philly road trip
sorry it's been forever since i've written, i definitely can never remember my password, and when i do write entries, i almost always end up deleting the whole thing by accident and that is entirely frustrating!
OK, so, I still need to post pics and tell about North Dakota. BUT while this is fresh in my mind, I must discuss the Saturday road trip to Philly.
So, we got up early and I can't even remember what time Mallory got to our house (Mallory was driving; it was her, Meg'n, and me), but we first went to Starbucks and then got batteries for my camera (which decided it hated me and didn't want to work regardless...and i ended up losing all my videos from North Dakota and my pics and videos from the 4th of July...grrr...I'm not bitter *AHEM*). Then we were on our way, stopped in Delaware for gas (I think).
About 3 and a half hours later, we got into Philly and found a parking garage down the road from the venue. By the way, we took this trip to see Trashlight Vision play (hence parking near venue; for all you non-show people...that's a place where bands play). So we waited there for like 10 minutes and Meg's friend Adrienne met us there; and that is where the excitement began.
We went to this mall and had Philly cheesesteaks and Italian ice, which was all good. But get this, walking down the hall (crowded by the way) this man walks by in a full orange, yes ORANGE, pimp suit! Totally casual and I may be mistaken, but I think we were the only ones who did a double take and busted out laughing. That was pretty exciting, but not near as exciting as what came later...
So we left there and went fabric shopping with Adrienne, haha. Then she drove us around, giving us a nice little tour of the area. I've been there before to see Mitch Hedberg and Steven Lynch, but never got an actual tour of the area, so that was nice. We passed by this retro store that I REALLY REALLY wanted to go into, but we didn't stop (next time, next time...)
So we went back to the parking garage, and this guy came INCHES away from destroyed the side of Adrienne's BRAND NEW CAR. He was next to her and started backing into this parking space behind him, but in the process swung his front end WAY too far toward us. He saw us all staring at him in awe and kinda jumped and jerked his car back. Scary, for her car, haha.
So we went into the venue and this band called Cause to Confess was playing and I really liked them, however, they need quite a bit of work on their stage performance. So, yeah, for all the bands, the manager in me came out and I found myself critiquing and applauding from a "pro" standpoint. We also saw a band called Anger and Addiction who were pretty good and their singer had some pretty intense facial expressions, but during their performance came the second exciting thing of the night. Apparently, there was no smoking allowed in this building, not that that stopped people (the bathroom had this haze of smoke just like sitting in the air...nasty haha). So there was this guy smoking a cigarette on the floor, watching this band and the security guy comes over to him and taps him on the arm pointing to the cigarette and telling him he couldn't have it...dude takes the cigarette, LIT CIGARETTE, and pops it in his mouth AND EATS IT!!! For a minute I was shocked...did he really do what I think he did, is he seriously CHEWING that cigarette...YES! EWWWWW! First I was shocked, then I was disgusted, and then I laughed for like 10 minutes. The security guard was taken aback by it too, and shrugged his shoulders and walked off. NAS-TY!!! Ok, ladies and gentlemen, amanda thinks smoking is really gross, but let me specify that EATING CIGARETTES IS WORSE! But I will admit that I found it entirely entertaining, as sad as that is, but it was not nearly as exciting as what was to come later...
So we went downstairs and I talked with the editor of Origivation Magazine and exchanged info with him for future band swapping (va to philly, philly to va). I also bought a shirt from him, let's just say...i love the shirt, however, white is not my color haha. We saw a few more bands: A Division (who was not only REALLY good with an awesome performance, but was COMPLETELY professional and gave me a press kit on the spot when I gave them my card, I was totally impressed with them) and Buy Star Bombs (who were also good, reminded me of Melee). And in between all this we caught up with some of the guys from Trashlight.
Sadly I have no pictures because my camera (actually I found that the problem was really my memory card, which needed to be formatted...as i sadly came to the realization of later), but we were up front for Trashlight and they put on a really good show. Actually they reminded me a lot of Dope, except they are punk and Dope is like metal. But it was pretty exciting, I liked it. I thought Steve was gonna break his face when he got on top of the speaker, but no, he was alright. (Had I done that, I would have broken MY face...this is why amanda books bands haha and is not in one, i lack the grace and agility to climb on things , keep a rhythm going, and stay all in one piece in the process ha).
So, after Trashlight we were ready to go, we were waiting around for AC because I was supposed to talk to him about booking.
