'don't forget about the things that make you feel free'

Hello!

So, today is one of those days where I do nothing. I watched the movie, 'The Bounty Hunter.' Yesss the one with Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston. Whenever I watch a Jennifer Aniston movie, I always watch it during the day, so that if it's totally horrible, there is still a chance for the day to be redeemed after the movie is over.

I didn't hate 'The Bounty Hunter.' I guess that's all I really have to say about it. I didn't hate it.

The movie also included two songs by Ke$ha. So, you really can't go wrong.

Um,

AW. Ruby Tuesday just threw up all over her favorite toy. Son of a gun. She's been eating cardboard like it's nobody's business lately. I don't understand it.

Hold on.



This was basically how the day was spent. Snuggling on the couch. Doesn't she look like a baby there?? Her face looks so young!

Ok. Throw up is cleaned up. Toy is washed and in the drying rack in the sink. Eventful!


ANYWAYS. Onto much less-gross things! Actually, sexy things!

I feel like I really haven't talked about Crash Kings in a while. With the exception of the Crash Kings/Jersey Shore crossover episode. Which was AMAZING. I guess because I haven't seen them in 43 days, I haven't talked about them. Have I? Am I just being totally lame and don't even realize that I'm talking about Crash Kings when I'm talking about them?

Whatever.

I don't know if you remember when we saw them at The Middle East downstairs back on August 4th. I remember. Because it was awesome and amazing. Well, I'm not sure if I talked about this, but there was this woman photographer that came right up to the front of the crowd just before they started playing and said she'd only be there for the first two songs, but then ended up staying there the whole show. And she was pretty annoying. Pushing her way around. Standing in front of us with her camera. It was uncool.

BUT, then she released the pictures she had taken that night and I RESCIND ANY HOSTILE FEELINGS I EVER HAD TOWARDS HER. Why??


BECAUSE OF THIS:::



AND BECAUSE OF THIS:::




yes. YES. That happened at a show I WAS AT. Do we need a moment? Let's take a moment and enjoy that last photo.

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YEP. MIKE. Also, look at that great smile!! Ohh, it makes me very happy. You should totally check out the rest of the photos, including a great blog entry. AND YOU CAN DO THAT HERE.


Last night after writing my RCE show review, I went back and reread the blog entry from The Mercury Lounge, the FIRST time I saw them. Ha, it was exciting. It's just funny because I had no idea who they were. I make reference to Joe and call him, "the guy in the red sweater."

Anyways, that entry also includes the Crash Kings show from Portland, Maine, where we had the great hangout sesh with Tony on the couches. And then that super drunk girl came up and was groping him. And he broke the piano string and gave an extra string to Ryan. That was a great Tony night.

I think because I want to go to a Crash Kings show so badly, I am reliving past shows through my blog. This is why it's good to have a blog. So you can live in the past!!

Buuttt, Crash Kings just did a two-song session at EastWest Studios for Cambio Connect. And... umm... it's pretty great. Like, really great, actually.

They performed 'You Got Me' and 'Mountain Man.' I would encourage you to watch 'You Got Me.' OK, WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET YOU TO WATCH THAT VIDEO?!?!

Think of whatever it may be. Then imagine me doing it. And then watch the video. GREAT!

There are some really beautiful shots of the guys. And of the tattoo:




Love that. Guy wears his heart on his hand.





Also, that. Screenshot from the video. It's like, them playing interspersed with them being interviewed. There's also reallllyyy cool footage of Tony whammying. Or, Tony playing the clavinet. But, it's just a really great angle.

ANYWAYS.

AH. I can't believe I still have to wait over a month to see them again. And it's not even close! It's Philadelphia and then it's NYC.

I just remembered the time Ryan and I drove down to West Chester and Jason recognized us on the street and said, "You made it!" Because I had tweeted to them telling them that we were driving down from Boston and to not start without us!

I've told you all this already. I'm just having a night where I want to talk about it all. And since Ruby Tuesday is asleep, you guys are all I have.

But, speaking of Crash Kings playing in West Chester.... RIVER CITY EXTENSION IS PLAYING THERE TONIGHT!!! Probably RIGHT NOW. RIGHT as I WRITE this. Same club.


