Sorry If I write about shows I've already written about...
you'll get over it
; )
October 22, 2005 - Fuel Coffeehouse - Allister, Fenix TX
HELLO. Fenix TX Farewell tour? Yes please.
The first time I ever heard Fenix TX was in the MTV movie Jailbait which was shown on TV in 2000.
I've been hooked ever since.
I was so bummed when they broke up. But then they started touring again!
Hooray!
Who wouldn't love a band that can sing about Keanu Reeves in Point Break?
Fun fact: their current drummer is also the touring drummer for Lostprophets: Ilan Rubin. He's in the Guiness Book of Records for being the youngest person to play Woodstock. He was 11 at the time : O
October 28, 2005 - Club Chistophers - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
AKA The day Megan almost spontaneously combusted.
When I got up to go to school that morning, Mom was like, "Listen to this voicemail" and it was Joey, calling from NYC, telling us they had been signed to Virgin Records.
We were pretty much sworn to secrecy, because they were going to make a huge announcement on the radio that afternoon telling everyone.
Let's just say I had the biggest grin on my face at school all day long, and people were like "Tell me why you're smiling so much!" and I'm like "I can't!!!!!"
Red Jumpsuit tells everyone at the show that they've been signed.
Plan for world domination is initiated...
Did I mention the fetish show that occured between sets?
I'm not even kidding.
November 13, 2005 - House Of Blues Orlando - Matchbook Romance, Armor For Sleep
Mom and I were on the MBR street team, and we were supposed to be on the guest list for the show in Jax, and we were supposed to have a meet and greet as well.
The street team manager mixed things up and had us on the list for Orlando.
To make up for the mix up in Jax, he arranged for us to come in and watch sound check.
I brought my camera in and recorded it : )
As for that meet and greet... we got to meet the whole band personally, and we were the only ones to get a meet and greet in Orlando : )
The drummer even found us after the show and asked us what we thought of the show.
Total geek out moment : D
November 17, 2005 - House of Blues Orlando - Aiden, Hawthorne Heights, Bayside
This was my second time seeing Aiden. I hasn't been convinced when I saw them at Thee Imperial, but this show won me over for sure.
This was a little over two weeks after Bayside's accident.
It was their first show back on the tour, and they played acoustic.
It was so silent you could hear a pin drop. All the other bands came and sat on the sides of the stage to watch.
Mom and I went to Aiden's merch booth after the show, and we started talking to Troy, the merch guy. We chatted about the show at Thee Imperial. Our long friendship with Troy was born : )
December 15, 2005 - Jack Rabbit's - The Audition, Spitalfield, Plain White T's
IF I remember correctly, it was this show when Danny Stevens held the microphone out in front of me and I sang "Tick tock of the clock and a knock at the" during "You've made us conscious".
Danny asked the audience if anyone had seen them the last time they came through town with Aiden. Us and our friends raised our hands. A few other people raised their hands. Danny pointed to us and was like "I know you guys were there" and he points to the other people and was like "There were like, 10 people there! I don't remember seeing you!"
I love Danny Stevens. We're like, total BFF's : D
December 26, 2005 - Jack Rabbit's - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, The Sophomore Attempt, Shadow Agency
Red Jumpsuit had been up in New Jersey recording their CD, and they came home to do a Christmas show.
The first version of the "Face Down" video was filmed at this show.
LOL Lynette's all on the front row flailing everywhere : P
Mom injured a rib during the show and we had to go to the ER afterwards to make sure it wasn't broken.
Ah, the hazards of being at the front of the crowd ; )
December 28, 2005 - The Social - Orlando - From First To Last, Chiodos, The Number 12 Looks Like You, Dead Reckless
If you haven't ever listened to Dead Reckless, I recommend you track down their tunes now.
(I would direct you to a place where you could hear their music, If I knew where one existed...but I don't)
Tye Reckless, licking his guitar? Yes please.
The Number 12 floored me with their AMAZING guitarist (even though I didn't really get into their music)
First time seeing a little band called CHIODOS.
We were all like "You can't be screaming, and then have the whole crowd sing along, and then scream, and then have a clap-a-long!"
We had never seen/heard anything like this before. We fell in love with it : )
FFTL came out and rocked everyone's faces off.
Mom had her video camera, and was recording, and then FFTL's tour manager came over and was like "Give me the tape...blah blah blah". I guess they don't like people taping (we weren't trying to do anything wrong, we just didn't know it was a big deal. Excuse our ignorance) For this tour, Alicia Simmons (AKA now Mikey Way's wife) was on bass, making it cool for girls to be on stage. Then the band went off stage before their encore, and when they came back out, flippin MIKEY WAY was on bass, and they played "Christmassacre".
Talk about a crowd going apeshit.
The tour manager brought our tape back afterwards. We chatted with him for a minute, apologized, and Mom mentioned she had a Star Wars poster that she wanted to give to Matt Good. She asked the TM if she brought it to the show tomorrow and gave it to him (the tour manager), could he give it to Matt. He said if we brought it, he'd let us give it to Matt ourselves : )
December 29, 2005 - The Social - Orlando - From First To Last, Chiodos, The Number 12 Looks Like You, Dead Reckless
Pretty much like the show the night before, except I MET MIKEY WAY.
Mom brought the poster for Matt, and he came out to talk to fans after the show, and we got pictures, and she gave it to him, and he pretty much lit up with excitement (he's a huge Star Wars fan, if you didn't know...hello, his myspace url is Mattskywalker...go figure)
Then as we're standing there talking to him, Mikey Way walks by, and I just take off. Mom catches up a minute later, and us and 3 other girls pretty much corner him at the bar, and we get pictures. The other girls wanted autographs, and they asked if I had a sharpie....I did. Mikey Way used my sharpie...*dies*
December 30, 2005 - Jack Rabbit's - FFTL, Chiodos, Dead Reckless - early show
The show was cut down to 3 bands to make enough time for 2 shows.
We had decided to go to the early show, because we had to get up and drive to Alabama the next day, so we didn't want to be out too late.
The crowd at the early show was so lame, they didn't cheer for an encore, so they were not lucky enough to be graced with the presence of Mikey Way. LAME.
Mom had gone to the store and made big 8x10's of our pictures with Mikey, Sonny, and Matt from the night before. We found the tour manager after the show, and asked if there was any way we could maybe get them signed. Oh yeah. He took the pics out to the bus and got them signed.
Before we left, I saw Craig walking around, and told him they put on a good show.
December 30, 2005 - Jack Rabbit's - FFTL, The Number 12 Looks Like You, Dead Reckless - late show
We decided "What the hell..." and we stayed for the late show too : D
While we were standing in line outside, Jason from Chiodos walked by and told me I had a cool purse... *dies* (for those of you that don't know, Jason is pretty much my fave from Chiodos...I love Craig and all, but Jason is awesome)
For this show, Mikey Way did come out and play ("gotta keep em separated..." LOL), so all was well with the world.
Needless to say, I listened to Dead Reckless and Chiodos all the way to Alabama : D
February 4, 2006 - The Social - Orlando - Armor For Sleep, Chiodos
Me and Mom felt freaked out at the show because it seemed like Bradley was staring at my camera the whole time. LOL.
I directly quote from the October 2007 issue of Alternative Press "One night in Orlando, Florida, during the band's tour supporting Armor For Sleep, Owens had a complete meltdown and quit the band."
The band convinced him to stay, obviously.
But it's still cool to be like "Hey! I was at that show! But I didn't know THAT was happening!"
We met Ben Jorgensen, and he used my Mikey-Way-marker to sign an autograph for someone : )
February 17, 2006 - Virgin Megastore - Orlando - Panic! At The Disco, The Academy Is... - acoustic set
There once was a time when Ryan Ross and Brendon Urie could play acoustic outside of a cd store, and have fans stand in front of them, and there was no risk of being raped by fangirlies.
That time has long since gone.
But I was there : )
February 17, 2006 - House Of Blues Orlando - The Academy Is..., Panic! At The Disco
WTF? Panic opened for TAI... whod've thunk?
: P
February 24, 2006 - Metro Park - Taste Of Chaos
Thanks to the Matchbook Romance street team, we ended up with a stint to work the label tent in Jax at TOC.
We got to go in and work before the gates were open, and Story Of The Year was running around in the grass playing football. Sweet.
I was kind of in awe because the girl that was working with us at the tent used to be the merch girl for My Chemical Romance (I remembered her because she would always stand on the table and yell "No one is buying anything until you all get in a line!")
At one point during the day, someone walked up and I'm like "Dude, is that Dirty?!" and she went over and chatted with him for a while. She told us that her boyfriend is the bodyguard for Fall Out Boy (I'm thinking Charlie maybe? I dunno...)
I think in that instant, Kate Truscott kind of became my hero : P
The AP signing tent was right beside our tent, so we're there and Thrice is chillin a few feet away from us signing autographs. Neato.
I was more impressed by the fact that Jonah Bayer (a writer for Alternative Press) was there working the AP tent. But I was too nervous to talk to him and tell him I love his articles...*facepalm*
It was crazy seeing what Kate had to go through to disassemble the tent after the show. Trying to lug equipment back and forth to their buses... I gained a new respect for people who work festivals/shows/Warped.
I don't care how much people say that working Warped sucks...this experience just made me want it even more.
February 25, 2006 - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Fort Walton Beach
We called the guys at one point during the day to see if they were there, and they were running way late (they had just gotten their van that day. It caused a delay because there was no trailer hitch, thus no trailer, and they had to cram all their equipment and 7 people in the van...).
We were just chilling in Ft. Walton, and I get a phone call. I answer it, and the person says their name is Tyrone, and they're asking if I'm bringing the barbecue sauce, and they tell me "I wanna pee in your butt". *dies*
This is how a prank call from Lee Miles goes... LMAO.
(For those who are wondering, Lee Miles was RJA's first tour manager)
Did I mention we had never even met Lee before, and he was prank calling us????
Joey can seem innocent, but Lee had to get my phone number from someone!!!!!! LOL.
I didn't even get to see this show.
It was 18+ and I was 17. The venue was right by a beach, and there was a boardwalk beside it. The weather was hurricane-like. I put on my hoodie, grabbed a blanket, and went and sat out on the boardwalk for as long as I could to try and hear RJA play. This is the origin of my infamous "emo" picture...LOL.
It got too windy, too cold, too horrible to stay outside. I went and sat in the car. It was so windy, that car alarms started going off. It was ridiculous.
When Mom and Shelly came back out after the show, they told me it was Joey's birthday, and we were going to get a cake. We got a cake, brought it to Waffle House, and celebrated.
The guys had gotten in to town late, so they had no plans for anywhere to stay. We were staying on the Military base, and our room was in the temporary housing for the military peeps. So we had like, an apartment for the night. So we said, "Hey, you guys could come stay with us"...so they did.
Have you ever tried getting 7 guys on a military base at 2 a.m.? LOL.
A Red Jumpsuit sleepover ensued : D
March 3, 2006 - Jannus Landing - Tampa - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, The Starting Line, Cartel, Copeland
Red Jumpsuit's first "tour". Copeland...oh god....the worst music ever. Bring on the puka shells! (kind of an inside joke). Nikki was at this show, but we didn't know her at the time.
I still think it's so weird that we were at the same shows as people we now know, and we probably saw each other there, but it wouldn't have mattered because we were strangers : P
Mom's hair + gum = sawing hair off with a plastic knife.
March 11, 2006 - Panama City - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
What happens in Panama City, stays in Panama City.....
("Albatross rules!")
March 13, 2006 - Freebird - Aiden, The Audition, 30 Seconds To Mars
We were at this show, standing in the front watching people set up a drum kit, and we said "That's not Aiden's drum kit..." We didn't know who else was billed to play... and then we saw Danny Stevens, and we were like "AHHHH!!!!!!! THE AUDITION!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Aiden played, and it was so awesome. wiL in a black trenchcoat, with the creepiest face make up ever. At the end of their set, he crowdwalked. It was so cool to see him being held up in the middle of the crowd.
While I was watching 30STM, Mom was schmoozing with the guys in Aiden. She says she talked to wiL quite a bit that night.
We got hugs from our BFF Danny, and all was well with the world.
For all the show goodness about the RJA, Aiden, 30STM shows in Ohio, and The Matches show in Pittsburgh, refer to my old blogs : )
April 25, 2006 - Jacksonville Memorial Arena - Fall Out Boy, The All American Rejects, Hawthorne Heights, From First To Last
Every Fall Out Boy show is my favorite show : )
(if you don't like FOB, then just don't even say anything about it, because I will defend them FOREVER)
FOB played at the arena, and I graduated at the arena a few weeks later. I was just like "Dude, FOB played here!"
For Bamboozle blog goodness, refer to my old blogs : )
June 4, 2006 - Eddie C's - Gainesville - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Monty Are I, Veronica's Veil
First time seeing Monty, and we were like "Keyboards! Trumpet spinning! Steve's hair! Hootie the owl!"
It was also cool to have two Winter brothers play a show together : )
For 2006 Warped Tour goodness, see the old blogs
July 14, 2006 - Plush - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
CD release show.
Sarah and Katie were at the front of the line outside and they had a CD player/stereo and Steve got the new cd and let us play it outside. Awesome!
This show was probably the last time a lot of people heard certain old songs...
Let's make a "More old songs" petition okay?
Ronnie stage dived. Fo shizzle.
July 25, 2006 - Freebird - Yellowcard, Inspection 12, Shadow Agency
Yellowcard's long-awaited return to Jacksonville.
Let me give you a little break down on band members. Pete Mosely is (was) in Yellowcard. He is also in Inspection 12. Warren Cooke was in YC in the early days, and he was in Shadow Agency at the time.
This show was one big Yellowcard member reunion. LOL.
It was awesome though.
I caught Sean Mackin's water bottle. (translated: it hit me in the head *I was upstairs! Sheesh!* and it fell into my hands)
September 21, 2006 - Common Grounds - Gainesville - Paramore, Cute Is What We Aim For, This Providence, Hit The Lights
I had been at the front of the crowd for most of the show, but seen as how I didn't like Paramore, I went and stood at the back during their set.
I heard someone behind me say "Megan Apparatus?"
And thus my friendship with Nikki was born : D
For RJA North Carolina goodness, see the old blogs
November 12, 2006 - Fuel Coffeehouse - Brand New, My Getaway
This show was amazing, NOT because Brand New was good, but because I have never seen SO many disappointed people in one room.
You can't get famous because of the song "Jude Law and a Semester Abroad" and then be like "Oh, you just paid 30 bucks to come see us, but we're not gonna play that song."
Sound familiar? Underoath doesn't play "Reinventing Your Exit" live... Finch went and was like "Oh no, we don't want to sound like THAT anymore..."
Bands like that piss me off.
For No Snow Show, Buzz Bake Sale, and Next Big Thing goodness, you know where to look...
December 7, 2006 - Fuel Coffeehouse - Lower Class Brats, Circle Jerks
I think there is a law in physics that says if you put enough punk kids in a room, they will gain the ability to defy gravity and walk on walls.
I love punk shows.
But will someone PLEASE tell Keith Morris to just shut up and play?
THANKS.
December 10, 2006 - Fuel Coffeehouse - Bouncing Souls, Street Dogs, Whole Wheat Bread
I don't think I've mentioned Whole Wheat Bread yet...
You need to look them up and listen to them.
I believe they refer to themselves as "Jacksonville's ghetto punks"
They made saying "DUUUUUUUUVALLLLLLLLLLLLL" cool.
As for Bouncing Souls....dude, there was a room full of people singing "OLE! OLE OLE OLE! OLE! OLE!"
How awesome is that?
January 18, 2007 - The Venue - Gainesville - Senses Fail, The Sleeping, Alexisonfire
The day I realized "Holy shit! There are people in Gainesville that own band tees!"
Last year, I NEVER saw people in G-ville with band tees.
January 20, 2007 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - Fall Out Boy, New Found Glory, The Early November
My first time seeing New Found Glory. Which was kind of a big deal, because they were one of the first punk bands I ever liked : )
Fall Out Boy was a big deal too, because they played stuff from Infinity On High, which wasn't out yet.
January 23, 2007 - Common Grounds - Gainesville - Kill Hannah, Love Arcade
Every Love Arcade show is awesome. It makes me wanna dance.
Because there weren't a lot of people there, Kill Hannah told everyone to get on the stage, and they played down on the floor.
It was ridiculous.
I just grabbed Nikki and said "Come on!"
January 31, 2007 - Common Grounds - Gainesville - Less Than Jake
LTJ had been billed under an alias (Lopan Takes Japan... LTJ...get it?), and they announced the day of the concert that they were doing a surprise show. There were about 400 people in Common Grounds (tickets were only $5! You couldn't keep people away!), skanking and going insane.
(Did I mention LTJ is from Gainesville?)
Roger was like "Man, I remember back when people would be pissed if they had to pay $5 to see us!"
They let people shout out whatever songs they wanted to hear, which meant a TON of old stuff.
One of the craziest shows ever.
For Red Jumpsuit Take Action Tour blogs, you know where to look
February 10, 2007 - The Social - Orlando - The Matches, Escape The Fate, The Higher
We fell in love with The Higher at this show.
The Matches played "Scratched Out" outside by the buses after the show. Mom was in her wheelchair, and Shawn was like "Is your lock on?" and she said yeah, and he jumped up and off of her wheelchair. (There is a video of this on my Myspace Video page)
Shawn Harris is crazy. But we're like, BFF's too. LOL.
I love The Matches.
Bamboozle blogs...you know where to look
May 28, 2007 - The Social - Orlando - Madina Lake, Emanuel
Every Madina Lake show is insane.
We talked to the guys outside afterwards.
