Friday, October 29, 2010

The time our morals got the best of us... aka the Maroon 5 concert.

I am actually going to do two posts of this concert, because I just have TOO MUCH to write. Seriously. So today it's going to be about the concert itself, and then tomorrow's post will be about the assholes around us. Trust me- they warrant their own post.

So my absence yesterday was because one of my most fun and favorite friends, Krysten, and I went to see Maroon 5 - One Republic - and Ry Cummings in concert. We always have such a great time together and she totally embraces my crazy. I think I've only embarrassed her a few times. :) But she's awesome and I'm SUPER excited for our blog get together in November. ANYWAYS.

So here's me...leaving for the show.
 It's become our tradition to meet up in Roseville and eat at Flame (you remember the place with the cool bathroom, right?) Their fries are so fabulous but this time we branched out. I ordered pickles:
 a chicken quesadilla...
 an obviously a side of fries.
 We had fabulous conversation about boys and pretty much hashed out our plan to kidnap Maroon 5 and we were in cahoots with our server. But we couldn't leave until we had the much talked about cheesecake that Ang INSISTED we try. And because she really did insist we eat it (a gun may or may not have been involved) Krysten and I were forced to give up any diets way may or may not have been on and ordered the cheesecake.
 Thankfully...Ang was right. This is the best fucking cheesecake I have ever had. I think Ang's contribution to the blog get together potluck is to bring us all cheesecake. I'm just sayin. (Good luck trying to top that, Ang!)

Anyways- so we head over to the Target Center (Simple Dude- what the fuck is with prepay parking? We almost got fucked over on that! Cash or check only??!! What the fuck is going on with this?!) and we basically got our Maroon 5 groupie shirts and friendship bracelets.
 OK- so they are really supporting the ONE campaign but I think we should decorate them and pretend they are best-friends-forever bracelets. And here's us- CLEARLY the cutest girls in the place.
 So the first set was Ry Cummings who hails from Australia and from far away he looked cute. He could have sucked a lot but we decided because of the adorable accent we would have been fine with that. It's like, just shut up and talk, ya know? But he has a good voice and we both liked him.
 Then after them One Republic came out. I don't care what anyone says- I think One Republic are amazing. They've been called the American Coldplay and they kind of are. The lyrics, how they put instruments together, the melodies..it all just kind of works. They played a lot of my favorite songs. But the seriously amazing highlight of the night was their mash up Stand by Me, with the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army with Justin Timberlake Sexy Back. I'm not even kidding. Watch it HERE. It's not the full thing, but you get a taste of it AND an idea of how they interact with the crowd. They seriously were fun and you could tell they'd be fun as hell to party with. Ryan Tedder was pretty much everywhere on the stage, into the audience, had fun with the entire set- he was just great. The entire band had fabulous stage presence and I would see them again, definitely. Never mind the fact I god damn LOVE Stand by Me (and if you don't know the original you should be ashamed of yourself and go here to get up to speed with a fucking classic). Here is a full version of their mashup.

 Maroon 5 comes on, which I almost freaking missed trying to get some damn water. I had to not get the water because it was taking the bartenders easily 3 minutes to mix one drink or pull out bottle of beer. Like shit- I can't bartend but I just bed I could do it faster. Dang. So I run back in, dying of dehydration, and they were so good.

One thing of note- I would like to add a "disco ball" to my Christmas gift list. They had a god damn disco ball and it was so fun.
 They put on a fabulous show, and while I was a Maroon 5 concert virgin, Krysten had seen them a few times before so she raved about them and she was right. They are so freaking talented and his voice live is amazing. I loved how they really included all of their hits, plus some of their favorites from all three cd's.
They also did an Al Green cover of Let's Stay Together. Krysten and I were pretty much horrified that her husband had no idea who Al Green was. Seriously. Go HERE if you don't know the damn original. God. How could you not know that song? Pretty much only a few people in there knew the song but Krysten and I were belting it out and it was a fun moment.

I was a little bummed they didn't play Get Back Into My Life or Just A Feeling. Those are my two favorites off the new album, but overall it was really good. I had such a good time.

