Gran Bel Fisher

JJ & LDE at Arlene's Grocery - Aug 10 recap

I’ve waited most of the summer for August 10th to come. JJ Appleton and Lloyd Dobler Effect were playing Arlene’s - a show I can walk to, plus a fun venue!

At seven I bolted out of work and hopped on the subway to Houston. Our posse decided to meet at Nice Guy Eddie’s. I’ve been going to this place before shows in the LES ever since we discovered it before and Omnisoul show last year. They have half priced booze until 8 pm and good, cheap eats.

I met up with Maryellen and Morita and quickly start a round. It was almost near 8 pm, so once Moses joined us, our waitress just brought out about 12 bottles and glasses for our whole table before the special ended. CB was calling from the road and I was able to give the van directions in the city without questioning myself, nice!

We ordered our food and listened to Maryellen’s stories about New Orleans and Morita’s adventures with the band Honestly. Judy and Angela joined us and I barely had started eating while everyone else was nearly done. They made fun of me for talking too much, though I had lots of important things to say. See…my friends are so mean. ? jk.

I accidentally sprayed Moses with my coconut lime spray stuff, but that’s ok because he grabbed my boob….multiple times. The waitress loved us and brought us out free shots, then we departed down Houston towards Arlene’s. We approached Arlene’s, which had a huge group of people out in front, excellent!

We get in and say our hellos to everyone. So many people to see and talk to. I reintroduce LDE to my friends and sit and chat with Phil and Chris. I was the fashion consultant and hairdresser for the evening, have to have the guys looking their best. I think the venue probably thinks I’m the band whore since I went into the backstage bathroom with the guys individually at least once.

Phil and I sat down and talked about businessy stuff as best we could despite the people and loudness. CB looked dejected, but that’s ok since he is always included. I joined his table afterwards and showed the boys the mint condom someone gave me at the Coldplay show. Of course we have to read it and laugh as if we were in fifth grade. This prompted a conversation about road sex, in which CB trumped me. Touche.

Donnie and I shared a few rounds and I met Johnnie’s very extended family. Then it was time to rock! JJ played a great set, as always. And LDE shared the same packed room. So glad some of the JJ fans stayed for LDE and some of the LDE fans came early for JJ – it was a great crowd. I caught up with a lot of people and met even more faces. Thank you all for coming out on a Wednesday night ?.

Lloyd Dobler Effect played the best show I have seen them play since they headlined the 9:30 Club in March. The setlist was perfect and Evan and John manned the sound board the best yet. Their energy and presence on stage was unstoppable, I don’t think I stopped beaming once. This is what rock is all about.

Afterwards we packed up the van and met a bum. The girls were outside talking to Phil as Mike the Bum started to should out obscenities. Instead of getting feisty, we asked him to join in the pictures. Instead of just posing, he started to take off his shirt. Johnnie took this as a competition and came over and started to unbutton his pants… I’ll stop this paragraph now.

We trekked down the block to the market. Phil stole my accessories. Johnnie and Phil took scandalous pictures. We hopped in the van and drove through Manhattan. We took Corrine and Vicky to the train station, but my distracted mind directed CB to Port Authority, not Penn Station. Whoops – sorry girls! CB then yelled at us for one of us to join him in the front, but instead the rest of us conversed in the back. Sorry, but it was too much effort!

CB got me to my apartment in Hoboken without any directions and navigated through town like a champ. When I got upstairs I looked at the clock and it was almost 4 am. How in the hell did that happen on a weeknight?!

Lloyd Dobler Effect to play Jammin Java Aug 19

First leg of the Roanoke trip

Hello from Route 581 North. We almost just died. Some ass face decided to go super slow and break ahead of us as a tractor trailer was starting to merge into out lane and on top of Morita’s Civic. I just tried to burn Maryann CDs but my crappy laptop won’t recognize my CD drive, though I just used it the other day. Hopefully I can just reinstall the drivers and not have to take it in anywhere. We’re listening to Green Day’s American Idiot CD as we start the first leg of our trip home – to Dave’s in Frederick, MD; to Chris’s in Pennsauken, NJ; Maryann will take me to the Trenton train station; then I hope on the PATH back to Hoboken; mile walk home. Fun.

