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

Saturday, February 14, 2004

tuesday night at the grape street pub

I joined Jamie going to the Grape Street to see Mr. North. I know he really likes the band, so i figured they must be good and are worth checking out. He picks me up and we go to the customary Wawa stop where I school him in my extensive Wawa knowledge including the southern most and northernmost Wawa's along with their strengths and weaknesses and injury reports. I may have frightened him a little :-). I also informed him of the delectable sweet cream stuffed pretzel treat, which he tried and enjoyed. We got our sustenence and headed up to Manayunk.

Jamie found the Jelousy Curve guys and we hung out with them most of the night before Mr. North came out. The guys said how amazing and rockstar the lead singer was. I found this amusing, then Jamie proceeded to tell me to not be scared, but in a few minutes he will be singing along with Mr. North like a little girl. The JC guys also said that if someone whipped out a gaydar, it would blip a little bit more due to all of the guys in the audience feeling slightly homoerotic during the performance.

But damn, the performance was awesome and they were so right. And oddly enough, there was a gang of underagers at the Grape for this show, but by the end of the show, they were gone. Hmmm. But yeah, Mr. North knew how to rock. Hard. Yeah!

monday is for quizzo

Work all day on MOnday, followed by Quizzo. Chris and Dan were wandering around Newark promoting the Ground Floor show and stopped in Rainbow to ease our insanity.

We lost at Quizzo though we rocked most of the questions. Unfortunately we were banished to the bottom floor instead of joining the excitement of the 2nd floor, but that's what happens when we're late. :-(

As Dan and I were walking back to my place, I saw a car swerve out from a side street and collide into a telephone pole. Dan called 911 and we walked over there. The girl wasn't trapped or bleeding, which was fortunate, just disillusioned. I had my windows open in my apartment and shortly after I got in I could hear the scraping of metal from the pole. It was gross.

Friday, February 13, 2004

"Some day - one day - you'll miss me. Mundane Sundays, when I'm gone"

After going to bed around 4ish after the show, I woke up a little after 9 to hit the gym and run some errands before heading out to Hoboken.

Wanted to hit the road by 3, but of course I always run late. I stopped over Chris's to pick up some goods and to accidently leave my gloves before heading north and of course that meant a quick jaunt to Wawa. Their new Chocolate Peanut Butter Cappucino is amazing. More on Wawa later.

The trip took about two hours, not counting the half hour I took in Hoboken trying to find parking. Hung out with Maryellen for a bit as we talk about guys and compare pictures. She lives a block away from Maxwell's which is perfect. I want to live walking distance to an awesome venue! We grab a few drinks and I eat my frist real meal of the day while I spill to maryellen to latest predicament I have found myself in and why certain people in my life weren't who I thought they were. So of course she was encouraging. :-) During our conversation we saw Steve drive past numerous times in search of a spot, which was hilarious she was able to spot his SUV, but it was all because of the ubiquitous GTT sticker.

Steve, Ken, and Jodie made it to Maxwell's and we chatted with them for a bit. Well, Maryellen talked and Steve jabbed me and asked me why I was being so quiet. I didn't think I was unusually quiet, but apparently I was, perhaps it was the lack of sleep and the miles on the road. We watched the Grammy's on mute. Steve yelled at me for what I play on the radio. Ok, he didn't yell, but he was not happy. Hey, I have to keep him on his toes! The best part of the evening was the entirely weird conversation at the table that pertained to manbags, hair straighteners, and H&M! I have to protect the not so innocent!

Steve, Ken, Melissa, Rick, and I saw OK Go a little less than a year ago in Lancaster, so it was cool to check out the band again with Ken and Steve. We nudged our way closer to the stage in the sea of mixed people. In this town, the corwd was not entirely compromised of teenage girls. They started with "Don't Ask Me" then "There's a Fire", which was the same as the first two songs in Philly and NYC. So of course since I texted the Philly setlist, I retrieved it and we watched as the Hoboken setlist dictated the same setlist as a few nights ago. Even the witty banter was similiar. Granted, the show was still great, but it was like a rerun. Steve made fun of me again for the setlists. Do you notice a trend? Meanie. Just kidding. There were some crazy people dancing near us and Steve asked me if I could pick out the 30 year olds We were both staring at the same guy. I then got back at him by mentioning how he just turned....24, yeah... I also had a chance to make fun of him because he kept yawning and has a penchant for falling asleep as shows apparently. Speaking of people in the audience, Maryellen and I couldn't tell whether the person next to us was male or female. I think we deduced female.

The encore was the best encore I have ever seen, I was nearly in tears. Steve warned me that I would like it since Philly wasn't privileged enough to get an encore. They played Cinnamon Lips boy band style. They synchronized their dancing and lip synched the entire song. It was a great moment in rock and roll. The Backstreet Boys would have been envious.

We hung out outside of the venue which was enjoyable :-).

Left Hoboken shortly after midnight and made it home in less than two hours. Ugh, work in the morning.

"she walks through life not knowing just where to begin"

I was at the record store all day after I came home, but was able to escape for a rock show. Marlon Spike playing at the Logan House.