And I know our plan was to kidnap Adam and the boys. But you see- we both brought big purses. And it made finding the roofies in the dark...in our giant purses... really hard. And then we get lost in the skywalks and such, but this time we found a better door to get in/out of the parking ramp, but we were on the 6th level and yay. Basically we felt guilty because Adam and the boys looked really tired. And we lost our roofies. Next time, for sure though.

And seriously? The drive home? You would have though I had a roofie myself I was so damn tired. Granted, I slept like crap the night before and went straight down after work, but still. I barely made it to Hinckley and had to walk around the parking lot of Tobies with some scary truck driver just to wake up. And I ended up eating a sandwich at Hardees which was as gross as it is every other time I eat there, but at least my super gigantic bladder busting Coke helped. Until I hit Cloquet and then it was like a serious problem staying awake. I pulled into my house right around 2am and went to bed in my clothes. I couldn't even change I was that tired.

I woke up this morning still wearing a shoe and being strangled by my necklace. I also have a raging headache, an upset stomach, and have thrown up once. You'd seriously think I had been drinking or something. Oh! And my ass and inner thighs?? Hurt. A lot. So I'm not really sure- maybe I actually took the roofies. Dang.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Civil Twilight! Crash Kings! Anberlin! Oh My Baby!

I am so excited to write this post I'm doing it early! Just for you  my lovely lambwhores AND goatsluts. Yes. OK, so most of you remember me rubbing it in your faces that I was going to a concert, an Anberlin one to be exact, and because I'm awesome I'm bringing you everything.

When Krysten and I go to concerts we always eat at this great restaurant in Roseville called Flame. You'll remember me raving about the bathrooms here. The only deal was that Krysten and I wanted to know if the guys' bathroom was equally nice. Or if the urinals had rocks in them. It'd be kind nice, right? Well Matt and I ate there because he's sick of hearing about me rave and tease him so I reluctantly agreed. I pretty much felt like I was cheating on Krysten. (I still love, you K!) So Krysten and I decided to make it fair, Matt would need to photograph the bathroom to satisfy the curiosity. And he did.
 But he doesn't think the fries are that great. Fucking loser, right Krysten??? Guess what he ordered with his burger? MASHED POTATOES. Who the hell does that? My husband. *sigh*

Anyways. So the concert was at First Avenue & 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, which is in the same little radius as the Target Center. Pros to the place is that it's small, it's usually not overcrowded and the tickets are cheap. The cons are that drinks are high priced and you have to stand for at least 4 hours because there are few chairs. Which is fine, but no doubt- by the end my knees hurt pretty bad. My VANS, although adorable and comfy to bum around in, are not meant to stand 4 hours in. Anyways.

So here's Matt and I waiting for Civil Twilight. Matt actually doesn't know much music and that makes me sad. It also makes me wonder how I decided he'd be a good life partner if his love of music isn't like mine. But he does know a bit of Anberlin mostly from listening to it when I drive. We take sucky pictures together.  
The opening band was Civil Twilight who I really freaking love. If you don't know them, you  need to get to know them. Or else. Go HERE to sample. I will confess that PART of my love is that the singer kind of looks like Robert Pattinson. AND he has an accent. I love boys with accents. *swoon* They hail from Cape Town, South Africa and are great. Go HERE to see one of my fav's from their set last night. But my fav song from Civil Twilight? Well that's Something She Said. This song? Kicks the girly bits in overdrive every.damn.time.

But they put on a great live show and I would definitely travel to see them again.

 Next up was the Crash Kings. And to be honest I had never actually heard of them. I heard one song, Carry On, and then part of another and I was just "meh" on them.
 But let me tell you something. This band? You MUST see them play live. That set was so energetic and even if you are new to them you cannot help yourself- you will be dancing and jamming with them. THIS song was great to see live. I really liked It's Only Wednesday and thought it was fun to watch. The singer's voice is out of control and he sounds fabulous live. The energy out of this entire band was amazing and they really got everybody ready for Anberlin. And the drummer? Sick. Out of fucking control. All of them were so good live. I not only wanted to buy the album immediately after that set but I'm already hoping they tour around here soon. Oh- and they did a Black Sabbath cover- AH - MAZING.

