typical.

blast from the past.

looking back through old movies, i found the old crush taxi tribute to our good friends this world fair. i still think it is blush-worthy and amazing at the same time. check it out, if you please! circa two years ago!

if this is all we have, then this is all i need.

so. the past week has lifted my spirits so very much. it is hard to describe all of it here, as it is too good for words, and words could never do it justice.

thursday the triple threat went out with mike minehart (minneapolis photographer) for a photoshoot around downtown (see pictures in previous post). i love mike's work, and it was awesome that he offered to do the shoot for free. i am really glad i have gotten to know him so well over the past years, he really knows his stuff! that night included: a lot of walking, saying hi to gremlin at the fineline, no air conditioning at the ugly mug, shots of applesause, drinks, people wanting free pictures, running into kelsey who did not have her purse on her, mike saving her and driving her home. good times!

then friday heather's dad has two tickets for the minnesota twins game. we went and were shocked to have such great seats--third row from the field. we felt like we were going to get our heads smashed in by every other ball! it was fun pretending to be normal americans who liked baseball, though, and we attempted to cheer along to all of the traditional songs (really i just made sounds that resembled the chants and made the arm movements).

saturday was the big graduation party. every single person i loved was there (except mo however), and it was the best party i could have had. honestly. we started off the night with family and friends, and the blark crew hung in the corner of my yard as to not "embarrass my family" which was not an issue in my mind. eventually the family started to leave and the friends, the fam and i were left with a lot of fun, a bonfire, a swimming pool, and a whole lot of alcohol. even my mother partook heavily which is unusual for her. dan made applesauce shots. i ran around talking to everyone. kalgren got hung on by all of the girls in attendance. annamarie and keith chummed it up with my friends. many people stripped and entered the pool throughout the night. dan kept the fire stoked. lydia tried to maintain her balance as we shouted "keep her away from the elements! no fire! no water!" this did not help much, however, as she tried to swim several times regardless. luckily she broke no bones, although we were worried several times during the night that we would have to trek to the hospital for her. halfway through the night i sent out murphy and my sister to go grab justin from downtown, as he is carless. i demanded he come, and to my surprise he did! i am really proud that he stepped out of his comfort zone and hung out. everyone thought he was a breath of fresh air to our group, and i could tell by the end of the night that he felt pretty comfortable with everyone. i am glad he got to meet the people who make me, and they got to meet him. good times, except when he tried to blow us up at one point. haha. long story. eventually we all called it a night. some left. some stayed in tents. some on couches, beds, and chairs inside. in the morning we all woke up, drank some coffee, ate some cake and went on our way. i drove a few of the guys home, but i could have kidnapped them forever, because i love them all that much. the night could NOT have been better. no way.

recently i became this world fair's press contact, and will be handling their press and some of their promo tasks. i even have my own e-mail address with them! it is good to finally officially be working for them, and officially be apart of what they are doing. quite exciting. i am currently writing some press releases and promo material for them.

work has been great. we had one gash in the forehead of a kid, but other than that i have been loving to work hard. i think i am doing a pretty good job, and i realize that responsibility suits me.

that's all for now.
<3

i have the best friends in the entire universe.

what a weekend! i will relay all that i can remember happening since last update.

on friday i went to dinner with miss amy to catch up after weeks of not seeing her. she has to be the cutest pregnant chic on the face of this earth! it is so insane to have the first of our friends having a baby, just knowing that the baby is half one friend and half the other. we all cannot wait to be in the waiting room on the day she delivers. that hospital is going to be a circus with us there, but that little girl is going to have the most excited and loving pseudo aunts and uncles welcoming her into the world! it was so good catching up with amy, and although we sometimes go a few weeks without much contact, it is always so refreshing to sit down and chat with her.

