Saturday, August 28, 2010

some things i am obsessed with right now:

1. New Dress A Day. Has anyone seen this website?? EVERYONE should see this website. It's amazing. I want to be best friends with this lady immediately. Since last November, she's been rummaging through yard sales and goodwill stores to find pieces of clothing for $1. THEN, everyday, she transforms them into something beautiful! Like, 'let's take this old nightgown and turn it into a cocktail dress!' AND SHE DOES. And I'm so jealous. But, I love it. I love her. She seems so cool. And then - she not only takes pictures of the process, but then of herself out, enjoying her new piece of clothing. SO GREAT.

2. This kid covering a River City Extension song on Youtube. There was a tweet from the band saying, "check out this awesome video we found!" So, I clicked on the link, and it took me to this song. Wow, I think this guy does such a great job!! And BONUS: He's totally cute! The song is, 'Today, I Feel Like I'm Evolving,' which is one of my favorite songs. 'I have been shaken by your sensitivity' is my fave line. Love it! Check the vid.

3. Transform your closet into an office! Now, this may seem weird. I thought it was going to be weird. Like, who has a closet big enough for an office? BUT NO! It's like, a pretty normal sized closet that they really did transform into an office. AMAZING. I'm totally obsessed and find this incredible. I'm so jealous of this person's home. Or, this fake person's fake magazine home. Whichever. I love this closet/office. SO MUCH. Also, I would like everything in my life to be that color, please. Yes, everything. And also, I would like that chandelier.


YES. Three great things I have just shared with you!! I hope you check them all out.

So yesterday, I retealed my hair because it was looking super faded and for some strange reason, my fingernails were dyed in the process. This has never happened before. Also strange because I was wearing gloves! So how they became dyed? I have no idea. But, they're like a teal/gray color, which I actually love.

My hair came out awesome, duh. I love it.

I'm at work right now, which seems to be the only place I go. I'm very tired because it's 9:27am and I only got 4.25 hours of sleep. That's no good. I need between 9-12 hours of sleep a night. :) I might take a nap when I get home from work. There's truly nothing better than an afternoon nap. Actually, I'm sure there are better things. Like, I'd rather be at a Crash Kings show then taking a nap.

Guys, I haven't been to a CK show since 5 AUGUST. That's over 20 days ago. NO GOOD. And I probs won't see them again until the END OF OCTOBER. NO GOOD. That will be the longest I have gone ALL YEAR.


OOOOHHHHHHHKK.

Now it's 12:10pm. We've done a bunch of things. Went out for a bit. I played with a baby for a bit. Baby threw up on my leg. That was lovely.

FOUR MORE HOURS OF WORK!

I really hope the River City Extension show happens on Wednesday. REALLY HOPE. It would be a totally fun time.

I wish I had tonight off. I should have planned that better. I want to go home.

I changed my mind about my fave lyric in 'Today, I Feel Like I'm Evolving.' It's a tie. The above lyric, and also, 'we must try harder than we said we thought we could.' Yeah, I really love that part too.

Alright. I think I'm going to go off and do something else for a bit.

Everyone having a good day?

Oh! Today, 28 August - is Jason's birthday! Jason from the band Crash Kings! I learned this via Twitter. He turns 33! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON! What a nice guy. I love Jason hugs.

ALSO: this week's Jersey Shore: I REALLY hope it's over between Sammi and Ron. UGH they drive me crazy.

Alright for realz, have a great day. I'll talk to you later!!


<3,
J.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

minus for common sense

at work right now.

one of the residents just left food cooking on the stove (like, flame still on and everything) and then went outside to smoke.

UMMM HELLO!! (i feel like Angelina on Jersey Shore) ARE YOU DUMB?!?!?! "there are girls taking their underwear off in the jacuzzi!!!"

i'm not sure which scenario is worse.

anyways. i'm at work right now. until 5:30 hopefully, but maybe until 6.

i've been feeling sick this week. well, so all last week i felt like i was fighting off a cold. i would wake up with a sore throat which lasted most of the day, and i was stuffy and sneezy. but, it never got tooo bad. but then this week, i feel sick to my stomach after i eat anything. it started on monday morning when i ate breakfast. i thought it was because i ate some yogurt. dairy sometimes makes me sick. and i was fine all day because i was at work and not eating anything, but then when i got home and ate dinner, i felt really sick again after.

so, tuesday morning i wake up and still feel sick. so i don't eat anything alllll day until late. and i still feel sick after, but not that bad.

and then wednesday, i wake up and i'm really hungry. but then it turns into a sick hungry. and then i try and eat a sandwich, and feel super sick again.

and it's frustrating me. i've been drinking lots of chamomile tea.

aannnddd i've been sleeping a lot. like, 10 or 12 hours a night.

UUGGHHH and yesterday was such a busy day at work. i felt like i was non stop running around places for 10 hours straight.


BUT! the other night i had a great dream. let me tell you about that instead of complaining all the time. geeze.

So, my dream was that i was hanging out at a 24-hour convenience store with River City Extension and we were searching the place for coconut water. like, shelve by shelve searching. every aisle. asking every employee. SEARCH. and we never found it.

and Sean, RCE's tour manager was being called '6 Disco Sean' by everyone. i don't know where that came from, but i thought it was cool.

and then! once we gave up on the coconut water search, we went over to Pat's house and all hung out in his garage for the rest of the night.

FUN, right? hanging out in a garage after hanging out in a convenience store! pretty classy.

IN OTHER RIVER CITY EXTENSION NEWS:

1. I was on their Myspace page looking at what tracks they had listed to stream, and there was one called 'For This Reason,' which is a bonus track on one of their records, I don't even know which one. But it's pretty much just Joe and his guitar and - I LOVE it. Ohhhh it's so good. Which, I don't know why this is surprising. But, everyone should go listen to it. I think Joe sounds totally beautiful.


2. I got this Facebook message from Emily the other night. Yes, my great friend Emily who I've known since my very first day in college. I hope she doesn't mind that I'm posting it in here. It just made me SO FREAKING EXCITED that I can't hold it back. I'll just post excerpts....


Hey Julie,

So, after reading so much about River City Extension in your blog, I was finally like, "I reallllllly need to check these guys out!"

Well, I LOVE THEM! I mean, looooooooove. I just bought/downloaded The Unmistakable Man album on Amazon.

I am so grateful to you! And your blog! This is amazing music!

Emily


TESTIMONIAL. So great, right?! Not to brag, but I feel like i've done a pretty good job of spreading the River City Extension love. Emily, Kerianne, Kara, Courtney - all new fans! All smart people.



Today, I got a call from the medicine people who prescribe Ruby Tuesday's medicine and they left me a message because they called super early, but I listened to the message and at the end the guy said, "make it a great day!"

and i was like, "I WILL make it a great day!!"

But then I couldn't get up when my alarm was going off. for like, 2.5 hours. i just couldn't stay awake.

but, i was still able to get to the post office and the grocery store when i woke up.

and then kara told me she was coming up tonight!!!!! SO GREAT! i love kara.


anyways, hope YOU ALL had a great day and have a great day tomorrow!!!

Kara and i are going to lunch tomorrow at Salt Hill Pub so we can get BULMERS. yep. Kara's first Bulmers. ohhhhh it's a good day.

okay! have a great night, great afternoon, great morning - great whenever you are reading this.


talk to everyone soon!!!!


(i switched between lowercase and uppercase in this entry. in previous entries, i had been trying to use proper capitalization. i'll try and be better next time.)


✌,
J.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

'wait! i'll wait here someday'

I was reading the lyrics to 'Non Believer' last night. Not sure what compelled me to, but OH, I enjoyed it. And I decided that I'm totally in love with that line. It might be my new favorite line of any Crash Kings song.

Wait! I'll wait here someday.

AAHHH! I love it so much. I can't even use words.

I love 'Non Believer.' Is it my fave? I don't know. Ha, wow, I was just going to write, "no, Ballad of Oregon is my fave,' but then I remembered that Crash Kings and River City Extension are two separate bands. Although sometimes it might be hard to distinguish one from the other, because their awesomeness bleeds together.

Anyways, I love that lyric. It's one of those hold your hand over your heart to catch some of the melting lyrics.

And, you should definitely go HERE to listen and watch Crash Kings perform five songs (including Non Believer) at ShockHound. (And then you must watch the interview at the bottom, because it's totally adorable and kind of dorky.)

ANYWAYS. (I'm not gonna lie, I think my hair looks pretty great today.)

Also, I'm at work right now. I know, I know, it's super early. Well, I guess it's almost noontime. Still early. I've been downstairs in the office since 9am, but technically working since 10pm last night.

I asked the resident last night if it would be alright if I didn't come downstairs until 9am, instead of 8am. She said that was fine, since she was going to try and sleep in. SO, YAY ME, I got to sleep in a little too.

It's so lame when I'm down here at 8am and then nobody comes down until like, 9 or 10am. And 9am feels a little more manageable than 8. 8am is still the middle of the night. 9am is more 'early early morning.'

And, it's almost noontime and she still hasn't come downstairs. :/

But, it's been fine. I brought down some Greek yogurt and chocolate cheerios and mixed them together. I also brought down coffee. And, I've been doing laundry, which is nice. I had been putting off laundry for a long time. Like, I hadn't done it since before the most recent Crash Kings Awesome Roadtrip Week, which was the first week in August.

And then we had the River City Extension Awesome Roadtrip week, and so I had a lot of sweaty piles of clothes. Or rather, a lot of piles of sweaty clothes. And I was avoiding wearing them because they were gross and sweaty, so I this past week especially, I have been putting together very strange combinations of outfits.

OH! Let me tell you about my great week. Or, about the one day in my week that was fun...

THURSDAY! I had to go to work and everything, which was uneventful. But while I was at work, my friend Jo retweeted something originally tweeted by this musician called Dave Barnes, and it said that he was performing a free concert tonight in the little park that's like, 5 minutes away from my house! Jo said I should check it out.

So, I figured, 'why the heck not?!' And I did!

First I called Kerianne to hear all about her awesome River City Extension concert she went to last week. Or maybe two weeks ago? I can't remember. But, it was super exciting! Both her and Noel had a great time! Yesss!

And then, I threw on a cardigan and walked down to the concert! FREE!!! It's basically the only price I can afford these days. Which sucks, because most things cost money.

So, I went to listen to Dave Barnes! It was an acoustic set! He played with another guy called... Trevor, I think. Or, Travis? Taylor? Tyler? Noo...I think it was Trevor.

It was a great show! I found a spot to sit in the grass. He has a great voice! And catchy songs! So far, my faves are 'Little Lies' and 'Until You.' The crowd kind of went crazy when he played 'Little Lies,' as I guess that's the song they play on the radio. But everyone knew it!! Exciting!

And then I was looking him up on Twitter, and he's got almost 20,000 followers!! That's a lot! I was in total shock. Crash Kings have about 5500 followers. RCE has 216. And I have 70.

It all depends on your number of Twitter followers. No, I'm kidding.

But, Dave Barnes. Great musician. I like him! Thanks, Jo! And also thanks to The Point radio station for bringing him around. Sure, I'll start listening to your station! Great!


Ok, moving on.


I started watching the HBO show 'Hung' yesterday. I was looking for something/nothing to do all day, so I downloaded the show and watched a total of like, 8 episodes. Yeah. Pretty intense. I like it a lot! It's pretty funny. And that main guy is like a mixture of Thomas Haden Church and Aaron Eckhart. YEP. You all were thinking, "Hmm...who does that main guy look like?!" SOLVED IT.

Anyways, good show. I started downloading season 2.

On a more frustrating note, my right knee has been killing me this week. And I have no idea why! It's driving me crazy. I woke up one morning and it was really hurting. And then that night I couldn't get to sleep because I couldn't get comfortable because it hurt so badly. And then! It even woke me up because it hurt! Crazy! Like, why does it hurt when I sleep? I'm not doing anything. But, I've been taking ibuprofen and epsom salt baths. It's kind of all crunchy when I bend it, but I'm ignoring that.

That's the knee story. Any tips on how to better hurt knees are appreciated.

ON A SUPER EXCITING NOTE: My sister, Kara, has a CAKE TASTING today at her bakery!! Or, at the bakery that she works for, but is basically her bakery because she's the only baker. Well, she's getting into providing specialty cake services, and so today, there's a free cake tasting happening!! From 1-3pm!!

