Photos

I got to cover the Jack's Mannequin/The Audition/Head Automatica/We Are the Fury show at the State on Saturday and got tons of photos. I also got to interview The Audition before the show which was fun and they're really nice guys. But, I'll save the whole spiel for another day since it's late, but in the meantime, here are some of my favorite photos from the night. I have tons more (shot over 400 photos) which I'll share more of, but my computer is being a bit slow right now. I got a lovely, wonderful, fantastic 80 gig external hard drive as a b-day present (this shows how nerdy I am, that I am SO psyched over getting a hard drive for my b-day!) and my computer is busily transferring over 20 gigs of music and my final 4 gigs of photos to the new drive. It is taking hours, but my laptop will be ever so much happier since last night I got the dreaded "disk full" message. I never thought I'd fill my hard drive...this birthday present came along just in time:)

Please, please, please, please.... (fingers crossed)

This never gets any easier.

We are supposed to be inundated in snow tonight. The drive home from the gym (yes, I actually went to the gym again! Woo hoo!) was lousy. The snow was coming down pretty hard.

I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want tomorrow to be a snow day.

Probably more than the kids want one.

Puhllllleeeeeeeese, oh great snow gods...please let tomorrow be a snow day.

Of course, our prinicpal already told the students (though I wonder if it was more directed at the teachers) not to get our hopes up for a day off tomorrow. Grr. I bet I'll have school.

Ugh, I really don't want to do work tonight but I guess I better go on the assumption that we WILL have school tomorrow. This is one of the things I miss about living in DC. EVERYTHING would have stopped with this amount of snow. Not so here in Michigan, the inverted bowl of darkness.

Ugh.
Please? Pretty please?
:)

Listening to: Until June, Self-titled

Tiiiiiired...and I'm really short

Ok, busy, busy weekend. I felt like a total social butterfly. It was a ton of fun though and I have some stories to tell (including running into students at the Magic Stick last night). However, I'm tired and it's after midnight so a couple of pictures and then I'm going to bed. The stories will have to wait.

I've finally realized I'm fucking short. I sort of knew that all along, but now I have photographic evidence to back that up. Me, Harry & The Fall of Troy:






They are definitely nice guys and the interview went well. However, it is clear that the top of my head barely clears anyone's shoulders. I am officially short. aargh. oh well.



Wife sent this one to me from the Gatsby party. I like it quite a lot and think I look pretty decent in it. And I'm not flicking the camera off. I look ok AND it's family safe. Hint. Hint. Hint. :)



Ok, bed time. I have a fair bit I need to do tomorrow and I also need to cram in some slacking off. Busy day. Don't know how I do it:)

Listening to: AFI, Decemberunderground

The Great Gatsby

Well, I am officially now in my last year of being in my 20s. It feels a bit weird to think about, so I'm not going to dwell on it:)

Anyways, the party was a hoot and I don't think I poisoned anyone, so, bonus:) Everyone dressed to the nines and I *hope* everyone had a good time! After an epic shopping trip to Sam's and Meijers on Friday, I spent most of Saturday cooking and cleaning. Luckily I had some excellent helpers and Jon was awesome (and infinitely patient) and spent a good chunk of the day helping me get stuff ready after already having been dragged on said epic shopping trip. The iDJ contest went well, lots of people brought entries and in the end, Wife's crown went to Jon and Husband got second place, which isn't shabby at all:)

Here are a few photos from the night:














I still can't quite belive how much gin we drank...and I have the feeling that I am responsible for drinking a good portion of it (hence the pounding headache the next day). Husband and Wife got me a fabulous red purse and a Rolling Stone book which will be wonderful reference material for my writing. I got a number of other fun things as well, including an iTunes gift certificate from Ben & Jessica with the caveat that I "don't spend it all on emo music," which made me laugh quite a bit. (Does Fall Out Boy count as emo? If so, I better figure out something non-emo to spend the rest of it on;) The night ended a little weird, for reasons I'd rather not go into at the moment but I think some of it was in my head and partly because I'm generally a bit paranoid, partly because I had been drinking vast quantities of gin and partly because the last time I looked at the clock it was 6am... things are good though, so no complaints.

My "real" birthday wasn't terribly exciting (at least compared to the night before) but it was a good day once I was able to get rid of the feeling my head was going to explode. It was pretty great though that I didn't have school on Monday because of an "energy incentive day" (aka-the school is trying to save money on heating) and then ANOTHER day off (unplanned) because it was so damn cold. Of course after getting spoiled by a four day weekend, I really was hoping school would get called off today, but no such luck. Oh well:)

It looks like it should be another fun weekend, if not quite as crazy as last weekend. I'm heading out to dinner with Wife and Mindy for some girl time on Friday (mmm, Prickly Pear...yum) and then Saturday I get to see Dora, one of my college roommates whom I haven't seen in years. She'll be in town for a wedding so we're going to meet up for brunch which should be a lot of fun. I can't wait to hear what all she's been up to! Sunday I'm probably having a birthday lunch with Elana since she couldn't make it to the party. I'm also trying to decide if I want to brave the Magic Stick on Saturday night for the Fall of Troy show. I'm a bit hesitant because I'm 100% sure a few of my students will be there and I don't want to seem like a stalker...maybe I can con Harry into going...

