Alright, time was made to finish those last two posts, so I'm going to put a little effort into rounding up the recent events as well.
Once I returned from New Orleans, I also reclaimed my job at CenterStaging which was super awesome. So far there, it's been very good and kept me busy which I like. Also I have been sticking with Lush for the time being, but may cut back on that in the new year, don't really know yet though. Having both these jobs and that long drive from Inglewood to the Valley pretty much killed any ounce of social life I had, but I was able to squeeze in a few things at the end of the month such as:
-Dinners in Downtown with Araceli
-The Viper Room to see Thomas Ian Nicholas
-Watching the Phillies/Dodgers game with Nick, Em, and Peter S
-Hitting up the Roxy to see Peter Daily and Flynn Adam with Peter S
-Hanging with Aaron to see Nathan Maxwell @ the Dragon Fly
-watching Rene, Tamra, and Brian make Xmas Soap
-attending Mark's Christmas Party
I also had to skip out on many events including Liz's and Topher's goodbye parties which I do apologize for as I'll miss both of them, but I'm sure it wont' be the last I see of those peeps.
Things will hopefully settle down a bit since my move to North Hollywood. I really am looking forward to hitting the gym up everyday again. I haven't had ANY time to do so in the last three months and my mental calm is being tried due to this. The gym I just joined has kickboxing and yoga which are my two fav work outs aside from the eliptical, so I'm pretty stoked.
Another thing to be excited about is decorating my new place. I'll probably go about it a room at a time. Maybe starting with the bathroom first and then on the closet since that room is closest to being done as is.
Right now I'm in Ohio at my sister's place. The new nephew, Remy, is sooo cool, but it still seems weird that my sister had a baby. I kinda feel like they picked it up at the store or something..We also brought Horace, our dog, along with us. He seems quite jealous of Remy since he's used to being spoiled with love, but hopefully he'll come around. The only other thing worth mentioning is that for the first time ever my Dad has a beard! I've never seen him with one, and he claims he's never grown one before. It's mostly white with a few gray & black specs. The other day he went into McDonalds with a red sweater on and his santa hat and he was ran sacked by kids who thought he was Santa Claus, but really he's Santa Clive :)
Today Laurean and I did some last minute shopping, but we've now settled in for some Chinese take-out (not my choice) and will later go to see Princess and the Frog with Adam. While waiting for the food to go down, Dad, Horace, and I are tuning into Dr. Who followed by the Black Adder's Christmas Special. Yip!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
The Rest of the IMG Live Tour
Alright, time for me to get this ball rolling on the rest of the tour.
We went to Houston for a gig and then I believe proceeded straight to New Orleans after this again.
I got to see my friend, Maggie, who's going to school down there, and Juan got to check out the strip clubs on Bourbon Street.
There was also three stops in Missouri. While we were in one city, I researched the local sites to see, and went on a trip to the caverns. This was cool because it wasn't walk through, but an actual ride. I also learned that the caverns were used for Speakeasys, cults, and other crazy happenings in the 1700s. They had the original signatures of the 7 women that volunteered to explore the cave which was cool and the outside area around the caves were pretty bomb.
After getting the hell outta Missouri, we high-tailed it back to Atlanta. On the way Juan got a warning which was only really amusing because I got a warning earlier on while driving too. So for the rest of the tour I wasn't allowed to drive in Texas and he wasn't allowed to drive in Arkansas :)
We finally got back to Atlanta and met up with Dougie, Charlie, and Adrian for a little goodbye meal while watching the football game on tv. The next day Juan and I parted ways and resumed our lives off the road. I had a great time with Araceli, Rod, and Juan. All of them plus those other kats at IMG Live I met this summer were great.
We went to Houston for a gig and then I believe proceeded straight to New Orleans after this again.
I got to see my friend, Maggie, who's going to school down there, and Juan got to check out the strip clubs on Bourbon Street.
There was also three stops in Missouri. While we were in one city, I researched the local sites to see, and went on a trip to the caverns. This was cool because it wasn't walk through, but an actual ride. I also learned that the caverns were used for Speakeasys, cults, and other crazy happenings in the 1700s. They had the original signatures of the 7 women that volunteered to explore the cave which was cool and the outside area around the caves were pretty bomb.
After getting the hell outta Missouri, we high-tailed it back to Atlanta. On the way Juan got a warning which was only really amusing because I got a warning earlier on while driving too. So for the rest of the tour I wasn't allowed to drive in Texas and he wasn't allowed to drive in Arkansas :)
We finally got back to Atlanta and met up with Dougie, Charlie, and Adrian for a little goodbye meal while watching the football game on tv. The next day Juan and I parted ways and resumed our lives off the road. I had a great time with Araceli, Rod, and Juan. All of them plus those other kats at IMG Live I met this summer were great.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Just a Quick Interjection
So, I'm sorry that it's been a while since I posted here, I've had to move and rearrange things in my life and blogging hasn't been the major priority.
Hopefully though i'll be able to figure out things and get back on track soon enough. Right now I'll try to spend the afternoon working on my webpage. I would like to get that rolling now that I have business cards made provided by Moo.com, which i highly recommend!
Hang in there for me, and I'll chat with you soon!
Thanks!
Mb
Hopefully though i'll be able to figure out things and get back on track soon enough. Right now I'll try to spend the afternoon working on my webpage. I would like to get that rolling now that I have business cards made provided by Moo.com, which i highly recommend!
Hang in there for me, and I'll chat with you soon!
Thanks!
Mb
Down In San Antonio, TX
We were in San Antonio for a couple of days before the event. Luckily we stayed in Towneplace Suites during this time so there was a kitchen and lovely flat screen TV to take advantage of.
Juan and I were both in hearing impaired rooms so we took advantage of bothering each other sporadically throughout the days there ringing the door bells, which were loud, obnoxious, and annoying if anything. But it was a lot of fun!!
The first night there neither one of us felt like going out. I was still feeling the hangover from drinking the evening before and Juan I think didn’t get enough sleep either. Both of us just watched the TrueBlood marathon that was going on and made plans later to grab food for ourselves and shop for the even the next day.
After the Trueblood season finally, I decided to try to get in a little of San Antonio and visit the Alamo. Whenever I visit, I always think of the Alamo Basement joke, and Ozzy Osbourne peeing on the Alamo. Gotta be a tough break to never be allowed to visit this city again, it’s pretty beautiful. I like to think of it as the New Orleans of Texas, except less drinking and more relaxation.
I got out to the riverwalk rather late, so I was only on it for a little bit. I did swing by the Alamo though, but again it was late so there was no where to park and everything was closed down for the day.
Last time I was there was with Voodoo Daddy and I was able to walk around a little more. I sat out by the river and had a margarita by myself and took in the view. The only bummer I ever experience from touring is that I always miss my friends the most when I’m taking in the greatest things that make me happy, probably because I wish they were there for them as well. Just to share in it all.
The event the next day was good. Here our buddy, Vince Clemons joined us. The call center was divided into two buildings so we broke our power hours in half and were able to squeeze in a lunch at FreeBirds to boot!
We left immediately after the event and headed to Houston. Woot woot!
Juan and I were both in hearing impaired rooms so we took advantage of bothering each other sporadically throughout the days there ringing the door bells, which were loud, obnoxious, and annoying if anything. But it was a lot of fun!!
The first night there neither one of us felt like going out. I was still feeling the hangover from drinking the evening before and Juan I think didn’t get enough sleep either. Both of us just watched the TrueBlood marathon that was going on and made plans later to grab food for ourselves and shop for the even the next day.
After the Trueblood season finally, I decided to try to get in a little of San Antonio and visit the Alamo. Whenever I visit, I always think of the Alamo Basement joke, and Ozzy Osbourne peeing on the Alamo. Gotta be a tough break to never be allowed to visit this city again, it’s pretty beautiful. I like to think of it as the New Orleans of Texas, except less drinking and more relaxation.
I got out to the riverwalk rather late, so I was only on it for a little bit. I did swing by the Alamo though, but again it was late so there was no where to park and everything was closed down for the day.
Last time I was there was with Voodoo Daddy and I was able to walk around a little more. I sat out by the river and had a margarita by myself and took in the view. The only bummer I ever experience from touring is that I always miss my friends the most when I’m taking in the greatest things that make me happy, probably because I wish they were there for them as well. Just to share in it all.
The event the next day was good. Here our buddy, Vince Clemons joined us. The call center was divided into two buildings so we broke our power hours in half and were able to squeeze in a lunch at FreeBirds to boot!
We left immediately after the event and headed to Houston. Woot woot!
Summin' up the Good Stuff Sept-October 2009
Well, it's been quite sometime since I've gotten everything up to date!
Sorry that all these blog entries are coming in in one go, but that's how it goes when I have an ample amount of free time and just feel like bounding out my adventures on a keyboard!
Since you're already been hit with a ton of updates that are ummm...a little lenghty, I figure I'll just bulletin the current events of September & October, with a wee bit of detail.
September - October
-Moved! : yup, it FINALLY happened!!! I moved right when I got back home from my place in Van Nuys to a new place below downtown LA. Now I'm living with a new set of boys from my Emerson days, and surprisingly, they're alot cleaner.
-Back to Lush: as I am a little worker bee, I just went straight back to working at the ol' soap shop as soon as I knew my end date, now we're prepping for the holidays and getting some awesome new items which I'm super excited about!
-CenterStaging: I went back here too, but wasn't working through the month of October due to the company transitioning, but now I just started back and look forward to being there for a while with a fresh start and a new desk :)
-Disneyland: another thing I always like to do when I come back home is take another vacation!! Haha. So the easiest and cheapest one (because I have the annual pass) is Disneyland. Usually my tours always end around October, so I get to catch the fall decorations that are at the park and see the Haunted Mansion decorated with Nightmare Before Christmas stuff (love it). I probably went 2 or 3 times when I was home, once with Alexis and Tamra, then another time by myself (which was actually really awesome) then another time with Tamra and some friends. Hopefully, I'll go one more time before my pass expires, but we'll see.....yeah I know I'm a little freak..
-Friends: caught up with a couple of people when I got home like Emily, Nick, Tamra, Camila, Peter S, Cricket. Also went to some parties and missed some others :/ but what are you gonna do when you get triple booked on the weekends!!
-Shows: Saw Dr. Dog at the Music Box which I was really looking forward to and caught up with Sara and Kevin there. Also saw Flynn Adam and Peter Daily play at On the Rox which was a good time. I've been meaning to go to a burlesque show that some friends of mine, and my roommate have talked about, but still haven't found the time to do that. Also saw the opening act for Dr. Dog, can't remember the name of the artist, but I'd really been interested to hear his music live, now I'm not sure if I've still completely into his sound though. As soon as the dust settles though (as I just got back from another trip) I'll probably see who's playing and go check them out.
-VooDoo Fest: Well, this event was super yummy! Again I had to take a car and metro a bus and a plane to get there but it was an adventure all the same. I stayed over in Loyola with my good friend Maggie. It was sooo cool to see her school and check out New Orleans from a different location then the quarter. While Maggie was in school I would go to the Audubon Zoo which was located near her campus. I hadn't been there since I was really small, and of course it looked different, but I had vague memories of a few locations in the zoo. One of my favorite parts was the swamp area where you're walking on a wooden bridge for the most part. There, of course, is where they keep the alligators and other swamp livin' creatures. They also had 2 of the 8 (?) albino alligators there still. I think 3 had died and the rest are in a farm in Myrtle Beach.
The hurricane really gave the zoo a bit of a beating, but aside from alot of the trees being gone, everything else seemed fairly similar from what I remember.
Another location I went to was the French Quarter. I went down there one day by myself over near Jackson Square and checked out the church for the first time. It was real nice inside, but nothing I'd call super amazing. I suppose once you have seen some of the greater churches in the world that are all in europe, some other churches just can't make the cut.
As much as I am not a festival person, I did enjoy this one. Probably because I got a mad hook-up from my friend, Dan. We got there on Friday and I got my wristband which apparently had access to some special lounge where they kept the free food and free massages. There was also no need to campout infront of the stages for hours as we had access to a special area that provided front row access!
The first day was a little crazy. I kept trying to find Maggie and her friend, Ryan, which failed for th most part. It was also raining alot, which was no bueno. Eventually I found them towards the end of the evening, but couldn't hang with them for too long, as I was going to the Park the Van Showcase near the quarter. Eminem was supposed to be playing at the festival that evening, but Maggie and I got to see his soundcheck the day before (curtosey of Dan), so I was satisfied with that.
After leaving the festival I met up with my friend, Kevin near the quarter and he took me to where the show was. Spinto Band, the Generationals, and The Peekers were playing that night, and it was definitely a show not to miss. Spinto Band of course did a great job as always, and the Generationals were interesting too. I'd never heard them before, and will probably give a listen to them in the future. I really liked how they had a female drummer, and she was quite good and quirky.
The Peekers rounded out the show headlining. This was suiting for them as it was their last show ever, kind of a bummer, but things have to change I suppose. Kevin, was hoping that Giant Clouds and some other bands under PTV might be able to play some of the Peekers songs live in their sets, which isn't a bad idea, but has to be something I guess the Peekers agree upon.
I'm a little sad about the Peekers not coming out with anymore music collectively, but I think there will be branch offs from that group that might be just as strong. I am happy though I got to hear 'Close My Eyes' one more time, I wish they would've played 'Hey Little Kitty' also though.
After getting a ride back to campus from Kevin, I went to go reunite with Maggie and her friends. They were at this bar called The Boot which wasn't too far of a walk. Just being there made me think of how I was sooo over (and really never into) the college dancing scene. I dunno, maybe it just depends where you group up. This place was loud trendy music (mainly hip hop) and alot of people grinding and drinking. Sooo not what i'm into. I prefer dancing with friends and going to bars yep yep yep. Soon as I go to the bar though, everyone was pretty much ready to head out, which was fine with me, I was pretty tired.
The second day of Voodoo Fest was Halloween! This was probably the first year I really didn't pay attention to the holiday as much though due to being busy with music all day. When Maggie, Ryan, and me got there, I volunteered to get us some free food from the VIP area. As I was in line for food I was texting Dan, and eventually met up with him for some Wolfmother sidestage passes. It was a little stressful for a second to get Maggie and Ryan to meet up with me on the right side of the stage. There was sooo many people and Maggie's reception on her phone wasn't on point. But we found each other and went backstage for ths show. Maggie and Ryan were super excited about it, which made me really happy. I always love to spoil Ms. Mags when I'm able to :)
After Wolfmother played we exited over by the VIP area & VIP pit, since Maggie and Ryan had regular tickets, we just stayed here a while until it was time for KISS to play. After Jane's Addication wrapped on the other stage, KISS was gearing up to go on! I was telling Maggie earlier that day that I was actually kinda excited to see them. I mean, if you think about it, they're one of the most iconic living acts still around today, so it would be worth seeing. The show was amazing, and seeing KISS on Halloween is just the coolest thing in itself. I can't believe that they're now the best show I've ever seen live, but it's true! And I only know one of their songs!! After the show we went back to the VIP area and ate some of the KISS cake that was made for the VIP area. It was soo good!
