EPIC TRL Fueled by Ramen Day Review
New York City
Monday May 5, 2008
This is almost 5,000 words of complete fangirl flailing. You have been warned! There’s so much that you miss when you’re not in the audience, so this is really designed to fill in some of the holes.
I would love for everyone to read the whole thing, but I organized it into sections anyway in case you don’t want to. The second part titled “in the studio” is everything that happened in the studio from my perspective. I broke it down by band, so all of my interactions and observations concerning Panic are under the Panic section, etc.
***
Part I: Introduction: or my luck has to change at some point, right?
Part II: Background, line waiting and pre-studio: or how I decided that making a fool out of myself in front of my favorite bands was a good idea
Part III: In The Studio
* Panic at the Disco: or how I ended up with Jon’s knees in my back and Brendon pressed against my side
* Phantom Planet: or why I’m so glad that I represented this band
* The Cab: or how Alex Marshall is such a boy (that happens to carry lip gloss)
* Other bands: or how Gabe stole the show and I wasn’t at all surprised
Part IV: Eating Contest and post-Eating Contest: or how I ended up winning a $20 bet for Phantom Planet
Introduction: or my luck has to change at some point, right?
So you have some context for this epic flaily review, just know that I was THAT girl. Yes, the girl that represented Phantom Planet and won the TRL Ramen eating contest! It’s definitely something to put on my resume when I graduate college in 3 days! LOL. So okay, I made a fool of myself on MTV but it was really worth it because I was sitting next to Brendon Urie of Panic at the fucking Disco for more than half of the show! I can’t even wrap my head around it, even now.
I haven’t watched the whole thing, but from what I’ve seen, it’s a bit misleading on film. The girl representing Panic was only sitting next to Brendon for the first couple of minutes while they did their little q&a. Yeah, the one where Jon said “sweaty ball sac” on MTV. Right after that, Panic shifted over to the end, and Phantom Planet, the band I represented, was moved to the middle. Jenn-Panic’s girl was moved to the back with Spencer. I was sitting between Brendon and Sam from Phantom for the rest of TRL, up until the eating contest!
Here’s a visual:
That’s me next to Brendon smiling like a idiot and being completely oblivious to the Ryden! lol. Oh wow. Looking at this picture makes me so happy. Brendon and Ryan were so squished together. It's almost obscene.
***
Part II: Background, line waiting and pre-studio: or how I decided that making a fool out of myself in front of my favorite bands was a good idea
Let’s start at the beginning. I’m from Virginia and I was originally just coming to the NYC area to go to Bamboozle. My Review is here , btw. It was a huge two day concert in New Jersey last weekend. Most of the FBR bands played on Sunday and Panic closed the entire festival.
About a week ago, I found out that all of the bands were going to be on TRL. I figured I wouldn’t get studio tickets because it was such short notice, but I sent an email to TRL anyway requesting them. Well, they sent me an email back the next day saying I had studio tickets! I reworked my travel schedule and was able to make it to the studio.
Once I was in line, the MTV people were walking around and checking people off while we were waiting and one girl was asking for contest participants. She was looking for anyone that wanted to represent each of the bands in a ‘Ramen noodle eating contest’. At first I was like ‘no fucking way’. Putting myself out there like that is just not me at all. My roommate, who went with me, said I should do it. She sits through my ranting about each of the FBR bands, particularly Panic, so she knows how much they mean to me. She finally convinced me that if for nothing else, I would probably be closer to the bands if I signed up for the contest. I decided that making a fool of myself was probably worth getting closer to them.
The girl taking names asked me who I wanted to represent; Panic was already taken. I told her that it didn’t really matter who I represented because I honestly liked all of the bands. She advised me to not take Cobra because there was going to be another contest outside to get the spot. She didn’t explain, but I didn’t really ask because I was already kind of unsure about this whole thing in the first place. Out of the bands that were left, I chose Phantom Planet. I don’t know a ton about them as people, but their new CD is great and I’ve been a fan of their music for a while. I’m no where near as big a fangirl for Phantom as I am for Panic, but I still really enjoy them. Actually, I’m kind of glad that I didn’t rep for Panic because of the added pressure from all of you people to represent them well, haha.
Part III: In the studio
Since I volunteered to be in the contest, I got to go into the studio before all of the other guests. The 5 girls representing the other bands were with me. Besides me, there was one for Panic, The Academy Is…, Gym Class Heroes, The Cab, and The Hush Sound. The Cobra rep wasn’t with us because they chose her from outside during the show. They let the six of us into the studio early so we got to watch the run-through with the British Australian girl host, whose name I don’t know, and Snoop Dogg who was co-hosting the show.
Snoop Dogg was actually really nice to us. He told us that we should request the ramen seasoning too with the noodles. He also told us that someone should find us some crackers. lol. He was very calm and inviting, not standoffish at all, which kind of surprised me.
After the run-through, the other audience members were allowed into the studio. All of the contest participants were sitting together. The regular audience members were all towards the center, and they left the two sides of the stage open for the bands.
I almost had a heart attack when the bands came into the studio. It was so surreal seeing them all filing into one room together, like a little mini FBR parade. It was kind of amazing. On TV, you couldn’t see all of them sitting there at the same time, but all 30ish members of FBR were in the studio at the same time, for the entire show, even during commercials and the Cameron/Ashton thing.
I promised myself that I would not get myself kicked out of the studio for acting crazy. We were instructed to not touch or approach “the talent”, MTV jargon for celebrities/band members/whatever. “The talent” could come to us, but we weren’t allowed to hug them, tackle them, or make them sign stuff, etc. We were supposed to "respect their space". If we tried anything inappropriate, we would be kicked out of the studio. I’m sure this is standard procedure for any TRL taping, but it was still funny to listen to because I was thinking “yeah, just give me the chance, and I’d do that, and that. Oh probably that one too”. lol.