saturday was a big night in local minneapolis music, and it felt like everyone who was anyone in the scene knew it too. first us girls went to first ave for this world fair's last show together [tear]. right away we ran into mike minehart [photographer extraordinaire], the twf boys, my parents [aw], gabe, and the roster mccabe guys. the show grew more and more crowded as the night went on, but us girls [and jestin] made sure to stand right at the front. after four+ years of watching the guys grow as a musicians and people it was really strange to see it all end [as we know it] that night. they played ten songs [a nice fill], and we danced and sang madly. my mother even joined us for a few songs up front [her old groupie days coming to the surface]. it was a blast, and amazingly we did not feel the eyes of a thousand glaring biotches on us. so that was pleasant. we then mingled for a bit, grabbed some foods, drank some jag in the bathroom [thanks heather], finagled kalgren for free pressed cds of their new album [because we had bought burned copies previously]. what really surprised me during the night was the liner notes of the pressed cd. kalgren pressed it for himself [without thank yous etc... from the other guys, as he is carrying on the band and its name solo now], and amazingly i was in the thank yous with an indication to what song is about me. not in all my years of knowing musicians have i ever known one to admit who songs were about, let alone publically announce. i was very flattered and grateful, and plus, the song is beautiful. sad, but beautiful.

then most of the avid twf fans ran over to the fineline to see my boys white light riot, who were playing with the alarmists, these modern socks, and mercurial rage. we arrived and gremlin let us in without cover charge [i love that man!] and we immediately were greeted by a wonderful sight, the camel girl. we proceeded to get two buy one get one coupons, a drink ticket, a poster, a photobooth ticket, a sweet bling bling lighter [thanks to lydia for trading me colors], and three dollar cigs. uh. can life get any better!? the patio was all decorated with a fountain, palm trees, tables, and chairs, which made me a very happy camper to be a smoker. all of us girls took some photobooth pictures. we also took some with jestin, and later the blark boys showed up [steven, mo, murphy] and we took some pictures with them as well. a bunch of 50records people were at the show, which always brightens my day. and as white light riot took the stage, i felt that the night could not possibly get any better. of course we were all at the front of the stage dancing once again. it seems that we never can remain sober throughout a wlr show, but maybe the high from such a great show just makes us feel more tipsy than we actually are.

after that chaos we ran over to the chambers hotel's red white and fucking blue bar on the 5th floor for the twf afterparty. the bar is very new york and very trendy. lucking heather and i did not have to buy any of their expensive drinks, because we had jag to support us. ha. we hung out for a bit, had some heart to hearts with some of our guys, and eventually decided that there was not much more to be had in that crowded place. it was not bad, however.

heather and i said goodbye to lyds and jestin and went home to some mcdonalds and some shawn harris love [listening to the matches], which topped our night off splendidly [except for heather getting re-sick after finally eating something, oops].

waking up "early" for blark softball the next day was ridiculous. i woke up at noon and called amy to make sure everything was still on for the day [as half of the group was out late drinking, and i was unsure if we would all wake and make it to dan and amy's house on time, if at all]. amy confirmed it was still on, and the boys were on their way. i scrambled. lydia was on her way. heather was too sick to come out [boo]. we all met at dan and amy's and ended up spending an hour calling everyone we knew to get together two full teams [dan was rewarding people who called other people with shots of jag]. needless to say, we found enough people. the following events prove to me how much i adore my friends and how much i truly miss them when i am not with them. if you are not aware, "blark" is a "city" that my whole group belongs to. it is a name combo of the few surrounding cities that we often cause trouble in. this group had been around in some form for many many years, but we are all a crazy family that ends up having the wildest adventures. any way, we [dan, amy, mo, murphy, me, lydia, my sister katie, her friend kelsey, steven, kelly, ashley, dave, some of ambers friends, derek, and gremlin] trekked over to the fields and proceeded to play softball for three hours. most of us had bets on how long we would actually keep the game going, as we tend to fall into drunken crazy fests often, but we played a solid game the entire time. i scored at least three home runs and hit the balls fairly well. my team lost, but between all of the men on the other team and the taunting that was directed at me while i was hitting [i was voted MPO--"most picked on"] it is no wonder why we got behind. we all took team photos, a group photo, and made a ten person pyramid for a photo. in. sanity. we all then went back to the house and dan [and murphy a bit] grilled all of us some wondrous hotdogs. lydia provided chips. i provided a vat of potato salad. brilliant. being that all of us are chain smoking, alcoholic, never exercisers, we were all dying for the rest of the day. no one could move, and so we ended up lying around watching the goonies, which i had never seen before. mo also showed us the new readygoes' video for "hey oh" from a secret link. holy. crap. it is amaziinnnggg. i cannot wait for it to be released. those boys look so good in the video! i am hella proud! eventually we called it a night, but it was honestly one of the best days i had had in a very long time. the group of us has a hard time getting together under drama-free conditions due to some dynamics between outside people and us. difficult and unnecessary to explain, but all i am concerned about is that we all had a chance to remember what great friendships we have together, and what fun we can all have without going to a downtown bar and getting wasted. my friends are like family. no matter what new people i meet along the way, my blark friends are my favorite. they absolutely lift my spirits. i love them all, even in our ridiculousness.