To finish off the night, we were going to go down to Bourbon & Frenchman for some crazy times, but as soon as we got back to the dorm rooms reality hit, and we were tired. We opted instead to go back to th bar area around the campus as it would be just a walk and wouldn't take as long to get there. Again, it reminded me of college and a part of my life I was already over and done with, but it was a good time all the same to be hang with Maggie and meet some of her friends. Maggie's roommate Carla also joined us later that night which was awesome. She's just a ball of fun!
The next day we slept in for a bit, but went to go check out some band that Maggie and Ryan really wanted to see. I went to go get grits at the VIP area. I was also gonna try getting a free massage, but the line was long for that and the show was done for Maggie and Ryan. We went back to campus to get some food then took showers and napped for a while. We were gonna head back to the show to catch Flaming Lips play at 6ish, but then I got in contact with Dan again and he was gonna hook me up with some side stage passes for that. We hurried on down there, but by the time I met up with him they were over capacity for the side stage so we couldnt' get in for that. No worries there though, Dan, definitely did his best hooking me up that weekend for sure :) He also gave me and my friends some side stage passes for Lenny Kravitz. Not an artist I thought I'd see perform ever, but he was pretty good. When we went backstage for that, we had to hang out on the other side of the gate for a bit because Lenny, himself, was getting to the stage and they didnt' want anyone moving around til he was on it. We did get to see the drummer and the guitarist for the band backstage and they were really chill. Maggie and Ryan were having a good time taking pictures etc. so that made me happy.
After the show Ryan left for Baton Rouge and me and Mags just chilled and went to sleep.
On my last full day in New Orleans, I spent it in the French Quarter. I wanted to go shopping and get Maggie some cute things since she was nice enough to let me stay with her, and I hadn't bought her anything in years. I thought of it as making up for birthdays. I also had lunch with Frances Bordlee which was awesome. I hadn't seen her in a while and it was good to catch up with her on her life and what she was up to. Her and I went to Two Sisters for lunch and just exchanged info on other people we new as well as talked about ourselves and our own personal plans for the next year. It was really awesome, I missed Frances.
After parting ways, the shopping commenced and I picked up some lovely things for Ms Mags to make up for all those Bdays I missed.
That evening, Mags, me and her roommate, Carla, went to a near by night spot for some late night grubbage. The next day I caught the streetcar up to some road, which took me to some bus, which then took me to the airport and flew back to Los Angeles. It was a great stay with Mags and I am soo happy that Dan was able to hook it up and get me a pass to voodoo fest!
Sorry that all these blog entries are coming in in one go, but that's how it goes when I have an ample amount of free time and just feel like bounding out my adventures on a keyboard!
Since you're already been hit with a ton of updates that are ummm...a little lenghty, I figure I'll just bulletin the current events of September & October, with a wee bit of detail.
September - October
-Moved! : yup, it FINALLY happened!!! I moved right when I got back home from my place in Van Nuys to a new place below downtown LA. Now I'm living with a new set of boys from my Emerson days, and surprisingly, they're alot cleaner.
-Back to Lush: as I am a little worker bee, I just went straight back to working at the ol' soap shop as soon as I knew my end date, now we're prepping for the holidays and getting some awesome new items which I'm super excited about!
-CenterStaging: I went back here too, but wasn't working through the month of October due to the company transitioning, but now I just started back and look forward to being there for a while with a fresh start and a new desk :)
-Disneyland: another thing I always like to do when I come back home is take another vacation!! Haha. So the easiest and cheapest one (because I have the annual pass) is Disneyland. Usually my tours always end around October, so I get to catch the fall decorations that are at the park and see the Haunted Mansion decorated with Nightmare Before Christmas stuff (love it). I probably went 2 or 3 times when I was home, once with Alexis and Tamra, then another time by myself (which was actually really awesome) then another time with Tamra and some friends. Hopefully, I'll go one more time before my pass expires, but we'll see.....yeah I know I'm a little freak..
-Friends: caught up with a couple of people when I got home like Emily, Nick, Tamra, Camila, Peter S, Cricket. Also went to some parties and missed some others :/ but what are you gonna do when you get triple booked on the weekends!!
-Shows: Saw Dr. Dog at the Music Box which I was really looking forward to and caught up with Sara and Kevin there. Also saw Flynn Adam and Peter Daily play at On the Rox which was a good time. I've been meaning to go to a burlesque show that some friends of mine, and my roommate have talked about, but still haven't found the time to do that. Also saw the opening act for Dr. Dog, can't remember the name of the artist, but I'd really been interested to hear his music live, now I'm not sure if I've still completely into his sound though. As soon as the dust settles though (as I just got back from another trip) I'll probably see who's playing and go check them out.
-VooDoo Fest: Well, this event was super yummy! Again I had to take a car and metro a bus and a plane to get there but it was an adventure all the same. I stayed over in Loyola with my good friend Maggie. It was sooo cool to see her school and check out New Orleans from a different location then the quarter. While Maggie was in school I would go to the Audubon Zoo which was located near her campus. I hadn't been there since I was really small, and of course it looked different, but I had vague memories of a few locations in the zoo. One of my favorite parts was the swamp area where you're walking on a wooden bridge for the most part. There, of course, is where they keep the alligators and other swamp livin' creatures. They also had 2 of the 8 (?) albino alligators there still. I think 3 had died and the rest are in a farm in Myrtle Beach.
The hurricane really gave the zoo a bit of a beating, but aside from alot of the trees being gone, everything else seemed fairly similar from what I remember.
Another location I went to was the French Quarter. I went down there one day by myself over near Jackson Square and checked out the church for the first time. It was real nice inside, but nothing I'd call super amazing. I suppose once you have seen some of the greater churches in the world that are all in europe, some other churches just can't make the cut.
As much as I am not a festival person, I did enjoy this one. Probably because I got a mad hook-up from my friend, Dan. We got there on Friday and I got my wristband which apparently had access to some special lounge where they kept the free food and free massages. There was also no need to campout infront of the stages for hours as we had access to a special area that provided front row access!
The first day was a little crazy. I kept trying to find Maggie and her friend, Ryan, which failed for th most part. It was also raining alot, which was no bueno. Eventually I found them towards the end of the evening, but couldn't hang with them for too long, as I was going to the Park the Van Showcase near the quarter. Eminem was supposed to be playing at the festival that evening, but Maggie and I got to see his soundcheck the day before (curtosey of Dan), so I was satisfied with that.
After leaving the festival I met up with my friend, Kevin near the quarter and he took me to where the show was. Spinto Band, the Generationals, and The Peekers were playing that night, and it was definitely a show not to miss. Spinto Band of course did a great job as always, and the Generationals were interesting too. I'd never heard them before, and will probably give a listen to them in the future. I really liked how they had a female drummer, and she was quite good and quirky.
The Peekers rounded out the show headlining. This was suiting for them as it was their last show ever, kind of a bummer, but things have to change I suppose. Kevin, was hoping that Giant Clouds and some other bands under PTV might be able to play some of the Peekers songs live in their sets, which isn't a bad idea, but has to be something I guess the Peekers agree upon.
I'm a little sad about the Peekers not coming out with anymore music collectively, but I think there will be branch offs from that group that might be just as strong. I am happy though I got to hear 'Close My Eyes' one more time, I wish they would've played 'Hey Little Kitty' also though.
After getting a ride back to campus from Kevin, I went to go reunite with Maggie and her friends. They were at this bar called The Boot which wasn't too far of a walk. Just being there made me think of how I was sooo over (and really never into) the college dancing scene. I dunno, maybe it just depends where you group up. This place was loud trendy music (mainly hip hop) and alot of people grinding and drinking. Sooo not what i'm into. I prefer dancing with friends and going to bars yep yep yep. Soon as I go to the bar though, everyone was pretty much ready to head out, which was fine with me, I was pretty tired.
The second day of Voodoo Fest was Halloween! This was probably the first year I really didn't pay attention to the holiday as much though due to being busy with music all day. When Maggie, Ryan, and me got there, I volunteered to get us some free food from the VIP area. As I was in line for food I was texting Dan, and eventually met up with him for some Wolfmother sidestage passes. It was a little stressful for a second to get Maggie and Ryan to meet up with me on the right side of the stage. There was sooo many people and Maggie's reception on her phone wasn't on point. But we found each other and went backstage for ths show. Maggie and Ryan were super excited about it, which made me really happy. I always love to spoil Ms. Mags when I'm able to :)
After Wolfmother played we exited over by the VIP area & VIP pit, since Maggie and Ryan had regular tickets, we just stayed here a while until it was time for KISS to play. After Jane's Addication wrapped on the other stage, KISS was gearing up to go on! I was telling Maggie earlier that day that I was actually kinda excited to see them. I mean, if you think about it, they're one of the most iconic living acts still around today, so it would be worth seeing. The show was amazing, and seeing KISS on Halloween is just the coolest thing in itself. I can't believe that they're now the best show I've ever seen live, but it's true! And I only know one of their songs!! After the show we went back to the VIP area and ate some of the KISS cake that was made for the VIP area. It was soo good!
To finish off the night, we were going to go down to Bourbon & Frenchman for some crazy times, but as soon as we got back to the dorm rooms reality hit, and we were tired. We opted instead to go back to th bar area around the campus as it would be just a walk and wouldn't take as long to get there. Again, it reminded me of college and a part of my life I was already over and done with, but it was a good time all the same to be hang with Maggie and meet some of her friends. Maggie's roommate Carla also joined us later that night which was awesome. She's just a ball of fun!
The next day we slept in for a bit, but went to go check out some band that Maggie and Ryan really wanted to see. I went to go get grits at the VIP area. I was also gonna try getting a free massage, but the line was long for that and the show was done for Maggie and Ryan. We went back to campus to get some food then took showers and napped for a while. We were gonna head back to the show to catch Flaming Lips play at 6ish, but then I got in contact with Dan again and he was gonna hook me up with some side stage passes for that. We hurried on down there, but by the time I met up with him they were over capacity for the side stage so we couldnt' get in for that. No worries there though, Dan, definitely did his best hooking me up that weekend for sure :) He also gave me and my friends some side stage passes for Lenny Kravitz. Not an artist I thought I'd see perform ever, but he was pretty good. When we went backstage for that, we had to hang out on the other side of the gate for a bit because Lenny, himself, was getting to the stage and they didnt' want anyone moving around til he was on it. We did get to see the drummer and the guitarist for the band backstage and they were really chill. Maggie and Ryan were having a good time taking pictures etc. so that made me happy.
After the show Ryan left for Baton Rouge and me and Mags just chilled and went to sleep.
On my last full day in New Orleans, I spent it in the French Quarter. I wanted to go shopping and get Maggie some cute things since she was nice enough to let me stay with her, and I hadn't bought her anything in years. I thought of it as making up for birthdays. I also had lunch with Frances Bordlee which was awesome. I hadn't seen her in a while and it was good to catch up with her on her life and what she was up to. Her and I went to Two Sisters for lunch and just exchanged info on other people we new as well as talked about ourselves and our own personal plans for the next year. It was really awesome, I missed Frances.
After parting ways, the shopping commenced and I picked up some lovely things for Ms Mags to make up for all those Bdays I missed.
That evening, Mags, me and her roommate, Carla, went to a near by night spot for some late night grubbage. The next day I caught the streetcar up to some road, which took me to some bus, which then took me to the airport and flew back to Los Angeles. It was a great stay with Mags and I am soo happy that Dan was able to hook it up and get me a pass to voodoo fest!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Out in Austin
As we had a lovely weekend ahead of us, Juan and I decided to take a side trip over to Austin, TX before going to San Antonio.
On the way we stopped in a town called Ozark? It apparently has a statue of Davey Crockett there. The statue was meant to go over to a town called Crockett not too far from Ozark, but someone got lost/lazy delivering it, so there in Ozark it lies!
We had lunch at some tiny little restaurant there. The wait-staff was pretty chill, but they kept on thinking Juan and me were a couple, probably becuase we joke around and bicker sooo much on the road.
The town was cute, but super small, still the Davey statue is worth mentioning I suppose.
We got in around 8ish to the city and checked into a spot right off 2nd street I believe...could've been first.
It was a little early for partying at the moment and it was raining ALOT, so Juan and I went to a Irish spot on 6th and had some dinner. I had some fish with a little HP sauce, which wasn't made in the UK but was made up in Canada (psh..), and Juan had some mini burgers or something.....
After eating we walked around for a bit up and down the strip. Soon we decided to just start bar hopping and taking shots and different spots. We must have had about 14 shots before the night was out...along the way we met some other marketing people that were promoting for some sports thing...it caught our eye becuase their signs said something about DIRECTV. We all got to talking and later on met up with them after work which was cool. You dont' really get to bump into a ton of marketing people while you're out on a marketing tour surprisingly, so it was nice to meet kindred spirits that evening.
The rain was still coming down though, and since it was getting really late Juan and I decided to bail from the bar we were all at and head back to the hotel.
The next day I woke up with quite a headache and made Juan drive us to San Antonio, but not before stopping at Freebirds for a tasty burrito for the journey :)
On the way we stopped in a town called Ozark? It apparently has a statue of Davey Crockett there. The statue was meant to go over to a town called Crockett not too far from Ozark, but someone got lost/lazy delivering it, so there in Ozark it lies!
We had lunch at some tiny little restaurant there. The wait-staff was pretty chill, but they kept on thinking Juan and me were a couple, probably becuase we joke around and bicker sooo much on the road.
The town was cute, but super small, still the Davey statue is worth mentioning I suppose.
We got in around 8ish to the city and checked into a spot right off 2nd street I believe...could've been first.
It was a little early for partying at the moment and it was raining ALOT, so Juan and I went to a Irish spot on 6th and had some dinner. I had some fish with a little HP sauce, which wasn't made in the UK but was made up in Canada (psh..), and Juan had some mini burgers or something.....
After eating we walked around for a bit up and down the strip. Soon we decided to just start bar hopping and taking shots and different spots. We must have had about 14 shots before the night was out...along the way we met some other marketing people that were promoting for some sports thing...it caught our eye becuase their signs said something about DIRECTV. We all got to talking and later on met up with them after work which was cool. You dont' really get to bump into a ton of marketing people while you're out on a marketing tour surprisingly, so it was nice to meet kindred spirits that evening.
The rain was still coming down though, and since it was getting really late Juan and I decided to bail from the bar we were all at and head back to the hotel.
The next day I woke up with quite a headache and made Juan drive us to San Antonio, but not before stopping at Freebirds for a tasty burrito for the journey :)
On to El Paso
We left after our Paris, TX event for El Paso.
It was an okay drive, pretty long. The only thing I can really say was memorable about El Paso was that it's right next to the Mexican Border, and the alcohol over there is wicked cheap.
