lislis

iTunes gets iConcert

Oh Snap! Thanks to stereogum I stumbled onto a fun toy called iConcertCal and let me just say.. SO EVIL! As a poor college student who has previously had a problem with Concert addiction.. this makes it way too easy for me to find amazing shows!
Just check out the month of March!

Since I've been jonesin on my Gym Class it's hard to pass them up again, BUT TV on the Radio is also playing that night! If I passed up on a TVOTR show I think I'd be disowned from my family seeing as even my Mami has seen them more times than me!

Anyways, March is a bit away so I'll find a way to finance 'em if I can. Still, I feel like this is a toy Steve-o, Ef, and my Daddy-o will totally approve of.
Link: stereogum: A New View For iTunes.

9/21/06 Gym Class Heroes / Cobra Starship @ the Grog Shop

So this past Thursday I hit up the Grog Shop to see some fine Indie Hip-Hop a la Gym Class Heroes, which I've posted about before. While there were 4 bands on the bill, I only arrived during the Cobra Starship set, a song or two before they played the infamous Snakes on a Plane song (thank you evil evil paper). Anyways, the show was actually pretty fun overall. The median age was about 18.. maybe 17, but it was fairly young - lots of Xed hands in the air.  Anyways, the energy put out there by GCH was amazing. I think I forgot how close and intimate the Grog Shop is, especially for a hip hop show, which relies a lot on audience love. Overall, people were rocking out, dancing, and singing along throughout the show. For me, my favorite songs were Clothes Off, The Queen and I (which they opened with), New Friend Request - of course, Taxi Driver (a song that relies on band names), Make Out Club, and Cupid's Chokehold (a song about about an amazing girlfriend). For an encore they played their version of RHCP's "Under The Bridge" which they did for Punk goes 90s (hilarity since they aren't a punk band - at all). Afterwards we (Steve-o & Sasha) talked to a few assorted band members. Here are Steve-o & Sasha with Travis from GCH:

Doesn't Travis look like a nice homeless guy? Whatever, he's amazing.

And the boys with Gabe of Cobra Starship.. he may or may not acutally be in another amazing band, but you know.. it's all about the starship:

Good times!

Bonus:

Clothes Off!

Songs via: INdiependentmusic

The Matts!

wanna see sexy pix and movies from the show?

http://lislis.net/concerts/thematts

Losing Your (Nathanson) Virginity

So, just got back from the Matts (Wertz & Nathanson) Show at the Odeon.. a 5 hour experience. AND WHAT AN EXPERIENCE! Sooo much love. Once I download smartftp, so that I can actuallly upload things back onto lislis,  I'll upload some vid and pix. I got a clip of the end of Matt's song about Cleveland. The show was hilarious and it made me sad that there were no tapers. I was able to call Kat during Starfish & Coffee though. Awesome, awesome. So many covers, so little time.. what with the Grease sing-along and all. Wertz was adorable as well, love his new stuff. Can't wait for the full new album!

Set List:

Angel
I Saw
Car Crash
Sad Songs
Curve of the Earth
Princess
Weight of it All
More Than This
Bulletproof Weeks
Pretty the World
Fall to Pieces
Lost Myself in Search of You
Laid
Detroit Waves
Starfish and Coffee
Answering Machine
Little Victories
The Wind
Suspended

http://www.mattwertz.com

http://mattnathanson.com

Lee, Rufus, Folds

Shooting Stars and Rufus, was driving 2.5 hrs worth it? Hells yeah.
Video and massive review to come when my power chord arrives... sleep for now. 10 AM tour in the morning

Adam Richman/Kate Voegele/The Clarks

So Saturday night, Stentz & I went to the Clarks show @ the Odeon, part of CMJfest. This was in honor of our 1st fake date to see the Clarks freshman year. So for the opener Adam Richman, there weren't many people, alas, but the instant he walked out I thought of Matt Nathanson. For example, Matty's been doin the Fauxhawk and he's got the nose ring as you can see here

Now Adam looks like this:

a real 'hawk and a few piercings (he's got a bunch along his left ear as well). So you get the point. During the show, someone in the crowd was trying to heckle him and he so didn't take it and joked with them. "This song is for everyone else" So yeah, def. reminded me of the last Matt show I went to when someone asked where Matt Fish was and he responded "Fish isn't here because he hates you". Good times.

Anyways, I recognized his song "Maryanne" because its on the latest Paste Cd so that was extra cool. I decided after his set that I'd be his friend (because seriously, he's like fake Matty Nathanson my idealic best friend!).

Before we continue w/ the Adam story I shall discuss Kate Voegele's set. AMAZING. This girl jsut graduated on Monday and she was up on stage covering "Big Yellow Taxi" with her band and Dad wailin on the Guitar. Seriously, I really like her Blues-ier sound that she's going for. I also think its funny that every time I see her play she has more band members. So yes I encourage the Kate Voegele love. Plus she's a little elf with lots of talent and can get away with wearing the pregnant shirts (which she's done the last 2 times).

Then came the Clarks. Oh Actually before that we ran into Swimmer Steph (Davis). It was quite cool. So, yes. The Clarks, amazing! Stentz recognized songs and sang along and I just danced, sang, and had waaay too much fun. I really need to get "Fast Moving Cars" their last album, because it has "Shimmy Low" and other songs I need. Anyways, point is their songs are catchy and they like to repeat the chorus so you can sing along. So some roadie tried getting Steph backstage, which was hilariously sketchy. She ended up getting a drumstick though which was cool. Stentz got the playlist, also amazing. And then we chilled after to meet the Clarks.

Unfortunately for Stentz, who prob. did want to meet them, I wanted to make a new friend! So when Stentz hit up the restroom, I drew up the courage to talk to Adam Richman. And let me tell you, he's hella cool! I told him about how he's like Matty and he was like Matt's super cool! So I was automatically in music love with him. Then for the next however long, including when Stentz joined us, we just talked music scenes (Adam went to GW). So we bonded over the 9:30 club, Fletchers, the Ottobar. He told us House of Blues's secret (they treat musicians  like kings) and that musicians LOVE LOVE LOVE the 9:30 Club (yay!). What else, oh he's pos. opening for Duncan Sheik in August, but said he's not sure if the crowd would dig him, so perchance not. If he does though I'll be there (Stentz maaaaybe depending on work). So we ended up missing the Clarks, but made a fun new friend. yay!! 

It was a tremendously fun Saturday Concert night, it brought back concerting memories. Next show will prob. be Aqualung on the 24th w/ the Cary Bros. so be aware!

Nada Surf & Springfest

So yesterday was a long needed fun day! After work I went w/ Pri & her sis to Springfest! After listening to Zugzwang for a bit I wandered w/ Steve-o to actually enjoy the day. After winning a fun glow necklace, I futher enjoyed the day by dancing in my pants to Stop Laughing. WIth the help of my boy, some lovely phi kaps, and the lovely ladies of 2nd floor we skanked the day away! Then I manned the Case Dems booth. yay for liberals!

At Four, steve-o and I headed downtown to pick up Nada Surf thanks to my oh-so-wonderful boss/history pal Sean. So the band ended up taking their rental car, I went w/ them to give them directions and Steve-o followed. Our first stop before Springfest was to get some smokes. Which apparently are not sold downtown as to the fact that we tried a few places and came up empty handed. I let them know of the smoke shop in little italy and so we were off to Case.

In the car we talked about their upcoming album and the troubles of making an album, the horrible weather of cleveland (ITS SNOWING AT THE END OF APRIL!!), and the wide world of indie music. Daniel, who was driving, kept doing illegal driving moves (wrong lanes, running lights), which sucked for Steve-o who was following us!

When we got to campus there was a bit of confusion w/ where to drop them off, where to park, where to take stuff & whatnot, but it got figured out. I went w/ Daniel to get him some cigs & steve-o helped w/ sean to take in their instruments w/ Matthew & Ira (who donned a F*uck Bush hat & massive shades). In the car to Little Italy we discussed the latest drugs (because apparently the NYT says E is out) the end of school, and the amazingness that is Brazil. Apparently he's from Madrid and has tons of family in Brazil. So we discussed the many things to do there as well as their last tour through there. I really can't wait to go!

When we returned, Steve-o and Stentz were parking just as we were. Sean met up w/ us and Clem Snide was unloading then as well. So the big fun group went into Thwing to set up. Stentz, Steve-o and I hit up the lovely Quiznos and ate dinner in Thwing. Stentz slept up on a couch for a bit and Steve-o & I went to listen to Nada Surf warm up. During the raffle Stentz actually won a $5 gift certificate to chipotle, but he was asleep in another room!!!! So he didn't get it :(

When Clem Snide played, everyone literally was lying down or sitting. They were actually really good & pretty chill. They very much reminded me of the decemberists, esp. the singer's voice. But yeah, they were cool. Stentz caught the end of their set. During Nada Surf everyone got up to the stage. They were super cool as well & they played "Inside of Love" so you know I was happier than anyone could be. Afterwards we got to talk to them as they packed up. Daniel thanked me for the cig. adventure and yelled at me for not coming out and partying w/ them for a bit in little italy. I got one of the playing cards signed by them, steve-o got his dollar signed, and stentz got a springfest frisbee. Speaking of which, Sean tried to kill me TWICE with those frisbees!

Anyways, afterwards we 3 came back to Tippit for some "pimp my ride" and then Stentz & I watched a few eps. of arrested development (which i fell asleep through one). All in all, ONE AMAZING SATURDAY!

Now it's time to study alas.

Guster in Adelbert

Guster was amazing last week. How is that surprising? Stentz got the magical set list, which I may have to scan, but we shall see. They played 3 knew songs, Valentine, Captain, and the other one. All the new stuff sounds hot-- I'm too excited! Afterwards, Steve-o, Stentz, and I chilled with a speckled few to chill and meet the guys by their bus. I got the 10 of Diamonds signed, thus starting my "entire deck signed by famous people" binge. So this should be fun. It may take a good while to get it done though, not gonna lie. Anyways, it's the last week of classes and I only got 3 hrs of sleep last night, so I gotta get going!

http://guster.com

BRYANT PHO IS GOD

Oh.My.God.