So, all in all, it was a good birthday with few complaints. I really feel like things are kinda coming together in various areas of my life. I've got some awesome friends who came into my life within the last six months as well as some old friends who I can't imagine life without. Ok, lest I get too sentimental, I better go:) Can't have too much sap in one day.

Peace out, starving nachos.
~S
Listening to: Fall Out Boy, "Infinity on High"

PS-I totally forgot, as always, a number of quotes were written down. I'll include some in the next post. There were a few great ones.

Ok, now I'm scared...

I've hit the point where I'm beginning to freak out about the party. This always happens...you know, those little doubts like "can I honestly pull this off without poisoning 19 people??"

Yep, that's right, 17 for sure, two more "maybes." Can I do this? Can I cook for that many people? And this ain't pasta either...it isn't a difficult meal, but it IS more work than pasta.

I hope I can do this.
I hope I don't kill anyone.
I hope I don't make an idiot of myself.
I hope everything tastes good and people have fun...

Aaagh.

Listening to: My uber-mix for the Gatsby Party.

Good News in Photography

So, this is pretty damn cool, but Husband got himself some photo credits! Check out his sweet pics of Thomas here. Fuckin' awesome! Yay, Husband!

I also was just given a pretty sweet opportunity. Victory Records contacted Revolt and wants coverage for their bands. I got to pick a bunch of upcoming shows by Victory artists and I've been guestlisted for them as well as getting a photo pass AND a chance to interview the bands before the shows! So, I will be seeing:

The Audition along with Jack's Mannequin & Head Automatica @ The State Theater on Feb 17
Bayside @ St. Andrews on March 1
Aiden (along with The Used and 30 Seconds to Mars!) @ Cobo on March 31.

I'm psyched about them all, but to be guestlisted for the Taste of Chaos tour is really sweet. Victory also really wants us to do an interview with Aiden so I will even get to go behind the scenes at Taste of Chaos! Woot!

I was going to get to interview Kevin Lyman (founder of Warped Tour) but that fell through...would have been kinda cool though!

Gatsby party in just two and a half days...the countdown is on. I think it is gonna be awesome! It looks like we'll have about 16 or 17 people there! Crazy...I've got serious grocery shopping to do on Friday though. I'm pretty excited about the menu though, so I'll probably have fun with it.

Peace out Starving Nachos :)

Listening to: Unwritten Law, The Hit List

Feeling better

Well, the cold that might have been was merely an annoyance and other than me being a bit sniffly and very tired, I survived without it getting too full-blown. Phew:)

Exams at school went really without a hitch. I had some students that did great, some that did horribly and most in the sort of middle range. However, if I never see another essay on The Count of Monte Cristo, I won't be in the slightest bit upset. Reading 100 of those suckers definitely made me want to tear out my eyes after about the 50th. No school Monday as a sort of end of the semester break, so that's fun!

As for music, I think I mentioned that Husband, Wife, Jon and I went to The Hard Lessons show at The Blind Pig last weekend. Great show and it was fun to go to a show just to enjoy, no story to write and no photos to shoot. Not that I don't love doing all that, but sometimes it's just fun to really relax and enjoy the show in a different way (er, can we say drinking cheap beer??) Husband was learning the trials and tribulations of shooting live shows like that and got some good pictures which maybe he'll eventually post a few of. However, various candid type shots were also taken and after I do a little editing for size, I'll post some.

I also got an invite to the Ann Arbor Folk Festival on this past Friday and though it isn't my usual type of music, it was still a very good show. Rufus Wainwright was the headliner and he was awesome. It never ceases to amaze me when people can just go from one instrument to the next and play them all really well. I mean, the number of times people at the Folk Festival just went from playing the piano (amazingly) to picking up a guitar and playing it equally as well just blew me away. If only I had a tenth of that talent! I did get some pretty good photos though Hill Auditorium is NOT an easy place to shoot. I also got to use Husband's nifty new Nikon D-200 which was fun. I'm test-driving cameras for when I have enough money stockpiled to be able to justify buying my own:)

So, the big thing to look forward to at the moment is the Gatsby Party next weekend. I'm getting quite excited about it and I'm really psyched that people are taking the whole 15 minutes to DJ thing extremely seriously. While I won't compete (doesn't seem quite right), I'm still going to put together a 15 minute set for fun. Haven't a clue what will go on it, but I've gotten some theme ideas, so that is a good start. I'd started my mega-mix for earlier in the night after a bit of a brainstorm on the way to visit Husband and Wife the other day, came home, stayed up till 1am working on it (dumb on a school night, but what can I say) only to listen to it the next day and decide most of it was crap. I've scrapped a bunch of it, added some new stuff, but I'm still not sure if I'm satisfied with it. Guess I've got a week or so to come up with something better.

