5/10-16: Low-Key Birthday Adventures

Whilst reading the C-ville Weekly -- Way to tell it like it is.

Wednesday 5/10 - I got sick of being at home so I made a phone call and took off toward Philadelphia. I slept in a rest area in Delaware and got some of the best sleep I've had in months.

Thursday 5/11 - I got up early and headed into the city with the intent of maybe finding a job. O, idealism! I parked my car at a point of reference in South Philly and walked to where I thought I could get a job. I was disappointed to find that the position had already been filled but I left my email just in case. I felt awkward because I had no phone number to give them. I piddled around outside of Philly toward Ardmore for the rest of the day. I then showed up at Jesse/Justin/John's place in west Philly and relaxed for a while. Some friend of theirs recognized me from a Dr. Dog show in Baltimore which I thought was weird and random. I went to sleep on the couch at some point and then people came home in the middle of the night and were real loud. I slipped my ears plugs in and went back to sleep.


Martha, the unresponsive cat sits on the counter at the house I stayed at in West Philly

Friday 5/12 - I got up and went for a grand walk around the city and got a wicked sunburn. I ventured further into West Philly and then turned around and headed toward Center City. I made a point to stop at WaWa and get a meatball sub.......I mean, hoagie. It wasn't nearly as good as a Sheetz sub and it was uber messy. I thought it was good that I was walking rather than driving because I would never have been able to drive while eating the damn thing.


WaWa hoagie < Sheetz sub

I walked along the Schuylkill River toward the art museum then to the free library where I spent hours looking at books about exploration and writing down the names of the ones I wanted to read. Then I sat at a fountain and watched kids play near town hall. My feet were killing me by then so I started to head back to West Philly. Ramon showed up and we helped the Moynihans clean the house for the party/show/BBQ. There was all this talk of BBQ so I was getting excited in anticipation of delicious meat. Oh, how wrong was I -- no one told me it was going to be a VEGAN BBQ!


O, deception! Where's the meat?!

People came and I ate the food anyhow. It was alright, I guess. People played the show in the huge downstairs room at the place I stayed at. Ramon played last because it was his going away show. It was amazing; he was backed by Make A Rising (aka the people that lived there). Very bittersweet. People I knew were there and people I didn't know were there. Everyone was really nice and I made a lot of new friends. I had fun catching up with some old ones, too. Jesse, the fellow that I stayed with the first time I went to Philly, told me about how he's graduating and already has a sweet teacking job lined up. I spoke with the Dr. Dog folks about things, too. I now have a ride from Boston to DC on this upcoming tour so yay! At around 12:30, I fell asleep on the couch with ear plugs in. The party was still going full force downstairs with a dance party. When the music came to an abrupt halt, I woke up. I think it was 1 or 2 something. People started to come upstairs. I noticed that the mood had changed drasticly while I had slept: people had gotten piss drunk. One poor girl puked on the other couch then puked in the bathroom. She then passed out on the couch and would stay there till morning. Her boyfriend cleaned up the puke, God bless him. While I had slept, people had been wrestling and Ramon gave some guy a bloody nose. That guy and Ramon kept talking to the girl passed out on the couch. I asked her about it in the morning and she didn't really remember. People that had previously been wearing shirts weren't anymore. People were on the roof drinking and being silly. Later, people were on the roof making out and who-knows-what-else. Ramon made a lot of strange noises when he was drunk. He and passed-out-girl's boyfriend closed out the night with peppermint shanaps and a horrible attempt at making music. Around 5am, the last 2 finally went to sleep; Ramon on the floor in his sleeping bag and the other fellow tried to fit on the couch with his girl but soon found it impossible and moved up to the loft.


Spooky and Ramon slept in on Saturday

Saturday 5/13 - I opened my eyes early enough to see Jesse Moynihan smile at me and head out for the day. That was the last I saw of him. I went back to sleep and the next time I woke up, the girl was awake so we talked a little about the previous night. She and her boyfriend left around 10, I think. I went back to sleep yet again and I think the next time I woke up, Justin was walking around in his boxers. I think I was in and out of sleep until 1 or so. Poor little Ramon woke up even later and he was still drunk and silly whilst eating his breakfast cereal. I laid around pretty much all day trying to decide what I wanted to do. Justin and company were heading to an all night Indian peace concert in New York but details were getting screwed up and no one knew what was going on. When things finally came together and they were set to leave, they found Martha the cat stuck in some razor wire on a fence and so Justin had to rush her to the animal ER. I went along. While there, the van got towed. Not only poor Martha, but poor Justin too. Literally. Somewhere in there, Ramon had rushed off to find a phone charger. Jesse had gone to his high school reunion. In order to not get totally bummed, Justin decided to still go to the concert with his friends. I left when he left so I wasn't sure what would happen to the cat or the van but Justin said he'd take care of it. Oh, and speaking of bummed -- that morning, we discovered that passed-out-girl's boyfriend had tagged the house 6 or 7 times. And his tag? BUMMER.