We adopted the word "Shiznasty" from Nathan : P
June 6, 2007 - Jack Rabbit's - The Audition, Monty Are I
I got my braces off on June 5th. I saw Danny after the show, and he was like "When did you get these *points to teeth* off?" OH. MY. GOD. Danny Stevens noticed that I got my braces off.
That pretty much made me feel like the coolest person ever : P
Then we saw Steve from Monty and he was like "I remember you guys! Don't think that I don't, because I do!" LOL
I guess we're BFF's with Steve too : P
For Honda Civic Tour, Warped Tour 2007, and Projekt Revolution blogs, check the big blog about this summer. It's all in there.
September 19, 2007 - The Side Bar - Gainesville - The Sophomore Attempt, There For Tomorrow, Versaemerge
This is hands down one of the funnest shows I have ever been to.
I have video documenting the insanity.
: )
October 2, 2007 - The Social - Orlando - Aiden
We hadn't seen Aiden in FOREVER. We were supposed to see them at Taste Of Chaos, but TOC got cancelled in Jacksonville. I hadn't seen Aiden since Warped Tour in Cleveland in 2006.
DAMN.
We made cookies and brought them. We found Troy (*who's not the merch guy anymore, but he's Jake W's brother, so he is important enough to still tour with them ; )*) and gave him the cookies.
He was like "I haven't seen you guys in ages!"
We hadn't been to an Aiden show in a year, but Troy still remembered us perfectly.
You know that part in the Grinch where it shows his heart getting bigger and bigger and bigger?
I think my heart kinda did that.
There is no better feeling than someone remembering you : )
October 6, 2007 - The Audition, All Time Low
The Audizzle played new songs, and ATL played "Let It Roll", so all was well with the world.
Danny came to us for hugs.
You know you're not just a "fan" when THEY come to YOU for hugs.
Erika disco danced during Boys Like Girls...good times, good times.
Then Danny decided he would be all funny and wave his hand around in front of my camera while I was recording Boys Like Girls butchering "Let Go" by Frou Frou.
: D
November 1, 2007 - UCF Arena - Orlando - Fall Out Boy, Gym Class Heroes, Cute Is What We Aim For, Plain White T's
I blogged about this over on my Blogspot (there's a link on my profile to the page)
You can also watch Videos of Fall Out Boy's performance, which was taped for MSN.
The vids are in my favorites on my Youtube page (there's a link to that page on my profile too)
Currently, this tops my list for Best Concert Ever.
(Don't get all defensive! You know I love RJA shows, but FOB shows are an entirely different thing! You've never seen the stupid grin I get on my face at FOB shows!)
November 12, 2007 - House Of Blues Orlando - Chiodos, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Pierce The Veil
I don't think my arms ever fully recovered from the bruises I got on my arms from the barricade at the show in Tampa the night before, but nevertheless, I was front row in Orlando, rocking out.
(Yes, I am capable of "rocking out". But I only "rock out" at Chiodos shows)
In case you haven't heard my theory, I think Jason and Matt from Chiodos are secretly gay together (even though I know well and good that Matt is married) LOL.
The way they act around each other on stage is so great. Jason will stick his hand between Matt's legs and play his bass. Jason will look at Matt like "I am undressing you with my eyes..."
It's one of those things that you just need to see.
OH GOD. Matt posted a bulletin on Myspace the other day, and he mentioned people wanting to "pop his butt cherry" (taken out of context, this sounds very weird, I know) and that completely solidified my theory. *dies*
Next time you see Chiodos, watch how Jason and Matt interact with each other : )
I played air guitar at the beginning of "The Words 'Best Friend'..." and Jason threw his pick toward me and Mom caught it. WIN!
November 15, 2007 - FAU - Boca Raton - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Sometimes it's the little things, like a hug from Phil outside before the show, or a wave from Ronnie while he's onstage singing, that mean so much.
November 21, 2007 - House Of Blues Orlando - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Joey, Ronnie, and Elias jumped into the crowd at the end of their set.
It was Elias' first time stage diving : D
Talking to the guys after the show never gets old : )
We met Kirsten Storms, and we all fought the urge to say "Zedis Lepidus" (or however you would like to spell it) because we've all seen Zenon : )
"Interplanetary mega stellar hydro static, there's no gravity between us, our love is automatic! Zoom zoom zoom..."
December 20, 2007 - Maverick's Rock N Honky Tonk - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Shadow Agency, Alexis Cone
It's been a while since we were up front at an RJA show (since Warped Tour! Blasphemous, I know!) so it was good to be right up there, getting slammed in the back by people moshing : D
When Ronnie came out with his acoustic guitar to sing "Your Guardian Angel", he first started strumming other songs... "I sit around and think about, all the times we've shared..."......"My love's like an armchair, it's inclined to recline, and sweep you off of your feet..." OH YEAH. He didn't play the whole songs, just parts of them. He'd be like "Okay, let's see if you know this one..." and then he'd start singing. He even started singing "Glycerine" by Bush.
That was pretty awesome : D
XMeganX
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Favorite concerts: Pt. 1 - work in progress
Seeing those old Panic! and TAI... vids made me wanna write about some of my favorite shows that I've gone to.
I guess I'll start with the oldest shows and work my way forward.
If I've blogged about a show on Myspace, I won't blog about it here too.
You'll just have to read through the old blogs for all the show-goodness.
(Why do I start blogs at 1:30 AM?)
Warped Tour 2002 - Jax Raceway = MUD MUD and more MUD
I find it hard to believe that I've been going to Warped Tour longer than most people who are older than me.
My Mom dropped me, Becky, and Jessica off at the raceway.
My job was to text Mom every now and then to let her know I wasn't dead.
They didn't open the gates until 12 (even though the tickets said gates at 11) because they were busy putting down hay.
The raceway was a giant mud pit because in the days before, it had rained a lot.
They actually thought putting down hay was going to make the mud....cleaner?
Hardly.
This show was the first time I ever met a band member.
Jeez, I met Good Charlotte.
I had been so excited for Warped Tour. I had listened to all these compilations in the weeks before, and I found myself consistently liking songs by a band called Autopilot Off.
I was excited because Autopilot Off was going to be at Warped Tour.
I watched them from the front row.
I couldn't stop watching their hands play the guitars.
This was probably the moment I decided that I wanted to go to shows for the rest of my life.
The sad thing is, we had to leave early (Freshman orientation was the same day).
We went to orientation, and we were probably the muddiest, most sunburned people there.
But damn, it was great.
Thanksgiving 2002 - Marquee Theater - The Ataris, Sugarcult, Rufio, Autopilot Off
My first non-Warped Tour rock show.
It was cold. We decided to go get hot chocolate at the gas station around the corner from the venue. We were standing in line outside, and from behind the parked bus walks Marko72 from Sugarcult. He started chatting with us, like he was just a normal guy. We offered him hot chocolate : )
This was my first experience with being in a huge crowd, and experiencing a crowd surge.
I almost got knocked to the ground, but my friends kept me standing.
I was there for the opening band, and I was the only one who knew the words to the songs.
I remember seeing people from Rufio hanging out in the crowd, like they were normal people.
I didn't go to another show until Warped Tour the next summer, but this experience definitely got me hooked on indoor shows.
Warped Tour 2003
First experience with getting pulled over the barricade by security.
Who knew the crowd for The Starting Line could be so intense?!
I was about third row. The crowd surge was so intense that my cheek was pressed against the back of the person in front of me. There was absolutely no concept of personal space anymore.
Have I told you that I'm claustrophobic? I can handle small spaces just fine, but when people crowd around me, hover over me, get squished all around me, I freak out.
I was panicking, and I couldn't breathe. By that point, I had been kicked in the FACE by a crowdsurfer, and I had a lovely cut on the bridge of my nose from where my glasses had dug in.
The guy beside me could tell I was not enjoying being there anymore, and he got security's attention. He got the people in front of me to scoot aside so I could get up to the barricade. The security guard grabbed me and pulled me over (not without my bare knees slamming down onto the metal, two more bruises for the books). The security guard standing at the end of the barricade stopped me and asked me if I was okay. I told him I was fine, I just couldn't catch my breath. He directed me to a chair set up in the grass behind a fence and beside the stage. I went and sat down, trying to breathe. Someone from backstage whistled and got my attention, and when I turned around, they threw me a can of water. I still have that can. It's sitting on top of my stereo.
That security guard that "looked out for me" per se, still works shows in town. He is by far my favorite security guard, because of the extra effort he put into making sure I was okay that day.
April 30, 2004 - De Real Ting Cafe - Rufio, Senses Fail, Don't Look Down, Autopilot Off
The most abnormal venue EVER.
A reggae cafe in a basement in downtown Jacksonville. Yeah.
It has a checkerboard dance floor.
I rest my case.
There was a rail on each side of the dance floor, so everyone who was watching the bands had to cram into this small square space. When the floor got full, people just started moving upward. I swear the crowd was about three people high.
Buddy from Senses Fail told everyone to go download the new cd, because at that point, no one thought Let It Enfold You would EVER come out.
(You get brownie points if you were a SF fan before that CD came out!)
The crowd stacked three high resulted in me getting some feet to the face. Surprise, surprise.
Mom and I went into the bathroom so she could try and fix my hair (which had been mangled by crowdsurfers) and SF started playing "187". I ran back out there and got right into the thick of the crowd just in time to throw my arm in the air and yell "Shot through my heart!"
I find it odd that, come to find out, people I know today were at that show.
June 2004 - Eclate - Yellowcard acoustic show
We heard an announcement on the radio that Yellowcard was going to be playing a surprise acoustic show at a jazz club downtown called Eclate. The first hundred or so people would get in, and then they would cut the line off.
We got in. They cut the line off a couple of people behind us.
This is what some would call luck.
People were crowded inside, standing or sitting where ever there was room.
Most of the family members of the YC guys were there. There was a lady sitting barefoot on top of a....ledge? I don't even know what it was, but anywho, Ryan told everyone she was Aunt Stephanie...the very same Aunt Stephanie they sing about in "Rockstar Land".
Ryan and Sean drank so much wine it wasn't even funny.
They played a ton of cover songs.
It was one of those shows where you just knew there would never be another show like it ever again.
Warped Tour 2004 - Jax Fairgrounds - (It seems like i'm listing every concert doesn't it?)
My first experience with throwing up at a concert.
I chugged an entire bottle of Dasani, then I went and stood in the 100+ degree heat, in direct sunlight, and waited for Flogging Molly to finish playing and for Yellowcard to come on.
As soon as YC came out, the pit erupted, and I was in the middle of it.
Lots of elbows to the stomach. Not a good thing.
Then I got to experience a little thing we like to call "Heat Exhaustion".
I'll spare you the details.
As if throwing up wasn't bad enough...
The crowd for YC was SO BIG, that I couldn't just walk back up the hill to where my Mom was sitting... The crowd was blocking the entire path. I had to walk down a long line of merch tents, around the corner, and back up another row of merch tents, to get to where she was. I felt like I was going to die of exhaustion by the time I got back to her.
October 15, 2004 - House Of Blues Orlando - Senses Fail, Silverstein, Name Taken, Madison
I just wanted to point out the fact that I've seen Name Taken : D
Did I mention Panic! At The Disco is named for a lyric in one of their songs?
I demand they reunite and play a show that isn't in California!
October 28, 2004 - Plush - Taking Back Sunday, Fall Out Boy, Matchbook Romance
First time I ever saw Fall Out Boy.
Self-explanatory.
But WTF...they opened for TBS!
That's the only time I ever saw FOB open for another band.
Now they pretty much rule the world (not to mention my soul!)
October 30, 2004 - Thee Imperial - The Casualties
My first punk-punk-PUNK show.
They played "This Is Halloween" from the Nightmare Before Christmas.
November 8, 2004 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - My Chemical Romance, Story Of The Year, Letter Kills, Autopilot Off
First time seeing MCR. I just remember thinking "Oh my God. They are real!" Yeah, it was that surreal. Even then, you could tell they were going to be HUGE.
I have this thing, where, I KNOW I like a band if I hear them play songs at a show, and I remember those songs later when I hear them on cd.
I remembered.
They played "Vampires Will Never Hurt You" and I had never heard it before. When we eventually tracked down their old cd I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (and trust me when I say "tracked down", you couldn't find the damn CD ANYWHERE! It's so easy for you kids to go buy that CD nowadays!), I heard the song and remembered them playing it live.
I also bought my first band hoodie at this show. Whoop whoop!
November 14, 2004 - Plush - Yellowcard, The Starting Line, The Matches, Hey Mike
First time seeing The Matches. We had heard some of their songs on compilations, and weren't impressed. We saw them live, and we became believers.
They played two nights in a row thanks to a last minute venue fall-through, and we went the first day.
On the second day, (based on an account from one of my friends that went) YC played one song, and then the power went out (thanks to a car wreck + telephone pole). YC promised they would make the show up to everyone there. They promised they would be back in a few months, and would honor the tickets of the people there.
YC didn't come back to play a local show in Jacksonville for almost 2 years.
YC turned their backs on Jacksonville. It was bad enough that they claimed Ventura, CA as their hometown, but this, I think, was the last straw.
When YC came back in 2006, they couldn't even sell out a show at Freebird.
Wow, I kind of am practically listing every show. Oh well, It's my blog : D
December 5, 2004 - Clearwater - Next Big Thing - My Chemical Romance, Sum 41, Story Of The Year, Taking Back Sunday, Lostprophets, Coheed and Cambria, The Used, Lit
This is kind of a long story. Long meaning, it covered a long period of time....
This was the first time that we ever drove a long distance to go to a show. We drove 4 hours so we could see MCR. When we got there, rumors were flying that MCR wasn't playing.
Turns out, Gerard had "blown out" (whatever that means) his vocal cords the night before, and was en route to Jersey to see a doctor.
When it came time for MCR's set, the rest of the band came out and apologized, saying they wouldn't be playing their set.
They did, however, play one song.
They played "I'm Not Okay", and Adam Lazzara sang.
There's video of this floating around out there, but we saw it with our own eyes.
Can you say you've ever seen Adam Lazzara fill in for Gerard Way?
*does Boo-Yah dance*
But anywho...back to the long part of the story... MCR promised they would play a make up show in Tampa to make up for not playing a full set at Next Big Thing... They scheduled this "make-up" show on the same day that Taste Of Chaos started in Orlando. MCR was slated to be on Taste Of Chaos. We went to Orlando because we wanted to see MCR at Taste Of Chaos. We got screwed over by MCR because we were at Taste Of Chaos in Orlando, and they were in Tampa making up a show that we had been screwed out of...we were screwed X 2.
Christmas 2004 - Jack Rabbit's - Inspection 12
A Christmas tradition. If you're lucky, you'll see most of the guys from Yellowcard at one of these shows. It's nice to see them as normal people, hanging out with friends and family on Christmas, in a town where they can be normal people and not just "rock stars".
Because the Jacksonville music scene is kind of like Cheers, where everybody knows your name : )
February 18, 2005 - Orlando - Taste of Chaos (The first night EVER! EVER EVER EVER!) - (MCR...NOT!), The Used, Underoath, Killswitch Engage, Senses Fail, A Static Lullaby
This one's a DOOZY!
You think of TOC and you think "big venue" right? WRONG.
TOC was in a parking lot for a club in downtown Orlando. A parking lot that was covered in mulch, with trees everywhere. A parking lot roughly the size of my driveway.
If I was being sarcastic, this would be funny, but alas, I am NOT being sarcastic.
We were already cynical about the fact that MCR bailed and was playing a "make-up" show in Tampa (and no one cared to tell everyone beforehand!).
This is where I talk about how much Underoath FAILED AT LIFE that night.
They BROKE THE LIGHTS. Like, as in, the entire lighting system was broken, by them.
As in, they used a giant flood light and pointed it at the stage for the rest of the night, just so we could see the other bands.
Underoath FAILS!
Did I also mention it was cold as shit outside?!?!?!?!?!
I'm talking bone-numbing cold. I don't think I've ever been that cold.
Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it was frickin FREEZING!
Sympathy for Senses Fail because I don't think they've ever sounded worse than they did this night.
The Used had somebody get married on stage in the middle of their set. WTF right?
Everyone in attendance blew black dirt out of their nose for a week.
If you weren't there, you can be grossed out, but if you were there, you're agreeing with me right now.
February 27, 2005 - Freebird - Matchbook Romance, Motion City Soundtrack, From First To Last
First time seeing FFTL, and all I can remember thinking is "Where the Hell did this little dude come from?!?!"
April 8, 2005 - Freebird - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Shadow Agency
First RJA show.
This is where I recall hearing the audience chanting "Hey! Hey! Hey!" before they came out, and me thinking "What? Do these people think they're at a Ramones show?" and then soon after realizing that this "Hey! Hey! Hey!" business was part of the song "Ass Shaker"
April 14, 2005 - Freebird - Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is..., Gym Class Heroes
Fueled By Ramen's golden children, all touring together!!!!
GCH made me actually like rap for a half hour.
TAI... was amazing, but I kept having to tell Mom "They are NOT EMO!" (I still have to tell her that!)
FOB.... *sigh* Trohmania almost unplugged the sound board with his hyper-spazzing (not a good idea), and Wentz laid on the ground and just... jutted his hips in the air.
Did I mention we were on the second floor, looking down on this?
Pete laying on the ground is no big deal, but seeing it from the second floor?!?!
*dies*
If you look in the dictionary under the word "Bliss", you will see an image of Pete from our viewpoint that night
: D
April 16, 2005 - Orlando - TD Waterhouse - Green Day, My Chemical Romance
DUDE. GREEN DAY. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE. DUDE!
For my birthday, I got tickets to see MCR and Green Day in Orlando and Jacksonville.
I did not know they could physically jam that much rock into one arena!
May 29, 2005 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - Marky Ramone
I passed up The All American Rejects (who were playing at The Social the very same night) to see Marky Ramone.
