrassing stories, and contemplated on the superpowers of Wayne.

The funniest part of the evening has to be while we were all consuming our beers and premium malts, Chris ordered a Long Island Ice Tea, which is one tasty beverage and perfectly acceptable in the mixed drinks realm. But instead of a normal LI Ice Tea in a normal glass, it was served with more fruit garnishes than neccessary and in a slim girly glass. Moreover, it did not taste how a LI Ice Tea should taste. It was a bit scary and threw the whole semblance of the table off.

Karen and Melissa left so we went to Wawa. I don't know who's idea it was to go to Wawa, (jen's...?) but I don't think we needed to go, but of course Wawa is always a perfect stop. On the way we tried to guess how many days since that Wawa was incident free. Last Saturday (jan 9), the Wawa had been incident free for 16 days. HOW HOW HOW is the Wawa now incident free for 69 days!??!?! It was only 6 days ago!!!!!

Back to the apartment where we drank and listened to some of the MS SPF VII recording. Aurora and Jen pirated my computer, so hopefully no one got any weird IMs, but at least Aurora's living situation next year may be solved. Chris made my speakers work, so after being stereo-less for four months, I can now listen to CDs on a normal system.

Yeah, and I forgot that I have a radio show to do today, so I tired to plan it in the 15 minutes I had before work. Don't blame me if it sucks, blame my course of events yesterday.

why a month...?

Because it's long enough to be meaningful, but short enough to stay out of trouble...

"many people rearranging what their plans are for the night time"

Hmmm...perfect?

Aurora and I got the hell out of Delaware and went to NYC for the evening for the usual night of adventures and wonderment.

"Dream on, dream on as I may
I get a little closer every day
To what I think it should be.
I drive a little bit further, further
A little further down the road." RB

We headed to the Village to catch Ryan Montbleau opening up for the guys of Little Feat at the Lion's Den. So of course we went early to see what we see. Caught up on our craziness on 95 while the sounds of Ryan M, Graham Colton, Akiva, Phantom Planet, Ryan Adams, and Tyler Hilton serenaded us. The Swifts were on road in fleets and we decided that double blue swifts count double, so all in all we saw 31 on the way up...i think. We decided to just drive into the city instead of hoboken and oddly enough we found a free parking spot right in front of the venue. we rule.

A lady walking her dog stopped me as we were hanging out outside and informed me that I left my interior light on. So nice, it would not have been cool to come back to a dead battery. Again, I stand by my sentiments that NYC is the most empathetic city, though people beleive the opposite. Perhaps because mostly everyone there are strangers and personal ties don't interfere with good will.

We walk over to Burrito Loco, which is now becoming an NYC tradition, for dinner and to talk about porn. We are staring at three porn shops while eating, of course it was bound to come up. Afterwards we walked into a store where Aurora bought a hat because it was cold and I did my customary jewelry purchase. I found this awesome handmade chunky ring made with raw green garnet. Rock on, none like it anywhere ever. Came outside and it was snowing. So damn beautiful. Huge flakes careening down dusting the city. The lights and the sidewalks sparkled and we slid our way back to Sullivan. Overheard two guys singing "winter wonderland" and it really was. Walked around some more and found ourselves in a record shop doing what we do best. Warmed up in a car for a bit listening to music then went inside the Lions Den. Cute venue, smaller than I expected but good atmosphere. Wasn't really that crowded so we found a table and sat next to two other girls who were also there to see the opening act. We talked to them a little bit...Krista from Queens, and I didn't catch the other girls name...but she was like the NYC version of us, liking the same music and discovering new artists, so that was fun. Ryan came on and played an awesome set list, which I wrote down on a piece of paper with other ramblings of that day, but I left it in my car, so look for the setlist on my site later. There was an older taper there - presumably for Little Feat - who grooved out. It was hilarious. I took notice of "brown jacket boy" and towards the end of the set he and his friend came over to us and we met new people, new people who run a venue in NY. Again, we rule.