now i am going to try and get back to sleep, as jen's text about her hanging out with airin [sugarcult] woke me up. how i miss that boy.

pictures from this weekend will come in a separate post! keep checking!

youth is like diamonds in the sun // and diamonds are forever

one of the best weekends i have had in a very very long time.

thursday:

varsity for weaver at the loom and this world fair. was a very good night. went with heather dagger and lydia slayer, which is always a great time. saw mo and cherise. ran into mike minehart and had some good talks about the future of music. then ran into luke outside. met some of zack's friends. bought twf's new full length cd, which i am hopelessly in love with. those boys are talented. rocked out front row to twf (with the help of some wine). and left in very high spirits.


saturday:

fineline for white light riot. it seemed like everyone was there. 50records people (who i have missed terribly since living with them at sxsw), the alarmists, mo, cherise, steven, derek, ck, george, tyler, gabe, natasha, dave, producer jason, mike minehart, etc... the whole show was golden, but of course i was mainly looking forward to rocking out to white light riot. again, with the help of some wine we stood in front and danced and sang our little hearts out. what i love about wlr is their ability to put on a show where everyone feels the need to just groove it out. so many people dancing, and no one judging anyone. at shows like twf i feel like people are staring daggers into us if we dance, but at wlr every single person was expected to be dancing. ha. it was so enjoyable. later, lydia slayer brought me and jen together. she has now left to live in LA, and that night was one of her last nights in town. we had not spoken for months and months, but it was really really good to talk things out a little bit and let go of the weight of grudge. yes. we ended up bawling. go figure, huh? it was slightly amusing as well, because all of our band boys kept walking by shaking their heads, and later george asked heather "so all it took was someone to bring jen over and you guys say hi, and everyone is crying and okay?" yes george, it is. it was a very good thing. and i am very glad it happened. i also wish jen well in LA.

sunday:

fineline for the honorary title. the show i had been looking forward to all week. i had recently found out that mike schey (formally the guitarist for the format) was now playing in that band, which heather and i had already planned on seeing. it was absolutely amazing to be able to hug my schey again after so long, and be able to hang out. they killed the show and afterward we went to luce for a slice and then all hung out at brothers for dollar drinks. not crowded. and not bad. the night went on for hours. it was one of those strange strange nights, that were made perfect in the company with you. i am omitting many details, but it was a needed hang. those guys are all quality, and it was refreshing to meet new people. people who have hearts and wit and something of substance. magic, man. pure magic.

you don't love me; you can't love what i dont show.

so i stayed up all night writing a ten-page paper which was due this morning. luckily, i did get it finished. don't i always. brian and i would call each other periodically to update the status of our progress and coach each other through writing. we have done this since freshman year. we are pretty much rockstars at procrastination. i have been talking to him almost every day, and i am grateful to have such a good guy friend to share anxieties with. no matter the time in between talking, we always reconnect as if we never stopped talking. i am going to write a book full of little motivational phrases for him, like, "it's okay, in the morning you will feel like all of this hell was worth it."

i forgot to mention that on thursday of last week mr. pierre and i had some hang time. i admit i was a bit tipsy and attempted to push him over in his chair, but after twenty minutes of snarkiness on my part we were back on track. we ended up going to uptown to see the movie "in brouge" (i believe that's how it's spelt?). i really recommend it. It is about two hit men who talk about life and their concerns while hiding out in belgium. you end up loving both of the hit men in the end. it had its emotional part, its emotional parts, and very gruesome parts. there is a "splat" scene, which could be the most grotesque part in a film i have ever seen. side note: justin (in quintessential justin form) bought some little cheeses to eat during the movie. popcorn? who does popcorn anymore... obviously not him. it was interesting to see him after so long, and no one got hurt. so overall i suppose it wasn't bad. haha.

easter went well. i adore my family. adore. i have been blessed with an accepting and witty group of extended relatives. i have never once dreaded a family get-together. both sides of my family get along so well and have always offered so much love and support to me. my mother--er--the easter bunny gave me and my sister easter basket, per usual. chocolate never hurt anyone.

