Life is short, do what you love.

After my little hiatus from pretty much all things internet, I've returned!!

 

What does this mean?
I might finally finish up my bands by alphabet thing.
Once I'm inspired I'll try and finish the Crayola Rockers list, I just hit a wall with that one.
I have a ton of photos to upload - I'll try not to hit you with all of them at once.
And I'll be trying to actually pop in and comment/blog/socialize/etc. a bit more often!

 

I didn't realize how much I missed Buzznet/FoE until it just hit me today.

 

As for a quick update on how my life has been while I was gone:
1. I've been getting a lot of hours at work, so I've been pretty swamped.
2. My birthday was last month and I celebrated in Chicago with two of my closest friends and a trip to Angels & Kings Chicago's anniversary party (which was amazing).
3. There haven't been too many concerts, but I did finally get to see blink-182! And Empires with a full band instead of an acoustic show. Those were sweet.
4. Last night I completed my quest to meet every memeber (past and present) of The Academy Is... at the AP Fall Ball Tour! The last two on the list were Adam and Mike, and thanks to my friend Luis' suggestion I finally managed to meet them... and have full on one-on-one (well, two-on-two since there were two of them and my best friend was there, too) conversations with them. Needless to say, it was a good night.

 

So yeah! Hopefully I won't have another hiatus any time soon, and I'm glad to be back!

While it's completely necessary for me to give nods to some amazing bands/artists that have names starting with the letter E (Empires, Envy On The Coast, Elton John, Earl Greyhound, Electric Six, Eve 6, and my friends in Every Avenue)... my top pick for the letter E absolutely has to be Every Time I Die.

Seeing them live last year on Warped Tour cemented my love for them, and meeting Keith when they played Grand Rapids a while back was quite an experience as well. They're one of my favorite bands with that harder sound.

Every Time I Die - We're Wolf

Enjoy and discuss!

So, what was supposed to be a daily thing (not to mention over by now) has been paused for ages and I feel kind of bad.
The reason for February's absence is simple: I was on vacation. I spent my time in warm and sunny Florida, and lets just say that the internet in general wasn't exactly on my mind much. This month... I just haven't been doing as much of the internet thing thanks to staying busy with work, obsessing over buying every season of Entourage while it was on sale at Best Buy, and feeding my movie addiction.

I will try to actually finish this thing ... as well as get some way overdue photos up!

So what letter am I on now? D?

It's a close call between Def Leppard and Dr. Manhattan... and since practically everyone knows some Def Leppard, I'll go with the latter.

They have to have two songs, though... because "Tracey's Buns" is just too adorably awkward for me to not upload for you guys.

Dr. Manhattan - Claims Should Echo

Dr. Manhattan - Tracey's Buns

Enjoy and share your favorite D-bands!

I could rant and rave about so much right now. This has not been a good past few days.
But I'm trying to keep upbeat and positive despite the fact that I'm frustrated to the point where I could nearly rip my hair out.

So, in the spirit of staying positive I give you the next band in the series!

C is for Cash Cash

Their new album just came out last week, and they're playing a show in my state today (which I just found out about, so sadly I won't be attending)... and I adore them so it's only fitting that they're going to be my C-band. I first found out about them when they were touring with Valencia. Irv had booked a show on that tour and I rode down with him to go... because "hey, I like Valencia." I hadn't planned on paying much attention to the bands that were playing before (because I hadn't heard of any of them)... but as soon as Cash Cash hit their first few notes I was utterly captivated. They're really pop-y and energetic and fun... and such sweet guys! I can see a big future for them, seriously.

Cash Cash - Concerta

Thoughts?
What are some of your favorite C bands?
Share!

For some reason... I am seeing problems with my "alphabetical band recommendations". Why? Because I'm only on the second letter and I have one band that stands out to me - but so many others I want to mention! Hence my "botheration".