Ryan's voice is abolsutely amazing and I am sure you are sick of me ranting and raving over this kid, but its all true. He broke two strings while playing and since he wanted to be a cool rockstar jumping from cab to cab in NYC, he only brought one guitar. So as he is restringing with his eyes closed, he sings a little Paul Simon, then his intro song to his cd - City. Captivating. He also played Perfect, which is absolutely beautiful. So funny, I was describing the song to a friend of mine, "it's like 'hi ryan, tear my heart out'". Yup, that's it. And our concertmate Krista said the same exact thing. Aurora and I share the sentiments that this song is John Mayer's Comfortable.

We leave the venue after Ryan played and were greated by a blanket of snow everywhere. It was incredible. Hehe, we get off on the excitement of driving home with an added adventure. While Aurora smoked, I talked on the phone with Steve as he warned me to be careful and not to get lost and not to call him at 4am. We made our own tracks through the city and found our way out.

We decided to stop in Hoboken before hitting the Turnpike because though Dunkin Donuts coffee isn't better than Wawa coffee, it is better than random NJ rest stop coffee. I couldn't find a spot to park in, so I made my own in front of a fire hydrant. We get our goods at DD and while on the phone with my mom, I exclaim "oh shit, there's a cop with his lights on heading to my car!" and drop the phone in my bag. So I pass off my latte to Aurora and start running to my car. And by running, I mean jogging very carefully on the ice while trying not to fall down, blind myself with the falling snow, or careening into any of the passengers who just got off the PATH and were obstructing my route to my car. The cop pulled next to my car, but never stopped and I quickly made a scene by trying to not set off my alarm and not run into my car from skidding on the ice. Nice. Poor Aurora was left in the cold trying to hold onto everything w hile dodging the passengers as well. Oh well, no ticket.

So we head out for an exhilerating ride home. Yeah. As we were heading up to NYC, Aurora mentioned the sound of my brakes. I informed her that there are two things we will not bring up regarding my vehicle, first being my squeaky brakes, the second being the fact that I should have changed my oil 2,000 miles ago. The plows weren't out yet, so I scoot-scooted my Cabrio along the Turnpike going about 30 miles an hour while slipping and sliding all over the damn place. What was usually a three lane highway turned into a free for all, as was determined by the amount of cars that had run into the barriers. Woohoo!! So Aurora and I talked random stories while my knuckles were white from trying to keep my car from spinning out during the 135 mile endeavor. Hydroplaning, and swerving, and playing on the ice is fun throughout New Jersey. Finally I gained some control and composure and hit it up to 5th gear and 60 miles an hour and just owned the road for the trek back. I wouldn't have been so hesistent before if there wenre't that many cars on the road. Once the cars all disappeared, the road was ours. Tyler Hilton's Rollin' Home and Swifts were great great company.

And I have a fear of driving over bridges, yeah doing it on ice with no plowing of the roads was great. We got to DE and realized that DE lost in the snow storm, they barely got anything. Losers. We drove right through it and got the most out of it.

Rock on.

what the hell is this crap!?!?!?!?!

ARGH!!!!!! Now, I never did like Bush, but seriously...what has he been thinking lately?!?!?!? Yes, while our economy sucks and the job market isn't any better, lets have the nation spend an excrutiating amount on space travel and marriage. MARRIAGE!!! I could write for hours on this, but I only have a few minutes. But seriously. Ok, for example, there could be plenty of healthy GAY marriages that would provide a loving household for children, but no, Bush won't allow that. But he will shovel out millions trying to mend broken unhealthy heterosexual marriages. Some people aren't meant to be married to one another, some people make mistakes, and some people just aren't capable of being in a healthy relationship. But no, lets try to make those work instead of supporting the ones that do. I swear, forget getting out of DE, get me out of the US.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bush administration officials are planning a $1.5 billion election-year initiative to promote marriage, especially among low-income couples, the New York Times reported on Wednesday.

Administration officials have worked with conservative groups for months on the proposal, the paper said, and are weighing whether President Bush should promote the plan next week in his State of the Union address.

