...and then I saw River City Extension!!!!

The DAY AFTER MY BIRTHDAY, River City Extension was putting on a show down in good ol' Hamden, CT at one of our fave places, The Space. We had been there a few times before. Good people, good vibes, funky place, easy drive. Tickets were only $10, and Kara bought me one for my birthday! So, all I needed was a full tank of gas and the open road!!!!

I had tweeted to the band that I was coming to the show, and got this response from James, the RCE bass/banjo player:



I laughed for a while after reading this. James is kind of awesome like a lot. He's the one who fronted like, $40 to make sure we all got into their show in the summer. Great guy. Great musician.

There were some cool bands that opened for RCE. Including a bluegrass band where the lead singer looked like my old friend Cynthia from high school. [shout out to Cynthia if she's reading...!!]

I met up with Jo! And her friend Kato, and also, Ben Silver and Holden!! Our "Space" friends! But also friends in real life!! It was super fun to see everyone. People are so nice there.

Met up with RCE guitarist/djembe player, Nick, in the vintage store on the second level of The Space. That was fun. Also found lead singer Joe downstairs and told him his new haircut looked sharp. It did.

And then they finally played some music!!!!

They opened with just Joe and Mike playing their new song, 'Golden Tongue (Thanatopsis),' which is one of my faves. I was SO HAPPY they played it.






The fine gentleman on the far right in the plaid shirt is James, who sent me the 'Maine bitch' tweet earlier.





DAN. DAN DAN DAN DAN!!!!!! This was the 6th time I have seen River City Extension, but only the 3rd time Dan has been performing with them. So, it was super cool that he was able to make it!!!! It's just not the same without the trumpet.




Joe, Mike, Sam, James and Nick!!!! The right side section of the band.




And the left side section of the band.... Pat, Dan and Jenn!!!!

What a great looking band.









LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!! James switched to banjo for 'Letter to Lainie.'





And Jenn switched to bass!!! Love it.




And then Jenn switches to trumpet for 'Mexico' and it's the best thing ever. Also love this picture of Joe. Also - Pat comes out from the keyboard to do some hott dancing!!!!! (I still always want to call him Kevin.)

AND BONUS - you can see the new RCE drum head!!!!! With their super cool infinity logo!!!






River City Dancing is the best. I realize I capitalized the D in dancing and I didn't mean to. But, I'm going to leave it. It's a great alternate name for the band. I also didn't mean to write 'dancing,' I meant to write, 'Extension,' since that's the name of the band. But, I was thinking about what great dancers they are. Hence the River City Dancing. Enough explanation.

Then we hung out with the band after the show. I was catching up with Dan and all of a sudden Sam RAN over and yelled, 'Happy Birthday!!!!' and gave me a big hug. Then, I got lots and lots of birthday hugs from the band. And also normal people. Which was kind of the best thing ever. Did I mention they're the best band ever?

So then, me, Jo, Kato, Ben, and Ben's girlfriend Marisa had plans to head over to the 24-hour diner just down the street for some late night eats. And then we thought it'd be fun to invite the band to come along.


AND THEY DID.




And that was the time I went to a diner with River City Extension. It was a super fun time. Like, SUPER FUN. We got to the diner before the band and the hostess was like,

HOSTESS: How many?
BEN SILVER: Um, there might be 5 of us, but there might be like, 20.
HOSTESS: .....Ok....

Best thing ever. Ben took that picture with his phone. And I stole it from him for blog purposes.

And then it started to snow. Fast. And I remember that I had like, a three hour drive home. So, I left about 12:30am and headed north.

WORST DRIVE EVER. Like, maybe ever. Well, not ever. Worst Drive Ever would have to go to the time it took me like, 36 hours total to get from Western Massachusetts to Berwick, Maine. A drive that should have taken 3 hours.

But! This was my first time driving in a snow storm with Morgan (my car, duh), so I wasn't sure how she would hold up. But, she was great. The weather, however, was TERRIBLE. Like, I couldn't believe how bad it was. It was like, 25 mph on the Mass Pike. I was pretty certain I was going to die that night. On multiple occasions I thought:

1. I can't believe I'm going to die the day after my birthday.

but then I thought,

2. At least I got to see River City Extension one last time.

So, there was that.

But!! I made it home just after 5:30am. It took me a very long time. And I gave Morgan a kiss on the steering wheel once we were safely in the garage.

Overall - GREAT NIGHT.

Videos!!

- Ballad of Oregon - my fave RCE song.
- Today, I Feel Like I'm Evolving - another favorite
- Elephant - a song from their first record! GREAT SONG. The beginning reminds me of an overture to a musical.

And then the band went and played SXSW and were named one of the ten best performances by Paste magazine!!!!!

So, if you haven't already - go start listening to RCE. They will probably blow you away, so be prepared.

Alright!

In other news: Go watch this awesome short movie made by Hampshire College kids!!! Called, The Incident at Tower 37, this movie has been getting super great reviews and winning all kinds of awards all over the place. And, HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE!!!! Probably one of my favorite places in the whole world. Yep. It's a really great movie that makes you think about water consumption and how it's affecting the different ecosystems around us. Only ten minutes, GREAT MUSIC, and really great animation. Enjoy!

I think that's all for now. I'll get better about updating. Now that I maybe have exciting things happening in my life, I might actually have things to write about.

But now! I have to go to the post office to mail my BFF a birthday card. Yes, that's right, Maria's birthday is TOMORROW, March 30. Mark your calendars!!!! Sorry the card will be a little late. Better late than never, which is the theme of my life.

Also - I cut my hair. Also - I dyed it too. But, I have to dye it again because the dark brown actually came out kinda reddish, and didn't totally take out the teal. It's weird. It's very rare that my hair will actually take on the color it's supposed to be.

Also - I learned how to make espresso and other fancy coffees for my new job at French Connection Cafe and Coffee Shop - opening THIS FRIDAY, in Springvale, Maine. Come visit me and I'll make you a delish raspberry mocha.

Also - come visit me at my other new job at the Eddie Bauer outlet store in Kittery, Maine. I won't make you a raspberry mocha there, but I will help you pick out a hott outfit.

GREAT!!!!

OH OH OH OH!!!!!!!! One of my oldest friends, Laura Plaisted, is getting married and is in the running to win a dream wedding. Like, a real dream wedding. I've been friends with Laura since like, first grade and Kara is BFF with Laura's sister, Mary. So, WE ALL can help her win the wedding by VOTING HERE!!!!! She's a finalist and the voting ends on FRIDAY!!! One vote per day, and watch her totally awesome video.

- RCE
- hampshire movie
- coffee shop
- eddie bauer
- maria's birthday
- laura's dream wedding

I think I covered everything I wanted to talk about. Blog success. Love when that happens.

OK!!! Have a great day! It's Tuesday, I believe, so there's no excuse for it not being a great day. It's nice and sunny here and the temperature is a balmy 44 degrees!! (That's, Fahrenheit.)

We'll talk soon. I really do miss you all. I'll be a better blogger.

TAKE CARE! be well, friends.



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