Alright. I guess that's all. I'm going to go watch Jersey Shore now. Last week's episode was so good. The big throwdown in the kitchen between Sammi and JWOWW.

OKAY! Hope you had a great week! Let's hope for a great weekend! I'm working tomorrow. No plans for Sunday.

I might make tomato soup now. So, that's good. I was going to make pizza, but then remembered I don't have any sauce.

OH OH OH OH WAIT!!!!! Don't go just yet.

I have had this article opened in a tab ALL FREAKING WEEK, and I keep forgetting to share it with you. TONIGHT! I'll post it, and then I can finally close the tab.

It's an article my dad sent to me. It's from NPR!

Hanson: Timeless Pop.

WORD, NPR. True that. TIMELESS!!! If you read the comments on the article, someone even talks about still listening to their Christmas album every year!! BEST CHRISTMAS RECORD EVER.

Hanson, man. They're so good, and so under appreciated. Maybe under appreciated is the wrong term. Misunderstood, maybe. People have this idea they're this total boy-band. That statement is only true because they are all boys and they are in a band. FACT. But they're a great rock band! Talented guys who happen to be totally gorgeous.

And, you should watch their unplugged performance of 'Waiting For This,' which they did for Billboard.com. Even KARA (yes, my Hanson-hating sister) LOVES that song. She was kind of miserable through the whole Hanson concert I dragged her to, but she still talks about how awesome it was when they performed that song.

Ok.

1. Crash Kings
2. River City Extension
3. Hanson

Great blog post, eh?!? I'd say I've successfully fan-girl'd out. ♥

So, have a great rest of the night. I will. Have a great tomorrow. I will. And I'll talk to you later!!!


LOVE!

'I have been shaken by your sensitivity.'

Guess what?!!? I SAW RIVER CITY EXTENSION AGAIN LAST NIGHT!!!!

SHOW #5!!!!! I realized that when I was watching them and became very proud of myself. I believe they have become the band I have seen the second most! SO COOL!!!

#1: Crash Kings (15 times)
#2: River City Extension (5 times)

AWESOME! I don't know if everybody realizes this: but I love River City Extension. They are great as a band, and great as individual people, which makes the whole experience so amazing.

They were playing at The Space, in Hamden, CT, which was where we saw them back in August! Super cool place filled with super cool people that just hang around. We met up with Ben again! And Gonz and Holden! Did I tell you about these people we met last time?

Jo was friends with this awesome kid Ben for a while and then they both realized they were RCE fans! He's been a fan for a long time. And, he's overall an amazing human being. I met him last time at The Space, and he was there again last night.

Holden and Gonz are these two guys we met because they were handing out CD's from their band, Breakthrough Frequencies, which you all should check out!! We met up with both of them again last night! Cool kids.

Great seeing everybody again!!! For real.

Also met new people including, Cold Guy, Guy Who Bought a Basketball T-Shirt in Portsmouth, Record Pressing Guy, and Flaming Tsunamis Guy Who Took an Hour to Leave. Great people! Cold Guy was the best. And, at the end of the night we caught him playing a melodica on the stairs. He says he carries it around, "just in case." Nice.

So, it was a super cool show, because hardly anyone was there! But not in a bad way. In a 'let's all just relax and listen to great music' way. People seemed to love RCE. (Duh.)

We started out sitting on the floor in front of the stage while they opened with, 'Today, I Feel Like I'm Evolving.' I was super excited to hear that one, because it's one of my faves and I'd never heard them play it live before. But then, Joe said something like, "let's all get ready to dance and party," so we had to get up and dance.




Joe, Mike, James and Nick!!



Sam, Patrick (not Kevin but we called him that the whole night anyways...), Jenn, Joe and Mike!




Joe and Mike!! How awesome is it that I actually got some great shots of Mike?!!? SO AWESOME!! He was telling us after how excited he is to turn 21 in a few months. Yay!! I like Mike. He's super nice and I'm glad we've gotten to talk to him the last two times. Last night he was super tired, but still fun!! And - what a great drummer!!!!!