So I'm going to give a few honorable mentions after my main band.
And this is going to be so cliche and predictable that I'm likely going to want to jump off of my roof later (just to do a little damage, it's not death-worthy).... but:

B is for The Beatles

I've already said it for you "cliche and predictable" but I can't help it. I've been in love with this band since I was eight years old and I heard them on an oldies station. This is one of the bands that has helped to shape the world of music, and there's a certain level of respect and adoration that goes along with that. Heck, I'd like you to name a band that has as much notoriety as The Beatles and I might actually go do my roof-jumping trick. (Hint: Don't say Elvis. He was an artist, not a band.) Hell... I even bought a Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club calendar this year - half because it was shaped like a record and half because it was the Beatles. I had the hardest time picking a song for them... I had a list of ten, asked a few people's opinions, narrowed it down to six, asked another person's opinion... and then asked one of my friends to pick between the two... and since he's never heard it, this is the song:

The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby

And as I said, I had a hard time choosing... so here are some other B-bands/artists that I'd recommend:

Ben Kweller
Ben Lee
Billy Squier
The Black Keys
Blameshift
Brighten
The Bronx
Buckshot LeFonque
Butch Walker

I have a feeling that there's going to be a lot of little mini lists like that in the future...

So, lately I've been stalking weresoblogging.com mainly for the music recommendations. I love seeing what other people (especially people that I respect or look up to for various reasons) are currently digging in the world of music, so this and things like William Beckett's "Saturday Night Music Club" get me pretty excited.

Then I got to thinking... I have a massive amount of music that I'm into, and while I doubt I have many people who look to me for musical advice... it would still be rather fun to share!

So I'll take a page from Ryan Ross and do a musical alphabet - though I'll go in order from a to z since I can be kind of anal about that.
And to get me into the habit of posting here more often (and maybe get me motivated to finish other projects), I'll attempt to update this list on a daily basis!

A is for The Audition

I can't deny that I absolutely love this band and I've had wavering affection for them over the past two years or so. Danny's voice is strong and amazing, the guitar work makes me all warm and fuzzy inside... and the general big sound that the band creates is enough to make my head spin. I go through cycles with The Audition where I become completely wrapped up in one song and find myself seeking it out to listen to it multiple times in a day/week (and I'm one of those people who generally just sticks her iPod on shuffle and keeps it there)... and my Audition of the week right now?

The Audition - Basbhat

What are your A suggestions?

Today I realized that I haven't even logged onto Buzznet in ages... and I have no good excuse.

Well, for a part of it I suppose I do.
Not too long ago I had some wicked virus attack my laptop and pretty much destroy everything. I went two weeks without it before deciding to find the money to go get it fixed. Then, it took another week or so until I got it back from the place that was fixing it.

Between getting it back to how it should be, and the busy life away from it... I've neglected this site and all of the people on it that I love and care about. I'm sorry.

Naturally in this downtime I've been at plenty of shows - that part hasn't changed. And I've been putting a lot of hours in at work, too. I'm an assistant manager now, which is something that I didn't necessarily want... but I'm still honored.

Life is pulling its self together.
I'm saving up for the big move to Chicago (likely the Hanover Park area, I found a good apartment there), and my uncle has offered to help me with admissions to Columbia if I need it. I'm going to try scholarships and grants first, but it's good to know that there's an option. I'm so ready to go back to college, finish my degree, and talk to Mike about a job in Cleveland.

I'm also planning a nice little week's vacation to Floriday in February! It'll be my first time on a plane, my first time in Florida, and my first time in the ocean. I'm pretty excited! Not to mention that I have family only an hour and forty minutes away from where we'll be staying!

Life has been good, and hopefully it'll only continue to get better!

I'll have photos posted soon from various things.
And hopefully I'll finish my Crayola Rockers one of these days. ;D

<a href="http://http://twitter.com/KendraMarcusse">Follow me on Twitter?</a> - I just got it recently... so why not?

And to end this rambling journal, I'll say this:
I hope all of you have happy and safe holidays!
And how in the heck have you all been?!

Oh. My. God.
Let me just mention that I had the most amazing experience ever on Wednesday... and it was a complete and total fluke.
I went to DTE - the ampitheater near Detroit - to see my friends in The White Tie Affair open "some show". That's all I originally knew of it as was just "some show at DTE". My friend snagged tickets from work, and it became an adventure.

