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

Saturday, June 19, 2004

white shirt, jeans, and super cool grey shoes

There is this super hot guy in the store right now. Charise and I are enjoying the view. But he is probably at least 5 years younger than we are. Scandalous to the extreme.

I take it back, ten year. This kid may be 16. If that. He is going to be a heartbreaker.

Friday, June 18, 2004

stupid bouncer guy

So last night there was a group of guys way into the PMB show and it was super awesome. They were jumping up and down and singing and pretty much acting like us. The bouncer guy near me kept telling his other bouncer friends that he was going to kick these guys out. They were the only ones singing every damn word and having a great time! They were underage and it wasn't like they were being drunken idiots, they were in the moment of the music. Stupid asses. He didn't kick them out, but that thought shouldn't have even crossed his mind.

all about the passion

Photos here

Pat McGee Band played Power Plant Live and of course I was there. After work, Dan and I trekked down 95 and after cricling aorund for 20 minutes, found parking and began the evening.

McFadden's had $10 all you can drink happy hour until 10 pm. Nice. We had a power hour and met some nice people. Mix 106.5 was there and had free hats, Dan traded a CD for a hat, but he had to wear it all night. Which would have been ok, if it wasn't a "White Chicks" hat. He pulled it off, so he was allowed to wear it. :-). I was getting antsy because the rock was about the start. We met up with Dan's friends Andrew and Lou and by the time the third song started Lou and I were up front and on the steps. A perfect view and in the midst of an awesome crowd. I stayed while Lou went back to the guys. J-Mo saw me and called me over to the backstage area and we chatted for a bit before he had to go back to do something rock productive. I go back to wear I was standing and the little girlies in the ruffly skirts whispered about me when I came back. Aw yeah. Hahaha, wow people are funny. So funny the conversations you pick up by eavesdropping.

The show was good, not great by other standards. They played a decent mix of good songs that can fit into 90 minutes. Nothing too jammy or surprising. They played Passion, so of course I was happy. The encore was Shine and Rebecca. Todd Wright was magnificent as always. So damn talented.

We met back up with Dan and Andrew as we watched Dan promote the Funk Box show. The greatest line ever -
Dan: here's a free CD of my band, we're playing at the Funk Box on Wednesday
Girl: Oh, we're from out of town
Dan: That's the good thing about a CD, you can take it with you!

So we continued the drink through the night. Dan bought Andrew and Lou 32 ounces of beer each and that is a lot of beer. It's like a 44 ounce cup at Wawa, just 32 ounces. Julia enticed us (ok, the boys) to go upstairs to Tiki Bobs for free. We even got TB. While Dan tried to scheme and score a free drink, I got a free drink ;-). He even talked to think girl for a while who I was sure was going to give in, but she didn't. We all guessed she was over 30. Hey, nothing wrong with that! We told him he may have a better chance with gay guys, but all of our gaydars are shot. But lo and behold, two hottie gay guys came in arm and arm, Dan had his shot, but didn't take the reins. He admited defeat, even with the White Chicks hat, and we called it a night.

My car was still there and we destinated to Sheetz. So most of my friends know about my addiction to Wawa, but my southern friends tell me that Sheetz is the way to go. Morgan had told me about one in Joppatowne, so that is where we went. Gas was $1.89!!!!!! In all of its red bright glory, we entered our first Sheetz. A little snazzy, a little too kitschy, but all in all a good road stop. I didn't dare try their coffee, but their egg and cheese bagel was fantastic. They had way too many choices and it boggled my mind. Mac and Cheese or bagel sandwich?!?! I still don't know which I like better. Wawa is so familiar and safe. I think I will have to take a roadtrip down south to determine. Perhaps the Carolina's in July? Or maybe there will be some on the way to Ohio.

120 free Marlon Spike discs, 90 minutes of PMB rock, 27 kajillion annoying ruffly skirts, many ounces of booze, and two bagel sandwiches later, we crashed at 3 am a good night left in the dust.

