CRASH KINGS ROADTRIP WEEKEND (featuring JET)

OH HI. i almost didn't see you there!!!!!

figured i'd start the most awesome blog entry with the most awesome greeting.

folks and friends, prepare to be rocked. this entry is going to be EPIC. both in length, pictures, links to videos which you must watch, and in awesome.

epically awesome. that's how i am going to describe this.

OH, GET EXCITED.

there are a lot of sexy guys ahead. sexy, pretty guys wearing tight pants. YEAH. now you're excited!

i know i updated you once from the hotel in Albany, but i'm going to do a little rewind and start from that show. because i have pictures!!!! hott hott pictures of hotties!!!!!! (that's another good way to describe this entry)



6 MARCH 2010 - Clifton Park, New York. (Neon blue "over 21" bracelet.)

me and my new friend Ryan meet up in Needham, Massachusetts. we start heading west on the Mass Pike at the absolute worst time of day. the sun with directly at eye level and not ideal for pre-concert rocking out.

Ryan made totally wonderful, delicious cookies for the weekend. YUM a lot.

after stopping at a CVS quickly we arrived at the venue. Northern Lights. i believe i told you that this place was in a strip mall in the middle of a dollar store and a church. but i think it's so strange and bizarre for a rock concert venue, that i will tell you again:

this place, Northern Lights, was in a strip mall, in between a dollar store and a church.

we walk into the place and just happen to pick the spot in the crowd next to Tony and Mike. of the band CRASH KINGS. oh, beautiful brothers. we talked to Tony for a few minutes and told him that we would be at the next few shows. he was very excited to hear this. and very appreciative of our superfandom.

the opening band was the scary band Owl. with the creepy drummer. they were screamy a lot and i didn't really get into the music at all.

this place was also very foggy. like, they had the fog machine set on "super" or something. i mean, when Crash Kings came onstage, i was standing pretty much right below Mike, and i could barely see Tony on the other side of the stage, as evidenced in these photos:



MIKE!!!!! AND TONY!!!!! bro shot!! you know how i love those bro shots. see how foggy?



TONY! kind of. his set up was different than the other three times i had seen them. he was playing on an actual piano this time. a very cool folding piano. and his clavinet was set up on top of it. he's such a pro.



Mike. hottie.

I had a really great view of Jason on drums at the NY show. and he kept looking over at me, i think because i knew all the words and was dancing. that made me excited.

and i got a great video of my fave song, 'Carry On.' at least, i think it's my favorite song. i really can't decide. every time i hear a Crash Kings song i think, "oh, it's my favorite!" they're all so freaking good.

what was great about Northern Lights was that the "loading area" where the bands load and unload all their stuff, was behind these big glass doors. so, you could see everything! which was awesome. especially when Tony was talking to that guy and he was laughing and smiling a lot. oohhhhhhh that smile. so, even after they went offstage, we could still see them hanging around outside.

and then we were waiting for JET. and they took a SUPER long time to come out. it almost made me think, "wow, these guys are divas." because they took so long. and people were getting really impatient. and then it was just getting silly.

and then they finally came out!!!!



IT'S JET!!!!!



It's Nic, the lead singer! one of the brothers in the band. his bro is the drummer. Mark? Rob? i don't know. hold on, i'll find out the guys names in jet.

Nic = lead singer
Chris = drummer
Cam = lead guitar
Mark = bass
Louis = keys

and Nic and Chris are the bros. which means that Cam, Mark and Louis would be in the Non-Brother Band, which will be the opening band on the Bro Tour 2011.



Nic liked to come to the front of the stage a lot. i tried to resist whipping out my camera like every other person. but, i did get this one shot.

also - he wore the same plaid shirt for all three shows. i made sure to document this. i guess it's kind of hard to see the plaid here. but, it's like a cream and navy plaid shirt. and in NY and NJ he wore this gray denim jacket over it. hip!

also - Jet = tight pants. you can't really see the tightness of all the boys pants here. but, i have also photo-documented this in later pictures... :)

BUT WOW - i loved Jet. i loved them a lot. they had a killer opening song, "She's A Genius" which they opened with all three nights. my favorite song of theirs is "Skin and Bones." LOVE IT. and, it was very exciting to hear them play, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl." they did not play the other slow song. all three nights they didn't play it. but, they totally rocked. a lot. a mega lot.

and then Ryan and i ventured over to our hotel, which took longer than expected due to crazy construction that didn't make any sense. the hotel was on this super wide road and the whole thing was just covered with orange cones and construction workers. it was very hard to find the path you were supposed to drive through.

and also making it hard was the fact that we had just been to a killer rock concert and didn't really care about anything else at that moment. eventually, we found the hotel and were able to figure our way into the parking lot.

and then i blogged. and then fell asleep around 3am. maybe it was 3:30am. i slept good.


7 MARCH 2010 - Sayreville, New Jersey. (lime green "over 21" bracelet.)


i awoke on sunday (emily's birthday!!!) at 9:30am. went to the lobby for the continental breakfast which consisted of bagels that were really small. definitely not normal sized bagels.

then came back to the hotel room. showered. watched Ryan's concert videos from the night before. SHE GOT A GREAT RECORDING of "All Along," which is a new Crash Kings song. this one might be my favorite. oh, it's so good. i strongly encourage you to watch that video because it's a beautiful song.

and then we drove.

we drove from the Albany area of New York to Sayreville, NJ. which was like, just over an hour south of New York City. it was a long drive. i think just around 4 hours.

we pull into the venue, The Starland Ballroom, which is across the street from a VFW hall. also very strange. i had never been to these concert venues that weren't like, right downtown in a city. where there was no parking. these places had huge parking lots. and Starland Ballroom was on this long road full of factories and other depressing things. it was also very strange.

but! we pull into the parking lot and it's empty. except for one other car.

so we get out of my car and walk over to the box office. it's closed and they won't even let us use the bathroom. lame.

and then we go back outside and see a girl walking over to us from the other car. she is a Jet fan!!! who got to the place super early in hopes of seeing/making out with Jet before the show.

Ryan and i tell her that we're Crash Kings fans, but saw Jet last night and really liked them. her name is Jenny. she had never heard of Crash Kings, but was excited to hear their music. so, we walked back over to my car, and had a jam sesh in the parking lot to the Crash Kings cd. it was awesome.

then we got hungry and ventured to the little strip mall at the end of the street. we ate at a Filipino barbeque place that was really good. and got to watch an episode of Hannah Montana that was playing on tv. bonus!

then we headed back over to the parking lot. i parked next to Jenny's car. she was from Manhattan. cool.

the Jet tour bus was parking out back. we had a great view of it. no Crash Kings van. i believe they call their van "Ol' Blue."

eventually, Ol' Blue drives up with the Crash Kings inside. freaking out ensues. yeah, it was pretty awesome. watching the guys unload stuff. and that folding piano must be pretty heavy because of all the obscenities we heard the guys yell whilst carrying it.

and after all their stuff was unloaded, Tony drove away in Ol' Blue WHILE texting on his iPhone. we were very concerned about his safety.

and then the crabby parking attendant guy made us move our cars into a straight line AND made us pay $6 for parking. LAME. more people started showing up. we got into line around 6:30. doors were at 7. we had been there since about 3:30. HARDCORE.

the place was pretty big inside. and there was a full bar around every corner. the opening band was called One Lonely Boy. no. that's not right. ONLY Lonely Boy. no! ONLY LIVING BOY. that was the band. Only Living Boy. i keep getting them confused with Los Lonely Boys and Badly Drawn Boy. and also, Simon and Garfunkel.

they were pretty good. i definitely liked them better than Owl.

haha, but, while we were waiting in the parking lot with Jenny, we told her that the opening band the night before was Owl. and she was like,

JENNY: Oh! Don't they sing that song....."Fireflies!?"
JULIE: NO!! I made that same mistake. That's Owl City. It's confusing.

remember that night? where i downloaded all that Owl City music because i thought they were the opening band? i vote that Owl change their name. i'm sorry! i'm not an Own fan. they scare me. and so does that owl on their website.

ANYWAYS. finally we get inside and get a good spot next to some other Crash Kings fans!!!!!!! AWESOME!



Tony being hott on the clav!!!



During "14 Arms," which might actually be my favorite song, Tony kept going between standing and sitting. and you could tell he just wanted to DANCE AND ROCK. and finally towards the end of the song, he stood up and KICKED the piano stool behind him. it went pretty far. and then he continued to rock.

AND, i got the whole song on video. you should watch that. great song. it's their most 'screamy' song. but i love it. and the piano stool kick is hotttt.




Jason on drums and Mike on bass!!!! if you haven't noticed already, Mike is wearing a tight plaid shirt. just something to point out...