Panic at the Disco: or how I ended up with Jon’s knees in my back and Brendon pressed against my side
So at the beginning, everyone on the Honda Civic Tour, Phantom Planet, The Hush Sound, and Panic at the Disco, were all sitting to my right, while Cobra, Academy, Gym Class, and the Cab were sitting to my left. On TV, it’s reversed obviously. Initially I thought I would just be sitting in the audience with the other contest participants and I was actually perfectly content with that. I mean Panic was like 2 feet away from me. Could I really ask for more?
It’s really hard to not stare at someone when it isn’t really appropriate to do so, btw. I’m sure they’re used to it, but I wasn’t trying to be rude to people that I want to like me. Maybe I shouldn’t have cared, but at the time, it mattered. It isn't like at a concert where they are the main attraction and you're supposed to be staring.
Then...
Then I found out I was going to get to sit next to Phantom, because that’s who I was representing in the contest, and I was really excited! They were sitting on the right of me in the corner, closest to the audience. After Panic did their little question and answer thing, the MTV person decided to shift Phantom to the middle of the three bands and Panic over to the far right because they wanted to get Phantom and Hush together for their short q&a thing.
I stood there awkwardly for a minute or two while The Hush Sound contestant person was being arranged. I was trying not to look at the Panic boys, but all four of them were right there! In my head I was going back and forth between “oh god i want to sit right there next Brendon, right there in the middle of it all” and “noooo far away from Brendon, because surely I will make a complete fool of myself. And I’ll be known as that girl”
Well, if you watched the show, you know what happened. I SAT NEXT TO BRENDON FOR ALMOST AN HOUR. Sorry for the caps, but wow. I was seriously freaking the fuck out and at the same time trying to not seem like I was crazy or something. It was really, really hard. I mean, his thigh was touching mine, and you all know how ADD Brendon is. Well, he was doing that bouncing knee thing he does. Against. My. Thigh. Oh and Jon Walker’s knees were touching my back! Usually I like my space. I’m not a huge touchy feely person, but this. I would squish between those boys all day long and not care at all. Not at all.
Right after they sat us all together, Brendon made a comment to Ryan about it being really cramped together. Ryan said that his spot in the corner was kind of uncomfortable. I’m thinking this was less about me, and more about the fact that Brendon was basically in Ryan’s lap, on video, in order to give me a little bit of space. I just wanted to turn and say: I really could care less about you touching me. Actually you can sit a little closer if you want to, on my lap would be fine too, or Ryan’s lap, or I could sit on both of your laps and kind of drape myself across all of you. I would be fine with any of those, really. I didn’t say any of those things though, because I have self control. Most of the time.
I won’t waste your time with pulling out things that were said on the video. You’ve seen it probably and to be honest I wasn’t really paying attention to most of what Cameron and Ashton had to say. The fact that Brendon was touching me and I was surrounded by my favorite bands kind of consumed most of my energy. I do remember that Cameron had on these shoes that looked like they could take someone out. Sadly, I didn’t hear any of the boys surrounding me make any comments about her… I was waiting for it though.
So I decided really quickly that the commercials where even better than the recording times, just because the bands didn’t leave and we didn’t have to be as quiet. They were sitting right there with us the whole time!
Brendon’s so adorably ADD. They gave us gift bags towards the middle and there were balloons in them. Of course Brendon got a hold of one somehow and blew it up while he was sitting next to me. He was playing with it during one of the commercial breaks, hitting me with it a couple of times on accident. But it was fine, because it was Brendon. He also decided that biting the balloon was a good idea too. My roommate, who was sitting on the opposite side of the stage, said she saw him doing it. Later on the train back to New Jersey:
Me: *laughs* did you see him with the balloon?
Roommate: Yeah. Biting the balloon? Is he 5?
Me: No, he’s Brendon. That’s who he is. It was perfectly in character for him and I would expect nothing less from him. *laughs*
Oh and Ryan took part in the biting of said balloon at the same time as Brendon. As in, they were biting the same balloon together… It was stupidly adorable and I may or may not have giggled out loud. I wish I had a picture. I would frame it and love it forever. Boyssss. They really make it so easy don’t they?
Did I mention that I talked to them? OMG you guys. I talked to them! I TALKED TO BRENDON AND RYAN.
I started with the standard: “Hey you guys are awesome. I saw you at Bamboozle yesterday, that’s why I’m really sunburned. You did an amazing job” or something along those lines. They didn’t say much, the basic answer you’re used to: thanks a lot, glad you saw us, blah blah. That kind of thing. It felt kind of like a meet and greet, I guess. That’s the kind of faces they were putting on. Even though I was fairly certain that Brendon was feeling like his performance on Sunday was less than stellar (see my Northern Downpour video), I really wanted to tell them that it was one of the greatest experiences of my life, despite the mistakes.
I was quiet for a while after that. It was still really surreal sitting next to them, listening to them banter with each other and just be in the middle of it. Brendon and Ryan were having not so quiet little conversations the whole time they were recording on the other side of the stage. Commenting on all of the other things going on. When they were interviewing Hush, they talked about Greta being the only girl on tour. Ryan made a comment about her being able to hold her own with the boys, or something to that effect. Whatever it meant, Brendon laughed knowingly.
A few more snippets of conversation:
1. Wait. What does that even mean?
Brendon: *coughing really bad*
Me: are you okay?
Brendon: yeah. I think I’m dying of…. my death.
Me: ...