I've also gotten some more concrete ideas for what to serve in the ways of food. I wanted to go kinda authentic and glam without breaking the bank and I think I've finally come up with a bit of a plan. Hopefully I won't poison anyone:) I'm also torn on the whole question of what to wear...unfortunately some of the really cool things I've found are authentic vintage dresses and cost in the $500-$1000 range. Hardly something justifiable! I've got a backup plan but I'm not thrilled with it. We'll see... I'm excited about the whole thing though, I hope it turns out as well as how I envision it in my head. I'm honestly also a bit excited about it being my b-day party too, I haven't had a true birthday party in years, so I think it should be fun. Anyways, what is a better way to head into the last year of my 20s than with a Roaring 20s themed party??

Peace out Starving Nachos:)
Listening to: Depeche Mode The Best Of, Volume 1

Sick!

Grrr. Shortish (or at least easy week) with the kids taking finals. I get to go in a bit later, leave earlier and no kids on Friday. So what happens? I wake up this morning and I realize I'm getting sick. I hate being sick. I'm such a baby about it... However, I'll take my usual approach of massive doeses of Vit. C, asprin/tylenol and lots o' sleep to try and head this off at the pass.

I can't get sick. Too much fun stuff coming up...I'm hitting the A2 Folk Festival on Friday night. Harry scored/scammed us amazing tickets, I don't ask how he does these things (they're fifth row!) and it is probably better that way.

Gatsby party coming up! I'm pretty excited, though, as always, I need to do some serious planning for it since it isn't far away now. I'll probably spend more time obsessing over my playlist than anything else :) I love the fact that Husband has ALREADY started working on his list. That rocks.

I talked Jon, Husband and Wife to seeing The Hard Lessons with me last Saturday. Other than running into way too many people we know from school, it was a really fun night. The Hard Lessons rocked and the company was excellent. It was also kinda fun just going to a show & getting to let loose because I wasn't reviewing it. Not that I don't have fun when I go to shows to cover them, but there is also something about going and just getting overwelmed with the music and atmosphere-total abandon.

I went to my first Conor O'Neils trivia night last night. It was a hoot. I managed to help my team out on occasion, so I feel I made some ok contributions and wasn't a total leech:) I did surprisingly crappy on the music round (Come on, I don't remember shit like LA Guns...) but I think the very best moment was when a song clip was played, Jon got up, yelled "The Who!" across the bar and it was actually from a Franz Ferdinand song. I guess you had to be there but I was greatly amused (and though I don't know the Who v. well , the whole, overconfident about a song, yell it out and then realize I was COMPLETELY wrong, is something I'd do).

Ugh, don't want to grade this pile of essays on The Count of Monte Cristo. I want to go back to sleep (I slept for a few hours after school and I'm still tired...I hate being sick).

Listening to: Permanent Me, After the Room Clears

I'm okay

I think things are going to be ok. I'm VERY relieved. I was practically sick with anxiety today because I was such a brat last night and things were awkward and horrible and I didn't make things any better with how I was behaving. I can't change getting worried over things, but I'm going to try to change how I react to those situations (or the way my worry manifests itself). New resolution. And yes, even though it's loads past New Year's, it still counts because I say so. I refuse to let myself fuck this up. I am NOT going to let myself ruin things. I refuse.

And because I'm digging lyrics again big time:

Skylines & Turnstiles

You're not in this alone,
Let me break this awkward silence,
Let me go, go on record
Be the first to say I'm sorry
Hear me out,
Well if you take me down,
Or would you lay me out,
And if the world needs something better,
Let's give them one more reason now, now, now

We walk in single file
We light our rails and punch our time
Ride escalators colder than a cell

This broken city sky, like butane on my skin
and stolen from my eyes
Hello Angel, tell me where are you
Tell me where we go from here
Tell me where we go...
-MCR (of course)

Listening to: My Chemical Romance, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love

Not so good

Warning: this is going to be intentionally vague. I need to write but I don't want to get into things a whole lot. I am not expecting comments back, this is honestly more for me than anyone else.

Last night did not end how I'd expected. A long, honest talk that I ended up taking very personally. I understand these things take time but it also scares the shit out of me. I've been there. I know it takes a long time (it took me bloody forever) but I'm the kind of person that even though my brain knows it isn't personal, I will still take personally. Like there's something I should be doing, or doing better, or something I did to fuck things up...I overthink things. I know it.

