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