The War On Drugs @ the North Star Bar

I left and went to see The War On Drugs at the North Star Bar. I was pretty impressed with myself because instead of using mapquest for directions, I just looked at a map of the city and got there fine. I only had 7/8 of the required money to get into the show. Luckily some stranger provided me with the other dollar to get in. Not only that but, Scott, Sharon, and Justin showed up and I babbled about my birthday being the next day and wanting a drink because I was poor and also thirsty so Sharon bought me a Shirley Temple (my birthday beverage of choice). (Scott and Justin are in Dr. Dog. Sharon is Scott's girlfriend and the owner of the grill used to bar-b-q all that non-meat.) I sat with them and some other people and listened to the conversations and shared some, as well. Turns out Justin was born in Woodville which is this tiny place just down the road from where I live. Sharon relayed a joke Toby made up that didn't make any sense. What is two plus tube? Tubes. The War On Drugs played first and I watched. They were pretty good; I can also see how they'd play with Nethers. Like, I thought it was sorta neat how the Carlsonics used to play with the Capitol Years and now Nethers play with the War On Drugs. How perfect is that? I'm probably the only one that knows enough about the bands to get it. After their set, Justin told Kyle (he's in the War On Drugs and the Capitol Years) that I was actually part of a group of clones and that there was one of me in every major North American city. I said hello to Shai (he's in those bands Kyle is too) and he was just as awkward as last time. I watched Blood Feathers who actually turned out to be quite good, then said goodbye to folks and took off toward DC. I got tired and pulled into a hotel parking lot somewhere between Baltimore and DC. That sleep didn't last long; a security guy knocked on my window and woke me up and made me leave. I think he felt kinda bad about it, though. I was ready to pass out but I somehow made it to the Jones' and passed out in my car outside of their house in Silver Spring.

Sunday 5/14 - Mr. J woke me up and let me in the house at about 9 and I went to sleep on the couch downstairs. Every once and a while, I'd hear the broken clock chime in my sleep and it would freak me out. Funny thing -- the birds never bother me but the damn clock scares me. I finally got up because Nick was dusting in the room I was sleeping in. I got up and Mrs. J gave me a loaf of asiago bread and a check for my birthday. I called my mom to tell her I was alive and say happy mother's day. I called the Moynihans to see how things turned out with the cat and Ramon answered the phone. He said Martha was recovering ok. I told him that I'm sorry I didn't get to say a formal goodbye but I'm glad I got to see him before he left on his big trip. He said not to worry because I'd see him again. Ramon always makes me feel really good. He's not just an amazing musician, but he's an amazing person as well. Even if he does make strange noises when he's drunk.

I showered then I finally set up an appointment to meet with Michelle Soy Sauce Chin to pay her back the $210.00 I've owed her for a year. I went to Giant and bought some Sprite and grenadine to make my birthday beverage then met up with Michelle at Five Below in Aspen Hill. We talked a whole bunch and I gave her presents I got her in Seattle. She bought some junk like a fart detector. I bought some peanut butter cups. We reluctantly said our goodbyes and I went back to the Jones' to get ready for the show.


Mirror image: the Independents + donuts

The Independents showed up and then the show happened. It was actually pretty low-key. I spent the first 3 bands putting pictures on a disk on the computer and then talking to Andrew Guterman who I hadn't seen in a while. I watched the Revelevens who had gotten a whole lot better since I last saw them and then the Independents who I love even if their singer, Evil creeps me out. He kept making passes at everyone in the audience and he knew it was my birthday so he picked on me the most. He said that if I went to the show the next night in Baltimore he'd give me a pineapple which is something I really wanted for my birthday. I sat around and talked with folks afterwards. I slept upstairs on the tiny couch because I was freaked out about sleeping in the same house as someone named Evil so I figured if the band was in the basement I should be as far away as possible.