Good decision. Very good decision.
May 30, 2005 - Jack Rabbit's - From First To Last, Emanuel, Halifax, He Is Legend
There was a wall of people. I'm not kidding. It was a wall about six people tall. It was more like a wave of people. It was pure insanity.
June 7, 2005 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - Fall Out Boy (MTV Taping)
Dude. Fall Out Boy. And MTV was taping the show for their Hard Rock Live series. Dude.
Second row in front of P. Wentz? Yup yup.
Mom almost getting in a fight? True story.
June 21, 2005 - St. Louis Missouri - Warped Tour
First out of state Warped Tour. Why did we go to St. Louis? All the good bands were playing there, but not in Florida. Like who?
The Matches, The Explosion, Tsunami Bomb, Hidden In Plain View, From First To Last (we got there and found out their van/bus/whatever they were in had broken down, and they didn't make it to the show), The All American Rejects, Underoath, etc.
Did I mention MCR and FOB were there too?
P.S. It is possible to drive from Middleburg to St. Louis in one day : D
June 27, 2005 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - My Chemical Romance (MTV Taping), Flyleaf
Dude. We stood in line outside, in the rain, and feared we would be electrocuted. We were soaked to the bone. We went inside where the crowd was so packed, that the wetness our clothes were drenched with changed immediately from rain to sweat. Flyleaf opened the show. I jumped on the "I Hate Flyleaf" bandwagon before you. tehehe. The crowd for MCR was so energetic, you could pick your feet up off the ground, and the crowd surge would just carry you.
We went to eat at Steak N Shake on our way home, and our clothes were still soaked with rain/sweat/other people's sweat. I can't even imagine how we smelled
X D
July 22, 2005 - Freebird - Evergreen Terrace, Shadow Agency
Only at Evergreen Terrace shows can you see 8 fights in one night. We watched from the second floor and made bets on who would get in a fight next. Highly entertaining.
July 23, 2005 - Freebird - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Shadow Agency
Joey and Jon's first show with the band
: D
July 29, 2005 - Thee Imperial - The Audition, The Junior Varsity, Aiden, The Hurt Process
I've blogged about this on myspace, so I won't say everything again.
First time seeing Aiden and The Audition.
The beginning of our random friendship with Danny Stevens.
October 11, 2005 - House of Blues Orlando - My Chemical Romance, Alkaline Trio, Reggie and the Full Effect
Hadn't seen MCR since June, and we were jonesin'.
They played "Astro Zombies". WIN!
They played "Disenchanted"... I remembered the song title and used the word in my college application essay : P
October 18, 2005 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack, Boys Night Out
Nowadays, FOB crowds are pre-teen girls (with the exception of MUAH! LOL), so the pit is not intense.
But back in this day, the crowd was certifiably insane. The crowd surge was squeezing the air out of my lungs. Mom almost lost a shoe. I couldn't even hold myself up. I bailed and headed for the high road.
It's a good thing I bailed, because I totally met Brendon Urie. He was just walking around.
WIN!
: D
First time seeing P!ATD. This was 3 weeks after their CD came out.
Yeah, I was a fan before the video for "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" BISH.
: P
October 19, 2005 - Thee Imperial - The Adicts, Cynic Society
Violins and glitter. Lots and lots of glitter.
October 21, 2005 - UNF - The Matches, Flogging Molly, Street Dogs
For the set list story, refer to my Myspace blog entitled The Musical Time Capsule.
Ahhhhhhh it's 4:08 am, I'm seeing RJA tomorrow, and my tummy is grumbling.
FOB is playing in my ears, and I think it's time to stop writing...
: D
XMeganX
I guess I'll start with the oldest shows and work my way forward.
If I've blogged about a show on Myspace, I won't blog about it here too.
You'll just have to read through the old blogs for all the show-goodness.
(Why do I start blogs at 1:30 AM?)
Warped Tour 2002 - Jax Raceway = MUD MUD and more MUD
I find it hard to believe that I've been going to Warped Tour longer than most people who are older than me.
My Mom dropped me, Becky, and Jessica off at the raceway.
My job was to text Mom every now and then to let her know I wasn't dead.
They didn't open the gates until 12 (even though the tickets said gates at 11) because they were busy putting down hay.
The raceway was a giant mud pit because in the days before, it had rained a lot.
They actually thought putting down hay was going to make the mud....cleaner?
Hardly.
This show was the first time I ever met a band member.
Jeez, I met Good Charlotte.
I had been so excited for Warped Tour. I had listened to all these compilations in the weeks before, and I found myself consistently liking songs by a band called Autopilot Off.
I was excited because Autopilot Off was going to be at Warped Tour.
I watched them from the front row.
I couldn't stop watching their hands play the guitars.
This was probably the moment I decided that I wanted to go to shows for the rest of my life.
The sad thing is, we had to leave early (Freshman orientation was the same day).
We went to orientation, and we were probably the muddiest, most sunburned people there.
But damn, it was great.
Thanksgiving 2002 - Marquee Theater - The Ataris, Sugarcult, Rufio, Autopilot Off
My first non-Warped Tour rock show.
It was cold. We decided to go get hot chocolate at the gas station around the corner from the venue. We were standing in line outside, and from behind the parked bus walks Marko72 from Sugarcult. He started chatting with us, like he was just a normal guy. We offered him hot chocolate : )
This was my first experience with being in a huge crowd, and experiencing a crowd surge.
I almost got knocked to the ground, but my friends kept me standing.
I was there for the opening band, and I was the only one who knew the words to the songs.
I remember seeing people from Rufio hanging out in the crowd, like they were normal people.
I didn't go to another show until Warped Tour the next summer, but this experience definitely got me hooked on indoor shows.
Warped Tour 2003
First experience with getting pulled over the barricade by security.
Who knew the crowd for The Starting Line could be so intense?!
I was about third row. The crowd surge was so intense that my cheek was pressed against the back of the person in front of me. There was absolutely no concept of personal space anymore.
Have I told you that I'm claustrophobic? I can handle small spaces just fine, but when people crowd around me, hover over me, get squished all around me, I freak out.
I was panicking, and I couldn't breathe. By that point, I had been kicked in the FACE by a crowdsurfer, and I had a lovely cut on the bridge of my nose from where my glasses had dug in.
The guy beside me could tell I was not enjoying being there anymore, and he got security's attention. He got the people in front of me to scoot aside so I could get up to the barricade. The security guard grabbed me and pulled me over (not without my bare knees slamming down onto the metal, two more bruises for the books). The security guard standing at the end of the barricade stopped me and asked me if I was okay. I told him I was fine, I just couldn't catch my breath. He directed me to a chair set up in the grass behind a fence and beside the stage. I went and sat down, trying to breathe. Someone from backstage whistled and got my attention, and when I turned around, they threw me a can of water. I still have that can. It's sitting on top of my stereo.
That security guard that "looked out for me" per se, still works shows in town. He is by far my favorite security guard, because of the extra effort he put into making sure I was okay that day.
April 30, 2004 - De Real Ting Cafe - Rufio, Senses Fail, Don't Look Down, Autopilot Off
The most abnormal venue EVER.
A reggae cafe in a basement in downtown Jacksonville. Yeah.
It has a checkerboard dance floor.
I rest my case.
There was a rail on each side of the dance floor, so everyone who was watching the bands had to cram into this small square space. When the floor got full, people just started moving upward. I swear the crowd was about three people high.
Buddy from Senses Fail told everyone to go download the new cd, because at that point, no one thought Let It Enfold You would EVER come out.
(You get brownie points if you were a SF fan before that CD came out!)
The crowd stacked three high resulted in me getting some feet to the face. Surprise, surprise.
Mom and I went into the bathroom so she could try and fix my hair (which had been mangled by crowdsurfers) and SF started playing "187". I ran back out there and got right into the thick of the crowd just in time to throw my arm in the air and yell "Shot through my heart!"
I find it odd that, come to find out, people I know today were at that show.
June 2004 - Eclate - Yellowcard acoustic show
We heard an announcement on the radio that Yellowcard was going to be playing a surprise acoustic show at a jazz club downtown called Eclate. The first hundred or so people would get in, and then they would cut the line off.
We got in. They cut the line off a couple of people behind us.
This is what some would call luck.
People were crowded inside, standing or sitting where ever there was room.
Most of the family members of the YC guys were there. There was a lady sitting barefoot on top of a....ledge? I don't even know what it was, but anywho, Ryan told everyone she was Aunt Stephanie...the very same Aunt Stephanie they sing about in "Rockstar Land".
Ryan and Sean drank so much wine it wasn't even funny.
They played a ton of cover songs.
It was one of those shows where you just knew there would never be another show like it ever again.
Warped Tour 2004 - Jax Fairgrounds - (It seems like i'm listing every concert doesn't it?)
My first experience with throwing up at a concert.
I chugged an entire bottle of Dasani, then I went and stood in the 100+ degree heat, in direct sunlight, and waited for Flogging Molly to finish playing and for Yellowcard to come on.
As soon as YC came out, the pit erupted, and I was in the middle of it.
Lots of elbows to the stomach. Not a good thing.
Then I got to experience a little thing we like to call "Heat Exhaustion".
I'll spare you the details.
As if throwing up wasn't bad enough...
The crowd for YC was SO BIG, that I couldn't just walk back up the hill to where my Mom was sitting... The crowd was blocking the entire path. I had to walk down a long line of merch tents, around the corner, and back up another row of merch tents, to get to where she was. I felt like I was going to die of exhaustion by the time I got back to her.
October 15, 2004 - House Of Blues Orlando - Senses Fail, Silverstein, Name Taken, Madison
I just wanted to point out the fact that I've seen Name Taken : D
Did I mention Panic! At The Disco is named for a lyric in one of their songs?
I demand they reunite and play a show that isn't in California!
October 28, 2004 - Plush - Taking Back Sunday, Fall Out Boy, Matchbook Romance
First time I ever saw Fall Out Boy.
Self-explanatory.
But WTF...they opened for TBS!
That's the only time I ever saw FOB open for another band.
Now they pretty much rule the world (not to mention my soul!)
October 30, 2004 - Thee Imperial - The Casualties
My first punk-punk-PUNK show.
They played "This Is Halloween" from the Nightmare Before Christmas.
November 8, 2004 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - My Chemical Romance, Story Of The Year, Letter Kills, Autopilot Off
First time seeing MCR. I just remember thinking "Oh my God. They are real!" Yeah, it was that surreal. Even then, you could tell they were going to be HUGE.
I have this thing, where, I KNOW I like a band if I hear them play songs at a show, and I remember those songs later when I hear them on cd.
I remembered.
They played "Vampires Will Never Hurt You" and I had never heard it before. When we eventually tracked down their old cd I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (and trust me when I say "tracked down", you couldn't find the damn CD ANYWHERE! It's so easy for you kids to go buy that CD nowadays!), I heard the song and remembered them playing it live.
I also bought my first band hoodie at this show. Whoop whoop!
November 14, 2004 - Plush - Yellowcard, The Starting Line, The Matches, Hey Mike
First time seeing The Matches. We had heard some of their songs on compilations, and weren't impressed. We saw them live, and we became believers.
They played two nights in a row thanks to a last minute venue fall-through, and we went the first day.
On the second day, (based on an account from one of my friends that went) YC played one song, and then the power went out (thanks to a car wreck + telephone pole). YC promised they would make the show up to everyone there. They promised they would be back in a few months, and would honor the tickets of the people there.
YC didn't come back to play a local show in Jacksonville for almost 2 years.
YC turned their backs on Jacksonville. It was bad enough that they claimed Ventura, CA as their hometown, but this, I think, was the last straw.
When YC came back in 2006, they couldn't even sell out a show at Freebird.
Wow, I kind of am practically listing every show. Oh well, It's my blog : D
December 5, 2004 - Clearwater - Next Big Thing - My Chemical Romance, Sum 41, Story Of The Year, Taking Back Sunday, Lostprophets, Coheed and Cambria, The Used, Lit
This is kind of a long story. Long meaning, it covered a long period of time....
This was the first time that we ever drove a long distance to go to a show. We drove 4 hours so we could see MCR. When we got there, rumors were flying that MCR wasn't playing.
Turns out, Gerard had "blown out" (whatever that means) his vocal cords the night before, and was en route to Jersey to see a doctor.
When it came time for MCR's set, the rest of the band came out and apologized, saying they wouldn't be playing their set.
They did, however, play one song.
They played "I'm Not Okay", and Adam Lazzara sang.
There's video of this floating around out there, but we saw it with our own eyes.
Can you say you've ever seen Adam Lazzara fill in for Gerard Way?
*does Boo-Yah dance*
But anywho...back to the long part of the story... MCR promised they would play a make up show in Tampa to make up for not playing a full set at Next Big Thing... They scheduled this "make-up" show on the same day that Taste Of Chaos started in Orlando. MCR was slated to be on Taste Of Chaos. We went to Orlando because we wanted to see MCR at Taste Of Chaos. We got screwed over by MCR because we were at Taste Of Chaos in Orlando, and they were in Tampa making up a show that we had been screwed out of...we were screwed X 2.
Christmas 2004 - Jack Rabbit's - Inspection 12
A Christmas tradition. If you're lucky, you'll see most of the guys from Yellowcard at one of these shows. It's nice to see them as normal people, hanging out with friends and family on Christmas, in a town where they can be normal people and not just "rock stars".
Because the Jacksonville music scene is kind of like Cheers, where everybody knows your name : )
February 18, 2005 - Orlando - Taste of Chaos (The first night EVER! EVER EVER EVER!) - (MCR...NOT!), The Used, Underoath, Killswitch Engage, Senses Fail, A Static Lullaby
This one's a DOOZY!
You think of TOC and you think "big venue" right? WRONG.
TOC was in a parking lot for a club in downtown Orlando. A parking lot that was covered in mulch, with trees everywhere. A parking lot roughly the size of my driveway.
If I was being sarcastic, this would be funny, but alas, I am NOT being sarcastic.
We were already cynical about the fact that MCR bailed and was playing a "make-up" show in Tampa (and no one cared to tell everyone beforehand!).
This is where I talk about how much Underoath FAILED AT LIFE that night.
They BROKE THE LIGHTS. Like, as in, the entire lighting system was broken, by them.
As in, they used a giant flood light and pointed it at the stage for the rest of the night, just so we could see the other bands.
Underoath FAILS!
Did I also mention it was cold as shit outside?!?!?!?!?!
I'm talking bone-numbing cold. I don't think I've ever been that cold.
Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it was frickin FREEZING!
Sympathy for Senses Fail because I don't think they've ever sounded worse than they did this night.
The Used had somebody get married on stage in the middle of their set. WTF right?
Everyone in attendance blew black dirt out of their nose for a week.
If you weren't there, you can be grossed out, but if you were there, you're agreeing with me right now.
February 27, 2005 - Freebird - Matchbook Romance, Motion City Soundtrack, From First To Last
First time seeing FFTL, and all I can remember thinking is "Where the Hell did this little dude come from?!?!"
April 8, 2005 - Freebird - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Shadow Agency
First RJA show.
This is where I recall hearing the audience chanting "Hey! Hey! Hey!" before they came out, and me thinking "What? Do these people think they're at a Ramones show?" and then soon after realizing that this "Hey! Hey! Hey!" business was part of the song "Ass Shaker"
April 14, 2005 - Freebird - Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is..., Gym Class Heroes
Fueled By Ramen's golden children, all touring together!!!!
GCH made me actually like rap for a half hour.
TAI... was amazing, but I kept having to tell Mom "They are NOT EMO!" (I still have to tell her that!)
FOB.... *sigh* Trohmania almost unplugged the sound board with his hyper-spazzing (not a good idea), and Wentz laid on the ground and just... jutted his hips in the air.
Did I mention we were on the second floor, looking down on this?
Pete laying on the ground is no big deal, but seeing it from the second floor?!?!
*dies*
If you look in the dictionary under the word "Bliss", you will see an image of Pete from our viewpoint that night
: D
April 16, 2005 - Orlando - TD Waterhouse - Green Day, My Chemical Romance
DUDE. GREEN DAY. MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE. DUDE!
For my birthday, I got tickets to see MCR and Green Day in Orlando and Jacksonville.
I did not know they could physically jam that much rock into one arena!
May 29, 2005 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - Marky Ramone
I passed up The All American Rejects (who were playing at The Social the very same night) to see Marky Ramone.
Good decision. Very good decision.
May 30, 2005 - Jack Rabbit's - From First To Last, Emanuel, Halifax, He Is Legend
There was a wall of people. I'm not kidding. It was a wall about six people tall. It was more like a wave of people. It was pure insanity.
June 7, 2005 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - Fall Out Boy (MTV Taping)
Dude. Fall Out Boy. And MTV was taping the show for their Hard Rock Live series. Dude.
Second row in front of P. Wentz? Yup yup.
Mom almost getting in a fight? True story.
June 21, 2005 - St. Louis Missouri - Warped Tour
First out of state Warped Tour. Why did we go to St. Louis? All the good bands were playing there, but not in Florida. Like who?
The Matches, The Explosion, Tsunami Bomb, Hidden In Plain View, From First To Last (we got there and found out their van/bus/whatever they were in had broken down, and they didn't make it to the show), The All American Rejects, Underoath, etc.
Did I mention MCR and FOB were there too?
P.S. It is possible to drive from Middleburg to St. Louis in one day : D
June 27, 2005 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - My Chemical Romance (MTV Taping), Flyleaf
Dude. We stood in line outside, in the rain, and feared we would be electrocuted. We were soaked to the bone. We went inside where the crowd was so packed, that the wetness our clothes were drenched with changed immediately from rain to sweat. Flyleaf opened the show. I jumped on the "I Hate Flyleaf" bandwagon before you. tehehe. The crowd for MCR was so energetic, you could pick your feet up off the ground, and the crowd surge would just carry you.