So, if you're in Wells, Maine - get over to PINE TREE BAKERY AND CAFE. On route 1. Across from the Midway Motel. It'll be packed in there, for sure.

Kara made this sheet cake for this guy like, a month ago, and it was for a big birthday party or something, and the people who ordered the cake called the bakery a few days after they picked up their order and they basically said that it was the best cake they had ever eaten. TRUE STORY! Best cake ever eaten!!

SO, in honor of this great day when Kara becomes a famous, well-respected baker, I would like to post pictures of ALL my previous birthday cakes that Kara has designed for me. Now, for some backstory: My birthday cakes are always a huge production, not only in the creation process, but also on the cake itself.

I can't remember how it all started, but now it's a tradition. I am proud to present to you:


THROUGH THE YEARS: A Collection of Julie's Birthday Cake Designs


2005


This cake features the Titanic, with Jack and Rose at the bow. TV show host Craig Ferguson sits in a lifeboat, wishing me a happy birthday, while fireworks burst above.


2006


This cake features the Titanic, sailing over to the NBC studios in New York City, which is flooded, presumably by natural disaster. Tina Fey and Andy Samberg stand on the roof, awaiting help, while Jason Schwartzman sits in the lifeboat.


2007


The year of my 21st birthday was a special one, because it was also the night the Academy Awards were happening, and Kate and Leo were both nominated. Neither of them won at the ceremony that night, but two statues were set aside for them on my cake, as they both stand on the bow of Titanic. This year, the Titanic is sailing into the Airport Lounge, which was my place of employment while in college. Elle Woods from Legally Blonde, and American Idol winner Taylor Hicks sit in lifeboats, in the flooded student lounge. Oscar statues float in the water.



2008


This cake features the Titanic sailing to Cuba, where Che Guevara and Fidel Castro await the arrival of Jack, Rose, and Harry Potter, who stand (and float!) above the great ship's bow. Sayid, a popular character on the TV show 'Lost,' swims in the water.*

*There wasn't much room for a lifeboat, and we figured Sayid could probably swim for long distances.


2009



This cake features the Titanic sailing onto Revolutionary Road. Jack and Rose stand on the bow of the ship, Rose is holding up an Academy Award, as this was the year that Kate Winslet finally won her Oscar. Waiting for them on Revolutionary Road is the Joker, from the popular 'The Dark Knight,' and Meryl Streep's character Donna, from the also popular film, 'Mamma Mia!' Sitting in the lifeboat together are Tina Fey and Che Guevara.


2010


My most recent birthday cake features the Titanic, sailing into an iceberg. Jack and Rose stand on the bow of the ship, each holding an Oscar (even though the ceremony took place in March this year). Skiing down the iceberg, we have Tony*, Mike and Jason, of Crash Kings, each holding their respective instrument (or in Jason's case, drumsticks). The character, 'Mrs. Fox' from the stop-animation film, 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' also stands on the iceberg, while all five members of Tally Hall sit in a lifeboat, alongside Robert and Jason Schwartzman, in their own lifeboat.

*Please note Tony's red plaid shirt.


Aaahhhh YES!! How much do I love reliving my past birthday cakes??? THIS FREAKING MUCH. They are the best birthday present a sister who loves Titanic could ever ask for. Yes, they are awesome. As well as Titanic, the cake's also feature things or people that have been popular in my life in the past year. Clearly.

Although, on my last birthday which was 25 February, I had only seen Crash Kings 3 times! Can you believe it?! I can't believe it. And now I've seen them 15 times. CRAZY.

I can tell you now: It's gonna be hard to fit all the members of RCE on a cake. PLUS their instruments! Yikes. I should start drawing up blueprints.

Ohh man, I love Kara.

Anyways, the cake tasting is going on RIGHT NOW. You better get over there.


EXCITING NEWS: me and Courtney are going to see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World tomorrow! Sunday! Sometime in the afternoon!! I'm really excited. I have a feeling it will be a 'teal hair-off' between me and Ramona Flowers.

Robert Schwartzman tweeted the other night that he had gone to see Scott Pilgrim and loved it. That's good. Anyone seen those really old videos on Youtube of Robert Schwartzman acting out scenes from Scott Pilgrim? I don't know if they were meant to be a joke, or an audition, or whatnot. He's like, laying on a couch reading lines of (I believe) Wallace... or Walter? Is there either of those characters in the movie? Wallace... I think. And you can hear his mom off screen reading the opposite lines. It's pretty funny, and very strange.

I love those Schwartzman boys. Hence the reason they appeared on my birthday cake. Jason in the 2006 and 2010 edition.


ANYWAYS. I feel like I maybe had other things to say, but right now I can't quite remember... Hm.

11 days until my next River City Extension show!!! YES. Well, I hope. It's a closed college show. But Jo has a friend who goes to the college, so we're hoping to get in. Also... maybe the band can get us in? I don't know, but I hope it works out.

It's 3:13pm! Already! I can't believe it. This day is going by WAY faster than I imagined it going by. THAT MAKES ME SO HAPPY.

We just went out to the grocery store. I took a blog pause. These old ladies kind of gave me a weird look. And normally, I don't notice these types of things. But, I definitely got a strange vibe from them. It was either my teal hair, or the teenager with the baby. Or, perhaps a combination of both.

All my clean laundry is littering this house for drying purposes. Kind of reminds me of Kerianne and her laundry drying process when we lived in Mod 16. The process of draping clothes over every possible chair back or railing so as to not leave a mark on the clothes when they are dry. I've got all the dining room chairs full, the rocking chair, the computer chair AND I dragged out the ironing board to hang clothes off of. YEP. And I'm at work! Kind of great that I can do laundry at work.

Oh! I know what I wanted to tell yo about. THE COOKIES!!

So, I made cookies yesterday. Now, I am the queen of baking things that I don't have all the ingredients for. But, I prepared for these cookies. I bought brown sugar and chocolate chips, because I knew I was out.

So, I start mixing together everything and then realize I have no butter. And I'm like, "aw crap, are you serious?!" Yes, the fridge was serious - I had no butter.

Then I'm like, "well, I'm pretty sure you can sub applesauce for butter in most recipes." And I DID have applesauce. An abundance, really. I wasn't sure if the ratio would be the same, but I figured it might. So, I put in a cup of applesauce.

OMG - the most delish cookie batter ever. Chocolatey and appley and wonderful. So I'm thinking, "wow, these are going to be the best cookies ever, and Kara will be so proud of me." (I'm always looking for ways to impress Kara, since she's clearly the more talented sister."

Now, the cooking times and temperatures should have probably changed since I changed up the recipe, but I had no idea about any of that, so I didn't change anything...

WEIRDEST COOKIES EVER. They're like, bread cookies, or something. Shiny on top and bread-like consistency inside. Very, very strange. They're not really very good, but I've been eating them anyways. I don't know if they're really considered "cookies," but since that's what I set out to make, that's what I am convincing myself they are. And I'm eating them, obvi.

So, that's the crazy cookie story. I don't think I have ever made a successful chocolate chip cookie IN MY LIFE. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's a fact.

OK. I might heat up some food. And maybe watch that Crash Kings performance again. You should watch. OOhhhhhhhhhhhh Crash Kings. Yeah, I love.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!! Please enjoy whatever it is you're doing. GREAT!

I'll talk to you all soon!! Take care!!


,
Julie

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

'the minutes they move like molasses'

HIIIIII friends!

I feel like I haven't really updated in a while. I mean, a good update. I think it's been mostly little scenes and snippets.

Anyways, just a few things I wanted to tell you about. The first is:


1:: PINA COLADA JUICE. Yep. I would like to thank Dole for making this juice. I was in the grocery store tonight, walking by the juice section on my way to the yogurt section, and for some reason, I was pulled over. Some strange force pulled me into the juice section. And I stared at all the unhealthy sounding juices that were supposed to be '100% juice.' I had to get one because they were on sale. I was torn between the watermelon juice and the pina colada juice. I ended up with the pina colada. BEST DECISION EVER. Um, it's so delicious. Very pineapple-y and very coconut-y.


2:: RUBY TUESDAY'S NEW MEDICINE. Yes, my little Ruby Tuesday has started taking Amitriptyline. When I brought her to the doctors a few weeks ago, I told the vet how Ruby sometimes becomes really violent and scary and I have to put her in time out. So, she prescribed this drug, amitriptyline, which is supposed to be a behavior-altering drug, and is also used to treat separation anxiety, which I also think Ruby suffers from when I go away. Even if it's just for a little while! She gets sooo upset. I can't tell you how many times my curtain on my door has been pulled down when I'm away.

So, I asked for it to be prescribed in a cream form, rather than pill form, because rubbing a cream into her ear felt easier than trying to make her swallow a pill. WELL. This has been an ordeal. This cream. MAN. Getting her to sit still while I rub the cream into her ear is IMPOSSIBLE. I feel like I'm choking her, trying to get her to stop moving her head. And where does the cream end up? On my face, in my hair, on my clothes. Yes, everywhere else but her ear. How does it end up on my face and in my hair?? I HAVE NO FREAKING IDEA!!! Like, COME ON. Every freaking time. Ohhh I don't know. But, I went out tonight and bought more cat treats to give her after I attempt to give her the medicine.


3:: River City Extension was named one of the top 100 bands on Absolute Punk! Here's what they had to say about them:

River City Extension sound like a more eclectic Bright Eyes. If they’re not bringing you a humorous swashbuckling bridge, then they’re playing you a sing-along chorus; if not trumpets and brass, then mariachi flavor. But don’t let the diversity fool you into thinking they’re all about having a good time, because behind all the music is a disturbed man who sings about lost love, cancer and God. That’s what the somber strings are for: a more serious look at life’s frustrations.

YES. Start listening to this band ASAP.


4:: KID AT THE GROCERY STORE. I was in the check out at the grocery store tonight:

CHECKOUT BOY: Hi, how are you?
JULIE: I'm good! How are you doing?
CHECKOUT BOY: .... I plead the 5th.
JULIE: (laughs)
CHECKOUT BOY: I'm just bummed because I just got back from vacation. I drove back today and then immediately had to come back to work.
JULIE: Aw man. That's rough. Where did you go on vacation?
CHECKOUT BOY: I just went home, to Connecticut.
JULIE: Oh! I was in Hamden, Connecticut last week! (hoping he would ask why and then I could plug River City Extension.)
CHECKOUT BOY: You probably drove right through my town, Meriden. It's like, exit 18 or 19.
JULIE: ...Ohh...okay...
CHECKOUT BOY: I went to the mall in my town and they had added an indoor paintball center! INDOOR!!!
JULIE: Wow...
CHECKOUT BOY: It's like, as soon as I move away, they bring in all the cool stuff!

Yeah, a RCE plug did not happen like I thought it would. I'm like, why are you telling me about paintball studios? Studios? Centers? Spaces? What are they called? I don't know. Eh, nice kid. He's been my checkout boy before. (I was excited to tell you about this.)


5:: BOBBY SWEET TOOTH. Um, so Robert Schwartzman has been tour-blogging for this website called 'J-14,' which I'm assuming is some teen magazine. His blog is called 'Bobby Sweet Tooth' and he goes around in each town Rooney is in and finds great local dessert places. I think this is hilarious and awesome. Also, he's been posting a lot of videos on Twitter lately, and they all involve him ordering food. The first one was him, on foot, going through the Taco Bell drive-thru. It was great. The second, which I just watched, was him, ordering an Oreo Blizzard at Dairy Queen. It's terrific. I love this guy. He makes any day brighter. Same goes for Rooney music.


6:: JERSEY SHORE. I started watching Jersey Shore. I downloaded the first season. Um, it's great! I had no idea what the show was about. I thought it was a reality show about people who already lived on the Jersey Shore, and they just filmed their lives. Like, Laguna Beach or The O.C. I mean, not The O.C., The Hills. Yes, The Hills. The O.C. was not a reality show. Although I wish it was BECAUSE THAT WOULD FREAKING ROCK.

Ok, I really like Snooki. She seems pretty awesome. Also, JWOWW is great. I can't stand The Situation. He's such a jerk. I also can't stand Sammi and Ronnie as a couple. On their own, they're fine, but together - OMG it's terrible. I really like Vinnie, he's funny and seems like a nice guy. Ohhhh what a show! I don't find ANY of the guys attractive. Does ANYONE? For real?!

