Now and Zen - slightly edited...
So here's my review of yesterday -
Lauren and I headed out to San Francisco around 10. Stopped and got a Starbucks and picked up recorder tapes for the mini-recorder I was borrowing from Joy's friend Heather. Got to the city and parked by 11:15 - took us 45 minutes to walk around and through the park to get to the place where Now and Zen was going on. Got there and called Kathleen - they were just getting off the bridge, tried to pick up our tickets, but they wouldn't give them to me. Called Joy - they took Heather's recorder from her, but a security gaurd at the gate was supposed to have it - we needed our Alice passes in order to get it back and get it inside. Waited for about an hour and a half - Kathleen and her family got lost and ended up right in the middle of the Folsom Street Fair which is a gay street festival type thing at the end of Leather Pride Week. So they finally get there, we get our tickets and get in just in time to walk in during Josh Kelley's second song. We head over to the Alice booth to find out the info on what's going on for the day. We have until 2:45 so we have time to watch Josh Kelley. I grab Lauren and drag her up to about 20 - 30 feet back from the stage. We pissed a lot of people off, but it was worth it to see my favorite song from his new album from as close as we could get. After that we went and watched the rest of his set from back farther. We admired the hot ass guys then found out the status on the recorder for the interview. The security gaurd that took it from heather "threw it away." Her story sounded WAY to rehearsed and WAY too fake - so we think she stole it. So the problem was that I didn't know who was who in Maroon 5 - except Adam and I didn't bring anything to write on. So at that point we only have 4 backstage passes - but there were 5 of us. I told Kathleen to ask if as an "I'm sorry" for the recorder to see if Lauren could go back too. She was like "Oh I dunno." But then went and asked and sure enoguh - Lauren got to come too! I totally threw her "You always tell me you just gotta ask!" back at her and she laughed. So we all went back for the meet and greet. We're hanging out and I see this hot ass dude talking to Adam Levine and I'm like "Damn Lauren, that dude is hot, he looks like Jake Gyllenhaal." all of 30 seconds later these girls start FLIPPING OUT because - it's Jake Gyllenhaal. Apparently hes in the city filming a movie and went to school with the Maroon 5 guys. So we hang around and then its Meet and Greet time. Total stand and smile meet and greet. The groups before us didn't even talk to them. When I went up I said hi, shook hands, someone asked me how I was and I said - I gotta take a huge pee. [edited this part with the correct names because I still know them better by shirts than names] So Jesse was like "Well please don't pee on me." and I was like "It's cool, I won't pee on you." then Mickey was like - "I thought you liked that kind of thing?" and Jesse was like - "No, I want to pee on her!" So gross, but pee is always a good conversation piece. So after that they took everyone out and it was time for our "interview" there were two interviewers so the other girl went first - her dad is the lead singer of the Doobie Brothers and she wants to be a singer so she had all these questions to ask. She asked 3 questions. Then it was my turn. I introduced myself and Kathleen as MiGGs manager and their promotions assistant and then asked them - if it was true that after 18 or so months on the road with an album out that they were at the point of wanting to just give up and if it was what made them get past it because thats the point MiGGs is at right now. We only got to talk to James and Mickey - their answer was basically that they had no other options, music was their only job plan. If any of them were on their own they most likely would have given up but having other people in the group they pushed eachother to keep going. Also they had realistic goals when it came to what they expected and didn't think that they would have success over night and knew that it would be baby steps and it might be a long time. They were lucky though and had a bigger artist that kind of took them under their wing and took them on tour and supported them to get them out there.