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Rainbow Nite!

I have some downtime before work and while waiting for e-mails back to me, so I figured I would play catch up. I just read Maryann's web journal and figured it was about time for me to post one of the big events of the summer - thus far...Rainbow Nite!

Pictures can be seen here.
June 5th was supposed to be Newark nite and I had it all planned out. Newark Nite draws about 30,000 people and I figured that having an evening full of live music in the store would be a fantastic idea. After battling the city of Newark, ganking lights, and postering like crazy, it rained like a monsoon on Saturday. The one thing I couldn't control became disasterous. I was SO FRUSTRATED!!! But at least all the guys I had performing are awesome and decided to play anyway.

The bill was Steve from Green to Think, Akiva, and Marlon Spike. Let's see...who came to the show...Raf, Max, Maryann, Tanya, Marissa, Amanda, Dave, John, Morita, Katie, Oliver, Elise, Dan, Rebecca, Tristan, Zack, and Sarah. Hehe. Zack and Sarah. Ben Folds. Ah. At least we were all into it. It was fabulous just hanging out with everyone and listening to our friends. Akiva messed up a few times but we forgave him and sang louder for it. Rob and I started the drinking in the store around 2 pm because my stress levels were through the roof. By the time the music started I think Raf and I were pretty far gone. We had all the bevs upstairs so people just kept going up and down and you know it wasn't just coke in those cups. June 5th was also the Belmont and of course we were all rooting for Smarty Jones. At race time, which was also during Akiva;s set, Sark asked if he could go upstairs to watch the race. A trickle of people left Rainbow and ten minutes later, a line of sad faces came back into the store. Sad, but funny. We pretty much picked Akiva's set for it, asking him to play certain songs, and of course "Tuesdays" twice. Chris rules because he played all of my favorite Marlon Spike songs and of course shouted them out to me. He gets team points for that one.

After the rock we all went to Peace A Pizza for grub and bombarded the staff. Potato pizza has got to be one of the most perfect things on earth. And after Peace A Pizza naturally comes the after party.

Raf, John, Charise,Dave, Aurora, and Lee made it to the after party, so that was fun. We busted out some Motown and Hootie and had a little singing and dance party. We must have looked insane. There was even a bit of a Hootie remix due to my insanely senstive stereo. You can fit three people in Tanya's belt. Everyone ran to their cameras for that one. Akiva gave me a music history lesson in NY rock on my computer. Maryann was the 88th member of the Marlon Spike message board and there are 88 keys on a piano. Trippy. Akiva and Steve were talking on the futon and Aurora and were staring because we realized that they looked related. It was an odd moment. Hmmm...what else - this is all pretty much a stream of consciousness...McDermott came back with Dan and Katie, but remained into the night. I swear, the more that guy drinks, the wittier he gets. Near 3 am, it was the last of the troopers, me, maryann, chris, lee, dave, akiva, and dan. Though akiva was pretty much out on my foldy chair, so he semi counts. Everytime a music topic came up we "all music-ed" it. Too bad you can't "all music" everything, like korean recipes. We kept telling Akiva that he was fair game until he takes off his shoes. The poor guy, went to take off his shoes and dozed off n the process! He woken up to one of our bouts of laughter and he pointed to McDermott who also found solace in the foldy chair and mid head turn to look at McDermott, Akiva fell asleep again! He finally got up and walked to my bed. As I offered that he could lay down if he wanted, he was out and under the covered before I could finish my sentence! Only Chris, Lee, Maryann, McDermott, and I remained. The wonderful glow of DD enticed Dan over, but not without the laser tag helmet that was left in my apartment from March's boozing. So he trekked over in the helmet never to return. Around 5:30 am we heard the birds chirping decided to call it an evening.