Juan and I had dinner with one of his friends at Cheddars and she was saying that there is a drink special every day of the weeknight. I thought this was crazy. I had never seen large margaritas and other mixed drinks for 4-5 dollars, that's sumthin'
We were thinking of going to hop over the border and have a drink in Mexico, but it was getting late and I think the drive pretty much took all our energy away.
The event here went pretty well. We were trying to see if we could get out of there early enough to go to Carlsbad Caverns. I'd been there once before and from what I can remember it's pretty much worth seeing. However, it closed at around 5 and we weren't outta work that day til around 6pm. On the way out of El Paso, we also saw the McDonald's Observatory, another awesome site to see and check out all the stars. I had also been there, but it was a very long time ago and i was super young so i barely remember anything, except wondering if i could get some french fries there.
We stopped in Fort Stockton that night, again there really wasn't much there..
on a side note, i just rememberd that at the call center in Paris, TX, I think we stayed at one of their first Hampton Inn hotels. One of the ladies at the call center was talking about where we were staying and saying how excited she was when the hotel first was built that she rented out a room there and stayed the night just to test it out...I thought this was alittle odd, but I suppose even small town folk need a small escape from small town living....
It was an okay drive, pretty long. The only thing I can really say was memorable about El Paso was that it's right next to the Mexican Border, and the alcohol over there is wicked cheap.
Juan and I had dinner with one of his friends at Cheddars and she was saying that there is a drink special every day of the weeknight. I thought this was crazy. I had never seen large margaritas and other mixed drinks for 4-5 dollars, that's sumthin'
We were thinking of going to hop over the border and have a drink in Mexico, but it was getting late and I think the drive pretty much took all our energy away.
The event here went pretty well. We were trying to see if we could get out of there early enough to go to Carlsbad Caverns. I'd been there once before and from what I can remember it's pretty much worth seeing. However, it closed at around 5 and we weren't outta work that day til around 6pm. On the way out of El Paso, we also saw the McDonald's Observatory, another awesome site to see and check out all the stars. I had also been there, but it was a very long time ago and i was super young so i barely remember anything, except wondering if i could get some french fries there.
We stopped in Fort Stockton that night, again there really wasn't much there..
on a side note, i just rememberd that at the call center in Paris, TX, I think we stayed at one of their first Hampton Inn hotels. One of the ladies at the call center was talking about where we were staying and saying how excited she was when the hotel first was built that she rented out a room there and stayed the night just to test it out...I thought this was alittle odd, but I suppose even small town folk need a small escape from small town living....
Thursday, September 24, 2009
DTV DOES DALLAS!...and Paris
There wasn't too much to see on the way to Dallas except for a Buccees. I've never seen a gas station that looks more like a theme park in my life aside from this place. They even had an electronical beaver to great you when you entered the store..soo weird.
When we finally got to Dallas, it was around 8pm. Cari,(my cousin), and I planned to meet up for a little bit since she lived near the area. It was good seeing her and nice to take a break from tour with family. She was telling me all about her wedding and her bachelorette party plans...i was getting a little bummed i wasn't going to be able to go to her bachelorette party because of tour. Financially though it was probably better for me to not attend.
Next morning Erin, Cari, and myself went to IHOP for breakfast. There wasn't too much to the rest of my visit aside from this.
We only really made a pit stop here before getting to Paris, TX later on that day.
When we arrived in Paris, we first went to the Eiffel Tower there. Of course, knowing Texas, they put a cowboy hat on top of the tower. Juan and I climbed it to take some pictures which was fun for a little bit. That was pretty much the extent of excitement we had in that town. Paris really doesn't have too much going on in the town.
Onward to El Paso!
When we finally got to Dallas, it was around 8pm. Cari,(my cousin), and I planned to meet up for a little bit since she lived near the area. It was good seeing her and nice to take a break from tour with family. She was telling me all about her wedding and her bachelorette party plans...i was getting a little bummed i wasn't going to be able to go to her bachelorette party because of tour. Financially though it was probably better for me to not attend.
Next morning Erin, Cari, and myself went to IHOP for breakfast. There wasn't too much to the rest of my visit aside from this.
We only really made a pit stop here before getting to Paris, TX later on that day.
When we arrived in Paris, we first went to the Eiffel Tower there. Of course, knowing Texas, they put a cowboy hat on top of the tower. Juan and I climbed it to take some pictures which was fun for a little bit. That was pretty much the extent of excitement we had in that town. Paris really doesn't have too much going on in the town.
Onward to El Paso!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Strike Force Tour: Week 1, Part 1- Norcross, GA to New Orleans, LA
After landing in Atlanta, I met Juan at baggage claim and we took the Marta to Norcross. Juan was the Tour Manager for the East Coast version of the tour I was on, so it was good to catch up with him and swap stories from both our time spent on the road.
Dougie soon scooped us from the Marta Station and we immediately went over to IMG Live to begin advancing our tour (ie booking hotel rooms, calling balloon locations etc). Juan and I pretty much couldn't stop laughing and joking around, which I've rarely been able to find in another person on the road, so I enjoyed it, eventually though we did get our work done for the day and checked into our hotel rooms that evening.
Friday was somewhat of the same. Juan went out to get us some food and one point and change the oil to the car, but aside from that we just stuffed balloons and prepped shipping them for Strike Force team 1 and 2.
Saturday we left for the road. Juan had never been to New Orleans so we decided to make a pit stop there for the evening. We got there around 4 in the afternoon, but had to walk around a bit until our rooms were ready. We started at Pat O'Briens (where else?) and got some hurricanes, then we slowly made our way down Bourbon street. Juan loved it. He said it reminded him of some part of Florida...I can't remember which though. We eventually stopped at the Gumbo Shop to get some dinner, it was okay, not the best cajun cuisine i'd had, but decent.
Our hotel room ended up being ready after dinner so we checked in. I was pretty beat from that day, and since there was a Gay Festival going on, which meant, alot more crazy people having lots of fun then i was willing to deal with, I opted out of returning to the streets past 10pm. Juan however went out and had a good time, which I'm happy about. I'm always glad when I break people in to New Orleans, makes me feel like I've done my duty as a local citizen :)
The next morning we were set to leave around 1ish. I got up early so I could have time to walk around Jackson Square and meet my friend, Kevin, for breakfast. I quickly took a stroll over to Cafe Du Monde to grab some Beignets and coffee, then power walked down to Poydras where Mother's is located to have some food.
It was good to see Kevin again, we basically caught up and he was telling me all about life in NOLA and how he'd got another job working for a TV Production company. He also told me that Dr. Dog had moved on to Epitaph which I thought was a little sad, but hey, suppose it had to happen, and that the Peekers were breaking up. I was really bummed out by this. They're such a great band, but when you problems that can't be fixed, I suppose that's how it goes...
After saying goodbye to Kevin, I headed on back to the hotel and met up with Juan. We said goodbye to the lovely Big Easy, and started to make our way north to Dallas, TX for another night to stop and say hello to friends before hitting out final destination in Paris, TX.
I'll report on Dallas a little later, now it's time to take a nap!
Dougie soon scooped us from the Marta Station and we immediately went over to IMG Live to begin advancing our tour (ie booking hotel rooms, calling balloon locations etc). Juan and I pretty much couldn't stop laughing and joking around, which I've rarely been able to find in another person on the road, so I enjoyed it, eventually though we did get our work done for the day and checked into our hotel rooms that evening.
Friday was somewhat of the same. Juan went out to get us some food and one point and change the oil to the car, but aside from that we just stuffed balloons and prepped shipping them for Strike Force team 1 and 2.
Saturday we left for the road. Juan had never been to New Orleans so we decided to make a pit stop there for the evening. We got there around 4 in the afternoon, but had to walk around a bit until our rooms were ready. We started at Pat O'Briens (where else?) and got some hurricanes, then we slowly made our way down Bourbon street. Juan loved it. He said it reminded him of some part of Florida...I can't remember which though. We eventually stopped at the Gumbo Shop to get some dinner, it was okay, not the best cajun cuisine i'd had, but decent.
Our hotel room ended up being ready after dinner so we checked in. I was pretty beat from that day, and since there was a Gay Festival going on, which meant, alot more crazy people having lots of fun then i was willing to deal with, I opted out of returning to the streets past 10pm. Juan however went out and had a good time, which I'm happy about. I'm always glad when I break people in to New Orleans, makes me feel like I've done my duty as a local citizen :)
The next morning we were set to leave around 1ish. I got up early so I could have time to walk around Jackson Square and meet my friend, Kevin, for breakfast. I quickly took a stroll over to Cafe Du Monde to grab some Beignets and coffee, then power walked down to Poydras where Mother's is located to have some food.
It was good to see Kevin again, we basically caught up and he was telling me all about life in NOLA and how he'd got another job working for a TV Production company. He also told me that Dr. Dog had moved on to Epitaph which I thought was a little sad, but hey, suppose it had to happen, and that the Peekers were breaking up. I was really bummed out by this. They're such a great band, but when you problems that can't be fixed, I suppose that's how it goes...
After saying goodbye to Kevin, I headed on back to the hotel and met up with Juan. We said goodbye to the lovely Big Easy, and started to make our way north to Dallas, TX for another night to stop and say hello to friends before hitting out final destination in Paris, TX.
I'll report on Dallas a little later, now it's time to take a nap!
Friday, September 18, 2009
Out with the Old and in with the New!
I landed in Dayton, OH later on that day...around 7pm. I thought that it would just be my mom and possible dad picking me up, but it turned out to be Laurean and Adam (bro by law) too!
I finally got to see my sister pregnant which was awesome! i was so sure i'd missed my chance earlier in July when I planned to see her after my two week training in Atlanta, GA on the way to my first event of the tour.
Anyways, it was evident that the baby was about ready to be born by the size of her stomach. I'll refrain from description because in case Laurean does read this, I wouldn't want to say anything that would make her feel sensitive about being pregnant, because it's a beautiful thing regardless of whether or not you feel that way when you are pregnant 100% of the time.
Not too much else happened on the ride from the airport back to West Chester, OH where my sister and bro by law live. The only thing of note was that past Monroe, OH, my sister and mom showed me the Touchdown Jesus! It is probably the most ridiculous thing to have in the middle of nowhere.
Take a look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Kings_(statue)
The only thing I wonder about this is if pilots point this out to passengers when they're flying overhead....hmmm...
when we finally got to West Chester, we stopped at a Roadhouse Ribs place for dinner. I was itching to grab a book to read for the car ride back to Philly the following day so after dinner I asked my parents if it was possible to drop everyone off and then one of them let me go over to barnes and noble real quick to pick up a book i had in mind.
Dad was completely against this, mom said no too. And of course neither of them wanted me driving alone in rural Ohio at night.....sooo weird. Adam pointed out the barnes and noble was literally a 2minute walk across the road from where we were. So i decided that while they were waiting for the bill I'd walk over there and get what I wanted. Mom again, started acting all crazy saying 'no i don't want you walking out there! you might get accosted!!!!....
Now folks, let it be noted this was one of those really nice shopping areas, not Compton, CA...so the idea that my mom thought i would get accosted exiting one building,and then walking two minutes to get to the next building is completely and utterly RIDICULOUS. And yes, i did call my mom crazy for this.....It's like she forgets I travel around for work and am hanging out in cities late at night on the regular by myself....geez....
Anyways, I still went across the street (by myself & no i didn't get accosted) to get my book. I wanted to start reading the Sookie Stackhouse books that are best known for inspiring the hit tv show Trueblood.
Next morning we set out bright and early to start back to philly. I read my book, listened to music, and slept most of the way. We also stopped somewhere in the morning to get some Coldstone. My mom and dad love ice cream, so that was our little treat for the day. I got a sorbet.
After getting home that evening, Tara came over and we go to catch up for a bit. We went out to have some dinner over at howl and the moon, but it was closed. AS we were making our way into Kennett Square though, we did see Darryl Brown! I hadn't seen him since i dunno, i guess graduation or something. It was nice to see how he was doing. I think he said he'll probably finish up working at the bike shop til winter up in Philly and then close that down to do the same thing in Key West. Sounds like a pretty good setup in my opinion, having consistency that varies here and there, however I also think he said he's probably not gonna return to Philly to do it next year though....
The next day I went out to lunch with Mrs. Buckwalter and my mom to Two Fat Guys. What made this outing sooo eventful was that we saw Fran Wildralaga there. I like him a bunch and even though there wasn't tons to talk about with him, it was still awesome to see his face!
Later on we heard from Laurean that she was in labor and started to await the birth of my new nephew/niece....oh the anticipation.....it took a little over 24 hours for Laurean to actually give birth, and in all that time we I watched Trueblood, hung out with some more of mom's friends for a chapagne lunch, we driving around with dad, and went to Lush and the Christiana mall....also saw mike Pesce there too!
Finally the kid was born in the evening. The hospital Laurean had the baby in was practically a resort! the pictures for the place were CRAZY! The baby ended up being a boy and was named Remy Alexander Leigh. I think mom was a little worried Laurean and Adam would name it something crazy, but they have good taste with those types of things, and the baby is half Broadbent, so it will have taste anyways :)
The remainder of my stay with the parents was good. I went out one more time with Chris Harne to see 'Inglorious Bastards' it was okay, not my fav Taratino film for sure. Thursday finally rolled around and I left early in the morning to start a new tour in Atlanta..and so it goes
I finally got to see my sister pregnant which was awesome! i was so sure i'd missed my chance earlier in July when I planned to see her after my two week training in Atlanta, GA on the way to my first event of the tour.
Anyways, it was evident that the baby was about ready to be born by the size of her stomach. I'll refrain from description because in case Laurean does read this, I wouldn't want to say anything that would make her feel sensitive about being pregnant, because it's a beautiful thing regardless of whether or not you feel that way when you are pregnant 100% of the time.
Not too much else happened on the ride from the airport back to West Chester, OH where my sister and bro by law live. The only thing of note was that past Monroe, OH, my sister and mom showed me the Touchdown Jesus! It is probably the most ridiculous thing to have in the middle of nowhere.
Take a look: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Kings_(statue)
The only thing I wonder about this is if pilots point this out to passengers when they're flying overhead....hmmm...
when we finally got to West Chester, we stopped at a Roadhouse Ribs place for dinner. I was itching to grab a book to read for the car ride back to Philly the following day so after dinner I asked my parents if it was possible to drop everyone off and then one of them let me go over to barnes and noble real quick to pick up a book i had in mind.
Dad was completely against this, mom said no too. And of course neither of them wanted me driving alone in rural Ohio at night.....sooo weird. Adam pointed out the barnes and noble was literally a 2minute walk across the road from where we were. So i decided that while they were waiting for the bill I'd walk over there and get what I wanted. Mom again, started acting all crazy saying 'no i don't want you walking out there! you might get accosted!!!!....