for my family birthday dinner, my family and i went to tanner's. delicious. i saw tasha, whom i hadn't seen since she moved to D.C., but apparently she is back in minnesota now. love that girl.

well the rest of the week is going to be exciting. i am absolutely stoked. tonight is the weaver at the loom & this world fair show at the varsity. ck told me a surprise that is happening there tonight, and it is AMAZING. everyone needs to go so that they can benefit from this surprise. it alone makes me excited to go tonight. saturday is the white light riot show at the fineline, and sunday is the honorary title show at the fineline as well. apparently i will be living at the fineline this weekend. so come on over, hang out, and if you cannot find me, i may be sleeping underneath the bar. so many shows. just what i need. and so many great people to hang out with in the meantime. tonight i get to see all of the 50records people that i have missed so much since my return from sxsw. i also get to hang with my girls heath and lyds. and sara k. will be at the show as well (who i will insist that twf use for a promo shoot). saturday will include a lot of the same people, and sunday will include the girls and someone who i have not seen in about six months. i cannot cannot cannot wait to catch up.

i will leave you with this closing thought (as i attempt to not hot-poker my eyes out):

i do not know how to perfectly walk a tightrope, but you don't see me joining the circus. therefore, do not be surprised if i am completely disgusted with you as you flail around above me.

confused? i hope so.

benefit for mr. krumm

last night i ended up working merch for this world fair at the fineline's benefit for mr. krumm, who makes savage amps. he is battling cancer and there were a lot of bands there supporting him; quietdrive, honeydogs, the hopefuls, etc... even my dad takes his equipment into krumm's store to be worked on, and know him well. it was great to see so many people out supporting the local music scene, and those who keep it running.

merch was fine, i like doing it. lydia and the twf boys hung with me all night. even steven and melissa showed up. i was glad to help out, and also glad to see a $20 show for free (even if i had to work). greenroom beer and hangs weren't bad either. nice little perk.

we also added some honorary members to us girls' gang. although they can never be full members because they are boys.

first:

LINDSAY VICIOUS & LYDIA SLAYER

(HEATHER DAGGER was missing because she was on a stealth mission in europe)

and introducing:

ALEX ARSON & GEORGE DANGER

zack hasn't gotten a good name yet, and i would have given ck a good one... but he didn't get me my shot. so i named him 'chris barbie.' you gotta EARN your title, you know? so we will see who can make the cut.

so it was a pretty good night. alot of people complimented my hair (which i was too lazy to wash, and so just back-combed and hair sprayed massively). so that was reassuring. also got told i look like katherine heigl, which i love hearing. and also saw a few people i hadn't seen in awhile.

i will write the sxsw blog asap. i have an outline started. haha. so much to remember...

new starts.

i figured i would start a blog that would serve for a rambling board for my days.

a boring log of hours. ;]

my latest excitement is the upcoming sxsw festival. i am going down to austin in an RV full of 50records interns. should be a riot!





lately i have been trying to establish and re-establish my contact base, so that i can see some new and old friends while i am down there. i already feel overwhelmed just looking at the massive list of bands that plan to play down there.

50records party is on march 14th. i will post details later on. it should be amazing. i am mostly excited to see my atlanta boys elevation. I need some southern gentlemen in my life. midwest men are just not cutting it, do not fool yourself.

otherwise i pass my days with erratic napping and classes. days blend together. homework barely gets done. i know i could be accomplishing more in my life (like finding a job once i graduate in may). but i have never been the type to get things done before necessary.

meh.

all things work out.

this past weekend i roadtripped to st. cloud with heather, lydia, and dave to see this world fair. i missed those boys. sometimes i get nostalgic about years ago when we all would spend summer nights drinking and listening to records in kalgren's basement.

another excitement is going to pachyderm studio on the 23rd of this month. we are going to go hang out with ari herstand and crew for the middle of their recording session celebration, as kalgren produces the album. god i love that studio. it has a truly 70's vibe to it. what a time warp trip. no kidding. bands like nirvana, howie day, live, etc . . . have recorded there. and apparently it is haunted to the max.

i hope i see a ghost while there though. dont you think that seeing a ghost would totally confirm that there is an afterlife? proof of some higher being? higher power? possibly.

that is all for the night.
sleep i go.
<3