Ohhh so much drama. The last episode I saw, The Situation called Snooki 'fat,' and then JWOWW punched him in the face. They're in "romantic, enchantic, Atlantic City. Down by the old New Jersey Shore." Um, how come that isn't the theme song for the show?!!? Brillz.

Or better yet, how come RCE doesn't do the theme song?!?! Someone should make that happen.


7:: Hhmmmm... that might be it.

Oh!


8:: HASHTAG CONVERSATION WITH KARA. Here's what went down:

I learned via Facebook that Kara had gone to the fine Italian restaurant, Olive Garden, with my mom. Every time I have been home and Kara tries to get us all go out to Olive Garden, my mom always refuses. So, I was shocked to hear she had gone. I texted Kara saying,

JULIE: WHAT you went to OG with Mummers?
KARA: Haha, yep!
JULIE: I can't believe she finally agreed to go!! #unfair
KARA: Haha #shelovesmemore

OMG, I laughed so hard. Not only was it funny that we were using hashtags in non-Twitter conversation, but Kara was actually being funny. Ohhh I laughed for a while. AWESOME.


9:: I had a dream last night that I had a hanging light in my apartment, and I unscrewed it from the ceiling and a bat poked it's head out. #tramautized


10:: The other night I had a dream that Kara and I were camping out at a Crash Kings concert and we met up with Tony and Mike's parents and for some reason they let us borrow some of their cooking pots. I have no idea why. And then I went to talk to Tony after the show and said,

JULIE: Your mom let me borrow some pots and pans, how can I get them back to her?
TONY: Well, I was planning on going to see them later on... You can drive me to Lincoln and then give them back.

??? I have no idea what that's about. Lincoln? Like, where did that come from? It was exciting though, because I was going to give Tony a ride someplace. ... It's also exciting to have a dream about Tony where we're not drunk on tequila.


11:: BLUETOOTH. What is bluetooth? I have no idea. But I used it the other night. Let me tell you about it...

First of all, ever since I got this new Mac back in December I have been getting messages telling me to 'update the Bluetooth software.' And every time I see this message, I close it and quit out of the program thinking, "yeah right, I don't have bluetooth." So then one day a few weeks ago, I got the message and for some reason I thought, "well, maybe I do have bluetooth." So, I updated the software. TURN OUT - I do have Bluetooth software, whatever that means. All those messages weren't fakes and lies - they were real.

So, jump to the other night, and I was trying to get a video off of my cell phone. (the video of Morgan hitting 12,000 miles) It was too big to send in an email. I had lost the CD to install the software onto my computer to get the video off that way. The phone memory card wouldn't fit into ANY of the fancy new memory card slots I just bought. I said, "THERE MUST be another way to get this video off this cell phone!" Because I really wanted to post it for you.

So I'm searching the phone, looking up sending options, and bluetooth is one of them. So I'm like, "hm, I think my computer also has that." So, I turn it on my phone, and I turn it on my computer. And then all this stuff starts happening. Like, the two machines are talking to each other. Things are lighting up, I'm suddenly entering all kinds of passwords and unlocking files and creating new folders and then BAM - the computer and the phone are connected.

And... I got the video onto my computer!! How?? I have no idea. It wasn't an email. It wasn't even a text message. It was.... bluetooth? What is it?! It's like a virtual fax machine, or something! No, a telepathic fax machine. YES. That's what it is! The phone and computer are like,

PHONE: Okay Computer... what am I thinking about?
COMPUTER: .....Umm...you're thinking about..... the video of Morgan hitting 12,000 miles!
PHONE: YES!! Here ya go..

And then the video ends up on the computer. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what bluetooth is. And it's different than BluRay. Right? It has to be. Because that's like a fancied up DVD.

SO - it was exciting.


12:: AND, that's it. I'll end on the Bluetooth note. I hope everyone is having a great week! Talk to me! Tell me what you're up to! I'm really interested in your lives too.

Take care, friends! Be well! Enjoy!


<3,
Julie

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

cross country HUG

Remember that band River City Extension that I love? Well, they are having some troubles on the road.

Half the band got stuck in Wisconsin for a couple days because of car trouble. THEN, I just learned via Twitter that once they got back on the road, 9 hours into their drive, a deer smashes into them and their car is totaled. So now they're stuck in Iowa for two days.


With all the powers of technology and the internet and everything good in the Universe, I would like to give an ONLINE, CROSS COUNTRY HUG to the band. All of them. Plus Sean.


Let's all wish good things for them. Safe travels. Safe places to stay. Good people. Cheap drinks. Great crowds.

And if I had more than $20 in my bank account right now, I would buy them a giant, 'sleeps 10 people' RV. That way, they would always have a place to sleep.

Be safe, be well, and take care, River City Extension.


Monday, August 16, 2010

12,000 on Morgan!

(Remember I recently named my car Morgan?)

YES! She hit 12,000 miles tonight! 16 August 2010! As I was driving North on I-89, somewhere around New London, NH, I believe.





And there's the proof. And we're in ECO mode! Great! (That's the fancy digital chart that tells me how well I'm using my gas/electric engine.)

12,000 miles in 6 months. Record breaking? Possibly. I think that's pretty incredible. I mean, YES, I've already gone over my '12,000 miles a year' lease, but I've had some pretty awesome times and pretty great adventures. Would I trade it? No. They say it'll cost me about $.15 per every mile over (after 3 years) but who can put a price on ADVENTURE?!?! Not me.

Morgan and I went to lots of new places together. We drove to Pennsylvania for the first time! Also, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois for the first time!! Chicago!! That was a great trip!! We've been through NYC, twice!

From Portland, ME to Chicago, IL. That's so great!!!

But, even cooler, was 'Ballad of Oregon' was playing when we hit 12,000, and I said,

JULIE: OMG I have to get this on video!!

So, I TOOK A VIDEO!!!!! (and uploaded it to youtube.) It's actually kind of fun to watch the Hybrid System Indicator bar go up and down.

So here's my totes brillz plan:


CHARACTERS:
- Toyota Lease Guy
- Julie

SCENE: The office of the owner of the Toyota dealership where I bought my car.


TOYOTA LEASE GUY: Julie, WHY have you gone over your lease miles?!?! How is that possible?!? We're going to charge you SO MUCH MONEY because you did this!
JULIE: Wait, watch this video of my car officially going over my lease agreement!
(they watch the video)
TOYOTA LEASE GUY: Wow! What an amazing song! I love it so much! What were we talking about?
JULIE: You said you weren't going to charge me for the extra miles!
TOYOTA LEASE GUY: Right!! No charge! Have a great day!
JULIE: You too!


aannnddd....SCENE.

:)

Great plan, right?! They're be too distracted by the RCE brillz, they won't even notice. AWESOME.


Ok. So, that's the big news. Remember when my Hyundai hit 100,000 miles? And then it immediately died like, two days later? Yep. I remember that. 100,000 miles in NYC! On our way back from Starland Ballroom!!! GREAT night! I think 'Come Away' by Crash Kings was playing.

Ahh, car milestones. Loves it.

Alright! Have a great day! I'm going to get ready for bed and then probs watch Jersey Shore. :) Nice.

Talk to you soon!!


Love,
Julie

Sunday, August 15, 2010

RIVER CITY EXTENSION NEEDS YOUR HELP!

Message from the band:

Anyone want to have (or have friends who want to have) a 9 person sleep over in Denver or Colorado Springs? The 17th and 18th we are looking for a place to stay, let us know if you can help! Free admission to the show with extra slots, merch, dinosaur eggs, and a cryogenically frozen dodo will be offered as payment!


Message from Julie:

Don't you want to have an awesome band sleep over in your house?! And free tickets to a great show?! MERCH!! Friends, I've met this band, and I promise they're not creepy. They are super great people, musicians, in fact, and I think it sounds like a great time. I would invite them into my home any day of the week. :)


If you'd like to help, please contact River City Extension at:

rivercityextension@gmail.com
or,
myspace.com/rivercityextension
or,
twitter.com/rivercityextension
or,
facebook.com/rivercityextension


THANK YOU!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

your life is everywhere for everyone

So, sometimes, reading my horoscope can cheer me up. Like it did today. Not that I was sad today, just feeling lame because I'm at work and I don't want to be. Also feeling lame that I don't have any money. Also feeling lame because I'm feeling stuck, which is the biggest thing, I think.

BUT, here I found wisdom:


You're more likely to watch the action from the sidelines today than take an active role. Now's a good time to consider switching jobs, as many opportunities should be available to you in various fields. Try not to let money loss drive you into a state of depression.

and

If you've been dreaming of foreign travel, you need to wake up and start to take direct action. It's the perfect day to research your various travel options. Jump online and find the perfect place at the perfect price. Even though your situation isn't exactly right just now, it never will be -- and planning anything should prepare you for any obstacles.


So what am I going to do today??

- plan the perfect vaca
- find the perfect job
- find the perfect place to live


GREAT. I'm gonna go do that.

also:

- i decided i want to get a palm reading
and
- i really want that tattoo


GREAT. have a good day. talk to you later.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Episode 485: Julie's Chances of Marrying Jason Schwartzman Grow Even Smaller

Well folks, the time has come...


I would like to CONGRATULATE Jason Schwartzman and his wife, Brady... they are expecting a baby.

Now, I'm sure you all can imagine how difficult this is for me, as I have loved Jason for a long time. BUT, I am very excited for them. The world can never have too many Schwartzmans.


SO, JASON AND BRADY, congratulations from all of us here at Misty Green and Blue (just me), enjoy this happy time!


Thursday, August 12, 2010

some kind of happiness is measured out in miles





That is the crazy picture of me and my friends with River City Extension. Most of them, at least. And I just have one question...

WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE WITH DEMON EYES?!?!?

For serious! I mean, come on. I look like the scariest person in the world. LAME.

Anyways, I'm going to try and name everyone: From LEFT to RIGHT:

BACK ROW:
Kara, unknown person, Nick Cucci, Joe, Patrick, Michael, unknown person, Dan

FRONT ROW:
Demon Julie, Jo, Sean, Ryan, Ben Silver

Yes, Joe is piggybacking on Sean's back. He was in the middle of talking to us, and then just hopped up there, and continued the conversation. They discussed shampoo and conditioner for a bit.

ALSO: Rooney, Hanson and River City Extension are all in Chicago tonight. This officially makes Chicago the greatest city in the world. That's like a perfect storm of music. Why am I not there? I have no freaking idea.


ALSO: this photo I took yesterday morning right after I woke up:



It's Ruby Tuesday!! SHE'S THE BEST EVER.


ALSO: in a totally non-creepy way, I found Tom Wilson on Facebook. Remember... from last week at the Middle East? Should I friend him or not? He was a little drunk when we were talking for all the time. But, I did listen to his song. I can't decide.


Today is a day off. At least from 8am until 10pm. I plan to stay in my pajamas as long as possible.


My dad and I were driving today and we were listening to RCE and he said,

DAD: River City should just tour with Crash Kings all the time.
JULIE: UMMMMMM YES. If they did that, I would immediately quit my job and follow them around the country.

I just wanted to post that so we all can take a minute to imagine how amazing that would be.


OK. It's almost 2am. I'm going to sleep. I've been super tired this week. All the incredible days last week were very tiring. All the driving, rocking, hanging out with rock stars...

Goodnight friends! I'll talk to you all later :)

have a wonderful friday! or, wait, thursday! no, wait. hold on.. friday! it's friday the 13th!


GOODNIGHT!


<3

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Get in the car, I kiss my folks, my friends Goodbye and say "I do."

LET ME JUST SAY: that if you haven't started listening to River City Extension yet, you are missing out on something truly great.

Not only are they like, in my top favorite bands ever, but they are super nice, awesome people. Let me show you how much they rock....


SO. These first pictures are from Cambridge, MA on Sunday, 8 August 2010. At the Middle East UPSTAIRS. Or rather, the Middle East Room in Back of the Kitchen.

They opened with 'Ballad of Oregon,' which might be my favorite song. I can't really decide which song is my favorite, because they're all so freaking good. And I think my favorite PART of any RCE song is in 'Ballad of Oregon.'