So after Crash Kings we had like 15 minutes before Anberlin came on. We were standing right behind the sound board and it's times like this that make me wish I bring my fucking glasses BECAUSE the set list was like right there. The guys in front of me (all but one) were totally douchebags and wouldn't let me squeeze in to see it. AND they were all 6 feet tall. Hi- I'm 5'3. Assholes. One guy, the blond one who had the punk/nerdy look going was really nice and he asked twice if I could see. And I could because he left just enough room for my head be right next to his nipple. Which was weird. My head was between nipples. Anyways.

I can't remember every song off the set or what they opened with, but I can tell you it was like 15-20 songs total. They only played a few off the new album, so if you are a fan of their older stuff you'd like this show.
 Stephen (the singer) crowd surfed and while my blog bestie, Mr. O, said I should go and touch him--- I doubt Matt would have been ok with that. But let's just say it's clear that Stephen is well endowed. *sigh* If only I could have used my god given talents. *double sigh*

I love this picture-this was during Paperthin Hymn.
 They closed with Feel Good Drag, which I love, and then the encore was Lost Causes. Which is kind of a weird encore if you ask me. I would have liked to hear Glass to the Arson or at least Blame Me, but nope. Not this time. The set was great and I loved how they put some acoustic songs from their Lost Songs album in there.  They also did a Danzig cover which was... it was good but it was weird because it was mellow and acoustic. They did Dismantle.Repair and I really, really loved that live. I called Mr. O and I really hope it went to his voicemail and he could make it out. :)
 The concert was great and I would highly recommend you to see any of these bands live. I officially popped my see-Anberlin-live-cherry and I'm glad. We got out of there at 10ish.
Then we drove the 2 1/2 hours home. I had to drive the entire way because Matt slept. And snored so loud I had to crank the volume on my music. But I had fun with my mini jam session while he slept.

The best part (Simple Dude-- prepare yourself) I not only got out of the Target Center parking ramp without getting lost (Krysten! I found the easiest place to park for Maroon 5!!) I got us home. WITHOUT the GPS.

Folks? This? Is a big fucking deal.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

It's Muse, bitches.

Hey lambwhores- I bet you were wondering if I had died or something yesterday, right? Well I didn't die. I was just EXHAUSTED after a really busy Tuesday. Because on Tuesday....I went to the Muse concert in Minneapolis with my super fun and awesome friend, Krysten.

Me leaving my house to drive 2 1/2 hours to get to Minneapolis.

Once I got down there Krysten and I went to eat at Flame in the Rosedale Shopping Center. Seriously- if you have never been there you need to because they? Have fantastic fries. And we obviously had smores this time.
You know you want to eat me.

Then we literally raced to the Target Center (don't judge us for being kind of late- the conversation and smores were fantastic). We missed most of Passion Pit's set BUT the last three songs they played? Were our favorites off the cd so I'm ok with that. Also on the concert with us was Dena and her sister Dara. In retrospect, I wish we would have gotten a group picture. But...that's ok. I at least got my picture with Dena & Krysten.
 Dena & I before Muse started.
Krysten and I looking all twinsies and awesome.

So then Muse started. I've seen them before (Chicago- March 2010) and even though I knew what I was going to be seeing, it didn't matter. This concert was just as amazing. They can rock it out so well. Even if you aren't a huge Muse fan, you would enjoy this concert because it's a show. It's a visual adventure where the music is almost like a soundtrack to it. It's hard to explain but very much worth your ticket money.
They opened with a really mellow interlude of sorts and then went immediately into Uprising. I don't know if there is another song of theirs that would have gotten everyone into party mode.
They played all of their big hits off of every album. I believe here we were listening to Supermassive Black Hole which is a song I loved BEFORE Twilight, but now every time I hear it I think of the baseball scene in Twilight. :)


And during the encore, I can't even remember what song it is now, but they drop giant eyeballs from the ceiling full of glitter. It was pretty cool to watch them bounce around anyways but I'm kind of glad I didn't get covered in glitter. At least today.
The end of the show--- so good. So very good.
Overall, it was a great concert. I had a lot of fun and I think I had more fun at this one than the one in Chicago. Mostly because Matt (with me in Chicago) knows pretty much nothing about Muse and was kind of a lump on a log. But Krysten knew them and she was having as much fun as me so that always makes it a better experience. The drunk girls behind us were annoying. They kept screaming out every other band name they knew EXCEPT for Muse so that got old really quickly. Oh, and the fact she kept dropping her cell phone and once asked us to get it for her. It's like great- I know you're drunk, but put it in your pocket or something. Oh, and then she started bitching that the beer stand was closed which I assumed was standard knowledge- once a concert is half over they close stuff down. Either it's common knowledge and she's an idiot or I'm super smart and don't even know it.