See those post-it notes on Tony's clav? set list!!!! yep. he told us the night before that it might be boring going to three shows because they were going to play the same set. and then he was like, "i guess we'll have to switch it up!"

AND THEY DID. yeah they did. the set was different ALL THREE NIGHTS. because of us? probs. because they love us? probs again.




YYEEPP. tight shirt and tight pants. i have no problem with that.



IT'S JASON!!!! i feel like i never get a good pic of Jason. and i think this is a pretty good one.






Jason throwing his drum stick!!! what a great shot!




and all three of them. niiiice.

they played a killer set. and Tony was rocking out so hard at one point, that his soundboard which is to his left, fell right off the stand and knocked over two bottles of water on the floor. he picked it up very quickly and got back to rocking.

and then! Mike helped Tony move the clav to the front of the stage and they KILLED on their 'War Pigs' cover. remember how crazy i went when they did this in Providence? and i could barely describe it for you because it was so awesome? well, they did it again. and this time: i was prepared.

"War Pigs," Crash Kings.

in THAT video, Tony starts rocking so hard that the whammy bar on the clav almost falls off. he has to screw it back in real quick. i would very strongly encourage you to watch that video. it's PRIME TONY ROCKING. and jumping. and headbanging. and dancing. full out, "making love to the clavinet," to quote that reviewer from Bowdoin College. it's amazing to watch him. for serious. he's an amazing performer.

AND THEN WE SAW JET AGAIN!!!!!! they didn't take as long to come out onstage:



BOYS. WEARING. TIGHT. PANTS. yep.



please note the same outfit as the previous night.



and the classic, 'side head rocking' shot. remember my first Rooney concert i got that great shot of Robert Schwartzman doing the "side scream?" same idea as this photo, only with a scream.




this was when he came and stood on the speaker RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. what a great photo, right?!

and i got two Jet videos that night. but, i'm going to post someone else's video because it's the whole song and overall more exciting seeming than my video.

ARE YOU GONNA BE MY GIRL

i promise you'll recognize the song. my "blog singing lyrics posting" of Jet songs really don't do it justice.

"well it's a 123 take my hand and come with me because you look so fine that i really wanna make you mine!" cool.

i really enjoyed Jet again.

and then sadly, the show ended. we met up again with Jenny at our cars to say goodbye and exchange Twitter names so we could start following each other. she was super cool.

THEN came the marathon drive.

we left Sayreville, New Jersey just around midnight. got lost in Sayreville a lot. first, the directions were confusing. and second, Ryan got to talk to Tony for a while while Jet was playing and she was recounting their conversation and i was not paying any attention to road signs. or thinking about any productive to getting us on the Garden State Parkway. how can you when you're thinking of Tony? you can't.

Ryan had asked Tony what the meaning was behind some of their songs. awesome! except for the fact that he said he wrote "Non-Believer" about his girlfriend. but later on whilst recounting this, Ryan decided that him and his girlfriend had probably broken up. i wholeheartedly supported this. especially since i still think he wrote "Non-Believer" about me. i mean, come on.

"you're gonna light me up in a way i could never explain...."
"i would love you monday through 'til sunday...."

i mean, it's gotta be about me, right? OH so sweet.

it was on the drive back from NJ that Ryan spoke this piece of Crash Kings wisdom:

RYAN: Not only are they rock n' roll sex gods, they are excellent musicians, and overall really nice people.

how true!

we stopped for gas just south of NYC, i think.

AND THEN!!!!! something momentous happened. in New York City, just as "Come Away" was starting to play......

MY CAR HIT 100,000 MILES!!!!! yes! i got a picture of it with my phone, but i don't have the cord with me right now, so i can't show you. lame, right? i'll show you later.

around 4:30am we were both getting tired. so, we stopped at a rest stop on the Mass Pike to get coffee and a super second wind. and then entered Boston around 5am ish. maybe just after.

i dropped Ryan off at her apartment. sad times. and then i headed to Maine.

and i arrived in Berwick, Maine at 7am. not too bad, eh?

NJ
NY
CT
MA
NH
ME

all in one night!!! crazy times. and the Crash Kings' CD was playing the entire time. yep, the entire time. and the CD only lasts like, 36 minutes. that's a lot of repeat. but still, every song was super exciting.

and there was one time where we thought the Crash Kings van Ol' Blue was passing us on the highway. and we had a mini freak out moment. but, it wasn't. i mean, they were heading the same direction.

wow, what a great night.



8 MARCH 2010 - Berwick, Maine.



i went to bed around 8:30am after downloading a bunch of Jet songs that i liked.
slept until 2:30pm when Kara came and woke me up.
we went car shopping. lame.
came home and the power was out. for like, 4 hours. lame and cold.
power came back on and we went to get chinese food for supper. nice.
THEN,
Crash Kings tweeted. this was their tweet:
Just had a great dinner at our parents house in Boston with Jet!

how excited did this make me?? yeah, this made me really excited. to think that Jet was hanging out at the Crash Kings parents house?!?! OMG. they are friends!!!! and also rockstars.

and how lucky are Mike and Tony's parents?! they get to hang out with Crash Kings AND Jet! all while having their children home. aw, that must be great. right? to have your kids come home and be so successful?

i wonder if they all had a sleepover after this. oh, this makes me so excited.


9 MARCH 2010 - Boston, Massachusetts. (Neon orange "over 21" bracelet.)


woke up. put on my red plaid shirt in honor of the last CK show.
had breakfast at Friendly's. nice.
did more car shopping with Kara.
got a coconut coffee coolatta from Dunkin Donuts. not even out of the parking lot when i spill a bunch on the red plaid shirt.
go home. change out of the shirt.

after much stress and debate over whether Kara was going to attend the show with me, she decided not to. and then it was too late for me to drive in and take the T to The Paradise. so, i google mapped it and saw the The Paradise was about .8 of a mile away from Great Scott, where we saw Crash Kings and Paper tongues at the end of January. and we had no trouble parking there.

so, i drove there and parked. in front of a CVS. like, a block away from Great Scott.

and then walked really fast to the show. it was far. .8 of a mile is far when you know Crash Kings are waiting for you.

so, i finally arrive at the venue. it's a sold out show!!!! awesome!!!! good thing i already have my tickets.

i text Ryan and tell her that i'm here, and she tells me that she's in "our usual spot at stage right." i find her immediately.

she points out the "reserved" section on the side where Mike and Tony's parents and grandparents were sitting. along with all their friends. aw so exciting.

Crash Kings come out and the people go wild!!!! THE BAND goes wild!!!!! you could tell right away that they were super excited to be performing at home.


ALSO, what's that Tony is wearing?



YEP. the freaking red plaid shirt. that he was first wearing at The Middle East when i first heard Crash Kings. the red plaid shirt that made me say, "holy crap why don't i have a red plaid shirt?!"

so, on the morning on march 9th, two thousand and ten both myself and Tony woke up and thought, "i'll wear my red plaid shirt today." only, clearly, Tony did not spill coffee coolatta on his. SON OF A GUN why am i so bad at eating and drinking?

ANYWAYS,

Ryan took a video of the song, "You Got Me." which is possibly the sexiest song ever. ooooo the bass line. it's the kind of song that you hear, and then you feel like you need to take a shower, it's so dirty and as Ryan said, "raunchy." it sounds sweaty. Ryan and i were talking about it while listening to it in the car at one point and she said something along the lines of, "can't you just imagine the music video to this?" YEAH. and then we giggled to ourselves.

IT'S A SEXY SONG. and she got a sexy video of it. it's hott and sweaty. and Tony turns back to us at the end and smirks and sexy smirk. oooooooyeah.




and i got a great video of the end of "All Along." including the end of the clavinet solo.

the Boston show was the best out of the three shows. they totally rocked. and you could tell they were just so excited to be playing their hometown. for their parents and friends.

and this time, Tony was rocking so hard at one point that the clavinet became unplugged! so he had to do a quick switch over to piano instead.




and they played War Pigs at the end and again, totally killed and rocked the hell out of it. and the crowd went crazy.

and it was awesome. it was so awesome. there aren't really any words to describe the Crash Kings awesome, because it is so different than a normal awesome.

i've seen them 6 times now. that's 6 times in three months. and not for one minute does their show get any less exciting. it's like you can't take your eyes away from them for a split second because they are so freaking good that you don't want to miss anything.

it's crazy. if i could post every Crash Kings video on youtube for you, i would. because it's all so good. and i can't stress enough that i think you will love them. if you haven't started listening to Crash Kings now then GO.

also, why haven't you? i've been talking about them nonstop for three months, don't you think i'm on to something?

Crash Kings will be rocking South by Southwest in like, a week, and here's an excerpt from a "SXSW preview article," as i will call it:
I’m not exaggerating a bit when I tell you Crash Kings put on one of the greatest indie rock shows I’ve seen in the past year. A few weeks ago I caught this buzz band at the Viper Room – it was one of those shows so unique, so exciting, so inspiring I couldn’t help but imagine Crash Kings selling out stadiums in the future.