Do I love Bryant Pho!

So, as anyone who's seen me today (Mami, Boyfriend, Pri, Amy, Jay etc.), today has been an extremely stressful day for me. Not to mention a pretty stressed weekend. So after bonding w/ my mami, taking a nap, & gettin Gelato, I was feelin a bit better about stuff in general.

Imagine my surprise when I check my mail and see a nice big white envelope from Bryant Pho. Now, I had heard from Grace that he was at the Gavin show, and I remembered that last time Pho went to a concert at UMBC he got me a hot hot poster from said show (The Starting Line & its hanging on my wall). So I was excited thinking it was a Gavin poster. Well, there was def. a Gavin poster in there, as well as a letter explaining why he hadn't called me back (workin on the project), a CD with pix & video from the show, a signed sign that said "Hi Elis" by Gavin, and a photo of said sign being held by Gavin!!!!!

I LOVE PHO. Freakin re-diculous how much this meant to me. Pho, pho, pho... bah, how speechless you make me! Seeing these pics and watching the movies made me realize how much I will miss summer concerts w/ my crew soo much! It made me realize how much I'm going to miss my friends. Again, at least I'll be home in the spring/summer next year, so I know I'll make it up to all of them!

Seriously though, this package made me smile an laugh and just freakin freak out in such a good way. So thank you Pho, for making my day when I really really really really really needed it.

Love you Asian Bro!

Stop Laughing (at the Spot!)

So Last Night all the coolest kids in Glaser had their official premeire!

By that I mean Stop Laughing, the 9 piece Ska band including some of the lovely people from Glaser (5th floor represent!) opened at Spot Night last night, and seriously they were amaaaaazing!

They played an 8 piece set (2 originals in there) and covered songs like "Come on Eileen, Still Rock & Roll to Me, The Impression That I Get, and so more!"

It was great because they got everyone dancing like no other!

I've uploaded my pix that I took (mainly in B&W) and a couple video clips. Enjoy!

Keane, The Zutons, and The Redwalls

On Feb. 15th, the concert crew (aka steve-o, stentz, and I) went and saw another lovely concert at the House of Blues. We drove down to our usual parking garage, whose normal entrance was closed. Thanks to Tiny and my constantly mapquestly stalking/redirecting her, I knew where the other entrance was. We ended up getting there around 6:30, which was when doors opened. We picked up our will call tickets and got to our usual stage right standing section.

The first opening band was The Redwalls. I swear, they formed after watching That Thing You Do!. They were scarily trying to be a 60's rock band, which isn't nec. a bad thing. In fact, they were probably one of the better initial openning band that I've seen in a long time. They had the energy in their music that got people dancing right off the first beat. So I'd really actually be interested in finding more of their music.

Then came The Zutons. These guys were fabulous. They appeared like a post-case band. By which I mean, they looked like an ecclectic group of nerds/geeks/social outcasts who were hilarious & talented. Their lead singer is a british boy from South Africa, a girl who plays the Sax, and 3 other members who were just as zany. The fact that there were lovely drunk british kids in the audience made it that much better. They kept up the energy and made it even livelier. Steve-o sent me their CD, so if anyone wants to hear it let me know.

Finally, there was Keane. Honestly, they were much more of a chill band than the others. So it produced a different sort of atmosphere. They played a few new songs which were pretty good. Also, their show was heavily based on lighting effects, no lie. It looked really cool, however, if you thought about what the stage would be w/o the lights, it could be a bit more boring. That is probably based on the fact that it's just 3 guys in the band.

Overall, superfun concert. One big problem that we've decided is that House of Blues is a not so good place. Evrytime we go we feel that much more guilty (stupid corporate venue). Also, recently the shows there have been abnormally short. So, we'll see how it goes. No big shows in the future for me at present.

Jonny Lang: New Year, New Concerts

Just because it's 2005 does not mean that I will not be going to concerts (although I don't expect to hit up anywhere near 50 shows). I still have to write up my overall overview, but for now enjoy my brief amazing summary of Jonny Lang: Acoustic.

Stentz and I hit up House of Blues Jan 11th to see Jonny Lang: Acoustic Tour. I was originally supposed to go with either John or Joanie, but both had to back out. So Stentz, being the lovely boyfriend who loves free concerts when he's bored, decided to come. We were able to get up extra close in the pit (I coulda touched the bar I was that up there). While we were waiting and entering we saw Scottie Jacobs. I also talked to a girl about her black wristband that said "Music=Life". In my mind it should have said "Music == Life" but that's the little Comp. Sci. girl inside of me.

Anyways, the opening girl was pretty good, though it sounded like she had a voice modifier. She played with twins who looked like buzzed Jamie Kennedies. Quite creepy.

Jonny came out with his band (actually only the bassist was consistent from last year). They started with "Long Time Coming" and played "Red Light", "Breakin Me", "I Am", "Wander this World", "Lie to Me", among other songs. There was a James Taylor and Stevie Wonder cover as well. The main set was 60 min long, it was all very relaxed. They all sat in their chairs, laid back, and played. The encore was about a 1/2 hr, so overall it was great. There were some songs I wished he had played like "Irish Angel" and "Missing Your Love", but still quite good. He also played some newer songs as well that were gorgeous. Last, but not least, he still had that gorgeous smile that always brings me back to being an 8th grade girl.

It was a great experience over all, but I do think he's more free (free-er?) when he plays electric, much more wild. Alas this did not top the last two times I saw him (front row and MEETING HIM after the road trip), but I liked the change and it was cool seeing him and the band laid back.

#50 Howie Day

O.k., so the other day Stentz was listening to Howie Day and was talking about how badly he wanted to see him again (i think this was last tuesday). Little did he know, that Howie was actually going to play @ the Jingle Bell Ball (thanks to Q104.1) at the Odeon with Los Lonely Boys. However, I knew this and promptly told him! So.. we decided to hit up the Howie Show. We drove on down to the Odeon on Thursday and he picked up the tickets ($25 each) since I usually buy the concert tickets.

So Saturday, the day of, Stentz & I checked out the Howie Site for details, where it said that the show was FREE. We joked around about how cool it would be if it REALLY was free. So w/e we went out to eat at Tratoria where I picked it up to make up for the tix. As we drove to the show we listened to 104.1 (which i had just programmed into stentz's car since he had 2 presets of the same station..sooo silly). Anyways, they mentioned that the concert was free too! And they talked about how if you already had tickets you could pick up a refund on monday. So SCORE! Free howie concert!

So at the show, we were 2nd row left of center. It was really cool being able to see Howie up close, since the last time we saw him was at the Agora last year (I had seen him at TCA during FBTE, but was SUUUUUPER far away). Point is: At the Agora show it was full band (same w/ FBTE) and Howie was totally NOT feeling the catcalling crowd. So.... we didn't know what to expect.

Then, after meeting some cool people, we found out that Howie was playing Solo. SOLO!!! Howie was amazing. It reminded me of when we (me & reese) saw him @ Jeep/Outdoor World. Seriously, I adore Howie solo & this reminded me sooo much why. Plus it was great hearing his new stuff solo (I personally have been more fond of Stop all the World more than Australia recently, which are his 2 CDs). He didn't play Secret, which was sad, but he did play Collide & Ghost (my 2 other favs).The drunk people next to us did get him to tease Africa which was AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZING because I had called steve-o (who had tried unsuccessfully to get him to play it at the Agora show) when he played it. Moral of the story.. oh! He played Madrigals for an encore which was very very nice, since I've never heard him play it live. Good times!

So yes, I reached my 50, although I'm going to throw in an extra one for safety. Hopefully, it will be the Clarks tom @ the Recher, but we shall see!!!

I put pix up from the show: http://lislis.net/concerts/howieode/

Guess who made it to 50 concerts!!!!!

more details soon enough!

Just wanted to say: YAY FOR SNOW!!!!

only 1 more paper to do as well! It's a good week!

#48 Matt Nathanson/VACO/Charlotte Martin

Yes ladies and Gentleman, it's time for the post you've all been waiting for: The Matt Nathanson post!

So last Monday, I skipped film class and went to the Odeon around 5:30 to get my tix to the show.  Unfortunately, they weren't selling tickets until 6:30. So I just stood in line, by myself, chilly and hungry. Fortunately for me, my Greeting abilities came in handy when I soon made friends with the kids in front of me! One of whom, in fact, is a freshmen at Case! Anyways, they were very cool, had gone to tons of the same shows I have, totally in love with Matt etc. etc.

Anyways then some guy chucked popcorn balls at us, which was crazy & a bunch of people cut in front of us, but we survived & got our tickets & made it to the bar! Up at the bar, which was waaay too far away from the stage (to move the piano, we later discovered) I made more friends with girls behind me and next to me. So point is, this concert was all about the friends! Lots of bonding over bands/concerts (Gavin, M5, JMay & Mraz, more Matty, Cullum, etc etc).

Charlotte Martin came out with Jason, Matt's drummer on the bongos no less. She was pretty good, I really liked her voice. I don't think the crowd really got into her though because she was so chill alas. After her set they moved her piano and then they moved the bar to the proper locale, i.e. at the stage.

OMG VaCo, was so amazing up front. I don't think I fully was into their vibe at FBTE. But this time around it was crazy. Plus, the little hometown vibe always gets me (yes, I'm refering to Alexandria VA as home..it's close enough). They were just crazy, but in a very good way. They totally got the atmosphere going.