Now folks, let it be noted this was one of those really nice shopping areas, not Compton, CA...so the idea that my mom thought i would get accosted exiting one building,and then walking two minutes to get to the next building is completely and utterly RIDICULOUS. And yes, i did call my mom crazy for this.....It's like she forgets I travel around for work and am hanging out in cities late at night on the regular by myself....geez....
Anyways, I still went across the street (by myself & no i didn't get accosted) to get my book. I wanted to start reading the Sookie Stackhouse books that are best known for inspiring the hit tv show Trueblood.
Next morning we set out bright and early to start back to philly. I read my book, listened to music, and slept most of the way. We also stopped somewhere in the morning to get some Coldstone. My mom and dad love ice cream, so that was our little treat for the day. I got a sorbet.
After getting home that evening, Tara came over and we go to catch up for a bit. We went out to have some dinner over at howl and the moon, but it was closed. AS we were making our way into Kennett Square though, we did see Darryl Brown! I hadn't seen him since i dunno, i guess graduation or something. It was nice to see how he was doing. I think he said he'll probably finish up working at the bike shop til winter up in Philly and then close that down to do the same thing in Key West. Sounds like a pretty good setup in my opinion, having consistency that varies here and there, however I also think he said he's probably not gonna return to Philly to do it next year though....
The next day I went out to lunch with Mrs. Buckwalter and my mom to Two Fat Guys. What made this outing sooo eventful was that we saw Fran Wildralaga there. I like him a bunch and even though there wasn't tons to talk about with him, it was still awesome to see his face!
Later on we heard from Laurean that she was in labor and started to await the birth of my new nephew/niece....oh the anticipation.....it took a little over 24 hours for Laurean to actually give birth, and in all that time we I watched Trueblood, hung out with some more of mom's friends for a chapagne lunch, we driving around with dad, and went to Lush and the Christiana mall....also saw mike Pesce there too!
Finally the kid was born in the evening. The hospital Laurean had the baby in was practically a resort! the pictures for the place were CRAZY! The baby ended up being a boy and was named Remy Alexander Leigh. I think mom was a little worried Laurean and Adam would name it something crazy, but they have good taste with those types of things, and the baby is half Broadbent, so it will have taste anyways :)
The remainder of my stay with the parents was good. I went out one more time with Chris Harne to see 'Inglorious Bastards' it was okay, not my fav Taratino film for sure. Thursday finally rolled around and I left early in the morning to start a new tour in Atlanta..and so it goes
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
End of Tour- DA WRAP UP!
So after dropping off Araceli at the airport I reported back to IMG Live for a day of work ahead.
It was raining alot that day, but i didn't mind working outside. A Californian (well, sort of) such as my self rarely gets the opportunity to relish in a day of gloom and thunder, so I enjoyed my labors outside. Dougie wanted me to tidy up all 3 trailers from the tours that had just finished. I started with Direct Sales East since that was the easiest. After doing inventory there, I moved on to the Sell and Save trailers which had alot more items in them. I can't believe they were able to fit all their luggage in there.
I was in the middle of figuring out how i was going organize the Sell and Save East's trailer when another IMG LIVE Tour celebrity appeared to help the cause! Jay Couch had been helping IMG Live out with Coke and other random errands in the office that week, so Dougie sent him out to help me too. With Jay there, everything went alot faster. I think the best part of the day though was when Smitty needed us to remove the brake governor boxes for the trailers from each of the vehicles.
It was easy to get the ones from the Expeditions out, but the 15 passenger vans were a completely different beast. First we tried twisting our hands deep inside the heart of the car where the cord was nestled/tangled through, then we decided to sort of 'disect' the car by unclipping the front console area and pulling it to the side. It was CRAZY to see the engine RIGHT THERE! then we figured that the cord twisted even higher up. Luckily Jay knew how to carefully disassemble the plastic that was around the audio/radio area. After he did so, we found the cord just chillin' there connected to the outlet. AFter this little dilemma it was easy to get the black box outta the other vehicle.
When this was all said and done, we still had to run the trailers all over to the warehouse, while getting oil changes and cars cleaned. Jay had to be out at 4 that day, so we were only able to get the car cleaned up...oil changes would have taken too long...
As we were somewhere along packing up the trailer, Dougie told me that my tour had been post-poned a week and that I would be able to fly home to see family for a bit. This was awesome because my sister was about to have her baby and I hadn't seen her pregnant yet, so the timing was too good.
Jay finally left at 4, and my last task of the day was to go down to the warehouse and chain up all the trailers, which I'll tell ya, was not an easy task. Those chains are heavy to wrap around 1, and 2, I thought I'd grabbed enough long chains the first time at Home Depot, but after getting back to the warehouse and realizing I didn't have enough chain, I had to drop work for a second, go back to Home Depot, and get more chains to tie around the trailers. But hey, at least I now know I can chain trailers together!
When i was done, i was going to try to meet up with Jay Finn for dinner, but our timing wasnt working for us that evening. So I just went back to my hotel room and chilled that evening.
The next day I ran errands in the morning, mailing Rod and ARaceli's things to them via UPS and making sure all the locks & keys were together for the right trailer. I also had time to grab some awesome Sushi and Publix. There was someone in the IMG office who had sushi and it tasted pretty good for grocery bought, so since I had no time for Happy Sumo, and still harbored the craving for some spicy tuna, I opted for this. It was good stuff.
Eventually it got around the time to leave and head to the Marta. The hotel called me their regular cab service which turned out to be a Lincoln Towncar...I was not thrilled about this...I think the last time i was in a towncar i was in New York, and probably tipped the guy as poorly as I did this one to the Marta. When I see fancy cars, and no meters telling me how much to pay, and someone just throws a number outta the air, I immediately feel ripped, and don't tip good.
I could have called a regular cab, refusing the towncars' service, but I was running outta time. The whole time though the driver kept on saying I should just take him straight to the airport and not bother with the Marta. I told him i'd take my chances, that i liked the train, and that cab fares are too expense & the Marta is cheap...he still tried, no result though...
After I paid him 18.00 for the ride (seriously, it was like 15mins away) and tipped him 2.00 (to which he said that was cheap..yeah i didn't care) I was off to ride the Marta and get to the airport.
Anyways, gotta jet for now, more tales to tell later!
MB
It was raining alot that day, but i didn't mind working outside. A Californian (well, sort of) such as my self rarely gets the opportunity to relish in a day of gloom and thunder, so I enjoyed my labors outside. Dougie wanted me to tidy up all 3 trailers from the tours that had just finished. I started with Direct Sales East since that was the easiest. After doing inventory there, I moved on to the Sell and Save trailers which had alot more items in them. I can't believe they were able to fit all their luggage in there.
I was in the middle of figuring out how i was going organize the Sell and Save East's trailer when another IMG LIVE Tour celebrity appeared to help the cause! Jay Couch had been helping IMG Live out with Coke and other random errands in the office that week, so Dougie sent him out to help me too. With Jay there, everything went alot faster. I think the best part of the day though was when Smitty needed us to remove the brake governor boxes for the trailers from each of the vehicles.
It was easy to get the ones from the Expeditions out, but the 15 passenger vans were a completely different beast. First we tried twisting our hands deep inside the heart of the car where the cord was nestled/tangled through, then we decided to sort of 'disect' the car by unclipping the front console area and pulling it to the side. It was CRAZY to see the engine RIGHT THERE! then we figured that the cord twisted even higher up. Luckily Jay knew how to carefully disassemble the plastic that was around the audio/radio area. After he did so, we found the cord just chillin' there connected to the outlet. AFter this little dilemma it was easy to get the black box outta the other vehicle.
When this was all said and done, we still had to run the trailers all over to the warehouse, while getting oil changes and cars cleaned. Jay had to be out at 4 that day, so we were only able to get the car cleaned up...oil changes would have taken too long...
As we were somewhere along packing up the trailer, Dougie told me that my tour had been post-poned a week and that I would be able to fly home to see family for a bit. This was awesome because my sister was about to have her baby and I hadn't seen her pregnant yet, so the timing was too good.
Jay finally left at 4, and my last task of the day was to go down to the warehouse and chain up all the trailers, which I'll tell ya, was not an easy task. Those chains are heavy to wrap around 1, and 2, I thought I'd grabbed enough long chains the first time at Home Depot, but after getting back to the warehouse and realizing I didn't have enough chain, I had to drop work for a second, go back to Home Depot, and get more chains to tie around the trailers. But hey, at least I now know I can chain trailers together!
When i was done, i was going to try to meet up with Jay Finn for dinner, but our timing wasnt working for us that evening. So I just went back to my hotel room and chilled that evening.
The next day I ran errands in the morning, mailing Rod and ARaceli's things to them via UPS and making sure all the locks & keys were together for the right trailer. I also had time to grab some awesome Sushi and Publix. There was someone in the IMG office who had sushi and it tasted pretty good for grocery bought, so since I had no time for Happy Sumo, and still harbored the craving for some spicy tuna, I opted for this. It was good stuff.
Eventually it got around the time to leave and head to the Marta. The hotel called me their regular cab service which turned out to be a Lincoln Towncar...I was not thrilled about this...I think the last time i was in a towncar i was in New York, and probably tipped the guy as poorly as I did this one to the Marta. When I see fancy cars, and no meters telling me how much to pay, and someone just throws a number outta the air, I immediately feel ripped, and don't tip good.
I could have called a regular cab, refusing the towncars' service, but I was running outta time. The whole time though the driver kept on saying I should just take him straight to the airport and not bother with the Marta. I told him i'd take my chances, that i liked the train, and that cab fares are too expense & the Marta is cheap...he still tried, no result though...
After I paid him 18.00 for the ride (seriously, it was like 15mins away) and tipped him 2.00 (to which he said that was cheap..yeah i didn't care) I was off to ride the Marta and get to the airport.
Anyways, gotta jet for now, more tales to tell later!
MB
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Tour Part Three-Missouri Central
Alright, so after we ventured into Lee's Summit, MO, we settled into our hotel and rested up. It was good to be stationary for a day or so since we'd been roaming the roads of the America for a little while.
The following week and a half continued on as such. There isn't too much fun to be had in the rule areas of Missouri. I believe after our second event in Olivette, MO me and Araceli went to Massage Envy to spoil ourselves from all our hard work. Araceli had a good massage, mine sucked. I don't know why people think that when I tell them they need to put lots of pressure on my massage they always give me a cold fish massage. Oh well....Anyways after that we went to get sushi, but there was no place around the area for such. We settled on store bought sushi (or at least i did) but disappointed still, none the less.
That weekend we stayed in St Louis at the Hampton Inn. I'd been there a year ago, but the Hampton Inn changed it's location and moved closer to the heart of the city. It was super vamped up too which was great. Definately an improvement. Araceli and I walked around the Arch, the parks, we went to the zoo, art & history museum, and even had time to get lost in Forest Park because we forgot where we parked our vehicle. We also went out for sushi with Rod and one of his old tourmates which was fun and to the City Museum! The City Museum is a childrens museum during the day, but is open to everyone at night on the weekends. You can also get alcohol and run around through all the caves and jungle gyms they have set up there. It was the craziest thing and gave me more respect for the that city because we went there. They also had a wedding reception going on there which was pretty cool. I suppose if i lived in St Louis, that would be the location I'd want my wedding to be at :)
The only down side to this whole trip was that our car was broken into. It was annoying and could have been avoided if Hampton Inn's security guard wasn't on the interweb, but alas, that was the case and therefore we got our car broken into. They only stole our GPS and a car charger though, so that was good it wasn't something more valuable since all of us left at least one bag in the car.
The morning after this we all packed up and left for our last event in Cape Girardeau, MO. It was a cute little place, and the people there were super nice. I was happy it was our last stop, and extremely easy. The day was a little long, but went by soon enough. After the event Araceli and I said goodbye to Rod, who'd rented a car earlier that day so he could just drive home to Ohio after the gig. it was great having Rod on tour, he was a super helpful tourmate, hopefully I'll work with him again in the future. Araceli and I journeyed on to Norcross, GA and got in around 2am the next morning. The rooms we booked were awesome though, had nice little kitchens, a seperate bedroom, and a living room area. it was wonderful to see that after a long trip :)
The next day I went to the office and started unloading the my truck and the warehouse and doing the regular inventory. Then I went over to IMG Live to get another set of keys to Juan's trailer to do the same. As I was waiting for Dougie to finish up a meeting, I heard some familiar voices. The door soon opened and after Josh Pate low-fived me, out came Charlie and Adrian with hi-five's of their own! It was good seeing the two of them again, and most unexpected as their tour finished a week earlier. They however were out on another extension of their own. After catching up on how each other's tour went, and getting a few things out of trailers, I took Juan's trailer to the warehouse and Dougie drove Charlie and Adrian out to the airport for their flight to colorado for work.
I then went back to hang with Araceli for a bit, her and i scheduled another massage together and were planning on going to MAC again to get another good ole' discount on products. The girl at MAC wasn't as cool as the first one we went to in Chicago, but still fairly informed. AFter the massage, which was sooo freakin good! we went back to the hotel and tried to get some sleep.
In the morning, we nearly missed Araceli's flight because we both slept in, then after dropping her off, she realized her purse was still in the car! however all thoughts of missing the plane were averted and she got home safely.
alright, have to take a break writing now. I'll continue onward in a bit for a little taste of what I've been doing since then.
later
The following week and a half continued on as such. There isn't too much fun to be had in the rule areas of Missouri. I believe after our second event in Olivette, MO me and Araceli went to Massage Envy to spoil ourselves from all our hard work. Araceli had a good massage, mine sucked. I don't know why people think that when I tell them they need to put lots of pressure on my massage they always give me a cold fish massage. Oh well....Anyways after that we went to get sushi, but there was no place around the area for such. We settled on store bought sushi (or at least i did) but disappointed still, none the less.
That weekend we stayed in St Louis at the Hampton Inn. I'd been there a year ago, but the Hampton Inn changed it's location and moved closer to the heart of the city. It was super vamped up too which was great. Definately an improvement. Araceli and I walked around the Arch, the parks, we went to the zoo, art & history museum, and even had time to get lost in Forest Park because we forgot where we parked our vehicle. We also went out for sushi with Rod and one of his old tourmates which was fun and to the City Museum! The City Museum is a childrens museum during the day, but is open to everyone at night on the weekends. You can also get alcohol and run around through all the caves and jungle gyms they have set up there. It was the craziest thing and gave me more respect for the that city because we went there. They also had a wedding reception going on there which was pretty cool. I suppose if i lived in St Louis, that would be the location I'd want my wedding to be at :)
The only down side to this whole trip was that our car was broken into. It was annoying and could have been avoided if Hampton Inn's security guard wasn't on the interweb, but alas, that was the case and therefore we got our car broken into. They only stole our GPS and a car charger though, so that was good it wasn't something more valuable since all of us left at least one bag in the car.