The plan would provide at least $1.5 billion for training to help couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain "healthy marriages," the paper said.

According to the Times, the officials said they believed the measure was timely because they were facing pressure from conservatives eager to see the federal government defend traditional marriage, after the highest court in Massachusetts ruled in November that gay couples had a right to marry.

trying to be as unproductive as possible

Rainbow Chris and I are going to jump out the window because we are so damn bored.

On another note, Maryellen, Chris M., and I exchanged fifty million e-mails today on how we're going to tear up Philadelphia next week and start our own business, but not in Philly, or maybe in Philly - who knows. This is what we do when we are all supposed to be at work. :-) Watch the hell out for Mirchrisma. Has a nice ring, don't you think?

But it's top secret on what it is. We rule.

New York City tomorrow!! Then back to Delaware...then back to New York City on Friday...then back to Delaware. New York City is becoming the next day trip. I would have been there three times in like 10 days. I can't help it.

confused :-(

So I have this hot beverage travel mug. It's green and I like it a lot. But it has been causing me problems.

Now, if you are to have a green hot beverage travel mug, one would think that that green hot beverage travel mug would be microwavable. Especially in this day in age where we all try to attain things as quickly as possible. Why does a green hot beverage travel mug exist in a non microwavable form? Why Why Why?

This causes me wasted time in the morning by heating my tea in a microwavable container, then transferring it into my green hot beverage travel mug.

Sigh.

"i've had doubts, but I'm not going to face them"

Haha since I am in a copy/paste kinda mood, I figured I would let you into one of my closest friend jen's life...

While I drove to Hoboken on Tuesday, Jen and Karen went to see Jonasay's last live show. I just couldn't do it. Too much of myself has been wrapped up in that band for me to go to anything semi-final. I just felt really great on how far along we have all grown together. I introduced Jen and Karen, among others, to the Jonatunes, and I was just so very happy that they went and we kept in contact via cell. Gotta love technology.

I almost cried reading this from laughter and sorrow and the reminder of how much fun we all have when we go out:
[And sadness and pleasure so close together...I can’t seem to tell the difference...Better take it all, I guess. - ryan montbleau]
From Jen's online journal (yes, we all have them, we're all so damn busy this is the only way we know what is really going on with each other)

"Last night I went with the lovely Miss Karen to Baltimore to see Jonasay play. I haven't seen Karen in ages, so it was great to catch up with her and find out what she's been up to. We got to the bar, a nice place in Fells Point called Horse You Came In On, which is an odd name for a bar come to think of it. We said hi to the guys and talked to a fan...we think his name was Havek? who bought us each two beers, which was quality. He also is a gynocologist and proceeded to tell us stories about his patients all night - which is the very reason Karen and I said we'd never want to go to a male gynocologist. But he was pretty cool and free beers, so no complaints. During the set Karen and I got a little carried away dancing with each other, which prompted this old guy - had to have been at least 60 - to come up to us repeatedly and try to dance or flirt or Lord knows what, all we know is it was reallly nasty. We tried to play the lesbian card but I think that only turned him on more, and we kept catching him over with his friends pointing at us. But that didn't stop the dancing.

Aside from the scary touchy grandfather type, we had such a blast, it was great to see the guys again and I loved Quality Time with Karen...hey when she gets her talk show thats what she should name it We kept talking about how we never thought we'd be at the point in our lives where itd be normal to drive an hour to see a show at a little bar, and that saying you hadn't seen a band in over two months would feel like such a long time. "

We kept talking about how we never thought we'd be at the point in our lives where itd be normal to drive an hour to see a show at a little bar, and that saying you hadn't seen a band in over two months would feel like such a long time. i absolutely love them and am so happy that i have impacted them in some sort of strangeness - we've come a long way...