Anyways, for Matt's set it went like this:

Lucky Boy >
(I Want You to Want Me) !
Sad Songs
Vandalized
(Pieces of Me) @
Bent >
(Anna Begins) #
(Jesse's Girl) $
(Ants Marching) %
Princess
Lost Myself in Search of You
Laid
Angel >
I Saw
Miracles *
(Last Goodbye) &* >
Wide Eyed and Full * >
(Whole of the Moon) +*
(We Live as We Dream) ~ >
Pretty the World
Curve of the Earth
(Crazy Train) ?
Amazing Again >
(Losing My Religion )=
Answering Machine >
(Surrender) !
Suspended *
Little Victories ^*

Key:
* Matt Solo
! Cheap Trick
@ Ashlee Simpson
# Counting Crows
$ Rick Springfield
% Dave Matthews Band
& Jeff Buckley
+ The Waterboys
~ Gang of 4
? Ozzy Osbourne
= REM
^ Unplugged

So yes, amazing! The stage banter, I can't get into because there could be children reading this but ohhh man... he's still just so hilarious. His DMB impression was PRICELESS! I remember almost crying because it was just so funny! Oh man, he didn't play starfish alas, but he did play Princess!

After the show, me and some of the girls I met ended up chilling by the Merch table, talking to the guy working it while waiting for Matt. He was very cool, from TN, lots of fun things. When Matt came out, with sushi, he was soo soo approachable (like usual). All the fans crowding him, and he being his usual excited self. So I took a pic of some of the girls I met (hopefully they'll see this and see their pic!) and then got a pic with Matt. Did my usual, "you're amazing, this is my 10000th time seeing you so keep kicking ass and come back" thing and he did his usual "wow that's how you spell your name, awsome, of course i'll come back, keep rockin out".

So I left the show with a signed poster, new boy shorts (beneath these fireworks), tons of hot pix (linked below!), and new friends!

Good times, thank you Matt...

For Pix: http://www.lislis.net/concerts/mattodeon/

#46 Sondre Lerche

When I went to Sondre Lerche at the Grog on 10/29, I showed up about an hr after the posted show time. I had lost my ATM card in a freak brief power outage. So I was a bit upset on that. Anyways, I had only missed the 1st band by the time I went in. So it wasn't so bad. I was able to watch The Golden Republic play. They were pretty good, they all had tons of energy. The lead singer had really nice jeans on too, it's scary that I remember that, but I do.

Anyways, after that Sondre came out. It was just him and his guitar. He seemed older, or at least more mature than I had expected I think. Overall, his performance was great. I was very into it and the crowd was totally in love with him. I didn't notice his accent (crazy Norweigan) until the 2nd time he spoke to the crowd. It was very cute. He also had amazing amazing amazing blue eyes. Near the end of his set he brought out The Golden Republic to back him up. WIth all of them on stage they were CRAZY!! Very much a party. It was a nice relaxed show over all & I finally think I've figured out how to get to shows at the Grog on time now!

#44 Jamie Cullum

Just when you thought I fell off the face of the earth!!!

So I just got back from seeing Jamie Cullum @ the Odeon and OH MY GOD! Where do I begin?
I first heard of Jamie at the beginning of the summer & I bought his CD "Twentysomething" before the big london trip. In London he was playing while we were there but obviously he was soldout. So when i saw him playing here I was like OMG obviously I'm going. He's very much a Harry Connick Jr/Hot-Male-British-Norah-Jones. On his cd there's a cover of "Lover, you should have come over" that is why I was like omg wow! Also the title track is totally like speaking out to college kids, which is all I'll say. So yes, I've very much been a fan all summer.

I had read in concert reviews that he's amazing live, but as we know, Elis, goddess of all concerting, has higher standards (wow, I'm so full of myself). Anyways, so 1st I get to the Odeon (my 1st time there this school year) at 7:45 (the show is @ 8). Also, I arrive alone, because I'm a lonely girl. I talk to Tiny (who's coming up tonight for a show we're going to tomorrow) via cell phone as I stand 2nd/3rd row (because adults like to sit while they wait) & I get a wave. Who should it be, but Sasha, my Prospie/C4K companion! So i bond w/ him & his friend Jasmine (who's quite gorgeous).

Katie Vogle opened for Jamie. She's like..18ish & a Cleveland Native. She was in those Pro-Voice music contest commercials about women's music & what not. Let me tell you right now, she's got an AMAZING voice & can totally play guitar. And on top of that she's like TINY (as in small)! So anyways yeah, later on if she gets released (she's been doin the recording in LA thing) totally check her out. SO yeah, she was good, but her set was too short (45 min, but dude she was good!)

So then this tiny little british guy came out w/ 2 normal sized older men (Sebastian the drummer & Josh the bassist). and HOLY ISH, if there's anything I learned today it's that SHORT PEOPLE CAN BE SOOO TALENTED! He was just wild! Within the first song he had climbed onto his piano & jumped off of it. He was just wonderfully crazy. There was soo much energy on the stage and in the crowd. He played most of the songs off of "Twentysomething" and a few new ones. His stories were HILARIOUS! Plus his british accent is freakin HOT! Oh! I also saw Sigma Psi Liz there too, super cool!

Moral of the story: YOU NEED TO SEE HIM LIVE! Like period. I can't explain how uplifting it was. So yeah... I am in love w/ Jamie Cullum.

#41 Yo La Tengo

So Saturday ended my run of concerts for the week with Yo La Tengo's politically themed concert. The Get Bush out vibin show was supposed to "start" at 9. As we can see by this trend it obviously did not start until 10:15!!!!!!! Now you may be thinking what did Steve-o and Elis do for the HOUR AND A HALF that they waited? A ha! See, we remembered one key ingredient: A deck of cards! That's right, following in the J5 theme, we brought cards. So we camped out, front and center, and played Egyptian Rat Screw and War for a very good amount of time. Now Steve-o and I could have survived just on cards during that time, but around 9:45 who should appear, but Stentz with his Jew, Doug! So that meant more people to play with. WOO!

Now when Yo La Tengo finally came on, with their extended band, they made up for the wait by playing a 2.5 hour set!!! They occasionally had comedic breaks. Fred Armisen provided those funny bits this time around. The first time he came out a la Rick James pretending to be a Berklee School of Music professor. He ended up getting Steve-o, Stentz, Doug, and I all up on stage. What a glorious 30 secs that was! Later on in the night he came out as Saddam, the ex-Iraqi guitar lovin british accented leader. To put it short, yeah that was just plain CRAZY!

For Yo La Tengo, Steve-o and I actually got to be their bitch and hold up some of the lyrics for one of the songs. We ended up having tape and just taped the pages to the speaker, but then doug borrowed the tape and wrote "hit me for kerry" & "kiss me for kerry". Eventually one of them ended up on my back, silly boys.

The two things I learned from these shows was that for older musicians there's always a part where they go crazy on their instruments. At the Decemberists they would roll on them like with the bass drum or just slide around on them. At Yo La Tengo it was messing with the pedals and dials, grinding the strings against the speakers etc. Also, everyone loves emo glasses!!! Just, they're everywhere up on stage, simply mad!

O.k., that's about as much as I'll say for that show, but yeah! Her Space Holiday tonight. I really do think I'm going to make my New Years resolution... wish me luck!

#40 Norfolk & Western/The French Kicks/The Decemberists

So Steve-o and I drove to Beachland Ballroom to see The Decemberists. On our way down Euclid (we took 90 home and it was 10000xs quicker) we passed this guy singing in his car. You may be thinking, well how bad could it be? Let me tell you, I've never heard anyone sing louder or more off. As we drove next to him I turned off our music and tried not to let him see me laughing my face off!

We arrived at Beachland around 8:30/45ish when the show was to "start" at 9. A trend you're beginning to see is that few shows ever start ontime. So Steve and I just chilled for a while and listened to Norfolk & Western. It was made up of 2 people, 1 of whom was the Decemberists drummer. They were very very chill and mellow, which made me sleepy.

When the break before French Kicks happened, Steve and I sat down. I was still pretty tired from the last concert. When we sat down, so did this couple from Xavier and a guy next to us with an extensive camera collection. Soon joined in a mother-daughter couple. So we all made friends and talked and bonded. Actually it was really really cool. We were able to get the Kyle's, the photographer, SN. The French Kicks actually threw out a beach ball or two into the audience which made things even more fun!

The one song I had heard of the French Kicks I actually didn't like. So i was a bit iffy on them. However, once they started playing, with their two keyboards, two guitars, bass and drummer, I was totally into them. Their music was much more jump around and dance. It was livelier, a bit like a less geeky phantom planet. The lead singer kept swinging his mic cord as he sung on the edge of the stage. So much so that I feared getting whacked by it. The drummer, we joked, looked a bit like Uncle Joey from full house. Or at least the typical frat boy, only because of how he wore his hat. Anyways, they totally woke me up and got me energized. Furthermore they made me actually want to get their CD (at least download it)!

So finally came The Decemberists. The lead singer walked out wearing his emo glasses and white shirt. All the member are around their thirties I want to say. They had a variety of instruments including, but not limited to, a banjo, a twelve string, and an accordian. They ended up playing a pretty good amount of songs, but had very little talk inbetween so that their set was done in only an hr! That obviously would not do. So The audience chanted and cheered and clapped until they came out for an encore. They left the stage after this encore dead tired, they had more or less played their instruments every which way. So they left after a face paced song. The audience was not satisfied. So they came out one last time. During this last song one of the members took a bass drum, a la marching band style, and started playing it while walking through the crowd! He even rolled on it & played it while standing on his head!

After the show, Steve and I went to meet the French Kicks and do our usual dollar thing. When he got to the drummer, he said "Wow, I've never seen someone do this before, hang on!" and took out a video camera to tape the event of signing a dollar bill! Guess what else! I totally ran into someone from CHS @ the show, Sarah. Ok, how likely is it for me, from MD, to find someone from my high school here? Not bloody likely! She goes to Wooster which explains a lot, but yeah! Small world.

After the show, Steve-o and I cruised on back blasting Ludacris while driving on I-90.

Good Times.

update: As you can see, the picture I used was taken by Kyle. here's a link to the other 40 pictures that he took that night. THANK YOU, Kyle!

double update: Check out the Scene's article on the Decemberists from last week's issue.