I was torn between giggling hysterically because Brendon is such a dork and actually being concerned, both for his mental and physical health. I’m not sure where he was going with that comment, but I’m fairly certain that’s not what he meant to say. lol. I did resist the urge to pat his back while he was coughing. I consider that a victory because I really really wanted to. I proceeded to ramble a bit about there being a medic on the set because of the eating contest. He said he might need to use her, but then he was pretty much fine after a minute.
2. One of those nights…
I’m slowly adding to my evidence that Brendon is a complete dork. I don’t think he expected them to play the video for ‘one of those nights’ by the Cab. When his part came on he said something like: ‘Oh hey. That’s me!’ I think he was talking more to Ryan than to me but I said "I know" and laughed.
Then he sang his part softly with the video just for a few seconds, kind of distractedly, like he was just doing it to be doing something. That didn't matter though. Brendon was singing right next to me! Oh my god, that boy's voice does things to my insides. I can't even.
3. In which Brendon adores Ryan
The girls sitting next to Ryan talked a little to them too.
Girl: Ryan, you have a really nice voice.
Ryan: thanks a lot.
Brendon: *looks at Ryan, then looks away smiling* Yeah. That’s why I made him sing.
Awwww. I wanted to make little cooing sounds and melt all over the stage. I added to cannon!!! I don’t care if he was joking or not, It’s official. Brendon made Ryan sing on Pretty. Odd. and I'll stick with it.
It’s so obvious that Brendon completely adores Ryan. I’m not even talking about anything sexual. Just as friends, Brendon really looks up to Ryan and sort of needs approval from him. Even though he could obviously do it all on his own, he still needs that little bit of a confidence boost from Ryan. Someone he cares about to tell him that he’s doing good.
4. Star Wars at Bamboozle
Towards the end, I knew I only had a few more minutes left, and I realized that I really wasn’t going to get the opportunity to talk to them, like ever again. So there’s a bit more conversation and it’s my favorite.
The question I asked requires a little background. For those of you who were not in the first few rows at the Bamboozle festival on Sunday, Zack set out a little piece of cardboard on the side of the stage. It had about 20 Star Wars figurines glued to it in various poses. My sister asked Zack what it was for. He told her that it was, quote: “Ryan’s good luck charm” I was intrigued, so I thought I would ask about it.
Me: I saw your Star Wars figures on the side of the stage last night. What was that about?
Brendon: *smiles at Ryan* you wanna answer that?
Ryan: You saw those? You weren’t supposed to see that. *smiles at me*
Me: Yeah! I was up to the barrier last night. I saw Zack putting them out on the side of the stage at the beginning.
Ryan: *laughs* We bought those at Wal-Mart at 3AM a couple of days ago.
Me: they looked pretty cool.
Ryan: Thanks.
I think I really caught him off guard with the question. He has such a nice smile when it’s genuine. God. He maybe didn’t explain as well as I would have liked, but I’m proud of the fact that I asked him a question that no one’s ever asked before. They’re so used to this kind of thing, they must have a collection of answers built up for the questions that they get all the time. He didn’t have a pre-made answer to my question. It was awesome.
I didn’t get to really talk to Spencer or Jon because they were behind me, but Jon smells really good, just so you know. He was sitting right behind me, so he had to lean over my shoulder to say something to Sam from Phantom who was sitting next to me. I don’t have any clue what cologne he uses, but wow. I thought I would let you all know that he smells really good, just in case you were ever wondering about that sort of thing.
Phantom Planet: or why I’m so glad that I represented this band
Those boys were so nice to me! I could not have asked for a better band to represent. I was sitting between Brendon and Sam. I think I mentioned this like 50 times, but whatever. So while Brendon and Ryan were doing their own thing in the corner for most of the time, I actually had a good time taking to Sam. He seemed to genuinely want to talk to me, and he was a lot nicer than he really had to be. When they were introducing me on video, Phantom actually didn’t get a chance to talk to me at all before hand, like the Panic girl did; there wasn’t time. They actually apologized for this during the commercial. It was sweet.
When we did get a chance to talk, I told them that I saw them perform for the first time three years ago at my college in Virginia. Sam seemed to remember what I was talking about, even though I didn’t expect him to at all. Either that or he was really good at faking it, but it really made me feel special either way. Sam told me that I was on the fun side of the room, and I agreed with him of course. It was obvious that everyone knew each other really well and genuinely cared for each other as friends. It was really cool to be in the middle of that.
While they were passing out the gift bags, there was a lot of commotion on my side of the studio so I got skipped somehow. Sam called over the MTV girl and made sure I got a bag! It was amazing.
Here’s a picture of what was in the bags if you were interested in that. The ‘Reinvent Love’ sticker is made of awesome. I ♥ it.
Sam told me that his wife was in town and they were going out to have sushi later! I think he was going to ask me if I knew a good place to eat, but then remembered that I was from out of town. I guess I find this seemingly random comment important because he was so genuine and personable when he was talking to me. He asked me if I’d seen them on the Honda Civic Tour yet. I told him that I had seen them last Wednesday in DC and that I really enjoyed their set. We also talked about how the tour was going and how long they were going to be in NY.
Sam was relatively easier to talk to than the two on the other side of me. Brendon and Ryan pretty much kept to themselves, unless asked questions outright by me or by the two girls sitting to their left. That’s okay though. I’ll pay that price if I can get Brendon-n-Ryan shenanigans, even if I am unaware of it happening right next to me. The picture of Brendon putting his head on Ryan’s knee? Totally missed all of that…
The Cab: or how Alex Marshall is such a boy (that happens to carry lip gloss)
My roommate and a friend went with me to the show and ended up sitting on the exact opposite side of the room. Neither of them are huge fans; they were mainly going so I didn’t have to go alone. I was kind of sad that we didn’t get to sit together, but the fact that we were separated actually worked to my benefit. While I was freaking out over having Brendon in my lap, they were having a couple of nice conversations with Alex Marshall from the Cab, who was a complete sweet heart, btw. Neither one of them knew who he was. I had to point to a girl’s Cab shirt to show them which band he was in. lol.