Mike, James and Nick!!!!! Bunch of great guys, right there. I'm glad I caught Nick rocking on his djembe.




Whoa! What a hottie! Such a great picture, right!? Except for that creepy mask staring at Sam.




Pat and Jenn!! Pat is so much fun to watch because he's always smiling.




Even MORE MIKE!!! It's hard to get pictures of him because Joe is usually right in front of him, so I really embraced the opportunity :)




Joe and Mike!



Before Joe started 'Friends and Family' he told the story about how he wrote this song for his future wife, to give to her on their wedding day. Sweet story, always. But, last night he said,

JOE: I wrote this next song to give to my unborn wife as a gift on our wedding day.

and there was this pause and then the whole rest of the band said,

BAND: UNBORN?!?!
JOE: ... I couldn't think of the right word! It's not that one, though...

It was funny.




Love it! Mike, James and Nick!



Now, for these next two photos, I don't want to alarm you. You'll have to prepare yourself. Prepared? Good. Because....



James is on banjo!!




And Jenn is on bass!!! Switch!!!! This was for 'Letter to Lainie,' which I hadn't heard them play since the FIRST time I saw them at The Mercury Lounge. So great. Jenn also plays trumpet! Yeah, she's kind of awesome.

Also, has that creepy cat object always been above that speaker? Hmm...





Sam, James and Kevin! I mean, Patrick! Haha.




YEP. That was the awesome show. I realized I pretty much named everyone in every single photo for you. Sorry. That's just so you get to know them by name! That way the next time YOU'RE at a River City Extension concert you can say, "Oh hey, Nick! I recognize you from Julie's blog!!" I'm sure he'd be happy to hear that. Just don't say it in a creepy way.

BUT - we missed Dan again. No awesome trumpet :( No awesome Dan :( Hopefully next time, he'll be there. But, while onstage, Joe said,

JOE: We're missing one of our members tonight. Dan. He usually plays trumpet. But, you wouldn't have known that unless I told you... which I just did...
SAM: Julie would've known!

:) Yep.

Oh, what a great show. I really like the way 'South for the Winter' is live. I really love that song in general.

Got to hang out a lot with the band after. Ya know, cause they're awesome like that. Jenn showed us her tattoos and a super cute video of Joe's cousin's dog, Boss, on her iPhone. Patrick played songs and videos for us on his laptop. James told me he'd get the band to play in my bedroom, since I had driven 4 hours to see them.

The night ended with me, Jo (who I picked up along the way! Yes, she was here the whole time!!!) and Patrick sitting on the steps of The Space, which had long been closed, listening to Suburban Legends on his laptop. Then, very slowly, the large RCE van pulls up in front of the gate. Patrick says,

PAT: Oh, I guess everyone's leaving!

He gave me and Jo a group hug. Double hug? Triple hug?? IT'S STARTING TO LOOK LIKE A TRIPLE HUG!!

Then, EVERY SINGLE BAND MEMBER jumped out of the van and we all hugged goodbye. Not collectively, though. But that would have been awesome. And I got kisses from James and Joe.

WHAT A NIGHT. Awesome band!!! AWESOME. BAND.


And then, Jo and I were off! We left right around 12:30am. I dropped her off at her house in Manchester around 3:30am. Then I got gas and a coffee and continued driving North!!! Arrived home to a very excited Ruby Tuesday at 4:38am. Nice!

Then! I couldn't sleep. I was still so excited about all the awesomeness that had occurred. Didn't get to sleep until around 6am.

And I'm still tired! Hopefully I'll get to sleep early tonight. SO - I'm gonna go. I'll update you more later!

Take care! Have a great Friday!! Talk to you soon!!!


LOVE,
Julie

CRASH KINGS/JERSEY SHORE CROSSOVER

I promise I'm not creepy. I don't know how I come across these things, but I feel like it happens a lot.

Remember back a few months ago when I was watching Jonas L.A. and saw that Nick was wearing a shirt that Tony from Crash Kings also has? If you don't remember, you can read about it here.

I kind of freaked out because it was so exciting.