I'm scared I'm just a rebound. I'm scared that someone better-less neurotic, less messed up, less nuts, smarter, prettier etc. etc-will come along and that will be the end. I know you have to take chances, but the last bunch of times I've put myself out there I've gotten stomped on. It's scary. But I'm willing to take the chance. Doesn't mean I'm not terrified though. But what if I'm the only one willing to take that chance? That pretty much leaves me with the short end of the stick...again. I dunno. It just was not at all the direction I thought last night was going to take. Things were great, lots of fun and then-WHAM-suddenly in this conversational minefield out of nowhere. I'm really scared. I can be patient, but I'm scared. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. I really want things to work, but we don't always get what we want, do we? I don't want this to be one of those times where things don't work...

Emotional hangover today. I'm glad school was cancelled for the weather otherwise I'd have been a complete wreck. I had horrible dreams last night which definitely didn't help matters.

I haven't blogged lyrics in a long time, but I just keep listening to MCR's "Famous Last Words" over and over again. You know the idea that we all have a theme song? I think this is mine for so, so, so many reasons-not just this particular situation. Silly. Obsessive. I know, but I can't help it. I attach myself to songs and need a soundtrack for my life at all times. I feel like I need to keep repeating "I am not afraid" and eventually it'll be true. About everything in my life that scares me.

Now I know, that I can't make you stay
But where's your heart, but where's your heart
But where's your...

And I know, there's nothing I can say
To change that part, to change that part
To change...

So many, bright lights they cast a shadow
But can I speak, is it hard understanding,
I'm incomplete.
A life that's so demanding, I get so weak.
A love that's so demanding, I can't speak.

I am not afraid to keep on living,
I am not afraid to walk this world alone,
Honey if you stay I'll be forgiven,
Nothing you can say can stop me going home.

Can you see? My eyes are shining bright,
'Cause I'm out here on the other side,
Of a jet black hotel mirror.
And I'm so weak, is it hard understanding,
I'm incomplete.
A love that's so demanding, I get weak.

I am not afraid to keep on living,
I am not afraid to walk this world alone,
Honey if you stay I'll be forgiven,
Nothing you can say can stop me going home.

These bright lights have always blinded me
These bright lights have always blinded me
I said...

I see you lying next to me,
With words I thought I'd never speak
Awake and unafraid,
Asleep or dead.
-MCR

I hate everyone

Well, maybe not everyone. But stupid people. People like the *real* yearbook teacher whose job I'm sort of doing since she's on maternity leave. Problem is, she either needs to do the damn job herself or let me do it. Right now she keeps sticking her nose into things when it is convenient for her. I'm the "real" teacher when she needs me to do the dirty work but she's the teacher the rest of the time. Problem is, I'm the one in the classroom. Either let me teach the damn class or let me be a babysitter. I'm not getting paid enough extra to take this shit.

I hate parents too. They suck. I get a message from a parent who is bitching about the school newspaper. She is pissed at the fact that the cross country team didn't get enough of a mention on the sports page b/c they did well at States. She is pissed because the team's name wasn't bolded and the other teams' names were. She told me how to do my job and said "maybe your student reporters need to be better at what they do."

Back off, bitch. My kids are doing pretty damn well. And you know what? We're an 8 page newspaper. We come out once a month if we're lucky. It takes them a MONTH to put together a paper because they (oh my god) AREN'T PROFESSIONALS. OMG. OMG.

I was so pissed. I didn't call her back because I knew if I did I'd say something that would make the situation worse. This job would be great if it weren't for some of the parents.

Grr. In a pissy mood now...I know I should just blow it off, but I can't. I need to work on that.

I want it to be the weekend. NOW. I don't want to take this fucking MTTC test on Saturday. I don't want to get up at 5am tomorrow. I don't want it to be so bloody cold. I don't want to teach/babysit yearbook anymore.

I'm so goddamn whiny right now I irritate even myself. Sorry for my foul mouth and pissy attitude.... feel free to ignore me.

Listening to: Placebo, Meds (though I think I'll switch it to something more pissed off. Maybe some From First to Last...)

More reviews & such

My review and photos of the Fall Out Boy show are up at Revolt. Check em out here. That was also the New Found Glory & Cobra Starship show. I hadn't really listened to much NFG before the show, but I've been listening to a lot the last few days and can heartily recommend their album Coming Home. :) I quite like the photo of Pete Wentz that my editor chose to run too...

Also, my blurbs about a few of the top singles of the year are up on Static. I wrote the ones on "Dani California" (RHCP #17) "Call Me When You're Sober" (Evanescence, #16) and "Welcome to the Black Parade (MCR of course, #12).

And...I can't remember if I ever posted the link to my review of Sugarcult's latest. It's here.