According to my roommate, who was sitting next to him, Alex was apparently more excited about seeing Snoop Dogg than about being on TRL. My roommate said he was planning out what he was going to say to Snoop when they met up later after the show. I think it’s amazing when celebrities get excited about seeing other celebrities. It was too cute when I heard about it later.
My other friend borrowed Alex’s chap stick! It seems like such a stupid little thing, but I laughed for about 10 minutes when I heard this. They told Alex about how MTV took all of our stuff and put it into coat check before we got to the studio. You couldn’t have anything in your pockets either. My friend said something about her lips being chapped, so Alex offered. I told her she’s part of the FBR family now. Once you share lip gloss, you’re so so in.
So they also talked to Alex about MTV’s rule about touching “the talent”.
Roommate: they told us we’re not allowed to stare out the windows. And we’re not allowed to touch the talent.
Alex: *confused*
Roommate: The talent. That’s you.
Alex: Oh! *laughs*
Apparently my roommate was getting felt up too. Lol. There was a conversation about it being cold and Alex touched her arm to see if she was cold.
(Later) Roommate: The talent touched me first! That so doesn’t count as breaking the rules.
Other bands: or how Gabe stole the show and I wasn’t at all surprised
Gabe was the only one on the other side that looked remotely excited to be there. I love him. He was wearing this ridiculous green shirt, but his shoes were kind of amazing. Lime green high-tops. He was dancing to the music videos as they played during the breaks, and he was so funny outside.
When they handed out the gift bags, he took out the AP magazine with Cobra on the cover and kissed himself! If anyone else did that it would have been obnoxious, but when Gabe does it, somehow it’s adorable.
Charisma just radiates from him all the time. Where Brendon has this presence as soon as he gets on stage, Gabe has it all the time. He just has this aura about him, where you’re like "who’s that?" when he’s in the room. It was amazing to see up close. I didn’t get a creepy vibe from him at all.
Victoria looked bored out of her mind. As did Beckett. Travis looked a little standoffish to me and half of Gym Class was missing. It was just him and Disashi. Butcher was wearing a pink shirt! I was actually shocked at first because he had actual clothes on. Every time I see him he’s in his little shorts behind his drum kit. It was weird.
It was hard to hear what was going on when the camera was on the other side of the stage. I actually preferred to hear the Ryan and Brendon commentary on what was going on over there anyway. I swear those boys make their own party wherever they go.
Cab boys: Yeah but Panic can still school us at hacky-sack. (or something like that)
Ryan: Maybe he shouldn’t mention that.
Brendon: *laughs* yeah…
Um any interpretations on that one? I have mine… lol.
Part IV: Eating Contest and post-Eating Contest: or how I ended up winning a $20 bet for Phantom Planet
So yeah. It was on TV. You all saw it on youtube. I was so overwhelmed with everything leading up to it that by the time it started, I didn’t really care what happened. I guess I can thank my father’s genes for something. Thanks dad, for my ability to eat a lot in a short amount of time. Lol. About 20 seconds into the eating contest, I thought I was going to throw up all over everyone, but I didn’t. Oh yeah, I won! I have a trophy too! It looks like someone made it in 5 minutes, seriously. It’s a stack of real ramen noodles, spray painted gold. That’s fine though, because I got all of the Phantom boys to sign the bottom. I don’t think this was on TV, but at the end I got a genuine group hug from Phantom! They were all so super nice to me.
A minute later, Alex, from phantom, ( I just realized that there were 5 Alex’s on stage, lol) showed me a $20 bill and said that he won it from Panic. They placed bets on us! How cute is that! I think Sam bet Brendon I was going to win. I would be more broken up about Brendon betting against me, except for the fact that I WON. And it wasn’t anything personal. lol. Just a little inter-band rivalry. I can deal with that.
All of the bands shuffled out pretty quickly after the contest and show was over. I didn’t really even see half of them leave. I was vaguely aware of Ryan at my left after the close of the show, but I was too busy worrying about getting Ramen noodles all over Sam and Alex’s Phantom Planet sweat shirts to be fully aware. As the bands were shuffling out, a few of the girls in the contest got some of the boys to sign their aprons, of course I was too overwhelmed to think of that, so yeah. I didn’t. I got a hug each from all of the Phantom boys and Ian and Marshall (The Cab) both gave me a hug as they were leaving and told me I did a good job! I got so many FBR hugs! It was amazing!
I don’t know how anything is really going to top this day. How many people can say that they were surrounding by Panic boys for almost an hour and actually talked to them! You don’t even get that close with meet and greet! I was relatively happy with how I was able to keep my composure. I didn’t cry, or have a major freak out, or attack anyone, so I considered it a really good day.
***
This took a long time to put together so tell me what you think! I want to know if something isn’t clear, or what you liked or thought was funny. If anyone has any questions please ask! I want to talk to everyone about this amazing experience. So feel free!
Sorry this took so long to get together, I started mentioning it in other comments on lj a couple of days ago and it seemed like more people were waiting to hear about it than I ever expected. I felt a little bit of pressure to make this worth reading, so I took my time with it, I hope it lives up to everyone's expectations.
Thank you to everyone that told me congratulations! All of the wonderful comments you guys left on my Bamboozle review made me so incredibly happy!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
EDIT: I have sooo much love for everyone that is commenting on this! I've almost started crying about 5 times so far. THANK YOU! Just so you know, I am trying to reply to everyone, but there's a lot to get through.