You know how my favorite PART of ANY Crash Kings song is the second verse in '14 Arms?' Yes, you knew that. Well, my favorite PART of ANY River City Extension song is the part in 'Oregon' where they sing,

so i am sending out a message
i'll get through to you somehow
i'll surround myself with everything that occupies me now
i'll get drunk and i'll get reckless
i'll get scared and i'll get stoned
oh i get scared when i'm alone

ohhhhh i love that part.

ohhhh but i also love that line that goes,

every time i leave you it gets difficult to find my way back home

oh man. i love that line. every time i hear it i just want to hold my hand to my heart. ummmm wow this is a good band.

ALSO: every line in 'South for the Winter.' LOVES IT. yeah, every line. especially the one that goes

pack my bags and it's been hard to go
but i am sick of your love
and i am sick of this snow

AAAHHHHH JOE. please write everything from now on. yeah, everything.

Ok Julie, stop freaking out and focus. OK. BACK TO THE BLOG.


HEY, so, I've been talking about this band since 23 May 2010, and do you even know what they look like?? Man, let's put some faces to their name.




River City Hotties! That's, let me see.... 7/8 of the band. AW, so close to a band portrait!! We're missing Patrick. (or, Kevin, as Jo would call him. over and over again. haha.)

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT,

Dan, Michael, Jenn (Jen?), Sam, James (you can see his head over Joe's right shoulder), Joe, Nick.

What a nice looking group, eh? Aw, I'm so glad you get to meet them all.




So now if you look on the far, far left, you can see Patrick's arm. I've got a better picture of him from Monday night, don't worry.

Something that I've been noticing recently with their music, is how much I totally love the trumpet. Today I was listening to them and thinking, "what is making this part so good??" and multiple times, the answer was "oh, it's the trumpet."




I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING!!!! You're thinking, "wait a sec, who's that girl playing trumpet with Dan???" IT'S JENN!!! Yes, the cellist is also a trumpet player. AND, also a bassist. Yep. She's pretty hardcore.

I love that picture!





It's half Sam, Joe and Nick!!! Throughout most of the show, I thought Nick's shirt said, 'HEALTHY.' And every time I saw it I thought, "aw, that's great!" But then I noticed it really said, 'HEATHEN.' Ah well...





Before they played 'Friends and Family,' Joe said,

JOE: I wrote this song for my wife. I don't actually have a wife, but when I get married, this will be my gift to her.

Sweetest thing ever? Yep. It totally reminded me of something my friend Andrew would say. Aww..






GREAT SHOW SUNDAY. Here are the videos I got which you must watch:

SOMETHING SALTY, SOMETHING SWEET

and
SOUTH FOR THE WINTER - when you watch this video, you will notice that Sam is the best dancer ever. FACT.

Here are some videos that Ryan got!

FRIENDS AND FAMILY - when you watch this video, you can hear everyone going, "awwwww!!" after Joe just said he wrote the song for his future wife.

OUR NEW INTELLIGENCE - if for some reason your house is on fire and you can't watch this whole video, AT LEAST just watch the first 10 seconds. i don't think you'll regret it.

BALLAD OF OREGON - twentysomething, i am losing touch with things i'll never live to hold.


YES, oh yes, it was a great show. SO SATISFYING. Ever since I first saw RCE, I was trying to remember the feeling I had during 'Friends and Family,' which was the song they opened with at the Mercury Lounge. AND YES - I got it again. It's that, "omg this has got to be the best thing happening in the whole world at this moment. i can't wait to tell everyone about this band." THAT feeling.

So, after they stopped playing, I found Jo in the crowd! And then we both found Ryan! Yes! How much fun do I have with those two? Um, a heck of a lot. It's cause everything we do together is SO SUPER AMAZING AWESOME.

Then, we decided to walk over to their merch table. Jo was disappointed, because Joe (yeah, i know, two Jo/e's. PLUS, i have my other friend Joe who i lived with. can you ever have too many? no, i don't think so) had said during their set that they had run out of their record the night before! So, they didn't have any copies, and Jo didn't buy one in NYC! But, we walked over to their merch table anyways.

Sam is already behind the table! I just think she's so awesome. And, the whole day before she was tweeting from this wedding she was in, and it was the best thing ever. These tweets were so funny. And I was super bummed to be back at work after my Crash Kings week, and reading her updates made me laugh pretty hard. SO, I go up to her and say,

JULIE: I follow you on Twitter, and I was totally loving your wedding updates from yesterday! They were hilarious!
SAM: (laughs) Thank you! I was kind of drunk...
JULIE: Well, I was bored at work and they were brightening my day!
SAM: (laughs) Thank you! What's your name?
JULIE: I'm Julie!
SAM: Wait... Captain Julie?!

(that's my Twitter name... Captain_Julie. if you look to the left of your screen, you'll see.)

JULIE: Umm... yes!
SAM: Wow, we were talking about you on the way up!
JULIE: You were?!
SAM: Yeah! And reading your twitter conversations with people!
JULIE: Haha, probably these two... (points to Ryan and Jo)
SAM: Okay...now I feel creepy...
JULIE: Haha, no! That's great!


UM, AWESOME, RIGHT?!?!? Yeah. AND, I later found out via Twitter that Sam is a fan of Coconut Records! Another one of my fave bands! That made me really excited because I've never met another Coconut Records fan "in the wild" before.

So we waited around at the merch table for a bit to try and see the band, and finally they were nowhere to be found. Sam had left the table, but James was there. And, I had had a few Twitter interactions with James, so I figured I should go up and say something to him anyways. So, I went up and said that I followed him on Twitter and thought he and the band was awesome. He seemed pretty excited about that and said the rest of the band was in the restaurant eating dinner. Then I said,

JULIE: Are you not going to eat dinner?
JAMES: Haha, well, not right now. I thought I was watching the table for a second, but then they all left me!
JULIE: Oh no!
JAMES: It's okay, I have a menu and I'll order something soon.
JULIE: Ok, great. Well, we'll see you in a bit!

NICE guy. So, we walked into the restaurant and found the band. It felt a little weird to be interrupting them at the dinner table... but Joe saw me and immediately got up and gave me the best hug. It was pretty cool. And then he introduced me to the table. Also cool.

And then I talked to Nick for a minute or two. Nick is the one who actually commented in this blog. And, I believe he said I was "the coolest." If I remember correctly. (Which I DO remember correctly, because I read his comment about a million times.)

Have I said that they are all the nicest people ever? Because, they are.

Then, Ryan, Jo and I sat down at a table and had dinner. I had falafel with french fries. Um, it was delicious. And super cheap! Thank you Ryan, for buying us dinner!

Oh, so throughout all this, the other bands were playing. We heard a little of Analog Rebellion, and weren't totally impressed. I thought they sounded like a mix of Death Cab and Radiohead. Every song bled together to one giant song that all sounded the same and never ended.

And then the headlining band, Lydia, is apparently some kind of punk band? But not what you'd think of when you hear the word 'punk.' That's kind of the description we got of Lydia every time we asked. But I actually never heard them play. I mean, after River City Extension could it really get any better? The answer is no.

But, this band Lydia, it's their farewell tour! The last time Lydia is touring EVER! So, I thought that was pretty heavy. I mean, think about it. Some of these diehard Lydia fans are on their last chance to see the band! I couldn't stop putting myself into their shoes and thinking about what that must be like. And then when you think about it, it's very sad.

Anyways, after Lydia was done playing (for the last time ever in Massachusetts), we went back into the performance room, which was covered in sweat, and went to go find RCE. And we found them! And they were so great and awesome.

Jo went around telling them that we had been to the Portland, Maine show where they didn't show up. Haha. The general response from the band was, "we would have been SO PISSED off if a band we were seeing didn't show up! Thanks for still liking us!" Again, as I've said before - it's impossible not to like RCE.

We got to talk to Patrick (who Jo kept calling Kevin) who is super nice and really funny. Him and Jo bonded over the mutual liking of a ska band... I think... or maybe a ska musician?? But, YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN JO'S REACTIONS. She was literally jumping back with amazement. Like, you know how some people use the expression "jumped back" but really they mean "whoaa." (does that make sense? it makes sense to me.) WELL, Jo, ACTUALLY jumped back and threw her arms in the air. She was soooo excited, it was awesome. I'm so happy I got to witness that moment. It was great.

And we hung around with them for a little bit longer. They are good people. They are good band. Finally, we departed, with them saying that they hoped to see us tomorrow in Connecticut. At this point, I thought there was absolutely no chance of me getting the night off work. So, I left the Middle East thinking that it would be infinity amount of time until I saw them again...


but CUT TO THE NEXT DAY, when Ryan, Jo, Kara and I are driving to Connecticut!!! Jo and Kara met me and Ryan at her apartment at exactly the same time. We were leaving Boston like, just before 5pm, which we all expected to be the absolute worst time ever.

Seriously - in all seriousness - I DID NOT think we would make the showtime. James had told us the night before they were on at 7:45pm. We were leaving just before 5 and it took 2.5 hours to get there PLUS time stuck in traffic, which we were anticipating badly.

And I consider myself to be a pretty positive person. But I truly DID NOT have much hope we would make the show.

And there's traffic getting through Boston.... and... that's it.

THAT WAS IT.

The Universe DOES love River City Extension!!!! We arrived in Hamden, Connecticut at 7pm. AMAZING. (okay, i might have been doing like, 83 mph...)

It was very reminiscent of the time me and Ryan drove to West Chester, PA for Crash Kings. and we had tweeted to them to not start without us. And we were SURE we were either going to be late, or get stuck with horrible spots in the back of the crowd... and we arrived just in time to be greeted by Jason on the street, and to find out the opening band had just started playing.

It's true that amazing things can happen if you get excited enough about music. This, I know.

So, we get to The Space, and it's like, maybe the coolest place ever. I kind of want to live there. It's like an antique shop, where they always have 'antique-y' things outside. There's just stuff everywhere. It's like a giant collection of awesome, everywhere in this place.

That website doesn't do any kind of justice for this place. It kind of makes it look all swanky and profesh.

OH! I forgot to tell you maybe the most important part about the day. So, we're driving to CT, and Kara sees that my phone has a new text message. So, we check it. Guess who it's from?! James Ramirez - the bass player for RCE! Well, it's not an actual text message. We don't have each others phone numbers or anything. But, it was a direct Twitter message, and those get sent as text messages to my phone.

And, he's wanting to know if we have tickets yet for the show. Because, we've all been tweeting to them saying we're coming and we're so excited, etc, etc. And Joe had said to us the night before that if we were coming, to let him know via Facebook and he'd try to get us on the guest list again.

So, I had posted on his Facebook wall saying we were coming, and anything he could do, would be amazing and awesome. But, I hadn't heard back. So, we were just going!

But then the message asking if we had tickets yet came in from James, so Kara responded (after some confusion about how to direct message people from a phone...) saying that we didn't have tickets.

Almost immediately, James responded back, asking how many of us were there.

Kara responded, saying there were 4 of us.

THEN, a few minutes later he responded with this (direct quote):

"I fronted the money for 4 tix to make sure you guys get in. It's under Julie Evans +3. Sorry we couldn't guest list you."

YEP. HE FRONTED THE MONEY FOR US TO GET IN. Now, does that seem like the nicest thing in the world to anyone else? Yeah. Me too. I couldn't believe it.

JAMES RAMIREZ:: YOU ROCK.

Wow, I still can't believe he did that. I just think that's so nice.

So, we definitely had tickets to the show. And finally we get there! It was the most amazing drive ever. I am still shocked we encountered no problems and pretty much no traffic. And we arrived at like, 7pm! AWESOME.

So we park and walk up to the place. The guy tells us to stand over by this fence to wait for will call tickets. And, we're waiting, watching the people go up and get their tickets. And then this pretty normal girl walks up to the booth with her friend. And they get their tickets from the booth. Then, the girl proceeds to VOM everywhere. Yeah, she threw up right in front of the ticket counter.

We all kind of looked at each other as the crowd around the place shouted, "UUGHHH!!"

This kid named Ben Silver, who is good friends with Jo, was standing and talking to us and he said,

BEN SILVER: Dude, I just watched that girl throw up.

IT WAS GROSS. Then the guy inside the ticket counter is like, "Are you okay? Have you been throwing up all day? Is it the heat?"

The girl says, "yeah, it's just because of the heat." And walks away.

