Losing my grasp on the few gripholds I have left around here
Current mood: bummed
Category: Life

So I've slacked on my blogs for a LONG TIME.  I think the last was Debbie's diagnosis, in April.  Debbie passed on Saturday, April 5th in the afternoon, she was surrounded by family and friends.  I called her house around 1:30 or 2pm to contact my mother, where I was told to say my goodbye and that I loved her over the phone, because she had lost consciousness.  Ten minutes later Mom was knocking on my door with Marge in tow to tell me the sad news.  Plans were made for her wake and funeral, all being very somber about it all.  I held off the tears until the wake, for Carolyn's the one that started my waterworks when she handed me my own framed photo of Debbie - to remember her by.  The funeral the next morning was pleasant, with Marge and Joanne both speaking for her at College Church, and the reception following at the American Legion in Easthampton for the majority of the afternoon.

As if the day was sad, it needed some happy events.  Bill and I attended Marc & Tonya's wedding the same night of Debbie's passing.  It was a beautiful reception - at the Hotel Northampton, great food, great people, happy occasion, and everyone all so dressed up!  You will RARELY catch me in a dress like I was that night.  We got a chance to duck over to the Calvin later in the evening to check up on Carolyn and say "hi" - and photos ensued of the two of us (being dressed up like that and all). 

We've worked a bunch of shows at the Calvin since - Umphree's McGee (yuck), Dar Williams (w/ Shawn Mullins & the Nields sisters), Buddy Guy, George Carlin, Hanson, and ???

The year of death continued with the passing of Stephanie, who attended many a Geraldine's show for Bill, Zodiak, and various other bands;  the brother of our dear friend Jonathan Lemme;  and the mother of one of Bill's friends.  This year has sucked so far with this BS that keeps happening.  :-(

I'm going to Jail again!  I'm participating in the MDA Lock Up 2008 at the Northampton Brewery on June 11th.  Basically, I go to "jail," and then I hit up all my friends to donate towards my "Bail" - all of which is going towards charity.  If you'd like to donate on my behalf, or even Bill's (for we are both doing it this year), please contact one of us, we will direct you as to how to donate online, or just give us cash (we CAN and WILL write receipts for your tax purposes) when you see us out n about.  OR, you can CLICK HERE to donate to my account (it's all MDA set-up accounts and I have raised NOTHING online, so please help me out!!!)

Dead By Wednesday returned to WMass in April, as I strove to attend their show and MISSED their set at the Waterfront.  I was still able to chill a bit with Opus, Csechi, Ross and the others, as well as the guys fron Our Darkest Day, and Thy Will Be Done, accompanied by thrusts of devil horns going every which way in some type of trend started by Vincent from The Acacia Strain...interesting.  Hardcore's gotten so funny lately, all the kids buy these "straight-edge" t-shirts and stuff, yet they go apeshit for bands like TWBD even though they're planning on smoking up in the back lot.  :-P

I have discovered how fun PinBall is again.  And the only bar I know of that has a machine is Club Meadows.  The Sopranos - YAY!  So...if you're dragged out to the Meadows and there is a boring cover band playing and you're not really drinking because you've got a hell of a drive home like I do so you're not drunk enough to be compelled to sing along like a mindless idiot...play pinball, it's worth it.  Or even:  the bowling game.  Guaranteed amusement.

Bill did a lot of yardwork for me while I was at work.  So I promised him I'd bring him to the Motorcross show at the MassMutual Center.  Ohhhhh man, did that throw me into coniptions and made me wonder who would have the first wipeout (thankfully there were none!).  I ran into Big Brother Joey and his girlfriend Kim (he bought me a beer and chatted for awhile for he doesn't visit his 'adopted family' anymore), Shawn's cousin Wendy as well, Chris from Badmagick, and Jamison Nevins was out with his son!   Making a night out of it, I treated Bill also to Uno's seems we had a coupon as well.

We experience our first visit to the Sierra Grille (aka The Baystate) at the beginning of May -  Rabbit Rabbit & the Swill Merchants.  Wasn't impressed with the bar particularly ( BBC Raspberry only being served in an 8 ounce glass and being charged FULL PRICE?!? wtf?), show was good though, a good solid crowd in attendence, and a decent admission price.

Bill played his first gig with his new band Cryptic Reign in the beginning of May too.  What a place they played in.  The El Cid.  Middle of fuckin' nowhere, I say.  Bar wasn't bad inside, still wasn't really estatic about it.  We ran around because Bill also had to play sound guy as well as sing, so we borrowed various eqiupment and somehow packed EVERYTHING into my tiny-ass car.  Show went okay,  Zodiak was up first, followed by Cryptic Reign, and then....Diatribe didn't want to go last so they left and never came back...so Bill played acoustic!   After everything was broken down that night...I said fuck taking the freakin' Pike home...I had little gas as it was...so I took the way through Granby, Amherst, Hadley, and ended up by the bridge by my house!  Easy!

