The cool Wednesday that a girl could ask for!
Sorry it has taken me this long to come back and write about all the cool shit that happened on Wednesday. I'll definately be posting more stuff later as well about some recent stuff.
Wednesday, I had the day off from work, which was like "Thank Goodness!" I had my last sociology class that morning, which kinda made me sad. I really enjoyed it and my professor was just very nice and really cool. After class, I had my 6 month dental appointment. you know the standard check up and cleaning. Getting your teeth clean is a pretty alright thing. I am very happy that I am getting my wisdom teeth removed on the 19th, because the Dentist took on slight touch on my bottom right wisdom tooth and i about freaked lol. it hurt so much. the nice thing despite my mouth hurting for the rest of the afternoon was that I had teeth that were in good shape. No cavities!!! I'm pretty good for that sort of thing. I've only had one filling done in the past 14 years. The best part of the whole appointment was GO106, this god awful radio station in Cumberland, played the Kinks "you really got me" and then like 10 minutes later, played Van Halen's cover of that song. it was like "WTF!" obviously the DJ or the programmer wasn't thinking clearly! another funny thing that happened was finding out that My dentist loves Def Leppard. I told her about their concert that will happen in September in Pittsburgh. She was so funny, because she said to me "wow that's far enough in advance that I could probably make some cancelations and go to that!" I have this odd ability to relate to people through music.
The rest of the day was spent a bit frantic. After the appointment, I went to Walmart with my dad. He got some Tshirts and I got my SWR prints from back in May developed. They turned out really well amazingly. I decided that would be a fun and appropriate gift to She Wants Revenge! When I got home, I quickly had lunch, called my mom about picking up some cup cakes and got ready for the show. I was so nervous about getting ready. It was hot and i'm thinking "what should i wear!" I finally decided on my morrissey tshirt and my greeh tech skater shorts lol. When my mom came home from work, she brought home cup cakes from M&M bakery, which is this amazing old school bakery in downtown cumberland. The cup cakes looked like roses. Each cup cake had a rose top that was made out of icing. (trust me it was beautiful and yummy!)
For those who didn't know, the show was my quasi early 21st birthday part. I wanted to do something fun for my birthday, because I don't normally get to do something fun like have a party or something. Since SWR were going to be in Spain on my actual birthday (July 23rd), I decided that seeing them on the 12th in baltimore would be appropriate.
so, after much delays, we left Frostburg, around 6 pm. Doors at the club weren't until 8 pm and the first band wasn't going to be on until 9 pm. No huge worries ya know. We got to Sonar around 8:45 pm. Yeah it's a long drive to Baltimore.
As soon as we walked through the doors and got hands stamped and all that fun stuff, i ran into Adam! Hugs were exchanged. I gave him the photos and told him after the show, we gotta do cup cakes lol. He also met my parents, which was fucking cool. granted this all happened in a matter of 4 minutes i think haha. Seconds after seeing Adam, I ran into my best friend from UMD. Sami!!! He came out for my birthday and for the music, which is totally rad! I don't think I've had anyone really show up to a birthday party since I was 14. so you could imagine how happy and thrilled this made me.
Melodrone were the first band to play that night. They were pretty cool. Reminded me of Radiohead and Muse and some other things. Maybe Lush or some 90's shoegazer band. It wasn't anything terribly interesting, but it was nice to stand there and listen to something good. During the set, Sami and I kept noticing Adam was walking around the club. He said to me "you would think people who claim to be huge fans of She Wants Revenge would realize that one of the main members was walking around." I just laughed, because he was right on that one.
In the middle of Melodrone's set, I walked into the lounge to check up on my parents and get a soda. When I walked back, I found Sarah (my sister) and Adam standing at this tall bar table. He was signing her copy of the album and had a cig in his mouth. She lit his cig for him, which was so rad lol. I walked over and said hi to him and i realized he was wearing a New Order tshirt. I said to him "Ah, it looks like we're both sporting manchester's finest tonight!" he gave me a high five. I won't lie, that was probably one of the coolest moments of the evening.