We went to eat at Steak N Shake on our way home, and our clothes were still soaked with rain/sweat/other people's sweat. I can't even imagine how we smelled
X D
July 22, 2005 - Freebird - Evergreen Terrace, Shadow Agency
Only at Evergreen Terrace shows can you see 8 fights in one night. We watched from the second floor and made bets on who would get in a fight next. Highly entertaining.
July 23, 2005 - Freebird - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Shadow Agency
Joey and Jon's first show with the band
: D
July 29, 2005 - Thee Imperial - The Audition, The Junior Varsity, Aiden, The Hurt Process
I've blogged about this on myspace, so I won't say everything again.
First time seeing Aiden and The Audition.
The beginning of our random friendship with Danny Stevens.
October 11, 2005 - House of Blues Orlando - My Chemical Romance, Alkaline Trio, Reggie and the Full Effect
Hadn't seen MCR since June, and we were jonesin'.
They played "Astro Zombies". WIN!
They played "Disenchanted"... I remembered the song title and used the word in my college application essay : P
October 18, 2005 - Hard Rock Live Orlando - Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, The Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack, Boys Night Out
Nowadays, FOB crowds are pre-teen girls (with the exception of MUAH! LOL), so the pit is not intense.
But back in this day, the crowd was certifiably insane. The crowd surge was squeezing the air out of my lungs. Mom almost lost a shoe. I couldn't even hold myself up. I bailed and headed for the high road.
It's a good thing I bailed, because I totally met Brendon Urie. He was just walking around.
WIN!
: D
First time seeing P!ATD. This was 3 weeks after their CD came out.
Yeah, I was a fan before the video for "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" BISH.
: P
October 19, 2005 - Thee Imperial - The Adicts, Cynic Society
Violins and glitter. Lots and lots of glitter.
October 21, 2005 - UNF - The Matches, Flogging Molly, Street Dogs
For the set list story, refer to my Myspace blog entitled The Musical Time Capsule.
Ahhhhhhh it's 4:08 am, I'm seeing RJA tomorrow, and my tummy is grumbling.
FOB is playing in my ears, and I think it's time to stop writing...
: D
XMeganX
Saturday, December 15, 2007
The Best Band in the History of EVER.
You want to know who, in my opinion, is the greatest rock band in history?
It's not The Beatles (HELL-to-the-NO!)
It's not the Rolling Stones (although they totally PWN the Beatles)
It's not The Clash.
It's not the Sex Pistols.
It's not the Ramones.
It's not Green Day (Yes, I'm saying it)
It's not even Fall Out Boy (although they totally own my soul, and i'm not ashamed to admit it)
It's Blink-182.
I'm listening to them right now, and I'm wondering: Just what the hell did we listen to before Enema of the State came out?
I used to listen to Hanson, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, etc.
I was born in 1988, and if you were born around then, you probably listened to the same people.
But then I heard a band called Blink-182, and my musical tastes changed.
You can look at my musical tastes now and realize that this was a turning point.
If I remember correctly, I asked for two cds for Christmas in 2000: Blink-182's Enema of the State, and New Found Glory's A New Found Glory.
I got those two cd's, and I listened to them nonstop.
After that, I was on to Good Charlotte.
It may not seem like it now, but I was the BIGGEST Good Charlotte fan. Like, EVER.
Then it was Mest. Then The Starting Line. Then Autopilot Off. Then Yellowcard. Then Fall Out Boy, and Senses Fail, and My Chemical Romance, and Red Jumpsuit.
Nowadays, everyone writes off Blink-182 as the immature band that made a bunch of jokes about peeing and farting.
But that was the appeal!
They were fun to listen to. They made people want to listen.
No one knew what the hell "Hurley" was until Blink-182.
Blink-182 revived skateboarding culture.
They made baggy shorts cool.
They made 14 year old kids pick up guitars and start bands.
These are the bands that are popular today.
People can claim that Green Day is the best, but no. I don't think so.
Green Day may have kicked up the dirt out in California, but Blink-182 changed the WORLD.
Admit it, if Blink-182 had never come around, you would never have paid any attention to bands playing this kind of music. The genre would have came and gone.
We could have been stuck with GRUNGE.
They invented pop-punk. Think about it. It wasn't around before them. They created it.
Created it as we know it today.
Do you know how important that is?
And then they had to go and throw it away.
And Tom Delonge turned into a huge asshole.
Angels and Airwaves is a JOKE.
They have two good songs. Maybe three. But as for the rest of their songs, they have excessively long intros that are boring as hell, and I can't NOT hit the skip button.
+44 is alright with me. Nothing mindblowing, but they're alright.
Boxcar Racer was fine and dandy.
The Transplants are A-OK with me.
But these bands do not equal Blink-182.
Someone get Tom Delonge back on this planet, knock him upside the head, and get Blink back together.
I've never seen Blink-182 play live.
I've seen Tom Delonge, and Mark Hoppus, and Travis Barker, but I have not seen Blink-182.
I want to see Blink-182 so bad. You have no idea.
There's always rumors of Bamboozle reuniting a band.
I am SO crossing my fingers.
There's hope.
So now, tell me....who do YOU think is the best rock band EVER?
I wanna know : )
XMeganX
It's not The Beatles (HELL-to-the-NO!)
It's not the Rolling Stones (although they totally PWN the Beatles)
It's not The Clash.
It's not the Sex Pistols.
It's not the Ramones.
It's not Green Day (Yes, I'm saying it)
It's not even Fall Out Boy (although they totally own my soul, and i'm not ashamed to admit it)
It's Blink-182.
I'm listening to them right now, and I'm wondering: Just what the hell did we listen to before Enema of the State came out?
I used to listen to Hanson, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, etc.
I was born in 1988, and if you were born around then, you probably listened to the same people.
But then I heard a band called Blink-182, and my musical tastes changed.
You can look at my musical tastes now and realize that this was a turning point.
If I remember correctly, I asked for two cds for Christmas in 2000: Blink-182's Enema of the State, and New Found Glory's A New Found Glory.
I got those two cd's, and I listened to them nonstop.
After that, I was on to Good Charlotte.
It may not seem like it now, but I was the BIGGEST Good Charlotte fan. Like, EVER.
Then it was Mest. Then The Starting Line. Then Autopilot Off. Then Yellowcard. Then Fall Out Boy, and Senses Fail, and My Chemical Romance, and Red Jumpsuit.
Nowadays, everyone writes off Blink-182 as the immature band that made a bunch of jokes about peeing and farting.
But that was the appeal!
They were fun to listen to. They made people want to listen.
No one knew what the hell "Hurley" was until Blink-182.
Blink-182 revived skateboarding culture.
They made baggy shorts cool.
They made 14 year old kids pick up guitars and start bands.
These are the bands that are popular today.
People can claim that Green Day is the best, but no. I don't think so.
Green Day may have kicked up the dirt out in California, but Blink-182 changed the WORLD.
Admit it, if Blink-182 had never come around, you would never have paid any attention to bands playing this kind of music. The genre would have came and gone.
We could have been stuck with GRUNGE.
They invented pop-punk. Think about it. It wasn't around before them. They created it.
Created it as we know it today.
Do you know how important that is?
And then they had to go and throw it away.
And Tom Delonge turned into a huge asshole.
Angels and Airwaves is a JOKE.
They have two good songs. Maybe three. But as for the rest of their songs, they have excessively long intros that are boring as hell, and I can't NOT hit the skip button.
+44 is alright with me. Nothing mindblowing, but they're alright.
Boxcar Racer was fine and dandy.
The Transplants are A-OK with me.
But these bands do not equal Blink-182.
Someone get Tom Delonge back on this planet, knock him upside the head, and get Blink back together.
I've never seen Blink-182 play live.
I've seen Tom Delonge, and Mark Hoppus, and Travis Barker, but I have not seen Blink-182.
I want to see Blink-182 so bad. You have no idea.
There's always rumors of Bamboozle reuniting a band.
I am SO crossing my fingers.
There's hope.
So now, tell me....who do YOU think is the best rock band EVER?
I wanna know : )
XMeganX
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Anethesia: How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways...
I saw the movie Awake yesterday, and I decided I wanted to blog about my experiences with anesthesia...random. I know.
If you don't know what the movie is about, I'll give you a little rundown.
Hayden Christiansen goes under anesthesia for a heart transplant, only, the thing is, he hasn't been given enough anesthesia and he is aware of everything happening, and he feels everything.
But he can't move or get anyone's attention because his body is paralyzed from the anesthesia.
Helpless? Yes.
But I myself have worried about something like this happening to me.
I've gone under general anesthesia 4 times.
The only time I don't recall the anesthesia being a nightmare was when I had my wisdom teeth removed.
Every other time it was a total nightmare.
I hate anesthesia.
The first time I had surgery, I had no idea what to expect.
I was having surgery to remove an ovarian cyst the size of a grapefruit.
I was probably around age 12.
I was freaked out about it, but what could I do?
I just had to wait and see what happened.
They put me in a little room called "the fish room" (named so because there were fish painted on the walls).
They started an IV (which, quite frankly, hurts like a bitch).
Then they inject this liquid into the IV, and then everything goes downhill.
I can't even do justice to the feeling that this IV anesthesia brings on.
Your head feels like your brain is going to explode. You feel like you could vomit at any moment, but yet you feel like you couldn't physically do that even if you wanted to.
There are people around me in the room, and I can hear them talking about things, and all I can remember asking them is "Is everything supposed to be getting blurry?" and they said "Yes."
Almost as bad as going under the anesthesia is coming out from it. I came to in "the fish room" and I don't even remember opening my eyes. I was so fucking out of it. They kept asking me questions.
"Are you in pain?"
"I don't know."
"Where does it hurt?"
"I don't know."
"How bad does it hurt?"
"I don't know."
"Do you want to see your parents?"
"I don't know."
I believe that qualifies as the perfect definition for "Out of it."
They have an oxygen mask over my face, and the smell of the oxygen is sickening. It's making me even more nauseous. I keep trying to take it off, and they keep putting it back on.
The anesthesia resulted in my night from hell.
I came to at around 4 in the afternoon, and I didn't stop throwing up until about 8 the next morning. I threw up every hour on the hour. Just when I thought I wouldn't get sick any more, those damn nurses would come in to take my blood pressure, and BAM, I'm throwing up again.
It wouldn't have been so bad, except for the fact that there was nothing for me to throw up. I wasn't allowed to eat anything 24 hours before the surgery. There was no food in my stomach, nothing. All there was for me to throw up was bile.
It was probably the worst night ever.
Even worse was the fact that every time I threw up, the muscles around my 4 inch incision moved, and it hurt like a bitch.
The second time I had surgery was a few years later.
I was having surgery to have a triangle-shaped area of muscle cut out of my Illiotibial band in my hip.
I had surgery at Wolfson's Children's Hospital, and it made me feel a little better knowing these people were accustomed to working with kids.
This time the IV didn't hurt as much because they give you this awesome white goo and put it on the back of each hand, and cover it with tape. They let the goo sit for a few hours, and then when they go to start your IV, that area of your hand is numb.
Not so bad as before.
They put you in a hospital bed in a room with about 5 other beds and people. This is where they come and give you the intravenous anesthetic, a little thing they like to call "Happy Juice."
Happy Juice my ass.
This must be what it's like to take Ecstasy. Or Acid. Or something.
I looked it up, and apparently sometimes they use Barbiturates in the IV anesthetic. UGH.
Seriously, you are being drugged up, in every sense of the phrase.
If you were to ask me what the WORST feeling in the whole world was, I would say the feeling that you get when you're given an IV anesthetic.
I lie there for a minute or two, and as expected, everything goes blurry.
They come and get me and start wheeling my bed into the operating room.
Let me add that being on a moving bed while drugged up and seeing blurry....not a good feeling at all.
They wheel me in the OR, and I hear "Someday" by Sugar Ray playing on a radio.
Then I do the most embarassing, drugged-up thing ever.
I start to 'Raise The Roof'.
I kid you not.
I remember nothing after this, but I remember doing that, clear as day.
Of course, my doctor mentioned to my parents that I was in there, raising the roof, so everyone got a kick out of it.
I really don't like being under the influence of medicine/drugs that make me unable to control my actions.
It makes me feel helpless, and I HATE IT.
The next time I went under anesthesia, I was supposed to be having a muscle on the inside of my thigh cut.
This time, my doctor gave me an option.
Do I want to be given the IV anesthetic before I go to the OR, or do I want to wait and get it injected after I'm in the OR?
Based on my past experiences, I decided to wait and have it injected in the OR.
So this time I was 100% aware of everything that was going on when I got wheeled into the OR.
It's really creepy being wheeled into that room.
I saw the giant lights that they place above you so that they can see.
I saw the giant cabinets of medical supplies.
I saw trays of instruments.
Perhaps the reason they normally give you the IV anesthetic before you go into the OR is so that you don't see these things.
It's nerve wracking.
It was just my luck that the team of doctors operating on me were the same group that operated on me before, and they all remembered my little "raise the roof' incident.
We all got a good laugh about it.
They explain to me what's going to happen.
They're going to put the mask over my face and start giving me the "inhaled anesthetic".
Then they are going to give me the IV anesthetic, and they want me to count down from 100.
They tell me they're going to stick a tube down my throat so I can breathe during the surgery.
So they put the mask over my face.
I feel fine. It's not the best smelling stuff in the world (but then again, I don't think anything that comes out of those masks smell good). But the point is, I don't feel like I'm being given any anesthesia.
The anesthesiologist begins to mess with my arm. They're telling me I have really good veins.
I tell them "Thanks."
They inject the IV anesthetic, and still, I feel fine.
After a little while, I get nervous.
I ask the anesthesiologist, "Should I still be awake?"
He says "Yes."
A few more minutes pass.
I begin to wonder if it's actually going to work.
I start to freak out. What if I'm lying here, and I don't go under, and I can feel everything?
They tell me to count down, and I remember counting quite a while. In the movies, you see this happen, and people are out before they hit "97". I remember hitting "90" and really starting to freak out.
I could still hear the people talking around me. They were talking about flamingos.
There is no scarier feeling than laying on an operating table, with a mask on your face, doctors all around you, and all you're able to think is "Should I be able to hear this? Should I be out yet? What if they start sticking the tube down my throat and I'm still awake? What do I do if they start cutting and I'm still awake?"
This type of stress can not be good for my blood pressure.
I eventually went under.
The surgery didn't go as planned. The doctor made an observation when I went under the anesthesia that made him decide that cutting the muscle in my thigh might not be the answer to my problem.
When I went under the anesthesia, all my muscles went limp. This was because the anesthesia was affecting my brain. This led him to believe my problem was neurological.
He decided he couldn't go through with the surgery, having observed that.
I swear to you, Dr. Eric Loveless at Nemours is the best doctor in the whole world.
You should go google him. "Dr. Eric Loveless + Nemours"
I trust this guy with my life.
Honestly.
One would assume that having had nothing done to me (other than a needle injection on the inside of my thigh), I should have been able to come out of the anesthesia fairly quickly.
Not the case.
It was like the anesthesia would not wear off.
I was like a zombie in the recovery room for hours.
I remember it took every bit of my strength to try and open my eyes, and I'd open them just for a second, and it would just be too much, and I'd just close them again and fall back asleep.
I couldn't even bring myself to try and move.
Everything was just physically exhausting.
My surgery started in the middle of the day. It didn't last very long at all. But I didn't come around until about 8 that night.
Not a good feeling.
I remember mentioning to my mom that the doctors were talking about flamingos in the OR.
She told me I was crazy.
I asked my doctor the next time I saw him, if they had been talking about flamingos in the OR.
He was like "You heard that? Yeah, I was talking about having plastic flamingos out in my yard"
The fact that he was surprised that I heard and remembered something like that kind of worried me. Should I have been out before they said that?
I really don't like anesthesia. It makes me anxious in a way you'll probably never understand.
It makes me feel drugged-up, and that feeling is something I really hate. It makes me feel helpless. Like I'm the straight edge kid being force fed drugs that make me loose control of my actions. It's horrible.
I don't mean to freak anyone out, but honestly, for me, it's horrible.
Watching Awake yesterday, there were things in the movie that were all too familiar to me.
Being wheeled down a hall in a hospital bed, seeing the lights on the ceiling go by.
Being in the OR surrounded by doctors.
There is a part where Hayden is just being put under the anesthesia, and he's thinking of things, and he's like "Should I be able to hear them talking, should I be able to feel this?" and he, for lack of a better term, freaks-the-fuck-out.
I was sitting there in the theater, with my skin crawling, because I knew exactly what it felt like to be in that same position.
XMeganX
If you don't know what the movie is about, I'll give you a little rundown.
Hayden Christiansen goes under anesthesia for a heart transplant, only, the thing is, he hasn't been given enough anesthesia and he is aware of everything happening, and he feels everything.
But he can't move or get anyone's attention because his body is paralyzed from the anesthesia.
Helpless? Yes.
But I myself have worried about something like this happening to me.
I've gone under general anesthesia 4 times.
The only time I don't recall the anesthesia being a nightmare was when I had my wisdom teeth removed.
Every other time it was a total nightmare.
I hate anesthesia.
The first time I had surgery, I had no idea what to expect.
I was having surgery to remove an ovarian cyst the size of a grapefruit.
I was probably around age 12.
I was freaked out about it, but what could I do?
I just had to wait and see what happened.
They put me in a little room called "the fish room" (named so because there were fish painted on the walls).
They started an IV (which, quite frankly, hurts like a bitch).
Then they inject this liquid into the IV, and then everything goes downhill.
I can't even do justice to the feeling that this IV anesthesia brings on.