WELL. IT HAS HAPPENED AGAIN. With Nick and Tony?? No. EVEN BETTER.

Dear Tony,
Why do you have such awesome clothes?
Love, Julie.

(ps: come back to boston soon! i'm starting to go crazy.)


OK. LET'S GET RIGHT TO IT.


Please take a look at these screencaps from last week's episode of JERSEY SHORE:





Here we have The Situation,




And here we have Vinny. It's very easy because they're names are right on the screen. Easy to tell them apart, because, WEIRDLY, they're wearing the same shirt.

So, I guess that in itself is the first super weird thing. Do they share clothes? Did someone mix up the laundry on GTL day??

Anyways, they are wearing a red shirt with the periodic table on it. Kind of a memorable shirt, because it has the periodic table on it.

NOW, please take a look at this picture I TOOK from the Crash Kings show in Providence, RI on 4 February 2010:





No freaking way? YES FREAKING WAY.

That's Tony, wearing the same shirt.

I couldn't believe it. Can you believe it?? What are the odds?? And also what are the odds that Tony has the same shirts as people on embarrassing TV shows that I watch. Of course it couldn't be like, "Oh, Tony has the same shirt as these fancy people on this important news story..." No. Of course not.

It's Jonas L.A. and it's Jersey Shore. And of course it's ME who is obsessed with both of these shows.

LOVE IT! Yeah, I love it.

Also, these past two days I've been kind of itching for a Crash Kings show. And I figured out that since December, the most I've ever gone without a CK show is 48 days.*

* It was 48 days between the December and January shows, and also 48 days between the June and July shows. WEIRD, right?!

Anyways, TODAY, it's been 39 days since my last Crash Kings show. And there are no shows in the next 9 days. SO - it's pretty epic. At least I think it is. On day 49 I'll have to wear my Crash Kings shirt. It will be a hard day.

ANYWAYS - Tony, you need to become a fashion icon ASAP. Oh wait, clearly you already are. He's got the goods, and he knows it. :) As do the rest of us...

OK! That's the big news. You may now continue having a great day. Talk to you all later!


♥,
Julie

girl, he geeked up

Has everyone heard this song, 'Pillz?' (that's "pills".) I can't even describe this song. It's by Gucci Mane. It might be the worst song ever. Here are some of the incredible lyrics:

"Iz you rollin'? Iz you rollin'? Iz you rollin'?"
"Bitch I might be. Bitch I might be. Bitch I might be."

That goes on for about 10 minutes.

I can't even... I just don't know what to say about this song.

Yesterday Courtney and I took the two residents to Six Flags. The part I was dreading the most was the car ride, because I knew all we'd be listening to was hardcore hip hop/rap. Lil' Wayne is a GOD in this house. Like, seriously. They might actually pray to him.

I can't tell you how much I now know about Lil' Wayne. So much. So much Lil' Wayne information is taking up my brain. It should be illegal.

So, this song 'Pillz' by Gucci Mane came on the mix about... Oh, I don't know. Maybe three times. Maybe only twice. I have no idea. All I know - is that I don't like it. It's like, WHAT? Does this man, Gucci Mane actually listen to his music? Does he know what it sounds like?

If I ever saw a Gucci Mane concert, I might have to go up to him and steal a line from Mercedes on Glee. The scene when Puck is talking to her at her locker and she says,

MERCEDES: I'm gonna have to stop you right there because I'm starting to get embarrassed for you.

Like, SERIOUSLY, Gucci Mane. Please stop. That's all I have to say.

ANYWAYS.

The Six Flags trip was success. I was SO HAPPY that Courtney ended up coming or else I probably would have been miserable.

First of all: How badly did I want to get off exit 20 and stop in at Hampshire College? VERY BADLY. I probably could have convinced them that hanging out in the Airport Lounge all day would be just as fun as Six Flags.

(OHHHH I MISS HAMPSHIRE.)

So, we arrived at Six Flags around 11ish. The girls immediately split from us. They wanted to ride on all the rollercoasters. Courtney and I? Not so much. Our first stop?

AIRBRUSH TATTOOS.

Yep! They had an abundance to choose from. Lots of dolphins. But we decided we needed super hardcore ones.