YEP. that guys loves them.

ok wait, before i get too carried away, let's finish the concert:




OH YEAH, Jet was there too!!! Again! Now i've seen them three times and totally love it.



note: same plaid shirt. by the third time it was great because i actually knew some of the songs and some of the words. i didn't feel like a completely lost Jet fan. and i would totally see these guys again, even if they weren't on tour with Crash Kings.

AND - there was a great moment where Nic thanked Crash Kings for being on tour with them, and everything. BUT THEN - he said,

NIC: These guys are from Boston and last night we all went over to their parents house and had a great dinner!! Thank you so much!!

and then the spotlight went on Tony and Mike's parents in the crowd and everyone went crazy. it was really cool.

i'm so happy that Crash Kings and Jet are BFF.

and every now and then we'd see Mike rocking out in the crowd. with his friends. and a beer.

and then after the show! we were waiting around and Mike just happened to be hanging out with his friends and Ryan overheard his friends telling him this story about sexual acts happening in someone's driveway. Mike thought this was hilarious, while us members of the Crash Queens didn't quite think so.

and then we said a few short words to Mike, who was clearly drunk. he shook our hands and thanked us profusely for coming to the show and said how great it was to see us again.

we then all moved outside The Paradise and met up with other Crash Kings fans. WHO, you ask? WELL, do you remember at the Great Scott show, there was the girl who let me and Kara borrow her sharpie so we could get them to sign the set list????

SHARPIE GIRL was there!!! and we became friends with her! her name is Jo. and she is super awesome. and she remembered me!!! we talked with her for a long time. she said that she had seen Tony run out of The Paradise with some members of Jet and some of his friends and they were all going to a bar down the street.

and we had some very insightful conversation outside of The Paradise....

"Mike might actually be prettier than Tony, it's just that Tony has this incredible stage presence that makes you just fall in love with him."

yeah, that's what we mainly talked about....

anyways. it was great. a great show. a great night. a great four days.

wow. SUCH a great four days. i can't even believe how awesome it was. and i can't believe how much fun i had and how many amazing people i met! and i heard great new music! and went to new places!!

IF THE CRASH KINGS/JET TOUR IS COMING TO A CITY NEAR YOU: i would advise you to purchase tickets immediately. if you're not a Jet fan, if you're not a Crash Kings fan - you will be.

both bands are amazing and they mesh together really well.

i know i have friends in both Colorado Springs AND Austin. both cities where the tour will be going. now, i won't name any names............ but Dave, Renee and Elizabeth - you should go to those shows. and then photo-document the night so it feels like i was there.

if i had enough money, i would FLY to those cities and go with you. and pay for the cost of your tickets. THAT'S how strongly i feel about this.

ok.

i feel really good about this entry. i've been working on it off and on for about 7 hours. no joke. i was at work. and now i'm at home. and i took a few pauses in writing. but yeah. i'm tired.

i've got more to say, but i'm going to save it for a later date.

epically awesome? totally. hott hott pictures of hotties?? yep. i think i fulfilled my end of the bargain.

also, i watched a video of Jet performing thursday night in Richmond, VA and - Nic was wearing that same plaid shirt. for realz. the same one. i really hope there is a washing machine on that tour bus.

OK. please go back now and watch all those videos that you didn't watch before. ok, go!

heck, i'm STILL so excited from the Crash Kings Roadtrip Weekend. i'm still wearing my bracelets.

also, there have been two times this past week where i have been listening to songs featuring an electric guitar. and i hear the guitar, but automatically picture Tony playing it on the clav. like, how he would do it and how he would look. and both of these times i have to remind myself that it's not Tony playing the clav - it's an actual guitar. strange.

anyways. ok, now i'm really going to go. because now you're just getting sick of me. i can feel it. i guess i don't know how to end this massive, epically awesome entry.





Tony's shirt says it all.



have a great day.


<3

opposites

i have so much GOOD to tell you about, you won't even believe it.

SO. MUCH. GOOD. has happened recently. and it's been amazing and exciting and totally beautiful and awesome.

but!

i'm not going to do it right now. i have to go to the post office. and some reading of car manuals. and perhaps other things.

oh, i have to go buy cat litter.

but just know, that EVERYTHING bad that happened last week has been counteracted by everything good from this week.

OMG. SOOOOO GOOD. and i made wonderful new friends!

ok. i'm going to do those few boring things and then get right to the exciting things.

awesome. ok. i'll talk to you later.



GET EXCITED.

<3

CLIFTON PARK, here we come

oh wait! we're already here!!!!!!!!!

actually, we've already come and gone. now we're in Latham, NY. staying at the Super 8. i'm here with my new friend Ryan. she's very cool and made totes delish cookies for both me AND for Crash Kings.

today was a hectic, stressful day that turned out to be a great day.

- went to bed around 2am.
- couldn't fall asleep
- phone call woke me up at 7am
- alarm woke me up at 8am
- another phone call woke me up at 8:15am

"ok, maybe i should get up."

- then i went down to work. i ended up being down in the office from about 8:30 to 11ish.

OH WAIT. i haven't talked to you since thursday afternoon. no, friday afternoon.

i'll catch you up.

so, the hospital went fine. i had planned to go run errands after i left the hospital, but instead, i needed to go back to the house and make some phone calls.

those "some" phone calls turned into a billion phone calls. a billion frantic phone calls and message leaving to people. it was hectic and stressful. i ended up being in the office from 7:22 until like, 10pm.

THEN i went out to the Jake's 'vacuum your car' place and vacuumed my car. i was kind of excited about this but also kind of dreading it. but, it needed to be done. so i took the huge vacuum and vacuumed the car. it came out alright.

it was freezing outside. i couldn't feel my hands by the end of it. why are the underside of car mats so sharp?? it's not like they stick to the car any better.

then i went to walgreens. i had wanted to go to wal-mart, but now they were closed. and walgreens is 24 hours. i bought eye drops and cold medicine.

then i came home and watched The Office. jim and pam had their baby on the same day that our resident had her baby! aw, what a great episode.

THEN, i went to bed.

ok, up to speed.

now, it's saturday morning and i'm in the staff office again making all kinds of frantic phone calls. from 8:30am to 11ish am. i was chatting with courtney online the whole time which was cool and nice.

then i went upstairs and started to get ready to GO ON THE CRASH KINGS ROADTRIP WEEKEND. holy crap i was so excited.

so, i leave my house around 2pm. head to Needham, MA to pick up my new Crash Kings BFF.

THEN, we headed west on the Pike towards NEW YORK!!!

arrived in Clifton Park just after 8pm.

the scary band Owl (not to be confused with the super cute band, Owl City) was just coming on. they all look like the guys in Nickelback. with really long hair. and they screamed a lot.

but! we both kind of decided to grab a spot in the back of the crowd and we walk up and are standing there for a moment and then we realize we are standing right next to Mike and Tony of CRASH KINGS.

we both look at each other and have a mini freak out session.

wow. Mike looks so soft. every time i see Mike in person, all i want to do is touch him. he looks so soft. i just want to hug him.

so then we kind of talk to Tony for a minute. he is beautiful.

then Owl stopped playing and Crash Kings started setting up. they brought a piano onstage!!! HOTTTTTTTT.

it was very foggy in this place. it was called Northern Lights. it's this giant music/night club in this plaza strip mall sandwiched in between a dollar store and a church. it was very strange.

so then Crash Kings started. SO GOOD. omg. i actually saw Jason get on stage and take off his shoes. that was exciting. i was pretty much right in front of Mike. Tony was across the stage, but i could barely see him because of all the fog. for realz! so foggy!

anyways - they rocked. so hard. they played Carry On and i got it all on video. i didn't take very many pictures because i was so concentrated on rocking. NOBODY else was! so we had to be the hardcore fans. no prob.

EVERYBODY started rocking during Mountain Man.

and then it was over! too short. AND - it was maddening because JET took FOREVER to get onstage. seriously. FOREVER. like, maybe 20 minutes. so, Crash Kings should have played longer. much longer.

but holy man - JET. they rocked the house. the people loved them. i loved them. i was super dancing through every song. they are so cute. and they wore such tight pants. and they are from austrailia. and two of them are brothers. i am really excited to have them on the Bro Tour 2011.

i will take JET videos and pictures either at the show sunday night or tuesday night.

YEAH. i still have two more shows!!!!!! how exciting is this adventure?!?!?!

i really liked JET. i think you're supposed to write their name in all caps. because they are exciting like that.

they didn't set up their own stuff on stage, though. i guess they're more famous than i thought. there was this little kid like, maybe 8 years old in front of me. and he was with his parents. and he knew like, every word to every song. it was incredible.

yeah, i really liked them. they fit really well with Crash Kings. in terms of rocking. and music style.