Your head feels like your brain is going to explode. You feel like you could vomit at any moment, but yet you feel like you couldn't physically do that even if you wanted to.
There are people around me in the room, and I can hear them talking about things, and all I can remember asking them is "Is everything supposed to be getting blurry?" and they said "Yes."
Almost as bad as going under the anesthesia is coming out from it. I came to in "the fish room" and I don't even remember opening my eyes. I was so fucking out of it. They kept asking me questions.
"Are you in pain?"
"I don't know."
"Where does it hurt?"
"I don't know."
"How bad does it hurt?"
"I don't know."
"Do you want to see your parents?"
"I don't know."
I believe that qualifies as the perfect definition for "Out of it."
They have an oxygen mask over my face, and the smell of the oxygen is sickening. It's making me even more nauseous. I keep trying to take it off, and they keep putting it back on.
The anesthesia resulted in my night from hell.
I came to at around 4 in the afternoon, and I didn't stop throwing up until about 8 the next morning. I threw up every hour on the hour. Just when I thought I wouldn't get sick any more, those damn nurses would come in to take my blood pressure, and BAM, I'm throwing up again.
It wouldn't have been so bad, except for the fact that there was nothing for me to throw up. I wasn't allowed to eat anything 24 hours before the surgery. There was no food in my stomach, nothing. All there was for me to throw up was bile.
It was probably the worst night ever.
Even worse was the fact that every time I threw up, the muscles around my 4 inch incision moved, and it hurt like a bitch.
The second time I had surgery was a few years later.
I was having surgery to have a triangle-shaped area of muscle cut out of my Illiotibial band in my hip.
I had surgery at Wolfson's Children's Hospital, and it made me feel a little better knowing these people were accustomed to working with kids.
This time the IV didn't hurt as much because they give you this awesome white goo and put it on the back of each hand, and cover it with tape. They let the goo sit for a few hours, and then when they go to start your IV, that area of your hand is numb.
Not so bad as before.
They put you in a hospital bed in a room with about 5 other beds and people. This is where they come and give you the intravenous anesthetic, a little thing they like to call "Happy Juice."
Happy Juice my ass.
This must be what it's like to take Ecstasy. Or Acid. Or something.
I looked it up, and apparently sometimes they use Barbiturates in the IV anesthetic. UGH.
Seriously, you are being drugged up, in every sense of the phrase.
If you were to ask me what the WORST feeling in the whole world was, I would say the feeling that you get when you're given an IV anesthetic.
I lie there for a minute or two, and as expected, everything goes blurry.
They come and get me and start wheeling my bed into the operating room.
Let me add that being on a moving bed while drugged up and seeing blurry....not a good feeling at all.
They wheel me in the OR, and I hear "Someday" by Sugar Ray playing on a radio.
Then I do the most embarassing, drugged-up thing ever.
I start to 'Raise The Roof'.
I kid you not.
I remember nothing after this, but I remember doing that, clear as day.
Of course, my doctor mentioned to my parents that I was in there, raising the roof, so everyone got a kick out of it.
I really don't like being under the influence of medicine/drugs that make me unable to control my actions.
It makes me feel helpless, and I HATE IT.
The next time I went under anesthesia, I was supposed to be having a muscle on the inside of my thigh cut.
This time, my doctor gave me an option.
Do I want to be given the IV anesthetic before I go to the OR, or do I want to wait and get it injected after I'm in the OR?
Based on my past experiences, I decided to wait and have it injected in the OR.
So this time I was 100% aware of everything that was going on when I got wheeled into the OR.
It's really creepy being wheeled into that room.
I saw the giant lights that they place above you so that they can see.
I saw the giant cabinets of medical supplies.
I saw trays of instruments.
Perhaps the reason they normally give you the IV anesthetic before you go into the OR is so that you don't see these things.
It's nerve wracking.
It was just my luck that the team of doctors operating on me were the same group that operated on me before, and they all remembered my little "raise the roof' incident.
We all got a good laugh about it.
They explain to me what's going to happen.
They're going to put the mask over my face and start giving me the "inhaled anesthetic".
Then they are going to give me the IV anesthetic, and they want me to count down from 100.
They tell me they're going to stick a tube down my throat so I can breathe during the surgery.
So they put the mask over my face.
I feel fine. It's not the best smelling stuff in the world (but then again, I don't think anything that comes out of those masks smell good). But the point is, I don't feel like I'm being given any anesthesia.
The anesthesiologist begins to mess with my arm. They're telling me I have really good veins.
I tell them "Thanks."
They inject the IV anesthetic, and still, I feel fine.
After a little while, I get nervous.
I ask the anesthesiologist, "Should I still be awake?"
He says "Yes."
A few more minutes pass.
I begin to wonder if it's actually going to work.
I start to freak out. What if I'm lying here, and I don't go under, and I can feel everything?
They tell me to count down, and I remember counting quite a while. In the movies, you see this happen, and people are out before they hit "97". I remember hitting "90" and really starting to freak out.
I could still hear the people talking around me. They were talking about flamingos.
There is no scarier feeling than laying on an operating table, with a mask on your face, doctors all around you, and all you're able to think is "Should I be able to hear this? Should I be out yet? What if they start sticking the tube down my throat and I'm still awake? What do I do if they start cutting and I'm still awake?"
This type of stress can not be good for my blood pressure.
I eventually went under.
The surgery didn't go as planned. The doctor made an observation when I went under the anesthesia that made him decide that cutting the muscle in my thigh might not be the answer to my problem.
When I went under the anesthesia, all my muscles went limp. This was because the anesthesia was affecting my brain. This led him to believe my problem was neurological.
He decided he couldn't go through with the surgery, having observed that.
I swear to you, Dr. Eric Loveless at Nemours is the best doctor in the whole world.
You should go google him. "Dr. Eric Loveless + Nemours"
I trust this guy with my life.
Honestly.
One would assume that having had nothing done to me (other than a needle injection on the inside of my thigh), I should have been able to come out of the anesthesia fairly quickly.
Not the case.
It was like the anesthesia would not wear off.
I was like a zombie in the recovery room for hours.
I remember it took every bit of my strength to try and open my eyes, and I'd open them just for a second, and it would just be too much, and I'd just close them again and fall back asleep.
I couldn't even bring myself to try and move.
Everything was just physically exhausting.
My surgery started in the middle of the day. It didn't last very long at all. But I didn't come around until about 8 that night.
Not a good feeling.
I remember mentioning to my mom that the doctors were talking about flamingos in the OR.
She told me I was crazy.
I asked my doctor the next time I saw him, if they had been talking about flamingos in the OR.
He was like "You heard that? Yeah, I was talking about having plastic flamingos out in my yard"
The fact that he was surprised that I heard and remembered something like that kind of worried me. Should I have been out before they said that?
I really don't like anesthesia. It makes me anxious in a way you'll probably never understand.
It makes me feel drugged-up, and that feeling is something I really hate. It makes me feel helpless. Like I'm the straight edge kid being force fed drugs that make me loose control of my actions. It's horrible.
I don't mean to freak anyone out, but honestly, for me, it's horrible.
Watching Awake yesterday, there were things in the movie that were all too familiar to me.
Being wheeled down a hall in a hospital bed, seeing the lights on the ceiling go by.
Being in the OR surrounded by doctors.
There is a part where Hayden is just being put under the anesthesia, and he's thinking of things, and he's like "Should I be able to hear them talking, should I be able to feel this?" and he, for lack of a better term, freaks-the-fuck-out.
I was sitting there in the theater, with my skin crawling, because I knew exactly what it felt like to be in that same position.
XMeganX
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Aaron Gillespie REALLY pisses me off.
Quoted from the September 2007 issue of Alternative Press regarding The Almost:
"Not surprisingly, he isn't waiting until the cultural fires of screamo burn down to a smoldering ember before preparing for his future in music. Looking far down the road, the compulsive multi-tasker has launched the Almost, his new solo-project-turned-band, whose debut release, Southern Weather, was issued this past spring. Ever the workaholic, Gillespie did it while Underoath are as popular as ever, playing sold-out shows all over the world in support of last year's Define The Great Line, which debuted at No.2 on the Billboard chart. Saying the two groups' activities overlap may be the understatement of the summer: Both bands are doing stints on this year's Van's Warped Tour, with Gillespie playing two sets a day, one as Underoath's singing skinsman, the other as the Almost's crowd-embracing frontman. It's a rough gig, rocking out double-duty in the extreme heat and humidity, but those who know him wouldn't be surprised if he defied time and space to play with both bands on different stages at the same time. Gillespie's a man of faith, but not a miracle worker--he's just that driven."
Driven? DRIVEN? Are you KIDDING ME?
Now, my facts can't be completely accurate, because I don't have my *paperwork* in front of me, but with a little Youtube research, we can make some deductions.
I went to Warped Tour 11 times this summer. I have a pretty good idea of who played where.
The Almost did indeed play Warped Tour out in California. There are a ton of Youtube videos of their performances. Underoath was NOT playing this leg of the tour. Thus, no double-duty for Aaron.
*I seem to think there was a day in California that they bailed on, Ventura maybe?*
If I remember correctly, the first day Underoath played was in Charlotte, North Carolina. I remember this because I was on the front row for Underoath that day. Did the Almost play that day? Are there any Youtube videos of The Almost in Charlotte, where they were supposed to play? NEGATIVE. Thus, no double-duty for Aaron.
The same goes for Virginia Beach. Underoath played, but is there any record of The Almost playing that day? NEGATIVE. Thus, no double-duty for Aaron.
The same goes for Columbia, Maryland. Thus, no double-duty for Aaron.
The Almost was supposed to play up in NY/NJ too.
I remember a HUGE crowd for Underoath closing the night in Camden. I remember hearing Underoath across the venue in NY. Do I remember seeing The Almost at all on those days? Are there any Youtube videos of The Almost playing in those cities? NEGATIVE. Thus, no double-duty for Aaron.
I think you're beginning to see my point. Honestly, if you're reading this, and you went to Warped Tour expecting to see Underoath and The Almost on the same day, and they failed you, PLEASE, do let me know. Further proof of asshole-ery would be appreciated.
If you went to Warped Tour on a day when The Almost and Underoath actually did play on the same day, PLEASE, let me know. That'll be proof that Hell has frozen over and pigs are taking flight.
Cause to be honest, I don't believe it ever fucking happened.
I have four words for Aaron Gillespie regarding Warped Tour: DOUBLE-DUTY MY ASS.
"Crowd-embracing frontman"????? Are you JOKING?!?!
I went to Bamboozle this year. When it was time for The Almost to play, I was there, front row.
During the first or second song, the barricade collapsed.
There was no crowd surge or anything. It just...collapsed.
I however, happened to be leaning against the barricade, so when it went down, I went down with it. I carry a scar on my knee from that stupid barricade. I am living proof that during this incident, people got injured. Did Aaron Gillespie "embrace" the crowd when the barricade collapsed? NEGATIVE. Not a hesitation, not a glance, not a pause, not a moment afterward of "hey, let's back up a few steps", he just went on about his way.
I have four words for Aaron Gillespie regarding Bamboozle: CROWD-EMBRACING MY ASS.
I have heard numerous stories of people who have met Aaron Gillespie, who have said he is pretty much one of the most unlikeable band members they have ever encountered.
If I saw Aaron Gillespie, and he was on fire, in the grand words of Fall Out Boy, I wouldn't piss to put him out.
This is where I do a shameless plug for a band/person/people who DO actually pull double-duty on Warped Tour, and DO indeed embrace their crowd....
Chiodos. Craig Owens. Bradley Bell. And the rest of those guys.
I don't watch a band 22 times if they piss me off. That's for damn sure.
These guys have the honor of being the ONLY band, other than RJA, that I watched ALL 11 TIMES I went to Warped Tour this summer.
Not to mention, being front row most of those times. Almost getting killed. It was grand.
Craig and Bradley are in Chiodos. Craig and Bradley are in Cinematic Sunrise. Chiodos played ALL of Warped Tour this summer (something niether The Almost nor Underoath did). Cinematic Sunrise played a few select dates of Warped Tour. These days being simultaneous to the ones Chiodos was playing. Meaning: Craig and Bradley played two sets on some days. Which makes them a whole-helluva-lot more respectable than Gillespie, who didn't play any double-duty shows to my knowledge.
It doesn't matter if you run into them walking around early in the day, late at night, as soon as they've gotten off stage, etc., these boys are some of the nicest people ever and will stop to take pictures with you without making it seem like it's their fucking job *ahemGILLESPIEahem*
If you're lucky, Craig might even sing with you *ahemNIKKIahem* *lols*
Did I mention they're polite too?
They are.
They embrace their crowd. At virtually every Chiodos show I've ever been to, I've seen Craig get down in the audience. Not only will he get down on the barricade, he will stand on the audience, and trust them enough to hold him up.
They also look out for their crowd. At Warped Tour in Virginia Beach LAST year, a girl got hurt during one of the songs, and the band stopped playing immediately. They waited a good 10 minutes until they got the all clear from the crew, and then they started playing again. That's what we like to call "compassion". They actually care about their fans, unlike Gillespie, who seems to have the emotional range of a fruit fly.
Chiodos is a band you can like, and feel good for liking.
The Almost makes me feel ashamed that I like even one of their songs. I won't even listen to their other songs, because Gillespie disgusts me THAT much.
Gillespie can best be described in the words of Craig Owens..."Filthy.....Traitor...."
So where does your loyalty lie?
I think I made my preference pretty obvious.
If you want to dispute/agree/disagree with anything I've said, please, feel free to drop me a comment.
XMeganX
"Not surprisingly, he isn't waiting until the cultural fires of screamo burn down to a smoldering ember before preparing for his future in music. Looking far down the road, the compulsive multi-tasker has launched the Almost, his new solo-project-turned-band, whose debut release, Southern Weather, was issued this past spring. Ever the workaholic, Gillespie did it while Underoath are as popular as ever, playing sold-out shows all over the world in support of last year's Define The Great Line, which debuted at No.2 on the Billboard chart. Saying the two groups' activities overlap may be the understatement of the summer: Both bands are doing stints on this year's Van's Warped Tour, with Gillespie playing two sets a day, one as Underoath's singing skinsman, the other as the Almost's crowd-embracing frontman. It's a rough gig, rocking out double-duty in the extreme heat and humidity, but those who know him wouldn't be surprised if he defied time and space to play with both bands on different stages at the same time. Gillespie's a man of faith, but not a miracle worker--he's just that driven."
Driven? DRIVEN? Are you KIDDING ME?
Now, my facts can't be completely accurate, because I don't have my *paperwork* in front of me, but with a little Youtube research, we can make some deductions.
I went to Warped Tour 11 times this summer. I have a pretty good idea of who played where.
The Almost did indeed play Warped Tour out in California. There are a ton of Youtube videos of their performances. Underoath was NOT playing this leg of the tour. Thus, no double-duty for Aaron.
*I seem to think there was a day in California that they bailed on, Ventura maybe?*
If I remember correctly, the first day Underoath played was in Charlotte, North Carolina. I remember this because I was on the front row for Underoath that day. Did the Almost play that day? Are there any Youtube videos of The Almost in Charlotte, where they were supposed to play? NEGATIVE. Thus, no double-duty for Aaron.
The same goes for Virginia Beach. Underoath played, but is there any record of The Almost playing that day? NEGATIVE. Thus, no double-duty for Aaron.
The same goes for Columbia, Maryland. Thus, no double-duty for Aaron.
The Almost was supposed to play up in NY/NJ too.
I remember a HUGE crowd for Underoath closing the night in Camden. I remember hearing Underoath across the venue in NY. Do I remember seeing The Almost at all on those days? Are there any Youtube videos of The Almost playing in those cities? NEGATIVE. Thus, no double-duty for Aaron.
I think you're beginning to see my point. Honestly, if you're reading this, and you went to Warped Tour expecting to see Underoath and The Almost on the same day, and they failed you, PLEASE, do let me know. Further proof of asshole-ery would be appreciated.
If you went to Warped Tour on a day when The Almost and Underoath actually did play on the same day, PLEASE, let me know. That'll be proof that Hell has frozen over and pigs are taking flight.
Cause to be honest, I don't believe it ever fucking happened.
I have four words for Aaron Gillespie regarding Warped Tour: DOUBLE-DUTY MY ASS.
"Crowd-embracing frontman"????? Are you JOKING?!?!
I went to Bamboozle this year. When it was time for The Almost to play, I was there, front row.
During the first or second song, the barricade collapsed.
There was no crowd surge or anything. It just...collapsed.
I however, happened to be leaning against the barricade, so when it went down, I went down with it. I carry a scar on my knee from that stupid barricade. I am living proof that during this incident, people got injured. Did Aaron Gillespie "embrace" the crowd when the barricade collapsed? NEGATIVE. Not a hesitation, not a glance, not a pause, not a moment afterward of "hey, let's back up a few steps", he just went on about his way.
I have four words for Aaron Gillespie regarding Bamboozle: CROWD-EMBRACING MY ASS.
I have heard numerous stories of people who have met Aaron Gillespie, who have said he is pretty much one of the most unlikeable band members they have ever encountered.
If I saw Aaron Gillespie, and he was on fire, in the grand words of Fall Out Boy, I wouldn't piss to put him out.
This is where I do a shameless plug for a band/person/people who DO actually pull double-duty on Warped Tour, and DO indeed embrace their crowd....
Chiodos. Craig Owens. Bradley Bell. And the rest of those guys.
I don't watch a band 22 times if they piss me off. That's for damn sure.
These guys have the honor of being the ONLY band, other than RJA, that I watched ALL 11 TIMES I went to Warped Tour this summer.
Not to mention, being front row most of those times. Almost getting killed. It was grand.