Since Akiva was sprawled out on my bed, he monopolized about seven pillows, leaving Maryann and I with the futon decoration pillows. I busted out the air mattress and used my papasan pillow for added comfort. Maryann woke up and left around 11:30 and I woke up shortly after. Akiva was still out so I used the alone time to clean and straighten up. We watched TV and talked about music tactics and of course other various music things before we said our goodbyes. lucky guy was seeing Gavin DeGraw and Michael Tolcher that night in the city!

All in all a wonderful evening with fanastic friends :-)

clog no more

Draino Gel eats through macaroni like a champ.

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

shopaholics anonymous

So there are few things that I really spend money on. Seriously, most of my paycheck goes to bills, such as rent, internet, car, insurance, you know - life necessities. I have a secret guilty pleasure in internet shopping that is becoming addictive. Charise and I will seriously spend hours online checking out our favorite online stores (oh please, the mall is so not for me) and mock shop just for the thrill of it. That is good enough for me, occasionally i do make the large online purchase, but most of it is last season stuff or super cheap clearance stuff so its ok. I honestly wear the same pair of black flip flops everyday. They make me almost an inch taller, they are comfy, and match everything. I love my flip flops more than I like most material things. But today, brace yourself, Aurora and I hit the stores.

While driving back from Philly feeling slightly guilty since I should be watching my wallet, I told Aurora its just like most girls (not us, naturally we're not like most girls) who recently break up with a boyfriend and they go and sleep with like 5 guys. We went nuts, just with shopping. We were smart about it, but still. We both had fat paychecks so we needed a thrill.

First stop was H & M because I needed to return a shirt. Yay for credit. I have a penchant for scarves and they had some for super cheap, so I had to get my fill. And they had bras wicked cheap and since its tank top season, instead of trying to hide the straps, screw it, I try to get the most colorful and flashy straps because there is no sense in trying to hide it. Underwear should be fun. Bracelets were also on sale and I can never go out with a wrist adornment. And I bought a yellow tank top. That was the only thing not on sale, but it was only twelve bucks. Across the way was Bath & Body works with a big red sale sign out front. It was a must. I needed more travel antibacterial handwash stuff. Oh come on, you never know how the bathrooms are going to be in bars and on the road. Our next stop was Victoria's Secret because its the semi-annual sale time. Aurora and I have a knack of randomly and not so randomly buying the same article of clothing. A lot of the times we have to converse on our evening attire so we don't look weird. We were at seperate racks and ending up picking up the same obnoxiously bright pink and yellow bra. So we bought. As well as matching purple underwear. Not entirely on purpose, but we both liked.

I bought a belt for 5 bucks. Aurora found some goods at the vintage shop with the nice worker guy. He has trouble keeping his secret stash too. We were oddly disappointed at Guacamole - our favoritest stroe ever. There was seriously nothing to be talked out of. I saw some shoes that I liked but would never wear and the roos weren't on sale. Grr. We probably would have gone out with a bagful of stuff at the retro thift store if we didn't have just ten minutes before they closed. One of my favorite jewelry stores in the village (nyc) just opened up a store on South Street. Rock on. I was proud of Aurora and her funky bracelet purchase. I bought a bracelet and a necklace. I was talking to the clerk about how much I liked his store because he noticed I had on one of their bracelets. I think he hooked me up, I decided not to look at the reciept. I needed them!! NEED!

We stopped at Wawa and dodged the raindrops while singing to Omnisoul in the car.

I'm allowed to slip to my addictions every once in a while!

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

in case you needed another reason for why i should not live alone

Macaroni and laundry do not mix. let me explain.

The other day I was draining the extra macaroni water into the sink. The lid slipped and some of the macaroni careened into the sink. I was able to salvage some from going down the drain and threw them in the trash. Quite a few went down the drain. I didn't think this would be a problem until later on in the evening.

The water in my toilet became lower and my sink was very slow to drain. In the shower later, I emerged with 4 inches of water still in the tub. Oh this is a problem. Two days later and my drains are still slow to drain. I took a shower at noon and the tub is half fll of water that hasn't drained.