The morning after this we all packed up and left for our last event in Cape Girardeau, MO. It was a cute little place, and the people there were super nice. I was happy it was our last stop, and extremely easy. The day was a little long, but went by soon enough. After the event Araceli and I said goodbye to Rod, who'd rented a car earlier that day so he could just drive home to Ohio after the gig. it was great having Rod on tour, he was a super helpful tourmate, hopefully I'll work with him again in the future. Araceli and I journeyed on to Norcross, GA and got in around 2am the next morning. The rooms we booked were awesome though, had nice little kitchens, a seperate bedroom, and a living room area. it was wonderful to see that after a long trip :)
The next day I went to the office and started unloading the my truck and the warehouse and doing the regular inventory. Then I went over to IMG Live to get another set of keys to Juan's trailer to do the same. As I was waiting for Dougie to finish up a meeting, I heard some familiar voices. The door soon opened and after Josh Pate low-fived me, out came Charlie and Adrian with hi-five's of their own! It was good seeing the two of them again, and most unexpected as their tour finished a week earlier. They however were out on another extension of their own. After catching up on how each other's tour went, and getting a few things out of trailers, I took Juan's trailer to the warehouse and Dougie drove Charlie and Adrian out to the airport for their flight to colorado for work.
I then went back to hang with Araceli for a bit, her and i scheduled another massage together and were planning on going to MAC again to get another good ole' discount on products. The girl at MAC wasn't as cool as the first one we went to in Chicago, but still fairly informed. AFter the massage, which was sooo freakin good! we went back to the hotel and tried to get some sleep.
In the morning, we nearly missed Araceli's flight because we both slept in, then after dropping her off, she realized her purse was still in the car! however all thoughts of missing the plane were averted and she got home safely.
alright, have to take a break writing now. I'll continue onward in a bit for a little taste of what I've been doing since then.
later
Monday, August 31, 2009
Tour Part Two-California Leg Done and Done
Well, the tour was done a little while ago. I do want to keep things compartmentalized however, so I'm going to have to break up the rest of the tour into separate blogs...they'll just all be written today since I have time.
Alright, after our overnight drive from Rock Island, IL to San Jose, which I am VERY proud of my team for being so adamant about doing, we crept on into San Jose, CA in the late evening. I checked with my mates to see if it was alright for me to take the car on down to Los Angeles, A) so I wouldn't have to pay for a rental car B) so I could go see No Doubt C) so I could save us some money by spending the night at home. They were quite cool with it which rocked.
It was a nice drive down the 5 the next morning, and around 11ish I was safe and sound back in Los Angeles. I believe that day I went home to check on my mail, then went down to Torrence, CA to see another old tourmate of mine, Matt, who was working for the same company, but on a different tour. Matt and I had promised to see the new Harry Potter movie together, and it just so happened Matt found a time that worked for both of us that day. Due to LA traffic, though, I was a little late. The movie was good though, and Cliff, Matt's Asst Tour Manager, also joined us. Afterwards, we went to some Dog-named bar and insisted that Cliff get a Hot Toddy to relieve himself of a cold he was fighting off. He wasn't too impressed with our remedy, but I think it might have worked for him in the long run :)
Later on, Matt's cousin, Chris?, joined us along with Matt's friend, Jennifer. Jennifer was showing us some of her jewelry collection which was very pretty and apparently she lives very close to me in the Valley so hopefully I'll be seeing her again sometime. Chris was a fun hang too. He was telling us about being a pilot and flying for private affairs in different places. Very exciting stuff. It was very good to meet some of Matt's family and friends I always feel like you learn a little more about a person by meeting people they've grown up with.
The next day was No Doubt! I had some breakfast with another former tourmate Susan, and her boyfriend, Steve at the Griddle. Matt was supposed to meet up with us, but he ended up sleeping in, which was a bummer but understandable, touring does make one tired at times. Susan and Steve told me they were going to go kayaking that day in Marina Del Ray and invited me to come, however I couldnt because of No Doubt. I then went back to my house and got ready for the concert. Alexis, who i was going to the show with met up with me and we then headed down the 5 to the show in Irvine.
On the way we stopped in Seal Beach for a drink at Dan's Beachcomber? at least i think that was the name of the bar...it was an awesome scene in there. Very tropical and jungle like. We went at happy hour too, so we were able to get a nice cheap dinner and a drink. We still however have no idea what a beachcomber is....
After drinks, we went to the No Doubt show and it was pretty great. I would have to say that it was good seeing them at a regular show aside from the Friends and Family show i went to earlier this year. I think there was just more energy on stage, and they changed a few things in the show too, which was neat to see. The openers were The Sounds and Paramore. I went in a fan of The Sounds and not a fan of Paramore and left with an entirely reversed opinion of both bands. Probably would have still liked The Sounds if Maja (the lead singer) wasn't gyrating all over the guitar players and looking like she stepped out of a Vogue magazine....
The next day I drove back up to San Jose and did a site check, the gig the day after that went really well! We got some high marks from our client and he said to our bosses and IMG Live that we were 'a well-oiled machine!' which was awesome.
When the San Jose gig was done, me and my team drove down the 5 again. Rod was dropped off in West LA, I went home, and Araceli took the car on to San Diego. A few days later we met up to do our gig in Pasadena, which was another success, then split up again in the same fashion. This time however i drove down to San Diego with my friend, Katie, to see another No Doubt show with Araceli and her buddy Dustin. At the first show I went to, there was a guy there offering $20 tickets and the seats were pretty good, not grass seats, sitting seats, at the amphitheater! So i nabbed a few for us to go see them.
It was a long drive to SD, but staying there made me realize how I should try and make a long weekend trip outta that place sometime, there is alot to do down there that I'd like to take advantage of sometime. Katie and I grabbed a drink before the show at some nearby shopping street place...Old Town? i think....then met up with Araceli and Dustin. We got there a little later just to catch No Doubt, which was awesome...i really didn't wanna sit through the whole show again....the only thing we had to deal with was knocking some 8 year olds outta our seats, since we arrived later, oh kids!
The seats were great, the show was fabulous, the ride home took longer then I liked, but the finale was awesome and memorable. At the first show, during the encore, No Doubt had all the bands come out during 'Stand and Deliver'. They had Hayley Williams and Maja come out to sing verses and their band members all came out at the end and ran around on stage. Being it was the last night for Paramore No Doubt first came out during Paramore's set and danced around in costumes, then during 'Stand and Deliver' paramore and the sounds came out all wearing tu-tu's to play off of the large pink tu-tu Adrian wears during the encore. During the second finale we saw, Shirley Manson came out to sing Hayley's part since Paramore was no longer on tour, and The Sounds came out dressed as No Doubt which was hilarious!!!!
Anyways, show was good, drove back up to LA after this, then went down to Marina Del Ray to go kayaking with nick and emily. that was another good time, then we went for mexican food and margaritas right afterwards. I also was able to put in a little bit of work at Center Staging while i was home. It was good seeing everyone again for a bit, I did miss working there.
My team later reconveigned and we went down to Tustin, CA for another gig. I went back up to LA that night to save more money, then on to San Diego the day after that, then back up to LA the night after the event. I'm glad I did, it was good to be at home for a bit and save some money in the same process. I was also able to have dinner with Cricket, Jesse, and Ryan too. We went to eat at Pann's and Jesse asked if I'd like to have the room that was open in their house...after a little bit of convincing and a night at their place I decided it would be a good move. I love my room in my place now, but it's gotten to the point where I'm just not happy there and no matter what I do to try to make myself happy there, some of the same problems will still exist. So to the other side of the hill it is!
Araceli and Rod picked me up at my house on Friday and we drove to Vegas. We had been talking about going to Pink Taco FOREVER and went there straight after we checked in. I also invited my friend, Jacob, to come with us and then we went to go see him play at Excaliber right afterwards. It was such a great night. His friend, Tony, who I'd met earlier that year, was also playing and it was great to see him again too! Jacob was sooo awesome playing, I was swooning at the bar watching him sing! haha! I just love guys who show off their talents, whatever they may be, it's truly one of the most attractive things to me. Anyways, after dancing around, and Araceli NEARLY losing her wallet, we went back to the hotel and next day on to Denver, CO.
We drove all day to get there, nothing to eventful aside from a late check-in and 8am check-out. On ward we went to Lee's Summit, MO, which didn't turn out to be a bad location I think...can't really remember....sooo many hotels....but it was a good adventure for the second leg none the less! Anyways that concludes this little update, check out da next one for more fun on the road :)
Alright, after our overnight drive from Rock Island, IL to San Jose, which I am VERY proud of my team for being so adamant about doing, we crept on into San Jose, CA in the late evening. I checked with my mates to see if it was alright for me to take the car on down to Los Angeles, A) so I wouldn't have to pay for a rental car B) so I could go see No Doubt C) so I could save us some money by spending the night at home. They were quite cool with it which rocked.
It was a nice drive down the 5 the next morning, and around 11ish I was safe and sound back in Los Angeles. I believe that day I went home to check on my mail, then went down to Torrence, CA to see another old tourmate of mine, Matt, who was working for the same company, but on a different tour. Matt and I had promised to see the new Harry Potter movie together, and it just so happened Matt found a time that worked for both of us that day. Due to LA traffic, though, I was a little late. The movie was good though, and Cliff, Matt's Asst Tour Manager, also joined us. Afterwards, we went to some Dog-named bar and insisted that Cliff get a Hot Toddy to relieve himself of a cold he was fighting off. He wasn't too impressed with our remedy, but I think it might have worked for him in the long run :)
Later on, Matt's cousin, Chris?, joined us along with Matt's friend, Jennifer. Jennifer was showing us some of her jewelry collection which was very pretty and apparently she lives very close to me in the Valley so hopefully I'll be seeing her again sometime. Chris was a fun hang too. He was telling us about being a pilot and flying for private affairs in different places. Very exciting stuff. It was very good to meet some of Matt's family and friends I always feel like you learn a little more about a person by meeting people they've grown up with.
The next day was No Doubt! I had some breakfast with another former tourmate Susan, and her boyfriend, Steve at the Griddle. Matt was supposed to meet up with us, but he ended up sleeping in, which was a bummer but understandable, touring does make one tired at times. Susan and Steve told me they were going to go kayaking that day in Marina Del Ray and invited me to come, however I couldnt because of No Doubt. I then went back to my house and got ready for the concert. Alexis, who i was going to the show with met up with me and we then headed down the 5 to the show in Irvine.
On the way we stopped in Seal Beach for a drink at Dan's Beachcomber? at least i think that was the name of the bar...it was an awesome scene in there. Very tropical and jungle like. We went at happy hour too, so we were able to get a nice cheap dinner and a drink. We still however have no idea what a beachcomber is....
After drinks, we went to the No Doubt show and it was pretty great. I would have to say that it was good seeing them at a regular show aside from the Friends and Family show i went to earlier this year. I think there was just more energy on stage, and they changed a few things in the show too, which was neat to see. The openers were The Sounds and Paramore. I went in a fan of The Sounds and not a fan of Paramore and left with an entirely reversed opinion of both bands. Probably would have still liked The Sounds if Maja (the lead singer) wasn't gyrating all over the guitar players and looking like she stepped out of a Vogue magazine....
The next day I drove back up to San Jose and did a site check, the gig the day after that went really well! We got some high marks from our client and he said to our bosses and IMG Live that we were 'a well-oiled machine!' which was awesome.
When the San Jose gig was done, me and my team drove down the 5 again. Rod was dropped off in West LA, I went home, and Araceli took the car on to San Diego. A few days later we met up to do our gig in Pasadena, which was another success, then split up again in the same fashion. This time however i drove down to San Diego with my friend, Katie, to see another No Doubt show with Araceli and her buddy Dustin. At the first show I went to, there was a guy there offering $20 tickets and the seats were pretty good, not grass seats, sitting seats, at the amphitheater! So i nabbed a few for us to go see them.
It was a long drive to SD, but staying there made me realize how I should try and make a long weekend trip outta that place sometime, there is alot to do down there that I'd like to take advantage of sometime. Katie and I grabbed a drink before the show at some nearby shopping street place...Old Town? i think....then met up with Araceli and Dustin. We got there a little later just to catch No Doubt, which was awesome...i really didn't wanna sit through the whole show again....the only thing we had to deal with was knocking some 8 year olds outta our seats, since we arrived later, oh kids!
The seats were great, the show was fabulous, the ride home took longer then I liked, but the finale was awesome and memorable. At the first show, during the encore, No Doubt had all the bands come out during 'Stand and Deliver'. They had Hayley Williams and Maja come out to sing verses and their band members all came out at the end and ran around on stage. Being it was the last night for Paramore No Doubt first came out during Paramore's set and danced around in costumes, then during 'Stand and Deliver' paramore and the sounds came out all wearing tu-tu's to play off of the large pink tu-tu Adrian wears during the encore. During the second finale we saw, Shirley Manson came out to sing Hayley's part since Paramore was no longer on tour, and The Sounds came out dressed as No Doubt which was hilarious!!!!
Anyways, show was good, drove back up to LA after this, then went down to Marina Del Ray to go kayaking with nick and emily. that was another good time, then we went for mexican food and margaritas right afterwards. I also was able to put in a little bit of work at Center Staging while i was home. It was good seeing everyone again for a bit, I did miss working there.
My team later reconveigned and we went down to Tustin, CA for another gig. I went back up to LA that night to save more money, then on to San Diego the day after that, then back up to LA the night after the event. I'm glad I did, it was good to be at home for a bit and save some money in the same process. I was also able to have dinner with Cricket, Jesse, and Ryan too. We went to eat at Pann's and Jesse asked if I'd like to have the room that was open in their house...after a little bit of convincing and a night at their place I decided it would be a good move. I love my room in my place now, but it's gotten to the point where I'm just not happy there and no matter what I do to try to make myself happy there, some of the same problems will still exist. So to the other side of the hill it is!
Araceli and Rod picked me up at my house on Friday and we drove to Vegas. We had been talking about going to Pink Taco FOREVER and went there straight after we checked in. I also invited my friend, Jacob, to come with us and then we went to go see him play at Excaliber right afterwards. It was such a great night. His friend, Tony, who I'd met earlier that year, was also playing and it was great to see him again too! Jacob was sooo awesome playing, I was swooning at the bar watching him sing! haha! I just love guys who show off their talents, whatever they may be, it's truly one of the most attractive things to me. Anyways, after dancing around, and Araceli NEARLY losing her wallet, we went back to the hotel and next day on to Denver, CO.
We drove all day to get there, nothing to eventful aside from a late check-in and 8am check-out. On ward we went to Lee's Summit, MO, which didn't turn out to be a bad location I think...can't really remember....sooo many hotels....but it was a good adventure for the second leg none the less! Anyways that concludes this little update, check out da next one for more fun on the road :)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tour Leg Part One- The Mid-West - Is OVER!!!
yes my friends. Sad when things come to an end, but that's all a part of touring.
Chicago was a hurdle for us most definitely, but we took control at Rock Island for another successful event. As me and Rod like to say 'Cake.'