Megan was somewhere and Mallory and I were kinda standing around in the lobby when out of nowhere, we made a friend! haha This dude Roland came up and starting talking to us about his friend's band that was playing and I gave him my card, turns out he was a musician himself haha so that was funny and we ran into him a few more times, and at the end of the night found us and gave us some directions.
But we ended up going back into the main room while waiting for the guys and this band from Japan, who we decided we were not going to stay for because we were headed to Jersey after the show, got on the stage. I have to say that I was not prepared for this performance. There are no words to describe it...AND ME WITHOUT PICTURES!!! AM I BITTER?? YESSSS!!!! Not really, but that would have been nice. Well first these guys come out in Superhero costumes which was just funny. And before they start playing, this theme song starts playing and they're all dancing to it (what was funnier? them on stage dancing to this theme song, or the drunk men at the balcony dancing too...not sure...equal in humor i think). "Peelander-Red" had dreds, real cute, haha he keeping leaping off the stage into the crowd trying to get them to mosh...then he'd leap back on...and his costume had wings, so that was very entertaining. Throughout their set they're bringing people on stage with them and holding up signs and just doing crazy stuff, their music was REALLY crazy and at this one point they held up these signs that said "Bassist wanted", "Guitarist wanted", and "drummer wanted" and had people come up on stage and play their instruments while they came off stage and played a game of HUMAN BOWLING, yes, HUMAN BOWLING!!!! hahaha, let me just say, Trashlight won the good music and performance of the night in my book, but this band Peelander Z was the most exciting band I have ever seen in my life, and I have seen some crazy things..but NEVER ANYTHING like this band. If you EVER get the chance to see Peelander Z live, DO NOT PASS IT UP. It will be THE most entertaining thing you'll ever see. All I have to see is "wow". We decided that there is only one word to describe Peelander Z and that is "spectacle". Haha. And during the performance, Roger from Trashlight asked me if we could give him and his friend Sarah a ride to South Street and AC was chillin with Meg.
So after the show Meg'n and Roger carried his bass and suitcase to the car while Mallory and I waited outside the venue. Then we ended up making another friend, whose name I can't recall, sadly, but he was a bouncer for the club and had come and starting talking to us and mentioned that 'he was a big guy but when cockroaches came around, he was running'. So as we're taking, this huge cockroach (and I'm talking like "Men In Black" cockroach) crawls past me toward him (I didn't notice till he said something haha, and i was rather indifferent to it, with all the bugs and stuff in ND, as long as things aren't crawling on me, i don't mind them much) but he freaked out and proceeded to annihilate the cockroach before our very eyes ha. Poor cockroach, RIP.
Then Roger came and grabbed Sarah (who was from Sweden) and we all walked to the car...only there was a slight problem... us bass guitar roger and sarah = not all fitting in car. so in the back seat it was the guitar then me then roger with sarah on top haha, it was rather uncomfortable, however we made it work. And Roger gave us a little tour of the tattoo parlors, guitar shops, and bar stool stores along the way haha. He actually gave us some cool stories about stuff. Then we dropped them off and headed to Meg's friend Jess's house in New Jersey.
So we got there and hung for a bit then at about 2am we went to Wendy's , as we were STARVING, then we dropped by their friend Becca's house for a while and then it was back to Jess's. They're all nice girls. So at around 4 am we left Jess and Adrienne and headed out.
By the way, gas prices:
New Jersey - $2.97-3.05
Pennsylvania - $2.90-3.15
Delaware - $3.05
Maryland - $2.99-3.15
Virginia (home sweet home) $2.77
So three games of musical drivers/navigators, two and half hours, and one bagel later, Mallory took over driving for me in Delaware and I drank some coffee (which didn't prevent me from falling asleep since I'd been up for 25 hours) and drifted off then woke up when we were in MD and went back to sleep, then woke up when we were near Manassas. Finally we made it back to Gainesville/Haymarket, thus ending our adventure.
It's never a dull moment when you're road tripping with Amanda and Megan. When's the next trip? I think we're planning to go back to Jersey when I get back into the US in August. We'll see, because at that point, I plan on being extremely broke haha.
Anyway, morals of story:
1) You can make friends anywhere if you're open enough :)
2) IPODS aren't perfect and I still don't need one yet ha
3) Extra memory cards batteries for cameras are def necessary, because YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SEE
4) WATCH PEELANDER Z and Trashlight Vision
5) Take exciting road trips with Amanda and Meg'n
The end.
much love
-amandachele-
OK, so, I still need to post pics and tell about North Dakota. BUT while this is fresh in my mind, I must discuss the Saturday road trip to Philly.