She takes like, two steps away from the booth, and VOMS EVERYWHERE AGAIN. This time way closer to us.

So now, there's two piles of vom at The Space. And, the girl just like, walks away. So the guy who was directing people into different lines, goes inside and gets coffee pots full of water, to wash the vom away.

During this time, Nick Cucci, from RCE, walks over to us, is excited to see us, gives everybody hugs, and we start telling him about this girl who is vomming everywhere all the time. And he's pretty grossed out.

This is the evolution of the conversation we have with Nick Cucci:

NICK CUCCI: She said it was the heat? Um, yeah, the heat, "plus all the cocaine I've been doing..."
EVERYBODY: (laughs)
BEN SILVER: Yeah, "just too much heroin."
JO: "The heat, plus all the heroin I've been smoking."

It was pretty funny. Then Nick Cucci tell us this story about when he met one of his idol guitar players when he was 15, and the guy was telling him about all the heroin he did, and Nick was like, "dude, I'm 15 years old!" It was a funny story. Nick Cucci is a great guy.

Also, again, he commented in THIS blog. :)

So, that was a gross event turned awesome by the presence of a member of River City Extension.

And then we get tickets, and get inside. Um, the place is ever cooler inside. There's just like, awesome stuff everywhere. Like, their goal is to just collect everything. And, there's an arcade type room upstairs, and a little vintage shop. Plus, a cafe in the performance room. It's pretty cool.

So, we see Sean, the RCE tour manager. We were talking with him last night, gave him hugs also. He's a super nice guy. I wave to Sam probably way too excitedly.

Then, Kara and I find the bathrooms. It's a pretty weird bathroom set up...like, at the top of the stairs, one stall behind a door. So, Kara uses the bathroom, I wait outside.

THEN, guess who walks up the stairs? Joe. And it's like, "omg I'm standing in the bathroom line with Joe..." So, he gives me a hug and says that he's happy we made it; he said there were only 10 guest list spots between all 4 bands, so the space was really tight. I told him it was fine, that James had held 4 tickets for us. We talked about how cool The Space was.

Okay, it wasn't an awkward conversation, but the fact we were both waiting for the bathroom made it kind of awkward. Joe, if you're reading... kind of awkward, right?

But, it's okay, we both moved on.

And, Kara met Joe, which was good.

So, we get back downstairs and the first band is just ending, which means it's time for River City Extension. YES. We make our way to the very front of the stage. Great spot. It takes a while for them to figure out sound-check-y stuff, seeing as there are 8 of them. Eventually, it all gets figured out. During this time, Kara was like, "Okay, so which ones are in the band?" So, I pointed them all out to her.


AND THEY PLAY!!!!!





Joe and James!!!




Hey!!! Dan's head is on the far left, then PATRICK - who we haven't seen yet!!! He's on the keys. Then, Jenn on cello, and Sam on the mic!





Love this picture! James and Nick!!





Jo!! With the red hair in front! Yep, that's awesome Jo. Behind her, are Dan, Patrick, Jenn and Sam again.





LOVE IT! Sam and Joe!






Yes, Nick Cucci plays left handed guitar.





And, Jenn switching over to trumpet for 'Mexico.'







ANOTHER GREAT SHOW!!! Yes, they can rock pretty hard. At one point during the show when Joe was talking about how people should go buy their album he pointed to us down in front and said,

JOE: You can be just like these guys and know all the words!

AWESOME. This was Kara's first show, and I think she really loved it. Afterward we all basked in the awesome post-show glow that filled the room. Beautiful, really.

We found a table and scrunched around it for a bit, before deciding we wanted to go hang at the merch table.

So, we went up and talked with Dan and Sean (tour manager) a bit. So nice!

Then! We explored the upstairs of The Space, where the arcade and the vintage store were. Um, it's pretty awesome there. I really like looking around in the store. Lots of great cheap things.

THE ONLY PROBLEM WITH 'THE SPACE:' it's cash only EVERYWHERE. they have an ATM on site, but Ryan got the last money out of it, so then it was broken. Cash only! You can't even get a bottle of water at the cafe with your credit card. Nope. CASH ONLY. So, keep that in mind for when you all go.

Actually, in the case of the vintage store, it was a good thing. Because, I would have bought a lot of un-needed but really wanted bandanas.

'The Case of the Vintage Store' sounds like a great mystery novel!! Julie Evans and The Case of the Vintage Store. my first novel. loves it.

Ryan bought some awesome blue and green cups for her apartment. Win!

So, afterward, we decided to go sit outside. Jo and Kara ended up talking to these kids that were handing out CD's. Holden and Gonz were their names and they are part of a band called, Breakthrough Frequencies. They were pretty nice guys, they ended up sitting down with us at a picnic table for a super long time.

Dan and Jenn from RCE were sitting at a picnic table nearby, so eventually we all combined and hung out for like, an hour? UM, YEAH. It was awesome.

It's super funny, because not only are River City Extension obsessed with the Double Rainbow video, but they are also obsessed with the Bed Intruder video. The Bed Intruder is a news story about a guy who broke into a second story window and climbed into this lady's bed, trying to attack her, but he was caught and then fled the scene. They interviewed the victim's brother, who is kind of a character, and it's NOT FUNNY, but it is funny, because then it was turned into a rap song, like with a T.I. voice.

I would say, go watch the Bed Intruder video. River City Extension can sing the rap in like, three part harmony. It was kind of hilarious. "Hide ya kids, hide ya wife." You can watch the REAL NEWS STORY HERE. Although, once you seen the rap video, you can't get the song out of your head.

During this time, Joe came over, tapped me on the back and said,

JOE: Hey, I just read your blog! You've had some pretty exciting times recently!
JULIE: Yeah, for real!

And then he was on the phone. But, I thought that was cool. Ya know, River City Extension members reading my blog.

Then, other members of the band came over, so it was a big hangout sesh for a while. They are all super cool, super nice and super funny.

And it's like a super BONUS that they create amazing music together.

Finally, they needed to leave, so we all walked over to their two cars, took a ridiculous group photo (which Jo needs to send me!), and then said our goodbyes. Everybody got a hug! Dan gave me a kiss on the cheek! And... we all parted.

Yeah, it was awesome. And so much fun. And I can't wait to see them again!

- 1 September at Plymouth State... it's a closed college show, apparently, but we'll find a way in.
- 15 September back at The Space! Sounds great!

So, we drove back to Boston. Hit some major downpour from the Mass Pike pretty much right until the city. Dropped Jo off at her car, dropped Kara off at her car. Me and Ryan headed up to her apartment. Took me a while to get to sleep.


AND THEN, Tuesday I had to wake up early in order to drive back to work in time for staff meeting. But, I left late. I stopped at an ATM to get cash. I stopped at a gas station where I only paid $2.57! Then, I stopped for coffee in Andover, MA. I thought I was stopping in Tewksbury. BUT! I passed the Market Basket Distribution Center! Who knew there was one in Andover! I was excited about this, and I laughed a lot. It's kind of an inside joke between me and Kara. Actually, it IS an inside joke, because I bet none of you reading this find this funny at all.

Anyways. Then I hit traffic in Derry. Then I pulled into my parking spot and had to finish listening to 'South for the Winter,' which had come on the shuffle just as I was turning onto my street. And I reeaalllllyyy didn't want to go to work after having so many awesome things happen. 'South for the Winter' was a good ending song, I suppose.

And then I was 45 minutes late for staff meeting. Ah well.


WOW WHAT AN AWESOME AMAZING WEEK.


And River City Extension will be in CHICAGO on Friday and KERIANNE is going to see them!! I burned her a copy of their CD when I was in Chicago at the beginning of the summer, and she loves it! I'm excited for her!!

SO! I strongly encourage everyone to start listening to this great music. GO! RIGHT NOW!!

Report back. I think you'll like it. No really, I do.

Ok, everyone have a great day! I'll talk to you all later :)



ℛℂ℮,
Julie

Monday, August 9, 2010

crazy story...

SO, we saw River City Extension last night at the Middle East Upstairs.

IT. WAS. AWESOME.

I was so freaking happy standing there watching them play. They rocked. Joe was able to get my name on the guest list for the show, but said there was only one slot. Since the show was sold out, we were worried that Ryan and Jo wouldn't be able to get in, but maybe there was a chance they could buy tickets in the line, if people didn't show up.... or some other magical occurrence.

AND! Everything worked out kind of perfectly, and we all got in!!! YESSSSS.

The Upstairs venue is much less organized than the downstairs venue. You practically have to walk through the kitchen of the restaurant to get to it. We were standing in line waiting to get in and we could see into the kitchen, and there were plates of food sitting next to us. Hmm.


OOHHHHHHH THEY ROCKED. Yes they did. It was AWESOME getting to see them again. They are so incredible. For serious.

Anyways, pictures and things to come later.

But! We were talking to all of them after and they were all super excited that Ryan and Jo might be able to go to the show in Connecticut, happening TONIGHT. And I was bummed that I had to work and couldn't go and they would all get to hang out again and become best friends without me.

But man, it was so great talking to the band!! They are so nice and fun! Also great to like, really, meet Joe! Who I've had a lot of contact online with, but had only ever met in person for like, 15 seconds. He's great.

And, we hugged like, 3 band members and they win the award for BEST HUG. Yeah, it was great. Also, we hugged their cool tour manager, which was awesome. And he reminded me of someone SO MUCH but I couldn't figure it out.

AAAAHHH IT WAS AWESOME. Joe introduced me to the rest of the band saying,

JOE: This is Julie! She blogs about us a lot.

so fun.

ANYWAYS. So then cut to like, 3am and I'm trying to fall asleep, but I can't because I'm so excited about River City Extension. And THEN, i remember something amazing.

My boss usually sleeps over on Monday nights because she has to work until 10pm on Monday, and then again at 8am on Tuesday. So, she usually just sleeps on the couch in the staff office.

AND THEN I THOUGHT, "Hmm...it would be super easy to get another night off to go see RCE again!"

And then it took me even longer to fall asleep, thinking about my new plan and how awesome it would be if it all worked out.

SO - I called her this morning:

JULIE: Hi! I was wondering if you were planning on staying over tonight?
CHARLENE: I'D LOVE to do another overnight!

yep! easy as THAT. So, I have tonight off too!! And me, Ryan and Jo are driving down to Connecticut to see them again!!! YES. And last night, Joe told us that if we came, he'd put our names on the guest list again. So, I posted on his facebook wall letting him know we're coming! that'd be so freaking cool.

ALSO, not once, but TWICE, did we end up talking about Crash Kings with River City Extension. umm... yeah. that was awesome. Joe was like,

JOE: Alright, so, what would happen if we were playing a show on the same night that Crash Kings were playing a show?? Which one would you go see?
JO, RYAN, JULIE: Ok, first of all, that CAN'T HAPPEN EVER. And.... it would probably depend on the venue.
JOE: Okay, that's fair.

AND THEN,

We were talking with Patrick, the keyboardist, about being at Starland Ballroom to see Crash Kings, but how the three of us didn't know each other then. And then he was like,

PATRICK: Wait, you guys met by going to Crash Kings shows?
JO, RYAN, JULIE: Yep!!
PATRICK: That's awesome! Crash Kings, man. That guy SHREDS on the piano!
JO, RYAN, JULIE: Yes he does!!!

It was kind of like, "wait... are we really talking about Crash Kings with another band?!" So cool.

AND! Ryan and I met some pretty cool/cute boys in the line to get in! one of them was Chris. and they had traveled from Portland, Oregon to see Lydia play. Lydia was the headlining band. And at the end of the night, we saw them again and they said to us, "Your band was killer!!"

They meant River City Extension, of course. Because they are killer.

ANYWAYS. It's going to be a tight squeeze tonight to make the show, but I think we can do it. no, we CAN do it. no question.

alright! another great night in store. SO EXCITED. so much fun.

um, dear blog readers:

GO START LISTENING TO RIVER CITY EXTENSION. Like, RIGHT NOW. Seriously. I have more things to say, but I'll end the entry early so you can go use that time to go listen to your new favorite band. I BLOG PROMISE that you'll like them.

Ok. Thank you.


love, Julie

Friday, August 6, 2010

CRASH KINGS ROADTRIP WEEK OF AWESOME!!!

SO. I'm back in Lebanon now, after my Week of Awesome. It's always hard to get through the first evening of NOT being at a Crash Kings show, after three nights in a row.