#39 The Push Stars/Martin Sexton

So Thursday I saw Martin Sexton, FINALLY. I've been into him since the beginning of my Senior year when I visited Kenyon and their acapella group sang "Hallelujah". Since then, I've been passing on the Martin Sexton to anyone I can, usually via burned cds or shared MP3s. The one song I heard that made me completely love him was his cover of Purple Rain. Plus, it got me into Prince again; very cool.

So today I had classes straight from 1:15 to 5:45, then a Greeters meeting(6 hrs a week @ $11, not such a bad change from $15.75 a week) until 8, & Martin Sexton's doors opened @ 8. So I hopped on the greenie and made it there around 8:30ish. After doing the "I'm all alone at a concert because my friends love homework more than me" thing, The Push Stars came on. They're from Boston, MA and they were actually prtty good. The crowd was made of mostly 30-somethings. There were college kids (group of JCU boys ) and older people (50 somethings), so almost everyone was imbibing something. Obviously, I was behind an already agressive/babbling drunk couple (lucky me). Anyways, so I really liked the Push Stars, esp. their song "freedom".

After their set, who should come up to me, but Christian! I had seen him in the crowd earlier, but he came and found me. He was there for the Push Stars and a bit of Martin, while his sis Anna was there for Martin. So Obviously I bonded with them during the break. it was quite quite fun and they were obviously, both very cool.

So Martin Sexton came out, just him and his guitar and 2 microphones and started playing John Hiatt's "Have a Little Faith in Me". Now, I won't say much ex. that that song is on my "Songs people can't be dicks about and take" playlist. That's one of those songs that..just yeah..it gets me. So needless to say, I was like WOW right off the bat. He did a lot of songs I know and was all about the crowd involvement. People were singing and dancing along to every song. In fact, excluding the annoying drunks (which I'll cover soon), the entire crowd was just on a big great high.

After about a 1/2 hr of playing Martin complained about something with his monitor/speakers, so he took a 15 min break to fix it. We three laughed at the drunken ramblings (I wet myself, I'm going to lick your face!) of the 30 somethings, Sexton came back on. He finished the show with "Gypsy Woman" during which point the drunken woman in front of Christian (I used to be behind her and she kept swaying into me) started accusing Christian of purposefully attacking her via elbows (oh crazy aggressive drunks). Anna tried to tell her that since she was dancing she was most likely running into him (which she was) and she leaned into Anna going "Do you see this lip?!" (it was bleeding and seemed to have been swollen from earlier). I was scared that this woman was gonna start bleeding on poor Anna, when a guy from behind us said to the woman "Hey, why don't you just try and enjoy the show?" to which she responded "Get your mits off me!"

Yeah, we were scared. Ok, Christian def. wasn't scared, but Anna & I were scared of the bloody drunk woman. Eventually we just moved over, thanks to that guy, so Christian didn't have to be behind her, but I think he secretly wanted to stay behind her to perchance get retribution. In the end, it was ok.

O.k., so at the end of Gypsy Woman Martin actually broke all but one string. So when he came out for his last song he just played by using the one string. And what song did he play? Obviously Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz", oh with a little "Electric Avenue" thrown in.

Overall, a fun amazing show. Totally worth the wait. It was really great chillin' w/ Christian and his sister as well. I NEED MARTIN SEXTON ALBUMS I've decided. Probably the Live CD would work too. But yes, if you ever get to see him live, go for it. Even if you have to be alone by drunk people: It's worth it.

#38 Phantom Planet

So Sat. night Stentz & I went to see Phantom Planet at the Agora. It was my first real, good ol' concert since coming back. The show was in the ballroom versus the theater, which meant much smaller & much more intimate. I actually really liked the set up they have there, which only inspires me to pos. check out more small shows there.

One of the other things that stood out at this show was the lack of 12 yr olds! Of course there were a few underaged kids, but by far not as many as before. Also! There actually were guys in the audience! most shows I go to are heavily female, but this had a nice balance of super-obsessed girls with emo boys!

Yes, that's right! Stentz & I played the "Spot the Stereotype" Game! Boy, was it fun! Unfortunately, one key stereotype was missing: The African American population was not representing. Fortunately we had the Indians, Asians, and Hispanics (thank you very much) doing enough representing. Who else was there.. the goth chicks repped it up, as did drunken frat boy, sketchy old guy, and emo girls with the glasses, short hair and scarf. Yes, it was an adventure filled night.

Openers

So what was cool about this show was the fact that both openers were all chick bands. The First, The Like, who seriously was straight out of Valley of the Dolls. The girls were probably between 18-21, but they were cute. However, they were decked out in Hippie clothes, the macreme vest, the original pregnant shirt, the scarf and billowy shirt... you get the point. Anyways, their songs were very chill, nothing special, but nothing particularly bad about it. It was just seriously waaaay too much like Valley of the Dolls.

Then came Sahara Hotnights. They were added later in the game, but a pleasant surprise. Stentz had actually heard them on the radio down in Cinci, so good sign. They were older than the 1st band and much more experienced, like a non-annoying, hotter version of the Donnas. Ok, that's unfair. The Donnas are primarily angier edgier chick rock. These women were about skill, melody, music.. punk pop rock. Yeah.. Point is, they were surprisingly good. You should hit up their site and stream some of their music, actually. Point is, I approve them.

Phantom Planet
Now cue up the Phantom. My impression with them previous to the show was that I really liked their 2 cds that I had heard, their music was catchy and not annoying. I just genuinely enjoyed them. This still holds true, totally. As you man know Schwartzmen(sp?) is no longer with them. Their new drummer however, was really good. He wasn't just a filler drummer, who knows how to get by, he could play with the songs, improvise, mess with them. That was cool, so I approve Dan (I think) the new drummer guy. As for the songs... I only know a few songs by heart, speaking of which, I don't think they played "California"..hmm. However, they did play Big Brat, near the end, which was AMAZING! That song always gets me going. Most of their music, however, gets me going. That's the thing with their genre (indie pop rock??), it's really easy to catch the beat and dance with it. It just gives you this energy rush that makes you want to jump and shake. Mhm...

They played "Lonely Day" (which I totally love). During it, Alex (the singer), tried getting the crowd to silence, which NEVER works. Instead he got a "Hey, nice scarf!" to which he replied "It's a Bandana" and proceeded to wear it a la Masked Bandit style. Very very cool... Actually, Alex has really good audience participation/interaction. He totally got everyone vibing. Of course, most of the girls there were swooning and dancing to everything that he did, but s'all good. In the last song Alex actually crowdsurfed twice. It was quite cool. So with that last image of "Skinny White Boy Floating" to relate to them, I must say, huge props to Phantom Planet.

It was one of those shows that was just meant to be a stereotypical quality concert.

#37 Freeflow/Jurrasic 5

So, thanks to UPB we had J5 play here @ Adelbert Gym last night for only $5 a student! J5 is a hiphop band, which made their being here at a pretty white school, so much more exciting, but I'll get to that later. So I went to the show with Manu, Steve, and Mike (Chase's Prospie). Chase was working the Merch. booth, which meant he couldn't chill with us. Anyways, we got there right when the doors opened so we were a bit bored. I suggested to Steve to go get cards, which he did! So then we played some War and Egyptian rat screw. This unfortunately meant that Drunk Fiji kids were able to sneak in front of us and take our front and center spots (BOO!).

So down the lights went and on came Freeflow.
First thing that Steve says to me: "Hey, the bassist looks like Stentz when he puts his head down"
So I look over and lo and behold, he really does! It's an older, scrawnier, shorter hair (head & facial), but he's rocking a silver piercing(labrete, not tongue), & the emo glasses. It was so creepy!

Anyways, so there we were, enjoying the music, looking over the Fiji kids who got in front of us, but totally surviving when all of a sudden!!!!!!! CIA KIDS!!!! To explain, this mob of raving, dancing, CIA students pushed their way all the way up to the front and not just any random way, but RIGHT BETWEEN steve & me and Mike & Manu! Our group was split in 2 because these students wanted to be up closer so they could dance their mating dance closer to the stage. Everytime I got to glance over to M&M they had this 'Oh Boy' kind of look that made me just CRACK UP! So every so often I'd get an elbow or knee or ass to my side thanks to these dancing fools, but whatever, I survived.

After Freeflow more random CIA students and more random Fiji kids came up, beer in hand, and more or less pushed us out of our prime spot. Whatever though, they were all scary and crazy. So we ended up moving to the right side and were more or less as close as we were before. So it was OK. I wandered back and talked to Chase for a while, asking him about the Gorilla (there was one wearing a UPB shirt who was going to hand out the ipod prize I learned, which reminds me I need to write up about ipods soon, I do just need to vent about them soon. nothing bad, just a good ol' comment about society). Anyways, I ran into a few people I knew, chatted it up, tried to deal with Manu's 5th grade sneek tapping on shoulder attack, and just joked around with the guys.

Jurassic 5 came out and they were great. They were able to get the energy going right off the bat which was cool. However, my main focus during most of the concert was just audience watching. This audience is quite different from most shows I go to. The last Hip Hop (i felt like separating & capitalizing) show I went to was quite different. That could have just been because of all the pot in the audience and it being 2 am. This audience was primarily Case kids, which right off the bat does NOT scream out hiphop. In fact, it screams out crazy white people. I'll leaving the silly stereotyping to Manu, but just realize it was easily identifiable that this audience wasn't used to concerting and hiphoping (not saying that I am at all either, but still, very funny watching people akwardly react to the music). Anyways, lots of jumping and dancing and waving of the hands in the air, which was cool. They did a song that was totally anti-Bush, pro-peace, as well, so that was great. There was also a part with just the 2 DJs which I personally like the best, but that's due to my penchant for more experiental versus rap music. Yes, I did just penchant (chant PEN PEN PEN! noone will get it because it's an inside joke from junior year with someone who I no longer speak to for very good reasons).

Yeah..