Sadly, one thing we experience is the ending of bands.  State Of Fate ended their long-run on May 17th at Maximum Capacity.  I had to go to wish them all well.  Roxxy stopped by as well and we partied like we once did years ago when we'd be the only ones in the audience.  It was sad but fun...being able to rock out to all the songs I've loved since I first saw them play 3 years ago.  They even dragged me up to do a car-bomb with them! 

We returned to Paper City Brewery this past Friday, to see Tailor Made and Fear The State.  Fun times.  We even tutored House for his first outing out to the Brewery.  We'll be back for more when Whiskey Fist plays.

I'm sick of going to festival local shows.  The Soiree did it for me last week.  Nothing against it...but I'm sick of having to get my butt in gear at 4pm to be at the bar for 30 minutes of each band, and 15 minutes of set up inbetween each band.  I've just grown tired, and I think I've missed more bands because we weren't there earlier than 11pm each night.  I can't afford to sit at the bar all night drinking either. 

My Memorial Day Party.  Thank you to everyone who said they'd go...and didn't bother.  THANK YOU to JP & Amanda, Lindah, Gary, Vinny, Drake, Jacques & Sara, and whoever I missed that did show up.  I go through the trouble to make everyone feel welcome at my home, and invite you to meet my family and have a good time and I just feel like I've been completely blown off...by EVERYONE. 
Whatever...you guys won't see me out for awhile.  This scene has gone from supporting friends to being run by cliques and on a 'who-you-know' basis - it's not what it once was (I'm not saying that any particular band sucks or is better than others, it's just the unity isn't there anymore).  Gigs aren't a variety anymore like they were 2-3 years ago.  It's depressing for me to admit that, but heck, it's true!  I can't even go out on weekends without spending at least $100 and then worry myself half to death on whether I'll be able to afford my bills this month.  I've exhausted myself for years, making me dreary-eyed for work the next day, making myself hung-over, spending plenty of freakin cash over the years...I've tried, I have, and I'm just, tired now.  I don't want to go out all the time like I used to, I don't have a thrill for it anymore.  I don't find the joy I used to have when I'd go rock out to a band on the weekends.  It's gone...I've lost it.

I was cleaning my pet fish tank today and added fresh water when I looked out my kitchen window and caught a black bear climbing over my fence from the neighbor'd yard.  I was like "No fucking way, you're out NOW" and ran to the back door so I could yell at it.  So basically it watched a dumb human yelling "SHOO! GIT!" and ran the wrong way into the freakin' CORNER of the yard where there isn't an easy escape for it, and promptly sat down to wait me out while I stood on my back stoop, ready to retreat indoors if need be.  From what I described the bear to Dad like, it's still a cub but more like 2 years old, for it was slightly larger than my parent's dog Luna.  Dad said he'd call a cousin of ours who's in the EPA but I never heard from him tonight, so I retreated in the house, snuck over to my car (I was planning on going out so I had left the camera in the car), grabbed my camera, and came around the side of the house, spooking the bear into running away.  Well, it jumped up the fence and stood on it (good hardy chainlink that it is), and balanced itself against a tree, staring at me while I took a couple of photos,  then he walked off into the neighbor's yard (so I started yelling at it to SHOO and GIT again because I know that family has a small child but I don't think they were home), and disappeared into another. 

Currently listening : Portions for Foxes By Rilo Kiley Release date: 2008-01-13

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Fourth Stage
Current mood: sad
Category: Life

My mom and I went to visit Debbie this afternoon.  We weren’t in their for more than 2 minutes when her family showed up for a family meeting and we got the boot.

From what Debbie’s sister told my mother, is that she’s in the fourth stage of cancer, the doctors didn’t catch it beforehand because they always thought that her problems were because of her "asthma."  In the past 6 months, she’s been in and out of the hospital (meaning a stay of more than one night) an average of once a month! 

They couldn’t determine whether it was pancreatic or liver cancer.  It’s not looking good for her and they’ve only got her hopped up on morphine.  We left Cooley Dick really upset.  I can’t believe this is happening to Debbie, so quickly.    I really don’t like saying that there is no hope for her either.  Fourth stage cancer is the worst stage, right???? 