Might get to hang with Elana tonight. It'll be the first time I've seen her in ages. Things still feel weird between us, we'll see if she bails on me tonight or not...
Not happy that vacation is almost over:( Boo hiss.

Listening to: New Found Glory, Coming Home

Here's looking at 2007...and looking back at 2006.

Hard to believe 2006 is over already. I can't quite figure out how the year went by so fast, but maybe it's because I've been so busy:) Real quick first though, I've got photos, top album blurbs and reviews to foist on you all:

• My review and photos from the MCR show are a featured review on Revolt! Woot! Read it here & check out the pics.
  
• My review of Spitalfield's album is up at Revolt too...wow it was bad.
• My blurb on The Raconteurs' Broken Boy Soldiers (which made Static's top 10 albums of the year-woot!) is up at Static.

Weirdly enough, I don't really have many shows on the radar at the moment. At least not in the immediate future. However, The Hard Lessons are going to be doing a show at The Blind Pig at the end of January that I'd like to check out. Husband, Wife and I saw them open up at the 89x Show and they were pretty cool (and I saw them just hanging out at the AAR show which was sort of neat). Harry and I have our plane tix for New York, so Bamboozle is a certainty (woo hoo!) and we'll be covering Taste of Chaos at the beginning of March (we're already on the guetslist to see The Used, 30 Seconds to Mars, Aiden...), so that will be pretty sweet.

Ah, now for New Year's Eve and it's aftermath....Jon invited me to a party at Kelly & Peter's house so we headed out to Ferndale with Fina in tow. It was a ridiculous amount of fun, his friends are great and really welcoming. I was very nervous before getting there, I generally don't feel too comfortable going into situations where I know one person, but they were awesome. However, maybe I should resolve to give up red wine for the new year... :) I have no idea what time everyone finally went to bed but I do know that I was sending text messages at 4:49 am and that was still at least half an hour to an hour before things wound down. No wonder I felt a bit like death the next day... Also, Kelly & Peter have the most awesome Pomeranian, Telly. I wanted to just put her in my purse and take her home. She amused me to no end:)


We headed back home to pretty much turn around again and go to Husband and Wife's for a Rose Bowl party. Now, I'm not much of a football fan, and the loss SUCKED, but I think everyone had a great time, even those of us who aren't terribly into sports:) The food was great (especially husband's buffalo wings...mmmmm) and by that point I really didn't feel like death anymore, so it was good.

Thinking about 2006...well, it had its good points and its bad points, that's for sure. Having no *real* job for the first half of it pretty much sucked. However, starting all my writing for Revolt & Static really made up for the fact that I had a shit job where I was treated like an idiot most of the time. I feel like I've got some really good friends to hang out with and, somewhat surprisingly, made more when I started teaching again (at the last high school I worked at, the staff was very closed to new people & I had one friend on the staff, that was it). I've really begun to see who of the people I thought were friends really are, and who probably isn't so much of a friend anymore (as sad as that is). I've seen a ridiculous amount of live music-sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. I love that I've gotten back into photography, and concert photography at that. And I'm not much of a resolution person, but looking at the ones I made last year, I think I actually did pretty well:

1. Be more brave (which relates to #2) I think I've gotten a lot more brave. I mean, I'm still quite shy, but I've done a lot of new things this year, so I feel good about this. However, I think I'll carry it over into 2007. Never hurts to be more brave (esp. for me).
2. Try new things (um, I'm not talking new things like skydiving, more like, new restaurants, new places, new music, books, bars, etc.) Yup, lotsa new things this year...more in 2007:)
3. Get in shape (yeah, I know, me and everyone else, but I've got a gym membership now, so more impetus to get off my ass) Ok, now this I was doing really well with until I got a real job and had to drive to MSU 2 nights a week. Now that MSU is finished, I've got to get my ass back to the gym.
4. Go to NYC/do some more travelling (sort of goes back to #1 & 2) Um, hello...I think the trip to NYC in May and the trip to Italy in July should count since the plans were made in 2006.
5. See more live music Sheesh, just read the blog entries from the last year:)
6. Get a real job--hopefully a journalism or good teaching job Done and done.
7. Get a tattoo?? (goes back to #1 and #3...) have to think more on this one. Two! Thinking about a third...

You know, I feel quite good about 2006, at least the second half of it. I'm feeling pretty good about 2007 for lots of reasons too. Maybe this year will be a good one, maybe not, but right now things are going well and I'm really happy, so I'll just go with it :)
~S
Listening to: A Heartwell Ending, Trust Us We Lie

'Tis the season

Sometimes I really wonder about myself. I've been running around like a lunatic for the last four and a half months with MSU, teaching, writing, covering shows and trying to have some sort of a social life and now I've got over two weeks of glorious nothing and you'd think I'd be thrilled to bits. Well, the sad truth is, I'm bored. I'm getting stir-crazy and tired of doing nothing. Problem is, not too many people around to do stuff with b/c everyone is home for the holidays and whatnot. I keep finding dumb excuses to get out-MUST go to the bank, Whole Foods, Target...etc. Lame, eh?