That was the only question we got to ask before they cut us off. At this point I was about to piss my pants and throw up I had to pee so damn bad. So I spotted 2 portapotties that weren't out in the public view, kind of hidden behind all these cars for the artists to use. You bet your ass thats where I went because I have MAJOR issues with portapotties and I knew they would be the least used out of any of the portapotties there. So I walk over to go and there is James from Maroon 5 waiting in line. So I'm like "Is there a potty line?" so we're standing there and we start chit-chatting and he's like "So you manage the band?" and I'm like "No. I'm their promotions assistant, Kathleen the woman with me is their manager." So we start talking about MiGGs and he's like "I'd love to check them out." and I was yelling at myself because I didn't have a CD or flyer or anything - then it dawned on me, Kathleen had brought a Nano (loaded with MiGGs) and a copy of InsOmnia for them and sent it backstage, so I'm like "OH! Kathleen brought you guys a gift - a nano and a copy of InsOmnia." His face LIT UP he was super excited and he was like "oh my god - i'll check it out when i go back." so we kept talking about MiGGs and I told him how we were excited to see them play because MiGGs is often compared to Maroon 5. It was so cool because more than once he told me he wanted to and would check out MiGGs. So after forever I finally got to pee. Went back and told Kathleen the good news - she was way happy that my bathroom line buddy was a much better chat than our stupid interview. After that we hung out backstage for a little while longer, then we went to the side of the stage and watched the show from there. Josh Kelley came over to watch the show and these fucking annoying ass girls were harassing him and he was like "Girls I just want to enjoy the show, I"ll come back." SO i was like "Hey do you want to jump in the middle here so you're not on the outside and can enjoy?" and he was like "yeah, i'm gonna move over." So he moves over and he's watching the show, next thing I know he's like swing dancing with some girl. So cute. I love him. After a little while, we decided to go find everyone else. Went and spent the rest of the show with Lauren. We were completely exhausted after and starving. So we found Joy and went out to eat with her and her girls. After I took Joy home, we stopped and saw Joey and his girlfriend for a bit. Then we headed home.
Here's a couple pictures from yesterday thanks to my sidekick, carp and Joy:
Lauren and I
Kathleen and I - the joke is that I was topless at the show
Jake Gyllenhaal watching Maroon 5
My bathroom buddy James
The boy who wants to pee on me
Other interview friend
Hottest boy there - Josh Kelley
Lauren and I headed out to San Francisco around 10. Stopped and got a Starbucks and picked up recorder tapes for the mini-recorder I was borrowing from Joy's friend Heather. Got to the city and parked by 11:15 - took us 45 minutes to walk around and through the park to get to the place where Now and Zen was going on. Got there and called Kathleen - they were just getting off the bridge, tried to pick up our tickets, but they wouldn't give them to me. Called Joy - they took Heather's recorder from her, but a security gaurd at the gate was supposed to have it - we needed our Alice passes in order to get it back and get it inside. Waited for about an hour and a half - Kathleen and her family got lost and ended up right in the middle of the Folsom Street Fair which is a gay street festival type thing at the end of Leather Pride Week. So they finally get there, we get our tickets and get in just in time to walk in during Josh Kelley's second song. We head over to the Alice booth to find out the info on what's going on for the day. We have until 2:45 so we have time to watch Josh Kelley. I grab Lauren and drag her up to about 20 - 30 feet back from the stage. We pissed a lot of people off, but it was worth it to see my favorite song from his new album from as close as we could get. After that we went and watched the rest of his set from back farther. We admired the hot ass guys then found out the status on the recorder for the interview. The security gaurd that took it from heather "threw it away." Her story sounded WAY to rehearsed and WAY too fake - so we think she stole it. So the problem was that I didn't know who was who in Maroon 5 - except Adam and I didn't bring anything to write on. So at that point we only have 4 backstage passes - but there were 5 of us. I told Kathleen to ask if as an "I'm sorry" for the recorder to see if Lauren could go back too. She was like "Oh I dunno." But then went and asked and sure enoguh - Lauren got to come too! I totally threw her "You always tell me you just gotta ask!" back at her and she laughed. So we all went back for the meet and greet. We're hanging out