A Very "Punk in Drublic" weekend
Damn this weekend was awesome. Great times. You can even read about it in this little blurb if you like, or you can just read this part - just to avoid boring you readers with short attention spans from reading a very long entry.. if you are one of those people.. Cuz I know I am.. Haha
- After a horrid day of work on Friday, I finally got out and made my way down to CT and Nichols College to meet up with B, Toomey and LW to start our trek to Philly for the Live 8 concert. We didnt start driving till about 930, and got lost somewhere in Jersey - Side note - God that state smells... and also the highway system there sucks.. the NJ Turnpike is the Devil.. seriously... so we woke Ryan up from Miami and told him to be our GPS unit over the phone to get us outta there.. hahaha..
We got there I think around 2 AM or so, then when we got into our room, we just couldnt fall asleep. A lotta good quotes that night, but shit, you know me, I cant remember any of them, just believe me that they were good. Haha.
- So Saturday we were up at 7 AM I think? We wanted to get there for 830, I think we were close, but by that time it was already PACKED beyond belief, and there were still like 750,000 other people that werent there yet. Anyway, we couldnt find a decent spot anywhere near the stage, so we settled for a spot on the grass near one of the huge monitors that you could watch the concert on. We brought a cooler and food, but didnt think to actually bring it to the damn concert, cuz I think we all figured we would be standing and have a better spot than we did that early in the morning. God were we wrong, I guess when the gate openned up at 530, people actually RAN to the stage. Anyway, I'm not complaining, we had good seats on the grass. So Laura n Bryan bought blankets, ahem... Tapestries, to sit on, and Toomey and I scoured the streets of Philly for an open Liquor Store. It was like a ghost town in half of that city that day. We found stuff, and headed back. The concert was about to begin.
Will Smith came out to address the crowd about what this concert was REALLY all about. That was great. This was HIS Town, so it was pretty cool that he got to host the concert in Philly. He showed the 'One' campaign video with all the celebs in it snapping their fingers, demonstrating how fast it would take to sign a document to help stop hunger. Then we all snapped in unison around the world (Showing the 8 other places that were having shows at the same exact time). It was pretty powerful. Then the music began.
The Kaiser Chiefs played a few songs to "pregame", then the Black Eyed Peas started it off good, at that point I noticed all the hot women that were around us. Haha. They played a few good songs, played "Get Up Stand Up" with the Marleys. Every group there only had somewhere between 15 and 40 minutes per set, since there were so many acts, so you cant really expect much, and this concert was more for awareness than it was pleasure.
I was already half into my Jack n Coke at this point, and it was only about 12:30.
Bon Jovi followed, and the 80s fist went in the air. They were great. They played a few classics, and a few songs off their new album. They should have just stayed with the classics for like a 4 or 5 song set. Oh well. I dont remember Destiny's Child after that, I think at this point I was introducing myself to a few of the girls around us. God, Everywhere I go I have to flirt.. haha.. it never usually works out, but I am ALWAYS flirting with someone lately.. haha.. We met a few cool people from NJ, all were big Eagles fans, so B and I had to talk some smack, but overall we liked these people. We respected one another. They respected the Pats n the Sox, we respected the Eagles and the Mets.
Next up was Kanye (To tha..) West who kicked ass with "Jesus Rocks" and "Diamonds", then Big Willie came up to perform with DJ Jazzy Jeff. "Summertime" was key, as well as his new song "Switch", where he had everyone singing the Theme song to "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" in between. He didnt play "Miami" though, I was sad. Oh well. Toby Keith was next, not a big fan. I was drinking and talking to this girl named Peril. Strange name, cool girl. Dave Matthews came on, but you really cant see DMB for 4 songs. I honestly dont even remember what he played, except for 2 of his new songs. I think I was also pretty drunk at this point too.. haha.. But honestly, none of my favorite DMB songs..
Alicia Keys was good but I wasnt really paying close attention. Def Leppard was great! Got everyone moving. Then my favorite moment was when Linkin Park and Jay-Z started playing together. Simply fantastic. Too many songs to list, but they had a good chunk of playing time. At this point I wasnt paying too much attention anymore, other than Maroon 5 which was awesome, Rob Thomas who was pretty good but I'm not a huge fan, then the finale, Stevie Wonder. All 4 of us were like dead from too much sun, dehydrated from too much drinking, or tired from not enough sleep. We couldnt leave though, we HAD to see Stevie Wonder. I'm not even a big Stevie Wonder fan, but it was like an honor to see him.