"across town i can hear your music play"

Yeehaw!! Two of my bands playing together at one of the best places in DE - the Logan House. The LH is always fun whatever the occasion may be. We all love Ike and have embraced them within the past year. I've been a fan of John's and whatever projects he has been involved in for years, so the development is always exciting. :-)

Jen, Brittany, Tanya, and I all rode up together to the Logan House, freezing the entire way. I had a tasty spiked beverage in the car, but I was hyper due to ecstaticness, not the Baileys. A Swift truck followed us some of the way. Good vibes. We get there a little into Marlon Spike’s set, but in plenty of time to get our groove on. Damn it was packed at the LH for still being so early. We were all there, Pretty much like the Sugar Plum Fest, just this time at the Logan House. The Justin Timberlake doll bobbled while Marlon Spike rocked. Tanya and I both agree that their East End show was the best, but this comes in second place. Todd’s energy blew him off the stage...ok,maybe not, but he got off stage with his sax and wandered around. As Chris was announcing his love song and dedicating it to John (Faye of Ike), John saw me and hugged me and said hello during his honoring. Funny. Played a great set and followed it up with a 30 second bluegrass tribute to Ike. Na na na na naa naaaa…

Damn I don't know who reads this, but I know that Brit and Jen do.....so telepathically fill in the blank here with all the stuff that was stupidly said or done. Hints: movies and joeyness and crazy dedications.

Ike came on and exploded with our anthem - “Welcome Home”. "We'll take all the good things like music, eating, and laughing and pass them down". SIGH! We rocked up front and danced all night long. Brittany got inebriated and that was fun, Jen, Tanya, and I stayed sober. The Logan House was full and the energy was awesome. They played everything from old to album to new.

Chris was in high spirits and took a break from working the room to hang with us. John saw him standing with us and told Chris that he just played his love song (Dandelion) and that it was dedicated to Chris. So they threw the love back and forth and Chris told John that they just shared a moment. The look on John’s face was great. John then announced that that was the greatest unplanned segway in rock and roll because the next song was called “Just a Moment”. Greatness!!

Towards the end of the first set, this guy tried to get on stage and jam out to Ike. John told him to wait, so the guy had his bag and harmonica and played by the window. He took Tanya’s space—damn him! Ran into Michelle and Jason during the break, as well as someone I went to high school, and Beth - Eric’s (Aurora’s brother) girlfriend. It was like a reunion. So yeah, after the break, the LH had the random guy - later introduced as Bongo, on a mic on the side as he shook and rattled and banged away. It was interesting. I think he also made an appearance at the LDE show. I swear, I have not seen a frontman jump around as much as John does. Hopefully I got a decent action shot of it. This was the band’s last performance until the spring. They have side projects and John is having another baby this month, so a little time off is needed. Took some pictures after, check their site soon because the DE girls will be representing on it.

So cold in the car. We’re getting onto 95 and an ambulance passes in front of us. We’re so frozen that all Jen can mutter is: “hehehe...ambulance...hehehe…incident…” and I nearly busted a gut. A little background on why that comment was so damn funny - we all frequent the nearby wawa way too much and I find pleasure in checking out the sign posted on how many days that wawa has been “incident free”. After Omnisoul and Ike played at the East End we had some time to kill before heading to Derek’s after party, so Aurora, Jen, and I went to Wawa where we saw an ambulance and my drunk ass freaked out wondering if it was there for an incident. So yeah, ambulances equals incidents. And FYI we went to Wawa that night and the Newark Wawa has been incident free for 16 days.

Pictures from the show are posted here under MS Jan 9 and Ike Jan 9

tough crap if you complain that this is a bite off of my road journal - deal with it :-)

blushes

One of my secret pleasures in life is Swiffer Wet Jetting.

"so you say you don't know how your broken dreams just drag you down"

Whoa. I just found the most perfect job posting.