Currently listening : The Beauty of the Rain By Dar Williams Release date: 18 February, 2003

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Wake Up
Current mood: sweet
Category: sweet Music

I'm gonna ride this plane out of your life again
I wish that I could stay, but you argue
More than this I wish, you could've seen my face
In backseats staring out, the window

I'll do anything for you
Kill anyone for you

So leave yourself intact
'Cause I will be coming back
In a phrase to cut these lips
I love you

The morning will come
In the press of every kiss
With your head upon my chest
Where I will annoy you
With every waking breath
Until you decide to wake up

I've earned through hope and faith
On the curves around your face
That I'm the one you'll hold forever
If morning never comes for either one of us
Then this I pray to you wherever

I'll do anything for you
This story is for you
I'll do anything for you
Kill anyone for you

So leave yourself intact
'Cause I won't be coming back
In a phrase to cut these lips
I loved you

The morning will come
In the press of every kiss
With your head upon my chest
Where I will annoy you
With every waking breath
Until you decide to wake up

The morning will come
In the press of every kiss
With your head upon my chest
Where I will annoy you
With every waking breath
'Til you decide to wake up

Currently listening : Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness By Coheed & Cambria Release date: 20 September, 2005

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Catching up til Vaca...
Current mood: chipper
Category: Life

Just a short blog, just to tell what I've been up to since the 14th...

So up to the end of July, Bill & I have:
1.  hit the Hooked CD Release party w/ Untitled,  & Pallet
2.  I worked the Randy Newman show at the Calvin (think "Short People" and "You've Got A Friend In Me")
3.  We worked the Johnny Lang (young guitar prodigy) at the Calvin
4.  Hit a Pallet Party that got busted by the cops, but Bill & Robbie were still able to jam for most of the night.
5.  Spent a Saturday night at my family's cottage in Goshen after we watched a fireworks show at a benefit in Williamsburg, and ran into a LOT of people I went to school with.
6.  Saw the Smithereens sing "Girl Like You" at Stearns Square.
7.  Celebrated my leaving town by seeing State Of Fate & Lourds play at Max Cap, coincidently running into mr. Scott Allen, in guise of surprising his brother Robbie!
8.  The Greenfield Rock Fest
9.  Taking an all nighter by hitting one of Bill's Monday night gigs, and then getting home just in time to take off for the airport.

Currently listening : Music from the Star Wars Saga By John Williams Release date: 07 September, 2004

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The complete opposite of Cinco De Mayo...
Current mood: exhausted
Category: Parties and Nightlife

So Friday I collected my Bill at the mall, and kidnapped him up to the Elevens to see one of my favorite bands - Hotblack.  Well, they were headlining, so we took our time at drinking over at Tully's, and then had some more drinks, and so on.  Ran into Rich & Lynelle, Raspberry Passion, Blazen Blueberry, Jeff & Trish, the HB boys, Rob & Matt from RXUSA, Jeanie, and a few others.  Bill was afeared from the general Northampton populace (I'm sorry honey, I've work for X number of Indigo Girls gigs at the Calvin, and even I've been hit on numerous times by old women, young women, and women who didn't even look like chicks, I've grown to just ignore people that stare at you excessively).  Checked out We Are The Seahorses, which...honestly, I don't KNOW what kind of freakin' band they are!  It looked like three dudes dressed in drag (barely in drag, a couple of them were bare-assed), dancing around the stage, banging on some things with drumsticks, dancing with the audience, showing lesbian porn on a small tv onstage, and throwing around a plastic blow-up doll.  At one point, Lynelle even came up to us and said in a psyched voice "this kind of shit should be illegal!" but even she was enjoying it! 
Bunnies was next, in which both Bill and I got ourselves another drink and retired to the pool room for a game, in which I got my butt booted because I *SUCK* at pool.  He made an effort not to whip my ass but I still lost despite what he says.
Hotblack was the final band, which kinda sucked being last but I still got to enjoy their set.  It wasn't the *best* set they've had, but it was nice seems I hadn't seen these guys in nearly two months!  All I can say - poor Todd!  Of course the boys got covered in beer as well, plus the number of wildly dancing fans that crowded the floor - including the dudes in We Are The Seahorses - one of which held a huge plush raccoon above his head and shook it to make it "dance" - which was also directly behind my friend Trish as well!  Somehow the 'coon ended up onstage, with its little stuffed ear literally placed next to the kick drum mic - causing it to vibrate and move...in which Bill pointed that out to me and neither one of us could stop laughing at that fact alone! 

Headed home to catch some sleep and then work in the morning while my boy slept in.  Spent the rest of the day relaxing on the couch watching movies...falling asleep to the Fellowship Of The Ring and Madagascar.  Got up then, brought Bill home to grab some things and then headed out for food and drink.  Stopped at the liquor store to replenish my vodka supply at home, ate at Applebee's, closed it, and then headed back to my house to watch a movie - causing me to fall asleep again!  We didn't even go out to a bar on a Saturday night!  On Cinco De Mayo of all nights!  Can you actually believe it???