KEEP THEM COMING, THEY MAKE ME SO INSANELY HAPPY! :DDDDD
Monday May 5, 2008
This is almost 5,000 words of complete fangirl flailing. You have been warned! There’s so much that you miss when you’re not in the audience, so this is really designed to fill in some of the holes.
I would love for everyone to read the whole thing, but I organized it into sections anyway in case you don’t want to. The second part titled “in the studio” is everything that happened in the studio from my perspective. I broke it down by band, so all of my interactions and observations concerning Panic are under the Panic section, etc.
***
Part I: Introduction: or my luck has to change at some point, right?
Part II: Background, line waiting and pre-studio: or how I decided that making a fool out of myself in front of my favorite bands was a good idea
Part III: In The Studio
* Panic at the Disco: or how I ended up with Jon’s knees in my back and Brendon pressed against my side
* Phantom Planet: or why I’m so glad that I represented this band
* The Cab: or how Alex Marshall is such a boy (that happens to carry lip gloss)
* Other bands: or how Gabe stole the show and I wasn’t at all surprised
Part IV: Eating Contest and post-Eating Contest: or how I ended up winning a $20 bet for Phantom Planet
Introduction: or my luck has to change at some point, right?
So you have some context for this epic flaily review, just know that I was THAT girl. Yes, the girl that represented Phantom Planet and won the TRL Ramen eating contest! It’s definitely something to put on my resume when I graduate college in 3 days! LOL. So okay, I made a fool of myself on MTV but it was really worth it because I was sitting next to Brendon Urie of Panic at the fucking Disco for more than half of the show! I can’t even wrap my head around it, even now.
I haven’t watched the whole thing, but from what I’ve seen, it’s a bit misleading on film. The girl representing Panic was only sitting next to Brendon for the first couple of minutes while they did their little q&a. Yeah, the one where Jon said “sweaty ball sac” on MTV. Right after that, Panic shifted over to the end, and Phantom Planet, the band I represented, was moved to the middle. Jenn-Panic’s girl was moved to the back with Spencer. I was sitting between Brendon and Sam from Phantom for the rest of TRL, up until the eating contest!
Here’s a visual:
That’s me next to Brendon smiling like a idiot and being completely oblivious to the Ryden! lol. Oh wow. Looking at this picture makes me so happy. Brendon and Ryan were so squished together. It's almost obscene.
***
Part II: Background, line waiting and pre-studio: or how I decided that making a fool out of myself in front of my favorite bands was a good idea
Let’s start at the beginning. I’m from Virginia and I was originally just coming to the NYC area to go to Bamboozle. My Review is here , btw. It was a huge two day concert in New Jersey last weekend. Most of the FBR bands played on Sunday and Panic closed the entire festival.
About a week ago, I found out that all of the bands were going to be on TRL. I figured I wouldn’t get studio tickets because it was such short notice, but I sent an email to TRL anyway requesting them. Well, they sent me an email back the next day saying I had studio tickets! I reworked my travel schedule and was able to make it to the studio.
Once I was in line, the MTV people were walking around and checking people off while we were waiting and one girl was asking for contest participants. She was looking for anyone that wanted to represent each of the bands in a ‘Ramen noodle eating contest’. At first I was like ‘no fucking way’. Putting myself out there like that is just not me at all. My roommate, who went with me, said I should do it. She sits through my ranting about each of the FBR bands, particularly Panic, so she knows how much they mean to me. She finally convinced me that if for nothing else, I would probably be closer to the bands if I signed up for the contest. I decided that making a fool of myself was probably worth getting closer to them.
The girl taking names asked me who I wanted to represent; Panic was already taken. I told her that it didn’t really matter who I represented because I honestly liked all of the bands. She advised me to not take Cobra because there was going to be another contest outside to get the spot. She didn’t explain, but I didn’t really ask because I was already kind of unsure about this whole thing in the first place. Out of the bands that were left, I chose Phantom Planet. I don’t know a ton about them as people, but their new CD is great and I’ve been a fan of their music for a while. I’m no where near as big a fangirl for Phantom as I am for Panic, but I still really enjoy them. Actually, I’m kind of glad that I didn’t rep for Panic because of the added pressure from all of you people to represent them well, haha.
Part III: In the studio
Since I volunteered to be in the contest, I got to go into the studio before all of the other guests. The 5 girls representing the other bands were with me. Besides me, there was one for Panic, The Academy Is…, Gym Class Heroes, The Cab, and The Hush Sound. The Cobra rep wasn’t with us because they chose her from outside during the show. They let the six of us into the studio early so we got to watch the run-through with the British Australian girl host, whose name I don’t know, and Snoop Dogg who was co-hosting the show.
Snoop Dogg was actually really nice to us. He told us that we should request the ramen seasoning too with the noodles. He also told us that someone should find us some crackers. lol. He was very calm and inviting, not standoffish at all, which kind of surprised me.
After the run-through, the other audience members were allowed into the studio. All of the contest participants were sitting together. The regular audience members were all towards the center, and they left the two sides of the stage open for the bands.
I almost had a heart attack when the bands came into the studio. It was so surreal seeing them all filing into one room together, like a little mini FBR parade. It was kind of amazing. On TV, you couldn’t see all of them sitting there at the same time, but all 30ish members of FBR were in the studio at the same time, for the entire show, even during commercials and the Cameron/Ashton thing.
I promised myself that I would not get myself kicked out of the studio for acting crazy. We were instructed to not touch or approach “the talent”, MTV jargon for celebrities/band members/whatever. “The talent” could come to us, but we weren’t allowed to hug them, tackle them, or make them sign stuff, etc. We were supposed to "respect their space". If we tried anything inappropriate, we would be kicked out of the studio. I’m sure this is standard procedure for any TRL taping, but it was still funny to listen to because I was thinking “yeah, just give me the chance, and I’d do that, and that. Oh probably that one too”. lol.