About two years ago, Michelle and I were driving to Grape Street. Which wouldn't have been anything odd, except we were going to see a new band, we both hadn't slept in days, and we both had papers due the next day that we hadn't started yet. I remember it as clear as yesterday as we were going over the bridge that she could see me as being an A & R rep. This was also during the time where I was determined to work in television news production. And well now you see where I am and though I never forgot what Michelle said to me, I just figured that there were steps and distractions towards the process. Such as if I ever win the lottery, I will open my own venue first. Which sort of encompasses the beauty of the A & R aspect.

But yeah, during my neverending real job search - don't get me wrong, I love working at Rainbow and its great, but come on, I can't be doing this for YEARS, well, unless they give me the store haha - but yeah, I found an entry level A & R rep for the Northeast. Granted I still have the grad school thing to go through, but hey, worth a shot. I have had this link bookmarked for years, here is why i want to do it.

I won't put down the whole listing, but think I fit the reqs?
Job Requirements:
1. Knowledge of regional/current music scene, required.
2. Strong presentation skills, both verbal and written, required.
3. Range of musical knowledge, required.
4. Knowledge of music retail, required.
5. Music retail experience, preferred.
6. Dependable automobile, valid driver’s license and proof of insurance, required.
7. PC Skills, Experience with word, excel and graphics programs, preferred.
8. Ability to handle multiple tasks, required.
9. College degree, preferred.

laughing tuesday's gone...

Tuesday was an interesting day. After putting off jury duty for two years, they finally nabbed me. Not that I didn't want to do it, previous occasions found me in school, and right now it would just be a hassle. So yeah, I woke up super early and drove into Wilmington. Now, I would assume that if you are serving jury duty, you would want to at least put forth a good appearance. Silly thought. While sitting there in that room with 240 other people serving as a cross section of the county, it reaffirmed my thinking that I have to get the hell out of here. Seriously now, who wears a freaking bright orange hunting jacket to court. I glanced around the room and perhaps a handful looked professional. And maybe I shouldn't pass judgement, but then again, you shouldn't look like you just stepped out of Walmart. But hey, maybe that is the cross section here and I just haven't seen it yet since I spend my time around Main Street. AUGH! And the stupid questions! The poor clerk, she explained things clearly and twice and still people had to ask things she already went over or were blantantly obvious. It's not rocket science people!! And it wasn't even regarding procedures, it was regarding breaks, and lunch, and cell phones. I hate to say it, but I wouldn't want some of those people chosing my fate. But at least I was able to escape after a few hours and got the hell out of Delaware.

Picked up the *new* Phantom Planet CD and headed up to Morita's to pick up stuff and dinner. I was there for New Years so I sort of remembered how to get there, but you know me. I spilled coffee earlier that day, so it kinda smelled in my car so I had my windows down to have some circulation. As soon as I went over the DE Memorial Bridge, the direction swooshed out of my car and into the Jersey air. Why does this happen to me?!?!? No fear, I remembered the roads, just couldn't remember left or right. Ahhh...whatever. Got there in a slightly different manner than anticipated. We ordered chinese then I was off to Hoboken.

Akiva was playing at The Rodeo-Ristra headling an open mic and I wasn't doing anything else, so I figured I would check him out. I heard of him through friends in Chicago who went me tunes and I immediately liked. As Aurora says "I love finding new ones". The open mic brimmed with so much talent it was awesome. A great vibe to the place that reminded me of a cleaner, hipper, East End. Or maybe I just spend way too much time at the East End. Akiva & Dom played a sfew songs that impressed the corwd. His presence remineded me of Phil's (Lloyd Dobler Effect) and his live music hinted at Matt Nathanson, Graham Colton, & G. Love. So as you can see, I really enjoyed. Oddly enough, a little bit ago after I posted his CD on my site as one to check out, he did a search and found my site and wrote me. So very strange, but way cool, so I met him in Hoboken. Very awesome guy and now its time to show the area whats up in music. He graduated from UMASS Amherst with a degree in neurobiology, but a job fell through which prompted him to do the music thing full time. I mentioned that he is still practicing in some way - his music has the power to heal. He paused and was like "that's the first time i ever heard that". I am such a dork. He introduced me to Marissa Levy who played a few people before him and announced that she was "going to play a few songs about lesbians". She was super fly as well.