AH. what a great night.

and my new friend Ryan said that she was hanging around the back again while JET was taking forever to start, and she started talking to Tony again. and they talked for like, 10 minutes.

AND AND AND. he was super excited that we were seeing three of their shows as an opening band. he said he really appreciated that we were coming out to the shows.

AND THEN HE SAID, "see you tomorrow!"

which basically means, "let's all make out tomorrow!"

yeah. i'm pretty sure that's what he meant.

oh boy. i am excited.

so tomorrow (sunday 7 march) we're driving to new jersey. for more Crash Kings/JET wonderfulness.

we're going to plan to be at the venue early. ya know, to either jam with the band. or help them sound check. or pick out outfits for the show. any of those would work.

i'm really excited to see JET again. yeah, they rocked.

and then after the show sunday night we'll drive back to boston. and then i'll drive to maine. and then back to boston on tuesday!!!!!!!

ok. i'm getting tired. we just watched Ryan's videos from the show. she has the amazing power of taking great Tony videos. i am bad at videos because i can't stop dancing and singing. i can't stop the rock!

we were just looking through photos of Crash Kings on facebook. TONY. WEARING. GLASSES. yeah, i had a mini crazy moment. oh wow.

OK. how happy am i that i am away from Lebanon, NH and i'm on the Crash Kings Roadtrip Weekend? I AM SO HAPPY.

after this seriously bad week at work, this is just what i need. and i actually thought that tonight while rocking out. it was every opposite feeling from all week. same intensity, only on the good side.

OK. now i might go to sleep. lots of driving tomorrow. my car did well up until the very end. like, from the concert to the hotel. i started to worry. it got much louder. and stopped shifting gears. and now the heat makes this weird 'flicking' noise. and it's screechy. just overall making noises it's not supposed to.

but, we had a talk before i left NH this morning. i said, "dear car, i know you are not feeling well and will not last long after this. but you have never failed me. please just hold on a couple more days." and then i played it some Crash Kings to let it know what it was holding out for. and it ran really well all the way over to NY.

ok. now i might go to sleep.

TODAY!!!!!!! IS EMILY'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!! happy birthday emily! dear friend. i miss you and love you!!!!!!! we will see each other soon. promise.

AND - happy academy awards day.

folks, i will not be watching it live this year. the first year in 12 years? i think so. actually, no. the year Moulin Rouge was nominated i had a dance competition and couldn't watch either. that was lame.

but this year, i am willingly not watching in order to attend the concert. and i am happy about my decision. excited, in fact. yes, i am sad a little.

i predict:

- THE HURT LOCKER - will win most categories

i don't think i can finish watching that movie. it was good and all, but with the way things are going at work, after a long, stressful, anger filled day, i don't want to sit on the couch and wonder if the guy on the screen is about to be blown up. it's just not something i want to see or deal with.

The O.C.? yes please. keep 'em coming, Netflix.

AND, i am rooting for Fantastic Mr. Fox ALL THE WAY.

ok maybe i'm more sad than i thought.

no. don't think about it. i'll be rocking out instead.

i think i might wear my hair in a low, side ponytail. i don't know why that is the look i am envisioning.

OK. for real? now will i go to bed??? ummm. maybe, actually.

it's 2:07am. Maine time!!!! get it???

Ryan and i were REALLY, REALLY hoping that the band was staying at our hotel and that we would run into them late night at the ice machine in their pajamas. yeah, we discussed this in the car. it was a meaningful conversation.

and when she was detailing her conversation with Tony for me i said, "please say he invited us out to dinner with them." unfortunately, that hasn't happened YET.

ok, so the bass player in JET looks like Ned from Rooney. and the piano player in JET reminded me of Matt Winter (formerly) of the band Rooney. :( but the bass player totally looked like Ned. and he had a cute little haircut. they were all cuties.

i am a JET fan! and after this adventure i will have seen them three times!!! we will all be bff.

OK. now i think i will go to sleep. because now i'm really tired.

i hope you're having a great weekend. talk to you again soon. probably from Maine. or, any spot we get wi-fi in tomorrow.

ok! great!!!! love you!! goodnight!!!! good morning!!!! good afternoon!!!!!



<3

chilly

AH i'm cold.

just got back inside after cleaning out my car. cleaning out all the junk. at first it was fun, because i was listening to good music and getting stuff done. but then it just ended up being a bummer. i guess because, when it comes down to it, i like the car. and i'll be sad to see it go.

i still had bags of stuff in my trunk from when i moved out of Hampshire. i found all my Day in the Lab stuff. that i did with jenny. that was fun.

found about 100 cd's. MAN i burned a lot of cd's. alll kinds of different mixes.

AND i found 5 euro!! that was pretty exciting.

so tonight, here is my plan:

- be at the hospital from 5-7pm
- go do some errands at wal-mart. yuck.
- go to the Jake's car vacuum place to vacuum out the car

that sounds like a pretty good plan.

oohhhhhh i don't know. i guess i'm kind of bummed out right now.

and cold. it's pretty cold out.

last night i washed all my flannel sheets and re-fluffed my bed up. oooooo it was sooo nice sleeping last night.

ok. i think i'll take a quick shower. and then i have to go.

OK. have a good day. i'll talk to you later.


<3

perspective:

this is a PS to the entry below this one....

remember last year when i had the stomach flu? and i was totally miserable for like, four days? and i had also those crazy fever dreams. and couldn't eat, couldn't sleep? total bad.

well, that was THIS WEEK, only LAST YEAR.

and last night, after coming back upstairs from all the bad, i actually thought, "would i actually feel better if i had the stomach flu?"

and it took me a while to think about it.

and ultimately, i think no. i don't think i would rather have the stomach flu. but, the fact that i thought about it is a little insight into this bad week.


and that is all.

with 14 arms we'll execute the point

i have my music turned up really loud because i'm the only person in the house right now.

remember when i bought my new speakers? yeah, i like them.

so why am i alone, you ask? well, because there are no residents in the house. last night we had two, and now we temporarily have zero. and that means i'm alone in the big house.

Caretaker Julie. that's what i like to think.

anyways. i believe when i last talked to you i was super optimistic that my wednesday night at work would go well. ah yes, i fondly remember the time before my wednesday night at work.

actually, NO, i DON'T fondly remember that time because wednesday was a crap day. let me fill you in on what happened to my car....


I am sitting in the car place. My car is in the garage part for maybe like, ten minutes. Maybe not even ten minutes. I suppose just long enough for them to run the scan test which cost me $48.

CAR GUY: (comes out of the back room) Well, I don't have good news.
JULIE: Aw...
CAR GUY: Actually....I have very, very bad news.
JULIE: ....Ok....
CAR GUY: So, the car's not going to pass inspection...
JULIE: ....Ok....
CAR GUY: And it's going to be about $2,000 worth of work until it does pass.
JULIE: .....Umm......what?
CAR GUY: Yeah, the scan gave us a bunch of problem codes....some of them we don't even know what they are. You'd have to talk to the manufacturer. It's mainly the transmission.
JULIE: I need a new one...
CAR GUY: Yeah you do.
JULIE: (should i laugh or cry? laugh or cry? laugh or cry?)
CAR GUY: We can give you a 60-day inspection sticker, after you get two new tires and a new exhaust pipe.
JULIE: Is that what's making the car so loud?
CAR GUY: Yep. And wow, that right, front tire is bad. I'm surprised I can't see the metal! Must've been a fun winter!
JULIE: Haha... actually....not so much!
CAR GUY: Haha.
JULIE: So, how much would that be?
CAR GUY: The tires and the exhaust pipe would be probably around $300. For 60 days.
JULIE: Do you think that's worth it if I can't fix the transmission?
CAR GUY: Well.... no, probably not. This car is just going to turn into a money pit. We had one guy with almost the exact same problems as you, same car, and he just left it here - didn't even drive it away.


yep. basically, here's the abbreviated version:


JULIE: Hey! Here's $48, tell me something bad!
CAR GUY: Your car sucks!


so that's the car story. i need a new one. and pretty much like, right now. because i can't drive around with an loud, uninspected car for too long.

i feel bad, because now i kind of resent the car. much like with my old laptop. like, it would break and break and break and break - but it always came back! i could always fix it. and then there's that one time where it can't be fixed. and it dies. and you lose all your Phantom Planet concert photos on the hard drive. yeah, still mad about that.

was it last summer that i thought my cell phone, laptop and car would all die? The Summer of Three. was that what i called it? that's what i should have called it.

instead, last summer brought the death of my cell phone.
early winter brought the death of my laptop.
late winter brought the death of my car.

and i have absolutely no idea what i'm going to do about the car.

really, like no idea. drive it to the death, i guess. i mean, if i hadn't gone to the car appointment yesterday, then i wouldn't know about all the problems. and i would keep driving it.

today i actually looked at the inspection sticker from 2010 and thought, "hm, is there any way i could change the '2010' to '2011?'"

i don't think there is. i'm not Veronica Mars.