Panic at the Disco: or how I ended up with Jon’s knees in my back and Brendon pressed against my side
So at the beginning, everyone on the Honda Civic Tour, Phantom Planet, The Hush Sound, and Panic at the Disco, were all sitting to my right, while Cobra, Academy, Gym Class, and the Cab were sitting to my left. On TV, it’s reversed obviously. Initially I thought I would just be sitting in the audience with the other contest participants and I was actually perfectly content with that. I mean Panic was like 2 feet away from me. Could I really ask for more?
It’s really hard to not stare at someone when it isn’t really appropriate to do so, btw. I’m sure they’re used to it, but I wasn’t trying to be rude to people that I want to like me. Maybe I shouldn’t have cared, but at the time, it mattered. It isn't like at a concert where they are the main attraction and you're supposed to be staring.
Then...
Then I found out I was going to get to sit next to Phantom, because that’s who I was representing in the contest, and I was really excited! They were sitting on the right of me in the corner, closest to the audience. After Panic did their little question and answer thing, the MTV person decided to shift Phantom to the middle of the three bands and Panic over to the far right because they wanted to get Phantom and Hush together for their short q&a thing.
I stood there awkwardly for a minute or two while The Hush Sound contestant person was being arranged. I was trying not to look at the Panic boys, but all four of them were right there! In my head I was going back and forth between “oh god i want to sit right there next Brendon, right there in the middle of it all” and “noooo far away from Brendon, because surely I will make a complete fool of myself. And I’ll be known as that girl”
Well, if you watched the show, you know what happened. I SAT NEXT TO BRENDON FOR ALMOST AN HOUR. Sorry for the caps, but wow. I was seriously freaking the fuck out and at the same time trying to not seem like I was crazy or something. It was really, really hard. I mean, his thigh was touching mine, and you all know how ADD Brendon is. Well, he was doing that bouncing knee thing he does. Against. My. Thigh. Oh and Jon Walker’s knees were touching my back! Usually I like my space. I’m not a huge touchy feely person, but this. I would squish between those boys all day long and not care at all. Not at all.
Right after they sat us all together, Brendon made a comment to Ryan about it being really cramped together. Ryan said that his spot in the corner was kind of uncomfortable. I’m thinking this was less about me, and more about the fact that Brendon was basically in Ryan’s lap, on video, in order to give me a little bit of space. I just wanted to turn and say: I really could care less about you touching me. Actually you can sit a little closer if you want to, on my lap would be fine too, or Ryan’s lap, or I could sit on both of your laps and kind of drape myself across all of you. I would be fine with any of those, really. I didn’t say any of those things though, because I have self control. Most of the time.
I won’t waste your time with pulling out things that were said on the video. You’ve seen it probably and to be honest I wasn’t really paying attention to most of what Cameron and Ashton had to say. The fact that Brendon was touching me and I was surrounded by my favorite bands kind of consumed most of my energy. I do remember that Cameron had on these shoes that looked like they could take someone out. Sadly, I didn’t hear any of the boys surrounding me make any comments about her… I was waiting for it though.
So I decided really quickly that the commercials where even better than the recording times, just because the bands didn’t leave and we didn’t have to be as quiet. They were sitting right there with us the whole time!
Brendon’s so adorably ADD. They gave us gift bags towards the middle and there were balloons in them. Of course Brendon got a hold of one somehow and blew it up while he was sitting next to me. He was playing with it during one of the commercial breaks, hitting me with it a couple of times on accident. But it was fine, because it was Brendon. He also decided that biting the balloon was a good idea too. My roommate, who was sitting on the opposite side of the stage, said she saw him doing it. Later on the train back to New Jersey:
Me: *laughs* did you see him with the balloon?
Roommate: Yeah. Biting the balloon? Is he 5?
Me: No, he’s Brendon. That’s who he is. It was perfectly in character for him and I would expect nothing less from him. *laughs*
Oh and Ryan took part in the biting of said balloon at the same time as Brendon. As in, they were biting the same balloon together… It was stupidly adorable and I may or may not have giggled out loud. I wish I had a picture. I would frame it and love it forever. Boyssss. They really make it so easy don’t they?
Did I mention that I talked to them? OMG you guys. I talked to them! I TALKED TO BRENDON AND RYAN.
I started with the standard: “Hey you guys are awesome. I saw you at Bamboozle yesterday, that’s why I’m really sunburned. You did an amazing job” or something along those lines. They didn’t say much, the basic answer you’re used to: thanks a lot, glad you saw us, blah blah. That kind of thing. It felt kind of like a meet and greet, I guess. That’s the kind of faces they were putting on. Even though I was fairly certain that Brendon was feeling like his performance on Sunday was less than stellar (see my Northern Downpour video), I really wanted to tell them that it was one of the greatest experiences of my life, despite the mistakes.
I was quiet for a while after that. It was still really surreal sitting next to them, listening to them banter with each other and just be in the middle of it. Brendon and Ryan were having not so quiet little conversations the whole time they were recording on the other side of the stage. Commenting on all of the other things going on. When they were interviewing Hush, they talked about Greta being the only girl on tour. Ryan made a comment about her being able to hold her own with the boys, or something to that effect. Whatever it meant, Brendon laughed knowingly.
A few more snippets of conversation:
1. Wait. What does that even mean?
Brendon: *coughing really bad*
Me: are you okay?
Brendon: yeah. I think I’m dying of…. my death.
Me: ...
