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

Friday, July 23, 2004

an afternoon being rocked in camden

The road to an Omnisoul show beckoned again Tuesday afternoon.  Since I am pressed for time, as always, I will cut and paste some of Matt's wonderful review and add my comments...

"Tuesday’s show at the tweeter center was a blast. My friends and I took the long way to the venue and ended up getting there later than the expected 5pm start. It was Miranda’s first time on the patco speedline! Turns out, however, that the whole event started late and the band went up to play at around 6pm.        

The crowd was filled with music enthusiasts. The opener, Not Alone, was pretty entertaining. Their guitarist was really laying down some hot riffs and they were warming up the crowd for an extremely energetic omnisoul performance.        

Unlike the last full band show, Tuesday’s show was highlighted by amazing sound. Never have I heard such a perfect band mix for an outdoor show. Mike Tate kicks butt. In Scare the Night, I actually heard both Josh’s AND Jamie’s solos. Amazing tone! In addition to making the band sound as great as they are, Mike was also “balloon tech,” tending to the mylar balloons that gravitated towards Derek’s face and Tyler’s cymbals.        

“My Own.” Enough said. Well, maybe not if you weren’t there. This song completely energized the crowd. Every band member was spot-on and Mike had Shawn cranked up during his screeching solo. By the end of Derek’s falsetto notes at the end of the tune, everybody in the parking lot was moving and going crazy.        

All of the free demo CD’s were gone by the middle of the set (any remaining ones were gone after Jamie blew our faces off with his trumpet solo in Home to Home). We were treated to two new songs on Tuesday: “Float on the Air” and “Rich Man.” Float on the Air is definitely going to be a keeper. It instantly went over well as if the band had been playing it for months. Rich Man has this nice funky guitar riff that Derek plays throughout the tune. Good work, guys.

The entire set was as follows: 1. All or None  2. Twinkle of a Life   3. Trauma  4.  The Greater You  5.  Float on the Air  6.  Feel What You Want  7. Home to Home  8.  Waiting  9.  My Own  10. Another Day Gone  11. Rich Man  12. Scare the Night  13. No More Love Songs

I thought it might have been nice to close with Happy Outside, but the evening had started to wear on and some people were ready to go see the dmb concert at the tweeter. I wonder why the band doesn’t play Happy Outside more often... are they afraid that it’s too menacing? I guess I only get a little frightened when I hear the album version....       

Several highlights stuck out in my mind. When the guys played Waiting, it was just as a cop car pulled up next to the fence behind the band. They just sat there and listened to the song as oodles of people sung along wit the words. It was fun. Perhaps another interesting subtlety that went down was Josh singing the voice-unders in Another Day Gone that will end up on the new CD. In the big heavy section towards the end of that song, Derek can be heard speaking the lyrics to the song before he sings them. It’s a nice haunting effect. Josh did these during the show and it was fun if anybody noticed it. Not that I expect anybody else to be a stalker fan that recognizes any note of any song, but it was funny anyway.        

Speaking of the new CD, I have heard some recent cuts of it and I know that everybody will be beyond impressed. The recordings have blown me away. On Tuesday, there were flyers circulating regarding the CD release – set for August 14th. Oddly enough, one of these flyers ended up right on Derek’s own windshield... I don’t know which is more ironic – that flyer, or the singer of Not Alone trying to get me to sign up on the omnisoul mailing list. I politely declined! Hee hee"

I agree!!  I do have other highlights to add...  Katie jumping over the Patco railings to ride the train after it didn't accept her card.  Watching Derek pass out flyers then wake up Tyler with waving a flyer in front of his face.  A flyer flew in my direction so I slid it under Derek's windshield wipers.  Derek telling jamie to not sit on his car.  Chris M. drinking Guiness in a can from a paper bag.  The fuzz not patrolling but watching the Omnisoul show.  The balloons decidiing that they wanted to join in on the show.  Heat exhaustion!

The police patrolling in the van decided to be dicks and drive right through the crowd.  As they passed I noticed the side of the van, which had the phrase "providing the community a better quality of life."  I laughed and pointed it out to Chris, who then ran after the truck waving his beer saying that to provide him a better quality of life, they should give him more beer.  It was great.

After the show we headed back to the Patco then Collingswood.  En route, Matt and Katie took me to the Bowie Diner.  It's not called the Bowie diner and I was wondering why they called the diner that, but I didn't ask.  I knew as soon as I walked in, and confirmed it with them.  One of the waitresses looked exactly like David Bowie.  Unfortunately I missed the face of death.  They approved of my diner choice of an egg salad sandwich, but shook their heads when I opened up the menu.

On the way home we listened to the Omnisoul CD while analyzing the tracks.  Seriously kids, brace yourselves... Another good road trip experience for the books. 

 More pictures can be found here...


Omnisoul at the 2nd Annual Tailgating Party of the Century


I accidently took this picture, but it turned out OK


Derek, Josh, & cell phone guy


Shawn & Tyler

a whole new light

So I went to a strip club the other night.  And after that statement, I am speechless.  It was supposed to be a group of us, pretty much just me and the guys, but at the last minute, it ended up just being Rob and me...

