Julie Dyes Things Hott Pink and Other Adventures (including, Rooney, Hanson, Crash Kings, and the Mysterious Case of the Double Clavinet.)

HI FRIENDS!!!

I'm back! With pictures! Great ones!

I was finally able to sleep last night after my day of epic awesome. All the excitement finally wore me out.

Back in Lebanon now. At work. So lame compared to my weekend. It's kind of strange coming back to work after having so much fun. It's like, I have to switch back to a responsible person.

Like, Friday night at the Rooney concert I was dancing and clapping and singing and having such a freaking blast, and I thought for a moment, 'Hey, just this morning I was dealing with babies and teenagers and doctors appointments and all this important boring work stuff. I TOTALLY DESERVE THIS.'

ANYWAYS - let's get to the goods.

I'm taking you back to when Kerianne and I saw Crash Kings in Chicago. Remember I pointed out Tony's shirt and said it reminded me of the one I had just bought? That I was going to dye hott pink?

Yeah. Here's the shirt:




And remember I don't like that above photo because he looks like a classically trained clavinetist.

And, here is the shirt I bought at Earthfest on 22 May:



Don't they kind of have the same idea going on? I don't know. They remind me of each other.

SO, I planned to dye my shirt hott pink because I wasn't crazy about white/gray color. And you can never have too many hott pink things - that's a fact. So, I bought the dye, but was nervous to do it because I was afraid I would ruin the screenprinted design on the front. Or, the white lines would immediately turn hott pink and be faded.

BUT - I was attempting it anyways, in hopes that it would turn out awesome enough to wear to the show in Portsmouth on Saturday. Here is the process:






In my efforts to dye as many things as I could find, I came up with some elastic and a facecloth.


AAANNNDDDDDDD..........





ROCKED IT!!!!!! Ohhhh it came out so super awesome. I was so amazed. I think it looks 100% better. And Jason and Mike really liked it, so that was great. Jason especially. Love that man.


Great dyeing adventure. So happy with the way it came out. And I wore it with a gray skirt and black leggings. If you're thinking, "wow, Julie must have looked incredibly cute," YOU'RE RIGHT. :)


So now, let's go back to Friday, when Kara and I drove to Cape Cod, MA to see Rooney and Hanson.

Let's skip the part where it took us 4 hours to get there because of traffic, but we had a totally hott dance party in the tunnel on 93 south. YEP. that part rocked.

So, we get to the place and pick up our tickets. Get to our seats. It's a weird place. A round theater. And we actually have SEATS. And the stage is in the center of the whole place, but, it revolves. Yep. It was weird.

And apparently they have a really strict camera policy. Which I didn't know about. IT WAS SO LAME. They would go around telling people to put their cameras away. And this happened A LOT. Did it happen to me? Nope! I was super stealth :)




ROONEY!!!!

Take THAT no camera policy! I did keep the flash off, which is why it's blurry a little. And that's the only Rooney pic I got!! There were HARDLY ANY Rooney fans there, so we really had to represent. They started off not-facing us, but when the stage revolved to our section, I stood up and danced, and then more people followed.

Um, and they ROCKED. Like, a lot. They always do! Robert was just wearing a sweatshirt and jeans, which I thought was awesome. Probably because it was super down pouring and kind of chilly. Which was weird because the last time we saw Rooney it was also down pouring. That was the night I first saw Crash Kings! And before they played 'Raincoat' Tony said, "this song is appropriate for tonight!" or something like that.

Anyways, so, you'll notice that there is no Matt Winter. Who played bass in Rooney right from the beginning up until last February. Instead - there is Brandon. Or, Brando. He's on the far left.

Taylor Locke got a haircut, which I DEFINITELY approved of. He was smokin. They played some old favorites and some new ones. Not my fave off the new record, but it was okay. I was just so excited to see them at all.