I don't want to go into too much detail because that's for later when I'm not exhausted ... and for when I upload the tons of pictures I've taken. However... the show was something I definitely didn't expect and it was phenomenal!

It turns out that it was the True Colors tour - the tour that Cyndi Lauper put on to support the GLB community. Yeah. That's right. Cyndi Lauper. It turns out that Carson from Queer Eye For The Straight Guy was the host, Rosie O'Donnell did some comedy bit, and the bands were just... amazing.

Who were they?
The White Tie Affair, The Click, Tegan and Sara, The B-52's and Cyndi Lauper herself!
If you'd have asked me last week if I'd have ever expected to see The B-52's or Cyndi Lauper perform, I'd probably have said no simply thanks to the fact that I didn't think I'd have the opportunity. Well, fate does funny things.


Later that night... we had a hotel party with the boys of TWTA, and that was good times. But that's neither here nor there. I just thought I'd give you all the brief update before attempting to get some rest!

Once I'm well rested, I should be back posting photos from... well... a ton of events and fun things.

Sometimes I feel like I need to take a step back and just breathe.
This month has been one of those times... especially the past two weeks.
Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade any of it for the world and I'm having an absolutely amazing time... but I wish I could just get a day off, fill it with some down-time and lazy relaxation, and just breathe.

A ton of concerts have been happening all around me over the past month, and of course I've been obligated to go to quite a large hand full of them. As in this was probably an overflowing hand full since I have small hands.

Two weeks ago tomorrow (meaning the 11th) Brighten and The Maine had a show right here in Lansing. I really like Brighten. A lot. I couldn't miss it. That and I was looking forward to seeing The Maine as a full band instead of acoustic like I caught them last year.

The next day, I was right back at Mac's for Sound The Alarm. Brian guest listed me and it was just good times from then on out. I met those guys a few months before my birthday last year, and they were one of the bands that ended up playing my birthday show. So we hung out a bit, Brian and I bought each other drinks, I bought Joe a PBR right in the middle of their set... it was good times. This show also turned me on to this guy called Roark. You should all check him out. Not only is he an amazing human being but he has this fabulous voice and I'm in love with his most recent album now.

Two days later (the 14th for those of you keeping track), My American Heart came to Mac's. Okay, so I didn't stay for them... but they were there. I'd already seen them once and while I like them I don't need to continue seeing them live that often. I was mostly there for my friends in Farwell since they're going to be on tour all summer and I won't be seeing them around much. It was good times.

Friday was when the major excitement started. Why? Well, let's just say the "Kendra knows everybody on this tour-tour" had a part two featuring a few different bands... and it stopped in Brighton. Hit The Lights - who have been one of my favorite bands since early '05, Every Avenue - aka Jimmie and Dave and crew!, Sing It Loud and Farewell all played... as well as this Michigan band called The Swellers that I hadn't seen since December of '06. It would take me forever to talk about this show. Let's just summarize by saying that I was rocking out in the pit for most of it, Omar turned me on to vodka and Red Bull, and there was much hanging out with amazing people.

Saturday, I was sick. I went to work, got out at three and as soon as I got home I fell asleep. I ended up waking up at eleven-thirty that night and staying up for an hour before I passed out again... until ten-thirty the next morning to get ready for work. Yeah. It was that bad.

Sunday and Monday were fairly normal, though I was still fighting that wicked cold.

Then there was Tuesday. OhgodTuesday. That was the day that the Honda Civic Tour stopped in Detroit. I absolutely cannot put that experience into words right now. Mostly because it was amazing.

The next day, on very little sleep, I worked and headed back to the Detroit area to see Kiros and this band of teenagers that I adore called Throwing Paper Airplanes. I met my insta-BFF, we all went to dinner at this awesome place called Arthur's, and I didn't get home until three in the morning... I had to open at work at seven thirty. Let's just say I didn't sleep.

The past few days have been spent continuing to fight this cold... and trying to figure out my ride situation for tomorrow.

Tomorrow... is Bled Fest. A ton of bands that I know are playing, and it promises to be amazing. In fact, this band that used to claim me as their manager is going to be playing their last show... it should be interesting. Kiros is going to be there, too. Barry and I are right about on track for another one of our religion conversations (he warned me on Wednesday that this was coming)... and he's pretty much the only person I'll have them with because he's more logical than pushy... and he means well. Plus! My insta-BFF will be there tomorrow! Yay!