ANYWAYS. that's the first bad part of the day.

and then i was strangely optimistic about work that night. excited, even, to get downstairs. something to take my mind of the car thing, perhaps.

i walk downstairs and open the office door. the FIRST thing my boss says to me when i walk in:

MY BOSS: Good luck.

and that just brought it right back down. within five minutes of being there, i had to go upstairs and tell the residents to stop horsing around and please stop yelling.

it was all downhill from there.

ok, so you know how in some episodes of dramatic television shows, it will start out at the end and then work it's way back? like, at the horrible part where something has blown up, someone has died, something is on fire, etc. and then you'll see like, five minutes of that and then the screen will go black and it will say like, "14 hours earlier." and you will think, "wow, how the hell does it get to be that bad?!?!"

that's how the episode of wednesday night would start out. and it would start with me, sitting in the office. one of the girls sitting in the armchair screaming at me, and the other one standing in the doorway screaming at me. basically obscenity after obscenity after more obscenities. nothing that i can write here.

i don't think i have ever been more insulted in my whole life. and BOY, did i tell them that. well, i told one of them that.

she was standing there, screaming at the top of her lungs how horrible i was. how horrible it was here. how i didn't care about her, or anybody else one tiny bit. how i pretend like i care, but i really don't.

i mean, i'm dumbing it down here. it was BAD. and so finally i cut her off and basically said something like,

JULIE: Ok, STOP. I am so fed up with this right now and I'm so insulted that you would speak to me like that. I never speak to you like that, even when I'm as angry as I am right now. I'm also insulted that you think I don't care about any of this, when I've worked with you, and supported you for all these months! And if you listen to yourself, it doesn't make sense - because all you do is say that nobody cares about you and nobody supports you, but you don't let anybody support you! I tried to talk this over with you earlier and you didn't want to hear any of it.
RESIDENT: (swearing swearing swearing bad words very bad words swearing swearing)
JULIE: Ok, that's enough. I'm done talking about this.

and then i turned away and she stormed off into the living room. and that was just one of them. then i had to deal with the other.

it was bad. i think it was worse than the horrible night on monday, but only because i was alone. on monday night, i had two other staff there for most of the night to help deal with it. but last night i was allll alone.

i was on the phone with my boss like, every 20 minutes. oh, it was so bad.

the whole thing probably lasted about 2 hours. and then i was all shaken up. like after a car accident or something. and even when i was back at home, i couldn't even sit down. i was so wound up and so shaken.

and i couldn't fall asleep. and once i finally did fall asleep at like, 2:45am, i had to wake up at 6:15am and deal with part 2.

i really don't like being screamed at.

but, i think through the whole thing i pretty much kept calm. i was raising my voice towards the end.

and now! i'm alone in this house.

and my music is still really loud. and i'm making good use of the two washers and two dryers now that i'm alone.

so, today went completely different than expected.

i was supposed to be in the operating room during a c-section today. for the girl who was screaming her brains out at me last night. and after that was all over, i called the other birth coach and basically said, "look, things have totally blown up over here, i don't think i can go to the appointment tomorrow. i think me and resident one need some time away from each other."

and she understood. and took her to the appointment early in the morning. i was very thankful for this.

i called her about 1pm to see how things were going. she called me back about 2pm and asked if i wanted to come up around 3pm. everything went fine.

so, i got dressed and ready to go and went up to the hospital at 3pm.

BABY. tiny, tiny baby. omg. beautiful tiny baby. and i held him for like, three hours.

no, i'm not kidding. i stayed at the hospital for about 4 hours. and i was holding him for MOST of the time. and i changed his diaper!

i got there at 3pm, and he was about 4 hours old. that's the youngest baby i've ever held. can you imagine being 4 hours old??? having to realize that you have to cry when you're hungry or when you want your diaper changed? and it hurts newborn babies to cry. to have to open your eyes and look at stuff. be undressed and cold for the first time ever. to have to be passed from person to person and checked out by doctor after doctor.

and all for the first time ever. EVER! it's so crazy.

and i totally had a crush on the pediatrician that came in to 'inspect' him. he passed inspection, unlike my car. the pediatrician had curly black hair and a pretty full beard. loves it. and when i said that i was a staff member from Hannah House he said, "oh, that's great!"

yep.

anyways. so, i guess the day turned out alright because i got to hold a little, little baby. and all you can do when you hold a newborn baby is just look at them. and fix their little hat. and rub their soft little cheek.

it's weird too, looking at the baby. because i remember when you couldn't even tell that this resident was pregnant. and now today i was holding her baby.

and i also couldn't stop thinking, "i'm so sorry you had to hear all that last night!" poor little guy. already exposed to R rated language.

oh, but he was beautiful.


and then i drove my car home. it's not totally loud all the time. mainly just at slow speeds. too bad i hate driving fast.

anyways. i guess that's all. it's friday. i'm burnt. feeling very burnt.

and i better have A FREAKING AWESOME second half of the year. that is all i am going to say. because so far, this half isn't so great. and it's really starting to get to me.


alright. i hope everyone else had a good week. and i hope everyone has a good weekend. the Crash Kings Roadtrip Weekend is still up in the air.

but i really am going to think positive about that one. please everyone send positive Crash Kings vibes into the universe.

even if it's the trip that breaks my car. it will still be worth it.


love you.

<3

not a good sign

it's not a good sign when the day majorly goes wrong BEFORE going into work.

FINAL RESULT OF THE INSPECTION: Rejected.

that's what it says on the form! it couldn't say something like,

FINAL RESULT OF THE INSPECTION: Sorry, but not today.

or,

FINAL RESULT OF THE INSPECTION: Try again next time!

something with a little bit of hope.

ah, but there's no hope for my car today.

anyways. can't talk about it right now. i just got off the phone with my dad. he called to see what was up.

folks, it's not looking good.

ONE of the many things wrong with the car are the two front tires. the guy was like,

CAR GUY: Wow, it must have been a fun winter for you! I'm surprised I can't see the metal showing through on those tires.

and i'm thinking, "yesterday i was on dry pavement and i didn't think the car was going to stop."

true story.

ANYWAYS. now it's time to go make my day worse and go to work.

WAIT. NO. STOP IT JULIE.

have a good attitude!!! maybe it will be a great night!

it's only wednesday? NO! it's only wednesday! so many great things can still happen before the week ends.

okay, i will make them happen.

but first i will go to work.


have a great night! and i will too!!!!!! DEAL!


<3

but it's only in her dream

OKAY.

in one hour i have my car inspection. worried and dreading are what i'm feeling right now about that. UGH. please let it just pass and i won't have to pay any extra money.

Ruby is sitting on my lap right now. like, not even laying down. she's just sitting. and every once in a while she'll lean her head back real far to look at me, and i kiss the top of her head. i love her so much.

i can't actually remember why i started this post. i thought i had something important to tell you.

i started watching The Hurt Locker last night. i haven't finished it yet. i thought so far it was okay. all those guys are horrible.

i feel like i need a haircut again. it's only been like, 2 months.

i'm working tonight 3:30-10pm. i think it's gonna suck. only because my boss sent me an email confirming that i would work tonight and she said, "it's been a rough morning. i'll fill you in later."

and whenever i hear that i immediately think, "oh why did i agree to work?"

but, if i got through Monday night. and i got through the night when i almost got punched in the face, then i an probably get through tonight.

TOMORROW will be the real test.

i will be in the operating room during a c-section. when did i ever think i'd be doing that in my life? um, never. how am i going to get through that? i don't know. it will be a tough day.

but hopefully CRASH KINGS this weekend. three times in four days. EPIC. it's weird though, thinking that tomorrow i will probably have this horribly emotional day that includes being there when a baby is born, and then this weekend i might be rocking my socks off at a concert.

life is strange, right?

apparently, Crash Kings are carting around an actual piano for these shows. i learned that via @crashkings twitter. i think it's Tony who does the tweeting. and he said that they were driving through the Rocky Mountains and getting around 8mpg because of the piano.

they start the JET tour on friday. in TORONTO!!!!!! all your Toronto readers - GET OUT THERE!

oh! here's something good:

i spent probably almost 40 minutes in the post office yesterday mailing two big boxes to British Columbia. one to my dad and one to my uncle. and the first time around i filled out the wrong customs forms for BOTH packages. so i had to go do everything again.

but!!!!! the ruggedly handsome postal worker was helping me out. and i hadn't seen him in a very long time. and that made me very happy. he's so funny and lovely. and so ruggedly handsome.

