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
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