Went out on Monday again, first sticking around Bill's place while he got ready and then headed over to Geraldine's.  Missed 3 Against this week but caught The Biff and Zodiak.  Hung around, recruited people to "bail" me out of jail.

What I mean by "bail" - is that I participated in the MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) Lock-Up on Wednesday, in which I was "arrested" (I didn't bother with depending on a ride I had other stuff to do so I drove down to "jail"), and placed in the Northampton Brewery and had to call any and every one I knew and ask if they could "bail" me out - bail money going towards my set goal of $1300.  I didn't make that though, I tried, it was my first time doing it and I didn't find enough time to properly whore the event out to everyone.  I did end up bringing about $70 separately in cash, checks and then in pledges that day, and along with the mysterious online donation that someone gave (Never freakin' heard of the dude that donated but heck, it was more than $50 so I guess I should be grateful for it!), my total made it past $250, but still missed my goal by over a thousand dollars.  I guess my online account is still open to donate to though, you can check that out by going here, and to see a photo of me behind bars - CLICK HERE TO STILL HELP ME!!!.

I had to bitch at the event though - they set the date for the same freakin' day the Dalai Lama was in town...cops freakin' EVERYWHERE, main roads closed, etc.  AND...you'd think they'd book the event at a venue that HAS cell service.  Most of us had to invade the Brewery's upstairs patio and take up room while the waitstaff had to work the lunch rush of people. 
I had a bit of fun though - I got a lot of people's voicemails, after awhile I just started leaving messages saying I was in jail instead of explaining it, because they'd call back otherwise.  LOL, Still, I think the best returned call I got was from Jon from Untitled..."Hi...I hope you're kidding.  Call me back!!!!" (was on the phone explaining the event to Kitten when he called so he left a message too).

Later that night, collected Bill and we decided to go out to Patriots to see Monie & Jon help out the Chris Piquette Band.  So we headed out, ran into Angela, Brian, Des, Matt, LJ, Nick, Lisa, Livio, etc.  Stuck around late, got home to get little sleep to roll out of bed and go to work. 

Currently listening : Is It Any Wonder By Keane Release date: 01 June, 2006

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juggling bands and the boyriend
Current mood: content
Category: Blogging

So...busy fucking night, but here's the basics.  Thursday night, Bill had to work in Noho/Easthampton, so I first picked him up dinner, and met up with him for a better part of an hour, then I headed down to Max Cap to catch Top Shelf Records' show for the night - which featured a couple of bands I hadn't seen in awhile.  Well, 2/3 bands bailed.  One of them being the Uncomfortables, whom I wanted to see.  But Prescription America, was on first, so I stuck about for them.  Ran into Justin from Space Captain, and Pete on sound.  Stuck about til a little after 10 and then proceeded to Breakers for Kareoke. 
Signed up for a song to test Nick and Pete's abilities...in which I wasn't the only one who messed up "Pieces Of Me" - that's right I sang Ashlee Simpson!  Just because she lip-syncs doesn't mean I shouldn't try out new songs!!!  Ran into Billy Talon of the Motley Crue meeting, Rich, tbone, John, Tam, Stylz, Whitney, Jenny...hung out awhile until got a bit bored and did my final song of the night - "Wonderwall" - which, I don't think it sounded too bad, I was more worried over getting the 2nd verse lyrics correct though...
From text messages, Bill let me know he was heading to Geraldine's, so I went up there to see him and Zodiak.  Cornered a sick Lemme in the parking lot to ask about my party (forgetful boy!), and headed in to run into Gary, Heidi, missing Kel by like, two seconds, Heather, and a few other people hanging around the bar.  Found my sweetheart hiding in the back, talking on the phone, so I gave him a backrub until he was done. 
Watched the end of Zodiak, chilled until closing and I could talk Bill into leaving with me to go crash at my place.  And so, he got food and ate over me while I fell asleep in my bedroom with the light on and the tv playing "Natural Born Killers."  Next thing I knew, I was awoken to everything being off and him snuggling up to me in bed, whispering things that just made me fall back asleep with a sweet smile on my face.
The alarm went off at one point, so I rolled out of bed to get ready for work, and woke him to give him the choice of leaving or just staying in my bed and getting more sleep...heh, My sis said he was still there when she left for work!  :-)