This is just part of the explanation as to why I've been so scarce around here. I don't mean to be, I promise. Give me time, I'll be back and posting and commenting and loving all of you again! Not that I stopped the loving, but I'll be showing it again! &hearts;

Today was "revenge day", though since I'm not a vindictive person it was more like "prank day". The target? My ridiculously tall dark and kind of handsome in that rugged way co-worker, Phil. The crime? Well, when I was joking around with him yesterday he grabbed me by the wrists and kind of half pulled me over the counter. It hurt. Honestly, I was surprised I didn't even have the faintest of bruises today. However, as soon as he'd left yesterday plans started forming in me and Nicole's heads on how to get some payback.

The joke?
Well, I didn't bruise... so I was going to. With my boss' help, I found an effective way to make my arm look absolutely hideous. Damp paper towel, yellow marker, and black sharpie = instant bruises. After about a half an hour of work, the marks looked amazingly realistic... at least from a distance. I finished the work about a half an hour before Phil had to show up, and I had about four customers get concerned and ask me what had happened and if my boyfriend beats me. What did that prove? That they were realistic enough to pass the test, of course.

When Phil showed up, I attempted to avoid him as much as I could and avoiding eye contact... kind of hiding my arms because I'm not a confrontational person. The plan fell on Nicole's shoulders at that point, and she kind of took over.

Nicole: "Way to go Phil"
Phil: "What?"
Nicole: "Look what you did!"
Phil: *looks around* "What?"
Nicole: "Look. What. You. Did!" *gestures to me*
Phil: "To her?" *sees arms* "Oh, shit... I didn't do that, did I?"
Me: "... yeah."
Phil: *picks up my wrist to look at it*
Me: *winces*
Phil: "I didn't squeeze you that hard..."
Me: "Apparently you did."
Phil: "I'm sorry"
Me: "Do you know how many people asked me if I had an abusive boyfriend?!"
Nicole: "You'd better buy her a drink or something! I had to pay 80 dollars for Ready Care (when she gave one of our other co-workers a black eye), the least you could do is buy her a pint of vodka!"
Me: *To Nicole* "We should go... it's three. Oh! I should probably leave that note for Paul."
Nicole: "About what they said?"
Me: "About Friday's schedule, but yeah, about that, too."
Nicole: "Did you tell him what they said yet?"
Me: "No..."
Phil: "What who said?" *looks at me*
Me: "Ask Nicole... I don't want to talk about it."
Phil: "What who said?"
Nicole: "The police"
Phil: "Am I going to jail?"
Nicole: "No, but when Kendra told them what happened at the hospital, they made her give them your information... they didn't believe her when she said that you two weren't dating and that you were just messing around. So you'll probably be hearing from them soon."
Phil: "Oh..."

Then I put my note in Paul's office and Nicole and I left. He doesn't know it's a joke yet. I wanted to make him sweat a little bit... I'll text him and tell him later.

And here's some pictures of my "bruises":

Okay, so while I started to clean the upstairs of my house today I've come to the conclusion that about 85% of my shirts are band related. Sure, I have quite a few tops that are just cute and have nothing to do with music... but most of them are some band shirt or another. So, while I re-organized them in my closet, I decided to keep a tally of how many of what band I have. For some people it might just give a better insight to my music tastes, and for others it might just be slightly amusing.

While looking at the following list, keep in mind that this isn't all of my band shirts... just the ones that are in current rotation. Some have been retired to drawers already (mostly dead local bands, and a few tee's from bands that I just don't listen to anymore [ex: Chiodos, Cartel, The Summer Obsession]). Also, shirts that are band related but not band shirts (ie - Clandestine, FBR, etc) have also been omitted from this tally.