Monday 5/15 - I got up and decided I'd drive to Richmond. I took my time and enjoyed the drive down. I stopped at Sheetz in Ashland for gas and I peed in a bathroom where it was so cold that I could see my breath. Instead of hitting up stores in Carytown like I normally would, I decided that wasn't a good idea what with the budget and all and headed to Belle Isle. I got across the bridge and to my left there were some people taking sexy pictures. There were 3 black guys and one white chick. The white chick was wearing a bra and booty shorts and she was on top of one of the fellows pretending to choke him. This guy was shirtless and totally ripped. He also had chains around his hands and feet. One of the other fellows was giving instructions and the other fellow was taking photographs of the scene. Awkward.


I have no clue what was going on here...

There were lots of people on the island. Some were laying in the sun some playing in the water, some fishing, some walking, some biking, some rock climbing. I played on the rocks and took pictures of a bunch of stuff. I found a dead turtle and played with that for a little bit. I wanted to spend forever on the island but I knew that if I wanted to not pay for this show, I'd better get there early.


Belle Isle: hard to believe it's in the middle of the city

People were already lined up at Alley Katz for this show. I was nervous because they all looked........well, not to stereotype or anything but they all looked emo-y and high schoolish. I was there to see Men, Women, & Children who I had seen open for Islands and Metric in Philly. I had no clue who any of the other bands were on this tour. Lots and lots of waiting occured and I probably creeped people out with my loitering. The show started and the band I came to see wasn't there yet. I started to get nervous thinking that maybe I had wasted my time and should have gone to Baltimore instead. The band finally showed up and loaded in quickly. Nick remembered me and I got guestlisted. I watched them play and the crowd seemed to enjoy it just as much as I did. They're a really rare band in the fact that they will fit in more than one nitche. They can open for bands like Metric and Islands or some emo-scremo band and it works well either way. Nick offered me a drink which I declined but don't think I decined the pizza he offered! A nice slice of cheese pizza -- thanks, Nick! We talked for a bit but it was hard to hear anything because the music was loud and the crowd was huge. The place was packed to see the main band. I'd never heard of them -- 30 Seconds To Mars. Nick said I probably wouldn't like them and he was right. They were downright HORRIBLE. I felt bad because I like almost everything I'm exposed to but this band was just plain rotten. I felt even worse when Nick told me that the singer was actually actor Jared Leto who used to play Jordan Catalano on My So-Called Life. He mentioned a bunch of recent movies that Leto had been in but I don't watch movies so Jordan Catalano was the only point of reference I had.


Figure 1.1 - the digression of Jared Leto

Holy shit -- who was that ugly fucker on stage wearing the most atrocious black outfit and caked in black makeup?! Not only did he look bad but he sounded bad, as well. He had the stereotypical emo-screamo vocals which I could only take for so long. People were really into it, too! I mean, moshing and crowd-surfing and shit! What really made it unbearable was the fact that Leto wouldn't shutup. Between songs, he insisted on saying "fuck" every other word. I can recall seeing punk bands like that when I was younger and thinking they were completely silly. I haven't subjected myself to something like that in a long time and now I know why -- it's annoying. I sincerely hope Jared Leto is just in this band to strengthen his acting skills because my God, he's annoying. Fuck this. Fuck that. Motherfucker. UGGGH! How about shut the fuck up. Less talk, more rock, ok? Like, he wasn't even funny or interesting. He kept saying shit like, "You know, I've seen a lot of crowds on this tour but I think that RICHMOND, VIRGINIA is the best! You guys know how to fuckin' rock!" Oh, puh-lease. I wanted to march on stage, wipe the black shit off his eyes, take the microphone from him and say, "You know what? Just stop. Please. No more, ok? Go back to acting for movies or whatever." Halfway though the set, I felt like I was going to kill someone so I left. Nick said he didn't blame me but he told me not to hold it against Jared Leto because he's still a pretty good actor.

I drove to Charlottesville and slept peacefully in a hotel parking lot.