So work went on and on forever on Friday,  until I got out and had to go sign some stuff over to the garage that did my work, and also deciding with my family that we're switching auto insurance once I get my yearly statement in early summer.  We had enough problems with Arbella through my one accident that my dad had to argue with them to get them to pay to get my car fixed.  Granted, I am paying for what they won't cover and the deductable (which is like, the first $500 in itself), but I have NEVER ONCE CLAIMED ANYTHING through them before.  I've been paying these bills for 5 years on time and this is how they want to treat a customer?  They gave my little sister the same shit for her accident.  And now I get this thing in the mail where they're going to whack me for the costs over the next six years.  Fuck them, we're switching.  I'm paying off my car loan so my insurance goes down as well, because if I'm paying over $2k a year and I can't fucking CLAIM anything without getting penalized for it !
So...dealt with that first.  Went to downtown Noho to see something, then hung about until heading over to Tully's to get a drink and a snack after 9 sometime, while the bands loaded in, and then headed next door to hang with Carmine, Kristy, Nova, the Pallet boys, Big Bri, Kristy, the Yucky Boys, Mark S (Jungle Gym Genuis!),
and talked to Jay about the party plans - so PALLET, is indeed going to play my party, whether or not Jay can - we'll make it work  ;-)
Watched the first band - I thought it was Rodeo, but maybe it was Road or Roade or Rode...not sure.  Pallet was up next and they had a short but sweet set.  This show was joined by Kev The Devil, onstage, playing third guitar and keys.  I was kinda thrilled to see Kev there too, seems he told me how much he was in love with the band and that he's jamming with them now because his other band is on hold at the moment.  But yea, I hope to see them play out more with him too!

Jungly Gym was next, which I wanted to just see a couple of their songs, because from what I heard, they played whacked out versions of tv/movie themes to a style of music similiar to that of Yucky Octopus (in which 3 members of that band are in this band, plus Mark Schwaber and another chick named Liz).  I hadn't seen them yet and they don't play out all that often, so I stuck around for a little bit, I figured it'd be like, 10-20 extra minutes.  So, I sat next to Robbie as they played their first song and he broke down his gear, and the both of us were crackin' the fuck up - "So I typed in - Jungle Gym Genius!  Search Engines for Teenage Gang-bang" ... fuckin' LOVED the second song, which had to do with kitties...couldn't get over just Darren's input on the fast-paced meowing on his behalf!  Took off after that song to call Bill and see where that led...

So Saturday turned out to be a lazy day for me.  Bill ended up stuck at work late, and I almost didn't even bother going out.  Well, situation changed and I left home later than usual to catch Q at Finn MacCool's.  Ran into Scotch & Alan there, as well as Liana, Eric & Aly, Gary, Josh Friend, and a few other friends here and there while I snacked on some pub fries that a bouncer friend decided to make for me seems the bar's cook went home early for the night. 
Played some Big Buck Hunter, left early and stopped in at Breakers to meet up with Bill and see the end of Danny Pease And The Regulator's set.  Headed back to my house after that and fell asleep to Bill watching The Ref on my dvd player. 
Sunday afternoon, we woke up, watched The Ref again, seems I guess he fell asleep during it too, and then got up to go eat something, which ended up being Crackerbarrel in Holyoke (my first time), and then going to Barnes and Noble until they closed. 

So I went out again on Monday to see Bill's show over at Geraldine's.  Found that he was working in Westfield so I met up with him off the Pike before I headed out to run into the mall for awhile.  He had a gift for me!  I got my very first hands-free phone headset!  So now I won't have a crick in my neck from holding my cell on my shoulder while I'm on the phone with him! 
After I left him, I walked the mall for awhile, appearing to have been talking to myself but it was really him, and then heading over to Geraldine's early to work on all the damned photos I had fallen behind on!  He stopped in on his way home to give me a kiss and then went to shower. 
Three Against was onstage first, plus it was their very first gig as well!  Besides missing a bass player (which was represented by a recording that was pre-programmed for it - they searched for a bassist, they did), they weren't that bad.  It was great to see Kris Keyes back onstage too - I remember seeing him play in Gargantua Soul years ago before the split and he always had so much energy and stage presence, and could climb on just about *anything* (think back to the days of Madd Muzik at Pearl St and him climbing on speakers, or the outdoor Red Room Fest when he climbed on top of the outdoor stage ROOF).  Besides Kris, the band was also made up of Tommy K and Jeremy of Orange Crush (for those of you living under a rock that's an 80's pop tribute band). 
I enjoyed the set, snapped some good pics although I've been out of practice lately, visited with Tam and then sat back down to watch Vining Hill from the back until Bill showed up. 