and I see this hot ass dude talking to Adam Levine and I'm like "Damn Lauren, that dude is hot, he looks like Jake Gyllenhaal." all of 30 seconds later these girls start FLIPPING OUT because - it's Jake Gyllenhaal. Apparently hes in the city filming a movie and went to school with the Maroon 5 guys. So we hang around and then its Meet and Greet time. Total stand and smile meet and greet. The groups before us didn't even talk to them. When I went up I said hi, shook hands, someone asked me how I was and I said - I gotta take a huge pee. [edited this part with the correct names because I still know them better by shirts than names] So Jesse was like "Well please don't pee on me." and I was like "It's cool, I won't pee on you." then Mickey was like - "I thought you liked that kind of thing?" and Jesse was like - "No, I want to pee on her!" So gross, but pee is always a good conversation piece. So after that they took everyone out and it was time for our "interview" there were two interviewers so the other girl went first - her dad is the lead singer of the Doobie Brothers and she wants to be a singer so she had all these questions to ask. She asked 3 questions. Then it was my turn. I introduced myself and Kathleen as MiGGs manager and their promotions assistant and then asked them - if it was true that after 18 or so months on the road with an album out that they were at the point of wanting to just give up and if it was what made them get past it because thats the point MiGGs is at right now. We only got to talk to James and Mickey - their answer was basically that they had no other options, music was their only job plan. If any of them were on their own they most likely would have given up but having other people in the group they pushed eachother to keep going. Also they had realistic goals when it came to what they expected and didn't think that they would have success over night and knew that it would be baby steps and it might be a long time. They were lucky though and had a bigger artist that kind of took them under their wing and took them on tour and supported them to get them out there.
That was the only question we got to ask before they cut us off. At this point I was about to piss my pants and throw up I had to pee so damn bad. So I spotted 2 portapotties that weren't out in the public view, kind of hidden behind all these cars for the artists to use. You bet your ass thats where I went because I have MAJOR issues with portapotties and I knew they would be the least used out of any of the portapotties there. So I walk over to go and there is James from Maroon 5 waiting in line. So I'm like "Is there a potty line?" so we're standing there and we start chit-chatting and he's like "So you manage the band?" and I'm like "No. I'm their promotions assistant, Kathleen the woman with me is their manager." So we start talking about MiGGs and he's like "I'd love to check them out." and I was yelling at myself because I didn't have a CD or flyer or anything - then it dawned on me, Kathleen had brought a Nano (loaded with MiGGs) and a copy of InsOmnia for them and sent it backstage, so I'm like "OH! Kathleen brought you guys a gift - a nano and a copy of InsOmnia." His face LIT UP he was super excited and he was like "oh my god - i'll check it out when i go back." so we kept talking about MiGGs and I told him how we were excited to see them play because MiGGs is often compared to Maroon 5. It was so cool because more than once he told me he wanted to and would check out MiGGs. So after forever I finally got to pee. Went back and told Kathleen the good news - she was way happy that my bathroom line buddy was a much better chat than our stupid interview. After that we hung out backstage for a little while longer, then we went to the side of the stage and watched the show from there. Josh Kelley came over to watch the show and these fucking annoying ass girls were harassing him and he was like "Girls I just want to enjoy the show, I"ll come back." SO i was like "Hey do you want to jump in the middle here so you're not on the outside and can enjoy?" and he was like "yeah, i'm gonna move over." So he moves over and he's watching the show, next thing I know he's like swing dancing with some girl. So cute. I love him. After a little while, we decided to go find everyone else. Went and spent the rest of the show with Lauren. We were completely exhausted after and starving. So we found Joy and went out to eat with her and her girls. After I took Joy home, we stopped and saw Joey and his girlfriend for a bit. Then we headed home.
Here's a couple pictures from yesterday thanks to my sidekick, carp and Joy:
Lauren and I
Kathleen and I - the joke is that I was topless at the show
Jake Gyllenhaal watching Maroon 5
My bathroom buddy James
The boy who wants to pee on me
Other interview friend
Hottest boy there - Josh Kelley