Craig and Bradley are in Chiodos. Craig and Bradley are in Cinematic Sunrise. Chiodos played ALL of Warped Tour this summer (something niether The Almost nor Underoath did). Cinematic Sunrise played a few select dates of Warped Tour. These days being simultaneous to the ones Chiodos was playing. Meaning: Craig and Bradley played two sets on some days. Which makes them a whole-helluva-lot more respectable than Gillespie, who didn't play any double-duty shows to my knowledge.
It doesn't matter if you run into them walking around early in the day, late at night, as soon as they've gotten off stage, etc., these boys are some of the nicest people ever and will stop to take pictures with you without making it seem like it's their fucking job *ahemGILLESPIEahem*
If you're lucky, Craig might even sing with you *ahemNIKKIahem* *lols*
Did I mention they're polite too?
They are.
They embrace their crowd. At virtually every Chiodos show I've ever been to, I've seen Craig get down in the audience. Not only will he get down on the barricade, he will stand on the audience, and trust them enough to hold him up.
They also look out for their crowd. At Warped Tour in Virginia Beach LAST year, a girl got hurt during one of the songs, and the band stopped playing immediately. They waited a good 10 minutes until they got the all clear from the crew, and then they started playing again. That's what we like to call "compassion". They actually care about their fans, unlike Gillespie, who seems to have the emotional range of a fruit fly.
Chiodos is a band you can like, and feel good for liking.
The Almost makes me feel ashamed that I like even one of their songs. I won't even listen to their other songs, because Gillespie disgusts me THAT much.
Gillespie can best be described in the words of Craig Owens..."Filthy.....Traitor...."
So where does your loyalty lie?
I think I made my preference pretty obvious.
If you want to dispute/agree/disagree with anything I've said, please, feel free to drop me a comment.
XMeganX
Monday, November 26, 2007
Chuck Palahniuk is PWNing my face right now.
Invisible Monsters -
"It's a hundred generations removed from anything original, but the truth is aren't we all?"
"Another thing is no matter how much you think you love somebody, you'll step back when the pool of their blood edges up too close."
"There's that falen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should've been paying attention.
Well get used to that feeling. That's how your whole life will feel some day."
"...hysteria is impossible without an audience. Panicking by yourself is the same as laughing alone in an empty room. You feel really silly."
"It's a hundred generations removed from anything original, but the truth is aren't we all?"
"Another thing is no matter how much you think you love somebody, you'll step back when the pool of their blood edges up too close."
"There's that falen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should've been paying attention.
Well get used to that feeling. That's how your whole life will feel some day."
"...hysteria is impossible without an audience. Panicking by yourself is the same as laughing alone in an empty room. You feel really silly."
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
I don't know why it bothers me...but it does.
I'm straightedge.
But I've always thought that people should be able to do what they want.
If you choose to drink or whatever, I'm not gonna rag on you.
I hate it when you have this image of how certain celebrities/band members/heroes are, and they seem to fall into your belief system, which is cool and all.
Then one day, you see a picture, or read an interview, and you realize that these people are nothing like you thought they were.
I'm not one to be the naive kid who thinks that these people can do-no-wrong, but it fucking sucks when you find out you've been lied to.
Or rather, it sucks to find out these people have really been lying to themselves.
This is where I begin to rant.
Kenny Vasoli.
When I got in to The Starting Line, Kenny was the bleach blonde kid who was pretty much the ruler of our 14 year old worlds.
To me, punk was Blink-182, New Found Glory, and The Starting Line.
To this day, Say It Like You Mean It is one of the only cds I can listen to front-to-back, without skipping any songs.
Everyone was shocked when they released the song "Bedroom Talk" and it was like "OH SNAP! Kenny's singing about losing his virginity!"
Okay, not that big of a deal. I can accept this as creative progression.
Now, I was reading an article about The Starting Line in AP the other day, and it pissed me off.
Kenny Vasoli stated " I feel like I've written some of my best songs stoned as hell."
What. The. Hell?
Innocent Pop Punk: -1
Bad guys: + 1
Pete Wentz.
That boy has always claimed to be straightedge.
You can read into his lyrics, and it's pretty obvious he isn't a member of the V-club.
No big deal.
Anyone that knows Pete's history with Jeanae knows he's a pedo, so it's not that shocking ; )
But I see a picture on the internet of Wentz with a beer bottle in his hand, and my world starts to unravel just a little bit.
It shouldn't matter that much, but it really bothers me.
Him downing a bottle of Ativan in a parking lot? I can handle that.
Beer?
Nope.
Ryan Ross.
This kid has always been a walking anti-alcohol ad.
His dad was an alcoholic, and it pretty much killed the man.
Ryan always said he would never drink. He's always claimed he doesn't "party".
The pics from his 21st B-day surfaced, and he's definitely drinking alcohol.
I guess it bugs me so much because the kid knows what effect that stuff can have, and he still goes for it.
Brendon Urie.
Okay. The kid (yes, everyone I refer to is a *kid*) used to be Mormon.
I know the key words are used-to-be. The kid is addicted to Red Bull. That kind of clarifies where he stands now. Red Bull addiction? Not so scandalous.
The picture I just saw of Brendon holding a bottle of Corona?
It makes me angry.
Max Bemis.
Now don't get the wrong idea. I don't really like Say Anything... at all.
But I was reading an article about them, and it pissed me off.
He made it seem like it was necessary for everyone in a band to go through a phase where they do coke and ecstasy.
Ummmmm......Nooooooooooooo.
Just because Bipolar-Boy doesn't have the self-control to politely decline, doesn't mean he has to stereotype everyone else.
And it seems like he uses his "disorder" as an excuse.
Max Bemis just really pisses me off. Let's not mention Bemis anymore. K?
Now I probably seem like an uptight asshole.
But see, this is where I get confused.
If people drink/*insert other action here* from the get-go, it doesn't bother me!
Jon Walker.
The man loves his alcohol.
That's fine. All the more power to him.
It doesn't bug me at all.
Joe Trohman.
Weed-loving Joe-Troh.
It doesn't bug me!
(Maybe it's because I know good ole' Andy Hurley is there to keep things in check!)
Yellowcard.
Hello! They've always talked about being high!
And those boys can down more wine than anyone I know! (Let's not forget Ryan's recollection of that one time Sean was drunk and broke Ryan's jaw...)
Big whoop!
I'm not even going to begin to get into the numerous band members I know of who are friends with Mary Jane, but seriously, it doesn't bug me.
Probably because these people have been smoking the stuff since before I ever met them.
I seriously don't know what it is.
I feel like a shallow bitchy person because I freak out when I see so-and-so drinking a beer or smoking weed.
But then I feel like such a hypocrite when I see others doing the same damn thing, and it doesn't phase me at all.
What the hell?
But I've always thought that people should be able to do what they want.
If you choose to drink or whatever, I'm not gonna rag on you.
I hate it when you have this image of how certain celebrities/band members/heroes are, and they seem to fall into your belief system, which is cool and all.
Then one day, you see a picture, or read an interview, and you realize that these people are nothing like you thought they were.
I'm not one to be the naive kid who thinks that these people can do-no-wrong, but it fucking sucks when you find out you've been lied to.
Or rather, it sucks to find out these people have really been lying to themselves.
This is where I begin to rant.
Kenny Vasoli.
When I got in to The Starting Line, Kenny was the bleach blonde kid who was pretty much the ruler of our 14 year old worlds.
To me, punk was Blink-182, New Found Glory, and The Starting Line.
To this day, Say It Like You Mean It is one of the only cds I can listen to front-to-back, without skipping any songs.
Everyone was shocked when they released the song "Bedroom Talk" and it was like "OH SNAP! Kenny's singing about losing his virginity!"
Okay, not that big of a deal. I can accept this as creative progression.
Now, I was reading an article about The Starting Line in AP the other day, and it pissed me off.
Kenny Vasoli stated " I feel like I've written some of my best songs stoned as hell."
What. The. Hell?
Innocent Pop Punk: -1
Bad guys: + 1
Pete Wentz.
That boy has always claimed to be straightedge.
You can read into his lyrics, and it's pretty obvious he isn't a member of the V-club.
No big deal.
Anyone that knows Pete's history with Jeanae knows he's a pedo, so it's not that shocking ; )
But I see a picture on the internet of Wentz with a beer bottle in his hand, and my world starts to unravel just a little bit.
It shouldn't matter that much, but it really bothers me.
Him downing a bottle of Ativan in a parking lot? I can handle that.
Beer?
Nope.
Ryan Ross.
This kid has always been a walking anti-alcohol ad.
His dad was an alcoholic, and it pretty much killed the man.
Ryan always said he would never drink. He's always claimed he doesn't "party".
The pics from his 21st B-day surfaced, and he's definitely drinking alcohol.
I guess it bugs me so much because the kid knows what effect that stuff can have, and he still goes for it.
Brendon Urie.
Okay. The kid (yes, everyone I refer to is a *kid*) used to be Mormon.
I know the key words are used-to-be. The kid is addicted to Red Bull. That kind of clarifies where he stands now. Red Bull addiction? Not so scandalous.
The picture I just saw of Brendon holding a bottle of Corona?
It makes me angry.
Max Bemis.
Now don't get the wrong idea. I don't really like Say Anything... at all.
But I was reading an article about them, and it pissed me off.
He made it seem like it was necessary for everyone in a band to go through a phase where they do coke and ecstasy.
Ummmmm......Nooooooooooooo.
Just because Bipolar-Boy doesn't have the self-control to politely decline, doesn't mean he has to stereotype everyone else.
And it seems like he uses his "disorder" as an excuse.
Max Bemis just really pisses me off. Let's not mention Bemis anymore. K?
Now I probably seem like an uptight asshole.
But see, this is where I get confused.
If people drink/*insert other action here* from the get-go, it doesn't bother me!
Jon Walker.
The man loves his alcohol.
That's fine. All the more power to him.
It doesn't bug me at all.
Joe Trohman.
Weed-loving Joe-Troh.
It doesn't bug me!
(Maybe it's because I know good ole' Andy Hurley is there to keep things in check!)
Yellowcard.
Hello! They've always talked about being high!
And those boys can down more wine than anyone I know! (Let's not forget Ryan's recollection of that one time Sean was drunk and broke Ryan's jaw...)
Big whoop!
I'm not even going to begin to get into the numerous band members I know of who are friends with Mary Jane, but seriously, it doesn't bug me.
Probably because these people have been smoking the stuff since before I ever met them.
I seriously don't know what it is.
I feel like a shallow bitchy person because I freak out when I see so-and-so drinking a beer or smoking weed.
But then I feel like such a hypocrite when I see others doing the same damn thing, and it doesn't phase me at all.
What the hell?
A bit of a run down
Why is it that I begin blogs at 2 am? Search me.
Here's a little background info to help explain the next post:
I'm straightedge. I always have been. I always will be.
I catch so much crap for it, and it kind of bothers me.
I've never drank alcohol. I don't feel the need to. I go to college with 49,000 people who get drunk every weekend and like to relive their tales on Monday mornings. I look at those people and think "WTF? Don't you have anything better to do?"
I've never smoked. My dad smoked when I was little, so I've always been around it. But I hate it. If I'm at a concert, and you're smoking, and you blow smoke in my face, I will stare at you with my if-only-looks-could-kill expression, and I will proceed to fan the smoke back at your face. I will cough and hack in your face, just to get my point across. Just because you feel the need to blacken your lungs, doesn't mean I want to breathe in that shit too.
And since I'm on the whole schpiel (I so just made up my own spelling for that word), in case you were wondering, my definition of "straightedge" includes not having sex until you're married.
I'm not married, therefore I've never had sex.
These days, saying that is like admitting you have the bubonic plague. I don't know what's so bad about it.
I get ganged up on by people I know (parents included!) interrogating me as to why I don't believe in having sex until you're married.
Should I really have to justify something like that?
This is the part where some of you will go "Of course not Megan! Waiting until marriage is the Christian thing to do!"
Well you know what?
I don't care. That's not my reasoning.
And now for those of you going "Wait, is Megan a Christian?"
No. I don't follow any particular belief. I think men evolved from monkeys. I think homosexuality is 100% acceptable. I don't read the Bible.
To be quite honest with you, I think I found the book Fight Club to be more of a revelation than anything religious I've ever heard/read.
If I hear something I like, I'll believe it. Some things may contradict others, but that's okay. Not everything has to make sense.
Maybe this will help explain the next post. Or maybe it will just make it even more of a mystery to me.
Here's a little background info to help explain the next post:
I'm straightedge. I always have been. I always will be.
I catch so much crap for it, and it kind of bothers me.
I've never drank alcohol. I don't feel the need to. I go to college with 49,000 people who get drunk every weekend and like to relive their tales on Monday mornings. I look at those people and think "WTF? Don't you have anything better to do?"
I've never smoked. My dad smoked when I was little, so I've always been around it. But I hate it. If I'm at a concert, and you're smoking, and you blow smoke in my face, I will stare at you with my if-only-looks-could-kill expression, and I will proceed to fan the smoke back at your face. I will cough and hack in your face, just to get my point across. Just because you feel the need to blacken your lungs, doesn't mean I want to breathe in that shit too.
And since I'm on the whole schpiel (I so just made up my own spelling for that word), in case you were wondering, my definition of "straightedge" includes not having sex until you're married.
I'm not married, therefore I've never had sex.
These days, saying that is like admitting you have the bubonic plague. I don't know what's so bad about it.
I get ganged up on by people I know (parents included!) interrogating me as to why I don't believe in having sex until you're married.
Should I really have to justify something like that?
This is the part where some of you will go "Of course not Megan! Waiting until marriage is the Christian thing to do!"
Well you know what?
I don't care. That's not my reasoning.
And now for those of you going "Wait, is Megan a Christian?"
No. I don't follow any particular belief. I think men evolved from monkeys. I think homosexuality is 100% acceptable. I don't read the Bible.
To be quite honest with you, I think I found the book Fight Club to be more of a revelation than anything religious I've ever heard/read.
If I hear something I like, I'll believe it. Some things may contradict others, but that's okay. Not everything has to make sense.
Maybe this will help explain the next post. Or maybe it will just make it even more of a mystery to me.
Friday, November 02, 2007
Fall Out Boy - Young Wild Things Tour - Orlando - November 1, 2007
I was pretty bummed the other day when I found out that Pete Wentz broke his ankle at Voodoo Fest in New Orleans.
I was bummed because I knew Pete wasn't going to be able to do his normal antics during their show when they played in Orlando.
Pete Wentz never lets me down though.
Last night was the best Fall Out Boy show ever, even with Pete's broken ankle.
I must begin by referencing the dimwitted nitwits that were behind us.
Her: "Hey, there's a big gap in front of you. Can I stand in it?"
Me: *thinking* Can I punch you in the face?
Me: "No."
Her: "Well can you stand in it?"
Me: "No. If there was space, I would already be standing in it."
Her: "Well, (she gets all snooty) you don't have to get attitude with me."
Me: *thinking* Well you don't have to get stupid with me. Dumbass. Do you really think that I am going to let you stand in front of me, when I'm on the second row? I think not.
There's really not much to say about the opening bands.
Cute Is What We Aim For was great.
Jeff Czum still looks like a puppy, and Shaant still has weird hair. No surprises there.
Plain White T's - Mom thinks one of the guys raided Patrick Stump's wardrobe.
I wanted to gouge my fucking eyes out. No surprises there.
My definition of "Hell" is being forced to listen to "Hey There Delilah"
If you ever want to torture me, just start singing that.
Gym Class Heroes - The girls standing in front of us obviously wanted to have Travis McCoy's babies.
Disashi doesn't look right with hair.
The bassist cut off his hair, and Mom thinks he looks like Tom Cruise.
Mom thinks the keyboardist raided Patrick Stump's wardrobe.
It's always fun watching GCH.
This is where I randomly mention the fact that JR from Less Than Jake and Chris from There For Tomorrow were at the show. More about JR later though.
I can't do justice to the feeling that I get when the lights go out and I know my heroes/idols/insert better term *here*/ are about to walk out on stage.
I always seem to think one thing as soon as they walk out on stage...
"They're real."
12 times seeing them, and I still don't believe it sometimes.
But they're still real.
They came out and started with "Sugar We're Goin Down".
Whenever I hear the song on the radio, I always end up singing "We're goin down tuu in a luuleelurah..."
But when I hear it live, I always manage to sing the right words ; )
I also see it as somewhat of a crime for people not to do the *lick lick salute* at the proper time.
I don't care how stupid I look, I always do the *lick lick salute*.
Major jaw-droppage when I realized they had moving platforms on stage.
That's not a good description.
Moving platforms...as in, those moving sidewalks like they have in airports...or....moving floor as in Jamiraqui's "Virtual Insanity" music video (well, not THAT high tech, but you catch my drift)
I can't even describe how big my smile gets when I see Pete raise his hands in the air and hear him say "Put your diamonds up, and stand for your national anthem" and they launch into "Grand Theft Autumn".
It's hard to think there was ever a time when we didn't put our diamonds up.
They've been doing that for so long now.
I remember the first time I ever put my diamonds up. I thought it was the coolest fucking thing in the world. I still think it is.
For anyone who doesn't know what the hell I'm talking about when I say "put your diamonds up", google the phrase, and you should find some pics.
I don't remember the order they did all the songs in, and I'm referring to an earlier setlist someone has posted, and the set in Orlando doesn't match that one, but whatever. I'll remember what I can...
They played one of my favorite songs from Cork Tree... "I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy, And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me"
I love it when they play "Thriller". I think that should be our national anthem 2.0
Everyone but Patrick disappeared for "Golden". The stage was dark, and all eyes were on Patrick. Afterwards, the whole band sat down and did an acoustic version of *can't remember which* "Gin Joints" or "Noboby puts baby...". Either way, it was a sit-down acoustic song. I felt like I was watching the B-Sides DVD. I love the footage of their acoustic house-party set on that DVD. I never thought I'd see them do anything like that live. Pete was all smiles during the song. It made my heart melt just a tad bit to see him so happy.