OK. i should go get ready to go to the car appointment. UUGGHHH i don't want to gooo.

my car hit 99,300 miles yesterday! that's exciting. do you think it will hit 100,000 by tuesday?? from (hopefully) driving to boston, then to new york, then to new jersey, back to boston, probably back up here, then back to boston and back up here. that sounds like 700 miles, right?

eh, i have no idea.

AH, okay. now i really have to go get ready. wish me luck. i transferred some money around in my bank accounts so that i have enough. oooohhhhh please let it be enough. i think something is wrong with the engine. and also the transmission. but the transmission thing has been forever. i think the engine thing is new.

ok. have a great day. i'll talk to you later!



<3, julie

greener seems to fall beneath your feet

okay today was a bad day. but i'm listening to Tally Hall right now and they are making me feel better.

i ended up working tonight 3:30 to 10pm. sure, why not!? i really expected it to be a quiet night.

go downstairs. check in with the staff.

i'm downstairs maybe 15 minutes and the screaming begins.

SCREAMING. FIGHTING. NAME-CALLING. DOOR SLAMMING. did i mention screaming? and lots of crying.

this lasted pretty much nonstop until around 6:30 or so. actually maybe more like 7. i don't know.

i was so frustrated i wanted to cry. like, if i hadn't pulled it together in 5 seconds, i would have burst into tears. instead, i bottled. and immediately began shaking. which, still hasn't stopped.

have i ever been that angry and frustrated? so much so that i started shaking? i can't remember. i'm questioning the night back in the fall that i almost got punched in the face. but, that may have been shaking out of plain fear.

i was SO ANGRY tonight. SO FRUSTRATED. it was horrible. it was horrible.


so, my boss called me at 12:30pm and asked if i would work tonight. i figured i really needed the money.

when i got to work, she told me that she had already been so frustrated and fed up by 12:30pm, after 4.5 hours of working, and she didn't think she could make it the rest of the night.

then, she called me again at the end of the night to check in to see how i was doing and she said to me (this is a quote):

BOSS: This was one of the worst days I have ever put in.


BAD. it was bad.

and i don't think the rest of the week will be too great either...

TUESDAY: staff meeting. hopefully not too bad.
WEDNESDAY: car appointment. probably spending a lot of money.
THURSDAY: dreading. dreading. dreading.
FRIDAY: we'll see.

SATURDAY: Crash Kings in New York?! maybe?! hopefully?!!?!
SUNDAY: Crash Kings in New Jersey!? HOPEFULLY!!!!!!!
MONDAY: spend either in Maine or New Hampshire. maybe?!
TUESDAY: Crash Kings in Boston?! MAYBE?!!?

this weekend has the possibility to ROCK SO FREAKING HARD. i've been in seriously awesome contact with the girl who i might Crash Kings Roadtrip with. IF the whole thing happens.

which, it's looking like it will.

AAHHHHHH CRASH KINGS THREE TIMES IN FOUR DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!

wow this weekend could totally rock. i just need to get there. oooooo i really hope it happens. reaaallyyyyyy reaallyyyyy hope.

this girl who i've been emailing, who will come with me this weekend if it all happens, sounds like the exact version of myself. it's like myself in another person.

we're creating these versions of how this weekend could go that include hanging out with the band every free second.

like, "well, this is our plan for food...unless we end up eating all our meals with the band."
or, "okay, this is our hotel plan... unless we end up staying with the band."
or, "we'll have to find stuff to do on sunday afternoon... but that's when maximum band hangout time could happen...."

so cool.


DEAR UNIVERSE,

please go the exact opposite of today and make everything good happen from now on.
ok thanks bye!

LOVE, JULIE


OH.

so, while we're on the subject of bad things happening in the world. (well, i guess this on a smaller scale of the bad things happening in the world...)

MATT WINTER is leaving Rooney.

it was announced last week. the day before my birthday. MATT WINTER. leaving. ROONEY.

oh, it was a sad day. i am sad. especially because i am totally in love with Matt Winter.

he's going to medical school to become a doctor. which, i guess is a great thing. he said it's something he's always wanted to do. yeah, that's great. but still sad.

and crazy that Kara and I saw Rooney on the last tour with all original members! AND that i got all their signatures on my Rooney shirt! including Matt's!

i guess in the celeb world you call them "autographs," not "signatures." geeze julie, pull it together.

oh, but i still remember standing there, shaking Matt Winter's hand and looking into his beautiful eyes. ooooo that was a really great moment. and he was wearing that icy blue shirt.

i just realized that i was tensing up while i have been typing. i had to take a relaxation moment.

anyways.

ok. i am really hungry and i think that is now contributing to my shakiness and headache. i'm going to go eat something and probably watch more 30 Rock. i had been having a good day before work because i was getting caught up on 30 Rock. soooooo funny.

i have The Hurt Locker here from netflix, but i don't think i can watch it tonight.


i'll talk to you again tomorrow. have a good tuesday.


<3

facebook friends:

thank you for the lovely birthday wishes!

you are wonderful. they made my day. well that, and going to Friendly's.

you rock!


<3

things that have happened since we last talked:

- i turned 24 (mid-twenties ahhhh!!!!!)
- ate at Friendly's
- added 3 new movies to my library: whale rider, the girl next door, rushmore

*quick story about Rushmore: i got the super nice Criterion Collection version for christmas many years ago. almost immediately lost my copy and have never found it again. went on to amazon to look for it, found out that they are no longer making copies of this version and the ones that exist are like, $40. so, i just bought the normal version until i can wrap my head around spending $40 for a movie.*

- drove through EVERY KIND of bad weather possible including, blizzard, sleet, pouring rain, 70mph winds, fallen trees, roads flooded and lightening ALL in one three hour span. luckily i was with kara.
- watched Post Grad starring Alexis Bledel. great. so, so great. how did her hair look so perfect all the time!?
- saw Shutter Island. it was alright. i figured out pretty much the whole story from seeing the trailer, then i read the book and i was right. thought the movie was good. well-made in terms of filmmaking, i thought. MARTY. LEO. THELMA. wasn't a very scary movie. just some really emotional, disturbing scenes.
- LEO = SUPER HOTTIE.


and now i'm about to go to bed. i'm tired. my mom is here. she's sleeping already. it's 1:40am. i'm tired. we're going to Jake's in the morning for coffee and a treat. i'm very excited about this because i love Jake's coffee place.

ALSO, i have to post a picture of my new chair that i bought on craigslist. it's lime green. and awesome. and i'm sitting in it NOW. i loooooove it.

ok. i'm pretty tired and i'm going to go to bed. have a great sunday!

sunday = funday! never forget that.

talk to you all later!!!!



<3

ten million fireflies lit up the world as i fell asleep

just finished watching Body Heat. kathleen turner and william hurt. both hotties!!! ted danson was there too. and mickey rourke!

really good movie. thriller! twist ending that i wasn't expecting. it was like, alfonso cuaron's Great Expectations mixed with Wild Things. (florida mixed with hott, sexy and murder)

good movie. i gave it four stars.

nothing much else happened today. when i left you last, i believe i was going to go watch an episode of The O.C. that's right, and i told you that Marissa had just tried to kill herself on painkillers and tequila. in Tijuana a.k.a. "TJ."

well in this episode, her mother tried to send her away to a mental hospital in San Diego! no way! and then her mother threatened to get full custody of Marissa and her sister Katelyn. she's divorcing her husband Jimmy because he has his own investment company and ended up stealing four million dollars from his clients.

Marissa's mom is named Julie. i KNEW there was someone named Julie on the show. unfortunately, it has to be the evil gold-digger trophy wife. ah well.

so much has happened in eight episodes. i can't believe it. and now the school year is starting so i can imagine things will only get crazier.

it's about 1:49am east coast time. just sitting here on my couch listening to some Crash Kings. man, i really like them a lot. have i told you this? great band. Tony has a super great singing voice. i love '14 Arms.'

tuesday night i have to do some cleaning up around here. it's not that messy. just like, straightening, really. Kara is coming up tuesday night! it should be fun, i hope.

i thought about taking down my Christmas decorations today. putting away my little silver tree with the lime green ornaments that Maria gave me. but then i thought, "no, i don't want to." and so i didn't. why should i have to? because it's almost March? okay, maybe. that's a good point.

but, i'm still enjoying the little tree. and the star on top. it's so sweet.


soo... who else is getting psyched for the Bro Tour 2011? am i the only one? i was thinking about it earlier today while i was listening to Tally Hall. and at first i thought, "i wish some of them were brothers so they could be on the tour." and then i thought about it more and decided, "no, i think i like it better how they are just all best friends."

i still think that "yellow tie" looks soooo much like Logan from Veronica Mars. it drives me crazy whenever i see him.

and i still have a crush on "red tie" and now also on "blue tie." and "grey tie." ooo i like grey tie because he's the drummer. and "green tie" is super cute. oh heck, i guess i have a crush on all of them. simply because they're all super funny and adorable.