But! I was greeted by a very excited kitty. She's sleeping next to me on the couch right now. I think she missed me so much!! I held her for such a long time after I got back. I missed her too!




Aww!

Anyways, let's get to "the goods."


ROCKIN' TUESDAY:

Tuesday was going to be a GREAT day! I went to bed really late, and woke up really early - my specialty. I packed my things and left my house around 9:20am. I stopped for coffee at the exit 13 Dunkin because I was very sleepy and needed sustenance.

I was driving to Malden! To Ryan's new apartment!! Traffic was fine, and her apartment was super easy to find. It helped too, because I have driven and parked to the Malden Center T station a few times before, so I recognized the area. I couldn't find the parking for her building, so I found other parking.

So, I was meeting up with Emily, David, Jenny and Jenny's boyfriend Chris in Central Square, which meant that I needed to get from Malden Center to Central Square.

My first order of business was to find the T station. So, I figured if I hadn't turned onto Ryan's street, I would have passed the station on my left. So, I walked back down the road and voila! There it was.

FINDING T STATION = check!

then, I needed to purchase a Charlie Card. i wasn't sure what was happening today, as well as the rest of the week, as well as Sunday, so I got one for $10.

BUYING CHARLIE CARD = check!

Then, I looked at a T map and figured out I needed to go towards Forest Hills, in order to switch over at Downtown Crossing to the Red Line. So, I did!

SWITCH FROM ORANGE TO RED LINE = check!

And, I headed towards Alewife and got off a Central Square!

GET TO CENTRAL SQUARE = check!!

and then I called David and we managed to find each other pretty easily. YES.

FRIENDS FOUND = CHECK!

So fun!!!! I remembered Central Square from when I had been here for the Rooney/Tally Hall/Crash Kings show in December. We walked around a bit trying to find a place to eat, and then ended up walking to Harvard Square. We were going to eat at a Crepe place, but there wasn't adequate seating for 5 people. So, we ended up at B.Good and had delicious burgers/veggie burgers/salads/coconut water.

IT WAS SO NICE to see my friends again!! I hadn't seen Jenny since David's birthday party dinner last October!! That's too crazy. And Emily and David since March, I think. And Chris is super nice and it was really great to meet him.

After burgers, we walked to this totally great frozen yogurt place, Berry Line. I enjoyed rose flavored fro yo with strawberries and white chocolate mixed in. UM, DELISH. Yeah, a lot. Sooooo good.

We sat on the curb and ate :)

Then, we walked to Emily and David's new apartment! In Inman Square! SUPER NICE! Reminded me A LOT of where my grandmother used to live. It's a great apartment. Lots of rooms. Grape vines in the garden. Enthusiastic neighbors!

Oh, it was so much fun seeing them. Then sadly, Jenny and Chris had to leave and drive back to Gardener. I stayed with Emily and David while they packed to leave for California the next day. I wasn't meeting up with my Crash Kings friends until later, so, I had time to kill.

Emily and David finally had to leave around 5:45 or so. Sad :( But what a great day!! Everyone has such great lives. Ohhh I love them so much.

So, I found my way back to Central Square with 'Eat Pray Love,' which Emily had let me borrow, since I still had time to kill. I went to Starbucks and got a coffee, which took a while since it was busy and I like my drinks fancy.

Then, I walked around outside until I found a nice place to sit, and I relaxed and read and drank coffee before my super awesome night. It was a nice time. The day so far had been busy, and I knew the night would be busy, so it was nice just to sit.

And then! Jo texted me saying her and Jess (who I had met at the Paradise back in March) were the first in line at the Middle East!!! So I said I would be right over!!! YAY!! CRASH KINGS AWESOME NIGHT WAS STARTING!!!

So, I walked over and stood got to the line around 7pm ish. The doors weren't opening until 8pm, so we had lots of time to stand around and chat and be really excited.

And then around 7:15 or so - Ryan arrived!!! So great to see her!! And then we were all excited together.

One of the best things was seeing the line up for the evening...

The last time I was at the Middle East it read this:

ROONEY - 10pm
Tally Hall - 9pm
Crash Kings - 8pm

THIS TIME IT SAID THIS:

CRASH KINGS - 10:30pm
Gold Star Morning - 9:30pm
Richard James Band - 8:30pm

How great is that?!?! Crash Kings go from being the first opening band, to headlining in 8 months! It was very exciting for us all.

So we get in there and immediately make camp at the front of the stage.

Richard James Band comes on. They are awesome!! So great! Very danceable, fun music. And they have a trombone and saxophone. Turns out the lead singer, Richard James, went to school with Mike and Tony (of Crash Kings), so they are friends! How great?! Also funny - I was up at their merch table with Ryan because she was buying their CD and I saw the cover and said,

JULIE: Oh my God, I HAVE this CD!
RYAN: What?! Really?!
JULIE: Yes!! OMG. He was walking around Great Scott after the show handing them out! I never listened to it! It's still sitting on my coffee table with the plastic on.

TRUE STORY. Anyways, they are great. Definitely more great live than they are on the CD. But! You should check out their song, 'I Tried,' which is me and Ryan's fave.

Gold Star Morning
comes on next. They are pretty good. Lead singer kind of seemed like a moron, which turned me off from the band as a whole. If I had a dollar for every time he said 'Gold Star Morning,' I would be freaking rich. When he wasn't singing, he would be air punching all over the place. Like, gearing up for a boxing match or something. It was really strange. But, their lead guitarist, Ben, was great. I also enjoyed watching Cory on bass, as he was a cutie.

I can't really remember any of their songs... but I didn't hate listening to them.

AND THEN, they broke down their set and Josh and Jimmy came out to set up the stage for Crash Kings. This was when Jo realized that Josh was the guy from Rooney. WHICH I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE.

IF YOU'D LIKE TO SEE JOSH APPEARING IN THE ROONEY TOUR VIDEO DIARY FROM 9 DECEMBER, 2009: Please click here.

I re-watched it today and really enjoyed it. I mean, I loved Josh when I first saw this video back in December. And I still CAN'T BELIEVE I never realized it was him on the Crash Kings tour. Embarrassing, really.

Anyways, finally it's 10:30pm and our boys come out. SO GREAT. The crowd is PACKED UP against the front of the stage. It's a completely sold out show, and EVERYBODY showed up.

OHHH IT WAS SO EXCITING TO BE THERE!!!!!!!!




It's Mike!!


And Jason!!! All the pictures of Jason came out really dark, which I was super bummed about. But, he's there! Lookin' good as always!!




HOTTIE ON THE BASS.




And, there's the third King, Tony. I seem to capture moments of Tony when his fingers look freakishly long. But, I like this picture because you can see his eyes.




And, there's his new tattoo!! The crown. Duh, because he's the King. He got it for the 'You Got Me' video. I like it.




I really like this picture of Mike. Mainly because (and I know I've expressed this a thousand times before), one of the sexiest things ever is to watch Mike sweat while playing the bass, and I love the arm glistening that's going on. Mixed with the red lights? Mmmm yes.

If the 'You Got Me' video had been nothing more but a single camera on Mike, in this lighting, with this glistening - I would have been FINE with that. Or, heck, if the whole video was simply a still frame of this picture - that would work too.




Actually, I just changed my mind. That above shot of Mike interchanged with this shot of Tony. Yeah, he's claving there.




YES. YES THIS SHOT OF MIKE IS THE BEST. My fave, I think.




What? Tony standing next to Mike?? Did that really happen?? YES. YES IT HAPPENED.

During '2nd Rate Citizen,' Tony came out from behind the piano to introduce the guys. Jason on drums!! And "my brother Mike on the bass guitar!" And while he was saying this, he put his arm around Mike! It was adorable. I tried hard to get a picture of that, but I wasn't quick enough. But, I got this shot, which is still a great Bro shot. Look how tiny Tony is! He's got such a huge presence and a huge voice, but he's just a little guy.


AND THEN,



He starts singing again STILL AT THE FRONT OF THE STAGE!!! In fact, RIGHT in front of me and Jo!! Like, yeah - THIS CLOSE. I was really hoping he would sing the lyric, "you got the shit that's gonna make my head spin" right to us. But, he had moved to the other side of the stage by then.




But yeah - then this happened. It was really strange to see him just holding the microphone and singing. But, so awesome at the same time. Because normally it's only Mike who can move around the stage. I mean, sure, Tony's throwing himself around behind the piano, but it was cool to see him out and about.





YEP. LOVE IT. The hair. The face. The whammying. The tattoo. LOVE IT.




Please note: Mike's sweat soaked shirt.




YEP. That too. Mike came right down in front for a nice photo op. Thanks, Mike. And YES, to my mom, who asked me if Mike had blue eyes. He does. You can see them in this picture.

When my mom was talking to Mike in Portsmouth when he was coming around looking for his parents, and my mom touched his arm and told him they had left, she asked me afterwards,

MOM: Does Mike have really blue eyes?!?!?
JULIE: Ummmmm......???

Settled!







So, Boston was INCREDIBLE. The crowd was AMAZING. These guys were like GODS. It was so great, and so exciting to be back with my new friends in the place we had all first seen Crash Kings play. And all of us back on that night, even though we didn't know each other then, thought, "HOLY CRAP THESE GUYS ROCK," and the rest, as they say, is history.

Everybody was drenched in sweat by then.

OH WAIT!!! I have to tell you about the surprise. OMG I'VE BEEN KEEPING THIS IN FOR SOOOO LONG.

So back in Portsmouth when I was talking with Mike and Tony's mom for an hour, she told me there might be a surprise in Boston, but she couldn't tell me what it was, or anything else about it....

MRS. BELIVEAU: ...Or else the boys won't tell me anything anymore!

It was very cute and GOT ME SUPER EXCITED. But, I didn't want to post anything about it in a public place like this blog. And she also told me, that if nothing happened, to come find her after the show and she would tell me what it would have been. So, that was super cool.

OH their mom is so nice.

Anyways - so, nothing had happened and the show was pretty "normal," if you can call a Crash Kings show normal. But then! Tony's comes back on for the encore and he's solo! And he sits at the piano and says,

TONY: You are beautiful and you are pretty! And you are pretty things! And I want to cover one of my favorite David Bowie songs for you right now.

AND THEN HE COVERED DAVID BOWIE'S, 'OH YOU PRETTY THINGS.'


That's a killer video that Ryan got. About 27 seconds in, someone yells, "I LOVE YOU!!" It's pretty funny. I noticed it when I was listening to it in the car and started laughing really hard. You should watch the video, because I think it's a great cover.

And before he starts singing, you can see him tape some post it notes with all the lyrics onto the Clav. He does this sometimes and it's very cute. He did it for all the times we saw them do 'Hey Bulldog,' but even then, he would still sometimes mess up the lyrics. So great.

ANYWAYS - great song. Great cover. Great band.

And then everything amazing and awesome happened afterwards. Jo confirmed with Josh that he was the Rooney roadie.

Ryan talked with Richard James for a loong time. I wanted to get up to hear what they were saying, but this other guy started talking to me. Apparently one of Richard James' friends. He said he knows him like, 8 different ways.

GUY: I know this guy like...8 different ways!!
JULIE: Oh yeah? (thinking... now you're going to tell me all the ways, right?)
GUY: Number 1...
JULIE: (yep...here we go....)

And he talked to me for like, 15 minutes. I think he was kind of drunk. His name was Tom Wilson. And he said that Richard James had written a song about him called, Tom Wilson.

Sooo, yep, I just looked it up on YouTube, and there is, in fact, a Richard James song called 'Tom Wilson.' And Richard James introduces it saying it's about some guy named Tom Wilson. And THAT'S the guy who was chatting me up post-show. Hahaha.

And he said to me that he wasn't at the show when they performed it, and afterwards he got a lot of angry texts. And in the beginning of the video Richard James is like,

RICHARD JAMES: Is Tom Wilson even here? This song is about him, and it'd be kind of weird if he wasn't here...

HA. Please enjoy the song here. It's actually pretty good. I find this amusing a lot. He was a really nice guy. And he's been in some Drop Kick Murphy's videos. Huge fan of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and also Sublime. He said he heard about Crash Kings just last week while he was in North Carolina with another friend, and then Richard James told him that they were opening for them. And he had never heard of them before, and didn't know that Richard James went to school with Tony and Mike.

