Skalloween weekend recap
First and foremost, my feet hurt. I cannot emphasize enough how much they hurt today.
Anyway, Halloween weekend was a success. As I said in my previous entry, Stephen and Brian Fry were here all weekend, and it was really great to see those boys. We didn't do a whole lot of anything on Saturday, other than find last minute additions to costumes and play infinite rounds of Brawl. Hey, it's what we do. But now thanks to Fry, I have all of the playable characters unlocked and a good deal of the stages. Plus, the boys are already planning to come and see the new digs in Chicago...when I have new digs that is.
Saturday night, Luke and Leslie had a Halloween party. The costumes were rad this year, and quite a few MST3K surprises were in store for me. First, Phil dressed up like the Brain Guy and did a fabulous job. And then Katie, my sweet Katie, surprised the hell out of me by actually dressing up like Girl in Gold Boots! Have I mentioned that I have the greatest friends in the world?
So the night was good. Booze was drank. I have several incriminating Ernie shots that will ruin your childhood. Haven didn't recognize me at all with the full George Michael garb on. I must say I can pull off an impressive eye shadow beard. Mariarita and Bobby! were there, and both gave me the pouty why-are-you-leaving-us face. Then Bobby! reserved couch space in May. We left around 2:30, long enough to hang out with Justine a bit after she got off of work.
Sunday, after some more brawling, we met Haven and Mike at the Liberty Bell to take Stephen on a brief tour of Philadelphia. 676 was shut down on our way in, but it worked for the best because I drove down the Ben Franklin Boulevard and around City Hall, so he got to see a lot of the city. Then we proceeded to walk all over the place: Old City, South Street, the Italian Market, and back. I took the boys to the airport around 5 and then drove back to the city to meet Kelly and Christopher at Market East station so we could walk to South Street to meet up with Stephanie for Skalloween.
We grabbed a drink and a plate of nachos at Manny Brown's, saw about 5 minutes of Treehouse of Horror, and then moseyed down to the TLA for a night of 2 Tone awesomeness. We caught the last two songs of Ruder Than You, who were impressive. The band that won me over was Deal's Gone Bad. I think I may be in love with the lead singer, so much so that I may reconsider my stance on facial hair, specifically old timey mustaches. (There you go, hon!) Stephanie and I danced our little feet off to them. Best part is they are from Chicago. Yay!
The Pietasters came on next and kept the energy through the roof. Kelly, Christopher, and Stephanie's friend Sean joined us on the floor. A really tall guy stood in front of me, but I found if I skanked in his opposite direction, I could see fine. Soon enough, he was pulled into a circle pit, and we were left with a non-dancing guy in front of us. Sure, Christopher was kicky like the rest of us, but at least he was bopping to the beat while holding Kelly's coat. So, Kelly, Stephanie, and I decided to dance as much on him and around him as we could. He didn't get the hint. But shit was crazy. The TLA was nowhere near capacity, but the noise and the energy was better than most shows that I've been to recently.
And then came the Toasters. My god! Best part was that we were only about five rows away from the stage without being compressed into a fine paste. They kicked off the show with "2 Tone Army" and shit didn't calm down from there. I caught a few elbows to the forearm and Stephanie got hit in the nose twice, but it was a fun crowd. Needless to say, when we walked out of there, my feet were ready to fall off. I didn't think I'd make it back to my car on 2nd and Chestnut. God, I'm glad to have an outlet to ska again!
Pictures from the weekend should be up tonight or tomorrow depending on how hectic tonight is.
And don't forget to get out there and vote, people! It should be exciting tomorrow night.
Anyway, Halloween weekend was a success. As I said in my previous entry, Stephen and Brian Fry were here all weekend, and it was really great to see those boys. We didn't do a whole lot of anything on Saturday, other than find last minute additions to costumes and play infinite rounds of Brawl. Hey, it's what we do. But now thanks to Fry, I have all of the playable characters unlocked and a good deal of the stages. Plus, the boys are already planning to come and see the new digs in Chicago...when I have new digs that is.
Saturday night, Luke and Leslie had a Halloween party. The costumes were rad this year, and quite a few MST3K surprises were in store for me. First, Phil dressed up like the Brain Guy and did a fabulous job. And then Katie, my sweet Katie, surprised the hell out of me by actually dressing up like Girl in Gold Boots! Have I mentioned that I have the greatest friends in the world?
So the night was good. Booze was drank. I have several incriminating Ernie shots that will ruin your childhood. Haven didn't recognize me at all with the full George Michael garb on. I must say I can pull off an impressive eye shadow beard. Mariarita and Bobby! were there, and both gave me the pouty why-are-you-leaving-us face. Then Bobby! reserved couch space in May. We left around 2:30, long enough to hang out with Justine a bit after she got off of work.
Sunday, after some more brawling, we met Haven and Mike at the Liberty Bell to take Stephen on a brief tour of Philadelphia. 676 was shut down on our way in, but it worked for the best because I drove down the Ben Franklin Boulevard and around City Hall, so he got to see a lot of the city. Then we proceeded to walk all over the place: Old City, South Street, the Italian Market, and back. I took the boys to the airport around 5 and then drove back to the city to meet Kelly and Christopher at Market East station so we could walk to South Street to meet up with Stephanie for Skalloween.
We grabbed a drink and a plate of nachos at Manny Brown's, saw about 5 minutes of Treehouse of Horror, and then moseyed down to the TLA for a night of 2 Tone awesomeness. We caught the last two songs of Ruder Than You, who were impressive. The band that won me over was Deal's Gone Bad. I think I may be in love with the lead singer, so much so that I may reconsider my stance on facial hair, specifically old timey mustaches. (There you go, hon!) Stephanie and I danced our little feet off to them. Best part is they are from Chicago. Yay!
The Pietasters came on next and kept the energy through the roof. Kelly, Christopher, and Stephanie's friend Sean joined us on the floor. A really tall guy stood in front of me, but I found if I skanked in his opposite direction, I could see fine. Soon enough, he was pulled into a circle pit, and we were left with a non-dancing guy in front of us. Sure, Christopher was kicky like the rest of us, but at least he was bopping to the beat while holding Kelly's coat. So, Kelly, Stephanie, and I decided to dance as much on him and around him as we could. He didn't get the hint. But shit was crazy. The TLA was nowhere near capacity, but the noise and the energy was better than most shows that I've been to recently.
And then came the Toasters. My god! Best part was that we were only about five rows away from the stage without being compressed into a fine paste. They kicked off the show with "2 Tone Army" and shit didn't calm down from there. I caught a few elbows to the forearm and Stephanie got hit in the nose twice, but it was a fun crowd. Needless to say, when we walked out of there, my feet were ready to fall off. I didn't think I'd make it back to my car on 2nd and Chestnut. God, I'm glad to have an outlet to ska again!
Pictures from the weekend should be up tonight or tomorrow depending on how hectic tonight is.
And don't forget to get out there and vote, people! It should be exciting tomorrow night.