Sunday nights are my least favorite day of the week because that usually means the end of a great weekend. Maryann, Morita, Epler, and I packed our bags and headed to Roanoke for the weekend for a Saturday filled of Lloyd Dobler Effect. Plus none of us can deny a good roadtrip through seven states (NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, WV, VA).

We were all really quiet, staring out the window. I was contemplating on how awful Sheetz dark roast coffee is, but I am drinking it anyways. Epler just started at his cup and verbalized my thoughts and we all concurred. We all need it though since it was like a sleepover last night. We were watching Boy Meets World at 3 am on the Disney Channel all in our beds gossiping. I think we ended up crashing around 4 am, waking up at 10. The night before we got about 4 hours of sleep. All this week I haven’t gotten more than 5 a night. This crappy coffee is necessary.

Oh, maybe I could write about the trip now. I have ADD to the extreme. It’s hot as balls in this car. No one wants to go to the Safari with me off of exit 180. They have giraffes!

Ok, back to the trip, starting on Friday. I slept on the hour train ride to Trenton, so that was uneventful. Met up with Maryann in Trenton at 9 pm and thug boys hollered at us as I was on the phone with my mom. They knew we didn’t belong in the ghetto. We pulled a few minor traffic violations and made it onto 295 with almost getting into an accident only once. I’m really bad luck when it comes to driving, and apparently me being a passenger affects our bad luck. I really am an awesome driver, I don’t know why people fear their lives.

We only got slightly lost going to Moritas so we call him and I think he thought we were drunk because we were loud, high pitched, and couldn’t stop laughing. Get to his place and stop at the Wawa for cash, caffeine, and dinner. I swear, I really am smart…I had a full ride to college, I had top honors in high school, I got a 1490 on my SATs…but I say some really dumbass things a lot of the time. They had the iced coffee machine out and I stare at the two nozzles…contemplating the difference. After not being able to figure it out, I turn to Maryann and ask what the difference is between original and….original. Maryann asks if it sugar and stuff already in it, and staring at it, I say I don’t know. Until I saw that it was blatantly written on the machine that milk and sugar were already mixed it. We caused a moronic scene. But nonetheless, the iced coffee is the best frosty treat ever. It almost made the impending traffic jam bearable.

We seriously were stuck in construction traffic on 95 in PA for an HOUR. It was all fun and games at first until we all got antsy. I was rolling down the window yelling until they banished me from my window privileges. I unlocked the door and used that as my opportunity to yell – then Morita put on all the child safety locks. Around 11 pm we finally started rolling again.

American Idiot is over…Epler handed me my ipod since he doesn’t like being DJ. I loooove being DJ and everyone else usually hates it because I def rock out the Coolio followed by Hootie then like, the Veils. It’s good times. I just clicked to the Beasties. License to Ill…this should get us awake.

Met up with my mom at the Delaware rest stop then booked it to Frederick, weaving in and out of traffic getting there around 1:30 AM. We took showers, checked the email, and plotted out our trip and called it a night. Maryann and I got the wobbly futon which was destined to topple over at any toss. Oh yeah, they all made fun of me so much, so my response was always, “I’m blogging that!” But now I forget what they all had said, so obviously I am not blogging it.

We bypassed the morning Wawa stop and started the 225 mile trek to Roanoke. It was pretty uneventful until we needed a Sheetz for gas and everything else. After about 4 exits with no Sheetz, I was thinking about calling someone who was online who could check for us…then Phil calls, I tell him of my dilemma and he hands off the phone to CB who informed us that the next Sheetz was at our next exit – exit 222. What a lifesaver! :-) We all rejoiced and basked in the bliss that is Sheetz. We got breakfast part two and a full tank.

We yelled at the cars on the highway, seriously now. Don’t be a fucking dumbass. Don’t got ten miles below the speed limit in the right lane. If you are a trucker, don’t be in the left lane. If you are handicapped, don’t be in the left lane.