So then Robert says to come find them out at the merch table to say hi. So, we go outside to find them! There's already 1 million people there and lots of obnoxious security guards. So, we decide to wait a little bit and see if it clears out. In the meantime, we checked out the merch, went to the ATM, and bought things! I got a GREAT new t-shirt. Navy blue with a yellow lighthouse design and just under the lighthouse beam of light it says ROONEY. It's great, especially for an aspiring lighthouse keeper as myself. Kara got a nice and cozy black hoodie. It's great.

AND THEN, probably the best thing that could have happened, happened. It started to rain really, really hard. Like, out of the blue, torrential downpour. And the people SCATTERED to find shelter. The line to meet the band shrunk by a lot and it was now super easy to get to them.

Kara was super interested in meeting Brando, because he kind of sounded like the perfect boyfriend... 21, 6' 4", bass player, and totally cute. So, we went over to see him. First we both told him how great it was to meet him, congratulations on being an awesome new Rooney bassist, and just generally how much he rocked. He was pretty excited about this.

Then! Kara told him that she had just started playing bass and was really loving it. And he seemed SUPER excited about this! They talked bass player shop for a minute and then Kara asked to take a picture....




I REALLY hope she's not mad at me for posting this, but I think it's a totally great picture.

So then, we walk over to see Robert. I tell Kara,

JULIE: I think I might go in for a Robert hug.
KARA: Whoa, really?
JULIE: Yep. I've had a lot of practice with Mike, and I think I'm gonna do it.


We go up to him and some girl hands him her cell phone. He takes it and says,

ROBERT: Hi, this is Robert from Rooney. Um, why aren't you here at the show?! We missed you, but hope to see you next time we're around...

Things like that. Yep. He was leaving a fan a voicemail. LOVED IT.

Anyways, so then that girl leaves and he turns to us!

ROBERT: Hey!
JULIE AND KARA: HEY!!
ROBERT: (holds out his hand for a handshake) Great to see you!
JULIE: (opens arms for a hug) Can I get a hug instead?
ROBERT: Definitely, bring it in!!

And then I hugged Robert Schwartzman. Yes, the Robert Schwartzman. I've loved him for a long time. I've loved Rooney for a long time. And I was finally getting the hug. And it was great.

Then we told him how great they were, how excited we were to see them, how much we loved the new record, etc. He seemed SO happy and gracious to hear all this, and especially to know that there were people who came just to see them play.

So then we're departing and Kara asks for a picture. I have three words to describe this picture:


NEW COUPLE ALERT!!!!!




Kara and Roberto.

Then, we were saying our goodbyes, and Robert holds up his hand for a goodbye high-five. So, um, duh, I reach out and we high five, but then, he grabs my hand and holds it for a minute afterwards. I mean, not a real minute. But maybe like, 4 seconds. SO GREAT. A hug and hand hold from Rob. Ohhhhh yeah I loved it a lot. I don't really remember what happened next. It was kind of daze-worthy.

Oh yeah, but eventually we made it back to our seats for HANSON!!!!! My middle school girl personal came through and I got totally into it. And yes, I did the "round and around and around and around" hand motions for 'Where's the Love' and I was not ashamed. They rocked!




Zac on drums, Issac on guitar.




Issac, Zac and Taylor. HOTTIES. Like, super hotties.



Acoustic-trio portion of the show. Ohhhh they were soo good. And the screaming!!! OH MAN. You should have heard the girls screaming for them. INSANE. And it's insane that they've been doing this for about 12 years and they still have so many superfans. I love it! I think it's so great. They're so much more than your typical "boy band." They can actually play their instruments really well. They can all sing. They write great songs. GO HANSON!!!

I was actually happy that they didn't play my favorite song, 'Georgia,' because I wouldn't have been able to get it on video with all the camera policing. Even I'm not that stealth.

After the show, Kara had to go to work in the bakery. She slept in the car, while I drove from Hyannis, MA to Wells, ME. Vacation spot to vacation spot. We arrived around 2am and worked until about 6am. LOOONNGGGGGGG AND TIRING NIGHT. But, that Schwartzman Hug got me through. For realz. That, plus the fact that I was seeing Crash Kings the next day. I can stay awake forever on excitement.