Left Hoboken shortly after midnight and seriously listened to Bueno y Sano two times all the way through. Such an awesome awesome disc. Also listened to a few tracks off of Marissa's CD, then XPN carried me the way home - who played Ryan Adam's "Hotel Chelsea Nights" - woohoo. So the drive home was pretty quick and less than two hours. And I always hate stopping at Jersey rest stops really late at night. I'm used to the Maryland ones that always have people and look safe. Why is the walk from the parking lot to inside the building so damn long?! There is a reason you can't pump your own gas in NJ, they don't want you to get out of your damn cars!!!

All in all, a great way to spend my Tuesday.
"Sometimes life gets somebody better. You change your life and so goes the weather. And any moment you could be back together. Laughing Tuesday's gone..."

you know how we do

Marlon Spike's Seventh Annual Sugar Plum Fest was held....exactly a week ago. Damn this week went by quickly!

Fuck You Johnny Appleseeds

The Sugar Plum Fest is an annual gathering (my first) of good music, good people, and good cheer. It’s a Marlon Spike & Friends tradition and performances are interspersed with socializing. Or just another way for the posse to hang out and drink, but in a nicer setting. It’s only like 15 of us, and MS played (without drums….why was Sark not there…?) and recorded at this private festive event.

So they played and Oliver had three drinks in hand, mine was empty. I discovered a new drink with the available ingredients—lemonade. But instead of water, use vodka, add that sugar lemon powder, and some sprite (SOME! Not a lot in usual Miranda fashion). Oh yeah. Best drink of the night. Chris claims the best drink (aside from the Johnny Appleseeds…) was the Private Stock Captain on the rocks. From behind the piano, he exclaims that it tastes like candy. I beg to differ and I think that ended up on the recording, I hope not. Took a break and drank. So we’re around the table and Oliver finds the marmalade. This was seriously the best minute of the party—it looked like it was from a scene from a movie. I think Chris captured it on his camera, so hopefully he’ll circulate it. So yeah, shot of marmalade, then since that was gross I think he grabbed some meat, then that was even grosser so he needed a drink and the closest thing was the Jager, and well, that was just plain nasty and he found an apple and finished it off with a bite. For some reason I thought there were more ingredients involved, but I dunno, I was pretty lit. Elise and Oliver also challenge each other in pants rolling - Tanya got a picture of the momentous occasion.

Nick Shopa sang a few tunes, and played the acoustic, which rocked - he has an awesome voice.

The unOmnisoul crew comes. Jamie and Derek were going to play with MS, but Derek was pretty damn sick, so Jamie comes and busts a move behind the keys. Greatness. He is so damn talented. Then Marlon Spike comes on again and I leave to go into the kitchen and talk to Lex. Break time and we all hang out in the kitchen. Dan wandered back into the performance room and the sounds of Brand New permeated through the air. Dan is singing my favorite Brand New song so I jump into the room. McDermott ends up next to me adn I find myself oddly fascinated with what I think was a cat toy. I have no idea, I have problems. But yeah, Jamie and Dan performing Brand New was great.

So Johnny Appleseeds. It is a Marlon Spike original game that encompasses beverages and an apple. The apple is cored with a bottom so that it is a shot glass. The game is that everyone is around the table, you put whatever you want in the apple for the next person to take it. The shot can be challenged and you would have to drink the shot if it is challenged, so the shots aren't totally heinous—but still pretty daring. Luckily I am in between Lex and Elise so we try to be gentle to each other. There were even sausage chasers. Tanya said she has the best picture of me and my expression of my awful fruit filling. I don’t even want to write what I had to drink because I think I may get sick. But I will add that is never fun and games when Jager, and already chewed orange chaser, and horseradish gets busted out. I think the car ride was awful to all of us. Fuck You Johnny Appleseed.

But all in all it was a festive evening full of good times. I think Chris said it was a "perfect party". Hopefully the recording came out well...