Tuesday 5/16 - I woke up between 9 and 10 and walked into the hotel to pee. The free continential breakfast looked particularly friendly and inviting so I partook. This was no ordinary shitty free continential breakfast, though. I ate 4 pieces of french toast, 2 bowls of apples and cinnamon oatmeal, a boiled egg, a glass of orange juice, and a cup of delicious orange-flavored tea. I actually liked the tea so much that I took two packets with me so I could remember what kind it was. I'm actually drinking it as I type this. The next step was to find a place to unload my photos onto a disk. I went to Piedmont (PVCC) but the whole school was undergoing reconstruction so the computer lab had been cleared out. I showed up at my aunt's house but no one was home so I went in and used her computers. I've never had so much trouble burning a cd before....but I finally figured it out and left in a hurry because I felt like I had broken in. I wanted to take a shower but I figured that if I had done that and she had come home she'd get really freaked out. Instead, I went back to the hotel and got in the pool. The thing is, the pool was outside and it was freezing cold so I only got in half way. I changed my clothes in the car and felt slightly refreshed. Next I headed to a library to waste time and charge my camera battery. While at the library, I read a magazine about the Blueridge Mountains that I liked a lot. I leafed though some hip ladies magazine published by some female organization at UVa. Oh, yeah. And I cringed at Cosmopolitan. Have you ever read that magazine? I used to read Heather's magazines in high school so I knew what was up. Essentially, Cosmo is smut presented in the classiest way possible. Like, it hurts to read it but I read it anyway -- it's just like tv! I read the section where readers divulged secrets about things they've done to other people and I've come to the conclusion that Cosmo readers are all immoral heartless catty bitches that have lots of boyfriends and sex and expensive purses and shoes. Cosmo sucks but it helped me waste time while my camera battery charged so I could go out and capture all of my real life awesome girly girl adventures in pictures.

By the way, having sex with your clothes on is "in". And if you tell a guy that you're not wearing underwear, he'll get really turned on and want to do you hardcore.

Waiting, waiting, waiting. If you want free things........no! If you're on a budget, expect lots of waiting. I read the C-ville Weekly in front of Plan 9 on the Corner and tried my hand at sudoku for the very first time. Damn. What an efficient way to waste time. Ever read the Phantom Tollbooth? Sudoku is totally like moving a pile of sand with tweezers, emptying a well with a thimble, or digging a hole with a needle. Eventually, I saw the fellows from Think About Life and decided I should say hello. After explaining that I had seen them up in Montreal and enjoyed their music immensely, Martin invited me to have dinner with them at the restaurant upstairs. There were 5 of them total: Martin, Graham, & Matt made up the band. Jack was an artist. Brendan was.......well, I wasn't sure about him just yet. He was a friend from Williamsburg, VA as far as I knew. I shared a plate of food with Martin and I must admit, the stuff was just too healthy for me. I tried the eggroll but it tasted too much like peppers to be enjoyable. I tried hummus for the first time; it was ok. It tasted like cold falafal. Martin made me eat two pieces of celery because "it's good for you". I related my vegan BBQ story to my new friends and Jack said that it wasn't anyone's responsibility to say that it was a vegan BBQ and in fact, he thought that if there was going to be meat people should specify that it's a meat BBQ. On my way out of the restaurant, Tucker Duncan (No Shame Theatre, Poetry Slams) stopped me and said hello. I hadn't seen him in a very long time and I wouldn't have recognized him because he shaved his head.


Jack's mushroom portabella

Sure enough, my new friends helped me stay on my budget and I got in without paying. I did however spend the $12 bucks to get their cd which is totally rad. I really dig the artwork and packaging as well. I watched soundcheck and did more sudoku to pass the time. People started to come in and Think About Life played. I'm not sure what people thought -- they were mostly unresponsive. Back at the merch table, Jack was selling his wares -- posters he had drawn. I was really excited because I had seen so many of his posters before! First up in Montreal and then on the internet all over the place. I pointed out the poster for the Hot Springs/Telefauna show I went to last year at Pop Montreal and he told me that Giselle from the Hot Springs was his girlfriend and they met when he drew her on the poster. He started to say something about Brendan Reed and then I realized that I knew who Brendan was. When I saw Alden Penner in Philly, he asked in I knew Brendan because we're both from Virginia. Evidently, they play music together sometimes. Huzzah for connections!


Think About Life: Graham, Martin, & Matt

I sat through Robocop Kraus and Art Brut's sets but I was mostly unimpressed. To be honest, I didn't think much of either band. I think a lot had to do with the crowd -- the crowd was small and mostly non-responsive. From reviews I had read, I was expecting a huge, sold-out show with lots of crazy people really into it. Most of the people there were older than I had imagined and only a few were dancing. The singer talked a lot and actually, I couldn't tell the difference between singing and talking. All of the little things that sounded like they were just asides were actually part of the songs, I think. I thought it was kinda weird that Bartley (Stabones) was there. I said hello briefly and he introduced me to his girlfriend. I said goodbye to my Montreal friends and left as Art Brut finished.

I drove home and made a point to shower before climbing into bed.

This trip's budget can be found here.