The show was great, espcially because I was with those three guys (Mike, the prospie, was super cool and nothing like what your first impression coulda been..typical white guy..he was very cool). Then it was back to the dorm room for much more fun, but that's another story. Anyways, tonight is Phantom Planet at the Agora with Stentz. I'll let you know how it goes, of course.

#36 Studio-a-Rama

Today I saw I Sing the Body Electric today at WRUW's Studio-A-Rama. They're a 2 member band of just bass and drums. To say the least it was pretty interesting. Because the melody was so low, Chase made the comment that it sounded like someone banging on the low keys of a piano. That's not nec a bad thing. They were pretty good,but different. I wanted to go back and see a few other bands, but planning for Amy's super secret surprise party took precidence.

It's really nice having WRUW here at Case, they're music is ecclectic, but amazingly good. I'm kind of upset that I didn't continue on with my AP process, but I know how much it would overload me. This week alone I probably won't be around much. Regardless, it was a fun afternoon show, plus it was free!

#35 Blues Traveler

So today Stentz, Steve-o, Chase, and I went to the Taste of Cleveland at Towercity. For only $5-$7 each, we were able to enjoy the fine music of BLUES TRAVELER. Do you know how happy that made Stentz? He grew up on BT, I swear. In fact, I'm sure he'd swear it.

After Chase ate much good food we went and listened to the Roberto Ocascio Latin Jazz Project. They were pretty good and def. made me want to dance. When Blues Traveler came on it was a big rush of energy. They played Run Around rather early in their set, but it got EVERYONE involved and singing/dancing along. There was a bit of drama in the crowd (did he or didn't he steal her purse?), but overall it was amazing. During the end of their set, the fireworks from the Indians games went off. Which just made it that better while they played Hook. The audience was torn with watching the band during one amazing song or the fireworks which went on for a good number of songs. When the band went off the fireworks still were going strong, just like the audiences cheering of "encore!"

John Popper came out saying "Man, Cleveland goes all out. They even use fireworks to get us back on stage!" They played one last amazing song as the fireworks ended and everyone danced, going crazy. At the end Chase managed to get a pick (thrown at his eye) and we managed to get the attention of a roadie who threw us a setlist, which Stentz caught and cried over (Carolina was on the setlist but they didn't play it!). Over all, I'd say a very spectacular night for our Labor Day weekend!

pix

#34 Detachment Kit

One of the great things about Case is Spot night. I don't actually ever think I took advantage of it last year, but now the idea of a free concert once a week on campus is appealling to me. I wonder why...
Still, to be fair to my own rules, I must make sure that I am familiar with the music of any concert I attend for this fine project of mine. Cue Amy. She introduced me to Detachment Kit on Monday after spotting a flier of theirs for spot night. While studying at the library she let me borrow her mixed cd of theirs. While I'm not a huge fan of their genre, I still think that they're pretty good. I really like their rhythms. Every song is so catchy, but not in the pop way.

So Wed. Amy, Pri. and I went to the spot around 9:45. We ended up sitting with Neil, Nacio, Jen (a DG) and Chase. We also ended up ordering about 60 wings thanks to Chase. We only ended up eating about 30, which was still crazy.

Back to the Story:
So Stlyex opened at 10:30ish (an 1 hr later than expected). They were hilarious, much more electronic/experimential than DK. Also, they're from BG. DK came on next and were great. The lead singer had a serious stage presence. For most of the time he wasn't even on stage, but in the crowd picking pseudo-fights with Dan the Democrat. I def. enjoyed them, it was good to get back into the concert mode.
Speaking of which, I have Blues Traveller tom. and ZugZwang on Sunday. Very excited! I'm still counting down the days to V4C, it's going to be an amazing road trip weekend. And As I learned from my last roadtrip concert amazing weekend w/ Tiny (& w/ Nny, Pho, Reese, & Jess before that): Amazing road trip concert weekends are what memories are made of!

#33 ZOX

So today to celebrate coming back to Case, Amy, Jenny and I decided to see ZOX at Wilbert's, as they had announced at FTBE. So we managed to bring Sacco and Chase along as well. Amy drove. Wilbert's is down by Gund & Jacobs so it was quite busy today, on a game day. Wilbert's itself is located in the back of some office building, you could see Jacob's Field out the windows.

How ZOX came to play this afternoon is a little confusing. They were misbooked (is that a word?) as some other blues band, so they had to cancell the show, but then had it reinstated when the owners said they could play early. So amid all that confusion they still were able to play in this wannabe bar of a place. So there were only 15-25 people there total so they did an acoustic set. They ended up taking requests for songs and Sacco got them to play Sublime's "Bad Fish". Then they did a Police cover (HOT). Their last song was "Squid". For an encore they did "Cannon (in D)". It was the 1st time they did it acoustic. Because we got then to do it (say it Starsky & Hutch style), they got the crowd to go up and and stand by the stage.

Afterwards, Jenny bought me the t-shirt she owed me (which i'm in love with). They only had 1 small of the shirt we both wanted, so I took the medium. Amy got a pair of Zox Sox. We all ended up talking to the lead singer for a good long time actually. We discussed Warped tour and Case kids, and the "virgin topsoil" hat, and their concert the night before that ended up sucking. After Sacco hinted to us that there were other fans there, we went and met the other guys in the band. They were all really cool. This concert was just a great "we're all back at Case together" experience.

#32 Granian

Remember the good ol' days of Napster/Kazaa? Before the RIAA and its power trip. You could find almost any song you ever wanted. However, from time to time, a song you thought you downloaded was actually a completely different one! That, is how I (and others) discovered Granian. His "Whole Again" was mistaken as some John Mayer song. From there it was the name dropping in the message boards (which is how I heard about 90% of the bands/singers I fell for: GCB, JMraz, Ari, Matt, M5, MBrou etc.). Throw in the fact that he sells his CDs through Aware (my fav. place to get cds and also hear of bands) and you'll understand why I fig'd I'd go to the show.

I recently found out the Ari show for the 13th got postponed, which sucks because I probably won't see him until at least the end of Sept. No matter, in order to make up for the lack of show I looked at the shows coming to my usual places. Granian was sched. to play at Jammin Java which is one of my fav. venues ever! It's a coffee shop/recording studio/music center/venue/bar/restaurant. If that makes any sense. It's in Vienna, VA, right outside DC, but in the suburbs, so safe. Anyways, I haven't been there all summer (but I did see Matt Wertz there over spring break), and I wanted to see a show there before going to school. So this was a great chance!

Heidi Hensley opened the show. She was surprisingly really good. I'm not a huge fan of chick rock, but I give her the approval, great voice. Granian actually knew a lot of people in the audience, most of who went up and talked to him before he went on, but this was my 1st show of his, so none of that for me. The audience in general was pretty chill/laid back, but still into him. During "New York State of Mind" (a cover) he ended it by going "Now who's your daddy?" and everyone was silent and then just started cracking up. He was really good, not as amazingly hot as Matt Nathanson, he's about the same age as Matt, but a bit more subdued.

After the show, I chilled, met him, and got a pic. I talked to him about cleveland and his shows up there and he was really really cool; personable and everything. Before I left he asked me again for my name so he could remember me at the next Cleveland show. It was very cool that he did that. I don't even think Matt's done that, but Matt did remember Jenny & I from the Odeon show, so that's perfectly hot enough!

All in all, #32 was tres cool. I'm def. planning on buying Granian's album when it comes out in sept.

OH! Also amazingly hot is that He uses TYPEPAD! It's like we're connected..

check him at http://granian.typepad.com

Also, I uploaded 18 pix from the show. Check em out in the pix section @ http://lislis.net.

#31 Warped Tour

Waking Up:
I awoke this morning at 9:15 am. I WAS LATE! Late, you ask? What could Elis possibly be late to on a Wed. morning since all she apparently does is go to concerts, go on trips out of state, and write about nonsense online (obviously). Well, quickly after asking this you remembered to look at the bold faced letters at the top of this point and said to yourself "Ah, yes. Warped Tour: Music Festival of the Pop Punks". Yes, my friends (and stalkers), I was late for my date with the 10th Annual Vans Warped Tour (and Eddie). Now let me explain how waking up at 9:15 am, instead of 8 am, as planned enabled me to be late to a music festival that started at 11 am and finished at 9 pm (I actually left at 7 pm, but you get the point).

Well, in order to attend this fine collaboration of music, moshing, and merchandise (I also believe skating was at one time asociated with Vans Warped Tour, but this however was not quite so noticed this time around), I had promised my mother, who always puts up with my last minute concerting in far away lands for long periods of times, to vacuum/clean out the car before I left. Nissan Pavillion, where this congregation was to take place, is approximately 66.3 mi. (thank you mapquest) away from my house. This meant more or less an hour drive. I, planning this excursion last minute, whith the convincing of Eddie, my long lost friend (wow, I am dumb), decided that in order to get our tickets we should arrive early. By our clocks, leaving at 9:30 would get us there by 10:30, which meant a 1/2 hr before doors opened, and in fact an hr or so before the bands started playing.

So here I was, in my bed, with 15 min. to get dressed, get money (for el ticket) from the bank, vacuum out the car, eat breakfast, and pick up Eddie. Being smart (and a girl), I had planned out my outfit ahead of time. So I changed, grabbed the keys and rushed off to the bank. At the bank I learned that they think I'm poor when in fact I'm not, but will be soon enough! That's never good, but I had no time to worry! I Vacuumed the car out, and rushed home to tell my mother I was off. Telling her I was off turned into a nice 15 min conversation on how my concerting in far away areas in VA gives her a heart attack, but she let me go (because she loves me & trusts me & who knows what else). So off I went to pick up Eddie at 10:10.