So, we got up early and I can't even remember what time Mallory got to our house (Mallory was driving; it was her, Meg'n, and me), but we first went to Starbucks and then got batteries for my camera (which decided it hated me and didn't want to work regardless...and i ended up losing all my videos from North Dakota and my pics and videos from the 4th of July...grrr...I'm not bitter *AHEM*). Then we were on our way, stopped in Delaware for gas (I think).
About 3 and a half hours later, we got into Philly and found a parking garage down the road from the venue. By the way, we took this trip to see Trashlight Vision play (hence parking near venue; for all you non-show people...that's a place where bands play). So we waited there for like 10 minutes and Meg's friend Adrienne met us there; and that is where the excitement began.
We went to this mall and had Philly cheesesteaks and Italian ice, which was all good. But get this, walking down the hall (crowded by the way) this man walks by in a full orange, yes ORANGE, pimp suit! Totally casual and I may be mistaken, but I think we were the only ones who did a double take and busted out laughing. That was pretty exciting, but not near as exciting as what came later...
So we left there and went fabric shopping with Adrienne, haha. Then she drove us around, giving us a nice little tour of the area. I've been there before to see Mitch Hedberg and Steven Lynch, but never got an actual tour of the area, so that was nice. We passed by this retro store that I REALLY REALLY wanted to go into, but we didn't stop (next time, next time...)
So we went back to the parking garage, and this guy came INCHES away from destroyed the side of Adrienne's BRAND NEW CAR. He was next to her and started backing into this parking space behind him, but in the process swung his front end WAY too far toward us. He saw us all staring at him in awe and kinda jumped and jerked his car back. Scary, for her car, haha.
So we went into the venue and this band called Cause to Confess was playing and I really liked them, however, they need quite a bit of work on their stage performance. So, yeah, for all the bands, the manager in me came out and I found myself critiquing and applauding from a "pro" standpoint. We also saw a band called Anger and Addiction who were pretty good and their singer had some pretty intense facial expressions, but during their performance came the second exciting thing of the night. Apparently, there was no smoking allowed in this building, not that that stopped people (the bathroom had this haze of smoke just like sitting in the air...nasty haha). So there was this guy smoking a cigarette on the floor, watching this band and the security guy comes over to him and taps him on the arm pointing to the cigarette and telling him he couldn't have it...dude takes the cigarette, LIT CIGARETTE, and pops it in his mouth AND EATS IT!!! For a minute I was shocked...did he really do what I think he did, is he seriously CHEWING that cigarette...YES! EWWWWW! First I was shocked, then I was disgusted, and then I laughed for like 10 minutes. The security guard was taken aback by it too, and shrugged his shoulders and walked off. NAS-TY!!! Ok, ladies and gentlemen, amanda thinks smoking is really gross, but let me specify that EATING CIGARETTES IS WORSE! But I will admit that I found it entirely entertaining, as sad as that is, but it was not nearly as exciting as what was to come later...
So we went downstairs and I talked with the editor of Origivation Magazine and exchanged info with him for future band swapping (va to philly, philly to va). I also bought a shirt from him, let's just say...i love the shirt, however, white is not my color haha. We saw a few more bands: A Division (who was not only REALLY good with an awesome performance, but was COMPLETELY professional and gave me a press kit on the spot when I gave them my card, I was totally impressed with them) and Buy Star Bombs (who were also good, reminded me of Melee). And in between all this we caught up with some of the guys from Trashlight.
Sadly I have no pictures because my camera (actually I found that the problem was really my memory card, which needed to be formatted...as i sadly came to the realization of later), but we were up front for Trashlight and they put on a really good show. Actually they reminded me a lot of Dope, except they are punk and Dope is like metal. But it was pretty exciting, I liked it. I thought Steve was gonna break his face when he got on top of the speaker, but no, he was alright. (Had I done that, I would have broken MY face...this is why amanda books bands haha and is not in one, i lack the grace and agility to climb on things , keep a rhythm going, and stay all in one piece in the process ha).
So, after Trashlight we were ready to go, we were waiting around for AC because I was supposed to talk to him about booking.