I was torn between giggling hysterically because Brendon is such a dork and actually being concerned, both for his mental and physical health. I’m not sure where he was going with that comment, but I’m fairly certain that’s not what he meant to say. lol. I did resist the urge to pat his back while he was coughing. I consider that a victory because I really really wanted to. I proceeded to ramble a bit about there being a medic on the set because of the eating contest. He said he might need to use her, but then he was pretty much fine after a minute.
2. One of those nights…
I’m slowly adding to my evidence that Brendon is a complete dork. I don’t think he expected them to play the video for ‘one of those nights’ by the Cab. When his part came on he said something like: ‘Oh hey. That’s me!’ I think he was talking more to Ryan than to me but I said "I know" and laughed.
Then he sang his part softly with the video just for a few seconds, kind of distractedly, like he was just doing it to be doing something. That didn't matter though. Brendon was singing right next to me! Oh my god, that boy's voice does things to my insides. I can't even.
3. In which Brendon adores Ryan
The girls sitting next to Ryan talked a little to them too.
Girl: Ryan, you have a really nice voice.
Ryan: thanks a lot.
Brendon: *looks at Ryan, then looks away smiling* Yeah. That’s why I made him sing.
Awwww. I wanted to make little cooing sounds and melt all over the stage. I added to cannon!!! I don’t care if he was joking or not, It’s official. Brendon made Ryan sing on Pretty. Odd. and I'll stick with it.
It’s so obvious that Brendon completely adores Ryan. I’m not even talking about anything sexual. Just as friends, Brendon really looks up to Ryan and sort of needs approval from him. Even though he could obviously do it all on his own, he still needs that little bit of a confidence boost from Ryan. Someone he cares about to tell him that he’s doing good.
4. Star Wars at Bamboozle
Towards the end, I knew I only had a few more minutes left, and I realized that I really wasn’t going to get the opportunity to talk to them, like ever again. So there’s a bit more conversation and it’s my favorite.
The question I asked requires a little background. For those of you who were not in the first few rows at the Bamboozle festival on Sunday, Zack set out a little piece of cardboard on the side of the stage. It had about 20 Star Wars figurines glued to it in various poses. My sister asked Zack what it was for. He told her that it was, quote: “Ryan’s good luck charm” I was intrigued, so I thought I would ask about it.
Me: I saw your Star Wars figures on the side of the stage last night. What was that about?
Brendon: *smiles at Ryan* you wanna answer that?
Ryan: You saw those? You weren’t supposed to see that. *smiles at me*
Me: Yeah! I was up to the barrier last night. I saw Zack putting them out on the side of the stage at the beginning.
Ryan: *laughs* We bought those at Wal-Mart at 3AM a couple of days ago.
Me: they looked pretty cool.
Ryan: Thanks.
I think I really caught him off guard with the question. He has such a nice smile when it’s genuine. God. He maybe didn’t explain as well as I would have liked, but I’m proud of the fact that I asked him a question that no one’s ever asked before. They’re so used to this kind of thing, they must have a collection of answers built up for the questions that they get all the time. He didn’t have a pre-made answer to my question. It was awesome.
I didn’t get to really talk to Spencer or Jon because they were behind me, but Jon smells really good, just so you know. He was sitting right behind me, so he had to lean over my shoulder to say something to Sam from Phantom who was sitting next to me. I don’t have any clue what cologne he uses, but wow. I thought I would let you all know that he smells really good, just in case you were ever wondering about that sort of thing.
Phantom Planet: or why I’m so glad that I represented this band
Those boys were so nice to me! I could not have asked for a better band to represent. I was sitting between Brendon and Sam. I think I mentioned this like 50 times, but whatever. So while Brendon and Ryan were doing their own thing in the corner for most of the time, I actually had a good time taking to Sam. He seemed to genuinely want to talk to me, and he was a lot nicer than he really had to be. When they were introducing me on video, Phantom actually didn’t get a chance to talk to me at all before hand, like the Panic girl did; there wasn’t time. They actually apologized for this during the commercial. It was sweet.
When we did get a chance to talk, I told them that I saw them perform for the first time three years ago at my college in Virginia. Sam seemed to remember what I was talking about, even though I didn’t expect him to at all. Either that or he was really good at faking it, but it really made me feel special either way. Sam told me that I was on the fun side of the room, and I agreed with him of course. It was obvious that everyone knew each other really well and genuinely cared for each other as friends. It was really cool to be in the middle of that.
While they were passing out the gift bags, there was a lot of commotion on my side of the studio so I got skipped somehow. Sam called over the MTV girl and made sure I got a bag! It was amazing.
Here’s a picture of what was in the bags if you were interested in that. The ‘Reinvent Love’ sticker is made of awesome. I ♥ it.
Sam told me that his wife was in town and they were going out to have sushi later! I think he was going to ask me if I knew a good place to eat, but then remembered that I was from out of town. I guess I find this seemingly random comment important because he was so genuine and personable when he was talking to me. He asked me if I’d seen them on the Honda Civic Tour yet. I told him that I had seen them last Wednesday in DC and that I really enjoyed their set. We also talked about how the tour was going and how long they were going to be in NY.
Sam was relatively easier to talk to than the two on the other side of me. Brendon and Ryan pretty much kept to themselves, unless asked questions outright by me or by the two girls sitting to their left. That’s okay though. I’ll pay that price if I can get Brendon-n-Ryan shenanigans, even if I am unaware of it happening right next to me. The picture of Brendon putting his head on Ryan’s knee? Totally missed all of that…
The Cab: or how Alex Marshall is such a boy (that happens to carry lip gloss)
My roommate and a friend went with me to the show and ended up sitting on the exact opposite side of the room. Neither of them are huge fans; they were mainly going so I didn’t have to go alone. I was kind of sad that we didn’t get to sit together, but the fact that we were separated actually worked to my benefit. While I was freaking out over having Brendon in my lap, they were having a couple of nice conversations with Alex Marshall from the Cab, who was a complete sweet heart, btw. Neither one of them knew who he was. I had to point to a girl’s Cab shirt to show them which band he was in. lol.