So, that's cool. Also, I just read the liner notes for the Richard James CD, and they thank Tom Wilson. Ok, so now I think it's kind of awesome that he was talking to me for so long.

TOM WILSON, if you're reading this: nice talking to you. Love your song. Maybe see you at another Richard James show!

But then, someone stole Tom Wilson away from me. Another one of his friends came up and gave him a hug. And then I added my name to the Richard James email list. And then saw Jason walking around.

So, we went over to say hi to Jason. He immediately gave me a hug and said that it was so great to see us all at the show. What else did we talk about? Crap. I can't remember. CRAP. Anyways, I love Jason. He's so freaking nice and sweet.

But, while we were talking, Tony and Mike's parents came over, because Tony and Mike were also standing around us, and their mom came up and said some things to Jason and then gave him a hug. And that's when she saw me and got totally excited and gave me a hug! And remembered my name! And we talked about how great the show was. And then I had pretty much the same conversation (including hug and name remembering) with their dad, who also asked why my mom wasn't at the show.

MR. BELIVEAU: Where's your mom?!?
JULIE: She couldn't make it! She has to work in the morning... :/
MR. BELIVEAU: Well, she missed a great show!

and then they told me they were on their way out, they were just going to say goodbye to the boys. And then we parted, I said it was so great to see them again, and we'd probably see each other at another show, and they were excited about that.

SO GREAT. RIGHT?! SO GREAT. And then they went off to talk to Tony and Mike.

And then after they left, I could tell Tony was about to take off, so I caught him, gave him a super sweaty hug and said,

JULIE: Tony! Such a great show tonight!
TONY: Thank you so much for coming!
JULIE: It was awesome! So much less frustrating than Portsmouth!
TONY: Yeah, that was frustrating. It was like, we've worked so hard to consider ourselves a professional band, and the people working that venue just weren't being professional, and they couldn't get their shit together, and so it turned out bad.
JULIE: Yeah, what a bummer. But, tonight rocked, and we'll see you tomorrow in Providence!
TONY: You're coming tomorrow?
JULIE: Yeah!
TONY: (laughs) Awesome.

Jason had the same kind of reaction when we told him we'd see him in Providence. :)

Now, as I'm thinking back on this night, I wish I had hugged Mike too. I've forced hugs upon him in the past (well, not forced, but Mike is a shy guy, so rather, 'gave him unavoidable hugs.'), so WHY didn't I do it that night!? I don't know. I didn't say anything to Mike that night!

BUT, if I had hugged him, then I would have hugged THE WHOLE BELIVEAU FAMILY. In one night. And that would have been pretty awesome.

So then me and Ryan kind of realized that it was like, 12:23am or something like that, and the last train was at like, 12:30. so, we hustled and MADE IT just in time.

Arrived back in Malden and totally crashed. It was hotttt and we were exhausted.

CRASH KINGS NIGHT 1 = awesome.


ROCKIN' WEDNESDAY:


Woke up before noontime! Got to hang around a bit with Ryan's roommates, Brent and Tony, whom I knew from last year! Really cool to see them! And Brent's younger sister was visiting again! I had met her when she was visiting last Spring over Earthfest weekend. So, great to see her too!!

I was keeping in touch with Kara, who was planning on driving down to meet us to go to the Providence show! I was sooooo excited about this. Kara hadn't been to a Crash Kings show SINCE FEBRUARY!! I consider this unacceptable. She was leaving work early and driving down; I gave her directions to Ryan's apartment. YAY.

Basically, the afternoon was spent hanging around doing various internet things. Ryan was still working on the transcription to '1985.'

Finally Kara came!!! It was SO FUN to see her! She's kind of the best. Out of all my favorite sisters, she's definitely in the top 3. ;)

So then we left for Providence! At probably the absolute worst time ever! It was pretty much stop and go traffic the whole freaking way! And, I had learned via text that Jo wasn't going to make it, due to getting out of work late and being extremely tired. Super bummer.

Kara was driving, which was great because she of course knows Providence, since she lived there and went to school there for... 2 years? 1 year? ...A while... So, she got us right to Club Hell (fun fact: which was where they filmed the classic rom com, '27 Dresses.' The scene where she goes to her coworkers engagement party. It's like, all "goth.")

So, we're across the street from the club and Kara suddenly says,

KARA: It's Mike!!
JULIE AND RYAN: What?! Where?!?!
KARA: Down the road!
JULIE: OMG MIKE!

He was walking around with their tour manager, Jimmy. So, we start waving. We're stopped at a light, and they're standing on the street corner across the street. They stare blankly at us and wave back. Then, as we're passing through the intersection, Kara rolls down the drivers' side window and yells,

KARA: Woooo!! We're going to your show tonight!!!!!

It was pretty funny. They both started laughing and fist pumping. Those guys are nice.

After that, I was totally amped for the show. (I just said, 'amped.' Hmm. How do we feel about this?) Kara got us a great parking spot, and we walked over.

We were running kind of late, due to traffic, so we got there probably just after the first opening band started. There were two opening bands:

The Valar and Herra Terra.

Here's The Valar posing with Crash Kings:



I thought that pic was super cute. The Valar are the four guys who aren't Mike, Tony and Jason. I really hope you know who those three are by now. If they look super young, it's cause they are! Kara was talking to their guitar player (kid in the plaid shirt) and he said they had just graduated high school. HIGH SCHOOL. Yep.

And on their Facebook page the show at Club Hell was advertised as "maybe our last show before we go to college!" I thought that was pretty cute.

ALSO: JO! There's a kid named Rockwell in the band. I KNOW, RIGHT?!! I think he's second from the right, in the blue t-shirt. Bass player. Funny, eh?

They were actually pretty good. They had some really catchy songs. Their first CD was being sold for the first time ever at the show. It was pretty cute.

And, I liked The Valar much better than I liked Herra Terra.

These guys had WAY too many beats. It was like, an iPod with a beat, a synthesizer beat, a whole other machine with a beat, PLUS a drummer. OVERLOAD. And not that it all sounded the same, but it kind of all sounded the same. It was different beats, but just the same noise over and over and over and over. Like, stale electronica. I didn't like it.

The singer was cute and seemed to be a funny guy, but overall, UGH.

Also, I should mention: we were freaking RIGHT up at the stage, RIGHT next to the piano. Like, RIGHT NEXT TO THE PIANO.

AND THEN CRASH KINGS CAME OUT!!!!




Yeah, that's a pic without the zoom. I promise. THAT'S how close we were to Tony.








Can you guess which song this is taken from?!?! If you guessed '14 Arms' YOU'RE RIGHT!!!





Yeah, I kind of LOVE this one. A lot.




This was their set up for most of the time! Mike in a Tony and Jason sandwich. YUM, right? This was also taken without any zoom. Small stage = :) Also cool was that the stage was like, a foot high, so it was like being eye level with them.




I slowly was pushed further to the left, as these girls pushed their way next to me. The one next to me proceeded to say things directed at Tony such as,

GIRL NEXT TO ME: Heeyyyyy sexy....OoooOOoooo sexy!!

I just kept thinking, "Dear God I hope he doesn't think I'm saying these things to him."

Right?! I mean, there's no need to speak to him like that. I mean, in a blog format, SURE. But during the middle of a show? Come on. Um, did you also notice that he's playing piano kind of brilliantly? It reminded me of the time in Portland when the super drunk girl came up to Tony and started groping him on the couch, when he was hanging out with US. BEST.TONY.FACE.EVER. But, really, he doesn't need that.




Mike, on the other hand, would probs love it. :) Ha, no. But look at that sex kitten face! He's got a guitar pick hanging out of his mouth also.






So easy to take photos of him. I like those few because you can see the reflection of his hands in the piano.





GREAT SHOW!!! Their set was a little shorter because Club Hell turns into an actual dance club at night, so they didn't play '2nd Rate Citizen' or 'War Pigs.' They ended with 'Carry On.'

And, during 'Mountain Man' Mike GOT REALLY EXCITED that me and Ryan did the "Mt. Man Claps," which is a Crash Queen symbol. He yelled,

MIKE: YYEEAAHH!!!

And pointed right at us. That was fun. He also smiled really big.

After the show, they stayed onstage for a while helping to unplug and reload. Ryan had pages of what she had finished of '1985' to give to Tony, so she waited for him.

I waited for Jason. Why? This is why. Because in the texts that Jo was sending me, saying that she wasn't going to make it, she asked if I would call her after the show, so she could talk to Jason for a minute on the phone. YEP. Awesome.

So, I went up to Jason during a semi-lull in their merch line and said,

JULIE: So, my friend Jo, she's the one with short red hair and glasses, she couldn't make it tonight, but she really wanted to talk to you for a minute, so would it be alright if I called her so you could talk?
JASON: Sure, man! That's awesome.

And during this whole time, Mike is hysterically laughing as he's hearing this. So, I get out my phone and dial Jo. While I'm doing this, Jason says,

JASON: So, are you guys sticking around for 'fetish night?'

(Club Hell turns into 'fetish night' on Wednesdays. Some pretty interesting folk were walking in.)

JULIE: Haha...yeah...no, I don't think so. Are you guys?
JASON: Noo, we're driving to Burlington tonight.
JULIE: Ohhh, well, we'll be there tomorrow!
JASON: No way!
JULIE: Um, YES!

During all this, I was silently pray that Jo would pick up her phone, because she hadn't yet. And it was ringing and ringing and ringing, and then went to voicemail, but I couldn't hear what was happening because it was so loud in there. So I said,

JULIE: So, she's not picking up her phone!
JASON: Aww, man.
JULIE: Yeah, that's a bummer. But hopefully she'll be able to come tomorrow!
JASON: Alright, well you have a good night!
JULIE: Thanks Jason, you too!

Yep. It was pretty awesome/kind of awkward. But, not really awkward, because Jason is really approachable and easy to talk to. So, it was cool. I feel like we're a little closer after that interaction.

ANYWAYS, then it was kind of a general 'hello, great show, see you tomorrow' to Mike and Tony. It was getting crowded and kind of crazy, so we headed out.

Kara was trying to meet up with her friend from school, Kate, who was first going to drive to Prov to hang out, but then didn't want to, so we ended up meeting her at this restaurant in North Attleboro, MA. It was quick, but I'm glad Kara got to see her.

Good drive back into Boston. We were stuck in late-night construction traffic twice, for a little while. That was annoying.

Arrived back. Hung out for a minute in Ryan's apartment, and then walked Kara back to her car. I was sad she had to leave, but maybe will see her Sunday (tomorrow) again for RCE. (YES.)

Ryan and I hung out in her room for a bit listening to various awesome things she has recorded with friends from home, and then I took my spot on the couch and crashed, after another GREAT NIGHT.

CRASH KINGS NIGHT 2 = awesome.


ROCKIN' THURSDAY:


Woke up late-ish and started planning the day. Jo WAS COMING!! And we were picking her up at her place of work. Courtney was also coming!!! And we were picking her up and Hannah House that night. SO EXCITED.

We left a little later than we planned, and then hit traffic. It was pretty much stop and go from Malden to Derry, where we got off to get Jo. And then it was a bit of a hard time finding her. We found the meet up place, but couldn't find her. There was a Wendy's across the street, so we went through the drive-thru and got food and by the time we were through, Jo was out! Great!

Then we drove up to Lebanon to get Courtney! It was weird being at my house and work with my Crash Kings friends! And also weird being there, but not stopping up to see Ruby Tuesday. I'm sure it was better this way, rather than making her all excited that I was home, and then leaving again for a night.

Then we drove up to Burlington, which was a longer drive than I had anticipated. Doors were at 7:30, show started at 8, and there was only one opening band advertised. The drive was kind of like the time Ryan and I drove from Boston to West Chester. BOOKED IT. 80mph.

The opening band was Sidecar Radio, who we saw open for Crash Kings in Portland, Maine! They're a Portland band. None of us were totally crazy about them, but it was at least nice to know who they were and kind of recognize their stuff.



That's them. I really like one of their songs, 'Funeral for the Major Key,' which I actually downloaded and have been listening to since the Portland show. We remembered that the lead singer made funny faces while singing, that their drummer "was a beast," as Jo put it, and that their bassist was a hottie. All of which - were still true!!