You HAVE to give mad props to the guy. I dont think I would ever go to a Stevie Wonder concert, but I think it was amazing to see this legend, who I will prob never see again. They gave him the most playing time, which I think he deserved. Everyone loved it. "Higher Ground" was awesome. I just wish that Philly could have had all the artists come out to sing one song at the end, like at the previous Live Aid, and in London. Man, London must have been Awesome to go to. All in all, we had an excellent time though.
I had fun meeting people. We met these twins that were behind us with some guys, Marnie and Casey. They were nice, cute too. They were from NY and were Yankees fans. They LOVED the Boston accent though. When Marnie and I were hanging out watching Maroon 5 she just kept on asking me to say words. I loved it. Hahah. (She was really cute no matter what Toomey and LW say.. Oh well I'm sure Ill never see her again.. )
We then left the concert and got back to our hotel room n went out to dinner at Bertuccis. Overall Philly was a very nice place, with a few scummy places around part of the city, but we didnt go there. The people there were really nice overall, nicer than Massholes, and very accommodating. The concert went off without a hitch, which I think wouldnt have been the case if it were in Boston. It was unbelievably well organized, and 1 Million people were out of there in no time. No parking problems, no Subway problems, no Shuttle Bus problems. It was great, and a definite change from Boston, where there isnt even a major event going on and there are problems.
The ride home wasnt as bad, we didnt get lost or anything, we were just MAD TIRED. I relaxed for a bit, cleaned my room when I got back, and then decided to head over to Griff's house in Meth-town for some annual "Griffin Fourth of July BBQ Party Extravaganza" fun for a lil bit. We played Volleyball, we drank, we had good food. It was a great time, like always. Can't wait till next year.
- July 4th was rather chill for me most of the day. I slept in, then went home to try and work on the bar. Didnt happen, but then I made some plans to go into Boston with Abby, Kat, n others. We had a great time, I brought tons of alcohol for all of us, mostly Amanda, Liz and I. We were the drunks. We were on a bridge near a T stop though right along the river, so we had a great view of fireworks. Another Punk in Drublic night. It was a blast. I got some great video of fireworks too. My sis and Christina and a few of her other friends were in town as well with my cuz Stef, but we didnt get to meet up. Oh well.
So that was my fun weekend.
A few other things on my mind...
- I bought a Sirius Radio off of Bryan finally last weekend. I am gonna get it installed this weekend. Man, is it awesome. I am listening to the stations online right now. They are great, constant music. They have stations that are like.. ALL Old Skool Hip Hop, ALL Remix and Freestyle, ALL 80s, ALL Jazz, ALL Hair Metal, ALL Techno/House/Electronica.. Hell even ALL Jimmy Buffett. You get the point. I have a home kit as well, so I can hook it up anytime I want a party. =)
- I watched St Elmo's Fire this weekend per request of my friend Alicia at work. She said it was an 80s movie I would really like. It had a great cast, half of which were from the Breakfast Club. I'm surprized I had never seen that movie. It really fits what life is like now too. All the main characters in it had just graduated from college and were tasting the Real World and what it was like. Its virtues and its vices. Its ups and its downs. It really was a good movie. If you haven't seen it and are a "recent" member of the "Real World" I suggest you go see it.
- Finally.. (Yeah, I know, those of you who are still reading and not asleep.. haha) In a few short weeks I am going to one of my favorite places to go - Ossippee Lake in NH. We have been going up there as a family since I was 4 yrs old, and I never try to miss it, the last week in July usually. A lot of friends have already come up before, and have had a good time. It is sooo chill up there, we rent a cottage right next to a very nice and calm piece of the beach, very clean. We go tubing, water skiing, knee boarding, etc. We grill stuff, play volleyball in or out of the water, we roast marshmellows, sit on the beach at night looking at the starry NH sky, go up to North Conway to shop, go up to Loon to bike ride, play hours of fun card games. You name it, we do it, and have a ball..
Well here's my invitation to people to come up if they want. July 23rd to July 28th. Let me know if you would be interested. We have room in this cottage for like 15 people, and there will only be like 5 or 6 of us. I can't wait. Wow this will be the 20th year I have been going.