We found our hotel without the help of directions and passed out for a 15 minute power nap. We had a Sheetz right next to us so we stopped for water then headed to the Microfestivus Beer Festival. It was only a mile walk, so it was ok aside from all the onlookers ogling us knowing that we didn’t belong. We didn’t sport the confederate flag gear that everyone else was in the Sheetz.

Microfestivus

Microfestivus is this annual beer fest held in Roanoke. They have bands play all day, and Lloyd Dobler Effect was the first band to take the stage, which was most of the reason that we drove all the way down to Roanoke for a Saturday. ?. Nothing like great music, good beer, and wonderful friends to help pass a weekend. It was $5 entry and you could buy beer tickets for $1 each. A beer ticket equaled 4oz of beer, which is a pretty sweet deal. They also gave you a wristband limiting you to sixteen 4 oz cups, though Maryann and I discovered that if you are nice and/or flirt, the beer givers would either give you more for your ticket and/or not cross off one of your cups on your wristband.
I started off with the Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA and we parked ourselves on the grassy shaded hill to watch LDE rock out. They played for a bit over an hour of their finest material. They seemed hot and a less energetic than usual, but I blame the 100+ heat index. We got up a few times to refill our cups, though I thought we would be able to leave unnoticed, but CB called us out on it later. Afterwards, Phil told me he thought of me while making the setlist – he purposely left off “Land Down Under” since he knew I would be around. My boyfriend came to enjoy the set a few songs in. My boyfriend was wearing a Budweiser tank top with big arm holes so we could see his man boobs. He also wore a fanny pack. As I was lusting after my hot boyfriend, he walked right up to the stage in front of CB, then talked to Amy. I called her and told her to stay away from my man. We almost had a girlfight over him.

The beers I tried, or had a taste of one of Maryann’s, Morita’s, or Epler’s cups, were (in no particular order): Satan’s Pony (amber brew with a malt flavor and low bitterness), Delerium Tremens (Belgian with an ABV of 9%), Raspberry Frambois (a traditional Lambic brewed with raspberries – this is what I drank a whole bottle of last weekend, though the black cherry version), Starr Hill The Love (a hefeweizen with hints of banana and clove), Virginia Hefeweizen (same thing as The Love, but better), Starr Hill Mojo Lager ( 2005 Gold Medal winning lager of the Great American Beer Festival), Imperial Stout, Oxford Raspberry Wheat, Lancaster Milk Stout, Merry Monk’s Ale (APV of 9.3%, that did me in while I was talking to Ross Copperman and couldn’t stand up from my seat at this point), and the Abita Purple Haze.

My favorite of course was the Lambic, followed by Satan’s Pony. Doug Perdue had asked me to get him something fruity and good – so I chose the Lambic, which everyone tasted and got addicted to. Everyone thrusted us tickets and Maryann, Phil, and I went back to the stand to get like, eight full sized cups. We toasted, enjoyed, then peaced out. Morita and Epler wanted to stay, so Maryann and I caught a ride in the back of the LDE truck with Phil. They usually don’t have a truck, but they had to rent one to pull the trailer since their van blew up on Friday. Of course CB peeled wheels, causing as all to fall all over the place for a mile back to our hotel. Maryann got bruised and I almost fell out.

We got back to the room and the room was spinning. We really didn’t drink much, but it was super hot. I had the bright idea to jump on the beds, which then turned into a game of us jumping from bed to bed. Yeah, not a good idea. Then we crashed and said we were dying. When the guys came back we walked to Sheetz and got a wonderful dinner consisting of lots of water, chips, and veggie subs as we watched Batman on tv.

LDE at Corned Beef & Co. in Roanoke

Lloyd Dobler Effect was playing for a full night at Corned Beef & Co. in Roanoke. I’ve heard of this place before since PMB used to play here back in the day and I have heard the stories of it through the band, Amy, and Doug. Something about a siren…

We get there and meet up with Amy and Julie and grab some drinks. Ugh – tummy full! I just needed the caffeine, no more alcohol! We walked around and scoped the place out, upstairs they were playing Amos Lee…my song no less ;-). Kick ass!