After melodrone was done, I went to wash my hands in the ladies room and then check on my parents. I also bought a swr tshirt finally! after seeing them like 3 other times, i finally got a tshirt...as in they weren't sold out haha. I met this girl and her mom. Ironically the girl's name was Megan too. Her mom told me that she's interested in working A&R stuff in the music biz. Megan was pretty cool kid. 14 years old and seriously loves music, which is definately a good start. I gave her my contact information. Her mom told me about how she would see the raomnes and stuff and that she's glad her daughter has found the possitive side of music. It's meeting people like that, that gives me hope that rock and roll still matters and exists! I get so tired of the whole mantality that "I'm a better fan than you are" blah. Instead this conversation was like, "wow you love that band! I love that band too!" haha.
Right before Ima Robot's set, sarah broke the news to me about spam. Like I said earlier, I am glad I was at the show instead of being at home. Now as for Ima Robot's set, I am now a fan. I've heard of them for quite a while. You all know me, I'm sometimes skeptic of so called "hipster bands" and well, I am definately interested in this band lol. they were entertaining live. The lead singer looked like something out of 1989 Manchester haha. He had happy mondays written all over him. As for the sound, I'd say the mondays were an influence, but so were a lot of other things like the Talking heads and Johnny Rotten's Public Image Limited. the music was quite dancable and energetic. I loved the songs that teased and joked about politics and capitalism. I was also impressed with the odd MC skills of the lead singer. Sami informed me that the rapping is something new in their music, which is kinda amusing. I joked that the lead singer should challenge Justin (from SWR) to duel and do an MC battle haha. (for those who don't know, Justin used to do old school hip hop stuff back in the early 90s and yes it's some pretty great stuff too)
Right after Ima Robot were done, Sami and I moved up closer to the stage. well we tried to, but we got a pretty great spot. I told him to hold my place, because i need to go tell my parents SWR were getting on stage soon. My dad has been really looking forward to seeing them live. After quickly getting them out of the lounge, i ran back to where Sami was standing. For the remaining time before the set, we talked about the shit doing down in Lebanon. His dad is over there right now, which is a bit scary to say the least. I can only hope that he's alright. anyways, after discussing middle eastern affairs, i told him some stories about the other times i saw she wants revenge, because he's never seen them before, let alone hear other songs than what i've played on my radio show. I saw some kids up against the baracade who were holding signs. I am not sure if it was my odd mood or what but I said out loud "oh look, those girls up front are holding signs" which is an okay thing to say. but I guess it didn't sound right when it came out of my mouth. this older girl turned around and said "give her a break. she's 13 and it's her first concert." and I was like "I wasn't making fun seriously. Last time i saw SWR, I had a sign. On one side it was for them and the other side was something for depeche mode." the girl wasn't amused aparently. I wanted to grab her and say "listen sorry if it sounded like i was making fun, because i really wasnt. I used to carry signs to good charlotte shows when I was 15 years old, which was 6 years ago. I try very hard to respect music fans." and just leave it at that. of course, that wasn't possible. blah.
She Wants Revenge got on stage and were totally amazing. I screamed and sang my heart out along with the songs. both adam and justin either waved or nodded at me when they saw me in the crowd. I swear sometimes, I dont think I deserve this sort of acknowledgement. They are just soo fucking awesome and me, i'm a dork lol. The set was very satisfying.I really loved the new version of "Spend the Night" and "black liner run" was great. I think they play the B-sides to their one EP, because it seems like only hardcore fans would know it. Only a small number of people in the room seem to know those two. I seriously went nuts over my usual song... someone must get hurt. I just sang and danced my heart out to that song. I needed it too after all the news about things... Broken promises for broken hearts sounded terrific. In between songs, this stupid girl kept on screaming "I love you Justin." He got seriously annoyed by that. I would too honestly. well shit, i did get annoyed. apparently my sister was near this girl and got her drunk ass to be quiet lol. To counteract the drunk girl's screaming, a bunch of us cheered for adam!
Best moments of the show happened towards the end of the set. first of all, she wants revenge did their cover of depeche mode's "stripped", which was cooler than i thought it would be. It was nice to see that me and this other girl were the only people singing along. we yelled out at the end "depeche mode fucking represent!" haha. I think it's great that they're maybe exposing some kids to cool music! to me, swr is the band that music geeks should love, because they have an impeciable taste in music.