Finally got to bed around 6:45am Saturday morning, making my total awake time exactly 24 hours. :)


AND THEN SATURDAY HAPPENED. Did it? I still can't believe it happened. But no, it was for real.


And now.... for the Mysterious Case of the Double Clavinet...




If you look to the left of this picture, on top of the wooden box partially hidden behind the speaker, you'll see a clavinet. Then, if you look to the right side of the photo, you'll see Tony's clavinet with the whammy bar. It's on top of a bright red keyboard, which I hadn't seen before. I was excited about the red keyboard, until it never worked. Ever. Then it became lame.

Anyways - I was so excited that Tony had finally gotten a new clavinet! I was dying to hear the story.

And then as I'm talking with his mom and glancing up at the stage every now and then, I see that they are setting up the other clavinet with Blues Travelers set. And I thought, 'really? Blues Traveler has a clavinet in their band too??' I mean, anyone can buy a clavinet, it's not like they're some rare instrument (unless it's the whammy bar infused version). But seeing two clavinets in one day?!?! After never having even heard of it a few months ago??!! Really?!

YEP!!! It belonged to Blues Traveler. What are the odds?!?!? I mean, seriously! Two bands playing in Portsmouth, NH would both have a clav?? I thought it was weird. Even weirder that the clav for Blues Traveler worked just fine. For some reason the sound guys made it work for them, but not for Tony. Ohhhh bummer.

So, the clav belonged to Blues Traveler - CASE CLOSED!!!!


Here are the pictures from the Crash Kings show. Or rather, the time when they were on stage trying to get their instruments to work...

They still rocked it, duh. Because they just rock everything...




ALSO - PLEASE NOTE THE LACK OF MIKE'S ORANGE AMP. Why didn't he have it!?! Where was it!?!? He had it in Missouri the day before! This made me think that maybe they weren't using their normal equipment?? Besides their instruments?

Tony and Mike's mom told us that their flight from Missouri to Boston had been canceled, so they had to take a later flight, which kind of messed up their travel plans and everything. Maybe everything couldn't come?

Well now, Jason's not even playing on his normal drum set. Usually his is white. Hm. I don't know, but now I'm thinking this maybe has something to do with all the sound problems.





Oh, hi Michael.







When they were actually PLAYING music, oh, it was awesome.




Yep, and then I talked to their mom for almost an hour.

So, it was still super exciting to see Crash Kings. I OMGCAN'TWAIT to see them three times next week!!!!!

But I'm really excited for Kerianne to see them ON TUESDAY!!!! IN CHICAGO!!!!!! Because seeing them once just is never enough. My mom even said that if she didn't have such a busy week at work next week, she'd come to the show in Boston. She also said that if the show in Burlington wasn't on a Thursday, she'd go to that one. YEP. Mom's converted. Superfan. Loves it!

So, my friend in Kansas City went to see them on Friday and took a TON of great pictures. Even Crash Kings themselves commented on how great her pictures were. YEP. They sure did! So, there's just one picture that is totally my favorite and I have to show you.

PLEASE enjoy!



Who knew Tony was a great dancer?! And LOOK at that smile. WHAT A GREAT PICTURE!!!!! Although I'd take any kind of Tony, happy Tony is better to watch than angry Tony.

AHHH that smile! It's so great.


Ok. It's almost 1am. Monday morning. I'm working tonight, Monday night, Tuesday night, and Wednesday night before I have Thursday, Friday and Saturday OFF!!!!! For Kara's 21st Birthday/River City Extension in NJ!!!! Ohhhh I'm super excited about that too!

Alright friends, hope everyone is having a great start to their week!

HEEEYYYY!!!! Happy 26th of July!!! The 26th of July Movement started back in 1953 and is named after the failed attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba. It was the start of the Cuban Revolution.

AND WITH THAT, goodnight :)

sweetsweet dreams.


J.