holy chicago!

Current mood:my face hurts

tbr, copyrights, and chinese telephones played here last night, i am still AMPED from the show!

first time at reggie's, and i thought it was a great venue. in a little bit of a shady part of town. only three blocks walk from the chinatown redline stop, but i rather thought they were a rough three blocks. busch tall cans were available at a reasonable price, so points plus for that. lots of space and a balcony area and the sound was phenomenal.

i was surprised that stage diving/crowd surfing was allowed there. especially since during tbr one little guy was dropped and passed out cold and taken away in an ambulance. although the bouncer at one point did come up on stage with a bullhorn and announce that throwing beer cans was not allowed. whoops!! i threw the first can. jess threw one, too, and pat got blamed and kicked out!

friends from st. louis and from carbondale were in attendance, and seeing them and talking and hanging out was a lot of fun.

i arrived during the first band and didn't really pay attention. i bought a drink and started looking for people i knew. saw wipfler standing a head over everyone else.

i was a little disappointed with the chinese telephones set. they played second, and i heard a lot of mistakes. they just seemed to be off.

the copyrights played third and delivered a solid set. little carl and i did a lot of heckling in the front and sang along to all the songs. lots of dancing. the songs sounded really good...i am very much looking forward to purchasing the new cd.

tbr played last. holy chicago! that set was probably the best set i have seen in a long time by anyone!! the crowd went absolutely nuts!! i was at the back edge of the pit singing and dancing with a boy in a red shirt. we had a nice time. the sound guy did an amazing job, and the vocals sounded so powerful but not overmodulated. the energy was high, the songs were solid, the setlist was a good mix of older stuff from total and of course the new material.

i'm glad i purchased the new cd before so i knew all the words. i can't decide what my favorite track is...nuthouse, pacemaker, on my own, social life, totally stupid. they are all great songs for different reasons. i really like kody's vocals on welcome to the nuthouse, and i like the lyrics to pacemaker and on my own. totally stupid is just a fun party song.

after the show, i went to the attached bar to continue socializing with stl/cdale. we had a few more beers and lots of peanuts.

after last call, i ended up driving back to my house with wipfler, kim, and jess, but not before we got ambushed by bums on the street. the best one was the midgit dave calls "orpheus", who was carrying around a spiral notebook and was referring to dave as "too tall." he had a funny personality and no front teeth.

a second bum followed us into the pizza parlor. he kept talking about gangbangin' and dave gave him 50 cents and old boy was like, "how about $5?"

there was also a creepy woman in a yellow hoodie that was stalking pat at the show and then the bar. as we were all trying to pile into the car to leave and snow is falling everywhere and i didn't know where the wipers or lights were on kim's car, old girl comes out of nowhere and is standing outside the car peering into the driver's side window. dave finally folded himself into the backseat and we got the fuck back to the northside.

i passed out once i got home, but the others stayed up for a bit and watched beavis and butthead vhs tapes i had purchased from timelife video a long time ago.

i was a little hungover when i woke up this morning, which surprised me b/c i had five beers, spaced out over five hours, and i had stopped over two hours before i went to sleep. jess, kim, dave, and i went to eat at clark's this morning before they headed back home. jess picked up my meal as thanks for the hospitality.

the evening was a lot of fun, and i am still excited about the music that i saw performed. even tbr said up on stage that that was probably the best show they played.

i am smiling.

operation: steal the mic

Current mood:wasting time

how i spent my winter vacation:

took amtrak to stl on dec 24th. arrived in stl on dec 25th at 1am. stayed up with weiner dog and young loud scotty until about 4am playing video games.

dec25th - extended family came over for a few hours. no football games were watched, which was a pleasant change from holidays past. mattmike showed up with the tofurkey. i brought the cupcakes and brownies. the weiner dog attacked my pregnant cousin sara the second she walked in the door. i think he senses that her and i butt heads, and well, he's my dog...but really, how much damage can a ten pound ankle-biter do?

went to see no country for old men with karen that night. met up with four other people for drinks in dogtown. nice company and conversation.

dec26th - carbondale for tattoooooooos!! octopus looks badass. its only outlined and shaded in purple/black. its scabbed over right now and itches like hell. i have difficulty keeping it moisturized this time of year.

dec 27th - headed to philly. ate at govinda's. got intoxicated at the kyber. no smoking in bars in philly....total!

dec28th - asbury park, nj surprised me. i thought new jersey was all toxic wasteland and a bruce springsteen 1985 time warp. but the shoreline where i was was beautiful. majestic victorian-style beach houses. i saw two lesbians with two weiner dogs running in the the sand and surf and eight hardcore surfers in full body wetsuits trying to catch a few before sunset.

dined at a place called sister sue's. vegan trinidad and tobaggo cuisine. interesting.

went to the stone pony to see ergs! and bouncing souls. ergs sounded solid, but again it was weird seeing them in a larger venue up on a stage behind a barricade. the sound was good, though, but not enough people dancing. bouncing souls set...slightly disappointing. two dudes were holding up cue cards to text pete and i assume that they were then playing the texted requests. so of course the set didn't flow at all and contained mostly newer material that i was unfamiliar with. they played shark attack, which is the only time they have ever played that song live.

the stone pony was an alright venue as far a larger clubs go. they had a food window, and the menu included veggie burgers and super pretzels. the beer on special was yungeling (sp?). not bad. i guess that is east coast's version on old style. the best part was the fireplace! i sat on the hearth and warmed my backside and socailized with some people i met from delaware and also two girls from manhattan.

no smoking in bars in new jersey...total! also, in jersey, pumping ones own gas is against the law!! unbelievable!

dec 29th - went to seaside heights to see the ergs play at the ortley beach police sub-station with six hardcore bands. i couldn't even make something like that up. i felt very uncomfortable. but the show was entertaining. i left during an equipment malfunction during the second band and headed out to get some pizza. the town was a total beach town and pretty much deserted, but i found a place, and the owners were very nice and accomadating and did not skimp on the pineapples.

filled up on pizza and headed back to the show. saw two fights....hardcore boys...i swear!! ergs finally played. it was awesome to see them again in a smaller, diy venue. the people who were there went crazy, singing along and dancing. the set was a lot of fun, and included covers of lineoleum, screaming at a wall, and fuck christmas.

dec 30th - headed back to philly and hung out with jay stein all day. we ate at sabrina's and went to the art museum. went to a whole foods and found those cookies i have been looking for for so long...the oatmeal raisan ones with icing in the middle. i bought two. passed out quite early.

dec 31st - headed to colorado for tbr and the nobodys for a new year's eve show. felt incredibly awkard, but the show was a lot of fun. the venue was way small, and there was only maybe forty people there, and we were all crammed into that room! but it was nice seeing tbr in a smaller venue like that. they played a long time, sounded great, encored, and just seemed to be having a good time. they played a lot of songs from total and also a lot of the new material, which was nice. i bought the new cd. i'm listening to it right now. the nobodys also played a long set and sounded good. beer in colorado is incredibly cheap. old style was there, which surprised me. i indulged until it was sold out, and then switched to pints of pbr.

no smoking in bars in colorado springs...total!

the trip was worth my time and money. mostly spent time alone, which is not really a problem for me. i was glad that i took action to do something that i wanted to do instead of sit around in winterwonderland and bitch about everything.

jan 1st - returned to chicago. a temp of 6 degrees and four inches of snow was waiting for me. no smoking in bars in chicago anymore...total!!