I was getting frustrated with the people in front of me. 4 kids on the front row, who weren't singing a single word to a single song (I'm teling you, they were only there because they wanted to have Travis McCoy's babies!). I kind of wanted to claw their eyes out and tell them to leave. I think I might have anger issues. But it pisses me off when people aren't real fans, and they just stay on the front row for bragging rights.
Pete mentioned that Less Than Jake was one of the first bands to ever support FOB, and that JR was at the show. Heck yes for LTJ. They know how to pick 'em.
At another point, Pete got one of the crew members to come out into the crowd to get a circle pit going. Big crowd surge about 30 seconds later. Only crowd surge of the night, but hey, what can ya do?
When they started playing "Chicago Is So Two Years Ago", I think I might have squeaked out loud because of my excitement. It's one of my favorite songs from Take This To Your Grave. No one else around us was singing the words. It breaks my heart that people don't know these songs.
This is the part where I sound naive. I hear people all the time at concerts saying "OMG he just looked at me!" or "OMG he was sooo posing for my camera!". I'll be the first to say that people just sound naive when they say things like that. But me and Mom both agree, we were being watched last night.
We swear, we felt like Joe and Pete were looking at us. No eye contact or anything, but you could just feel it. And no one else around us was taking pictures, and Joe and Pete were posing for long stretches of time. Joe never stays still, and he stood long enough for pictures to get taken. Pete wasn't as mobile as usual (duh, ankle), but seriously, he was posing, and he would be "working" our section of the crowd when he did it too.
Maybe I sound naive and stupid for thinking it, but I have never felt like I was being watched that much.
Mom and I were the only people in our area singing "Chicago" and Pete looked over in our direction and started smiling. I just got that feeling.
Maybe I'm wrong. But if that feeling is wrong, I don't want to be right.
Cover song time.
Pete said something along the lines of "Do you ever hear a song, and think that's it's so good, and you wish you had wrote that song?"
Cue "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers.
Unlikely? Yes. Amazing? Yes.
Mom didn't like it too much, but I did.
I'm not used to seeing them do covers.
I demand more in the future.
One of the girls on the front row (AKA useless-waste-of-matter-that-doesn't-know-any-Fall-Out-Boy-songs) decided she had had enough, and got pulled over the barricade. I shifted to the left to close up the gap. I ended up behind this GIANTESS of a woman, who felt the need to FLAIL her arms wildly during the entire set. She was relentless! I think she ruined about 30 of my pictures. Her gaudy-fake-nails are in just about every one of Mom's video clips that she took.
FYI - one of my pet peeves is people who flail their arms in the air at concerts.
I want to seriously smack them in the face just so they'll put their arms down.
I am a terrible person. No surprises there.
This girl that was over behind the left half of the GIANTESS was giving me creepy looks for the rest of the show.
Like, she was just flat out STARING at me. She wasn't singing any of the songs either. FREAK.
When they played "This Ain't A Scene", I started dancing and doing the ridiculous arm movements that Patrick does in the video. I was seriously freaking out the girl who was staring at me. I thought it was kind of funny. She was thinking I was the FREAK, but no, it was definitely her.
They did a brief little break, and Pete took off his leather jacket, and came back out wearing a thin black hoodie. He looked like a little emo kid. I wanted to hug him
: )
*remembers that she forgot about the signs*
OH! Pete had signs taped to the back of each of his Bass'sssssssssss' .
One said "Beer me some new bones"
One said "The Universe talks to her"
And I couldn't quite read the other one, but it looked like it said
"This machine kills faschists" which would make sense, because that's the name of an Anti-Flag song, but Faschists didn't have a "C" in it, so it looked like the word "Fashion", And I remember it looking like it said "Fashion" during the show.
If anyone knows what it said, get back at me.
If anyone knows what the signs mean, get back at me.
I'm curious and nosy.
I love "Dance Dance".
I do.
You want to know a fun fact?
"Dance Dance" was my favorite song, BEFORE it was ever released as a single.
It was my favorite song the first time I ever heard it.
On a side-note, "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" by Panic! At The Disco, was also my favorite song, BEFORE it was ever released as a single.
Damn, I know how to pick 'em don't I?
Any Fall Out Boy fan who has been to a Fall Out Boy show will tell you that they ALWAYS end with "Saturday".
They started playing that song, and it started raining crowdsurfers. It was like they had all been waiting for this one song.
There was so much energy in that crowd by this point. It was electric.
One of the reasons I was so bummed when I heard about Pete's broken ankle, was the fact that he normally jumps down onto the barricade and sings during "Saturday", and I thought he wouldn't be able to do it.
Lo and behold the shit-eating grin that developed on my face when I saw Pete toss his bass to a tech during the guitar interlude, and all I could think was
"HOLY SHIT, HE'S GONNA DO IT."
Sure enough, Bad-Ass Wentz got down on the barricade and started screaming "I read about the afterlife, but I never really lived!"
And the confetti cannons erupted.
The confetti was so thick, we couldn't even see.
I knew Pete was over on the barricade somewhere, but I couldn't see him through the confetti.
You all know about my obsession with confetti, so you can imagine how much I look forward to this moment at a FOB show.
The confetti thinned out a bit, so I could see Wentz, and we saw him finish singing and get back onstage.
Pete gets so many Kudos for the fact that he still got down on the barricade, with a broken ankle, to sing his part.
He knows we all look forward to that.
Then Pete decided to take off his shirt off and throw it in the crowd.
And then my heart decided to melt completely.
The perfect way to end a FOB show is with Pete, half naked, limping away in his rocker boot.
Not that I want him to be limping, but....awww shucks, you know what I mean : )
I was bummed because I knew Pete wasn't going to be able to do his normal antics during their show when they played in Orlando.
Pete Wentz never lets me down though.
Last night was the best Fall Out Boy show ever, even with Pete's broken ankle.
I must begin by referencing the dimwitted nitwits that were behind us.
Her: "Hey, there's a big gap in front of you. Can I stand in it?"
Me: *thinking* Can I punch you in the face?
Me: "No."
Her: "Well can you stand in it?"
Me: "No. If there was space, I would already be standing in it."
Her: "Well, (she gets all snooty) you don't have to get attitude with me."
Me: *thinking* Well you don't have to get stupid with me. Dumbass. Do you really think that I am going to let you stand in front of me, when I'm on the second row? I think not.
There's really not much to say about the opening bands.
Cute Is What We Aim For was great.
Jeff Czum still looks like a puppy, and Shaant still has weird hair. No surprises there.
Plain White T's - Mom thinks one of the guys raided Patrick Stump's wardrobe.
I wanted to gouge my fucking eyes out. No surprises there.
My definition of "Hell" is being forced to listen to "Hey There Delilah"
If you ever want to torture me, just start singing that.
Gym Class Heroes - The girls standing in front of us obviously wanted to have Travis McCoy's babies.
Disashi doesn't look right with hair.
The bassist cut off his hair, and Mom thinks he looks like Tom Cruise.
Mom thinks the keyboardist raided Patrick Stump's wardrobe.
It's always fun watching GCH.
This is where I randomly mention the fact that JR from Less Than Jake and Chris from There For Tomorrow were at the show. More about JR later though.
I can't do justice to the feeling that I get when the lights go out and I know my heroes/idols/insert better term *here*/ are about to walk out on stage.
I always seem to think one thing as soon as they walk out on stage...
"They're real."
12 times seeing them, and I still don't believe it sometimes.
But they're still real.
They came out and started with "Sugar We're Goin Down".
Whenever I hear the song on the radio, I always end up singing "We're goin down tuu in a luuleelurah..."
But when I hear it live, I always manage to sing the right words ; )
I also see it as somewhat of a crime for people not to do the *lick lick salute* at the proper time.
I don't care how stupid I look, I always do the *lick lick salute*.
Major jaw-droppage when I realized they had moving platforms on stage.
That's not a good description.
Moving platforms...as in, those moving sidewalks like they have in airports...or....moving floor as in Jamiraqui's "Virtual Insanity" music video (well, not THAT high tech, but you catch my drift)
I can't even describe how big my smile gets when I see Pete raise his hands in the air and hear him say "Put your diamonds up, and stand for your national anthem" and they launch into "Grand Theft Autumn".
It's hard to think there was ever a time when we didn't put our diamonds up.
They've been doing that for so long now.
I remember the first time I ever put my diamonds up. I thought it was the coolest fucking thing in the world. I still think it is.
For anyone who doesn't know what the hell I'm talking about when I say "put your diamonds up", google the phrase, and you should find some pics.
I don't remember the order they did all the songs in, and I'm referring to an earlier setlist someone has posted, and the set in Orlando doesn't match that one, but whatever. I'll remember what I can...
They played one of my favorite songs from Cork Tree... "I Slept With Someone In Fall Out Boy, And All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me"
I love it when they play "Thriller". I think that should be our national anthem 2.0
Everyone but Patrick disappeared for "Golden". The stage was dark, and all eyes were on Patrick. Afterwards, the whole band sat down and did an acoustic version of *can't remember which* "Gin Joints" or "Noboby puts baby...". Either way, it was a sit-down acoustic song. I felt like I was watching the B-Sides DVD. I love the footage of their acoustic house-party set on that DVD. I never thought I'd see them do anything like that live. Pete was all smiles during the song. It made my heart melt just a tad bit to see him so happy.
I was getting frustrated with the people in front of me. 4 kids on the front row, who weren't singing a single word to a single song (I'm teling you, they were only there because they wanted to have Travis McCoy's babies!). I kind of wanted to claw their eyes out and tell them to leave. I think I might have anger issues. But it pisses me off when people aren't real fans, and they just stay on the front row for bragging rights.
Pete mentioned that Less Than Jake was one of the first bands to ever support FOB, and that JR was at the show. Heck yes for LTJ. They know how to pick 'em.
At another point, Pete got one of the crew members to come out into the crowd to get a circle pit going. Big crowd surge about 30 seconds later. Only crowd surge of the night, but hey, what can ya do?
When they started playing "Chicago Is So Two Years Ago", I think I might have squeaked out loud because of my excitement. It's one of my favorite songs from Take This To Your Grave. No one else around us was singing the words. It breaks my heart that people don't know these songs.
This is the part where I sound naive. I hear people all the time at concerts saying "OMG he just looked at me!" or "OMG he was sooo posing for my camera!". I'll be the first to say that people just sound naive when they say things like that. But me and Mom both agree, we were being watched last night.
We swear, we felt like Joe and Pete were looking at us. No eye contact or anything, but you could just feel it. And no one else around us was taking pictures, and Joe and Pete were posing for long stretches of time. Joe never stays still, and he stood long enough for pictures to get taken. Pete wasn't as mobile as usual (duh, ankle), but seriously, he was posing, and he would be "working" our section of the crowd when he did it too.
Maybe I sound naive and stupid for thinking it, but I have never felt like I was being watched that much.
Mom and I were the only people in our area singing "Chicago" and Pete looked over in our direction and started smiling. I just got that feeling.
Maybe I'm wrong. But if that feeling is wrong, I don't want to be right.
Cover song time.
Pete said something along the lines of "Do you ever hear a song, and think that's it's so good, and you wish you had wrote that song?"
Cue "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers.
Unlikely? Yes. Amazing? Yes.
Mom didn't like it too much, but I did.
I'm not used to seeing them do covers.
I demand more in the future.
One of the girls on the front row (AKA useless-waste-of-matter-that-doesn't-know-any-Fall-Out-Boy-songs) decided she had had enough, and got pulled over the barricade. I shifted to the left to close up the gap. I ended up behind this GIANTESS of a woman, who felt the need to FLAIL her arms wildly during the entire set. She was relentless! I think she ruined about 30 of my pictures. Her gaudy-fake-nails are in just about every one of Mom's video clips that she took.
FYI - one of my pet peeves is people who flail their arms in the air at concerts.
I want to seriously smack them in the face just so they'll put their arms down.
I am a terrible person. No surprises there.
This girl that was over behind the left half of the GIANTESS was giving me creepy looks for the rest of the show.
Like, she was just flat out STARING at me. She wasn't singing any of the songs either. FREAK.
When they played "This Ain't A Scene", I started dancing and doing the ridiculous arm movements that Patrick does in the video. I was seriously freaking out the girl who was staring at me. I thought it was kind of funny. She was thinking I was the FREAK, but no, it was definitely her.
They did a brief little break, and Pete took off his leather jacket, and came back out wearing a thin black hoodie. He looked like a little emo kid. I wanted to hug him
: )
*remembers that she forgot about the signs*
OH! Pete had signs taped to the back of each of his Bass'sssssssssss' .
One said "Beer me some new bones"
One said "The Universe talks to her"
And I couldn't quite read the other one, but it looked like it said
"This machine kills faschists" which would make sense, because that's the name of an Anti-Flag song, but Faschists didn't have a "C" in it, so it looked like the word "Fashion", And I remember it looking like it said "Fashion" during the show.
If anyone knows what it said, get back at me.
If anyone knows what the signs mean, get back at me.
I'm curious and nosy.
I love "Dance Dance".
I do.
You want to know a fun fact?
"Dance Dance" was my favorite song, BEFORE it was ever released as a single.
It was my favorite song the first time I ever heard it.
On a side-note, "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" by Panic! At The Disco, was also my favorite song, BEFORE it was ever released as a single.
Damn, I know how to pick 'em don't I?
Any Fall Out Boy fan who has been to a Fall Out Boy show will tell you that they ALWAYS end with "Saturday".
They started playing that song, and it started raining crowdsurfers. It was like they had all been waiting for this one song.
There was so much energy in that crowd by this point. It was electric.
One of the reasons I was so bummed when I heard about Pete's broken ankle, was the fact that he normally jumps down onto the barricade and sings during "Saturday", and I thought he wouldn't be able to do it.
Lo and behold the shit-eating grin that developed on my face when I saw Pete toss his bass to a tech during the guitar interlude, and all I could think was
"HOLY SHIT, HE'S GONNA DO IT."
Sure enough, Bad-Ass Wentz got down on the barricade and started screaming "I read about the afterlife, but I never really lived!"
And the confetti cannons erupted.
The confetti was so thick, we couldn't even see.
I knew Pete was over on the barricade somewhere, but I couldn't see him through the confetti.
You all know about my obsession with confetti, so you can imagine how much I look forward to this moment at a FOB show.
The confetti thinned out a bit, so I could see Wentz, and we saw him finish singing and get back onstage.
Pete gets so many Kudos for the fact that he still got down on the barricade, with a broken ankle, to sing his part.
He knows we all look forward to that.
Then Pete decided to take off his shirt off and throw it in the crowd.
And then my heart decided to melt completely.
The perfect way to end a FOB show is with Pete, half naked, limping away in his rocker boot.
Not that I want him to be limping, but....awww shucks, you know what I mean : )
Friday, October 26, 2007
It's impossible to organize my thoughts...
I have a lot to say. I do. Lots of random thoughts.
I'm going to write as many as I can think of right now.
Follow along if you can.
I have expectations. They may be too high. They may be too low. Either way, I don't care, because these things are what make me happy. These are things I have an insatiable desire for. These are things I want to do forever:
Music.
I already know I have an addiction to concerts. I've been addicted since 2002.
I feel like a veteran to this scene (a wise elder at the ripe old age of 19). I've been to local venues that other people don't even know exist(ed). It makes me feel old.
The Marquee Theater (otherwise known as "that building across the street from Fuel").
Most people don't even know it was a venue.
I saw Autopilot Off there in 2002, with Sugarcult, and Rufio (and I distinctly remember some Rufio fans saying they were going to "tear shit up" in the mosh pit BAHAHAHAHA). Some other band I didn't know (and could have cared less about), called The Ataris, was billed to play also, but we left early.
We offered Marko72 hot chocolate on a cold street corner on Thanksgiving night.
It didn't get any better than that. At least when you were 14, it didn't.
Who remembers seeing Senses Fail and Autopilot Off at De Real Ting? (yes, that's really how it's spelled)
The crowd was ushered into a basement, packed onto a "dancefloor" the size of a bathroom, and the kids were stacked three tall. Seriously. Anyone in that crowd could have reached up and pulled down the lights if they had felt the urge.
That was back when Buddy was still telling people to go download their new album, because we all swore it was never going to be released by their label.
Those concerts were some of my first. I remember the show at De Real Ting so well because I had surgery just a few days after that. The shows wiped away any worries I had.
To this day, shows still have that effect. I never want to stop going to shows, where, for a few hours, the only thing you have to worry about is whether the band will play your favorite song.
I don't care how I do it, but I want to be involved with music forever.
Music journalism, music photography, tour managing, merch, tech, pit reporter, Warped crew member, official Starbucks runner for the stars, whatever it is, I'll do it.
Traveling.
Few people will truly understand it. The few that will are Mom, Lindsey and Nikki. Other people think it's irrational.
I live for road trips. The challenge of packing as much stuff into a car/trunk as possible. Picnics at rest areas. Washing my hair at a rest area at 1 a.m. using a faucet outside and Lindsey's 3 foot water hose. Blaring cd's at 4 a.m. because you're so amped to be on the trip, that there's no way you could possibly stop and sleep. Sleeping in the car in empty parking lots between Warped Tour dates (because it would be useless to get a hotel, since you honestly don't have enough time to sleep). We can get 5 people ready for Warped Tour in one McDonald's bathroom. We are so skilled. Hahahaha. You probably think we are SO weird, but whatever. Travel plazas on toll roads (AKA the best place to run into people on Warped Tour at 3 a.m.)