Currently listening : Impact By Gargantua Soul Release date: 25 September, 2001

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Since St Patty's Day...
Current mood: sleepy
Category: Blogging

Thursday...was heading out to Max Cap first, got sidetracked by the boyfriend who wanted FOOD.  Got him 3 burgers and fries and met up with him in Holyoke where he was workin'.  He was gettin' out early so I chilled for a little bit before I headed over to Chicopee via backroads (only 5 minutes!!!!!), and was there in time to catch the first band, The Elephant Disco.  Casually watched Space Captain, as Justin flailed about on the floor as if he were dying, and Mike threw his guitar about (hehe, its a wonder they don't break their instruments though!).  Rob and Matt from RXUSA were present, as were several other friends like Linda, and others.  Caught Petulant Child's set, and Outfall's, before heading out before I Am Balla, to go meet up with Bill over at Geraldine's for Zodiak's set.

So we ran into Jon from Untitled, Matt from _OVI, BigBri, Carl, Heather, etc.  Ended up in a room talking to my boy for awhile and when we came out, Jon had the gaul to say to me "Hey, your shirt's on inside-out" and started laughing.  He didn't laugh when I slapped him (it was a "Love Tap" you turd!).  Fought the ass-grabbing by Bill but let him do it to Matt, lol. 
Left the bar, LATE...and very pissed off.  The individual knew why and what for, leave it at that.

Friday it snowed.  Period.  I parked my car at 1:30 in the afternoon when it wasn't more than a dusting and still couldn't make it up my driveway.  Well, it stayed there.  Bill couldn't work in the snow but I made him come over anyway.  So...there we were, plowed my driveway at midnight and in a foot of snow.  Yay.  His Jeep made it up though, hehe.  Feature movie of the night:  Natural Born Killers.
Oh, yea, I forgot to mention, Bill sent me flowers too!  One of his friends drove out to my work today in the snow to deliver them!  Isn't he sweettttt?

So Bill and I dug my car out the next day, Dad dragged it out of the bottom of the snowbank which FUCKED it up some more.  It's getting fixed soon anyway.  I just hope I don't bottom out anywhere!
So St. Patty's Day, I had no solid plans and neither did he.  So I got sucked into a movie at home til late, he got out of work early.  I hit up Finn MacCool's first, walked ten feet, said hi to Ian, then Kitten, and then the phone began ringing.  Got off the phone, went back in, talked to J for awhile and headed in further and the phone rang.  Stayed outside and warm in the car...waved at Ashley and Rob, and to BEX.
Met up with Bill at his house, waited outside while he got his stuff, and then we checked into the Quality.  Let him take his shower and then we stopped in down at Breakers for the end of Dirty's set.  Ran into Gary and Mel there, I saw Eddie jamming out onstage on drums!  I got a shoutout from Joe onstage as well, ran into Ritchie and the Drake, John from Star 69, and Keith from Adam's Rib and his wife, Gina.
Hit up Charlie's afterwards because we were both starving, ran into Mike from Tainted Hate as we were leaving to go back to the room. 

Sunday we were up before noon (surprising, eh?), checked out, hit up Pep Boys to return his car parts, then drove around in a maze in Holyoke for the St Patty's Day Parade, where he found a parking spot and then walked in the cold corner of Rt 5 and 202.  Spotted Caitlyn & Cathy, Ian from Nemesis...Tammie & Jackie with their father, and maybe Liana marching??? (not sure).  Ran into Bill's friend Doug, who delivered my flowers, and gave us more green ones! 
After the parade, we headed our to the mall to go shopping.  Got something to eat at Uno's, then walked the mall til close.  Ran into Jake & Leah.
Went back to Quality, got my car, and then went back to hang at his house, where we tried to start his snowblower with no luck.  Went back in the house, watched tv and was lazy - picture this:  Bill's lying with his back up against the couch, I'm lying across him with my back on his belly, and then...the cat, Alex, lying across ME.  After the attention-grabbing CSI, he had to get ready and I had to go home...

Currently listening : Casualties of Retail By Enter the Haggis Release date: 04 January, 2007

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car's in the shop
Current mood: crappy
Category: Blogging

I'm drivin' a Focus for the next week!  It feels weird because my car may be small but there's actually a lot of interior space.  The Focus - doesn't...total opposite of my car.  So there!  My Chevy Man! 

PS - for those of you who don't know what happened to my car, I hit a snowbank...awhile ago.  Wasn't speeding, was heading out one night, and at the bottom of one hill, just slid gently on top of someone's pile of snow in their driveway.  For the past week it's been dragging the plastic undercarriage, which people have told me to take off...Dad told me to wait til it breaks off (which it finally did, when it decided to take on a pile of muddy tracks at work)

Think I'm getting sick...or it was just the wind today.  I was working outside around a huge ass pile of dust and now my throat hurts and there's mucus in my throat...UGH!!!  Bill told me to suck down Ice Tea so I'm doing it but I can't find any honey!!!!