What do I do?!?!?!?! Noodles expand in water - this is going to be a mess!! And I really need to do my laundry, but I am afraid of what disaster that may cause! Either the washer machine will blow that macaroni right out of the pipes, or I will be swimming with them. Oh geez.

dancing slow in time to the song inside

The evening is documented here

So if you know me, you know that one of my favorite bands (among many, but this one is in the forefront) is Vertical Horizon. On Wednesday June 9, 2004 they played a free show down in Dewey, DE. Of course i was there.

Yeeeeaaaarrsss ago through some PMB folks, I heard about Vertical Horizon. Naturally I went on Napster and downloaded a few tracks and immediately liked this band. The first song I downloaded was "Sunrays and Saturdays" because I thought the title sounded interesting and it remains still as one of my favorite songs by them. I downloaded all of the live and studio stuff I could find and bought their release "Running On Ice". Still, one of my favorite albums. I think I had more of their stuff on my computer than any other band (aside from complete PMB shows). Oddly enough, I can count on two hands the amount of times I have seen them, and you know for me that's rare for a band I have liked for years!

Because Vertical was in Dewey I was reminded of a certain night in July 2 years ago. Mark Williams and I were in my car covered in sand talking about music around 5am as we searched for a missing tour van. I mentioned how I loved VH and didn't beleive him that Matt Scannell is one of his good friends until he showed me his phone. The rest is history.

So I was superpsyched for the Dewey show. I picked up Tim and Andre and we set off for McDonalds then the beach. Andre bought me a strawberry banana milkshake and it was fantastic. they also gave Andre and I balloons. Poor Tim missed out on the balloon action. We made the customary beach stop at Wawa and couldn't tell if our cashier was a man or a woman. For real. Then we took a picture of the marquee outside of Wawa. Classic. While making the u-turn to go back south, we saw the Crabby Dicks sign. Those two signs alone was worth the drive!

There wasn't any mention of show time or doors on any website, so we milled around for a few hours at the Cork. People are scary. I don't mean to be mean, but seriously. Someone was wearing shortalls. Shortalls. Remember those?!?! And there was an elephant toe spotting. Use your imagination because I think if I write it out, I will get sick. It was like an epidemic, you couldn't help but stare. And guys, seriously, tank tops don't look good on you. Honestly. The lights get low and I drag the boys up front with me.

Inside, You're A God, When You Cry, I'm Still Here, Japan, Best I Ever Had, Shackled, Forever, Comfortably Numb, Send It Up, Everything You Want
Encore: Wash Away, We Are

As you can see it was a short set, but I still had fun. Some annoying drunk girl was really obnoxious and so to alleviate the situation I parked myself in between her and her boyfriend. Tim and Andre gave me props on that one and i think Andre blocked her friends. It was a team effort. Tim said it best when he stated that free shows allow the casual fans to infilterate the venue. Yeah, ugh. A group of girls to the side of Tim talked about how they were gonna get backstage after the show. Oh geez.

But matt Scannell kicked ass! I swear he is one of the best guitarists I have seen. Seriously, the guy is wicked talented and shreds on stage. And Sean Hurley, their bassist, again, one of the best bassists I have seen live. Granted I have seen VH live before, but never as close. The last time i saw them was in North Carolina and I was backstage so I only got the see the side view, not the in your face rock that must be experienced. I was absolutely floored by the performance. Keith definitely got some mic time and Japan was a welcomed treat. They did a fantastic cover of Comfortably Numb and even threw in some Eleanor Rigby during the encore. Fabulous :-).

the clouds were vicious

Maybe just maybe it won't rain every freaking day.