So that was a long entry, but I had a lot to say. Whateva...
See ya soon, kiddies! Leave a comment if ya love me! =)
- After a horrid day of work on Friday, I finally got out and made my way down to CT and Nichols College to meet up with B, Toomey and LW to start our trek to Philly for the Live 8 concert. We didnt start driving till about 930, and got lost somewhere in Jersey - Side note - God that state smells... and also the highway system there sucks.. the NJ Turnpike is the Devil.. seriously... so we woke Ryan up from Miami and told him to be our GPS unit over the phone to get us outta there.. hahaha..
We got there I think around 2 AM or so, then when we got into our room, we just couldnt fall asleep. A lotta good quotes that night, but shit, you know me, I cant remember any of them, just believe me that they were good. Haha.
- So Saturday we were up at 7 AM I think? We wanted to get there for 830, I think we were close, but by that time it was already PACKED beyond belief, and there were still like 750,000 other people that werent there yet. Anyway, we couldnt find a decent spot anywhere near the stage, so we settled for a spot on the grass near one of the huge monitors that you could watch the concert on. We brought a cooler and food, but didnt think to actually bring it to the damn concert, cuz I think we all figured we would be standing and have a better spot than we did that early in the morning. God were we wrong, I guess when the gate openned up at 530, people actually RAN to the stage. Anyway, I'm not complaining, we had good seats on the grass. So Laura n Bryan bought blankets, ahem... Tapestries, to sit on, and Toomey and I scoured the streets of Philly for an open Liquor Store. It was like a ghost town in half of that city that day. We found stuff, and headed back. The concert was about to begin.
Will Smith came out to address the crowd about what this concert was REALLY all about. That was great. This was HIS Town, so it was pretty cool that he got to host the concert in Philly. He showed the 'One' campaign video with all the celebs in it snapping their fingers, demonstrating how fast it would take to sign a document to help stop hunger. Then we all snapped in unison around the world (Showing the 8 other places that were having shows at the same exact time). It was pretty powerful. Then the music began.
The Kaiser Chiefs played a few songs to "pregame", then the Black Eyed Peas started it off good, at that point I noticed all the hot women that were around us. Haha. They played a few good songs, played "Get Up Stand Up" with the Marleys. Every group there only had somewhere between 15 and 40 minutes per set, since there were so many acts, so you cant really expect much, and this concert was more for awareness than it was pleasure.
I was already half into my Jack n Coke at this point, and it was only about 12:30.
Bon Jovi followed, and the 80s fist went in the air. They were great. They played a few classics, and a few songs off their new album. They should have just stayed with the classics for like a 4 or 5 song set. Oh well. I dont remember Destiny's Child after that, I think at this point I was introducing myself to a few of the girls around us. God, Everywhere I go I have to flirt.. haha.. it never usually works out, but I am ALWAYS flirting with someone lately.. haha.. We met a few cool people from NJ, all were big Eagles fans, so B and I had to talk some smack, but overall we liked these people. We respected one another. They respected the Pats n the Sox, we respected the Eagles and the Mets.
Next up was Kanye (To tha..) West who kicked ass with "Jesus Rocks" and "Diamonds", then Big Willie came up to perform with DJ Jazzy Jeff. "Summertime" was key, as well as his new song "Switch", where he had everyone singing the Theme song to "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" in between. He didnt play "Miami" though, I was sad. Oh well. Toby Keith was next, not a big fan. I was drinking and talking to this girl named Peril. Strange name, cool girl. Dave Matthews came on, but you really cant see DMB for 4 songs. I honestly dont even remember what he played, except for 2 of his new songs. I think I was also pretty drunk at this point too.. haha.. But honestly, none of my favorite DMB songs..
Alicia Keys was good but I wasnt really paying close attention. Def Leppard was great! Got everyone moving. Then my favorite moment was when Linkin Park and Jay-Z started playing together. Simply fantastic. Too many songs to list, but they had a good chunk of playing time. At this point I wasnt paying too much attention anymore, other than Maroon 5 which was awesome, Rob Thomas who was pretty good but I'm not a huge fan, then the finale, Stevie Wonder. All 4 of us were like dead from too much sun, dehydrated from too much drinking, or tired from not enough sleep. We couldnt leave though, we HAD to see Stevie Wonder. I'm not even a big Stevie Wonder fan, but it was like an honor to see him.