According to my roommate, who was sitting next to him, Alex was apparently more excited about seeing Snoop Dogg than about being on TRL. My roommate said he was planning out what he was going to say to Snoop when they met up later after the show. I think it’s amazing when celebrities get excited about seeing other celebrities. It was too cute when I heard about it later.
My other friend borrowed Alex’s chap stick! It seems like such a stupid little thing, but I laughed for about 10 minutes when I heard this. They told Alex about how MTV took all of our stuff and put it into coat check before we got to the studio. You couldn’t have anything in your pockets either. My friend said something about her lips being chapped, so Alex offered. I told her she’s part of the FBR family now. Once you share lip gloss, you’re so so in.
So they also talked to Alex about MTV’s rule about touching “the talent”.
Roommate: they told us we’re not allowed to stare out the windows. And we’re not allowed to touch the talent.
Alex: *confused*
Roommate: The talent. That’s you.
Alex: Oh! *laughs*
Apparently my roommate was getting felt up too. Lol. There was a conversation about it being cold and Alex touched her arm to see if she was cold.
(Later) Roommate: The talent touched me first! That so doesn’t count as breaking the rules.
Other bands: or how Gabe stole the show and I wasn’t at all surprised
Gabe was the only one on the other side that looked remotely excited to be there. I love him. He was wearing this ridiculous green shirt, but his shoes were kind of amazing. Lime green high-tops. He was dancing to the music videos as they played during the breaks, and he was so funny outside.
When they handed out the gift bags, he took out the AP magazine with Cobra on the cover and kissed himself! If anyone else did that it would have been obnoxious, but when Gabe does it, somehow it’s adorable.
Charisma just radiates from him all the time. Where Brendon has this presence as soon as he gets on stage, Gabe has it all the time. He just has this aura about him, where you’re like "who’s that?" when he’s in the room. It was amazing to see up close. I didn’t get a creepy vibe from him at all.
Victoria looked bored out of her mind. As did Beckett. Travis looked a little standoffish to me and half of Gym Class was missing. It was just him and Disashi. Butcher was wearing a pink shirt! I was actually shocked at first because he had actual clothes on. Every time I see him he’s in his little shorts behind his drum kit. It was weird.
It was hard to hear what was going on when the camera was on the other side of the stage. I actually preferred to hear the Ryan and Brendon commentary on what was going on over there anyway. I swear those boys make their own party wherever they go.
Cab boys: Yeah but Panic can still school us at hacky-sack. (or something like that)
Ryan: Maybe he shouldn’t mention that.
Brendon: *laughs* yeah…
Um any interpretations on that one? I have mine… lol.
Part IV: Eating Contest and post-Eating Contest: or how I ended up winning a $20 bet for Phantom Planet
So yeah. It was on TV. You all saw it on youtube. I was so overwhelmed with everything leading up to it that by the time it started, I didn’t really care what happened. I guess I can thank my father’s genes for something. Thanks dad, for my ability to eat a lot in a short amount of time. Lol. About 20 seconds into the eating contest, I thought I was going to throw up all over everyone, but I didn’t. Oh yeah, I won! I have a trophy too! It looks like someone made it in 5 minutes, seriously. It’s a stack of real ramen noodles, spray painted gold. That’s fine though, because I got all of the Phantom boys to sign the bottom. I don’t think this was on TV, but at the end I got a genuine group hug from Phantom! They were all so super nice to me.
A minute later, Alex, from phantom, ( I just realized that there were 5 Alex’s on stage, lol) showed me a $20 bill and said that he won it from Panic. They placed bets on us! How cute is that! I think Sam bet Brendon I was going to win. I would be more broken up about Brendon betting against me, except for the fact that I WON. And it wasn’t anything personal. lol. Just a little inter-band rivalry. I can deal with that.
All of the bands shuffled out pretty quickly after the contest and show was over. I didn’t really even see half of them leave. I was vaguely aware of Ryan at my left after the close of the show, but I was too busy worrying about getting Ramen noodles all over Sam and Alex’s Phantom Planet sweat shirts to be fully aware. As the bands were shuffling out, a few of the girls in the contest got some of the boys to sign their aprons, of course I was too overwhelmed to think of that, so yeah. I didn’t. I got a hug each from all of the Phantom boys and Ian and Marshall (The Cab) both gave me a hug as they were leaving and told me I did a good job! I got so many FBR hugs! It was amazing!
I don’t know how anything is really going to top this day. How many people can say that they were surrounding by Panic boys for almost an hour and actually talked to them! You don’t even get that close with meet and greet! I was relatively happy with how I was able to keep my composure. I didn’t cry, or have a major freak out, or attack anyone, so I considered it a really good day.
***
This took a long time to put together so tell me what you think! I want to know if something isn’t clear, or what you liked or thought was funny. If anyone has any questions please ask! I want to talk to everyone about this amazing experience. So feel free!
Sorry this took so long to get together, I started mentioning it in other comments on lj a couple of days ago and it seemed like more people were waiting to hear about it than I ever expected. I felt a little bit of pressure to make this worth reading, so I took my time with it, I hope it lives up to everyone's expectations.
Thank you to everyone that told me congratulations! All of the wonderful comments you guys left on my Bamboozle review made me so incredibly happy!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
EDIT: I have sooo much love for everyone that is commenting on this! I've almost started crying about 5 times so far. THANK YOU! Just so you know, I am trying to reply to everyone, but there's a lot to get through.
KEEP THEM COMING, THEY MAKE ME SO INSANELY HAPPY! :DDDDD