(uh oh....Ruby's tail won't stop moving. no matter how hard she tries to pin it down with her paw, it still keeps moving. now she'll start running around the house.)

i wish i could go see Tally Hall in boston on 3 march!!!! but i have to be here on the 4th.

HEY, has anybody else realized that the days in March are the exact same days as in February?? like, the dates fall on the same days of the week?? FOR REALZ. how often does that happen? for serious! isn't that crazy! i was pretty shocked/excited when i noticed that on my JoBros calendar.

(i've been looking at March a lot because it's Kevin's picture...)

SPEAKING OF KEVIN - you are not going to believe this. he was the only JoBro NOT to get nominated for a Kids Choice Award. Nick and Joe were nominated for the show, but NOT KEVIN.

WHO DECIDES THIS?!?!?! do they even watch the show??! it's SO OBVIOUS that Kevin is the best one. he's the funniest BY FAR. the best comedy actor. especially over NICK!!! Nick is so awkward and rarely funny because he's "the serious one."

maybe i need to become president of Nickelodeon too. really, do i have to do everything for this country? oh, i suppose so.

alright. it's 2:13am. i have to wake up for staff meeting today. that's at 12:30pm. i should go to bed. i've been sooooo tired all day. i thought i was going to have to take a nap. but, i soldiered on through my boring, uneventful day. i stayed awake during The O.C. i stayed awake during my bath. tough day, staying awake through things.

man, i could really listen to Tony belt all day. and all night. and all everything ever forever and ever.

hey! it's Tuesday!! my favorite day of the week!!!! Ruby's favorite day as well. i think.

have a great day. i'll talk to you later!!!!




"YELLOW TIE, this suave fellow writes
Heterophonic tunes of how love bites
RED, the proud, loud guy we adore
Is my amp too high?
No turn it up more!
So GRAY in the back sippin, yeah, I can hear
Knockin' down the shots like Bill Laimbeer
Send home the locksmith
GREEN'S got the keys to unlock the rock in the act if you please
Now open the case
Give BLUE the bass
And jiggle your badiggle all over the place"


<3

ashes where the bodies burning

i'm getting really freaking excited about the possibility of a Crash Kings Roadtrip Weekend in just over two weeks. no, just UNDER two weeks! aahhhh. *don't get too excited in case it doesn't happen!* okay, i won't.

but i can't help it. i'm really excited.

and so i will bombard you with Crash Kings until then. or, at least until my food is done cooking in the toaster.


i think i told you that when we saw Crash Kings in Providence they did a cover of Black Sabbath's song, 'War Pigs,' and i believe i said that they rocked the hell out of this song. i had never heard them play it live before - and it was incredible.

i was searching for Crash Kings videos on youtube that i hadn't seen before and came across some videos from when they were in Jacksonville, Florida on the 26th of January, 2010. and they did their 'War Pigs' cover. and the crowd goes WILD. it's amazing. they're amazing.

and i would like to share that video with you here, right now. i understand if you don't watch the video because you're not familiar with the song. or, maybe you are familiar with the song and just don't like Crash Kings. whatever your reasoning is for not watching the video, i would like you to put those feelings aside and WATCH IT ANYWAYS.

WAR PIGS COVER, Crash Kings, Jacksonville, FL

prepare for amazement. the subject line of this entry, "ashes where the bodies burning" is a line from the song. now normally, i wouldn't use a sentence like this to open an entry because, let's face it, it's a little scary seeming.

BUT, i'm so in love with this cover, that I MYSELF put aside feelings of being scared by the lyrics and used it as the subject.

there you go.


AND NOW, what i have for you, is a review of when Crash Kings were in Portland, Maine performing at The Asylum.

remember the picture of Tony wearing the headband? take that picture, combined with all other Crash Kings videos in the whole world.

THAT MUCH AWESOME doesn't even begin to measure up to the amount of awesome in this review.

it's a review from Bowdoin College's weekly publication. the reviewer is a guy called Cameron Weller. let me just say up front - this guy is in love with Tony. like, totally. nothing to be ashamed about. it's hard to NOT be in love with Tony. i think we all can agree with that.

this review is so crazy insane good. i can't really say anything more. it's SO GOOD. and if reading it doesn't make you want to go see a Crash Kings show, then there is something majorly wrong.

let me just use my favorite part of the review as the link to the page...


Tony may as well have been making love to his clavinet, playing it with wildly moving fingers, his body thrown back in a sort of exorcised pose. His voice exploded with clarity as he belted the memorable lyrics, "I'm sipping on some sunshine!".


this is my favorite part of the review for many reasons. you can probably guess why.

wow. yeah. that guy has a way with imagery.

okay.




yep. there it is.

alright! i believe we just maxed out our pleasure quota per blog post.

so with that - i hope you all are having a lovely monday. i'm very tired today and my eye won't stop twitching. i think i am going to watch an ep of The O.C. Marissa just tried to overdose on painkillers and booze whilst on vaca in Tijuana....so, it's kind of a big episode.

also, the score on The O.C. reminds me A LOT of the score from American Beauty. like, a lot a lot.

ok. go back and look at that Tony pic. YEAH. I KNOW.

talk to you later!


<3

if there ever was a day that you should get away...

HEY.

so, i'm listening to Owl City right now. why? this is why:

i have recently started following Chelsea Staub on Twitter. don't judge me for this. she is the actress who plays Stella on JONAS. she's awesome and really funny. (joe+stella!)

anyways.

so, i was on her page looking at who else she follows, and one of them was Owl City. i thought to myself, "oh! that's the band that's opening for Crash Kings and JET when they go on tour together next month!"

i clicked on 'owl city's' twitter and saw that he had over two hundred thousand followers. and then i thought, "hm. that's kind of weird that he's the opener of three bands if he has over 200 thousand followers."

so, i went to his website and immediately a song started playing. and i was like, "wow, he sounds like the guy that sings that song....i'd like to blahblahblahsomethingsomethingsomething when planet earth turns slooowwwlllyyyyy it's hard to stay awake blahblahsomethingsomething"

(clearly i'm awesome at figuring out lyrics)

ALSO - he has the best website ever. it's so cute and sweet and happy seeming. i just sat there staring with a huge smile on my face. it makes me so happy.

anyways. so, i was like, "oh, i'll check out his tour section!" and so i did. and saw that he was going to be in europe mostly throughout march. and then i said, "hmm....that's not right, because he's playing with JET and Crash Kings in NY on 6 March!"

so then i went to the website of the music venue in Clifton Park, NY - Northern Lights - and went to their calendar.

alas, it's not Owl City playing with JET and Crash Kings. it's a band called Owl. just Owl. not a city of Owl's, just one, singular Owl.

THIS BAND OWL is a little scary seeming. they have an owl with yellow eyes flying around their website. it's three guys - Jason, Chris, and Dan. Dan scares me a lot. he is the drummer. and that's saying a lot, because normally i fall in love with drummers.

anyways, it's these three guys and so i said, "oh! i wonder which of them are the brothers!?" as it turns out, none of them are brothers. so, that's too bad.

it's drums, guitar, and an upright bass in this band. really? yeah. the bass threw me off too.

i haven't listened to any of their music yet, mainly because i'm scared of their website. but, perhaps i will. but maybe not.

so then! i thought, "well, maybe i'll start to learn about JET." because all i know are those two songs:

1. 123 take my hand and come with me because you look so fine that i really wanna make you mine! 456 come on and get your kicks 'cause you don't need that money when you look like that, do ya honey?

are those the lyrics? i don't know. i kind of made some of that up.

and,

2. ohhhhh look what you've done you've made a fool of ...........

and then i don't know the rest. even enough to sing 'blah' to. i can't even think of the tune. anyways.

so, i saw the picture of the band and there are four guys. so i immediately thought, "i wonder which two are the brothers?!"

TURNS OUT - there IS a set of brothers in the band JET!!!!! Nic and Chris are the bros. Cam and Mark are the other guys. they are from Australia! who knew?!


JONAS BROTHERS
HANSON
KINGS OF LEON
CRASH KINGS
JET
with special guests
ROBERT and JASON SCHWARTZMAN


yep. the bro tour. i need to organize this immediately.

either that, or organize the "CRASH KINGS OF LEON" tour. yep. see what i did there? i made a mash-up of those two band names. brillz, right? Phantom Planet would be proud. at the end of their concert DVD there's an end bit where they are sitting around in the tour bus doing really long mash-ups of different bands. it's hilarious.