Another great moment in the set was during "She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not." During the music solo, justin climbed up on these amplifiers and stood on them and held onto the cealing. He then jumped down. It was so unexpectant and very rock and roll. that song is so emotional that it deserves some good "theatrics". During "Tear You Apart" both Adam walked around the baracades while playing bass. Then, Justin jumped into the crowd and stuff. Good times I tell you!
As soon as the show was over, it was announced that Adam would be spinning in the lounge for a small after party. Sarah, Sami and I rushed to the lounge. We claimed spots and my sister went to my mom and got the cup cakes. My parents were like "you kids have 20 minutes to get stuff done." Since my mom was doing the driving and all, I wasn't going to argue that time argreement. Anyways, Sami, Sarah and I waited a bit for Adam and Justin. After a little bit, we decided to just go ahead and atleast have on cup cake. The cup cakes were soo yummy and awesome. the icing was a little more than i could handle, but it was great.
After finishing a cup cake and washing my hands, we all decided to head out towards the front to see if we could catch the guys there. Well, to my surprise, there was Adam! I handed him the box of cup cakes and he opened it and was like "wow." i told him that we got them from a local bakery back home. and then he jokingly said "who ate one?" lmao. I told him that I wanted to share my birthday with him and justin. He knows my b-day is coming up. I told him i am going to be 21. He gave me a couple huge hugs and i got a few kisses on the cheek. (I guess i could say that i'm a friend of his, eh? lol) He had to go, because of the dj set and all. He was like "it was great seeing you girls again" (talking to my sister and i) "but i gotta run to the bus and put these cup cakes there for later and then go dj. you sticking around for that?" i told him about having to travel so far and he totally understood why we couldn't stick around. Before he left, he said "next time, i'd like to meet your dad and chat music!" hell yesss. i thought that was pretty rad. my dad plays bass and so does adam. I try to get my father to meet as many bands as possible! lol. also, adam said to stick around and that Justin should be out pretty soon.
So, Sami, Sarah and I stuck around for Justin. Sami was like "we haven't sang happy birthday to you yet. what sort of birthday party is that if we don't do that" so him and sarah started singing it. they were almost done when Justin and his girlfriend came walking in. Justin said to me, " Hey! I heard you were here and I want to thank you so much for coming out as always and Happy birthday." I told him i was turning 21. he said "are you going to keep edge?" I said "of course!" Justin totally digs the fact that i'm edge lol. Anyways, I introduced sami to justin, which was awesome. Justin also signed sarah's album. I told him about the cup cakes, which was funny. I said that adam better share lol. Before Justin left I got some pretty good hugs from him too. I also told him how i about hit the floor when he gave me a shoutout at Depeche Mode. He laughed and was kinda like "i thought that would get your attention" lol.
After Justin left, that was pretty much my cue to go to the car. I gave Sami a huge hug and told him to enjoy the after party and i thanked him for coming out. (Thank you once again Sami!) When I got to the car, my mom told me she saw Adam carrying the box of cup cakes to their bus! I can't help but wonder, if they liked the cup cakes lol.
On the way home from everything, we stopped at a Waffle House and had some awesome food. The people there were very nice too. We had a very sweet waitress. She saw my hand and asked if we went to a show. Apparently, lots of people do Waffle House after concerts. I told her about the time the New York Dolls came to the same waffle house we were eating at once lol. (that's entry is back in may of 2005 btw!) Anyways, I think I got home from all of this craziness around 4 am. As soon as I came home, I went to bed. I got up the next day and went to work.
I have to admit, though it was an early celebration and parts of the night were kinda frustrating, I had an awesome birthday bash. I'm very happy that for once since i was a kid that I had a fun "birthday party." I also want to say that I still can't believe that She Wants Revenge are my friends. (hey that rhymed kinda...) I never thought that the "up and coming" band I interviewed back in February were going to be so fucking cool to me like this. I'll be honest, I was kinda intimidated by them when I first met them way back in February, but of course as the interview went on, I mellowed out a bit. I must not be too bad of a person or journalist or whatever. Because I know that they wouldn't waste time on just anyone, right???
Sorry for the long entry, but I had to write it out. This was a good story and like i said, that night made me realize what was very important... friends, family and rock & roll.
ps- she wants revenge are coming back to the dc/baltimore area this fall! yesss....