I picked up Jamie and Tanya and we hit the road once again. On the way we were talking about crowd antics at shows, including the ever present display of air guitar. We ponder if this would happen at a Marlon Spike show, especially because they don't have a guitarist.

This show was the debut of their saucy new shirts and were smartly displayed on their new merch board. Nice. Jamie became the merch bitch. :-) Maryellen and I text each other prior to the show, as we often do, then my mom called so the only place I could actually hear was the bathroom. In there I ran into some girls from high school, who remembered me but I forgot their names or even who they really were. I hope that wasn't snotty of me. Oh well.

As Marlon Spike was playing, Tanya and I took our shots and beverages to the front to yell like silly girls and dance like even sillier girls. Todd couldn't make the gig, but the band was still on it. They sounded great and I have to give it second place in the "best Marlon Spike shows I have seen." And yes, the air guitar came out, but I don't think anyone was laughing harder then Jamie, Tanya, and me due to our previous conversation. Two guys went absolutely nuts in their crazy dancing towards the end of the set and it was phenomenal. Took some decent pictures and they will be up soon.

Went to Gallucio's for some drinks after, then drove to the diner. One of Dan's friends was supposed to come out, so we found it necessary to call him mulitple times from all of our cells phones at 2:30 in the morning. I think it was the first time I ever uttered the word "douchebag" and to a complete stranger. The best was sober Jamie who left a mesage saying that he didn't know him, but if he did, he'd kick his ass. He said it fiercely and it was hilarious since Jamie is one of the nicest guys ever. We then called Derek, who actually picked up his phone and was literally running from the bar to a party. He said he had to go because he had another call coming through, which was Chris, and I think Dan and Jamie left messages during that ordeal. Again, I guess this is only funny if you were there drunk at the diner at 2:30 am with cell phones. Somehow the conversation changed to Tanya's communist tendencies. I recollect us talking about her being English, though with a Russian name, so maybe that is wear it originated, but she had on a red shirt and a red jacket, so that just proved she is a commie. :-)

I drop off Dan at his car and we both raced each other on the streets of Wilmington, though we were blasting OK Go instead of singing loudly and off-key to Brand New. I was messing with him on 95 by going 30 mph in front of him and blocking his exit, but he got off and beat us home somehow. As we were heading towards our own exit, we saw smoke and passed a car engulfed in flames. Freaky.

some down time

Benji from Marwood and Dina came down from New York City to join me on air last Friday and it was highly entertaining. Benji fronts the rock band Marwood and came down with his acoustic to play some tunes, talk on air, and pick my playlist. He is very intriguing to talk to, has led such an interesting life. He started out as a roadie fro Genesis, Phil Collins, and Def Leopard in Europe when he was nine and left school at 16 to persue music by busking in the subways. He moved to upstate NY, then the city, and Marwood was born. In a nutshell. We took some crazy pictures and it was enjoyable. Robbie, from Marwood, also called in while he was working at his coffeeshop. I could hear him make stuff in the background and it was great. He made an espresso on air and I swear Dina was in the hallway on the ground from laughter. Good times.

Around midnight, Tanya and I headed over Chris's to join him and Dan hanging out. Talked for a bit then decided that a season of Family Guy had to be watched, and I admitted I haven't seen an episode. What was I missing?! Of course not too far into it, Chris fell asleep then we all drifted off by 5 am. Mind you I haven't slept a substantial amount in days, so any place I can garner some Zs was enjoyable. Even contorted on a loveseat. I kept waking up every hour adjusting my spine and trying not to push Chris off. I found that if I made myself into a little ball I conserved heat and my spine was straight, though feeling was lost in some apendages. Spine is a funny word, and you kinda forget its there until its in a weird position. Spine spine spine spine spine. So Tanya and I had to be back in Newark by noonish for her test and my work, and surprisingly she got up in time. So we grab our things and were about to head upstairs and out the door and onwards to Newark until we heard activity from the first floor. We both don't know his family that well, though we have both met them, and emerging from the basement at 11 am in front of his family on a Saturday morning just seemed odd at the time. So we're standing at the base of the stairs going over the game plan and his dad opens the door and just sees us standing there. So damn funny now, but we were in shock then and couldn't really speak except for "Hi! I'm Tanya!" "Hi! I'm Miranda!". We informed him that we were leaving and he asked if Chris knew so one of us, can't remember who, or maybe both of us, said that he was still sleeping so we didn't want to wake him. Which just sounded weird saying that to Mr. LoPresto at 11 am as we were leaving. We're in my car laughing at the situation and everything is funny on a few hours of sleep.

Thursday, February 12, 2004

"days will turn into nights, nights will turn into days, weeks, seasons, and years."

Ok Go & Spiraling at the Northstar (Wed Feb 4) - woohoo!!

Miss Dina hooked me up with a guestlist spot and the show totally rocked. I absolutely love the Northstar. And seeing one of my favorite bands (OK Go) at one of my favorite venues is sure to make a girl smile.