'slick rick james brown'

brillz. anyways.

okay. here's the verdict - all the Owl City songs kind of sound the same. and they're all like, jam packed with imagery and metaphor.

the song 'Vanilla Twilight' reminds me of ........aw crap, what's that song called? by The Postal Service? AAHHHH what's it called?!?! it's in Garden State, but not the Postal Service version. a slow version.

ok, i have to look it up. SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS. phew. i cheated, i had to go to my iTunes. but, it was driving me nuts.

and Iron and Wine does the slow version, fyi.

ok what else can i tell you.

i had an adventure day today. well, kind of. but not really.

- i woke up and was content for about ten minutes.
- then, one of the residents CRANKED her hardcore hip hop music and it was so loud, my floor was vibrating.
- then, the two girls started screaming at each other. yes, i could hear all this on my third floor apartment.
- they are screaming. they are swearing. doors are slamming.

JULIE: I need to get out of here immediately.

so, i got ready real quick and LEFT. i felt bad that i was leaving Ruby Tuesday. but, i put her on a chair with a patch of sunlight on it so she would be nice and warm. she doesn't like being in the car anyways.

then i drove to the "sandwich shop" Jake's and got a sandwich.
then i drove down the street to the "coffee shop" Jake's and got a coffee. (the 'Jake's' empire is taking over the Upper Valley. there's also a car wash.)

then i drove to a spot that i had been with my dad while he was staying with me. it's a little picnic area that overlooks the Connecticut River, as well as some sort of power plant that looks like the one from the end of The Waterhorse: Legend of the Deep movie.

there were lots of other cars parked there.

there was an empty picnic table sitting on the icy parking lot and so i said, "well, i'll go sit there." kind of because i knew it would be cold. and i was feeling frustrated and sad and i wanted to feel something other than that. so, i decided i wanted to feel cold.

and i went outside and it was cold. and i put in my ipod headphones and had a lovely, freezing cold, solo picnic.

(listening to Owl City makes me want to do the robot.)

and then i finished my sandwich and couldn't feel my hands anymore. so, i went back to my car. i put my car on the "drive-in movie setting" and was still able to play my ipod through the radio, without running down the battery. brillz.

then i called my mom and we talked for a long time. afterwards, i did not feel any better.

so, i decided that i needed another adventure.

i left the icy lot and drove into Hanover, NH. took a left at the main intersection. drove over the Star Wars bridge. into Norwich, VT. down route 5 south. past King Arthur Flour.

(side note:: if i ever start a flour company, it will be called 'Flowery Flour.' how come no one has ever thought of this?!)

and then i came to the point where i could have turned left and went back home. or, i could go straight and continue to route 4 west, which would lead me to the Quechee Gorge. and i decided that i wanted to see the gorge.

so! i took route 4 west for 7 miles and ended up at the gorge. i parked in the little parking lot and walked across the bridge.

whoa! it never ceases to amaze me! it was gorge-ous. there were two couples walking along the bridge with me. i wondered why they were there. for a day adventure too?

i stayed there for a few minutes. (if you're heading west, the left side of the bridge is better.)

and then i left the gorge.

drove east on route 4. south on 89. then i got off at exit 20, went to the grocery store and got a few groceries, including vanilla soy milk and 100% whole wheat multigrain bread. and coffee.

and then i headed home. there was nobody else in the house when i got back, which was nice because it was quiet for a few minutes.

then i took a really long bath. and i listened to good music.

then i put on my pajamas and went to work.

immediately got into an argument with one of the residents.

i was thinking tonight while i was in the bath, "i need to make a birthday playlist!" i have made one for the past two years. the birthday playlist includes my current favorite songs. it's a good way to keep track of my ever-changing music preferences.

OH HEY - did JET perform at the Winter Olympics? like, last week? because i went to their website and it said, "watch JET perform at the Winter Olympics!" and i thought, "hm."

and since i think i am the only person on the planet who hasn't watched any olympics and hasn't followed any coverage whatsoever.... i figured you might know.

BUT IT'S FUNNY - because Crash Kings should have performed! um, they write the best songs about winter, duh! and the outdoors. i read some Crash Kings fan posts saying that people thought 'Mountain Man' should be the theme song for the USA Ski Team.

HEY! in honor of the 2010 Winter Olympics, i will post some lovely photos that i believe you will enjoy:




it's Kara and I at the Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta. you can read that on the sign. when Kara, my dad and I went on our super huge, super adventurous, super awesome Canadian Adventure a few summers ago, we went to the Olympic Park in Calgary.





for this picture, i was SITTING ON the bobsled track. no way! yes way! and we've all seen the movie Cool Runnings. which is about the bobsled team from Jamaica at the Calgary Olympics. yeah. that's the track. cool, right?




AND THIS PICTURE was taken in Vancouver, at the construction site for the 2010 Olympics! that's happening right now! i don't know which building they were building - but here they are building it! and they are using it right now! that's pretty cool.

yeah. that was an awesome trip.

ANYWAYS. it's 12:37am and i have to eat supper now. and go watch more of The O.C.

YEAH. THE O.C. i started watching it. i'm five episodes in. um, it's great. it's turning out to be way more bromantic than i expected. Seth and Ryan? yeah. total dude-bros. they're really cute. Seth overall is amazing. he's really funny.

i wish Rachel Bilson wasn't so annoying because she's so cute. and i wish Mischa Barton was a better actress.

but! in the very second episode, she's in the car with Seth and Ryan and Rooney is playing on the radio! and she says something like, "oh, i love this band!" or something like that! and that made me really happy and excited BECAUSE she dated Taylor Locke for a long time! the guitarist for Rooney!! who i was making eyes at during the Rooney concert in december! and then he held my hand for a minute during the meet-and-greet. yeah. it was more romantic than it sounds, trust me.

so that made me happy.

and i kind of semi-forgot that Phantom Planet did the theme song. so, that's really exciting. ESPECIALLY in that second episode because Phantom Planet and Rooney are brother bands. each one separately started by a Schwartzman brother. (appearing on the Bro Tour 2011!)

(i figure we'll start scheduling for 2011 because i'm kind of assuming Crash Kings are booked for the rest of the year.)

anyways. i like The O.C. so far. i mean, i'm five episodes in and:

- a house has burned down
- someone has been shot
- cocaine has been done

so, yeah.

OH! i wanted to post a link to THE CHAIR I AM GETTING THIS WEEK!!!!!

yeah, i'm getting a new chair. it's going to be a desk chair for the front room of my apartment with the desk in it. i'm very excited about it. kara is coming to get it with me and we're turning it into a Sister Adventure.

perhaps we'll photo-tweet the day. that sounds fun.

anyways, okay. i think that's all. writing this has put me in a good mood. i think it's a pretty good blog post. lots of links to different things. i like it. and some photos! hopefully some humor. some inspiration. some useless information. the norm.

alright. have a wonderful monday. just imagine the kind of possibility this week holds for us!

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY WEEK!!!!!!!!!

okay, now i'm really excited. MY BIRTHDAY!!!! the best day out of the whole year!

i love going out places on your birthday, because to everyone else, it's just a normal day. but it's not! because it's YOUR birthday! anything but normal! it's like an immortal person walking amongst mortals. they probably look the same, but they're not, because they're immortal.

i might look the same as everyone else on 25 february, but i'm not! because it's my birthday!

i should really get some kind of shirt that reads, "it's my birthday today" or something. or, "today is my favorite day of the year. ask me why!" i like that one.

this year i'll be 24. 24 on the 25th.

NEXT YEAR - 25 on the 25th. yikes. that's a big one. where your age is also the number of your birth date.

i should have a huge blow-out party.

maybe the Bro Tour 2011 will start on 25 February. then i can go to the Bro Tour on my birthday. THAT would rock.

oh man. KEVIN. ZAC. TONY. ROBERT AND JASON.

and the opening band for the Bro Tour could be called the Non-Brother Band, and it could be composed of the non-brothers on the Bro Tour.

example:
Jason, from Crash Kings is not a brother of Mike and Tony
Cam and Mark, are not brothers of Chris and Nic in JET
Matthew, from Kings of Leon is not a brother of the other three

that's a four-man band. it could work. i only know that Jason plays drums. i don't know what the other guys do in their respective bands.

wow. i think i have a really good idea. this is gonna rock.

AND THEN - in the big finale of the Bro Tour, ALL the bands could come out and do a huge cover of 'Get Together' by The Youngbloods!!!! "smile on your brother, everybody get together, try and love one another right now!"

oh wow. this is great. so great. how clever am i? i am so clever. there will be so much love on the Bro Tour. just imagine all those moms! of all those bros! their moms will be so happy.

okay. enough. i'm excited now. so is Ruby Tuesday because she's running crazy around the house.

okay. have a great day. i'll talk to you all later.



if there ever was a day that you should get away
i feel it in my bones, i think today's the day



<3