i'm still here!

i know i haven't posted much lately other than for the 30 day song challenge but that's mostly because i haven't been doing much.

last night kelly and i went to see guster at stubb's. it was warm and humid as shit! my hair was an insane afro until i finally gave up and tied it back. when the show first started we were standing a little too far on the "outskirts" of the real crowd. everyone around us was talking and no one was dancing! we moved further in and it really changed the tone of the show for us. being around other people who are singing and dancing is a lot more fun than doing it by yourself! the show itself was wonderful, as it always is. i do wish they would come back more often than every other year though.

on april 6, 2007 kelly, sam and i saw guster at stubb's and it was a ridiculously fun night. last night was my first time seeing guster since sam passed away and i missed her so much. i had a couple of moments where i had to force myself to contain the tears that welled up in my eyes. i mean, who cries at a guster concert?!

from that night in 2007 ryan from guster, me, kelly, and sam

look how big those smiles are (except for ryan haha)!

stuff i love 7

today, i am sharing my love for guster with y'all. not only do i looooove their music but i love THEM. i've been lucky enough to meet the gusters a few times and it's always been a blast. they are genuinely nice and hilarious. i would love to be a fly on the wall of their tour bus for a couple of hours. i know that it's not all fun all the time but i'd like to witness some of the ridiculousness. fortunately, they've embraced technology and have shared this video with their fans. it gives us a small idea of what life is like on the gus-bus.

this is an excerpt from the road journal, penned by brian (thundergod!):

What happened next is hard to explain, but you can only watch Rothbury wookies dance naked for so long before you finally listen to Paula Abdul on another level. D.F. Yonkman is the man behind the iPhone.

Untitled from Guster on Vimeo.

maybe i'm not too old for this

this week i had my first of three back-to back-to back concert series that i have scheduled for the next couple of months. 

monday-david sedaris@riverbend centre

tuesday-spoon@scoot inn

wednesday-guster@stubb's

okay, so david sedaris wasn't a "concert" but whatever! i was still out, seeing a performance instead of being at home vegging in front of the tv. 

david sedaris was absolutely hilarious. i've read most of his books but i've never gone to see him speak before. he's on a lecture series right now so he's just reading random essays that he's written. none of them have been published in a book though so it was all new material to me. and it was fabulous! i had tears in my eyes almost all night from laughing so hard.

spoon was interesting. i personally thought the show was wonderful. the new stuff was good and they played most of my favorites, including some real oldies. the crowd kind of sucked ass though. there was no energy. no singing. no dancing. nothing. usually when i see spoon in austin the crowd is completely nuts. it was very odd. i normally take pride in how awesome the crowds in austin are. i could go see a show in houston one day, then see the same show in austin the next day and the difference is like night and day because of the energy from the crowd. but tuesday night was just weird. 

i had the time of my life at guster. i ended up going by myself and that did not bother me at all. i loved every minute of it. i especially loved the part where ben kweller came out and played "i hope tomorrow is like today" and "say it ain't so" (weezer) with guster. it was unbelievable! i've actually had the good luck to see them on stage together once before but it was still quite a treat. and the gusters were sweet as always at the meet and greet. it was a super fun night!

instead of staying home and resting on sunday night in preparation for my week, i went out with lori who was in town on an overnight. surprisingly, it didn't kill me! i totally survived this week. well, so far. i still have friday and saturday to deal with. i can do it! i can do it! 

worst venue in america

okay, i haven't been to every venue in america but i've been to my fair share. i was just reminiscing about 2007 and i started thinking about what a shitty, shitty place the starland ballroom in sayerville, nj is. i went up to philadeplhia to visit brynn and bri and see ben kweller with guster last july. at the last minute, brynn and i decided to go to the sayerville show as well (barb and kristin were already going so that was an added bonus for us). i spent quite a bit of time on the starland ballroom's website trying to figure out if the it was an indoor or outdoor venue. i figured with the name "ballroom" it was indoor but a lot of the pictures looked outdoor. fyi: it was indoor. the best part about the "trip" to new jersey was stuff yer face in new brunswick. i can't recall much about the food, but i really liked the entire atmosphere of the place. and of course, the name. apparently chef mario batali used to wash dishes there back in the day. you know, before he became a chef. anyway, back to the shitty ballroom. i don't know how many people the place holds but we got there after doors opened, i believe, and had to wait in the LONGEST line ever. it weaved in and out of the aisles in the parking lot. i started to get concerned that we were at a dave matthews concert that i didn't know about. the inside looked like a roller rink. hideous. and, it was one of those swell places where you can't have booze "on the floor". i don't know if that is a new jersey law or not. i've encountered that in washington and oregon so i'm no stranger to it. it's still tough for me to wrap my head around since i'm from texas, there are no such laws or rules here. hell, passengers could drink in the car here until just a few years ago! so during ben kweller we were in the back by the bar because we wanted to pound some drinks before guster. i was behind two of the most annoying girls EVER. they were chit-chatting so loudly that i had to tell them that i, in fact, had not paid x amount of dollars to listen to them flap their traps. so they moved. i normally try to be really nice at concerts because nobody needs the bad juju, but they were really on my nerves. it was still super noisy back there, apparently no one in new jersey likes ben kweller. or if they do, they're 15 and can't stand back by the bar anyway. it was ungodly crowded. (i just looked at their website to see if they list the venue capacity and this is what i found in the FAQ section: Q: How many people will be at this concert I'm going to? A: It depends on how many tickets sell. Starland's capacity is expandable depending on the show, ticket demand, etc. Some shows may be more populated than others, though it's Starland's goal to consistently provide a comfortable concert experience. wtf? comfortable concert experience? BULLSHIT.) before guster went on we ventured into the crowd. we finally ended up towards the left side of the stage where it was most bearable. the whole place was still a hot mess though. i can't really pinpoint exactly what i hated about it, i think it was just a little of everything. the only redeeming quality were the restrooms in the back. it was like a movie theater, stalls galore, it was also clean and well air conditioned. but really, nice bathrooms aren't enough for me. i don't spend enough time in the bathroom at a show for that to really make a difference. also, i've endured enough disgusting restrooms in my time that i'm pretty used to having to squat it out. hence the ol' saying, "when in doubt, squat it out." so the starland ballroom gets my vote for worst venue i've ever been to. honorable mention goes to the place in portland where we saw gomez last year. only because they herd all the drinkers up onto a rickety balcony while the kids get the entire floor. bullshit. i wish i could remember what that place was called... oh edit! i found it. it was the roseland theater. their redeeming quality was that their security guards didn't give a shit about anything.