We woke up early and had plenty of time in the morning to get everything set up and ready to go. We were even able to get our oil changed a block away from the event, which is a huge blessing, and that only took 15min!
now we're on our way to San Jose. My team is soooo gung-ho to get there, that we're going to do a night drive straight to San Jose, get there tomorrow, and have the next three days off.
I however will be renting a car and gunning down to Calif for two days to see my boy, Matt on his tour, and partake in a No Doubt concert with my buddy Alexis. I'm hoping for a superb weekend and I think i just might get my wish! yippee!
Trying to decide whater or no I should buy swag at the ND show, or just go online. Always cheaper online....minimum will be a 25 dollar purchase on anything, 40 for a hoodie. Guess I'll just have to compare based on what I see.
Only obstacle between me getting my music done now and my webpage is time. I'm driving all night to the early morning to San Jose, so I can't really sing, which is what I have to do to write lyrics...I could work on my webpage, but I can't upload any pictures, since I don't have any that I find suitable....well, there is one I kinda like, but I'm not sure it really demonstrates being a tour manager. suppose I'll just have to see if it gels.
Alright, now I'm gonna try to upload these pictures for my live reporting, but probably fail again due to bad reception. Then gonna watch season 1 of TrueBlood before I meet up with Matt in Cali.
Ta
Chicago was a hurdle for us most definitely, but we took control at Rock Island for another successful event. As me and Rod like to say 'Cake.'
We woke up early and had plenty of time in the morning to get everything set up and ready to go. We were even able to get our oil changed a block away from the event, which is a huge blessing, and that only took 15min!
now we're on our way to San Jose. My team is soooo gung-ho to get there, that we're going to do a night drive straight to San Jose, get there tomorrow, and have the next three days off.
I however will be renting a car and gunning down to Calif for two days to see my boy, Matt on his tour, and partake in a No Doubt concert with my buddy Alexis. I'm hoping for a superb weekend and I think i just might get my wish! yippee!
Trying to decide whater or no I should buy swag at the ND show, or just go online. Always cheaper online....minimum will be a 25 dollar purchase on anything, 40 for a hoodie. Guess I'll just have to compare based on what I see.
Only obstacle between me getting my music done now and my webpage is time. I'm driving all night to the early morning to San Jose, so I can't really sing, which is what I have to do to write lyrics...I could work on my webpage, but I can't upload any pictures, since I don't have any that I find suitable....well, there is one I kinda like, but I'm not sure it really demonstrates being a tour manager. suppose I'll just have to see if it gels.
Alright, now I'm gonna try to upload these pictures for my live reporting, but probably fail again due to bad reception. Then gonna watch season 1 of TrueBlood before I meet up with Matt in Cali.
Ta
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
IMG Live Tour Part 1
Alright, so here's the lovely recap of touring for the past three weeks.
At the beginning of July I flew out from LA to Norcross, Ga for another lovely two week training session with the folks at IMG Live. Celebrities old and new were there such as Bryan Icenhower, Josh Pate, and Ryan Smith. Also my ol' buddy Matt was there too.
This made for a lovely time and I got to meet tons of new people which is always a perk when they have a good vibe about them.
Training was usual with lots of early mornings and end of day sessions.
My team for the AT&T West Coast looked to be pretty awesome. I have two people, both emcees, Araceli and Rod to work with on tour. Both have been super helpful from the get go and I can only imagine it will continue that way for the rest of the tour.
However I didn't get to spend too much 'team building' time with them during the work days as they divided the Emcee's and the Tour Managers up so that each could attend to their job to prepare for the tour.
My days were spent with Matt, Charlie, Juan, and Asst TM's Adrian & Cliff. Oh! such is the life of Mary B to always be working with men. But we had a good time getting things done, even though sometimes it took a little longer then need be, I think we really got to accomplishing everything 3 days before we left! haha. I suppose though it was good to spend time with other people since there seems to be a better outlet of communication between the other TM's and myself on this tour then any other tour I've experienced. All tours roll differently though.
After the two weeks of training, we headed out to our first event in Columbus. On the way Araceli and I experienced a minor problem with the electrical wire that runs from the trailer to the car to power the lights. We stopped at a walmart and figured out that the plug to the trailer must have come out and was scraping on the road. We then purchased an extension wire and a new cable to fix the problem. Luckily a kinda couple came over and knew exactly what to do so we were saved by 11pm! In these instances I'm pretty happy to have problems happen, mainly cuz they get solved in the end, but also so if it ever happens again, I can solve the problem.
When we arrived for our event in Columbus, I couldn't have asked for anything smoother & it was actually the first time I was able to see Araceli and Rod's presentation which was awesome. They have this sassy routine down that stands out from the usual cookie cutter presentations which can come off as fake. It's got charm for sure.
Kalamazoo had the same impact and no problems to it. After this event we said goodbye to Rod for the weekend and me and Araceli headed up to Chicago for a weekend of well-mannered frivolaty.
Araceli's friend, Jenn, let us keep our trailer by her house and she joined us in the city, along with our personal tour guide Noel. We went to eat at Lasalle, Rockit Bar, Aja, and the Beachstro. We took in sightseeing on a sunset tour in a boat (which was free) and we went on a bike ride along the water after getting a little sloshed at breakfast.
Araceli and I also went to Lush in Chicago. i got to see some of the new products they put out, like a choclate soap, sugar scrubs, lip balm, and my ULTIMATE FAV, a new face mask with bananas in it! We also went over to MAC and we both got hooked up with some awesome makeup, curtosey of Araceli.
I'd say overall the weekend in Chicago was great. There was a little confusion with boxes getting delivered from IMG Live to our hotel. Everyone in the hotel said there was no record of boxes being delivered. The man who the Transgroup shipping company said signed for the boxes said he didn't. It was a huge mess, luckily we found the 20 boxes in a conference room and the hotel allowed us to keep our trailer behind their grounds overnight for ultimate safety.....only bad this was this happened the next day AGAIN! when I had a package delivered to the hotel. They claimed they didn't have it and no one signed for it, then I went back behind the counter and found it. I don't like being a jerk to people, but after the same thing happening twice I had to tell the manager to get on top of this cuz it was the second instance it happened to my stuff. Sheesh!
Anyways, we drove to Rock Island and are staying in a lovely Hampton Inn by some pretty awesome bars and a cinema that's walking distance from my hotel room. I'm hoping to take adavantage of some of this, but fear that the days been spent. However I will be having dinner with a DIRECTV client and my team tonight, so that should be awesome all the same.
Tomorrow is our event in Rock Island, we're going to kill it like we always do. Then it's on for a night drive towards San Jose, CA. Hopefully we'll make it there by Aug 1st so I can rent a car and drive down to see Matt before his team leaves for Idaho, but most importantly so I can go catch NO DOUBT! with Alexis.
Gotta love touring...
Other news is Courtenay Green's booking seems to be going well. there was a little hiccup a few weeks ago since my time was dedicated to DTV, but now things have settled and I'm focusing on her more.
I'm also looking forward to getting back to Center Staging and see the lovely family there. I should have some catch up work to do for Kerry for sure. Also I'm hoping i can work with Barry on my vocals and I can get this website up and running as well as print some business cards.
Alright well off to do some more work for IMG Live.
At the beginning of July I flew out from LA to Norcross, Ga for another lovely two week training session with the folks at IMG Live. Celebrities old and new were there such as Bryan Icenhower, Josh Pate, and Ryan Smith. Also my ol' buddy Matt was there too.
This made for a lovely time and I got to meet tons of new people which is always a perk when they have a good vibe about them.
Training was usual with lots of early mornings and end of day sessions.
My team for the AT&T West Coast looked to be pretty awesome. I have two people, both emcees, Araceli and Rod to work with on tour. Both have been super helpful from the get go and I can only imagine it will continue that way for the rest of the tour.
However I didn't get to spend too much 'team building' time with them during the work days as they divided the Emcee's and the Tour Managers up so that each could attend to their job to prepare for the tour.
My days were spent with Matt, Charlie, Juan, and Asst TM's Adrian & Cliff. Oh! such is the life of Mary B to always be working with men. But we had a good time getting things done, even though sometimes it took a little longer then need be, I think we really got to accomplishing everything 3 days before we left! haha. I suppose though it was good to spend time with other people since there seems to be a better outlet of communication between the other TM's and myself on this tour then any other tour I've experienced. All tours roll differently though.
After the two weeks of training, we headed out to our first event in Columbus. On the way Araceli and I experienced a minor problem with the electrical wire that runs from the trailer to the car to power the lights. We stopped at a walmart and figured out that the plug to the trailer must have come out and was scraping on the road. We then purchased an extension wire and a new cable to fix the problem. Luckily a kinda couple came over and knew exactly what to do so we were saved by 11pm! In these instances I'm pretty happy to have problems happen, mainly cuz they get solved in the end, but also so if it ever happens again, I can solve the problem.
When we arrived for our event in Columbus, I couldn't have asked for anything smoother & it was actually the first time I was able to see Araceli and Rod's presentation which was awesome. They have this sassy routine down that stands out from the usual cookie cutter presentations which can come off as fake. It's got charm for sure.
Kalamazoo had the same impact and no problems to it. After this event we said goodbye to Rod for the weekend and me and Araceli headed up to Chicago for a weekend of well-mannered frivolaty.
Araceli's friend, Jenn, let us keep our trailer by her house and she joined us in the city, along with our personal tour guide Noel. We went to eat at Lasalle, Rockit Bar, Aja, and the Beachstro. We took in sightseeing on a sunset tour in a boat (which was free) and we went on a bike ride along the water after getting a little sloshed at breakfast.
Araceli and I also went to Lush in Chicago. i got to see some of the new products they put out, like a choclate soap, sugar scrubs, lip balm, and my ULTIMATE FAV, a new face mask with bananas in it! We also went over to MAC and we both got hooked up with some awesome makeup, curtosey of Araceli.
I'd say overall the weekend in Chicago was great. There was a little confusion with boxes getting delivered from IMG Live to our hotel. Everyone in the hotel said there was no record of boxes being delivered. The man who the Transgroup shipping company said signed for the boxes said he didn't. It was a huge mess, luckily we found the 20 boxes in a conference room and the hotel allowed us to keep our trailer behind their grounds overnight for ultimate safety.....only bad this was this happened the next day AGAIN! when I had a package delivered to the hotel. They claimed they didn't have it and no one signed for it, then I went back behind the counter and found it. I don't like being a jerk to people, but after the same thing happening twice I had to tell the manager to get on top of this cuz it was the second instance it happened to my stuff. Sheesh!
Anyways, we drove to Rock Island and are staying in a lovely Hampton Inn by some pretty awesome bars and a cinema that's walking distance from my hotel room. I'm hoping to take adavantage of some of this, but fear that the days been spent. However I will be having dinner with a DIRECTV client and my team tonight, so that should be awesome all the same.
Tomorrow is our event in Rock Island, we're going to kill it like we always do. Then it's on for a night drive towards San Jose, CA. Hopefully we'll make it there by Aug 1st so I can rent a car and drive down to see Matt before his team leaves for Idaho, but most importantly so I can go catch NO DOUBT! with Alexis.
Gotta love touring...
Other news is Courtenay Green's booking seems to be going well. there was a little hiccup a few weeks ago since my time was dedicated to DTV, but now things have settled and I'm focusing on her more.
I'm also looking forward to getting back to Center Staging and see the lovely family there. I should have some catch up work to do for Kerry for sure. Also I'm hoping i can work with Barry on my vocals and I can get this website up and running as well as print some business cards.
Alright well off to do some more work for IMG Live.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
This past week I had the pleasure of ms. tara staying with me, which really means 'Mary the Tour Guide!' Week. I suppose this happens with most people who live in vacation/site-seeing/iconic places, and like most, I am not good at giving tours.
Tara had also been here before, so Disneyland, the beach, the hollywood sign, and other places that would 'oooo' and 'ahhhh' people were out of the question. Instead I took her to some locations that weren't as savvy to tourists, like:
-the griddle
-hiking in the hollywood hills
-Lex Deux (not classy, but a friend's band was playing)
-the metro
-downtown
-sushi mac
-hot dog on a stick
-diddy riese
These were all wonderful spots. We also went to the beach. Everytime I go there I am reminded of how much of a waterbaby I am, and how awesome it would be to just live by the beach so that I can wake up, have a mimosa, go for a swim, and then lie in a hammock all day. Instead I wake up to roaring garbage trucks, cop sirens, and noisy neighbors around noon, then have coffee, and go about my usual routine of moving with purpose. Oh well, one day.
I'm happy though that tara came out, she was a well needed distraction that preoccupied my mind whilest waiting for this next week to take shape. What may you ask will I be up to? The following!:
-Piloxing (kickboxing and pilates bootcamp!)
-dinner with my ex-roommate ryan ( I am excited, I've never had a guy prepare me dinner before)
-Brunch with Sue B and Steve!
-LOST season Finale
-Recording with Barry
-Party at Rene's
-No Doubt Friends & Family show in Vegas with Tracy!!!
Very exciting week ahead, I am especially excited for the last bit. I mean, who really gets to say they've gone to the Friends and Family show? Probably only a handful of people! This year my friends, I will be in that handful of people and it's going to be for free!!! hooray!
Not too much else is happening. Going to finish reading Coraline, the book, and see how it's different from the movie. So far it's very fast paced, which is good since I already know how it plays out, but Neil Gaiman could have given it a little more depth.
Well, time to go to bed, have to get up early for this kickboxing all this week. I practiced the other day, sort of to rejog my memory on stance and positioning, it went pretty well, only problem was I later discovered I poped a vein or something between my ring and pinky finger. it looks like I stained it with a marker, but it's definitely not a stain from ink, but of blood. Hopefully this will not happen tomorrow....also I hope my ankle will not break or something like that...it was pretty sore
Tara had also been here before, so Disneyland, the beach, the hollywood sign, and other places that would 'oooo' and 'ahhhh' people were out of the question. Instead I took her to some locations that weren't as savvy to tourists, like:
-the griddle
-hiking in the hollywood hills
-Lex Deux (not classy, but a friend's band was playing)
-the metro
-downtown
-sushi mac
-hot dog on a stick
-diddy riese
These were all wonderful spots. We also went to the beach. Everytime I go there I am reminded of how much of a waterbaby I am, and how awesome it would be to just live by the beach so that I can wake up, have a mimosa, go for a swim, and then lie in a hammock all day. Instead I wake up to roaring garbage trucks, cop sirens, and noisy neighbors around noon, then have coffee, and go about my usual routine of moving with purpose. Oh well, one day.
I'm happy though that tara came out, she was a well needed distraction that preoccupied my mind whilest waiting for this next week to take shape. What may you ask will I be up to? The following!:
-Piloxing (kickboxing and pilates bootcamp!)
-dinner with my ex-roommate ryan ( I am excited, I've never had a guy prepare me dinner before)
-Brunch with Sue B and Steve!
-LOST season Finale
-Recording with Barry
-Party at Rene's
-No Doubt Friends & Family show in Vegas with Tracy!!!