The Drive:
So driving on down the usual way to VA/DC was going well, 95 was fairly smooth, we listened to Avenge Sevenfold (the band Eddie was dying to see). On 495, there were points where traffic slowed (why do people slow down to watch a guy pee on the side of the road?) due to construction. Then came 66. We only needed to driveon 66 for 21 mi. Lucky for us, when we were 4 exits from our needed exit there came a nice stop to traffic. Now why did traffic stop? Why of course there was a nice accident at the 43rd mile marker (guess who was heading to exit 43B). During our 4 mph traffic jam of love (where 4 lanes magically had to become 2 lanes thank you genius interstate construction), we noticed that besides the trucks and occasional hicks, everyone else seemed to be young and excited. Yup, they were heading to Warped Tour. So yes, instead of arriving to Nissan at 11:10, which would have been nice, we had managed to get there by 12:00.

The Tickets:
So we parked and walked over to this nice long line to buy tickets. The line looked long, but hey it's WT and we'd be beating the ticketmaster fee right? Well, after meeting really cool people in line with us (Who hear likes Donnie Darko? Fight Club? Mall Rats? Detriot Rock City? YOU HAVEN'T SEEN DRC!?) and getting a free sticker to put on my ass, in fact at 1:30 PM, we discovered in fact we had not beaten ticketmaster. THEY HAD BEAT US! The originally $25.50 WT tickets had magically become $39.00. How? Let's do the math:
$30.50: price for buying on the day of
$5.00: convience charge (I HATE YOU TICKETMASTER!)
$3.50: for parking

This probably would've been fine if I hadn't only taken $40 out (which originally would have left me with $14.50 for food & love). Now I had $1. Not good, esp. since I might've copped out on breakfast (but I may've lied about that up until now..oops). No matter, after getting patted down WE WERE IN! True it was over 3 hrs later than planned, but no matter.

Warped Tour, Finally:
So we were in! Now comes the exciting chatter (assuming you made it this far, or just skipped my rambling). Eddie and I, wandered in, checked out a line up sheet and saw that we would in fact get to see Avenge Sevenfold before 7 PM (Elis's cut off time to NOT give her mother a heart attack). Eddie, not wanting my mother to die of course, was excited that we would get to see A7x(hot, isn't it?) from 5:50 to 6:20. But that was many hours away.

The first act we got to see was technically Tiger Army who we walked in on, but in reality was Coheed & Cambria. This was either a really GOOD thing, or a really BAD thing. I really like them, but only really know their one single. We went up and walked into the crowd, occasionally avoiding crowd surfers and what not, amazed by the lead singer's hair (it really is amazing). They were pretty good, we ran into Nikhil in the crowd, which was really cool too! Then it happened, they played their single. It rocked; it was energizing; it was catchy! This would come back to haunt me...

After their set we decided to wander around, looking for the Maurice stage where A7x would be playing later. This stage was actually in the pavillion with the Volcom stage.

To explain, Warped Tour is organized where there are 2 stages next to each other. When one act is playing their 30 min. set, the other sets up, ready to start when the other band finishes. All of the stages start at different periods. The main stages were on the 1/2 hr mark. The MS & VS were on the 15 min marks (in reality 10 til and 10 before). It's actually really really nice.

So.. we made it to the pavillion at the end of Rufio's set. We sat in the chairs and chilled a bit in the shade, resting, since it would be a long day. A Faith Called Chaos (I think) played after Rufio. At 2:50 we returned to the main stage outside area to hear Story of the Year at 3. They kept on getting the crowd excited. "Anthem of our Dying Day" they introduced as Matt's (or Mark's) song about when he annouced he was gay (how sweet). This didn't take away from the sing along loving.

Instead of hearing the Vandals, we decided to take from 3:30 to 4:45 (when Audio Karate would be playing at the MS stage) to check out all the tents and pos. get food/water (with my $1!). There was tons of different tents: lots of Fuse (like their inflatable make out couch), all the band booths (why do I really want to fit in "I'm your booth bitch" into this paragraph so badly!), record company booths, and just random fun/informative booths (truth, trojan, altpress, 'hip hop city'). On our discovery of FREE WATER (not $4) from the water fountain, we danced and rejoiced (o.k., only I did that, but Eddie wanted to I'm sure). He, in this line, ran into his friend Suzie from WF. We joined her & her friend in the food line! Yay Food! In this food line we found a magical item called "plastic empty capped water bottle". I took this item & filled it at the fountain of youth and love and wayne. Eddie got himself a burger and finished it by the time we both reached the pavillion around 4:30.

ASG (I think) finished their set and Audio Karate played. We ended up just sitting in our seats, drinking water, talking (I babbled, Eddie laughed at me). When it became 5:06 we went down to get up close for Letter Kills (who I wanted to see and who was on right before A7x). AK ended up dragging out their set for a bit longer (40-45 min instead of 30 min), which noone approves of. But no matter.

This time around, LK's lead singer was in a beater and jeans, not the buttoned-down shirt/suit and styled/pretty boy look I was used to. No matter, they were surprisingly good. I hadn't remembered their music that well. I only remembered that they had decent melodies and were a more yelly kind of band than they needed to be. All the 14 yr old girls came down to watch them too. So did lots of boys as well though, which is good. The lead singer I think was skilled in the art of mic swinging because he was rocking it like no other. It went over the crowd, around his neck, up, down, everywhere.

Once they finished, it was time for Avenged Sevenfold! As Eddie pointed out, they did have the largest crowd there that we had seen at that stage at that point, plus everyone was rocking the black (I too, in my black sports bra). We were on the right side of the stage right by the speakers, which more or less made us deaf for a while. Before they even started playing, a mosh pit had already started, how sweet. I actually really liked them, they were a bit too hard for me, Metallica style, but they were good.

Now it was 6:20 pm, we had ourselves 40 min to use with fine quality music. The only answer was to hit up the main stages one last time. We caught the end of NOFX's set. Their last song was off of 'Rock Against Bush' which I obviously have (but only the 1st vol. 2nd vol. comes out in 2 weeks). Their song was "Idiotic Son of an Asshole"; obviously it was the amazing lyrical piece of art EVER! you get the point. From what I remember of the lyrics it goes:
He's a C student, at a school he bought his way into

He loves Dick, but hates Homosexuals
He's for Freedom, but against the woman's freedom to choose

Anyways, after NOFX was Flogging Molly, which we reluctantly decided to stay for. AM I GLAD WE DID. I forgot how amazingly wonderful Irish influenced music is (obviously I need to listen to the Frames & Carbon Leaf more often!) But yes, this music just made me want to dance and drink! Well not really drink, but it made me want to give a toast to anything and everything! I think they were the band that I really just needed to end the day with.

Leaving:
When we left, with New Found Glory in the background, it was getting darker with rain clouds. We made it to the car before it started and hit up McD's after getting $6 worth of gas (for $1.79!). By the time we finished dinner (slash lunch slash breakfast) the rain had stopped. We got back a lot faster that we had made it down, obviously, and of course bonded for most of the way back. I made it home by 9:15 (an hr for gas/food break).

Conclusion:
Warped Tour was fun, even without food! While the sets were short, the music was fun, the people that I met or saw were all actually pretty cool. Actually, I think this mass crowd was much more of a crowd I could personally identify with compared to most of my shows (besides probably Matty Nay-thanson, who's still holding onto the cool college kids only crowd). I wish I actually had money to spare and maybe that we could've pos. stayed a bit longer, but it's cool. We missed Taking Back Sunday, Motion City Soundtrack, Yellowcard and Sugarcult, but TBS is the only one I haven't seen live and i'm indifferent to them. Yellowcard would've been fun to see for a 3rd time, but I'll survive, esp. since we beat traffic (suck it, concert traffic). Just a few reminders if I ever go again, if someone offers you a $10 ticket, TAKE IT. Else, just buy it ahead of time. Also, buy a magical invisible helicopter that will get me to WT in under an hour, no matter how bad traffic is! That being said, the day didn't start out that amazing. However, since concerts always end up being my drug of choice, it helped me to forget the bad and make it through only feeling the good, because the day really was amazing. Tons and tons of thanks to Eddie for getting me to go and making it so much fun (and helping me with my lack of green). And more importantly, thanks to my mom who let me go this year again, and not cancel out on me like last year.

I'll grow up and become responsible soon I promise! Until then, yay for crazy tan lines...

p.s. I still can't get that C&C song out of my head!

The Apparent Concert Dress Code

I realized I left a very important observation out of my FBTE review out that actually ties into a previous observation from the GCB show at Recher Theatre. That observation of course is about fashion, because, being a girl, I notice these things.

In May, when Grace and I went to see the Graham Colton Band at the Recher Theatre, we noticed some similarities in the attire chosen for much of the crowd. It is important to note that while the group around us in line had the average age of 20, unfortunately, the rest of the crowd's median age was about 16 (no offense Grace, you know you were never the stereotypical 16 yr old). That being said, it's fair to say that what was in common in many of these young fans could easily be seen in an average high school. This, in fact, I later found true when I would pick up Ef from school. So what exactly was the mysterious item that these girls all wore? Why that would be the ruffle skirt. Here it can be examined through American Eagle. And the following is a nice example from A&F. Needless to say, there must have been a memo sent to all the High School girls attending the show explaining this dress code of ruffle/tiered skirt + tank top. Alas, I (and the other post-high school crowd) missed it and instead wore what I felt like wearing (I believe it was the jeans and expressive t-shirt choice). Regardless, I remember after that concert I swore I would never ever buy a skirt like that.