However, one of the highlights of this post-Christmas boredom was hitting the Annie Leibovitz exhibit at the DIA yesterday. It was SO awesome and it killed me how nonchalant she was in her descriptions of getting some of these amazing photos. "It was just a snap" or "just shot a few frames but didn't think they'd turn out well" and then you'd see the photo and they'd just blow you away. I think one of my favorites was this one of Johnny Cash and June Carter:



Beautiful, eh? I love it beyond belief.

Christmas was good though quite quiet. The older I get the more I realize that most people don't have Christmases like ours. Most people (or maybe it's just a lot of people I've come into contact with lately) have big, crazy Christmases with relatives from all over coming into town. It sounds like total chaos but it also sounds really fun in a way. My Christmas evening was just me & my parents watching Pirates of the Caribbean. Husband and Wife had been over earlier in the day but, obviously, had to play both sides of the fence and went to her parents' for dinner. It was quiet. Really quiet. Oh well, I guess that's just how my family is, not much I can do about that one.

I did, however, manage to get a cold. Figures that the first time I stop running in 4 1/2 months I get sick, and there's really so many things I could blame: those damned kids ;), the stupid weather in Michigan for being cold, then warm, then cold, then warm..., Jon, my brother, my psychotic schedule... Meh, whatever. I'm still sick so I guess blame doesn't really matter.

Well, this post is horrifically boring, so I'll stop here before I bore you to death.

Listening to: New Found Glory, Coming Home

Cool!

Just found out that Drive By posted my review of their live show (with Senses Fail) on their official website! Go to www.drivebyworld.com and under news it's "New show review: check it out here." (Dec 6). Kinda cool! Guess they liked it:)

Also, I forgot to mention that My Chem is coming back to Detroit in February and I immediately got tix for the show for me, Husband and Wife. It's gonna be awesome:) I really hope Muse is on the tour with them at that point! I'd love to see them live too...

Bad news: I think I'm getting sick. You'd think it would have happened ages ago with all the craziness that has been going on in my life. Nope, instead, the minute I finally slow down a bit, that's when my immune system says, "Fuck this, we're leaving" and I get sick. Figures I'd get sick right before Christmas. Boo hiss. Oh well. Guess I'll finish up a few things and crawl into bed with a book.
Peace out starving nachos
~S
Listening to: The Strays, Le Futur Noir

Finally, a break

Wow, it's been so ridiculously busy, I don't even know where to start. Guess we'll just go in order:
Last Wednesday : 89x Nutcracker with Fall Out Boy. Harry was supposed to do an interview with Cobra Starship but that fell through so he decided to go to a different show. I, however, decided to go to see FOB anyways. I made friends with a security guard and he let me up as close as he could without me actually being in the photo pit. I handed out business cards. I got amazing photos of the bands. I had a blast and (still) heart Pete Wentz:)

Thursday: The Night 89x Stole Xmas. Amazing fucking show. Well, let me rephrase that, most of the bands were amazing, I wasn't all that impressed with Angels and Airwaves. The photo pass didn't come through but I got some good pics despite shooting totally blind (holding the camera over the crowd and just shooting. I got a lot of pics of the crowd, or cut off the performers heads, but I still managed to get some good ones.) My Chem was fucking unbelievable...totally amazing, words can't really describe their show. I lurrrved it:) I *was* pretty comatose the next day, but it was totally worth it.

Friday: ended up at Tower Inn for drinks with Jon and Brandon. My dad has taken to calling us the Three Musketeers. It's kinda funny...yet another late night. I think I've been averaging about 4 hours of sleep a night. Must work on that.

Saturday: Went with Jon to see a few of my students' bands who were playing for another girl's 16th birthday. I was *really* nervous beforehand-I mean, I had no idea what to expect, and here are two teachers invading their space. In the end, it went really well. The kids (the ones in the bands at least) were actually very excited that we showed up. Jon and Brandon insist that I'm the "cool" teacher, but I still don't see it. I've never been cool in my life, why on earth would people think I'm cool now?? The kids were really excited about the photos I took and have already posted them liberally on their band's myspace page. They did make very sure to find out what I wanted my photo credit to say, which was kinda cute. Speaking of myspace, a bunch of students found my facebook page. Luckily there isn't anything particularly interesting or inappropriate there, but it still weirded me out a bit.

Monday: All American Rejects show at EMU. Harry had an interview with Boys Like Girls that I got to tag along for, so that was fun. We also got photo passes from GLB, so we were able to shoot the whole show from the pit. I got a ton of pics, but AAR kinda sucked. I'm not a big fan to begin with, but they just played into every concert gimmick in the book and spent WAY too much time talking. Hardly the greatest show I've been to, especially since the 89x shows (and even my students' show!) were better.