I honestly have no idea where to start or what to write.  So I guess I will start at the end.  I was talking to a stripper on what a "couch dance" was because they kept saying that phrase.  I was wondering what the difference between a lap dance and a couch dance was, is the victim horizontal?  Before the girl could even answer, Rob said I was going to do it.  WHAT!??!?!??!  Before I could even say anything, the stripper grabbed my hand, Rob paid her, and said the famous last words - "can I watch?" 

So Martini brings me over to the couch and asks if I am into girls.  I said no, which I think eased her a bit and she probably just assumed that Rob and I were into voyeur stuff.  Before she took me in, she kept referring to me as Rob's girlfriend.  We corrected her by saying that Rob was married, and not to me.  I guess she thought it was hot and we were hiding something, because she went at it.  I think my fear heightened when I was sitting down, she positioned me so Rob could watch, and she slaps my leg and says "spread 'em, honey."  Oh no!

You get your couch dance for a song, and I swear the song must have been the longest song ever.  Martini did things to me that I couldn't even imagine.  I was trying to not think about it, so I was looking at Rob and he was astonished, which made me laugh.  Hopefully I didn't offend Martini.  At one point, Rob had to leave.  He said he couldn't watch anymore.  He came back...and the rest will be in his words...

"The worst part of the dance was when Martini grabbed Miranda's chest, looked at me, and then licked her lips.  I didn't know what to do.  Then Paris came at me and blocked my view.  I tried to step around her, then she asked if I thought this was hot.  I said 'no', saw the look of hurt on her face, then said 'yes', then said 'no! I'm married'.  Paris then thought something else so I told her that I would tell her later.  When would I tell her later!??!  I'm not going to tell her later!!!!!  Martini was done with Miranda and we ran out of the club and into the car and didn't say anything to each other till we were almost home.  I went home and drank.  I drank straight vodka and had nightmares."

It was very traumatic.  Rob told me I grew about three inches from stiffening up in fear during my couch dance.  I also had nightmares.  There is nothing more to say. 


Sunday, July 18, 2004

good year for the girls

After a long night in NYC and a long stretch of driving, I also had to wake up early to take care of my horses on Friday.  Tony got to stretch out on the futon and sleep in while I worked, ugh.  After I came home, he gave me mega support during my Maverick phone call and it was fabulous. 
 
Tony also works at WVUD, so we trekked to the station to have a train wreck of a show.  The music wasn't bad, but our bantering was hilarious.  Seriously, who names their kid ESPN!?!  Of course we are gonna shoot it down.  Afterwards i beg Dave to pick us up early so we can spend more time in Wawa then go see Jen earlier.
 
We leave a bit before 6 and hit up Wawa to chose our dinner.  Which um, Bruno, is far better than Sheetz.  You know its gonna be a good evening when I hit up the counter with a large Wawa coffee (dark roast, vanilla cream, 3 blue packets, black lid, red straw) in one hand and a Rockstar energy drink in my left.  I could feel the shakes already!! En route, I made hone calls to my mom, Mark, and Jim then we headed off to um, Sheetz for gas.  And mentos.  We hit up the mint and the strawberry. 
 
I was feeling pretty ill from mentos overload when we got to Jen's.  Ugh.  Her place is super nice!!!  And it was all decorated in purple and green - yay!  It was great visiting her and seeing that she is doing well in her new environment and job.  Even though we try to talk mostly everyday, I know we will always have a great friendship and fabulous time together.  And its only just begun.
 
We head off to the Iota and I think we drove the boys nuts.  And we actually screamed when Dave pulled a massive u-turn. 
 
We get to the venue and drinks were had.  As well as making fun of others.  I swear, those chicks were fugly and they went into the stall together.  And seriously, its July, don't be wearing clothing that I can pet.  Fuzzy wuzzy.  And um, that look is mesmerizing. 
 
John Faye finds us and we chat then make our way towards the stage so we can celebrate Super Suga's birthday in true Delaware fashion.  Welcome Home was of course, the opener.  So we sing and dance and drink and have a fabulous time.  I think Dave Anthony laughed at us.  Or maybe he was smiling.  Who knows. 
 
We go to leave and the lead singer of The Argument says "you're miranda!" in which someone...tony? jen? dave? had an interesting reply to the effect that this always happens.  So we said hello then went on our merry way to getting lost in DC.  Ohh I think I even said something out the window to some people in DC.  Oh no!! I think I may have called someone a douche out the window!!!  Oh I feel bad.  Please tell me I didn't do that!!
 
Haha and we also saw pandas.  Pandas pandas everywhere!  I think we dropped Jen and Tony off around 3 and we made it home around 5 am. 

Another Thursday spent in New York City

Too much fun to be had in the city!  Aurora and I have known for a while that LDE was going to be playing Tribeca on July 8th and it was imperative that we be there.  It was an added bonus that Akiva and Dave Pittenger were playing together the same night in NYC as well.  No excuse not be in the big apple!   My ass was quite wrecked from the night before so we left a little bit later than we anticipated, but still enough time to hit Wawa before leaving.  We listened to tunes and caught up on our July 4th weekend and made it to Hoboken in fine time.   
 