Very exciting week ahead, I am especially excited for the last bit. I mean, who really gets to say they've gone to the Friends and Family show? Probably only a handful of people! This year my friends, I will be in that handful of people and it's going to be for free!!! hooray!
Not too much else is happening. Going to finish reading Coraline, the book, and see how it's different from the movie. So far it's very fast paced, which is good since I already know how it plays out, but Neil Gaiman could have given it a little more depth.
Well, time to go to bed, have to get up early for this kickboxing all this week. I practiced the other day, sort of to rejog my memory on stance and positioning, it went pretty well, only problem was I later discovered I poped a vein or something between my ring and pinky finger. it looks like I stained it with a marker, but it's definitely not a stain from ink, but of blood. Hopefully this will not happen tomorrow....also I hope my ankle will not break or something like that...it was pretty sore
Monday, April 13, 2009
The Weekend
Alright, I'm going to try to remember as much as I can as I am EXTREMELY tired....
this week has been busy, lots of music blog researching and reaching out to people for the Music Management project I'm on. Also I wanted to help out my friend Emily sell her Peeps Pies, so I made some deliveries for her, and I barely had time to give Ol' Mamba a car wash, which she was in desperate need of.
One sexy happening though was my friend Lindsay finally got her Coraline shoes from Nike so I got to see those. here's a picture of what they looked like:
So for the past few nights I've made a nasty habit of staying up til like 2, 3 in the morning. This is pretty bad when you have to get up the next day at around 9 to go to work, get out of work at around 5, then come home, try to unwind for a hot minute, then busy the rest of your evening working on music management and contacting blogs for promotions....I am thankful to be doing this, just wish my body's clock wasn't so fishy.
This weekend I had two birthday parties to go to. Got to my friend Mark's just in time for the ol' Happy Birthday Song, then after a few house specialty drinks I decided to cancel on the second party. The rest of the evening was pretty awesome, i'm glad I stuck around for Mark's party. Just good people, good talk, and some catching up. I hate going to parties sometimes and it's alot of the same people you know....then you have to make small talk and sometimes that can be a bother if you're not really friends with the person, or you don't even know them, or you pretty much just have nothing to say to the person, but for some reason you've been shuffled together and have no one else to help fish you out of a bad situation.
I digress...at mark's party my ankle went out and since I was real tipsy I put weight on it and sprained it. It hurt real bad, had to sit down for a bit. Today it was swollen and still not feeling so good. I spoke to my friend who's taking massage therapy and she said I can't work out for a week Ugh! hopefully it will be healed tomorrow since she worked on it a bit for me tonight, but if not, it's off to swimming all week and light weights. Working out is my meditation, I can't NOT do it.
So after staying up til 3am for that party I woke up today at around 9 to meet emily and nick for breakfast at dupars'. pretty awesome joint, i thought there was more then three locations though. They have the most kickass mugs...and just thinking about those mugs makes me think about coffee and how i want some...but it's late and I shouldn't.....ANYWAYS they served their pancakes with liquid butter, it was weird, i prefer soft fluffy butter on my pancakes that's slightly melted and therefore a little frothy as it spreads itself across the surface of the pancake...hmmm. They were good though all the same, we all split a short stack and got omelettes. Then afterwards we checked out all their pies....ugh! delicious. Em and i went to 4&20, a different diner two weeks ago and experienced the same luxury of looking at pies, we were about to get one, but then em had to get back to work, oh wel.
alright, well tomorrow I have to get back to the grind of this Music Management thing I'm doing, then have a meeting for it at 7, then go to Thomas Ian Nicholas' Show at the Viper Room with Ryan...and some how work swimming into that as well as other errands....some how I'll manage.
this week has been busy, lots of music blog researching and reaching out to people for the Music Management project I'm on. Also I wanted to help out my friend Emily sell her Peeps Pies, so I made some deliveries for her, and I barely had time to give Ol' Mamba a car wash, which she was in desperate need of.
One sexy happening though was my friend Lindsay finally got her Coraline shoes from Nike so I got to see those. here's a picture of what they looked like:
So for the past few nights I've made a nasty habit of staying up til like 2, 3 in the morning. This is pretty bad when you have to get up the next day at around 9 to go to work, get out of work at around 5, then come home, try to unwind for a hot minute, then busy the rest of your evening working on music management and contacting blogs for promotions....I am thankful to be doing this, just wish my body's clock wasn't so fishy.
This weekend I had two birthday parties to go to. Got to my friend Mark's just in time for the ol' Happy Birthday Song, then after a few house specialty drinks I decided to cancel on the second party. The rest of the evening was pretty awesome, i'm glad I stuck around for Mark's party. Just good people, good talk, and some catching up. I hate going to parties sometimes and it's alot of the same people you know....then you have to make small talk and sometimes that can be a bother if you're not really friends with the person, or you don't even know them, or you pretty much just have nothing to say to the person, but for some reason you've been shuffled together and have no one else to help fish you out of a bad situation.
I digress...at mark's party my ankle went out and since I was real tipsy I put weight on it and sprained it. It hurt real bad, had to sit down for a bit. Today it was swollen and still not feeling so good. I spoke to my friend who's taking massage therapy and she said I can't work out for a week Ugh! hopefully it will be healed tomorrow since she worked on it a bit for me tonight, but if not, it's off to swimming all week and light weights. Working out is my meditation, I can't NOT do it.
So after staying up til 3am for that party I woke up today at around 9 to meet emily and nick for breakfast at dupars'. pretty awesome joint, i thought there was more then three locations though. They have the most kickass mugs...and just thinking about those mugs makes me think about coffee and how i want some...but it's late and I shouldn't.....ANYWAYS they served their pancakes with liquid butter, it was weird, i prefer soft fluffy butter on my pancakes that's slightly melted and therefore a little frothy as it spreads itself across the surface of the pancake...hmmm. They were good though all the same, we all split a short stack and got omelettes. Then afterwards we checked out all their pies....ugh! delicious. Em and i went to 4&20, a different diner two weeks ago and experienced the same luxury of looking at pies, we were about to get one, but then em had to get back to work, oh wel.
alright, well tomorrow I have to get back to the grind of this Music Management thing I'm doing, then have a meeting for it at 7, then go to Thomas Ian Nicholas' Show at the Viper Room with Ryan...and some how work swimming into that as well as other errands....some how I'll manage.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
A Little Update
Alright so let's talk about how much I've been sweating Lamb's Baby Cami tan shoes...I have been loving these forever, but my wanting comes and goes for them...
Ugh Delicious!
Also I added my buddy Melissa Laine to my I SPY page. I have no idea why she wasn't on here sooner. Her stuff is remarkably clever & I am sooo happy/jealous of what she's able to come up with! Here's some stuff she's done:
The Peacock Shoes in the far corner are mine :)
Those are her designs she did for Roxy
Also my friend Emily just participated in LOLA's (ladies of los angeles)Spring Sale where she got to sell/show off some of her lovely baked goodies. Her online store is kicking but right now, I'm soo inspired by this lady...Here's her Peeps Pies she was selling at the event:
I swear I have soooo many creative friends, sometimes I feel like I'm doing nothing! But it's soo great to have them all around to inspire and motivate me for my own projects....Since we're on the topic....
The webpage is almost up and running, just waiting to hear some feed back from my brother in law who's helping me set up the page...I should work on this blog a bit though...needs a little remodeling to go with the website theme.
Music is coming along wonderfully, soon I'll have the first song up on the web. Started working on another song last week. My producer and me seem to be on the same page about it, but tides always change in that pool :)
I started helping out with mangaing this upcoming LA artist. I'm super excited about it cuz I get to learn loads about management, and get paid for it ;)
Waiting to hear on options for tour this summer, have a few looming, but hopefully will make decisions on it all next week.
Am going to start writing for a few different websites soon. I'm currently working on submitting my clips...
As soon as all this information is in order....which will be next week....I'll probably post another update....
til then cross your heart and fingers for me!
Ugh Delicious!
Also I added my buddy Melissa Laine to my I SPY page. I have no idea why she wasn't on here sooner. Her stuff is remarkably clever & I am sooo happy/jealous of what she's able to come up with! Here's some stuff she's done:
The Peacock Shoes in the far corner are mine :)
Those are her designs she did for Roxy
Also my friend Emily just participated in LOLA's (ladies of los angeles)Spring Sale where she got to sell/show off some of her lovely baked goodies. Her online store is kicking but right now, I'm soo inspired by this lady...Here's her Peeps Pies she was selling at the event:
I swear I have soooo many creative friends, sometimes I feel like I'm doing nothing! But it's soo great to have them all around to inspire and motivate me for my own projects....Since we're on the topic....
The webpage is almost up and running, just waiting to hear some feed back from my brother in law who's helping me set up the page...I should work on this blog a bit though...needs a little remodeling to go with the website theme.
Music is coming along wonderfully, soon I'll have the first song up on the web. Started working on another song last week. My producer and me seem to be on the same page about it, but tides always change in that pool :)
I started helping out with mangaing this upcoming LA artist. I'm super excited about it cuz I get to learn loads about management, and get paid for it ;)
Waiting to hear on options for tour this summer, have a few looming, but hopefully will make decisions on it all next week.
Am going to start writing for a few different websites soon. I'm currently working on submitting my clips...
As soon as all this information is in order....which will be next week....I'll probably post another update....
til then cross your heart and fingers for me!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Where the Wild Things Are!?!
Quite excited for this.....
Let's talk about how genius it is to put this movie to Flaming Lips...
Let's talk about how genius it is to put this movie to Flaming Lips...
Friday, March 27, 2009
So Inspired
As of recent I've decided I'm way over due to get my own webpage running. So this week it's all about that...and taxes. Tamra's volunteered to help me with the graphic design element, nick the html bit and my sister with obtaining the domain name.
Can't wait til it's up. It will definately be a step in the right direction, for now though I want you guys to note how awesome another super hot female friend of mine is doing. Ms. Melissa Scotton.
Check out all she's done!
check more of her stuff out at Twentyfree.com
Can't wait til it's up. It will definately be a step in the right direction, for now though I want you guys to note how awesome another super hot female friend of mine is doing. Ms. Melissa Scotton.
Check out all she's done!
check more of her stuff out at Twentyfree.com
Monday, March 2, 2009
February Wrap UP
well, a wurl-wind of events has occurred since I last made an entry.
It all started towards the end of January when I decided to redecorate my living room. After searching for just the right couch, I asked my friend Camila to assist me with picking it up in her big truck. To show my appreciation, I took her to a resturant in Canoga Park, where on the way I got into an accident.
Someone hit me and another car from behind. My damage didnt' look soo bad, but due to the fact that my car is in 'fair' condition, the insurance agency declared it totaled. Therefore car shopping was in order!
I recieved the actual news of the car being totaled on my trip to disneyland for my friend nick's birthday. good thing i was headed towards the happiest place on earth while recieving such disappointing news.
Most people I think would be pretty stoked to get a nice check for their car, and the chance to buy something new, but I was pretty much bothered by the whole ordeal. All it means to me is dealing with liers & everyone trying to milk me for more money. ugh! Anyways, after much searching I finally purchased a vehicle about a week later. A matrix toyota, which I have named Black Mamba.
After the initial purchase, there was more drama from the insurance company about me paying for my rental. But I was firm on not paying it and stood my ground. In the end, the insurance and the rental company had to eat the money, which made me happy. I'm not usually one to stand firm, and usually end up just forfeiting and paying for those things. But I'm glad i wasn't this time. I suppose that was my little victory for the month.
Later on, I celebrated my birthday! It was a jam packed day. Breakfast at The Griddle with Susan, Lunch with Emily at Watercress, and then a lovely evening at Disneyland with Tamra, where I scored a $69 giftcard from disney! After drinking and stuffing ourselves with Beignets (mmmm), we went on the new 'It's a Small World' ride. Which i personally think is still pretty good. Disney didn't kill it too much by adding Disney Characters to the ride. Pretty much looks about the same.
Other then these things, my living room is coming along nicely. I dont' really know what the theme of it will be, or if there will even be one, but I'm excited to see what's going to develop.
Oh yeah, and today i'm working with Barry on my EP. So far it's coming along pretty good. One song, 'Better Lookin' Baby' just makes me super excited to sing it. It's really rock & gritty, but has some rockabilly going on with it too. We're gonna try to throw down some more drums and synths and see what we come up with today. Also lay down some new vox for it.
The other song, 'Like a Lighter' is going under some major construction. I don't even know if that will be it's name at this point when we've completed the song. It's got a happy go lucky piano feel to it, and it sounds a little Lily Allen, but the lyrics I have just don't fit the vibe for the music. I have rewritten the chorus, and if it were to go on the EP, the new lyrics would be more consistent with 'the sound' I am overall trying to create. The current lyrics are a little too in depth, direct, and need to be watered down.
Another nugget of news is that my buddy scotty listened to BLB and wants to tinker with it! Since Scotty is fairly reputable in the music scene & for him to give me any of his time, I am SUPER greatful :) So that's gonna happen eventually.
Also when I have all the tracks ready. I'll probably list them here, see if I can throw them up on this blog, & probably list the background story behind each song. I'll try not to go too crazy in depth (like this blog entry), but just leave you with a taste of my magic :)
It all started towards the end of January when I decided to redecorate my living room. After searching for just the right couch, I asked my friend Camila to assist me with picking it up in her big truck. To show my appreciation, I took her to a resturant in Canoga Park, where on the way I got into an accident.
Someone hit me and another car from behind. My damage didnt' look soo bad, but due to the fact that my car is in 'fair' condition, the insurance agency declared it totaled. Therefore car shopping was in order!
I recieved the actual news of the car being totaled on my trip to disneyland for my friend nick's birthday. good thing i was headed towards the happiest place on earth while recieving such disappointing news.
Most people I think would be pretty stoked to get a nice check for their car, and the chance to buy something new, but I was pretty much bothered by the whole ordeal. All it means to me is dealing with liers & everyone trying to milk me for more money. ugh! Anyways, after much searching I finally purchased a vehicle about a week later. A matrix toyota, which I have named Black Mamba.
After the initial purchase, there was more drama from the insurance company about me paying for my rental. But I was firm on not paying it and stood my ground. In the end, the insurance and the rental company had to eat the money, which made me happy. I'm not usually one to stand firm, and usually end up just forfeiting and paying for those things. But I'm glad i wasn't this time. I suppose that was my little victory for the month.
Later on, I celebrated my birthday! It was a jam packed day. Breakfast at The Griddle with Susan, Lunch with Emily at Watercress, and then a lovely evening at Disneyland with Tamra, where I scored a $69 giftcard from disney! After drinking and stuffing ourselves with Beignets (mmmm), we went on the new 'It's a Small World' ride. Which i personally think is still pretty good. Disney didn't kill it too much by adding Disney Characters to the ride. Pretty much looks about the same.