I'm probably just super smart.

But after the concert, Krysten and I pretty much got lost getting to our cars. We remembered we were in ramp 4A. We remembered walking through a skywalk. BUT...we weren't allowed to get into the skywalk from the Target Center- the security made us take the stairs. Fabulous, except those only take you to different levels of the Target Center, not what we wanted. So because we couldn't figure it out, we went outside, walked around the building- found a parking ramp, went in there only to find it's parking ramp B. No sign of A and honestly? We don't see a building that would look like A. But we DO see that B is connected to a skywalk. So we go in and are confused, because the wall says skywalk is level 2. The elevator buttons say skywalk is level 3. Nice.

We finally find our skywalk, get to A, level 4, and our cars. Only to find there's no way we're getting out because as smart as we are....we parked near the exit. Obviously not good when EVERY car in the 4A ramp is trying to get out this exit. Nice. So we sat and chatted.
Patiently waiting to leave...

What was sad was that some drunk dropped a cd out of their car and Krysten and I had to listen to it being run over and crushed. It was sad. The Hummer really did a number on the poor cd. We were going to rescue but by the time the cars were done it was more of a funeral than a search & rescue.

Now if you remember my post about the LAST time I tried to leave Minneapolis from a concert (Lilith Fair- July 2010) you'll remember is was awful. Not only did I get the tour of the Minneapolis ghetto, but I got a tour of the outer Minneapolis perimeter but in none of my journeys could I find a detour (since every way I knew how to get home was tore up from construction) that would actually tell you how to get to 35W. No where.

This time? Either my super smarts kicked in, my GPS actually did it's job, of MnDOT actually fixed the fucking roads, because I? Didn't get lost. I was a little confused when it told me to take the Penn Avenue exit so I could get onto E394 but then REALIZED it was going to then take me to 35. I tried calling Krysten (who needed that exit) to tell her I found it like retard easy, but she didn't answer. I was hoping she wasn't at the same gas station she was the last time where people were actually shot down at. (No- that didn't happen when she was there but it DID happen. We call it Murderapolis now.)

The only suckish thing was that that way takes FOREVER until you start figuring out you're going the right way. Luckily I saw signs for Duluth and then everything was happy.

And this time I didn't almost fall asleep at the wheel! I think the fact that this concert wasn't mellow compared to Lilith Fair, and listening to old school Xhibit and of course, my Manchester Orchestra, I did ok. I had to stop in Hinckley for gas and they had a scary guy working the register. Pretty sure I'll see him on America's Most Wanted someday.

I pulled into my house around 2:30 a.m I believe. Or 2. Something like that. I know I was really tired and really happy to see my house. You'll notice all of my makeup has subsequently worn off. Considering I put it on a 9am....not bad.

And really glad I went to see Muse. Krysten and I are going to see Maroon 5 at the end of October so it'll be another fabulous night I'm sure. And already? I'm craving the fries from Flame. It's probably a good thing I don't live near there, right?

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

the Next Queen of Heaven

Oh little lambies--- I bet you were thinking this was a post all about me, weren't you?? Well... it's not. But I can certainly bring the goodies for tomorrow. Or my milk shake to the yard. Whatever.

Today is my day to review Gregory Maguire's book The Next Queen of Heaven this is released...today I believe...for TLC Book Reviewers.  Description: With the new millennium approaching, the eccentric town of Thebes grows even stranger. Mrs. Leontina Scales begins speaking in tongues after being clocked by a Catholic statuette. Her daughter, Tabitha, and her sons scheme to save their mother or surrender her to Jesus—whatever comes first. Meanwhile, choir director Jeremy Carr, caught between lust and ambition, fumbles his way toward Y2K. The ancient Sisters of the Sorrowful Mysteries join with a gay singing group. The Radical Radiants battle the Catholics. A Christmas pageant goes horribly awry. And a child is born. Only a modern master like Gregory Maguire could spin a tale as frantic, funny, and farcical as The Next Queen of Heaven.