I decided on this little beaut:




On my left forearm, which is where I want to get my real one. Though not of a skull... But, doesn't it ROCK?!?!! Ohhhh yeah, I really love it. I showed it to the residents and said, "NOW you guys will listen to me!" I'm totally hardcore now. Yep. Awesome.

Courtney got an awesome skull with like, a red devil horn. She got it on her upper arm, because she's starting a totally great new job this week and didn't think it would be the best first impression. Haha.

We were totally owning that amusement park yesterday.

We went on the:

- teacups (twice. once with the residents - which was the most crazy fun thing ever. they spun that cup SO FREAKING HARD. we must have looked like crazy people with all the laughing. it was awesome.)
- scrambler (ALSO AWESOME.)
- balloon race
- bumper cars

We got Italian ice! I got watermelon flavor. Yum! Courtney got cherry! We got fries! Yum!

There was also this Glee Karaoke stage. So, at the end of the day, when we were all exhausted and our feet hurt, we sat and watched terrible, terrible karaoke. It was awesome. I SO BADLY wanted us all to do a song, but nobody else wanted to do it with me. LAME! I think we totes could have rocked some Britney. Or MILEY.

But, the people singing were mostly horrible. I mean, I give them all the credit in the world for getting up there in front of a giant amusement park and singing. But, terrible. I think the highlight was when a girl got up to sing 'Get the Party Started,' the classic Pink song. But, turns out, she only wanted to dance to it, not sing. So, she totally got up there and very badly danced to just the karaoke music.

It ended up being a fun day. Though by the time I finally got home, I felt totally dead and had a bad headache.

Anyways.

I decided I wanted to get caught up on Private Practice, since I stopped watching it for some reason mid-season. Same with Grey's. I think I'll get caught up on that after. TAYE DIGGS. I would probably argue that he's one of the most beautiful men ever. In the world. And also one of the best-dressed. Yesss. And he's been with Idina Menzel since they met in the original cast of Rent back in 1996 and now they're married and have a beautiful baby boy. I just love them.

But, Private Practice. Man. It's crazyness. So much drama. The one where the parents had to choose which twin daughter to save with the cord blood of their new baby boy?? TEARS! Yikes. And then the sisters were together... OH MAN. MORE TEARS. It's so ridiculous, yet so dramatic and emotional.

That's basically how I spent today. Also, caught up on Jersey Shore. Talk about YIKES.

SAMMI - such an idiot. I can't stand her. I can't stand her face.

Love Vinny. Love JWOWW. Love Snooki. Kinda love The Situation too. I think he's gotten so funny! Can't wait to see him on Dancing with the Stars. Is he really a star? Um, I guess so? I read somewhere that he's going to make around 5 million dollars this year. I also read that he gets paid more money per episode of Jersey Shore than Anna Paquin gets paid for True Blood. Crazy? Yes.

Anyways.

I'm excited because I have a DAY OFF this week!! Like, a real day off. Not just 14 hours where I don't have to work. But a REAL DAY OFF. Like, over 24 hours. NICE. And! I'm going to see River City Extension!!!! OMG SO EXCITED. SO FREAKING EXCITED. We're going back to The Space, in Hamden, CT! Loved it there. Super cool venue.

Alright! I'll talk to everyone later. I'm going to go eat pizza now! There were like, 4 pizzas delivered to the house today from someone who frequently donates pizza, and NOBODY wanted it! So, I totally took one. Another staff took one too. Good pizza too. So, I'm going to eat some while watching Private Practice.

LAZY DAY! Loves it. I slept for 13.5 hours last night. True story! I went to sleep at 1am and woke up at 2:24pm. I had to get up twice:

1. To feed Ruby Tuesday at 5:34am
2. To let the 8am staff into the house at 8am

But, I fell back to sleep VERY QUICKLY after both of those times. Lots of driving + Six Flags + too much sunshine = sleepy Julie.

Alright! Hope everyone has a great start to their week! Can't believe it's like, mid-September already.

Ok! I'll talk to you all laterz. Take care. Be well. Enjoy!


Love,
Julie