Tee's
Portugal. The Man  - 10
Hit The Lights - 7
Blacktop Mourning - 6 (I only paid for two, the others were gifts from Max)
The Matches - 5
The Academy Is... - 4
Sing It Loud - 3
The Hush Sound - 3
Forgive Durden - 3
The Audition - 3
Fall Out Boy - 2
The Higher - 2
The Maine - 2
Gym Class Heroes - 2
Jet Lag Gemini - 2
The High Court - 2
Cobra Starship - 2
The Secret Handshake - 2
Panic At The Disco - 2
The Classic Crime - 2
Gatsbys American Dream - 2
No One Goes Home - 1
Monty Are I - 1
Valencia - 1
Throwing Paper Airplanes - 1
All Time Low - 1
Red Light Green Light - 1
Lady Radiator - 1
It's Like Love - 1
The Sunstreak - 1
Tera Melos - 1
This Providence - 1
Powerspace - 1
The Morning Of - 1
Every Avenue - 1
The Graduate - 1
Vanna - 1
Scenes From A Movie - 1
Asteria - 1
Kiros - 1
MC Lars - 1
Island View Drive - 1
Motion City Soundtrack - 1
Casionauts - 1
Means - 1
Holiday Parade - 1
Farewell - 1
My Favorite Highway - 1
Boink - 1
Sound The Alarm - 1
This Awkward Silence - 1

Hoodies
The Classic Crime
The Matches (2)
The Higher
Jet Lag Gemini
Kiros
Forgive Durden
This Providence
Blacktop Mourning
The Academy Is (2)
Gym Class Heroes
Hit The Lights
The Hush Sound

So there's your look into my closet for the day... and... I have to go get back to cleaning.

If VH1 knew who I was, it would be clear that I had the best week ever this week... but it was the weekend that made it all worth it.

Thursday night was The Bigger Lights and My Favorite Highway at Mac's... which was amazing. But, that also wasn't the weekend.

Friday was IEG's reunion show. Now, IEG is definitely not the best band ever... in fact, part of their novelty is how not good they sound. But the kids get into it, and that's what counts. I miss shows with that kind of energy. The pit was crazy, and I sure did not participate. Which was probably a good thing since somebody was taken away in an ambulance at the end of the night. Turns out one kid sprained his ankle (and was a wuss about it) and another popped his knee cap out of place, then popped it back in on his own... and ended up popping it back in too far... It sounds pretty painful. I never knew a rap-rock band could be so... hardcore?

Saturday was Sparty Party (aka - Sparty's Spring Party at Michigan State University), a free festival with games, food, and Zeke the wonder dog... and ultimate Frisbee... and music! This year the line up was absolutely amazing! A Letter To You was on stage when we showed up - and they sound really good with that kind of set up! Then Holiday Parade went on, and it was fantastic. I forget how much I like them until I see them again... both as a band and as people. I ran into about twenty people that I knew both from shows and other random things, it was great! After Holiday Parade got off stage As Tall As Lions took up residence there, and they had a pretty wicked set, too. Of course... the band everyone was there for was Hellogoodbye. No joke. Let me just say that I'm so glad that I finally got to see them live! Almost as glad as I was when I saw my first streaker... during their set... and saw him get chased by five cops until he was tackled on the pavement. Now that was an experience.

Tonight... tonight just sealed the deal. The tour that I'd affectionately dubbed the "Kendra Knows Everyone On This Tour" Tour stopped in Grand Rapids tonight, and it was a party. Kiros - my Canadian buddies - were the openers, and I showed up about half-way through their set. Ryan and Barry saw Jen and I as soon as we entered the crowd, and Ryan couldn't stop smiling because apparently not too many people in the crowd knew who they were, so we were pretty much the only ones singing. After them it was The Morning Light - who were amazing as always. It was so weird seeing both of those bands on such a large stage! Every Avenue was up next, and as biased as I am towards them I'm being honest when I say that their set was phenomenal! It was so much fun, and it sounded so much better this time than it did when they hit GR with All Time Low. Then... we had the band that I was the most nervous about seeing... Hit The Lights. Back in 2005 they were one of my favorite bands. In fact, I think I only missed one of their Michigan shows. Let's just say that I was nervous about how they'd sound without Colin. Nick killed it! It was so good! The energy was still there and the sets were just as amazing as before Colin left the band... and lets just say that I hadn't found myself wanting to get into the pit for a band in a long time... and I was in it through most of their set. I missed that band like crazy, and I'm so glad that they're back on the scene! Last but not least, The Audition. Amazing. Of course.