The Next Queen of Heaven: A Novel

Everyone knows that I read a LOT and I love all kinds of books. And usually the first sign of me giving a good review or not is whether I feel pulled in. And I have to say--- this book didn't pull me in. I didn't feel like the story was really worthy of a book. None of the characters are particularly appealing. While I was sympathetic to the gay choir master who dreams to make it big and has a gay friend dying of AIDS, the rest were pretty much take it or leave it. Honestly- the story should have just been about Jeremy (the gay choir master), his friends, and them being in the little religious town. The only time I perked up was when it switched to their point of view and then their interactions with the nuns who let them use their home to practice their music. I didn't like reading about Tabitha, who becomes the leader of the family once their mother falls ill after having a run in with a statue. Tabitha is a spoiled brat. Her brothers are essentially useless and aren't really strong enough to carry a story on their own. Throughout the whole thing I just got more and more annoyed. In fact- it didn't really feel like anything was happening until the last quarter of the book and then it all happened relatively fast. I didn't feel as if the story was frantic, the only funny part was the Christmas pageant (mildly) and I wouldn't say it was farcical. I struggled to finish this book. A book this size should only take me a day, maybe two to read but this took me THREE WEEKS to read. I just couldn't make myself read more than 20 pages in a sitting. I really struggled with finishing it. I wasn't satisfied with the ending either. I mean, how does Jeremy's show end up? What happens to Tabitha and baby? I just felt like I had a lot of unanswered questions and I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

BUT--- I will say that there are some people out there who would love this book. The description truly doesn't give enough of a description. While these things happened- they were all minor pieces of the story so I don't know. I'm really not sure what to think about it.

**If you are interested in reading this book, I will send it to you for free. The first person to comment on this post saying they want it----it's yours. :)

Sunday, October 3, 2010

I conquered Saturday.

LOTS of stuff to just get off of my "blog it" notepad.

1. I was FEATURED! I know. It's a big effing deal. It pretty much means I'm famous. Go HERE to see me all featured. You should go there and tell them that they have increased their awesomeness by recognizing me as their leader.

2. I got my crafty on! Seriously. It's ridiculous how much I got done:

This was meant to be for a Get Sketchy challenge for last week but I forgot to upload it. Whoopsy. But aren't they cute?? You can buy them in my Etsy shop. Like RIGHT NOW.
Sorry- turn your head to the right. Blogger is being a whore about pictures again. But I made these cards for this week's Wee Memories challenge which had a fruit theme. I obviously had to go with apples because this weekend in Bayfield, WI is Apple Fest. I love, love, love Apple Fest but Matt hates it. So I don't get to go. But I hope to next year. You basically eat everything apple and then obviously cheese curds. Nothing in Wisconsin is complete without cheese curds. Om nom nom.. :) But if you love these, you can buy them HERE.
And then I worked on my submission for the Get Sketchy challenge this week. Again, turn your head to the right. *sigh*. Anyways, this sketch was kind of hard for me and I figured the best way to use up scraps was to use my last six round cards, my last six big flowers and the left over paper from the apple cards. I really love these cards and if you agree, buy them HERE.


3. THEN after I got my crafty on all afternoon I had my sister in law come over. She dyed my hair. I'm Cocoa Bean! Are we loving it? It's a darker chocolate like brown with red tint. I actually dig it a lot. I don't think my husband likes it, I got the "it's...nice" response but I love it. I've never dyed all of my hair, only have done blond highlights, but this? Is fabulous. I'm totally loving it. And my eyes DO look bluer/greener in the mirror. (I'm naturally blue eyed, but they will turn green with certain shirts. Kind of cool.) I am HATING the layers in my hair though. Seriously- when I say "I'm growing my hair out" that means "don't put super short layers in stupid". Yet--- I forever end up with layers. Annoying.
So it's Sunday and I'm not only super tired from Jackson being sick and up every hour of the night, but I have a wicked headache. I need to get some housework done and that sucks as well. This week is going to be crazy busy again so be ready. Like super ready. ;)