For getting there really late, we all managed to get spots right up front again! It was awesome!

Anndd then.... Crash Kings!! THREE SHOWS IN THREE DAYS YEAAHHH!!!!





I tried to get some good pictures of Jason, since the previous two nights had been kind of fails. There were lights on him tonight! Jason is so much fun to watch. What a great drummer!! Like, seriously, actually. Jason is a great drummer.





Do you notice what I notice?? All three guys WEARING V-NECKS!!! Yep. It happened. LOVE IT.





I like this one.

Tony's sustain pedal kept coming unhooked from the piano, so that was a bummer. He kept having to get down on the ground and fix it. Josh had to come out and try and fix it too. Which meant, that Mike had to stall. Which, if anyone was at the Portland, ME show, or Earthfest, we all know that Mike is a bad staller.

First, the stalling consists of Mike yelling the name of whichever city we are currently in.

MIKE: WHAT'S UP BURLINGTON!!!!
BURLINGTON: WWOOOO YEAHHHH!!!
MIKE: (even if the crowd was really loud) Aw, you guys can do better than that! I SAID WHAT'S UP BURLINGTON!!!
BURLINGTON: WOOOWHOOOOO YEEAHHHHHHH!!!!

Then he will look over at Tony to check the progress of whatever is broken...

MIKE: This is the problem with traveling with a real piano, man.

Progress check again. Then comes something specific wherever we are.

MIKE: So, Tony and I are brothers and we used to come skiing in Vermont when we were kids.....Who here is a skier?? Or snowboarder??
BURLINGTON CROWD: (raises their hands)
MIKE: Alright, alright. Sorry you snowboards, but we just ski.

Checks Tony's piano fixing progress...

MIKE: This next song is about skiing...
TONY: Okay! Yeah, the problems of traveling with a real piano!

Then, again, before 'My Love' the pedal broke again, and Tony and Josh had to get on the ground to fix it.

MIKE: Soooo......who here's from Vermont?

By this time, Jo and I were just laughing. Mike is such a great person. This stall didn't last too long..

TONY: My God, all this piano fixing is making me sweat more.
BURLINGTON CROWD: WHOOOOO!!!!!
RYAN: (yes, my friend Ryan) At least you didn't break a piano string!
TONY: That's right, at least I didn't break a piano string, just ask Ryan!

UMMMM YEAH THAT HAPPENED, Ryan got it on video. Because remember in Portland, ME when Tony broke a piano string and then jumped off the stage to hand Ryan an extra one? YEP.








LOVE THIS ONE!!!







I like this shot of Tony a lot.





Correction: I like all shots of Tony.






KILLER SHOW. They were so awesome. Sooo awesome. The crowd wasn't totally into it, which was weird. Like, hardly anyone was singing and dancing. Me, Ryan and Jo were the only ones who held out our hands when Tony sings, "hold out your hands" during 'Raincoat.' So Tony had to say,

TONY: Everybody get 'em up!!

And then everybody got 'em up.

So, the last time Crash Kings were in Burlington, Jo was there and apparently not only were they really drunk, but they were having tons of sound problems. I've heard Tony apologize for this show many, many times. I guess during Mike's bass solo in 'It's Only Wednesday,' there was no sound coming from the bass. Tony said to Mike,

TONY: Wow, God must really hate you right now.

SO, they really needed to BRING IT tonight in order to make up for that show. Um, and they BROUGHT IT. They did their full set and it was sooooo awesome.

AHH I LOVE THIS BAND.

Afterwards, we spent a little while talking to other fans. Jo then suggested that we go say hello to Sidecar Radio, since we'd seen them twice now. So, we see the lead singer about to walk past us, so we catch up with him.

All of our expectations of this guy included him using the words "dawg" and "bitches" and generally being kind of a tool.

UM, WRONG. This guy, Christian, is the freaking nicest guy in the whole world. Seriously, he actually might be. Super smiley and enthusiastic and totally was IN LOVE with the fact that we had seen them in Portland.

LIKE, WOW. He was so nice, it was really unbelievable. And, he's the one in that picture with his tongue sticking out. He does that a lot on stage. He was super easy to talk to, really funny and I think he was excited that I was from Maine..

JULIE: I'm actually from Southern Maine...from Berwick.
CHRISTIAN: Berwick! No way!!

And then later on in the conversation he remembered that I was from Berwick. COOL. I love this guy. He talked a lot about his wife, which was sweet. Also, his father in law, and the time he went sky diving. Jo was trying to get him to go sky diving with her in Lebanon, ME.

He was totally into talking about these gravy fries that you can get in Burlington that are apparently the best thing in the whole world. He mentioned it a lot, gave us directions to the place. He was so funny! And, we talked about totally random things, and he was just loving it.

Okay, I kind of want him to be my new best friend.

And then I was on his Facebook page, and it turns out, he owns some restaurants in the Portland Public Market. Or, manages them or something. Big Sky Bread and Pie in the Sky Pizza. They're owned by the same company, and he manages both. So he like, works for a bread company. That's awesome! And then at night time he turns into this totally hardcore, tongue sticking out, punk rocker.

What a lovely man. What a lovely man. And, SURE, I would totally go see Sidecar Radio again, just because he was so nice. I'm still a little so-so on their music, but whatevs!! I'll support them because he was such a freaking nice person. GREAT STORY.

And then! We talked to Crash Kings for a while.

First though, I forgot to mention that we were talking to Josh after the show. Jo was talking to him for a long time about how to become a stage manager/roadie. And then I figured, 'ah, what the heck, I'll tell him how great he was in the Rooney video.'

JULIE: Hey Josh! I loved you in the Rooney video diary! When you and Robert are hanging out on the tour bus!
JOSH: Hahaha, I haven't seen it! But, I remember he was always filming stuff...
JULIE: Well, you should watch it. It's pretty great.
JO: Yeah, and you speak French? (we learn this in the tour video)
JOSH: Um, yeah a little. I used to live in Paris...

Then he talked about living in Paris. He's from Southern California, if I heard correctly. Nice guy. You should go back and watch the Rooney tour video diary.

SO THEN,

We're up talking to the guys and Jimmy. We ask what happened to their van, Ol' Blue, because we've noticed she hasn't been around. Mike, Jason and Jimmy explain that she had over 100,000 miles and they were too afraid she wouldn't make it anymore. So, now they've got a fancy new white van, The White Knight. Their white trailer used to be called The White Knight, but now it's their van too. It was kind of sad that Ol' Blue isn't around anymore.

We asked Jimmy about their gig at The Paradise, which was up online for a little while, but then was taken down. He said they decided to cancel because they needed to fly to Anaheim. LAME because we were all REALLY excited about it.

Jason gave me a hug and again said how great it was to see all of us and how much he appreciate us going to the shows.

Mike smiled and nodded. I'm still not convinced he knows who we are or remembers us. Whatevs.

Tony talked with us for a while. We told him we were loving the David Bowie cover, Jo showed him her awesome Bowie shirt that she was wearing, and he told us,

TONY: Yeah, we're trying to get David Bowie to produce our next record.

All our jaws must have dropped and all our eyes must have widened, because Tony started laughing. UM, that'd be so freaking awesome.

Him and Ryan talked music shop for a little. Whether or not she should put '1985' in Dflat or Csharp. Tony said probably Dflat because he likes flats better than sharps. He kind of geeked out for a minute, thinking about chords and trying to remember how to play the song, while not playing the song. It's always super great watching this. He gets really into it. He's awesome.

Then, he noticed my pink Crash Kings shirt and pointed at it, smiling, nodding his head and giving me thumbs up. Then, he kind of realized that it wasn't the normal shirt and said,

TONY: Wait, how did you do that?
JULIE: I dyed it!
TONY: That's awesome...
JULIE: Yeah, honestly, the gray color was kind of boring.
RYAN: People love color!
TONY: Yeah, we should do a line of those, I like it.

UM YEP. Loves my shirt. Wants to mass produce them. :)

Then, Jo explained how we all didn't know each other until the Crash Kings shows, and how many friends we've all made by coming to show after show. Tony actually seemed kind of touched to hear this. He was pretty happy.

It's nice talking to Tony. He's a really nice guy. The whole time I was staring at him, I kept trying to decide if I wanted to bring up the fact that I really like his mom. But, I decided that maybe that would be weird....?? I don't know. I was also kind of wondering if his parents had told him about me...?? I don't know, again.

Honestly, I was looking at him, imagining him as a toddler, dancing in the living room. Which was one of the adorable stories his mom told.

Anyways, we parted with him graciously (as always) thanking us for coming to the shows and saying he'll see us again soon.

We left, stopped for Dunkin Donuts, and drove back, dropping friends off at their various locations and listening to Crash Kings the whole way.


CRASH KINGS NIGHT 3 = so awesome.


Woke up late on Friday after not falling asleep until late. I was exhausted until I tucked myself into the couch, and then I started replaying the night. :)!

As soon as I woke up, Brent informed me that there were cinnamon rolls on the stove. This helped me get up a lot faster. DELISH!

Ryan and I hung around for the afternoon, I showered, and departed around 4:30. Again, the worst time to be driving. It took me 3 hours to get back instead of 2. Eh, no big deal really.

Although, my car was freaking me out majorly. While stuck in traffic, the electric battery starts to lose it's charge, which always happens and makes sense, since it charges the most when I brake. And since being stuck in traffic is light braking mixed with mostly coasting, it loses its charge. Normal.

But, for some reason, when it got down to only 2 battery bars, it would make this really strange noise. And, I couldn't figure out if it was just the sound of a normal engine... because normally when I go slow speeds, the car is silent. So, I was like, "is this what a normal car sounds like?"

At first, I seriously thought the car was dying or something. It really did not sound good. But then it got up to 3 battery bars, and sounded better. So, I convinced myself that it was only because it was losing its charge, and decided not to worry.

But, I was stuck in traffic for a long time, so it made the horrible noise for a while. Eventually though, when we were moving again, the charge went up, and the car sounded fine the rest of the way.

Did I tell you I named my car Morgan? Yep, I did. I have no idea why. I was trying to think of a great name for her, and then Morgan popped into my head first. ??? I kind of think it fits, actually. And, she's about to hit 11,000 miles.

11,000 miles in 5 months. Now, I'm not sure, but I'm assuming that's some kind of worldwide record. I only have 1,000 miles left to drive until March. HA.

Ah well, it's all worth it and I wouldn't trade any of those miles for anything. I've been new places, met wonderful new people and experienced some pretty great things.

ANYWAYS,

Wow, what a great week, right??

And so tomorrow (Sunday) River City Extension is in Boston, at the Middle East UPSTAIRS. And, I went online earlier in the week to get a ticket, but it's SOLD OUT. Maaajjjor bummer.

So, I immediately emailed Joe, the awesome lead singer, and asked him if there was anything he could do. And he emailed me back saying,

"I will see about a guest list. If we have it, you're on it."

That's a direct quote from the email. GREAT, RIGHT?!?! I will be super sad if there's no guest list, and we miss them in Boston. They're in Connecticut on Monday night, but I didn't take Monday off!! ARGH!

But, either way, I think we're all going to show up at the Middle East :) Maybe at least give them all a high five or something. And it'll just be fun to hang out with Ryan and Jo again. Because, they're awesome.

Sooo.... I think that about does it!

I arrived back at work to find we had another resident! That was a total surprise. Good surprise, though, because it's actually someone who had been here about a year ago and was discharged. But, she's back now, with her baby who's almost 2 years old!! It's funny to see him, because I remember when he was born. And now he's like, "hi!" "no!!" "what's that?"

And, I was really not wanting to go to work this afternoon, just because it felt so boring compared to this past week, but it was actually really nice seeing her and catching up with her. So, it wasn't a bad night.

And tomorrow I'm off again!!! REALLY happy about that. But sad that I'll have to leave Ruby Tuesday again.

Alright, this entry has taken me a freaking long time to finish. I started it Friday night, and I'm finishing it Saturday night.

I feel like I'm forgetting something, though. MAKE SURE to check out that Richard James song, 'I Tried.' It's really good and very catchy. I think you'll like it.

OKAY! Everyone have a lovely rest of their weekend!! I will!! I'm excited about mine. I miss talking to everyone.. I feel like I should blog more.

Alright! Have a great night! I'll talk to everyone again soon :)!!!!


LOVE,
Julie