You HAVE to give mad props to the guy. I dont think I would ever go to a Stevie Wonder concert, but I think it was amazing to see this legend, who I will prob never see again. They gave him the most playing time, which I think he deserved. Everyone loved it. "Higher Ground" was awesome. I just wish that Philly could have had all the artists come out to sing one song at the end, like at the previous Live Aid, and in London. Man, London must have been Awesome to go to. All in all, we had an excellent time though.
I had fun meeting people. We met these twins that were behind us with some guys, Marnie and Casey. They were nice, cute too. They were from NY and were Yankees fans. They LOVED the Boston accent though. When Marnie and I were hanging out watching Maroon 5 she just kept on asking me to say words. I loved it. Hahah. (She was really cute no matter what Toomey and LW say.. Oh well I'm sure Ill never see her again.. )
We then left the concert and got back to our hotel room n went out to dinner at Bertuccis. Overall Philly was a very nice place, with a few scummy places around part of the city, but we didnt go there. The people there were really nice overall, nicer than Massholes, and very accommodating. The concert went off without a hitch, which I think wouldnt have been the case if it were in Boston. It was unbelievably well organized, and 1 Million people were out of there in no time. No parking problems, no Subway problems, no Shuttle Bus problems. It was great, and a definite change from Boston, where there isnt even a major event going on and there are problems.
The ride home wasnt as bad, we didnt get lost or anything, we were just MAD TIRED. I relaxed for a bit, cleaned my room when I got back, and then decided to head over to Griff's house in Meth-town for some annual "Griffin Fourth of July BBQ Party Extravaganza" fun for a lil bit. We played Volleyball, we drank, we had good food. It was a great time, like always. Can't wait till next year.
- July 4th was rather chill for me most of the day. I slept in, then went home to try and work on the bar. Didnt happen, but then I made some plans to go into Boston with Abby, Kat, n others. We had a great time, I brought tons of alcohol for all of us, mostly Amanda, Liz and I. We were the drunks. We were on a bridge near a T stop though right along the river, so we had a great view of fireworks. Another Punk in Drublic night. It was a blast. I got some great video of fireworks too. My sis and Christina and a few of her other friends were in town as well with my cuz Stef, but we didnt get to meet up. Oh well.
So that was my fun weekend.
A few other things on my mind...
- I bought a Sirius Radio off of Bryan finally last weekend. I am gonna get it installed this weekend. Man, is it awesome. I am listening to the stations online right now. They are great, constant music. They have stations that are like.. ALL Old Skool Hip Hop, ALL Remix and Freestyle, ALL 80s, ALL Jazz, ALL Hair Metal, ALL Techno/House/Electronica.. Hell even ALL Jimmy Buffett. You get the point. I have a home kit as well, so I can hook it up anytime I want a party. =)
- I watched St Elmo's Fire this weekend per request of my friend Alicia at work. She said it was an 80s movie I would really like. It had a great cast, half of which were from the Breakfast Club. I'm surprized I had never seen that movie. It really fits what life is like now too. All the main characters in it had just graduated from college and were tasting the Real World and what it was like. Its virtues and its vices. Its ups and its downs. It really was a good movie. If you haven't seen it and are a "recent" member of the "Real World" I suggest you go see it.
- Finally.. (Yeah, I know, those of you who are still reading and not asleep.. haha) In a few short weeks I am going to one of my favorite places to go - Ossippee Lake in NH. We have been going up there as a family since I was 4 yrs old, and I never try to miss it, the last week in July usually. A lot of friends have already come up before, and have had a good time. It is sooo chill up there, we rent a cottage right next to a very nice and calm piece of the beach, very clean. We go tubing, water skiing, knee boarding, etc. We grill stuff, play volleyball in or out of the water, we roast marshmellows, sit on the beach at night looking at the starry NH sky, go up to North Conway to shop, go up to Loon to bike ride, play hours of fun card games. You name it, we do it, and have a ball..
Well here's my invitation to people to come up if they want. July 23rd to July 28th. Let me know if you would be interested. We have room in this cottage for like 15 people, and there will only be like 5 or 6 of us. I can't wait. Wow this will be the 20th year I have been going.
So that was a long entry, but I had a lot to say. Whateva...
See ya soon, kiddies! Leave a comment if ya love me! =)