The thing that I am pretty sure equates to opening presents on Christmas morning, is the experience of driving from one Warped Tour show to another, and passing vans and buses on the interstate all night long. When you pull into a rest area and see someone walk by with a laminate on, and you know just how they feel at that point, because you're both coming from the same place, going to the same place, and for the same reason.
Airports. I don't know why everyone hates airports. I love them. I can't even understand why I love airports, but I do. Maybe it has something to do with those baggage carousels. Maybe : P My backup plan, is that if I fail miserably at everything, I'll become a flight attendant, like William's sister in Almost Famous. LOL. I mean come on, who wouldn't want to fly everywhere? No sleep? I'm game. Let's go. Emergency exits are *here*, *here*, and *here*.
Rest areas. Some of the best moments on trips happen at rest areas. Like that one time Jon Wilkes came over and talked to us at 2 a.m. How he knew it was us over by the car, I'm not sure, but that doesn't matter. He asked Becca how she was holding up road-tripping with us. He said "They (referring to Mom, Me, and Lindsey) tour! And not even in a van!" I'm capable of seeing the world through the eyes of a band on tour. That's how we like to go about things.
I think about all the places I've seen because of road-trips for concerts. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The Sears Tower in Chicago. Times Square in New York City. The Pacific Ocean. The Strip in Las Vegas. The Hoover Dam. The Grand Canyon. Los Angeles, California. If I tried to think of everything from every city, I'd be here for days. The thing is, I want to see EVERY thing in EVERY city. I want to go to different countries. I want to hear people speaking in different languages, and I want to feel like an outsider in a foreign country. I want to know what people are complaining about when they mention "international flights".
This guy came to one of my classes today and he was talking about these summer trips to Australia, and I found myself toying with the idea of what it would be like to go on a foreign adventure for a summer.
Just like we go through concert withdrawal, we go through road trip withdrawal.
We're experiencing it as I type.
It's been too long since we've sang "Shredded By State Lines!" as we've driven over a border.
I could live in a bunk on a bus. I have no problem falling asleep at 80 miles per hour. I have no problem waking up not knowing where I am. I have no problem waking up in a different city/state every day. I have no problem with making hotels feel like home. I have no problem living out of a suitcase for weeks at a time.
When people complain about touring/traveling, that's what they hate.
But that's what I want most.
That song "7 Weeks" by Gym Class Heroes and William Beckett...That song could be my life.
My heroes always seem to be people who have hit rock bottom.
Gerard Way. I shudder to think of this amazing guy doing an eight ball of cocaine. Without Brian Schechter, we all would have been screwed. (and really, did you think the "sweetrevenge" thing was just me being sick and twisted? No, it's an homage to MCR, you dum-dum : P)
Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III (*insert immature giggles here*). Best Buy parking lots will never be innocent again. Peter Pan with the responsibilities of a man. This guy makes me want to make the world shine brighter, to show him it's not all that bad.
I once saw something that said "I would give my pinky toe to eat Taco Bell with Pete Wentz and thank him for writing the words to the songs that changed my life." This boy's words make my head spin. He is a genius. I will not consider my life to be complete until I meet him in person.
Some of the best days of my life have been days where I'm in the presence of this guy and his band. A night well spent is a night spent singing "Saturday" at the top of your lungs while Wentz jumps into the crowd. I get so sick of all the Fall Out Boy haters. I will proudly say this is my # 2 favorite band ever (even though Mom SWEARS I like them more than RJA...not quite).
I will never forget those first couple of times I saw this band play live...back before they were the biggest band on the planet. You know, back in the day, FOB opened for Taking Back Sunday...true story. I was there.
"The songs and the words own the beating of our hearts." I want that lyric tattooed somewhere, someday. In fact, the only real tattoos I've ever considered getting have had something to do with this band. Maybe that says something about how important they are to me.
My # 1 rock-bottom hero....wiL Francis.
Dear god, I cannot express my admiration for this guy. I feel compelled to tell you his life story, just so you'll understand. He describes himself as a hopeless drug addict and alcoholic. He was doing cocaine by age 13. He was expelled from his school district in 8th grade. He has endured things I can only fathom. He said "On my 15th birthday, I was a full on heroin, coke and speed junkie. I shot anything anyone had." He did heroin, crystal meth, crack, LSD. He stole cars, robbed people, overdosed. He lived in the streets and in abandoned houses. When he was 17, while high on speed, he led the cops on a 25 minute high speed pursuit in a stolen car. He went to jail numerous times. Juvenile detention. He went to a correctional facility 20 times in one year. Rehab. The man planned a fucking massacre. He was going to go to a street in Seattle called "The Ave" on New Years Eve, kill as many people as possible, and then kill himself. The only reason he didn't do it, was because he was in a juvenile detention center on New Year's Eve.
wiL is completely clean now. When you see him at concerts, you just want to go give him a hug to make sure he's real, make sure he's still there. People have described wiL as being one of the nicest people they have ever met. It's true.
Back in March of 2006, Mom and I went to several Aiden/RJA shows. The first was in Jax. Then we went to Cleveland, Ohio, and wiL remembered us from the show in Jax. The next night in Toledo, wiL approached us and gave us a hug. It wasn't us going to wiL for a hug, it was wiL coming to US for a hug. You probably don't get it, but that hug in Toledo was something I will never forget.
I found out a few weeks ago that wiL is engaged. I am so ecstatic for him. If anyone on this entire planet deserves to be happy, it's him.
wiL Francis, you're my fucking hero.
I'm going to write as many as I can think of right now.
Follow along if you can.
I have expectations. They may be too high. They may be too low. Either way, I don't care, because these things are what make me happy. These are things I have an insatiable desire for. These are things I want to do forever:
Music.
I already know I have an addiction to concerts. I've been addicted since 2002.
I feel like a veteran to this scene (a wise elder at the ripe old age of 19). I've been to local venues that other people don't even know exist(ed). It makes me feel old.
The Marquee Theater (otherwise known as "that building across the street from Fuel").
Most people don't even know it was a venue.
I saw Autopilot Off there in 2002, with Sugarcult, and Rufio (and I distinctly remember some Rufio fans saying they were going to "tear shit up" in the mosh pit BAHAHAHAHA). Some other band I didn't know (and could have cared less about), called The Ataris, was billed to play also, but we left early.
We offered Marko72 hot chocolate on a cold street corner on Thanksgiving night.
It didn't get any better than that. At least when you were 14, it didn't.
Who remembers seeing Senses Fail and Autopilot Off at De Real Ting? (yes, that's really how it's spelled)
The crowd was ushered into a basement, packed onto a "dancefloor" the size of a bathroom, and the kids were stacked three tall. Seriously. Anyone in that crowd could have reached up and pulled down the lights if they had felt the urge.
That was back when Buddy was still telling people to go download their new album, because we all swore it was never going to be released by their label.
Those concerts were some of my first. I remember the show at De Real Ting so well because I had surgery just a few days after that. The shows wiped away any worries I had.
To this day, shows still have that effect. I never want to stop going to shows, where, for a few hours, the only thing you have to worry about is whether the band will play your favorite song.
I don't care how I do it, but I want to be involved with music forever.
Music journalism, music photography, tour managing, merch, tech, pit reporter, Warped crew member, official Starbucks runner for the stars, whatever it is, I'll do it.
Traveling.
Few people will truly understand it. The few that will are Mom, Lindsey and Nikki. Other people think it's irrational.
I live for road trips. The challenge of packing as much stuff into a car/trunk as possible. Picnics at rest areas. Washing my hair at a rest area at 1 a.m. using a faucet outside and Lindsey's 3 foot water hose. Blaring cd's at 4 a.m. because you're so amped to be on the trip, that there's no way you could possibly stop and sleep. Sleeping in the car in empty parking lots between Warped Tour dates (because it would be useless to get a hotel, since you honestly don't have enough time to sleep). We can get 5 people ready for Warped Tour in one McDonald's bathroom. We are so skilled. Hahahaha. You probably think we are SO weird, but whatever. Travel plazas on toll roads (AKA the best place to run into people on Warped Tour at 3 a.m.)
The thing that I am pretty sure equates to opening presents on Christmas morning, is the experience of driving from one Warped Tour show to another, and passing vans and buses on the interstate all night long. When you pull into a rest area and see someone walk by with a laminate on, and you know just how they feel at that point, because you're both coming from the same place, going to the same place, and for the same reason.
Airports. I don't know why everyone hates airports. I love them. I can't even understand why I love airports, but I do. Maybe it has something to do with those baggage carousels. Maybe : P My backup plan, is that if I fail miserably at everything, I'll become a flight attendant, like William's sister in Almost Famous. LOL. I mean come on, who wouldn't want to fly everywhere? No sleep? I'm game. Let's go. Emergency exits are *here*, *here*, and *here*.
Rest areas. Some of the best moments on trips happen at rest areas. Like that one time Jon Wilkes came over and talked to us at 2 a.m. How he knew it was us over by the car, I'm not sure, but that doesn't matter. He asked Becca how she was holding up road-tripping with us. He said "They (referring to Mom, Me, and Lindsey) tour! And not even in a van!" I'm capable of seeing the world through the eyes of a band on tour. That's how we like to go about things.
I think about all the places I've seen because of road-trips for concerts. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The Sears Tower in Chicago. Times Square in New York City. The Pacific Ocean. The Strip in Las Vegas. The Hoover Dam. The Grand Canyon. Los Angeles, California. If I tried to think of everything from every city, I'd be here for days. The thing is, I want to see EVERY thing in EVERY city. I want to go to different countries. I want to hear people speaking in different languages, and I want to feel like an outsider in a foreign country. I want to know what people are complaining about when they mention "international flights".
This guy came to one of my classes today and he was talking about these summer trips to Australia, and I found myself toying with the idea of what it would be like to go on a foreign adventure for a summer.
Just like we go through concert withdrawal, we go through road trip withdrawal.
We're experiencing it as I type.
It's been too long since we've sang "Shredded By State Lines!" as we've driven over a border.
I could live in a bunk on a bus. I have no problem falling asleep at 80 miles per hour. I have no problem waking up not knowing where I am. I have no problem waking up in a different city/state every day. I have no problem with making hotels feel like home. I have no problem living out of a suitcase for weeks at a time.
When people complain about touring/traveling, that's what they hate.
But that's what I want most.
That song "7 Weeks" by Gym Class Heroes and William Beckett...That song could be my life.
My heroes always seem to be people who have hit rock bottom.
Gerard Way. I shudder to think of this amazing guy doing an eight ball of cocaine. Without Brian Schechter, we all would have been screwed. (and really, did you think the "sweetrevenge" thing was just me being sick and twisted? No, it's an homage to MCR, you dum-dum : P)
Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III (*insert immature giggles here*). Best Buy parking lots will never be innocent again. Peter Pan with the responsibilities of a man. This guy makes me want to make the world shine brighter, to show him it's not all that bad.
I once saw something that said "I would give my pinky toe to eat Taco Bell with Pete Wentz and thank him for writing the words to the songs that changed my life." This boy's words make my head spin. He is a genius. I will not consider my life to be complete until I meet him in person.
Some of the best days of my life have been days where I'm in the presence of this guy and his band. A night well spent is a night spent singing "Saturday" at the top of your lungs while Wentz jumps into the crowd. I get so sick of all the Fall Out Boy haters. I will proudly say this is my # 2 favorite band ever (even though Mom SWEARS I like them more than RJA...not quite).
I will never forget those first couple of times I saw this band play live...back before they were the biggest band on the planet. You know, back in the day, FOB opened for Taking Back Sunday...true story. I was there.
"The songs and the words own the beating of our hearts." I want that lyric tattooed somewhere, someday. In fact, the only real tattoos I've ever considered getting have had something to do with this band. Maybe that says something about how important they are to me.
My # 1 rock-bottom hero....wiL Francis.
Dear god, I cannot express my admiration for this guy. I feel compelled to tell you his life story, just so you'll understand. He describes himself as a hopeless drug addict and alcoholic. He was doing cocaine by age 13. He was expelled from his school district in 8th grade. He has endured things I can only fathom. He said "On my 15th birthday, I was a full on heroin, coke and speed junkie. I shot anything anyone had." He did heroin, crystal meth, crack, LSD. He stole cars, robbed people, overdosed. He lived in the streets and in abandoned houses. When he was 17, while high on speed, he led the cops on a 25 minute high speed pursuit in a stolen car. He went to jail numerous times. Juvenile detention. He went to a correctional facility 20 times in one year. Rehab. The man planned a fucking massacre. He was going to go to a street in Seattle called "The Ave" on New Years Eve, kill as many people as possible, and then kill himself. The only reason he didn't do it, was because he was in a juvenile detention center on New Year's Eve.
wiL is completely clean now. When you see him at concerts, you just want to go give him a hug to make sure he's real, make sure he's still there. People have described wiL as being one of the nicest people they have ever met. It's true.
Back in March of 2006, Mom and I went to several Aiden/RJA shows. The first was in Jax. Then we went to Cleveland, Ohio, and wiL remembered us from the show in Jax. The next night in Toledo, wiL approached us and gave us a hug. It wasn't us going to wiL for a hug, it was wiL coming to US for a hug. You probably don't get it, but that hug in Toledo was something I will never forget.
I found out a few weeks ago that wiL is engaged. I am so ecstatic for him. If anyone on this entire planet deserves to be happy, it's him.
wiL Francis, you're my fucking hero.
The scene in Jax is dying...
Thee Imperial is closing.
It wasn't the most upscale venue in Jax (The AC never worked, toilet paper was an unknown concept, the doors on the bathroom stalls were curtains, no soap, no paper towels, the smell of sweat and cigarettes could stifle within seconds, the speakers were murder on your ears, etc)
But still, it's a local venue.
I saw The Casualties there.
I saw The Adicts there (in all of there glitter-throwing violin-playing madness)
That is the only venue in Jax that can make a good circle pit (Fuel ain't got nothing on Thee Imperial kids)
The kids used to bounce off the walls.
Bands would play, and it didn't matter if half the crowd got on stage and sang along.
Everyone was equal, and it was all about having a good time.
I didn't know the names of most of the people that worked there, but every time mom and I went to a show, they'd say "Haven't seen you here in a while. How have you been?"
The walls are old and crumbly. Painted over who knows how many times.
There was a pine tree air freshener hanging from the ceiling.
They had one of the dustiest disco balls I have ever seen.
But Thee Imperial was keeping the punk scene alive.
It was the ONLY thing keeping the punk scene alive.
The scene in Jax has gone to shit.
Now the trend is to overcharge pre-pubescent middle schoolers to see radio bands at Freebird.
Fuel has a monopoly on the rock bands. They can charge whatever they want because they booked Brand New. Can they invest some of that money into some decent air conditioning so we don't fucking pass out when they sell too many tickets and cram us in like sardines? No, of course not.
Don't even get me started on Plush. Biggest bunch of assholes I've ever encountered in my life.
Jack Rabbits is the only thing holding the scene together.
I will always love Jack Rabbits.
It's zebra couch.
It's towering speakers which are always in danger of toppling on to the audience.
The AC which only blows cool air directly in front of the left speaker.
The non-existent lighting.
The stage lighting that makes everyone red.
Sold out RJA local shows, where the temperature was so hot your clothes were soaked with sweat.
Employees that don't even have to ask to see an ID, because you come there so often.
Security guards who are nice (unlike the dickwads at Freebird).
Random sing-a-longs to "Roxanne" during set changes.
Inspection 12 shows where they bake cookies and pass them out to everyone.
I guess you could say this is a call to arms.
Save the fucking scene.
XMeganX
It wasn't the most upscale venue in Jax (The AC never worked, toilet paper was an unknown concept, the doors on the bathroom stalls were curtains, no soap, no paper towels, the smell of sweat and cigarettes could stifle within seconds, the speakers were murder on your ears, etc)
But still, it's a local venue.
I saw The Casualties there.
I saw The Adicts there (in all of there glitter-throwing violin-playing madness)
That is the only venue in Jax that can make a good circle pit (Fuel ain't got nothing on Thee Imperial kids)
The kids used to bounce off the walls.
Bands would play, and it didn't matter if half the crowd got on stage and sang along.
Everyone was equal, and it was all about having a good time.
I didn't know the names of most of the people that worked there, but every time mom and I went to a show, they'd say "Haven't seen you here in a while. How have you been?"
The walls are old and crumbly. Painted over who knows how many times.
There was a pine tree air freshener hanging from the ceiling.
They had one of the dustiest disco balls I have ever seen.
But Thee Imperial was keeping the punk scene alive.
It was the ONLY thing keeping the punk scene alive.
The scene in Jax has gone to shit.
Now the trend is to overcharge pre-pubescent middle schoolers to see radio bands at Freebird.
Fuel has a monopoly on the rock bands. They can charge whatever they want because they booked Brand New. Can they invest some of that money into some decent air conditioning so we don't fucking pass out when they sell too many tickets and cram us in like sardines? No, of course not.
Don't even get me started on Plush. Biggest bunch of assholes I've ever encountered in my life.
Jack Rabbits is the only thing holding the scene together.
I will always love Jack Rabbits.
It's zebra couch.
It's towering speakers which are always in danger of toppling on to the audience.
The AC which only blows cool air directly in front of the left speaker.
The non-existent lighting.
The stage lighting that makes everyone red.
Sold out RJA local shows, where the temperature was so hot your clothes were soaked with sweat.
Employees that don't even have to ask to see an ID, because you come there so often.
Security guards who are nice (unlike the dickwads at Freebird).
Random sing-a-longs to "Roxanne" during set changes.
Inspection 12 shows where they bake cookies and pass them out to everyone.
I guess you could say this is a call to arms.
Save the fucking scene.
XMeganX
Saturday, October 20, 2007
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