Hopped the subway and made it into the city without a plan or destination.  We emerged at 33rd and wandered around not knowing where the hell we were or where to go but that was the fun of it.  We found some stores and shopped...compliments of Maryellen.  Gotta love text messaging.  Phil called me while we were in H&M and they were heading into the tunnel.  I can't beleive the boy called me to get directions to places in the city.  Does he not know that I am the worst ever at that?!  Our conversation impelled me to laugh at the people who shop at Dress Barn and made me run smack into this woman who wasn't very happy.  Oh well.  
 
Aurora and I decided to do the touristy thing and head to Time Square.  We were also on a mission to find the NY map from the New Yorker.  We thought it would be an easy find.  YEAH RIGHT!!  But it sent us into a scavenger hunt throughout the city.  We had lunch at the nicest deli ever and trespassed into a ritzy hotel.  We also enjoyed Coldstone which probably wasn't the best idea we ever had.  We knew we had to end up at 1st and 50th so we just kept walking that direction hitting up every store en route trying to find this map.  NYC was winning the scavenger hunt until a nice book man told us that it was available online and we wouldn't find it in the city.  Oh yay, we tied with the city!  So we hit up the subway again onward to Azaza.  Or so we thought.  We got on the train and two stops later the train stopped due to a downed train ahead of us.  So instead of sitting there, we decided to hoof it.   
 
We got to see Saks Fifth Avenue and a pretty church across the street from it.  The looooooong walk finally ended at Azaza where we were tired and disgusting.  So of course the first person we see is Akiva - so hopefully we didn't smell too bad.   The previous time at Azaza I used bandaids, this time I seriously glued my shirt to myself.  Too bad Ken wasn't there to exchange texts.  We collapse on the cooshy seats and watch the music.  We were afraid we were going to miss Akiva, but he told us that him and Dave were going to switch off the entire night.  Oh yay.  And of course Aurora and I texted each other during the performances because there was just too much to say.   We left around 9:45 to hit up Tribeca. 
 
We cab it and I think it may be the first time in NYC history that the cabbie had no idea where our destination was.  So I call up Phil and he gives us the intersection, which actually isn't that obscure.  Church and Warren?!  
 
We get there and "help" LDE set up.  Or watch.  Whichever.  Chris let me hold his precious guitar, and I did a better job then he did.  I didn't come close to dropping it!  Aurora also did a fine job of securing the percussion stuff.  I don't think Brian thinks I am an ass anymore, or maybe he is just nicer to me now.  I dunno.  But it was cool.  The guys, except for Doug, had on black shirts and jeans.  It was like a uniform, and we definitely called them out on it.  They rocked and it was fun.  Playing all originals and new stuff.  Their last song was kinda lame, but we are still supportive.  It was more like a pop punk lyrical disaster.   
 
I attempted some picture taking, but I didn't want to get in the way of the crowd, so I was stuck on Chris' side, which left very little room for imagination.  I think I only got three good shots from a whole hours worth of shooting.  Oh well, yay for digitals.   So I got this weird call during their set, and just thought it was Tony, so I texted him.  After LDE finished, Phil told the crowd to come see me for free discs and I was bombarded.  After the crowd left, I checked my vmail and nearly died.  I was speechless as Aurora asks..."tony? dave? akiva? who?!?!?" And all I can utter is "job" and we book it through the venue and out into the NYC streets.  It was Maverick records and they wanted to know if I could come out to LA.  Ok, so that story will be continued another time.   
 
So we are freaking out and I text people and people call and I am talking to Dave and Akiva calls and its hilarious because they were in the same room and I don't think they realized they were both talking to me and it was just a good few minutes.  I run back inside the venue and run into Tony and he buys me a drink to celebrate.  It was just so great because that whole day was spent with fabulous people and I got to see some of my favorite musicians and I was in NYC and it felt so right.   So around 1 am we say our goodbyes and head off towards Hoboken.  We stayed in the subway stations FOREVER.  Aurora, Tony, and I were just being wacky. 
 
We had to ration our Mike & Ikes.  Aurora also grabbed my spray glue (i had it with me just in case) and read off the warnings.  Apparently you shouldn't spray it on skin.  And it makes you delusional.  On the subway, Aurora tells us how her brother saw the Presidents of the United States perform twice, but she pronounced it "PUSA".   After a few seconds of stifled laughter, Tony said he was glad her brother has seen PUSA twice.  In an arena.  I don't think our passenger neighbors were entertained.  Oh yeah, and Josie and the Pussycats and Scooby Doo rules.
 
Ok, so an hour later we end up in Hoboken and head to Dunking Donuts.  The guy was an ass, but we got our beverages and trekked to the car.  WHICH WAS 800 MILES AWAY!! Seriously!! We almost needed another drink by the time we got there.  So not fun walking.  We beat the sunrise and made it to DE around 4:30am...


LDE at Tribeca


Red eye Chris, Phil, & Brian


Lonely empty subway at 1:30 am