Flash forward to FBTE. As is customary, one fun (and horribly mean) way of passing time at a concert with a friend is to check out the other crowd and criticize their outfit choices. Now notice, in general there are a few guidelines to concert garb, especially to a festival. For example, It's not the smartest thing to wear heels, especially stillettos (which someone did). Or, if the concert is outdoors on a summer day, the idea of Jeans and a matching jacket, while they make you look "fly", is not exactly practical since it is so easy to become dehydrated at these events. Flip flops/ sandals as well can be sketchy depending on the type of music (i.e. Warped tour or HFStival, just say good-bye to them), but I in fact did take that risk, since I hate real shoes just that much (plus I didn't pack any). Now you may think I'm quite shallow for judging people soley by their clothes, but honestly first impressions are important; and someone going to a show knows this. It's easy to pick out those who are there for the music (clashing clothes, but comfortable), those who are trying to get back stage (mini-skirt, stylish shade, stratigecally placed fabric pretending to be a shirt, beautifully bottle tanned skin, in the front row, flirting with security), or those just to get drunk and have an excuse to make out with anonymous people (color cordinated outfit, mini-skirt, tank, and wandering in the back of the crowd flirting with guys by the bar). That being said there's a very similar way to assess the way guys dress or where they hang out at shows as well, simply it's not worth spending time on. Oh! Also, there are the obsessive/excited fanatics who wear the concert tees (sometimes signed, or else from like 2 yrs ago) and shorts or jeans trying to work their way up to front row (they're usually cool, and I sometimes can fall into this category). A lot of times tapers can be like that.

Anyways, this year's outfit of choice was what I call "The baby covering shirt". While the example I found has a tye-dyed feel to it, the shirts at the concert were all signle colored. They ranged from: white, black, tan, pink, red, and yellow. There came a point when I felt that we would be able to find the entire rainbow! The material ranged from the towel fabric (i forget the name), and the chiffon you see here. Now why would I call this the baby covering shirt? Well, in fact, this style can be found at many maternity stores. Here are some examples:
Nordstrom
9 Months

There are more, I'm simply too lazy to show them all, plus I'm sure you get the point. Now why 1 out of every 10 girls felt like wearing this shirt, I have no idea. However, due to it's ginormous(as they say in 9 Dead Gay Guys) popularity, I've decided to vow off wearing this type of shirt to a concert as well. I figured I couldn't completely cast them away, since that would only spur one of my friends to buy me one as a joke. So if I ever happen to have a shirt like that I'll wear it periodically, but definately not at a show where it will make me look like every other girl hoping to fall out of her shirt.

Just note, don't be one of those girls! It's almost as bad as being "That Guy". You know, the guy who wears the concert shirt from the exact same tour. Don't be "That Guy" and Don't be "That Girl" and you'll be fine.

#30 Feeling Better Than Everfine Festival

The History: Feeling Better Than Everfine: The festival was started two years ago as a showcase for Everfine Records to show off emerging artists, those who were on the underground. The 2002 line up included:
The Clarks, Red Wanting Blue, Carbon Leaf, Graham Colton, Ordinary Peoples, and Everfine's O.A.R. I heard of Everfine in 2003 because many of my favorite bands were playing there. Their 2003 line up included these bands: Ari Hest, Georgia Avenue, Marc Broussard, Matt Nathanson, VACO, Maroon5, and O.A.R. So needless to say after not being able to make it last year, I knew I'd have to come this year. And come, I did.

Amy, Jenny, and I left Amy's apartment around 1:30 or so. We drove over during a quick freak down pour, which miraculously stopped by the time we had parked. Walking over, we listened to O.A.R. finish up their Acoustic set with "I Feel Home" (1 of 2 songs that I actually like of O.A.R.). After Amy purchased her ticket we wandered the different booths, getting free cds, postcards, and festival guide. We got up to the Mainstage and listened to Michael Tolcher. This was my 3rd time seeing him, so by now I actually knew most of his songs, like Mission Responsible. He did pretty good, but he and his band had to leave soon after because they had a show to do in Chicago. After he finished we shuffled the 20 ft. over to the side stage to listen to Zox, a band from Brown University. They were really good as well, rockin out the electric violin a la Yellowcard style. They're planning on coming to Cleveland on August 15th, so if i'm here on move-in day, I'm going (hint, hint, mami). After Zox, came Antigone Rising an All-Girl band. They did pretty well, but not exactly my style. Still, we stayed to give support to the only women rockers there.

Then came the FOOD BREAK! That's right, with my $8.75 I was able to get a personal pan pizza($5.50) and water($3.25)! We ate this on the side while listening to Ordinary Peoples, a pseudo-rap band, again not my style. After throwing things out, and stealing a glace at the line up times after asking a cute guy working the Everfine booth, I returned to Amy and Jenny. We then decided, after hearing that Matt would be on the Mainstage to stake out a close up spot. So we chilled at the Mainstage from Louque (who I saw open for Matt Nathanson at Fletchers) until Matt. But inbetween we heard the following acts:
Toothpick: ex. lead singer of Bad Ronald, and more or less Homeless white rapper who plays guitar. The drunken white trash loved him.
Ingram Hill: More of a Southern-feel rock group. They weren't that bad. They've opened and played with a lot of other artists I've been into like Ari and GCB.
VACO: a.k.a. Virginia Coalition, from my MD/DC/VA area. They're a jam band, and were pretty good as well. They did a cover of Blackstreet's "No Diggity" which was amazing!

Then came Matt. The Man, The Myth, The Legend. I've decided that Matt Nathanson is definately in the top spot so far for best artist of the year for me at present. He's just so humble, silly, sweet, and talented. But, enough about him, let's discuss the set. The set itself was short (only about 45 min. to an hr. ). There were actually a lot of Matt fans in the audience. People were totally rocking out, including the group of OSU guys who had staked out the middle of the Mainstage all day. He let the intros fly. The guys (Aben, John, and Chad?) each had their own solos. John rocked both the electric and string bass, which is always great. Ooh! Plus, There was definately some eye contact and smiles exchanged between me and John, which is always great since we were on the opposite side from him. Matt, of course, played 'Starfish & Coffee' and the crowd went wild. When Matt intro'd.. I want to say "Answering Machines", but I could be wrong he said "Don't just masturbate in the corner, this is our orgy! Bite a nipple!" This of course being a sexual metaphor for the sing along quality of the chorus (everyone needs the love).

So after "Answering Machine" we rush off to the signing tent. I danced and sang along to the Clarks as they played. I was a bit sad that I couldn't be up there for them, but I've seen them plenty of times, and we NEEDED a picture with Matt! To explain, last time I saw Matt in Cleveland was at the Odeon with Jenny. I took lovely pictures, and, in fact, that was the first time I saw him play. Unfortunately, when we rushed up to him after his set, while DeGraw played on, when it came time to take a picture with him (and his sweaty self), my camera didn't turn on. There we were, Matt, with his arms around Jenny and me, smiling and sitting on top of the merch table, and there was NO PICTURE! so instead we settled for wonderful hugs. Since then, both Jenny and I have wanted to get that picture with him. This was our moment.

Matt was standing in front of the signing table, not behind it. When we got up to him, I asked if we could get a picture since last time he was there we weren't able to due to camera malfunction. He said yes, but the security guy quickly reminded him he couldn't. He said sorry, but we begged
"No, but you don't understand. Remember last time you were here we tried to, but the camera didn't work."
cue Matt: "Oh yeah, the battery died!"
us: silently jumping for joy that he at least feigned remembering
me: "What if we just find you later or something"
Matt:"I'll tell you what, after The Clarks are done, I'm done signing stuff. I'll find you guys right over there. O.k?"
us: silently jumping for joy again!
us: "Yeah cool."

So he signed Jenny & Amy's ticket stubs and we rushed off to the side, skipping and dancing. A pseudo-date to meet Matt in a bit! Amy went and got water. Jenny sat down to let her legs relax. I danced around singing to the Clarks as they played "Snowman", "Better off Without You", and "On Saturday". When their set ended, we walked back over to the FYE tent and stood by a table waiting. Would he remember that he promised us a picture? Would he recognize us? Then suddenly, he walked out. About 10 or so people approached him. He took a picture with two girls. Another went up and asked for an autograph as we walked up to the group.
"Hang on," he said, scanning the crowd "I've got another picture I.." he trails off as he spots us, the three grinning girls (we are twelve years old once more).
"Thanks for waiting," he says.
"No, no thank you, this means so much to us," we say as the rain begins to fall.
I ask the guy who had just asked for the autograph to take our picture.
"Yeah, why not" he says as he tries to juggle his cd and beer in one hand and my camera in the other. "Just push the button right?"
:Flash:
"It's a really good picture," he says as he hands me back the camera.
"Thanks guys,"Matt says as we go skipping and frolicing with joy. We look at the picture through my camera. Damn, it really was a good shot.

So we try and manuver our way through the crowd listening to Howie Day, who had just started. He was the last act I wanted to see, since none of us really like O.A.R. We had lost our 2nd row spots and now were surrounded by drunk people. I've recently learned that at large shows, or in the lawn area, they're more or less unavoidable. Those 16 yr olds who are too drunk to walk, yet somehow smoking up. Personally, I think we should take all 12 year olds to concerts and stick them in these crowds, not to experiment, but to watch. After 5 secs. of being in that crowd, sober and sane, I remembered why I've never actively sought being drunk. Crowd surfing at a Howie show, is just crazy to me, but here they were doing it. It seemed to function not as an act of adventure and excitement, but more just to get some really drunk guy away from your area and laugh when he fell on the concreate. The girls crowd surfing were a different matter. All apparently wearing either a jean or ruffle skirt(it's that damn skirt again!) and some tank top, just asking to be ripped off. I have no sympathy for the girls, alas, but again they were the sad reminder as to why I would never let some stranger touch me without proper clothing (i.e. sports bra and 2 or 3 pairs of underwear until shorts a la HFStival style).

Howie played a nice set, much long than all the other bands since he was the opener for O.A.R. (the band all the drunk kids came to throw up to). We however spent most of our time trying to stay together avoiding the group of drunk boys threatening to "beat the shit" out of each other for some trivial reason that could probably have been caused because of their alcoholic state. As the set came to a close we made our way out of T.C.A. and walked by to the car hearing the cheers for Howie as he got off stage. We had made it out!