Before LDE even took the stage, we had a dancer. This guy could definitely rival Breakdancing Mike of the LoHo. This guy was insane and looked like a complete goon. You know he did this every weekend though. He soon had a much older female dancer join him. For the most part, pretty entertaining. Sad to say, I hadn’t seen either one of them drink, so you can’t blame being inebriated for their outward displays of ridiculousness.

LDE played a long, loud, great show. The long ones are always fun since they pull out the gems and their music is so varied. There was a pretty full crowd and everyone around us seemed into the music. Doug was taping, and also doubled as a body guard later. As the crowd started filling in, CB had quite a boy posse in front of him. Three guys in dfferent striped polos pumping their arms off beat and playing air guitar were smitten with Chris and the band. Maryann, Amy, and I all picked one of them for us.

During the set break they played really loud hip hop and implemented a siren at random times. What the hell was that all about??!?! Roanoke became a freak show as they all had sex on the dance floor. Oh, I would also like to mention that we scoped out the crowd and there was no one hot there, male or female. Johnnie brought two girls “on stage” and danced with them. As Doug and I were staring, he got pulled in and molested. He turned around and gave me this look of fear, but I apologize, there was nothing I could do. We joked after that hopefully he didn’t get an STD.

The crowd was ripe for set two. I was molested a few times. Ew, and this guy totally kept touching me, I kept moving away, then he asked me to dance to Stranger. NO! This isn’t a high school dance. Then suspender man came up and thrusted up a storm. He had to be near fifty, wearing suspenders, and doing the lambada. We changed “In the Water” to “In Suspenders” as we sung along. Our crowd was pretty much pushed all the way to Doug so we all spent most of the time rolling our eyes and making faces at the band. Good stuff, we appreciated it. The crowd was going nuts for them, which was eerily fantastic, it was like Logan House on steroids.

They did about a 30 minute Two Step, so I walked around and went to the bathroom. I come back to the stage area and just sea a sea of people jumping up and down and going crazy. I have a bruise on my arm now. Phil tried to get Morita to come up with him, but he didn’t, which is a good thing, because if Morita went up there, I’m sure the fratty brothers in the front would have thought it was an open invite to go up on stage. Ugh, speaking of which, some toolbag tried to grab the mic. Don’t be an ass face. Shortly after, some little girl came up and started gyrating to Doug’s mic stand. Why are people weird??!!?!?

After the show, the hip hope stared again and it was super loud. We talked for a bit but then decided to head out and reconvene at Sheetz since they still had to pack up and say goodbye to people.

I delivered the cookies to the boys at Sheetz and chatted it up with Phil about the upcoming week of LDE fun. Sheetz has milkshakes, but I opted for water. They were also out of forks, so coffee stirrers double as chopsticks. We said our goodbyes and headed to our respective homes for the evening. Sorry CB, I thought you’d be there.

Car ride home from Roanoke

I am on the train ready to hit the tracks to Newark, NJ, then catch the subway to Hoboken. I laughed so hard on the ride back from Roanoke that I cried, a few times. Want to know something that is more no fun than STAFF? Child Safety Locks are no fun! I am a bit spastic when I am in the car for long periods of time. That’s all I will say about that…

Sheetz coffee is not good, so I took my sharpie and renamed it Shitz coffee. We got to Frederick from Roanoke in 3.5 hours. Morita says that he doesn’t fuck around.

Speaking of Sheetz coffee…If you know anything about me, you should know that a) I fall and trip at least once a day… b) I lose…or “misplace” A LOT of my belongings… and c) I spill stuff. So here I am in the back seat playing with my coffee cup when BOOM! It just flies out of my hands. I don’t know how I saved it, but I did and coffee did not go anywhere and I caused a commotion and it wasn’t my fault. I was told to relinquish the cup and to stop playing with my coffee.

Alright, I’m going to stare out the window at the passing lights of life of New Jersey. Love ya, bye.
PS – I think I will have to carry duct tape around with me if I ever have kids. I am sitting behind a screaming child.