There was a lot of hanging out, making plans, and all that jazz. Everything from me giving Harrison the book I'd bought him (which is convenient since he didn't have anything to read at the time), to catching up with Omar and Nick, to having fun drunken-times with Jimmie, to having Danny squirt some random hot sauce on my finger and watch me lick it off... a lot of social fun-stuff happened at the show, too. But... I'm exhausted and getting into it would take forever!

All in all... this weekend... was absolutely amazing!

Can I first just state that this is long... and I mean long overdue. I have so many colors to get through and I procrastinated (or got distracted, your call) for what feels like forever! But, when I decided it was time to start where I left off... it was yet another easy decision. So I present to you, today's Crayola Rocker:

Sorry I haven't been around much... I don't mean to take mini breaks from Buzznet, it just happens.

Things have been really hectic. From crazy concert schedules to work to running around and staying at the cottage... I haven't been around much. I'm going to try and remedy that after this week (where there's a show, like, every day).

And in other news. I'm in love with a twenty-seven year old from Alaska.
I don't think he knows it. But I have been for almost two years... and I'm okay with this.

I hope everything is going well for all of you!

Okay... so ... the past few days have been pretty freakin' amazing. No lie.

I spent Sunday night at Mac's bar, which is really nothing out of the ordinary, but it was done none the less. What got me out there this time? A freakin' amazing show, that's what. Some local-ish act from Mount Pleasant opened... and I can't remember their name. At all. Maybe because I didn't really dig them. Then Incarta played, the local faves of the evening. And then... the night got amazing (music-wise... it was already amazing people-wise since I got to spend the evening with my best friend, my friends who work at Mac's, Ray and Zach from Incarta, and my lover-boys from the next band I'm going to mention). The High Court took the stage for their first time in Michigan since last year's Warped Tour! I love them. No joke. They're great people, and their music is this perfect balance of dance-y and metal riffs with some slightly scream-y vocals. JB's stage presence is absolutely amazing, and I love how personal he gets with the crowd... well, at least me... and Jen... but yeah. The greeting he gave me was definitely enough to make me forget that I was going to punch him in the nuts for calling me a pussy from stage at Warped. Then there was Mike... and Shell... and Denny... and it was just a blast! After THC, Asteria took the stage and reminded me why I like them. Their bassist is phenomenal... and apparently I'm his own personal cheer-leader now. I can live with that. Unfortunately we had to leave about half-way through Bedlight For Blue Eyes' set because Jen was having inner ear problems... but... from what I saw they were just as amazing as they were last year! I spent that half of the set sitting back by the bar throwing back a green Long Island in honor of St. Patrick's day, talking to Mike, and dancing/singing with Jordy (from Farwell). It was a freakin' good night.


Then there's today.
The Hush Sound.
Goodbye Blues.
I can't stop listening to it.
Nevermind that I bought the Audition's new CD today, too. It's all about The Hush Sound right now.


Oh. And I bought Harrison (The Morning Light) a present. So now I can't wait to go hang out with everyone on April 20th! Not that I wasn't excited about it before...

SMILE!
I love you.

Last night was... absolutely amazing.
It was Irv's birthday concert, and let's just say that the line up was ridiculously good. But I'll get to that in a minute.

I left work, hopped on a bus, and went to buy Irving a cake... because what's a birthday without cake? As soon as I got there I walked past the line, in the door, handed Michelle and Carly my ticket and ran in the bathroom to get the candles lit before Irv saw what I was doing. As soon as it was lit I headed over to the stage where he was helping A Letter To You set up their equipment. He got slightly flustered (the good kind), blew out the candles, hopped off stage to give me a hug, and proceeded to tell me that he didn't really like cake. However, it was the gesture that counted, so no worries... I just gave the cake to Michelle.
While waiting for the doors to open (I'd gotten there a half an hour early) and for my friend to show up, I wandered around the bar and ran into my friend Zach. Unfortunately Zach couldn't stick around because he had an important band practice to attend (something to do with some new sponsorship they have), but he did tell me that Incarta's going to be playing Cornerstone this year! I'm excited for them!