I made it through the rest of the week, barely. It has been nuts with getting my work for school done, writing my weekly album reviews, adding in concert reviews, trying to have a social life, AND writing blurbs for Static's top albums and singles retrospective. I was honored that my editor asked me to do a few more than other people (I interpret that as he likes my writing, not that I'm a total pushover), but it was one more thing to fit in. Oh well.

Went to see the school Christmas play last night. It was a hoot-the kids were really good and it was quite funny. We (the three musketeers) almost didn't get in b/c the show was sold out, but luck was on our side and we got in. Hung out with my boys afterwards and had a great time. It was a good night:)

Did a little Xmas shopping today but I probably spent more time running around trying to track things down than I actually did legitimately shopping. There are still a couple of people I need to get things for, but at least I know what I want to get them:) good start, eh?

Ok, a few photos from the many, many shows. I think I need to just post a ton of them on my flickr account, but this will do for the moment.
Those of you that I don't talk to before Christmas-have a great holiday!
Listening to: "The Sharpest Lives" My Chemical Romance

Finito.

Wow. I never thought I'd be quite done at MSU, but I am! Woot! This is the first Monday night in what seems like ages where I haven't spent 5.5 hours of my day at MSU or driving back and forth from there. I liked almost all of my classes, but I am sure glad to be finished with that drive (and my car is glad too).

I think it's gonna be a fun but busy, busy week. Of course we have school all week but on top of that I've got four shows coming up as well. Wednesday night I'm catching the 89x Nutcracker with Fall Out Boy, Cobra Starship and New Found Glory. I'm tagging along for an interview Harry is doing with Cobra Starship before the show and I'm really psyched about getting to shoot FOB (as much as I feel like one of my students admitting it, I do heart Pete Wentz:)

Thursday night is going to be off the map. The Night 89x Stole Christmas with My Chem, Angels and Airwaves, Taking Back Sunday and Ok Go (maybe I'll FINALLY get to see them!) I am totally, utterly, insanely psyched about seeing MCR again. I'm not sure if the photo pass is going to come through, but I'm still trying. I can't wait!! Any sleep-deprived coma I might be in on Friday is going to be well worth it.

Saturday night I've been invited to a show out in Howell-a few of my students are in bands and they're all playing and asked me to come along. They also asked me to take some photos of them, which I agreed to do. It's kinda cute how excited they are that I'm coming to their show. I wonder how weird it'll be though...oh well. Should be interesting to say the least:)

And then Monday there is the possibility of covering the All-American Rejects show at EMU. They're playing with Motion City Soundtrack, The Gym Class Heroes and The Format. I saw AAR back in April when they opened for Fall Out Boy and I rather like them, so I hope this works out!

You know, when I think about it, it's insane how many shows I've seen in the last year and how many bands I've seen (or will be seeing) multiple times (because I'm a nerd, I've bolded bands I've seen more than once in the last year):

Green Day with Jimmy Eat World (Sept 2005)
My Chemical Romance with Reggie & The Full Effect and Alkaline Trio (Sept 2005)
Action Action with Men Women and Children (Dec 2005)
Hard Fi (Jan 2006)
The Subways (March 2006)
Fall Out Boy with All American Rejects, From First to Last & Hawthorne Heights (April 2006)
Alkaline Trio with Against Me (April 2006)
Warped Tour (July 2006)
Big City Rock with Drive By, October Fall and Needtobreathe (Aug 2006)
The Raconteurs (Aug 2006)
The Editors (Aug 2006)
Hawthorne Heights with the Plain White T's, Relient K and Emery (Sept 2006)
Trey Anastasio (Oct 2006)
Good Charlotte with Young Love (Oct 2006)
30 Seconds to Mars with Men Women and Children, Street Drum Corps, Head Automatica and Cobra Starship (Oct 2006)
Lady Sovereign with Young Love (Nov 2006)
Heavens (Nov 2006)
Senses Fail with Drive By, Saosin and Bleeding Through (Nov 2006)
Fall Out Boy with Cobra Starship, New Found Glory (Dec 2006)
My Chemical Romance with Ok Go, Angels and Airwaves and Taking Back Sunday (Dec 2006)
All American Rejects with Motion City Soundtrack and the Gym Class Heroes (Dec 2006)(?)

Yep, that's a lot of shows:) I love it! Ooh yeah, and check this out. I emailed Chris Perrino from Drive By with links to some photos I shot of the show and he not only wants to see more of them, he asked if he can use this one I got of him as his default photo on his MySpace:) Ok, so, it isn't like MySpace is Rolling Stone or anything, but it's cool that he liked them enough to want to see more and use at least one of them:) Yay!