The show overall was tons of fun, lots of music, lots of sweaty people, lots of expensive water, a.k.a. the usual music festival kind of day.

oh p.s. There are pictures at lislis.net

#29 the Getaway Car, Fountains of Wayne, and They Might Be Giants

So tonight was another Live On Penn show. Why did it take me so long to discover this? Actually I remember hearing about this last year because Graham Colton played there 2 or so summers ago, but still. This was probably the one show I went into knowing the least amount of music so far this year. Although I have two FOW cds on my laptop, I rarely listen to them. Furthermore, I only knew one TMBG song (tragedy I know)! I had faith, however, in the cult following of TMBG. Plus, Jay loves them and I trust both Jay and Chase's music taste. Let me tell you, so glad i do!

I took Dana & Kat with me. LOP (why does my hand say LOP? oh! L.O.P.!) has become Kat and I's little tradition since she came with me to Eve 6 two weeks ago. Dana actually knew a lot of FOW (she introduced me to them years ago) and her brother is a fan of TMBG, so she knew three of their songs (better than my one). We arrived right as the Getaway Car took the stage. I had actually seend them when Eric Hutchinson opened for them..last year I think. When I heard them then it was an acoustic show (it was at Jammin Java's if that will explain it). Anyways, they did pretty well. I think they would have been more well suited opening for Eve 6, but I could totally see them becoming bigger and still owning the stage.

Fountains of Wayne were great as well. I don't remember much of their set, but they played Hackensack, Red Dragon Tattoo, Mexican Wine.. and lots of other songs that I can't name right now. Of course, Stacy's mom was rocked out. I left Pho a voicemail of it since he's in Vietnam right now, but I can't hear that song without thinking of him. Last summer he rewrote the lyrics and serenaded me to them in Cleveland during our road trip when I was having a really bad moment. And of course, in his nature, he made me cry and smile all in one try (he always yells at me when I cry with him because he thinks people will think he's a horrible person when really he's the best). So, while I had the cell phone in my pocket, I was able to get a clip of the chorus on video, which is available with all the pictures I took of the show here. As Dana said, they're an amazing band that isn't actually that hot. Which proves, you don't actually have to be hot to rock. Even as teenage girls, we know hotness isn't the ultimate factor in talent (in fact it's not a factor at all!).

TMBG never had a sound check, so the break until them was a bit longer. However, it was managable due to a certain roadie's acrobatic routine which dealt with climbing up the metal tower sides and walking across the lights and then swinging back down. It made me want to be a roadie, it was just that inspiring. TMBG had a whole light and fog show. The walked out to a Rockin' Opera song (it's that cliche'd one that Kat can't name). As they came out, man was there a cheer! After their first song confetti flew out (100 ft max) into the crowd. After that, I think we knew we were in for a show. They Might Be Giants are Pros, that's all I can say. They're hilarious, they have catchy, random, funny songs, great chemistry, and great crowd interaction. They had a "dance contest" about 5 songs in. There was lots of clapping, jumping, dancing, screaming, cheering, laughing... just tons! I think Guster got at least a bit of vibin' and inspiration from them, because they're one of the bands I've seen recently that reminded me of TMBG. There were 3 twelve year old girls next to me who were die hard fans; it was crazy! The audience loved them though, and we did as well. Kat named it by far one of the most amusing concerts ever, and I totally agree. One of the last songs before the encore consisted of "meaningful audience eye contact". It also had the "copyrighted wave" which was amazingly fun WOOSH that went through the crowd of FIVE THOUSAND!! But yes, very cool. I must also remember to buy the Move On comp. CD that they and FOW, R.E.M., and lots of other importantly amazing bands are on.

OH! If you want to see some TMBG lovin' check out their video a la Homestar Runner (that's for you Case kids) here.

p.s. I leave for Ohio today, so probably no updates until I get to Cleveland, at which point I will be getting ready for FBTE (I'll probably write up a brief history of it before the review)!

#28 Gavin DeGraw

So today's adventure revolved around Gavin DeGraw. He started @ 6 and played until 7:30. No opener. Free show, part of the Orioles Concert series. Outside, across the street from the Eutaw entrance to Camden Yards.

We arrived at 5 and snuck into the VIP area (yay for saving $20 each!). He actually played a really good set. Grace, of course, got a copy of the set list (Bryan the guitarist's). So I will try and steal the whole set list, but what I remember is: Just Friends, Chariot, Chemical Party, Meaning, Let's Get It On(yay!), Belief, Dreams (Solo as encore), Follow Through, Crush, Cop Stop...yeah, that's what I remember. Alas, he didn't play Dancin' Shoes, but it was still great. Grace, of course, got the set list signed, but was unable to get a picture due to the unruly mob. Which, if you want to see pictures, here is the link.

I Loved most of this crowd (ex. the screaming girls), so much more than the crowd at the 9:30 club before. I really do like his new songs, can't wait for his next album. 'Chariot Stripped' will have to hold me over though I guess.

#27 Graham Colton Band/Counting Crows

So last minute I finally settled on going to see the Counting Crows and the Graham Colton Band. I had been iffy on it due to the $35 lawn seat price. Fortunately I avoided the silly ticketmaster charge by just driving the 2 miles over to the box office this fine morning. I went prepared to chill outside under the stars listening to amazing music by myself. That means: American Eagle beach towel, MP3 CD player, "Porno" the book, sunglasses, ticket, and the cellphone.

Graham Colton Band: the set was surprisingly short (only a 1/2 hr), but what I remember from the set was sending a note, cigarette, accident of youth, first week, Morning Light, and Don't Give Up On Me. Graham did however wear the same shirt that Ryan wore @ the Recher theatre, the "We FM shirt".

So it took almost an hour for Counting Crows to set up, but let me just say WELL WORTH IT! According to Adam and the guys, tonight was their last show for almost forever! They had flown in the family and everything. Which made the $35 ticket well worth it. In fact it even made the crazy stumbling 16 druken potheads next to me tolerable. Why? They played every single one of my fav songs of theirs. Mr. Jones(acoustic), Long December, Anna Begins, Colorblind, Accidentally In Love, Rain King with a Raining in Baltimore tease, Mrs. Potter Lullaby, and every single other amazing song. They even threw in 4 White Stallions which was a song from before the officail Counting Crow days. Not to mention the starry back drops they went from. I'm extremely glad i decided to go, it reminded me why I loved listening to them all year so much. I wish Stentz had a cell phone so i could have called him during the songs, but no he's anti-cell phones. He's probably the only person who would have appreciated that concert as much as I did.

Alas, I didn't take any pictures, but I'm sure if I find any I'll link them up. Oh! I ran into Leah at the show. I can't believe I never thought of asking her about it. We both have way too good of music taste, it is true. Anyways I'm off to sing "Accidentally in Love" while watching the Karate Kid.

On one final note, I drove Sticky to the show and have firmly decided that driving stick (or Manual as NY kids call it), is like riding a bike: You never forget.

#26 Artscape

There's something that I love about the summertime. Free festivals! Artscape is this big block party thrown by the city of Baltimore with a DJ stage, tons of food, amazing crafts and freebies, and FREE CONCERTS! I had wanted to go down on Saturday to see the Violent Femmes, but alas did the baby-sitting thing instead (get paid to play pool, chill w/ cool kids, eat pizza, and watch Disney!). On Sunday, however, were two important groups: Poncho Sanchez and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

The importance of Poncho Sanchez was that it motivated my Daddy to take me down, which meant no paying for parking or getting lost! Plus, I'm a daddy's girl (obviously) so chilling with my dad at a concert taking pictures sounds AMAZING to me. Now, anyone in my family can tell you that I don't dance. At least not around family. Well, during Poncho I did indeed dance! That right there will say something. The music was totally: Elis chillin at home in Bmore on a summer day; or Elis, chillin in the winter in Puerto Rico. Point is, quite good. Since the dad is the pro in this music genre I'll let you read his review.
Meanwhile I'll focus on BBVD. While they are a swing band, they definately captured that Dixie land/New Orleans kind of feel. They hype up the crowd and played their hits. What was nice was that you could see they were all into it. The bassist slapped the strings with a grin underneath his fly hat. Any music that makes people dance is AMAZING (ex. line dancing doesn't count).

Conclusion: What stands out to me the most from the show is the fact that both bands were having fun up on stage. Those slap happy grins are sticking out. It's amazing seeing how the audience and band can vibe off each other.

50 First Concerts

Once upon a time, not long ago a lovely girl named Elis had the crazy idea of choosing a very special New Years Resolution. What was this resolution? To see 50 concerts in one year. Had she ever kept any resolutions in the past? No. Had she ever even made a New Years resolution in the past that she could remember? Doubtful. So why did she commit to this? Very good question.

I, being that lovely girl, had been doing the concert thing all my life. I have memories of going to the Detriot Jazz Festival when I was probably 12 and rollerblading around to the music. Even before that, I remember seeing Ruben Blades with my family and cousin Mario in Baltimore. Music itself has been a part of my family since..forever. I have those memories of summer mornings waking up to Gregorian Chants (love my daddy for that). Or how about my daddy playing 'Guess the Composer/Jazz musician', having to pick apart Charlie Parker and Monk (simple) or Mozart and Handel(easy). I did the violin thing for twelve years before dropping it when I went to college (parents loved that). Point being, I was more than a little into music before deciding on this conquest.

That being said, i don't think that it hit me that there are only 52 weeks in a year. Which more or less meant I would need a concert every week. Neither did it strike me that concerts are on average $20 a night; some a bit more (HFStival, Jason Mraz); and some a bit less (Live on Penn, Artscape). It it would average out to $20 with Parking and ticket fees easily. With that in mind, I quickly realized that my poor college fund would not be able to sustain my $1,000 goal.

I am now at the 25 show mark. Today will by my 26th with Artscape today (fortunately a free Baltimore festival). I've decided to document from here forth in order to keep up my confidence in this adventure. At present I have probably only $100 in my account and quite a few shows left to go. I know now how big of a goal this is, but I've made it 1/2 way so I am determined to see it through. My parents, while probably not excited for my financial consequences, have surprisingly been supportive/understanding about needing to reach my final destination.

Wish me luck!