Megan was somewhere and Mallory and I were kinda standing around in the lobby when out of nowhere, we made a friend! haha This dude Roland came up and starting talking to us about his friend's band that was playing and I gave him my card, turns out he was a musician himself haha so that was funny and we ran into him a few more times, and at the end of the night found us and gave us some directions.
But we ended up going back into the main room while waiting for the guys and this band from Japan, who we decided we were not going to stay for because we were headed to Jersey after the show, got on the stage. I have to say that I was not prepared for this performance. There are no words to describe it...AND ME WITHOUT PICTURES!!! AM I BITTER?? YESSSS!!!! Not really, but that would have been nice. Well first these guys come out in Superhero costumes which was just funny. And before they start playing, this theme song starts playing and they're all dancing to it (what was funnier? them on stage dancing to this theme song, or the drunk men at the balcony dancing too...not sure...equal in humor i think). "Peelander-Red" had dreds, real cute, haha he keeping leaping off the stage into the crowd trying to get them to mosh...then he'd leap back on...and his costume had wings, so that was very entertaining. Throughout their set they're bringing people on stage with them and holding up signs and just doing crazy stuff, their music was REALLY crazy and at this one point they held up these signs that said "Bassist wanted", "Guitarist wanted", and "drummer wanted" and had people come up on stage and play their instruments while they came off stage and played a game of HUMAN BOWLING, yes, HUMAN BOWLING!!!! hahaha, let me just say, Trashlight won the good music and performance of the night in my book, but this band Peelander Z was the most exciting band I have ever seen in my life, and I have seen some crazy things..but NEVER ANYTHING like this band. If you EVER get the chance to see Peelander Z live, DO NOT PASS IT UP. It will be THE most entertaining thing you'll ever see. All I have to see is "wow". We decided that there is only one word to describe Peelander Z and that is "spectacle". Haha. And during the performance, Roger from Trashlight asked me if we could give him and his friend Sarah a ride to South Street and AC was chillin with Meg.
So after the show Meg'n and Roger carried his bass and suitcase to the car while Mallory and I waited outside the venue. Then we ended up making another friend, whose name I can't recall, sadly, but he was a bouncer for the club and had come and starting talking to us and mentioned that 'he was a big guy but when cockroaches came around, he was running'. So as we're taking, this huge cockroach (and I'm talking like "Men In Black" cockroach) crawls past me toward him (I didn't notice till he said something haha, and i was rather indifferent to it, with all the bugs and stuff in ND, as long as things aren't crawling on me, i don't mind them much) but he freaked out and proceeded to annihilate the cockroach before our very eyes ha. Poor cockroach, RIP.
Then Roger came and grabbed Sarah (who was from Sweden) and we all walked to the car...only there was a slight problem... us bass guitar roger and sarah = not all fitting in car. so in the back seat it was the guitar then me then roger with sarah on top haha, it was rather uncomfortable, however we made it work. And Roger gave us a little tour of the tattoo parlors, guitar shops, and bar stool stores along the way haha. He actually gave us some cool stories about stuff. Then we dropped them off and headed to Meg's friend Jess's house in New Jersey.
So we got there and hung for a bit then at about 2am we went to Wendy's , as we were STARVING, then we dropped by their friend Becca's house for a while and then it was back to Jess's. They're all nice girls. So at around 4 am we left Jess and Adrienne and headed out.
By the way, gas prices:
New Jersey - $2.97-3.05
Pennsylvania - $2.90-3.15
Delaware - $3.05
Maryland - $2.99-3.15
Virginia (home sweet home) $2.77
So three games of musical drivers/navigators, two and half hours, and one bagel later, Mallory took over driving for me in Delaware and I drank some coffee (which didn't prevent me from falling asleep since I'd been up for 25 hours) and drifted off then woke up when we were in MD and went back to sleep, then woke up when we were near Manassas. Finally we made it back to Gainesville/Haymarket, thus ending our adventure.
It's never a dull moment when you're road tripping with Amanda and Megan. When's the next trip? I think we're planning to go back to Jersey when I get back into the US in August. We'll see, because at that point, I plan on being extremely broke haha.
Anyway, morals of story:
1) You can make friends anywhere if you're open enough :)
2) IPODS aren't perfect and I still don't need one yet ha
3) Extra memory cards batteries for cameras are def necessary, because YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SEE
4) WATCH PEELANDER Z and Trashlight Vision
5) Take exciting road trips with Amanda and Meg'n
The end.
much love
-amandachele-