Monday, June 14, 2004

Phil's birthday

Pictures from the LDE portion of the weekend can be found here

I tossed and turned all night due to my ears still ringing, my stomach still uneasy, and the pain of an impending sore throat. I think I had jinxed myself because I told Chris L. Before he left for Michigan that I always know when I am becoming super stressed out because I will get a sore throat. Another wonderful side effect of CFS. I woke up the Saturday morning with no voice and the worst cough ever. After a few hours struggling at the store, I went back upstairs to get some rest.

After a couple of hours of Z's I went to the theatre to see "Saved". Funny as all hell. I laughed my ass off. Funny because its true. Apparently quite a few members of the production crew and a rock band pulled out of the film because of its crude sense of portrayal. Such is life.

Came home and it was decided that Annapolis is where we were to be Saturday evening. Nevermind the lack of voice or the impending fever or the common sense that told us to stay in. I pick up Dave and Tanya, hit up the Wawa for dinner, and then we hit up 95. You know it was a good night before when I asked Tanya what stupid things we did at the Logan House and said not to ask her because its like the blind leading the blind. We knew it would be another good evening due to the purple Swift truck that we passed. It was right after that bridge 20 miles away from Newark. Oh I know my roads. We pick up Steve en route in Bel Air and made it to Annapolis shortly after 10.

Tanya and Dave warned Steve about my driving, but it was all about safety because I wore my glasses. The taxi driver who was speeding down the road who almost hit us was not all about safety. We found a nearby lot as well as O'Brien's which was brimming with people way dressed up. Oh fun, a bachelorette party and a wedding party.

I don't even know where to begin. I could just list everything that happened...I got shoved away from the bar from a significantly older and heavier man who wanted to get to his 9 shots before I could grab my one bottle. Tanya and I didn't dance as much as we usually do because we had to use our super powers to ward off the weirdos. There was Aaron who was in the Navy who humped my leg. Chris asked if it was hot, and oh it was. You can never go wrong with a good public leg humping. PBR hat guy who was leg humpers friend fell all over Tanya. This other guy asked Steve if Tanya was his girlfriend and once he answered no, the guy put his arm around Steve. Scandalous! Phil was drunk running around with a shirt on his head. Chris sang about Long Island ice teas. Brad grabbed my ass and tore open a CD sleeve with his teeth.

Oh! And JonaSteve was there. I had called Mark on my way down to Annapolis and I woke him up - silly boy. We talked about music life in DC and whatnot and it was cool running into him again, though it wasn't a Red Fish Monday evening. Some girl lost her shoes.

All in all it was a good and fun birthday for Phil. He looked extremely happy and that's all that matters. It was cool to see how much he loves his bandmates, rare you see such eminent joy. Hmmm what else can be mentioned in bits and pieces... The girls in attendence were freakishly tall. I played with Chris' sweaty head. Brian said i still smelled good, luckily I showered. Sundresses and pink pants are dangerous. And why is there not a gas station open past 2 am in Maryland's capital!?!?!?

We drove home brutally fast. My poor passengers had to endure the 85 miles will me coughing every two minutes and definitely not having any semblance of a voice.

4 am sleep never seemed so sweet. :-)

you can call me randy if you wanna

I usually love Fridays more than any other day of the week because they are jam packed with musical goodness. First off, I get to sleep in till noon and that is always wonderful. Second, I have my weekly bout at the radio station then head over to the record store for a few hours before heading out for some other adventure. This Friday was no different - it was a Lloyd Dobler Effect Day!

Chris Bruno (lead guitarist/vocals) for LDE called me while he was in Bethany Beach saying that he was heading up north soon and wanted to know if I wanted to catch up with him. So after a great radio show (callers, lots of callers!), I gave Chris a mini tour of Newark and had dinner at the East End. The guy is a fast talker, more so than I, which took me aback since I am usually never speechless - ha. I learned a lot about him during that hour, which was cool and creepy at the same time because he has the same quirks I do. At least I feel better knowing that I am semi normal now with my addictions to order and am a creature of habit. I bit my tongue when he verbalized that he has the same breakfast I do, day in day out. My day just isn't right if I start it out wrong. He was allowed to stay at the table because he is a democrat, and since that conversation, Michael Moore has appeared in my dreams twice. Or maybe because Moore is continuously on the CNN page right now. Which is also Chris' homepage and we have the same reading habits. Weird - ha. So after dinner we strolled along Main Street in search of strawberry mentos. No such luck.