I get to the venue and meet up with Dina and James, who I actually knew in college - he was writing an article on the show. Sprialing opened the show and I was immediately impressed with their musicianship. Songs that stuck out the most were "Lightning Twice" and a new song with the word "Radio" in the title. I was able to snap some pictures, seeing how I was towering over the 15 year old girlies, and they will be on the site soon.

Between sets, I was bored and it was too loud to call anyone and everyone I knew there was working the show, so I pull out my phone and text message. Of course Maryellen was privileged enough to get the girlie side of the show, and I mass text messaged everyone i knew who either wanted to go to the show, or who was going to go to an upcoming OK Go show. I had seen the setlist prior to the show, so i texted the setlist as well. More on this later.

OK Go was awesome. Aweome. Such a great live band. I love their CD, and their performance just takes it to another level. I have only seen OK Go once before, last spring at the Blue Star in Lancaster, PA with Melissa and Rick and Steve and Ken. The setlist is on my site, so you can go there. They debuted a lot of new songs, which were really decent. I'll say which ones I like during the Hoboken review. Damian was absolutely nuts on stage. Though Tim does add an interesting factor, his mic was up way too much for half the show. Damian shared with the audience how Jorge hates Philadelphia because his cat ate the paraffin infested cheese on a Philly cheesesteak and nearly died. It was heartwarming. they played their unreleased Train song. No encore. Talked to Dina and Spiraling after the show in the green room, and Dina introduced me to the OK Go guys. I think I nearly peed myself when Damian and I started talking about his new album and what I thought and whatnot. We all agree, except for the band, that the Train song should be on the new album. They said no. I told Tim it should be a b side on vinyl, and that may happen. haha, so if it happens, I take full credit. I will even autograph it for you.

I think I have lost all dignity on the GTT messageboard. The next day Steve informs all about my obscure text messages and says that I am borderline. I am taking borderline as being "borderline badass to the max" and not "borderline i think i'm going to lose my mind" as he said before, but he may have been sleepy, hence the wrong meaning of "borderline" being uttered.

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

we never stay in one place

Tuesday and Wednesday were supposed to be my days off, but I spent all of last week renovating the record store. Man, I haven't lifted so much crap in years. But it looks so much nicer now. Though we all love each other and our family is really small, I think we all lost sanity from being around each other way too much last week. But of course, it makes us stronger because we endure change together and we all created our store. And I am so very excited that we now have room for acoustic performances. yeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhh. And i put up all of the posters on the wall. All of them. Took me for freaking ever. But its the greatest wallpaper you will ever see.

monday is for quizzo

I am retrogressing a little over a week. I have been crazily busy lately so anytime spent at my apartment has been either spent sleeping or getting ready to run out again, definitely not in front of my computer. So I will go backwards and update you on snippets of the past week. You care because I care.

I spent my Monday nigth after work at Kate's for Quizzo with Dan, Chris, and Derek. Of course there was show promotion going on and devouring of nachos. In a sentence, Quizzo is four rounds of trivia questions where the victor of each round gets booze of some sort. And its not that chump electronic trivia found at every bar. The evening is laced with Geno and Dan's colorful humorous rants and quips about people in the audience, which makes the evening that much more enjoyable. So, let's start the evening off right...

There was this Hispanic man who came up the stairs mid-rant and probably has no idea what he was in for. So of course they proceed to make fun of him for something, in which the man had to respond with "Your mom...(something about whatever comment was made)...bitch!". And it was funny the first time, but EVERY time this guy said this sentence, it got more annoying. And what made the annoyance more grating was the fact that he moved right next to our table and continued to yell this utterance over tip of us. Chris's expressions were priceless, as if someone was scraping their fingernails across a blackboard. He later said this on the message board at 2:37am, which sums it up perfectly:

Your momma.. apocalyptic.. b*tch!

(NOTE: This is the sort of thing that was SCREAMED in my ear for the first half hour of Quizzo tonight at Kate's in Newark, DE. While I appreciate the fact that the guy SCREAMING was having a good time on his buddy's birthday, I really appreciate the fact that he left once his group got cut off by Joel the bartender.)


The guy and his friends got kicked out and it was awesome. We lost by two points and that was not as awesome as the guy getting kicked out. Afterwards Dan and Chris came back to my place, where Dan proceeded to pass out on my papasan chair. He informed me that my water cures hangovers and drunkeness. He said that everytime he drinks it he is isntantly cured. Must be all of those Newark chemicals! So Dan is passed out and Chris and I mess around on the computer and cure our drunkeness by talking. I learned a lot about his musical history that I didn't know before and he gained a lot more respect from me. Not that he hadn't already, but I was really intrigued and amazed with how he got into playing and performing as well as things he has been involved with. Around 4 am we contemplate whether Dan is going to go home and change before going to work at 9am. I tell Chris that Dan could wear his pants and he responds with, "look at Dan, he's lanky as crap!". Which I guess is only funny if you are either myself or Chris or if it is 4 in the morning. We finally pass out around 6 am from exhaustion.