Right, I suppose I should go do some grading or something since I'm going to be playing rock writer a few nights this week:) Happy, happy!
Listening to: Fall Out Boy, From Under the Cork Tree

More photos from Senses Fail

Also, a few pieces of good news:
1. I didn't get put on a jury, so NO jury duty!
2. It is 100% positive now that Harry & I are going to the 89x Nutcracker to cover the show (Fall Out Boy, New Found Glory, Cobra Starship-woot!)
3. We may also get to go to the All-American Rejects show at EMU the following Monday-woo hoo!
4. Tomorrow should be the very last time I have to drive out to MSU for class!!!
5. My review of the show and FIVE (Count 'em, FIVE) photos are up. Read it here.
6. Almost 100% for certain going to Bamboozle in Jersey baby! Woot!
Ok, now for the photos:









Grr, Blogger is being a bitch right now and isn't letting me put any more photos up. More later.
Listening to: Thursday "A City By the Light Divided"

Senses Fail Show! Woot!

So, very simply, Friday night was amazing! What a fun but bizarrely surreal night. I met Harry at Clutch Cargo's at about 5pm because he was doing an interview with Drive By. It turned out that they were the last band to do their sound check, so we ended up killing some time while they were finishing that and I got the grand tour of CC's, including backstage and such, before we met the guys. Harry did the interview (and I got to play cameraman) and we hung out with the band for a little bit before the show started. I was really pretty shy but they were really nice guys and very cool. I was talking to the bassist, Chris Perrino, backstage before the band went on and it was kind of weird because here I am talking to this heavily tattooed guy with those earplug/stretcher kinda things backstage at a show and what are we talking about? Teaching! Apparently his sis-in-law and brother are teachers. Weird, eh?

Todd Price, Drive By's lead singer, had given us photo passes so we were able to shoot their set which was awesome. They sounded great and it was so cool to see them play to a decently sized audience since last time, at the Shelter, there were maybe 30 people there. Those guys rocked, I can't wait to see them at Bamboozle!

Things were going really well until Harry and I went up to get ready to shoot Bleeding Through's set. The security guards were being dicks and said that we needed a separate pass for each band which is really unusual. Typically, if you have a photo pass at a show its good for every band. Not in this case. So, we saw the members of Bleeding Through waiting backstage to go on and we just went up to them and asked if they'd mind if we took a few photos during their set. They said it was ok, signed our passes and gave the thumbs up to security who then, begrudgingly, let us up front for two (not the usual three) songs. Better than nothing though! And it was cool that Marta (hot keyboardist from BT) signed our passes:)

So, now it was obvious that the photo pass thing was going to be a problem for the rest of the night. I was supposed to have a pass at the front waiting for me but hadn't picked it up yet b/c I thought at the beginning of the night that the pass Drive By gave me would be good for all the bands. Since that wasn't the case and my extra pass should have been good to shoot Saosin, I went and got that pass. As Bleeding Through was finishing their set, Harry and I were chilling at the back and I see this person walking towards me with a shocked expression on his face. Then I realize, "oh my god! That's one of my students!" Yep, not only was he there but there were two others at the show also-a girl who isn't a studnet of mine but goes to my school, and a guy who is in my journalism class and amuses me to no end. So, the first student goes running off in search of the second, they come back and we end up shooting the breeze with them for a while which was weird, funny and surreal. They're cool kids though and I get a big kick out of them.

However, Harry and I need to go back up to the front for Saosin's set but before we did, my students begged me to come find them again after the next band was finished. I agreed and we headed up front. Security lets me in with my pass but they refuse to let Harry in since he doesn't have a pass for this band. I got some cool shots though and I lurrrrve using a digital SLR! It made SUCH a difference!

We couldn't even talk our way into the pit for Senses Fail's set. I tried talking to the tour manager but he was like, "We don't have anyone on the guestlist, NO ONE is getting up front." Dick. You'd think they'd want the publicity! It isn't like they're THAT big a band yet. Whatever. Harry and I got some shots from the balcony and, considering the fact I was shooting completely blind, they aren't half bad.

Ended up shooting the breeze with my students again for a bit during the second half of SF's set. Those kids crack me up, seriously. The two of mine are both in bands that are playing locally on the 16th and not only did they want me to come to the show, the asked if I'd take photos of them which was really kinda cute. I told them I would and Harry will probably come along too. Tomorrow should be quite interesting at school though...

In other news, Sherri, my editor at Revolt told me that I got a bit of a shout-out on Sarah Lewitinn's blog for my feature on Bright Light Fever. How cool is this?-->

BRIGHT LIGHT FEVER

Check out the Bright Light Fever interview on Revolt Media. It's fantastic and Revolt is fantastic.

Ok, so it's short, but who cares? Still pretty damn cool:) Righty o. I should go do some work, but first, here are a few pics from the show. I'll post more later.