Other then these things, my living room is coming along nicely. I dont' really know what the theme of it will be, or if there will even be one, but I'm excited to see what's going to develop.
Oh yeah, and today i'm working with Barry on my EP. So far it's coming along pretty good. One song, 'Better Lookin' Baby' just makes me super excited to sing it. It's really rock & gritty, but has some rockabilly going on with it too. We're gonna try to throw down some more drums and synths and see what we come up with today. Also lay down some new vox for it.
The other song, 'Like a Lighter' is going under some major construction. I don't even know if that will be it's name at this point when we've completed the song. It's got a happy go lucky piano feel to it, and it sounds a little Lily Allen, but the lyrics I have just don't fit the vibe for the music. I have rewritten the chorus, and if it were to go on the EP, the new lyrics would be more consistent with 'the sound' I am overall trying to create. The current lyrics are a little too in depth, direct, and need to be watered down.
Another nugget of news is that my buddy scotty listened to BLB and wants to tinker with it! Since Scotty is fairly reputable in the music scene & for him to give me any of his time, I am SUPER greatful :) So that's gonna happen eventually.
Also when I have all the tracks ready. I'll probably list them here, see if I can throw them up on this blog, & probably list the background story behind each song. I'll try not to go too crazy in depth (like this blog entry), but just leave you with a taste of my magic :)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
gettin in the habit
So I've been slacking on the workout a bit. but that all changed when i finally took a piloxing class that pretty much kicked my ass.
So yesterday I did an hour run, and today i've done some jump roping/workout video, and will go for another hour run. yeah!
For some reason today seemed very blissful, dont' know why, just did. probably because i had multiple conversations with various friends. Chris called me, which is also a rare occasion, and told me he's going to be in California in April....who knows if i'll be. but i would like to see him.....
hmmmmmm......i guess that's about it for the reporting part of the day. i am a little pissed at a coworker though, but i'm sure i'll get over it like most insignificant things that infuriate me, aint worth it yo.
So yesterday I did an hour run, and today i've done some jump roping/workout video, and will go for another hour run. yeah!
For some reason today seemed very blissful, dont' know why, just did. probably because i had multiple conversations with various friends. Chris called me, which is also a rare occasion, and told me he's going to be in California in April....who knows if i'll be. but i would like to see him.....
hmmmmmm......i guess that's about it for the reporting part of the day. i am a little pissed at a coworker though, but i'm sure i'll get over it like most insignificant things that infuriate me, aint worth it yo.
Friday, January 9, 2009
survey.
What were you doing at midnight last night?
Hanging out with Tamra having tea.
Have you ever regretted kissing someone?
yes.
Is there one person in your life that can always make you smile?
i'd like to think so.
Were your last three kisses from the same person?
yes.
What time did you go to bed last night?
2:30ishAM
What are you listening to right now?
Jaydiohead, go to jaydiohead.com check it out!
Have you kissed anybody in the last 5 days?
just friends, on the cheek.
How's your heart lately?
strong.
Will next friday be a good one?
today is friday. it has been relaxing.
When was the last time something REALL Y bothered you?
yesterday, but i shook it off.
Done anything illegal in the past month?
yes.
If the last person you kissed saw you kissing someone else right now what would they do?
probably take it like a man, right me off in the future and move on to another lady.
Who did you last eat Chinese food with?
Jesse, Rich, Steve, & Payton
Are you happy with where you are at?
i am content.
Have you ever had your heart broken?
yes.
Do you believe that there are certain circumstances where cheating is ok?
hmmm that's a tough one.
Would you ever take someone back if they cheated on you?
see above.
Have you talked about marriage with another person?
yes, but not in the sense where i was talking about getting married to that person. just talking about each others ideas on the matter.
If your ex came over, would you let them in?
yes, i would be curious as to why they would be all the way in California when they live in Philly.
Did you ever lose a best friend?
yeah. people aren't what you think they are sometimes.
Where will you be two hours from now?
either in Noho or at home still.
What are you doing tomorrow?
piloxing, baby shower, susan's bday party
Where are your parents right now?
in philly, probably sleeping.
What's the last thing you put in your mouth?
hot toddy.
What are you stressed out about?
my vocation, my music, my love life, myself, seems i'm a little self-consumed?
Who was your last call from?
some wrong number
Think of the person you told "I love you" to last, did you mean it?
yeah, i don't say that lightly
Is it okay if you kiss people when you're single?
mos def
Are your nails painted?
nope.
Should you be doing something else right now?
cleaning,reading,wrappingapresent
Who was the last person to text you?
Cricket
Would you ever live with anyone on your top friends?
haha, they're all bands.....i lived with a number of them on the road, does that count?
Are you sleepy?
no not yet.
When was the last time you talked to your number 1?
a few months ago.
Has anyone of the opposite sex ever hurt you emotionally or physically?
Emotionally, a few, but i'm sure that goes both ways. Physically, never, my homies are top knotch even when they're wankers.
Where was your default picture taken?
The Little Next Door
This time last year can you remember who you liked?
not really.....i think it might have been some dude that i was trying to get over
Do you get butterflies around the person you like?
no, i just can't stop smiling and looking at him....he does make me a little nervous though.
Are you anything like you were at this point last year?
Sort of, I feel i'm almost on the same track I was last year right now.
Have you lost contact with someone you wish you didn't?
keeping in contact with people works both ways, you give what you get, and you get what you give.
What did you do today?
woke up, had some tea & a PBJ with emily, bought a baby shower gift, and have been watching some television.
What will you be doing in three hours?
citywalk or cleaning or both
Do you miss the way things used to be?
sometimes, depends on what part of my life you're referring to.
Are you a patient person?
yes. even when i'm surrounded by idiots 24/7.
How was your day?
good-o
What color are your eyes?
brown and green
Do you like haunted houses?
disney's especially at xmas
Why did you cry the last time you did?
probably thought of someone i cared about, i dunno.
What's b othering you right now?
my lack of motivation
Did you wakeup happy today?
i can't remember
Is there a night you would like to put on repeat and live it forever?
haha, there are a few....5 come into mind right now.
Is there someone you'd like to fix things with?
no.
Did you kiss someone before you were sixteen?
does kindergarden count?
Did you kiss them?
i can't remember, although I am forward sometimes.
Are you good at hiding your feelings?
yes/no.
Do you wave when you see people you know?
sure.
Who did you last have a sleepover with?
my buddy Lee.
Can you braid hair?
Sure
Name something you have in common with all of your siblings?
we have the same parents.
Who is the last person who wrote a letter to you on paper?
Benny
Name a sound that disturbs you?
Garbage Trucks in the morning that roll by my house.
Have you ever had the same dream more than once?
Yes
Who have you talked to today?
Emily, Cricket, Tamra, Barry, Nat
What are you going to do after this survey?
clean
This time last year, were you single?
I prefer Unattached.
How was your night last night?
wonderful.
How are you feeling right now?
beside myself
Have you ever stripped for money?
no, i have danced on tables tho.
When was your last nap?
Flight back to LA
Are you over your past?
Everyday it gets easier
Hanging out with Tamra having tea.
Have you ever regretted kissing someone?
yes.
Is there one person in your life that can always make you smile?
i'd like to think so.
Were your last three kisses from the same person?
yes.
What time did you go to bed last night?
2:30ishAM
What are you listening to right now?
Jaydiohead, go to jaydiohead.com check it out!
Have you kissed anybody in the last 5 days?
just friends, on the cheek.
How's your heart lately?
strong.
Will next friday be a good one?
today is friday. it has been relaxing.
When was the last time something REALL Y bothered you?
yesterday, but i shook it off.
Done anything illegal in the past month?
yes.
If the last person you kissed saw you kissing someone else right now what would they do?
probably take it like a man, right me off in the future and move on to another lady.
Who did you last eat Chinese food with?
Jesse, Rich, Steve, & Payton
Are you happy with where you are at?
i am content.
Have you ever had your heart broken?
yes.
Do you believe that there are certain circumstances where cheating is ok?
hmmm that's a tough one.
Would you ever take someone back if they cheated on you?
see above.
Have you talked about marriage with another person?
yes, but not in the sense where i was talking about getting married to that person. just talking about each others ideas on the matter.
If your ex came over, would you let them in?
yes, i would be curious as to why they would be all the way in California when they live in Philly.
Did you ever lose a best friend?
yeah. people aren't what you think they are sometimes.
Where will you be two hours from now?
either in Noho or at home still.
What are you doing tomorrow?
piloxing, baby shower, susan's bday party
Where are your parents right now?
in philly, probably sleeping.
What's the last thing you put in your mouth?
hot toddy.
What are you stressed out about?
my vocation, my music, my love life, myself, seems i'm a little self-consumed?
Who was your last call from?
some wrong number
Think of the person you told "I love you" to last, did you mean it?
yeah, i don't say that lightly
Is it okay if you kiss people when you're single?
mos def
Are your nails painted?
nope.
Should you be doing something else right now?
cleaning,reading,wrappingapresent
Who was the last person to text you?
Cricket
Would you ever live with anyone on your top friends?
haha, they're all bands.....i lived with a number of them on the road, does that count?
Are you sleepy?
no not yet.
When was the last time you talked to your number 1?
a few months ago.
Has anyone of the opposite sex ever hurt you emotionally or physically?
Emotionally, a few, but i'm sure that goes both ways. Physically, never, my homies are top knotch even when they're wankers.
Where was your default picture taken?
The Little Next Door
This time last year can you remember who you liked?
not really.....i think it might have been some dude that i was trying to get over
Do you get butterflies around the person you like?
no, i just can't stop smiling and looking at him....he does make me a little nervous though.
Are you anything like you were at this point last year?
Sort of, I feel i'm almost on the same track I was last year right now.
Have you lost contact with someone you wish you didn't?
keeping in contact with people works both ways, you give what you get, and you get what you give.
What did you do today?
woke up, had some tea & a PBJ with emily, bought a baby shower gift, and have been watching some television.
What will you be doing in three hours?
citywalk or cleaning or both
Do you miss the way things used to be?
sometimes, depends on what part of my life you're referring to.
Are you a patient person?
yes. even when i'm surrounded by idiots 24/7.
How was your day?
good-o
What color are your eyes?
brown and green
Do you like haunted houses?
disney's especially at xmas
Why did you cry the last time you did?
probably thought of someone i cared about, i dunno.
What's b othering you right now?
my lack of motivation
Did you wakeup happy today?
i can't remember
Is there a night you would like to put on repeat and live it forever?
haha, there are a few....5 come into mind right now.
Is there someone you'd like to fix things with?
no.
Did you kiss someone before you were sixteen?
does kindergarden count?
Did you kiss them?
i can't remember, although I am forward sometimes.
Are you good at hiding your feelings?
yes/no.
Do you wave when you see people you know?
sure.
Who did you last have a sleepover with?
my buddy Lee.
Can you braid hair?
Sure
Name something you have in common with all of your siblings?
we have the same parents.
Who is the last person who wrote a letter to you on paper?
Benny
Name a sound that disturbs you?
Garbage Trucks in the morning that roll by my house.
Have you ever had the same dream more than once?
Yes
Who have you talked to today?
Emily, Cricket, Tamra, Barry, Nat
What are you going to do after this survey?
clean
This time last year, were you single?
I prefer Unattached.
How was your night last night?
wonderful.
How are you feeling right now?
beside myself
Have you ever stripped for money?
no, i have danced on tables tho.
When was your last nap?
Flight back to LA
Are you over your past?
Everyday it gets easier
Saturday, January 3, 2009
here we go again!
Alright time to wipe the slate clean and start the year anew!
Three day's in, the new year's been pretty good. I've got myself finishing up some projects of major importance and starting a few new ones too. Those projects include:
1. the EP! yep, I've decided to put some of my sporadic writing on paper napkins and pieces of paper to good use. As of now, there's two songs completely written, they just need polishing from my producer. The other 4 hopefuls, which will have to be narrowed down to 3 or less are in the final stages of being written. I'm really hoping to get these tracks done tomorrow.
As of now the sound of the vox is very jazzy to me, but we've thrown in some guitar riffs for one song and a piano bit for another, so the sound is still being developed, but i have a pretty good idea where i want it to head.
2. I decided to write a book of letters. this really is just another form of a journal, however all the letters are specifically written towards people in my life that either irritate me, i love dearly, or those i just think of from time to time. Hopefully i'll be able to keep on this for the entire year and then at the end read through all the nonsense i've written and figure out if it's helped me get a better understanding of myself. This probably will never be seen by anyone but myself.
3. Books books books! I have a large collection of books that I need to either dispose of or read. Right now i've started reading the Twilight Series. This is mainly due to the fact that I need something to jumpstart my reading habits again. Also three of my good friends have read these books, so i suppose if anything, it's something discuss over tea.
4. Adventures: I hope to go on more adventures this year for work, or otherwise. I would like to:
-snowboard
-camp
-visit monteray bay
-go to vegas
-go surfing
-go rock climbing
I have a whole year, so hopefully some of these things will get done.
4. Be healthy & enjoy life.
As of now these are the only things that I can think of that i should work on/improve/do/otherwise.
i will say though that last year started off very good, then went pretty bad and then the rest of the year was clean up time. hopefully i'll try to remember what happened at the beginning of last year that made it so great and focus on that. ;)
Three day's in, the new year's been pretty good. I've got myself finishing up some projects of major importance and starting a few new ones too. Those projects include:
1. the EP! yep, I've decided to put some of my sporadic writing on paper napkins and pieces of paper to good use. As of now, there's two songs completely written, they just need polishing from my producer. The other 4 hopefuls, which will have to be narrowed down to 3 or less are in the final stages of being written. I'm really hoping to get these tracks done tomorrow.
As of now the sound of the vox is very jazzy to me, but we've thrown in some guitar riffs for one song and a piano bit for another, so the sound is still being developed, but i have a pretty good idea where i want it to head.
2. I decided to write a book of letters. this really is just another form of a journal, however all the letters are specifically written towards people in my life that either irritate me, i love dearly, or those i just think of from time to time. Hopefully i'll be able to keep on this for the entire year and then at the end read through all the nonsense i've written and figure out if it's helped me get a better understanding of myself. This probably will never be seen by anyone but myself.
3. Books books books! I have a large collection of books that I need to either dispose of or read. Right now i've started reading the Twilight Series. This is mainly due to the fact that I need something to jumpstart my reading habits again. Also three of my good friends have read these books, so i suppose if anything, it's something discuss over tea.
4. Adventures: I hope to go on more adventures this year for work, or otherwise. I would like to:
-snowboard
-camp
-visit monteray bay
-go to vegas
-go surfing
-go rock climbing
I have a whole year, so hopefully some of these things will get done.
4. Be healthy & enjoy life.
As of now these are the only things that I can think of that i should work on/improve/do/otherwise.
i will say though that last year started off very good, then went pretty bad and then the rest of the year was clean up time. hopefully i'll try to remember what happened at the beginning of last year that made it so great and focus on that. ;)
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