Jen showed up and we wandered around for a bit, had a drink, no big deal.

The first band up was A Letter To You. These kids work so hard and they have so much potential... which is also saying that there's room for growth. People were pouring into the bar and it was getting pretty hot, so Jen and I headed outside for some air during the set... and ended up over at Blimpies so that I could get some dinner. Yep. No joke. I did stay for part of the set - including their rendition of Happy Birthday for Irv (I have to admit, Blacktop Mourning's version last year was better). As I said, it's not that I don't like them, it's just that they have a lot of room for growth. They could get a bit bigger over time.

After Jen and I parked the car when we got back from Blimpies, we ran into our good friends Jimmie and Dave (you may know them from Every Avenue) in the parking lot. Until that moment I'd forgotten that they were home from tour! They were about to go get something to eat, so we made promises to catch up later and all that.

Next up was We Shot The Moon... who was pretty much amazing as usual. I can't go into too many specifics because (a) I don't know their song titles and they didn't do any covers for me to be all excited over and (b) I ran into my friend D by the bar, who I hadn't seen since over the summer. We stood back there catching up and hugging and whatnot for a while, while We Shot The Moon made my ears happy.... and D made fun of the Higher while I ignored him. Hey, we're all entitled to our own opinions.

When the Higher took the stage, I took a chair... to stand on so that I could see over the crowd! Let me start by saying that I have history with these boys, and I love them. I've been to every show that they've had in Michigan (minus the one the day before yesterday, since I knew I'd see them the next day) and we've turned into drinking buddies over the past year. Almost every time we see each other we're doing shots, talking about doing shots, or I smuggle in a fifth of liquor for them. It's tradition. In fact, it's such a lovely tradition that we're doing it for Warped Tour, too. I bring the booze, they bring the passes. It should be lovely. Anyway, back to the show. The only thing that I missed with Tom gone was the banter between songs, since that's what he did... other than that, they were just as fantastic as ever! The Kid (who was just their merch guy last time I'd seen them) did a fantastic job! Plus, their covers were amazing! They covered the chorus of "Low" by Flo-Rida and they did a rendition of "Bye, Bye, Bye" by N*Sync as well.

Once I headed back towards the bar, I spotted Jimmie and Dave. So I joined them by the little video game machine on the bar and talked for a while. While Jimmie showed me tour pictures on his phone (like the priceless hat that they had made for Rick!), we just had a good time. When Jen joined us we all started playing Photo Hunt. Through the course of six credits, we were joined by Jimmie, Dave, Reggie, Face, Seth, and probably a few other people picking out random things. That game always brings the good times. Sadly, thanks to the game I didn't pay too much attention to Houston Calls. I know, I'm a bad person. They sounded good, though! I was just a little more concerned with talking to Jimmie about the band I'm supposed to tour with later this year and letting him check 'em out on my iPod... and talking about relationship issues. That's always fun.

At some point Jonathan from We Shot The Moon walked by, and I snagged him to tell him that I enjoyed their set. While we were talking he was leaned in all close, which was kind of different, and he kissed my cheek... back towards my ear. It was random and out of nowhere... and I think he may have been drunk. This is all beside the point that he remembered me from the last show they played at Mac's.

Then, while Jen wandered off to do something, Jimmie, Dave and I wandered to the back of the crowd for Sherwood. Shortly after we were joined by D, Reed and Jen... and the party started. First of all, Sherwood brought in this insane light system... which was amazing! Then, the crowd was absolutely loving them. It was probably the most energetic crowd I've ever seen for one of their sets, and I've seen them quite a few times. D and Reed were jumping all over the place and getting gross and sweaty, but their energy was contagious! Sherwood played Alley Cat acoustic, and it was pretty fantastic. Let's just say that I'm not usually a huge fan of Sherwood's live show... but last night they were easily the best performance.