My sister doesn't know how to post company mail.  Yesterday she did it in my place, ended up just leaving the OUT mail in the post office INBOX for my company, thinking the post office employees would pick it up and mail it.  I got blamed for it today but proved my innocense, but got stuck fixing the mistake.

I want a vacation and need one.  Though I have to fight my urges of what bands I'd miss any weekend I leave. 

I've stopped sleeping on weekends...I blame the boyfriend  ..his biological sleeping clock is different than mine!  Especially after we get take out at 2:30am and I fall asleep on the living room floor of his brother's house...only to be moved to the tiny upstairs couch to share with him (5 ft long x 3 ft wide plus a skinny guy and a fat chick snoring). 

I'm sad to see what they've done to WRNX.  Damn Clear Channel.  I thought once they bought the station, they'd leave things be.  Now they've rid themselves of John Allen, and turned it nearly into 93.1 (same parent company), EXCEPT, they haven't changed over their playlist yet.  THANK GOD.  I have loved 100.9's playlist for YEARS, I hope they don't become just another station in the pop market.  No wonder Donnie left not too long ago.  Just look at their website to see what I mean.  It's depressing.  Now I know why I don't listen to much radio anymore (iPod's rule!).

I DO NOT WATCH AMERICAN IDOL...I DO NOT CARE WHO WINS.

Rush is playing Monday July 9th at Mohegan Sun.  I have never seen them before and I desperately want to go to this show.  I'm taking the day after off of work.  Sucks that it's on a Monday and that our market is ALWAYS stuck with these weekday dates for EVERYTHING (Iron Maiden, Tool, Motley Crue, etc etc) except Ozzfest (always on a Saturday or Sunday).

I am going to see Lindsay Buckingham on Friday.  I am psyched.  I admit, I don't know ANY of his solo material, but I fucking LOVE Fleetwood Mac.  I'm a bigger Stevie fan, but still...he was once her old flame.

My mother has been bitten by the scrapbooking bug.  She has been doing this for weeks and have produced two books of photos of me between birth and the birth of Sabrina (two years).  She's told me she has the most pictures of me because I was the first born.  And all these years I never thought I was the favorite!  (j/k).  Anyway, I bought some supplies too, so I figure I could attempt to make one of my high school years (not too many photos), my trip to Spain at age 16, and my early adult years (like the photos of me with BB King, Bela Fleck, Dar Williams, ben Taylor, etc etc).

Now I've got a headache, time for a nap.

4:27 PM - 3 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

laying low on the scene...
Current mood: touched
Category: Life

So for another Thursday, I headed out to Max Cap to catch the battle of the bands.  I was upset anyway because I had just gotten into an argument with my dear boyfriend before I got to the club, so I walked in all blue and unhappy.  Corjay, Moyni, and Angela saw to it that I at least smiled once in awhile through the night, whether it was the "poop" shirt, or the BROs picking on one person or another.  Thanks guys, I love you all.
The first band up was Barely Legal, in which I hadn't been able to see them play before tonight.  Good band too.  Ended their set with Tom Petty's "You Wreck Me" which I'm not sure which one of my friends came up to me during the song and said into my ear "nothing beats some Petty on a night like this!"
I caught a bunch of the other bands that played that night as well - Tainted Hate, Prescription America, Federal Bision (thanks for the shirt, boys!  I don't drink Bud Light though!), Far Alpaca, Under Falling Skies, but I skipped the final two bands - State Of Fate (my boys!), and Gravel, to go and get lost in Chicopee to find Bill in Holyoke somewhere...

Friday night brought in NO local shows for me.  I worked at the Calvin for the Saw Doctors concert.  Okay, usually I LOVE the Doctors, but that night, they were TERRIBLE.  Sound levels were off, band was off, off-tempo and key;  even "Tommy K" sounded too speeded up for its normal recorded nature!  I was severely disappointed in the performance, I've seen them do better shows.  Sometimes bands have off nights I guess.  After I got outta there I just went to my car, played phone tag with Bill and found that he'd be working all night anyway, and it was nearer to midnight and I was wiped so I just went home rather than make a half hour drive to any bar with a show I'd like to see..

Wednesday, I didn't really feel like going out but Bill took the day off of work so he could work on his Jeep.  So he hit up the auto parts place and I met him at his house, and helped him replace the steering fluid reservior, fight with the puller/pulley, hot hoses, and burnt out lights (I fixed the plate light!).  Changed his oil too, which meant sending me out to Walmart at quarter to 10 to get oil, lol.  Afterwards, he got cleaned up and were thinking about getting food, but it was midnight and nothing was open and I was wiped, so I just headed home.