Tanya and I started our evening rolling around Wilmington trying to find parking. We went to Dead Presidents because we heard they had drink specials for Reasgon, which is so wrong, but we won't complain if it means cheap booze. We walked into the bar, realized we were the youngest ones there, and quickly walked out. Logan House it is. We got there a bit early so we started off with a beverage - Red Bull & vodka for her, Sprite & raspberry vodka for me - as we talked and dodged creepy guys who had too white smiles. We go upstairs to have our customary shot and I introduce her to the LDE guys. We also meet up with old and new friends, Dave, Ben, Steve, Chris, Nate, Alex, and Kristen.

Tanya and I are always ready to sing and dance and scheme, so we did. Phil's acoustic wasn't patched in or something so you couldn't hear it the first set. Who knew that the crowd wanted to actually hear the music?! Silly soundman. That's what happens when you leave Brad and Chuck at home. Unless they were frightened on what would become of the Logan House since every occassion is dangerous.

During the break we talked to Brian and he meets my approval. Especially because he liked the smell of my hair. He fits in well and I can see him being a great addition to the band. Even though he wears his bass high, it allows him to rock harder :-).



Chris broke a string on what I think he said was his favorite guitar and he equated restringing it to sex or something like that. His sweat stain looks like a heart.



The night usually isn't complete until Phil incorporates my name along with some sort of story in a song. This time he started the second set with "A Million Ways" which he said was for me and changed a verse to center arond me. Oh geez, I hope i didn't turn four shades of red. But we danced and it was fun. And Chris M. got his "Two Step" and it was fabulous.

After the show we played the load out game. Or, the band played the load out game, Tanya played the talking game, and I hung out with Chris at the trailor. Tanya kept saying how the trailor looks lik my fridge - yay. Rock Lesson #473 is loading the trailor correctly. Tanya and I mocked made out and I think I bit her sometime in the course of the evening, but I think that was upstairs.

We said our "see you laters" and I think as we were leaving we talked about porn and dating. We hit up 95 and called LoPresto to wake him up and left an inebriated message. We dodged cars on the interestate while Chris apparently followed.

Then we passed out and a fantastic Friday was complete. :-)

Sunday, June 13, 2004

Beer and veggie burgers lead to chaos

So naturally I do have a lot of events to catch up on, but this one is short and sweet while my dinner cooks on the stove.

Last week, I met Tim and Andre at the Deer Park for an evening beer, or a few, and half priced (veggie) burgers. It was good just to kick back and relax and talk about the good old times when the bar was dirty and the people were cool. Funny, Tim would tell a story of the Deer Park from eyars ago, and forget I was there. "This one time..." "Yeah, I was there too". Sigh - we are such townies.

Somewhere during their third pitcher and my second glass, me switching shirts with Andre suddenly became a good idea. I was wearing red pants and a black shirt, while he was wearing jeans and a red shirt. He also has a few extra pounds on me. For the next half hour, we deliberated on how we could attain such a fantastic feat such as chaning clothing in the middle of the bar. Elevator, men's bathroom...? Some douche of a waiter caught on to our idea, unnecessary obstacle. We took the plunge and escaped into a nearby dining area and did the switcharoo. I looked like a tomato. We then heard Tim distract the waiter as we held our breath.

We calmly took our seats as many faces dropped as they saw not my completely red outfit, but Andre's physique in my tight black v-neck shirt. It was classic and totally worth it. Our waitress threatened to flag us and/or kick us out. I then ran into some people I knew and the only thing I could mutter in between laughter was that I normally don't dress like this.

Good times good times :-)