After the show, it was saying goodbye to everyone... again. I hate that part. I talked to Mikey and Dan (Sherwood) for a bit for the first time, and they're awesome. Then I made my way to the boys from The Higher to say farewell and make more Warped preperations. When I went to say goodbye to Irv though, I almost cried. It's officially been one year since we started talking and hanging out, and now he's one of my best friends. He was thanking me for a lot of stuff, and I was seriously almost moved to tears. I'm so horribly glad that we're friends. Then we said goodbye to Jimme (Dave had left to meet his girlfriend), and headed to Denny's... where Irv and Nate eventually joined us.

All in all... last night was horribly satisfying.

Sorry I haven't been around much, but things have been busy. I know, I know. "How busy can it get in Lansing?" Apparently, very. Well, there have been other factors, too... like me having food poisoning over the weekend and doing nothing but sleep and throw up. Pleasant, right? Despite food poisoning I still went to hang out with my buddies in Sing It Loud (thanks to very little persuasion from Irving) and I'm so glad! Then there's this week... the next few days are crazy. I'm heading down to Detroit later tonight to go see my lovely friends from No One Goes Home, then work tomorrow and going back to Detroit to see The Pink Spiders... and then I'm hanging with the NOGH boys again on Friday. Busybusybusy. Irving's super-fantastic birthday bash with Sherwood, We Shot The Moon and The Higher is coming up pretty quickly, too... wow.

In other news?
I'm developing a crush that's confusing the hell out of me. Fun times, right? It's not even a crush I necessarily want to have, but it's there.

On one last note, let's play a lyric game. =3

Step 1: Put your music player on shuffle.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing.
Step 3: Strike through the songs when someone guesses both artist and track correctly.
Step 4: For those who are guessing -- looking the lyrics up on a search engine is CHEATING!
Step 5: If you like the game, post your own


1. The stars keep getting in and out of automobiles and we keep wondering when we're going to feel something real
2. Today, I changed, too late 'cause everyone stayed the same
3. The grass always looks greener, on the other side of the fence, yeah, yeah.
4. Starting today we're on holiday, everybody sees you in the wrong way
5. I'm thinking of my soul's sovereignty, and I know everything you hate in me
6. Backseat of your family station wagon listening to mom
7. First of all fuck Bush that's all that's the end of it
8. Somebody get me my truck so I can ride on the clouds
9. Let's turn this thing electric
10. Bang bang, you shot me down. Bang bang, I hit the ground
11. I wanna see the sun, I waited for someone to get me out of bed
12. Well, I never kept a dollar past sunset, it always burned a hole in my pants
13. Winded through monotone, one foot on checkered floor
14. We parked our car on the lower east side, and that's when she caught my eye
15. Life is one big road with a lot of signs, signs and more signs
16. Always got more than enough of what you need
17. Looking through my old drawer, came across the letter you wrote
18. I like the bullet in the water, yeah. I like the morning after pill, hello.
19. I'm sorry, I heard about the bad news today
20. Sometimes it feels right but mostly less than sad

So here I am sitting on the couch and watching the clock intently....
In another twenty-five minutes I'll be hopping a bus downtown.
In another hour and a half or so, I'll be hanging out with a girl that I haven't seen in almost a year.

This isn't the normal pre-concert excitement that I get when I go to shows that I've been anticipating for a while.
She's no huge celebrity - though she's gotten quite a bit more popular since last year - but she's this awesome girl who bonded with me on this friend-vibe and asked me to go see her in Detroit when she came back over the summer.

Last spring I went to see her concert on a whim, because my friend Irv asked me to go... and at the time I had a thing for him and would take what time I could to go hang out.
I swear I was pretty much the only person at that show.... so I got the opportunity to talk to her, her dad, and pretty much every member of her band. We talked for about an hour about life, aspirations, and boys. It was fantastic.

Then her album dropped on MySpace records.
Then she was touring with people like Teddy Geiger and gaining popularity.
Then she was appearing on One Tree Hill.

And now she's coming back to the little dive bar in Lansing.

I have a girl-crush on Kate Voegele. Not the romantic kind, but that admiration kind.
And I get to go hang out with her tonight!


Nevermind that the guy who vowed to give me my first kiss in two years said he might be there tonight...
I'm not anxious about that part at all...