Currently listening : Semi-Charmed Life By Third Eye Blind Release date: 23 September, 1997

3:30 PM - 5 Comments - 1 Kudos - Add Comment

All over Mass...
Current mood: tired

Tried going out Thursday, there was soooo many shows going on and I had a plan to hit at least two of them.  However, doing only about 20mph leaving my hometown, I ended up hitting a snowbank, leaving myself stuck enough so that I needed my father to pull my car out with his tow line.  I wasn't going fast at all, and the impact was nothing more than it feels like stopping at a stop sign.  After that, was forbidden from going out, in which I heard it was beginning to snow in Chicopee and West Side anyway.  Truth of the matter was, I ended up breaking the grill on my car (yea, the grill is low to the ground but its still there)...car still runs fine, but I'm not happy about it.  Getting it fixed though.
So Friday night, I went out early to go to a wake with my family.  Butch Cone, this guy who owned a cottage next to ours in Goshen, passed away during the week from cancer so we went to support his wife and daughters. 
Afterwards, I headed out to Worcester to the Lucky Dog because I hadn't been there in nearly six months.  Ran into Wayno and his friend Nina, talked to him about the demise of Standard Deviation (I liked them!!) and about his other band, One Lane Bridge.   The first band up was Kokopelli, which wasn't too bad, but them and the 2nd band, Shadowcell, seemed somewhat alike...mostly in the view that both bands had the hard rock vibe with chick singers using high soprano tones.  Caught Letdown, which I didn't really get into that much, got nudged in the elbow by this guy...who was like "hi, do you remember me???"  Well, honestly, we hadn't really personally met, but I caught his comic act the last time I was in Worcester in October, and he had added me not long after that on Myspace because he knew another friend of mine.  Well, apparently Aaron (the comic's name), was there to film Promised Eden's set because their bass player was his best friend.  They weren't bad at all, reminded me A LOT of Sanity Is Chaos, and I know they've played together! 
Towards the end of their set, I chilled at the back with Fitch (Griffon drummer) and his singer while they went over their set list and "things to say onstage" list, they walked off and I swiped the pen and a spare piece of paper to leave them a note (where they could get gigs in Western Mass mostly), and then, they were onstage!  I stayed for about a half hour of their set and then headed out back to my area.  Made it home a little after 2am, seems I hadn't heard from Bill as to where he'd be or whatever...heard from him at 3am when I was asleep and ended up in a bad mood because of it.

Saturday started late, headed out around 6ish to hit up Pearl St, got in (lucky me, hehe), caught the first band - Yucky Octopus, got a shoutout from onstage as soon as I was noticed by Darren, and watched the guys rock out even to my final request on "Tuco."  Ran into Jim as well, he said everything was set for me to take photos, raced upstairs at one point to say hey to Jay, whom I hadn't seen since Sept, but he was working the G Love show so I didn't see him more than that (he used to run the Madd Muzik website/photos up until about 2 years ago). 

Stand Up Get Down was on next, whose guitar player was celebrating his 18th birthday that night.  His father, Tom, also is a friend of mine that I know from working at the Calvin, and he was so proud to see his son up there rocking out, that even him and his wife were up in the front row! 

Then came No Intention, who threw out free tshirts and a disc to fans that packed the dance floor in front of the stage, awesome set too. 

The Smokey Wambas returned as well that night, appeared onstage all clad in white tshirts and slick hair.  Mike looked soooooo different, but I recognized Aaron Wamba right off the bat.  They had even acquired a keys player to make their total band status up to 6.  Stayed for half of their set before running into tbone, who thought the show started at 8pm (poor guy, it started at 6:30!), and then heading out myself to my own problems. 

Headed down to Club Meadows after that to see Maxxtone.  I know, I know, I ditched all and any other plans to go there, hoping that my personal crisis could show up there and resolve things.  Bad moods flaired, tears appeared, and I ended up watching Vindicari's set, and the first set for Maxxtone, before realizing, "why am I still here?"  I didn't feel like being 'out' at all.  I wanted to be home, so I left, said my goodbyes to everyone and took off...which caused other issues at a later time.

Well, what ended up happening, things kinda got fixed, went home, Bill followed about an hour later seems I had the house to myself, and he was able to eat dinner in my kitchen at 3am, meet my doggie Luna, and complain about the type of bed I have.  He slept in late while I got up to take care of my sister's cats and let the dog out, and then kicked his ass outta my bed later in the evening so that he'd finally meet my parents.  He was so scared that my dad would kill him and I told him, over and over again, my dad is cool!  Trust me, will ya???

Currently listening : Get Off This By Cracker

5:09 PM - 4 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment